Saturday 4 January 1940

"Tracer from German anti-aircraft gunfire (flak) vividly depicted in a vertical aerial photograph taken over the Port Militaire, Brest, France, during a night raid, possibly that of 4/5 January 1941." Note that this apparently was taken by an unknown official RAF photographer from one of the bombers. © IWM (C 1856).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks and Italians continue fighting for control of the Klisura Pass on 4 January 1941.

The RAF raids Elbasan.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command targets Brest during the night, where German cruiser Admiral Hipper is anchored between voyages. No major damage reported, and the air lights up with German flak. Other bombers visit Hamburg. The weather is brutal, and not much is accomplished by either side today.

The Luftwaffe once again bombs Dublin. This has become a diplomatic incident, with the Irish government complaining to the German government. It also is leading to the suspicion that these attacks on Irish soil may not all be accidental. The other Luftwaffe raids of the night are in the western part of England, so it is quite possible that the Luftwaffe planes were off course.

"An Air Training Corps cadet secures his parachute, before an air experience flight in a De Havilland Tiger Moth at Biggin Hill, Kent, 4 January 1942." The DH 82 Tiger Moth is a legendary aircraft originally designed for civilian use, and its return to civilian use after the war via surplus sales extended its fame throughout Europe.  © IWM (CH 5030) (F.W. Crouch).

Battle of the Atlantic: A RAF Lockheed Hudson bombs and sinks Norwegian 1326 ton freighter Snyg near Hadyret southeast of Haugesund, Norway. As with many European ships, this one - built in 1918 - was named after another freighter which had just been sunk during World War I. The crew is rescued by a German patrol boat, M-1103.

Convoy FN 375 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 379 departs from Methil, Convoy FS 380 is canceled, Convoy BN 12A departs from Suez bound for Port Sudan.

U-72 (Korvettenkapitän Hans-Werner Neumann) is commissioned.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Larkspur (Lt. Stuart C. B. Hickman) is commissioned.

U-203 is launched, U-595 and U-596 are laid down.

Australian 2/2nd Battalion troops attacking into Bardia, 4 January 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Having blown a hole through the Italian defenses on the 3rd, the Australian 6th Division under Major General Iven Mackay today pushes through to the sea, capturing the port of Bardia and bisecting the Italian garrison. While Italian troops hold out in pockets north and south of the town, they cannot be resupplied and they have few fortifications between themselves and the Australians. Already, thousands of Italians are streaming to the rear as prisoners. The battle will go on for quite some time, but essentially today's advance decides the outcome.

The Italians are in complete disarray. General Bergonzoli and his retinue depart on foot for Tobruk. The Italians, as has been the case since the start of Operation Compass, are only too ready to surrender. There are reports of hundreds, even thousands, of Italians surrendering to isolated Australian units. The number of POWs already exceeds 10,000.

With the battle for the Bardia essentially decided already despite the Italian holdouts, Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell quickly begins shifting forces toward the next major target, Tobruk. He sends the 7th Armoured Division (Major General Michael Creagh), which has been idle since the early stages of Operation Compass, toward the port without bothering it with Bardia, which it bypasses. The 7th Armoured is headed to cut Tobruk off from supply from the west. While Bardia is strategically important, Tobruk is the real prize in eastern Libya and has much more formidable defenses.

The Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, led by battleships HMS Warspite, Barham, and Valiant, returns to Alexandria. Shockingly, the Italian fleet has not bothered to put in an appearance despite the fact that, at least on paper, it has at least parity with the British naval forces.

Far to the west, the recently renamed British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) under Colonel Bagnold is approaching Murzuk, the Italian District Headquarters in the Fezzan Province. They intend to raid the oasis town - which had been 1300 miles from any other British forces when they set out, but now, after Operation Compass, only 700 miles away - to stir up Libyans against their Italian occupiers. This also is a good chance for cooperation with Free French in the area, who help out the LRDC men with supplies, and local Tuareg and Tibesti tribesmen. Today, the British camp out near some lava beds southwest of Tazerbo, where they will stay for three days. The Italians have no idea they are there, of course.

A Fulmar of RAF No. 803 Squadron, flying off HMS Formidable, is shot down during a reconnaissance flight over Dakar. The two aircrewmen become French POWs.

Off Cape Bon, British Swordfish torpedo bombers unsuccessfully attack an Italian supply convoy returning to Italy from Tripoli.

This photo was taken from the roof of St. Paul's in London. While dated 4 January 1941, this photo may have been taken a few days earlier and only released on the 4th (AP Photo).

Battle of the Pacific: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Stronghold begins a prolonged series of minelaying around Singapore. This process will continue into March.

