Sunday 17 August 1941

German troops entering the Kremlin of Novgorod, 17 August 1941 (Federal Archive, Bild 183-H26513).

Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht on 17 August 1941 continues to hold the initiative, but every day more trucks break down and more men get killed and more tanks need new tracks and engines and other maintenance. Generalleutnant Wolfgang Fischer at the 10th Panzer Division headquarters notes in the war diary that there are no spare parts available, and when trucks break down, the choice either is to leave them or to tow them.

In the Far North sector, the Finnish 18th Division crosses the Vuoksi River and establishes a secure bridgehead. Other Finnish forces continue putting pressure on trapped Soviet troops throughout the Karelian Isthmus. For most of them, the only possibility of escape is by boat across Lake Ladoga.

Infantry support gun (7.5 cm light infantry gun) of the German 291st Infantry Division on the firing position near the Narva River, on or about 17 August 1941.

In the Army Group North sector, the Germans take Narva, Estonia, and 56th Panzer Corps of Panzer Group 4 strengthens its grip on Novgorod. The Wehrmacht is busy transferring three divisions from Army Group Center to Army Group North, but Field Marshal von Bock at the former is resisting releasing one of the motorized divisions because of the ongoing Soviet offensive south of Lake Ilmen.

In the Army Group Center sector, General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 continues driving toward Bryansk, while 2nd Army advances on Gomel. The Soviets continue attacking the exposed German "lightning rod" position at Yelnya, but the Germans are holding fast. Field Marshal von Bock calls off an offensive planned against Mozir. Halder talks with von Bock during the day, and the latter remains fixated on the possibility of renewing the attack on Moscow as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the Soviet 24th Army attacks a German bridgehead at El'nia.

In the Army Group South sector, the Romanian 4th Army scores a major success by capturing the water supplies of Odessa. The Soviets are under strict orders to hold the city for as long as possible, an order underscored by Stalin's Order No. 270 issued on the 16th which prescribes death for anyone who exhibits dereliction of duty. The Romanians still have not made a real assault on the city, however.

The Soviets are retreating in the vicinity of Dnepropetrovsk, which the German Panzer Group 1 captures. The Luftwaffe sends fighter-bombers from I. and II./JG 3 along with III./JG 52 against the city. The Luftwaffe pilots claim to shoot down 33 Soviet planes, including 29 bombers. The Soviets complete their evacuation from Nikolayev, covering their final withdrawal with 8 destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet. The Germans also take Nikopol on the Dneiper.

Home Guard troops practice defending a roadblock with smoke and rifle fire, 17 August 1941.

European Air Operations: Today's RAF missions are distinguished by few losses. However, the results of the missions are mediocre, so not much is accomplished by either side. All in all, it is a fairly unremarkable day in the air.

During the day, the RAF sends 20 Blenheims on the usual coastal sweeps. These include all three major types of aerial operations: Circus, Roadstead, and Rhubarb operations. Some shipping is attacked off Terschelling. All of the aircraft return safely.

After dark, the RAF continues its series of heavy attacks on German. Tonight's targets are Bremen and Duisburg.

The RAF puts 39 Hampdens and 20 Whitleys over Bremen. The targets are the Focke-Wulf factory and railways yards. The Germans shoot down two Hampdens. The RAF pilots claim hits on the airplane factory.

The RAF puts 41 Wellingtons over the Duisburg railway yards, with all of the planes returning. Not much is accomplished on this raid because the weather prevents accurate aiming.

Also during the night, a dozen Hampdens also lay mines off of Denmark, a Wellington raids Dunkirk, and 6 bombers go on training missions over Europe. No losses on these missions.

Battle of the Baltic: Soviet submarine Shch-307 hits a mine and sinks near Suursaari Island (Gogland).

German torpedo boat S.58 sinks Soviet minesweeper/patrol boat No. 80 in the Gulf of Finland.

German auxiliary minesweeper M-1707 hits a mine and sinks in the Gulf of Finland.

Soviet patrol boats attack a German convoy in the Gulf of Finland off Cape Domesnas. They cause the ships to engage in evasive maneuvers, during which German minesweeper M.1707 "Luneburg" comes under fire from Soviet coastal artillery, which causes Luneburg to engage in more evasive maneuvers. The end result is that Luneburg blunders into a German minefield off Arensburg, Ösel Island and strikes a mine, and sinks.

Estonian submarines Kalev (Lt. Cmdr. Nyrov) and Lembit (Lt. Cmdr. Poleschuk) lay mines off Bornholm.

Soviet submarine ShCh-216 is commissioned.

Battle of the Atlantic: Royal Navy submarine HMS Tigris torpedoes and sinks 1482-ton Norwegian freighter Haakon Jarl off Svaerholt, Norway in the Barents Sea. There are three deaths.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 1999-ton British freighter Kindersley a few miles off Blyth. Kindersley makes it to the Blyth on the 18th.

The Luftwaffe attacks Convoy WN-68 off Aberdeen but scores no hits.

In Operation Kedgreree (part of Operation Ration), the Royal Navy sends ships to sea to intercept what is believed to be a Vichy French convoy carrying contraband destined for Germany. There is a similar mission in the Indian Ocean by cruisers HMS Hawkins and HMAS Australia, with the same code names. Neither of these operations spots any French ships.

A Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor of I,/KG 40 spots Convoy OG-71 and radios the location to BdU in Paris. The Kriegsmarine vectors in U-201 (ObltzS Adalbert Schee), which shadows the convoy.

Spanish freighter Navemar departs from Lisbon bound for Cuba and New York. The ship is overcrowded with 1800 refugees, mainly Jews fleeing Hitler, and conditions are terrible. The ship acquires the nickname "the floating concentration camp."

