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Post by emron on Dec 22, 2017 7:42:34 GMT 12
20 December 1939 Argentina: Kpt.z.S. Hans Langsdorff, the commander of the 'Admiral Graf Spee', committed suicide in his room at the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires where the ships officers were being held. He was found this morning wrapped in the ensign of his ship. He would later be buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires. British destroyer HMS Hyperion intercepted the 32,581 ton German passenger liner SS Columbus 391 nautical miles east of Cape May, New Jersey. Columbus was scuttled to prevent capture; two crewmen perished in the abandonment. The heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa rescued Columbus' survivors (567 men and nine women stewardesses) and set course for New York City. 20 December 1940 Risto Ryti took over as president of Finland, from Dr. Kyosti Kallio. Kallio had been the President of the Republic since 1937, but resigned in ill health. Later on the same day Dr. Kallio was leaving Helsinki for his estate in Nivala, but at the Helsinki railway station, where he was being seen off by the Finnish political and military leadership, he suffered a final fatal stroke and died in the arms of his senior adjutant Colonel Aladar Paasonen.
20 December 1941 With the retirement of Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch as Commander in Chief of the Army yesterday, Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself assumed personal command of the Army, especially of its operations on the Eastern front. The Soviet winter offensive continued to advance retaking Volokolamsk to the northwest of Moscow. The Germans continued their attack on Sevastopol, while the Soviets brought 14,000 men and supplies into the area as reinforcements. Axis forces continued their retreat in Cyrenaica, Libya. The XIII Corps, British Eighth Army, continued to follow the withdrawing Axis forces, the Indian 4th Division advancing along the coast to Derna and the British 7th Armoured Division across the desert. The British destroyer HMS Stanley (ex USS McCalla DD-253) was torpedoed and sunk by U-574 about 336 nautical miles north of the Madeira Islands, while escorting about 30 ships in convoy HG76 (Gibraltar to the U.K.). Only 25 of her 161 man crew survived. Within 12-minutes, U-574 was sunk by ramming and depth charges from another escort, the British sloop HMS Stork, 16 of the 44 crewmen on the sub survived. The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force, “Flying Tigers” commanded by Claire L. Chennault, flew their first combat mission, when aircraft of the 1st and 2nd squadrons intercepted 10 unescorted Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" bombers of the 21st Hikōtai attacking Kunming, China, shooting down 3 Japanese bombers plus 2 unconfirmed. The Japanese 56th Division landed near Davao on Mindanao Island, Philippines, during the night. The Japanese were active against the right flank of the Krian River line; Malaya. On the Grik road, they frustrated the efforts of the Indian III Corps to recover lost ground. RAF fighters based at Ipoh were forced to withdraw to Kuala Lumpur. The Indian 9th Division continued their withdrawal southward in eastern Malaya and abandoned the Kuala Krai railhead. Admiral Ernest J. King was appointed as Commander in Chief of the US Fleet.
20 December 1942 "Oboe" equipped de Havilland Mosquitoes IX's of No. 109 Squadron RAF, flying from Wyton, made an attack on a power station at Lutterade in Holland. This was the first use of the blind bombing system by Pathfinder Mosquitoes. Soviet forces continue to gain ground in a broad offensive. Assault forces from the middle Don River reached Kantemirovka, on the Voronezh-Rostov railroad north of Millerovo. They were now about 70 miles northeast of Voroshilovgrad. Continuing the assault on the Sanananda front in Papua New Guinea, the Australians reduced several Japanese positions just beyond the track junction in a frontal drive; flanking elements reached positions near the roadblock. USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-25 Mitchells hit the Buna Mission area. B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators attacked warships, transports and cargo vessels off Madang in Astrolabe Bay and north northwest of Finschhafen off the coast of Huon Peninsula damaging a destroyer. Meanwhile, B-25s bombed Lae Airfield. On Guadalcanal, the 3rd Battalion, backed up by 1st Battalion of the 132nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, had spent two days moving into contact with Japanese forces in the area that will become known as "The Gifu" on Mt. Austen. USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, hit the airfield at Munda on New Georgia Island. They were attacked by 20 Japanese Zeke fighters, the Americans claimed three Zekes for no losses. Japanese submarine I-4 was sunk by the USS Seadragon (SS-194) off New Britain.
20 December 1943 RAF made the heaviest raid of the war on Frankfurt, Germany, with 650 aircraft (390 Lancaster, 257 Halifax, and 3 Mosquito) dropping over 2,000 tons of explosives; less than an hour later, RAF Mosquito aircraft followed up in order to hamper firefighting efforts. 14 Lancaster and 27 Halifax bombers were lost. In U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, Italy, the 36th Infantry Division's 143rd and 141st Regiments attempted to clear the southern and western slopes of Mt. Sammucro from which the Germans were barring access to Highway 6 and the Mignano Gap, but made little headway. On New Britain Island, Cape Gloucester was bombed by more than 140 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchells, and B-26 Marauders as pre-invasion operations increased. Thirty seven P-40s hit Gasmata on the south coast of New Britain and 20 A-20 Havocs attacked forces northeast of Arawe. Sixteen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by 48 P-38 Lightnings and New Zealand (P-40) Kittyhawks, bombed the town of Rabaul and Simpson Harbour.
20 December 1944 Because of the German Ardennes counteroffensive in Belgium, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Commander in Chief 21st Army Group, abandoned a plan to employ XXX Corps, British Second Army, in the Nijmegen, The Netherlands, area and ordered it to assemble in the Louvain-St Trond-Hasselt region to hold the Meuse River line. German forces attacked north from the area of Stavelot but were forced back. St. Vith and Bastogne were still held. The road junctions of these towns were vital to the German offensive. As German troops encircled the US 101st Airborne and 9th and 10th Armoured Divisions at Bastogne, the Allies imposed a blackout on all news from the Ardennes fighting, which was now being called the "Battle of the Bulge." Allied commanders conferring at Verdun decided to halt offensives toward the Rhine and concentrate on reducing enemy salient in the Ardennes. Patton started moving his 250,000 strong army from the Saar to the Ardennes. In the British Fourteenth Army's IV Corps area, Burma, the Indian 19th Division took Kawlin and Wunthe. In the XXXIII Corps area, the British 2nd Division, having moved forward from Kohima, crossed the Chindwin River at Kalewa and was relieving the East African 11th Division. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet and Commander of the Pacific Ocean Area, was promoted to the (five-star) rank of Fleet Admiral. Dwight Eisenhower was promoted to the rank of General of the Army, a 5-star general rank.
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Post by emron on Dec 21, 2017 6:48:29 GMT 12
19 December 1939 Admiralty scientists led by Dr. C F Goodeve and Dr. E C Bullard found a way to defeat the magnetic mine threat. Known as "degaussing," this process altered a ships magnetic field to prevent activation of the mine's trigger. Methods had also been found for sweeping for these mines. The German raider 'Atlantis' (7,862 ton, ship number 16) was re-launched, after conversion from the freighter 'Goldenfels'. She would later be referred to by the British as Raider C.
19 December 1940 German submarine U-37 mistakenly torpedoed and sank Vichy French submarine Sfax (4 killed, 69 survived) and support ship Rhône (11 killed) 7 miles north of Cape Juby, Morocco.
19 December 1941 The cruiser HMS Neptune struck four mines in three hours and sank in a minefield 20 miles north of Tripoli. More than 750 men,150 of them New Zealanders,died. The names of two officers and 148 ratings furnished by far the longest list of casualties in the war record of the Royal New Zealand Navy, The sole survivor was Leading Seaman John Walton, an English rating. The Neptune had been expected to leave the United Kingdom for New Zealand in late May or early June 1941. to join the Leander and Achilles in the NZ division. Already a considerable number of New Zealanders, approximately one-fifth of her complement of ratings, had been drafted to the Neptune. But, owing to heavy losses of cruisers during the Crete campaign and the critical position in the Mediterranean she was retained there. During the night, the Italian submarine R.Smg. Sciro launched three SLC (Slow Moving Torpedo) human torpedoes off the British naval base at Alexandria. The three attached their explosive charges to the battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth and the large tanker SS Sagona. At 0600 hours local, the first charge detonated under Sagona and badly damaged both the tanker and the destroyer HMS Jervis, which is moored alongside for refueling. The charge under HMS Valiant detonated at 0620 hours, and the one under HMS Queen Elizabeth at 0624 hours. Both battleships were severely damaged and remained out of service at a critical period of the war. Japanese troops surrounded the headquarters of Canadian Brigadier J. K. Lawson at Wong Nei Chong Gap on Hong Kong Island. Lawson was killed in attempted breakout becoming the first Canadian General killed in WWII.
19 December 1943 In U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, Italy, the 36th Infantry Division's 143rd and 141st Infantry Regiments attempted to clear the southern and western slopes of Mt. Sammucro from which the Germans were barring access to Highway 6 and the Mignano Gap, but made little headway. Sixteen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by 48 P-38 Lightnings and New Zealand (P-40) Kittyhawks, bombed the town of Rabaul and Simpson Harbour on New Britain Island.
