Wednesday 24 December 1941

President Roosevelt addresses the crowd at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony from the White House South Portico on December 24, 1941. Winston Churchill, who is visiting during the Arcadia Conference, is at the right. This is the first Christmas Tree lighting ceremony ever held inside the White House grounds (FDR Presidential Library).

Battle of the Pacific: On Hong Kong Island, the British situation is growing increasingly desperate by 24 December 1941. The Japanese have split the island in two at Wong Nai Chung Gap and control the entire island's water supplies, but the British and Canadian troops have greater worries, as reports of Japanese atrocities are growing. After dark, the Japanese approach St. Stephen's College, which is being used as a hospital on the front line, and massacre many injured men and doctors.

About 1,300 Japanese Americans pledge their allegiance to the United States at a newly dedicated Buddhist church in Seattle, Washington, 24 December 1941 (The Associated Press).

Massacres on Hong Kong Island are not isolated incidents, but the norm. For instance, during the closing days of the campaign the Japanese have:

• massacred around two dozen members of the 5th Anti-Aircraft Battery of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps (HKVDC) at Sai Wan Hill;
• killed many men at the Salesian Mission at Shau Kei Wan
• massacred eight Canadian soldiers after the battle of Jardine's Lookout;
• murdered three prisoners at Causeway Bay, including a female air raid warden with the local Air Raid Precautions (ARP);
• killed four soldiers at a house on Blue Pool Road known as the "Black Hole of Hong Kong," including two Canadian officers;
• massacred 30 civilians at Blue Pool Road;
• killed at least 47 British POWs at The Ridge;
• killed at least 14 prisoners at Overbays;
• killed 7 men at Eucliffe;
• killed an additional 36 men near The Ridge;
• possibly killed six soldiers of the Middlesex Regiment at Deepwater Bay Ride (it is unclear if they had surrendered);
• murdered eight or twelve British soldiers at the Maryknoll Mission;
• executed 26 prisoners at Brick Hill.

Other incidents are known to have happened because some men simply disappeared without a trace - meaning some perpetrators covered their tracks quite well.

Volunteers at a special station to coordinate Los Angeles air defenses in December 1941. Fears of a Japanese air attack on the city continue well into 1942.

The most horrible atrocity on Hong Kong Island happens at St. Stephens, where an unknown number of victims variously estimated at from 13-99 are executed and then cremated. In the most notorious incident there, the Japanese rape three British and four Chinese nurses before killing them. Canadian Captain Overton Stark Hickey of the RCASC is shot while trying to help the nurses. The rest of the victims are doctors and wounded POWs (or at least patients who should have been treated as POWs). Unfortunately, the full scope of the St. Stephens massacre is impossible to prove later because the Japanese efficiently dispose of the evidence. Atrocities or not, the Commonwealth troops cannot hold out much longer on Hong Kong Island without water.

Damage caused by a Japanese air raid on the Manila port area. This photo was taken on 24 December 1941.

In the Philippines, Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur invokes War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3) as he continues evacuating Manila. The WPO-3 plan calls for delaying actions in central Luzon while Allied forces retreat into the Bataan Peninsula. The 26th Cavalry Regiment attempts this difficult mission against overwhelming Japanese numerical strength under the command of South Luzon Force. The Americans begin using barges to move supplies from Manila warehouses into the Bataan in the hopes that it can be turned into a redoubt for US and Filipino soldiers and refugees.

Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, 14th Army commander, coming ashore at Lingayen Gulf, 24 December 1941.

