Air Operations, Bonin Islands

8 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack various targets while escorting photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at Bawgyo, Hsenwi, and Namhkai.
• 10th Air Force fighter-bombers mount nearly 70 effective sorties against Japanese Army troops and supplies at 9 locations.
• 16 P-47s support Allied ground forces at Bhamo.
• 13 P-47s attack bridges in the Bawdwin area and at Meza.
• 8 fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity on the road between Kyaukme and Panglong.
• 11 14th Air Force B-25s attack warehouses and buildings at Lashio and Wanling.

• 23 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity around Chefang.

• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 8 51st Fighter Group P-51s attack 2 rail bridges and several buildings at Phu Lang Thuong and Phu Lay.

• 9 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, shipping, and rail targets in Thailand.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s attack 2 towns on Celebes and 4 airfields on Halmahera.
• B-24s, B-25s, and fighter-bombers mount light attacks against various targets.

Air Operations, Europe

The 8th Air Force encounters severe flak during raids on oil plants in the Leipzig area. 53 planes are lost. The RAF drops 2,000 tons of bombs on Duisburg. During November the RAF has dropped 14,312 tons of bombs on German synthetic oil plants.

• 60 Lancasters of No. 3 Group attack a coking plant at Bottrop without a loss.
• 60 Lancasters of No. 3 Group attack a benzol plant at Osterfeld.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.
• 39 Mosquitos of No. 8 Group attack the oil plant at Meiderich without a loss

• 576 aircraft of Nos. 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to attack Duisburg. In this total are 425 Halifaxes, 126 Lancasters and 25 Mosquitos. The target area is completely cloud-covered and the attack is not concentrated but much fresh damage is still caused.
• 3 Halifaxes are lost.

• 53 Mosquitos are sent to Hamburg, and 7 to Hallendorf, 9 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and 88 aircraft of No. 100 Group are on Mosquito and RCM operations.
• 1 Intruder Mosquito is lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s attack the Legaspi airfield on Luzon and the Matina airfield on Mindanao.
• 37 494th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Angaur attack the Legaspi airfield on Luzon.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Dumaguete airfield on Negros.
• B-24s, V Bomber Command B-25s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers mount light attacks against various targets in the central and southern Philippines.
• A 49th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane at 0820 hours.
• 18th Fighter Group P-38s down 3 Japanese fighters near Panay between 1220 and 1240 hours.
• 348th Fighter Group P-47s down 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters in the Cebu area at 1520 hours.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

23 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Iwo Jima.

China

Chiang Kai-shek decides to withdraw the Chinese 22nd Div from Burma and attach it to the 14th Div to strengthen the defenses of Kunming, threatened by the Japanese. He promises to despatch a further 270,000 men by April 1, 1945 for a counteroffensive in southern China, but refuses to provide the Communist army with arms.

Burma

The British 36th Div occupies Pinwe, which the Japanese have already evacuated.

Eastern Front

The armies of the 2nd Ukraine Front, with help from the Rumanian 4th Army, capture Eger, northeast of Budapest, and push on toward Miskolc.

The 53rd Army ot the 2nd Ukrainian Front breaks the 6th Army positions around Eger and captures the town. The Russian forces then press on toward Miskolc but German resistance is severe.

Despite a rise in strength to 5,202 panzers (facing 14,000 Soviet tanks), the fuel situation throughout the Reich has reached catastrophic proportions. Significant elements of the Luftwaffe have been grounded and the mobile divisions of the army are forced to rely on horse drawn transportion. The Allied combined bomber offensive has wreaked havoc among oil production facilities and the capture of the Ploesti oilfields in Romania sever a major source of oil. Only Hungary's oilfields are left and are already threatened by the Soviet advance.

German divisional strength stands as 21 panzer, 11 panzer grenadier and 107 infantry divisions. Hungarian strength is 15 divisions and 3 brigades.

Pacific

13 British submarines sink 57 Japanese ships and small supply craft in the Malacca Strait-Sumatra area during November.

Philippines

On Leyte the Americans, now on the defensive, confine themselves to holding the continual Japanese counterattacks.

Western Front

In the southeast Netherlands, the VIII and XII Corps of the British 2nd Army have almost wiped out the bridgehead of German paratroopers on the west bank of the Maas, reducing it to a little pocket near Blerick. Canadian forces break into Germany from positions around Nijmegen.

The US XIII Corps, 9th Army, continues to advance in the Linnich sector and the VII Corps, 1st Army, in the area of Lammersdorf and Inden. In the US 3rd Army sector, the 10th Arm Div, XX Corps, attacks toward the Saar on the north flank, and the 90th and 95th Divs continue the battle for the Saar. The situation of the XII Corps is unchanged except on the right flank, where the 4th Arm Div captures the hills dominating Mackwiller in the Saar-Union sector.

Images from November 30, 1944

This Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, B-17G-75-BO 43-37877, of the 836th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 487th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was hit by anti-aircraft artillery just after bomb release near Merseberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, at 1314 GMT, 30 November 1944.

B-17 Hit by Anti-aircraft Fire

Oil Being Unloaded from SS Fort Cataraqui at Antwerp, 30 November 1944

Lt-Gen Clark and Brazilian Gen Mascarenhas Survey Enemy Movements in Italy, 30 November 1944

Hürtgen, 30 November 1944

Led by Piper John McLean, men of 'D' Company, 1st Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers march alongside a railway to celebrate both St Andrew's Day and the ending of the Japanese occupation of Pinwe in North Burma, 30 November 1944.

Royal Scots Fusiliers in Burma

Russiand Bomb Helsinki, 30 November 1939

Fifth Army, Boretta Area, Italy. Lt-Gen Clark, C. G., A.A.I., with Major Jacey, C. O. 1st Battalion 11th Regiment, 1st Division, BEF [Brazilian Expeditionary Forces] at his left, and members of their party behind them, 'Troop the Line' of new replacements for the BEF, assembled near the forward lines to be inspected by the Army commander. Photo by Thomas. 3131 Signal Service Co.” Boretta Area, Italy. 30 November 1944

Gen Clark with Brazilian Troops

US LSTs are seen from above as they pour military equipment onto the shores of Leyte island, to support invading forces in the Philippines, November 1944

US LSTs

3rd Armored Division Infantrymen Following a Ditch

New Zealand Sherman Tanks Moving out of Forli, Italy, 30 November 1944

36th AIB Troops near Zweifall, Germany, 30 November 1944

On the last day in November 1944, took the 8th Air Force a repeated effort to fuel factories in central Germany to bring to a halt. Again fly 1200 bombers of various Bomber Groups with 1,000 fighters as an accompaniment towards Germany. It is the fifth approach to Leuna and the second for Lützkendorf in this month of November 1944. For the attack on Lützkendorf fly from the 3rd Air Division - Five Bomber Groups of the 45th and 4th Combat Bombardment Wing

Attack on Lützkendorf