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• Hein ter Poorten was born in Buitenzorg, Java, Dutch East Indies (now Bogor, Indonesia). ww2dbase [Hein ter Poorten | Buitenzorg | CPC]

• Clarence Tinker was born near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, United States. ww2dbase [Clarence Tinker | Pawhuska, Oklahoma | CPC]

21 Nov 1887 Interactive Map

• Kichisaburo Nomura was made a navigation instructor. ww2dbase [Kichisaburo Nomura | CPC]

• Chuichi Nagumo graduated from the Japanese naval academy and was promoted to the rank of midshipman. ww2dbase [Chuichi Nagumo | CPC]
• Masaichi Niimi graduated from the Japanese Navy Academy at Etajima, Japan. ww2dbase [Masaichi Niimi | Etajima, Hiroshima | CPC]

21 Nov 1908 Interactive Map

• Three British RNAS Avro 504 aircraft led by Wing Commander E. F. Briggs bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen, Germany. ww2dbase [AC]

• Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria died. He was succeeded by Charles, son of the Archduke Otto. One of Charles's first actions on becoming Emperor was to issue a declaration that he wished to end Austria's participation in the war. ww2dbase [AC]

• Lenin ordered General Dukhonin to begin armistice negotiations with representatives of the Central Powers. Dukhonin refused to obey and was dismissed. ww2dbase [AC]

• Chung Il-kwon was born in Primorsky Krai, Russia. ww2dbase [Chung Il-kwon | Primorsky Krai | CPC]

• Umrao Singh was born. ww2dbase [Umrao Singh | CPC]

• Sun Du was named the chairman of Yunnan Province, China. ww2dbase [Sun Du | Yunnan | CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur became the Chief of Staff of the US Army at the rank of general. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler again attempted to argue for his appointment as German Chancellor with the power to dissolve the Reichstag; President Paul von Hindenburg again refused to grant him such powers. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]

• Captain Michiaki Kamata was named the commanding officer of Tenryu. ww2dbase [Tenryu | CPC]
• Chiaki Matsuda was made a faculty member at the Naval War College in Kamiosaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. ww2dbase [Chiaki Matsuda | Tokyo | CPC]

• Russian test pilot V. Kokkinaki flying a specially modified TsKB-3 raised the world altitude record to 47,818 feet. ww2dbase [I-15 | AC]

• Gao Zhihang, while at Zhoujiakou Airfield in Henan Province, China, awaiting his mechanics to start the engine of his I-16 fighter during a Japanese raid conducted by G4M2 bombers, a bomb struck near his aircraft, killing him. ww2dbase [Gao Zhihang | Zhoujiakou, Henan | CPC]
• Mao Yingchu, flying a Hawk III biplane fighter, shot down a Japanese G3M bomber. He was wounded during the action. ww2dbase [Mao Yingchu | CPC]

• Kaga departed Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Kaga | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• Lufthansa's Do 18F flying boat, upgraded with BMW 132N radial engines and redesignated Do 18L, took its first flight after the upgrade work. After two days of testing, it was found that the BMW engine suffered overheating problems. ww2dbase [Do 18 | CPC]
• Heinrich Himmler announced that the United Kingdom was responsible for the 8 Nov 1939 attempt on Adolf Hitler's life. Two British agents were kidnapped in the Netherlands several days prior, who were blamed for plotting the attack. The attack, however, was actually planned by the Germans as means to raise Hitler's standing within Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The United Kingdom declared an embargo on Germany, seizing all goods in the UK en route to Germany. ww2dbase [TH]

• Greek troops defeated the Italian IX Army and captured Koritza, Albania. The Greeks took 2,000 prisoners and captured 135 field guns and 600 machine guns. The surviving elements of the Italian IX Army was able to escape without being harassed as the Greeks were poorly motorized and could not give chase. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Köln, and Leipzig departed for a sweep against Allied shipping between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. ww2dbase [Scharnhorst | CPC]
• The German 6th Army exercised a simulated invasion of Ireland. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin attacked British freighter Port Brisbane in the southern Indian Ocean after sundown, killing the radio operator in the process; 67 were taken prisoner and 27 escaped in a lifeboat. Port Brisbane was sunk by torpedo after scuttling charges failed to sink her. ww2dbase [Pinguin | CPC]
• German submarine U-103 fired torpedoes from a surfaced position at Allied convoy OB-244 200 miles northwest of Ireland at 0740 hours, sinking British ship Daydawn (2 killed, 36 survived) and Greek ship Victoria (entire crew of 27 survived). A ship in the convoy attempted to ram U-103, but U-103 dodged the ramming attack; U-103 fired a torpedo at her attacker, but that torpedo, though striking the target, failed to detonate. ww2dbase [CPC]

• A German aircraft bombed the British Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, damaging the diplomatic section, the telephone exchange, and the typists room. There were no casualties. The attack was almost certainly accidental, as the Germans did not know of the importance of this site. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Bletchley Park | Milton Keynes, England | CPC]
• The British No. 2 Commando Battalion was redesignated 11th Special Air Service Battalion for training as paratroopers. ww2dbase [CPC]