At dawn at Mauban on Lamon Bay southeast of Manila, the Japanese land the 2nd Battalion of the 20th Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. Nariyoshi Tsunehiro). Other landings occur a little further south at Siain and Atimonan. The Philippine 1st Infantry Division is dug in at the Mauban beach and slows the Japanese down there. The invasion succeeds in getting three bridgeheads, however, and by nightfall, the Japanese have made good progress of about five miles inland at Mauban and even further advances at Atimonan and Siain. These landings put the Japanese within striking distance of the eastern approaches to the Bataan Peninsula. Maneuvering his forces to protect the exposed entry points in Bataan, MacArthur stations troops at San Fernando, the steel bridges at Calumpit over the Pampanga River, and Plaridel north of Manila. Admiral Thomas C. Hart sends the 4th Marine Regiment from Olongapo to Corregidor to secure it as the last bastion should the defense of Bataan fail. In the air, three B-17s based on Del Monte Field, Mindanao, raid Japanese shipping at Davao and then fly south to Darwin.

"Members of the gun crew overhauling their pom-poms while in the harbor." The Isaac Sweers in Alexandria Harbor, 24 December 1941. © IWM (A 7265).

In the Malay Peninsula, Commander Australian Imperial Force Malaya, Major General Gordon Bennett (General Office Commanding Australian 8th Division), tries to organize a defense in depth. The Australian 27th Brigade Group, 8th Division occupies North Johore, while the Indian 11th Division (which controls all remaining Indian III Corps troops north of the Slim and Bernam Rivers) concentrates around Kampar and along the Slim River. The British are hampered by dwindling air support and the Japanese are becoming dominant in the air.

The United States Navy is still determining the extent of the damage at Pearl Harbor from the raid on 7 December 1941. Shown is damage to US Navy light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) at left, with construction materials to fix it. This photo was attached to the 14th Naval District report, serial 01451 of 24 December 1941 (Naval History and Heritage Command).

Japanese submarine attacks against US shipping along the west coast of the United States continue. Japanese submarine I-19 (some sources say I-17) surfaces and shells 5695-ton US freighter Absaroka about 19 nautical miles (36 km) northwest of Catalina Island, while I-23 does the same to 2119-ton US freighter Dorothy Philips off Monterey Bay south of San Francisco. Meanwhile, at Midway Island, US Marines of Batteries A and C of 4th Defense Battalions land after a hazardous journey aboard seaplane tender USS Wright.

"Commander Houtsmuller, Captain of HNMS ISAAC SWEERS coming on board his ship." Alexandria, 24 December 1941. © IWM (A 7262).

In Borneo, the Dutch send Martin B-10 bombers against the Japanese forces that took Kuching late on 23 December. The Dutch withdraw their aircraft from Singkawang, Borneo, to Palembang, Sumatra, but they still hold Kuching Airfield because the Japanese forces close by haven't spotted it yet. The British "SARFOR" (Sarawak Force) garrison of Kuching, composed of just over 1000 men of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment and the 35th Fortress Company and about 1500 local tribesmen, begins a delaying action as it moves inland toward Dutch Borneo. The Japanese main objectives are the oilfields at Miri and Seria and the refinery at Lutong.

Luftwaffe reconnaissance of Malta, 24 December 1941 (Federal Archive Bild 168-116-012).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Germans secretly evacuate Benghazi on 24 December 1941. Later in the day, the 7th Armored Division of the XIII Corps, British Eighth Army attacks the city and is pleasantly surprised to find it deserted. Troops of the Royal Dragoons are given the honor of being the first into Benghazi. Off Alexandria, U-568 (Kptlt. Joachim Preuss) torpedoes and sinks 925-ton Royal Navy corvette HMS Salvia (K-97) about 104 nautical miles (193 km) northwest of Alexandria. All 106 men aboard the British ship, which has been returning to base with convoy TA-5, perish.

A Christmas Eve service somewhere in the Soviet Union, 24 December 1941 (Federal Archive Bild 169-0875).

Eastern Front: The lingering feud between the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, and General Guderian, commander of 2nd Panzer Army, continues to simmer. Kluge complains to the OKH operations chief, General Franz Halder, about Guderian allowing the 296th Infantry Division to withdraw even further than first thought without orders (and thereby saving it). In addition, Kluge notes that Guderian has pulled 47th Panzer Corps back as well in defiance of Hitler's stand-fast orders. When Halder suggests that Guderian should be court-martialled, Kluge equivocates, rationalizing that the withdrawals had been done "under the compulsion of circumstance." Halder himself then sends a direct order to Guderian to stop the withdrawals, send a division to Belev, and report in detail his troop locations before Hitler's midnight conference.

