Monday 23 February 1942

A Japanese propaganda photo (including a helpful map of the target in the upper right) of the 23 February 1942 attack on California by I-17. Is this an actual photo of I-17 firing its gun that night? It purports to be but probably is a "recreation."

Battle of the Pacific: Residents of Ellwood, California (near Santa Barbara), get a shock not long after dark on 23 February 1942 when Imperial Japanese Navy submarine HIJMS I-17 (Captain Kozo Nishino) starts lobbing shells at them. This attack at about 19:15 is a very rare attack by Axis forces on the United States mainland (this is not the only one). The area is the site of the Ellwood Oil Field, which Nishino once visited in peacetime. Standing just offshore, I-17 pumps about two dozen 5.5-inch (140 mm) shells at oil storage tanks and derricks. After causing some minor damage to things like catwalks, Nishino turns west and heads back to Japan. This attack receives a lot of publicity and causes many frightened residents to flee inland. This incident also stokes anti-Japanese feelings because witnesses claim to see the submarine flashing signals to allies onshore (which apparently is just a mistake by the witnesses). Since this comes very soon after President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, it gives new impetus to efforts to remove people of Japanese descent from the West Coast and put them in internment camps.

U-751 arrives at St. Nazaire, 23 February 1942 (Sheep, Federal Archive Picture 101II-MW-3691-05).

In Burma, the Japanese establish a strong bridgehead across the Sittang River despite the British blowing a key bridge. Remnants of the Indian 17th Division which fought unsuccessfully on the Bilin River cross the Sittang on boats or by swimming. They must leave all their equipment on the far shore and the division's fighting ability is destroyed. Only 1420 soldiers out of 3404 enlisted men and 80 officers even have rifles. Many also have lost their boots and some have even lost their uniforms due to having to swim the river, but the division remains in action. Since they are the only large force remaining between the Japanese and Rangoon, the city is in a lot of trouble. The Battle of Sittang River decides the fate of Burma in favor of the Japanese. The British are hurriedly evacuating Rangoon and having to decide either to ship out supplies destined for China immediately and at great risk or destroy them. The recently arrived British 7th Armored Brigade, which is completely unfamiliar with Burma and not fully equipped, proceeds immediately from its port of disembarkation to Rangoon in a last-ditch attempt to hold the capital.

The 23 February 1942 Adelaide, Australia, The Advertiser highlights Japanese losses off Bali. The truth is far grimmer, but people would rather read positive stories.

Despite fervent vows by the ABDA command to hold Java, it is becoming clear to everyone that the Allies cannot stay there for long. Evacuations begin despite the fact that many units have arrived on Java only recently. General Sir Archibald Wavell, Command in Chief ABDA Command, is ordered by the Combined Chiefs of Staff to move his headquarters from Java to Australia. The future for any Allied troops left on Java when the Japanese arrive is illustrated in Portuguese East Timor, where the Australian 2/2 Independent Company begins guerrilla operations with no hope of rescue or supply, and in Dutch West Timor, where the Australian 2/40th Battalion surrenders.

Early in the morning of the 23rd, six B-17s in two flights of 3 of the Kangaroo Squadron (435th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group) based at  Garbutt Field, Townsville, Australia, bomb the Japanese fortress at Rabaul. This is the first such bombing mission. Only two of the bombers actually drop their bombs. One of these two B-17s is "Swamp Ghost." Due to weather and mechanical issues, only one bomber actually hits the target. "Swamp Ghost" has mechanical issues that prevent its bomb bay doors from opening on its first run, so it makes another pass and successfully drops its bombs. However, this second pass exposes "Swamp Ghost" to ground fire. It takes heavy damage (121 bullet holes) which forces its crew to crash-land in a swamp eight miles from the northern Papua New Guinea coast.

The "Swamp Ghost" crew survives an arduous six-week trek out of the swamp. The plane is left there virtually intact until being rediscovered by Australian Army troops in a helicopter in 1972. In 2006, "Swamp Ghost" is removed from the swamp by cargo helicopter and currently is on display in Hangar 19 at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Reinhard Heydrich is on the cover of the 23 February 1942 Time magazine. Unknown to Time readers, an Allied plot to assassinate Heydrich, Operation Anthropoid, already is in progress (cover: Boris Artzybasheff).

