NOVEMBER 21
1918
The Lwów pogrom broke out during the Polish-Ukrainian War that followed the end of World War One. The pogrom lasted from November 21 to 23, 1918. and targeted the Jewish residents of the city; from 50 to 150 Jews were slaughtered, and hundreds more injured. Altogether there were about 340 victims. The perpetrators included Polish soldiers and militia, lawless civilians of various nationalities, and local criminals. Reports indicated that there were also non-Jewish casualties, mainly Ukrainian, and that their fatalities outnumbered those of the Jews. Over a thousand people, including some soldiers, were arrested by Polish authorities during and after the pogrom. The Lwow pogrom made international news, and US President Woodrow Wilson appointed a commission, led by Henry Morgenthau, Sr., to investigate the violence inflicted against the Jewish population in the Poland (The nation had just regained its sovereignty after 123 years of partitions by neighboring empires. The Morgenthau Report was published on October 3, 1919. (Editors note: The famous historian Norman Davies called attention to the use of the word "pogrom" in relation to these events. He wrote that "....one has to wonder whether a massacre in which the majority of victims were Christians can fairly be described as a "pogrom". Davies clarified that two distinct atrocities had occurred; a pogrom of Jews instigated by Polish anti-seminitism; and a military massacre, four times as large, instigated by Polish anti-Ukrainianism.....)
1939
HMS Gipsy Sank: HMS Gipsy was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. After WWII, she was transferred to the British Isles to escort shipping in local waters. Less than a month later she struck a mine outside Harwich and sank with the loss of 30 of her crew. Her wreck was salvaged and slowly scrapped over the course of the war. The Gipsy had escorted the destroyers Griffin, Keith, Boadicea, ORP Burza and ORP Grom (the latter two were Polish destroyers of the Polish Navy), to hunt for U-Boats that might be mine-laying in the North Sea. Just outside the harbour boom she triggered one of the two magnetic mines dropped about 2 hours earlier by two German seaplanes, and, almost broken in half, sank on the edge of the deep-water channel. 31 of her crew, including the captain, Lt-Cdr Crossley, were killed or fatally injured, 115 were rescued by the other destroyers and by harbour launches. The investigation that followed ascertained that harbor defences had been on alert, and had actually seen and plotted both the seaplanes and their mines, however, their reporting was inaccurate. Though the Harwich admiral had told the destroyers to hug the side of the channel opposite to where the mines fell, he did not offer explanations, nor indicate that the ships were in any particular danger. Apart from those on the bridge, Gipsy's crew were unaware of any danger at all, and as a result some had gone to sleep below decks. There was no contingency plan to ready the lifeboats.
1940
German Attacks Intensified. The British War Cabinet reported that during the week the Germans increased the frequency of long range night-bomber sorties more than at any other time during the war. During the night of November 19 to 20, about 500 enemy aircraft were launched, making it the highest number recorded on any night against England. There was a greater frequency of night bombings from November 14 to 20, mostly over Coventry, London, and Birmingham. Civilian casualties for the week ended November 21 were 1,190 killed, 3,738 injured. London suffered 484 killed and 1,080 injured, Coventry, 380 killed and 800 injured; and Birmingham (with West Bromwich), 228 killed and 802 injured in the three raids. The number of unexploded bombs during the week was 801, 363 less than last week. The total remaining for disposal is 2,939, a reduction of 130.
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