Monday 30 December 1940

London still smoldering on the morning of the 30th from the previous night's devastating fire raid.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Some fighting develops on 30 December 1940 in the central sector between Greek 2nd Corps and the defending Italians for possession of strategically important Klisura Pass (Kelcyre). The Greeks have not yet launched their main attacks there, but they already are having success against the Italians, who are showing a pronounced willingness to surrender.

European Air Operations: London digs out from the Second Great London Fire caused by the Luftwaffe raid on the night of 29/30 December. Royal Engineers and other troops are brought in to bring order to ravaged streets and dynamite destroyed buildings in the City of London. The incendiaries have fallen in about a two-and-a-half-mile diameter centered near St. Paul's Cathedral. The boroughs of Poplar and Westminster, near the Thames River, are hit the hardest. The authorities count a total of 1500 fires, with 52 of them listed as "serious," 28 as "major," and six as "conflagrations."

The Air Staff comes out with new guidelines. They want a person on every building ready to quickly douse incendiaries, which are easy to extinguish if caught quickly. A "fire-watching" system is set up in which everyone is held responsible for protecting their own house or business.

The Luftwaffe sends only a single bomber over East Anglia and Kent during the day and does not operate during the night of 30/31 December. They have been using X-Gerät beams to guide their bombers and using about ten bombers from KG 100 which are specially outfitted to receive such beams to guide them to the targets. The RAF steps up countermeasures to the beams at their special station at Cheadle (Cheshire).

The Arroyo Seco Parkway around the time of its opening in 1940. The black lanes are the "passing" lanes" and not part of the median. This road along a dry riverbed remains in use in the 21st Century in almost exactly the same configuration as shown here, although it now has more lanes and handles much more traffic (Caltrans).

Battle of the Atlantic: The weather is very rough in the North Atlantic, leading to ships colliding and others running aground. The convoy system places numerous ships unusually close to one another, and today that causes some damage.

A Luftwaffe (IX Air Corps) aerial mine hits and sinks 613-ton British freighter Calcium near Liverpool Harbor. When 608 ton British freighter Sodium goes alongside to take off the crew, the Calcium hits the Sodium and damages it.

In the same attack as sank the Calcium, the Luftwaffe also hits and damages Royal Navy destroyer HMS Venomous with an aerial mine at the entrance to Liverpool harbor. It requires repairs in Liverpool lasting for almost two months. There is one death on the Calcium.

Other ships damaged in the Luftwaffe attack on Liverpool Harbour are 5645-ton Swedish freighter Buenos Aires and 5218-ton British freighter Catrine. British 8053 ton tanker Dorcasia also hits a mine in the same general vicinity as the other ship; it is not clear if it is an aerial mine or a sea mine. In any event, it makes it back to port.

British 6402 ton freighter the City of Bedford gets in an accidental collision with 5342-ton British freighter Bodnant. The incident happens when Convoy SL 58 and Convoy OB 264 merge. The City of Bedford sinks, and the convoy Commodore, Rear Admiral JC Hamilton (Rtd.), perishes in the sinking.

British 3896 ton freighter Baron Ardrossan runs aground at Barra, Outer Hebrides. It is a complete write-off.

Force H, which has been fruitlessly out looking for the Admiral Hipper (which has made port at Brest), arrives back at Gibraltar. Heavy cruiser HMS Renown has suffered weather damage and requires repairs.

Convoy OB 267 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 371 departs from Southend.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Meynell (Lt. Commander William H. Farrington), the submarine HMS Undaunted and corvette HMS Kingcup are commissioned. Minesweeper HMS Boston, submarine HMS Umpire and corvette HMS Violet are launched.

Time Magazine features opera soprano Lily Pons on the cover of its 30 December 1940 issue. Pons, who became an American citizen in 1940, opened in Donizetti's La fille du regiment (Daughter of the Regiment) as Marie at the Met in New York City on 28 December 1940 (when this issue would have been on the newsstands). The revival resonates because it was last done at the end of World War I, and it concludes with a big flag-waving scene as Marie hoists aloft the French Napoleonic tricolors with the orchestra playing the Marseillaise. Thus, while this cover seems to be about opera... it's not just about opera.

