Air Operations, Europe

The 8th Air Force attacks the Misburg oil plant in Hanover, the Hamm marshalling yards and the Bielefeld raiway viaduct. They claim 138 fighters destroyed for the loss of 36 bombers and 7 fighters. Spitfire fighter-bombers attack 2 suspected V-2 sites in Holland.

• 75 Lancasters of No. 3 Group are sent on a trial raid to attack the railway center at Fulda to establish whether G-H signals can reach to that distance, 160 miles from the German frontier. The distance is too great, however, and the bombs are scattered over a wide area.
• There are no losses.

• 1 Hudson flies a Resistance operation.

• 270 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to Munich. Bomber Command claims this as an accurate raid in good visibility with much fresh damage, particularly to railway targets. It has not been possible to obtain a local report.
• 1 Lancaster crashes in France.

• 7 Mosquitos are sent to Erfurt and 6 to Karlsruhe on a 'spoof' raid, 31 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 20 Mosquito patrols and 20 RCM sorties.
• 1 Intruder Mosquito is lost and 1 Hudson on a Resistance flight crashes behind Allied lines in Belgium.

• 243 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack an oil refinery at Misburg.
• 118 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack a rail viaduct at Altenbeken.
• 240 2nd Bomb Division B-24s attack a rail viaduct at Bielefeld.
• 57 2nd Bomb Division B-24s attack an oil refinery at Misburg.
• 266 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Hamm.
• 130 heavy bombers attack targets of opportunity (especially marshalling yards at Bielefeld, Gutersloh, Hannover, and Herford).
• 34 heavy bombers and 9 of 668 VIII Fighter Command escorts are lost due to heavy flak and attacks by an estimated 500 Luftwaffe fighters.

• 173 9th Bomb Division bombers attack storage areas and supply and ordnance depots at five locations in western Germany.
• 9th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers support US Army ground forces in action along the Franco-German border.

• USAAF fighter pilots down 123 Luftwaffe aircraft over Germany between 1018 and 1600 hours.
• During the night, 11 442nd Night Fighter Squadron P-61s attack a V-weapons site, and then down 2 Luftwaffe aircraft on the return flight to base.

• XXII TAC fighter-bombers provide support for the US 5th Army and attack rail lines at numerous points.

• 39 15th Air Force P-38s attack the Seregelyes Airdrome and nearby road traffic.
• in the first fighter engagement in the MTO in ten days, 14th Fighter Group P-38 pilots down 6 Ju-87s and 2 Luftwaffe fighters Hungary between 1445 and 1505 hours.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 2nd Ukraine Front take Hatvan, in Hungary, northeast of the capital. Budapest is already threatened from the south. Russian troops take Michaloyce in eastern Slovakia.

The 6th Guards Tank Army captures Hatvan after a brief struggle. The Stavka has been steadily shifting forces from the 2nd to 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to resume the attack upon Budapest from the southeast. Malinovsky's attack north of the city will form the northern pincer to Tolbukhin's southern one south of the city.

Germany, Policy

Himmler orders the destruction of the crematoria at Auschwitz.

Italy

In the V Corps area, the 46th Division succeeds in reaching the Lamone on the southern flank of the corps, but the Germans are holding firmly on the switch line between the Lamone and the Montone on the northern flank of the corps.

Heavy rain brings a lull to offensive operations.

Gen Harold Alexander is promoted to Field Marshal and appointed Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean.

Pacific

• US Army aircraft sink the Japanese transport No. 161 in the Andaman Sea.
• The Japanese minesweeper No.18 is sunk by US Army aircraft in the South China Sea.
• The US submarine Raton (SS-270) sinks the Japanese ammunition ship Onoe Maru (6667t) north of the Bismarck Archipelago.

Philippines

In the X Corps area, the 1st Battalion of the 34th Infantry, 24th Division, relieves A Company with C Companry on Kilay Ridge. The battalion is highly vulnerable to an enemy attack from different directions and is maintaining positions with the use of artillery.

In the XXIV Corps area, the Japanese make another night attack on Shoestring Ridge, with about 200 enemy troops gaining positions in a bamboo thicket within the American lines, but 400 Japanese dead are counted at the conclusion of the action.

Western Front

The port of Antwerp is opened. V-bomb attacks are intensified, falling at a rate of one every 12-1/2 minutes at the height of the raids. Despite the V-weapons, the Allies are able to move 25,000 tons through Antwerp daily.

In the US 1st Army sector the 104th Div, VII Corps, passes through Weiseweiler, about 6 miles north of Aachen, and takes Frenz. The 4th Div consolidates its positions in the Hürtgen forest.

In the southern sector, US 3rd Army, the units of the XX Corps continue to advance northeast; on the right flank the 95th Div penetrates into the Maginot Line.

The 3rd Div of the American VI Corps, 7th Army, crosses the Vosges and emerges into flat country in Alsace.[WE]

Yugoslavia

In an agreement reached with Tito the Royal Navy and the RAF should have temporary use of certain Yugoslav ports and airfields.

Images from November 26, 1944

Troops of the 1st Norfolk Regiment

Burial At Sea

A PIAT Gunner

Fireflies Warming-up

A Flooded Road in Holland

Secret Police Buildings Hit

Mitteland Canal Breached Banks

Bombing Hamburg