Saturday 3 May 1941

SS Malakand, an ammunition ship that blew up during a Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool and sank six other ships.

Anglo-Iraq War: With the war in Iraq now a day old, the British on 3 May 1941 are having no difficulty maintaining their positions. The Iraqis attack the British supply port of Basra today, but are beaten off. At Habbaniyah, the RAF continues its air strikes against the Iraqis who are shelling the besieged airfield from a plateau to the south. Additional RAF air attacks are launched against Rashid Airfield (previously RAF Hinaidi). The RAF shoots down an Italian SM 79 Savoia bomber. The British are continuing their sortie with ground troops out of the airfield, with some success.

The RAF receives some reinforcements, four Blenheim bombers. The British today send reinforcements toward Iraq from Palestine and Transjordan, but they have a long march across the desert. Additional forces continue to trickle into Basra.

While the Anglo-Iraq War is usually overlooked by histories of World War II, the Axis takes it very seriously for one reason: oil. Iraqi oil supplies the Royal Navy and RAF with a large portion of their fuel. German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop radios the German ambassador in Baghdad today and orders him to request permission from the Vichy French government in Syria for Luftwaffe transit rights. The French quickly agree and even chip in by sending their own munitions and other supplies being stored in Syria to help the Iraqis. The Luftwaffe and Italians prepare to send planes to Iraq via Syria.

A single bomb caused this massive destruction in North Shields on 3 May 1941. There are 107 deaths in a shelter underneath Wilkinson's Lemonade Factory. Of the 107 deaths, 42 are under the age of 16.

European Air Operations: May 3, 1941, generally is considered the worst night of destruction ever in Liverpool, with over 400 deaths. The Luftwaffe has been launching nightly raids (the "May Blitz") against Liverpool, the critical northern port through which supplies flow. Tonight, they send about 300 aircraft and cause widespread damage to shipping and the port facilities.

The Luftwaffe is having great success at Liverpool. In fact, it may be the most successful series of Luftwaffe raids during the Battle of Britain. The pilots target port infrastructure and gradually are putting docks and deep-water berths out of commission. The total tonnage of cargo being landed is falling drastically. This is a relatively rare instance when the Axis pilots "get it right" and successfully attack the right targets with great efficiency.
However, the ships themselves are vital targets, too, and under the proper circumstances hitting them can contribute to the destruction of the port itself. The Germans get a lucky hit at Liverpool on ammunition ship Malakand, which is full of 1000 tons of shells bound for North Africa. Four people lose their lives in the massive explosion. The cause of the catastrophe is disputed, with some accounts saying it was hit by a bomb, others saying a barrage balloon fell on it and caught fire. The Malakand blows up in spectacular fashion at Huskisson Dock, and a nearby ammunition train also explodes (the heroic railway crew successfully pulls the train out to a siding while the cars behind them are bursting). The impact of the exploding Malakand - parts of which are found miles away - sinks half a dozen other nearby ships. This includes 10,224-ton Canadian passenger ship and freighter SS Europa, which later is raised for repair (and again hit by bombs while in dry-dock and destroyed for good). Other ships lost in the Malakand explosion:

• 6598-ton freighter Elstree Grange
• 1453-ton freighter Domino
• 7924-ton freighter Tacoma Star (later raised)
• 6770-ton freighter Silversandal
• barge Ellesport

Minelayer Adventure, under repair, also is damaged.

County Road in Walton following the bombing in May 1941.

• 138-ton sailing barge Barnacle
• 65-ton tug Bonita
• 58-ton motor barge Emily Burton
• 168-ton sailing barge Pike
• 164-ton sailing barge Ling
• 82-ton steam barge Walton
• 176-ton sailing barge Silverdale
• 79-ton ship Ivy P.
• 106-ton flat Grosvenvor Rover Brill
• 143-ton flat Dace
• 143-ton flat Luce
• 81-ton flat Mus
• 91-ton flat Ray
• 108-ton flat Roach
• 7-ton launch Surveyor
• 177-ton barge Longendale
• 55-ton barge Ellesport
• barges Orrell and Pike
• 3778-ton Norwegian freighter Bra-Kar.