Battle of the Mediterranean: In a collision in the Gulf of Sollum off Egypt, 913-ton anti-submarine trawler HMT Bandolero is sunk by Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen. Everybody survives. The Waterhen also is damaged, but makes it back to Alexandria under escort and requires a month of repairs.

The RAF raids Taranto, Naples, and Palermo. This apparently is done by the Wellingtons stationed on Malta.

The Australian 6th Division continues preparing for its assault on Bardia scheduled for 2 January 1941. Bardia now is cut off from relief by the Australian 16th and 17th Brigade troops. While Tobruk is not invested, the British do have patrols of the 7th Armoured Division in that general area.

An accounting on Malta shows that the Christmas Appeal to fund parties for refugee children provided enough money to fund 45 parties all across the island. Not only was cash raised, but also toys, food, candy, and free entertainment.

The Italians raid Malta again. This time, they actually fly over the island and drop some bombs, unlike on the 29th. The raid around 11:30 damages Luqa Airfield but causes no casualties on either side.

Life Magazine looks at "Britain's Desert Warriors" in its 30 December 1940 issue.

Battle of the Pacific: The Royal Navy organizes convoys for ships sailing in the Tasman Sea. This is in response to German raider Komet's successful attack on the phosphate facilities at Nauru.

Convoy US 8 departs from Sydney for Egypt. It is a major troop convoy which includes 11,093-ton transport Empire Star, 8536 ton Port Chalmers, 16,801-ton transport Empress of Russia, and 7527-ton transport Maunganui.

Spy Stuff: MI-6 agents in Tokyo have interviewed one of the crewmen taken from the Automedon and later landed in Japan by the German-captured Ole Jacob. The crewman reveals that the secret communications carried by the Automedon have fallen into German and Japanese hands. That information, which describes in detail British defenses in the Pacific region, indeed is in the hands of Japanese and German authorities.

Anglo/Abyssinian Relations: Winston Churchill sends a directive to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to support the return of exiled emperor Haile Selassie to the country for purposes of leading a revolt against the Italians there which can be capitalized upon by the British forces in neighboring Kenya.

US/Vichy French Relations: Admiral and Mrs. Leahy arrive in Lisbon onboard the USS Tuscaloosa. They will proceed to Vichy, where the Admiral will take up his post as US Ambassador to France.

German Military: Admiral Doenitz, commander of the U-boat fleet, gives a speech to the OKW in which he touts the value of the long-range Focke-Wulf FW Condor patrol planes:

Just let me have a minimum of twenty Fw 200s solely for reconnaissance purposes, and the U-boat successes will shoot up!

While they have their own issues, the Condors are the Luftwaffe's only four-engine aircraft and have proven quite serviceable in actions against the convoys, both from reconnaissance and attack perspectives.

A Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, of the kind that entered production in 1940.

US Military: Rear Admiral Claude C. Bloch, Commander of the 14th Naval District (and former Commander-in-chief of the US Fleet) in Hawaii, writes the first of three letters to the War Department (Chief of Naval Operations) warning that defenses there are inadequate. His specific complaint is that there are not enough long-range Consolidated PBY Catalina patrol planes to complete a proper search radius of the islands. CINCPACFLT endorses Bloch's appeals, but nothing is done, though Admiral Stark promises to send some PBYs. In fact, Admiral Bloch at no point has a single PBY to perform searches, though he can use some of the Navy's planes when they are not needed by the fleet. Admiral Kimmel, with no patrol planes, decides not to conduct air patrols at all despite the occasional availability of planes. Instead, the planes are devoted to fleet protection. There are many practical issues involved in this decision, including the lack of spare parts in Hawaii and the strain that endless patrols would place on the inadequate flight crews.

Admiral Bloch, incidentally, is the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the US armed forces during World War II.

British Military: The export version of the Bell P-39 Aircobra, the Bell P-400 Airacobra, is flown for the first time by an RAF pilot in England. Christopher Clarkson takes the plane up and has no issues. The plane is highly touted, and a production run of 675 aircraft destined for England is scheduled.

General Oliver Leese becomes commander of the West Sussex County Division of the Home Defense.

"Wunschkonzert," released on 30 December 1940, establishes Ilse Werner as one of the top film stars in Germany.

