Sunday 25 January 1942

"Fairey Fulmar planes grounded in the snow after a storm." Royal Naval Air Station Donibristle, 25 January 1942. © IWM (A 7252).

Battle of the Pacific: Thailand, on 25 January 1942, declares war on the Allies, and Britain, New Zealand, and South Africa reciprocate. While Thailand does not have a particularly imposing military, it does have an extremely useful location for Japanese troops invading Burma. General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific, flies to Rangoon and finds the situation deteriorating rapidly. The battle line is west of the Salween River, opposite Moulmein, and Wavell orders Moulmein held. The Japanese are bringing up reinforcements via Thailand, however, and the unit tasked with holding Moulmein, the 16th Brigade, Indian 17th Division, is overmatched and at best can delay the Japanese.

"Fairey Fulmar planes grounded in the snow after a storm."  Royal Naval Air Station Donibristle, 25 January 1942. © IWM (A 7251).

On the Malay Peninsula, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival meets with Generals Bennett and Heath. They decide to order a withdrawal by the troops at Buta Pahat back to Singapore. The British in any event are unable to hold Batu Pahat after furious battles during the day, including attempts to reinforce the garrison with the British 53rd Brigade Group. Indian 3 Corps begins pulling out of the area after dark. The Japanese focus their attack in the western portion of the line, and the 2/20th AIF Battalion evacuates Mersing to Jemaluang Crossroads.

"Malaya. AIF artillerymen firing a 25 pounder gun from beside a rubber plantation." January 1942. Australian War Memorial 011303/30.

In Borneo, the Japanese expand their hold at Balikpapan, where they already are in possession of the critical refinery. Their advance southward is slow because the Dutch garrison has destroyed the bridges on the main coastal road. Late in the day, the Japanese reach Balikpapan City, which the Dutch have abandoned. The Japanese send their Surprise Attack Unit south of the Reservoir and head upriver toward the village of Banoeabaroe. The remaining Dutch troops in the area attempt to withdraw via the coast road, but the Surprise Attack Unit cuts them off. After that, the Surprise Attack returns to Balikpapan City and helps to complete its occupation.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch for 25 January 1942 has timely news about the Battle of the Makassar Strait, an American victory.

In the Philippines, the eastern half of the Allied line controlled by II Corps pulls back under pressure. I Corps, in control of the western half of the line, also pulls back and abandons its defenses at Mauban south of Moron (Morong). The Japanese roadblock on West Road behind the main front line continues to be a thorn in the I Corps side, and the US command has to divert additional troops to it from the west. The small Japanese bridgehead far to the south at Quinauan and Longoskawayan Points also holds out against fierce Allied attacks, though it is being forced back against some cliffs. It is a bitter battle, with heavy casualties on both sides. The retreat down the Bataan Peninsula has progressed so far now that the southern beach areas now shift from the control of the Service Command Area to the military commanders of I and II Corps.

"Warangoi River, New Britain. 1942-01. The Adler River, in the Bainings Mountains on the eastern side of the Gazelle Peninsula, an obstacle to the Australian troops retreating from Rabaul after the successful attack by Japanese forces. This is the point where at least two parties of retreating Australian troops crossed the Adler River. The first party of twenty-one men from the Anti-aircraft Battery Rabaul and the 17th Anti-tank Battery crossed here on 1942-01-26 securing a lawyer vine rope to cross the river. This image was taken in late January 1942 and shows some of the men of Sergeant L. I. H. (Les) Robbins' party fording the river as they make their way south toward Palmalmal Plantation and rescue in April 1942." The Japanese are in firm control of the port of Rabaul on 25 January 1942, but their grip on the rest of New Britain is tenuous. The retreating Australian troops have nowhere to go and little hope of rescue, but they can hide out in the jungles for as long as they can find food and water. Australian War Memorial P02395.012.

Sailors in the Japanese Navy continue to feel invulnerable and use their submarines to take potshots at US military installations. on 25 January 1942, Japanese submarine I-73 shells the US base on Midway Island. Meanwhile, I-59 enters Sabang Roads, Sumatra (Indonesia) and sinks a freighter and captures part of the crew.

