Monday 5 May 1941

Emperor Haile Selassie during World War II.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe on 5 May 1941 raids Belfast again, the fourth and final raid of the Belfast Blitz. The German bombers cause widespread damage and lightly damage aircraft carrier HMS Furious and seaplane tender Pegasus. In addition, destroyer Volunteer and corvette La Malouine also are damaged, the latter fairly seriously (three months to repair). British 1719-ton freighter Fair Head and 6044-ton freighter Cape Breton are sunk (the latter refloated and repaired), while 2839-ton freighter Shepperton Ferry and 4283-ton blockship Frederika Lensen are damaged.

Other Luftwaffe targets during the night include Glasgow, Newcastle, North Shields and Cullercoats in Northumberland, Cleadon, Annfield Plain and Blaydon in Co Durham and Hull in Yorkshire.

The Luftwaffe "May Blitz" raids continue against Liverpool. Several more ships are damaged, some for the second time, including 6770-ton freighter Silversandal and 4672-ton freighter Clan Macinnes. In addition, 155-ton barge Traffic is sunk, and 231-ton whaler Sumba suffers a near miss and has to be beached before proceeding to Barry for repairs.

The Luftwaffe attacks several British ports and shipping in the English Channel during the day, causing widespread damage. In the Channel, they sink Royal Netherlands Navy trawler HNLMS Jean Frederic. There are 25 deaths.

The Luftwaffe also raids Lowestoft, sinking 147-ton Royal Navy boom defense vessel Fidelia.

In an attack on Greenock, the Luftwaffe heavily damages destroyer HMS Marksman as well as submarines Traveller and Trooper, which are under construction.

RAF Bomber Command sends 141 planes against Mannheim after dark.

A map of the situation in Iraq contained on page 6 of the 5 May 1941 New York Times.

Anglo-Iraq War: British troops are holding their own at Habbaniyah Airfield despite being badly outnumbered. They do have complete control of the air. The Iraqis are slowly giving ground near the airport.

The British Defence Committee gives Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell control over operations in Iraq. The Germans also have their eyes on Iraq and plan to supply it via their allies in Vichy Syria.

Emperor Haile Selassie during an address to the League of Nations.

East African Campaign: Haile Selassie, exiled from his kingdom of Abyssinia by the Italians, makes a triumphant return to his capital of Addis Ababa. The return is timed to mark the 5th anniversary of the Italian occupation of the city. Accompanying him is Orde Wingate. The Emperor is welcomed by streets lined with African troops and a 21-gun salute. Selassie gives thanks "to Almighty God that I stand in my palace from which the Fascist forces have fled." May 5 thereafter is celebrated in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as Arbegnoch Qen or Patriot's Day.

At Amba Alagi, the Indian troops (3/2nd Punjab Battalion) mount a pre-dawn raid across the exposed rock - the "Middle Position" - against entrenched Italian positions. In previous such situations, the Italians have proven adept at defending such positions with well-positioned machine guns, and this battle continues that pattern. The Indian troops are pinned down at barbed wire throughout the day and suffer 8 dead and 28 wounded, finally retreating after dark.

Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, 5 May 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), on her fourth patrol out of Wilhelmshaven, sends two torpedoes into 4976-ton British freighter Queen Maud 200 miles west of Sierra Leone. When the freighter takes its time sinking, Liebe pumps another one into her, and Queen Maud sinks with the loss of one crewman. There are 43 survivors

British 436-ton freighter St. Eunan hits a mine five miles southwest of St. Ann's Head and is damaged. The St. Eunan makes it to port.

U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler), the first Type VIIC U-boat, departs from Lorient for its first mission.

Two ships of the Royal Navy 1st Minelaying Squadron departs Loch Aish to lay minefield SN 9A, accompanied by four destroyers.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Begonia rescues 17 survivors of an unidentified merchant ship.

Convoy OG-61 departs from Liverpool bound for Gibraltar.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Mayflower is commissioned at Tyne, and corvettes HMCS Kamsack, Morden and Sherbrooke are commissioned in Canada.

