World War II in real time

Day 472 of World War II, December 15th 1940

Italian/Greek Campaign

The Greek 3rd Infantry Division, which took Porto Palermo on the 13th, resumes its advance north toward the key port of Himara. The Italians have regrouped, though, and now are fighting hard. The weather now is the Italians' ally. The Regia Aeronautica also is active against the advancing Greek troops.

North Africa Campaign: Operation Compass

The British 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades continue their whirlwind advance across the desert into Italian Libya as Operation Compass morphs from a planned five-day tank raid into a stunningly effective strategic offensive. The Italians, for their part, want no part of the Tommies and scoot further back along the coast road every day. Today, the British take Sollum and easily defensible Halfaya Pass on the fly, bypassing isolated Italian garrisons in the desert to the south (the actual date when the British take these points varies from source to source, but there is no question they are up for grabs by now). Next up for the British are Sidi Omar and nearby Fort Capuzzo, which the Italians show no sign of wanting to defend either. The unlikelihood of the Italians making a stand at Fort Capuzzo is underlined by the fact that they basically abandoned it earlier in the year when they weren't even under much pressure there.

The Italians, meanwhile, bet all their chips on their stronghold of Bardia, commanded by General Annibale Bergonzoli (known as "Electric Whiskers" due to his once-flaming red beard). The Tenth Army retreat there and reinforce Tobruk, which, aside from being a well-defended fortress, also constitutes a key port which would be much handier for the British than the much smaller one at Sollum. The Italians also bring up three divisions from the interior of Libya and station them on a line between El Mekili and Derna. Since the Italians now have ample warning of an attack and the British are outrunning their supplies, this line has a reasonable chance of holding - but it well inside Libya and 168 km northwest of Tobruk along the most direct route. The British already have Bardia surrounded, trapping the 40,000 Italians inside.

Royal Navy monitor HMS Terror continues giving the Italians headaches. While the British surrounds the port on land, it stands brazenly off Bardia and bombards the Italians there for the entire afternoon.

Not all goes well for the Royal Navy, however. Free French submarine Narval hits a mine off Sfax/Kerkenah, Tunisia and is lost. As is usually the case with such incidents involving submarines, the exact date of this loss is an educated guess because nobody lives to tell the tale in such incidents (54 lost). The loss is only realized when the submarine fails to return to its port of Malta on the 16th.

Air War over Europe

RAF Bomber Command raids Berlin, Frankfurt, and Kiel with 72 aircraft. They also attack Naples. For Naples, it is the second night in a row. As if in a pointed statement to the Italians that "you can run, but you can't hide," the British damage another Italian cruiser in the port of Naples. The raids are notable because the British mistakenly bomb the Basel, Switzerland railway station in an epic navigational error.

The Luftwaffe, after a quiet day, revisits Sheffield, which it originally bombed on December 12th. This raid continues its recent practice of repeatedly bombing medium-sized British towns with full-scale attacks. While only a small group of 16 German Heinkel He 111 bombers arrives soon after darkness, they drop thousands of incendiaries which start massive fires. This creates a target visible to the main force, which arrives overhead a couple of hours later. The Luftwaffe pounds the eastern half of the city for three hours, but most of the bombs miss the city's important factories. The two aerial attacks together kill 750 people and destroy 3000 homes and small businesses. During the night, the Luftwaffe loses five aircraft.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Luftwaffe attacks Portsmouth, "sinking" destroyer HMS Cameron. The Cameron, in dry dock, is blasted onto its side and utterly destroyed in a rare case of a ship being lost for reasons other than actually sinking or grounding. One of the destroyers acquired from the US in the destroyers-for-bases deal, the destruction of the Cameron continues a pattern of hard luck for the newly acquired destroyers.

German E-boats are active along the Great Yarmouth coast, and the come across Convoy FS 360. Two of them, S 25 and S 58, sink 2301 ton British freighter NC Monberg. There are nine deaths.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Britomart collides with fellow minesweeper Seagull, sending the former to the repair yard at Aberdeen for almost a month.

Deep in the Atlantic, German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer transfers its prisoner to supply vessel Nordmark. The British continue fruitlessly to search for the Admiral Scheer around the Canary Islands.

Convoy EN 41 departs from Methil, Convoy SC 16 departs from Halifax, Convoy MW 58 departs from Port Said (Operation Hide), Convoy SL 59 departs from Freetown.