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel on an inspection tour of the front, January 1942 (Gemini, Ernst A., Federal Archive Figure 183-H26262).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Panzer Group Africa continues its offensive and takes Msus. British 1st Armoured Division, 13 Corps, falls back on Mechili. Indian 4th Division evacuates Benghazi and Barce, protected by a small detachment of tanks from the 1st Armoured Division. British General Neal Ritchie, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, then orders the Indian 4th Division and 1st Armoured Division to prepare a counterattack.

U-123 (Kptlt. Reinhard Hardegen, shown here in January/February 1942, was the first U-boat operating off the east coast of the United States as part of Operation Drumbeat. On 25 January 1942, it sinks British freighter Culebra.

Battle of the Atlantic: Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat), the U-boat offensive off the east coast of the United States, continues claiming victims. U-125 (Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers) is on its third patrol out of Lorient attacks 7294-ton US tanker Olney off Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Attempting to escape, Olney's captain grounds the tanker. Olney later proceeds to port, its minor damage is repaired, and returns to service.

U-130 (KrvKpt. Ernst Kals) is on its second patrol out of Lorient. Today, it is operating off the coast of New Jersey and torpedoes and sinks 9305-ton Norwegian tanker Varanger. Everyone is rescued.

British freighter Culebra, sunk by U-123 on 25 January 1942.

U-123 (Kptlt. Reinhard Hardegen) is on its seventh patrol out of Lorient. It was the first U-boat to reach the US east coast and now is on its way back to France. Today, in the mid-Atlantic, it uses its deck gun to attack and sink 3044-ton British freighter Culebra, which was dispersed from Convoy ON-53 and is en route from London/Loch Ewe to Bermuda/Jamaica. There are no survivors. Captain Hardegan praises the crew of the Culebra in his log, noting their "astonishing cold-bloodedness" as the Culebra's crew puts up a heroic fight with its deck gun.

U-754 (Kptlt. Hans Oestermann) is on its first patrol out of Kiel. Today, it torpedoes and sinks 3876-ton Greek collier Mount Kitheron about two miles off St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. There are 12 deaths and 24 survivors.

German soldiers on the march in southern USSR, January 1942 (Grunewald, Federal Archive Picture 101I-539-0393-26A).

Eastern Front: The Red Army advance west of Moscow continues on 25 January 1942. The advancing Soviets encircle Kholm (south of Lake Ilmen). Isolated in the pocket are about 5500 German troops under the command of General Theodor Scherer, primarily of the 218th Infantry Division and the 553rd Regiment of the 329th Division, but with many other men from other units, too. Unlike in the larger Demyansk pocket nearby, there is not enough land for an airstrip, so all supplies must be air-dropped - which is hazardous for both the planes and the German soldiers who sometimes are enticed into going dangerously close to Soviet outposts to get the containers.

Greek freighter Mount Kitheron, torpedoed off St. John's, Newfoundland, on 25 January 1942.

The Soviet troops are occupying vast swathes of territory during the Moscow counteroffensive, but it is not easy. They are struggling through snowdrifts and over icy roads, and the fact that they are encountering little opposition from the Wehrmacht, which is, for the most part, sitting tight in fortified towns, is cold comfort. Due to necessity, the Germans have adopted a strong-point strategy (also called a hedgehog defense) wherein they occupy isolated fortified towns and villages while basically conceding everywhere else to the Soviets. This has been put in motion not out of some kind of well-thought strategy, but because Hitler has ordered the troops to hold towns without regard to being surrounded. The hedgehog defense actually is very effective (it is "invented" by NATO in the 1970s), but flies in the face of 1942 military doctrine.

German soldiers use sleds to unload a Junkers Ju 52 transport in the Demyansk pocket south of Lake Ilmen, January 1942 (Ullrich, Gerhard, Federal Archive Bild 101I-003-3446-21).

On the Crimea Peninsula, Soviet General Kozlov continues sending reinforcements by sea to his small bridgehead at Sudak, which is far behind the mainline. Kozlov is convinced that the Germans don't have the strength to eliminate the bridgehead, but German General Fretter-Pico already is diverting troops from 30 Corps which will soon be in a position to attack with devastating superiority.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering and Italian leader Benito Mussolini watch a demonstration of aircraft prototypes at Furbara Airfield, January 1942 (Federal Archive Picture 146-1979-155-22).