"German Luftwaffe pilot Erbo Graf Von Kageneck, holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, standing in front of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E whilst being assisted by two ground crew personnel. Von Kageneck, responsible for the destruction of 69 allied aircraft, was later shot down by RAAF pilot, Flying Officer Clive R Caldwell, (who was attached to 250 Squadron, Royal Air Force) on the afternoon of 24 December 1941 near Derna in Libya. Kageneck later died in a Luftwaffe hospital in Naples. Australian War Memorial P00323.001.

While there is a lot of drama behind the scenes on the German side, things aren't much better at the front. Second Army, which is holding the line to Guderian's immediate right, has to withdraw along with Guderian's troops in order to not expose its own flank. The lack of reserves near the front compels these kinds of reflexive movements when one unit begins to retreat. There is blowing snow and low visibility, and nobody is really sure where any other units are. He announces that he will abandon Novosil and Livny, also in defiance of Hitler's orders. Before midnight, Guderian responds to a telephoned order from von Kluge to stop his retreat by requesting to be relieved and court-martialed. Kluge immediately gets on the phone to Halder and tells Halder, while apologizing for "ruining your Christmas spirit, which probably was not very rosy anyway." Halder then passes this information on to Hitler in East Prussia, who is just about to begin his midnight command conference.

You can catch a special Christmas Eve 24 December 1941 train/steamer combo From Boston to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard if you catch the 17:00 train.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020

Saturday 20 December 1941

Tanker Emidio sinking at Blunt's Reef off Point Mendocino, California, 20 December 1941.

Battle of the Pacific: Japanese submarines are lurking off the U.S. west coast. On 20 December 1941, I-17 torpedoes, shells, and sinks 6912-ton U.S. tanker Emidio about twenty miles west of the California coast at Blunt's Reef (off Cape Mendocino). The attack is made on the surface and in daylight. There are five crew deaths. The survivors reach the Blunt's Reef lightship and are later rescued by Coast Guard cutter Shawnee. A Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat searches for the submarine to no avail. The Emidio is the first US tanker definitely known to be torpedoed and lost in World War II (the Astral was lost in November 1941, but exactly how is not known with absolute certainty). The ship is abandoned and there is some hope of salvaging her, but the Emidio drifts onto the rocks off Crescent City and is wrecked. The is the closest to date that the war has gotten to the continental United States.

Another view of the sinking Emidio.

At Hong Kong Island, the invading Japanese advance through the Wong Nai Chung Gap from the north to the south coast and split the island in two. British Commonwealth troops hold out on the Stanley Peninsula east of the gap and in the western part of the island. The Japanese troops capture the island's water reservoir, making a British surrender virtually inevitable.

American artist and cartoonist James Montgomery Flagg and his daughter Faith in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1941.

In Burma, the recently relocated American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka "Flying Tigers") enter their first combat east of Rangoon in their distinctive P-40B Tomahawk fighters. The unit is not officially part of the US Army Air Force and the pilots (aside from leader Major General Claire Chennault) do not hold commissions. This provides an unusual free-wheeling aspect to the operation, including $500 bounties for every Japanese plane the pilots shoot down. This date, 20 December 1941, is considered the "birth" of the Flying Tigers.

AVG Flight Leader Bob Layher, 1941-42.

The Japanese make landings on Mindanao, the Philippines. For the first time, the Japanese take heavy casualties as well-placed Filipino machine gunners of the 101st Regiment pin down the invaders. The Japanese ultimately prevail by calling inshore bombardments by 5-inch naval guns. It is a striking mirror image of events later in the war. At Clark Field, the air echelon of the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th BG (Heavy), no longer has any bombers to service, as they all have been sent to Australia. Thus, they are sent to Batchelor Field, given rifles, and told to serve as infantry with the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional).

