Wednesday 11 December 1940

"Only one very badly damaged house still stands amidst the huge piles of timber and rubble following an air raid on Queen's Road, Aston, Birmingham. This site was damaged during the longest raid sustained by Birmingham, lasting 13 hours, which occurred on 11 December 1940. A few other houses can be seen in the background: all are without a roof." © IWM (D 4130).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Outside Sidi Barrani - held by the British on 11 December 1940 - the English Army goes to work reducing the remaining pockets of Italian troops. Selby Force attacks the 1st Libyan Division Sibelle and forces it to surrender. Their surrender uncovers the 4th Blackshirt Division 3 Gennaio, which also surrenders. The British bring 7th Armoured Brigade forward to relieve 4th Armoured Brigade near Buq Buq on the western sector of the front - 4th Armoured is being pulled out of the line and sent south after it completes its current operations.

The Italians, meanwhile, are either surrendering or running. Italian 63rd Division Cirene abandons Rabia and Sofafi and they run so fast - literally, in many cases - that British 4th Armoured Brigade is too late to cut them off. Retreating down the coast road, the Italians build up their position at Halfaya, the critical defensive position further west. Today the Italians have suffered 2184 killed, 2287 wounded and 38,000 taken prisoner. Usually, such a high ratio of KIA to wounded suggests that a military force is fighting hard, but in essence, all the Italians who weren't killed outright in the first British assault and could still walk have bugged out immediately to the West. Overall, 15,000 Italians have surrendered during Operation Compass - though the British aren't stopping to count. There are "5 acres of officers and 200 acres of other ranks," as put by a Coldstream Guards officer.

The Royal Navy has large forces approaching from both the east and west, but, given the outcome of Operation Compass so far, their presence would be purely superfluous. Monitor Terror and two gunboats shell the retreating Italians in the Sollum area overnight, later joined by British battleships HMS Barham and Valiant. Royal Navy submarine HMS Truant damages Italian torpedo boat Alcione off the Libyan coast, but it escapes.

The Royal Air Force has command of the air in North Africa - and during World War II this almost invariably is a tell as to who is winning. Flight Officer C.H. Dyson, flying a Hurricane in RAF No. 33 Squadron, has no difficulty with the biplanes the Italians are flying. He shoots down a record seven Italian fighters in one sortie before being shot down himself. He is uninjured, an ace-and-a-half (almost) in one day. Elsewhere, though, the news is not quite so good for the RAF, as two Swordfish of RAF No. 810 Squadron flying off HMS Ark Royal collide off Europa Point, with three deaths.

Fleet Street has great fun with the Italian collapse in Egypt. By Strube, The Daily Express, December 11, 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: While the Greeks are still making progress in Albania, the weather is horrible and there aren't any towns to mark their progress. Greek Commander-in-chief Papagos knows that the real prize is Valona, the key Italian supply port, and without that, the Italian ability to strike back after it builds up reinforcements and supplies remains intact. Valona, however, remains well-defended by the Greeks, who, by and large, have occupied a lot of worthless mountain goat territory and only a few significant towns. The Greeks are approaching Himara on the left of the line.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe sends a major effort against Birmingham after dark. Dropping 277 tons of high explosives and 685 incendiaries, 278 bombers destroy 6 churches, 11 schools and hundreds of homes.

RAF Bomber Command concentrates on power stations and communications junctions in western Germany and the usual Channel ports. The main target is Mannheim, with 42 bombers attacking.

Battle of the Atlantic: The other shoe drops in the Caribbean when 6049-ton German freighter Rhein, the second ship (with the Idarwald, already sunk) to make a jailbreak from Tampico, Mexico to Occupied France. Dutch warship Van Kinsbergen alerted to the situation by US destroyers Simpson and MacLeish shadowing the Rhein as part of the Neutrality Patrol, intercepts the Rhein near the Dry Tortugas (off Key West). Just like the crew of the Idarwald, Rhein's crew sets fire to the ship and attempts to scuttle it. After taking the German crew prisoner, the destroyer HMS Caradoc sinks the flaming wreck with gunfire as destroyers USS MacLeish and McCormick watch. The Rhein now is a popular dive wreck for experienced divers. Incidentally, Adolf Hitler mentions this sinking - along with that of the Idarwald - in his declaration of war upon the United States on 11 December 1941 - exactly one year from today.

U-94 (Kptlt. Herbert Kuppisch), on its first patrol out of Kiel (heading for Lorient), torpedoes and sinks 5306-ton freighter Empire Statesman in the shipping lanes west of Ireland. All 32 onboard ultimately perish in the frigid seas. The Empire Statesman is a straggler from Convoy SLS 56 due to engine issues - convoys don't slow down to help those who can't keep up.