19 December 1944 In Belgium the Germans reached Stavelot and Houffalize areas, with US forces holding their ground in between near Gouvy and St. Vith. The US 82nd Airborne would hold Houffalize for several days, while the US 101st Airborne dug in at Bastogne. In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, V Corps, renewing their offensive during the night, cleared the Faenza area sufficiently for deployment of the 56th Division. The Canadian I Corps began an attack, during the night to break out of the Naviglio Canal bridgehead. Twenty seven USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan and 25 from Guam, Mariana Islands, struck Iwo Jima. Fourteen P-38 Lightnings from Saipan, with three Twentieth Air Force XXI Bomber Command B-29 Superfortresses as navigational escort, strafed airfields on Iwo Jima. Four B-25 Mitchells from Guam and Saipan carried out three snooper strikes against Iwo Jima during the night. In the East China Sea, the Japanese aircraft carrier HIJMS Unryu was torpedoed and sunk by the USN submarine USS Redfish about 204 nautical miles northwest of Naha, Okinawa.
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Post by emron on Dec 19, 2017 23:01:30 GMT 12
18 December 1939 Battle of the Heligoland Bight: In the morning 24 Vickers Wellington bombers of 9, 37 and 149 Squadrons took off to patrol the mouth of the Weser River, Wilhelmshaven and the Jade Bay and to bomb every German war vessel sighted at sea. Only one section penetrated the intensive anti-aircraft and fighter defences to drop bombs on the ships in Wilhelmshaven harbour. Six 500lb bombs fell but the results were unknown. 12 Wellingtons were lost and three made forced landings. This battle's shocking casualty rate would force the RAF to abandon daylight missions in favour of night bombing. The US Navy agreed to divert their remaining production order of 44 F2A-1 Brewster Buffalo for supply to Finland. These would be modified for export as the Brewster Model B-239 fighter.
18 December 1940 In the South Atlantic, German armoured ship Admiral Scheer captured the British refrigerated ship SS Duquesa carrying 14.5 million eggs and 3,000 tons of meat on board. The Duquesa cargo would be used for the next 2 months to resupply the auxiliary cruisers H.K. Pinguin and Thor and the supply ship SS Nordmark. British battleships HMS Warspite and Valiant bombarded Valona (Vlore), Albania from the Strait of Ortranto.
18 December 1941 The Indian 11th Division completed their withdrawal behind the Krian River, Malaya and was held in reserve in the Taiping area. Forces defending the Grik road were further reinforced. After visiting forward areas, Lieutenant General Sir Arthur E. Percival drew up plans for a withdrawal behind the Perak River. The Japanese occupied Penang which was evacuated by the British yesterday.
18 December 1942 Continuing the pursuit of the Axis forces, the New Zealand 2nd Division, British Eighth Army, clashed with rear guards at Nofilia, Libya. The Allies captured Cape Endiadere, east of Buna, New Guinea. The Australians used tanks with good effect in the advance. They also attacked Japanese positions at Napapo and Sanananda. USN submarine USS Albacore (SS-218) torpedoed and sank Japanese light cruiser HIJMS Tenryu about 8 nautical miles east of Madang.
18 December 1943 Monte Lungo, Italy fell to units of the US 5th Army. The Germans responded with heavy counterattacks. The US 36th Division entered San Pietro, the leading role in this attack was played by the 1st Italian Motorized Brigade, the first substantial Italian ground unit to fight for the Allies. Preinvasion air operations against the Cape Gloucester, New Britain Island area were intensified. USAAF Fifth Air Force 70+ B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchells, and B-26 Marauders bombed Cape Gloucester. Over 20 B-25s bombed the Borgen Bay area; and nearly 40 B-24s hit Hoskins Airfield.
18 December 1944 Three major organizations from outside US VIII Corps were on the move to corps headquarters in Bastogne in the Ardennes, Belgium. Late in the day CCB, 10th Armoured Division arrived in Bastogne and was directed by the corps commander, Major General Troy Middleton, to establish road blocks at three locations east of Bastogne. The teams sent to these locations would slow the advance of the Germans but at a high cost. The 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division were on the road toward Bastogne. In U.S. First Army's V Corps area, the Corps' mission, on its smaller front, was to stabilize the line Monschau (Germany)-Butgenbach-Malmedy-Stavelot. Corps held firmly at Butgenbach and Elsenborn ridge but the Germans continued to move west through the gap south of Butgenbach. Typhoon Cobra : A tropical cyclone struck the United States Pacific Fleet, Task Force 38 after it had completed attacks on Luzon, and was returning to Ulithi to refuel. Because of 100mph winds, very high seas and torrential rain, three destroyers capsized and sank, and 790 lives were lost. Three carriers, 11 destroyers and four escort carriers were damaged, and over 150 aircraft were wrecked or washed overboard; the aircraft carrier Monterey was forced to battle a serious fire that was caused by a plane hitting a bulkhead.
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Post by emron on Dec 17, 2017 23:03:53 GMT 12
17 December 1939 The first Canadian troops to reach Britain, 7,400 men of the First Division, landed at Liverpool. The Governments of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada signed the Air Training Agreement (Riverdale Agreement) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, thereby establishing the Commonwealth Air Training Plan (joined further by facilities in South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and the United States) for the joint training of military air crews. Allied Hunting Groups converged on the River Plate Estuary, Uruguay. Unable to complete repairs to the Graf Spee within the allotted time of 72 hours, most of the crew were transferred to the German merchant ship Tacoma and Capt. Langsdorff with four officers and the thirty-eight ratings remaining on board, took the ship out into the estuary to scuttle her. Just before the three mile limit the ship stopped and the demolition crew took to the lifeboats and joined the others aboard Tacoma. Minutes later, just after sunset (1952 hours), came a series of shattering explosions and flames as the Graf Spee was blown up by a series of charges. The ship settled on the river bed, her upper decks above the water and still burning. After Uruguayan officials tried unsuccessfully to get them back to Montevideo, the whole crew were transhipped to Argentine tugs which would take them to Buenos Aires for internment the following day. The Admiralty today announced that 61 men of HMS Exeter's crew died during the Battle of the River Plate. Seven aboard HMS Ajax and 4 aboard Achilles (including 2 New Zealanders) also died.
17 December 1940 While undergoing sea trials following repairs to bomb damage, British destroyer HMS Acheron hit a mine and sank 5 miles southwest of the Isle of Wight, killing 153 crew and 22 shipyard workers; 13 crew and 3 shipyard workers survived. Another series of convoy and offensive operations were carried out by the Mediterranean Fleet with battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Valiant and carrier HMS Illustrious. Today the carrier's aircraft attacked Rhodes.
17 December 1941 Allied and Italian naval forces engaged in the First Battle of Sirte as convoys of each side unexpectedly came across each other 185 miles northwest of Benghazi, Libya. Italian battleships Littorio, Andrea Doria, and Giulio Cesare fired on Allied cruisers and destroyers from the distance of 32 kilometres. British units received some direct hits, but they were able to disappear into the darkness of the night. The British ships ran into a newly-laid Italian minefield; the light cruiser HMS Neptune hit four mines and sank, there was only one survivor from the crew of 767. The destroyer HMS Kandahar also sank but all of her crew were taken off first. The light cruiser HMS Aurora was badly damaged and destroyer HMS Penelope slightly damaged. At 0925 hours, 230 miles northeast of Madeira, a Martlet aircraft from carrier HMS Audacity discovered submarine U-131. At 1247 hours, U-131 was forced to surface. U-131 opened fire and shot down the Martlet aircraft (which was the first Allied aircraft to be shot down by an enemy submarine), but she was soon damaged by British warships. U-131 was scuttled at 1330 hours; all 47 aboard were captured. The 1,100-strong Australian Gull Force arrived at Ambon, Dutch East Indies to reinforce the Dutch garrison. Governor of Hong Kong Sir Mark Young again rejected the Japanese demand for surrender. The bombardment would resume shortly after. British and Indian troops established a defensive line 65 miles south of Penang, British Malaya near the Perak River. American passenger ship Corregidor departed Manila, Philippine Islands with about 1,200 civilians on board; a short distance later, while still in Manila Bay, she struck a mine previously laid by Japanese submarine I-124 and sank, killing many. In the South China Sea, the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Shinonome, part of a convoy of troop transports, heading towards the Malayan Peninsula,was sunk near Seria, 20 miles west of Miri, Sarawak, by two bombs from a Dutch three engine Dornier Do-24K flying boat of the Dutch Naval Air Group based on the island of Tarakan. The crew of the Dornier dropped three bombs, two making direct hits, the third a near miss. The destroyer was rocked by an enormous explosion and g fires broke out over the vessel. It took only a few minutes for the destroyer to roll over and sink. There were no survivors; all 229 crewmen were lost. A PBY-4 Catalina flying boat led 17 SB2U-3 Vindicator dive bombers of Marine Squadron VMSB-231 from Hickam Field, Oahu to Midway Atoll; at 9 hours and 45 minutes covering 1,137 miles, it was the longest mass over-water flight by single-engined aircraft to date.
17 December 1942 Whilst escorting 43-ship convoy ON.153 (U.K. to Canada), destroyer HMS Firedrake was torpedoed and sunk by U-211, 631 nautical miles west of Galway, County Galway, Eire. The bow section, including the bridge, sank immediately leaving 35 crew members clinging to the stern section. HMS Sunflower rescued 27 survivors. One died later, in all, 168 of the Firedrake's crew were lost. The British submarine HMS/M Splendid torpedoed and sank the Italian destroyer R.N. Geniere Aviere about 45 nautical miles north-northeast off Bizerta, Tunisia. US Marines advanced from the Lunga perimeter toward Mt Austen Guadalcanal. Meanwhile, troops of the 35th Infantry Regiment of the US Army 25th Division arrived on the island. The Japanese completed a 4,700-foot long airstrip at Munda Point, New Georgia, Solomon Islands.
