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WWII On This Day: November 5

What happened on November 5 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
Shermans of C Squadron, 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, on 5 November 1942 during the pursuit; wartime censorship masks their unit markings.
Shermans of C Squadron, 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, on 5 November 1942 during the pursuit; wartime censorship masks their unit markings. Sergeant Len Chetwyn / IWM E 18972 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums) Source
The Second Battle of El Alamein

Shermans move west in pursuit after the breakthrough

On 5 November Sherman tanks of the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers were photographed during the Eighth Army’s pursuit beyond the El Alamein position. Their movement followed the previous day’s breakthrough. The advance depended on fuel, traffic control and keeping up with a withdrawing enemy. A rapid armoured pursuit offered opportunities to cut off Axis infantry and equipment, but scattered resistance and stretched supply columns continued to slow movement.

Continue in The Second Battle of El Alamein →
Montgomery watches the retreat from his M3 Grant command tank at El Alamein on 5 November 1942.
Montgomery watches the retreat from his M3 Grant command tank at El Alamein on 5 November 1942. Captain Geoffrey Keating / IWM E 18980 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums) Source
The Second Battle of El Alamein

Montgomery watches the German and Italian retreat

An official photograph dated 5 November records Montgomery watching the withdrawal from his Grant command tank. The battle line had broken the previous day and Eighth Army units were moving west through the desert. The British command now had to convert its battlefield gains into a sustained pursuit. Egypt was secure from an immediate Axis offensive, and both sides were looking towards the next supply line and the roads through western Egypt into Libya.

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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 trail is opened to armour

Engineers removed rock, mud and immobilised vehicles from the Kall trail. Tank crews were ordered to clear the route by daybreak even if disabled vehicles had to be pushed down the slope. Five M29 Weasels carried rations and ammunition across first. Nine M10 tank destroyers and six remaining medium tanks followed, giving the Kommerscheidt defenders temporary armoured support.

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