Spy Stuff: Free French leader Charles de Gaulle continues to press for the release of Vice-Admiral Emile-Henri Muselier, accused of spying and arrested by the British on the 1st. Muselier is accused of, among other things, betraying the British/Free French assault on Dakar in late 1940, Operation Menace.

German/Bulgarian Relations: Hitler meets with Bulgarian Prime Minister Bogdan Filov in Berlin and continues his campaign of trying to coerce an alliance with Bulgaria. Adopting a threatening tone (recently used by Hitler with Admiral Darlan in France, too), Hitler broadly hints that the Wehrmacht troops already taking positions for Operation Marita in Romania would be enough to take care of themselves against all comers. Hitler wants Filov to sign the Tripartite Pact, but Filov demurs and returns to Sofia to discuss the brewing crisis with his ministers.

Soviet Military: The Soviet war games that began on 2 January continue. General Zhukov, in command of the "Western" or "Blue" forces, opposes General D.G. Pavlov. While Pavlov is given a numerical advantage, Zhukov is doing quite well with his (paper) forces.

Indochina: French Indochina is granted dominion status and tariff autonomy by decree (Times, January 4, 1941, p. 2). This sounds like it is a major step toward independence, but many disagree with this interpretation. Dominion status grants Marshal Petain ultimate control over the colony rather than Parliament. He is an autocrat, as opposed to the fairly liberal Parliament, so some consider this a step backward for local rule. Dominion status also does nothing with regard to the continuing conflict with Thailand, which, among other things, has its eye on major portions of the Mekong Delta. It also does nothing to mollify Vietnamese nationalists/communists such as Ho Chi Minh, who continue strategizing some kind of revolt to achieve independence.

Burma: Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander takes command of the British I Corps in Burma.

China: The Communist New Fourth Army departs from Yunling, Anhui Province.

The New Yorker - Saturday, January 4, 1941 - Issue # 829 - Vol. 16 - N° 47 - Cover: Ilonka Karasz.

American Homefront: Marlene Dietrich, a top German film star ("The Blue Angel") who fled Germany upon Adolf Hitler's assumption of power, becomes a naturalized US citizen. There are many dates given for Dietrich's actually becoming a US citizen, a process that she began in the mid-1930s, but this appears to be the final step in the process.

Bugs Bunny appears in the short "Elmer's Pet Rabbit" and, for the first time, is identified as Bugs Bunny. Bugs has been developing since his first appearance in "Porky's Hare Hunt" (30 April 1938), but really has only been identifiable as Bugs since his 27 July 1940 outing in "A Wild Hare" (and which recently has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject). "Elmer's Pet Rabbit" is considered Bugs' second true outing. Bugs Bunny makes his debut identified in a title card that simply says, "featuring Bugs Bunny"("Bugs" is the nickname of the character's first director, Ben Hardaway). Original illustrators Charlie Thorson and Cal Dalton would refer to their bunny character as "Bugs' bunny," and the name stuck after it was rather casually put in a model sheet (this is a very famous story in the animation world, though little-known elsewhere). Bugs Bunny's real name, revealed later, is George Washington Bunny, and Mel Blanc later recalled they were considering "Happy Rabbit" (or "Happy Wabbit" as Elmer Fudd would say).

They are still working on the character at this juncture, and this Bugs Bunny looks and sounds less like the Bugs known in later years than he did in the previous July's "A Wild Hare." Chuck Jones directs this time, and Mel Blanc voices Bugs (though he is uncredited). Cartoons at this point in time are considered adult entertainment, and they bring vivid technicolor to the Saturday night at the Bijou at a time when virtually everything else there is in black and white.

Future History: Movie stars Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman welcome Maureen Elizabeth Reagan into the world. Maureen is their first child. She becomes an actress, appearing In "Kissing Cousins" with Elvis Presley, but eventually gives that up as her father becomes a famous political figure. Later, she herself runs for political office but loses both times. Maureen is very supportive of her father during his time as US President and afterward. Maureen Reagan passes away at 60 from cancer on 8 August 2001, predeceasing her father.

January 1941

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

2020

Sunday 15 December 1940

"Flying Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron being decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross by Air Marshall Sholto Douglas, 15 December 1940. The first four Polish recipients of the DFC received their awards for their participation in the Battle of Britain during a presentation ceremony at RAF Leconfield. Mirosław Ferić was one of them." © IWM (CH 1838).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades continue their whirlwind advance across the desert into Italian Libya on 15 December 1940 as Operation Compass morphs from a planned five-day tank raid into a stunningly effective strategic offensive. The Italians, for their part, want no part of the Tommies and scoot further back along the coast road every day. Today, the British take Sollum and easily defensible Halfaya Pass on the fly, bypassing isolated Italian garrisons in the desert to the south (the actual date when the British take these points varies from source to source, but there is no question they are up for grabs by now). Next up for the British are Sidi Omar and nearby Fort Capuzzo, which the Italians show no sign of wanting to defend either. The unlikelihood of the Italians making a stand at Fort Capuzzo is underlined by the fact that they basically abandoned it earlier in the year when they weren't even under much pressure there.