Time magazine, 5 May 1941. Ramon S. Castillo, acting President of Argentina from 3 July 1940 to 27 June 1942 and President thereafter, is the cover story (Ernest Hamlin Baker). Castillo's overthrow in 1943 will begin the rise to power of Juan Peron.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Fighting has died down on the Tobruk perimeter. The Axis forces hold a small wedge in the perimeter defenses on a 3-mile (4.8 km) front with a maximum depth of 2 miles (3.2 km). However, they have been ordered by visiting General Paulus to cease offensive operations unless the British begin evacuating the port - which they are not doing.

Winston Churchill writes to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal that "I am most deeply concerned" at how the air war is developing in the Middle East:

If at the present time... we have a superiority [but] can only just hold our own, what will be our position in June, when... the enemy will have, or may have, nearly double our strength?

He adds as an aside that "personally I never expected the Greek venture to succeed unless Turkey and Yugoslavia both came in."

Luftwaffe III Gruppe of JG 27 relocates to Sicily in order to prepare for the upcoming Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete.

Part of Convoy WS 8A reaches Gibraltar from England. This is the Tiger Convoy which carries badly needed tanks for General Wavell in North Africa. The plan - a pet project of Winston Churchill - is to send this convoy directly through the Mediterranean, past German, Italian and Vichy French possessions.

The Royal Navy sends destroyers HMAS Voyager and Waterhen from Alexandria to Tobruk on a transport mission during the night. They immediately unload and head back within hours. This is the first supply mission to the port since the Germans invested it. This is the first of planned nightly supply missions.

The RAF (830 Squadron) lays mines in Tripoli Harbor. The pilots observe an Axis ship mysteriously blow up in the harbor while they are at work.

There is some trepidation in London (principally by Churchill) that the Germans may invade Cyprus instead of Crete. The Australian 7th Infantry Division (cavalry regiment) arrives there today.

Convoy WS 7X arrives in Bombay, India loaded with troops.

Bread rationing begins in Malta, but the price is reduced. It is a quiet day, with only one air raid alert that concerns planes that don't cross over the island. Convoy MW 7B departs Alexandria for Malta.

Spy Stuff: Tokyo suspects that its communications with the embassy in Washington, D.C. are being broken and read. It sends a message to this effect today to the embassy. An investigation is begun.

14th Street and Ninth Avenue (northeast corner) on 5 May 1941 (Museum of the City of New York). Parts of this building survive unaltered near the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

US/French Relations: Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton tells the War Cabinet that the US is poised (by early July) to deliver 14,000 tons of flour in two merchant ships to Vichy France on humanitarian grounds. Winston Churchill permits this and other shipments to pass through the Royal Navy blockade under the overarching theory that this may give the US some leverage with the Vichy government which at some point could become useful to the war effort. The War Cabinet minutes suggest that Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to Washington, had agreed to this shipment without explicit permission to void previous British policy on the matter, which did not allow such shipments. At this point, it basically is a fait accompli.

Churchill does require that, as a condition of this continuing US aid, the French permit no further Germans entry into French possessions in North Africa - a demand that will not be met and is more an attempt to save face than anything else. This agreement appears to be motivated as much to ingratiate Churchill with President Roosevelt as to help the French. Churchill rationalizes that the blockade has been ineffective anyway.

US/Australian Relations: After his meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal on the 4th, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies departs from Lisbon aboard flying boat "Dixie Clipper" bound for Horta, the Azores. Menzies arrives safely. He is en route to Bermuda, and then New York.

Anglo/Irish Relations: Churchill writes in a memo to Herbert Morrison that "Northern Ireland does not appear to be making its utmost contribution to the war effort... one-eighth of the insured population is out of work." He requests that steps be considered to have Northern Ireland "display some initiative."

German/Romanian Relations: Marshal Ion Antonescu, who keeps a very close eye on Soviet troop movements, warns Hitler that the Soviets are massing troops around Kyiv and Odessa in what may be springboards for offensive action. In addition, Antonescu states:

The thing worth noting is that factories around Moscow have been ordered to transfer their equipment into the country’s interior.

