Monday 12 January 1942

General Erwin Rommel, leader of Panzer Group Africa, with General Ludwig Cruwell, commander of Afrika Korps, near El Agheila on 12 January 1942. They are meeting with leaders of Italian Division "Pavia." Rommel begins planning a counteroffensive today (Gemini, Ernst A., Federal Archive Picture 183-1982-0927-503).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The 2nd South African Division forces the surrender of the German/Italian stronghold at Sollum on the Egyptian border early on 12 January 1942. The Sollum fortress provided an outlet to the sea for the 5,000 Italian troops holding out at Halfaya Pass, so now they are completely isolated (though the sea routes weren't very useful anyway due to Royal Navy control of the sea). The Italian defenders of the Halfaya position are dug in and determined to hold out, but they are running out of food and water and their position is hopeless. Hopeless, that is, unless Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel pulls off a miracle and stages a counteroffensive to relieve them. Such is the growing legend of Rommel that the Italians are willing to suffer extreme privations in the belief that miracles do happen and the panzers will suddenly appear on the horizon. Unbeknownst to the Italian defenders, Rommel does begin planning just such a counteroffensive today. Rommel, as is his common practice, does not inform either the Italian or German high commands. This prevents Allied codebreakers from learning of the plans. Whether the hard-pressed Italians at Halfaya can hold out until the Germans counterattack is doubtful.

German 1840-ton freighter Turkheim torpedoed and sunk by Soviet submarine S-102 on 12 January 1942. The Turkheim was sunk near Hamningberg - Vardø in northern Norway.

Just east of Cape Spartivento, Italy, British submarine HMS Unbeaten (Cdr Edward "Teddy" Woodward) spots U-374 (Oblt.z.S. Unno von Fischel) on the surface. Damaged on 10 January 1942 by Royal Navy destroyer HMS Legion and Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers, U-374 is unable to submerge. Commander Woodward torpedoes U-374, sinking it and killing 42 men. There is one survivor that Unbeaten takes prisoner.

In this photo taken on 12 January 1942, the German battleship Tirpitz leaves Kiel and sails through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to return to Wilhelmshaven. The Germans are making big decisions about their big ships today

Battle of the Atlantic: Adolf Hitler is losing confidence in the ability of the Kriegsmarine to operate surface ships in the Atlantic. They also are not safe in their anchorage at Brest, France, because of massive RAF bombing raids which already have caused the ships some damage. Hitler, however, sees continued use for the surface ships in the far north of Norway to intercept Allied convoys to Russia and to aid in coastal defense. For them to operate in Norway, though, the ships first need to return past England to the Baltic. This can be done in either of two ways, either in a large, dangerous loop to the west of Great Britain or an even more dangerous, but much quicker, journey straight up the narrow English Channel. Hitler chooses the latter.

German battleship Tirpitz sails through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal during its return to Wilhelmshaven on 12 January 1942.

Hitler orders Admiral Raeder to prepare plans for a "surprise break up the Channel" by the cruisers to reach the German Atlantic port of Wilhelmshaven. Raeder today opposes the plan, at least if it uses the channel route, but agrees to prepare and execute the operation as long as Hitler himself gives the final order to execute it. The Luftwaffe also opposes the plan but agrees to execute it as Unternehmen Donnerkeil (Operation Thunderbolt). It is planned for right before a new moon in early February 1942. The entire Channel Dash is given the codename Operation Cerberus, apparently because Cerberus in mythology is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld, and several German heavy cruisers (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen) are to make the journey.

German battleship Tirpitz sails through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal during its return to Wilhelmshaven on 12 January 1942.

Battle of the Pacific: US Navy Task Force 8.6, led by heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) and light cruisers Detroit (CL-8) and Raleigh (CL-7), escorts Amulet Force to a successful landing on Amchitka Island. This is 2,000 men under the command of Brigadier General Lloyd E. Jones. During the landing, a fierce storm hits which, along with a tricky current, causes destroyer Worden to hit a submerged rock. The destroyer loses power and it eventually drifts ashore and is broken up. There are fourteen dead, but its commanding officer, Cdr William G. Pogue, is hauled out of the water unconscious but alive.

Tugs assisting German battleship Tirpitz as it sails through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal during its return to Wilhelmshaven on 12 January 1942.

