Tuesday 12 August 1941

HMS Prince of Wales at the Atlantic Conference, August 1941. Photographed from USS Augusta (CA-31). Donation to US Naval Historical Center by Vice Admiral Harry Sanders, USN (Retired), 1969.

Eastern Front: Adolf Hitler on 12 August 1941 issues a supplement to his directive No. 34 of 30 July 1941. This directive, No. 34A, addresses military objectives and strategies on the Eastern Front. Its three main points are:

1. In the Army Group North sector, the objective is to encircle Leningrad and effect a junction with the Finns advancing from the north (it does not say to actually take Leningrad);
2. In the Army Group Center sector, "the most important task is to eliminate the enemy flanking positions." Pointedly, the directive notes that "Only after these threats to our flanks have been entirely overcome" can the advance on Moscow resume;
3. In the Army Group South sector, halt the attack on Kyiv and instead focus on establishing bridgeheads across the Dnieper River, occupy the Crimea, and occupy Kharkiv and the Donets area.

In some respects, Fuhrer Directive No. 34A already is outdated, because General Kleist has started moving his Panzer Group No. 1 north towards Kiev in order to effect a junction with General Guderian's Panzer Group No. 2, which is heading south toward Gomel. However, the main effect of Directive No. 34A is to eliminate any misunderstandings among the general that Hitler is going to change his mind about advancing on Moscow any time soon.

Some warning signs are starting to appear in the Wehrmacht concerning manpower. The Liaison Officer for Army Group North to OKH, Lt. Colonel Langhaeusor, reports that it has no reserves and manpower is "tight." OKH addresses this by keeping Luftwaffe units in the area to make up for manpower shortages. For the moment, this problem can be remedied once some convenient railroad lines are taken, as they are the only way to bring forward large numbers of troops. In order to form strength to advance, OKH has to juggle units and focus on one area at a time - which at the moment is at Lake Ilmen.

A Finnish machine gun team set up among some hay bales in Sortavala, 12 August 1941 (SA-Kuva).

In the Far North sector, the Finns now are within striking distance of the Murmansk railway at Loukhi. However, the Soviets are frantically bringing in the 88th Rifle Division to block the remaining 20 miles northeast to the main railway line.

In the Army Group North sector, German 16th Army makes some local gains around Lake Ilmen. The Germans also make some minor gains near Narva. Soviet 34th Army counterattacks toward Lake Ladoga. Overall, Army Group North is fairly static for the moment.

In the Army Group Center sector, units south of Rogachev reach the Dneipr River and II Corps puts three divisions across the river south of Zhlobin. General Guderian's Panzer Group II attack toward Gomel. The Germans encircle parts of the Central Front near Krichev. The Soviets are counterattacking in several places without success.

An advanced divisional command post of German 21st Infantry Division on August 12, 1941.

In the Army Group South sector, the Romanian 4th Army continues closing the land routes to the Soviet port of Odesa. The Romanian navy begins deploying submarine Delfinul and torpedo boats Viscolul, Vijelia, and Viforul along the Soviet coast to intercept any relief attempts. The Soviets, meanwhile, use the Danube Flotilla to begin evacuating Soviet troops from the lower Dneipr River. Soviet river gunboat Peredovoy sinks in action today.

German Eleventh Army reaches the outskirts of Mykolaiv, isolating it. The Germans begin rushing reinforcements to the city to cut off the Soviet lines of retreat.

In the air, Oblt. Kurt Sochatzy, the Staffelkapitän of 7th Staffel of JG 3, has his airplane rammed by a Soviet I-16 fighter over Kyiv. Sochatzy is taken as a prisoner, but the Luftwaffe awards him the Ritterkreuz later in the day anyway. Siegfried Freytag of JG 77 downs a MiG 3 for his tenth victory.

The Soviets begin preparing the Volga region for combat. The Central Committee orders the deportation of the population of the Volga German Autonomous Republic to Siberia and Central Asia.

The RAF raid on  Knapsack, Cologne, Nordrhine-Westphalen, Germany. To the left is a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV (extreme left), serial V6391, marked RT-V of No. 114 Squadron, 2 Group.

European Air Operations: The RAF makes a maximum effort on 12 August 1941. These are the heaviest daylight bombing raids on Germany of the war to date. Weather is good again after a long unsettled period. The British wish to demonstrate to ally Joseph Stalin that it is doing its best to draw Luftwaffe units from the Eastern Front to the defense of the Reich. The Luftwaffe still has fighter defenses in the west, but they are depleted by the needs of the Eastern Front.

RAF Fighter Command begins the day with a sweep by 84 fighters escorting six Hampdens against St. Omer.  The Luftwaffe sends up 150 Bf 109s to defend its airfield there.

During the day, RAF Bomber Command sends 54 Blenheim bombers to attack the Knapsack (38 bombers) and Quadrath (18) power stations outside Cologne. The Knapsack plant is a Goldenburg-Werk lignite (brown coal) power station and is hit hard. The Germans shoot down 10 of the bombers. This is an 18.5% loss rate, entirely unacceptable for a sustained bombing campaign.