Destroyer HMS Ithuriel and submarine HMS P-32 are launched.

German/Vichy French Relations

The remains of Napoleon II were relocated to the Les Invalides cemetery in Paris, France. Benito Mussolini continued to assert his objection to this friendly gesture by Adolf Hitler to France.

Photo: German soldiers returning remains of Napoleon II, son of Napoleon Bonaparte from Vienna to Paris, 1940



German/Japanese Relations

Two German officers, Baron von Gronau, who was German air attaché at their embassy in Tokyo, and Colonel Johann Jebsen from Canaris’s intelligence staff were sent down to Taranto to find out exactly how the harbor defenses had been penetrated. They surveyed the wreckage at Taranto harbor and forwarded a report to Japan with their recommendations.

British Military

General Harold Alexander is appointed to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command (southwest England, a sensitive area of defense). His temporary rank of lieutenant-general, achieved as a result of a his successful withdrawal of I Corps at Dunkirk, becomes permanent. Alexander achieved renown among the troops by being on the last destroyer leaving Dunkirk on 3 June 1940 - they appreciate little touches like that.

US Military

Headquarter, Eighth Naval District transfers from Charleston, South Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. It is under Acting Commandant Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson, Jr.

Vichy French Government

Relations between Germany and Vichy France, currently under great strain, are not helped when the German ambassador, Abetz, formally requests that Laval be released and reinstated. Petain indeed releases Pierre Laval from house confinement, but does not restore him to his former positions. However, Laval accrues additional prestige due to being seen as the Germans' "man in France." Even though he now is out of office, he is by no means forgotten.

Day 474 of World War II, December 17th 1940

Italian/Greek Campaign

Greek I Corps captures Hormova. The Greek 3rd Infantry Division continues its offensive from Porto Palermo toward Himara. The major objective is to capture the intervening Giami Heights. Once those are in the Greek grip, the Italians likely will start evacuating the port. However, the weather is making all operations difficult, and the Italians have an effective artillery battery on the heights nearby, protected by strings of barbed wire. Further north, a fierce battle rages over the pass at Klisura.

North Africa Campaign: Operation Compass

British capture the coastal village of Sollum and have forced all Italian troops out of Egypt after 7 days of fighting. The unexpected success of this “5 day raid”, including surrounding the major port of Bardia in Libya, persuades General Wavell (Commander in Chief, Middle East) to continue the operation and 6th Australian Division replaces 4th Indian Division which has been sent to defend Sudan. On the same day, the British announced that they had captured 20,000 Italian prisoners, including three generals, in Egypt.

The Royal Navy stands offshore Libya and pounds the Italian positions at Bardia. Monitor HMS Terror, gunboat HMS Ladybird and HMS Aphis, accompanied by HMS Voyager and Vendetta, have little to fear from the disappearing Italians. Among other damage they cause, the British ships sink Italian coasters Giuseppina D. and Vincenzinano in the harbor.

Air War over Europe

RAF Bomber Command sends 50 Whitley and Hampden bombers against the Island of Sylt in the Frisian Island chain off Holland. The Luftwaffe seaplanes based there have been extremely successful in recent months in their attacks against British shipping. The Luftwaffe is very quiet throughout the day and night, but does manage to lose a bomber during one of the few raids.

Battle of the Atlantic

Mines take quite a toll on the British today. The Germans are using multiple types of mines, including contact, magnetic and acoustic, and while there are ways to counter all of them, there simply aren't the resources to sterilize the waters around Great Britain of mines or protect smaller ships. The British Isles rely upon sea trade for survival, and that must go on regardless. So, brave men venture out every day knowing that it may well be their last.

In a horrendous incident, a group of British freighters runs into a minefield between the No.1 and No.2 Sea Reach Buoy off Southend in the Thames Estuary. The ships sunk are:

- Inver (1543 tons, 17 deaths, including the pilot).

- Malrix (703 tons, 7 deaths).

- Beneficent (2944 tons, 6 deaths).

- Aqueity (370 tons, 6 deaths).

- Belvedere (869 tons, 4 deaths).

British 93 ton fishing boat Carry On also is lost to a mine, east of Nore Sand Light Vessel. There are 7 deaths.

