http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/nov42/f07nov42.htm
Secret meeting with General Giraud
Saturday, November 7, 1942 www.onwar.com
French General Giraud [photo at link]
From Gibraltar... French General Giraud is brought from Vichy France, by the British submarine Seraph, for talks with American General Eisenhower. The Allies wish his support to minimize the resistance of locals loyal to Vichy France after the invasion. General Giraud is under the impression that command of the operation will be given to him.
In the Solomon Islands... On Guadalcanal, American Marines, begin attacks to the east toward Koli Point. The Japanese stage landings after dark to the west of American holdings bringing elements of the 38th Infantry Division to shore.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
November 7th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: London: As Britain prepares to ring out the bells for victory, one man’s name is on everyone’s lips. “Monty” is the general who gave El Alamein to a country desperate for success. “Monty” is the hero.
Until now, Bernard Montgomery has been completely unknown to the British public. Today his picture occupies pride of place on every front page. Future war historians may question many of his decisions at Alamein, but few would dare to do so in Britain today. For the first time since the agonies of Dunkirk, Singapore and Tobruk, the country has a winner. Rommel is on the run - thanks to “good old Monty”. Alamein was won by meticulous planning and Montgomery’s insistence on retraining the Eighth Army and ensuring that every man taking part in the battle knew exactly what was expected of him. From the moment that he arrived in Egypt, he was everywhere - planning, bullying, hectoring, cajoling, inspiring his troops and firing any officer whom he regarded as “defensive minded”. He woos his troops with care, wearing at least three regimental badges on his array of hats - although he seems now to have settled for the black beret of the Royal Tank Corps.
The 556 paratroopers of Colonel Edson Raff’s Second Battalion, the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, take off from Cornwall aboard 39 C-47 transports for the American airborne’s first mission. They are destined for French North Africa in the vanguard of Operation Torch. They are setting out on the longest journey for an airborne division that has ever been tried, flying 1600 miles to two airstrips near Oran, Algeria, which they are to seize.
Many of the planes become lost and miss their objective, and when Colonel Raff bails out, he smashes into a large rock, breaking two ribs. He is 35 miles from his destination, the Tafaraoui airstrip. By the time that the paratroopers get there by jeep, it will already have been taken by seaborne troops.
HMC ML 098 and ML 102 commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Zodiac laid down.
Submarine HNLMS Dolfijn commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
U-274 commissioned.
U-277, U-423, U-537 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GIBRALTAR: General Giraud arrives aboard the British submarine Seraph. He is to meet General Eisenhower. Giraud has been chosen by the Allies to minimize French resistance. He believes he will take command of the whole operation. This difference of opinion is unfortunate and while causing much worry on the Allied side, is of little practical consequence.
A major section of Seraph’s conning tower and a couple of its instruments are now a permanent memorial on the grounds of the famous South Carolina Military Academy known as “The Citadel”. It is there because the American officer who led the pickup effort was a graduate of that institution, which ranks with the Virginia Military Institute, Norwich (Connecticut), Texas A and M, and West Point as producers of fine Army officers. The monument is the only place in the United States that permanently flies a White Ensign, which is ceremonially replaced annually by an RN delegation from the British Embassy in Washington DC. (Dave Shirlaw)
EGYPT: Allied troops enter Mersa Matruh, which has been deserted by the Germans.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Battle of Santa Cruz Island. USS Hornet (CV-8) lost and USS Enterprise (CV-6) badly damaged. (Robert K. Wear)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: US troops attack at Koli Point.
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escort USS Flaherty laid down.
Minesweeper USS Revenge launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-159 sank SS La Salle.
U-505 sank SS Ocean Justice.
U-508 sank SS Lindenhall and Nathaniel Hawthorne in Convoy TAG-19.
U-566 sank SS Glenlea in Convoy ON-143.
U-613 sank SS Roxby. (Dave Shirlaw)