There also are some diversionary operations during the Cologne attack. Six Hampdens each attack St. Omer, Le Trait dockyards, and Gosnay, and four fortresses attack Cologne, De Kooy airfield, and Emden. These all return without loss and are escorted by heavy fighter escorts (144 at Gosnay, for instance).

In addition, two Blenheims acting as navigational leaders, or pathfinders, also are shot down. Overall, RAF Bomber Command loses 12 bombers or 15.4% of the 78 sorties made during daylight operations.

There also is heavy air fighter combat during the day over France and the Low Countries. RAF Fighter Command puts 174 sorties in the air, and the RAF claims 4 Luftwaffe fighters destroyed and 6  probably destroyed, along with 10 others damaged. The RAF loses 6 Spitfires.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 65 Wellingtons and 13 Hampdens over Hannover. The Germans shoot down four Wellingtons, including one carrying experimental Gee direction-finding equipment. The Gee plane is destroyed completely and no secrets are revealed.

The RAF also sends 40 Wellingtons, 12 Halifaxes, 9 Stirlings, and 9 Manchesters against Berlin - a total of 70 bombers. Less than half - 32 - of the force actually bombs in the Berlin area. In addition, the Germans shoot down 9 bombers, a 12.8% loss rate.

RAF Bomber Command also sends 36 Hampdens over Magdeburg without loss and 35 bombers (30 Wellingtons, 3 Stirlings, and 2 Halifaxes) over Essen. The RAF loses one bomber, and the night's objective - the Krupps factory - is not hit.

The RAF also sends minor operations of 14 bombers to Le Havre and one Stirling over Bielefeld, without loss.

Overall, it is a rough night for both sides. The German cities take moderate damage, while the RAF loses 20 planes out of 234 sorties, an 8.5% loss ratio.

The church in Kurkijoki, Ladoga Karelia, 12 August 1941. The city was taken by the Soviets in the Winter War and occupied for shortly over a year. During that time, the Soviets turned the church into a cultural center. The communist propaganda has been desecrated, likely by the liberating Finnish troops. This church now is in the Lahdenpohja district of the Republic of Karelia, where its territory is divided between the Kurkijoki and Elisenvaara municipalities.

Battle of the Baltic: Ships of the German 1st S-Boat Flotilla sink Soviet minesweeper R-101 "Rybinci" in the Gulf of Finland.

German torpedo boats sink Soviet minesweeper Tsczcz-41.

Soviet submarine L-4 (Lt. Cmdr. Polyakov) lays 20 mines southeast of Mangalia, Romania.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-568 (Kptlt. Joachim Preuss), on its first patrol out of Trondheim and operating with wolfpack Grönland, torpedoes and sinks Royal Navy corvette Picotee (Lt. Harrison), which is escorting Convoy ON-5, south of Iceland. Everybody perishes - there are 65 deaths. U-586 also claims to torpedo another ship, but there is no confirmation.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 1900-ton Royal Navy auxiliary vessel Eaglescliffe Hall about two miles east of Sunderland. Eaglescliffe Hall is taken under tow to Sunderland.

Royal Navy 16-ton auxiliary ship HMT Express hits a mine and sinks one mile southwest of East Spaniard Buoy at Whitstable.

According to some sources, 124-ton Norwegian freighter Cito sinks today after hitting a mine in the Sognefjord (north of Bergen). Other sources claim this happened on the 11th.

Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS London claims to bomb a submarine with her Walrus aircraft north of the Azores, but there is no confirmation.

Italian submarine Tazzoli makes an unsuccessful attack on a freighter south of Liberia.

A Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor of I,/KG40 spots Convoy HG-69 and informs BdU in Paris.

Royal Navy destroyers HMS Airedale and Tetcott and minesweeper Shippigan are launched.

Australian corvette HMAS Meadowsweet is laid down.

British Convoy "Dervish" departs from Liverpool bound for Archangel via Iceland.

U-657 is launched.

A British soldier in North Africa getting a shave, 12 August 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Australians at Tobruk have endured months of artillery shelling, flies, and scorching desert sun. Lieutenant-General Thomas Blamey of XIII Corps, backed by the Australian government, has convinced Whitehall to evacuate them and replace the Tobruk garrison with fresh soldiers. The 5000 Australian troops begin leaving tonight and are replaced by Polish troops.

Royal Navy 372-ton lighter HMS A.14 (aka LCT.14, Lt. Mullens) hits an aerial mine laid by a Junkers Ju-88 of LG-1 and sinks in Tobruk Harbor. Everyone survives.

Dutch submarine makes an unsuccessful attack on a freighter in the Ligurian sea.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Torbay (Cdr. Miersa) unsuccessfully attacks an Axis convoy four miles west of Benghazi.

Royal Navy destroyers HMS Kandahar and Kimberley depart from Alexandria on a supply run to Tobruk, first stopping at Mersa Matruh.

