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

Monday 17 February 1941

Adolf Hitler and Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima.

Italian/Greek Campaign: After a very long and difficult struggle, on 17 February 1941 the Greeks complete the recapture of the Trebeshina massif. Overall, it has been an almost Pyrrhic victory, though. The Cretan 5th Infantry Division suffers terribly during the struggle, with 5776 casualties, and is effectively destroyed. Naturally, the Italians lose many men as well, but they just have to hold their positions and wait for the Germans eventually to bail them out by invading Greece from another direction. For the Italians, the battle has become a matter of national pride, and they vow to recapture the mountains and surrounding territory in the Spring.

East African Campaign: The South African 5th Infantry Brigade continues attacking toward Mega, while the 1st Infantry Brigade manages to cross the Juba River at Yonte against fierce Italian opposition.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe raids London with 50 bombers, its largest raid in some time. RAF Bomber Command stays on the ground.

Empire Knoll, which runs aground and is lost today.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Germans have quite a small fleet at work in the Atlantic. It involves numerous supply ships serving both heavy cruisers (currently three are on the loose: Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Admiral Scheer) and armed raiders. Today, German tanker Nordmark meets supply ship Alstertor to refuel it. The Nordmark has been towing captured British refrigerated ship Duquesa, which was taken full of meat and dairy products. However, all good things must come to an end, and today the Nordmark cuts loose the 8651-ton ship, not because it was out of food, but because there was no longer any fuel to power the refrigeration equipment - making it a stinky mess around the Equator. Some accounts state that Admiral Scheer sank the Duquesa upon encountering it on 18 December, but in fact, the refrigerated ship was taken as a prize and became legendary in the Kriegsmarine as the "floating delicatessen" which kept the crews of several ships well-fed for two months.

The weather is terrible. This causes all sorts of problems both for ships and for crews abandoning their sinking ships.
U-101 (Kptlt. Ernst Mengersen) torpedoes and sinks 5237-ton British pig iron freighter Gairsoppa three hundred miles southwest of Galway. Gairsoppa is a straggler from convoy SL 64. Mengersen misses with several torpedoes (the weather is terrible), but one hits and sets the ship afire. The U-boat then leaves, and the ship sinks after the crew barely escape in the lifeboats. Almost everyone dies of exposure. There are 82 deaths and only one survivor (the second officer, who brought his lifeboat to shore). After this, U-101 heads back to Lorient.

U-103 (Viktor Schütze) torpedoes and sinks 10,455-ton tanker Edwy R. Brown. The tanker is a straggler behind Convoy HX 107 in the North Atlantic shipping lanes.

U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler) is on its first patrol operating out of Kiel southwest of the Faroe Islands when it spots a freighter. It is 8456-ton British freighter MV Siamese Prince, which becomes U-69's first victim. There are no survivors even though Metzler sees them take to the lifeboats - survival in the frigid ocean with storms and winter gales is problematic at best. Everybody (57 men) onboard perishes, and Admiralty searches by several destroyers find nothing and nobody.

British 307 ton collier Kyle Rona is sailing from Maryport for Portreath when it just disappears. None of the seven men on board, including Master Frederick Cook, survives. It may have hit a mine or broached deep and took water or...

British 156 ton freighter Ren Rein hits a mine off Falmouth, Cornwall in the English Channel and sinks. There are two deaths.

British 5817 ton freighter Casamance runs aground off Skinningrove, Yorkshire. The ship breaks in two and is written off. There are 38 survivors and 9 deaths.

British 2824 ton collier Empire Knoll comes aground due to the winter gales at Tynemouth in County Durham. The ship winds up on the old North Pier foundations there and is holed. It is a total loss.

Portuguese schooner Patriotismo sinks in the rough winter weather off Peniche. There are one death and seven deaths.

German raider Pinguin, in the south Atlantic, is joined by German supply ship Alstertor. Together, they sail for the Indian Ocean.

Admiral Sir Percy L.H. Noble becomes the new commander of the Royal Navy Western Approaches Command.

Convoys WS 6A and 6B (Winston Special) departs from various British ports. It includes numerous transports bound for the Middle East.

Convoy TC 9 departs from Halifax with numerous troop transports. They don't know it, but German heavy cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are lurking just north of the shipping lanes looking for good targets.