German Homefront: UFA releases "Wunschkonzert," a film set in part at the 1936 Olympics and named after a popular radio program in which soldiers from around the Reich call-in requests for songs. While she does not receive top billing (except on some film posters), the lovely (Dutch) Ilse Werner steals the movie and becomes one of Germany's top film stars (and also a radio and television star during the war). Werner builds on this success to become known for her trademark whistling as part of her singing act. "Wunschkonzert" becomes the highest-grossing film in UFA history and, in an excellent example of synergy, propels the radio show on which it is based to new heights of popularity. All that said... it is not a very interesting film for modern audiences, with a rote and maudlin love-triangle plot, obvious German propaganda touches and, inexplicably, no singing from one of the Reich's top singing stars, Wagner.

American Homefront: California Governor Culbert Olson and Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron dedicate the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway, State Route 110) in California. Note that parts of the freeway were first opened to traffic on 20 July December, but this dedication marks the entire route as open and ready for traffic.

As a fact sheet put out by Caltrans puts it:

It has the distinction of being the first freeway -- a grade-separated, limited-access, high-speed divided road -- in the urban western United States. Termed an “engineering marvel,” it was the initial stretch of road for what would become the world renowned Los Angeles metropolitan area freeway system.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway roadbed remains in the 21st Century exactly where it was laid out in the 1930s. It remains in good shape partly because trucks were banned from it shortly after its construction. Designed to accommodate 27,000 vehicles at an average speed per day, the highway has been widened and now handles about 122,000 vehicles per day. It reverted to its original name in 2010. Incidentally, at the dedication ceremony, five Native American leaders, including Chief Tahachwee of the Kawie tribe that lived in the Arroyo, smoke a 150-year-old peace pipe to celebrate this "modern progress."

Opening Day caravan for the Arroyo Seco Freeway, 3 December 1940. There is a black left lane for passing, a gray right lane for normal traffic, and a shoulder lane.  The shoulder lane and the median area are long gone.

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 4 December 1940

A DC-3 being prepared for shipment to England, 4 December 1940. The RAF designation for DC-3s is Dakota, and they are often used for transport throughout the war (Smithsonian).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks continue to advance on 4 December 1940, and Mussolini has had enough. He fires Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who has been Chief of Staff (Capo di Stato Maggiore Generale) since 1925, who "resigns." He is replaced by Ugo Cavallero, who in turn is replaced as Deputy Chief of the Supreme General Staff by General Alfredo Guzzoni. Mussolini also fires the governor of the Italian Dodecanese, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, and Admiral Cavagnari either today or within a few days.

In Albania, the Greek 2nd Division completes the capture of Suhë Pass, and the 8th Division captures Kakavia Pass when the Italians withdraw during the night. The 8th Division has taken 1500 Italians prisoner and captured numerous artillery pieces and 30 tanks, which the Italians have found ineffective in the steep terrain.

Greek II Army Corps captures Përmet ten miles across the border in southern Albania, while the Italians abandon Argyrokastro in southwest Albania. Greek III Corps is now in full possession of the Kamia Mountain. The advances mean that the Greeks now occupy a continuous line from the port of Saranda to Pogradec on Ohrid Lake.

The Greeks are advancing on the left side of the line, but they still lag the more advanced troops on the right side. By order of Commander-in-chief Papagos, those troops on the right are waiting for the rest of the Greek forces in the south to catch up. While their advance appears to be going quickly, the weather is foul and the Greek troops are on foot grinding through the snow and slush. They are advancing steadily, but slowly. The choice by the Italians to invade at the onset of winter is now working in their favor - but in a way that wasn't part of the plan.

The RAF based near Athens is in action over Albania, claiming eight victories.

European Air Operations: During the day, the Germans raid Dover. After dark, the Luftwaffe sends 62 bombers against Birmingham, England. They drop 77 tons of high explosives and 184 incendiary bombs. London also receives some attention.

RAF Bomber Command attacks Antwerp, Calais, Turin, and targets around Dusseldorf.

The reality of US Army life: metal shelters for soldiers and construction workers in Columbus, Georgia near Fort Benning. The tin shacks went for $10 per month - or, you could rent a tent space for $2 per week. December 1940. (Source: Marion Post Wolcott/LC-USF34-056461 via Library of Congress).