U-96 (Kplt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock), also on its first war patrol out of Kiel, stumbles upon scattered Convoy HX 92. First, at 15:12, it torpedoes and sinks 10,890 British passenger ship Rotorua, the ship carrying the convoy commodore (Rear Admiral J. U. P. Fitzgerald Rtd), who perishes. There are 23 deaths, but most of the passengers survive. U-96 picks up a couple of survivors and takes them as prisoners. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Mashona later picks up the other 108 survivors.

Next, U-96 torpedoes 5419-ton Dutch freighter Towa from the same Convoy HX 92. However, this ship takes its time sinking, so the U-boat puts a second torpedo into it at 21:30. Somehow, this also does not sink the freighter, so the U-boat surfaces and begins shelling it. This induces the 37 crewmen to abandon ship, and the freighter finally sinks at 22:42. There are only 19 survivors after one of the lifeboats capsizes in the rough seas. The Towa was carrying 7778 tons of grain and 48 trucks.

U-96 also attempts to torpedo 8,237-ton freighter Cardita, but misses. There are still plenty of targets on the horizon for U-96 as the day ends.

U-65 (Kptlt. Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen), on an extended three-month cruise, crosses the Equator. It is the first U-boat to do so.

British 208 ton British trawler Robinia hits a British-laid mine in the North Sea. Everybody survives.

The Luftwaffe attacks shipping in the Thames Estuary and damages 482-ton British freighter Saxon Queen and 1130 ton Swedish freighter Tor.

British battleship King George V, the first of a new class of battleships, finishes her sea trials and joins the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. The days of the battleship may be waning, but King George V is a handy ship to add to the fleet. However, while it won't be discovered for a while, there are issues with her main guns that still require attention.

Convoy OB 257 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 357 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 359 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 10A departs from Port Sudan.

U-147 (Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen) commissioned.

U-172 laid down.

Destroyer HMAS Napier commissioned. It heads to Scapa Flow for trials.

"Image: a view of the Royal Navy battleship HMS King George V at sea, with a destroyer also visible on the water." December 1940. War Artists Advisory Committee commission artist Muirhead Bone. © IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1366).

Anglo/US Relations: The British have been remarkably composed about requesting aid from the US to date - especially compared to the French in May and June. Today British Ambassador to the US Lord Lothian states that:

But with your help in airplanes, munitions, in ships and on the sea, and in the field of finance now being discussed between your Treasury and ours, we are sure of victory.

He further warns that the British Isles and other island chains such as the Azores are essential to the US strategic defense because,  if they are lost, "your power to strike back at an enemy disappears because you have no bases from which to do so."

Typical street scene, Nameoke Street, Far Rockaway Boulevard, New York City. The street still has cobblestone, which was quite common in New York around this time, but most of it since has been paved over. December 11, 1940 (Baumwoll Archives, New York Public Library).

British Military: Air Marshal A. W. Tedder is appointed Deputy to Air Officer Commander-In-Chief, Middle East. He replaces Air Vice-Marshal O.T. Boyd, captured on Sicily recently after his plane made a forced landing there on a trip to Malta.

Romania: Romania agrees to export three million tons of oil to Germany during 1941. That would be double what it has exported in 1940, but the Wehrmacht war machine is exceedingly thirsty. Romania is virtually Germany's only oil source, and this fact informs many of Hitler's strategic decisions.

Future  History: Donna Jean Miller is born in Chicago, Illinois. Donna graduates early from high school and goes off to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but the dancing bug bites and she leaves school to perform in summer stock productions. Her big break comes when she lands a spot in a touring production of My Fair Lady, which brings her to New York. Adopting the stage name of Donna Mills, she gets another big break by landing a six-month role on ABC-TV soap opera The Secret Storm in 1966, then appears the following year in "The Incident" with Martin Sheen (born 3 August 1940), Beau Bridges and Ed McMahon. More soap and stage work follows, followed by guest appearance son numerous '70s television shows. Donna Mills comes to national attention when she is cast as Abby Cunningham, a prime-time soap that runs throughout the '80s. Donna remains active in soap operas and occasional film work, winning Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series for her performance in General Hospital, in a three-way tie with Fred Willard and Ray Wise in 2015.