Italian minelayers Aspromonte and Reggio lay minefield SN-41 in the Sicilian Strait.

Troops of the 8th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment begin training on Gozo Island.

Battle of the Black Sea: Soviet icebreaker Ledokol No. 5 hits a mine and sinks.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Soviet freighter Novorossiysk in the Gulf of Odesa.

"The Prime Minister and Lord Beaverbrook leave the PRINCE OF WALES to say good-bye to President Roosevelt aboard USS AUGUSTA." © IWM (A 4863).

Anglo/US Relations: President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston agree to the Atlantic Charter (a name only later applied to it at this time it is called "Joint Declaration by the President and the Prime Minister," or more commonly simply as the "Joint Declaration") at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. There isn't any formal document, and nothing ever is signed. Instead, the staffs prepare a "final draft" and give copies to the radio operators of the USS Augusta and HMS Prince of Wales to send out to the media.

The Atlantic Charter sets forth eight points, twice as many as Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" but in many cases similar in tone to them. They provide:

1. no territorial gains to be sought by the United States or Great Britain;
2. territorial adjustments elsewhere to be made with reference to the wishes of the peoples affected;
3. self-determination of peoples;
4. removal of trade barriers for both "victor [and] vanquished";
5. global economic cooperation and advancement of peoples' welfare;
6. participants to work toward a world free of want and fear;
7. disarmament of everyone, including the victors, after the war
8. freedom of the seas;

The striking thing about the eight points is that they don't mention military aims - because the United States is not at war. Instead, they refer to what appears to be post-war objectives. However, they very subtly reach out to peoples of the Axis powers by, for example, reassuring them that there won't be post-war trade sanctions on the losers.

After the communique is issued, Churchill departs back for Britain aboard Prince of Wales, while Roosevelt sails aboard cruiser Augusta down to Blue Hill Bay, Maine, where Presidential yacht Potomac (AG-25) is anchored.

President Roosevelt wishes Prime Minister Churchill a safe voyage home on 12 August 1941.

German/Finnish Relations: Finnish Ambassador T. M. Kivimäki notifies the German Foreign Ministry that Finland will not be joining the Anti-Comintern Pact because "the Finnish attitude towards communism is already clear." In fact, Finland wants to remain a co-belligerent rather than an ally of the Reich and prefers to have few agreements tying the two countries together militarily.

Soviet/Polish Relations: The Soviets make official their amnesty of Polish citizens in the USSR. This enables many to join the army being formed by General Anders, and others to work on collective farms.

US/Italian Relations: US naval authorities seize 5592-ton Italian freighter Dino in Boston. The US reflags Dino as Panamanian Meridian.

US/Japanese Relations: The Japanese recall liner Asama Maru, which is nearing the United States with American passengers and a cargo of silk, due to the imposition of US sanctions.

"Royal Air Force mechanics in Singapore are working at top pressure to assemble, and pilots to test, large numbers of Brewster Buffaloes, American high-speed fighting planes. At one Singapore Royal Air Force station hangar after hangar is crammed with crated Buffaloes. Many of the planes are already in the air over Malaya, flown often by British fighter pilots, who have already shot down German planes (one of the ten) in Europe. This photo shows part of one of the Buffalo assembly lines." Circa 12 August 1941. © IWM (K 598).

British Military: The RAF forms No. 488 (NZ) Squadron at RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland. The first commander is Wing Commander J.A.S. Brown, and the unit's mission is anti-shipping patrols and convoy protection.

US Military: US military maneuvers being held at New River, North Carolina are concluded. The US 1st Marine Division and 1st Army Division have been training together.

US Navy Motor Torpedo Squadron 3 is commissioned. It is assigned to the Philippines.

The US Army-US Marine Corps 1st Joint Training Force under Major General Holland M. Smith is redesignated the Atlantic Amphibious Force.

The 260th Infantry Division crosses the Berezina River near Barysaw, Minsk Oblast, Belarus, Soviet Union. 12 August 1941.

Japanese Military: Battleship Yamato ("Battleship No. 1") departs from Kure, Japan for sea trials.

Aircraft carrier Hosho is named the flagship of the Japanese Carrier Division 3.

The IJN requisitions 6442-ton freighter Keiyo Maru for use as an armed auxiliary aircraft transport. This conversion includes putting 120-mm (4.7-inch) guns in the bow and stern.

Soviet Military: Marshal Semyon Timoshenko drafts an order calling for the execution of deserters. He submits it to Stalin for approval.

US Government: The House of Representatives passes by 203-202 a bill extending the term of military service of draftees from 12 to 30 months. The bill now goes to the Senate.
China: Chinese General Zhao Chengshou, commander of the Chinese 7th Army, signs a secret armistice with the Japanese. Zhao has been convinced by Chinese collaborators that the Japanese are willing to work with the Chinese and not just conquer them.

Luftpost (propaganda), No. 13, 12 August 1941.

Holocaust: Romania compels all Jews to register for forced labor.