Battle of the Atlantic: U-37 (Kptlt. Asmus Nicolai Clausen) torpedoes and sinks 1513-ton Swedish freighter Daphne southwest of Gibraltar. There are 18 deaths. The Daphne is a straggler from Convoy OG-46.

U-52 (Kptlt. Helmut Möhlmann) claims to have torpedoed and sunk a freighter in the Northwest Approaches off Ireland, but it is unclear what, if any, ship it sank. Most accounts discount this claim, Möhlmann may have sunk a derelict already claimed by another means.

Royal Navy 1927-ton freighter HMS Empire Seaman is sunk intentionally as a blockship at Scapa Flow, East Weddel Sound. Some accounts place this sinking on 30 June 1940.

Belgian 145-ton fishing trawler Helene hits a mine and sinks in the English Channel off Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. That area has been recently mined.

Norwegian 2669-ton iron ore freighter Skogheim runs aground near Songvår Lighthouse, Søgne, Vest-Agder whilst on a voyage from Kirkenes to Emden and is a total write-off. Everybody aboard survives. The ship is later salvaged.

Convoy OB 254 departs from Liverpool, Convoy Fn 350 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 353 departs from Methil, Convoy FS 351 is detained in port, Convoy BS 10 departs from Suez.

U-552 (Kplt. Erich Topp), a Type VIIC boat, is commissioned. Topp is the former commander of U-57, which sank following a collision with a Norwegian vessel on 3 September 1940. He already has six victims under his belt in U-57. We shall be hearing quite a bit more about Topp and U-552.

US destroyer USS Eberle (Lt. Commander Edward R. Gardner, Jr.) is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Compass, the projected British attack on Italian positions in Egypt, is only days away. British Major General Richard O'Connor, Commander of the Western Desert Army, who prefers to lead from the front (unlike many British Generals), transfers his headquarters to an advance location where he can better supervise the offensive. Leading from the front is a two-edged sword: it provides certain benefits such as inspiring the troops, but it also exposes the commander to danger.

At Malta, Royal Navy submarine HMS Upright (Lt J E Brooks RN) arrives. It is the first of three U class submarines assigned to Malta. The commander notes that the sub is not fit for long patrols due to the inability to carry sufficient provisions, and the long trip from Gibraltar, which included a patrol off Palermo, Sicily, taxed the crew.

The Germans begin their penetration into the Mediterranean by instituting Fliegerkorps X at Taormina, Sicily.

Battle of the Pacific: Captured Norwegian freighter Ole Jacob arrives safely in Kobe, Japan. This ship was captured by raider Pinguin and carries extremely sensitive documents from the British War Cabinet that were taken from sunk freighter Automedon. Some historians believe that these documents are critical to the Japanese decision to attack the British and Americans in December 1941. The prize crew hands the Top Secret documents (which the British have no idea have been captured) to the German ambassador, who gives one copy to the Japanese government and sends another by courier to Berlin via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. This has been an exceedingly competently handled operation by the Germans - they sank the Automedon before it could get off any messages, have the British crew safely secured, and briskly got the information to a safe haven. In the long run, though, the information will prove to be a double-edged sword for the Axis.

Italian/German Relations: Mussolini is in the midst of a crisis of confidence about his troops' situation in Albania. He orders his Ambassador to Germany, Dino Alfieri (who generally has little to do because Hitler and Mussolini usually communicate through each other or their foreign ministers), to meet with Hitler and plead for assistance there.

New England skiers, 4 December 1940.

Anglo/Turkish Relations: Turkey joins Spain and other neutral countries in wringing concessions from both sides as they play a very dangerous game in strategic areas. The British sign a trade agreement with Turkey calculated to keep that country from drifting toward the Axis. Hitler, meanwhile, always has his eye on Turkey because it controls the Dardanelles, and his focus will become only sharper the closer his forces draw to it - and past it.

Romania: The Antonescu government begins to regain control of the country after the recent re-burial of the founder of the Iron Guard, which inspired massive unrest.

German Military: Adolf Hitler meets with Abwehr boss Admiral Canaris. They discuss the prospects for Operation Felix, the subjugation of Gibraltar. Any attack, they conclude, requires Spanish cooperation and perhaps assistance.