17 December 1943 78 Allied fighters: US Marine Corps F4U fighters, US Navy F6F fighters and RNZAF Kittyhawk fighters (14, 15 Squadron) took off from Torokina Airfield on Bougainville, for a sweep over Rabaul, New Britain. 70 Japanese fighters rose to defend. RNZAF pilots claimed 5 Japanese shot down while suffering 2 losses, the Americans claimed 4. In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, Italy, units captured Monte Sammucro and the 36th Infantry Division pursued the Germans beyond St. Pietro. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the Germans were making a limited withdrawal in the centre of the corps front. After nightfall, the 180th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 45th Infantry Division took Mt. la Posta without opposition. The Germans began a withdrawal from Mt. Pantano positions, leaving a small number of rear-guard forces to delay pursuit.
17 December 1944 Ardennes Counteroffensive (Battle of the Bulge) In Belgium, the commander of the German XLVII Corps, General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Freiherr von Luettwitz had expected that his two lead divisions in the attack to the west, 26th Volks Grenadier and 2nd Panzer would have crossed the Clerf River by 16 December the first day of the attack. The attacking divisions of the corps had advanced approximately one-half of that. It's mission remained seizing crossings over the Meuse. 26th VG would advance to the west in zone and take Bastogne. Once the 26th VG had crossed the Clerf, Panzer Lehr would move south of Bastogne to the Meuse. Seeking to stop, or at least delay XLVII Corps was the 110th Infantry of the 28th Infantry Division with the 109th Field Artillery in direct support and the 707th Tank Battalion attached. In the British Eighth Army's Polish II Corps area, Italy, the 5th Kresowa Division began relieving the 3rd Carpathian Division along the Senio River. In the V Corps area, the Indian 43rd Brigade tried in vain to advance from Faenza. The Indian 10th Division secured small bridgeheads across the Senio River north and south of Tebano, but no strong effort could be made to expand them until the supply situation improved and environs, of Faenza were cleared. Twenty four USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan and 26 from Guam bombed Iwo Jima. USAAF Major Richard I. "Dick" Bong shot down a Japanese "Oscar" fighter over San Jose, Mindoro Island, Philippines. This was his 40th victory and Lieutenant General George Kenney, Commanding General Far East Air Forces, ordered him grounded and returned to the U.S. Bong was the most successful U.S. fighter pilot ever. A top-secret bombing team, the 509th Composite Group, assembled at Wendover, Utah, on the salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. Its exact role was unknown to any of its members except for the commanding officer, Colonel Paul Tibbets. The 509th was equipped with B-29 bombers. It would practice daylight bombing with large dummy bombs from 20,000 - 30,000 feet, using a special diving technique to gain speed in order to outrun blast waves expected to be greater than those of any existing bombs.
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Post by emron on Dec 16, 2017 20:48:35 GMT 12
16 December 1940 134 RAF bombers attacked Mannheim, Germany in retaliation for German raids on British cities; 34 civilians were killed, 81 were injured, and 1,266 homes destroyed by 100 tons of high explosive bombs and 14,000 incendiary bombs. This was the first Allied area bombing raid of the war against a populated target, as opposed to targets of military or industrial value. 7 Armoured Division re-captured Sollum in Egypt. This formation now crossed the border into Libya and occupied Fort Capuzzo, south of Bardia. The Italian position at Sidi Omar was captured by the 7th Hussars and the 2nd Royal Tanks, supported by the guns of 4th RHA. SS Bic Island (4,000 GRT) Canadian Government merchantman, formerly the Italian Capo Noli, captured on 10 Jun 40 by HMCS Brad D'Or, was damaged in the North Atlantic by bombs from Luftwaffe aircraft. The ship was able to reach port, be repaired and returned to service.
16 December 1941 USS Enterprise task force returned to Hawaii, after failing to find the Japanese Pearl Harbour attack force. Carriers Hiryu and Soryu, heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma, with two destroyers broke from the Pearl Harbour attack force to reinforce the Wake Island attack force. Meanwhile, Japanese naval land-based aircraft bombed Wake Island. US submarine Swordfish was credited with the first confirmed sinking of a Japanese ship in the Pacific War; Atsutasan Maru. Japanese troops landed on British Borneo and captured the oil fields at Miri and Seria and the oil refinery at Lutong. British and Dutch authorities began to issue orders to destroy other oil related facilities to avoid further capture. European civilians began to evacuate from Penang, Malaya while Allied troops destroyed guns, ammunition dumps, and other military facilities to prevent Japanese capture. The radio station and the ships in the harbour, however, were overlooked and would later be pressed into Japanese service. Japanese continued to bombard the northern shore of Hong Kong island by artillery and aircraft. As Axis troops in North Africa began to fall back towards El Agheila in Libya in earnest, British 4th Armoured Brigade failed to outflank the retreat in the Bir Halegh el Eleba region. To supply the Axis forces operating in Libya, the Italian Navy dispatched a convoy of four freighters from Taranto, escorted by a powerful fleet of four battleships, five cruisers, twenty destroyers, and one torpedo boat. Italian torpedo boat Orione mis-identified German submarine U-557 as a British submarine and rammed her 18 miles west of Crete. U-557 sank, killing all 43 aboard. U-557 had itself sunk British cruiser HMS Galatea on the previous day with much loss of life. Five German U-Boats departed from Biscay ports along the French coast for Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat) off the American coast.
16 December 1942 In Libya, Rommel's forces, by breaking into small detachments, were able to withdraw from El Agheila positions after hard fighting with the New Zealand 2nd Division, but lost about 20 tanks and some 500 captured. Before dawn Zhukov launched Operation Saturn, a stunning blow at the Italian Eighth Army holding the line on von Manstein's flank north-west of Stalingrad. The Italians crumbled, and a 60-mile-wide gap opened in the German defences - and the Russians poured through.
16 December 1943 For the second time this year Winston Churchill, now 69, was ill with pneumonia. He was still in the Middle East following the Tehran conference. Anxious MPs were assured that the new drug penicillin was available for treating him. His doctors would insist on a lengthy convalescence. In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division finished clearing Mt. Lungo. The Italian 1st Motorized Group secured the ridge between Hills 253 and 343 in the afternoon. Further attacks on St. Pietro failed to gain ground but the position became untenable for the Germans after fall of Mt. Lungo. After having sunk a merchant ship from convoy GUS-24, near Oran, Algeria, U-73 was herself sunk by depth charges and gunfire from destroyers USS Woolsey and USS Trippe. There were 34 survivors from the crew of 50, including the commanding officer, Helmut Rosenbaum. Fourteen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bombed Monoitu on Bougainville Island. Smaller flights of B-24s bombed Poporang and Sohano Islands, and dispersal areas at Bonis Airfield on Bougainville. Five B-25 Mitchells, with fighter cover, hit Sankau Island. New Zealand (PV-1) Venturas attacked targets on Green Island and in the Mawareka, Marveiropa, and Mamaregu areas. Fighter aircraft supported USN SBD Dauntless strikes on Sohano Island and gun positions at Bonis and afterwards strafed targets of opportunity at several points on Bougainville.
16 December 1944 A V2 rocket hit the Rex Cinema in the Avenue de Keyser, Antwerp, Belgium at 3.20 pm, killing 567 people including 296 Allied servicemen. They were part of a capacity audience of 1,200 watching the popular “Buffalo Bill.” A German winter offensive began on the Western Front. The Germans had gathered, in secret, 24 divisions - 10 of them armoured. Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army and Manteuffel's 5th Panzer Army attacked between Monschau and Trier. The Germans referred to this as the Ardennes Offensive, while the Allies would call it The Battle of the Bulge. This 60-mile sector of the 500-mile front was held by just six US divisions, 83,000 men, with 420 tanks. Crashing down on them was a formidable enemy force of 250,000 men and 950 tanks. In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, the Pol II Corps continued to clear the region east of the Senio River on the left flank of the army. In the V Corps area, the Indian 43rd Brigade, operating with the New Zealand 2nd Division and with the specific purpose of clearing Faenza, did so with ease. The New Zealand 2nd Division reached the Senio River and the Indian 10th Division took Pergola. The US landing force on Mindoro, Philippines, consolidated the perimeter while construction on the air field continued. On Leyte, the airfield in Tanauan area became operational. On Luzon, the USN Third Fleet continued air attacks and in the evening started eastward to refuel. In three days of continuous patrol, TF 38 aircraft had destroyed an estimated 208 Japanese aircraft on the ground and 72 in the air; U.S. losses were 27 to the Japanese and 38 in operational accidents.
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Post by emron on Dec 16, 2017 17:19:58 GMT 12
15 December 1939 The German armoured ship Deutschland returned to Wilhelmshaven from Gotenhafen and was renamed Lutzow. The Finnish counterattack against the Soviet Eighth Army came to an end. It had been a resounding success; the Soviet 163rd and 75th divisions had been completely wiped out, and a large amount of military hardware had been captured by the Finns. However, the Soviets mounted heavy enemy attacks at Taipale. After looking over the evidence gathered on the 14th, and after serious consideration of all the suggestions from the Americans, French, Germans, and British, a Presidential decree was declared in Uruguay stating that the Graf Spee would be allowed 72 hours to make any and all repairs. The time limit would end at 8:00pm on the 17th of December, 1939. Also 320 crew members in full uniform, including the ship's captain, were allowed to land and bury the Graf Spee's dead.
15 December 1940 Italian troops were driven out of Egypt by the British Operation Compass offensive. At Bardia, Libya, British monitor HMS Terror bombarded the port from 1220 to 1717 hours. British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian submarine Tarantini 2 miles off of the Gironde Estuary, France in the Bay of Biscay, killing the entire crew of 58.