M/S Rhein WWII Wreck from Anton Kozhevnikov on Vimeo.
December 1940

December 1, 1940: Wiking Division Forms
December 2, 1940: Convoy HX 90 Destruction
December 3, 1940: Greeks Advancing
December 4, 1940: Italian Command Shakeup
December 5, 1940: Thor Strikes Hard
December 6, 1940: Hitler's Cousin Gassed
December 7, 1940: Storms At Sea
December 8, 1940: Freighter Idarwald Seized
December 9, 1940: Operation Compass Begins
December 10, 1940: Operation Attila Planned
December 11, 1940: Rhein Wrecked
December 12, 1940: Operation Fritz
December 13, 1940: Operation Marita Planned
December 14, 1940: Plutonium Discovered
December 15, 1940: Napoleon II Returns
December 16, 1940: Operation Abigail Rachel
December 17, 1940: Garden Hoses and War
December 18, 1940: Barbarossa Directive
December 19, 1940: Risto Ryti Takes Over
December 20, 1940: Liverpool Blitz, Captain America
December 21, 1940: Moral Aggression
December 22, 1940: Manchester Blitz
December 23, 1940: Hitler at Cap Gris Nez
December 24, 1940: Hitler at Abbeville
December 25, 1940: Hipper's Great Escape
December 26, 1940: Scheer's Happy Rendezvous
December 27, 1940: Komet Shells Nauru
December 28, 1940: Sorge Spills
December 29, 1940: Arsenal of Democracy
December 30, 1940: London Devastated
December 31 1940: Roosevelt's Decent Proposal

2020

Wednesday 20 November 1940

Signed wartime photograph of Winston Churchill by Cecil Beaton. The photograph was taken by Beaton in Churchill's cabinet at 10 Downing Street on November 20, 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The battle for the summit of Morava continues on 20 November 1940. The Italians are holding on fiercely because the mountains control the key valleys below that lead toward the coast. The Greek Group under Lieutenant-General Georgios Kosmas, however, is tenacious and has the benefit of local knowledge of the mountains.

Elsewhere, the Greek Liuba Detachment attacks across the Kalamas River in the Thesprotia sector, the Greek 8th Infantry Division takes Vissani in the Kalamas sector, and the Greek 2nd Infantry Division advances in the direction of Aidonochori and Drymades in Negrades sector.

This is a Radio Orphan Annie ID bracelet. Below is the reverse.

These bracelets were a promotional item distributed by Ovaltine for the radio Orphan Annie show's November 20, 1940 broadcast. The initial on front corresponded to the first letter of the listener’s name, and the serial number on the reverse was filed with the Orphan Annie Identification Bureau. It is unclear where all that ID information ever went, somebody probably still keeps it somewhere.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe (I,/KG 55) bombs Birmingham for the second night in a row. The 116 bombers add another 132 tons of high explosives and 296 incendiary bombs. The Germans lose one bomber. The Luftwaffe does little during the day, and the short daylight hours make such missions unnecessary anyway.

The Corpo Aereo Italiano chips in by sending a dozen bombers against Harwich again during the night. It is unclear why the Italians always attack Harwich, perhaps because it is easy to find from the air and they do not have the sophisticated guidance beams used by the Luftwaffe bombers.

RAF Bomber Command raids Duisburg with 43 aircraft, and U-boat base Lorient with 8 bombers, overnight.

Oberleutnant Josef "Pips" Priller" joins 6,/JG 26 as Staffelkapitän of 1st Staffel.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering lifts a ban which he had placed on Stab,/JG 53 (headquarters unit) regarding its unit emblem. The pilots and ground crew were never happy with this slight. JG 53 is the "Pik As" (Ace of Spades) squadron, and Goering had ordered the emblems removed because the wife of Geschwaderkommodore Major Hans-Jürgen von Cramon-Taubadel was Jewish. The Geschwader picks up its 500th victory of the war shortly after the ban is lifted.

JG 53 is one of the Luftwaffe's elite fighter units, home to top aces Werner Mölders and Hans Karl Meyer. Such formations have a certain leeway within the Wehrmacht available to almost nobody else because they are highly skilled and irreplaceable personnel. The men of the unit have been removing the Swastikas from the tails of their planes as a form of silent protest about the Goering decision about Cramon-Taubadel's wife. Very few open acts of defiance against the German leadership occur during the war, especially successful ones, so this is worthy of note. The initiative for the change appears to have been a new Kommodore, Major Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn, whose wife was not Jewish (in fact, it is unclear if he ever married).

Noel Coward arrives in Brisbane as part of a 7-week tour to raise money for the International Red Cross. His day will be full: a radio broadcast, a sherry party and then a military concert. This photo was in The Telegraph, 20 November 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: German coaster Snorre I hits a mine and sinks off Kjøkkelvik, Hordaland, Norway.