"The Joy of a Father's Homecoming," December 20, 1941, The Toronto Star Weekly.

At Wake Island, US Navy Task Force 11 (Admiral Frank Fletcher) and Task Force 14 (Admiral Wilson Brown) are sailing toward Wake Island. At Pearl Harbor, Vice Admiral William S. Pye - the Acting Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet - is very leery of the operation and keeps a close eye on any indications of a strong Japanese fleet presence in the area. A US Navy Catalina arrives at Wake bringing official mail and news of the relief expedition. The plane makes a quick turnaround and evacuates Major Walter J. Bayles, who comments:

I looked at our flag, still snapping in the breeze at the to of the pole where it had been hoisted on December 8. I looked at the cheerful, grinning faces and the confident bearing of the youngsters on the dock. As I waved a last good-bye and took my seat in the plane, my smile was as cheerful as theirs. I knew all would go well with Wake Island.

Nobody else will escape the island.

"A Fairey Albacore about to land on the deck of HMS VICTORIOUS during flying operations at Scapa Flow." 20 December 1941 (© IWM (A 6745)).

Eastern Front: Adolf Hitler, having assumed direct command of the German Army, instructs OKH chief of operations General Franz Halder how the situation around Moscow is to be handled. The troops would require a "fanatical will to fight," and this would have to be enforced by "all, even the most severe, means." Soldiers would have to "tolerate breakthroughs" and fight where they stood, as nobody had any "contracts" limiting their efforts to logistics or anything else. Winter clothing could be taken from Soviet civilians or dead Red Army soldiers. He emphasizes, "Every man must defend himself where he is."

Mrs. Paul Titus of Bucks County, Pennsylvania poses on 20 December 1941. She had signed up as an air-raid spotter on 8 December 1941. Mrs. Titus is ready to defend Pennsylvania, declaring, "I can carry a gun any time they want me to."

In the morning, General Guderian boards a light plane to fly to Fuehrer headquarters in East Prussia. The new commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, receives a string of messages from his armies that suggest utter hopelessness. For instance, Fourth Army reports:

Enemy attacking in the army's deep flank, aiming toward Kaluga. Army has no more forces at its disposal. Combat strength sinking. Holding present positions not possible in the long run.

General Hoepner's Fourth Panzer Group sends a desperate message:

The Commanding Generals of 46 and 5 Corps have reported they cannot hold. Heavy losses of trucks and weapons in recent days. They had to be destroyed for lack of gasoline. Weapons now 25-30 percent of requirements. Only course to give orders to hold to the last man. The troops will then be gone and there will be a hole in the front.

General Strauss at Ninth Army is equally pessimistic:

Present battle area wooded and has poor visibility. If it has to hold there the army is likely to be broken through and smashed.

It is a bleak picture, but the front is holding for the time being.

The Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal of 20 December 1941 is getting closer to a realistic portrayal of the war than it and other papers had in the week following the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, its announcement of the "first big Philippine landing" is over a week late.

The desperate situation gives von Kluge a chance to settle some old scores. After dark, he calls Halder and unloads his feeling about Guderian, who has clashed with Kluge throughout the campaign (as, to be fair, Guderian has done with several other generals). Kluge reports that he has learned that Guderian has been secretly moving troops to the Oka River, which is 40 miles east of where he is supposed to be. Halder immediately calls the Fuehrer Headquarters, where Guderian already is talking to Hitler. This leads to an immediate row, with Hitler screaming at Guderian that he has planned "an insane scheme." To Guderian's face, Hitler orders Guderian to hold his line right where it is and forget about further withdrawals. It is almost surprising that Guderian returns to the front still holding his command.

The 20 December 1941 (North) Carolina Times seems to be reporting on a completely different war than the one overseas.

US Military: The US Navy continues its reorganization following the disaster at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Ernest J. King, the Atlantic Fleet commander, is designated Commander in Chief United States Fleet with headquarters in the Navy Department, Washington, D. C. While King is elevated from the Atlantic command, he maintains a fierce effort throughout the war to give adequate resources to the Pacific Theater.