15 December 1941 Erwin Rommel ordered the Cyrenaica region of Libya abandoned, using his remaining tanks to guard Point 204 on the Gazala Line as rearguard for the troops that would begin to fall back. To the southwest, British 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Bir Halegh el Eleba where they planned to outflank the Axis forces. A British cruiser HMS Galatea was sunk by the U-557 off Alexandria, 469 of her crew were lost. Some 100 survivors were picked up by the destroyers Griffin and Hotspur. Burma became the latest target of the Japanese onslaught in South-east Asia. The invasion began with troops of the Japanese 15th Army advancing from Thailand west across the Kra isthmus and capturing the three key southern airfields, Victoria Point, Tavoy and Tennasserim. Japanese troops overran the Allied defenses at Gurun, Kedah in Malaya, opening up the road toward Penang. On the same day, the British abandoned RAF Butterworth in Penang, flying all of of the remaining aircraft to Singapore. The US B-17 bombers at the Del Monte airfield on Mindanao, Philippine Islands were ordered to fly to Australia on the following day. To the north of Moscow, Soviet tanks cut the road west of Klin; to prevent encirclement, the German 3rd Panzer Army abandoned Klin and fled to the southwest, abandoning most of its heavy equipment.
15 December 1942 In Libya while the 7th Armoured Division, British Eighth Army, engaged the Axis rear guards from the east, the New Zealand 2nd Division drove rapidly to the coast in the Merduma area to block Axis' escape in the west. In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 2/7th Cavalry Regiment, 7th Division, began arriving at Soputa. US forces entered Buna, which Japan had evacuated. Two radar-equipped PBY-5A Catalinas of USN Squadron VP-12 arrived on Guadalcanal from Nandi, Fiji to begin night operations.
15 December 1943 Bismarck Archipelago: Operation Dexterity opened when, as a preliminary to the main invasion of New Britain Island, USN Task Force 76 (Rear Adm Daniel E. Barbey) landed Task Force “Director”, the 112th Cavalry Regiment (Special) reinforced under command of Brigadier General Julian W. Cunningham, on the coast of Arawe Peninsula, after naval gunfire and aerial bombardment. Marshall Islands: Twenty USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Nanumea Island in the Ellice Islands, hit Maloelap Atoll; one aircraft was lost. Ten B-24s, staging from Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands through Baker Island, bombed Wotje. In Northeast New Guinea, Lakona, 15 miles north of Finschhafen, was captured by Australian forces. The road from Lae to Nadzab was completed allowing Nadzab Airfield to be fully utilized. Indian troops secured positions between Ortona and Orsogna in Italy, while New Zealand troops advanced toward Orsogna. Nearby, German troops mounted a counterattack on Casa Berardi, which was repulsed by Canadian troops. To the west, Units of US VI Corps and French Expeditionary Corps attacked German positions on the Bernhardt Line.
15 December 1944 Major Alton Glenn Miller, s/n 0505273, Director of the USAAF band, went missing while enroute from England to Paris to arrange a Christmas show for the troops in France, when the Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman aircraft he was aboard disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, France, Combat Command A of the 14th Armoured Division, seized Riedseltz; Combat Command B took Salmbach and Schlerthal. One 79th Infantry Division column cleared Lauterbourg and another reached the Lauter River at the village of Schiebenhardt.The French First Army began an offensive against the Germans west of the Rhine River in the Colmar area. The II Corps, making the main effort, penetrated to Orbey. In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, Germany, the 90th Infantry Division opened an assault for the rest of Dillingen and the Prims River bridge on the Dillingen-Saarlautern road. In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, the Polish II Corps pushed forward on the left flank of the army across the Sintria River toward the Senio River. In the British V Corps area, the Germans struggled to prevent the encirclement of Faenza, exerting strong pressure on New Zealand forces in the Colic area and bringing the Indian 10th Division to a halt short of Pergola. US troops landed on Mindoro, Philippine Islands. In support, USS Marcus Island's air group shot down three Japanese aircraft, two aircraft crashed in the water near her and caused minor damage and some casualties.
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Post by emron on Dec 15, 2017 7:49:43 GMT 12
14 December 1895 Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor (future King George VI) was born at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate, Norfolk, England.
14 December 1939 Submarine HMS Ursula was on patrol in the estuary of the Elbe and through her periscope the captain, Lt Cdr GC Phillips, sighted a German Köln-class cruiser, the Leipzig, escorted by six destroyers. Six torpedoes were fired at close range, all missed Leipzig but two hit and sunk destroyer F9. The submarine escaped without damage. During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatched 12 Wellington Mk. Is of No. 99 Squadron based at RAF Newmarket, Suffolk, to attack the German light cruisers Leipzig and Nurnberg which had been damaged by a British submarine HMS Salmon, in the North Sea. They were attacked by Luftwaffe Bf 109 fighters as they orbited over Wilhelmshaven attempting to get into a favourable bombing position and five were shot down. A sixth crashed as it was landing at RAF Newmarket. Geneva: The League of Nations expelled the USSR for its invasion of Finland and called on its members to give all possible help to Finland. Montevideo: Uruguayan authorities boarded the Graf Spee to assess the amount of damage the ship received, to decide if the ship would stay in their neutral harbour for more than the 24 hour maximum allowed by international law. The British light cruiser HMS Ajax and New Zealand light cruiser HMS Achilles maintained patrol off the 120-mile wide River Plate estuary. The British heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland reinforced Ajax and Achilles tonight.
14 December 1940 Plutonium-238 was first produced and isolated by the team led by Glenn T. Seaborg using the 60-inch cyclotron at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California.
14 December 1941 The Italian battleship Vittoria Veneto was damaged by British submarine HMS/M Urge (N 17) while escorting an Italian convoy to Benghazi, Libya. The attack happened south-southwest of Messina, Sicily. This with previous losses prompted the Italians to recall the convoy and return the battleship to base for repairs. Light cruiser HMS Galatea was torpedoed by U-577 (OLtzS. Ottokar Paulshen, CO). She was hit by multiple torpedoes and sank in three minutes, 30 miles west of Alexandria. There were 470 casualties but 144 survivors were rescued by HMS Griffin and Hotspur. British 4th Armoured Brigade moved south toward Bir Halegh el Eleba, Libya in a plan to outflank Axis forces on the Gazala Line. On the same day, the Polish Independent Brigade was deployed under the New Zealand division in Libya. US Navy Task Force 11 with USS Lexington, three cruisers, and nine destroyers set sail for the Marshall Islands, acting as decoy in attempt to lure Japanese naval vessels out of the Wake Island area. Japanese reconnaissance flying boats from Wotje and Roi, Marshall Islands bombed Wake Island in a pre-dawn raid, damaging Camp One facilities, the airstrip, and a fighter; Wake Atoll's aircraft was now operating on only one airstrip. After daybreak, more Japanese land-based attack aircraft struck the atoll. Japanese forces landed on Penang Island. Penang's military importance lay in the island's port facilities and its stocks of ammunition and stores. When the Allies were unable to stop the Japanese advance on the mainland it became clear that the island would have to be evacuated.
14 December 1942 El Agheila, Liyba, the British Eighth Army continued to pursue the Axis, the British 7th Armoured Division taking the lead in the westward push while the New Zealand 2nd Division advanced rapidly southwest into the desert in an effort to get behind the Axis. The convoy of five Japanese destroyers reached the Mambare River mouth, New Guinea, early in the morning and unloaded about 800 men without being detected. Allied planes subsequently delivered damaging attacks on troops, supplies, and landing craft. South of Kiev, Russia, General Konev's men had stormed Cherkassy, the German stronghold on the west bank of the Dnieper, and were nearing Smyela, the vital junction 16 miles south-west of Cherkassy. The Germans were in full retreat and being harried from the air by Sturmoviks.
14 December 1943 In the heaviest raid to date in the Southwest Pacific Area, 228 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchells, and A-20 Havocs bombed Arawe Island off the south coast of New Britain, in an almost continuous attack from 0645 to 1548 hours. Gasmata on the south coast of New Britain was hit by B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders. B-24 Liberators on armed reconnaissance hit Gasmata on New Britain Island and Unea (Ball) Island.
14 December 1944 In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, the Polish II Corps renewed their offensive, with the Indian 10th Division on the left attacking toward Pergola ridge and the New Zealand 2nd Division on the right in the Colic area, west of Faenza. In the Canadian I Corps area, the 5th Armoured Division forced the Naviglio Canal to the right of the 1st Division and established a bridgehead.
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Post by emron on Dec 14, 2017 19:13:24 GMT 12
13 December 1939 British submarine HMS/M Salmon (Lt. Cdr Bickford)(N 65) sighted a German task-force comprised of the light cruisers Nurnberg, Leipzig and Koln and the destroyers Hermann Kunne, Friedrich Ihn, Erich Steinbrinck, Richard Beitzen and Bruno Heinemann. The cruisers were a covering force for the destroyers which had laid mines off Newcastle, England. From a great distance, the crew of Salmon managed to torpedo the Nurnberg and Leipzig. Nurnberg was hit in the bow and Leipzig was hit amidships. The damage to Leipzig was so severe that the ship was only used for training after she was repaired. The accompanying destroyers hunted the submarine for five hours but she escaped. The Battle of the River Plate: The first naval battle in the Second World War and the first one of the Battle of the Atlantic in South American waters. The German panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee was found and engaged by one of the hunting groups (Force G) sent by the British Admiralty to search for her, comprising the York-class heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and Leander-class light cruisers, HMS Ajax and Achilles (the last from the New Zealand Division), off the estuary of the River Plate, close to the coast of Uruguay. In the ensuing battle, Exeter was severely damaged and forced to retire; Ajax and Achilles suffered moderate damage. The damage to Admiral Graf Spee, although not extensive, was critical; her fuel system was crippled. Ajax and Achilles shadowed the German ship until she entered the port of Montevideo, the capital city of neutral Uruguay, to effect urgent repairs and release 61 captive British merchant seamen. During the battle casualties aboard Graf Spee were 36 dead, 60 wounded; on the 3 cruisers; 72 dead, 28 wounded.
