Tuesday 3 December 1940

Italian M.13/40 tank of the Centauro Division during the Italian/Greek war. The Greeks standing nearby probably contrived to get it in that position.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek advance continues on 3 December 1940, though the pace has slowed just a bit in a few areas due to stiffening Italian resistance. In the mountains, control of the passes means everything, and they are easy to defend - given the will to defend them by the local troops. The Italian troops often are lacking in that regard. The Greek 2nd Division is engaged in a heavy battle to capture the Suhë Pass, and the 8th Division is attacking near Kakavia Pass. Should the Greeks get through the passes, the defense would become much harder.

Along the coast, the Greeks advance 15 miles (25 km) and take Saranda (Italian Santiquaranta). Saranda is a reasonably important supply port and puts more pressure on the Italians to hold the other, absolutely vital ports further north. The loss of Saranda is a particularly jarring one to Mussolini because the port has acquired the honorific "Porto Edda" in honor of his eldest daughter.

Greek II Corps advances on Përmetin in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. A fierce battle erupts for control of that town (which changes hands regularly throughout the first half of the 20th Century between the Greeks, Turks, Albanians, and Italians). The Greeks are taking more casualties in these battles than they have in previous actions, but the Italians continue to give ground. The Greeks also are taking a lot of prisoners, hundreds at a time as the Italians are bereft of supplies and the means to escape in isolated mountain towns.

The battle of Argyrokastro continues, with the Greeks dominating the heights above the town. The Greeks also advance past Pogradets and capture some high ground there.

Mussolini is still in a panic about the Italian reversals in Albania. However, Fascist Party secretary Roberto Farinacci is a hardliner and helps to steady his nerve. A change in military leadership is looking increasingly necessary to Mussolini because the troops do not display the will to win.

The Italians, meanwhile, have caught on to the British presence at Suda Bay, Crete. The Regia Aeronautica launches a raid at 15:40 that hits light cruiser HMS Glasgow with two torpedoes. The torpedoes both hit on the starboard side and rip two huge holes, causing structural damage, flooding, and putting two propeller shafts and the X turret out of action. There are three deaths and three serious injuries. The Glasgow can return under its own power to Alexandria for repairs.

Convoy AS 6 departs from Piraeus for Port Said with several Greek freighters.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe bombs Birmingham again, sending over 50 bombers to attack it. They drop over 55 tons of high explosives and 448 incendiaries. Birmingham, loaded with factories was devastated by successive raids in early November, and this adds to the city's misery. London also receives some incendiaries, along with scattered other locations in the Home Counties.

Poor weather restricts flight operations by RAF Bomber Command. They make some small attacks on Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Essen, and Dunkirk.

Italian troops posing with their tank, Libya, December 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: German freighters Idarwald (5033 tons) and Rhein (6031 tons) attempt once more - for at least the third time in recent months - to evade the American Neutrality Patrol and sail from their port of Tampico, Mexico for Occupied France. US destroyer USS Broome spots Idarwald and shadows it, while USS Simpson shadows Rhein. Both US ships make sure that the Royal Navy knows what is happening. This is the beginning of a week-long incident that Adolf Hitler will single out in his 11 December 1941 declaration of war against the United States.

The attacks on Convoy HX 90 conclude during the early morning hours today, but we talk about that attack on the entry for 2 December. After today's final sinkings, including freighter W. Hendrik by Luftwaffe Fw 200 Condors, there are 30 of the convoy's original 41 ships remaining, which sail on to port. The sinking of the W. Hendrik is tragic because the captain mistakenly believes that the ship has been torpedoed due to near misses, making it easy prey for an actual torpedo. Some of the sources make light of this convoy battle, emphasizing that 30 ships did survive, but 25% of losses (to no loss for the enemy) are unsustainable in the long run no matter what repetitive task you are doing.

Two Royal Navy cruisers and four destroyers embark on a standard sweep of the southwest Norwegian coast in Operation DN. They do not spot anything.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Campbeltown (one of the US Navy destroyers received in the destroyers-for-bases deal) collides with 8132-ton British tanker Conus. The Campbeltown is badly damaged and will require almost four months for repair.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Castleton also is damaged in a collision during a patrol in the Western Approaches. She is taken to Portsmouth for repairs.