Convoy BN 16 departs from Aden.

Destroyer HMS Avon Vale (L 06, Lt. Commander Peter A. R. Withers) is commissioned.

Light cruiser USS Birmingham is laid down.

British guard duty west of Benghazi, 17 February 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British have been deliberating about sending troops to Greece for weeks, and now they finally are in a position to start telling some of their allies about their plans. They inform New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg that he will command the expeditionary force. Freyberg is a legendary officer, much admired by the British, who currently commands the New Zealand Division.

Colonel Leclerc in southwestern Libya is heading for their ultimate target of Kufra. Leclerc has about 350 men, but the Italians are aware they are coming. The Italian Saharan company of 70 men intercepts Leclerc's force with 20 mm guns in ten armored AS37 cars. After a vicious firefight, the French lost many of their trucks but are able to continue forward when the Italians at Kufra stay inside their fort and don't help the Sahariana. Leclerc's men surround the fort, El Tag, and place their only artillery piece, a 75 mm gun, about 3000 meters from the walls. The French also place several 81 mm mortars about 1500 meters from the fort. The Saharan company attacks again but is beaten off again. The French settle down to a siege.

Turkish/Bulgarian Relations: The two nations formally sign their nonaggression pact. While at first, this might seem favorable to the British, in fact, it is designed to allow Hitler to move troops through Bulgaria to invade Greece without Turkish interference. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been trying to cajole the Turks (and their 38 divisions) into joining the British side, but this move effectively ends that attempt for the time being.

German/Japanese/British Relations: Japan makes an offer to mediate the European conflict, just as it has been mediating the border war in Indochina. Nobody takes Japan up on the offer.

General Oshima arrives as minister to Germany, his second appointment there. Oshima is viewed by the Germans as very sympathetic to their war aims.

German Military: Adolf Hitler is thinking big. He dreams of capturing India from the British, and in fact, has been sending presents (such as a motorcar) to some princes in the region. He orders his military staff to explore the feasibility of advancing through Afghanistan to India.

"Cunningham, Admiral of the Mediterranean." February 17, 1941, | Vol. XXXVII No. 7 (Cover Credit: ERNEST HAMLIN BAKER).

British Government: Winston Churchill has a busy day sending memos and pontificating to all and sundry about his pet concerns.

During the war council meeting today, Churchill cautions against worrying about "divisions" in the military (as opposed to brigades or corps and so forth). The gist of his oration on this point is that the term "division" can refer to vastly different forces.

Churchill also memos CIGS General Ismay and Cabinet Secretary Sir Edward Bridges cautioning them not to reveal the source of their information about Japanese decrypts, information which apparently was sent around the office. He wants all copies tracked down and the information suppressed, all the way down to identifying what copying machine was used and "who gave the orders for it to go in this form." Naturally, he doesn't want the Japanese to know the British have broken their codes.

Ireland also is on Churchill's mind. He memos General Ismay that the Germans might invade Ireland before they invade England, which would give the British the "immediate pretext" to invade Ireland - something that Churchill appears eager to do. He urges Ismay to use "every scheme of which military and naval ingenuity are capable to move more troops across the Irish Channel" whether the Irish want them there or not. In fact, the Irish have made plain that they do not want to be involved in the British war.

Churchill also memos Viscount Cranborne and Sir Kingsley Wood to implement economic sanctions against southern Ireland "to make Southern Ireland realized how great a wrong they were doing to the cause of freedom by their denial of the ports" to the Royal Navy. At this point, it seems as if Churchill is much more interested in invading Ireland than Hitler ever is.

Policeman helping children with their gas masks, Brighton, 17 February 1941.

Japanese Government: Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka gives a speech which echoes the similar language of Adolf Hitler regarding the Soviet Union and "Lebensraum":

This region [Oceania] has sufficient natural resources to support from 600,000,000 to 800,000,000 people. I believe we have a natural right to migrate there.

Times, Feb. 18, 1941, p. 1. Oceania, of course, includes Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and New Zealand. Thus, the Japanese basically are telling all Europeans that they are not wanted in the Pacific and that they feel entitled by "natural right" to occupy lands now claimed by others.

US Government: The US Senate begins debating the Lend-Lease bill.