13 December 1940 British 4th Armoured Brigade crossed the desert between Halfaya and Sidi Omar in Egypt in an attempt to cut the road to Tobruk, Libya. To counter the British naval bombardment, Italian submarine Neghelli attacked British cruiser HMS Coventry 40 miles northeast of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 2042 hours, nearly blowing off her bow. She was able to sail under her own power to Alexandria, Egypt for repairs. Führer Directive 20 was issued to prepare for Operation Marita, the German invasion of Greece.
13 December 1941 New Zealand and Indian troops of the British Eighth Army launched an attack on the Gazala Line in Libya while the Germans launched a counterattack. British tanks exploited the gap opened by Indian troops, but the advance was soon halted by German tanks. Both sides incurred heavy casualties in men and equipment after the day's fighting. British destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Maori, and HMS Legion and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Isaac Sweers defeated Italian light cruisers Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano and torpedo boat Cigno off Cape Bon, Tunisia at 0325 hours. The two Italian cruisers sank (1,020 killed, 645 survived) with nearly 2,000 tons of aviation fuel meant for Axis forces fighting in North Africa. In Burma the Japanese occupied the Victoria Point airfield after evacuation by the British. This airfield was in the far south on the Kra Isthmus. Meanwhile 18 P-40s of 3rd Squadron American Volunteer Group- Chinese Nationalist Air Force arrived at Mingaladon Air Base, Rangoon to join sixteen Buffalo fighters of No. 67 RAF Squadron ( mostly New Zealand pilots). Japanese troops reached the Kowloon waterfront across the harbour from Hong Kong Island. The British Governor rejected a Japanese demand for surrender. Japanese forces now controlled northern Malaya's two key airfields, following the capture of Alor Star on the northwest coast. Japanese forces enjoying total air and sea superiority have gained footholds at several strategic points on the main Philippines island of Luzon. Landings and parachute drops at three locations have placed them within 250 miles of the capital Manila.
13 Dec 1942 Using the codebook seized from U-559 on 30 October 1942, the British codebreakers at Bletchley Park were able to decrypt the German naval “Shark” Enigma cipher used in weather forecast signals to U-boats. They could now regularly report the positions of U-boats throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean to the Admiralty's submarine tracking room. In Libya the British 8th Army captured Mersa Brega as Rommel began to pull out of the El Agheila positions, leaving rear guards and numerous mines to delay British pursuit. In Tunisia the ports of Bizerte and Tunis were the targets of heavy US air strikes. In Papua New Guinea, a Japanese convoy of five destroyers, bringing some 800 men (among them Major General Kensaku Oda, successor as commander of South Seas Detachment), was detected off Madang while proceeding toward the beachhead and unsuccessfully attacked by Allied planes.
13 December 1943 The Canadian attack in "The Gully" region in Italy was met with resistance, suffering heavy casualties, but it also began to wear down the strength of the defending German 90th Panzergrenadier Division, which began to fall back and was replaced by troops of German 1st Parachute Division. Nearby, after sundown, Indian troops launched an attack toward Caldari.
13 December 1944 In the late afternoon west of Mindoro, Philippine Islands, a special attack (Kamikaze) aircraft struck light cruiser USS Nashville amidships, killing 131 and wounding 192. Two hours later, another special attack aircraft struck, hitting destroyer USS Haraden. In France the U.S. Third Army III Corps accepted the surrender of last of the Metz forts - Jeanne d'Arc. In the XII Corps area, the 35th Infantry Division strengthened its hold across the Blies River. In the U.S. Ninth Army's XIX Corps area, Germany, the 30th Infantry Division, in limited attacks, cleared most of region between Inde and Roer Rivers. In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, Italy, the 61st Brigade of the 6th Armoured Division attacked and got additional elements into Tossignano. The 36th Brigade of the 78th Division began an attack for Parocchia di Mt. Maggiore. In the British Eighth Army's Canadian I Corps area, the 1st Division maintained a bridgehead across the Naviglio Canal against severe German counterattacks. The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flew Mission 12: 90 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands were dispatched to attack the Mitsubishi aircraft engine plant at Nagoya; Japan, 71 hit the primary target causing considerable damage as bombing accuracy was improved; nine others hit alternate targets.
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Post by emron on Dec 13, 2017 7:46:01 GMT 12
12 December 1939 The German liner 'Bremen' (51000 tons) arrived at Bremerhaven from Murmansk, having evaded the British blockade. Bremen had been steaming down the North Sea at full speed from her temporary hiding place at Petsamo, in Kola Fjord, Russia, in the Arctic circle. When Bremen was in the North Sea about 117 nautical miles south of Stavanger, Norway, she was intercepted by the British submarine HMS/M Salmon (N 65). Within easy torpedo range, and Bremen's huge size making her a target that could hardly be missed, Salmon's captain followed international law, surfaced and challenged Bremen to stop. But before warning shots could be fired, Salmon was forced to dive by an attack from escorting Dornier-18 aircraft. Russia rejected the League of Nations demands for peace with Finland.
12 December 1940 British 7th Armoured Brigade moved into the desert to outflank Italian forces at Sollum, Egypt and to cut the road to Bardia, Libya, as the latter port was subjected to carrier aircraft attack by HMS Illustrious. Meanwhile, the first groups of Italian prisoners of war began to arrive by truck at the British headquarters at Mersa Matruh, Egypt.
12 December 1941 The US Government seized French ships in U.S ports. One of the ships seized was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the seas at this time, France's SS Normandie, while it was docked at New York City. The ship was 1,029 feet long, displaced 85,000 tons. She had been placed in "protective custody" by the Navy when France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940. The United Kingdom declared war on Bulgaria while Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States. The Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) was established under the Chief of Naval Operations to provide rapid air delivery of critical equipment, spare parts, and specialist personnel to naval activities and fleet forces all over the world.
12 December 1942 Operation Frankton: The Cockleshell Heroes Raid: Ten Royal Marines in five two-man canoes were launched from submarine HMS Tuna (N94) in the Gironde estuary to attack enemy shipping in the port of Bordeaux, France. Three canoes were lost but two paddled 70 miles up-river to plant limpet mines on ships in the harbour. Six vessels were disabled. Two Commandos were drowned en route, six were captured and executed and two made it back to England Axis rear guards engaged the attacking Allied forces near Marsa Brega and El Agheila in Libya as the main Axis force evacuated to the west. On Guadalcanal, the 2nd Marine Division began the relief of the Army's Americal Division west of the Matanikau River. A Japanese party raided Fighter Strip 2 under cover of darkness. The 2nd Marine Division Signal Company and the 18th Naval Construction Battalion arrived. USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses began a series of daily attacks on the Japanese airfields nearing completion at Munda, New Georgia Island.
12 December 1943 Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan departed Loch Ewe, Scotland as part of the close escort for the 19-ship convoy JW-55A, bound for the Kola Inlet. A RN battleship and several other fleet units formed the distant escort due to the threat of attack by the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. German submarine U-593 torpedoed and sank British escort destroyer HMS Tynedale (L 96) about 148 nautical miles east of Algiers, Algeria. Tynedale was escorting convoy KMS-34 (U.K. to Gibraltar to Alexandria, Egypt). A long hunt ensued by British escort destroyers HMS Calpe and Holcombe and USN destroyers USS Benson, Niblack and Wainwright. At 1445 hours, HMS Holcombe was hit by a Zaunkönig (Gnat) T5 electric torpedo fired by U-593 and sank about 115 nautical miles east-northeast of Algiers off Bougie; 83 crewmen were lost. The survivors were picked up by the USS Niblack. U-593 was chased by several escort vessels, being sunk after a 32-hour chase. In the U.S. Fifth Army area, Italy, the British X Corps extended farther eastward to relieve final elements of the U.S. VI Corps on Mt. Maggiore. In the U.S. II Corps area, the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, began preliminary operations in preparation for an assault on Mt. Lungo, they occupied St. Giacomo Hill, between Lungo and Maggiore, and after nightfall took Hills 141 and 72.
12 December 1944 In the U.S. Seventh Army area, France, XV Corps was virtually halted by Maginot fortifications in the Hottviller-bitche area, but Combat Command A, 12th Armoured Division, reached Bettviller, its objective. VI Corps committed the 14th Armoured Division between the 103rd and 79th Infantry Divisions. The 79th Infantry Division entered Soufflenheim as the Germans pulled back toward the West Wall and it began clearing Seltz. Düren, Germany, fell to the US 1st Army. German forces withdrew across the Roer river. In the British Eighth Army's Canadian I Corps area, Italy, the 5th Armoured and 1st Divisions advanced from the Fosso Vecchio River to the Naviglio Canal, which runs from Faenza to the sea, and attacked across it during the night of 12/13 December. The 1st Division gained a bridgehead north of Bagnacavallo, but the 5th Armoured Division was forced back to the Fosso Vecchio River. Operation Romulus: In Burma, the British XV Corps began this offensive to clear the Arakan coastal sector and gain air and naval bases from which to support future operations. While the Indian 25th Division pushed southward along the Mayu Peninsula toward Akyab, the West African 82d Division began clearing the Kalapanzin Valley in the Buthidaung area and the West African 81st Division attacked in the Kaladan Valley in the vicinity of Kyauktaw.