Hitler, of course, already is planning to invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Hitler inspects the Kriegsmarine in Gotenhafen (Gdynia), apparently aboard the Bismarck, 5 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler makes an inspection tour of the Kriegsmarine base at Gotenhafen (Gdynia). While there, Hitler visits his two new battleships, Tirpitz and Bismarck. He has a meeting with Admiral Günther Lütjens, who is in command of an upcoming sortie aboard the Bismarck to the Atlantic, and Captain Lindemann of the Bismarck. Many believe that, during this meeting, Hitler creates overly optimistic expectations within Lütjens that informs some of his questionable aggressive decisions later in the month. Hitler also inspects U-57, a U-boat sunk near Brünbuttel but later repaired and returned to service.

Soviet Government: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin delivers two secret speeches to a Kremlin banquet held to honor a thousand graduating officers. All of the top Soviet brass, including Foreign Minister Molotov, Mikoyan, Voroshilov, Kalinin, and Lavrenti Beria, are there. The Germans later capture two attendees who independently recall that Stalin stated that the pact with the Third Reich was simply a temporary expedient. He states in his first speech:

New tank models, the Mark 1 and 3, are on their way;  these are excellent tanks, whose armor can withstand 76-millimeter shells. In the near future there will also be a new tank graced with my own name. This tank will be a veritable fortress. Today we have up to a hundred armored and mechanized divisions which still need to be organized into an entity. Our war plan is ready, we have built the airfields and landing grounds, and the frontline aircraft are already there. Everything has been done by way of clearing out the rear areas: all the foreign elements have been removed. It follows that over the next two months we can begin the fight with Germany. Perhaps it surprises you that I tell you of our war plans. But we have to take our revenge for Bulgaria and Finland.

Later, after much drinking by all, Stalin delivers a second speech. In this one, he states:

The slogan of peaceful policies is now obsolete—it has been overtaken by events. During the years of the capitalist encirclement of the Soviet Union we were able to make good use of the slogan while we expanded the Soviet Union’s frontiers to the north and west. But now we must discard this slogan for the reactionary and narrow-minded slogan that it is, as it will not serve to win us one more square inch of territory. It is time to stop chewing that particular cud, Comrade Chosin:  stop being a simpleton! The era of forcible expansion has begun for the Soviet Union. The people must be schooled to accept that a war of aggression is inevitable;  they must be in permanent mobilization.

This aggressive stance will be hidden from the West, of course. It certainly does not justify in any way Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. However, in hindsight, it serves as a countervailing argument to those who point to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa as an epic mistake.

British Government: First meeting of the Tank Parliament, a Cabinet Committee devoted to armored forces. Churchill has formed to "make a general examination of the present position and prospects of armored formations." The Tank Parliament will engage in long-range planning of equipment and strategy, and will, as today's minutes indicate, take into account that "we might have to reckon with a break eastwards by the Germans."

Venezuela: General Isaias Medina Angarita becomes president.

French Homefront: Coco Chanel comes up with a new strategy in her long-running campaign to gain control over perfumes issued in her name in the 1920s. She writes to the occupying German government - she lives in the Ritz with many top German officers - claiming proprietary ownership over company Parfums Chanel, and in particular its leading brand Chanel No. 5. It is another step in a long, complicated struggle by Coco to recover what she views as her rightful ownership over the perfumes.

Channel claims sole ownership of the company over Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who are Jewish directors of perfume house Bourjois and control Parfums Chanel. Coco Chanel herself only has ten percent of the stock in their company, and basically just licenses her name to the Wertheimer brothers, but she long has felt that she deserves all of it for various murky reasons. Her past attempts have failed, but she decides to try again. The argument that Chanel makes (this time) is that the Wertheimer brothers, being Jewish, have abandoned the property (they sailed to New York in 1940). Coco writes:

I have, an indisputable right of priority ...the profits that I have received from my creations since the foundation of this business ...are disproportionate ...[and] you can help to repair in part the prejudices I have suffered in the course of these seventeen years.

The Germans, of course, are not averse to helping out a fellow "Aryan" against some Jews who have fled (for very good reason). They discover, however, that the Wertheimer brothers have assigned their controlling rights in Parfums Chanel to a "front," Christian businessman and industrialist Felix Amiot. This tactic, fairly common during the Occupation, foils Coco's plan.