German Homefront: Belatedly, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announces a winter relief drive for the troops on the Eastern Front, "Winterhilfswerk für Wehrmacht." The public is encouraged to donate warm clothing in a gesture of "solidarity with the troops." It is never made clear how desperate the situation is, but disturbing reports reach the homefront despite the government's rather casual handling of a very real crisis.

USS Tillman (DD-641) and USS Beatty (DD-640) on the ways in Charleston, South Carolina Navy Yard on 20 December 1941. They are about to be launched. USS Tillman (DD-641) is commissioned 9 June 1942, and USS Beatty (DD-640) is commissioned 7 May 1942.

American Homefront: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart with "Elmer's Tune." It is the song's only week at the top spot.  It has Ray Eberle (who later joins the military) on lead vocals and the Modernaires on backing vocals. The song is named after the music composer, Elmer Albrecht.

Charles Lindbergh writes to Chief of Army Air Forces Henry H. "Hap" Arnold requesting a commission in the military. President Roosevelt is extremely angry at Lindbergh's efforts on behalf of the America First Committee and tells Arnold to deny the request.

The Emidio sinks off the California coast.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020

Friday 19 December 1941

Mechanics repair the tread on a panzer in North Africa on 19 December 1941 (Gemini, Ernst A., Federal Archive Picture 101I-438-1191-24).

Eastern Front: The pace of command changes in the Wehrmacht accelerates on 19 December 1941 as more senior officers head home from the Eastern Front to Germany. Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch has been ignored by virtually everyone for days despite holding the senior post in the entire German Army, especially Hitler. This finally has broken Brauchitsch's spirit, and, having submitted his resignation as a form of protest, Hitler perhaps unexpectedly accepts it. In addition, Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, also turns his command over to one of his army commanders, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge. Both leave ostensibly on medical grounds, and Brauchitsch has been recovering from a heart attack for some time. However, there is little doubt in anyone's mind that Hitler has dismissed them simply because they have become redundant as his confidence in his own powers of command has grown.

With Brauchitsch no longer around to attend Hitler's daily Fuhrer conferences and agree with everything that he said, that role falls to the next in line. That was OKH Chief of Staff General Franz Halder. To date, Halder has been only an occasional presence in Hitler's conference room, appearing only on average twice a month. The two men now actually get to know each other, which eventually turns out to be bad news for Halder.

The German film "Menschen Im Sturm," set in Yugoslavia in March 1941, is released on 19 December 1941. It portrays ethnic Germans in pre-war Yugoslavia being persecuted, a common theme for wartime films of the Third Reich. The fascist NDH government in Croatia led by Ante Pavelic supports the lavish production and even visits the film set in Croatia. Quite popular throughout Occupied Europe, Yugoslavia understandably bans the film after the war.

To announce the change of command, Hitler later releases a proclamation:

Soldiers of the Army and the Waffen SS! Our struggle for national liberation is approaching its climax! Decisions of world importance are about to be made! The Army bears the primary responsibility for battle! I have therefore as of this day myself taken command of the Army! As a soldier who fought in many World War battles, I am closely tied to you in the will to victory.

The order contains the usual shaky grasp of reality that emanates from Hitler's speeches, as the "decisions of world importance" already have been made and now the Wehrmacht soldiers trudging through icy weather are bearing the brunt of them. However, Hitler assuming personal command of the German Army removes the last vestige of independence that it enjoyed, though (as events will prove) individual generals still feel the right to override direct orders when they see fit.

Sergeant-Major John Robert Osborn, VC, KIA 19 December 1941.

Battle of the Pacific: On Hong Kong Island, the invading Japanese forces expand their beachhead. They surround the West Brigade headquarters and kill its commander Canadian Brigadier John Lawson when he attempts a breakout. The British attempt a counterattack at the Wong Nai Chung Gap that fails. This leaves the Japanese in possession of an easy route toward the southern part of the island. Canadian Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn of the 1st Battalion, Winnipeg Grenadiers, is part of an attempt to recapture Mount Butler when a grenade lands near him. Osborn leaps on the grenade to save other men. John Robert Osborn receives the Victoria Cross posthumously.