US Military: F4F-3 Wildcats enter service with VF-41. They still have some problems with a poor cockpit layout, as pilots can easily confuse the flap settings with the fuel valve. The F4F already serves with the RAF in England as the Martlet due to previous purchases by the Anglo-French Purchasing Board before the fall of France..

US Navy Grumman F4F-3/3A Wildcats based on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, 1941.

US Government: Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (retired), the Governor of Puerto Rico, resigns. He has been offered the vacant post of Ambassador to France.

British Government: The Admiralty releases figures showing that shipping losses for the month ending 24 November were 323,157 tons.

Winston Churchill, as usual, sides with the Admiralty against the RAF in a dispute over control of the U-boat war.

British Homefront: The supply situation in England isn't getting any better, but Minister of Food Lord Woolton announces that the inmates', er, population's rations of sugar and tea will be increased - temporarily - by four and two ounces, respectively for Christmas.

American Homefront: At 17:48, a new twin-engine DC-3A of United Air Lines crashes while landing at Midway Airport, Chicago. The plane is on a standard flight from LaGuardia Airport (still called New York Municipal Airport and/or LaGuardia Field), which has only been in operation for a year. The FAA determines that the plane stalled during its approach because the pilot chose the wrong runway, one that was too short for his aircraft and thus required him to throttle back the plane's speed until it passed the stall point. Seven passengers and all three crew perish. LaGuardia, incidentally, remains a very tough airport for landings.

Future History: Gary Gilmore is born in McCarney, Texas. He will go on to become one of the most notorious murderers in American history, gaining notoriety for (successfully) demanding the death penalty. His execution in 1977 will mark the return of the death penalty (under new guidelines) in the US for the first time in a decade, a practice that continues.

Singer Freddy Cannon is born in Revere, Massachusetts. His hits will include "Tallahassee Lassie," "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans," and "Palisades Park." Cannon continues to perform and occasionally still puts out records.

Workers put the finishing touches on some cars in Detroit, 4 December 1940.

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

Monday 11 November 1940

The Italians waited too long to beach battleship Conte di Cavour in Taranto harbor.

Battle of the Mediterranean: In Operation Judgment, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, on 11 November 1940 launches 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers (20 make it to the target) from aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R 87). They attack the main southern Italian (Regia Marina) naval base at Taranto. The attack is technically risky because the aerial torpedoes could accidentally hit the shallow (12 meters) bottom when 23 m is considered the minimum necessary - but they don't.

Three battleships at anchor are bombed and torpedoed by RAF No. 815 Squadron beginning at 22:58:

• Conte di Cavour (sunk in very shallow water, 27 killed, 100+ wounded)
• Caio Duilio (beached)
• Littorio (three torpedo strikes, 32 dead, beached))

The British lose two planes. Littorio, the newest ship, is repaired in five months, Caio Duilio in six/seven months, Conte di Cavour is never fully repaired. The Italians also lose two aircraft on the ground and sustain damage to cruiser Trento, destroyer Libeccio (unexploded bombs hit them) and destroyer Pessagno.

The attack alters the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean. However, the change is subtle, and the remaining Italian fleet remains formidable. Two of the battleships sunk are old and likely would have remained in harbor anyway. The newer Littorio, meanwhile, is back in action fairly quickly. The underlying problem with the Regia Marina is not the number of capital ships that it has, but its unwillingness or inability to use them as aggressively as the Royal Navy does.

The attack originally was the idea of Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1938. When Pound handed off to Cunningham in mid-1939, he also bequeathed upon his successor the training and preparation for this attack.

Operation Judgment is just part of the overall Operation MB 8 currently being carried out in the Mediterranean. It involves the supply of Malta, the transfer of ships from Gibraltar to the Mediterranean Fleet, attacks on Italian bases throughout the Mediterranean, and other measures designed to improve the British position in the region. This attack on Taranto, though, is the climax of the larger operation.

The influence of the Taranto attack reverberates around the world. The Imperial Japanese Navy studies the attack closely and uses lessons from it during planning for the later attack on Pearl Harbor. The real effect of the Battle of Taranto, though, is the basic lesson that naval aviation based upon squadrons centered on aircraft carriers can have devastating power. It is a major step beyond the battleships that have dominated naval planning for the past 50 years. The US Navy also benefits from this object lesson in the long run.