Coco Chanel with Adolf Hitler.

Future History: The legal battle over Chanel No. 5 continues for years, and the Wertheimer brother will manage to operate the company from New York throughout the war using agents. The Germans and French government ultimately reject Coco Chanel's petition to obtain sole ownership. The controversy, in fact, outlasts the war, as if it never happened. At the end of the war, Amiot returns control over the perfume company - including Chanel No. 5 - to the Wertheimer brothers, but the legal proceedings and attempts to regain control by Coco Chanel continue and intensify.

Ultimately, the parties reach a settlement which makes Coco a very rich woman for a very unlikely reason: the brand depends in part on her image. The Wertheimer brothers reason that if it is revealed that Coco consorted with German officers during the Occupation, the entire business could be ruined. Basically, she extorts them by threatening to ruin herself. So, while they are on solid legal grounds in retaining ownership, they give Coco a generous portion of their profits essentially to keep her quiet and remain a positive image for the brand.

Thus, Coco Chanel's wartime "collaboration" (if it can be called that, and this is a very contentious issue) actually inures to her benefit in the long run. While there are scandalous rumors for the rest of her life, Coco Chanel's image remains intact until after her death in 1971 - at the Ritz.

The Front page of the 5 May 1941 NY Times.

May 1941

May 1, 1941: British Hold Tobruk
May 2, 1941: Anglo-Iraq War
May 3, 1941: Liverpool Hammered
May 4, 1941: Hitler Victory Speech
May 5, 1941: Patriots Day
May 6, 1941: Stalin In Command
May 7, 1941: May Blitz
May 8, 1941: Pinguin Sunk
May 9, 1941: U-110 Captured
May 10, 1941: Hess Flies Into History
May 11, 1941: The Hess Peace Plan
May 12, 1941: Tiger Arrives Safely
May 13, 1941: Keitel's Illegal Order
May 14, 1941: Holocaust in Paris
May 15, 1941: Operation Brevity
May 16, 1941: Blitz Ends
May 17, 1941: Habbaniya Relieved
May 18, 1941: Croatia Partitioned
May 19, 1941: Bismarck at Sea
May 20, 1941: Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1941: Robin Moore Sinking
May 22, 1941: Royal Navy Destruction Off Crete
May 23, 1941: Crete Must Be Won
May 24, 1941: Bismarck Sinks Hood
May 25, 1941: Lütjens' Brilliant Maneuver
May 26, 1941: Bismarck Stopped
May 27, 1941: Bismarck Sunk
May 28, 1941: Crete Lost
May 29, 1941: Royal Navy Mauled Off Crete
May 30, 1941: Sorge Warns, Stalin Ignores
May 31, 1941: British Take Baghdad

2020

Sunday 22 September 1940

On 22 September 1940, Japanese troops burst into French Indochina from China. French Indochinese Colonial troops and Foreign Legionnaires offer resistance but are forced to retreat. The Japanese appeal to local Vietnamese communist partisans to rise up against the French, and the communists set up local governments which the French later suppress. Taking the longest view, this is the first act of the later Vietnam War.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Wolfpack shadowing Convoy HX 72 on 22 September 1940 about 600 miles west of Ireland already has a bunch of successes, but it is not done yet. The U-boats sink a remarkable amount of tonnage in this convoy during a running battle that takes several days and ends today. U-100 under the command of Joachim Schepke completes the greatest attack by a single U-boat on any convoy. In all, U-100 sinks 7 ships from HX-72.

U-100 (Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke) at 00:22 resumes his successful attack on the convoy, torpedoing 6561-ton British iron ore freighter Empire Airman. There are four survivors while 33 men perish. The ship is taken in tow but sinks on the 23rd. There is a memorial to the men lost on the ship at the Tower Hill Memorial in London.

U-100 torpedoes 10,525-ton British tanker Frederick S. Fales. There are 32 survivors and 11 men perish. The dead crewmen perish when the ship capsizes on their lifeboat.

U-100 torpedoes 3940-ton British lumber/cotton freighter Scholar using its stern tubes. The ship remains afloat and is taken in tow, but eventually becomes unmanageable and is scuttled. All 45 men on board survive.

