Thursday 28 November 1940

Artist Ethel Gabain, a commissioned artist hired by the Ministry of Information to record Blitz scenes, in East London, 28 November 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek offensive in Albania grinds forward on 28 November 1940, the men braving blizzards and rocky terrain to push the Italians back. There are few villages to mark their progress, but they are making good ground that is gradually bringing them closer to important Italian bases.

Greek II Corps is reinforced again, this time with the Cavalry Division. The Corps now has received two fresh divisions in two days. The Cavalry Division crosses the Legatitsa River and continues the advance toward Përmet (Premeti).

Greek III continues moving toward Pogradec, the most significant objective off its front.

Greek troops occupy the heights above Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër), a historic town in Epirus. However, the Italians still hold the town and are fighting hard to keep it.

Italian destroyers Pigafetta, Da Recco, Pessagno, and Riboty, accompanied by torpedo boats Prestinari and Bassini, bombard Greek positions on Corfu. The Italian high command has given up early plans to invade the island. The RAF raids the ports of Porta Santi Quaranta in southern Albania, Durazzo, Brindisi and Elbasan in central Albania.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends bombers against Mannheim, Dusseldorf, the synthetic oil installation at Politz, Stettin, Cuxhaven, Antwerp, Boulogne, and Le Havre.

The Luftwaffe sends over 40 fighter-bombers (Jabos) during the day, but they accomplish little. Daylight raids are increasingly pointless, particularly with the shortening hours of daylight, but the Luftwaffe continues with occasional Jabo sweeps. Losses are about even, with half a dozen planes lost by each side.

The Luftwaffe, recently having pounded several other moderate-sized English cities such as Coventry and Brighton with large-scale raids, turns its attention to Liverpool during the night. It sends 340 bombers which drop massive parachute land mines. The raid kills 164-166 and injures 96 more when a landmine scores a direct hit on a shelter at Edge Hill Training College on Durning Road. The scene is gruesome, as it is not the blast that kills everyone, but rather boiling water released from a boiler and gas from damaged pipes.

John Charles Dundas, who perished on 28 November 1940 after shooting down Luftwaffe ace Helmut Wick. Dundas had 12 victories.

Helmut Wick, one of the Luftwaffe's leading aces, has a good day that turns horribly wrong. He gets a victory in the morning, his 55th, and then during the afternoon scores his 56th confirmed kill. This finally catches fellow Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland, who Wick has been chasing since the war began.

However, shortly after, Wick meets his own fate. It is believed to be at the hands of Flight Lieutenant Dundas (RAF No. 609 Squadron) near the Isle of Wight. Dundas probably never knows who he shot down, however, because minutes later he himself is killed in the same air battle.

Wick is last seen baling out over the Channel and likely landed while still alive in the water. The winter weather is unforgiving, the sea is cold, and the rescue can't happen enough. In fact, Wick's body is never found. As happens more than once in the continuing battle, the downed airman's Luftwaffe colleagues circle above the downed pilot as long as they can. One, Hptm. Rudi Pflanz stays so long that he has to crash land in France because he runs out of fuel. One of the crueler aspects of the Battle of Britain - and war in general, on both sides - is that so many men must watch their friends and colleagues die moments after they were alive, well and at the top of their game.

Wick is a propaganda hero, and in one of those freaky coincidences is on the cover of that day's German propaganda publication, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (BIZ). He is standing beside Hermann Goering, whose wayward decisions have sabotaged the Luftwaffe effort and helped keep the RAF strong.

The new Kommodore of JG 2, replacing Wick, is Hptm. Karl-Heinz Greisert.

Lt Harold Reginald Newgass earns the George Cross for disarming a land mine lodged in a fuel tank full of coal gas.

The cover of BIZ No. 48, 28 November 1940. That is Helmut Wick on the right (I believe).

Battle of the Atlantic: The weather is very rough in the mid-Atlantic. This makes the merchant marine service increasingly all-or-nothing around this time, because either you make it across or have a ship close at hand to rescue you if you get torpedoed - or you don't. And, if you don't, your odds of survival are not good. The action is erratic, with equipment not always acting the way it would in more normal weather and more unsuccessful attacks than usual.