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Post by emron on Dec 11, 2017 22:45:35 GMT 12
11 December 1939 The first Echelon advance party of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force sailed from Wellington. Geneva: The League of Nations demanded that Russia cease hostilities against Finland.
11 December 1940 German submarine U-96 attacked Allied convoy HX-92 125 miles northwest of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland and torpedoed and sank NZ Shipping Co passenger vessel SS Rotorua. The sinking of the ship took the lives of 16 crew and 5 RN service personnel, and included the convoy Commodore, Rear Admiral Fitzgerald, and the Master of the vessel, Capt E.R.H.Kemp. 102 crew members survived, as did a Chinese prisoner and all of the 27 passengers. U-96 later sank Norwegian ship Towa at 2242 hours (18 were killed, 9 survived) British 7th Armored Brigade attacked Buq Buq, Egypt, forcing Italian 64th Infantry Division to surrender; meanwhile, Indian 4th Infantry Division and British 7th Royal Tank Regiment forced the surrender of Italian 4th Blackshirt Division and two colonial Libyan divisions in the desert. On the coast, British battleships HMS Barham and HMS Valiant bombarded Italian positions at Sollum, Egypt. The Allied forces had now captured 38,000 Italian prisoners of war, 237 guns, and 73 tanks. 11 December 1941 Both Italy and Germany joined Japan in a declaration of war against the US. The U.S. Congress voted to declare war on Germany and Italy. Japanese infantrymen under the command of Colonel Shizuo Saeki overran the defenses set up by Punjabi troops between Changlun and Asun, British Malaya, Nearby, Japanese troops also under Saeki reached the outskirts of Jitra, which was defended by troops of the 11th Indian Division. The Japanese attempted to land a 450-man party on Wake Island. The landing force was repulsed by 450 US Marines of the Wake Detachment, 1st Defense Battalion, who also sank two Japanese destroyers and damaged seven other ships with their Marine coast defence guns and the remaining fighter aircraft. HIJMS Hayate was sunk by gunfire. F4F-3 Wildcat pilots sank the destroyer HIJMS Kisaragi with bombs. The 2,890-ton Japanese light cruiser Yubari, flagship of Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, was seriously damaged by shell fire from two 5-inch guns at Peacock Point, and forced to retire listing heavily. This force withdrew to Kwajalein. In North Africa the Italians reformed the line running south from the coast at Gazala with their armour on the right flank. Rommel's Afrika Korps, reduced to just forty operational tanks after the Operation Crusader battles, protected the open southern flank. North of Moscow, Soviet 16th Army captured Istra while Soviet 20th Army reached Solnechnogorsk. To the South, Soviet troops captured Stalinogorsk.
11 December 1942 General Bernard Montgomery, Officer Commanding Eighth Army, issued orders for an attack on El Agheila, Libya, on 14 December. Air action was stepped up in preparation for the offensive. Another German attack on Medjez el Bab, Tunisia, from the north and east was repulsed. The British 6th Armoured Division began arriving in the forward area. Combat Command B, U.S.1st Armoured Division, was relieved in the Bedja area by the 11th Brigade, British 78th Division, and was placed in V Corps reserve. 11 December 1943 New Delhi: Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, issued a directive ordering the integration of the USAAF Tenth Air Force and RAF Bengal Command into the Eastern Air Command (EAC). All Allied air forces in southeast Asia came under command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse as Allied Air Commander-in-Chief.
11 December 1944 In the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps area, France, the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division finished clearing Sarreguemines, except for a few snipers, and blocks at Frauenberg; the main body of the division continued toward the Blies River; at night, the division prepared to attack across the Blies on 12 December. The 328th Infantry Regiment, 26 Infantry Division, continued toward the German frontier. The USAAF Eighth Air Force flew Mission 746: The largest number of bombers so far dispatched, 1,586, and 841 fighters were sent to hit rail targets and bridges in western Germany using Pathfinder Force means; five bombers and two fighters were lost: 365 B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed the marshalling yard (M/Y) at Giessen, 320 hit the M/Y at Frankfurt-am-Main and 135 attacked the Mosel M/Y at Koblenz while 304 B-24 Liberators attacked the M/Y at Hanau with the loss of four B-24s. B-17 crews also bombed a railroad bridge at Mannehim by 182 aircraft with the loss of one aircraft while 158 B-24s bombed a railroad bridge at Maximiliansau. Fourteen other aircraft hit targets of opportunity. In the Bohol Sea, Japanese planes attacked a resupply convoy of 13 USN medium landing ships (LSMs) and landing craft, infantry (LCIs), bound for Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands. Escorting destroyer USS Reid shot down seven aircraft but was sunk by two kamikazes off the southern coast of Leyte about 75 nautical miles south-southeast of Ormoc. 52 of her crew were lost. Her 150 survivors were picked up by landing craft in her convoy.
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Post by emron on Dec 10, 2017 22:26:16 GMT 12
10 December 1936 King Edward VIII became the first British monarch to abdicate the throne voluntarily. He was succeeded by his brother, King George VI. Edward subsequently took the title Duke of Windsor.
10 December 1939 King George VI completed a five-day visit to British and French troops defending the Western Front. During this time he had made a 100 mile tour of the British lines, inspecting trench systems built along the Belgian border to close the gap between the Maginot Line and the Channel coast.
10 December 1940 At first light the Coldstream Guards assailed the Italian positions at Mersa Matruh, Egypt, supported by heavy fire from the sea. Fighting continued all day. Two Nazi spies, Jose Waldberg and Carl Meier, were the first people to be executed since the start of the war. They were hanged today at Pentonville Prison in London.
10 December 1941 In Libya the siege of Tobruk was lifted, after eight months, when the Polish garrison broke out of town early in the morning and joined other British Eighth Army forces in the Acroma area. A forward supply base was soon organized at Tobruk. As the Japanese continued destructive attacks on airfields in northwestern Malaya, the RAF abandoned the airfield at Sungei Patani and withdrew all serviceable aircraft from Butterworth. Two Japanese task forces, each consisting of about 2,000 men, arrived off northern Luzon, Philippines, from Formosa. Landings began simultaneously at Aparri, on the north coast, and near Vigan on the west coast. Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon was practically obliterated by Japanese "Nell" and "Betty" bombers based on Formosa. Destroyers USS Peary and Pillsbury, submarines USS Seadragon and Sealion, minesweeper USS Bittern and submarine tender USS Otus, suffered varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB-681) was destroyed by a direct hit. While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Squadron VP-101, was attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shot down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Twenty six Japanese naval land attack planes from the 24th Air Flotilla, based on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, bombed Marine installations on Wilkes and Wake islet. During the interception of the bombers, Captain Henry T. Elrod, USMC, executive officer of Squadron VMF-211, shot down a "Nell" bomber; this was the first USMC air-to-air "kill" of the Pacific War. The British Navy's Force Z under Admiral Tom Phillips left Singapore in the evening of 8 December to find the Japanese fleet. The ships were spotted today in the South China Sea by the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-58 just before dawn and attacked by a force consisted of 60 "Nell" bombers of the Genzan and Mihoro Kokutais Naval Air Corps operating with 26 "Betty" bombers of the Kanoya Kokutai based in French Indochina. The battleship HMS Prince of Wales was hit by four torpedoes and sank at 1233 hours local. The battlecruiser HMS Repulse was hit by 14 torpedoes and sank at 1320 hours local. The death toll from both ships was 840 men (Repulse 513, and the Prince Of Wales, 327. A total of 2,081 men were saved by the four escorting destroyers and taken back to Singapore. The Far Eastern Fleet commander, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips went down with his ship, Prince of Wales. An SBD Dauntless from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) sank Japanese submarine HIJMS I-70 about 193 nautical miles northeast of Honolulu. This was one of the submarines used to scout the Hawaiian area in connection with the Pearl Harbour attack and was the first Japanese combatant ship sunk by U.S. aircraft during World War II.
10 December 1942 In Tunisia, German tank-infantry columns attacked Medjez el Bab from the northeast and east. They were repulsed by the defending garrison of four French battalions that had been reinforced by the British 1st Guards Brigade.
10 December 1943 In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bombed targets on the Huon Peninsula while 40 B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders bombed supply and bivouac areas and bridges along the Bogadjim Road. P-39 Airacobras strafed barges in the Madang area. On Bougainville USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bombed the Kahili supply area and airfield; P-39 Airacobras bombed the supply area and anti-aircraft positions at Tonolai and strafed four barges in the harbour; New Zealand (PV-1) Venturas hit buildings at Arigua Plantation. Marine Squadron VMF-216 with 17 F4U Corsairs, flew in to operate from Torokina airstrip. In Italy, Brigadier Syd Thomson took over command of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and together with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment set about evicting battle-hardened German paratroops from Ortona, where roadblocks had been erected to force attackers in the few open squares, many of which were ringed with machine guns. The British Eighth Army had regrouped to increase the weight of an attack in the coastal sector, where opposition was heavy. The XIII Corps, with the 5th Division and the New Zealand Division under its command, was to move north on the left of V Corps, leaving the 78th Division in previous positions under Eighth Army command.