21 Nov 1940 Interactive Map

• The construction of the future Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point began in North Carolina, United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Heinz Guderian wrote Franz Halder from Russia, noting the miserable cold and fierce Soviet resistance. ww2dbase [Heinz Guderian | CPC]
• The horse-drawn sleigh team returned to Leningrad, Russia from Kobona, bringing back flour, sugar, and fat across the frozen Lake Ladoga for the first time since the city was surrounded. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Utmost attacked and damaged Italian cruiser Trieste 10 miles east of Catania, Sicily, Italy at 2312 hours. ww2dbase [Trieste | CPC]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille was officially awarded the German cross in Gold, but he would not physically receive this medal until 17 Dec 1941. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort's US Navy cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii detected the arrival of a Japanese submarine squadron in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | Detailed Timetable | CPC]

• Japanese Navy acquired luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru for use as a hospital ship; Hikawa Maru was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• The Allied garrison at Tobruk, Libya attempted a breakout to link up with the main attack force coming from Egypt, which engaged with German 15th Panzer Division in a large-scale tank battle that would last for the next three days near Sidi Rezegh. Pressed for fuel, Erwin Rommel dispatched Italian cruiser Cardona from Brindisi, unescorted, to bring fuel to Benghazi. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw and fleet oiler USS Sabine suffered a collision at sea that required Shaw to put into Pearl Harbor for repairs. ww2dbase [Shaw | CPC]

21 Nov 1941 Interactive Map

• Colonel General Eberhard von Mackensen replaced Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Philip was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Philip | CPC]

• Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny, which was disabled on the previous day after a severe storm tore off its stem, sank. The skeleton crew of 16 men which remained aboard was lost. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Norwegian Sea | CPC]

• USS Ranger arrived at Port Royal Bay, Bermuda. ww2dbase [Ranger | Port Royal Bay | DS]

• Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura met with the staff of the Combined Fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands and decided to give up Buna, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Truk | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Former South African Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog died in Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa, aged 76. ww2dbase [Pretoria, Gauteng | AC]

• German Paratroop Engineer Battalion "Witzig" and Italian 1st Paratroop Battalion attacked British troops near Djebel Abjod, Tunisia; initially successful, they suffered heavy casualties when the British counterattacked later in the day. ww2dbase [Advance into Tunisia | Djebel Abjod | CPC]

• Alamogordo Army Air Field near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States was named a Second Air Force installation. ww2dbase [Alamogordo Army Air Field | Alamogordo, New Mexico | CPC]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue arrived at North Island, San Diego, California, United States. ww2dbase [Bogue | San Diego, California | DS]

21 Nov 1942 Interactive Map

• Feldmarschall Kesselring was appointed commander of all German forces in Italy. ww2dbase [Albert Kesselring | TH]
• Feldmarschall Rommel was placed in command of Atlantikwall defenses in France. ww2dbase [Erwin Rommel | TH]
• Journalist Drew Pearson publicized George Patton's "slapping incident" of 3 Aug 1943, stirring controversy. ww2dbase [George Patton | CPC]
• Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kaishek for the first time in Cairo, Egypt. In the evening, he dined with Alan Brooke, Charles Portal, John Dill, Sholto Douglas, and Louis Mountbatten. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | CPC]
• The French Committee of National Liberty decided to release the President of Lebanon and the other arrested ministers. ww2dbase [AC]

• Naka departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Truk | CPC]

21 Nov 1943 Interactive Map

• USS Franklin arrived at Pearl Harbor. ww2dbase [Franklin | CPC]
• Albanian partisan units liberated the capital city of Tirana, Albania. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Whale began her tenth war patrol. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]

• The French 1st Corps captured the city of Belfort in the Vosges region, but the Germans clung so tenaciously to defences beyond the city that it would not be until 25 November 1944 that the French advance could be resumed. ww2dbase [Advance to the Rhine | Belfort, Franche-Comté | AC]

• The Hinzert Concentration Camp administratively became a satellite camp of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Buchenwald Concentration Camp | Hinzert, Trier | CPC]
• U-2501 was assigned to the 8th Submarine Flotilla, which was a training unit. ww2dbase [U-2501 | CPC]

• USS Corregidor ended qualifying carrier pilots while at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Corregidor | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Light carrier Ryuho departed Kure, Japan and arrived at Matsuyama, Japan later on the same day. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS Boarfish transited the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Panama Canal | Boarfish | CPC]

• USS Puffer completed her scheduled overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Puffer | Vallejo, California | CPC]

• Bulgarian troops captured Pristina, Yugoslavia. ww2dbase [Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation | Pristina, Serbia | CPC]

21 Nov 1944 Interactive Map

• All accused at the Trial of the Major War Criminals of the Nuremberg Trials pleaded not guilty. ww2dbase [Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | CPC]
• The Auto Workers Union closed 100 General Motors factories in the United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Otto Skorzeny was transferred to the witness wing at Nuremberg, Germany. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | CPC]

• Lieutenant General Alexander Patch died of pneumonia at Brooke General Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, United States where he had been hospitalized with lung problems. ww2dbase [San Antonio, Texas | AC]

21 Nov 1945 Interactive Map

• The United Nations passed the resolution for Libya's full independence. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The ex-Nashville was commissioned into the Chilean Navy as CL Capitán Prat. ww2dbase [Nashville | DS]

• Commander Thomas Rudden Jr. became the commanding officer of USS Cassin Young. ww2dbase [Cassin Young | CPC]

• Umrao Singh passed away. ww2dbase [Umrao Singh | CPC]

• The Pacific Battleship Center submitted the initial application to the US Navy to acquire battleship Iowa. ww2dbase [Iowa | CPC]