November 20, 1942 – News Of The World – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
November 20, 1942 – News for this November 20th in 1942 was hopeful and optimistic. News reached London that a British Military observer confirmed that British and American forces had claimed victories in Tunisia. The German radio had claimed earlier in the morning that the British Army had reached Tabarka, sixty-five miles west of Bizerte on the coast road. If that was true, it would indicate that British troops had crossed the gap between Algiers and Tunis.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern front – an attempt at a breakthrough in Stalingrad caused a stinging defeat for German forces as The Red Army inflicted some 5,000 casualties on the enemy. German infantry and tanks initially broke through the rear of Red Army units in one sector of the Stalingrad factory district, but a Red Army counterattack partly annihilated the two German companies making the advance.
In Europe – German radio claimed German submarines sank eight heavily-laden freighters, one large tanker and two Destroyers out of an allied Convoy in the Atlantic. As in many German claims, the toll didn’t add up and many doubted the German boast. That said, the U-Boat menace was sufficiently alarming so as to cause concern in Parliament and to call for a speed-up in shipbuilding and to increase technological advances in detection.
In the Middle East – from Cairo came word that German units, unable to protect the coast road south of Benghazi withdrew while British armored nits reached the coast about 100 miles south of Benghazi and continued to advance north, past what appeared to be a completely abandoned port. Weather was treacherous, with flooding and cold weather hampering, but not stopping the British advance.
And that’s a small slice of news that went on, this November 20, 1942 as reported by NBC’s News Of The World.