Many ships are damaged during the raid, too. These include:

• 12,614-ton Australian liner Australian Star
• 3178-ton freighter Cantal (one death)
• 8663-ton freighter Baronese
• 6479-ton freighter Lobos
• 208-ton tug Wapiti
• 7921-ton freighter Mahout
• 13,031-ton tanker San Fabian
• 943-ton freighter Busiris
• 164-ton sailing barge Limpet
• 133-ton sailing barge Oyster
• 166-ton sailing barge Glitto
• 159-ton sailing barge Clam
• 3582-ton freighter Kadin (Greek)
• 6447-ton freighter Salland (Dutch)

Fortunately, casualties are light on the ships because the crews are ashore. A couple of crewmen from the ships, though, are among the casualties in the city.

La Scala Cinema, Lime Street, Liverpool, bomb damage, 3 May 1941.

Demonstrating its depth, the Luftwaffe also mounts other raids. One, on Portsmouth, damages light cruiser HMS Sirius, which is under construction. Other Luftwaffe raids sink 2722 ton British freighter Royston in the Humber, and sink 1347 ton Norwegian freighter Trajan and damage 1143 ton Norwegian freighter Sitona northeast of Blakeney. Bombs fall throughout the northeast, including at Newcastle, Tynemouth, Throckley, Catcleugh, Morpeth, Lynemouth, Gosforth, Clifton and Stannington in Northumberland, Sunderland, West Hartlepool, Gateshead, Tees Bridge Roundabout at Billingham, Lambton Park, Castletown, Ryhope and South Shields in Co Durham and York and Hull in Yorkshire.

RAF Bomber Command sends 21 Blenheims against shipping off the French coast. Two from 2 Group/101 Squadron are shot down near Boulogne. After dark, Bomber Command sends 101 aircraft against Cologne, with a diversionary attack by 33 bombers against shipping at Brest.

Damage in Liverpool during the May Blitz.

East African Campaign: The British under Major General Mosley Mayne are closing up on Amba Alagi, the last Italian stronghold in Abyssinia. Amba Alagi is an important north-south road junction and controls access to Italian positions in caves between Asmara and Addis Ababa.

Mayne is approaching from the north, and he plans to squeeze the Italian defenders via a pincer move on the east and west. The 5th Indian Division also is approaching from Eritrea and forcing its way through the Falaga Pass, while some South African troops also are on the way. The Italian troops are led by Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, who is noted for his gallantry - for instance, he has respected the property of (formerly) exiled Emperor Haile Selassie. Morale among the Italians (actually, mostly colonial troops) remains fairly good, but several hundred surrender during the day.

The Wray Castle, sunk on 3 May 1941 by U-103 off Freetown.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-103 (Kptlt Viktor Schütze), on her fourth (and longest, at 103 days) patrol off the coast of West Africa, torpedoes and sinks 4253-ton British freighter Wray Castle off Freetown. There is one death.

U-95 (Kptlt. Gerd Schreiber), also on its fourth patrol, torpedoes and sinks 4873-ton Norwegian freighter Taranger about 150 nautical miles (280 km, 170 miles) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland in the Atlantic. There are two deaths.

British 468 ton freighter Corbet hits a mine and sinks just off Herculaneum Dock in Liverpool. There are 8 deaths and one man survives.

176-ton coaster Sirius hits a mine and sinks at the Albert Dock in London.

Royal Navy boarding vessel HMS Hilary captures 5595-ton Italian tanker Recco in the Atlantic. The crew of the Recco later manages to scuttle the ship.

The British Admiralty recalls battlecruiser HMS Hood from patrol off Iceland to Scapa Flow. Hood and its accompanying four destroyers call at Reykjavik to refuel.

Minelayer HMS Teviotbank lays minefield BS.55 in the English Channel.

The Kriegsmarine's overseas supply network remains intact. Today, tanker Nordmark has a rendezvous with U-105 and U-107 at sea. These supply arrangements greatly extend the U-boat range and mission duration, effectively amplifying the power of the fleet.

Royal Navy submarine HMS P-32 (Lt. David A. B. Abdy) is commissioned, minesweeping trawler Rosalind is launched.

U-205 (Kapitänleutnant Franz-Georg Reschke) and U-451 (Korvettenkapitän Eberhard Hoffmann) are commissioned, U-116 and U-654 are launched.