Australian Government: Prime Minister Robert Menzies is continuing his epic, month-long journey from Melbourne to London. Today, he stops over in Lagos, where he meets fellow Australian Sir Bernard Bourdillon, the Governor. Bourdillon blames the British fiasco at Dakar in September 1940, and a related incident in which French cruisers were allowed to cruise out of Mediterranean past Gibraltar to reinforce the Vichy French forces there, on unclear instructions from Winston Churchill. To be fair, Bourdillon has a point, as the British attitude toward Vichy France seems confused at best. Menzies seems quite impressed with Bourdillon and wonders if he and similar governors are "consulted enough." In fact, they are probably not consulted at all, as Churchill likes to run his own shop.

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies viewing a burning tanker in Tobruk Harbor, February 1941.

February 1941

February 1, 1941: US Military Reorganization
February 2, 1941: Wehrmacht Supermen
February 3, 1941: World Will Hold Its Breath
February 4, 1941: USO Forms
February 5, 1941: Hitler Thanks Irish Woman
February 6, 1941: Operation Sunflower
February 7, 1941: Fox Killed in the Open
February 8, 1941: Lend Lease Passes House
February 9, 1941: Give Us The Tools
February 10, 1941: Operation Colossus
February 11, 1941: Afrika Korps
February 12, 1941: Rommel in Africa
February 13, 1941: Operation Composition
February 14, 1941: Nomura in Washington
February 15, 1941: Churchill's Warning
February 16, 1941: Operation Adolphus
February 17, 1941: Invade Ireland?
February 18, 1941: Panzerwaffe Upgrade
February 19, 1941: Three Nights Blitz
February 20, 1941: Prien's Farewell
February 21, 1941: Swansea Blitz Ends
February 22, 1941: Amsterdam Pogrom
February 23, 1941: OB-288 Convoy Destruction
February 24, 1941: Okuda Spies
February 25, 1941: Mogadishu Taken
February 26, 1941: OB-290 Convoy Destruction
February 27, 1941: Operation Abstention
February 28, 1941: Ariets Warns Stalin

2020

Thursday 26 December 1940

Admiral Scheer (Captain Theodor Krancke) visiting with German raider Thor, somewhere west of St. Helena, 26 December 1940. The boat is perhaps bringing over meat and eggs from captured refrigerated ship Duquesa (not shown). This photo may have been taken from supply ship Nordmark, also present to stock up from the Duquesa.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Greek I Corps throw an attack at the Italians defending Leskoviki in southern Albania on 26 December 1940. The Italians give ground along the line of the Chimara River.

European Air Operations: After a lull for Christmas, bombing resumes during the day. RAF Bomber Command launches day raids on Brittany airfields and shipping at Le Treport. It sends a night raid against Bordeaux. With all this recent attention being paid to the French coast, it is tempting to assume that the British know of Hitler's visit (see below) and aim to make things a bit hotter for him. The Luftwaffe sends one bomber on a raid against the Isle of Sheppey (in the Thames Estuary) during the day, but stays on the ground after dark.

RAF bomber crew celebrating Boxing Day, 26 December 1940 (Photo by Arthur Tanner/Fox Photos/Getty Images).

Battle of the Atlantic: U-95 (Kptlt. Gerd Schreiber) is operating about 250 km northwest of Rockall when it torpedoes and badly damages 12,823-ton armed merchantman (refrigerated cargo ship) Waiotira. The Waiotira is in bad shape and the crew abandons ship, leaving it a floating derelict, but U-95 has to leave the area due to the presence of three Royal Navy destroyers. There is one death, 90 survivors.

Royal Navy minesweeper MAC 5 hits a mine northeast of Gunfleet, Essex, and sinks. There are 4-5 deaths.

Italian submarine Calvi claims to have sunk a British freighter today, but there is no confirmation of this in the British records.

British 92 ton drifter True Accord collides with 316-ton armed trawler HMT Saronta at Yarmouth. True Accord sinks, but apparently, there are no casualties.

Royal Navy sloop HMS Pelican collides with anti-submarine trawler HMT Cape Portland. The damage is not severe but will require some repairs in London when time permits.

Royal Navy boarding vessel HMS Maron seizes 928 ton Vichy French trawler Joseph Duhamel near Casablanca and takes it to Gibraltar.

Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Bonaventure intercepts 8803-ton German freighter Baden between Tenerife, Canary Islands, and France. The German crew of the Baden scuttles the ship.