U-104 (Kptlt. Harald Jürst) and its 49 crewmen, after having torpedoed two ships on the 27th (and sinking one), disappears into the sea, with nobody surviving. The most common theory is that the U-boat wandered into a defensive Royal Navy minefield (SN 44, laid on 8 November) northwest of Londonderry, County Derry, Northern Ireland. It is not known when it sinks, either, as it is not considered missing by the Kriegsmarine until well into December.

U-103 (Kplt. Viktor Schütze), on its second patrol out of Lorient, is operating in the Atlantic sea lanes about 930 km from Bishop Rock (200 miles southwest of Rockall). It downs two ships. First, it torpedoes 3578 ton Greek freighter Mount Athos. There are 19 deaths. Mount Athos is a straggler from Convoy OB 248 and sinks within four minutes. However, even in that short time, the wireless operator manages to get out a message with the ship's position. Nine survivors are picked up on the 30th by an escort from Convoy OB 251, HMS Vanquisher.

U-103 also torpedoes and sinks 4940-ton British freighter St. Elwyn. There are 16 survivors and 24 men perish. Survivors are picked up by British freighter Leeds City.

U-95 (Kptlt. Gerd Schreiber), on its first patrol out of Kiel, fires two torpedoes at 1298-ton Norwegian collier Ringhorn and misses with both. It is possible that the torpedoes are defective - there are problems with torpedoes in the cold during the war's early years. In any event, Schreiber, undoubtedly frustrated at wasting so much ordnance on a relatively small ship, surfaces and uses his deck gun. The Germans damage the freighter and the crew abandons ship, expecting it to sink. However, they later reboard it and bring it to port at Belfast.

Greek 2950-ton freighter Eugenia Cambanis, traveling in convoy SC 13 in the Atlantic off Newfoundland, sinks in a gale after its cargo shifts. Sources are unclear on what happens to the crew, either they all live or all perish - the story of the Battle of the Atlantic. The crew abandons the ship, certain it will capsize and sink... but it doesn't sink. The derelict, in fact, does not go to the bottom until finally shelled by Norwegian patrol boat Hilda Knudsen on 19 December.

Royal Navy 221-ton trawler HMT Manx Prince hits a mine and sinks off the mouth of the Humber in the North Sea, about 5 km from Spurn Point, Yorkshire. Everybody aboard survives, taken aboard minesweeping trawler HMS Cortina.

The German coastal guns at Cap Gris Nez (Hellfire Corner) score a rare long-range success - sort of - when they hit 1167 ton British freighter Skipjack at Dover. However the ship is only damaged, and at that distance, there is little chance of a successful follow-through. The Skipjack makes it to port for repairs.

Italian submarine Dessie fires torpedoes at light cruiser HMS Glasgow in the Atlantic and misses.

Convoy OB 251 departs from Liverpool, Convoys Sl 575 and SL 57 depart from Freetown.

Australian destroyer HMAS Napier (G 97, Captain Stephen H. T. Arliss) is commissioned.

Consolidated Model 28 - U.S. Navy PBY - flying boats in final assembly at the Consolidated Aircraft factory in San Diego in November 1940. Photo credit: Consolidated Aircraft.

Battle of the Mediterranean: British submarine HMS Regulus goes missing in the Aegean. It is presumed lost due to a mine. Nobody survives.

Operation Collar continues, with battleship HMS Malaya covering the return of Convoy ME 4 - the outward-bound voyage of the Malta convoy MW 4 - to Alexandria.

Operation Canned commences off Italian Somaliland. Light cruiser HMS Leander departs from Aden in a mission to bombard Italian positions at Banda Alulu.

At Malta, there are several air raids as ships arrive at 14:30 in Grand Harbour from the Operation Collar convoys. The Italians are active because they know that there are many British ships operating in the area due to Operation Collar. A raid by half a dozen CR 42 fighters, followed by ten bombers escorted by another ten fighters, around 13:30 is particularly fierce. The Italians lose an SM 79 bomber and a fighter. The British freighters, meanwhile, sustain no damage and unload quickly.

Henry Maitland Wilson, Italy, 30 April 1944 (Imperial war Museum TR 1762).

North Africa: British Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell is busy planning Operation Compass, the planned offensive against the Italians in Egypt. He orders the Commander of British Troops Egypt, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, to prepare limited five-day operations. He writes to Wilson:

I do not entertain extravagant hopes of this operation but I do wish to make certain that if a big opportunity occurs we are prepared morally, mentally and administratively to use it to the fullest.