Australian Government: The Australian War Cabinet calls up for military service "all able-bodied white male British subjects" between the ages of 18 and 45 years old.

"At the scene of the 'incident', telephone repair crews unroll new cables on a bomb-damaged London street in order to breach the gap in telephone supply caused by an air raid." London, January 1942 (© IWM (D 6445)).

1942

January 1942

January 1, 1942: Declaration By United Nations
January 2, 1941: Manila Falls to Japan
January 3, 1942: ABDA Command Announced
January 4, 1942: MacArthur on His Own in the Philippines
January 5, 1942: Soviets Plan General Offensive
January 6, 1942: US Army in Europe
January 7, 1942: Soviet General Offensive Opens
January 8, 1942: Hitler Sacks Hoepner
January 9, 1942: Battle of Dražgoše
January 10, 1942: Building the Jeep
January 11, 1942: Japan Takes Kuala Lumpur
January 12, 1941: Rommel Plans Counterattack
January 13, 1942: First Ejection Seat Use
January 14, 1942: Operation Drumbeat First Sinking
January 15, 1942: U-Boat Off NYC
January 16, 1942: Carole Lombard Crash
January 17, 1942: British Take Halfaya Pass
January 18, 1942: Soviet Paratroopers in Action
January 19, 1942: FDR Approves Atomic Bomb
January 20, 1942: The Wannsee Conference
January 21, 1942: Parit Sulong Bridge Battle
January 22, 1942: Parit Sulong Massacre
January 23, 1942: Japan Takes Rabaul
January 24, 1942: Battle of Makassar Strait
January 25, 1942: Kholm Surrounded
January 26, 1942: GIs Land in Europe
January 27, 1942: Battle of Endau
January 28, 1942: Rommel Takes Benghazi
January 29, 1942: First US Coast Guard Ship Sunk
January 30, 1942: Singapore Isolated
January 31, 1942: Army Group South Averts Disaster

2020

Monday 22 December 1941

"Italian troops surrendering to a patrol of the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifles Brigade on the road south-west of Gazala, Libya, 22 December 1941. One of the prisoners even brought his bicycle with him." © IWM (E 7301).

Battle of the Pacific: In the Philippines, the Japanese make their main landings on the east coast of Lingayen Gulf during the morning of 22 December 1941. The Japanese have 43,110 troops of the 48th Division and a regiment of the 16th Division, supported by about 90 light tanks and artillery. US commander General Wainwright sends the 11th and 71st Filipino Divisions in a futile counterattack. The Japanese win a brief battle at the coastal town of Rosario against the 26th Cavalry Division of the Filipino Army, which withdraws south toward Manila. Offshore, US submarine USS S-38, sailing out of Manila, torpedoes 5445-ton Japanese transport Hayo Maru. The transport quickly sinks in the Lingayen Gulf. This is S-38's first war patrol and the first US submarine success of the war.

Life Magazine's 22 December 1941 issue provides a guide to telling Japanese and Chinese citizens apart.

A US Navy relief operation to Wake Island was organized by Admiral Husband Kimmel before his dismissal. On 22 December 1941 Task Force 14 (Admiral Wilson Brown), supported by Task Force 14 (Admiral Frank Fletcher) is approaching the beleaguered US Marines there. However, at 21:00, the acting commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral William S. Pye, recalls Task Force 11. He bases this on reconnaissance that reveals the presence of two Japanese aircraft carriers and two battleships around the island. While there aren't any battleships, there definitely are two modern aircraft carriers, but the real opponent at this stage of the war is simply the unknown. The Americans don't know where all the Japanese carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor went, and the remaining US carriers are too precious to risk with naval forces so vastly reduced by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pye instead plans on sending F2A Brewster Buffaloes from USS Saratoga at extreme range to land on the island on the 23rd, supported by a quick run to the island by seaplane tender USS Tangier. However, it is unclear how long the island can hold out against vastly superior Japanese forces.

On Wake Island itself, the US Marines suffer from two Japanese raids launched from carriers Hiryu and Soryu. There are only two operational USMC F4F Wildcats left on the island, and one is shot down and the other badly damaged.