The Supermarine Walrus amphibious biplane from Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Manchester capsizes and sinks at Sullom Voe, Shetland, Scotland.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 8955-ton British tanker Chesapeake off the Lizard.

Convoy OB 246 departs from Liverpool, Convoy OB 247 is held in the port, Convoy FN 338 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 340 departs from Methil, Convoy HG 47 departs from Gibraltar (30 ships).

The Kriegsmarine begins converting cruiser liner Wilhelm Gustloff, which has been acting as a hospital ship, into a floating barracks at Gotenhafen (Gdynia). The ship will retain its engines and be capable of troop transport as the need arises.

The Kriegsmarine commissions captured Norwegian submarines B-5 and B-6 as training U-boats UC-1 and UC-2.

"Gloster Sea Gladiator Mark I, N5520, on the ground at an airfield in Malta, probably while being flown by No. 261 Squadron RAF at Ta Kali. The aircraft has been refitted with a Bristol Mercury engine and three-bladed Hamilton propeller salvaged from a Bristol Blenheim. N5520 is the only surviving Gladiator of the Malta-based Fighter Flight, and was presented to the people of Malta as "Faith" in 1943." © IWM (ZZZ 3915E).

Battle of the Mediterranean: As part of the RAF shakeup that has removed Air Marshal Dowding from his position, Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd (formerly Air Officer Commanding, Balloon Command, and only recently promoted to Air Marshal) has been appointed Deputy to the Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Middle East Command. To take up that post in Cairo, Boyd flies in a Blenheim bomber across the Mediterranean en route to refueling point Malta. This is a more-or-less normal route, but Boyd's bomber goes far off course. It winds up far to the north over Sicily. Italian fighters scramble and force it to land in a field, where Boyd and six others are taken as prisoners.

Boyd's loss, while most unfortunate, is not what really worries the uppermost echelons of the British government; it is what he knows that causes concern. Boyd is carrying confidential papers, which he destroys by setting alight the downed bomber; and he also knows about the Top Secret Ultra project. Boyd, to his credit, does not reveal what he knows about that potentially war-winning decoding operation, and the Italians and Germans, of course, have no idea that he is hiding such information. Boyd spends his captivity in the Castle Vincigliata (Castello di Vincigliata) camp near Florence, Italy.

This is a puzzling incident that may tie in with the loss of the 8 Hawker Hurricane fighters flying to Malta on the 18th. While it is unproven why the plane wound up over Sicily, some accounts state that the bomber was short of fuel. That is the same reason the fighters failed to make land at Malta. Boyd, incidentally, escapes from Axis control in December 1943 and finally takes up his command - three years late.

Elsewhere, RAF aircraft bomb and sink 57-ton Italian coastal freighter Ardita III off Assab, Italian Somaliland.

Italian torpedo boat Confienza collides with 2321 ton AMC Capitano A. Cecci off Brindisi, Italy, and sinks.

Royal Navy cruiser HMS York continues its delivery service in the eastern Mediterranean, dropping off its shipment of anti-aircraft artillery at Piraeus before heading back to Alexandria for another cargo.

In Malta, the issue of troop morale is a major concern. Mail deliveries have not improved. Accordingly, the island command grants all ranks the opportunity to send one private telegram per month to the United Kingdom. There are strict limitations placed on the content of such messages, which are only to relate to matters of importance (which do not include terms of endearment).

RAF No. 261 Squadron departs from Luqa and takes up operations at RAF Station Takali, or Ta'Qali (Maltese), on Malta. Wing Commander J R O'Sullivan is in command of the squadron of fighters.

"High oblique aerial view of Ta Kali airfield, Malta, taken at 5,000 feet from the south-east." © IWM ((MOW) H 18-5).

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin, operating in the Indian Ocean a thousand kilometers west of Australia, is heading southward when it spots smoke is on the horizon from a large westbound freighter. The crew of the Pinguin launches its seaplane, which buzzes the ship and drops a message instructing it to stop and maintain radio silence. The freighter gets off a distress call anyway before the seaplane can disable the wireless. The freighter then shoots down the seaplane, which the crew of the freighter chooses to ignore while trying to escape from the fast-approaching Pinguin.

The Pinguin has a hard time catching up with the freighter. Finally, after a long chase, and after two long-range (22 km) salvos from the German ship, the freighter heaves to and waits for the Pinguin. It turns out upon inspection to be British refrigeration ship Maimoa, en route from Fremantle to Durban. After taking what it needs from the ship (which is full of meat and dairy products), the Pinguin sinks the freighter and takes its 87 crew prisoner. The downed seaplane crew, meanwhile, has to wait until the next morning to be picked up with their damaged plane.