Convoy WS-10 arrives at Freetown

Group photos of some Royal Marines aboard either HMS Neptune or HMS Kandahar, 17 August 1941. These men all lost their lives later in the year when their ship hit a mine and sank. (Neptune Association).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Dutch submarine O-23, operating in the Sicilian Strait, attacks an Italian convoy sailing from Naples to Tripoli. O-23 torpedoes and badly damages 5479-ton Italian freighter Maddalena Odero. The freighter, escorted by Italian torpedo boats Pegaso and Sirtori, heads for Lampedusa. The RAF (Bristol Blenheim aircraft of No. 105 Squadron) later attacks Maddalena Odero twice, setting its cargo on fire. Maddalena Odero is written off on the 18th.

Tonight's Tobruk run is made by Royal Navy destroyers HMS Kipling and Nizam. The British land supplies and rotate in some Polish troops, then make it back to Alexandria without incident.

Royal Navy submarine Regent is damaged at the dock in Alexandria when one of its own torpedoes explodes. Nobody is injured, but the submarine is damaged.

At Malta, RAF Hurricanes shoot down a Caproni seaplane east of  Zonqor Point. RAF No. 800 Squadron Swordfish attack the Italian convoy that O-23 also attacks, claiming hits on three ships, but only the hits on Maddalena Odero are confirmed. Three Hurricanes attack seaplanes in Syracuse harbor, claiming hits on several targets.

Battle of the Pacific: German raider Komet (AMC Schiff 45), operating southeast of the Galapagos Islands, captures 7322-ton Dutch freighter Kota Nopan. The cargo includes valuable commodities including 2800 tons of sago, 1500 tons of rubber, 1200 tons of tin, and 1200 tons of manganese. The Germans put a prize crew on the ship and send it to France (where it arrives safely in November). This is Komet's second success in the area in recent days after a long quiet period in the vastness of the Pacific.

Public hanging in Belgrade, 17 August 1941 (Muzej Revolucije Narodnosti Jugoslavije).

Spy Stuff: German agent Juan Pujol Garcia, who has been sent to London via Lisbon, instead is camping out in Lisbon and only pretending to be in London. His mission is to recruit British spies - in London. Today, from Lisbon, he radios his handler, Friedrich Knappe-Ratey aka "Frederico," and claims that he has successfully recruited a local agent. At this time, Garcia is not yet working as a double-agent - he is simply making up believable nonsense and reporting it as fact.

Partisans: The Germans stage a public hanging on Terazije in Belgrade. This is becoming a standard punishment for suspected partisans and terrorists.

Tito, who has led the partisan movement in Yugoslavia, begins to coordinate his partisan activities with Moscow (Comintern).

The repair workshop on Maleme airfield, Crete, where the dozens of Luftwaffe transport planes damaged during Operation Mercury are being repaired (Krempl, Federal Archive, Bild 183-B10713).

US/Japanese Relations: With President Roosevelt back in Washington following the Atlantic Conference, Secretary of State Cordell Hull brings Japanese Ambassador Nomura in to see him. This is the fourth meeting between Roosevelt and Nomura. Responding to Nomura's request for a summit meeting between Roosevelt and the leader of the Japanese government, Prince Konoye, Roosevelt says he requires a clear statement of Japan's intentions in the Pacific. Roosevelt says that the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union wished for peace for in the Pacific, but few others did (a veiled reference to the Tripartite powers).

Roosevelt seems open to a summit meeting with Konoye. However, he says it cannot be in Hawaii because "I am not permitted to travel in an airplane." He proposes that Konoye come to Juneau, Alaska, Seattle, Washington, or San Francisco. Nomura casually mentions that such a meeting would best be held by mid-September.

Anglo/US/Chinese Relations: The Nationalist Chinese government in Chungking indicates its approval of the Atlantic Charter - though everybody in Asia is scratching their heads about its implications for the region. A common interpretation is that the Americans have refused to go along with British attempts to drag the United States into the war and thus may be more accommodating to the Japanese than previously thought.

Benigno Aquino Sr. (4th from left) with President Manuel L. Quezon, August 17, 1941.

Soviet Military: Admiral Vladimir Tributs is put in charge of the defense of Leningrad.

Japanese Military: The Imperial Japanese Navy continues requisitioning merchant ships for use in various roles within the navy. Today, those include:

• 6486-ton freighter Kenyo Maru
• 7158-ton Sanuki Maru
• 17,526-ton liner Kamakura Maru

The IJN converts the Snauki Maru into a seaplane tender, mounting two 150-mm/45 cal single-mount guns, two 80-mm single-mount guns, two 13.2-mm single-mount machine guns, and a catapult. The IJN converts Kamakura Maru into a charter vessel for the Yokosuka Naval District.

American Aggregates railroad car in service at the Oxford, Michigan, gravel pit, 17 August 1941. It remains in existence in 2018 in a railway museum (Donald S. Moore photo from IRM Collection).

British Government: Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden submits a report to the War Cabinet on the current state of morale in Italy. The report finds that Italian civilian and military morale has plummeted during the war and that many Italians dislike the Germans and like the British. The reports cautions, however, that:

The chances of knocking Italy out of the war (ie forcing her to a separate peace) can now be discounted since the Germans would certainly forestall any such move in Italy by converting the present moral occupation into a physical occupation of the country. But the more depressed and restless the Italians become the less effective is the Fascist Government’s contribution to the German effort, and the greater do Germany’s policing responsibilities in Italy become.

The report concludes:

The moral of this is that, even though we cannot now hope to knock Italy out, we should not relax efforts to hit metropolitan Italy by air and from the sea whenever opportunity offers.  Each blow against Italy is a blow against Germany.

