Friday 3 January 1941

"Hurricane Mk I of Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, commanding No 257 Squadron, refuelling at Coltishall, early January 1941." © IWM (CH 1931).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Italians on 3 January 1941 commit two fresh divisions in the area of the Klisura Pass, which is on the road to the key port of Valona. They also begin a small counteroffensive north and west of Korcë. Neither offensive accomplishes much, but casualties mount on both sides. The counterattacks are pretty much over by the end of the day.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe switches back to one of its favorite targets tonight. It sends 178 bombers that hit the Bristol port area hard. The granary warehouse on Princes Wharf is obliterated, taking with it 8000 tons of grain. The raid lasts for 12 hours and is considered the longest sustained attack on Bristol. There are 149 deaths and 351 other casualties. A 4000 lb aerial mine comes to rest without exploding - the citizens quickly nickname it "Satan" and, after it is disarmed, it becomes an emblem of the hardships the city has faced.

RAF Bomber Command raids Bremen for the second night in a row, this time with 71 aircraft.

The Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) withdraws from the Channel coast after having accomplished virtually nothing there except incurring heavy losses.

The Luftwaffe night fighting force continues to gain experience, with Lt. Gerhard Böhme of 3./NJG 2 downing a Whitley bomber southeast of Flamborough Head.

Baltimore News-Post, 3 January 1941: The RAF raid on Bremen is big news, the brewing Australian victory at Bardia gets barely a mention.

Battle of the Atlantic: The RAF bombs a bridge in the Kiel Canal, and it falls on 2803 ton Finnish freighter Yrsa, sinking it and blocking the canal. However, the canal is shallow, and in any event, the ship must be removed so that it does not prove to be a hazard to navigation. So, the ship is raised and returned to service, with the canal being reopened.

The RAF attack on Bremen over the night claims 1460 ton Finnish freighter Liisa. However, it sinks in shallow water near the docks and can be salvaged.

British 2466 ton freighter Pinewood hits a mine and sinks south of Southend. There are six deaths, 18 survivors.

Royal Navy 70 ton drifter New Spray founders in a storm off Sheerness in the Thames Estuary.

Convoy OB 269 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 374 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 378 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 12 departs from Suez.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Hydrangea (K 39, Lt. Joseph E. Woolfenden.) is commissioned.

U-335 is laid down.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Compass resumes. At 06:00, Australian Major General Iven Mackay sends his 6th Australian Division against the Italian defenses at Bardia. The Australians attack from the west, and they are assisted by Royal Navy barrages (led by battleships HMS Warspite, Barham and Valiant) between 08:10 and 08:55, and RAF bombing. Monitor HMS Terror, gunboats HMS Ladybird and Aphis, and destroyers HMS Dainty and HMAS Voyager assist in the bombardment. The Italian air force attacks the ships offshore and score a near miss on gunboat Aphis that causes some damage, kills two and wounds three others.

In the initial stage, sappers blow holes in the barbed wire using Bangalore torpedoes, then engineers rush in and fill the tank ditches using picks and shovels. Once that is done, 23 Matilda II tanks rush through the opening and quickly reach the second main defense line (the "Switch Line"). The Australians advance two miles and capture 8000 prisoners by 08:30. While the attack is a huge success and the Italian position hopeless, the Italians hold out through the night in Bardia itself.

The weather throughout the Mediterranean is characterized by strong force 8 gales and heavy seas. At Malta, four Sunderland flying boats are damaged in waves up to 15 feet.

Luftwaffe units continue transferring to Italy.

Australian troops on exercise in the desert near Bardia, 3 January 1941 (AP Photo).

Anglo/US Relations: Prime Minister Winston Churchill replies to President Franklin Roosevelt's request of 31 December 1940 that the US be allowed to provide humanitarian relief to Vichy France and Spain. This requires Churchill's permission due to the Royal Navy blockade of continental Europe. Churchill assents, but requires that Vichy France acknowledge Great Britain's largesse in allowing relief supplies through the cordon:

[W]e would like it stated that the relief goods are available only by the good will of His Majesty's Government.