French Homefront: Premier Petain makes a radio address to the French people. He enumerates a dozen measures that "I have decided." These include suspending political parties, try former officials who are "responsible for our disaster," and require all government officials to "swear an oath of fealty to me." He sums up, "In 1917 I put an end to mutiny. In 1940 I put an end to rout. Today I wish to save you from yourselves."

Petain also announces his previous decision to appoint Admiral Darlan, "to whom public opinion has not always been favorable or fair," to be Minister of National Defense. He pointedly emphasizes that "Authority no longer emanates from below. The only authority is that which I entrust or delegate." In fact, Petain uses the word "I," as in "I have decided" and "I entrust or delegate," a total of 28 times in the speech.

The radio broadcast reinforces in the minds of some that perhaps Petain has let his position of authority go to his head a little bit.

Canadian Homefront: The government requires Japanese-Canadians to carry registration cards that include their photos and thumbprints.

Hans Scholl, member of the White Rose resistance group in Germany. At this time, they are still contemplating how and whether to resist. On 12 August 1941, Scholl writes to a friend: “In a world dominated by brutal negation, I can still see the positive values. (…) The shadows are there because the light is there. But the light comes first.” (Geschwister-Scholl-Archiv/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo).

American Homefront: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releases "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," directed by Victor Fleming (of "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz") and starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. This is a direct remake of a 1931 film of the same name and cements a "theatrical" version of the tale that is different than the original Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 novella. In fact, the studio goes to the extreme lengths of finding and destroying every copy of the 1931 version that it can, though decades later a full version of that earlier film is found and restored. The film turns a $350,000 profit on a budget of $2.351 million and earns three Academy Award nominations in technical categories. The film is notable for Tracy's iconic performance in the lead role and Bergman playing against type as a "bad" girl.
Future History: Deborah Walley is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She becomes an actress who rises to prominence in the late 1950s and 1960s, appearing in television series "Naked City" and "Route 66" and "Beach Blanket" films such as "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" (1961), "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965), and "Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1966). Walley passes away on 10 May 2001.

Letícia Román is born in Rome, Italy. She starts a career in the Elvis Presley film "G.I. Blues" (1960), then goes on to appear in other films in the 1960s before retiring to start a family.

Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales, August 1941.

August 1941
August 1, 1941: More Executions on Crete
August 2, 1941: Uman Encirclement Closes
August 3, 1941: Bishop von Galen Denounces Euthanasia
August 4, 1941: Hitler at the Front
August 5, 1941: Soviets Surrender at Smolensk 
August 6, 1941: U-Boats in the Arctic
August 7, 1941: Soviets Bomb Berlin
August 8, 1941: Uman Pocket Captured
August 9, 1941: Atlantic Conference at Placentia Bay
August 10, 1941: Soviet Bombers Mauled Over Berlin
August 11, 1941: Rita Hayworth in Life
August 12, 1941: Atlantic Charter Announced
August 13, 1941: The Soybean Car
August 14, 1941: The Anders Army Formed
August 15, 1941: Himmler at Minsk
August 16, 1941: Stalin's Order No. 270
August 17, 1941: Germans in Novgorod
August 18, 1941: Lili Marleen
August 19, 1941: Convoy OG-71 Destruction
August 20, 1941: Siege of Leningrad Begins
August 21, 1941: Stalin Enraged
August 22, 1941: Germans Take Cherkassy
August 23, 1941: Go to Kiev
August 24, 1941: Finns Surround Viipuri
August 25, 1941: Iran Invaded
August 26, 1941: The Bridge Over the Desna
August 27, 1941: Soviets Evacuate Tallinn
August 28, 1941: Evacuating Soviets Savaged
August 29, 1941: Finns take Viipuri
August 30, 1941: Operation Acid
August 31, 1941: Mannerheim Says No

2020

Saturday 18 January 1941

Battleship USS Arizona (BB 39) in the Puget Sound Navy Yard on January 18, 1941. This is the last such photo of the ship known to exist. (US Navy Institute).

Italian/Greek Campaign: On 18 January 1941, following the Greek capture of the key Klisura Pass, the lines have stabilized. Despite having the pass, which is considered the gateway to the key Italian port of Valona, the Greeks are unable at this time to push further down toward the Italian port. The Italians are building up troops for an attempt to retake the pass.

European Air Operations: A major snowstorm begins over England and the Continent that essentially shuts down operations on both sides for three days. The Luftwaffe squeezes in a few minor raids during the day, dropping some bombs on the outskirts of London and shooting up a train in East Anglia. Neither side is in the air after dark. The coastal guns at Hellfire Corner (Dover/Calais) are in action during the day.

Following up on a story from 17 January, the locals on Fair Isle, Orkney continue to hold a group of three Luftwaffe airmen who crashed in their reconnaissance Heinkel He 111. The seemingly simple task of retrieving them turns into a nightmare as the first launch sent to take them into custody runs aground on the southern tip of the island, and then a second launch is sent and also runs aground. The islanders help to refloat the craft, and then the Germans are finally taken away.