British 290 ton boom defense ship Thomas Connolly hits a mine in the Medway Channel off Sheerness. There is one death, and skipper A. Martell RNR is injured.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Acheron (Lt J. R. Wilson) has just finished being repaired from Luftwaffe bomb damage and is near the Isle of Wight undergoing sea trials when it hits a mine off the Needles and sinks. There are 176 deaths deaths and 15 survivors. Among the dead are 22 dockyard workers (only three of them survive), while only 16 crew of the destroyer survive.

Mines also inflict pain on the Germans today. However, the German economy is not nearly so dependent upon seagoing commerce as is Great Britain's (though barge traffic in canals indeed is very important to the German economy). German 9425 ton freighter Paranaguá hits a mine and sinks off Den Helder, Holland.

German cruiser Admiral Scheer, operating deep in the Atlantic, captures 8651 ton British refrigerator ship Duquesa. The Duquesa carries 14 million eggs and 3000 tons of frozen meat. The Admiral Scheer's crew is delighted at this delicious find, which they immediately put to good use. They nickname the ship, which they keep handy, "The Floating Delicatessen" and "Wilhelmshaven South Catering Store." Spoils of war indeed.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages Greek 3050 ton freighter Mentor. The Mentor, however, survives to be sunk another day in the not too distant future.

Finnish freighter Inga collides with another ship (the Silkeborg) in the Kiel Canal and sinks.

U-593 and U-594 are laid down, while U-339 and U-340 are ordered.

Convoy FN 361 departs from Southend, Convoy FN 362 is held back, Convoys FS 362 and FS 363 depart from Methil.

German/Vichy French Relations

The Germans continue to pressure French leader Marshal Petain to restore Pierre Laval to all of his offices, but Petain will not budge. German Ambassador Abetz threatens some kind of retaliation, but Petain holds firm. Matters are not helped by Petain's gratuitous slight of not appearing with Hitler a couple of days ago at the reburial of Napoleon II in Paris. In any event, Petain's dismissal of his vice premier appears to have been motivated more by personal dislike than by larger issues, as his replacement, Pierre Flandin, just continues Laval's policies anyway.

Anglo/US Relations

President Roosevelt held a press conference in Washington DC, United States, revealing the Lend-Lease program to journalists. Famously Roosevelt used the analogy of helping a neighbour whose house was on fire:

"In the present world situation of course there is absolutely no doubt in the mind of a very overwhelming number of Americans that the best immediate defense of the United States is the success of Great Britain in defending itself; and that, therefore, quite aside from our historic and current interest in the survival of democracy, in the world as a whole, it is equally important from a selfish point of view of American defense, that we should do everything to help the British Empire to defend itself… Suppose my neighbor’s home catches fire, and I have a length of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put out his fire. Now, what do I do? I don’t say to him before that operation, “Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15; you have to pay me $15 for it.” What is the transaction that goes on? I don’t want $15—I want my garden hose back after the fire is over. All right. If it goes through the fire all right, intact, without any damage to it, he gives it back to me and thanks me very much for the use of it. But suppose it gets smashed up—holes in it—during the fire; we don’t have to have too much formality about it, but I say to him, “I was glad to lend you that hose; I see I can’t use it any more, it’s all smashed up.” He says, “How many feet of it were there?” I tell him, “There were 150 feet of it.” He says, “All right, I will replace it.” Now, if I get a nice garden hose back, I am in pretty good shape. In other words, if you lend certain munitions and get the munitions back at the end of the war, if they are intact haven’t been hurt—you are all right; if they have been damaged or have deteriorated or have been lost completely, it seems to me you come out pretty well if you have them replaced by the fellow to whom you have lent them".

The Lend Lease Act was not passed until March 1941 and Britain would not start to see the material benefits of it for many months after that. Nevertheless this was a very important signal that Britain would have the ability to keep fighting in the long term.

US Military

Admiral Stark removes Navy War Plan Orange from active status. The Orange Plan, he states, is out of date. Naval planners are in the final stages of creating a new plan, Rainbow Three. This is the final Orange plan, all subsequent war plans are Rainbow plans.

Rear Admiral Ernest J. King becomes Commander Patrol Forces, US Fleet. He will fly his flag on the USS Texas (BB-35).

United Kingdom

British Home Office announced the hanging death of a third German spy. On the same day, a British housewife was sentenced to death for spying.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill instructs a British delegation of military officers who will meet with American counterparts in Washington that they not request American protection of Singapore, Australia, or India. Only minimum force should be used against Japan, with all efforts directed toward the defeat of Germany.

The British government announced a ration increase for Christmas week.