10 December 1944 n the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps area, France, the main body of the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, crossed the Sarre River to clear the eastern part of Sarreguemines and began a house-to-house battle. In the French First Army's I Corps area, the 2nd Moroccan Division completed the capture of Thann. The 9th Colonial Division reduced the last German bridgeheads west of the Rhine River between Kembs and the Swiss border. In the U.S. First Army area, Germany, VII Corps began a coordinated attack to clear the west bank of the Roer River and the city of Dueren. In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, the Canadian I Corps began an attack across the Lamone River late in day. In Burma Allied engineers completed a 1,154 foot long Bailey bridge, the world's largest, across the Chindwin river. Off Leyte, Philippines, destroyer USS Hughes was damaged by kamikaze; south of Dulag, a suicide plane crashed the previously damaged freighter SS Marcus Daly, which was discharging cargo to tank landing craft LCT-1075 alongside. LCT-1075 was hit by part of the kamikaze and sank; SS Marcus Daly suffered no fatalities, although eight men were wounded. Nearby freighter SS William S. Ladd was hit by a kamikaze and gutted by fire despite the efforts of four infantry landing craft (LCI) that came alongside; six men are injured. Motor torpedo boat PT-323, damaged by suicide plane was beached and abandoned.
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Post by emron on Dec 9, 2017 21:10:55 GMT 12
9 December 1939 German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee sailed toward the River Plate estuary on the border of Uruguay and Argentina to attack a reported convoy departing from Montevideo, Uruguay. Meanwhile, Royal Navy Force G (light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, soon to be joined by heavy cruiser HMS Exeter) was already en route toward the area in search of Admiral Graf Spee. German merchant freighter Kurmark, acquired by the German Navy in the fall of 1939, was commissioned into service as auxiliary cruiser Orion.
9 December 1940 Beginning at 0500 hours, Allied artillery and aircraft bombarded the Italian camp at Nibeiwa, Egypt for two hours. At 0715 hours, ground troops began moving toward the rear of the fort for attack; they were spotted by Italian aircraft, but it was too late for the Italians to reorganize the defences. Troops of the Indian 4th Infantry Division, supported by tanks of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment, captured the camp at 0830 hours. Italian positions at Tummar West and Tummar East were also captured by dusk. Along the coast, tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade cut off the main road to prevent an Italian withdrawal. Meanwhile, British monitor HMS Terror and gunboats HMS Ladybird and HMS Aphis bombarded Italian positions at Sidi Barrani and Maktila. Italian General Pietro Maletti, commander of the motorized "Maletti Group," was cut down by a British tank's machinegun while himself manning a machinegun during the surprise attack on his unit's encampment at Nibeiwa.
9 December 1941 Bitter fighting took place between British and Japanese troops for the airfield at Kota Bharu in British Malaya, while two groups of Indian troops crossed into Thailand to destroy roads and railroads. In Thailand, the Japanese entered Bangkok. Out at sea, Japanese aircraft and submarine I-65 spotted British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse; torpedo bombers were launched from Saigon but they failed to locate the ships. Japanese troops seized Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands. In the first Japanese attack on the island, three planes flying from the Marshall Islands bombed the wireless station at Nauru, but failed to cause any damage. The 6,310 ton Italian freighter MS Sebastiano Venier was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS/M Porpoise about 5 miles south of Navarino, Greece. The ship had sailed from Benghazi, Libya, with about 2,000 British and Commonwealth POWs, including South African troops, New Zealanders and Australians, captured in North Africa. She was not flying a POW flag. The torpedo struck between No.1 and No.2 holds on the starboard side, the force of the explosion hurled the heavy hatchway covers to mast height, the falling timbers killed dozens of men trying to escape from the hold. Only five men in flooded No.1 hold survived. Most of the panic-stricken crew abandoned the ship taking all the lifeboats. A total of 320 men were lost, among them 309 POWs including 45 New Zealanders. Eleven Italian soldiers also died. The ship did not sink but was beached at Point Methoni near Pilos, Greece. All prisoners who managed to reach the shore were confronted by hundreds of Italian occupation troops and were taken to a makeshift camp where during the next few months many died from frostbite and disease. In May 1942, the remaining prisoners were transferred to Campo 85 at Tuturano in Italy.
9 December 1942 In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders bombed the Buna area as ground forces prepared for the final assault on the village. P-40s hit the area along the Sanananda-Soputa trail. In nearby Gona, following air and artillery bombardment, Australian forces overcame resistance, taking the village in hand-to-hand combat. American operations on Guadalcanal, previously conducted by the US Marines under Major General Alexander Vandegrift, were turned over to the US Army under Major General Alexander Patch. The 1st Marine Division began its withdrawal to Australia. USN motor torpedo boat PT-59 sank Japanese submarine HIJMS I-3, engaged in a resupply mission to Guadalcanal, 3 miles northeast of Kamimbo Bay.
9 December 1943 Canadian troops captured San Leonardo, Italy. US and British troops captured the zone surrounding Monte Camino to the west. Following the Teheran and Cairo conferences, President Roosevelt re-embarked in battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) at Dakar for the return voyage to the U.S. The US airfield at Cape Torokina on the western coast of Bougainville, on the shores of Empress Augusta Bay, 200 miles from Rabaul, reached operational status today. After two weeks of some of the most intensive fighting seen on the Chinese mainland, Changteh, the central Chinese city twice occupied by the Japanese, was recaptured by Chinese Nationalist troops after a massive cross-country supply operation by an army of coolies.
9 December 1944 Fort Jeanne d'Arc, the last German garrison to hold out(some 500 men of the Fuesilier Battalion, 462nd Volksgrenadier Division, surrendered at Metz, France. In the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps area; the 1st Battalion of the 137th Infantry Regiment was sent to Sarreguemines to mop up in the western part of city. In the French First Army area, II Corps was still strongly opposed but cleared Mittelwihr. In the I Corps area, the 2nd Moroccan Division continued clearing Thann. The 4th Mountain Division met vigorous opposition at Lutterbach. In Germany the US 3rd Army continued action around the bridgehead over the river Saar. The US 7th Army and the French 1st Army continued to advance. In the U.S. Ninth Army's XIX Corps area, the 30th Infantry Division was ordered to secure region between Inde and Roer Rivers within its zone. Soviet troops reached the Danube River north of Budapest, Hungary. Bulgar and Yugoslav Armies, assisted by Soviet aircraft, completed the expulsion of Germans from Serbia and Macedonia during the last few days. In China twelve USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bombed Lipo, Tuhshan, and Hochih; a B-25 attacked a truck convoy in the Siang-Chiang Valley while a B-24 Liberator claimed a cargo ship sunk in the South China Sea; 19 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs hit river, road, and rail shipping and other targets of opportunity from Kweiyi to Siangtan; 65 P-51s and P-40s hit similar targets of opportunity around Kweilin, Liuchow, Lingling, Hengyang, Tuhshan, and Chuchou; 50 more fighter-bombers hit targets of opportunity at several other locations scattered throughout the South. In northern Burma, twelve USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts knocked out a bridge at Mongmit, damaged another and blasted approach to the Namyao bridge. Villages and building areas, supply dumps, and targets of opportunity were attacked at Man Mao, Etgyi, Namhsim, Tawma and other points.
9 December 1945 General George S. Patton was seriously injured when his staff car was in collision with a US Army truck near Neckarstadt, Germany and he was rushed to the military hospital in Heidelberg. Patton had suffered a crushed vertebra in his upper spinal column, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
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Post by emron on Dec 9, 2017 14:36:52 GMT 12
8 December 1940 German armed merchant cruiser Orion sank the British Phosphate Commission ships Triadic (1 killed, 11 captured) and Triaster (64 captured) off Nauru Island. German submarine U-103 sank British merchant ship SS Calabria 295 miles west of Ireland at 2058 hours. All 360 aboard were killed, 230 of whom were Indian seamen being ferried to Britain to crew other ships. Operation Compass: RAF Wellingtons based in the Egyptian Delta destroyed ten Italian aircraft at Benina in Libya. The British ground forces moved through the gap between Italian camps Nibeiwa and Sofafi without being detected. Greek troops captured Gjirokastra and Delvinë in Albania. `
8 December 1941 President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war against Japan at 5.10pm Washington time. He did not request nor does the US declare war on Germany and/or Italy. The US is joined by Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands, the Free French, Yugoslavia, Panama, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic in the declaration of war against Japan. Seven Australian Hudson Mk. Is of No. 1 Squadron RAAF, attacked the Japanese invasion force laying off Kota Bharu, Malaya and sank one transport and damage two others and numerous barges. RAAF Hudson Mk. IIs of No. 8 Squadron and RAF Blenheim Mk. Is and Vildebeest Mk. IIIs also attacked the invasion force damaging numerous barges. The British Navy's Force Z under Admiral Tom Phillips got underway in the evening to find the Japanese fleet. The force consisted of battleship HMS Prince of Wales, battlecruiser HMS Repulse and British destroyers HMS Electra, Express and Tenedos with Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire. Japanese forces invaded the British colony of Hong Kong. British and Canadian garrison at Hong Kong was hopelessly outnumbered and beyond reach of any Allied help. Within less than two days the defenders would be forced to retreat to Hong Kong island itself. Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet land-based aircraft from Taiwan attacked US Army airfields on Luzon Island, Philippines as well as shipping in Manila Bay. In China, Colonel William W. Ashurst surrendered the US Marine Corps detachments in Tianjin, Beiping, Qinhuangdao (Camp Holcomb) and the American embassy to the Japanese. In Shanghai, Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops captured US Navy river gunboat Wake before the gunboat's crew could scuttle her. Aircraft of the Japanese Navy 24th Air Flotilla (based at Roi-Namur, Kwajalein) attacked Camp One, Camp Two and the airstrip on Wake; Japanese aircraft destroyed seven of the eight F4F-3 fighters as well as a 25,000-gallon capacity aviation gas tank. Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue gave the order to the Japanese Navy Fourth Fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands to begin executing the plans to capture Wake, Guam (Mariana Islands), Makin (Gilbert Islands), Tarawa (Gilbert Islands) and other islands and atolls in the Pacific Ocean. Soviet offensive broke through German Armeegruppe Mitte near Moscow, cutting the Klin-Kalinin road. German units began making hasty withdrawals to prevent encirclement, abandoning large numbers of immobilized equipment in the process. Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive 39 which called for German troops to hold their ground.