"SS KING HAAKON VII going down the slipway into the water." King Haakon of Norway is present at the launch in Glasgow, Scotland, 19 December 1941 (© IWM (A 6707)).

On the Malay Peninsula, the RAAF pulls its last bombers back to Singapore and reequips No. 62 Squadron with Hudsons. The advancing Japanese close up on the new Commonwealth line at the Krian River and the Grik Road and repel a counterattack by the Indian III Corps. On the eastern end of the British line, the Indian 9th Division abandons the Kuala Krai railway station and withdraws back toward Singapore.

The US Navy sends Vice Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey, Jr. and his Task Force 8 from Pearl Harbor toward Johnston Island south of Midway. Aboard USS Enterprise, Halsey is to cover an attempt by Task Force 11 under Admiral Frank Fletcher and Task Force 14 to relieve Wake Island. Seas are heavy and destroyer Craven is damaged and forced to return to Pearl Harbor.

A 1940 view from the ramparts of Fort Macon, North Carolina. Fort Macon is a national park in 1941 due to its use during the Civil War but on 19 December 1941, the U.S. Army activates the installation for coastal defense use (Thomas T. Waterman/Library of Congres).

In the Philippines, the Japanese force advancing from Legaspi toward Manila reaches Sipoco and continues on toward Daet. The Japanese now have fighters operating in the Philippines and send a dozen of them to attack Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao. They destroy three US Army Air Force B-18 Bolos bombers which had just arrived from Luzon en route to Australia. The Japanese send transports carrying about 5000 troops from Palau, Caroline Islands, with plans to landing at Davao early on the 20th.

In Burma, Japanese forces advancing from Thailand reach Bokpyin, a village about 100 miles north of Victoria Point. In Rangoon, a US official demands that the Government of Burma impound Lend-Lease material before it is captured by the Japanese. The government complies and loads a great deal of equipment on the USS Tulsa. This becomes known as the "Tulsa Incident" and takes a great deal of time and effort to sort out. Meanwhile, General Claire L. Chennault sets up new headquarters for his American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers" about 150 miles (241 km) east of Rangoon and begin operations that last until 4 July 1942.

An Italian "Torpedo to run slow," initial SLC, also known as "pig." The pig is a midget submarine that runs like a torpedo. It has been adapted to carry two frogmen wearing SCUBA gear whose goal is to secretly apply explosive charges to enemy warships that are moored in a harbor.

Battle of the Mediterranean: In the early hours of 19 December, a Royal Navy force composed of three cruisers and four destroyers runs into a minefield about 20 miles (32 km) off Tripoli. The British have been searching for the Axis convoy that led to the First Battle of Sirte. Cruiser HMS Neptune hits four mines and sinks quickly. Destroyer Kandahar, coming to Neptune's aid, also hits a mine and is scuttled later in the day. Two other cruisers, Aurora and Penelope, also hit mines but manage to limp back to Malta (illustrating yet another advantage of retaining that island). The British incur 830 deaths from this disaster, which causes greater losses than most battles.

The Louisville Courier-Journal of 19 December 1941 highlights the agreement with the Vichy French authorities in Martinique that neutralizes the French fleet there.

Meanwhile, Italian submarine Sciré has had several aborted missions to transport Luigi Durand De La Penne (Italian frogmen) of the Xª Flottiglia MAS of the Royal Italian Navy to Royal Navy bases for purposes of destroying Royal Navy ships. Today, just as several British ships hit mines off Tripoli, the Italian frogmen penetrate Alexandria Harbor, the main Royal Navy base in the eastern Mediterranean. Attaching mines that explode just after 06:00 on 19 December 1941, the frogmen damage battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant, destroyer Jervis, and 7554-ton Norwegian freighter Sagona. The six Italian frogmen disappear and presumably perish. HMS Queen Elizabeth is taken to Virginia for repairs that last until June 1943, while Valiant is taken to Durban for repairs which also last until 1943. It is a devastating night for the Royal Navy which drastically impairs its ability to undertake large-scale operations in the Mediterranean. However, because the Valiant does not actually sink, the Royal Navy is able to maintain the impression that suffered no damage, thereby preventing any Italian naval adventurism for the time being.