The Luftwaffe is active against shipping. It damaged 222-ton British trawler Slebech, 275-ton trawler William Downes, and 4745-ton British freighter Quebec City, all in the Western Approaches.

British 292-ton freighter Robrix hits a mine and is damaged about 3 km off Spurn Light House, East Riding of Yorkshire,

German raider Kormoran departs from its homeport of Gotenhafen (Gdynia) for a mission in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Pacific. The has 320 mines for use near Australia.

German destroyers Greif, Kondor, Falke, and Seeadler lay minefield Marieanne off Dover (Hellfire Corner).

Convoy FN 349 departs from Southend, Convoy FN 349 and FN 351 depart from Methil, Convoy HX 93 departs from Halifax.

U-76 (Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich von Hippel) is commissioned.

Royal Navy minesweeping trawler Ophelia is commissioned.

US Navy light cruiser USS Montpelier is laid down.

Ups and Downs Magazine, December 1940. These magazines were published quarterly in order to provide information about schoolboys who had been sent from England to live in Canada. They were published by Dr. Barnardo Homes in Toronto, Ontario, usually quarterly between 1895 and 1949. The original immigrants to Canada generally became indentured servants - the 1940s issues, though, dealt with youngsters sent to avoid the war. All the kids grew up with foster Canadian families, and many stayed in Canada permanently. By this time, the British government had halted overseas placements due to U-boat dangers.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British are gearing up for Operation Compass, the planned assault on the advanced Italian forces in Egypt. The Chief of the General Staff (CIGS) John Dill instructs the Commander in Chief Mediterranean (General Archibald Wavell) to set aside landing craft for possible hooks around the advanced Italian positions. Wavell and his fellow officers on the scene don't  much care for the idea, but the strategy is favored by Winston Churchill - himself, of course, a former First Sea Lord who always appreciates naval involvement.

Wavell, meanwhile, meets with Lieutenant General William Platt, General Officer Commanding Sudan Defence Force, and Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham, (brother of the naval C-in-C) General Officer Commanding 51st Division, from Kenya. Entirely apart from Operation Compass, they decide to allocate an infantry division - and maybe more forces to recapture Kassala in East Africa (as if to emphasize the point, the RAF attacks Kassala today). Everything depends upon the outcome of Operation Compass - if the offensive there succeeds, then the British can "roll-up" the remaining Italian positions to the south. Thus, Operation Compass is of great import to the entire course of the war south of the Mediterranean.

A report of the British First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound to the War Cabinet states that the Royal Navy is gaining control of the Mediterranean. The recent engagement at Cape Spartivento, Admiral of the Fleet Pound concludes, was merely a "chance encounter" in which an Italian claim that the "British units... had run away" was "unfounded." Malta is now "reasonably secure" given the success of Operation Collar in delivering reinforcements to the island. Admiral James Somerville, meanwhile, is currently facing an official Court of Inquiry at Gibraltar due to the "chance encounter."

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Havock collides with battleship HMS Valiant in Alexandria Harbour. It requires two months of repairs at Malta.

The Italians have four destroyers and a submarine operating in the Red Sea looking for convoys.

Anglo/US Relations: The UK announces that it has placed orders for 60 merchantmen in US shipyards.

German/Bulgarian Relations: Hitler meets with the Bulgarian ambassador. He needs Bulgaria as a launching pad for the invasion of Greece.

US Government: President Roosevelt and crony Harry Hopkins arrive in Miami and embark on the heavy cruiser HMS Tuscaloosa. They are going to inspect some of the bases acquired from the British in the September destroyers-for-bases agreement. The Greenslade Board already has inspected them, but Roosevelt wants to see them for himself. At some point during this trip, Roosevelt and Hopkins come up with the "Lend-Lease" idea.

Luftwaffe Major General Wolff von Stutterheim.

