Thursday 26 December 1940

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

December 1940

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

2020

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

Sunday 13 October 1940

Future Queen Elizabeth, right, and Princess Margaret make their radio address on 13 October 1940.

Battle of Britain: The day begins with poor weather which clears as the afternoon progresses. Most of the action on 13 October 1940 thus occurs in the afternoon and evening.

The first significant intrusion is after lunchtime. At 13:00, the Luftwaffe sends over several dozen fighter-bombers (Jabos) escorted by III,/JG 3. They bomb Woolwich and the tracks at Hackney and Dalston. RAF Nos. 46, 66 and 92 Squadrons intercept from underneath - the Bf 109s are flying at 27,000 feet - and the Luftwaffe loses a fighter.

Another series of raids occur after 14:00. This includes some fast Junkers Ju 88s along with the Jabos and escorting fighters. The formation splits at the coast and heads for London and Hornchurch. Fighter Command sends up 14 squadrons to attack Bf 109s of JG 27 and 54. The Luftwaffe gets the best of this encounter, with the German pilots claiming half a dozen victories.

At 15:30, more Jabos cross at Dover. RAF No. 66 defends, but the Jabos reach their targets in London.

After dark, London, Liverpool, Hull, East Anglia, Huddersfield, Grantham and the Midlands are bombed. The raids cause extensive damage and, at London, continue until daylight. Losses for the day are about even at a handful apiece.
In war, there can be odd coincidences. Today, there are such coincidences in several different areas.

The first set of coincidences is separate friendly fire incidents, which are fairly rare during the Battle of Britain. One occurs at 18:20 when two Blenheims of RAF No. 29 Squadron, engaged in a standard patrol about 10 miles from North Weald, are attacked by Hurricanes of RAF No. 312 (Czech) Squadron. One Blenheim quickly fires off two Very lights and escapes significant damage, but the other is shot down into the water. There is one fatality.

Another friendly fire incident occurs over Chatham when P/O J.K.Ross of RAF No. 17 Squadron is shot down and wounded by anti-aircraft fire. He survives by bailing out of his Hurricane.

The other coincidences are even more deadly. Londoners have seen the underground subway system as a secure series of shelters during the Blitz. However... not necessarily. There are numerous incidents tonight of bombs blasting through the surface and causing deaths and other casualties in these supposedly secure settings.

Stanmore Underground Station takes damage, and 154 civilians perish in a shelter at Stoke Newington. Wembley Park Station also takes damage. At Bounds Green Piccadilly Station, a bomb destroys a house just above the eastbound line. This collapses the tunnel and injures/kills the people sheltering there. A 250 lb bomb hits an air raid shelter at Newcastle, killing 21. Other shelters also take damage and casualties: Marsh Road, Argyle Street, Farrer Street, Hardman Street, Benjamin Street, and Hatherley Street.

Bomber pilots seldom get much glory, though they are put at great hazard and suffer tremendous casualties. Today one of them, Lt. Hajo Herrmann of KG 30, receives the Ritterkreuz

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command focuses on the German-held ports, including the Mole at Zeebrugge, Domburg Harbour, Kiel, and Wilhelmshaven. Other targets include the Krupps factory at Essen and oil installations at Duisberg and Gelsenkirchen. A total of 125 bombers are in action.

The Tirpitz, well along in its construction, remains a sort of tar baby for the RAF (as it will be throughout the war). Once again, RAF Bomber Command sends a group of bombers to attack it. Only four Hampden bombers actually attack due to poor weather. If one calculates the sum total of British attempts to sink the Tirpitz and balances that against the effort to build her, the scale likely would tilt decisively in the German battleship's favor.

A 1940 De Soto print ad. The war was going to make this model year a common sight throughout the 1940s as the production of private cars is curtailed for war production until the last years of the decade. If you asked the question posed in the headline four years hence, the answer would be, "Not at all."

Battle of the Atlantic: Operation DN begins. Captain Philip Louis Vian in destroyer HMS Cossack, HMS Ashanti, HMS Maori, and HMS Sikh depart the Firth of Forth. They intercept a small German convoy off Egerö light and sink 1949 ton German net layer Genua in shallow water. The Cossack takes a shell which damages the rudder and injures a stoker. Vian, a legendary, swashbuckling Royal Navy veteran of World War I and the Altmark incident from earlier in the year, is awarded a bar to his DSO for this action. This action is blown out of all proportion in the press, as the destroyer captains claim much greater success (at least two ships) than they actually achieve (one small ship that is later salved). Many later accounts also recite more victories in this action than actually occurred. No matter: it further cements Vian's reputation.