Day 476 of World War II, December 19th 1940

Italian/Greek Campaign

Snow is piled 3 meters high at the higher elevations in Albania, even near the coast. However, while this might normally be thought to aid the defense, in some ways it helps the attacking Greek forces. Italian fixed defenses such as barbed wire are covered by the heavy snow, and the Greeks can just run right over the Italian fortifications. That does not mean that attacking in such circumstances is at all easy, just that the horrendous conditions do bestow a few odd benefits.

Greek I Corps (2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions) continue advancing on Himarë (Himara) along the southern coast of Albania. They capture the Giam height.

The Greek 3/40 Evzone Regiment, under the command of Colonel Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, helps the assault on Himarë. It launches a surprise dawn attack on Italian troops at Mount Mount Mali i Xhorët (Mount Pilur) a little to the east. Their objective is Italian artillery posted the high ground, which guards the entrance to the valley of Shushicë which provides access to the the Italian port.

North Africa Campaign: Operation Compass

The British pursuit of the Italians during Operation Compass basically is at a halt by this point. Australian troops are advancing to take the lead in assaulting the fortress of Tobruk, but they will take a couple of weeks to be ready to attack. The Italians have mustered some tanks outside of Bardia which slow the British down, but they have two divisions trapped there.

The RAF bombs Bardia and Derna. General O'Connor reports that his forces have suffered only 141 killed or missing and 387 wounded during Operation Compass. The British now have literally tens of thousands of prisoners to process and new forward supply bases to set up.

Photo: A Matilda tank in the Western Desert, December 1940.



Battle of the Mediterranean

The Royal Navy fleet movements in support of the convoy to Malta continues. Operations Hide and Seek (Hide is a sortie by Force H to meet battleship HMS Malaya and accompanying vessels coming west from Alexandria, Seek is the related anti-submarine sweep) come off without Italian interference.

River gunboat HMS Aphis continues to bombard Italian positions around Bardia without much interference from the Italian air force. Royal Navy battleships HMS Valiant and Warspite bombard Vlorë, Albania.

German 7563 ton freighter Freienfels and 7605-ton freighter Geierfels hits mines and sink near Livorno.

Air War over Europe

RAF Bomber Command sends 85 bombers against Cologne and targets in the industrial Ruhr River Valley. RAF Coastal Command raids the airfield at Le Touquet and a railway between Oslo and Bergen. The Luftwaffe makes a few small sorties against the Home Counties after dark, losing a bomber but causing some damage in Swindon.

The British War Cabinet is reviewing the efficiency of the air war against Germany and Italy. In a report for their eyes only by the Secretary of State for Air, the conclusion is drawn that, relative to the size of their respective forces, the RAF is causing more damage to Germany than the Luftwaffe is to Great Britain.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-37 (Kptlt. Asmus Nicolai Clausen), on its ninth patrol off Spain and North Africa, torpedoes two French ships, 2785-ton oiler Rhône and the 1379-ton submarine Sfax (Q 182). However, this part of the ocean seven miles north of Cape Juby, Morocco is one of the very few which Axis ships frequent, and they turn out to be Vichy French ships which should not have been attacked. There are 11 deaths on the Rhône and four (out of 69 crew) on the Sfax. Clausen does not enter this "success" on his ship's log (or the U-boat command Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU) later removes it for political reasons), and the only notation for the day is "DJ 9285 - Nothing to see."

Italian submarine Alpino Bagnolini torpedoes and sinks 3360-ton British freighter Amicus about 200 miles west of Ireland. The Amicus was traveling with Convoy SC 15, which recently had dispersed. Everyone on board the Amicus perishes. The Bagnolini is part of a patrol line west of the North Channel, formed along with U-95, U-38 and U-124 and Italian submarine Tazzoli. Some sources place this sinking a week earlier.

Royal Navy destroyers HMS Veteran and Verity collide in Lough Foyle near Londonderry. The Veteran has light damage to her stern which will keep her in port for a few days, but the Verity's damage to her flooded engine room is more serious and will take a few months in drydock at Belfast to repair.

The Luftwaffe (Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors of I,/KG 40) bombs and sinks British 734-ton lightship tender Isolda off Barrels Rock Light Vessel, South Wexford, in St. George's Channel. There are six deaths.

British 57-ton naval trawler HMT Proficient runs aground and is broken up by the waves at Whitby, Yorkshire.

Dutch 400-ton freighter Twee Gebroeders hits a mine and is damaged in the Thames Estuary.