U-107 hooks up with the Nordmark in the Atlantic, 3 May 1941 (Jordan, Federal Archives).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Afrika Korps attack at Tobruk is at a standstill and on the evening of 3 May the Australian Brigade under General Morshead counterattacks. They send one battalion each in converging attacks, but the counterattack peters out during the night due to fierce resistance by Italian infantry and the Australians withdraw. General Paulus, in command during his "inspection tour" of North Africa, forbids further German attacks unless there is evidence that the Australians are evacuating the port.

The British at Tobruk have numerous assets with which to defend Tobruk, and one that they will return to again and again during the war on beachheads is naval shelling. Destroyers HMS Decoy and Defender shell the British positions in Tobruk during the night to support the Australian attack, then return to Alexandria.

The Luftwaffe raids Suda Bay, Crete, and damages 7258-ton freighter Araybank. The ship is bombed again later in the month and destroyed.

The RAF raids Italian shipping in Tripoli. The planes sink 5305-ton Italian freighter Birmania, which explodes and takes with it 3339-ton freighter Citta D'Bari. Italian torpedo boat Canopo also sinks.

Royal Navy cruiser HMS Gloucester hits a mine early in the morning near Gibraltar. As Gloucester limps back to port, Italian bombers attack it and manage only a minor hit. The ship makes it back to port.

Italian 838-ton freighter hits a mine and sinks in Tripoli Harbour.

Submarine HMS Triumph surfaces and uses its deck gun to sink 425-ton Italian freighter Tugnin F. about a dozen miles northwest of Mersa Brega.

Submarine HMS Usk is reported overdue today, and it never turns up. Ultimately, it is presumed to have been lost around 1 May 1941 off Cape Bon.

At Malta, the Luftwaffe raids Floriana for the first time in a major attack by 30 bombers. There are 9 Royal Engineers and one local employee killed when an aerial mine lands on a barracks. There is extensive damage to the docks and St. Publius Church.

Anglo/Polish Relations: On the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Polish Constitution, Winston Churchill makes a radio broadcast directed, as he puts it, "to the Polish people all over the world." He calls the German occupiers of Poland "pitiless and venal" and "mechanized barbarians." He cautions that the war will be "long and hard," but "the end will reward all toil, all disappointments, all suffering."

The Rotunda Theatre on Stanley Road, Bootle, Liverpool collapses following the bombing on 3/4 May 1941.

British/Australian/US Relations:  Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies finally ends his extended visit to England when he boards a DC3 at Bristol bound for Lisbon. His eventual destination is Bermuda and then New York. His flight takes 6 1/2 hours, and it is a risky route patrolled occasionally by the Luftwaffe. Many in England are sad to see him go, as there is an undercurrent of sentiment which sees Menzies as a better alternative than Churchill to lead the British war effort. However, there have been rumblings of dissatisfaction against Menzies in Australia, and Churchill's grip on power remains strong, so it is time to go.

Anglo/US Relations: The Royal Navy has been using US ports for refits, and this pattern continues when light cruiser HMS Delhi arrives today in New York.

US Military: The Panama Canal Zone is assigned to the Panama Sector of the US Caribbean Defense Command.

Scientific Research: The University of California at Berkeley professor Glenn T. Seaborg and his team isolate plutonium as the best material for an atomic bomb.

South Africa: General Jan Smuts addresses the House of Assembly and reveals that South African troops are going to Egypt.

While the Germans hold a victory parade in Athens on 3 May 1941, British stragglers (in a lorry with shot-out windshields) continue to struggle to Nafplio for possible rescue. © IWM (E 2733).

Greece: The Germans mount a victory parade in Athens.

Yugoslavia: The Italians annex part of Slovenia and create the Province of Ljubljana.

Cambodia: Prince Norodom Sihanouk is crowned king of Cambodia.

China: The Japanese raid Chungking.

American Homefront: Frank Capra film "Meet John Doe," starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, opens to generally favorable, but mixed, reviews. The Warner Bros. film will go on to be listed on the 2006 American Film Institute "100 Years... 100 Cheers" list at No. 49.

Whirlaway wins the Kentucky Derby in the record time of 2:01 2/5.

4th Annual Field Day at Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center, Overton, Texas, May 3, 1941.

May 1941

Saturday 21 December 1940

Damage to Waterloo Dock, Liverpool after the bombing of 20/21 December 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks on 21 December 1940 continue pressing on through the snow and winds toward the secondary Italian port of Himarë (Himara). The 3/40 Evzone Regiment under Colonel Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos mounts a bayonet charge up the sides of Mount Pilur, capturing an Italian battery. They complete the capture of this mountain as well as the Kuç saddle, which opens up the valley of Shushicë.

