Monday 30 December 1940

London still smoldering on the morning of the 30th from the previous night's devastating fire raid.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Some fighting develops on 30 December 1940 in the central sector between Greek 2nd Corps and the defending Italians for possession of strategically important Klisura Pass (Kelcyre). The Greeks have not yet launched their main attacks there, but they already are having success against the Italians, who are showing a pronounced willingness to surrender.

European Air Operations: London digs out from the Second Great London Fire caused by the Luftwaffe raid on the night of 29/30 December. Royal Engineers and other troops are brought in to bring order to ravaged streets and dynamite destroyed buildings in the City of London. The incendiaries have fallen in about a two-and-a-half-mile diameter centered near St. Paul's Cathedral. The boroughs of Poplar and Westminster, near the Thames River, are hit the hardest. The authorities count a total of 1500 fires, with 52 of them listed as "serious," 28 as "major," and six as "conflagrations."

The Air Staff comes out with new guidelines. They want a person on every building ready to quickly douse incendiaries, which are easy to extinguish if caught quickly. A "fire-watching" system is set up in which everyone is held responsible for protecting their own house or business.

The Luftwaffe sends only a single bomber over East Anglia and Kent during the day and does not operate during the night of 30/31 December. They have been using X-Gerät beams to guide their bombers and using about ten bombers from KG 100 which are specially outfitted to receive such beams to guide them to the targets. The RAF steps up countermeasures to the beams at their special station at Cheadle (Cheshire).

The Arroyo Seco Parkway around the time of its opening in 1940. The black lanes are the "passing" lanes" and not part of the median. This road along a dry riverbed remains in use in the 21st Century in almost exactly the same configuration as shown here, although it now has more lanes and handles much more traffic (Caltrans).

Battle of the Atlantic: The weather is very rough in the North Atlantic, leading to ships colliding and others running aground. The convoy system places numerous ships unusually close to one another, and today that causes some damage.

A Luftwaffe (IX Air Corps) aerial mine hits and sinks 613-ton British freighter Calcium near Liverpool Harbor. When 608 ton British freighter Sodium goes alongside to take off the crew, the Calcium hits the Sodium and damages it.

In the same attack as sank the Calcium, the Luftwaffe also hits and damages Royal Navy destroyer HMS Venomous with an aerial mine at the entrance to Liverpool harbor. It requires repairs in Liverpool lasting for almost two months. There is one death on the Calcium.

Other ships damaged in the Luftwaffe attack on Liverpool Harbour are 5645-ton Swedish freighter Buenos Aires and 5218-ton British freighter Catrine. British 8053 ton tanker Dorcasia also hits a mine in the same general vicinity as the other ship; it is not clear if it is an aerial mine or a sea mine. In any event, it makes it back to port.

British 6402 ton freighter the City of Bedford gets in an accidental collision with 5342-ton British freighter Bodnant. The incident happens when Convoy SL 58 and Convoy OB 264 merge. The City of Bedford sinks, and the convoy Commodore, Rear Admiral JC Hamilton (Rtd.), perishes in the sinking.

British 3896 ton freighter Baron Ardrossan runs aground at Barra, Outer Hebrides. It is a complete write-off.

Force H, which has been fruitlessly out looking for the Admiral Hipper (which has made port at Brest), arrives back at Gibraltar. Heavy cruiser HMS Renown has suffered weather damage and requires repairs.

Convoy OB 267 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 371 departs from Southend.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Meynell (Lt. Commander William H. Farrington), the submarine HMS Undaunted and corvette HMS Kingcup are commissioned. Minesweeper HMS Boston, submarine HMS Umpire and corvette HMS Violet are launched.

Time Magazine features opera soprano Lily Pons on the cover of its 30 December 1940 issue. Pons, who became an American citizen in 1940, opened in Donizetti's La fille du regiment (Daughter of the Regiment) as Marie at the Met in New York City on 28 December 1940 (when this issue would have been on the newsstands). The revival resonates because it was last done at the end of World War I, and it concludes with a big flag-waving scene as Marie hoists aloft the French Napoleonic tricolors with the orchestra playing the Marseillaise. Thus, while this cover seems to be about opera... it's not just about opera.

Battle of the Mediterranean: In a collision in the Gulf of Sollum off Egypt, 913-ton anti-submarine trawler HMT Bandolero is sunk by Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen. Everybody survives. The Waterhen also is damaged, but makes it back to Alexandria under escort and requires a month of repairs.

The RAF raids Taranto, Naples, and Palermo. This apparently is done by the Wellingtons stationed on Malta.

The Australian 6th Division continues preparing for its assault on Bardia scheduled for 2 January 1941. Bardia now is cut off from relief by the Australian 16th and 17th Brigade troops. While Tobruk is not invested, the British do have patrols of the 7th Armoured Division in that general area.

