November 19
Eastern Front, Ukraine
General Georgi Zhukov launches a Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad with 10 armies, 900 tanks, and 1100 aircraft, to be carried out along a Front of 260 miles (416 km). Soviet forces north and south of Stalingrad are to trap the Germans in a pincer movement. The attack is made during the frost, which assists tank mobility. It also coincides with the Allied North African landings, which divert Germany's attention. Allied supplies have equipped the Soviet forces for the advance. The German Front buckles.

German troops in action during the desperate struggle against the Soviet forces outside Stalingrad

German troops trapped outside Stalingrad search
the skies for the arrival of supplies
being brought by aircraft

November 25
Eastern Front, Ukraine
The airlift to supply the German Sixth Army trapped around Stalingrad commences with 320 aircraft. The operation, which eventually requires 500 aircraft, lasts until February 1943.

November 27
Sea War, Mediterranean
Vichy French naval forces in Toulon are scuttled with the loss of 72 vessels, including three battleships, before the Germans can seize them.

November 30
Sea War, Pacific
At the Battle of Tassafaronga, five US heavy cruisers and seven destroyers attack a Japanese convoy of eight destroyers bound for Guadalcanal. Japan loses one destroyer; the US four cruisers.

prev | next