I Corps, now comprising 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions, continues pressing up the heights that surround the town. The Greeks capture the heights of Tsipista northwest of the town, completing their removal of the Italian artillery. This forces the Italians, who have lost six artillery pieces, a mortar company, and other important equipment, to abandon the town during the night.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe attacks Liverpool and the Merseyside region again, badly damaging the docks and nearby warehouses. The manufacturing area of the city also receives extensive damage. The railway system is largely paralyzed by the attack. The Luftwaffe loses a Heinkel He 111 of 7,/KG 55 when it crashes upon returning to base in France.

The Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano chips in with its standard attack against Harwich.

RAF Bomber Command sends a small-scale raid against Berlin. The RAF also raids Porto Marghera, near Venice, hitting the docks and oil facilities.

The Leeds-Liverpool canal bank after the raids of 20/21 December 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-65 (K.Kapt. Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen), having crossed the Equator on the 11th, spots unescorted 8982-ton Panamanian tanker Charles Pratt and sinks it at 16:05. Stockhausen attacks despite neutral flags painted clearly on the sides of the tanker, reasoning that it was "clearly" heading for an enemy port. The survivors spend a few days in lifeboats before being picked up by British freighters Gascony and Langleegorse. There are two deaths and 40 survivors.

Italian submarine Mocenigo attacks Convoy OG 47 in the Atlantic about 250 miles west of Freetown. There is only one escort, HMS Leith. The Mocenigo crew claims to have sunk three ships in the convoy, but the only known loss is 1253-ton Swedish freighter Mangen, which is hit at 21:17 with the second of two torpedoes (the other passes underneath the ship). Once hit, the Mocenigo goes under in three minutes and eight men perish. The Mocenigo later also shells 2473-ton British freighter Sarastone, a straggler from Convoy OG 47, which receives minor damage. The incident is odd because, despite the lack of other known ships lost in the convoy, two more explosions are heard in the dark - presumably other torpedoes that explode after they complete their runs. The survivors are lucky, as the convoy goes into emergency evasions immediately, but the rear ship on the port wing column, the Garm, luckily spots the lifeboats in the dark and picks them up.

The Luftwaffe raids on Liverpool continue to wreak havoc on shipping there. Two vessels are destroyed or sunk: HMS Maplin is set on fire, and 1293 ton British freighter Silvio sinks at the Alexandra Dock (one death). The damaged ships include 1777-ton British freighter Alpera, 5318-ton freighter City of Corinth, 5251-ton British freighter Demeterton, and 6256-ton Dutch tanker Onoba. Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia has a near-miss in dry-dock. Fortunately, when in harbor, most crewmen seek land shelters, though there are the occasional crews or crewmen that refuse to leave the ship - and pay the price.

In the River Mersey, 3071-ton British ferry Innisfallen hits a mine and sinks at the entrance to Canada Dock at Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire. There are four deaths, 216 survivors.

British 118 ton barge TIC.12 hits a mine and sinks. Everybody aboard survives.

Two tugs come to grief in the Thames Estuary. British 88 ton tug River Thames hits a mine and blows up. All the crew but one - the skipper - perish. British 196 ton tug Sun IX hits a mine and sinks between 1 and 2 Buoys, Yantlet Channel. There are three deaths.

German tug Anvers winds up on the rocks in the Chausey islands while ferrying across a barge from the mainland to the Jersey Channel Islands.

The Kriegsmarine lays a minefield, SWa, in the western part of the North Sea.

Convoy OB 262 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 364 departs from Southend, Convoys FS 366 and 367 depart from Methil.

Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare trawler HMS Cotillion is launched, and destroyer HMS Hursley is laid down.

U-651 launched, and U-173 and U-255 laid down.

Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke receives the Oak Leaves (only the 7th granted) to the Iron Cross, backdated to 1 December 1940. Nobody knows it, but Schepke already has sunk his last ship.

Battle of the Pacific: German raiders Orion and Komet have been lurking in the vicinity of Nauru, a key source of phosphate, since 8 December. They don't want the phosphate - which is important for agricultural purposes - but rather to destroy the facilities there so that nobody else can. So far, they have sunk a few ships in the vicinity, but with no success actually attacking the facilities due mainly to poor weather.