There is an argument made by some that Churchill is reluctant to admit anything through the blockade because his goal is to "starve Europe" as a means of hurting the German war effort. However, this particular aid specifically is aimed at unoccupied sections of Europe, so there is little reason for Churchill to block it even if that argument were true. Roosevelt somewhat obliquely hints that providing aid may instead cause disaffection from the Germans in Europe and thus help the Allied war effort. Both men's positions are unprovable and may stem from deeper motivations than just the effect on military operations.

The issue of humanitarian aid to Europe is very complex, with many nuances, and remains a contentious issue between Great Britain and the United States until 1945. Drawing it perhaps over-simplistically, the available evidence does show that Roosevelt attempts to expand the amount of aid to the peoples of Europe throughout the war, while Church is prone to limiting it.

Irish/German Relations: The Luftwaffe hits Dublin again, injuring 20 people at Donore Terrace near South Circle Road. Following several nights of Luftwaffe bombing, Éamon de Valera protests officially to the German government.

Swedish/German Relations: Sweden completes its deliveries of Junkers Ju 86K bombers (built by Saab under license) to the Luftwaffe. While overall an outdated design, the K variant with 905 hp Bristol Mercury XIX radial engines proves quite handy. The Ju 86 was used throughout the first few years of the war by both sides, particularly by South Africa's SAAF. Some of the Luftwaffe Ju 86K's will be converted to Ju 86P high-altitude bombers and photo-reconnaissance versions that can approach altitudes of 50,000 feet, making them for a long time invulnerable to interception.

US Military: The issue of hemispheric defense is at the top of the War Department's agenda. Discussions with Brazilian representatives have been gradually building a case for defending the bulge of Brazil from aggressors. Rainbow 4, the US defense plan in the case of aggression from both east and west, envisions movement of a reinforced triangular division to Brazil. Today, Chief of Staff General George C. Marshal holds meetings with and gains the approval of Admiral Stark and Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles for the movement of five companies of American soldiers to different Brazilian airfields upon the outbreak of hostilities. This must meet with Brazilian approval, which has not yet been sought. The issue of the defense of Brazil continues to simmer throughout 1941.

Soviet Military: The first series of war games continue. Georgy Zhukov commands the invading forces, while General DG Pavlov commands the defending forces. These games, which began on 2 January, will continue through 6 January.

"Men of the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (AMPC) search buildings demolished by bombing in Fore Street in the City of London, 3 January 1941." © IWM (H 6379).

US Government: At a press conference apparently timed to coincide with the opening of the 77th United States Congress, President Roosevelt announces a "between $300 million and $350 million" shipbuilding program:

[B]ecause it is perfectly obvious that so much tonnage in the way of ships has been going to the bottom for a year and a half, probably at the end of the war, sooner or later, there will be a shortage—a world shortage—of tonnage. Therefore, we have begun taking the first steps toward a program of building about 200 merchant ships—a program which will cost somewhere around $300 million, between $300 million and $350 million, in a number of new plants.

Roosevelt is somewhat dismissive about the quality of the ships he is planning to build. "Nobody that loves ships can be very proud of them," he says, but "by building this dreadful looking object you save six or eight months" from building "a ship that is really a ship." He adds that the ships will be "roughly, about 7500 tons each." Obviously, the details - including where the ships will be built, and who will build them - remain to be worked out. Roosevelt says that he has $36 million available to build the shipyards from "the President's Special Contract Authorization Fund." The questions at the news conference somewhat predictably focus on where all this money is going to be spent.

These ships at this point have no name, though they will quickly acquire various belittling appellations ("dreadful looking objects" is one such term, another is dreamt up by Time Magazine: "ugly ducklings"). However, we know these ships by another name coined later in 1941 that has stuck: Liberty Ships.