Eastern Front: It is Red Army Day (the 24th) in the Soviet Union, so Joseph Stalin makes a radio broadcast to celebrate the occasion. He states that the Soviet People will have a "tremendous and hard fight" to evict the Germans from Russia, but their transient advantages such as the "element of surprise" are now gone. He promises that "the Red banner will fly everywhere it has flown before." Stalin also for the first time makes a distinction between the "Hitler clique" and the German people, a distinction which will become practically a Red Army battle cry. The Germans, meanwhile, well know this is a special day for the Soviets and are surprised that the fighting is fairly quiet on the Eastern Front. There are no new attacks and the German pockets at Demyansk and Kholm are holding their own. This gives many Germans confidence that the Red Army is the one that has lost its momentum after the surprising counteroffensive before Moscow and that the Wehrmacht can "run the table" over the coming summer.

Comrade Stalin is on the front page of the Moscow Bolshevik for 23 February 1942.

While there are no major Soviet attacks, there is some movement. The USSR announces that Red Army troops have taken Dorogobuzh, a village on the upper Dneipr River. It is another strategically non-essential place in German eyes, far from any main roads and not threatening any major German-held cities, but it is important enough to the Soviets for them to mention it. The Wehrmacht is happy to let the Soviets fritter away their momentum taking such outposts in the middle of nowhere while they maintain their supply lines along the highways.

European Air Operations: The RAF has a fairly light day of activity, sending only 23 Hampdens to drop mines off Wilhelmshaven and Heligoland, as new commander General Arthur "Bomber" Harris gets familiar with his forces. Harris has a mandate to turn the RAF as an instrument of vengeance against the Reich by launching terror raids against population centers rather than focusing on military targets as has been the case to date.

U-751 arrives at St. Nazaire, 23 February 1942. It is tieing up inboard of U-85 (right). (Sheep, Federal Archive Picture 101II-MW-3691-12).

Battle of the Atlantic: The British have known for several days that the Germans have sent a battle group of large ships to northern Norway. Attempts to attack the ships with aircraft have failed due to rough weather. However, today the British succeed through other means when HMS Trident (Cmdr. Sladen) spots the ships in the North Sea off the Trondheimsfjord. The ships are just on a normal patrol and are not heading out on a raiding mission. Sladen fires three torpedoes, one of which hits Prinz Eugen in the stern and seriously damages its rudder. The Germans take Prinz Eugen to Lo Fjord at Drontheim for temporary repairs. Eventually, Prinz Eugen must head back to Germany for full repairs and is out of service until October 1942.

U-129 (Kptlt. Asmus Nicolai Clausen), on its fourth patrol out of Lorient, has a big day northeast of Barima, Venezuela. Attacking at 01:20, the submarine sinks 1754-ton Canadian freighter George L. Torian (15 deaths, 4 survivors). At 04:43, it spots and sinks 5658-ton US freighter West Zeda (all 35 survive). Then, at 15:04, Clausen torpedoes and sinks 1904-ton Canadian freighter Lennox (2 deaths and 18 survivors). All of these ships are independents, as convoys have not yet been organized this far south.

HMAS Ping Wo. A 3105-ton Chinese river steamer, Ping Wo is used on 23 February 1942 to tow the disabled HMAS Vendetta from the Javan port of Tanjung Priok to Fremantle, Western Australia. This is part of the general evacuation of Java. The tow to Fremantle takes 62 days, or 72 days if you count an additional tow to Port Phillip Bay (Royal Australian Navy).

U-502 (Kptlt. Jürgen von Rosenstiel), on its second patrol out of Lorient, also has a big day about 75 miles north of Aruba. After missing with two torpedoes, U-502 finally hits 8329-ton Panamanian tanker Thalia with a third at 10:32. Tankers are hard to sink, though, and another two torpedoes fail to sink it. Finally, von Rosenstiel surfaces and rakes the burning tanker with 103 rounds from his deck gun. This does the trick. There are 40 survivors and one dead. At 16:43, von Rosenstiel strikes again, torpedoing 9002-ton US tanker Sun (carrying only water ballast) with one torpedo. The explosion causes extensive damage that would sink a freighter, and the crew abandons ship. However, the compartmentalized structure of the tanker saves it, and the crew reboards it and they take she battered ship to an anchorage and eventually to Aruba.

