British commander in Indonesia E. C. Mansergh ordered Indonesians to surrender their arms by 18:00 or face "all the naval, army and air forces under my command". Sukarno appealed to President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee to intervene.
Former Hungarian Prime Minister László Bárdossy was sentenced to death.
August von Mackensen, age 95, famous German Field Marshal, died, which seems somehow fitting, not only because of his advanced old age, but also because the Germanys he served had effectively died as well.
The Independent Smallholders Party won the Hungarian parliamentary elections.
Contrary to what is commonly assumed, Eastern Europe didn't become Communist instantly upon the Soviet occupation of their territory. Where elections were allowed, often non Communist parties did well. It took some months for the Communists to effect what essentially amounted to coups in most places, with the exceptions being Poland and East Germany, where Communists were immediately installed, and the Baltic States, which were reabsorbed into the Soviet Empire.
The party revived after the fall of Communism, but only holds one seat currently.
Libyan rioters killed 121 Jews. British troops had to fire upon the rioters and arrested over 500.
The Sunday Parade magazine installment to newspapers across the country had a man and woman on the cover, goose hunting. This cover, posted under the fair use exception, shows how widely hunting remained part of the culture before the post war relentless advance of urbanization cut into it.
The man is carrying a Browning Auto 5 or the Remington equivalent of it. The device on the barrel of the shotgun on the right is a Cutts Compensator, which was designed to reduce recoil and in later versions allowed for changeable chokes.
It's noted on Reddit's 80 Years Ago sub that "Dick Winters finally embarks from Marseille to return to America." I wouldn't have regarded that as a "finally" item, really, which I suppose shows my failure to appreciate how rapid demobilization actually was.
Operation Varsity, part of Operation Plunder, saw British, Canadian and American airborne troops drop around Wesel, Germany.
Little remembered, and sometimes criticized, the successful operation remains the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location. Much of the criticism has been based on the operation perhaps being unnecessary, but it's notable that by the end of this day, Montgomery's forces of Operation Plunder, which included American, British and Canadian troops, had established a bridgehead over the Rhine five miles deep.
German troops in Hungary were retreating in disorder.
The Red Army took Spolot on the Baltic coast between Gdynia and Danzig.
Task Force 58 raided Okinawa.
The Allied Chinese New 1st Army links up with the Chinese 50th Division near Hsipaw, bringing the campaign in northern Burma to an end.
Operation Spring Awakening was launched by the Germans. It would be their last major offensive. An Eastern Front offensive, oil reserves were the target.
King Michael of Romania installed Petru Groza as Prime Minister of Romania due to Soviet pressure.
The Soviets began to arrest or kill anyone associated with the Polish Government In Exile or the Polish Home Army.
The famous tank battle in Cologne between a German Panther and a M26 named Eagle 7 took place. It's one of the best known American v. German tank battles of World War Two, and ironically took place in a large urban environment.
The battle was, unusually, completely filmed.
The crew of Eagle 7, after the battle.
"The crew of an M26 Pershing tank, nicknamed "Eagle 7," of the 3rd Armored Division pose for a photo after their famous victorious tank duel against a German Panther tank in Cologne, Germany, March 1945. Commander - Sgt. Robert M. Earley of Fountain, Minn Gunner - Cpl. Clarence E. Smoyer of Lehighton, Pa Loader - Pvt. John S. Deriggi of Scranton, Pa Driver - T/5 William D. McVey of Jackson, Mich Assistant Driver - Pvt. Homer L. Davis of Morehead, Ky.
The Chinese 1st Army took Lashio, Burma.
"The crew of the Ninth U.S. Army Sherman tank who escaped injury though their vehicle was hit by four German 88 shells in action during the capture of Hottorf, near Erkelenz, Germany. L to R: Tec 5 John Helbo, driver, South Plainfield, N.J.; Tec 5 William B. Paff, cannoneer, Morrisville, Pa.; Sgt. Matteo Fortino, tank commander, Bronx, New York; Pfc. Leo V. Digangi, gunner, Jackson Heights, Long Island, N.Y.; and Pfc. Steve Raguseo, assistant driver. 6 March, 1945."
End of the Siege of Bastogne which was an American victory. Beginning of the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army.
Germans forces were forced out of Celles by 30 Corps.
The US 8th Air Force bombs Coblenz, Bonn and Kaiserslautern (nominally railway targets) and the RAF Munchen-Gladbach and Bonn.
Sára Salkaházi, a Hungarian religious sister was executed by the Arrow Cross Party for working to save Jews. She was 45 years old.
The U-877 was sunk northwest of the Azores by Canadian corvette HMCS St. Thomas.
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, announced his retirement from Parliament.
