http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/17.htm
November 17th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
Escort carrier HMS Archer commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Stornoway commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Rosenberg is appointed to head The Reich Ministry for Occupied Eastern territories. This ministry is new and has jurisdiction over the Baltic states and White Russia. The mission is to exploit them for German economic benefit while ridding them of “undesirable elements” such as Jews and Communists. Rosenberg is the Nazi Party “expert” for racial matters.
After a series of arguments with Luftwaffe Field Marshal Erhard Milch, and disgraced by air failures in the east, the former air ace Ernst Udet commits suicide.
GERMANY: U-660 is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FINLAND: In northern Finland, Maj. Gen. Hjalmar Siilasvuo, CO of the III Corps, orders his corps to halt all offensive operations. Siilasvuo’s corps is subordinated to the German 20th Mountain Army, and had been involved in succesful offensive operations, advancing towards Louhi. However, political considerations came to play.
Despite Siilasvuo’s formal subordination to Germans, he always verifies his orders with Mannerheim. Lately the Western Allies had put lot of pressure on Finland not to cut the Murmansk railway. Capturing Louhi would achieve just that. On 6 Nov Mannerheim confidentially told Siilasvuo that it is better Louhi is not captured. Siilasvuo naturally could not let the Germans know the true reasons for calling the advance to halt, thus the decision is justified by stiffening Soviet resistance. (Mikko Härmeinen)
U.S.S.R.: The advance of the German 1st Panzer Group continues near Rostov. General Timoshenko begins a counterattack on the flank of the German column.
EGYPT: German intercept stations report complete radio silence from the British. (Jay Stone)
Early on during their 3rd patrol, U-331 dropped off 8 commandos on the Egyptian coast east of Ras Gibeisa. Their mission was to blow up a railway near the coast, but they did not succeed. (Dave Shirlaw)
CHINA: The Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-Shek, calls for the western democracies to take action against Japan.
JAPAN: Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo said an amicable conclusion of Japan’s negotiations with the United States was by no means impossible. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA:
HMC ML 053 commissioned.
Corvette HMCS Midland commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Ambassador Kurusu told President Roosevelt Germany had not requested Japan to fight. Sections 2, 3, and 6 of the Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed by Public Law 294. Ambassador Grew warned the United States of the inability of the Embassy to warn of Japanese attack.
Congress amends Neutrality Act to allow US merchant ships to be armed. Navy’s Bureau of Navigation directs Navy personnel with Armed Guard training to be assigned for further training before going to Armed Guard Centers for assignment to merchant ships.
Light fleet carrier USS Cowpens laid down.
Minesweepers USS Speed, Steady, Strive and Sustain laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
"Up to this point we had enjoyed tank superiority. But from now on the situation was reversed." he wrote. Also:
[Guderian records, "[I] made a report on this situation, which for us was a new one, and sent it to Army Group. I described in plain terms the marked superiority of the T 34 to our PzKw IV and drew the relevant conclusions as they must affect our future tank production. I concluded by urging that a commission be sent immediately to my sector of the front, and that it consist of representatives of the Army Ordnance Office, the Armaments Ministry, the tank designers, and the firms which built the tanks. ... it could examine the destroyed tanks on the battlefield . . . and be advised by the men who had to use them what should be included in the designs for our new tanks. I also requested the rapid production of a heavy anti-tank gun with sufficient penetrating power to knock out the T 34."
This commission was in fact constituted remarkably quickly, and visited Guderian's headquarters on the 20th November.