A Fiat CR 42 Falco biplane fighter after crash-landing near Lowestoft, Suffolk on 11 November 1940. The plane was forced down by a propeller malfunction. Courtesy Australian War Memorial ID 005696.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks continue pushing the Italians back to the Kalamas River along the coast. Elsewhere, the Italians have taken up defensive positions except at Elea in the Negrades sector, where they make some small tactical gains. In the central Pindos sector, the Greek 1st Infantry Division continues attacking.

The Greeks, meanwhile, are bringing up reinforcements for a counter-offensive without too much hindrance from the Regia Aeronautica. The RAF sends night raids against Italian supply ports at Valona and Durazzo in Albania.

A crashed Fiat CR 42 on the beach at Orfordness, Suffolk. It was with the 95 Squadriglia 18 Gruppo, 56 Stormo. Pilot Sergente Pietro Salvadori becomes his Majesty's guest for the remainder of the war.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe sends fighter-bombers (Jabos) against London in two large waves during the day. Some of the Jabos get through, but the RAF forces most of them to drop their bombs early over random areas. Junkers Ju 87 Stukas also attack shipping off Kent, but have little success; seaplane attacks during the day, though, have great success (described below).

The Italian bomber fleet (Corpo Aereo Italiano, or CAI) based in Belgium sends a dozen Fiat BR 20M bombers and 42 Fiat CR 42 fighters across the Channel toward Harwich at 13:30. Three RAF Hawker Hurricane squadrons (Nos. 17, 46 and 257) shoot down three of the bombers and three fighters, and damaging two other bombers, at no cost of their own and deflect the attack. The Luftwaffe raids London with only about two dozen planes during the night due to poor weather.

Winston Churchill, never a big fan of Italian war prowess, finds the CAI's incompetence amusing, saying later:

[The Italian planes] might have found better employment defending the fleet at Taranto.

RAF Bomber Command attacks Lorient and various Luftwaffe airfields along the coast. The weather over the Continent is judged to be too poor for night attacks.

Top Luftwaffe ace Walter Oesau becomes Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 3, he is replaced at III,/JG 51 by Hptm. Richard Leppla.

Illustrating how personal the air war can get, leading ace Kommodore Major Werner Mölders of JG 51 gets distraught when a friend, Oblt. Georg Claus with 18 victories, is shot down over the Thames Estuary. He personally goes back and searches for the downed pilot with his wingman, Lt. Eberle, but can't find him.

RAF night fighter No. 650 Squadron shoots down a Junkers Ju 88A bomber by using A.I.IV radar. It is the first kill by the new Beaufighters.

Fiat BR.20M MM.22267 of 242a Squadriglia on the airfield. This plane was shot down on 11 November 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: In Operation Medium, the British battleship HMS Revenge and half a dozen destroyers bombard Cherbourg from 03:33 to 03:51.

It is a big day for aerial attacks on shipping. Aside from the RAF success at Taranto, the Luftwaffe also uses its seaplanes to sink a number of ships. While largely forgotten to the general public, the Heinkel He 115 seaplane was a fearsome Luftwaffe weapon during the war's early years.

The Luftwaffe (Heinkel He 115 seaplanes of KGr 706) attacks convoy EN 23 in the North Sea 7.4 km south of Aberdeen. The convoy is defenseless except for the serendipitous fact that it is passing Convoy WN 34, which has as an escort anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank.

The seaplanes torpedo and sink 4327-ton British freighter Trebartha. (The ship's bell is recovered in 1999 and occasionally changes hands). Four crew perish.

The same Luftwaffe attack sinks 3997-ton British freighter Creemuir about 15 miles southeast of Aberdeen. There are 27 deaths. The Creemuir was the lead ship of the port column of the 31-merchant-ship convoy. The torpedo hits amidships and the ship sinks within three minutes. The ship is discovered and dived the wreck in 2009; the divers retrieved the ship's bell and gave it to surviving crew member, Radio Officer Noel Blacklock.

Another ship, British 1141-ton freighter Harlaw in Convoy WN 34, also is damaged in this attack.

Elsewhere, the Luftwaffe (possibly Heinkel He 115 seaplanes of 3,/KGr 906) torpedoes and sinks 3371-ton Norwegian freighter Ravnanger off Redcar, Yorkshire in Tees Bay. There are 26 survivors and one death.