"Men marching through unnamed village outside of Nansin, two natives of the village stand on the porch of their basha and watch the troops of the 1st Bn., 475th Regt. pass by. Sitha, Burma, 27 December, 1944. 1st Battalion, 475th Infantry Regiment, MARS Task Force."
General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, commander of German forces outside of Bastogne, sent a major, a lieutenant and two enlisted men to deliver an ultimatum to US forces. The ultimatum, delivered to 101st artillery commander, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, who was in command, read:
To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.
The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.
If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.
All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.
The German Commander.
McAuliffe read the note, crumpled it up, and muttered, "Aw, nuts" after realizing that the Germans were asking for a U.S. surrender, rather than the other way around. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's response summed up the situation well and reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper, commanding the 327th Glider Infantry, to the German delegation. It stated:
To the German Commander.
NUTS!
The American Commander.
The German commander was confused by the reply, understandably, and asked Harper what it meant. Harper replied; "In plain English? Go to hell." McAuliffe himself never used profanity.
Slowed progress caused Guderian to recommend the German offensive in the Ardennes be halted.
Guderian and McAuliffe's assessment was realistic. While from the outside the American situation appeared desperate, in fact it was not. The German advance had been massively slowed by American resistance, including by relatively inexperienced troops. At Bastogne the Germans now faced two airborne divisions which were used to being surrounded.
President Roosevelt signed the Flood Control Act of 1944.
A new provisional government was formed in Hungary.
The Spanish confiscation (Desamortización española) law, authorizing the government of Spain to steal the property and lands of the Catholic Church, a popular enlightenment and Reformation despoliation that happened in many places, was repealed.
The barbarity had been in place since 1766.
Amongst other things, the law resulted in millions of acres of forest falling into private hands, being deforested, with the cost of reforestation exceeding the value of their sales. The confiscations of the 19th Century were one of the biggest environmental disasters in Iberian history.
The Supreme Court of Hungary confiscated the property of former president Mihály Károlyi for high treason. He had been convicted of negotiating with Italy in 1915 to keep the Italians out of World War One in exchange for Austrian territory, and for allowing a communist revolution to happen in 1919 by deserting his position.
The Great Snowstorm of 1944 set in, impacting northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, upstate New York, southern Ontario and southern Quebec.
Scene from Toronto..
The British 8th Army crossed the Lamone.
The Soviets heavily bombard Budapest.
The US 7th Army entered Haguenau. The Germans unsuccessfully attacked 3d Army bridgeheads over the Saar.
The Germans completed the murder of the inmates of the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre.
British reinforcements reach Athens to combat some 25,000 ELAS troops.
The USS Reid was sunk off of Leyte by a kamikaze.
Kia (기아), then Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業), was founded in Seoul, which of course was occupied as part of the Japanese Empire.
"Three American infantrymen eat K Rations on Thanksgiving day in a dugout somewhere in France.
They will be relieved later and will have Thanksgiving dinner in the evening with their unit. The soldiers are left to right: Sgt. Albert E. Burns, 1308 E. Gilbert Street, Muncie, Ind., Pfc. John K. Smith, Munderstar Route, Brookville PA., and Pvt. Robert H. Seymour, Newark, N.Y. Near Faulquemont, France. 23 November, 1944.80th Infantry Division."
French forces liberated Strasbourg.
US troops liberated the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France. 20,000 people had died there while it was open.
The Canadian cabinet made 16,000 Canadian conscripts, previously not liable for overseas deployment, available for the same.
Soviet troops took Cop, Czechoslovakia and Tokay, Hungary.
The Royal Navy disbanded the British Eastern Fleet. Escort carriers and older ships were formed into the British East Indies Fleet with modern ships detached for service in the British Pacific Fleet.
"A newly captured crossroad carries east and west bound traffic as Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army smashes towards the Rhine. 23 November, 1944. Photographer: Sawyer."
Truman was chosen over prior VP Henry Wallace as Democratic insiders were concerned about Wallace's far left leanings. People have wondered about how far Wallace went in that direction, but The New Republic, which ironically was featured here just yesterday, and for which Wallace was an editor after he was no longer VP, actually stated that he was a Communist in its 75th anniversary issue. He was certainly very far left.
He was also an expert on chickens.
Truman had been a small businessman before entering politics and was the last U.S. President to lack a college degree.
Roosevelt in many ways created much of the modern state which the current Republican Party, once again flirting with isolationism, threatens to tear down under Donald Trump, something that got started with Ronald Reagan.
US fighters strafed a Red Army column near Niš, mistaking it for a German column. Soviet aircraft responded. There were losses on both sides, but what exactly occured is confusing as it remains classified.
The US took Bloody Ridge on Leyte.
The USS Albacore struck a mine off of Hokkaido and was sunk.
SOE operative Hannah Szenes, age 23, was executed in Hungary, which was controlled by Hungarian fascists at the time.
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