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WWII On This Day: November 24

What happened on November 24 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1940, 1942 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
A formation of Heinkel He 111s in the Battle of Britain
Imperial War Museums, MH6547 · Public domain · Source
The Battle of Britain

Dowding leaves Fighter Command

Dowding relinquished command of Fighter Command in November and was succeeded by Sholto Douglas. The change followed months of argument over night defence, command relationships and the tactical dispute associated with the Big Wing. Keith Park would also leave 11 Group before the end of the year. Their removal was not a verdict that the system used during the battle had failed; it reflected institutional politics, differing views of future air defence and the Air Ministry's desire to reorganise the command after the immediate crisis. The postwar memory of the…

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1942
Red Army soldiers carrying a Soviet flag through the ruins of Stalingrad in 1943.
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R76619 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Stalingrad

Hitler orders Sixth Army to hold the pocket

Hitler rejected an immediate evacuation of Stalingrad and ordered Sixth Army to establish an all-round defensive position while retaining the city. The decision assumed that the pocket could be sustained by air until relief forces restored a ground connection. Luftwaffe leaders were being asked to support a daily requirement on a scale far beyond routine transport operations. Front-line air commanders warned that aircraft numbers, weather, airfield capacity and distance made sustained delivery at the required level unrealistic. The army nevertheless began reorganising around the order to hold. Every day spent…

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1944
Brigadier General Haywood Hansell points to a map of Tokyo during a XXI Bomber Command briefing in November 1944.
Brigadier General Haywood Hansell points to a map of Tokyo during a XXI Bomber Command briefing in November 1944. XXI Bomber Command / U.S. Army Air Forces · Public domain Source
The Bombing of Cities

High-altitude precision fails

On 24 November 1944 B-29s operating from the newly captured Marianas attacked the Musashino aircraft-engine works near Tokyo. The raid represented the American preference for high-altitude daylight attack on a defined industrial objective. Operations from the Marianas encountered severe winds at altitude, cloud, navigation errors and mechanical problems. Bombing accuracy against individual factories remained inconsistent, while the B-29 force was still learning how to sustain very-long-range missions from newly built island bases. The poor results did not mean that precision bombing was abandoned at once. It created the operational problem…

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