British 2474-ton freighter Corsea is damaged in Barrow Deep off Middlesborough by Heinkel He 115 seaplanes of KGr 506. The Luftwaffe loses two Junkers Ju 88s and a Bf 109 during these attacks.

British freighter Colonel Crompton also is damaged in the same attack off Southend.

British 2345-ton freighter Corduff also is damaged in the same attack off Southend. (This ship was sunk in March 1941; it is a bit unclear what happened to it during this convoy on 11 November 1940, the damage, if any, must have been light).

There are other Luftwaffe attacks which damage 932-ton British freighter Pitwines east of Yarmouth.

British 314-ton trawler Iwate also is damaged by the Luftwaffe five miles southwest of Old Head of Kinsale.

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors also get into the aerial action. A Condor of 1,/KG 40 bombs and sinks 1925-ton British freighter Balmore about 560 km west of Ireland. One of the great strengths of the Condors is their extensive range out over the convoy routes when operating from France. All 27 crew on the Balmore perish.

Royal Navy 417-ton trawler HMT Stella Orion hits a mine and sinks in the Thames Estuary off Herne Bay, Kent. Everyone survives.

British 118-ton coaster Skarv hits a mine and sinks in the Bristol Channel. Five men perish.

British 406-ton coaster Porthcarrack runs aground and is lost near Porthcawl, Glamorgan, off the mouth of Ogmore River, Ogmore-by-Sea. There are four deaths and four survivors. Attempts are made to refloat the vessel, but it is too badly damaged to remain afloat.

Greek 5186-ton freighter Dionyssios Stathatos loses its rudder in the Atlantic west of the Outer Hebrides and is abandoned. Some sources place this loss on 12 December 1940.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Vega hits a mine off Sunk Head Buoy while escorting Convoy FS 332. It is taken in tow by tug St. Mellons and brought to Harwich for repairs. The ship is badly damaged and takes two full years to return to service.

British 50-ton coaster Grit detonates a mine and is damaged just off Margate Buoy.

British freighter Ardmore sails out of the Port of Cork and then disappears. Some flotsam and jetsam are found, but nobody knows what happened to the ship until much later. Many accounts state that it was sunk by the Luftwaffe. In 1998, the wreck is found in 83 feet of water two miles south of Saltee Islands. It finally is learned that the ship struck a (likely magnetic) mine. As a coincidence, the wreck is near another ship named the Ardmore that sank 23 years earlier, almost to the day, during World War 1. All 24 men on board perish.

A plaque commemorating the SS Ardmore which relatives of the deceased placed upon the Penrose Quayside of the Michael Collins Bridge, near where the Ardmore departed on 11 November 1940. These daily summaries are full of numbers of people killed and wounded, it is good to recall that we are talking about real people with families and friends whose loss deeply hurt many people.

British liner Empress of Japan, attacked by the Luftwaffe on the 10th, makes port with light damage. German radio claims to have sunk her.

British corvette HMS Rhododendron spots U-103 and attacks it with depth charges 200 miles northwest of Ireland, but the U-boat escapes undamaged.

Convoy OB 242 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 332 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 333 departs from Methil, Convoy HX 85, recalled due to the Admiral Scheer attack, departs from Sydney, Canada.

American minesweeper USS Raven (AM 55) is commissioned.

Battle of the Indian Ocean/Pacific: German raider Atlantis encounters 7528-ton British freighter Automedon about 400 km west of Sumatra around 07:00. The crew of the Automedon has no idea that the Atlantis, disguised as another ship, is a German raider until they are only 5000 meters apart and the crew of the Atlantis runs up its German pennant. The Germans quickly block the Automedon's transmissions so it can radio for help. Because the Automedon does not surrender, the Atlantis opens fire and hits the bridge, killing the captain and many others. There are 6-8 deaths and 12 other casualties, who are taken as prisoners. In all, there are 75 crew, a gunner, and 21 passengers taken prisoner.

The Automedon is carrying 15 bags of Top Secret mail for the British Far East Command, decoding tables, Naval Intelligence reports - all sorts of valuable information. The most valuable information is an envelope addressed to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command which details the British War Cabinet's detailed evaluation of British assets in the Far East. The captain of the Automedon almost certainly would have thrown this overboard if he hadn't been killed by the Atlantis' first shot. The Atlantis takes off all the useful information and supplies and then scuttles the Automedon at 15:07.