U-161 (Kptlt. Albrecht Achilles), on its second patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 7001-ton US freighter Lihue about 275 miles west of Martinique. Lihue is another independent, which U-boat captains have found are easy targets. U-161 surfaces after hitting the Lihue with a single torpedo at 06:43 and engages in a brief gun duel with the freighter before submerging again and waiting for it to sink. All 45 men on board survive.

The 23 February 1942 Life magazine features guns at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the cover.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS P38 (Lieutenant Rowland Hemingway DSC, RN) spots a large Axis supply convoy heading from Naples to Tripoli about 90 nautical miles (170 km) east of Tripoli. It and moves into position to attack. However, before Lt. Hemingway can attack, the Italian escorts spot P38 with sonar and move into the attack with depth charges. Italian torpedo boat Circe launches all of its depth charges and forces P38 to broach the surface before settling back down. After further attacks, P38 rises again, stern first, before sinking. All 32 men aboard P38 perish. The Royal Navy knew about this convoy from intercepts or spies and specifically sent P38 from Malta to attack it, so this is a good example of one side having solid intelligence on exactly what has to be done, but being unable to do it.

British/Australian Relations: After urgent demands by Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill confirms that the Australian 6th and 7th Divisions which are at sea will be returned to Australia for the defense of the homeland.

Allied Relations: The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand reach an agreement (Master Mutual Aid Agreement) regarding the conduct of the war in the Southwest Pacific.

On Malta, sailors draw their rum rations. "Wherever they find themselves the ratings draw their issue. In this case on the top of the RN Signal Station at Valletta Palace." 23 February 1942. © IWM (A 9244).

US Military: The US Navy reorganizes its pilot training program, dividing up pilots by the type of aircraft they will be flying. Pilots of one- or two-engine aircraft are to be put into a special 11-month program, while those destined for four-engine bombers are to go into a 12-month program. The latter group has four equal subdivisions of three months each: periods spent at Induction Centers, then Primary training, Intermediate Training, and finally Operational Training.

USAAF General Ira C. Eaker establishes the headquarters of his VIII Bomber Command at Daws Hill Lodge, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.

Major General Lewis H Brereton, Commanding General USAAF 5th Air Force, departs from Australia to India. ABDA Vice Commander Major General George H. Brett assumes control of 5th Air Force Operations in Brereton's absence. Brett today flies from Java back to Australia as part of a broader evacuation of the island. Brereton's mission in New Delhi, India, is to begin to organize the new Tenth Air Force, which includes preparation for the famous "Hump" Airlift to China.

U-123 (28-year-old German Captain Reinhard Hardegen) returns to Lorient after a successful patrol off the east coast of the United States, February 1942 (Dietrich, Federal Archive Bild 101II-MW-3983-23).

Holocaust: The Italian government establishes a concentration camp near Gonars, Italy (near Trieste). It is primarily devoted to housing prisoners from Italy's sphere of influence in the Balkans (Slovenia and Croatia). Mussolini is not obsessed with putting Jewish people in concentration camps like his German allies, but hundreds of people die here of starvation and torture just like in Third Reich work camps. The Gonars camp never receives the notoriety of death camps like Auschwitz and Mauthausen but is quite brutal despite eventually fading away into obscurity.

Italian Homefront: It is a day of speeches by leaders around the world, and that includes Benito Mussolini. In Rome, he gives a typical lengthy speech during which he states:

We call bread, bread and wine, wine, and when the enemy wins a battle it is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it.

Mussolini is expressing a common theme of the Axis leaders that the world media is not giving due credit for their successes, a refrain also heard often from Hitler. Of course, the media they are concerned about is the Western media, and it is difficult to imagine them saying anything positive about Axis successes.

President Roosevelt during his fireside chat on 23 February 1942. While the chat is only broadcast over the radio, FDR asks listeners to pull out a map - then gestures during his speech toward the places that he is talking about on his own map (Libary of Congress).

American Homefront: It is George Washington's birthday, so President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes one of his popular "fireside chats." He admits that the first few months of the war have been difficult:

We have most certainly suffered losses – from Hitler's U-Boats in the Atlantic as well as from the Japanese in the Pacific – and we shall suffer more of them before the turn of the tide. But, speaking for the United States of America, let me say once and for all to the people of the world: We Americans have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it. We and the other United Nations are committed to the destruction of the militarism of Japan and Germany. We are daily increasing our strength. Soon, we and not our enemies will have the offensive; we, not they, will win the final battles; and we, not they, will make the final peace."