US Military: Congress extends the draft ages to all men aged 20-44.

In Berlin, celebrity conductor Paul Lincke signs autographs for his devoted female fans (Hoffmann, Federal Archive Picture 183-B06424).

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on the US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020

Thursday 18 December 1941

The Japanese 10th Independent Artillery Brigade attacking North Point Power Station, Hong Kong, on December 18, 1941.

Eastern Front: After two days of deliberation and introspection, Adolf Hitler on 18 December 1941 issues an order to Army Group Center which sets for how the Wehrmacht shall respond to the unrelenting Soviet counteroffensive. The order reads:

The Fuehrer has ordered: Larger evasive movements cannot be made. They will lead to a total loss of heavy weapons and equipment. Commanding generals, commanders, and officers are to intervene in person to compel the troops to fanatical resistance in their positions without regard to enemy broken through [sic] on the flanks or in the rear. This is the only way to gain the time necessary to bring up the reinforcements from Germany and the West that I have ordered. Only if reserves have moved into rearward positions can thought be given to withdrawing to those positions.

This is not the order that the commanders at the front desired. The entire front is in motion, and the question now becomes whether it can even be stopped, much less hold a new line where it is.

Adolf Hitler hosts a Christmas party for German soldiers at the Lowenbraukeller restaurant in Munich on 18 December 1941. There is some doubt whether this series of pictures is from 1941 and not actually from the 1930s, but they are identified in the original sources as being from 1941, so that is why they are placed here (Photographer Hugo Jaeger dated these photos as being from 18 December 1941).

Field Marshal Fedor von Bock sends the order along to his army commands without comment. When General Erich Hoepner protests that the order cannot be followed, von Bock curtly tells him to "hold your fist in the backs of these people." General Guderian responds to the Army Group Center chief of staff:

The situation is more serious than one could imagine. If something does not happen soon, things will occur that the German armed forces have never before experienced. I will take these orders and file them. I will not pass them on even under threat of court-martial. I want at least to give my career a respectable ending.

Guderian then arranges a flight to the Wolfsschanze to argue his case directly with Hitler. Von Bock himself has fallen out of favor at the Fuehrer headquarters, which directs him to submit an immediate request for medical leave and relinquish his command to Field Marshal Günther von Kluge. Von Bock remains in good standing and will be put on the "Fuehrer Reserve" (Führerreserve) for future assignments.

The New Castle News of New Castle, Pennsylvania is full of good war news on 18 December 1941.

Battle of the Pacific: The Japanese Navy is hungry for information about the damage caused at Pearl Harbor and decides to take a chance to find out. Submarine 1-7 launches a floatplane that flies over Pearl Harbor at dawn on 18 December to find out. The plane apparently is not detected, showing that whatever security improvements the Americans have put in place have not been completely effective. This reconnaissance information leads to a Japanese Navy communique on 19 December that announces that 8 battleships, 4 cruisers, and 2 destroyers have been sunk or heavily damaged, and lesser damage has been done to another battleship and 4 more cruisers. The communique also claims that 450 US planes were destroyed on the ground and 14 shot down. These claims, particularly those related to aircraft, are inflated but not complete fantasy. The figures appear to stem more from enemy prewar overestimates of Hawaiian air strength than to the damage actually done, bad as it was.