Captain Rogge of the Atlantis gives the captured intelligence to the prize crew which he puts on the captured Ole Jacob. He then sends that ship off to Kobe, Japan. The ship makes it there and delivers the intelligence to the German embassy on 4 December 1940. The ambassador, in turn, gives it to a courier to take to Berlin via the Trans-Siberian Railway. A copy is given to the Japanese.

While all this may seem a bit esoteric and perhaps irrelevant, in fact, the incident is seen by many as playing a huge factor in the Japanese decision to attack the British (and Americans) on 7 December 1941. The material taken shows how weak the British position is in the Far East and how easy it would be to conquer the region.

Wars are full of coincidences, and today two widely separate incidents occur which dramatically influence the events of 7 December 1941: this capture of the Automedon and its secret documents, and the Royal Navy attack on Taranto. In fact, if this decision does influence the Japanese decision to attack it is of far greater importance than the Taranto attack. Demonstrating how important this is, the Japanese bestow upon Captain Rogge an ornate katana (sword) on 27 April 1943, one of only three ever given to a member of the Wehrmacht (the others are given to Hermann Goering and Erwin Rommel).

The SS Sinaloa, which ran aground on a reef in Sac Bay off the Garden Peninsula, Michigan, US on Nov. 11, 1940.

Soviet/German Relations: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov boards a train to take him to Berlin for his high-stakes meeting with Hitler and Ribbentrop.

Czech/Polish Relations: General Sikorski and Edouard Benes of Czechoslovakia sign an agreement in London calling for post-war union between the two nations. Neither man will be involved in his country's post-war government and the agreement is a nullity.

Italian Military: The Italian Regia Aeronautica forms the first Focke-Wulf 87 Stuka dive-bomber squadron.

US Military: Willys-Overland’s chief engineer Delmar Roos delivers the Quad prototype jeep to the US military at Camp Holabird. The Willys Jeep is a minor modification of the original American Bantam Jeep prototype delivered to Camp Holabird on 21 September 1940. While Willys is credited by almost everyone with designing the Jeep, in fact, it is an American Bantam design subcontracted out to freelance designer Karl Probst. Willys is involved only because the Army, which likes the Bantam design, does not think that Bantam is a big enough company to handle the military's needs. Accordingly, the Army has asked Willy and Ford Motor Company essentially to replicate Bantam's Jeep. Willys, for its part, only gets the fame as the "designer of the Jeep" because, with this delivery, it beats Ford's delivery of its own replica by ten days.

The origin of the name "Jeep," incidentally, is not known with precision. The most likely source is the comic strip Popeye, with its character Eugene the Jeep. Some Army men are heard calling the vehicle Jeep, and the name sticks.

Spain: The Spanish Ministry of the Navy submits a report to Franco indicating that the Germans must capture the Suez Canal before an operation against Gibraltar would be feasible.

A plaque in the Champs Elysees commemorating the 11 November 1940 protest. This lies near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

French Homefront: There is an anti-German demonstration in Paris by students on Armistice Day. Many participants are arrested and sent to prison. This is an extremely dangerous thing to do, as a similar protest a year earlier in Prague - on International Student's Day - induced vicious repression by the SS.

American Homeland: The Armistice Day Blizzard strikes.

Freighter William B. Davock, 4468 tons, is caught in the blizzard on Lake Michigan and sinks. All 32-33 crewmen aboard perish. A 2014/15 investigation by the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association finds that the cause of the wreck was a broken rudder that jammed against the propeller, stripping it and rendering the ship helpless in the face of the wind and sea.

Several other vessels also are damaged or run aground, for a total of about 59 deaths. Two ships go down very near each other. Canadian 2227 ton freighter Novadoc runs aground near Pentwater, Michigan and is lost, with all crew saved 36 hours later when a tugboat, the Three Brothers II, goes out and rigs a breeches buoy to the freighter. Canadian 4285 ton lumber freighter Anna C. Minch breaks in two during the storm about one and a half miles south of Pentwood. All 24 crew perish.

The Armistice Day Blizzard leaves classic cars stranded everywhere.

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