President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which authorizes the internment of anyone of Japanese ancestry, arrives at Lt. General John L. Dewitt's West Coast headquarters of the Western Defense Command. He is now free to intern practically anyone he sees fit.

On 23 February 1942, USAAF Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress (41-2446) ditched in Agaiambo swamp, Papua New Guinea after running out of fuel. It was rediscovered in 1972 and removed from the swamp in 2006. Swamp Ghost is now on display in the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.

February 1942

February 1, 1942: The US Navy Strikes Back
February 2, 1942: Germans Recovering in Russia
February 3, 1942: Japanese Shell and Bomb Singapore
February 4, 1942: Battle of Makassar Strait
February 5, 1942: Empress of Asia Sunk
February 6, 1942: The Christmas Island Body
February 7, 1942: The Double-V Campaign
February 8, 1942: Japan Invades Singapore
February 9, 1942: French Liner Normandie Capsizes
February 10, 1942: US Car Production Ends
February 11, 1942: Tomforce Fails on Singapore
February 12, 1942: The Channel Dash
February 13, 1942: Japanese Paratroopers In Action
February 14, 1942: RAF Orders Terror Raids
February 15, 1942: Japan Takes Singapore
February 17, 1942: Indian Troops Defect to Japanese
February 18, 1942: Battle of Badung Strait
February 19, 1942: FDR Authorizes Internment Camps
February 20, 1942: O'Hare the Hero
February 21, 1942: Crisis in Burma
February 22, 1942: Bomber Harris Takes Over
February 23, 1942: Bombardment of Ellwood, California
February 24, 1942: US Raid on Wake Island
February 25, 1942: Battle of Los Angeles
February 26, 1942: Gneisenau Eliminated
February 27, 1942: Battle of Java Sea
February 28, 1942: Battle of Sunda Strait

2020

Tuesday 23 December 1941

Wrecked US Marine Corps Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters at Wake Island on or after 23 December 1941. There are about seven planes in this view. Following standard practice at all forward airfields, parts from damaged planes were used to repair other planes. The plane in the foreground is "211-F-11," Captain Henry T. Elrod's mount which he used to sink Japanese destroyer Kisaragi (National Archives via US Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-179006).

Battle of the Pacific: With Vice Admiral William S. Pye, Acting Commander in Chief US Pacific Fleet, having recalled the relief force for Wake Island, there is little hope for the US Marines and civilian contractors stranded there on 23 December 1941. At 02:35, about 1500 Japanese marines land after a powerful preliminary bombardment. Supported by air strikes from aircraft carriers Hiryu and Soryu, the Japanese marines overwhelm the garrison.

A 1943 aerial photograph of Wake Island marked to show key points during the 23 December 1941 invasion of the island. The two Japanese destroyers used as landing craft are still beached off the island, and the Japanese have constructed an airfield (using US civilian contractors captured during the raid) nearby.

The US marines destroy Japanese landing craft Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33, which are beached, but they have no air support and their artillery quickly is silenced. The fighting rages through the morning, but the situation is hopeless. The US Marines have 49 dead, two missing, and 49 wounded overall during the siege. In addition, over 70 US civilian contractors perish and a dozen are wounded. Overall, the Japanese capture 433 American men at a cost of 144 Japanese casualties. A huge fraction of the US civilian contractors will be executed by the Japanese during the war.

HIJMS Patrol Boat No.32 (left) and Patrol Boat No.33 (right), badly damaged during the invasion of Wake Island on 23 December 1941 but which managed to reach shore and beach themselves (United States Navy or United States Marine Corps).

While a major propaganda victory, the Japanese gain little by occupying Wake Island. They force the captured Americans to fortify the island, including bringing in an 8-inch (200 mm) naval gun, but the isolated location offers so few possibilities that the US Navy makes no plans to recapture it. In fact, its location on the route from Pearl Harbor toward Japanese possessions further west turns the island of Wake into the perfect live-fire training ground for US naval airmen and gunners. With so many US Navy ships in the vicinity, the Japanese find it impossible to supply the small garrison there with food, much less with airplanes or other offensive weapons. As an ideal training for US Navy pilots like future President George H.W. Bush, the US Pacific Fleet is content to simply keep an eye on it while pumping a few shells at the Japanese installations as ships pass on to more important destinations. The Japanese flag flies at Wake Island until 4 September 1945.