The RAF based at Malta has been bombing Rome, Milan, and Naples, but overall it has not suffered nearly as much from Allied bombing as has Germany.

Australia: The government approves the formation of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS).

Memorial to the Ludza Massacre of 17 August 1941 (Find a Grave).

Holocaust: From now until 27 August, the Jews of Ludza, Latvia, about 800 people, are taken 7 km out of town. There, they are marched into two long pits, shot, and buried.

Walt Disney, wife Lillian, and his party arrive in Rio de Janeiro, 17 August 1941.

American Homefront: Walt Disney begins a goodwill tour of Latin America. Accompanying Walt on the trip, which is underwritten by a $70,000 government grant, is his wife Lillian and studio personnel Mary Blair, Frank Thomas, Bill Cottrell, Ted Sears, and a dozen other animators. Flying Pan American Airways, the group arrives today in Rio de Janeiro. This is the beginning of a 10-week journey. Thomas later recreates the trip in the documentary "Walt and El Grupo." Thomas credits the trip with enhancing Mary Blair's skills - she becomes one of the most renowned artists, animators, and illustrators in Disney history.

Future History: John Wesley Powell is born in Lakeland, Florida. As "Boog" Powell, he becomes a Major League baseball player best known for his years on the Baltimore Orioles. He wins the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1970 and plays on championship teams in Baltimore in 1966 and 1970. Boog Powell retires in 1977. Boog later explains that "Boog" is a shortening of "bugger," an affectionate nickname for children in the South.

Fritz Wepper is born in Munich, Germany. He becomes a well-known German actor in the late 1950s and plays Inspector Harry Klein in the crime series "Derrick."

Francesco Columbu is born in Ollolai, Sardinia. He becomes a renowned bodybuilder who wins Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981. He alternates titles with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wins the 1980 Mr. Olympia, and the two become friends, with Columbu serving as Schwarzenegger's best man during his marriage to Maria Shriver. Columbu generally is considered to be Schwarzenegger's most famous contemporaneous bodybuilding competitor. Like Schwarzenegger, Columbu branches out into acting, appearing in movies such as "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) and "Ancient Warriors" (2003), as well as television shows and commercials. Schwarzenegger appoints Columbu to the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, where he serves from February 2006 to January 2014.

Gabriella Farinon is born in Oderzo, Italy. Farinon becomes an actress in films such as "Space-Men" (1960) and a prominent television presenter on Italian television public broadcasting company RAI. She remains active throughout the 1960s-1990s and apparently is retired as of this writing in 2018.

Wesel, Brückstraße, Altstadt. In the background Willibrordi Cathedral (Proietti, Ugo, Federal Archive, Bild 212-291)

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

Wednesday 13 November 1940

"Fantasia" premieres in New York City.

German/Soviet Relations: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov continues his visit to Berlin on 13 November 1940. He meets with Adolf Hitler again during the afternoon. Molotov now has had a night to digest Hitler's expansive and air proposals for world domination and thus gets more precise in his responses.

Molotov stresses that the USSR has certain non-negotiable demands prior to any military alliance. The largest of these concern Finland. That country, Molotov emphasizes, lies within the USSR's sphere of influence pursuant to the August 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. The Stavka is aware of German troop movements in the country - primarily related to transit from Finnish Baltic ports to Narvik - and wants those troops withdrawn.

Another hot spot is in Romania. The Soviet Union already has swallowed part of Romania, and Molotov points out that Hitler has recently guaranteed the reduced Romanian frontiers. This seems aimed at the Soviet Union, which Molotov indicates is not a friendly act.

Molotov also raises other, less critical issues. He indicates that the Soviet Union intends to enter into some kind of arrangement with Bulgaria - the country that Hitler wants to use as a springboard to invade Greece (though Molotov likely has no idea of this). Molotov also indicates that the Soviet Union will be blocking off the Black Sea with bases on the Dardanelles - which raises issues about Turkey and the Balkan states' outlet to the Mediterranean.

Hitler has difficulty responding to some of these points. Regarding German activities in Finland, he responds that German activities there are of no matter and certainly of no concern to the Soviet Union. In fact, Hitler's position throughout the war is that the Soviet Union must be prevented from acquiring Finnish ports in the Baltic. The bases on the Dardanelles and the issue of the Soviet Union's relationship with Bulgaria are not something he can agree to without consulting his allies.

If there is anything that seals the fate of the Third Reich, it is this discussion. Hitler sees that, rather than cooperating in the destruction of the British Empire, the Soviet Union is pushing back against Germany. A military alliance drifts out of the range of feasibility, and the only remaining question becomes how confrontational relations will be.

After this meeting, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop has dinner at the Soviet embassy. An air raid during the dinner forces them to take shelter under the Wilhelmstrasse. Ribbentrop decides to give the negotiation - going very badly - a final shot.

Ribbentrop proposes a treaty, including - as with their August 1939 agreement - secret protocols. The USSR would join the Three-Power Pact and acquire a specific sphere of influence, along with Italy, Japan and Germany. The secret protocols would outline what these spheres were and would recognize the Soviet Navy's rights in the Dardanelles.

Molotov is fairly noncommittal in response to Ribbentrop's offers about spheres of influence and the Dardanelles. However, he gets very specific about what the Soviet Union wants in Europe. The Soviet Union, he says, has interests in Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Finland, Bulgaria, Poland and Greece. It also needs a way to ensure Swedish neutrality or at least acquiescence to Soviet passage through the Kattegat and Skagerrak to the Atlantic.

None of Molotov's demands are even remotely acceptable to the Germans.