With the Japanese seizing control of a large portion of the southwest Pacific, the US Army Air Force establishes a new southern route from Hawaii to Australia south of the Philippines. Three USAAF B-17 bombers complete the first flight from Hawaii to Australia today. The Combined Chiefs of Staff approve plans to garrison a chain of islands along this route that will include American Samoa, Bora Bora, Canton Island, Christmas Island, the Fiji Islands, and Palmyra Island.

Life magazine on 12 January 1942 features "Pacific Coast Defense."

The limits of British air defenses in Singapore are amply demonstrated today when a flight of 27 Japanese bombers is chased by RAAF Brewster Buffaloes after completing a mission over the island. The Japanese pilots manage to outrun the obsolete fighters, causing a RAAF pilot to comment, ""Bombers outpacing fighters. You've got to bloody-well laugh." On land, the Japanese forces stream through Kuala Lumpur and head toward Johore, where the British are planning their last stand on the Malay Peninsula.

Time magazine for 12 January 1942 features Sir Henry Pownall, "Trustee of Singapore." Pownall was the commander-in-chief of the British Far East Command in South East Asia until January 942 when it was succeeded by the short-lived ABDACOM. He is currently chief of staff to General Sir Archibald Wavell. (Ernest Hamlin Baker).

In the Philippines, the Japanese have closed up to the Allied outpost line across the neck of the Bataan Peninsula and begin major attacks. Allied forces are divided into two Corps, I Corps in the west and II Corps in the east, with II Corps being slightly more powerful because it represents the "short route" for the Japanese forces coming from the east. The Japanese make gains against the Filipino 51st Division in the western portion of the II Corps area and the Filipino 41st Division in the center of the II Corps line. In the east portion of the II Corps line, the Japanese cross the Calaguiman River and establish bridgeheads on the south bank. In the I Corps area, the Japanese use boats to seize undefended Grande Island in Manila Bay.

"The destruction around St Paul's Cathedral caused by an air raid on London is softened by a heavy dusting of snow. A mobile crane and truck can be seen at work to clear up some of the debris." January 1942. © IWM (D 6412).

At Tarakan, a triangle-shaped island less than three miles off the Borneo coast, the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, or KNIL) garrison surrenders in the morning of 12 January. The triumphant Sakaguchi Detachment and 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force drown 219 POWs as retaliation for losses they suffered during the Battle of Tarakan. Most of the Dutch ships based at Tarakan manage to escape, but Japanese destroyer Yamakaze and patrol boat P-38 sink Dutch minelayer Prins van Oranje as it attempts a run for safety.

U-43 (Kptlt. Wolfgang Lüth) torpedoes and sinks 5246-ton Swedish freighter Yngaren about 600 miles west of Ireland on 12 January 1942. The Yngaren was carrying a cargo of 4696 tons copra, 3000 tons manganese ore, and 80 tons trucks and 8 aircraft. There are 38 deaths and 2 survivors.

On Celebes (Sulawesi), the Battle of Manado ends in a Japanese victory. Japanese paratroopers are dropped at the airfield at Longoan. They suffer heavy casualties but secure the field. The local Dutch commander, Captain W.C. van den Berg, retreats with his forces inland and prepares to begin a guerilla campaign. Van den Berg's men are almost all retired men who are long past normal military age. There are a few more isolated Dutch outposts left to capture and the guerilla campaign poses some problems for the Japanese, but, for all intents and purposes, the battle for Celebes is over. The Japanese always have an ace card in these situations because they effectively hold civilians hostage (including women) and have no compunctions about executing them in retaliation for Allied raids.

Oberleutnant Erbo Graf von Kageneck, a holder of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and Staffelkapitän of the 9./JG 27 fighter unit. He dies of wounds suffered in North Africa at a Naples, Italy, hospital on 12 January 1942. Kageneck is posthumously promoted to Hauptmann and finishes with 67 victories. It is believed that Australian ace Clive Caldwell shot him down.

Eastern Front: The Soviet 51st Division on the Crimea deploys its two regiments along the new line that runs from north to south on the Parpach Narrows. The Germans have assembled four divisions for an attack on the Red Army's 51st and 44th Divisions and to recapture Feodosiya, the key port in the south. The Luftwaffe also is building up its forces to help the attack under newly formed Special Staff Crimea. It is commanded by General Robert Ritter von Greim.

"South African sappers making German Teller mines safe, 12 January 1942." © IWM (E 7602).