British tanker Arinia hits a mine and sinks in the Thames Estuary off the Nore Lightship. All 60 people on board perish.

Norwegian freighter Erling Skjalgson sinks in heavy seas off Jæren, Rogaland. All six crew survive.

Danish phosphate freighter Jacob Maersk hits a mine off Drogen and sinks off Copenhagen. However, it sinks in shallow water and can be salvaged and repaired. The Maersk shipping companies take a beating during this period of the war.

Norwegian 5043-ton freighter Arosa hits a mine in the Humber but makes it back to port.

Convoy OB 261 departs from Liverpool, Convoys FS 364 and FS 365 depart from Methil, Convoy BS 11 departs from Suez.

Destroyer HMS Legion (G 74, Commander Richard F. Jessel.) is commissioned, and destroyer HMS Blankney is launched.

U-75 and U-111 are commissioned.

Battle of the Pacific

Troop convoy US 8 departs from Wellington. It includes two liners, the Dominion Monarch and Empress of Russia. Its first stop is Sydney, where it will accrue the Queen Mary and lose the Empress of Russia, which will return to Auckland.

The US Secretary of the Navy takes over control of uninhabited Palmyra Atoll, which legally has been under the Navy's jurisdiction since 1934. This is to become the site of the "Palmyra Island Naval Defensive Sea Area," restricted to passage only by ships authorized by the US Secretary of the Navy. The date when the Navy actually arrives is in spring 1941. Palmyra Atoll, incidentally, remains to this day the only incorporated territory in the United States, but it most definitely is American land although almost nobody outside the Navy knows it even exists. It truly is one of the most remote spots on earth and apparently never has been permanently inhabited, whether in ancient or modern times.

Italian/German Relations

The Italian attitude toward German intervention in North Africa has shifted 180 degrees from its position just two months ago. While then the Italians had not wanted any German interference in what they saw as their own national sphere of influence, the Mediterranean basin, today they ask that the Wehrmacht send an armored division and support troops to Libya at the earliest opportunity.

Anglo/US Relations

The British Purchasing Commission places $750 million in war orders. This includes orders for 12,000 aircraft and 60 merchant ships, all to be completed within one year's time. Congress will be consulted about this transaction.

Finland

Kyösti Kallio had submitted his resignation as President on 27 November, effective today, with the intention of retiring to his farm in Nivala. However, he attends the farewell ceremonies, leaves for the train station and, as the marching band is playing a patriotic song while he boards his train, collapses in the arms of his adjutant, Colonel Aladar Paasonen. Kallio is a tragic figure, the man who had to give the order to sign the harsh treaty with the Soviet Union that ended the Winter War and who suffered a devastating stroke over the summer. Kyösti Kallio, dead at 67.

The new President is Risto Ryti.

British Homefront

Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives a speech which receives extensive media coverage around the world. He notes, with classic British understatement:

One cannot say that the Italians have shown high fighting spirit or quality in this battle.... The A.R.P. services, the Home Office, and the Ministry of Health are as much in the front lines as are the armoured columns chasing the Italians about the Libyan desert....

In a long-winded address, Churchill posits that "The Germans reached the culminating point at the end of last year," and he points to the recent bombing of Mannheim - which by now he knows did not hit the strategic targets intended - as inflicting "very heavy blows."

Seems it is a bad link, will remove it.

Day 478 of World War II, December 21st 1940

YouTube (Red Beard’s Ghost Returns - German Invasion Plans)



Italian/Greek Campaign

The Greeks continue pressing on through the snow and winds toward the secondary Italian port of Himarë (Himara). The 3/40 Evzone Regiment under Colonel Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos mounts a bayonet charge up the sides of of Mount Pilur, capturing an Italian battery. They complete the capture of this mountain as well as the Kuç saddle, which opens up the valley of Shushicë.

I Corps, now comprising 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions, continues pressing up the heights that surround the town. The Greeks capture the heights of Tsipista northwest of the town, completing their removal of the Italian artillery. This forces the Italians, who have lost six artillery pieces, a mortar company and other important equipment, to abandon the town during the night.

North Africa Campaign: Operation Compass

The 6th Australian Division moves forward toward Bardia, where it will lead an assault. The Italians are surrounded on the landward side, but they show no signs of surrendering - as they have everywhere else.