This meeting between Molotov and Ribbentrop gives rise to an enduring legend. The discussion is held in a shelter (with liveried waiters bringing hors d'oeuvre on trays) to the sound of RAF bombs dropping fairly close by (they rattle the plate glass windows at the Wilhelmstrasse before the guests adjourn to the shelter). Supposedly, Molotov responds to one of Ribbentrop's repeated claims that Britain is finished and the war basically over with a tart observation:

If that is so, why are we in this shelter and whose are these bombs which fall?

This is considered by virtually everyone to be apocryphal. It has that "wise guy" insouciance that smacks of a British propaganda invention, though that is unproven (it may also be an example of sardonic Germanic wit). In fact, however, the British do play an intentional role in this discussion: Winston Churchill later confides that he knew of the meeting (probably from Ultra, though he does not disclose that fact as Ultra remains Top Secret until well after his death). He felt that "it was only right that we should have some say in the matter." Thus, Churchill sent over RAF bombers to pay a special visit at that time.

Molotov meets with Hitler on 13 November.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Today generally is considered the definitive end of the Italian offensive into Greece. In fact, the offensive has been crumbling almost since the day it began, but today is when the Greeks set the stage for their own offensive.

The Greeks complete the occupation of the Grammos and Smolikas mountain ranges in the Pindus sector. The Julia Division is wiped out, losing 5,000 men, and the Greek forces now occupy the initial positions that they held before the war. This concludes the Battle of Pindus with a total Greek victory. Many people attribute a large part of the Greek victory to the efforts of civilians, particularly women, who help with logistics, scouting, shelter and in other ways.

On the coastal sector, the Greek forces stand all along the Kalamas River, having pushed the Italians back across everywhere.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command has 72 bombers in operation over the Continent during the night. It launches a major raid on Berlin to disrupt the Molotov visit.

The  RAF Wireless Intelligence and Development Unit sends two planes (RAF No. 80 Signals) Squadron) on a special mission. The bombers hone in on German radar transmissions to attack German radar installations on the Cherbourg Peninsula.

The Luftwaffe raids Bristol during the night. Both sides lose a plane in a so-far rare night dogfight.

Hauptmann Walter Adolph (III,/JG 27) receives the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) for 15 victories.

RAF flight lieutenant Guy Gibson, a bomber pilot who has been shuttling between units, has volunteered to fly night fighters. This is in response to an appeal b Air Marshal Sholto Douglas and AVM Leigh-Mallory for new recruits to the night units from bomber pilots, who are used to flying at night. Arthur "Bomber" Harris, currently Air Officer Commanding (AOC) No. 5 Group (and not yet known by the nickname "Bomber,"), writes a letter of recommendation calling Gibson "the best" of the volunteers. Today, Gibson is ordered to report to No. 29 Squadron at RAF Digby (actually at RAF Wellingore). He will be the commander of 'A' Flight. As usual with Gibson, he is not particularly liked at this unit at first, partly for reasons beyond his control (the others resent his being promoted over them).

The US is still digging out from the Armistice Day Blizzard. Stories about the storm are of much more concern than that little Royal Navy attack on the Italians in the Mediterranean. Minneapolis Star Journal Headline: Nov. 13, 1940. Courtesy of Minneapolis Star Journal.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe continues its successful recent string of seaplane attacks against British convoys in the North Sea. Heinkel He 115 seaplanes of KGr 706 attack Convoy WN 35 (out of Methil) off Aberdeen and sink two ships (some sources say this was an attack by Junkers Ju 88s and Heinkel He 111s of KG 26 out of Stavanger).

The seaplanes sink 4398-ton Belgian freighter Anvers (Captain De Jonghe) about 9.3 km northeast of Rattray Head, Aberdeenshire. There are 36 survivors and one man perishes (other sources say that there are 15 survivors and 20 deaths - when multiple ships sink in the same area and are picked up by multiple ships records are often confused).

The seaplanes also torpedo and sink 82 ton 1216-ton British freighter St. Catherine nearby. There are 15 deaths.

The Luftwaffe (probably fighter-bombers) bombs and sinks British drifter Shipmates at Dover (some sources place this on the 14th).

A Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor (1,/KG 40, Oberleutnant Hans Buchholz)) operating out over the Atlantic shipping routes bombs and sinks 7359-ton British freighter Empire Wind. Everybody survives, rescued by HMS Arrow.

U-137 (Kptlt. Herbert Wohlfarth), on her third patrol operating out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 5094-ton British freighter Cape St. Andrew northwest of Aran Island and west of Tory Island, Ireland. The freighter is a straggler from Convoy OB 240 and is under tow and accompanied by an escorting destroyer. There are 53 survivors, picked up by escort HMS Salvonia, and 15 men perish.

British 1951 ton tanker Leon Martin hits a mine and sinks off Falmouth, Cornwall. There are 16 deaths (some sources place this sinking on the 11th).

British 300 ton coaster Buoyant hits a mine and sinks off Skegness, Lincolnshire just off the mouth of the Humber. This is the date that the Buoyant was last sighted, it is presumed that she hit a mine. There are no survivors.

Royal 178 ton Navy Boom Defence Vessel HMT Ristango fouls the Medway boom at Sheerness, Kent and sinks.

German 325 ton tanker Wilhelmsburg runs aground at the entrance to Boulogne Harbor, capsizes, and is lost.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Tigris torpedoes and sinks 201 ton Vichy French schooner Charles Edmond in the Bay of Biscay, about 110 km off the mouth of the Gironde.

Soviet Submarine Dekrabist (the lead ship of the class) sinks for unknown causes in Motovosky Bay (near Murmansk) during a training mission. All 53 aboard perish.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Garland sustains damage due to harsh weather conditions in the Atlantic and loses two men overboard. The ship returns to Govan for repairs, which took until 26 December.