The Soviet advance toward Sychevka, a train stop on the critical rail line between Vyazma and Rzhev, becomes a critical problem as the day wears on. The Germans holding the town can distinctly hear the fighting just to the east. The large German presence anchored at Rzhev would become untenable if the railway line is cut, so holding Sychevka is critical. Ninth Army commander General Adolf Strauss has his headquarters at Sychevka and remains in the town. However, all telephone and telegraph lines have been cut, so the Germans in Sychevka are out of communication with the army's own units. The Soviets have broken through on both sides, but the German hope is that by holding Sychevka itself, the railway line can be secured. The railway line already is basically out of commission at this point anyway because of snowdrifts and the disappearance of the Soviet civilians who have been operating the Soviet locomotives.

Reinhard Heydrich speaking with Hermann Goering at Goering's birthday celebration, Jan. 12, 1942.

German Homefront: It is Hermann Goering's birthday, an event that is celebrated each year throughout the Reich. Among others, Reinhard Heydrich visits Goering at Karinhall, Goering's estate near Berlin.

American Homefront: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9017 establishing the National War Labor Board (NWLB). William Hammatt Davis is its first chairman. Its purpose is to prevent labor problems from interfering with the war effort. The NWLB sets wage controls for industries deemed vital to the war effort, including automobiles, shipping, railways, airlines, telegraph lines, and mining. The NWLB supersedes the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) established in 1935. The NLRB remains in existence for matters deemed less important to the war effort and eventually resumes its original mission after the NWLB is discontinued in 1945.

The US Office of Price Administration decrees that hot dogs from now on must be made from a mixture of meat and soy meal. These are to be called "victory sausages."

Having enlisted on 10 January, the day after his recent title fight against Buddy Baer, boxer Joe Louis reports for duty at Camp Upton amid a media blitz.

Children emptying their piggy banks to buy war stamps. The Times of Munster, Indiana, 12 January 1942.

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

Saturday 6 December 1941

Aboard Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga northwest of Hawaii, pilots and aircrew receive a final briefing on 6 December 1941. Note the map drawn on the deck.

December 6, 1941, is the last day of the old world, where wars between great powers are isolated geographically and containable. World affairs already, however, are hurtling in the direction that they will after that date, just not as quickly. For instance, the Red Army on 6 December 1941 is counterattacking at Moscow and, soon, all across the Eastern Front. The Wehrmacht is in retreat, though that retreat has barely begun. The United States is re-arming at a furious pace and is arming all of the current belligerents is soon to join. Taken in its broadest context, the events that follow 6 December 1941 accelerate the pace of change but do not change a direction that already is well established. But it is still a last goodbye to a world where the starkest confrontations that will bedevil the world for decades have yet to be made.

Bulgarian Arado Ar-196 aircraft operating with submarine chasers Belomorets and Chernomorets sink Soviet submarine ShCh-204 (Captain Gricenko) on or about 6 December 1941 (exact date presumed) off the Bulgarian coast 20 miles south-southeast of Varna and near Cape Emine. There are no survivors of the crew of about 38 men. The wreck is rediscovered in 1984.

US Government: President Roosevelt drafts a last-minute personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito requesting a time to restart negotiations. The United States, however, does not make any new substantive proposals.

Fighter pilots aboard Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku pose for ceremonial final portraits, 6 December 1941. Flight leader Lt. Masao Sato is in the second row, third from right. This group will be in the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Japanese Government: The Japanese government Liaison Conference in Tokyo directs Ambassador to the United States Nomura to deliver Japan's final statement on the state of relations with the United States to US Secretary of State Cordell Hull. This is to be done precisely at 13:00 local time. The Japanese note is in 14 long sections and only begins arriving for decoding and translation late today. The Japanese embassy staff works late into the night on this massive project but falls behind schedule quickly in its efforts to retype the message in English on the appropriate stationery. The Imperial Navy attack on Pearl Harbor is scheduled to begin at 13:30 local time, so timing is critical to get the note into the hands of US authorities as scheduled, before the attack. The note does not contain an explicit declaration of war, but its tone is extremely hostile. Japanese representatives in Washington are burning official documents.

Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi, battleship Hiei, and battleship Kirishima on their way to Hawaii, on or about 6 December 1941.

Japanese Military: Kido Butai, the main Japanese carrier strike force heading for Hawaii, finishes refueling and turns southeast toward Pearl Harbor on the last leg of its journey. The fleet ends the day (east coast time) roughly 600 miles north of Oahu and the plan is to park about 200 miles from it. It is on schedule and there have been no security breaches during the long journey from Japan.