"Japan's Aggressor, Admiral Yamamoto" is the cover story for the 22 December 1941 Time Magazine. The cover portrait by Arthur Szyk shows Yamamoto as vaguely human but definitely menacing.

On the Malay Peninsula, fierce air battles develop over Kuala Lumpur. Sergeant Malcolm Neville Read of RAAF No. 453 Squadron rams his Brewster Buffalo fighter into a Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" fighter of 64th Sentai and perishes. The Indian 11th Division continues its retreat behind the Perak River, while the Indian 9th Division establishes a strong position around Kuantan airfield that also protects the east flank of the 11th Division.

The situation in Burma is deteriorating rapidly, with Japanese forces making good progress in the extreme south. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek realizes that his best supply route runs through Burma, so he gives General Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, India, ground forces. He sends the Chinese 6th Army's 93rd Division and a regiment of the 49th Division, with the promise of more to come. The American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka "Flying Tigers") are operating east of Rangoon, but there is a serious lack of Allied ground troops in the country which Chiang can remedy faster than the British.

USAT Willard H. Holbrook arrives in Brisbane, Australia, 22 December 1941. It is part of the United States Navy's "Pensacola" Convoy that includes heavy cruiser USS Pensacola, gunboat Niagara, naval transports Chaumont and Republic, Army transports Holbrook and Meigs, and three freighters. They carry the first US troop units to arrive in Australia from the United States.

A Japanese convoy leaves Miri, Borneo for Kuching. A Dutch flying boat X-35 radios a warning to HNLMS K XIV (Lt. Cdr. Carel A.J. van Groeneveld), which heads to intercept it on the 23rd.

Newsweek, 22 December 1941, features Navy dive bombers.

About 15 nautical miles off the coast of California southwest of Lompoc, Japanese submarine I-19 uses its deck gun against 10,763-ton American tanker H.M. Storey. The recent spate of Japanese submarine attacks off the coast has attracted a great deal of attention, and a US Navy aircraft swiftly arrives and drops a depth charge. This provides enough of a distraction for the tanker to escape.

"A 25-pdr field gun and 'Quad' artillery tractor, 22 December 1941" North Africa. (© IWM (E 7245)).

Battle of the Mediterranean: In North Africa, the British Commonwealth forces continue pressing against the Afrika Corps, which has retreated to Beda Fomm and now is evacuating from Benghazi. The Germans have received some reinforcements from Tripoli and manage to stop the British by deploying 30 panzers. General Erwin Rommel, commander of Panzer Group Africa, sends a battle report to German General Headquarters in Rome for translation to Mussolini which notes "the extraordinarily strong enemy air superiority."

"Universal carrier of 40th Royal Tank Regiment, 8th Armoured Division being recovered from a hole at Warren Camp, Crowborough in Sussex, 22 December 1941. The regiment was about to embark for the Middle East, hence the desert camouflage." © IWM (H 16283).

Eastern Front: Having taken a somewhat leisurely drive from his former headquarters in Smolensk to East Prussia, Field Marshal Fedor von Bock arrives at the Fuhrer Headquarters in Rastenburg. After a brief visit with Hitler, during which the Fuehrer assures him that he understands the dire situation at the front, von Bock continues on to Berlin. It is an odd interlude because von Bock is not actually sick, but Hitler tells him to report back when he is "recovered."

Four Polikarpov I-15 biplanes ("Chaika," or seagull) under repair in Moscow, 22 Dec 1941.

At the front around Moscow, things are not quite so pleasant. In a driving snowstorm, Soviet 49th Army attacks at Tarusa and scores a quick breakthrough against the German Fourth Army. This separates the German 43rd Corps from the rest of the army and sets up a possible encirclement. The Army Group commander, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, follows standing orders and tells the corps to stand fast. However, von Kluge warns Fuehrer Headquarters of the danger. At Chekalin, Soviet sled troops surprise a German construction unit, which cannot be reinforced because of the snow and push it back. General Guderian spends the day at the front south of Moscow and is dismayed. He finds that the Soviets have broken through 296th Infantry Division at several points. He also warns Fuehrer Headquarters that he will lose the division entirely if it is required to hold its position.

President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Washington, D.C., 22 December 1941.