Five Royal Navy minelayers establish minefield SN 45 off the northwest coast of Ireland.

Convoy OB 243 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 333 departs from Southend, Convoy SC 12 departs from Halifax.

U-149 (Oberleutnant zur See Horst Höltring) is commissioned.

The SS Normandie at left, and Queen Elizabeth at the same slip in New York City. The good ship Queen Elizabeth sails on 13 November 1940, leaving the Normandie.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian bombers raid Alexandria Harbour and bad damage Royal Navy destroyer HMS Decoy. There are 8 deaths and 3 other casualties. The destroyer heads to Malta for repair.

The RAF bombs Taranto again. The Italians have moved the major warships to other ports following the 11 November carrier raid that sank three Italian battleships.

Malta's new Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Officer, Lt. E.E. Talbot, who just arrived at the island on Sunday, tackles his first unexploded bomb. Talbot has been decorated for defusing a bomb in South Wales. The procedure goes off without a hitch, a big relief to the island's military because unexploded bombs have become a major issue.

The Malta military government also segregates certain bars as for officers only, and others for non-officers.

US/Vichy French Relations: Sumner Welles, acting Secretary of State, asks the US Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Spain, H. Freeman Matthews, to tell the French that the US would be willing to purchase its battleships Jean Bart (Casablanca) and Richelieu (Dakar).

British Military: The Handley Page Halifax bomber becomes operational with RAF No. 35 Squadron at Linton-on-Ouse. However, the Halifax takes time to work up and its first mission will not be until March 10/11, 1941. The Handley Page Halifax suffers by comparison with some other bombers but becomes an integral part of RAF Bomber Command's fleet. Many in the RAF consider it inferior to the Avro Lancaster, but it fills a role primarily in secondary theaters.

A Willys Quad with four-wheel steering. These initial versions did not meet US Army weight requirements. Willys pulled some strings to keep its bid alive.

US Military: Heavy cruiser USS Louisville continues its "Show the Flag" mission in Latin America, arriving at Santos, Brazil.

Willys officially delivers its two pilot models, called Quads, of what later become known as Jeeps. The Jeeps are identical to the Bantam prototype which Willys has studied, with the addition of four-wheel steering. The Quads are put through tests at Camp Holabird, Maryland.

Switzerland: The government bans both the Communist Party and the fascist National Movement of Switzerland.

Singapore: The British War Cabinet creates the new post of Commander-in-Chief, Far East, with its headquarters in Singapore. Air Chief-Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham is appointed as its first chief.

American Homefront: Walt Disney Studios' animated classic Fantasia has its world premiere at the Broadway Theater in New York City. The film is well-received but requires special upgrades to theaters which are costly and make it unprofitable. Among other firsts, the film is the first commercial motion picture to be distributed with stereo sound - hence the added cost. One can make the argument that "Fantasia" invents the music video.


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

Sunday 10 November 1940

Franklin Roosevelt and Fala.

Italian/Greek Campaign: With the Italians having gone over to the defensive by 10 November 1940, the Greeks focus on massing troops for a counter-offensive. In the coastal sector, the Greek 8th Division continues launching local counterattacks to pressure the Italians into giving up their bridgehead over the Kalamas River.

European Air Operations: During the day, the RAF attacks shipping in Boulogne and Calais. The weather is terrible during the night, with heavy storms and icing, but RAF Bomber Command sends its planes to attack several targets within Germany. These include industrial facilities in Dresden, Danzig, Essen, and northern Italy. The RAF loses five bombers. This is the first RAF attack on Danzig, which is at the outer limits of the RAF's current bombers.

During the day, the Luftwaffe mounts fighter-bomber (Jabo) raids on some towns along the Kent and Sussex coasts. Some of the Jabos strafe the Scilly Isles. The Luftwaffe also is operational after dark despite the weather. After dark, it puts 170 bombers in the air with London as the main target.

Battle of the Atlantic: Royal Navy 550 ton anti-submarine trawler HMT Kingston Alalite (Skipper R. A. Read RNR) hits a mine and sinks off Plymouth in the English Channel. There are six deaths.

Royal Navy 64 ton boom defense ship HMT Marcelle hits a mine and sinks in the Bristol Channel. There are four survivors and one death.

The Luftwaffe damaged destroyer HMS Cattistock in the English Channel, but the damage is minimal and the ship is repaired in one day.

Convoy OB 239 departs from Oban (rerouted from Liverpool due to the Admiral Scheer attack), Convoy FN 331 departs from Southend, Convoy HX 86 (previously delayed due to the Admiral Scheer attack) departs from Halifax, Convoy BH 87 departs from Bermuda. Convoy BH 87 later joins Convoy HX 86 at sea, the numbers not matching because of the latter's delay in Halifax. Convoy AS 5 departs from Piraeus for Port Said. Today's convoys give a nice illustration of the hidden benefits of having a surface raider at large.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Unbeaten (N 93, Lt. Edward A. Woodward) is commissioned.

Unfamiliar with Doc Strange? Well, the way Hollywood runs through comic book heroes, someday you may. Incidentally, there has been a Marvel character named "Doctor Strange," but he is not related to this Doc Strange. There are similarities to other comic book heroes, such as Batman (both have a teenaged sidekick, for instance). Thrilling Comics #10 (November 1940), cover by Alex Schomburg.

Battle of the Mediterranean: At Malta, there are air raid alerts, but no actual attacks - the Italian planes have a well-established pattern now of approaching the island but then veering off and returning to base.
The seesaw campaign between the Italians and the British over the insignificant border town of Gallabat in southern Sudan continues. The British push the Italians out again.

Before dawn, Royal Navy gunboat HMS Aphis bombards Italian positions at Sidi Barrani during the night.

