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WWII On This Day: November 6

What happened on November 6 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1943
Civilians returning to liberated Kyiv on 7 November 1943, one day after Soviet forces entered the city.
Civilians returning to liberated Kyiv on 7 November 1943, one day after Soviet forces entered the city. Pavel Troshkin · Public domain Source
The Dnieper Crossings

Soviet forces enter Kyiv

Soviet troops entered Kyiv on 6 November after German units withdrew west and south under pressure from the Lyutezh breakthrough. The capture secured a major bridgehead west of the Dnieper and a road-and-rail centre from which further operations into right-bank Ukraine could be mounted. The city had endured more than two years of occupation, mass murder, forced labour, deportation and destruction. Babyn Yar had been one of the principal killing sites: more than 33,000 Jews were murdered there on 29–30 September 1941, followed by further killings of Jews, Roma, Soviet…

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1944
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
The Battle of the Scheldt

Middelburg and the German headquarters surrender

Troops of the 7th/9th Royal Scots crossed flooded Walcheren in amphibious vehicles and entered Middelburg on 6 November. Generalleutnant Wilhelm Daser, commander of the 70th Infantry Division, surrendered the garrison headquarters and roughly 2,000 troops. The surrender removed the principal German command centre on the island while fighting continued against isolated positions in the north and east.

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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
Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest

Two crises at once

By midday only six American tanks and three of the original nine M10s remained operational east of the Kall. Colonel Peterson cancelled a proposed attempt to retake Schmidt and ordered a defence in depth north of Kommerscheidt. At Vossenack, sustained artillery fire and a German ground attack caused part of the ridge defence to collapse. A mistaken message simultaneously recalled Peterson to division headquarters; he was wounded twice while crossing the gorge.

Continue in Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest →