Monday 5 May 1941

Emperor Haile Selassie during World War II.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe on 5 May 1941 raids Belfast again, the fourth and final raid of the Belfast Blitz. The German bombers cause widespread damage and lightly damage aircraft carrier HMS Furious and seaplane tender Pegasus. In addition, destroyer Volunteer and corvette La Malouine also are damaged, the latter fairly seriously (three months to repair). British 1719-ton freighter Fair Head and 6044-ton freighter Cape Breton are sunk (the latter refloated and repaired), while 2839-ton freighter Shepperton Ferry and 4283-ton blockship Frederika Lensen are damaged.

Other Luftwaffe targets during the night include Glasgow, Newcastle, North Shields and Cullercoats in Northumberland, Cleadon, Annfield Plain and Blaydon in Co Durham and Hull in Yorkshire.

The Luftwaffe "May Blitz" raids continue against Liverpool. Several more ships are damaged, some for the second time, including 6770-ton freighter Silversandal and 4672-ton freighter Clan Macinnes. In addition, 155-ton barge Traffic is sunk, and 231-ton whaler Sumba suffers a near miss and has to be beached before proceeding to Barry for repairs.

The Luftwaffe attacks several British ports and shipping in the English Channel during the day, causing widespread damage. In the Channel, they sink Royal Netherlands Navy trawler HNLMS Jean Frederic. There are 25 deaths.

The Luftwaffe also raids Lowestoft, sinking 147-ton Royal Navy boom defense vessel Fidelia.

In an attack on Greenock, the Luftwaffe heavily damages destroyer HMS Marksman as well as submarines Traveller and Trooper, which are under construction.

RAF Bomber Command sends 141 planes against Mannheim after dark.

A map of the situation in Iraq contained on page 6 of the 5 May 1941 New York Times.

Anglo-Iraq War: British troops are holding their own at Habbaniyah Airfield despite being badly outnumbered. They do have complete control of the air. The Iraqis are slowly giving ground near the airport.

The British Defence Committee gives Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell control over operations in Iraq. The Germans also have their eyes on Iraq and plan to supply it via their allies in Vichy Syria.

Emperor Haile Selassie during an address to the League of Nations.

East African Campaign: Haile Selassie, exiled from his kingdom of Abyssinia by the Italians, makes a triumphant return to his capital of Addis Ababa. The return is timed to mark the 5th anniversary of the Italian occupation of the city. Accompanying him is Orde Wingate. The Emperor is welcomed by streets lined with African troops and a 21-gun salute. Selassie gives thanks "to Almighty God that I stand in my palace from which the Fascist forces have fled." May 5 thereafter is celebrated in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as Arbegnoch Qen or Patriot's Day.

At Amba Alagi, the Indian troops (3/2nd Punjab Battalion) mount a pre-dawn raid across the exposed rock - the "Middle Position" - against entrenched Italian positions. In previous such situations, the Italians have proven adept at defending such positions with well-positioned machine guns, and this battle continues that pattern. The Indian troops are pinned down at barbed wire throughout the day and suffer 8 dead and 28 wounded, finally retreating after dark.

Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, 5 May 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), on her fourth patrol out of Wilhelmshaven, sends two torpedoes into 4976-ton British freighter Queen Maud 200 miles west of Sierra Leone. When the freighter takes its time sinking, Liebe pumps another one into her, and Queen Maud sinks with the loss of one crewman. There are 43 survivors

British 436-ton freighter St. Eunan hits a mine five miles southwest of St. Ann's Head and is damaged. The St. Eunan makes it to port.

U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler), the first Type VIIC U-boat, departs from Lorient for its first mission.

Two ships of the Royal Navy 1st Minelaying Squadron departs Loch Aish to lay minefield SN 9A, accompanied by four destroyers.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Begonia rescues 17 survivors of an unidentified merchant ship.

Convoy OG-61 departs from Liverpool bound for Gibraltar.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Mayflower is commissioned at Tyne, and corvettes HMCS Kamsack, Morden and Sherbrooke are commissioned in Canada.

Time magazine, 5 May 1941. Ramon S. Castillo, acting President of Argentina from 3 July 1940 to 27 June 1942 and President thereafter, is the cover story (Ernest Hamlin Baker). Castillo's overthrow in 1943 will begin the rise to power of Juan Peron.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Fighting has died down on the Tobruk perimeter. The Axis forces hold a small wedge in the perimeter defenses on a 3-mile (4.8 km) front with a maximum depth of 2 miles (3.2 km). However, they have been ordered by visiting General Paulus to cease offensive operations unless the British begin evacuating the port - which they are not doing.

Winston Churchill writes to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal that "I am most deeply concerned" at how the air war is developing in the Middle East:

If at the present time... we have a superiority [but] can only just hold our own, what will be our position in June, when... the enemy will have, or may have, nearly double our strength?

He adds as an aside that "personally I never expected the Greek venture to succeed unless Turkey and Yugoslavia both came in."

Luftwaffe III Gruppe of JG 27 relocates to Sicily in order to prepare for the upcoming Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete.

Part of Convoy WS 8A reaches Gibraltar from England. This is the Tiger Convoy which carries badly needed tanks for General Wavell in North Africa. The plan - a pet project of Winston Churchill - is to send this convoy directly through the Mediterranean, past German, Italian and Vichy French possessions.

The Royal Navy sends destroyers HMAS Voyager and Waterhen from Alexandria to Tobruk on a transport mission during the night. They immediately unload and head back within hours. This is the first supply mission to the port since the Germans invested it. This is the first of planned nightly supply missions.

The RAF (830 Squadron) lays mines in Tripoli Harbor. The pilots observe an Axis ship mysteriously blow up in the harbor while they are at work.

There is some trepidation in London (principally by Churchill) that the Germans may invade Cyprus instead of Crete. The Australian 7th Infantry Division (cavalry regiment) arrives there today.

Convoy WS 7X arrives in Bombay, India loaded with troops.

Bread rationing begins in Malta, but the price is reduced. It is a quiet day, with only one air raid alert that concerns planes that don't cross over the island. Convoy MW 7B departs Alexandria for Malta.

Spy Stuff: Tokyo suspects that its communications with the embassy in Washington, D.C. are being broken and read. It sends a message to this effect today to the embassy. An investigation is begun.

14th Street and Ninth Avenue (northeast corner) on 5 May 1941 (Museum of the City of New York). Parts of this building survive unaltered near the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

US/French Relations: Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton tells the War Cabinet that the US is poised (by early July) to deliver 14,000 tons of flour in two merchant ships to Vichy France on humanitarian grounds. Winston Churchill permits this and other shipments to pass through the Royal Navy blockade under the overarching theory that this may give the US some leverage with the Vichy government which at some point could become useful to the war effort. The War Cabinet minutes suggest that Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to Washington, had agreed to this shipment without explicit permission to void previous British policy on the matter, which did not allow such shipments. At this point, it basically is a fait accompli.

Churchill does require that, as a condition of this continuing US aid, the French permit no further Germans entry into French possessions in North Africa - a demand that will not be met and is more an attempt to save face than anything else. This agreement appears to be motivated as much to ingratiate Churchill with President Roosevelt as to help the French. Churchill rationalizes that the blockade has been ineffective anyway.

US/Australian Relations: After his meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal on the 4th, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies departs from Lisbon aboard flying boat "Dixie Clipper" bound for Horta, the Azores. Menzies arrives safely. He is en route to Bermuda, and then New York.

Anglo/Irish Relations: Churchill writes in a memo to Herbert Morrison that "Northern Ireland does not appear to be making its utmost contribution to the war effort... one-eighth of the insured population is out of work." He requests that steps be considered to have Northern Ireland "display some initiative."

German/Romanian Relations: Marshal Ion Antonescu, who keeps a very close eye on Soviet troop movements, warns Hitler that the Soviets are massing troops around Kyiv and Odessa in what may be springboards for offensive action. In addition, Antonescu states:

The thing worth noting is that factories around Moscow have been ordered to transfer their equipment into the country’s interior.

Hitler, of course, already is planning to invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Hitler inspects the Kriegsmarine in Gotenhafen (Gdynia), apparently aboard the Bismarck, 5 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler makes an inspection tour of the Kriegsmarine base at Gotenhafen (Gdynia). While there, Hitler visits his two new battleships, Tirpitz and Bismarck. He has a meeting with Admiral Günther Lütjens, who is in command of an upcoming sortie aboard the Bismarck to the Atlantic, and Captain Lindemann of the Bismarck. Many believe that, during this meeting, Hitler creates overly optimistic expectations within Lütjens that informs some of his questionable aggressive decisions later in the month. Hitler also inspects U-57, a U-boat sunk near Brünbuttel but later repaired and returned to service.

Soviet Government: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin delivers two secret speeches to a Kremlin banquet held to honor a thousand graduating officers. All of the top Soviet brass, including Foreign Minister Molotov, Mikoyan, Voroshilov, Kalinin, and Lavrenti Beria, are there. The Germans later capture two attendees who independently recall that Stalin stated that the pact with the Third Reich was simply a temporary expedient. He states in his first speech:

New tank models, the Mark 1 and 3, are on their way;  these are excellent tanks, whose armor can withstand 76-millimeter shells. In the near future there will also be a new tank graced with my own name. This tank will be a veritable fortress. Today we have up to a hundred armored and mechanized divisions which still need to be organized into an entity. Our war plan is ready, we have built the airfields and landing grounds, and the frontline aircraft are already there. Everything has been done by way of clearing out the rear areas: all the foreign elements have been removed. It follows that over the next two months we can begin the fight with Germany. Perhaps it surprises you that I tell you of our war plans. But we have to take our revenge for Bulgaria and Finland.

Later, after much drinking by all, Stalin delivers a second speech. In this one, he states:

The slogan of peaceful policies is now obsolete—it has been overtaken by events. During the years of the capitalist encirclement of the Soviet Union we were able to make good use of the slogan while we expanded the Soviet Union’s frontiers to the north and west. But now we must discard this slogan for the reactionary and narrow-minded slogan that it is, as it will not serve to win us one more square inch of territory. It is time to stop chewing that particular cud, Comrade Chosin:  stop being a simpleton! The era of forcible expansion has begun for the Soviet Union. The people must be schooled to accept that a war of aggression is inevitable;  they must be in permanent mobilization.

This aggressive stance will be hidden from the West, of course. It certainly does not justify in any way Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. However, in hindsight, it serves as a countervailing argument to those who point to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa as an epic mistake.

British Government: First meeting of the Tank Parliament, a Cabinet Committee devoted to armored forces. Churchill has formed to "make a general examination of the present position and prospects of armored formations." The Tank Parliament will engage in long-range planning of equipment and strategy, and will, as today's minutes indicate, take into account that "we might have to reckon with a break eastwards by the Germans."

Venezuela: General Isaias Medina Angarita becomes president.

French Homefront: Coco Chanel comes up with a new strategy in her long-running campaign to gain control over perfumes issued in her name in the 1920s. She writes to the occupying German government - she lives in the Ritz with many top German officers - claiming proprietary ownership over company Parfums Chanel, and in particular its leading brand Chanel No. 5. It is another step in a long, complicated struggle by Coco to recover what she views as her rightful ownership over the perfumes.

Channel claims sole ownership of the company over Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who are Jewish directors of perfume house Bourjois and control Parfums Chanel. Coco Chanel herself only has ten percent of the stock in their company, and basically just licenses her name to the Wertheimer brothers, but she long has felt that she deserves all of it for various murky reasons. Her past attempts have failed, but she decides to try again. The argument that Chanel makes (this time) is that the Wertheimer brothers, being Jewish, have abandoned the property (they sailed to New York in 1940). Coco writes:

I have, an indisputable right of priority ...the profits that I have received from my creations since the foundation of this business ...are disproportionate ...[and] you can help to repair in part the prejudices I have suffered in the course of these seventeen years.

The Germans, of course, are not averse to helping out a fellow "Aryan" against some Jews who have fled (for very good reason). They discover, however, that the Wertheimer brothers have assigned their controlling rights in Parfums Chanel to a "front," Christian businessman and industrialist Felix Amiot. This tactic, fairly common during the Occupation, foils Coco's plan.

Coco Chanel with Adolf Hitler.

Future History: The legal battle over Chanel No. 5 continues for years, and the Wertheimer brother will manage to operate the company from New York throughout the war using agents. The Germans and French government ultimately reject Coco Chanel's petition to obtain sole ownership. The controversy, in fact, outlasts the war, as if it never happened. At the end of the war, Amiot returns control over the perfume company - including Chanel No. 5 - to the Wertheimer brothers, but the legal proceedings and attempts to regain control by Coco Chanel continue and intensify.

Ultimately, the parties reach a settlement which makes Coco a very rich woman for a very unlikely reason: the brand depends in part on her image. The Wertheimer brothers reason that if it is revealed that Coco consorted with German officers during the Occupation, the entire business could be ruined. Basically, she extorts them by threatening to ruin herself. So, while they are on solid legal grounds in retaining ownership, they give Coco a generous portion of their profits essentially to keep her quiet and remain a positive image for the brand.

Thus, Coco Chanel's wartime "collaboration" (if it can be called that, and this is a very contentious issue) actually inures to her benefit in the long run. While there are scandalous rumors for the rest of her life, Coco Chanel's image remains intact until after her death in 1971 - at the Ritz.

The Front page of the 5 May 1941 NY Times.

May 1941

May 1, 1941: British Hold Tobruk
May 2, 1941: Anglo-Iraq War
May 3, 1941: Liverpool Hammered
May 4, 1941: Hitler Victory Speech
May 5, 1941: Patriots Day
May 6, 1941: Stalin In Command
May 7, 1941: May Blitz
May 8, 1941: Pinguin Sunk
May 9, 1941: U-110 Captured
May 10, 1941: Hess Flies Into History
May 11, 1941: The Hess Peace Plan
May 12, 1941: Tiger Arrives Safely
May 13, 1941: Keitel's Illegal Order
May 14, 1941: Holocaust in Paris
May 15, 1941: Operation Brevity
May 16, 1941: Blitz Ends
May 17, 1941: Habbaniya Relieved
May 18, 1941: Croatia Partitioned
May 19, 1941: Bismarck at Sea
May 20, 1941: Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1941: Robin Moore Sinking
May 22, 1941: Royal Navy Destruction Off Crete
May 23, 1941: Crete Must Be Won
May 24, 1941: Bismarck Sinks Hood
May 25, 1941: Lütjens' Brilliant Maneuver
May 26, 1941: Bismarck Stopped
May 27, 1941: Bismarck Sunk
May 28, 1941: Crete Lost
May 29, 1941: Royal Navy Mauled Off Crete
May 30, 1941: Sorge Warns, Stalin Ignores
May 31, 1941: British Take Baghdad

2020

Saturday 22 March 1941

"The first production Beaufighter Mark IIF night fighter, R2270, fitted with dihedral tailplanes and equipped with AI Mark IV radar, in flight. This aircraft served with No. 406 Squadron RCAF." This Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter makes its maiden flight on 22 March 1941 and uses 1200 hp Merlin XX engines. © IWM (MH 4560).

Italian/Greek Campaign: Fighting in the diminishing Italian Primavera Offensive continues on 22 March 1941 despite an Italian request for a temporary truce. The Puglia and Bari Divisions have lost thousands of men on the slopes of Monastery Hill in the center of the line, and they remain unburied. Italian army chaplains approach the Greek defenders of Monastery Hill under a flag of truce, but the Greeks refuse because the Italians will not or cannot guarantee the cessation of hostilities along the entire front.

East African Campaign: The British offensive west of Jijiga, Abyssinia continues. Having occupied the Babile Pass upon an Italian withdrawal during the night, the British also occupy the abandoned city of Harar. Further west, Belgian colonial troops occupy Gambela.

At Keren, the Italians continue to launch fierce attacks to recover Fort Dologorodoc, the fortress to the right of the Dongolaas Gorge. The British troops holding Fort Dologorodoc despite these attacks have got to be wondering why, when the Italians are barely fighting anywhere else, here they are acting like the future of Italy itself depends on this one fort.

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in Plymouth, 22 March 1941. © IWM (A 3556).

European Air Operations: Plymouth has been devastated by two nights of Luftwaffe attacks. The entire region sends fire equipment and men to assist with recovery efforts. In addition, enlisted sailors from the ships in the harbor clear the streets and fill in bomb craters. Visiting Prime Minister Robert Menzies leaves Plymouth and visits nearby Devonport, but is denied entrance to Plymouth itself:

Cannot enter city of Plymouth today, public being excluded because of delayed action bombs. Hear that the Astor house [mayor of Plymouth], where we were to stay, was bombed!

The first production Beaufighter Mark IIF night fighter, R2270, rolls out of the factory and makes its maiden flight. It has dihedral tailplanes, a Merlin engine and is equipped with AI Mark IV radar. It will serve with RCAF No. 406 Squadron.

Battle of the Atlantic: Escorted by destroyers (which meet them at 03:00) and the Luftwaffe, German heavy cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst make port at Brest, France. Gneisenau quickly enters dry dock No. 8 for periodic maintenance. Scharnhorst,  berthed alongside the Quai de la Ninon, also requires work on the superheater tubes in her boilers which will keep her in Brest until July. Admiral Lütjens begins packing his bags for his next command - that of the two-ship operation that will include battleship Bismarck in May.

Operation Berlin has been a resounding success, with the two ships sinking or capturing 22 ships totaling about 115,000 tons. While covering 17,800 miles in 60 days, they have terrified Allied convoys throughout the Atlantic and kept the Royal Navy on high alert. If any German Atlantic cruiser proves the value to the Kriegsmarine of surface raiders to wreak destruction and spread out the Allied defenses, Operation Berlin is the one.

The British, despite occasional aircraft sightings of the two ships, remain oblivious of the fact that "Salmon and Gluckstein" (the British nickname for the two German ships, after a tobacco shop) have made port. The Admiralty diverts from another mission four destroyers based at Londonderry (HMS Jackal, Kashmir, Kelly, and Kipling) to search for them, to no avail. Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is forced to divert to Gibraltar after a catapult malfunction leads to one of its own Fairey Swordfish depth charge exploding under the ship, damaging it. All of this illustrates the value to the Germans of having surface ships on the loose, a huge distraction for the Royal Navy.

The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are far from the only German ships operating with impunity on the high seas. Kriegsmarine raider Kormoran is in the mid-Atlantic between Brazil and Africa when it spots empty 3552-ton British (Shell) tanker Agnita with gunfire. The British crew becomes POWs and the Kormoran scuttles the Agnita using a torpedo, 105 mm gunfire and demolition charges.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 495-ton British freighter St. Fintan about seven miles (12 km) northwest of Smalls Lighthouse, Wales. The crew of nine perishes.

The Luftwaffe bombs 1418-ton Norwegian freighter Inger about ten miles (18 km) south of Smalls. The ship makes it to Plymouth.

The Luftwaffe bombs 2154-ton British freighter Dashwood in the Barrow Deep. The ship makes it to port.

The RAF bombs and damages Norwegian coaster Vestlkyst I off Skadberg, Norway. The captain manages to beach the ship to prevent sinking. However, the RAF later attacks the ship, further damaging it. Eventually, it is refloated and repaired.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Belmont is damaged in a collision with a freighter about 15 miles northwest of the Isle of Man. It returns to Liverpool for repairs.

Royal Navy destroyers attack U-48 (Kptlt. Herbert Schultze) with depth charges. The U-boat is damaged but gets away. U-48 is on its 11th patrol and is one of the most successful boats in the U-boat fleet, but it is nearing the end of its combat life due to its small size.

Three Royal Navy destroyers (HMS Icarus, Intrepid and Impulsive) lay minefield GN on the English Channel.

U-126 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst Bauer) and U-202 (Kapitänleutnant Hans-Heinz Linder) are commissioned.

Actor Jimmy Stewart, a recent Oscar winner for Best Actor in "The Philadelphia Story," at his induction ceremony in the US Army. 22 March 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: It is a very bad day for the British on Malta. At 16:05, a large force of 10 Junkers Ju 88 bombers and 14 Bf 109 fighters cross the island from north to northeast. After bombing from St. Thomas Bay to Grand Harbour, they try to make their escape back to Sicily. The RAF manages to scramble eight Hurricanes to follow them - the most in months, perhaps ever. They attack the Germans about 35 miles north of Malta. A Hurricane and a Bf 109 shoot each other down, and four other Hurricanes disappear completely. No sign of them ever is seen again. The Germans lose another fighter during the raid, but the losses of the dwindling defending fighter force are terrible. Oblt. Mietusch of 7./JG 26 claims two fighters, so apparently, the missing fighters were shot down and didn't simply get lost and run out of fuel (which is quite possible in such situations). Some accounts state that the British lose seven fighters.

Things are heating up in North Africa in more ways than one. The Luftwaffe attacks a column of 70 British vehicles driving north from Agedabia. Aerial reconnaissance reports British troops in the area of Sollum/Ghemines/Magrum. Three RAF Hurricanes make a strafing attack on Marada.

The Luftwaffe (III,/KG 30 Junkers Ju 88s) bombs and badly 8070 ton damages Norwegian freighter Solheim south of Crete. Attempts are made to salvage it, but she eventually sinks. All 32 crew survive. Some accounts place the sinking of the 3798 ton Greek freighter Embiricos Nicolaos in this action, others on the 21st.

British 58 ton tug Chabool is presumed lost today of unknown causes. It had departed Aden on 15 March bound for Berbera.

Convoy AN 22 (nine ships) departs Alexandria bound for Piraeus. The New Zealand 6th Infantry Brigade arrives at Piraeus.

An Axis convoy of four ships departs from Naples bound for Tripoli.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German raider Pinguin completes its resupply from supply ship Alstertor.  Fregattenkapitän (later Kapitän zur See) Ernst-Felix Krüder makes plans to finish his refit and depart within the next few days.

Battle of the Pacific: Two of the Italian ships that escaped from East Africa before their port, Massawa, was captured arrive in Kobe, Japan. These are auxiliary cruiser Ramb II and Italian colonial sloop Eritrea. Virtually all of the other ships have been captured, scuttled or sunk.

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies during his visit to Plymouth, 22 March 1941. Commander-in-Chief Plymouth Command, Admiral Sir Dunbar-Nasmith, VC KCB, greets him. © IWM (A 3558).

Anglo/Yugoslav Relations: The British Minister in Belgrade has obtained a copy of the documents which regent Prince Paul would sign when Yugoslavia joins the Tripartite Pact. They show that Yugoslavia would not have to conduct any military operations, merely permit passage of the Wehrmacht through the country to attack Greece. This is known as an "opt-out" clause which would remain secret unless the Yugoslavian government considered it politically necessary.

Humanitarian Aid: President Roosevelt has been advocating the shipment of humanitarian aid to Occupied Europe since 1940. However, the British - primarily Prime Minister Winston Churchill - have objected on the grounds that this helps the Wehrmacht. British approval is necessary to get such supplies through the Royal Navy blockade. Today, the British approve of the passage of two ships carrying American flour to Vichy France.

US Military: Actor Jimmy Stewart begins a long military career when he reports for induction at Fort McArthur, California. He begins his career as a private, serial number 0433210. Stewart still has to send his agent in Hollywood 10% of his $21 per month army salary. An accomplished private pilot, Stewart is heading for service in the US Army Air Corps.

Vichy French Government: Vichy French President Philippe Pétain signs a decree to construct a trans-Saharan railway. Plans are to cut costs by using POWs and concentration camp inmates.

The Beechcraft D17A sitting atop the mammoth Snow Cruiser.

Antarctica: With Antarctic winter fast approaching, the Antarctic Service evacuates East Base, U.S. Antarctica Service, Marguerite Bay. All 24 men are brought out in two flights of the base's Curtiss R4C-1 Condor. They land at the emergency airfield at Mikkelson Island, 25 miles northeast of Adelaide Island. There, they board USS Bear (AG 29) for transfer at Punta Arenas, Chile to USS North Star. The Condor is abandoned on the island (the other plane used by the expedition, a Beechcraft D17A, already has been shipped back to the States). The Condor remains buried under ice (or on the seafloor) along with the fabled Snow Cruiser.

China: The Battle of Shanggao continues. Today, the main action shifts to the air, where the Japanese attack the next Chinese defensive line (the second of three). This attack is successful, leading to the deaths of 100-200 Chinese soldiers. The Japanese 11th Army ground forces then advance through the breach created, using a formula perfected by the Germans: tanks and armored cars first, followed by infantry. However, the Chinese forces on the flanks of the breach are intact, and they rain fire on the Japanese. After losing about half of their vehicles and infantry, the Japanese retreat. The Japanese are not willing to give up and launch a poison-gas attack, one of the few during World War II. The Chinese, however, abandon the second defensive line before the poison gas shells are launched, so the poison gas largely falls in unmanned areas.

The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State as pictured in 1941 (Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress).

American Homefront: The Opening Ceremony for the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State is held. It is still not complete - that will not happen until 1974 with the installation of a third powerhouse - but two small service generators go online today. These send 10,000 kilowatts of electricity into the Bonneville Power Administration's transmission network. Some 10,000 attend the ceremony, which is two years ahead of schedule. The dam has been contemplated since William M. Clapp first proposed the idea in 1917, and it has been under construction since 6 December 1935. The small generators today are more for show than meaningful production - that will not begin until 4 October 1941, when the first of the dam's 18 main generators go into service without notice to the public and begin commercial production. The power generated by this and other western dams (such as the Hoover Dam) will greatly aid the war effort.

Future History: Edward Heath is commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Lt. Heath will go on to become the Prime Minister of England from 1970-1974.

The  Beechcraft D17A Staggerwing and Curtiss R4C-l Condor assigned to the West Base of the U.S. Antarctic Service. The Staggerwing was designed to be carried on the roof of the giant Snow Cat and, on 31 January 1941, was shipped out on the USS North Star and returned to the US. It quickly was sold off to an Australian citizen from Alice Springs and was destroyed in an accident on 22 December 1963. The Condor, meanwhile, had good carrying capacity but was old and creaky. After being used on 22 March 1941 to evacuate the last personnel from Little America, the plane was left in the Antarctic, where it remains (Wings Magazine, February 1980).