The Italians, meanwhile, bet all their chips on their stronghold of Bardia, commanded by General Annibale Bergonzoli (known as "Electric Whiskers" due to his once-flaming red beard). The Tenth Army retreat there and reinforce Tobruk, which, aside from being a well-defended fortress, also constitutes a key port which would be much handier for the British than the much smaller one at Sollum. The Italians also bring up three divisions from the interior of Libya and station them on a line between El Mekili and Derna. Since the Italians now have ample warning of an attack and the British are outrunning their supplies, this line has a reasonable chance of holding - but it well inside Libya and 168 km northwest of Tobruk along the most direct route. The British already have Bardia surrounded, trapping the 40,000 Italians inside.

Royal Navy monitor HMS Terror continues giving the Italians headaches. While the British surround the port on land, it stands brazenly off Bardia and bombards the Italians there for the entire afternoon.

Not all goes well for the Royal Navy, however. Free French submarine Narval hits a mine off Sfax/Kerkenah, Tunisia and is lost. As is usually the case with such incidents involving submarines, the exact date of this loss is an educated guess because nobody lives to tell the tale in such incidents (54 lost). The loss is only realized when the submarine fails to return to its port of Malta on the 16th.

"The first four Polish recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron wearing their awards after a presentation ceremony by Air Marshal Sholto Douglas at RAF Leconfield, 15 December 1940. Left to right: Squadron Leader Witold Urbanowicz, Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg, Pilot Officer Jan "Donald Duck" Zumbach and Pilot Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić." © IWM (CH 1839).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command raids Berlin, Frankfurt, and Kiel with 72 aircraft. They also attack Naples. For Naples, it is the second night in a row. As if in a pointed statement to the Italians that "you can run, but you can't hide," the British damage another Italian cruiser in the port of Naples. The raids are notable because the British mistakenly bomb the Basel, Switzerland railway station in an epic navigational error.

The Luftwaffe, after a quiet day, revisits Sheffield, which it originally bombed on 12 December. This raid continues its recent practice of repeatedly bombing medium-sized British towns with full-scale attacks. While only a small group of 16 German Heinkel He 111 bombers arrives soon after darkness, they drop thousands of incendiaries that start massive fires. This creates a target visible to the main force, which arrives overhead a couple of hours later. The Luftwaffe pounds the eastern half of the city for three hours, but most of the bombs miss the city's important factories. The two aerial attacks together kill 750 people and destroy 3000 homes and small businesses. During the night, the Luftwaffe loses five aircraft.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe attacks Portsmouth, "sinking" destroyer HMS Cameron. The Cameron, in dry dock, is blasted onto its side and utterly destroyed in a rare case of a ship being lost for reasons other than actually sinking or grounding. One of the destroyers acquired from the US in the destroyers-for-bases deal, the destruction of the Cameron continues a pattern of hard luck for the newly acquired destroyers.

German E-boats are active along the Great Yarmouth coast, and the come across Convoy FS 360. Two of them, S 25 and S 58, sink 2301 ton British freighter NC Monberg. There are nine deaths.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Britomart collides with fellow minesweeper Seagull, sending the former to the repair yard at Aberdeen for almost a month.

Deep in the Atlantic, German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer transfers its prisoner to supply vessel Nordmark. The British continue fruitlessly to search for heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer around the Canary Islands.

Convoy EN 41 departs from Methil, Convoy SC 16 departs from Halifax, Convoy MW 58 departs from Port Said (Operation Hide), Convoy SL 59 departs from Freetown.

Destroyer HMS Ithuriel and submarine HMS P-32 are launched.

"The first four Polish recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron wearing their awards after a presentation ceremony by Air Marshal Sholto Douglas at RAF Leconfield, 15 December 1940. Left to right - Squadron Leader Witold Urbanowicz, Pilot Officer Jan "Donald Duck" Zumbach, Pilot Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić and Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg." © IWM (CH 1840).

Battle of the Italian Ocean: German raider Atlantis, in the uninhabited Kerguelen Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, remains stuck on a rock which has torn a chunk from its outer hull (but, fortunately for the German crew, not the more important inner hull).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek 3rd Infantry Division, which took Porto Palermo on the 13th, resumes its advance north toward the key port of Himara. The Italians have regrouped, though, and now are fighting hard. The weather now is the Italians' ally. The Regia Aeronautica also is active against the advancing Greek troops.

