15 November 1941
Russia : German Panzer Armies 2, 3 and 4 with 2, 4, and 9. German Armies, resumed the attack on Moscow, Russia. Soviet 30th Army was pushed back from the Volga Reservoir and Moscow Sea Reservoir areas 75 miles north of Moscow. Across the Eastern Front, the temperature fell to -20 degrees Celsius, freezing both men and machines; the German offensive was generally slowed to a yard-by-yard advance from this date on. Mechanical failures due to extreme cold combined with operational losses in action and collapse of logistical system left only 150 panzers operational in 2nd Panzer Army. Even worse only small proportion of German troops issued winter clothing so far while Red Army Siberian troops equipped with full winter camauflage clothing and gear.
On the battlefront, November 15 saw a complaint by SS General Eicke, now returned from Sachsenhausen to his Death’s Head Division, that within the division’s ranks many of the ethnic Germans—those of German language and culture who lived in areas outside the Germany of 1938—were wounding themselves in order not to have to serve any longer. Incidents of cowardice were common among them, Eicke wrote. But the pressures of battle were impinging even upon German nationals; since entering Russia four-and-a-half months earlier , the division lost 8.995 casaulties , half of its initial strengh.
Libya : The first raid by newly formed SAS (Special Air Service) regiment on Axis airfields around Tobruk ended up with fiasco. SAS tropers were parachuted in by RAF amid a sandstorm. 32 of 55 raiders were either killed and captured and their objectives left intact. Regiment commander Capt. Stirling seeks cooperation with LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) transportation and infltration against enemy objectives next time.
South East Asia : US Army dispatched troops to Dutch Guiana to protect bauxite mines; this was agreed upon by the Dutch government-in-exile.
Hong Kong , China : 2.000 Canadian troops in two battalions arrived to Hong Kong to bolster up its defences
Washington , USA : Japanese diplomatic envoy Saburo Kurusu arrived in the United States.
Barents Sea : German submarine U-752 attempted to attack Soviet minelayer ZM-93 Jushar southeast of Murmansk, Russia at 1700 hours, but escorting minesweeping trawler T-889 forced U-752 to dive. At 1849 hours, U-752 fired a torpedo at T-889, sinking her and killing all 43 aboard
Baltic Sea : German submarine U-583 collided with U-153 and sank 90 miles northeast of Danzig at 2148 hours, killing all 45 aboard.
Mediterranean Sea : Italian SM.79 torpedo bombers sank British freighter Empire Defender of the Operation Astrologer convoy near the Galite Islands off the Tunisian coast, killing 4.