March 1941

March 1, 1941: Rettungsboje
March 2, 1941: Oath of Kufra
March 3, 1941: Germans in Bulgaria
March 4, 1941: Lofoten Islands Raid
March 5, 1941: Cooperation With Japan
March 6, 1941: Battle of Atlantic
March 7, 1941: Prien Goes Under
March 8, 1941: Cafe de Paris
March 9, 1941: Italian Spring Offensive
March 10, 1941: Humanitarian Aid
March 11, 1941: Lend Lease Becomes Law
March 12, 1941: A New Magna Carta
March 13, 1941: Clydeside Wrecked
March 14, 1941: Leeds Blitz
March 15, 1941: Cruisers Strike!
March 16, 1941: Kretschmer Attacks
March 17, 1941: Happy Time Ends
March 18, 1941: Woolton Pie
March 19, 1941: London Hit Hard
March 20, 1941: Romeo and Juliet
March 21, 1941: Plymouth Blitz
March 22, 1941: Grand Coulee Dam
March 23, 1941: Malta Under Siege
March 24, 1941: Afrika Korps Strikes!
March 25, 1941: Yugoslavia Joins The Party
March 26, 1941: Barchini Esplosivi
March 27, 1941: Belgrade Coup
March 28, 1941: Cape Matapan Battle
March 29, 1941: Lindbergh Rants
March 30, 1941: Commissar Order
March 31, 1941: Cookie Bombs

2020

Friday 3 January 1941

"Hurricane Mk I of Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, commanding No 257 Squadron, refuelling at Coltishall, early January 1941." © IWM (CH 1931).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Italians on 3 January 1941 commit two fresh divisions in the area of the Klisura Pass, which is on the road to the key port of Valona. They also begin a small counteroffensive north and west of Korcë. Neither offensive accomplishes much, but casualties mount on both sides. The counterattacks are pretty much over by the end of the day.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe switches back to one of its favorite targets tonight. It sends 178 bombers that hit the Bristol port area hard. The granary warehouse on Princes Wharf is obliterated, taking with it 8000 tons of grain. The raid lasts for 12 hours and is considered the longest sustained attack on Bristol. There are 149 deaths and 351 other casualties. A 4000 lb aerial mine comes to rest without exploding - the citizens quickly nickname it "Satan" and, after it is disarmed, it becomes an emblem of the hardships the city has faced.

RAF Bomber Command raids Bremen for the second night in a row, this time with 71 aircraft.

The Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) withdraws from the Channel coast after having accomplished virtually nothing there except incurring heavy losses.

The Luftwaffe night fighting force continues to gain experience, with Lt. Gerhard Böhme of 3./NJG 2 downing a Whitley bomber southeast of Flamborough Head.

Baltimore News-Post, 3 January 1941: The RAF raid on Bremen is big news, the brewing Australian victory at Bardia gets barely a mention.

Battle of the Atlantic: The RAF bombs a bridge in the Kiel Canal, and it falls on 2803 ton Finnish freighter Yrsa, sinking it and blocking the canal. However, the canal is shallow, and in any event, the ship must be removed so that it does not prove to be a hazard to navigation. So, the ship is raised and returned to service, with the canal being reopened.

The RAF attack on Bremen over the night claims 1460 ton Finnish freighter Liisa. However, it sinks in shallow water near the docks and can be salvaged.

British 2466 ton freighter Pinewood hits a mine and sinks south of Southend. There are six deaths, 18 survivors.

Royal Navy 70 ton drifter New Spray founders in a storm off Sheerness in the Thames Estuary.

Convoy OB 269 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 374 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 378 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 12 departs from Suez.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Hydrangea (K 39, Lt. Joseph E. Woolfenden.) is commissioned.

U-335 is laid down.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Compass resumes. At 06:00, Australian Major General Iven Mackay sends his 6th Australian Division against the Italian defenses at Bardia. The Australians attack from the west, and they are assisted by Royal Navy barrages (led by battleships HMS Warspite, Barham and Valiant) between 08:10 and 08:55, and RAF bombing. Monitor HMS Terror, gunboats HMS Ladybird and Aphis, and destroyers HMS Dainty and HMAS Voyager assist in the bombardment. The Italian air force attacks the ships offshore and score a near miss on gunboat Aphis that causes some damage, kills two and wounds three others.

In the initial stage, sappers blow holes in the barbed wire using Bangalore torpedoes, then engineers rush in and fill the tank ditches using picks and shovels. Once that is done, 23 Matilda II tanks rush through the opening and quickly reach the second main defense line (the "Switch Line"). The Australians advance two miles and capture 8000 prisoners by 08:30. While the attack is a huge success and the Italian position hopeless, the Italians hold out through the night in Bardia itself.

The weather throughout the Mediterranean is characterized by strong force 8 gales and heavy seas. At Malta, four Sunderland flying boats are damaged in waves up to 15 feet.

Luftwaffe units continue transferring to Italy.

Australian troops on exercise in the desert near Bardia, 3 January 1941 (AP Photo).

Anglo/US Relations: Prime Minister Winston Churchill replies to President Franklin Roosevelt's request of 31 December 1940 that the US be allowed to provide humanitarian relief to Vichy France and Spain. This requires Churchill's permission due to the Royal Navy blockade of continental Europe. Churchill assents, but requires that Vichy France acknowledge Great Britain's largesse in allowing relief supplies through the cordon:

[W]e would like it stated that the relief goods are available only by the good will of His Majesty's Government.

There is an argument made by some that Churchill is reluctant to admit anything through the blockade because his goal is to "starve Europe" as a means of hurting the German war effort. However, this particular aid specifically is aimed at unoccupied sections of Europe, so there is little reason for Churchill to block it even if that argument were true. Roosevelt somewhat obliquely hints that providing aid may instead cause disaffection from the Germans in Europe and thus help the Allied war effort. Both men's positions are unprovable and may stem from deeper motivations than just the effect on military operations.

The issue of humanitarian aid to Europe is very complex, with many nuances, and remains a contentious issue between Great Britain and the United States until 1945. Drawing it perhaps over-simplistically, the available evidence does show that Roosevelt attempts to expand the amount of aid to the peoples of Europe throughout the war, while Church is prone to limiting it.

Irish/German Relations: The Luftwaffe hits Dublin again, injuring 20 people at Donore Terrace near South Circle Road. Following several nights of Luftwaffe bombing, Éamon de Valera protests officially to the German government.

Swedish/German Relations: Sweden completes its deliveries of Junkers Ju 86K bombers (built by Saab under license) to the Luftwaffe. While overall an outdated design, the K variant with 905 hp Bristol Mercury XIX radial engines proves quite handy. The Ju 86 was used throughout the first few years of the war by both sides, particularly by South Africa's SAAF. Some of the Luftwaffe Ju 86K's will be converted to Ju 86P high-altitude bombers and photo-reconnaissance versions that can approach altitudes of 50,000 feet, making them for a long time invulnerable to interception.

US Military: The issue of hemispheric defense is at the top of the War Department's agenda. Discussions with Brazilian representatives have been gradually building a case for defending the bulge of Brazil from aggressors. Rainbow 4, the US defense plan in the case of aggression from both east and west, envisions movement of a reinforced triangular division to Brazil. Today, Chief of Staff General George C. Marshal holds meetings with and gains the approval of Admiral Stark and Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles for the movement of five companies of American soldiers to different Brazilian airfields upon the outbreak of hostilities. This must meet with Brazilian approval, which has not yet been sought. The issue of the defense of Brazil continues to simmer throughout 1941.