German/Vichy French Relations: Hitler, with his deep fascination regarding obscure European social history, realizes that very few things stir the French soul like repatriating Napoleon to France. The transfer of the dead Emperor's exhumed body from his place of exile on remote St. Helena back to Paris on 15 December 1840 was one of the great celebrations in 19th Century French history. So, realizing that bringing up memories of Bonaparte's royal line might also remind the French who sent him to St. Helena in the first place, and realizing that it is 100 years to the day later, Hitler craftily arranges to bring back another dead Napoleon: Napoleon II, also known as the Duke of Reichstadt and "The Eaglet." While never holding real power and still an infant upon his father's capture, Napoleon II did technically hold the title Emperor of France for a week before his own abdication. Napoleon II has been interred in deep obscurity in Vienna, Austria since even before the return of his father's remains.

However, things don't quite go as Hitler intends. For one thing, the whole affair elicits barely a yawn from the French public, for whom Napoleon II is just a name drawn from aged history books. Napoleon II never ruled France and was barely a blip along the Napoleonic line - which itself is rapidly fading from importance, particularly since Napoleon III proved such a monumental disaster - given his defeat by the Germans at Sedan, the memory of which is a lot fresher than that of Napoleon II. In fact, one thing that Hitler probably didn't consider is that bringing up the Napoleonic dynasty at this sensitive moment in French history might remind the French that, just as the Germans in 1870 broke through a vastly overrated French Army at Sedan, so too did such an army succumb in an eerily similar way at the same place in 1940. However, Hitler is never known for being particularly empathetic about what other nations might think about his obviously manipulative decisions.

More importantly from the perspective of present relations, however, French Premier Marshal Petain doesn't even bother attending the ceremony in Paris, which is under German occupation. While Petain has his own issues to deal with at the moment, including the situation with the recently dismissed Pierre Laval, his blasé attitude merely reflects the complete indifference within France by just about everyone. This puts the final verdict to this obvious attempt at emotional manipulation. Hitler, informed that Petain won't attend, does not attend the ceremony either, and professes outrage that his grand gesture would be dismissed when he "meant so well." Hitler probably did mean this as a kind gesture, but it does nothing at all to soften relations between the countries. This leaves Hitler's brief June visit to Paris as the only time that he ever visited Paris, his most significant conquest.

Parisians make light of the whole affair - while the Germans aren't looking - and the joke is that they would have preferred coal to ashes during a hard winter. The French government as a whole also takes a dim view of the entire affair for decades, and it is not until 1969 that it sets aside a small chamber opposite the entrance of the Dome des Invalides for the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte's only legitimate child. The whole affair also rankles Mussolini, who remains extremely jealous of Hitler's overtures to the French.

The remains of Napoleon II brought back to Paris, Note the absence of crowds along the streets. 15 December 1940.

German/Japanese Relations: It is widely noted among historians that the Japanese learned vital lessons from the British aerial attack on Taranto which sank three battleships in November 1940. They learn these lessons because two German officers, Baron von Gronau (former German air attaché at the embassy in Tokyo) and Colonel Johann Jebsen (a member of Admiral Canaris’s intelligence staff (Abwehr)), today proceed down to Taranto and write up a report about the attack which they send to Tokyo.

British Military: General Harold Alexander is appointed to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command (southwest England, a sensitive area of defense). His temporary rank of lieutenant-general, achieved as a result of his successful withdrawal of I Corps at Dunkirk, becomes permanent. Alexander achieved renown among the troops by being on the last destroyer leaving Dunkirk on 3 June 1940 - they appreciate little touches like that.

US Military: Headquarter, Eighth Naval District transfers from Charleston, South Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. It is under Acting Commandant Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson, Jr.

French Government: Relations between Germany and Vichy France, currently under great strain, are not helped when the German ambassador, Abetz, formally requests that Laval be released and reinstated. Petain indeed releases Pierre Laval from house confinement but does not restore him to his former positions. However, Laval accrues additional prestige due to being seen as the Germans' "man in France." Even though he now is out of office, he is by no means forgotten.

American Homefront: "Pride of the Bowery," starring "The East Side Kids," is released.

Future History: Ursula Ledersteger is born in Vienna, Austria. She becomes the "German Jayne Mansfield" and appears in several films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder under the stage name Barbara Valentin. Among other things, Valentin is married to US actor John Ashton ("Beverly Hills Cop") during the peak years of that franchise's popularity, and also was close with Freddie Mercury. She perishes in 2002 and is buried at the Ostfriedhof in Munich.

PTT Telephone engineers go about their business in Amsterdam, 15 December 1940 (ANPFOTO/Anp).

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