German Military: The Kriegsmarine is upset at Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering's abrupt decision to remove all naval control from torpedo bombers, and - a rarity for this stage of the war - complains.  Konteradmiral (rear admiral) Kurt Fricke, Chief of Naval Operations, requests the return of Naval bomber squadrons, and further requests that they come equipped with the Heinkel He 111H-5 version adapted to carry two torpedoes (one Italian Whitehead Fiume 850 kg (1,870 lb) torpedo and a German F5 50 kg (110 lb) light torpedo). Fricke has little chance of winning any kind of dispute with Goering about aircraft, given that the Reichsmarschall considers all airplane activity within the Reich as his personal turf (along with many other things). However, he has good grounds for pursuing the matter, because the planes under naval control have done sterling work against British shipping.

Generalmajor Wolff von Stutterheim, former commander of KG 77, passes in a Berlin hospital. Von Stutterheim is a Pour le Mérite holder from the First World War (and Ritterkreuz recipient) who lost 11 relatives in that earlier conflict. He has been in a Berlin hospital suffering from wounds incurred during the very early stages of the Battle of Britain in June 1940. Stutterheim is buried in a place of honor next to Ernst Udet and Werner Mölders in the Invalidenfriedhof Berlin.

US Military: Heavy cruiser USS Louisville departs from Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil as part of its "Show the Flag" mission in Latin America. Its next stop is Rio de Janeiro.

American Homefront: "The Son of Monte Cristo" starring Louis Hayward and Joan Bennett has its premiere at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.

Eastern Airlines DC-3 followed by a row of DC-2s at Atlanta's Municipal Airport terminal, 1940 (Georgia State University Digital Collections).

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

Saturday 2 November 1940

U-31 going on its final dive.

Italian/Greek Campaign: At the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas on 2 November 1940, Italian infantry of the Ferrara Division attack Greek forces on their main defensive line of Elaia-Kalamas, north of Ioannina. The Italians make no progress despite having light L3/35 tankettes and medium M13/40 tanks because the mountainous terrain is hostile to vehicles.

In the central Pindus Mountain sector, the Italian Julia Division struggles forward and captures the villages of Vovousa, Samarina, and Distrato. This is still 30 km short of their objective, Metsovo, whose capture would have strategic significance (it is a key transit point to Greek supplies). Greek Colonel Konstantinos Davakis, in charge of the two battalions, cavalry and artillery of the Pindus Detachment, is badly wounded during reconnaissance near Fourka. The Greeks work through the night to prepare an ambush of these advanced Italian troops.

On the Coastal Sector, the Italians begin their attack on Kalamas River along the Kalpaki front. It starts to snow, which aids the defense. An Albanian battalion captures the Grabala heights in the Negrades sector and holds it through the night, but otherwise, the attack makes little progress.

In the Koritsa sector, the Greek 9th Infantry Division and 4th Infantry Brigade attack static Italian positions at the border.

The Italian air force bombs Salonika again, killing 200 civilians. Other targets include Corfu, Patras, and Janina. The attack on Salonika is especially strong, with 15 Italian Cant 1007Z bombers escorted by Fiat CR 42 fighters. The Greeks intercept the formation and shoot down three of the Italian bombers.

A downed Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM-70 bomber, 2 November 1940.

The Greeks bomb Koritsa airfield.

The Greeks report repelling an Italian naval attack near the Corinth Canal with antiaircraft guns and fighter attacks.

Royal Hellenic Air Force pilot Marinos Mitralexis, out of ammo in his PZL P-24 (serial no: Δ 130) because he already has shot down one bomber, rams another Italian bomber in its rudder, causing it to crash. Mitralexis then lands nearby (his engine is out) and, knowing where the Italian plane crashed, runs over with his pistol and arrests the Italians who parachuted to safety. Mitralexis is promoted to Wing Commander and received Gold Cross of Valour, Greece's highest award.

Turkey, which has declared its neutrality in the Italian/Greek war and warned Bulgaria to stay out also, pointedly keeps 37 divisions on the Bulgarian border "just in case."


European Air Operations: During the day, the Luftwaffe sends a couple of raids against London, but the RAF scatters the German planes, which drop their bombs at random over the Kent/Sussex countryside. The weather is bad during the night, so the RAF bombers stay on the ground today, and the Luftwaffe bombers finish their minor raids by midnight.