U-100 torpedoes 6031-ton Norwegian freighter Simla. There are 31 survivors. The ship sinks within minutes and five men perish when they jump overboard in a panic. Fortunately, there is a ship nearby that picks up the survivors in under an hour.

U-100 also attacks the 5415-ton freighter Harlingen but misses. The Harlingen returns fire accurately with its stern gun and causes some minor damage to the U-boat.

U-32 (Kapitänleutnant Hans Jenisch) then attacks a straggler from HX 72. It performs a rare surface attack, shelling British freighter Collegian from long range (7 km) and damaging it. The freighter returns fire and escapes as it runs off. This practically defines a "low probability attack."

HX72 now is in ruins, scattered all across the North Atlantic. In total, it has lost 11 ships of 72,727 tons. Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke sinks a phenomenal seven ships in the convoy, while Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer in U-99 sinks three. They achieve their successes by infiltrating the convoy and attacking from within. Credit ultimately belongs to Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, who spotted and reported the convoy but could not attack himself because he was out of torpedoes. The rest of the 30 ships make it to port.

Anti-aircraft duty in Paris, 1940.

U-31 (Kapitänleutnant Wilfried Prellberg), a hundred miles south of the Faroe Islands, also uses its deck gun. This attack at 17:55 is more successful, as it sinks a local Faroese trawler, the 87 ton Union Jack. All seven men survive, reaching land late on the 23rd.

Kriegsmarine auxiliary minesweeper M-1604 Österreich sinks about 40 miles west of Hoek van Holland. The cause has not been definitively determined, most likely from a mine laid by HMS Cachalot.

Royal Navy trawler HMT Loch Inver (1930, Captain Thomas Hardcastle) is torpedoed and sinks off Harwich just after midnight. All 14/15 crew perish (no survivors). The Board of Enquiry reports states that Loch Inver, on patrol, was sunk by torpedo, though some sources say it hit a mine. This sinking may have taken place on 21 September, the sources are unclear, but the Board of Enquiry report suggests shortly before 00:50 on the 22nd. This sinking occurs during an attack by E-boats, and a little sleuthing suggests that German E-boat S13 sank the Loch Inver. Fellow trawler Edwina, on patrol with the Loch Inver, observes the attack from a distance and then engages the E-boats, but is undamaged. The Loch Inver is declared missing and presumed lost on 24 September 1940, which leads some sources to pin that as the date of loss, which is correct only in a legalistic sense.

Kriegsmarine 356-ton auxiliary minesweeper (Sperrbrecher 2) Athen is badly damaged by RAF air attack in the harbor of Boulogne. Hit by an aerial mine, it is beached. The ship is refloated later.

The Luftwaffe damages Dutch tanker Barendrecht in the River Thames.

Some accounts have HMS Tuna sinking Norwegian liner (and German prize ship) Tirranna today, but sources vary and I placed that on the 21st.

Convoy OA 218 departs from Methil, Convoy FN 288 departs from Southend.

Battle of Britain: The weather is fine over most of England, with only some morning fog, but the Luftwaffe continues scaling down its daylight operations now that Operation Sealion has been suspended. Some Bf 109s do a "Freie Jagd" over London in the morning, and they ease their boredom by attacking RAF Fowlmere. There, they do some damage, destroying a Spitfire and damaging others. A Junkers Ju 88 is shot down south of the Isle of Wight by RAF No. 234 Squadron. Otherwise, there are only some lone raiders doing minimal damage

After dark, things change. The Luftwaffe sends heavy raids against London, and by some accounts, this is the heaviest attack to date. Fires start at the Royal Arsenal Timber Field which spread, causing a major conflagration. This results in the loss of 100 residences lost and another 100 damaged. Direct hits on two air raid shelters kill dozens of people and injure more, while the supposedly safe Tube system suffers a direct hit at Mile End. The British Museum takes a hit, but the treasures have been secreted to underground storage. The fires are very difficult to put out and serve as a beacon for more waves of bombers.

The Luftwaffe is trying a new tactic of sending its own night fighters over England to engage RAF ones. Tonight, they shoot down a Whitley from RAF No. 58 Squadron, their first victory.