An accounting on Malta shows that the Christmas Appeal to fund parties for refugee children provided enough money to fund 45 parties all across the island. Not only was cash raised, but also toys, food, candy, and free entertainment.

The Italians raid Malta again. This time, they actually fly over the island and drop some bombs, unlike on the 29th. The raid around 11:30 damages Luqa Airfield but causes no casualties on either side.

Life Magazine looks at "Britain's Desert Warriors" in its 30 December 1940 issue.

Battle of the Pacific: The Royal Navy organizes convoys for ships sailing in the Tasman Sea. This is in response to German raider Komet's successful attack on the phosphate facilities at Nauru.

Convoy US 8 departs from Sydney for Egypt. It is a major troop convoy which includes 11,093-ton transport Empire Star, 8536 ton Port Chalmers, 16,801-ton transport Empress of Russia, and 7527-ton transport Maunganui.

Spy Stuff: MI-6 agents in Tokyo have interviewed one of the crewmen taken from the Automedon and later landed in Japan by the German-captured Ole Jacob. The crewman reveals that the secret communications carried by the Automedon have fallen into German and Japanese hands. That information, which describes in detail British defenses in the Pacific region, indeed is in the hands of Japanese and German authorities.

Anglo/Abyssinian Relations: Winston Churchill sends a directive to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to support the return of exiled emperor Haile Selassie to the country for purposes of leading a revolt against the Italians there which can be capitalized upon by the British forces in neighboring Kenya.

US/Vichy French Relations: Admiral and Mrs. Leahy arrive in Lisbon onboard the USS Tuscaloosa. They will proceed to Vichy, where the Admiral will take up his post as US Ambassador to France.

German Military: Admiral Doenitz, commander of the U-boat fleet, gives a speech to the OKW in which he touts the value of the long-range Focke-Wulf FW Condor patrol planes:

Just let me have a minimum of twenty Fw 200s solely for reconnaissance purposes, and the U-boat successes will shoot up!

While they have their own issues, the Condors are the Luftwaffe's only four-engine aircraft and have proven quite serviceable in actions against the convoys, both from reconnaissance and attack perspectives.

A Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, of the kind that entered production in 1940.

US Military: Rear Admiral Claude C. Bloch, Commander of the 14th Naval District (and former Commander-in-chief of the US Fleet) in Hawaii, writes the first of three letters to the War Department (Chief of Naval Operations) warning that defenses there are inadequate. His specific complaint is that there are not enough long-range Consolidated PBY Catalina patrol planes to complete a proper search radius of the islands. CINCPACFLT endorses Bloch's appeals, but nothing is done, though Admiral Stark promises to send some PBYs. In fact, Admiral Bloch at no point has a single PBY to perform searches, though he can use some of the Navy's planes when they are not needed by the fleet. Admiral Kimmel, with no patrol planes, decides not to conduct air patrols at all despite the occasional availability of planes. Instead, the planes are devoted to fleet protection. There are many practical issues involved in this decision, including the lack of spare parts in Hawaii and the strain that endless patrols would place on the inadequate flight crews.

Admiral Bloch, incidentally, is the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the US armed forces during World War II.

British Military: The export version of the Bell P-39 Aircobra, the Bell P-400 Airacobra, is flown for the first time by an RAF pilot in England. Christopher Clarkson takes the plane up and has no issues. The plane is highly touted, and a production run of 675 aircraft destined for England is scheduled.

General Oliver Leese becomes commander of the West Sussex County Division of the Home Defense.

"Wunschkonzert," released on 30 December 1940, establishes Ilse Werner as one of the top film stars in Germany.

German Homefront: UFA releases "Wunschkonzert," a film set in part at the 1936 Olympics and named after a popular radio program in which soldiers from around the Reich call-in requests for songs. While she does not receive top billing (except on some film posters), the lovely (Dutch) Ilse Werner steals the movie and becomes one of Germany's top film stars (and also a radio and television star during the war). Werner builds on this success to become known for her trademark whistling as part of her singing act. "Wunschkonzert" becomes the highest-grossing film in UFA history and, in an excellent example of synergy, propels the radio show on which it is based to new heights of popularity. All that said... it is not a very interesting film for modern audiences, with a rote and maudlin love-triangle plot, obvious German propaganda touches and, inexplicably, no singing from one of the Reich's top singing stars, Wagner.

American Homefront: California Governor Culbert Olson and Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron dedicate the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway, State Route 110) in California. Note that parts of the freeway were first opened to traffic on 20 July December, but this dedication marks the entire route as open and ready for traffic.