Michael Marwood in later years.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-31 (Kptlt. Wilfried Prellberg) is sunk by depth charges by Royal Navy HMS Antelope (Lieutenant-Commander RT “Dick” White) in the shipping lanes northwest of Ireland. Prellberg is stalking Convoy OB 237 when the Antelope spots it. After several hours, during which Asdic contact is lost and regained, a depth charge ruptures the U-boat's ballast tanks. Captain Prellberg manages to surface the boat and even opens fire with his deck gun. The U-boat still has its engines running when the crew abandons it and the sub collides with the destroyer before sinking (the men of the Antelope get a boat in the water to board U-31, but it sinks before they can get to it). The Antelope will require a month of repairs.

This is the second time that U-31 goes under, having been sunk in shallow water on 11 March 1940 by the RAF and later raised and repaired. This time, the sinking is permanent, and U-31 still rests where it fell that day. U-31 has sunk 11 ships of 27,751 tons and an additional auxiliary warship of 160 tons.

Prellberg gets off 43-44 of the 45-46 man crew (two ratings are lost) to become POWs. Lieutenant Commander Michael Marwood, the navigator who guides the destroyer by Asdic to the U-boat's location, receives the DSC for the action. At this point in the war there is still some civility at sea, and Marwood lends some of the German officers his own clothes, “but received little thanks. They thought we were mad. As the war became total and cruel, we treated future prisoners very differently!” Michael Marwood passes away on 5 January 2016.

Royal Navy 429 ton tug HMT Rinovia (Chief Skipper T. Fraser RNR) hits a mine in the English Channel off Falmouth, Cornwall, and sinks. There are 14 deaths.

German aerial mines of IX Air Corps sink British 168 ton tug Lea and 148-ton Deanbrook in the River Thames. Six crew perish on the Lea and everyone on board the Deanbrook (apparently also six crew) also perishes. The tugs sink in shallow water and are salvaged for scrap.

British 28 ton drifter Goodwill hits a mine and sinks in the Firth of Forth.

British 138 ton grain schooner Penola collides with another ship during the morning and sinks in the Clyde off Toward Point, Argyllshire (just west of the Toward Lighthouse). The crew abandons ship safely. The ship comes to rest upright in shallow water but later breaks up. Some sources place this incident on November 9th.

Greek 1588 ton freighter Menelaos capsizes in heavy weather and sinks in the outer Owers in the English Channel south of Selsey Bill, West Sussex.

Minelayers HMS Teviotbank and Plover and destroyers HMS Intrepid and Icarus lay minefield BS 44 in the North Sea. The Intrepid itself hits a mine off Hartlepool (it is unclear if it is one that it itself is laying, it appears not), which damages its engines. It limps into Hartlepool for repairs, joining the 50 other Royal Navy destroyers currently under repair.

Royal Navy HMS Campbeltown, one of the destroyers received from the US Navy in the destroyers-for-bases deal, collides with 793-ton Norwegian freighter Risoy. The Campbeltown sustains only minor damage which requires repairs of about three weeks at Liverpool.

Royal Navy Armed Merchant Cruiser Ranpura has a fire onboard which causes minor damage.

Royal Navy submarine Taku (Lt J. F. B. Brown) attacks 8923-ton German freighter Gedania in the Bay of Biscay off the Loire but misses.

Royal Navy submarine Tigris also spots an enemy ship, the Italian submarine Veniero, off the Gironde. Its attack also is unsuccessful. Submarines are difficult for other submarines to attack.

Convoys FN 324 and FN 325 depart from Southend, Convoy OB 238 departs from Liverpool,

U-69 (Kapitänleutnant Jost Metzler) is commissioned.

Adolf Hitler with Günther von Kluge, 1940. Von Kluge was known as der Kluge Hans, a play on his name which translates as "Clever Hans." Hans also was a famous horse of the day who supposedly was good at arithmetic. Hans also happened to be Kluge's own nickname, and English-speakers can somewhat grasp the nickname with the incorrect translation "Clever Hands Hans." Kluge was known as being extremely slippery in a political sense for a general (Federal Archive).