The general plan of attack will be to send British and Indian troops through the Sofafi–Nibeiwa gap, with armored formations attacking Nibeiwa from the west.

German/Yugoslavian Relations: Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Markovic meets with Hitler in Berlin. Hitler pressures Yugoslavia to sign the Tripartite Pact, but the Serb-dominated officer corps violently opposes this. Regent Prince Paul of Yugoslavia knows that signing the agreement will only cause trouble and is extremely leery, so the Yugoslavs pass. Hitler proposes a bizarre swap, a Yugoslavian alliance in exchange for the Greek seaport of Salonika - which the Greeks still possess. At this point in time, Hitler is offering potential allies territory which he has no ability to give, and the offers themselves illustrate his intentions.

Soviet Military: Konstantin Rokossovsky, a former prisoner accused of treason (on fabricated evidence) but released from  Kresty Prison in Leningrad for unexplained reasons on 22 March 1940, assumes command of the newly formed 9th Mechanized Corps in the Kyiv Military District. It has the 19th and 20th Tank Divisions and the 131st Motorized Division. Soviet records can be obscure, but it appears Rokossovsky takes over from the start. Rokossovsky only survived the 1930s officer purges because he refused to sign a false statement, but was badly beaten for doing so. He never blamed Stalin for his mistreatment, but rather the NKVD (Soviet secret police).

Romania: Following the Iron Guard's brutal assaults on its political enemies on the 27th, Ion Antonescu's government declares a state of emergency.

China: The commander of the Japanese 11th Army in Hubei Province (Han River sector), Lieutenant General Waichiro Sonobe, orders a retreat under pressure from the continuing Chinese offensive. The Japanese engage in a scorched earth policy, burning down villages and inflicting heavy casualties on civilians and the advancing Chinese troops.

Holocaust: German Reserve Police Battalion 101 is assigned to guard the perimeter of the Lodz ghetto and shoot anyone who tries to leave.

German Homefront: The German film industry remains quite active throughout the war. Today, it releases its most notorious films, "The Eternal Jew" (Der ewige Jude), likely the most anti-Semitic film ever made. Directed by Fritz Hippler and with a screenplay by Eberhard Taubert, it interweaves documentary footage with acting. Many view this film as a response to a 1934 British film of the same name which portrayed Jews in a sympathetic light.

British Homefront: The government increasingly is trying to shape the lives of its citizens to better withstand what now looks to be a long-term siege of Great Britain. Two different authority figures give their views today, and their news is not good. However, it is judicious and necessary from a medical perspective.

Lord Horder, who chairs the British Medical Committee, has grown increasingly concerned about the risk of epidemics due to the devastation being wrought to dwellings and the other signs of aerial combat (such as dead bodies). He cautions the public that "We have more to fear from germs than Germans."

Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food who recently ended banana imports, has further bad news. he announces a cut in milk rations during the winter months. The government further advises that milk may be unsafe without first boiling it to reduce the risk of typhoid.

Opening Fashion Exhibit at the Parsons School of Design. New York City, 28 November 1940.

November 1940

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

2020

Tuesday 4 June 1940

Winston Churchill.

Western Front: The Dunkirk bridgehead collapses on 4 June 1940 and the Germans occupy the port at 10:20. There are still 40,000 French soldiers and stragglers from all of the Allied armies who go into captivity. There also are piles of British and French equipment which the Germans will put to use.

The Germans immediately re-deploy their forces for an operation south towards Paris. The new attack will be Operation Fall Rot ("Case Red").

The French try attacking at Abbeville again at 03:00 pursuant to General Georges' plan. Little reconnaissance is performed beforehand, and communication - especially between French and British formations - is inadequate. The French tanks and British infantry attack at different times, and some of the attacking formation arrive only at the last moment.

French tanks of 2nd Armoured Division, part of the 4th Army Group under General Huntziger, advance at Abbeville but run into a minefield in a sector they mistakenly believe still to be held by the 51st Highland Division. Instead, the highlanders have pulled back during the night, and the Germans planted mines in the evacuated territory. The Allies lose at least fifty tanks, numerous other armored vehicles and take 1000 casualties. The Germans retain the high ground northwest of Caubert and the attack is a complete fiasco.

Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo ends at 03:40. The Allied navies have rescued 338,226 men, of which 112,000 are French. The evacuation greatly exceeded expectations of perhaps 50,000 evacuees and thus is considered a great victory. Destroyer HMS Ivanhoe is one of the last ships out and is hit with a bomb on its deck crowded with French soldiers.