Admiral Wilhelm Meisel on board the Admiral Hipper continues sailing back to Brest after the abortive Christmas attack on Convoy WS 5.

The crew of Admiral Scheer has a happy rendezvous with German raider Thor shortly after breakfast. It takes place several hundred miles west of St. Helena in the mid-Atlantic at point "Andalusien" 15°S 18°W. It is a very merry gathering for the Kriegsmarine, with half the British fleet out looking for the German ships to no avail. Thor is operating as Yugoslav freighter "Vir" since its victory over British armed merchant cruiser Carnarvon Castle on 5 December. The Scheer has the captured refrigerator ship Duquesa nearby, stocked with huge quantities of eggs and fresh meat. This stockpile makes meals during this voyage a great pleasure for the men of the Scheer and, now, the Thor. Tanker Eurofeld also joins the party at some point, which apparently lasts for several days.

There is some disagreement in the sources about exactly which ships show appear which dates for this meeting with Admiral Scheer. However, there is no question that Admiral Scheer, the Thor, the Duquesa, the Nordmark, and the Eurofeld are all present at some point, and all present together at some point. Some sources confuse this meeting with another meeting involving German raider Pinguin and its captured Norwegian whaling fleet, but that takes place in early 1941 (though already on this date the Pinguin's crew is plotting their interception of those ships).

Convoy OB 265 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX 99 departs from Halifax, Convoy AN 11 departs from Port Said, Convoy BN 11A departs from Port Sudan.

Light cruiser USS Denver laid down at New York Shipbuilding Corp. of Camden, New Jersey. It is the second naval ship named for Denver.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Activity is light in North Africa as the British bring up Australian troops for the next phase of operations.

Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen seizes Italian schooner Tireremo Diritto as it makes its way from Tobruk to Bardia. The Australians disembark the crew, then scuttle the schooner.
There is a revolt against Italian rule in Southern Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

British soldiers enjoying Boxing Day, 26 December 1940 (Photo by David Parker/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

German Government: Hitler winds up his meandering journeys along the French coast. Having spent the night in his train parked within a tunnel near Metz, he visits the city and spends some time with the SS based there. After lunch, he re-boards the train and proceeds to Sarrebourg, then back to Germany.

British Government: Winston Churchill resumes his attention to the Ministry of Supply. He instructs the Minister, Sir Andrew Duncan, to increase ammunition stocks for antitank rifles, 2-inch mortars, and 3-inch mortars. He also sends a memo to the Admiralty, telling Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound to mine "the Leads," through which German ore traffic from Narvik passes.

Captain David Margesson is sworn in as the new Secretary of State for War, succeeding Anthony Eden.

A German soldier posted to Ameland in the West Frisian Islands in northern Holland celebrating the holiday, 26 December 1940.

Bulgaria: In a show of defiance at Hitler, the Bulgarian assembly fails to pass a resolution asking King Boris to join the Tripartite Pact.

Philippines: Brigadier General Leonard T. Gerow, acting chief of the US War Plans Division and an old China hand, recommends that troop strength in the Philippines be roughly doubled in size and $1.25 million in new military construction there be authorized. This is not a universally accepted proposal. The problem is that the United States has neglected not only the Philippines but also bases ranging from Alaska down to Panama. Naval planners worry that sending too large a force to the Philippines could leave the United States itself in danger, especially if the British were to continue weakening in the Pacific Theater. Gerow's proposal is a reflection of a debate raging between the naval and army war planners about whether the US should adopt a purely defensive posture in the Pacific (favored by the Navy), or a more aggressive stance (favored by the army). The recent Rainbow 3 plan filed by the Navy is being revised by a joint committee of navy and army planners to see if they can agree on some middle ground. Gerow clearly is on the side of the army and wants a stronger US military presence deep in the Pacific.

American Homefront: "The Philadelphia Story" opens in New York, premiering at Radio City Music Hall. James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn lead the cast in this well-received George Cukor film.

"My Sister Eileen," a play by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, premieres at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway.

Looking more like an unemployment queue than anything, this actually is a long line of people - mostly men, apparently - outside the Marble Arch Pavilion in London. They are getting out of the house for a bit to see Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," which obviously is still drawing crowds. (Photo by Planet News Archive/SSPL/Getty Images).

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