As a fact sheet put out by Caltrans puts it:

It has the distinction of being the first freeway -- a grade-separated, limited-access, high-speed divided road -- in the urban western United States. Termed an “engineering marvel,” it was the initial stretch of road for what would become the world renowned Los Angeles metropolitan area freeway system.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway roadbed remains in the 21st Century exactly where it was laid out in the 1930s. It remains in good shape partly because trucks were banned from it shortly after its construction. Designed to accommodate 27,000 vehicles at an average speed per day, the highway has been widened and now handles about 122,000 vehicles per day. It reverted to its original name in 2010. Incidentally, at the dedication ceremony, five Native American leaders, including Chief Tahachwee of the Kawie tribe that lived in the Arroyo, smoke a 150-year-old peace pipe to celebrate this "modern progress."

Opening Day caravan for the Arroyo Seco Freeway, 3 December 1940. There is a black left lane for passing, a gray right lane for normal traffic, and a shoulder lane.  The shoulder lane and the median area are long gone.

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

Sunday 29 December 1940

St Paul’s church in London, taken by Daily Mail photographer Herbert Mason from Fleet Street on the night of 29 December 1940. (US National Archives 306-NT-3173V). In many versions of this shot, including those used immediately after the raid, the destroyed building in the foreground is cropped out.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Greek submarine Proteus (Y3, Lt Cdr M. Hatsikostantis) torpedoes and sinks 11,452-ton Italian troop transport Sardegna in the Southern Adriatic on 29 December 1940, roughly a dozen miles off Saseno (east of Brindisi). One of the Italian escorts, torpedo boat R.N. Antares, then forces Proteus to the surface with 11 depth charges, then rams and sinks the Proteus. All 48 men on the Proteus perish. There were survivors from the Sardegna rescued by the Antares, but how many is unclear.

RAF Bomber Command raids the port of Valona in Albania.

Mussolini sacks Ubaldo Soddu, the Italian commander in Albania, after only four weeks. Ugo Cavallero takes over for Soddu, combining his position as Chief of the General Staff  (which he has held for only three weeks) with overall command in Albania. After reviewing the situation, Cavallero concludes that the "period of crisis [was] almost overcome."

"Windscreen, steering wheel and bell of fire engine silhouetted against burning building in south (?) London.." 29 December 1940. © IWM (IWM FLM 2319)

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe launches a relatively moderately sized raid against London of 136-244 bombers (accounts vary) which only lasts from 18:00 to 21:30. However, it is a very specially planned raid, intended to create a firestorm and timed specifically to coincide with low tide in the River Thames, hampering firefighting efforts. The Germans drop 22,068 incendiaries and 127 tons of high explosives. The attack originally was planned to be a maximum effort lasting all night long, as in September and October, but a storm blows up during the evening and keeps the follow-up bomber waves on the ground.

The incendiaries create a firestorm in the City of London, with over 1500 fires combing in three major centers that themselves later combine. Incendiaries individually are not terribly difficult to deal with, but typically multiple incendiaries fall on roofs near each other, and the small fires they create individually combine to create larger fires.

The headline for the attack is that eight historic Christopher Wren churches are destroyed - which certainly is terrible - but the damage goes far beyond that. It includes the utter destruction of the 500-year-old Guildhall, Paternoster Row with an estimated 5 million books, and about a dozen churches in addition to the Wren ones. This becomes known as the "Second Great Fire of London," the first being in 1666. Fortunately, for the damage caused, casualties are relatively light, with over 160 civilian deaths, 14 deaths of firemen, and 250 firemen injured.

The number of incendiaries dropped is larger than usual, and the British government quickly takes steps to try and minimize their effectiveness. Incendiaries create powerful effects only if left to work unhindered, so the government mandates fire-watching and makes workers responsible for dousing them at their places of business. Clergymen and 200 volunteer firewatchers ("St. Paul's Watch," recruited from the Royal Institute of British Architects) at St. Paul reportedly saves the church by actively patrolling the roof and putting out incendiaries before they can set uncontrollable fires - exactly what the government wants everyone to be doing.

The attack is considered to be the most destructive of the entire war in Britain, with the devastation from Islington to St. Paul's Churchyard. This attack leaves a lasting impression. Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, watches the bombing from the roof of the Air Ministry. He comments: "Well, they have sown the wind."

RAF Bomber Command, meanwhile, raids Frankfurt, Boulogne, and Hamm.

After the raid on 29 December 1940, the government ramps up its campaign to guard against fires started by incendiary bombs.