Late in the day, Japanese forces cross the waterway to the north shore of Hong Kong Island and land on the island's northeastern shoreline. They consolidate their position and prepare to advance inland in the morning. They capture about 20 Commonwealth gunners of the Sai Wan Battery (5th Anti-Aircraft Battery of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps) and also roughly the same number of medical staff in the Salesian Mission on Chai Wan Road and execute almost all of them on the morning of the 19th.

While the Third Reich celebrated Christmas, they renamed it Julfest and claimed that its origins predated Jesus Christ and in fact simply celebrated the winter solstice. In any event, at this Christmas party, Hitler seems pensive and out of sorts, as do others at the party, such as Reich Commissioner for Social House-Building Robert Ley sitting next to him. 18 December 1941 (Hugo Jaeger).

On Borneo, the Japanese landing forces begin to fan out from their beachhead positions. The Dutch send Martin B-10 Bombers to slow them down. The Japanese apparently don't know where the Dutch Singkawang II airfield is, so it remains in Dutch possession despite the nearby Japanese forces.

Attendees at Hitler's 18 December 1941 Christmas party in Munich (Hugo Jaeger).

On the Malay Peninsula, the Indian 11th Division completes its withdrawal behind the Krian River and proceeds to the Taiping region. The British plan on making a stand along the river and the Grik road, but commanding Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur E. Percival contemplates another withdrawal to the Perak River. The Japanese consolidate their advances and occupy Penang, which the British abandoned on the 17th. The RAAF orders all planes that can fly to proceed to Singapore.

In the Philippines, the Japanese advance from Legaspi, southeast of Manila, continues. The troops reach Naga after brushing off light resistance from the Filipino Army.

A typical 1941 blood chit. This would be pinned to the back of a pilot's flight jacket.

In China and Burma, the American Volunteer Group (AVG, or "Flying Tigers") are fighting hard. However, the American pilots are concerned about how they will be treated by Chinese civilians if they are forced to parachute to safety. These concerns have been exacerbated by difficulties encountered by pilot Eriksen Shilling and local Chinese fighters who treat him roughly. The Chinese Intelligence Service allays these concerns by printing pictures on silk and then stitching these onto the back of the pilots' jackets. These are called "blood chits" and have pictures such as the flag and a promise of a reward for safe return to authorities of the pilot.

Attendees at Hitler's 18 December 1941 Christmas party in Munich seem ill at ease, perhaps because the Fuehrer himself seems preoccupied (Hugo Jaeger).

American Homefront: Just as happened during the Civil War, the government asserts broad new authoritarian powers over citizens and companies. These powers are in the War Powers Act of 1941 and, among other things, permit censorship of all communications entering and leaving the United States. The director of censorship, Byron Price, generally follows a laissez-faire approach to censorship, relying on the threat of censorship to do his work for him. However, Price does not hesitate to intervene at times, such as when his office bars publication of photographs of US military war dead.

The decorations at the 18 December 1941 Christmas Party celebrate the Third Reich more than Christmas (Hugo Jaeger).

President Roosevelt signs an executive order, No. 8984, establishing the Roberts Commission. This commission will be headed by Supreme Court Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts and will investigate the defenses of Pearl Harbor prior to its attack on 7 December 1941. The order provides that the Roberts Commission is to:

ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by the Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of Hawaii on 7 December 1941...to provide bases for sound decisions whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment on the part of United States Army or Navy personnel contributed to such successes as were achieved by the enemy on the occasion mentioned; and if so, what these derelictions or errors were, and who were responsible therefor.

Recently fired Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Short, in command at Hawaii, will be star witnesses before the Roberts Commission.

Hitler can't seem to take his mind on the festivities at his 18 December 1941 Christmas party (Hugo Jaeger).

The US State Department announces that all French possessions in the Caribbean have been neutralized. The French have large naval forces based at Martinique in the French West Indies. Rear Admiral Frederick J. Horne and Admiral Georges Robert, French High Commissioner at Martinique, reach this agreement which prevents the need for any military intervention there by the United States Navy.

"Woody Herman In Disco Order, Volume 12" features recordings between 5 September 1941 and 18 December 1941.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on the US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

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