"Wake Island, December 23, 1941. Japanese troops pay homage to a memorial erected to unit commander Uchida, who was killed in the landing on Wake Island, 23 December 1941. Copied from a Japanese picture book. U.S. Marine Corps photograph." (National Museum of the U.S. Navy #USMC 315175).

In Manila, Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur, Commanding General US Army Forces Far East and a Field Marshal in the Filipino Army, notes the Japanese invasion force that landed just north of Manila on the 22nd and declares it an open city. The Japanese in Rosario advance ten miles (16 km) south toward Manila by dusk. The US forces begin withdrawing south into the Bataan peninsula. This is an easily defended region where the US Army has stored nearly one million US gallons of gasoline. The retreat is orderly and not made under Japanese pressure. Late in the day, a 7000-man Japanese force from the Ryukyu Islands lands in Lamon Bay. The US Army Air Force still has some B-17 Flying Fortresses at Del Monte Field on Mindanao, and they attack Japanese shipping in Lingayen Gulf, damaging a destroyer and a minesweeper. The Japanese send troops from Mindanao Island to land on Jolo Island in the Sulu Archipelago, indicating that they aren't too worried about the remaining US presence in the Philippines.

"Western Desert. Armorers working on a [Curtiss] Tomahawk fighter aircraft of No 3 Squadron RAAF." 23 December 1941 (Australian War Memorial 010926)

Japanese submarine attacks on US shipping off the west coast continue, with I-21 torpedoing and sinking 8272-ton US tanker Montebello four miles off of Cambria, California and later using its deck gun to damage 6418-ton tanker Idaho. Submarine I-17 uses its deck gun to damage 7038-ton American tanker Larry Doheny about 62 nautical miles southwest of Eureka, California. As experience in the Atlantic has proven in the war to date, tankers are extremely difficult to sink due to their compartmentalized construction. In addition, Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 shell US-held Palmyra Island, which is about 960 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu.

Japanese artillery based on Jardine's Lookout in action, with Wong Nei Chong Gap in front of them. Late December 1941 (©IWM SIT3571).

On Hong Kong Island, the Japanese have split the island in two and are gradually restricting the remaining British presence. The Canadian Royal Rifles, a unit that had only embarked for the territory on 27 October 1941, withdraws into Hong Kong's Stanley Peninsula to make a last stand. The fighting is extremely savage, and there are reports of Japanese atrocities.

HMAS Karangi. Commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 23 December 1941, the Karangi was the third Boom Defence Vessel constructed by Cockatoo Island Dockyard. It serves in the Australian Navy until 1964.

The British remove Major-General David Murray-Lyon of the Indian 11th Infantry Division from his command on 23 December 1941 due to the unit's rocky withdrawal south toward Kuala Lumpur. He thus becomes the campaign's first scapegoat, but not the last. The Indian III Corps completes its withdrawal behind the Perak River after dark. The Japanese aircraft in the region shift their attention from attacking British airfields north of Singapore, all of which have been abandoned, to assisting ground troops.

One of the two Japanese landing craft beached at Wake Island on 23 December 1941.

The war at sea is picking up quickly. On Borneo, the Dutch naval forces detect a Japanese naval convoy sailing from Miri for Kuching and send submarines to intercept it. HNLMS K XIV sinks Japanese Army transports Hiyoshi Maru and Katori Maru, while Hokkai Maru is beached to prevent it from sinking. Most of the Japanese troops get through to the target, however, and they take Kuching by mid-afternoon. The 15th Punjab Regiment retreats up the nearby river. During the night, Dutch submarine HNLMS K XVI torpedoes and sinks Japanese destroyer Sagiri about 30 miles north of Kuching, notching the first Allied submarine victory over a Japanese warship. However, the crew of K XVI doesn't have long to celebrate, as Japanese submarine I-66 spots it and sinks it with all hands shortly thereafter. Off Badoc, US submarine SEAL sinks 856-ton Japanese freighter Soryu Maru.