The RAF loses two Swordfish today, and three in two days from No. 815 and 819 Squadrons, under mysterious circumstances unrelated to enemy action from HMS Illustrious. An investigation reveals the cause is contaminated fuel. All of the crews are saved, but the Royal Navy is out three planes.

Italian submarine Capponi spots the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet south of Malta and attacks. However, it misses battleship HMS Ramillies. Other Italian submarines vector in on the British ships. Italian submarine Barbarigo also attacks a destroyer but similarly misses.

The British continue beefing up their presence at Suda Bay, Crete. Monitor HMS Terror arrives there today.

Doc Strange is called upon to fight "this Fascistic terror."

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German raider Atlantis is posing as armed merchant cruiser HMS Antenor in the Bay of Bengal and having great success intercepting various cargo ships. Today, it stops and captures 830-ton Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob. The Norwegian ship manages to get off distress signals, and the Australians dispatch HMAS Canberra, Capetown, Durban and Westralia to hunt the Atlantis down. The crew of the Atlantis, meanwhile, renames the Ole Jacot as "Benno" and later sends the ship to Kobe, Japan. It is the start of a long journey for Benno which ultimately takes it to Bordeaux on 19 July 1941.

Spy Stuff: There is a legend that Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI on this date. His role is to tell the G-Men anything that he learns about Hollywood subversives. Disney supposedly is helping to fight Communism. This allegation is made in the Marc Eliot book, "Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince," which says:

On November 10, 1940, Disney apparently struck the following deal with the Bureau. It appears that in exchange for its continuing assistance in his personal search to find out the truth of his own parentage, Walt agreed to assist Hoover's crusade against the spread of communism in Hollywood by becoming an official informant of the FBI.

This allegation remains highly controversial. It may or may not be true. It is known that Disney had many labor troubles in his studio caused by communist agitators around this time and later testified about that. He also had certain arrangements with the government in the 1950s. However, Eliot's "proof," to the extent that it exists, about this 1940 agreement remains suspect. Some consider the whole issue to be a hoax, alongside Errol Flynn's supposed German sympathies, cooked up by a biographer looking to create a stir.


Anglo/US Relations: A flight of seven Lockheed Hudson bombers departs from Gander, Newfoundland. It will land on the morning of the 11th at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland. The flight lasts 10 hours and 17 minutes. This is the first such flight by bombers over the Atlantic, which heretofore had to be transported, disassembled, by ship.

US Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., back in the states on holiday, gives an infamous interview to the Sunday Boston Globe. Always pessimistic about Great Britain's chances in the war, and breaking ranks a bit with his friend Franklin Roosevelt's government, he is quoted as saying, "Democracy is finished in England. It may be here." He elaborates a bit further:

It's all a question of what we do with the next six months. The whole reason for aiding England (sic) is to give us time ... As long as she is in there, we have time to prepare. It isn't that [the UK is] fighting for democracy. That's bunk. She's fighting for self-preservation, just as we will if it comes to us..... I know more about the European situation than anybody else, and it's up to me to see that the country gets it.

This is not an isolated view within the United States, as many people are pessimistic about England's chances in the war. However, it is undeniably Isolationist at a time when President Roosevelt is becoming increasingly interventionist. Needless to say, these comments do not go over well either in Washington or in England. Repercussions will follow in the coming weeks.

US Military: The US Marine Corps Reserves joins the regular US Marine Corps.

British Military: The Avro Manchester formally enters service with newly reformed No. 207 Squadron of Bomber Command. The Squadron Leader is Noel Challis Hyde, and the squadron is based at RAF Waddington. However, it will be some time before they actually engage in combat missions.

Gabon: The Vichy French forces in Libreville formally surrender to General Koenig's Free French Foreign Legion troops. Next up is the Vichy base at Port Gentil, under the command of Governor Masson.


Romania: The Vrancea earthquake in the Bucharest/Ploesti region registers 7.7 on the Richter scale. It kills 1000 people and damages much property, including oil installations.

Canada: The government opens the Little Norway air training center in the Toronto bay area.

American Homefront: President Roosevelt receives a gift: a Scottish terrier named "Big Boy." The President renames him "Murray the Outlaw of Falahill," after one of his Scottish ancestors. Quickly nicknamed Fala because, well, try saying "Murray the Outlaw of Falahill" every time you want to take your dog for a walk, Fala finds a home at the White House.

The Copacabana nightclub opens in New York City at 10 East 60th Street (just off Central Park and two blocks from the Plaza Hotel, later home to Rouge Tomato restaurant until August 2014, then Avra Madison Restaurant). Mob boss Frank Costello is behind the club. The club is eccentric, with a Brazilian theme and pink-haired "Copacabana Girls" who greatly resembled later Las Vegas nightclub acts (before Las Vegas became full of them).

In an NFL game, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia play a rare penalty-free game.

President Roosevelt and Fala.

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

Wednesday 30 October 1940

Bristol Beaufighter Mk. 1 R2065 from No. 219 Squadron. On 30 October 1940, it took off from Redhill Airfield for its nightly patrol but crashed while landing due to the poor weather's bad visibility. The crash killed P/O Kenneth Worsdell and gunner Sergeant Eric Gardiner. This flight was honored with a memorial at the airfield on the 75th anniversary of the crash.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek forces on the coastal sector complete their retreat to the Kalpaki line on 30 October 1940. The Italian troops are still pursuing them and there is little combat there during the day aside from artillery and air bombardments. The Kalpaki line on the coast is extremely blessed with natural defensive features.