US/British Relations: The Arcadia Conference ("Arcadia" being the official code name for it), also known as the First Washington Conference, begins in Washington, D.C. on 22 December 1941. This is a meeting of top British and United States political and military leaders. Winston Churchill makes the hazardous ten-day journey across the Atlantic in battleship HMS Duke of York. This is the first of many military conferences between the two powers while both are at war. The conference lasts until 14 January 1942 and establishes the defeat of Germany as the top priority of the alliance. This comports with the established US military Rainbow 5 plan which already is in effect. Other agreements reached at the Arcadia Conference include establishing a Combined Chiefs of Staff, based in Washington, limiting resources to be sent to the Pacific Theater, and a "Declaration by United Nations" which establishes the principle of no separate peace with the Axis. The Arcadia Conference projects the first combined offensive action by the two powers as an invasion of North Africa, creates a unified American/British/Dutch/Australian Command (ABDA) in the Far East and establishes that military resources will be combined for the common benefit in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).

"Western Desert, Libya. 22 December 1941. The fierce attacks upon enemy aerodromes by the Allied Air Forces destroyed many aircraft which never had a chance of taking the air." Australian War Memorial MED0221.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020

Tuesday 18 November 1941

British Matilda tanks on a sortie outside the Tobruk perimeter on 18 November 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: After several months of relative quiet on the North African front, the war erupts again into a hail of gunfire on 18 November 1944 when the British launch Operation Crusader. This is an attempt by the British Eighth Army, led by General Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, to relieve the besieged garrison of Tobruk and, most optimistically, push the Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel back across Cyrenaica.

A British Matilda tank being prepared for operations at Tobruk on 18 November 1941.

Operation Crusader is launched by the British 30 Corps under Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie and XIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen. Their forces will be augmented if they can free the Tobruk garrison, composed of 32nd Army Tank Brigade, and the Australian 9th Division which (in late 1941), was in the process of being replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division and the Polish Carpathian Brigade (commanded by Major-General Stanisław Kopański). British Major General Ronald Scobie commands at Tobruk, which has been supplied by nightly runs of fast destroyers and minelayers based at Alexandria.

"Matilda tanks on the move outside the perimeter of Tobruk, 18 November 1941." © IWM (E 6600).

Opposing the British is Panzergroup Afrika. Its main force is Afrika Korps under the command of Lieutenant General Ludwig Cruwell. Cruwell has at his disposal the 15th Panzer Division, 21st Panzer Division (total of 260 tanks ), the Division z.b.V Afrika which had been formed in Africa as a composite formation, and was renamed the 90th Light Africa Division in late November, and the Italian 55th Infantry Division Savona. While General Rommel is under the command of the Italian High Command and is subject to the orders of General Ettore Bastico, Rommel exercises a completely free hand in operations and treats Cruwell almost as his chief of staff. Everybody understands that this is a German show and that the Italian soldiers are of limited value, though they are necessary and useful when handled properly (i.e., given static tasks and "corsetted" by always keeping German units nearby).

"The crew of a 25-pounder gun in Tobruk, 18 November 1941. They are members of the Royal Horse Artillery." © IWM (E 6572).

The main limitation of Rommel's forces has been resupply issues. Panzer Group Africa depends almost entirely on convoys from Naples (via Palermo) to Benghazi and Tripoli. Supply also depends upon transport from the ports to the front, which very often is lacking. About 75% of convoys get through, though there are some instances when none of the ships arrive at all, such as the 9 November Duisburg Convoy. The main problem is the fuel for the panzers because as much as half of the gasoline that arrives in North Africa is used up by transporting the remainder to the front. Convoys that might be sent are often delayed or eliminated entirely by the sinkings in the Sicilian Strait. The land convoys to the front also are vulnerable to RAF attacks both from Malta and Egypt. The Luftwaffe is much weaker in North Africa late in 1941 than it was in the spring due to the demands of the Eastern Front, which has sucked up resources that otherwise could have supported Afrika Korps. Hitler appoints Air Field  Marshal Albert Kesselring as Luftwaffe Commander in Chief South as his effort to improve the convoy situation. Kesselring immediately transfers his Luftlotte 2 headquarters (but not its forces) from Russia to Rome.

