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WWII On This Day: November 9

What happened on November 9 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1941, 1942 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1941
Bombs falling around Grand Harbour during an Italian air raid over Malta, 19 June 1941.
Central Archives of the State, Italy · photographer unknown · public domain in Italy
Malta: Air Siege and Convoy War

Force K strikes the Duisburg convoy

Force K sailed from Malta to intercept the Axis Beta convoy, usually known by the name of the merchant ship Duisburg. The British cruisers Aurora and Penelope with the destroyers Lance and Lively attacked at night and destroyed the convoy's merchant ships along with the Italian destroyer Fulmine while suffering little damage in the action. The result mattered because the cargo was moving to the Axis armies in Libya at a moment when their supply system was already stretched. Malta now supported submarines, aircraft and a surface striking force against…

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1942
A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

13th Panzer breaks out of Gizel

Soviet counterattacks closed against the Gizel salient during the first week of November and threatened to isolate the German armour east of its supporting formations. On 9 November 13th Panzer Division broke out westward. The withdrawal ended the Nalchik operation and the last serious 1942 attempt to force the approaches to Ordzhonikidze and the Ossetian Military Road. The campaign in the Caucasus did not immediately end; Army Group A still held a vast area and continued fighting. What ended was the remaining prospect of converting the summer advance into access…

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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

The minesweeping begins

Royal Navy minesweepers began the systematic clearance of the Scheldt after the coastal guns had been silenced. Minefields, wrecks and navigational hazards still barred merchant shipping from the eighty-kilometre channel to Antwerp. The work required multiple minesweeping flotillas and continued for almost three weeks. The port could receive no ocean convoy until a safe channel had been swept, marked and maintained.

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