NOVEMBER 12 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

NOVEMBER 12

1938

Nazis ordered Jews to pay exorbitant fines:  In the aftermath of widespread destruction of Jewish property, referred to as Kristallnacht, the Nazi German regime ordered the sum of one billion Reichmarks (approximately $ 400,000,000)  be paid by the Jews for this damage. Furthermore, the Jews were prohibited from filing any insurance claims for damages to their property.  The Nazi Germans arrested 30,000 Jews and deported them to concentration camps where many perished. Any Jewish business that had managed to survive the violence was not permitted to re-open for business under Jewish management, but instead were obliged to have a ‘true’ German take complete charge of operations.

1939

France said that the Belgian and Dutch offer of mediation required Germany to repair "the injustices which force has imposed on Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland" before peace could be discussed. George VI wrote a reply explaining that the "essential conditions upon which we are determined that an honorable peace must be secured have already been plainly stated", but if the Queen of the Netherlands was "able to communicate to me any proposals from Germany of such a character as to afford real prospect" of achieving Britain's aims he would "give them my most earnest consideration."

1944

British Air Force bombers attacked German destroyer Tirpitz:  On November 12, 1944,  during Operation Catechism,  32 Lancasters from British squadrons No. 9 and no. 617 Lancaster bombers loaded with 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs scored two direct hits, and a near miss which caused the ship to capsize. The blasts also ignited a deck fire which spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets causing a powerful explosion.  It tore off the turret roof and part of the rotating structure which were flung 25 m (82 ft) into the air and dropped over into a group of men  swimming to shore, crushing them. Casualties ranged from 950 to 1,204.  There were 200 survivors.  The Tirpitz, named after the German Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.  Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets.  Following a series of modifications, the Tirpitz outclassed and outweighed the Bismarck, reaching 2,000 tonnes. The Tirpitz was the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.