Battle of the Mediterranean: With the Crete landings successfully completed, the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet, led by battleship Warspite and aircraft carrier Illustrious, returns to Alexandria. Italian bombers attack the departing ships and score some near misses against cruisers HMS Ajax and Coventry.

Royal Navy submarine Tetrarch joins the other Royal Navy submarines making unsuccessful attacks today, missing an Italian freighter off Benghazi.

At Malta, there is an air raid around 12:30 when 20 SM 79 bombers escorted by 30 Macchi 200 and CR 42 fighters fly over the island from the north. There is a massive dogfight. One Macchi 200 is shot down by Hurricanes (pilot killed when chute fails to open), and a second Macchi and two CR 42s badly damaged. The bombs hit Luqa airfield and four houses near Aabbar.

A Maryland of RAF No. 431 Squadron is photographing Taranto Harbor when the pilot is wounded by a fire from an Italian fighter and knocked unconscious. The navigator takes over the controls until the pilot recovers sufficiently to pilot the aircraft back to base.

Spy Stuff: Free French submarine Rubis (CC Cabanier), which was in the port of Dundee, Scotland at the time of the French surrender on 22 June, drops off a British agent at Korsfjord, Norway during the night.

US Military: Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade arrives in Fort-de-France, Martinique. This is a continuation of amicable discussions between the US and the local commander, Vice Admiral Georges A.M.J. Robert, about the French situation there. The French have an aircraft carrier there which is immobilized.

US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson contracts with a subsidiary of the Pan American Airport Corporation to construct airfields and seaplane bases from the border of French Guiana along the Brazilian coast and down to Uruguay.

American Homefront: Doc Holliday's common-law wife, Hungarian "Big Nose" Kate, passes away at age 89.

Professor F. Bert Farquharson at the University of Washington completes studies he has been conducting of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. Contracted by the Toll Bridge Authority in March, Farquharson has built a 1:200 scale model of the bridge to try to duplicate in a wind tunnel the vibrations which have given the bridge the nickname "Galloping Gertie." He is successful at this and decides the bridge has a major problem. Farquharson, however, believes one of two solutions should be implemented: drill holes in the bridge's girders to allow wind to pass through or affix wind deflectors. The State, meanwhile, has taken the temporary expedient of tying the bridge spans down with cables. The State plans a meeting with Farquharson on the 6th to discuss the remedies.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge around 2 November 1940. In the foreground are cables (anchored restraining wires 1-9/16 inches in diameter) that were affixed in October to suppress the bridge's twisting motion during high winds. One of the cables snapped on 1 November but was quickly repaired. There were no cables, however, on the critical center span.

November 1940

November 1, 1940: Hitler Irate
November 2, 1940: U-31 Sunk - Again
November 3, 1940: Kretschmer's Master Class
November 4, 1940: Spain Absorbs Tangier
November 5, 1940: Jervis Bay Meets Admiral Scheer
November 6, 1940: San Demetrio Incident
November 7, 1940: Galloping Gertie
November 8, 1940: Italian Shakeup in Greece
November 9, 1940: Dutch Fascists March
November 10, 1940: Fala and Doc Strange
November 11, 1940: Taranto Raid
November 12, 1940: Molotov Takes Berlin
November 13, 1940: Molotov Foils Hitler
November 14, 1940: Moonlight Sonata
November 15, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Sealed
November 16, 1940: France Keeps Battleships
November 17, 1940: Malta Hurricane Disaster
November 18, 1940: Hitler Berates Ciano
November 19, 1940: Birmingham Devastated
November 20, 1940: Hungary Joins Axis
November 21, 1940: Dies White Paper
November 22, 1940: Italians Take Korçë
November 23, 1940: U-Boat Bonanza!
November 24, 1940: Slovakia Joins In
November 25, 1940: Molotov's Demands
November 26, 1940: Bananas Be Gone
November 27, 1940: Cape Spartivento Battle
November 28, 1940: Wick Perishes
November 29, 1940: Trouble in Indochina
November 30, 1940: Lucy and Desi Marry

2020