At his press conference, President Roosevelt also announces that he is sending crony Harry Hopkins to London as his "personal representative" until an ambassador is appointed. Joseph Kennedy withdrew from the slot in November as a result of British anger at some of his controversial statements and attitudes. However, Kennedy's resignation still has not taken effect, so technically the position is not open yet.

Separately, USS Tuscaloosa departs from Lisbon for Norfolk, Virginia, having delivered the new Ambassador to France Admiral William D. Leahy to Europe.

USS Gar (SS 206) on 3 January 1941. Visible on the right is USS Mackerel (SS 204) (US Navy Submarine Force Museum).

Vichy French Government: Marshal Petain reorganizes his cabinet. Among other changes, he appoints Admiral Darlan to head the ministries of Justice and the Interior, Pierre Etienne Flandin in charge of economic affairs, and General Huntziger becomes defense minister. This is a period of great turmoil and change in the Vichy government, with people changing jobs routinely. Flandin, incidentally, will later reveal that, at this time, he is noticing episodes of memory loss by Petain. The old marshal, for instance, always seems to adopt the position of the last person who had talked to him - because he could not remember earlier arguments.

Finnish Government: The new Prime Minister of Finland, Johan Rangell, takes office and appoints his cabinet.

German Homefront: Martin Bormann issues a decree (Normalschrifterlass) banning gothic typefaces and instituting roman/Antiqua type as the new standard. The gothic typeface is very difficult to read, particularly by those in occupied Europe who are not used to it. The gothic typeface can still be seen in various out-of-the-way places in Germany, and the Berlin subways retained it long after the war (and yes, it is very difficult to read even in giant-sized letters, I had a very difficult time deciphering some of the letters). Making the typeface more readable apparently is Adolf Hitler's idea.

American Homefront: A Gallup poll taken after President Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech of 29 December 1940 shows overwhelming support for his position. In response to the question "Do you think our country's future safety depends on England winning this war?", the results are:

Yes 68%
No 26%
No Opinion 6%

This reflects an ongoing shift in opinion within the United States in favor of supporting Great Britain and opposing Germany. Earlier in the war, opinion surveys reflected a much more ambivalent attitude by the public at large, with about half the country as opposed to any intervention in Europe.

USS Gar (SS 206), 3 January 1941. Visible on the right is USS Grampus (SS 207) (US Navy Submarine Force Museum).

January 1941

January 1, 1941: Muselier Arrested
January 2, 1941: Camp Categories
January 3, 1941: Liberty Ships
January 4, 1941: Aussies Take Bardia
January 5, 1941: Amy Johnson Perishes
January 6, 1941: Four Freedoms
January 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Plans
January 8, 1941: Billions For Defense
January 9, 1941: Lancasters
January 10, 1941: Malta Convoy Devastation
January 11, 1941: Murzuk Raid
January 12, 1941: Operation Rhubarb
January 13, 1941: Plymouth Blitzed
January 14, 1941: V for Victory
January 15, 1941: Haile Selassie Returns
January 16, 1941: Illustrious Blitz
January 17, 1941: Koh Chang Battle
January 18, 1941: Luftwaffe Pounds Malta
January 19, 1941: East African Campaign Begins
January 20, 1941: Roosevelt 3rd Term
January 21, 1941: Attack on Tobruk
January 22, 1941: Tobruk Falls
January 23, 1941: Pogrom in Bucharest
January 24, 1941: Tank Battle in Libya
January 25, 1941: Panjiayu Tragedy
January 26, 1941: Churchill Working Hard
January 27, 1941: Grew's Warning
January 28, 1941: Ho Chi Minh Returns
January 29, 1941: US Military Parley With Great Britain
January 30, 1941: Derna Taken
January 31, 1941: LRDG Battered

2020

Wednesday 14 August 1940

	In this colorized photo, 11-year-old cousins Wendy Atherton and Cathie Jones stand with Heinkel He 111P-2 of 8./KG27 near their home at Border House Farm near Chester in Cheshire, August 14, 1940. The German plane had been targeting RAF Sealand along with two other planes and was shot down (along with the other two planes) by Spitfires from RAF Hawarden after bombing the airfield.