Japanese photo showing the bombing of Rangoon on 23 December 1941.

In Burma, 80 Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-21 bombers escorted by 30 fighters bomb Mingaladon and downtown Rangoon for the first time. Casualties are unknown but there are an estimated 2000 civilian deaths. The American Volunteer Group (AVG aka "Flying Tigers") and Royal Air Force Brewster Buffaloes intervene but cannot prevent the attack. The Japanese use both high explosive and incendiary bombs. Combined with a similar attack on 25 December 1941, the Japanese destroy 60% of the wooden buildings in the entire downtown area from Pazundaung to Ahlone. This bombing begins a desperate flight from Rangoon of Indians, Burmese, Anglo-Burmese, Europeans, Chinese, Karens, and others.

Soviet scouts outside Moscow near Yasnaya Polyana, December 1941. The Red Army advance often involved soldiers like this attacking isolated German outposts where the Germans had taken over peasant buildings. Notice how well the Red Army men are dressed for operating outdoors, with felt boots and caps with earflaps. General Guderian had his headquarters in Yasnaya Polyana.

Eastern Front: German withdrawals continue around Moscow. In General Guderian's Second Panzer Army, the 296th Infantry Division escapes from a potential encirclement and by falling back to the Oka River at Belev. Its neighbor, the 167th Infantry Division, is not as fortunate and is smashed by the Soviets. Guderian requests permission to take his entire front behind the Oka River, but Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge denies the request because of Hitler's "stand fast" order and cautions that further retreats cannot be made "under any circumstances" without the Fuehrer's permission.

Western Desert, Libya. 23 December 1941. This is known as the Graveyard of the Stukas, some of the German dive-bomber aircraft destroyed by the Allied Air Forces (Australian War Memorial MED0220).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Much of the action is taking place at sea along the Axis supply routes to the Afrika Korps in Libya and the British convoys to Tobruk. The Royal Navy sends Convoy AT-5 to Tobruk, and that leads to a lot of action. U-559 torpedoes and sinks 3059-ton British freighter Shuntien east of Tobruk. It is carrying 850 mostly Italian prisoners of war and has a crew of seventy. Casualties are unclear because corvette HMS Salvia, which rescues as many people as it can, is lost itself on 24 December and virtually everyone on it perishes. So, ultimately, very few people on board the Shuntien ever set foot on land again. Meanwhile, convoy escorts Hasty and Hotspur use depth charges to sink U-79 off Bardia about 69 nautical miles (129 km) east of Tobruk. The U-boats crew is fortunate, however, as the Captain, three officers, and forty ratings and nobody perishes.

SS Shuntien, sunk on 23 December 1941 with great loss of life off Tobruk.

On land, the British advance by XIII Corps comes to a halt due to stiffening Axis resistance and supply issues. The Germans are gradually consolidating their position in western Libya, so the Indian 4th Division takes Barce. The Germans at Antelat retreat to Agedabia under pressure from the British 7th Armored Division.

An early production model of the C-47 Skytrain transport under production at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant at Long Beach ca. 1941. Douglas produced 13 C-47s a day at this facility. (Library of Congress).

US Military: Today is the first flight of the first C-47 Skytrain, 41-7722, the first DC-3 variant built specifically as a military transport. It flies at Daugherty Field, Long Beach, California. The US Army Air Force already has purchased hundreds of DC-3-type airplanes, most notably as the personal transport of the Chief of Staff of the USAAF, General Henry "Hap" Arnold, but those were civilian versions. The military version has a cargo door on the left side of the fuselage, a strengthened cargo floor, a navigator's Astrodome, and provisions for glider towing. The C-47 Skytrain generally is considered the most successful military transport ever.

SS Montebello at her launching at Eat San Pedro in 1921. Japanese submarine I-21 hits the Montebello, which had departed from Port San Luis early in the morning, with one torpedo on 23 December 1941 near Piedras Blancas Point (off Cambria, California). All 39 crewmen take to the boats as I-21 surfaces and fires with its deck gun. The tanker finally sinks bow first. Everyone survives.

French Military: In a rare military land action in North America, Free French forces land on St. Pierre and Miquelon and seize them without much trouble. Vichy officials have been governing the islands off of Newfoundland until now. This eliminates the last Vichy French military presence in the Americas, as the French outpost at Martinique already has entered into an armistice agreement with the United States.