Three Hurricanes of RAF No. 85 Squadron crash in foul weather along the coast after running out of fuel. Overall, the losses are fairly minimal on both sides, basically those mentioned above.

A Luxembourgish policeman gives the Hitler salute to Heinrich Himmler during the latter's visit to Luxembourg in September 1940 (Federal Archives).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks the Channel ports and airfields along the coast with 95 aircraft. It also targets the big aluminum factory about 25 miles northeast of Dresden (Lauta), a repeated target until the last months of the war. A raid on Berlin causes minimal damage.

HMS Furious, parked 50 miles off Trondheim, launches six Skuas and 11 Swordfish at around 03:00. The weather fails to cooperate, and the raid turns into a disaster ... for the British. A Swordfish and a Skua wind up crashing in Sweden, while three Swordfish crash in Norway and a Swordfish runs out of fuel and crashes while looking for the carrier. Overall, three men perish, 9 are captured in Norway, and five are interned in Sweden. Furious returns to Scapa Flow.

Battle of the Mediterranean: With the Italians digging in at Sidi Barrani, the RAF and Royal Navy take turns raining destruction on them. The Italians are moving their camps further inland to avoid the daily bombardments, today by British destroyers HMS Jervis, Janus, Juno and Mohawk on the airfield at Sidi Barrani.

The Italians respond by raiding Mersa Matruh 80 miles ahead of their own lines.

British submarine HMS Osiris torpedoes and sinks 875 ton Italian Navy torpedo boat Palestro west of Durrës in the Adriatic.

British submarine HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. Hugh Alfred Vernon Haggard), on its first Mediterranean patrol, torpedoes, and sinks 8459-ton Italian freighter Provvidenza 3.5 nm off Punta Imperatore, Ischia (10 miles west of Naples) in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

At Malta, at 11:30 the Italians send five SM 79 bombers escorted by four CR 42 fighters to bomb Luga Airfield. While the airfield receives minimal damage, the poor aim of the bombers completely devastates the village of Luga. One civilian boy is killed. Several unexploded bombs in the village cause further problems but are quickly found to be inactive (they have safety pins in place). At Kalafrana Airfield, a French Latecoere plan leaves to drop leaflets over Bizerta and Tunis in Tunisia.

Italian aircraft raid Cyprus for the first time.

Danish actress Anna Katrina, born on 22 September 1940.

German Military: The unpowered airframe of the Heinkel He 280 twin turbojet fighter is taken aloft, towed by a Heinkel He 111B, for gliding tests. The He 280 V1 is sort of a follow-up to the Heinkel He 178 that flew in August 1939 (this project originally had the designation He-180). The Luftwaffe is not particularly interested, having other jet planes in development so Ernst Heinkel, with designer Robert Lusser, has been pursuing the project on his own. The HeS 8 engines, however, are nowhere near ready yet. Among the innovations of the Heinkel He 280 is the first compressed-air powered ejection seat.

German/Finnish Relations: The Germans and Finns continue negotiating the terms of transit rights for Wehrmacht troops and supplies to Narvik via ports of the Gulf of Bothnia. The Germans agree to supply the Finns with arms.

Soviet/German Relations: The Soviets broadcast that the British have destroyed the German invasion fleet assembling in the English Channel.

Vichy French/Japanese Relations: The entire situation in Indochina is confused and fluid. The local Vichy French agree to give the Japanese three airfields in French Indochina during their continued discussions about the Japanese presence there. On or about this date the two sides sign an agreement for the Japanese to send troops into the country. The Japanese already are sending troops into French Indochina, sometimes against French resistance - the Japanese 5th Infantry Division crosses into Indochina at Lang Son by force and compels the French to retreat. The Japanese appeal to anti-Western elements in the country and urge local communists to rise up against the colonial administration. Many do, and they set up local communist governments in some areas where French administration is weak. The French are not beaten, however, and later suppress many of these revolts. The revolutionary fervor, however, has been ignited.