Battle of Britain: The fickle weather once again turns against the Germans on 14 August 1940, with clouds and rain. This gives the British a chance to repair some of the damage wrought to airfields and radar stations in recent days before another massive Luftwaffe onslaught.

Operations do not even begin until noontime when Bf 110 Zerstörers of Epr.Gr 210 attack RAF Manston. Despite the absence of RAF fighter cover (above the low-hanging clouds dealing with the German escort), the British anti-aircraft fire is deadly and downs several of the attackers. The attack accomplishes little, only damaging some Blenheim bombers and destroying some hangars. Emblematic of the Luftwaffe problems is a collision between two of the Bf 110s over the airbase which kills three of the four men in them.

Another raid at the same time takes place further north, where approximately 300 Luftwaffe planes cross the coast near Dover and split off into multiple groups with different targets. One detachment sinks the Gate Light Vessel, another attacks Hawkinge. JG 26, Adolf Galland's unit, once again demonstrates that it is an elite formation by protecting the Stukas competently and allowing only one to be shot down.

Another major raid occurs at 17:07 when medium bombers attack RAF Middle Wallop, RAF Andover and the railway at Southampton. These attacks are reasonably effective, with hangars destroyed at Middle Wallop and radio equipment destroyed at Andover.

There are other, smaller raids of less consequence that still result in losses. British sloop HMS Kingfisher and tug Carbon are damaged in Portland Harbour. Once again, the Luftwaffe attacks the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton and nearby industrial targets. Other raids target various railway and air installations, such as Whitchurch airfield and the station at Westons Mare. A major air battle develops over Dover during the afternoon, with JG 51 aces Hauptman Walter Oesau and Oblt. Josef "Pips" Priller getting victories.

Oberst Alois Stöckl, Gruppenkommandeur of KG 55, is killed in his Heinkel He 111 near Wallop and replaced by Oblt. Hans Körte.

After dark, the Luftwaffe sends over a few lone raiders, but nothing major develops. The score for the day once again is lopsided, with most accounts giving the losses as about 20 for the Luftwaffe and around 5 for the RAF. Accounts vary widely, especially on the Luftwaffe side.

The British newspapers are full of glorious feats of derring-do by the British military which have only a slight semblance to reality. It is all about "smashing" Italian attacks and wild estimates of Luftwaffe losses, not so much about crumbling British defenses in British Somaliland and RAF bombing raids with catastrophic losses.

European Air Operations: There is an unusual air raid alert in Berlin around midnight, only the fourth of the war, but it appears to be a false alarm. The British in fact raid oil installations, airfields and railway targets at Bordeaux, Cologne, and other typical targets in northwestern Europe.

Western Front: The final informal Royal Navy evacuations from southern France, which have been continuing clandestinely at Mediterranean ports since June, conclude. This terminates Operation Ariel. It is estimated that 191,870 people have been evacuated in Operation Ariel, which excludes the other two major evacuations, Operations Dynamo and Cycle.

German Government: The debate and confusion about Operation Sea Lion continues within the German high command. Admiral Raeder yesterday told Hitler that the Kriegsmarine cannot protect and supply any landings on a broad front. Today, army Commander-in-chief Field Marshal Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch, who is the projected leader of the operation, has his say. Von Brauchitsch proposes just the opposite of what Raeder suggested was feasible, namely, landings on a broad front with multiple landing sites (similar to what the Allies later did on 6 June 1944). This makes perfectly good sense from an army perspective, stretching out the British defenses and creating multiple opportunities for success. However, it makes no sense whatsoever from a naval perspective because the Kriegsmarine simply doesn't have the ships to supply and defend multiple beachheads.