"Nakajima B5N aircrews pose in front of one of their aircraft on the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Kaga the day before the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. In the first row, the fourth position is PO3c Akamatsu Yuji; the second row, the third position is Lieutenant Ichiro Kitajima; the fourth position is Lieutenant Fukuda Minoru; the fifth position is WO Morinaga Takayoshi. The fourth row, the sixth position is PO2c Takeshi Maeda." 6 December 1941 (Werneth, Ron, Beyond Pearl Harbor: The Untold Stories of Japan's Naval Airmen, Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 2008, p. 265. Werneth's book states that the photo is from the Yoshino Collection.).

On Formosa, Imperial Japanese Air Force planes prepare for an attack on the US Army Air Force bases on the Philippines. Troop transports are heading toward the Philippines from Formosa and the Pescadores. Another invasion force is making final preparations on the island of Rota to invade the US fleet base at Guam, while another is preparing on Kwajalein to invade Wake Island. Troop transports are heading south from Hainan, China and French Indochina for landing beaches in Thailand and Kota Baru in British Malaya.

"Motorcyclists of 59th Battalion, Reconnaissance Corps at Ballykinlar in Northern Ireland, 6 December 1941." © IWM (H 16470).

Eastern Front: The Soviet counteroffensive that began on 5 December with an isolated attack on German forces near Kalinin broadens to encompass the entire Moscow perimeter on the 6th. In the morning, the temperature bottoms out around -38 °F, which is cold even for the frigid conditions on the front to date. Field Marshal Fedor von Bock approves General Guderian's request to withdraw from the Tula salient before dawn, and he also tells the commanders of the other two Panzer Armies on the Moscow front, 3rd (Reinhardt) and 4th (Hoepner), that they are free to "adjust" their deployments in a westerly direction. Von Bock also directs General der Panzertruppen Rudolf Schmidt to stop Second Army's advance toward Yelets because, if current events continue, Schmidt will be left with no flank protection. Still, Second Army advances just enough to take Yelets, perhaps the final German advance of Operation Typhoon.

British 1281-ton freighter SS Greenland (note name on the bow) hits a mine and sinks after striking a German mine while traveling from London to Grangemouth. There are 8-10 casualties, no survivors.

The Soviet offensive gets off to a ragged start. At Third Panzer Army northwest of Moscow, the Soviet 30th Army scores a breakthrough on the German right flank northeast of Klin and advances eight miles. Soviet Twentieth Army makes a small gain at Krasnaya Polyana near Yakhroma, but attacks nearby by First Shock and Twentieth Army are stopped cold.

Conductor Hermann Abendroth of the Paris Conservatory arrives for a Mozart concert, 6 December 1941 (Fulgur (Pala), Federal Archive Picture 183-10820-0041).

The initial results of the Soviet offensive are not overwhelming. However, they are just enough to leverage the Wehrmacht out of its front-line positions. Once on the move, with no prepared defenses, the freezing German soldiers with their balky equipment are much more vulnerable. General Reinhardt informs von Bock during the day that he will begin pulling Third Panzer Army back on his southern flank to try to concentrate his forces against the dangerous thrust by Soviet 30th Army. This will necessarily uncover the flank of German 4th Panzer to its south - requiring it to withdrawal as well. While the pace of the Soviet attack slackens a bit in the afternoon, the German generals only view this as an opportunity to save more of their equipment and forces during the retreat. Thus, a chain reaction begins on the 6th, with small German withdrawals requiring others that have the possibility of snowballing into a massive retreat unless the Soviet counteroffensive is brought to a quick halt.

Dive-bomber Pilots aboard Zuikaku posing for a ceremonial last portrait before their Pearl Harbor attack, 6 December 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: German General Crüwell, commander of the Afrika Korps, spends most of the day trying to decide which way to attack with his leading forces. To his credit, Crüwell does not needlessly expose his men to further danger, but he also misses some nearby British vulnerability. General Rommel, commander of Panzergroup Africa and Crüwell's superior, begins to see the extreme danger to Crüwell's forces of the massive British Eighth Army armored formations to his south and orders a retreat westward. This decision saves the panzers but abandons the Italian Savona Division in the border area around Bardia, Halfaya, and Sollum. The British 70th Division takes advantage of the German withdrawal and occupies the German "Walter" and "Freddy" strong points. The Italians fight with desperation and inflict heavy casualties on the 2nd Durham Light Infantry before surrendering around midnight. The events of 6 December 1941 basically decide the outcome of Operation Crusader as a British victory, but it has come at a very heavy cost (to both sides). Still to be decided is exactly how far the Axis forces will be pushed back, but Tobruk's relief is confirmed and further actions in the vicinity of the port mostly involve British mopping up Axis remnants.