U-103 (Viktor Schütze) continues a successful maiden cruise, patrolling west of the Outer Hebrides. At 08:46, it torpedoes and badly damages 1186 ton Estonian timber freighter Nora. The lifeboats are destroyed in the attack, so Schütze deviates from standing orders and radios a distress call giving the survivors' position. The ship remains afloat long enough for the survivors to be picked up by sloop HMS Leith on the 18th.

U=37 (Kptlt. Victor Oehrn) torpedoes and sinks 5804-ton British freighter Stangrant in the Atlantic west of the Outer Hebrides at 19:57. Stangrant is a straggler from Convoy HX 77. There are 30 survivors and 8 crew perish. A Sunderland flying boat of 10 Squadron RAAF rescues the survivors. This is Captain Oehrn's final U-boat victory, as he transfers to a shore-side staff position after this. He has sunk 23 ships totaling 103,821 tons.

U-138 (Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Lüth) damages 4562-ton Norwegian freighter Dagrun in Convoy HX 77 in the western Atlantic. After this voyage, Lüth receives the Iron Cross.

Royal Navy 98 ton converted fish trawler/patrol drifter HMT Summer Rose (PD594) hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea near Sunderland in County Durham. There are two deaths.

Royal Navy 234 ton rescue tug HMS Danube III hits a mine and sinks in the Thames Estuary northeast of sheerness, Kent. Eleven men perish.

British 1130 ton barge Cargo Fleet No. 2 hits a mine just west of Datum Buoy off Tees. The barge is taken in tow, but breaks the line and drifts ashore and is destroyed. No casualties.

German auxiliary minesweepers Gnom 7, Kobold 1 and Kobold 3 sweep the wrong minefield, hit mines and sink in the North Sea.

The Royal Navy completes an extensive sweep of Scapa Flow (except for a small part northeast of Barrel of Butter), which has been securely sealed since the embarrassing Royal Oak incident of 1939. This permits anti-submarine exercises to begin.

Convoys OL 7 and OB 228 depart from Liverpool, Convoy FN 307 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 308 departs from Methil,

Dedication of a memorial to the Spanish-American War, 13 October 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian submarines Zoea and Foca lay mines off Palestine. The Foca is lost off Haifa while doing so in some kind of mishap, while the Zoea completes the mission off Jaffa.

Royal Navy gunboat Ladybird assaults Italian positions at Sidi Barrani.

The South African Air Force makes its fifth raid against Neghelli in southern Abyssinia. The British send a patrol across the Abyssinia border and cause some casualties on Italians southeast of Kassala.

Italian destroyer Artigliere, in tow after heavy damage at the Battle of Cape Passero, is sunk by British cruiser HMS York using torpedoes. The British ships, which include cruiser HMS Ajax (the victor in the night action) and several destroyers, drop rafts for the survivors and allow the Italians to rescue them later.

Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Eagle and Illustrious launch raids against Italian-held Leros island as they continue their withdrawal from their escort duties of the recent (successful) Malta convoy.

Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu is concerned about Allied air attacks (none of which have happened to Romania yet). He requests some Luftwaffe assistance. Hitler accedes and sends the Luftwaffe's night intruder force to the Mediterranean area.

The First Lord of the Admiralty issues a memorandum to the War Cabinet. It urges a concentrated effort against Italy:

I feel that what we must aim at is to knock Italy out of the Axis as soon as possible and at the same time avoid, if we can, the full entry of France into the Axis. If we are to achieve the first of these, it is vital that we should strengthen Malta, reinforce the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet and the forces under the command of the General Officer Commanding Middle East. The bulk of our efforts must be applied in this direction, until at any rate we have carried out our special operation for putting through reinforcements through the Mediterranean to Malta and the Middle East.

In an unrelated but coincidental event (see below), the British Secretary of State visits Malta today by RAAF Sunderland flying boat. It lands at Kalafrana in the dark in poor weather. After touring the island, he prepares to leave in the morning.

Charlie Chaplin at a press conference held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City for "The Great Dictator," 13 October 1940.

German/Soviet Relations: The term "New World Order" has been thrown about by many different people for numerous different purposes throughout the years. The first known use of the phrase was by Nicholas Murray Butler in his 1917 book "A World in Ferment." It also was the title of "The New World Order" by Frederick C Hicks. The same title was used in 1940 by H.G. Wells. The phrase continues to be a catchphrase in the 21st Century among those suspicious about globalization.