Soviet Military: The first series of war games continue. Georgy Zhukov commands the invading forces, while General DG Pavlov commands the defending forces. These games, which began on 2 January, will continue through 6 January.

"Men of the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (AMPC) search buildings demolished by bombing in Fore Street in the City of London, 3 January 1941." © IWM (H 6379).

US Government: At a press conference apparently timed to coincide with the opening of the 77th United States Congress, President Roosevelt announces a "between $300 million and $350 million" shipbuilding program:

[B]ecause it is perfectly obvious that so much tonnage in the way of ships has been going to the bottom for a year and a half, probably at the end of the war, sooner or later, there will be a shortage—a world shortage—of tonnage. Therefore, we have begun taking the first steps toward a program of building about 200 merchant ships—a program which will cost somewhere around $300 million, between $300 million and $350 million, in a number of new plants.

Roosevelt is somewhat dismissive about the quality of the ships he is planning to build. "Nobody that loves ships can be very proud of them," he says, but "by building this dreadful looking object you save six or eight months" from building "a ship that is really a ship." He adds that the ships will be "roughly, about 7500 tons each." Obviously, the details - including where the ships will be built, and who will build them - remain to be worked out. Roosevelt says that he has $36 million available to build the shipyards from "the President's Special Contract Authorization Fund." The questions at the news conference somewhat predictably focus on where all this money is going to be spent.

These ships at this point have no name, though they will quickly acquire various belittling appellations ("dreadful looking objects" is one such term, another is dreamt up by Time Magazine: "ugly ducklings"). However, we know these ships by another name coined later in 1941 that has stuck: Liberty Ships.

At his press conference, President Roosevelt also announces that he is sending crony Harry Hopkins to London as his "personal representative" until an ambassador is appointed. Joseph Kennedy withdrew from the slot in November as a result of British anger at some of his controversial statements and attitudes. However, Kennedy's resignation still has not taken effect, so technically the position is not open yet.

Separately, USS Tuscaloosa departs from Lisbon for Norfolk, Virginia, having delivered the new Ambassador to France Admiral William D. Leahy to Europe.

USS Gar (SS 206) on 3 January 1941. Visible on the right is USS Mackerel (SS 204) (US Navy Submarine Force Museum).

Vichy French Government: Marshal Petain reorganizes his cabinet. Among other changes, he appoints Admiral Darlan to head the ministries of Justice and the Interior, Pierre Etienne Flandin in charge of economic affairs, and General Huntziger becomes defense minister. This is a period of great turmoil and change in the Vichy government, with people changing jobs routinely. Flandin, incidentally, will later reveal that, at this time, he is noticing episodes of memory loss by Petain. The old marshal, for instance, always seems to adopt the position of the last person who had talked to him - because he could not remember earlier arguments.

Finnish Government: The new Prime Minister of Finland, Johan Rangell, takes office and appoints his cabinet.

German Homefront: Martin Bormann issues a decree (Normalschrifterlass) banning gothic typefaces and instituting roman/Antiqua type as the new standard. The gothic typeface is very difficult to read, particularly by those in occupied Europe who are not used to it. The gothic typeface can still be seen in various out-of-the-way places in Germany, and the Berlin subways retained it long after the war (and yes, it is very difficult to read even in giant-sized letters, I had a very difficult time deciphering some of the letters). Making the typeface more readable apparently is Adolf Hitler's idea.

American Homefront: A Gallup poll taken after President Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech of 29 December 1940 shows overwhelming support for his position. In response to the question "Do you think our country's future safety depends on England winning this war?", the results are:

Yes 68%
No 26%
No Opinion 6%

This reflects an ongoing shift in opinion within the United States in favor of supporting Great Britain and opposing Germany. Earlier in the war, opinion surveys reflected a much more ambivalent attitude by the public at large, with about half the country as opposed to any intervention in Europe.

USS Gar (SS 206), 3 January 1941. Visible on the right is USS Grampus (SS 207) (US Navy Submarine Force Museum).

January 1941

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

2020

Tuesday 31 December 1940

"A 7.2-inch howitzer in action during the attack on Bardia, 31 December 1940." © IWM (E 1513).

Overview: The year 1940 now comes to a close, and it has been military successful for Germany. This is the best year-end position it ever will hold. Germany has the strategic initiative, its people are well-fed (from captured lands and stolen goods), and its allies, satellites, and dominions are docile. The Wehrmacht is busy increasing its forces, creating new divisions and solidifying control over conquered nations. Hitler is able to plan new invasions and operations without hindrance.

However, not everything is quite as rosy for Germany as the military status quo would make it appear. Germany's military advantage already is dissipating. Great Britain remains unsubdued, and its backing by the United States has grown steadily throughout the year. In fact, just a couple of days ago, on 29 December, President Roosevelt basically announced during his "Arsenal of Democracy" speech that his goal - and that of the United States - was the defeat of Germany. That is not a good omen for Germany. While the full weight of the US is not being felt yet, already it is proving to be Great Britain's lifeline and the only thing still keeping it in the war (except, perhaps, for Hitler's timidity about invading it). Indications are that US public opinion is shifting dramatically in favor of Great Britain and against Germany.

The Luftwaffe remains ascendant, but the balance never has been so far in its favor as to say that it has aerial supremacy. At this stage, Germany essentially controls the daylight skies over Europe, but that is not stopping mounting RAF raids. The German shift to area bombing on 7 September 1940 has done nothing to improve its military position and has simply invited reprisal raids. It also may be a factor in changing US opinion about the war, as daily Blitz broadcasts by reporters such as Edward R. Murrow paint the Germans as predators and killers (and no such broadcasts are made showing RAF attacks on Germany and France). The German change in bombing tactics right when the RAF was in trouble was a tremendous tactical error and a public relations disaster.

The Kriegsmarine has had a number of surprising successes and no giant failures to date. However, The Royal Navy controls the surface despite the slipperiness of numerous German raiders around the world. Possession of the French and Norwegian coasts makes further German U-boat gains likely, but Germany's surface fleet remains hopelessly outclassed with no signs of parity within sight.

The German shift toward a peripheral strategy in the Mediterranean is proving to be a failure. It relies upon the Italians, and the Italians are weak. Italian troops are numerous, but they refuse to fight except when holding an overpowering advantage. Excepting the great success over the summer in British Somaliland, a victory accomplished with a relative handful of troops, every Italian military initiative during 1940 - the ludicrous tiny advance in southern France, the bizarre participation in the Luftwaffe's assault on England, the ghastly reversals in Albania and North Africa - has been a colossal embarrassment. Hitler already is having to alter his strategy to support Italy, by moving Luftwaffe units to the Mediterranean and planning Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece (and, ultimately, Yugoslavia as well). Looking over the entire span of the war, Italy's failures in 1940 are the first nail in Germany's coffin. Italy's failures also are raising doubts in France and Spain that are limiting German possibilities. Rather than helping Germany, Italy already is becoming a drag on the war effort and giving the Allies successes that should never have occurred.