British submarine HMS Perseus strikes a mine and sinks five miles off the coast of the Greek island of Cephalonia. It comes to rest in 171 feet of water. All 61 men aboard immediately perish except for four men who manage to exit through an escape hatch. Only one of the men, a passenger named John Capes, successfully reaches the surface. Badly afflicted with the bends, Capes swims to the island, where he is found on the beach by Greek fishermen. Capes spends the next 18 months hiding on the island from its occupying Italian troops before being smuggled to Alexandria. While Capes is awarded a medal for his heroism, many doubt his story, and he passes away in obscurity in 1985. In 1997, a diving party finds the Perseus and verifies every aspect of Capes' story.

Author Dale Carnegie ("How to Win Friends and Influence People") arrives in New York City after flying from Toronto on a Trans Canada Air Lines flight, 6 December 1941.

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 the 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

Friday 5 December 1941

As originally published, this photo had the following caption: "Boy gunner of Soviet armored car: A boy gunner of a Soviet armored car peers from the turret during the occupation of Teheran, Iran." The photograph is dated December 5, 1941. Iran is extremely important as a route for Allied Lend-Lease supplies to Russia that the Axis cannot stop.

Eastern Front: Following a night of frigid weather that sees temperatures hit -25 °F, on the morning of 5 December 1941 the Soviet forces of 29th Army counterattack the most advanced German positions at Kalinin. Advancing across the frozen Volga River, they break into the German Ninth Army lines west of Kalinin. The German Third Panzer Army (General Hoepner) attempts to counterattack in turn at Krasnaya Polyana and Moscow-Volga Canal, but it gets nowhere because much of the equipment is frozen and must be called back.

A Soviet propaganda shot of a wrecked German column destroyed on the Volokolamsk Highway in the opening thrust of the Moscow counteroffensive on 5 December 1941 (Russian International News Agency).

This is the opening stage of the grand counteroffensive proposed on 30 November by Soviet General Georgy Zhukov. Other fronts remain normal, and at Tula south of Moscow, General Guderian continues attacking. However, as the day shows massive Soviet troop concentrations right behind the front, Guderian has a change of heart. As he later writes in his memoirs:

On account of the threats to our flanks and rear and of the immobility of our troops due to the abnormal cold, I made the decision during the night of December 5-6 to break off this unsupported attack and to withdraw my foremost units into defensive positions along the general [river line] Upper Don-Shat-Upa. This was the first time during the war that I had to make a decision of this sort, and none was more difficult.

It is unclear if the Second Panzer Army even has the ability to completely evacuate its salient at Tula and retreat to the Don and Shat rivers. It has exposed forces well to the east of Tula that will have to make good their escape quickly if they want to see Germany again.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Sealion torpedoes and sinks 638-ton Norwegian freighter Island (shown) in Vestifjord off northern Norway on 5 December 1941.

The Soviets are preparing to expand the offensive on 6 December. The Stavka sends orders today to the West Front armies to join in then. However, the objective is not to chase the Germans out of Russia. Instead, it is just to get a little breathing room around Moscow. At First Shock Army, for instance, General Kuznetsov is ordered simply to clear an area around Dednevo and Fedorovka while "in the longer run" preparing an advance "in the direction of Klin." The West Front as a whole is exhorted to unleash "blows" on the Germans and to "smash" their flanks. It is very cold for both sides. Which side has a numerical advantage at this point is unclear and that question never is resolved to everyone's satisfaction (boosters of each side forever insist that the other has the advantage). However, the key difference is that the Germans are not used to these extreme conditions, whereas the Soviets grew up in them, designed their weapons systems and supply trains around them, and have advantages such as undamaged rear areas and the glory of fighting for their homeland. What is clear is that the Germans suddenly realize that things have changed for their forces, and definitely not for the better. Operation Typhoon is over.

