Friday, November 11, 2011

Day 804 November 12, 1941

Operation Typhoon. Overnight, temperatures around Moscow fall to -15C (5F). Impassable mud freezes enough to allow movement of trucks and tracked vehicles. German Army Group Centre prepares to drive 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies in a massive armored punch North of Moscow while Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Army comes from the South. Soviet General Zhukov has rebuilt the Western Front to defend Moscow, gaining 22 new rifle divisions, 14 cavalry divisions, 11 ski battalions and some armor (often straight from the factory).

Black Sea. Soviet submarine S-34 is lost off the Bulgarian coast near Cape Emine, presumably to a mine (all 51 hands lost). At Sevastopol, German Stuka dive-bombers from StG 77 hit Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina with 3 bombs. Chervona Ukraina is badly damaged and sinks next day but her guns will be salvaged and used on land in the defense of the city. Destroyers Sovershenny and Besposhchadny are bombed in the Navy Yard while under repair from damage sustained in September, Sovershenny capsizes and Besposhchadny will be towed to Poti in the Caucasus on November 17 by destroyer Shaumyan for repairs.

Operation Perpetual. 37 Hurricane fighters fly to Malta from British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Argus.

Finns lay mines in the Gulf of Finland to prevent evacuation of Soviet troops from the Hango Peninsula.

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