Besides the tens of thousands of Allied troops who now are POWs, left behind in Dunkirk are

• 880 field guns, 
• 310 guns of large calibre, 
• some 500 anti-aircraft guns, 
• about 850 anti-tank guns, 
• 11,000 machine guns, 
• nearly 700 tanks, 
• 20,000 motorcycles, and 
• 45,000 motor cars and lorries.

Altogether, the Allies leave behind 2,472 artillery pieces, 84, 427 vehicles and 657,566 tons of supplies. In addition, the Allies have lost at least 89 merchant ships (126,518 tons), with 9 destroyers sunk and 20 damaged. In addition, the RAF has lost 80 scarce pilots killed.

Air losses by both sides are a subject of great controversy. The RAF lost 106-135 planes, while losses for the Luftwaffe vary from 100-240.

Dunkirk after the battle.

European Air Operations: In retaliation for the Luftwaffe's Operation Paula of 3 June, the French air force bombs Munich and Frankfurt, while the RAF sends 57 bombers to attack the Ruhr and Rhineland munitions factories.

The Luftwaffe bombs the port of Le Havre.

General Weygand asks the British for 20 RAF fighter squadrons, and the request is refused.

Battle of the Atlantic: Kriegsmarine pocket battleships Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Admiral Hipper, along with a squadron of destroyers (destroyers Karl Galster, Hans Lody, Erich Steinbrinck & Hermann Schoemann), depart for Norwegian waters under Admiral Wilhelm Marschall.

British Government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives a stirring speech in the House of Commons. He states that Operation Dynamo, which brought 350,000 troops back to England, had turned a defeat into a victory:

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the Old.

The speech, Churchill's most famous, receives a mixed reception. The British love it, and it is considered the height of jingoistic rhetoric. On the other hand, the French find little to cheer about in the idea that England now envisions itself fighting alone despite the fact that its troops are still fighting and dying.

The Dunkirk docks are now quiet.

Norway: The evacuation of Narvik and Harstad begins pursuant to Operation Alphabet. The evacuation takes time because considerable military infrastructure has been created by the British. There are about 4900 Allied troops on the first ships out of Narvik, which is composed of 6 fast transport ships escorted by Royal Navy training cruiser Vindictive. The transports, actually passenger liners, hide in the fjords and small craft bring them the soldiers.

The Norwegians continue attacking General Dietl's mountain troops near the Swedish border.

Ireland: The government sets the size of the army at 40,000 troops.

Italy: The Italian high command sends its submarine fleet to sea.

China: The seesawing Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang continues. The Chinese 5th War Area counterattacks and recovers Nanchang and Yicheng.

Chiang Kai-shek sends representatives to Macau to discuss peace terms with Japanese representatives. There is no progress.

Soviet Military: General Andrei Eremenko becomes the leader of the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps, while Konstantin Rokossovsky takes over the Soviet 5th Cavalry Corps.

French Homefront: The refugee crisis is increasing, and it becomes known as L'Éxode ("The Exodus"). Tens of thousands of French citizens inhabiting northern French cities such as Chartres and Lille are heading south, while southern French cities such as Marseilles and Bordeaux are swelling in size.


June 1940

June 1, 1940: Devastation at Dunkirk
June 2, 1940: Hitler Visits France
June 3, 1940: Operation Paula
June 4, 1940: We Shall Fight
June 5, 1940: Fall Rot
June 6, 1940: Weygand Line Crumbling
June 7, 1940: British Evacuating Narvik
June 8, 1940: Operation Juno
June 9, 1940: Norway Capitulates
June 10, 1940: Mussolini Throws Down
June 11, 1940: Paris an Open City
June 12, 1940: Rommel at St. Valery
June 13, 1940: France Goes Alone
June 14, 1940: Paris Falls
June 15, 1940: Soviets Scoop Up Lithuania
June 16, 1940: Enter Pétain
June 17, 1940: The Lancastria Sinks
June 18, 1940: A Day of Leaders
June 19, 1940: U-boats Run Wild
June 20, 1940: Pétain Wilts
June 21, 1940: Hitler's Happiest Day
June 22, 1940: France Is Done
June 23, 1940: Hitler in Paris
June 24, 1940: Six Million Jews
June 25, 1940: German Celebrations
June 26, 1940: USSR Being Belligerent
June 27, 1940: Malta in Peril
June 28, 1940: Channel Islands Bombed
June 29, 1940: Gandhi Insists on Independence
June 30, 1940: Channel Islands Occupied

2020

Friday 22 March 1940

Bf 110 night fighters.

