NOVEMBER 17
1914
The Battle of Krzywoploty took place on November 17 - 18 , 1914, near the village of Krzywoploty ( which at the time was the Congress Poland, controlled by Russia, and located near the border with Austrian Galicia. Two battalions (440 soldiers) of 1st Regiment of Polish Legions in World War I (part of Austro-Hungarian Army) clashed with the Imperial Russian Army, in an attempt to stop a Russian offensive. Polish battalions were commanded by Captain Mieczyslaw Rys-Trojanowski and Captain Ottokar Brzoza-Brzezina. On November 17, the 4th and 6th Battalions, backed by field artillery, took positions on the hill of Holy Cross, located between Krzywoploty and Bydlin, while Russian troops were located in forests by Domaniewice. The battle was won by the Polish Legions which successfully managed to halt Russian offensives, though Polish casualties were very heavy - 46 KIA and 131 wounded or captured. All those who perished in the battles, the Polish, Austrian, and Russians were buried in a cemetery at Bydlin.
1938
Fascist Italy enacted anti-semitic laws such as Regio Decreto Nr. 1728. It restricted the civil rights of Jews in Italy, banned their books and excluded Jews from public office and higher education. Subsequent laws stripped Jews of their assets, restricted their travel and finally imposed internal exile, as was done to political prisoners. (nb: Conversely, in 1929, Mussolini declared that Italian Jews represented a demographically small yet culturally integral part of Italian society since Ancient Rome. This view was consistent with his early Mediterraneanist viewpoint, in which all Mediterranean cultures, including the Jewish culture, shared a common bond, and that Jews had become "Italians" or natives to Italy after such a long period on the peninsula.) Apparently Mussolini's views on race were contradictory, and fluctuated when politically expedient, that is, when Fascist Italy bowed under the yoke of Nazi Germany.
1942
German submarine U-331 was sunk on November 17, 1942, north of Algiers at coordinates 37°05′N 2°27′E. She was attacked by a Lockheed Hudson bomber of No. 500 Squadron RAF, which caused her forward hatch to be jammed, preventing the sub from diving. She signalled a surrender, and the British destroyer HMS Wilton was ordered to seize the submarine. But an airstrike by three Fairey Albacore torpedo-bombers from 820 Naval Air Squadron escorted by two Grumman Martlet fighters of 893 Naval Air Squadron was launched from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable against the damaged submarine. The Martlets was unaware of any surrender signals, and proceeded to strafe the U-boat. It was finally sunk by a torpedo dropped onto it from one of the Albacores. Casualties were 32 crew killed. The commander and 17 crew survived.
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