Feldwebel Mickel of 1./JG 1 downs a Blenheim over the North Sea for his first victory.

Baltimore News-Post, 18 January 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: German raider Kormoran is operating seven hundred hundred miles (1100 km) west of Western Sahara when the lookouts spot smoke on the horizon just before sunset. The ship is the 6987-ton British tanker British Union. Kormoran Captain Detmers guesses (correctly) that the ship is an Allied vessel and opens fire, hitting with the third salvo. As the Kormoran approaches in the darkness, the crew of the tanker opens fire but misses. The crew of the Kormoran returns fire and does not miss, starting raging fires. The British crew then abandons ship, and Detmers sinks it with gunfire and three torpedoes (one fails to explode). There are 28 survivors (and a pet monkey) in two lifeboats taken aboard the Kormoran. The British Union was able to get off a distress call during the capture, drawing the British armed merchant cruiser (AMC) HMS Arawa to the scene around midnight. While it does not find the Kormoran, which quickly left the scene, the Arawa does pick up the crew of a third lifeboat missed by the Kormoran. This incident is puzzling to the Admiralty because they are unaware of the presence of the Kormoran and Admiral Scheer is later proven to be far from the scene. There also are reports from the men rescued in the third lifeboat that the Kormoran had fired on the other two lifeboats, a claim later proven to be false.

German cruiser Admiral Scheer, in fact, is operating in the South Atlantic. Today, it captures 8038-ton Norwegian tanker Sandefjord, which is carrying 11,000 tons of crude oil. The Sandefjord is sent with a prize crew to France, where it is renamed Monsun. Some sources place this on the 17th, so I have included this event there as well.

The Luftwaffe attacks Portsmouth and has some near misses on destroyer HMS Castleton, damaging it further while it is undergoing repairs for an earlier incident. Another Luftwaffe attack on Swansea damages 3489-ton Greek freighter Chelatros.

German 4664-ton freighter Godfried Bueren hits a mine and sinks in the Kattegat.

Royal Navy AMC Asturias intercepts 8199-ton Vichy French freighter Mendoza sixty miles east of Montevideo. The two ships proceed to Freetown.

Convoy OB 275 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FS 391 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 12D departs from Port Sudan bound for Aden.

Royal Navy corvettes HMS Mimosa and Pentstemon are launched, the destroyer HMS Eskdale is laid down.

U-177 (Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Schonder) commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Australian/British attack on Tobruk, originally planned for 20 January, is postponed 24 hours due to sandstorms. British ships HMS Terror and Aphid bombard Tobruk during the night, and the RAF also raids the port.

The Luftwaffe, after a day off, returns to the skies over Malta today. Fliegerkorps X attacks the Malta airfields during a 90-minute sustained attack on Hal Far and Luqa fields. The raid is a success, destroying hangers, barracks and cratering runways. All but one runway at the two airstrips, at Hal Far, are put out of service during the attack.

Aside from half a dozen parked planes lost at the airfields, the British lose two Fairey Fulmars (one man dead) of RAF No. 806 Squadron. The Luftwaffe loses at least five Stukas and Junkers Ju 88s. The Germans lose five men, including two pilots.

The government of Malta is faced with a humanitarian crisis in the bombed areas downtown. Governor Dobbie visits Senglea and Vittoriosa, sees the devastation, and orders an immediate evacuation of the entire Three Cities. He also calls in the troops to help with continuing rescue efforts. These efforts are bearing fruit, as a dozen people - the Costa and Mizzi families - are found alive in a family air raid shelter two days after the start of the Illustrious Blitz. There are others perhaps also waiting to be discovered, so the workers dig around the clock.

Italian 1384 ton freighter Lelio hits a mine and sinks at La Spezia.

While it is summertime Down Under, that does not mean the skies always are sunny. A flash storm drenches Brisbane with 79 mm of rain in the first 30 minutes. Here, patrons at Albion Park shelter from the rain just after the third race. In the true spirit of "the show must go on," the races proceed and the betting windows remain open. A man perishes when lightning hits him whilst playing golf at Victoria Park (State Library of Queensland).

German/US Relations: German Charge d'Affaires Hans Thomsen gives his "most emphatic protest" to an incident in San Francisco. Someone has taken down a German Swastika flag flying over the German Consulate in that city, which was then torn apart by a raging mob. The Germans protest that this is a violation of international law, as they have national sovereignty over their facilities. Consul General Fritz Wiedemann was flying the flag in honor of the country's unification in 1871. Secretary of State Cordell Hull swiftly promises a full investigation (that will take over four months, until 25 May 1941).

Anglo/US Relations: The British Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, alleges that some US producers are skirting the economic blockade of Europe by selling items needed by the Germans to Russia, which then passes them along to the Germans. There also are other potential routes for such transactions (which often involve cotton shipments), such as contraband shipments from the United States to Portugal, thence to Switzerland, and finally to Italy. A route for cotton which does not involve the US is from Turkey north through various neutrals such as Russia.