One concludes that Germany's position is powerful but tenuous. Stalin continues to back Hitler, though he is trying to drive a hard bargain for military support. The US remains on the sidelines militarily but holds the world balance of power. In Europe, Germany controls the land, while Great Britain controls the seas. Neither side can defeat the other - unless something dramatic changes.

President Roosevelt as shown in Universal Newsreels, Release 941, December 31, 1940 (filmed on 29 December as part of his Arsenal of Democracy speech). Roosevelt holds the world balance of power.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The major Greek counter-offensive is over by 31 December 1940. However, the Greeks continue minor actions to improve their positions. Greek II Corps is attacking in the vicinity of the Klisura Pass, which is defended tenaciously by the Italian Julia Division. The Greeks are making small gains.

The RAF attacks the Italian supply port at Valona (Vlorë).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command targets German transportation nodes such as bridges at Cologne, Rotterdam, Ijmuiden, and Emmerich. The Luftwaffe sends a few solo raiders across during the day, one of which strafes a passenger train in Kent. The Luftwaffe does not attack after dark.

December 1940 has seen the widest dispersion of Luftwaffe attacks and with the greatest intensity. During the month, the following cities were targeted with concentrated attacks, meaning over 50 tons of high explosives:

• London (3 attacks, 605 tons of high explosives, 4129 incendiaries)
• Liverpool/Birkenhead (2 attacks, 485 HE, 1701 incendiaries)
• Manchester (2 attacks, 467 HE, 1925 incendiaries)
• Sheffield (2 attacks, 435 HE, 1057 incendiaries)
• Birmingham (3 attacks, 409 HE, 1317 incendiaries)
• Bristol (2 attacks, 198 HE, 773 incendiaries)
• Southampton (1 attack, 147 HE, 586 incendiaries)
• Portsmouth (1 attack, 88 HE, 148 incendiaries).

Total civilian casualties during December 1940: 3793 deaths, 5244 serious injuries.

The Daily Mail of 31 December 1940 features Herbert Mason's famous shot from Fleet Street of St. Paul's Cathedral. Not to take anything away from the paper or the shot, but the extreme damage to buildings in the foreground appears to be deliberately obscured. It is much more visible in other copies of this famous photograph. The British government was careful about what was shown in the press, though whether they were involved in this is unclear. Just an observation, in most versions of this picture it is cropped just to focus on St. Paul's, and that may have been the only intent here, too.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe), operating in the Northwest Approaches about 200 miles south of Iceland, finds a straggler from Convoy HX 97, 3760-ton Swedish freighter Valparaiso, and torpedoes and sinks it. There are no survivors, and one of the survivors of the Anglo Saxon is on board and also perishes; 35 men perish in all.

U-65 (Kapitänleutnant Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen), operating much further south than other U-boats, also finds an easy target, a tanker sailing a straight course east of the Cape Verde Islands. Stockhausen fires two torpedoes at 17:52, but both miss. Stockhausen does not give up but instead trails the tanker north for several hours. Finally, a third torpedo at 23:00 hits and damages 8532-ton British tanker British Zeal off the coast of Africa. The 50-man crew abandons ship, and then Stockhausen puts a second torpedo into the tanker. Stockhausen assumes the tanker is finished, but the next morning the crew in their lifeboats see the tanker still afloat, though very badly damaged. They reboard and find the engines intact, but abandon the ship again out of fear that the U-boat is still lurking. However, after another night in the lifeboats, the crew re-boards again the following morning and raises steam. Even with all of its damages - three tanks on the starboard side flooded and massive damage to the deck - the tanker proceeds on its way. It ultimately is towed to Freetown and undergoes temporary repairs. Ultimately, it sails to Baltimore for permanent repairs and then returns to service in February 1942.

The seas remain rough, leading to more collisions. German 764 ton freighter Porjus collides with another ship near Brunsbüttel, Schleswig-Holstein and sinks.

British 390 ton freighter St. Fergus also collides with 1574 ton Glasgow freighter Fidra east of Rattray Head, Aberdeenshire and sinks. In such situations, the bigger ship usually (but not always) wins.

Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, badly damaged during the Christmas encounter with German cruiser Admiral Hipper, makes port at Gibraltar. After landing her wounded, the Berwick will proceed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs.

Convoy FN 372 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 376 departs from Methil.

Allied shipping losses for December 1940 to the listed causes (amounts vary by sources, so any figures are approximate):

• U-boats: 76 ships, 212,590 tons
• Luftwaffe: 14,890 tons
• Surface Raiders: 55,728 tons
• Mines: 54,331 tons

No U-boats lost in December. However, the Axis loses 11 ships of 55,138 tons in the Mediterranean.

• Total losses for 1940:
• Allies: 1,059 ships 4,055,706 tons
• Axis: 22 U-boats, 20 Italian submarines

The Germans end the year with 27 U-boats available for service in the Atlantic. Typically, at any particular time, 1/3 are on station, 1/3 are traveling to or from their station, and 1/3 are in port. The Italian submarines, while numerically much greater than the U-boats, are spread out throughout the Mediterranean and in the vicinity of the Azores and have a much lower success rate than the U-boats. The Royal Navy lost 9 submarines in the Mediterranean during the year, and they sank only 10 Italian merchant ships totaling 45,000 tons. However, they have proven quite useful at times in ferrying supplies to Malta.

Captain George Lindemann returns from his holiday and re-assumes command of the battleship Bismarck.

Big Christmas party on board HMS Hood, as recounted by future US Admiral Joseph Wellings. Everybody he encounters that night in the well-attended function, from the Admiral and Captain on down, will perish in May 1941, after he leaves the ship.

U-126 launched.

Soviet submarine M-34 joins the Black Sea Fleet, while Soviet submarine S-54 joins the Pacific Fleet.

This Consolidated PB2Y-2, bureau number 1633, is the first production Coronado four-engine flying boat. It is delivered to the US Navy on 31 December 1940. Here it is shown, sans-camouflage, in flight. This is probably somewhere in the vicinity of San Diego.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Australian 6th Division continues rehearsing its assault on Italian-held Bardia. Australian General Mackay has postponed the start of the assault by 24 hours, from the morning of the 2nd to the 3rd. This will give him more time to site artillery and bring up ammunition.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dainty captures 231-ton Italian schooner Tiberio and 244-ton schooner Maria Giovanni en route between Bardia and Tobruk. The Italians are trying to transfer people to Tobruk because it is considered less vulnerable. Dainty seizes them while it is escorting gunboats HMS Aphis and Ladybird to Bardia and Sollum in preparation for the Australian assault on Bardia.