HMAS Yarra, shown above in August 1941, and HMS Flamingo are bombed and damaged on 5 December 1941 as they attempt to resupply embattled Tobruk. Yarra suffers only minor damage from near misses, while Flamingo has to be towed into the port (Australian Navy).

Battle of the Mediterranean: General Rommel senses a developing victory over the British Eighth Army on 5 December 1941. He has turned the British Operation Crusader into a confusing mess where the bulk of the British forces have had to retreat toward the Egyptian border. The Afrika Korps panzers, however, are strung out in exposed positions with tenuous supply lines, but they still pack a powerful punch. Today, when the 11th Indian Brigade attacks an Italian Young Fascist garrison, it has some success during the day. However, at dusk, the panzers of the 15th Panzer Division, combined with the Italian Ariete armored forces, strike back. They route the Indian troops, which has to be withdrawn and replaced by the 22nd Guards Brigade overnight. After this success, German General Crüwell withdraws his forces to the west due to fear of a British armored riposte and thereby cedes valuable and hard-won ground.

German soldiers with a captured Soviet KV-2 tank near Pulkovo, Leningrad on 5 December 1941. The Germans have put a little flag, not the typical Balkenkreuz but a reasonable facsimile, on the tank in order to use it themselves as a Beutepanzer.

Japanese Military: The Japanese carrier strike force, Kido Butai, continues its journey east toward Hawaii. Other Japanese forces board transports and head south from China heading for Malaya. Seven more troop transport ships leave Saigon in French Indochina and rendezvous with the troop transports coming down from China, swelling the invasion force with seasoned soldiers of the 56th Division. Japanese destroyer Uranami comes across an unsuspecting Norwegian freighter, 1515-ton MV Halldor, about five miles off Saigon and the Japanese board it, smashing its radio. The Norwegians then are released to proceed willingly to Hong Kong, where the Japanese later seize the ship.

The Kawanishi E15K Shiun makes its maiden flight on 5 December 1941. It has some issues with its novel retractable stabilizing floats which never are solved. Only 15 are completed during the war, including six prototypes.

Conducting a war across the vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean requires constant reconnaissance, and the most efficient way to achieve that is with floatplanes and flying boats that can land at isolated spots, refuel, and continue their patrols. Today, the Imperial Japanese Air Force makes the first flight of the Kawanishi E15K Shiun was a single-engined Japanese reconnaissance floatplane. The Allies will give this the reporting name "Norm," named in honor of Squadron Leader Norman O. Clappison of the RAAF, a member of the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit (ATAIU) who first spots it.

Amrita Sher-Gil, a renowned Hungarian-Indian painter who passes away mysteriously at age 28 on 5 December 1941 in Lahore, India (later Pakistan).

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 the 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

Thursday 27 November 1941

A British tank passes a burning German Panzer IV in North Africa in this nicely colorized shot. See the details of this shot below.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British relieve Tobruk on 27 November 1941 when the 6th New Zealand Brigade overcomes the Italian 9th Bersaglieri Regiment at Ed Duda and the 32nd Tank Brigade and accompanying units create a small corridor to the port. This action technically justifies the British Operation Crusader, but the British have suffered severe tank losses as German General Erwin Rommel sent his main panzer forces into the British rear. After three days of deliberation, British Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command General Claude Auchinleck makes the very hard decision to relieve Eighth Army commander Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham and replace him with Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie. This is a very rare case of a general being sacked at the very moment that he achieves his main objective. Thus, in some sense, Operation Crusader has become a Pyrrhic victory for the British, at least so far.

This is the original of the shot above. "A Crusader tank passes a burning German PzKpfw IV tank, 27 November 1941." (Davies, L.B. Lt., © IWM (E 6752)).

General Rommel, meanwhile, is fighting a completely different campaign to the southeast. He sends 15th Panzer Division to Bir el Chleta, where it runs into 22nd Armored Brigade. The sides are roughly equal in tanks at about 50 until 4th Armored Brigade rushes up from the northeast. In conjunction with the RAF Desert Air Force, the British tankers wreak havoc on the panzers. However, after darkness falls, the British forces inexplicably move to the south to regroup, leaving the surviving German forces free to threaten the narrow British corridor to Tobruk to the northeast. During the night, General Rommel confers with Afrika Corps commander General Crüwell and, while Rommel wants the panzers to cut the corridor, Crüwell convinces Rommel to instead attack the British tanks to the south. Once this is done, the men agree that 15th Panzer can be resupplied and have a better chance of once again isolating Tobruk.