The Germans do indeed experience a shortage of cotton, which they are attempting to overcome by the use of artificial fibers (with limited success because the ersatz replacements do not insulate as well as natural cotton). Cotton - or the lack thereof by the Germans - will play quite a pivotal role in the war at the end of the year.

The Ministry of Economic Warfare is concerned because it perceives that the Russians are buying much more cotton than they previously had needed. The problem with this concern is that the US is the biggest supplier of cotton in the world, and the US perceives cotton as one of its biggest cash crops. This makes the Roosevelt administration at best lukewarm to these British concerns, because Roosevelt's Democrats rely on the support of the cotton-growing regions in the south (a political dynamic which disappeared only decades after the war). Part of incoming Ambassador Lord Halifax's agenda when he arrives in Washington will be to confront Roosevelt on this trade. This remains a lingering issue until military and political events later in the year conclusively end it.

Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel learns that he is to become commander of the US Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) at Pearl Harbor, 18 January 1941 (Photo: Bettmann).

Anglo/Japanese/Chinese Relations: The British close the Burma Road again. During the rainy season in mid-1940 the British also closed it, but at that time kept the reasons murky. This time, the British explicitly do so in hopes of improving relations with Japan. The Burma Road is Nationalist China's lifeline, with valuable supplies entering from India and Burma. With the Chinese ports closed to them due to Japanese occupation, the Nationalist Chinese have no other trade routes.

Vichy French Government: Marshal Pétain meets with former minister Pierre Laval to discuss his concerns about Laval. Laval remains a private citizen after the meeting, but this proves to be a key step toward Pétain inviting Laval back into the government.

Sudan: The British are making exploratory attacks into Abyssinia, and the Italians evacuate Kassala.

China: The Chinese infighting between the Communists and the Nationalists (Kuomintang) continues, both on the battlefield and in press releases. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek basically has outlawed the communist army, while the communists retaliate today by stating that the recently Nationalist attack on the Communist New Fourth Army by the Kuomintang was "planned by pro-Japanese conspirators and anti-Communist diehards." Since it is obvious by now that Kai-Shek was the one who ordered the operation, this is a direct shot at him by the Communists.

American Homefront: Warner Bros. releases "Honeymoon for Three," starring Ann Sheridan and George Brent.

Future History: David Eli Ruffin is born in Whynot, Mississippi. David loves to sing and moves to Detroit at the age of 16 to pursue his career. He releases his first singles in 1958 with Vega Records, and around this time meets Berry Gordy, Jr. Ruffin helps Gordy's father build the future headquarters for Junior's Tamla Records aka Motown Records. After a while, Gordy meets a group called The Temptations and, in January 1964, becomes a member. Smokey Robinson, the group's producer, writes a song for Ruffin, "My Girl," which becomes a huge hit and the Temptations' signature song. This makes Ruffin the group's lead singer and frontman. Ruffin, however, has personal issues within the group, including drug addiction, and is fired on 27 June 1968. This results in legal actions, and Ruffin embarks on a successful solo recording career. David Ruffin passes away on 1 June 1991 from an accidental drug overdose (though his family feels it was part of a successful robbery).

Saturday Evening Post, 18 January 1941.

January 1941

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

2020

Sunday 15 December 1940

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

December 1940

December 1, 1940: Wiking Division Forms
December 2, 1940: Convoy HX 90 Destruction
December 3, 1940: Greeks Advancing
December 4, 1940: Italian Command Shakeup
December 5, 1940: Thor Strikes Hard
December 6, 1940: Hitler's Cousin Gassed
December 7, 1940: Storms At Sea
December 8, 1940: Freighter Idarwald Seized
December 9, 1940: Operation Compass Begins
December 10, 1940: Operation Attila Planned
December 11, 1940: Rhein Wrecked
December 12, 1940: Operation Fritz
December 13, 1940: Operation Marita Planned
December 14, 1940: Plutonium Discovered
December 15, 1940: Napoleon II Returns
December 16, 1940: Operation Abigail Rachel
December 17, 1940: Garden Hoses and War
December 18, 1940: Barbarossa Directive
December 19, 1940: Risto Ryti Takes Over
December 20, 1940: Liverpool Blitz, Captain America
December 21, 1940: Moral Aggression
December 22, 1940: Manchester Blitz
December 23, 1940: Hitler at Cap Gris Nez
December 24, 1940: Hitler at Abbeville
December 25, 1940: Hipper's Great Escape
December 26, 1940: Scheer's Happy Rendezvous
December 27, 1940: Komet Shells Nauru
December 28, 1940: Sorge Spills
December 29, 1940: Arsenal of Democracy
December 30, 1940: London Devastated
December 31 1940: Roosevelt's Decent Proposal

2020

Saturday 14 December 1940

Italians on the run in Egypt, 14 December 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British pursuit of the fleeing Italian soldiers forced out of their encampments outside Sidi Barrani continues on 14 December 1940. Operation Compass now has accomplished far more than was ever planned. The British 7th Support Group and the 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades sweep south through the desert, circling around Sollum and Halfaya Pass while disregarding Italian outposts further to the south. The 4th Armoured Brigade is across the Libyan border, about 20 miles west of Bardia. So far, the Italians are staying put in their Libyan encampments, which they have had for decades.