Battle of the Mediterranean

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, in Operation MC 2, sends nine Swordfish of RAF No. 815 and 819 Squadrons against an Italian convoy east of the Kerkennah islands. They sink 1926 tonj Peucenta and 6511 ton freighter Norge. The Luigi Rizzo also is hit, but makes it to port. The Italian escort shoots down one of the Swordfish, killing the three crew.

Convoy MG 1 departs Malta bound for Malta, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya and eight destroyers. Several empty merchant ships which have been waiting there for the opportunity finally get away from Malta in this convoy.

Air War over Europe

Luftwaffe bombers struck Liverpool, England overnight. Damage to warehouses and storage sheds at the Docks was serious, with considerable losses of tobacco, cotton and timber. Substantial damage to shipping, two ships being sunk and ten others damaged. Although nine docks suffered various degrees of damage and seventeen berths are out of commission, generally speaking, the working of the Port was not seriously affected. British vessel “Silvio” was sunk. Serious damage was done to food-factories, production being stopped at Spiller’s Flour Mills and Paul Bros. Flour Mills, both at Birkenhead, while Hutehinson’s Flour Mills were also damaged. Altogether 15 hits were registered on the railway system, the cumulative effect of which reacted seriously on the working of the lines, while tranrvray services and road traffic were badly dislocated, particularly in the centre of the city. Corpo Aereo Italiano attacked Harwich overnight with 6 bombers.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-65 (K.Kapt. Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen), having crossed the Equator on the 11th, spots unescorted 8982 ton Panamanian tanker Charles Pratt and sinks it at 16:05. Stockhausen attacks despite neutral flags painted clearly on the sides of the tanker, reasoning that it was "clearly" heading for an enemy port. The survivors spend a few days in lifeboats before being picked up by British freighters Gascony and Langleegorse. There are two deaths and 40 survivors.

Italian submarine Mocenigo attacks Convoy OG 47 in the Atlantic about 250 miles west of Freetown. There is only one escort, HMS Leith. The Mocenigo crew claims to have sunk three ships in the convoy, but the only known loss is 1253 ton Swedish freighter Mangen, which is hit at 21:17 with the second of two torpedoes (the other passes underneath the ship). Once hit, the Mocenigo goes under in three minutes and eight men perish. The Mocenigo later also shells 2473 ton British freighter Sarastone, a straggler from Convoy OG 47, which receives minor damage. The incident is odd because, despite the lack of other known ships lost in the convoy, two more explosions are heard in the dark - presumably other torpedoes that explode after they complete their runs. The survivors are lucky, as the convoy goes into emergency evasions immediately, but the rear ship on the port wing column, the Garm, luckily spots the lifeboats in the dark and picks them up.

The Luftwaffe raids on Liverpool continue to wreak havoc on shipping there. Two vessels are destroyed or sunk: HMS Maplin is set on fire, and 1293 ton British freighter Silvio sinks at the Alexandra Dock (one death). The damaged ships include: 1777 ton British freighter Alpera, 5318 ton freighter City of Corinth, 5251 ton British freighter Demeterton, and 6256 ton Dutch tanker Onoba. Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia has a near miss in dry-dock. Fortunately, when in harbor, most crew seek land shelters, though there are the occasional crew or crewman that refuse to leave the ship - and pay the price.

In the River Mersey, 3071 ton British ferry Innisfallen hits a mine and sinks at the entrance to Canada Dock at Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire. There are four deaths, 216 survivors.

British 118 ton barge TIC.12 hits a mine and sinks. Everybody aboard survives.

Two tugs come to grief in the Thames Estuary. British 88 ton tug River Thames hits a mine and blows up. All the crew but one - the skipper - perish. British 196 ton tug Sun IX hits a mine and sinks between 1 and 2 Buoys, Yantlet Channel. There are three deaths.

German tug Anvers winds up on the rocks in the Chausey islands while ferrying across a barge from the mainland to the Jersey Channel Islands.

The Kriegsmarine lays a minefield, SWa, in the western part of the North Sea.

Convoy OB 262 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 364 departs from Southend, Convoys FS 366 and 367 depart from Methil.

Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare trawler HMS Cotillion is launched, and destroyer HMS Hursley is laid down.

U-651 launched, and U-173 and U-255 laid down.

US/Vichy France Relations

U.S. chargés d'affaires to the Vichy French government Robert D. Murphy and French General Maxime Weygand, Delegate-General to the North African colonies, meet in Dakar, Senegal. The Americans believe that Weygand is a good political alternative to both Marshal Henri Petain and Charles de Gaulle, neither of whom is looked upon with much favor in Washington. This is the beginning of extensive American meddling in murky Gallic politics during the war.