In the vital central sector in the Pindus Mountains, the Greek General Katsimitros determines to defend his line ahead of the critical road junction of Metsovo. He detaches some forces to cover his right flank at the Aoös River. The Italians struggle forward through the freshly fallen snow and icy rain and approach Konitsa as the Greek Pindos Detachment withdraws. During the day, the Greeks end their retreat and stabilize their line, with the 1st Infantry Division under Major-General Vasileios Vrachnos taking over local tactical control.

Turkey is proving decisive in the Greek Army's dispositions even though it technically is not involved in the war. Turkey threatens its neighbor to the north, Bulgaria, that it will join the Greek effort if the Bulgarians attack Greece, pursuant to the Balkan Pact of 1935. Knowing this, the Greeks are free to throw their entire army and any levees against the Italians on the Albanian front. This includes three divisions from the Bulgarian front and six reserve/cavalry divisions.

The Italians bomb Patras, the port of Athens, a handful of times.

The Soviet Union supports the Greeks and sends 134 fighter planes to their aid. The Greeks are particularly weak in modern aircraft, and the Soviet planes aren't much better, but the additional planes are very welcome.

The British land troops at Suda Bay on Crete.

As highlighted in this issue of the Yale News, Charles Lindbergh gives a speech at Yale on 30 October 1940 attacking US foreign policy. Yale is the birthplace of the "America First" antiwar movement.

Battle of Britain: The weather continues its wayward path in 1940, with low-hanging clouds and drizzle. Above the clouds, though, it is bright and sunny, so the Luftwaffe resumes its attacks. However, they are much reduced from the previous days when the Germans lost a number of planes.

Things start late after the usual early-morning reconnaissance flights. German fighters escort fighter-bombers (Jabos) and some Junkers Ju 88s across the Thames Estuary around noontime. This leads to massive dogfights, but the German bombers get through to East Anglia, where they are met by more fighters.

A second wave crosses the Channel at around 15:30. This one crosses over at Dover and then heads down to the London area. Southeast London is lightly hit, while another group of bombers hits Harwich. Fighter Command is on the ball and turns away a lot of the raiders. Losses are light and fairly even in both of these waves, and the damage caused is light as well.

After dark, the London area bears the brunt of the bombing. RAF Duxford, Feltwell and Debden are attacked, but the poor weather hampers accuracy. Feltwell is the hardest hit, with one plane badly damaged, but overall the targets get off lightly. The Luftwaffe continues its nightly mining operations, this time off Harwich and, as usual, in the Thames Estuary.

Losses for the day are about 8 for the Luftwaffe (one Heinkel He 111 bomber, the rest fighters) and a handful for the RAF. As usual, the Luftwaffe does better in relation to the RAF when it keeps operations light and fluid, as today, rather than overbearing and ponderous, as in recent days. The RAF loses four pilots killed.

Several bomb disposal men receive the George Cross: Robert Selby Armitage, Herbert John Leslie Barefoot, Wilson Hodgson Charlton, and William Horace Taylor. Not to take anything away from any of these gentlemen, but it is becoming clear that the best ways to earn the George Cross are to work in a bomb disposal unit or be a Home Guardsman who evacuates people from burning buildings (and more likely than not succumbs themselves). This is somewhat at odds with the original purpose of the award, which ostensibly was to reward civilian heroism. Basically, the George Cross is simply becoming another military award for non-combat situations. And, yes, all of these recipients undoubtedly deserved every bit of their medals, as bomb disposal work is a deadly serious business.

To give a flavor of the situation at the time, Pilot Officer A.E. Davies of RAF No. 222 Squadron is shot down and killed over Sussex around noontime. His Spitfire, though, is not too badly damaged - Davies must have crash-landed it before he succumbed to his injuries - and someone else soon gets his plane to fly. Nothing terribly wrong with that, but it shows that the RAF treasures every plane and must use even a dead man's plane in later operations. It is unclear how the next pilot of that plane would have felt about being assigned the "death ship," and pilots can be a superstitious lot.

Adolf Galland of JG 26 gains his 50th victory, at this time second in the world to the 56 of Werner Molders.

James Lacey gets a victory and damages another Bf 109.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks Cherbourg during the day. After dark, it bombs several ports, including Emden, Flushing, and Antwerp. Coastal Command chips in with an attack on Ostend.

The Air Ministry authorizes area bombing, meaning unrestricted aerial warfare on civilian population centers. Heretofore, the attacks at least technically have targeted industrial or military installations. There is no question that this is amply justified by Luftwaffe attacks on British cities. However, this also undeniably represents yet another step lower into the savagery of unrestricted warfare. In practice, the bomber aim is so poor at this point that the bombers may as well have been engaging in area bombing all along, but now they can just target the centers of cities and not just airfields or power plants sited far from downtown.

Walt Disney receives the Progress Medal of the Society of Motion-Picture Engineers from E. Allan Williford at the 47th Annual banquet held at the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. October 30, 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: They say that bad things happen in threes. Well, today four different British ships run aground and are lost, an unusual coincidence - but in wartime, so many ships are buzzing around under peculiar circumstances that sometimes the unusual happens. There also are a number of collisions. Helping things along was a violent storm across the region.

The Kriegsmarine suffers a rare U-boat loss. U-32 (Oblt.z.S. Hans Jenisch) is on its ninth patrol and attacks 5372-ton freighter Balzac in the shipping lanes northwest of Ireland. The torpedo explodes prematurely, and the Balzac calls over some escorts from Convoy SC 8 dozens of kilometers away. The tables then are turned and the U-boat is attacked by destroyers HMS Harvester and Highlander. The depth charge attack forces the U-boat to surface, and the destroyers riddle it with gunfire. The U-boat is afloat long enough to enable the crew to escape and scuttle it. There are nine deaths, but 33 of the crew survive to become POWs - a relative rarity when U-boats are sunk in action. Jenisch - who has sunk 17 ships, including recently the 42k ton liner RMS Empress of Britain, for a total of 110,139 tons - survives and becomes an outspoken critic of the U-boat as an instrument of war. Goebbels' propaganda outlets, meanwhile, go on to announce his and U-32's glorious but completely fictional return to port.