"An RAF Lysander aircraft from Army Co-operation Command flies low over Valentine tanks during an exercise, 18 November 1941. The tanks are marked with crosses to indicate 'enemy' vehicles." © IWM (H 15604).

The British are in much better shape than the Germans in North Africa. General Cunningham has built up an armada of 770 tanks (including many of the new Crusader Cruiser tanks, after which the operation was named, and many new American M3 Stuart light tanks supplied by Lend Lease via Suez). The British forces include South African, New Zealand, Indian, Australian, and Polish troops in discrete units. The RAF has over 700 combat aircraft under the command of Air HQ Western Desert. The Royal Navy is a constant factor because much of the action takes place along coastal roads and in ports that are easily shelled during night-time sorties from Alexandria. While the Italian Navy on paper is superior to the ships of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Station, it is well known to prefer to stay in port as a "fleet in being" both through timidity induced by early war losses and fuel issues. While the Kriegsmarine does have a presence in the Mediterranean, it is a minimal one which is disguised by some flashy successes such as the sinking of Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal on 13-14 November 1941.

"The Command Post for the Royal Horse Artillery in Tobruk. The Troop Commander can be seen using binoculars to see where shots land and the gun position officer is using a loudspeaker to give the firing order, 18 November 1941." © IWM (E 6577).

The British Eighth Army attacks before dawn from its base at Mersa Matruh and crosses the border near Fort Maddalena. From there, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Sidi Omar, 7th Armored Division's 7th Armored Brigade heads northwest toward Tobruk with 22nd Armored Brigade screening its left (western) flank. This attack is made through "no man's land" and there is virtually no fighting on 18 November. However, due to rain late on the 17th, the RAF Desert Air Force was unable to launch raids on Luftwaffe fields and Wehrmacht troop concentrations, so General Rommel begins the battle with his forces basically intact. He immediately orders 21st Panzer Division to move south from Gambut. The panzers are supported by powerful 88 mm gun batteries which can be used as both ground artillery and anti-aircraft fire. The initial flashpoint will be Sidi Rezegh airfield, which both sides need to support ground operations around Tobruk.

Stukas flying ahead of ground troops in Russia. A standard Wehrmacht tactic is to use dive bombers to open a hole in the enemy line for ground troops to quickly fill and thereby undermine the defenses. This photo was in the 18 November 1941 Der Adler but undoubtedly was taken months earlier (other photos are from September 1941).

Japanese Military: The first Imperial Japanese Navy ships begin leaving Japan (some from Kwajalein, which is under Japanese administration pursuant to a League of Nations Mandate) directly for Pearl Harbor. These include five large Japanese carrier submarines, HIJMS I-16, I-18, I-20, I-22, and I-24, which sail from Kure Naval Base. Each of these carries a midget sub lashed to its deck. Another nine ships leave Kwajalein. The main IJN carrier force of Kido Butai, the invasion operation, sails from Saeki Bay for Hittokappu (Tankan) Bay, awaiting the final order to sail east. The Japanese continue to negotiate in Washington for a peaceful settlement and do not tell even their German allies of their military plans. Security is very tight, and not even the American Magic decryption operation led by Joseph Roquefort has an inkling that the invasion fleet has sailed.

"HMCS Athabaskan leaving the slips after the launch by Lady Tweedsmuir." 18 November 1941, Newcastle. © IWM (A 9611).

November 1941
November 1, 1941: Finns Attack Toward Murmansk Railway
November 2, 1941: Manstein Isolates Sevastopol
November 3, 1941: Japan Prepares to Attack
November 4, 1941: German Advances in the South
November 5, 1941: Last Peace Effort By Japan
November 6, 1941: Stalin Casts Blame in an Unexpected Direction
November 7, 1941: Stalin's Big Parade
November 8, 1941: Germans Take Tikhvin
November 9, 1941: Duisburg Convoy Destruction
November 10, 1941: Manstein Attacks Sevastopol
November 11, 1941: Finland's Double Game Erupts
November 12, 1941: T-34 Tanks Take Charge
November 13, 1941: German Orsha Conference
November 14, 1941: German Supply Network Breaking Down
November 15, 1941: Operation Typhoon Resumes
November 16, 1941: Manstein Captures Kerch
November 17, 1941: Finland Halts Operations
November 18, 1941: British Operation Crusader
November 19, 1941: Sydney vs. Kormoran Duel
November 20, 1941: The US Rejects Final Japanese Demand
November 21, 1941: Germans Take Rostov
November 22, 1941: Kleist in Trouble at Rostov
November 23, 1941: Germans Take Klin, Huge Battle in North Africa
November 24, 1941: Rommel Counterattacks
November 25, 1941: HMS Barham Sunk
November 26, 1941: Japanese Fleet Sails
November 27, 1941: British Relieve Tobruk
November 28, 1941: Rostov Evacuated, German Closest Approach to Moscow
November 29, 1941: Hitler Furious About Retreat
November 30, 1941: Japan Sets the Date for its Attack