This illustrates that none of the branches of the Wehrmacht have the slightest understanding of what the others need and are capable of delivering. The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that there is little communication between the German army, navy and air force and even less cooperation (the Luftwaffe, for instance, absolutely blocks the creation of a separate marine air force as an infringement on its own powers). Hitler is fine with all of this - part of his managerial style is to create warring fiefdoms within the German state, with himself as the only one who has all the information and the ability to coordinate solutions - the ultimate arbiter. It is a variant on the Shakespearean "I want around me men who are fat" dictum from "Julius Caesar," and it enables him to maintain absolute power within the Reich (Hitler also follows the dictum to the letter with portly crony Hermann Goering).

The larger planning flaw is that nobody has anticipated being placed in this situation so quickly, with France vanquished and England the next step. The Germans are not used to or comfortable with planning major strategic naval operations - something they had difficulty with during the First World War, too. Wehrmacht staff planning is concentrated in the Heer (army) because Germany by tradition is primarily a land power (not necessarily by choice in 1940, but the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles had eviscerated the navy). The naval staff and resources are simply inadequate for the job. In essence, the Germans have no idea what they are doing regarding a cross-channel invasion, and they are building castles in the sand with their vapid plans that are pure abstractions without any grounding in experience or reality. It is little wonder that Hitler is casting about for new victims in other directions that he can ravage on good old reliable terra firma.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-59 (Kptl. Joachim Matz) torpedoes and sinks 2,339-ton British rice freighter Betty about 25 miles north of Ireland at 20:34. There are 4 survivors and 30 crew perish in the night.

British destroyers HMS Malcolm and Verity, accompanied by three torpedo boats, attack a German convoy of six Kriegsmarine armed trawlers and three S-boats off of Texel Island, Holland. The German lose a trawler and one of their own S-boats and also suffer damage to other ships.

The Kriegsmarine conducts minelaying in the North Sea.

Battle of the Mediterranean: British submarine HMS Rorqual sinks Italian freighter Leopard.

In Malta, there are no enemy air raids. Governor-General Dobbie complains to the War Office that he has insufficient men to man his anti-aircraft artillery and requests reinforcements. The War Office, for its part, inquires about two celebrity Italian pilots, General Cagna and Prince Pallavicini, who apparently were KIA.

Battle of the Pacific: German raider Orion is operating off of Nouméa, New Caledonia. It launches its Arado Ar 196 floatplane, but the plane has mechanical issues and lands far away. The Orion eventually finds and recovers it, restoring the raider's "eyes."

British Somaliland: Major General Godwin-Austen watches the Italians side-stepping his defenses along the coast road to Berbera. With the enemy almost in a position to cut the vital road, he bows to the inevitable. He requests permission to evacuate not just from that position, but from the country altogether. General Wavell of Middle East Command does not return an immediate decision.

Evacuations from Berbera, the capital of the British government, commence. The British and Australian warships take off 5700 troops and 1500 "non-essentials" (civilians and wounded) across the gulf to Aden.

Sir Henry in 1940.

Applied Science: Sir Henry Thomas Tizard leaves Great Britain on a disguised ocean liner (some sources say he flew) ahead of the rest of his team (popularly known as the "Tizard Mission," officially the British Technical and Scientific Mission) headed for Ottawa, Canada. Whether or not he has with him the famous "box of secrets" (including plans for the Supercharger, Gyroscopic gunsights, and the Cavity Magnetron, among other things) as stated by many sources is unclear and probably false; some reliable sources state that the box came across with the rest of his team on a later date.

The RAF supposedly is trying to use wire nets called "spaghetti shells" to drop on Luftwaffe planes and destroy them, but this idea does not go very far.

Terrorists: One of the German preoccupations is inciting a revolt by the Irish against the British as a distraction, and perhaps even converting them into a military ally. To this end, they send IRA Chief of Staff Sean Russell to Ireland aboard a U-boat, where it is hoped he will coordinate an uprising. Today, however, he perishes unexpectedly of a perforated ulcer aboard the U-boat and is buried at sea.