Today, the two raiders journey to nearby Emirau and release prisoners from some of the ships they have seized. They disembark 343 Europeans and 171 Chinese and South Pacific natives. Emirau is inhabited by two European families, but they do not have a radio. Instead, they send a canoe to Kavieng in New Ireland so that the Australian government can take their new guests off their hands. The Orion keeps 150 prisoners because its captain reasons that the British need the sailors as badly as ships.

After depositing their prisoners on the island, Orion sails to Lamutrik and then Maug in the Mariana Islands for an engine overhaul. Supply ship Kulmerland, which has been tagging along to house some of the prisoners, heads off to re-supply at Japan. Komet remains in the vicinity, continuing to plot ways to disrupt Nauru's phosphate trade, which is virtually the only worthwhile Allied target for it in the Pacific Ocean region aside from shipping.

Cartoon character "Blabbermouse" in "Shop, Look and Listen," his second and final appearance for Warner Bros. in the Merrie Melodies series (Warner Bros).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The 6th Australian Division moves forward toward Bardia, where it will lead the upcoming assault. The Italians are surrounded on the landward side, but they show no signs of surrendering - as they have everywhere else.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, in Operation MC 2, sends nine Swordfish of RAF No. 815 and 819 Squadrons against an Italian convoy east of the Kerkennah Islands. They sink 1926-ton Peucenta and 6511-ton freighter Norge. The Luigi Rizzo also is hit but makes it to port. The Italian escort shoots down one of the Swordfish, killing the three crew.

Convoy MG 1 departs Malta bound for Malta, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya and eight destroyers. Several empty merchant ships that have been waiting there for the opportunity finally get away from Malta in this convoy.

German/US Relations: In a quote picked up by press agencies around the world, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman at the Wilhelmstrasse calls President Roosevelt's Lend-Lease idea, first floated by him only days before at a press conference, part of a policy of "pinpricks, challenges, insults, and moral aggression." Such a policy, he adds, is "insupportable," but everyone knows there is nothing to deter the United States from doing everything it wants to do to support England, short of an outright German declaration of war.

Gadsden, Alabama, 21 December 1940. People are getting in their last Christmas shopping (John Vachon, Library of Congress).

Norwegian/German Relations: The Justices of the Supreme Court of Norway resign. This is in response to a letter from Reichskommissar for Norway Josef Terboven dismissing the concerns of the Justices. The Justices had written him in November disputing the government's right to hire and fire judges at will - in Norway, judges are elected. Terboven shot back a letter telling the Justices that it "was recommended" for them to mind their own business and that the German government was not subject to any legal restrictions.

Terboven simply makes clear in his letter that Norway is no longer an independent country and is under military rule. This really does not surprise anyone, but it gives the Norwegian Justices the impetus to make a big decision. The Justices send Terboven a resignation letter which states:

[T]he courts have, under Norwegian constitutional law, a duty to review the validity of laws and regulations.... We cannot conform to the view of judicial power expressed in the Reichskommisar's letter without violating our duties.

(Former) Norwegian Chief Justice Paul Berg becomes a leading figure in the resistance movement after resigning.

US/Vichy France Relations: U.S. chargés d'affaires to the Vichy French government Robert D. Murphy and French General Maxime Weygand, Delegate-General to the North African colonies, meet in Dakar, Senegal. The Americans believe that Weygand is a good political alternative to both Marshal Henri Petain and Charles de Gaulle, neither of whom is looked upon with much favor in Washington. This is the beginning of extensive American meddling in murky Gallic politics during the war.

US/Chinese Relations: Claire Chennault, an air advisor to the Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, and T.V. Soong meet with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. They brainstorm how to form fund an American Volunteer Group in China to help fight the Japanese - with whom the US is not at war. This meeting will lead eventually to the famous Flying Tigers.

Swiss/Soviet Relations: The Swiss government severs diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union.

US Military: Captain Richmond Kelly Turner, director of war plans for the US Navy, completes WPL-44 (Navy Rainbow Three). This plan for the first time institutes a "Germany first" policy within the US military, relegating the Pacific theater to a defensive posture should the US find itself at war with both Germany and Japan. Essentially, US naval forces would adopt a defensive posture in case of aggression by the Japanese and shift resources to the Atlantic.