Greek submarine Katsonis (Lt Cdr Spanides, RHN) makes a surface attack on 531-ton Italian tanker Quinto in the Bay of Valona. It sinks the Quinto with gunfire.

The Royal Navy forms Submarine Flotilla 8 at Gibraltar. It will include HMS Olympus, Otus, and Pandora, which are all in the process of traveling there or already have made port.

Royal Navy gunboat HMS Ladybird parked off Bardia, 31 December 1940.

Anglo/French Relations: Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives Pierre Dupuy, the Canadian chargé d'affaires for the Canadian legations for France, Belgium and the Netherlands, a proposal for Marshal Petain. Canada has not broken relations with France, and Dupuy has been shuttling (secretly) between England and France, maintaining a back-door line of communications unknown to Hitler. Churchill claims this is his only means of communication with Petain, though Petain has his own emissary who visits London via Lisbon with some regularity.

Churchill proposes according to his memoir, "The Second World War," Vol. II, pp. 550-51), that Vichy France "profit by the favorable turn of events." To do that, France should re-join the war against the Axis. Great Britain was prepared to land six divisions of troops in Morocco if Petain agrees to switch sides. This is all well and good, but Churchill does not explain how he would stop the Germans from then occupying the rest of France itself.

Anglo/US Relations: Churchill cables President Roosevelt in reference to the latter's 29 December "Arsenal of Democracy" fireside chat:

I thank you for testifying before all the world that the future safety and greatness of the American Union are intimately concerned with the upholding and the effective arming of that indomitable spirit.... All my heartiest good wishes to you in the New Year of storm that is opening upon us.

Churchill also references the destroyers-for-bases deal of September 1940. The formerly US destroyers, the Royal Navy has found, are of limited value. The British crews despise them, and they require extensive refits before being useful. Of the 50 turned over to the British, only 9 are in service with the Royal Navy, the others undergoing various modifications and upgrades. Some are in such bad shape that the Admiralty doesn't want them in normal service, but instead is trying to figure out ways to use them for such purposes as running them into German-held Channel ports and blowing them up. Churchill pointedly annexes a list of problems with the destroyers to his telegram, "in case you want to work up any of the destroyers lying in your yards."

Of course, the real value of the destroyers-for-bases deal was not the destroyers themselves, which are almost incidental; it is getting US troops to take over defense of British bases in the Atlantic, freeing up British troops for other purposes, and cementing the relationship between the United States and Great Britain - or, more specifically, the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. In that latter sense, the deal has been phenomenally successful.

Roosevelt also sends Churchill a telegram today on another topic: humanitarian relief to occupied Europe. In a message drafted by Sumner Welles, Roosevelt proposes "for humanitarian and also political reasons" giving "limited quantities of milk and vitamin concentrates for children." These will be shipped through the International Red Cross to Spain and Vichy France (not the parts occupied by Germany, which is the greater part of France). Spain long has been on Roosevelt's mind, but this message adds unoccupied France to the list. Churchill would have to approve such a measure due to the British blockade of anything useful going to Europe. Churchill so far has been resistant to such shipments, figuring that it gives aid to the enemy. Roosevelt hints that aiding Spain and Vichy France might make them more susceptible to deserting Hitler, something that Churchill - likely unknown to Roosevelt - is actively working on today.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) asks Attorney General Robert Jackson to investigate Memphis, Tennessee. Atlanta Daily World, 31 December 1940.

German/Italian Relations: Churchill's memoir also references a letter from Hitler to Mussolini of today's date. Hitler complains that, given the British advance in North Africa, Operation Felix, the proposed assault on Gibraltar, is now no longer feasible because Spanish leader Franco has gotten cold feet. "Spain, profoundly troubled by the situation, which Franco thinks has deteriorated, has refused to collaborate." Having Gibraltar, he whines, would have kept the French in northwest Africa from considering changing sides. Hitler, however, says that he "still had the hope, the slightest hope, that Franco will realize at the last minute the catastrophic consequences of his conduct." However, he admits to Mussolini that Operation Felix is indefinitely postponed, and the "German batteries which were to be sent to reinforce the Spanish islands and coast are not to be delivered."

German/Soviet Relations: Replying to a letter from Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler writes Stalin a personal letter dated 30 December 1940. Addressed "Dear Mr. Stalin," Hitler vows to "put an end to this rather drawn-out affair by seizing and occupying the heart of the British Empire - the British Isles." He claims that German troops are only in Poland for "reorganization and training" and to keep them away from British bombers and intelligence. He promises that "beginning in approximately March" these troops will be "moved to the Channel coast and the western coast of Norway." He also intends, he says, to use these troops to "force the British out of Greece" by moving them south through Romania and Bulgaria. You may read the letter here.

In his letter to Mussolini of today's date, Hitler writes that "our present relations with the USSR are very good." He lists a few reasons why, and concludes that there was "considerable hope that we can resolve in a very reasonable manner the remaining points at issue... and reach a solution which will avoid the worst...."

Finnish/Soviet Relations: The Helsinki government terminates the Finland-Soviet Peace and Friendship Society.

New Year's Eve on Broadway, 31 December 1940. While this is only a small group of people, Times Square is jam-packed for the celebration.  Photo: Daily News/UCLA Digital Collection.

German Military: Hitler sends out a New Year's Order of the Day to the Wehrmacht (as recorded by the monitoring services of the BBC). In it, he writes:

According to the will of the warmongering democrats, and of their capitalist and Jewish allies this war must be continued. The representatives of the crumbling world hope that in 1941 it may be perhaps possible to do that which was impossible in the past. We are ready. We find ourselves at the beginning of 1941, armed as never before. I know that each one of you will do his duty. God, great and powerful, does not abandon the man who is threatened by a world of enemies, and who is determined to defend himself with a firm and stout heart. Soldiers of the National Socialist Armed Forces of Greater Germany, the year 1941 will bring us, on the Western Front, the completion of the greatest victory of our history.

As usual, Hitler casts the war as a defensive struggle, even as he plans to invade not one, but a handful of new countries.

American Homefront: Investor sentiment about the US economy remains in the doldrums: the Dow Jones Industrial Average concludes the year at 131.13, completing a 12.72% loss for 1940. The Great Depression remains in force, despite some upswings at various points during the 1930s.

Bette Davis marries businessman Arthur Farnsworth in Rimrock, Arizona.

Future History: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, is born in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1967, she marries Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria, heir presumptive to both the former Bavarian Royal House and the Jacobite Succession. They have five daughters. Max, incidentally, is the great-grandson of King Ludwig III of Bavaria, the last King of Bavaria and cousin of famous King Ludwig II, the builder of famous Neuschwanstein Castle. Max and Elisabeth live at Schloss Tegernsee and Schloss Wildenwart, not too far from Füssen, the town near Neuschwanstein Castle.

A holiday costume party in Riga, Latvia, 31 December 1940. Many of those pictured perished in the Holocaust.

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