The distress call from the Maimoa reaches Royal Navy officers in Fremantle. They immediately dispatch heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra to the ship's reported position. While the ships have moved on from there during the chase, the downed seaplane is still at that position.

Separately, 223 ton Royal Australian Navy auxiliary minesweeper/trawler HMAS Goorangai (D. McGregor, RANVR) collides with 10,346-ton British passenger MV Duntroon as it is exiting Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. The warship, which is blacked-out, sinks. It is the Royal Australian Navy's first loss of the war. All 24 aboard the Goorangai perish. The Duntroon tries to pick up any survivors, but only finds six bodies. The Duntroon returns to Melbourne for bow repairs which last until 18 December. A court of inquiry finds no fault on the part of the skipper of the Duntroon.

An ad in the Vancouver Sun for "The Great Dictator," which opens this week in Vancouver. People still know Chaplin for his "tramp" character of decades earlier, so the advertisement emphasizes that despite the topical theme of the film itself.

Hungarian/German/Italian/Japanese Relations: Hungary adds its name to the Tripartite Pact of 27 September 1940 (which makes it a quadripartite pact, but as other nations start adding their names, people just call it the Axis for convenience). This makes Hungary a nominal ally of Germany, Japan, and Italy (though with some key reservations on its obligations thereto). The country that Hitler really wants to sign the pact is the Soviet Union, but that appears unlikely after the disastrous Molotov mission to Berlin earlier in the month. Hungarian Prime Minister Teleki and Foreign Minister Csaky sign the pact.

Hungary has benefited from the First and Second Vienna Awards (which gave it Romanian territory) and historically sides with Germany. Despite its recent acquisitions from Romania, Hungary still feels slighted by the Treaty of Trianon which ended World War I in the region. This is not the first entanglement that Hungary has entered into with Hitler: on 24 February 1939, it joined the Anti-Comintern pact after sharing in the spoils from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Admiral Miklós Horthy rules the country with an iron fist and is united with Hitler in a fierce hatred of Communism. However, his alliance is based more on a shared fear of the Soviet Union than it is on a love of Germany.

Future History: Helma Sanders-Brahms is born in Lower Saxony, Germany. Sander-Brahms begins making (German) films in the late 1960s after interning with Italian "New Wave" directors. One of her most renowned films is "Germany, Pale Mother" (1980) about women in the Third Reich. While not very well known in the English-speaking world, she is considered a leader in the New German Cinema and receives many awards in Germany and France. Sanders-Brahms passes away in 2014.

With all the acting talent in "You'll Find Out," including Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Dennis O'Keefe, bandleader Kay Kyser is the one who takes top billing. Also involved are Ish Kabibble - yes, Ish Kabibble - and Jeff Corey in one of his first (uncredited) film roles (and that creates a Star Trek connection for ya!). Incidentally, even Helen Parrish has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, this cast is loaded - and yet the movie is completely forgotten except by film buffs. Go figure. Great to watch on Halloween! The Times-Picayune, November 20, 1940.

November 1940

November 1, 1940: Hitler Irate
November 2, 1940: U-31 Sunk - Again
November 3, 1940: Kretschmer's Master Class
November 4, 1940: Spain Absorbs Tangier
November 5, 1940: Jervis Bay Meets Admiral Scheer
November 6, 1940: San Demetrio Incident
November 7, 1940: Galloping Gertie
November 8, 1940: Italian Shakeup in Greece
November 9, 1940: Dutch Fascists March
November 10, 1940: Fala and Doc Strange
November 11, 1940: Taranto Raid
November 12, 1940: Molotov Takes Berlin
November 13, 1940: Molotov Foils Hitler
November 14, 1940: Moonlight Sonata
November 15, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Sealed
November 16, 1940: France Keeps Battleships
November 17, 1940: Malta Hurricane Disaster
November 18, 1940: Hitler Berates Ciano
November 19, 1940: Birmingham Devastated
November 20, 1940: Hungary Joins Axis
November 21, 1940: Dies White Paper
November 22, 1940: Italians Take Korçë
November 23, 1940: U-Boat Bonanza!
November 24, 1940: Slovakia Joins In
November 25, 1940: Molotov's Demands
November 26, 1940: Bananas Be Gone
November 27, 1940: Cape Spartivento Battle
November 28, 1940: Wick Perishes
November 29, 1940: Trouble in Indochina
November 30, 1940: Lucy and Desi Marry

2020