The army hates this plan, partly because this was purely a naval staff planning exercise and they were not consulted - and never, ever discount the importance of inter-service rivalries. However, the army generals do have some grounds for objecting. Recall that the US Army still controls the air force (the US Army Air Corps), so it does have ways (in theory) of taking the war to Japan immediately from bases in the Philippines and Guam. However, Naval Secretary Knox approves the plan - and it is difficult to believe that Rainbow 3 was not at least in concept all or partly his idea in the first place. Some feel in 1940 and afterward that the US would be quite capable of offensive action against Japan upon the outbreak of war. This theory will be put to the test in almost exactly one year as if it were a laboratory experiment. A definitive answer will result.

Rainbow 3 is an interim plan, and planners from both the army and navy immediately begin working together on a new plan that will become Rainbow 5 in the spring of 1941. Somewhat ironically, it is the US Navy that later will raise Winston Churchill's ire by prioritizing the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Separately, the US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion completes its move to Pago Pago, Tutuila, American Samoa.

British Government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill travels to Shell Mex House in The Strand to meet with Sir Andrew Duncan of the Ministry of Supply. Among other things, they review Britain's supplies of mustard gas, the offensive chemical used during World War I with great lethal effect but subsequently banned. Britain, he learns, has 1485 tons of mustard gas, and 650 additional tons is being produced.

F. Scott Fitzgerald passes away on 21 December 1940.

American Homefront: Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald passes away at his home in Hollywood, California from a heart attack at age 44. Fitzgerald wrote some of the classics of American literature, such as "The Great Gatsby" and "The Love of the Last Tycoon."

"Frenesí" (Spanish for frenzy), recorded on 3 March 1940 by Artie Shaw and his orchestra with an arrangement by William Grant Still, hits No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. The song remains there for 13 weeks and on the charts for 23 weeks altogether. It is the second most popular song of 1940 and also one of the most remembered songs of the war years by American servicemen.

Warner Bros. releases "Shop, Look and Listen" (a variation on the well-known railroad expression "Stop, look, and listen"). This is the second and last cartoon to feature the character Blabbermouse. Voiced by Mel Blanc, Blabbermouse never catches on with audiences.

Future History: Frank Vincent Zappa is born in Baltimore, Maryland. Frank starts out in the school band as a drummer, then develops a somewhat unique fascination with the music of classical composer Edgard Varèse. While at Antelope High School, Frank meets Don Vliet (born on 15 January 1941), and they become close friends. Frank begins composing rock music while still in school, and after graduation writes and produces songs for other local artists. Joining a local band known as the Soul Giants, Zappa catches on as co-lead singer, and the band changes its name first to Mothers, and then to Mothers of Invention. After the band disbands, Frank becomes a successful solo musician, reforms the band, and becomes one of the top musicians of the era, along with Don Vliet, who adopts the name "Captain Beefheart." Frank Zappa passes away in 1993.

Baked Alaska in a shelter - The New Yorker, 21 December 1940.

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

Friday 20 December 1940

The remains of Liverpool parish church Our Lady and St. Nicholas. bombed during the night of 20-21 December 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The battle for the Italian port of Himara continues on 20 December 1940. In possession of the Giam height, the Greeks still need to capture the high ground further to the east. The Greek 3rd Infantry Division struggles through deep snow to advance on Italian artillery sited on the mountainsides. By taking the heights all around Himara, the Greeks hope to force the Italians to withdraw.

The Greeks elsewhere are bombarding Klisura and Tepelenë (Tepelini) with artillery. The Italians are fighting hard to keep both of those places, however. The Italians are even launching some minor counterattacks at various points along the front. The Greek offensive definitely is petering out, but it may have one or two more successes left in it.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe, after a lull, returns to start a multi-night raid on Liverpool which is known as the "Liverpool Blitz." Always a favored Luftwaffe target due to its status as the principal port hosting freighters crossing from the United States and Canada (and elsewhere in the world), Liverpool dock areas already have sustained extensive damage.

The Luftwaffe sends 205 bombers against the city, killing 42 in two official (Anderson) air raid shelters when they collapse from bombs above, 72 others in a shelter at the Blackstock Gardens tenement, and 42 more at a makeshift shelter beneath railway arches at Bentinck Street. The night's events illustrate that, while shelters are safer than being outside, they also can be extremely deadly under the right circumstances.