Convoy SC 8 is nearing its destination in Great Britain when destroyer HMS Sturdy runs aground on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides. The ship is lost and five crew perish when they try to swim ashore (it's always further than you think). They are buried at Soroby on the island.

A British freighter, the 5213-ton Simonburn, also runs aground at Rattray Head, Aberdeenshire and is lost. It appears everybody survived.

British 1381 ton coaster Alcora runs ashore and is wrecked near Rattray Head, Scotland. Rattray Head is a ship's graveyard, with numerous wrecks there that haven't even be identified.

French requisitioned gate vessel HMS Placidas Faroult runs ashore and is lost off Salcombe estuary, South Hams, Devon. The wreck has been only tentatively identified.

British 92-ton tug Seagem, a new ship built in 1939, goes missing and is presumed sunk around this date. There are no survivors to explain what happened, but a mine could have essentially blasted the tug apart. However, the weather might have been the cause, too.

A Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor of the Luftwaffe (1,/KG 40) attacks Convoy SLS-51. It bombs and sinks 4202 ton Greek sugar freighter Victoria west of County Donegal, Ireland.

British 57-ton motor launch ML No. 109 (Lt A. Kirk RNR) hits a mine and sinks near the Chequer Shoal Buoy in the Humber. There are three deaths, including Captain Kirk.

Passenger liner Duke of York, later renamed HMS Duke of Wellington during the war apparently to avoid confusion with the battleship, collides with Icelandic (some sources say Irish) fishing trawler Bragi off Wyre Light, England. The 324-ton Bragi has no chance and sinks, apparently with no casualties.

Destroyer HMS Fearless collides with 1904-ton British freighter Lanark and is damaged in the bows.

Minesweeper HMS Leda collides with a freighter and is damaged lightly.

Convoy FN 323 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 323 departs from Methil, Convoy OG 45 departs from Gibraltar.

U-146 (Kapitänleutnant Eberhard Hoffmann) is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Wing Commander J.R. O'Sullivan forms a fighter Squadron on Malta. It is to be based at Ta Qali, an airport that will be re-opened for the unit. Ta Qali is basically a junkyard now, used as a dumping ground for old vehicles such as buses and lorries. The airfield was left like this to obstruct an invasion attempt and will have to be cleared to become usable again.

Italian submarine Scire under command of Prince Borghese returns from its unsuccessful launch of manned torpedoes against the British fleet at Gibraltar.

Italian submarine Bragadino drops off mines near Navarino (Pylos), Greece.

Battle of the Pacific: Converted minelayer Passat continues laying mines in the Bass Strait, dropping 40 of them at the eastern entrance. The Pinguin also is laying mines off the coast of South Australia.

German Government: Adolf Hitler returns to Berlin in the evening. He orders General Ritter von Thoma, the head of a military mission to Rome/Libya, to report to him immediately on the status of the Italian position in North Africa. Based on this conversation, he cancels any plans to send Wehrmacht ground troops ("boots on the ground") to North Africa for the time being because:

• The Italians were adamantly opposed to a German presence there;
• Marshal Graziani had been all but rude to von Thoma;
• It would be difficult to supply troops across the Mediterranean.

Hitler, despite this decision, still looks upon the Italian effort in North Africa as being distinctly lacking. He continues plans to send Luftwaffe units to the Mediterranean and also ground troops - when the time comes.

Best's Apparel, Seattle, October 30, 1940. After shoe-store Nordstrom merged with Best's, it became Nordstrom-Best shoes and apparel.

French Homefront: Marshal Petain gives a radio speech. He says:

It is with honor and in order to maintain French unity, a unity which has lasted ten centuries, and in the framework of the constructive activity of the new European order that today I am embarking on the path of collaboration.

This is a famous speech - an infamous speech - that is long remembered in France. In fact, it is remembered quite well at Petain's post-war trial. It would have helped his case if he had said something in this speech about not declaring war on Great Britain as Hitler wished, but for the time being he is going along to get along.

China: In the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi, the Chinese 35 Army Group occupies Nanning from the retreating Japanese.

American Homefront: Cole Porter musical Panama Hattie opens on Broadway, starring Ethel Merman, Arthur Treacher and Betty Hutton. It becomes his longest-running hit to date, running for 501 performances. Oddly enough, it doesn't feature any classic Porter songs. This musical begins a string of Broadway hits for Porter which he personally thinks are mediocre, but the audiences of the time love - and which now are largely forgotten because he was right, they were mediocre.

President Roosevelt, campaigning for his third term in Boston, promises:

I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.

Future History: Charles Fox is born in New York City. He becomes a top - quite possibly the best - behind-the-scenes composer whose more recognized works include the theme music to ABC's Wide World of Sports ("Spanning the globe") and the original Monday Night Football, as well as his (and Norman Gimbel's) Grammy-winning song recorded separately by Roberta Flack and the Fugees, "Killing Me Softly With His Song." Fox also writes (with Gimbel) a trove of absolutely unforgettable television themes, including "Wonder Woman," "The Last American Hero," "Ready to Take a Chance Again" (for the movie "Foul Play"), "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "The Love Boat" - yes, he wrote the Love Boat theme with Paul Williams - and, well, too many more to list. Mr. Fox remains active and published his memoirs in 2010, "Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music." He is quite possibly the composer whose songs you know the best but whose name you have never heard. The man is a legend.

An ad in the 30 October 1940 Edmonton, Alberta paper.

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