The Royal Navy is heavily engaged in transporting the numerous Italian prisoners taken at Sidi Barrani to Alexandria. Armed boarding ship HMS Fiona arrives in Alexandria with 1600 prisoners, HMS Farouk takes 200, and HMS Fawzia transports 1300. This barely makes a dent in the total number of POWs, so all three immediately turn around and return to Mersa Matruh for more.

Royal Navy destroyers HMS Hereward and Hyperion, conducting a sweep off the Libyan coast with destroyers Diamond and Mohawk, spot Italian submarine Naiade on the surface off Bardia. They shell the submarine, sinking it. There are 25 survivors who are taken as prisoners.

The air war takes another decided turn against the Italians. RAF No. 274 Squadron Hurricanes clearly outmatch the Italian biplane CR 42 fighters, while the lumbering Italian bombers also are easy prey. The Hurricanes shoot down six Savoia Marchetti SM. 79 Sparviero bombers and five CR 42s during the day.

The RAF bombs Naples, damaging Italian cruiser Pola. The Italians once again divide up their fleet there as a result, sending some to Maddalena and others to Cagliari. This is part of repeated comings-and-goings of Italian warships from various ports as they twist and turn to evade RAF attacks.

On Malta, Royal Navy Swordfish take off and bomb Tripoli. RAF No. 148 Squadron forms at Luqa Airfield with Wellington Mk IC bombers, the first bomber squadron actually based on the island.
Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek offensive continues grinding forward, though it is confronting both the Italians and the elements. The Greek 3rd Infantry Division consolidates its hold on Porto Palermo, which it captured on the 13th. The Italian defense is stiffening the closer the Greeks get to the key port of Himara. The RAF raids Valona. Greek III Corps, facing blizzards in the mountains, suspends operations.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command braves continued bad weather during the night to attack enemy shipping near Wilhelmshaven. However, no results are achieved in part due to poor visibility, and the Luftwaffe shoots down five Wellingtons. Coastal Command attacks Brest and Lorient.

The Luftwaffe is quiet today due to the weather. The Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) sends 11 bombers against its usual target, Harwich.

German fighter pilot Franz von Werra is awarded the Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz) for exemplary bravery as Oberleutnant Adjutant of II./Jagdgeschwader 3. Von Werra is a major German propaganda hero who is famous for his pet lion cub.

Hauptmann Franz Xaver Baron von Werra sporting his Knight's Cross.

Battle of the Atlantic: Poor weather continues to wreak as much havoc on British shipping as the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. Two French torpedo boats in the service of the Royal Navy founder in poor weather - La Melpomene east of the Lizard, and Branlebas near the Eddystone Rocks south of Portsmouth. There are only three survivors of the Branlebas and at least five deaths.

U-96 (Kplt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) continues its very successful first patrol. Today it puts two torpedoes into 10,926-ton British liner Western Prince and sinks it about 740 km west of the Orkneys. There are 14-15 deaths and about 144 survivors, including 50 survivors among the 61 passengers who are rescued by HMS Active.

U-96 at 21:02 spots 5118-ton British freighter Empire Razorbill, a straggler from Convoy OB 257, and for some reason conducts a surface attack, perhaps because it is running low on torpedoes. The U-boat scores three hits on the freighter, but the weather is horrendous and the Empire Razorbill escapes into the night.

U-100 (Kptlt. Joachim Schepke) is operating southwest of Rockall when it torpedoes and sinks 3670-ton British freighter Kyleglen. There are no survivors of the 36-man crew in the rough seas.

U-100 then torpedoes and sinks 3380-ton British freighter Euphorbia. There are no survivors from the 36-man crew of this victim, either.

During the night, Royal Navy submarine HMS Thunderbolt - the former HMS Thetis which was raised from the mud of Liverpool Bay, sights Italian submarine Capitano Raffaele Tarantini outside of its base near Bordeaux and sinks it.

Heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer resupplies from SS Nordmark in the South Atlantic. The Germans are beginning to assemble a force in the region - aside from Admiral Scheer, cruiser Admiral Hipper and U-65 are not far off. The British do not know any of these German ships' whereabouts, but they know something is going on. The Admiralty sends Force H from Gibraltar, led by the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and battlecruiser HMS Renown, to patrol around the Azores. German ships occasionally have been spotted in the vicinity, and the British believe is on Hitler's invasion list.

Battleship HMS Ramillies and aircraft carriers HMS Furious and Argus, no longer really needed in the Mediterranean for the time being, arrive in the Clyde during the afternoon. The Ramillies needs a refitting, which it will receive in Plymouth. Destroyer HMS Bradford sustains damage to its propellers along the way and must be taken in tow.

German freighter Rio Grande completes a very risky journey from Brazil to Occupied France. It carries 300 prisoners taken by German raider Thor in the South Atlantic and recently transferred for passage to POW camps.

