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• At 2159 hours near Tarawa, submarine USS Nautilus was mistaken for Japanese ship and was fired upon by destroyer USS Ringgold, blasting a hole in the conning tower. ww2dbase [Nautilus | CPC]

• Senior Lieutenant Koratevitch and Lieutenant Bykov rammed their Ilyuashin Il-2 attack aircraft into a German ship in the Baltic Sea. For this extreme act of bravery both airmen would be awarded the Gold Star. ww2dbase [Il-2 Shturmovik | AC]

• Lieutenant Colonel Joe Smoak placed US Marine Corps squadron VMF-214 commander Gregory Boyington under arrest for 10 days for speaking to the staff of the wing commander without Smoak's explicit authorization. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The US submarine Sculpin was scuttled by her crew after being severely damaged by Japanese destroyers off Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Sculpin | Truk | AC]

• USS Bailey with Task Force 53 arrived off Tarawa, Gilbert Islands and screened the attacking force over the next several days during the Battle of Tarawa. ww2dbase [Gilbert Islands Campaign | Bailey | Tarawa | DS]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) arrived at the launch point near Jaluit and Mili in the Marshall Islands early that morning and launched the first of a series of raids to suppress enemy air-power during the amphibious assaults on Tarawa, Abemama, and Makin in the Gilbert Islands. ww2dbase [Gilbert Islands Campaign | J. J. Clark | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]
• USS Nicholas screened carriers USS Yorktown, USS Lexington (both Essex-class), and USS Cowpens as they launched air strikes against Japanese positions on Makin, Mili, and Jaluit Atolls over 6 consecutive days. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Marshall Islands Campaign | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Cowpens | Lexington (Essex-class) | DS]

• USS Harder detected a convoy of three Japanese transports in the Pacific Ocean and called in two wolfpack mates via radio. She would sink transport Udo Maru, sink transport Hokko Maru, and damage transport Nikko Maru (which would only sink on the next day from rough seas); of the 17 torpedoes fired, 9 scored hits. ww2dbase [Harder | CPC]

• En route to a gas chamber at Auschwitz II in Poland, Bina Braun and Rosa Theberger attempted to escape but was caught and shot, and the rest were gassed. The list of 394 prisoners killed on this day was stolen and smuggled to the resistance leader in Auschwitz I camp, who sent the list on to Krakow, Poland on 21 Nov and then to London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

19 Nov 1943 Interactive Map