The German strategy for the past two months has been to focus on one medium-sized English city at a time, thereby causing extensive damage in a confined area. Previous cities on the list have included Coventry, Sheffield, and many others. London, of course, receives sustained attention throughout the Blitz, but by a smaller number of attacks than would be the case if the Luftwaffe were not focusing on these other cities. Many consider this the worst raid of the Blitz to date. As for London, it also receives a raid, and it begins earlier than usual because it grows darker at a much earlier hour this time of year.

Late in the night, the RAF begins a new strategy under the code-name "Rhubarb." These are low-level nuisance raids upon Luftwaffe airfields by Fighter Command (previous such missions were solely by Bomber Command). Six modified Blenheims of RAF No. 23 Squadron have been ready since December 10th, and on standby since the 16th, for this mission. This has been the first night with favorable conditions. Tonight, the Blenheims take off between 20:20 and 01:55 and fly over Abbeville, Amiens, and Poix, which are considered the main German night-fighter areas. The planes descend to 1000 feet during the early hours of the 21st, strafe the Luftwaffe airfields and, well, generally make a nuisance of themselves.

RAF Bomber Command, for its part, raids Berlin and Gelsenkirchen, with subsidiary operations against Amsterdam, the German coastal guns at Cap Gris Nez, and various other invasion ports.

A panoramic triptych of Liverpool bomb damage. The Liver Building is just to the right of center, and the River Mersey is to the left.

Battle of the Atlantic: Italian submarine Pietro Calvi torpedoes and sinks 5162-ton British freighter Carlton in the Western Approaches. There are 31 deaths.

A Luftwaffe seaplane attacks Convoy WN 55 off Kinnaird Head but causes no damage.

During the Luftwaffe attacks on Liverpool, the Germans sink 315-ton British hopper barge Overdale at Huskisson Dock and landing craft HMS LCP(L) 30 (Landing Craft Personnel (Large)). Other ships damaged during the raid are 10,445-ton tanker John A. Brown, 10,224-ton liner Europa, 7327-ton freighter Laplace, 10,926-ton liner Eastern Prince, and 7801-ton freighter Roxburgh Castle. All three crew on the Overdale perish (apparently sleeping on the ship), but there are no other reported casualties on any of these ships.

The RAF bombs and sinks 1412 ton German freighter Consul Poppe off Boulogne.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Berkeley is damaged by a mine near the outer Medway (River) Bar. The damage is minor but will require about a week to repair at Chatham.

Convoy FN 363 departs from Southend.

U-331 launched.

A typical Anderson shelter at East Princes Street Gardens, Liverpool, December 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: It is a very busy day in the Mediterranean, almost all of it Royal Navy and British Army operations. By mounting operations simultaneously on both land and sea, the British essentially paralyze the Italians, who barely make an appearance aside from one submarine sinking off Libya.

General Wavell, British Middle East Commander, visits General O'Connor's forward headquarters and inspects the troops in the Western Desert. He learns that the offensive has run tight and the troops need a pause. He telegrams the Chief of the Imperial General Staff:

Transport situation still very strained owing to great distances and difficulties of conditions. Large percentage of vehicles out of action awaiting repair.

What is striking about Wavell's summary is that he does not even mention the Italians as a problem - it is the extent of the advance and the resulting wear-and-tear on the equipment that is a problem, not enemy resistance. He proposes a halt, especially considering that the Australian troops being brought forward for the next phase of the assault have not been in combat yet. He is correct about the Italians not being an issue, as no Italian soldiers still stand on Egyptian soil except as prisoners of war or hunted refugees. However, that said, the Italians are defending Bardia and Tobruk with tanks and the troops who made it back from Egypt.

The Middle East Joint Planning Staff prepare a study, "Advance into Libya." Which optimistically plans the next step of British operations beyond the capture of Bardia (which has not been captured yet, but is essentially surrounded). The study considers four options as feasible:

1. Consolidate at Bardia
2. Capture Tobruk by land assault
3. Capture Tobruk by land and sea assault
4. Capture Benghazi

Of the four options, the study considers a land assault on Tobruk as the most profitable course of action. "If this is not possible," the report concludes, "we should consider a position covering Bardia."

