it retains control of Guadalcanal. British forces capture Derna, Libya. November 18 – WWII: North Atlantic convoy ON 144 is attacked by U-boats, sinking 5 ships. November 19 – WWII: Battle of Stalingrad: Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counter-attacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor. November 20 – WWII: British forces capture Benghazi. November 21 – The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (however, the "highway" is not usable by general vehicles until 1943). November 22 – WWII: Battle of Stalingrad: The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack Operation Uranus, and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram, saying that the German Sixth Army is surrounded. November 23 – WWII A U-boat sinks the off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, Chinese second steward Poon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift, until he is rescued on April 3, 1943. Legislation approves the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve, to help fill jobs and free men to serve during the war effort. They are known as the SPARS ("Semper Paratus, Always Ready!") November 25–26 – WWII: Operation Harling: A British Special Operations Executive team, together with Greek Resistance fighters, blows up the Gorgopotamos viaduct, in the first major sabotage act in occupied continental Europe. November 26 – The movie Casablanca premières at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. November 27 – WWII: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines, to keep them out of Nazi hands. November 28 Cocoanut Grove fire: A fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston, Massachusetts, kills 491. The large-scale German "pacification" of the Zamojszczyzna region of Poland begins. November 29 – The Blue Star Line cargo liner runs aground on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. Crew and passengers survive, following a 26-day overland trek to Windhoek. November 30 – WWII: Battle of Tassafaronga – In a nighttime naval battle as part of the Guadalcanal Campaign, ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy defeat those of the United States Navy. December December 1 – Gasoline rationing begins in the United States. December 2 – Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction