WWII On This Day: November 3

British artillery bombardment illuminating the night at the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein, 23 October 1942. — Sergeant Gladstone / IWM E 18465 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums)

November 3, 1942 · 12:00 The Second Battle of El Alamein

Hitler orders Rommel to stand fast

On 3 November Hitler instructed Rommel’s army to hold its positions despite the heavy losses already sustained in the armour and infantry. Rommel had judged that withdrawal offered his best remaining chance of preserving a mobile force. The order narrowed the German–Italian headquarters’ freedom of action while the Eighth Army continued to attack. Panzer formations had limited fuel and ammunition, and many Italian infantry units had insufficient transport to escape quickly if the front broke.

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A German Messerschmitt Bf 110 attacks B-17F Flying Fortresses of the 91st Bomb Group over Europe in January 1944. — U.S. Army Air Forces / National Archives, NAID 204888701 · Public domain in the United States · Source

November 3, 1943 The Combined Bomber Offensive

Harris proposes the Battle of Berlin

Harris told Churchill that Bomber Command could wreck Berlin at a cost of 400 to 500 aircraft and argued that the campaign could break German resistance. The proposal prioritised sustained attack on the capital while the American force was still rebuilding its ability to penetrate deeply by day.

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Child survivors of Auschwitz, wearing adult-size prisoner jackets, stand behind a barbed wire fence. — USHMM

November 3, 1943 The Holocaust: Timeline and Evidence

About 42,000 Jewish forced labourers are shot

SS and police units murdered approximately 42,000 Jewish forced labourers at Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa on 3–4 November 1943 in a coordinated operation known as Aktion Erntefest, or Operation Harvest Festival. The massacre followed the prisoner uprisings at Treblinka and Sobibór and eliminated major concentrations of Jewish forced labourers remaining in the Lublin district. It was the largest single German shooting operation against Jews during the Holocaust.

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Soviet tanks during the Kyiv offensive, November 1943. The file gives the month and campaign, not an exact day. Unknown Soviet photographer · Public domain Source

November 3, 1943 · 08:00 The Dnieper Crossings

The Lyutezh offensive opens

The attack from Lyutezh began on 3 November with a concentrated artillery preparation against German positions north of Kyiv. Soviet infantry widened the penetration and Rybalko's tank army was committed as routes through the bridgehead became available. The German command now faced the attack it had been prepared to meet farther south. Soviet forces drove toward the roads west of Kyiv, threatening the communications needed to hold the city and forcing local withdrawals before a complete encirclement developed.

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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 3, 1944 The Battle of the Scheldt

The batteries are taken one by one

Commandos advancing along Walcheren's western dunes reduced the coastal batteries in sequence while the Flushing force moved toward them from the south-east. The flooded interior limited lateral movement and made each battery position a separate local objective. Zoutelande and nearby positions were taken as the two amphibious forces closed the gap between their beachheads, breaking the coherent defence of the island's western rim.

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November 3, 1944 The Battle of the Scheldt

The Breskens Pocket closes

Operation Switchback ended on 3 November after the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division cleared the remaining German positions in the Breskens Pocket and reached the coastal area toward Knokke and Zeebrugge. The operation removed German artillery and observation from the south bank of the West Scheldt and released Canadian formations after four weeks of fighting across canal lines and flooded polder.

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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 3, 1944 · 15:00 Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest

Schmidt is occupied

The 3rd Battalion, 112th Infantry entered Schmidt against limited resistance. Its arrival was the deepest American penetration yet achieved in the southern forest. No tanks or tank destroyers had crossed the Kall to support it. German reserves were already moving toward the exposed battalion.

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