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WWII On This Day: November 4

What happened on November 4 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1942 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
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)
The Second Battle of El Alamein

British armour passes through the breaking Axis front

By 4 November British armoured formations had driven through the remaining northern defensive line and moved towards Axis rear communications. The breakthrough left German and Italian infantry units exposed in positions that had been prepared for defence against an eastern attack. Rommel ordered withdrawal as the battle passed into pursuit. Some motorised formations moved west, while large numbers of prisoners, guns and disabled vehicles were left on the field. The breach ended the Axis army’s ability to hold El Alamein.

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The Second Battle of El Alamein

Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma is captured as the defence collapses

General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, who had commanded the Afrika Korps, was captured by British forces during the collapse on 4 November. The command loss came as German and Italian units were attempting to break contact and regroup to the west. Armoured units that retained transport could withdraw; others were unable to move their heavy guns or carry all their men. The rapid deterioration left individual formations escaping or surrendering as the army headquarters struggled to direct withdrawal.

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1944
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
Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest

The German counterattack

German infantry supported by Panzer IVs and Panthers attacked Schmidt. American bazookas could not reliably defeat the tanks at the ranges from which they fired, and the battalion in the town broke back toward Kommerscheidt. A small group of American tanks helped stop a second armoured attack at Kommerscheidt, but Schmidt itself was lost in a few hours.

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