World War II Chronicle: November 24, 1941
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Page three reports that some 6,000 (mostly German) soldiers were lost when the Royal Navy attacked an Italian convoy on the night of November 8/9. Although outnumbered and outgunned, two light cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Capt. William Agnew attacked an Italian force consisting of two cruisers and ten destroyers. Radar-equipped British warships decimated their ill-prepared Regia Marina counterparts and slipped away virtually unscathed, having sent all seven of the convoy’s merchant ships to the bottom of the Mediterranean…
Meanwhile Allied convoys are faring much better: the 5th Canadian (Armored) Division successfully crossed the Atlantic and will stay in the United Kingdom for two years before shipping out to Italy. American Army Air Force and Signal Corps technicians also made the trip, as did many American volunteers for the Royal Canadian Air Force…
Sports section begins on page 19. Here is how the top 20 rankings look as the 1941 college football season winds down:
Top-ranked Minnesota closes out their undefeated campaign by beating Wisconsin 41–6 at home. No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 10 Texas face each other on Thanksgiving. Undefeated Southern Conference champion No. 3 Duke hammers N.C. State 55–6 in Raleigh. Southern California traveled to West Bend, Ind. and lost 20-18 to No. 4 Notre Dame. Nearly 85,000 fans packed into Michigan Stadium to watch Big Ten rivals No. 5 Michigan and No. 14 Ohio State play to a 20–20 tie. No. 7 Missouri defeated Kansas in the “Border War” 45-6. No. 8 Fordham beat St. Mary’s at the Polo Grounds 35-7. No. 9 Northwestern shut out Illinois 27-0. Princeton wasn’t much of a challenge for No. 11 Navy, losing 23-0. The Army-Navy Game is coming up this weekend at Philadelphia.
John Glenn, a football player for little-known Muskingum College, has wrapped up his season as the 3-5 Muskies finished in the middle of the pack of the Ohio Athletic Conference. Glenn earned a pilot’s license this year through the Civilian Pilot Training Program. In March he enlists in the Naval aviation cadet program.
Meanwhile, in Japan
On this day in 1941, the Japanese combined fleet sat at anchor in the Kurile Islands, making final preparations for their secret voyage across the Pacific. The strike force would ultimately consist of six aircraft carriers, two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers, eight tankers, 23 submarines, and four midget submarines — the largest assembly of naval power to that point in the history of warfare.
What did 1st Air Fleet bring to Hawaii?
- Carrier Division 1 (CarDiv 1) consisted of Akagi, Adm. Chuichi Nagumo’s flagship, with 18 Type 0 Mitsubishi A6M2 Reisen “Zero” fighters, 27 Type 97 Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” attack planes and 18 Type 99 Aichi D3A1 “Val” dive bombers sitting in its hangar; and Kaga which carried 18 Zeros, 27 Kates, and 27 Vals.
- CarDiv 2: Hiryu and Soryu both carried 21 Zeroes, 18 Kates, and 18 Vals.
- CarDiv 5: Zuikaku and Shokaku both carried 18 Zeroes, 27 Kates, and 27 Vals.
The flattops also had crated airplanes in their hangars which could be assembled if needed.
A Type 21 Zero carried two Type 97 7.7 mm guns and two Type 99 20 mm cannons, plus could drop two 60-kg bombs. Kates could carry an 18-in. Type 91 torpedo or up to 1,100 lbs. of bombs. Vals were armed with one 250-kg. bomb and could also carry two 60-kg. bombs under each wing, and two 7.7 mm guns.
Guarding the carriers were the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, cruisers Tone and Chikuma, the light cruiser Abukuma, desteroyers Isokaze, Urakaze, Tanikaze, Hamakaze, Arare, Kasumi, Kagero, and Shiranui. The fleet shoves off in two days, and will need seven oilers to refuel once they are underway.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), November 24, 1941. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1941-11-24/ed-1/