2020

Friday 14 November 1941

HMS Ark Royal sinks near Gibraltar on 14 November 1941 after being torpedoed by U-81 (Kptlt.  Friedrich Guggenberger) on 13 November (colorized).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, torpedoed by U-81 (Friedrich Guggenberger) on the 13th, rolls over and sinks on 14 November 1941. The location is pinpointed in 2002 as being 30 nautical miles east of Gibraltar. Guggenberger is in a position to sink the Ark Royal due to intelligence reports from the U-boat command in Paris. The Captain of the Ark Royal, Loben Maund, will be court-martialled in February 1942 for negligence. He will be found guilty on two counts of negligence: one of failing to ensure that properly constituted damage control parties had remained on board after the general evacuation, and one of failing to ensure the ship was in a sufficient state of readiness to deal with possible damage. Only one man out of the 1488 crewmen on board loses his life due to the lengthy time it takes the ship to sink.

Eastern Front: There are many oft-overlooked truths in a military campaign, and perhaps the most significant truth is the importance of supplies. As Napoleon famously said:

An army marches on its stomach. To be effective, an army relies on good and plentiful food.

There are many correlations between Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia and Hitler's 1941 invasion. The influence and effects of supply problems may be the biggest of them all. The difficulty in this subject is that logistical issues are not "sexy." They usually become sterile discussions of production and transportation that are important in the background to battles and campaigns but function well enough to never be noticed. It is much more gripping to talk about bombing raids or tank raids or surrenders, when, in fact, all of those moments of glory are determined in the final analysis by logistics. In late 1941, however, logistics take center stage in Russia.

A German truck stuck in the mud outside Moscow, November 1941 (Britting, Federal Archive Fig. 183-B15500).

Put bluntly, the German supply network in the Soviet Union is beginning to break down by 14 November 1941. At the Orsha Conference on 13 November, where future German strategy is discussed, these supply difficulties were discussed with chiefs of staff from the army groups and a number of individual armies. These problems are not being resolved and in fact, are getting worse as each day passes. Thus, the continuation of Operation Typhoon into the winter ordered at the Orsha Conference appears almost to be a desperate attempt to achieve victory before the supply chain degrades to a point where the armies are being literally and figuratively starved. Having better and more plentiful weapons is useless if those weapons receive no ammunition, and having more effective soldiers is of no benefit if they do not have enough to eat or proper clothing in which to stay warm during sub-zero temperatures.

"25-pdr field guns of 408th Battery, 146th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, at Littlehampton in Sussex, 14 November 1941." (© IWM (H 15593)).

Today, General Franz Halder, who administered the Orsha Conference, amplifies in his war diary on the supply issues discussed at the Orsha Conference. He writes that Quartermaster-General Eduard Wagner rather dire description of the supply situation was no exaggeration. Halder writes that Wagner discusses with him:

Organizational consequences of the truck situation (the Divs. now have only horse-drawn trains; truck columns pooled in Armies).

This suggests a growing triage situation of supply - divisions are being left to fend for themselves while the supplies that can be delivered are going straight from the railheads to the army headquarters. With frigid weather closing in, supplies such as gasoline and winter clothing and spare parts to replace those that freeze become critical.

"One of Singapore's 15-inch coast defense guns firing, 14 November 1941." © IWM (K 755).