American Homefront: Californians feel increasingly threatened by the recent spate Japanese attacks just off the coast, and there aren't many US Army troops defending the coastline. Lieutenant General John DeWitt, Commanding General Fourth Army and also Commanding General Western Defense Command, decides it is time to impose some discipline. He induces California Governor Culbert Olson to ban the sale of liquor to any person in uniform except during "Happy Hour" and the evening, from 1800-2200.

A 1930s postcard showing a bronze statue by Louis Auguste Hiolin in the Park des Les Buttes Chaumont called "Au Loop." The statue portrays a young shepherd chasing a wolf away from his lambs. A 23 December 1941 article in Figaro notes that the Germans had seized the statue to melt it down. The statue has never been replaced but the pedestal remains in place, empty. It is a very pretty spot and many park-goers enjoy sitting on the pedestal.

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 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

Saturday 20 December 1941

Tanker Emidio sinking at Blunt's Reef off Point Mendocino, California, 20 December 1941.

Battle of the Pacific: Japanese submarines are lurking off the U.S. west coast. On 20 December 1941, I-17 torpedoes, shells, and sinks 6912-ton U.S. tanker Emidio about twenty miles west of the California coast at Blunt's Reef (off Cape Mendocino). The attack is made on the surface and in daylight. There are five crew deaths. The survivors reach the Blunt's Reef lightship and are later rescued by Coast Guard cutter Shawnee. A Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat searches for the submarine to no avail. The Emidio is the first US tanker definitely known to be torpedoed and lost in World War II (the Astral was lost in November 1941, but exactly how is not known with absolute certainty). The ship is abandoned and there is some hope of salvaging her, but the Emidio drifts onto the rocks off Crescent City and is wrecked. The is the closest to date that the war has gotten to the continental United States.

Another view of the sinking Emidio.

At Hong Kong Island, the invading Japanese advance through the Wong Nai Chung Gap from the north to the south coast and split the island in two. British Commonwealth troops hold out on the Stanley Peninsula east of the gap and in the western part of the island. The Japanese troops capture the island's water reservoir, making a British surrender virtually inevitable.

American artist and cartoonist James Montgomery Flagg and his daughter Faith in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1941.

In Burma, the recently relocated American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka "Flying Tigers") enter their first combat east of Rangoon in their distinctive P-40B Tomahawk fighters. The unit is not officially part of the US Army Air Force and the pilots (aside from leader Major General Claire Chennault) do not hold commissions. This provides an unusual free-wheeling aspect to the operation, including $500 bounties for every Japanese plane the pilots shoot down. This date, 20 December 1941, is considered the "birth" of the Flying Tigers.

AVG Flight Leader Bob Layher, 1941-42.

The Japanese make landings on Mindanao, the Philippines. For the first time, the Japanese take heavy casualties as well-placed Filipino machine gunners of the 101st Regiment pin down the invaders. The Japanese ultimately prevail by calling inshore bombardments by 5-inch naval guns. It is a striking mirror image of events later in the war. At Clark Field, the air echelon of the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th BG (Heavy), no longer has any bombers to service, as they all have been sent to Australia. Thus, they are sent to Batchelor Field, given rifles, and told to serve as infantry with the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional).

"The Joy of a Father's Homecoming," December 20, 1941, The Toronto Star Weekly.

At Wake Island, US Navy Task Force 11 (Admiral Frank Fletcher) and Task Force 14 (Admiral Wilson Brown) are sailing toward Wake Island. At Pearl Harbor, Vice Admiral William S. Pye - the Acting Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet - is very leery of the operation and keeps a close eye on any indications of a strong Japanese fleet presence in the area. A US Navy Catalina arrives at Wake bringing official mail and news of the relief expedition. The plane makes a quick turnaround and evacuates Major Walter J. Bayles, who comments:

I looked at our flag, still snapping in the breeze at the to of the pole where it had been hoisted on December 8. I looked at the cheerful, grinning faces and the confident bearing of the youngsters on the dock. As I waved a last good-bye and took my seat in the plane, my smile was as cheerful as theirs. I knew all would go well with Wake Island.

Nobody else will escape the island.

