WWII On This Day: November 28

A Matilda tank crew on a pause near Tobruk during the Crusader battles, 28 November 1941. Captain Geoffrey Keating / Imperial War Museums E 6804 · UK Government public domain Source

November 28, 1941 Tobruk and Operation Crusader

Counter-attacks threaten the new corridor

German and Italian counter-attacks against the New Zealand positions began closing the approaches to the Tobruk link. Tanks and infantry sought gaps between the widely separated Allied brigades, while the fortress troops held positions near Ed Duda. A Matilda crew was photographed near Tobruk on 28 November. That dated image records armour serving around the fortress during the fighting, without identifying the exact counter-attack in which any one tank participated.

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Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference, 28 November to 1 December 1943. U.S. Army Signal Corps / Library of Congress · Public domain Source

November 28, 1943 Operation Dragoon

Tehran Keeps a Southern France Landing in the 1944 Plan

At the Tehran Conference, Allied leaders linked the 1944 cross-Channel invasion with a supporting operation from the Mediterranean against southern France. The concept later called ANVIL was intended to bring additional Allied forces onto the Continent and to support the main campaign in northern France. The commitment left the landing date and force allocation open. Landing craft, the Italian campaign and the requirements of OVERLORD repeatedly changed the plan during the first half of 1944, leaving the Mediterranean command to preserve options until enough shipping and divisions could be released.

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LVT-4 Alligator amphibious vehicles pass Terrapin amphibious vehicles near Terneuzen during the Battle of the Scheldt, 13 October 1944. — Department of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada · 13 October 1944 · Public domain in Canada · Source

November 28, 1944 The Battle of the Scheldt

The first convoy berths at Antwerp

On 28 November the first ocean convoy passed through the cleared Scheldt and reached Antwerp. The arrival converted the port captured on 4 September into a functioning Allied supply base close to the front. Antwerp rapidly became one of the principal logistics hubs for the winter campaign. Its opening eased the dependence on the longer supply routes from the Channel and Normandy ports, although wider Allied transport and supply problems continued.

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Infantrymen of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division rest on a slope in the Hürtgen Forest on 18 November 1944. — U.S. Army Signal Corps / National Archives · 18 November 1944 · Public domain · Source

November 28, 1944 · 17:00 Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest

The 121st Infantry captures Hürtgen

The 121st Infantry of the 8th Division captured Hürtgen village after several days of fighting. The regiment took the road centre while German defenders withdrew toward the Brandenberg-Bergstein ridge. The capture opened another route east through the forest. Grosshau and the Brandenberg-Bergstein ridge still controlled observation and movement toward the Roer.

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