Anglo/US Relations: President Roosevelt and his advisors continue wrangling over the proposed destroyers-for-bases deal with Great Britain. The destroyers will all be Clemson-class and Wickes-class destroyers built circa 1917-1922, manned solely by British seamen. The US Navy already is coordinating with the Royal Navy for their transfer, though nothing is official yet.

USS Pope (DD 225), a typical Clemson-class destroyer which served in the Far East during World War II.

US Military: The US military always maintains military plans that seem arcane and improbable - for instance, plans for the invasion of Canada always are locked away in the files - and they go by the designation "Rainbow." Today, President Roosevelt reviews and approves "Rainbow 4," a comprehensive plan to defend the Americas by using every armed man in the United States, including the National Guard, the Reserves, and everyone who can be drafted.

Rainbow 4 assumes the fall of France (already done) and of the UK (still prospective) and a combined German/Italian/Japanese offensive. The initial US response would be to occupy British, French, Dutch and Danish possessions in the Western Hemisphere while trying to avoid conflict in the Pacific. The US fleet would be concentrated in the Caribbean, and the US army would protect only North America and the most northern parts of South America.

Outside the realm of planning and in actual reality, destroyers USS Wake and Wainwright continue their "Show the flag" operation in South America and depart Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Bahia, Brazil.

Admiral Hart makes it to Shanghai aboard the submarine USS Porpoise and transfers his flag to yacht USS Isabel.

Luxembourg: German Chief of the Civil Administration Gustav Simon bans all opposition parties, rips up the nation's constitution, and makes German the only authorized language. Even the term "Grand Duchy" is prohibited in official documents. Simon is setting a precedent for future occupations, where the occupying military authorities are relatively benign (save for Einsatzgruppen and the like), but the follow-up civil administrations enact draconian and punitive laws which quickly stoke local anger.

British Homefront: As the day dawns, local citizens in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and southern Scotland awaken to find large numbers of parachutes on the ground with cryptic military messages and German equipment attached. There also is a report from Creswell Farm of enemy parachutists, which proves false.

This all results from a German propaganda effort to sow confusion and dissension among the British populace by air-dropping items in the British rear which have the appearance of being related to an actual invasion - though to what end is a bit unclear, as there is no follow-up. If you make a feint, but don't use that diversion to actually attack anywhere... what's the point? It also may be counter-productive in the long run, making you look like all talk and no action. For a day or two, though, the operation does create massive fear and even panic among the locals.

German flying magazine Flugsport, 14 August 1940.

August 1940

August 1, 1940: Two RN Subs Lost
August 2, 1940: Operation Hurry
August 3, 1940: Italians Attack British Somaliland
August 4, 1940: Dueling Legends in the US
August 5, 1940: First Plan for Barbarossa
August 6, 1940: Wipe Out The RAF
August 7, 1940: Burning Oil Plants
August 8, 1940: True Start of Battle of Britain
August 9, 1940: Aufbau Ost
August 10, 1940: Romania Clamps Down On Jews
August 11, 1940: Huge Aerial Losses
August 12, 1940: Attacks on Radar
August 13, 1940: Adler Tag
August 14, 1940: Sir Henry's Mission
August 15, 1940: Luftwaffe's Black Thursday
August 16, 1940: Wolfpack Time
August 17, 1940: Blockade of Britain
August 18, 1940: The Hardest Day
August 19, 1940: Enter The Zero
August 20, 1940: So Much Owed By So Many
August 21, 1940: Anglo Saxon Incident
August 22, 1940: Hellfire Corner
August 23, 1940: Seaplanes Attack
August 24, 1940: Slippery Slope
August 25, 1940: RAF Bombs Berlin
August 26, 1940: Troops Moved for Barbarossa
August 27, 1940: Air Base in Iceland
August 28, 1940: Call Me Meyer
August 29, 1940: Schepke's Big Day
August 30, 1940: RAF's Bad Day
August 31, 1940: Texel Disaster

2020