US/Chinese Relations

Claire Chennault, an air advisor to the Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, and T.V. Soong meet with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. They brainstorm how to form fund an American Volunteer Group in China to help fight the Japanese - with whom the US is not at war. This meeting will lead eventually to the famous Flying Tigers.
German occupied Norway

The Justices of the Supreme Court of Norway resign. This is in response to a letter from Reichskommissar for Norway Josef Terboven dismissing the concerns of the Justices. The Justices had written him in November disputing the government's right to hire and fire judges at will - in Norway, judges are elected. Terboven shot back a letter telling the Justices that it "was recommended" for them to mind their own business, and that the German government was not subject to any legal restrictions.

Terboven simply makes clear in his letter that Norway is no longer an independent country and is under military rule. This really does not surprise anyone, but it gives the Norwegian Justices the impetus to make a big decision. The Justices send Terboven a resignation letter which states:

[T]he courts have, under Norwegian constitutional law, a duty to review the validity of laws and regulations.... We cannot conform to the view of judicial power expressed in the Reichskommisar's letter without violating our duties.

(Former) Norwegian Chief Justice Paul Berg becomes a leading figure in the resistance movement after resigning.

German/US Relations

In a quote picked up by press agencies around the world, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman at the Wilhelmstrasse calls President Roosevelt's Lend Lease idea, first floated by him only days before at a press conference, part of a policy of "pinpricks, challenges, insults and moral aggression." Such a policy, he adds, is "insupportable," but everyone knows there is nothing to deter the United States from doing everything it wants to do to support England, short of an outright German declaration of war.

Battle of the Pacific

German raiders Orion and Komet have been lurking in the vicinity of Nauru, a key source of phosphate, since 8 December. They don't want the phosphate - which is important for agricultural purposes - but rather to destroy the facilities there so that nobody else can. So far, they have sunk a few ships in the vicinity, but with no success actually attacking the facilities due mainly to poor weather.

Today, the two raiders journey to nearby Emirau and release prisoners from some of the ships they have seized. They disembark 343 Europeans and 171 Chinese and South Pacific natives. Emirau is inhabited by two European families, but they do not have a radio. Instead, they send a canoe to Kavieng in New Ireland so that the Australian government can take their new guests off their hands. The Orion keeps 150 prisoners because its captain reasons that the British need the sailors as badly as ships.

After depositing their prisoners on the island, Orion sails to Lamutrik and then Maug in the Mariana Islands for an engine overhaul. Supply ship Kulmerland, which has been tagging along to house some of the prisoners, heads off to re-supply at Japan. Komet remains in the vicinity, continuing to plot ways to disrupt Nauru's phosphate trade, which is virtually the only worthwhile Allied target for it in the Pacific Ocean region aside from shipping.

Swiss/Soviet Relations

The Swiss government severs diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union.

US Military

Captain Richmond Kelly Turner, director of war plans for the US Navy, completes WPL-44 (Navy Rainbow Three). This plan for the first time institutes a "Germany first" policy within the US military, relegating the Pacific theater to a defensive posture should the US find itself at war with both Germany and Japan. Essentially, US naval forces would adopt a defensive posture in case of aggression by the Japanese and shift resources to the Atlantic.

The army hates this plan, partly because this was purely a naval staff planning exercise and they were not consulted - and never, ever discount the importance of inter-service rivalries. However, the army generals do have some grounds for objecting. Recall that the US Army still controls the air force (the US Army Air Corps), so it does have ways (in theory) of taking the war to Japan immediately from bases in the Philippines and Guam. However, Naval Secretary Knox approves the plan - and it is difficult to believe that Rainbow 3 was not at least in concept all or partly his idea in the first place. Some feel in 1940 and afterwards that the US would be quite capable of offensive action against Japan upon the outbreak of war. This theory will be put to the test in almost exactly one year as if it were a laboratory experiment. A definitive answer will result.

Rainbow 3 is an interim plan, and planners from both the army and navy immediately begin working together on a new plan that will become Rainbow 5 in the spring of 1941. Somewhat ironically, it is the US Navy that later will raise Winston Churchill's ire by prioritizing the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Separately, the US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion completes its move to Pago Pago, Tutuila, American Samoa.