"The Axis Offensive 1941 - 1942: A British Crusader tank passes a burning German Pzkw Mk IV tank during Operation Crusader." 27 November 1941. It is fairly obvious from comparing this picture to the ones above that the Crusader tank and crew have been carefully posed while the photographer takes multiple shots of this "action scene" from different angles. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not, propaganda shots are taken by all armies and they create a good historical record. (Davies, L.B. Lt., © IWM (E 6751)).

Eastern Front: The German commanders in the Army Group South section of the front prepare for the final evacuation of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. General Ewald von Kleist's First Panzer Army will withdraw toward Taganrog and the Mius River, which is considered an easily defensible winter line. It will be an unforced withdrawal, and thus all units can be expected to reach the safety of the Mius River in good order. There, they can enter winter quarters and await the spring to retake Rostov and advance into the oil-rich Caucasus.

Jews were for the first time deported from Würzburg toward the East on 27 November 1941. These deportees will wind up Riga, Latvia in a few days to become residents of the Jungfernhof concentration camp (Yad Vashem Photo Archives 7900/58, Courtesy of the State Archives in Würzburg (Staatsarchiv Würzburg)).

The Wehrmacht at this point has only occupied Rostov for six days, but the local commanders knew virtually from the day that they took Rostov that it was indefensible. Soviet 37th Army is waiting to march into Rostov after the Germans leave. While Army Group South commander Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt does not have permission to withdraw, Adolf Hitler is in Berlin attending to other affairs. He is out of touch with developments at the front and thus is not available to countermand any orders. Hitler could return to the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia any day now, though, so if the withdrawal is to be completed without his interference, it will have to be done soon. Everyone knows that Hitler's standard response to any difficult military situation is to not retreat and that ordering a withdrawal without his permission will displease him, so there likely will be consequences. This is accepted by the commanders on the spot.

SS Lurline sets sail on 27 November 1941. It makes regular voyages from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii and is at sea on 7 December 1941 between those two ports.

In the Crimea, General Erich von Manstein decides to postpone his offensive against Sevastopol until 17 December. He is concerned about supply difficulties - four out of five railway locomotives have broken down due to frost and road transport has been reduced by 50% - and the Soviet unit holding the port shows no signs of cracking. Hitler still wants the entire Crimea, including Sevastopol, taken as soon as possible, but Manstein feels he isn't ready. However, on the other side, General Petrov, the Red Army commander at Sevastopol, figures that holding out at Sevastopol will help divert German forces from Moscow. So, for the time being, both sides just try to maintain the status quo. Advantage Soviets.

Ordinary Seaman Harold Clyde Dunn aboard HMAS Parramatta. KIA 27 November 1941 (Australian War Memorial).

US Military: Negotiations with the Japanese have broken down completely, so President Roosevelt meets with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George Marshall and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Harold Stark. The consensus is that the Japanese will attack somewhere, but it is unknown where and Japanee intentions "cannot be forecast." Marshall and Stark submit a memo to the President today which states in part:

The most essential thing, from the United States point of view, is to gain time... [Military action should be avoided] so long as consistent with the national policy... [Military action should be contemplated] only if Japan attacks or directly threatens the United States, British, or Dutch territory.

The War Council meets later in the day and, at the urging of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, drafts and sends a war warning for Hawaii, Panama, San Francisco, and the Philippines. The warning cautions local commanders to let the Japanese make the "first overt act" but to "undertake such reconnaissance and other measures" as necessary. The operative plan in case of an attack is Rainbow 5, which assumes that the United States will be allied with Britain and France and contemplates offensive operations by American forces in Europe, Africa, or both. The major assumption of Rainbow 5 is that the United States will follow a "Europe first" policy while temporarily going on the defensive in the Pacific.

Ceremonial handshake between the Eighth Army relief force commander and the commander of the garrison at Tobruk on 27 November 1941. Original caption: "Relief of Tobruk. Join up of 8th Army and Tobruk garrison, 27 November 1941. Lieutenant-Colonel S F Hartnell is on the left. British official photograph. Notes on the back of file print include 'Prob 19 NZ Bn [?] at Ed Duda. NZ Officer - Lt/Col S F Hartnell. Tobruk - Link-up - 2 Libyan Campaign. 19 NZ Bn - Ed Duda. 32 Army Tank Bde - Ed Duda.'"

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