"A Fairey Albacore about to land on the deck of HMS VICTORIOUS during flying operations at Scapa Flow." 20 December 1941 (© IWM (A 6745)).

Eastern Front: Adolf Hitler, having assumed direct command of the German Army, instructs OKH chief of operations General Franz Halder how the situation around Moscow is to be handled. The troops would require a "fanatical will to fight," and this would have to be enforced by "all, even the most severe, means." Soldiers would have to "tolerate breakthroughs" and fight where they stood, as nobody had any "contracts" limiting their efforts to logistics or anything else. Winter clothing could be taken from Soviet civilians or dead Red Army soldiers. He emphasizes, "Every man must defend himself where he is."

Mrs. Paul Titus of Bucks County, Pennsylvania poses on 20 December 1941. She had signed up as an air-raid spotter on 8 December 1941. Mrs. Titus is ready to defend Pennsylvania, declaring, "I can carry a gun any time they want me to."

In the morning, General Guderian boards a light plane to fly to Fuehrer headquarters in East Prussia. The new commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, receives a string of messages from his armies that suggest utter hopelessness. For instance, Fourth Army reports:

Enemy attacking in the army's deep flank, aiming toward Kaluga. Army has no more forces at its disposal. Combat strength sinking. Holding present positions not possible in the long run.

General Hoepner's Fourth Panzer Group sends a desperate message:

The Commanding Generals of 46 and 5 Corps have reported they cannot hold. Heavy losses of trucks and weapons in recent days. They had to be destroyed for lack of gasoline. Weapons now 25-30 percent of requirements. Only course to give orders to hold to the last man. The troops will then be gone and there will be a hole in the front.

General Strauss at Ninth Army is equally pessimistic:

Present battle area wooded and has poor visibility. If it has to hold there the army is likely to be broken through and smashed.

It is a bleak picture, but the front is holding for the time being.

The Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal of 20 December 1941 is getting closer to a realistic portrayal of the war than it and other papers had in the week following the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, its announcement of the "first big Philippine landing" is over a week late.

The desperate situation gives von Kluge a chance to settle some old scores. After dark, he calls Halder and unloads his feeling about Guderian, who has clashed with Kluge throughout the campaign (as, to be fair, Guderian has done with several other generals). Kluge reports that he has learned that Guderian has been secretly moving troops to the Oka River, which is 40 miles east of where he is supposed to be. Halder immediately calls the Fuehrer Headquarters, where Guderian already is talking to Hitler. This leads to an immediate row, with Hitler screaming at Guderian that he has planned "an insane scheme." To Guderian's face, Hitler orders Guderian to hold his line right where it is and forget about further withdrawals. It is almost surprising that Guderian returns to the front still holding his command.

The 20 December 1941 (North) Carolina Times seems to be reporting on a completely different war than the one overseas.

US Military: The US Navy continues its reorganization following the disaster at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Ernest J. King, the Atlantic Fleet commander, is designated Commander in Chief United States Fleet with headquarters in the Navy Department, Washington, D. C. While King is elevated from the Atlantic command, he maintains a fierce effort throughout the war to give adequate resources to the Pacific Theater.

German Homefront: Belatedly, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announces a winter relief drive for the troops on the Eastern Front, "Winterhilfswerk für Wehrmacht." The public is encouraged to donate warm clothing in a gesture of "solidarity with the troops." It is never made clear how desperate the situation is, but disturbing reports reach the homefront despite the government's rather casual handling of a very real crisis.

USS Tillman (DD-641) and USS Beatty (DD-640) on the ways in Charleston, South Carolina Navy Yard on 20 December 1941. They are about to be launched. USS Tillman (DD-641) is commissioned 9 June 1942, and USS Beatty (DD-640) is commissioned 7 May 1942.

American Homefront: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart with "Elmer's Tune." It is the song's only week at the top spot.  It has Ray Eberle (who later joins the military) on lead vocals and the Modernaires on backing vocals. The song is named after the music composer, Elmer Albrecht.

Charles Lindbergh writes to Chief of Army Air Forces Henry H. "Hap" Arnold requesting a commission in the military. President Roosevelt is extremely angry at Lindbergh's efforts on behalf of the America First Committee and tells Arnold to deny the request.

The Emidio sinks off the California coast.

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 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

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