A 50-year-old itinerant Vietnamese who has spent most of his life abroad serving in the Comintern and working as a sort of community organizer, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, is in China as an adviser to the Chinese Communist armed forces. Sometime around this date in 1940 - nobody knows exactly when - Quốc begins regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh." This is a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "He Who has been enlightened" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志 明: Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit) and Minh meaning "bright"). He keeps a close eye on developments in his homeland.

It is hunting season in parts of the United States. Here are 73 Deer hanging at the Klamath Falls, Oregon Train Depot. September 22, 1940.

Vichy French/German Relations: The German Armistice Control Commission sends a delegation to Dakar in French West Africa. The visit is timely, as the Royal Navy is about to pay a visit as well in Operation Menace.

Free France: Charles de Gaulle expresses support for former French Indochina Governor Admiral Decoux, who he sees as his representative in Asia.

Latvia: The Soviets integrate Latvian submarines Ronis and Spidola into the Navy. Since Latvia now is part of the USSR, it is wrong to characterize this as a "seizure."

Australia: Convoy US 5 departs from Freemantle, composed of Dutch liners Christian Huygens, Indrapoera, Nieuw Holland and Selamat. There are 4262 troops embarked, and its first stop is in Colombo.

American Homefront: Ben Musick a.k.a. Bill Morris of Dallas Texas, widely rumored to be associated in some tangential fashion with the moonshine business, wins the time trials at the Big Car Races at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Attendance "In excess of 12,000." He does one lap at the half-mile track in 26.63 and later wins the 15-lap Sweepstakes Race in a time of 7:14.

Future History: Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer is born in Solbjerg, Denmark. Under the name Anna Karina, she becomes a major collaborator/muse/wife of Jean-Luc Godard during the French New Wave in the 1960s. She starred in classic films such as "A Woman is a Woman" (1961) and "Alphaville" (1965). Anna Karina appears to have retired from the business, her last film was "Victoria" in 2007.

In Section 6 of the 22 September 1940 Chicago Sunday Tribune, Dick Tracy shows how a private dick cross-dresses.

September 1940

September 1, 1940: RAF's Horrible Weekend
September 2, 1940: German Troopship Sunk
September 3, 1940: Destroyers for Bases
September 4, 1940: Enter Antonescu
September 5, 1940: Stukas Over Malta
September 6, 1940: The Luftwaffe Peaks
September 7, 1940: The Blitz Begins
September 8, 1940: Codeword Cromwell
September 9, 1940: Italians Attack Egypt
September 10, 1940: Hitler Postpones Sealion
September 11, 1940: British Confusion at Gibraltar
September 12, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Approved
September 13, 1940: Zeros Attack!
September 14, 1940: The Draft Is Back
September 15, 1940: Battle of Britain Day
September 16, 1940: Italians Take Sidi Barrani
September 17, 1940: Sealion Kaputt
September 18, 1940: City of Benares Incident
September 19, 1940: Disperse the Barges
September 20, 1940: A Wolfpack Gathers
September 21, 1940: Wolfpack Strikes Convoy HX-72
September 22, 1940: Vietnam War Begins
September 23, 1940: Operation Menace Begins
September 24, 1940: Dakar Fights Back
September 25, 1940: Filton Raid
September 26, 1940: Axis Time
September 27, 1940: Graveney Marsh Battle
September 28, 1940: Radio Belgique Begins
September 29, 1940: Brocklesby Collision
September 30, 1940: Operation Lena

2020

Tuesday 9 January 1940

6th Division boards the troopship Pyrmont, Sydney, 9-10 January 1940 / by Sam Hood (Library of New South Wales).

Winter War: The Soviets issue on 9 January 1940 a communiqué admitting that they had to retreat from Suomussalmi.

Winter War Army Operations: The Finns once again stage a secret operation and cut the Leningrad-Murmansk railway.

Winter War Air Operations: Soviet bombers raid six small towns in Finland.

Winter War Peace Talks: There are unofficial peace talks in Stockholm between Hella Wuolijoki, an Estonian-born Finnish writer, and Alexandra Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden. Both had been friends of Lenin.

In addition, the Finnish Foreign Affairs Committee seeks US mediation.

Alexandra Kollantai.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Admiralty reports that out of 5,911 ships in convoy, only 12 had been sunk while protected by the convoy.