The Royal Navy is engaged in its own business while the army has the situation in hand in Egypt and Libya. It runs through another two convoys to Malta, MW 5A and MW 5B. Royal Navy battleships HMS Malaya and Warspite and numerous destroyers quickly refuel in Grand Harbour and then rejoin the main fleet. The Malaya continues on to Gibraltar.

The mission is notable because the Royal Navy Commander in Chief Mediterranean, Admiral Cunningham, is on the Warspite and uses the visit to meet with Governor Lt. General Dobbie and Vice Admiral Malta Sir Wilbraham Ford. These spectacular Royal Navy visits at the height of the conflict are watched by innumerable Maltese spectators and leave a very favorable impression. The Italian Air Force does not make an appearance.

The Italians do draw some blood elsewhere, though by and large the Royal Navy machinations go unhindered. Italian submarine Serpente torpedoes and badly damages destroyer HMS Hyperion at  01:56 about 24 miles from Cape Bon. There are two deaths and 14 other casualties. Attending ships attempt to tow the Hyperion, but finally the British give up the effort, take off the Hyperion's crew, and scuttles it near Pantelleria. The survivors return to Alexandria on destroyers HMS Ilex and Janus.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious raids an Italian convoy off the Kerkennah Islands near Tripoli with 13-15 Swordfish at dawn. This raid is part of the overall distraction from the Malta convoys. They report sinking two Italian ships, though their identities are unclear.

The runway of the Cooperative Mill in Liverpool after the raid of 20/21 December 1940.

Soviet Military: The PPSh-41 Shpagin machine pistol, or submachine gun, is approved for production by the Defense Committee of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union. The PPSh-41 has been designed by Georgi Shpagin as a cheap but reliable alternative to the more expensive PPD-40. The impetus for both designs - the PPSh-41 and the PPD-40 - was the effective use by the Finnish Army in their forests of their Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. Shpagin uses metal stamping and a simple gas compensator to design one of the most effective and ubiquitous weapons of the war. The PPSh-41 is produced in and around Moscow and is a high priority item, with top-level functionaries held personally responsible for meeting demanding production targets.

British Government: A British Committee of Enquiry has been looking into the Arandora Star matter and today reports its finding. The major conclusion is that there was insufficient segregation of types of travelers - both Jewish refugees and outright Fascists basically traveled together. The Arandora Star was a liner taking aliens from England to Australia over the summer, where they would be housed in camps. The voyage was notorious for the predations of the guards and the mistreatment of just about everyone, including beatings and thievery.

Liverpool's Scotland Road, 1940.

US Government: President Roosevelt appoints industrialist William Knudsen to be the director of a new four-man defense board called (later) the Office of Production Management for Defense. Sidney Hillman will advise on labor issues, US Navy Secretary Frank Knox on naval concerns, and US Army Secretary Henry L. Stimson on army issues. The goal of the board is to speed up US rearmament and give all aid to Great Britain "short of war." Industrialists such as Knudsen and Henry Kaiser will play key roles during the war as the United States is ramping up military production - the process has barely begun at this point.

Holocaust: Bulgaria passes laws restricting the rights of Jews and Freemasons.

Scottish inventor John Baird demonstrates his color television, 20 December 1940. © National Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library (10314662).

British Homefront: John Logie Baird demonstrates a color television to the press - including the sixth Marquess of Donegal, a journalist for the Sunday Despatch - in the lounge of his home at Crescent Wood Road, Sydenham in South London. In August 1939, the Germans first demonstrated a color television set, but the war prevented further progress. There have been occasional public television programs in both England and Germany since the mid-1930s, all in black and white. The popularity of television at this point is limited more by the availability of TV sets than it is by the technology itself.

American Homefront: New Hampshire, not known for its seismic activity, sustains an earthquake that measures 5.3 on the Richter scale. The quake has a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, which is rated as "Very Strong." The damage is reasonably light as such things go, with 20 chimneys toppled, numerous pipes fractured, damage to wells (turning water brown) and the like. Smaller effects are felt in nearby New York, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Captain America makes his debut today with the publication today (dated March 1941) of "Captain America Comics."

The first Captain America Comics issued on 20 December 1940 (in time for Christmas) but dated March 1941. Kind of far-sighted to have Captain America punching Hitler when war was still a year in the future. Did you know that Captain America had a "young ally" named Bucky?

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

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