The New World Order is like the weather: everyone talks about it, but very few people ever do anything about it. Today, 13 October 1940, however, someone actually tries to do something concrete about it.

Hitler and Ribbentrop, along with others in the German high command such as Admiral Raeder, have been trying to figure out a way to avoid a war with the Soviet Union. Their latest theory is that the world should be divided up into spheres of influence, with Germany taking Europe, the Soviet Union dominating central Asia down through India, and the Japanese taking the Asian coastal regions. Italy would have control over Africa.

In pursuit of this somewhat hopeful theory, Ribbentrop sends the German embassy in Moscow a long letter for Stalin which basically recites the course of the war to date with a rather defensive attitude. It then goes on to suggest some ideas of cooperation for the future. The letter makes numerous points, including:

• Germany essentially had been forced to continue the war through British and French "games";
• Great Britain essentially is finished;
• Germany has no military intentions regarding the Soviet Union;
• He explains away recent events in Scandinavia as purely defensive;
• Germany desired a long-term agreement with the USSR, Italy and Japan regarding respective spheres of influence "which would last for centuries";
• Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov should come to Berlin to discuss this further, with discussions to continue at Moscow.

The letter, like many of Ribbentrop's literary efforts, is tedious, overly complicated and full of random excursions into completely extraneous issues. The is delighted to reach the first three words in the following paragraph, even though - yes - that is not the end of the lecture either:

In summing up, I should like to state that, in the opinion of the Führer, also, it appears to be the historical mission of the Four Powers—the Soviet Union, Italy, Japan, and Germany—to adopt a long-range policy and to direct the future development of their peoples into the right channels by delimitation of their interests on a world-wide scale.

In fairness to Ribbentrop, these types of eternally long essays are fairly common in diplomatic efforts of the day. The letter is sent today to the German embassy in Moscow for translation, which literally takes several days.

Japanese citizens march with flags of Imperial Japan, Germany, and Fascist Italy during the Tripartite Pact celebration ceremony hosted by the Imperial Rule Assistance Association at Yasukuni Shrine on October 13, 1940, in Tokyo, Japan.

Vichy France: Consolidating centralized control, the Vichy government abolishes local departmental councils.

China: The Japanese have been bombing the Nationalist capital of Chungking steadily for months, and the Chinese fighters have been unable to stop them. Recently, the appearance of the new Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters has made that task even more difficult. However, there are many ways to skin a cat, and today the Nationalists show how crafty they can be. In great secrecy, they have smuggled artillery pieces through Japanese lines to within range of Ichang airfield, the forward staging base close to Chinese lines which they captured on 12 June. Ichang is of great importance because it is within 400 miles of Chungking and thus a fairly easy trip for bombers.

Elsewhere, the Chinese attack Japanese positions at Lungchin during the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi.

British Homefront: Princess Elizabeth, 14, makes her first public speech. It is a radio address to the children of the British Commonwealth. Princess Margaret, 10, joins in. Elizabeth says that England's children are cheerful and courageous.

Un-Americans are a big concern at the University of Nebraska. The Daily Nebraskan, 13 October 1940.

October 1940

October 2, 1940: Hitler's Polish Plans
October 3, 1940: British Cabinet Shakeup
October 4, 1940: Brenner Pass Meeting
October 5, 1940: Mussolini Alters Strategy
October 6, 1940: Iron Guard Marches
October 7, 1940: McCollum Memo
October 8, 1940: Germans in Romania
October 9, 1940: John Lennon Arrives
October 10, 1940: Führer-Sofortprogramm
October 11, 1940: E-Boats Attack!
October 12, 1940: Sealion Cancelled
October 13, 1940: New World Order
October 14, 1940: Balham Tragedy
October 15, 1940: Mussolini Targets Greece
October 16, 1940: Japanese Seek Oil
October 17, 1940: RAF Shakeup
October 18, 1940: Convoy SC-7 Catastrophe
October 19, 1940: Convoy HX-79 Catastrophe
October 20, 1940: Convoy OB-229 Disaster
October 21, 1940: This Evil Man Hitler
October 22, 1940: Aktion Wagner-Burckel
October 23, 1940: Hitler at Hendaye
October 24, 1940: Hitler and Petain
October 25, 1940: Petain Woos Churchill
October 26, 1940: Empress of Britain Attack
October 27, 1940: Greece Rejects Italian Demands
October 28, 1940: Oxi Day
October 29, 1940: US Draft Begins
October 30, 1940: RAF Area Bombing Authorized
October 31, 1940: End of Battle of Britain

2020