European Air Operations: Handley Page Hampden bombers conduct a standard night reconnaissance and leaflet drop over the Ruhr industrial area and northwest Germany on 22 March 1940. For the first time, though, Luftwaffe Bf 110 Zerstorer (destroyer) night fighters come up to challenge the British. One bomber is damaged.

Along the Dutch border, a Hawker Hurricane tangles with Bf109s and crashes.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe conducts another sweep over the British east coast and attacks the Cromer Knoll lightship without scoring any hits.

The British freighter Loch Assater hits a mine and sinks.

Convoy SL 25 departs from Freetown.

Western Front: Journalist William Shirer, based in Berlin, writes in his diary that "Germany can now try to force the issue on the western front, but this is improbable."

Soviet Military: General Konstantin Rokossovsky, arrested in 1937 during the purges that ended the lives of many of his colleagues, is released from prison and rehabilitated. This is part of Stalin's pattern of imprisoning his top generals, torturing them, executing some, and somewhat arbitrarily restoring others to their former, or even more prominent, positions.

French Government: While new Prime Minister Paul Reynaud has kept former Prime Minister Edouard Daladier in the cabinet, they find that they cannot agree on a strategy. This also has implications for relations with the British.

Turkey: The government orders all Turkish freighters to return to Turkish waters ASAP.

Finland: The Soviets continue occupying the Finnish port of Hanko, which is theirs for 30 years under the Moscow Peace Treaty. They rename it Hangö. The official handover is at midnight on 22 March 1940.

Romania: King Carol II vows to defend his country's borders.

India: The Muslim League advocates splitting India into Muslim and Hindu countries. This is an idea that is highly controversial among other revolutionaries.

China: The Chinese 101st Division, having bagged Wuyuan on the 21st, move on to capture the strongpoint at Hsin-an-chen in order to cut the road along the Yellow River that leads to Wuyuan. The Japanese send 80 trucks full of troops from Dashetai via Siyitang to make a forced crossing of the Wu-chia River at Ta-Tsai-chu 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Wuyuan. This is a Muslim region with Chinese troops that are full of fervor.

In the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Chinese 46th Army attacks the Japanese 22nd Army at Lingshan.

British Homefront: Gerald Winter, a farmer from Sussex, is awarded an Empire Gallantry Medal for dragging an RAF pilot from a burning plane.

American Homefront: Popeye the Sailor -- Stealin Aint Honest # 78 March 22, 1940, is released. Popeye battles Bluto for a gold mine!

Future History: Haing S. Ngor is born in Los Angeles, California. He becomes famous in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields" (1984), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Thereafter, he continues acting and becomes an author.

March 1940

March 1, 1940: Soviet Breakthroughs Past Viipuri
March 2, 1940: Soviets Swarm West in Finland
March 3, 1940: Soviets Across Gulf of Viipuri
March 4, 1940: USSR Apologizes to Sweden
March 5, 1940: Katyn Forest Massacre Approved
March 6, 1940: Finns Head to Moscow
March 7, 1940: The Coal Ships Affair
March 8, 1940: Peace Talks Begin in Moscow
March 9, 1940: Soviets Harden Peace Terms
March 10, 1940: Germany Draws Closer to Italy
March 11, 1940: Winter War Peace Terms Finalized
March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)
March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends
March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia
March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe
March 16, 1940: First British Civilian Killed
March 17, 1940: Enter Dr. Todt
March 18, 1940: Mussolini To Join the War
March 19, 1940: Daladier Resigns
March 20, 1940: Soviets Occupy Hango Naval Base
March 21, 1940: Paul Reynaud Leads France
March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!
March 24, 1940: French Consider Alternatives
March 25, 1940: Reynaud Proposes Action
March 26, 1940: C-46 First Flight
March 27, 1940: Himmler Authorizes Auschwitz Construction
March 28, 1940: Allies Ponder Invading Norway
March 29, 1940: Soviets Prefer Neutrality
March 30, 1940: Allied Uncertainty
March 31, 1940: The Tiger Cage

2019