U-19 (Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke) torpedoes and sinks 1,343-ton Norwegian coal freighter Manx off Kinnaird Head, northeast Scotland. 30 of the crew survive, nine perish. Four men perish in the icy water due to an upturned lifeboat.

The British lose a third submarine in the Heligoland Bight in only a few days. This time, HMS Starfish is damaged by a German minesweeper, M-7, with depth charges after its torpedoes misfire. After over eight hours of nightmarish depth charge attacks, the submarine begins to leak and Lt. Thomas Turner orders the sub to be scuttled. Everyone survives. The Admiralty suspends operations in the Heligoland Bight.

German blockade runner Bahia Blanca hits an iceberg and sinks northwest of Iceland, assisted by Royal Navy cruiser HMS Newcastle.

British 10,002 ton liner Dunbar Castle hits a mine and sinks off Ramsgate off the southeast coast of England. It has been with Convoy OA-69, which just left port. Ten lives are lost, including the Captain, 7 crew, and one passenger. In addition, a racehorse is lost. Chief Officer Herbert Robinson gets everyone in lifeboats despite a heavy list and earns the OBE.

The Luftwaffe sinks British freighters Gowrie and Oakgrove

Kriegsmarine destroyers lay magnetic mines off Newcastle and Cromer.

US freighter Western Queen is detained at Gibraltar by the British.

Convoy OA 69 departs from Southend, and OB 69 departs from Liverpool.

Western Front: A colonial contingent from Cyprus lands in France to join the BEF.

European Air Operations: The British create a Royal Air Force command in France. Marshal A. S. Barratt is Commander-In-Chief.

German/Italian Relations: The Italians protest the German seizure as contraband of Italian exports of war supplies to Finland.

British Homefront: Winston Churchill makes a speech which is the first of a series by the cabinet ministers.

Separately, the government reports that British employment for January is 1.6 million workers, which is above average for 1939. This is despite the absence from the labor force of the 1.5 million men who have been called up for military service.

Holocaust: The West Prussian SS commander reports that 4,000 incurable mental patients have been euthanized in Poland per Hitler's October 1939 decree.

China: The Japanese forces near Huangyan begin to receive reinforcements. They are opposite the Chinese 5th War Area. The reinforcements will bring the force to 3 full regiments.

Japanese units withdraw from the Pingchangkuan - Hsiaolintien - Kungchiafan sector, pushed by the Southern Honan Army of the Chinese 5th War Area.

HMS Starfish.

January 1940

January 1, 1940: Finns Carve up the Soviets
January 2, 1940: Finnish Counterattacks Continue
January 3, 1940: Soviets Trapped
January 4, 1940: Soviet Breakout Attempts Fail
January 5, 1940: Dicing Up the Soviets
January 6, 1940: Soviet 44th Division Runs
January 7, 1940: Shakeup in Soviet High Command
January 8, 1940: Ratte Road Battle Ends
January 9, 1940: British Submarines in Peril
January 10, 1940: Mechelen Incident
January 11, 1940: Finns Surround More Soviets
January 12, 1940: New Soviet Attacks at Taipale
January 13, 1940: Fall Gelb Postponed
January 14, 1940: Japan's Government Falls
January 15, 1940: Soviets Prepare More Carefully
January 16, 1940: German Atrocities Uncovered
January 17, 1940: Bletchley Park in Action
January 18, 1940: New Hope for Allied Shipping
January 19, 1940: Finnish Attacks at Salla
January 20, 1940: Churchill Urges Cooperation
January 21, 1940: Asam Maru Incident
January 22, 1940: Dissension Within British Government
January 23, 1940: Dissension in South Africa
January 24, 1940: NKVD Blocking Detachments
January 25, 1940: Auschwitz Site Selected
January 26, 1940: Millionaire Bunker Destroyed
January 27, 1940: U-20 Sinks Four Ships
January 28, 1940: Softening Up the Finns
January 29, 1940: Moscow Willing to Talk
January 30, 1940: Hitler Throws Down the Gauntlet
January 31, 1940: Timoshenko Is Ready

2019