Battle of the Atlantic: Royal Navy submarine HMS Trident (Lt.Cdr. G.M. Sladen, DSC, RN) spots a "darkened ship" enting Punta Delgada, Azores. After the ship acts suspiciously and suddenly breaks for the harbor entrance, the Trident fires five torpedoes at it - which all miss and some of which explode on Delgada Point, constituting possibly the only war damage in the Azores. The submarine almost is sunk by one of its own torpedoes which "failed to discharge" and simply falls to the ocean floor beneath the Trident and explodes. The ship, meanwhile, turns out to be the 4856-ton Panamanian Bonita, whose captain perhaps thought the British sub was a U-boat.

German 997-ton freighter Adriana hits a mine and sinks off the Elbe River.

German 5642-ton freighter PLM-23 runs aground in a storm off Scharhörn in the Wadden Sea and is written off. This formerly was a French ship which the Germans seized on 5 August 1940.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 41-ton British tug Monarch off Radcliffe Cross Buoy.

The Luftwaffe finds a straggler from Convoy SLS 58, the 5270 freighter Trevarrack, and bombs and damages it.

British 5218-ton freighter Catrine hits a mine and is damaged in Liverpool Bay.

Part of Convoy WS 5A, which had been attacked by German cruiser Admiral Hipper on 25 December, makes port at Gibraltar. The remainder continues on to the south in the Atlantic.

Convoy FN 37 departs from Southend, Convoys FS 374 and FS 375 depart from Methil, Convoy OG 48 departs from multiple ports including Liverpool, Oban, Glasgow and Bristol, Convoy HG 49 departs from Gibraltar, Convoy BN 11B departs from Aden.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cottesmore is commissioned and assigned to the 21st Destroyer Flotilla, and HMS Derwent laid down.

Soviet submarine K-56 is launched.

"Fireman carries rolled hose to hose dump after a night's work, passing bricks and other rubble." This was shot following the raid of 29 December 1940. © IWM (IWM FLM 2318).

Battle of the Mediterranean: For the first time in weeks, the Italians raid Malta with multiple bomber formations. However, as has often been the case during the war, the Italian bombers remain offshore and do not drop any bombs on the island.

Pursuant to the decisions made at the Cairo conference on 28 December, the Australian 6th Infantry Division practices its assault scheduled for the morning of 2 January 1941 using an elaborate mockup of the Italian perimeter.

The RAF raids Bardia and Italian airfields at Tobruk, Derna, and Benina.

Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager intercepts 190-ton Italian ketch Zingarella on its way from Bardia to Tobruk. The Zingarella is transporting British POWs who now are freed.

US Government: The administration, according to an AP dispatch, is drafting a $17 billion budget for fiscal 1942 (begins in September 1941). This includes $10 billion for armaments.

Secretary of War Henry Stimson tells President Roosevelt (according to his diary entry of this date):

You cannot build a civilization based upon the questions of religion, which is what our civilization has been based on, and not recognize questions of right and wrong in the dealings between nations.

Ireland: The Irish Air Force has a rare mission when it attempts, and fails, to intercept a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 which flies over Waterford to Dublin. The plane escapes undamaged.

Vichy France: The Petain government creates a commission for Jewish affairs.

This photo gives a better idea of the damage from the 29 December 1940 raid than most others. "Scene of desolation viewed from St Paul's Cathedral: photograph was taken after the raid of 29 December 1940 from the Golden Gallery surmounting the Dome of the Cathedral, and showing the devastated area of burnt and broken buildings. It is mainly the famous booksellers' quarter bounded by Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Row. The domed building is that of the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), the four-spired church is St Bartholomew's." © IWM (HU 64317).

American Homefront: President Roosevelt gives the most famous and enduring of his "fireside chats." He begins with the effective rhetorical device of claiming that it is not a fireside chat at all - which implies coziness and warmth - but instead a "talk on national security." That frames the entire speech as not about "them," but about "us," which avoids many awkward questions.

Calling the current European war a "world crisis," Roosevelt calls the Axis "evil forces" and creates one of the great catchphrases of the 20th Century:

We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

He concludes that "I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war," and sets forth the agenda:

I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all the implements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith. As President of the United States, I call for that national effort. 

Reading or listening to the speech out of context, one could easily assume that the United States is at war and fighting for its life. Instead, the reality is much different: there is a war, but the United States is not part of it, and there is no sign that it ever need be a part of it. However, the thrust of the "Arsenal of Democracy" is clear: the Axis must be defeated, and the United States is going to make that happen. The strategy appears to be, at least for the moment, to build the weapons but let the British and Britain's fighting allies take the casualties. This speech is generally viewed as introducing the concept of "Lend-Lease" to the American people, though Roosevelt had used that phrase previously and does not use those words in this address.

Below is a little "behind the scenes" clip which shows how these speeches are created for inclusion in the newsreels: in individual segments. This is much different than the way Winston Churchill, for instance, gives his speeches, in one extended reading; or how Adolf Hitler gives his speeches, standing at a podium and giving a dramatic oration.


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