The supply situation is not just affecting the Germans, but it is a false equivalence to say that the Red Army is facing the same issues as the Wehrmacht. The Soviets have a secure, intact supply network coming over railway systems that all converge on Moscow (one of the reasons that the Soviet capital always has been an important objective despite Hitler's long denials of that fact). The Germans, however, are trying to use railways that have been destroyed. The Soviet railway gauge is different than the German gauge, so trains from Berlin cannot just continue straight to the outskirts of Moscow. Instead, cargoes must be reloaded onto captured Soviet trains which can proceed only as far as the tracks have been repaired. Well, that is all well and good and can be accomplished with some slave labor, but the greater problem is that the Germans haven't captured enough Soviet trains and there aren't enough Soviet trainmen to run them. This requires transferring Germans from the German rail system to run the Soviet trains - and nobody wants to suddenly go run trains in a war zone in winter. The German army heads complain that the trains wind up being run by the "culls of the entire rail system." The bottom line is that the German Army is organized to run by trains, and train service is severely lacking in the conquered territories.

A German propaganda photo showing Junkers Ju-87 Stukas flying past and a Messerschmitt Br 108B "Taifun" (Typhoon) liaison aircraft on the ground to the left. Written on the back of the photo in German is the caption "Bombers return!" The Bf 108 later became known as the Nord 1000 Pingouin. The Bf 108 looks very much like the Bf 109 and often stands in for it in movies. However, only about 885 were built, compared to 33,984 Bf 109s (Berliner Verlag / Archive).

The  German supply issues in the East are causing insidious problems throughout the areas of the German occupation. It is not just the Wehrmacht soldiers who are suffering without sufficient winter clothing and other supplies. The Soviet POWs - literally millions of them - are getting almost nothing and they are serving as a sort of "canary in the coal mine" as to what awaits the Wehrmacht itself. Halder notes in his diary today after a stop at Molodeczno, Belarus on his way home from the Orsha Conference:

Typhus camp of Russian POWs (20,000) doomed to die. Several German doctors fatally ill. In other camps in the neighborhood no typhus, but every day many prisoners die from starvation. Ghastly picture, but relief appears impracticable at the momen.

Halder also stops at Kovno and gets a similar story there:

Colonel Just, Area Commander. Confirms earlier story of self-seeking policy of the civil administration and intrigues against the Army. Plight of POWs. Typhus in POW camps.

The desperate German drive on Moscow, where there would be plenty of ways to get through the winter, is beginning to take on the aspect of a fight for survival as much as one of conquest.

Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (pictured) speaks at an American Friends of German Freedom dinner on 14 November 1941. Eleanor Roosevelt also speaks. The general idea presented at the dinner is that despite the course being pursued by Hitler, Germany should not be destroyed after the war.

November 1941

November 1, 1941: Finns Attack Toward Murmansk Railway
November 2, 1941: Manstein Isolates Sevastopol
November 3, 1941: Japan Prepares to Attack
November 4, 1941: German Advances in the South
November 5, 1941: Last Peace Effort By Japan
November 6, 1941: Stalin Casts Blame in an Unexpected Direction
November 7, 1941: Stalin's Big Parade
November 8, 1941: Germans Take Tikhvin
November 9, 1941: Duisburg Convoy Destruction
November 10, 1941: Manstein Attacks Sevastopol
November 11, 1941: Finland's Double Game Erupts
November 12, 1941: T-34 Tanks Take Charge
November 13, 1941: German Orsha Conference
November 14, 1941: German Supply Network Breaking Down
November 15, 1941: Operation Typhoon Resumes
November 16, 1941: Manstein Captures Kerch
November 17, 1941: Finland Halts Operations
November 18, 1941: British Operation Crusader
November 19, 1941: Sydney vs. Kormoran Duel
November 20, 1941: The US Rejects Final Japanese Demand
November 21, 1941: Germans Take Rostov
November 22, 1941: Kleist in Trouble at Rostov
November 23, 1941: Germans Take Klin, Huge Battle in North Africa
November 24, 1941: Rommel Counterattacks
November 25, 1941: HMS Barham Sunk
November 26, 1941: Japanese Fleet Sails
November 27, 1941: British Relieve Tobruk
November 28, 1941: Rostov Evacuated, German Closest Approach to Moscow
November 29, 1941: Hitler Furious About Retreat
November 30, 1941: Japan Sets the Date for its Attack

2020