Convoy OB 259 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 359 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 361 departs from Methil, Convoy HX 96 departs from Halifax.

U-71 (Kapitänleutnant Walter Flachsenberg) is commissioned.

U-151 and U-152 are launched, and U-254 is laid down.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Blencathra is commissioned.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Burdock and destroyer HMS Lamerton are launched.

Canadian minesweeper HMCS Quinte and corvette HMS Timmins are laid down in Esquimalt, British Columbia.

US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet is launched.

Percy Arnold Turton, aged 21, perished on 14 December 1940 on the Branlebas. He is listed on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Always good to remember that these are people we are talking about ... not numbers.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: The Atlantis, having split up from its companion raiders Pinguin and Orion after all three refueled from the captured tanker Storstad, arrives at the remote Kerguelen Island. A heavily armed landing party finds the only town on the island, Port Couvreux, uninhabited.

The crew suffers a scare when the ship grounds in one of the poorly charted bays. It hits a rock that pierces its outer hull. The ship remains stuck on the rock for three days but eventually pulls free. The Pinguin, meanwhile, headed for the whaling fleet south of Bouvet Island, the Komet headed back toward Nauru, and the Storstad set sail back to Europe with numerous prisoners.

The crew of the Atlantis sets to work performing maintenance on the ship, stocking up with water, and taking a break from constant patrols. At some point during this break, crewman Bernhard Herrmann falls while painting the funnel and perishes. His grave on the island is grandly referred to as the southernmost German military cemetery. It is the ship's first casualty during its phenomenally successful cruise. The ship will stay on the island, where it is summertime, into the new year.

Battle of the Pacific: British 1896-ton coaster Cardross collides with British freighter Fiona off Sydney and sinks.

Glenn Seaborg on a 1961 cover of Time Magazine.

Applied Science: Glenn Seaborg and his team discover plutonium in Room 307 of Gilman Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. The team quickly begins developing a process to create plutonium-239 by bombarding uranium with deuterons. This discovery will be used by the Manhattan Project as it works toward the atomic bomb.

Terrorism: At Curragh Camp outside Dublin, Irish Republican Army (IRA) detainees revolt against their guards (Garda) and troops called in to quell the violence. They set fire to the camp (which they call "Tin Town" (Baile an Stáin) and clash with British soldiers. There are four casualties. The unrest continues through the night into the next day.

The Éamon de Valera has imprisoned these IRA members for the duration of "The Emergency," as the war is called. Some 2000 men pass through the camp during the war. The camp's mere existence, incidentally, is proof positive that the Irish government is in some small ways acting to support the British, though not nearly enough to satisfy Winston Churchill.

Vichy French Government: Vichy French Premier Marshal Petain, having ordered Pierre Laval arrested on the previous evening after having deviously obtained and accepted his resignation, announces that Laval is now no longer a part of the government. Pierre Étienne Flandin is his replacement as Foreign Minister. Laval is kept under house arrest only briefly, then allowed freedom of movement. This will remain the status quo until 1942.

It is unclear what motivated Petain to dismiss Laval. Some speculate that it was due to Laval's marked lack of deference to Petain. However, a clue may be found in two other things that Petain does today:

• Petain declines Hitler's invitation to attend a ceremony on the 15th marking the return to France of the remains of Napoleon II;
• Petain sends a message to Roosevelt reassuring him that the French fleet will not fall into German hands.

Laval is the prime architect behind French collaboration with Germany, though that is not yet blatantly obvious. Removing Laval appears to be Petain's way of making a statement about where his own sympathies truly lie. Declining the invitation from Hitler and cabling Roosevelt simply reinforces the impression that Petain feels that his country was getting a little too cozy with Hitler's Germany. Laval finds support from the German ambassador, though he is not restored to his previous powerful position as Petain's Vice-Premier.

British Military: General Richard McCreery becomes commander of British 8th Armored Division.

US Military: The US Army Air Corp increases its order for Boeing XB-29 bomber prototypes from two to three planes. Consolidated, meanwhile continues to work on its own quite similar heavy bomber, the Model 33, so that the US is not reliant on just the Boeing project. The XB-29 has numerous issues, including finicky Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines, but overall it is a groundbreaking airframe. It eventually becomes the B-29.

Yugoslavia: Former Prime Minister Anton Korošec passes away in Belgrade. Korošec was a fierce anti-Semite who introduced two laws limiting the rights of Jews, specifically barring them from the wholesale food industry and limiting the percentage of Jewish students in higher education, just a couple of months before his death. The laws only passed because Korošec warned that failure to do so would provoke Hitler.

American Homefront: Winston Churchill arranges a private screening of Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," which opened in Britain on the 11th. British reaction to the film is decidedly mixed, as the climax of the film - a rambling speech by Chaplin's character posing as the dictator about understanding people and so forth - comes off as a bit late in the game considering the devastation of the Blitz.

German battleship Bismarck on the Elbe, 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