8 December 1942 During the night of 8/9 December, RAF Bomber Command dispatched 133 aircraft, 108 Lancasters, nine Halifaxes, nine Wellingtons and seven Stirlings, to bomb Turin; 119 aircraft bomb the target with the loss of one Lancaster. The Pathfinders illuminated the target well and bombing was very accurate. In Tunisia U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave British Lieutenant General K. A. N. Anderson permission to withdraw the British First Army from areas west of Tebourba and east of Medjez el Bab to more favourable positions slightly to the west from which to prepare for the move on Tunis General Gause leads German forces in capturing Bizerta. They capture four French destroyers, nine submarines and three other warships. In Libya USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s flew fighter-bomber missions in the battle area east of El Agheila; the American claimed seven enemy aircraft shot down. In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 39th Battalion, 7th Division, supported by artillery and mortars, attacked Gona and by nightfall, half of the Japanese perimeter defences and the centre of the garrison area have been taken. USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-25 Mitchells pounded antiaircraft positions at Buna and the area around Buna Mission and Cape Endaiadere Six Japanese destroyers carrying troops to reinforce the Buna-Gona beachhead were bombed by B-17 Flying Fortresses and a lone B-24 Liberator and turned back to Rabaul.
8 December 1943 Colossus, the first programmable computer, was delivered to Bletchley Park (Station X) Britain's ultra-secret cryptanalysis headquarters. Built by a team headed by Tommy Flowers at the Post Office Research Centre at Dollis Hill, north London, it incorporated 1,500 valves (vacuum tubes). Six USN battleships and two aircraft carriers attacked Nauru Island. Before dawn, aircraft were launched by the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill and small aircraft carrier USS Monterey. The bombardment force under Rear Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee had six battleships and 12 destroyers. The battleships USS Alabama, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Dakota and Washington fired 135 rounds of 16-inch shells at the island. The destroyer USS Boyd was damaged, while on a rescue mission, by a Japanese shore battery with 27 sailors killed. No Japanese ships were present.
8 December 1944 In Germany, US troops advanced past Saarlautern to breach the Siegfried Line; Fort Driant near Metz, France fell. In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, Italy, the Germans abandoned the rest of Mt. Penzola. In the British Eighth Army's area, British troops crossed the Lamone River. The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flew Mission 11: 82 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands joined USAAF Seventh Air Force P-38 Lightnings, 89 B-24 Liberators and Navy cruisers in a strike against airfields on Iwo Jima Island, from where Japanese strikes against U.S. airfields in the Mariana Islands were being launched.
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Post by emron on Dec 8, 2017 7:58:40 GMT 12
7 December 1939 The Admiral Graf Spee sank British freighter SS Streonshalh (3895 BRT) about 853 nautical miles east-southeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Streonshalh was the raider's last victim.
7 December 1940 Off Nauru Island, German auxiliary cruisers HK Komet and Orion intercepted two freighters, the 5,180 ton Norwegian SS Vinni and 3,900 ton British SS Komata. Explosive charges were placed aboard by the crew of HK Orion and both ships were sunk. The island was rich in phosphate deposits and both ships were about to load this cargo.
7 December 1941 Operation Z: 360 Japanese carrier aircraft (104 bombers, 135 dive bombers, 40 torpedo bombers, and 81 fighters) attacked Pearl Harbour, US Territory of Hawaii, sinking or damaging 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 1 anti-aircraft training ship, 1 minelayer; destroying 188 aircraft; and killing 2,459 (57 of which were civilian) and wounding 1,282 (35 of which were civilian). The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines; 55 were killed and 10 were wounded. Japanese aircraft bombarded Singapore, Guam, and Wake, while two Japanese destroyers shelled Midway Atoll, causing 14 casualties and damaging much equipment. Japanese troops invaded Khota Baru, Malaya, two hours before the attack on Pearl Harbour. A series of landings in nearby Thailand initially met stiff resistance, but the Thai government negotiated for an armistice within hours.
7 December 1942 Soviet forces attacked at the River Chir. Their goal was the German airfields that were supplying Stalingrad. These attacks were stopped by the German 11th Panzer Division, but the Germans absorbed serious losses. In Tunisia USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, attacked docks and shipping at Bizerte. Escorted DB-7 Bostons attacked tanks in the Tebourba-El Bathan area where elements of the British First Army continued to be hard pressed. In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attacked the area around Buna as ground forces attacked the village and cleared a trench at the southern edge; B-25 Mitchells also hit the airfield at Lae. B-17 Flying Fortresses attacked a wrecked vessel off Gona. Thirteen USMC SBD Dauntlesses from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, attack 12 Japanese destroyer-transports of the Tokyo Express in New Georgia Sound at 1635 hours local. Two destroyers were damaged for the loss of one SBD. A later attack by 8 PT boats forced the destroyers to retire. One year after the "day of infamy" at Pearl Harbour, the US Navy today launched 15 ships, including one of the biggest battleships ever built. Iowa class USS New Jersey BB-62 was launched at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
7 December 1943 After sundown, 21st Infantry Brigade of Indian 8th Infantry Division formed a defensive line near Canadian 1st Infantry Division to allow the Canadians to launch a new offensive in the Moro River region in Italy on the following day. New Zealand troops of V Corps made an unsuccessful attack on Orsogna. The U.S. Fifth Army began the second phase of the assault on the Winter Line in the Mignano Gap. USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and A-36 Apaches bombed the harbour and town of Civitavecchia; B-25s also attacked Pescara, hitting the railroad, road, and town area; A-36s, P-40s, and RAF Desert Air Force fighters hit a gun position west of Orsogna, the towns of Viticuso and San Vittoria, and a bridge at Civitella Roveto. Eighteen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells carried out strikes against Kahili and Kieta Harbour on Bougainville Island. Torokina Island was bombed by two RNZAF (PV-1) Venturas on patrol. During the night of 6/7 December, 14 USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators, staging through Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, hit targets on Maloelap and Wotje Atolls and six B-24s from Nukufetau Island in the Ellice Islands bombed Maloelap Atoll, and one other, failing to reach the primary, dropped bombs on Mili Atoll. This date marked the beginning of Operation Flintlock (operations against Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls). On this second anniversary of Pearl Harbour raid, Iowa class battleship USS Wisconsin BB-64 was launched at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
7 December 1944 In France the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, Fort Plappeville surrendered to the 2nd Infantry Regiment. The 26th Infantry Division reached positions within sight of Maginot Line forts at Wittring and Achen. In the I Corps zone French troops under de Tassigny attacked German forces trapped in the Colmar pocket. In Romania General Radescu led a new government into office. They pledged to implement the terms of the armistice and to assist the Allies with the purge of all pro-Nazis. In Greece British tanks and troops were ordered onto the streets of Athens to crush an uprising by ELAS (the National Liberation Army), the military wing of KKE, the country's communist party, and EAM, a left-wing "front" organization. Dozens of people, some of them British troops, have died. In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF), B-25 Mitchells hit Miti (Miti Island), Kaoe and Lolobata Airdromes on Halmahera Island and Galela Airfield on Galela Island.
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Post by emron on Dec 7, 2017 7:35:20 GMT 12
6 December 1917 The Halifax Explosion: SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada. A fire on board the French ship ignited her cargo, causing a large explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by the blast, debris, fires or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest man-made explosion before the development of nuclear weapons, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT. An area of over 160 hectares (400 acres) was completely destroyed by the explosion. Mont-Blanc's forward 90mm gun, its barrel melted away, landed approximately 5.6 kilometres (3.5mi) north of the explosion site near Albro Lake in Dartmouth.
6 December 1939 In the South Atlantic east of Rio de Janiero, Admiral Graf Spee met with Altmark for the final time and transferred 140 prisoners who had been captured from Doric Star and Tairoa.
6 December 1940 Mediterranean: The submarine HMS/S Regulus (N 88) was lost in the Straits of Otranto with all 53 of her crew. Submarine HMS Triton was lost in the lower Adriatic with all 62 crew. German auxiliary cruisers KM Komet and KM Orion sank the British merchantman SS Triona (4,410 ton), with gunfire and torpedoes, near Nauru Island. British 7th Armoured Division, British 16th Infantry Brigade, and Indian 4th Infantry Division began preparing for Operation Compass in Italian occupied Libya.
6 December 1941 United Kingdom and Dominions declared war on Finland, Hungary and Romania. A major Soviet counteroffensive commenced along the Moscow front. General Zhukov was in overall command of the effort which included the North-West Front, the Kalinin Front, the West Front and the South-West Front and 20 Armies. The British submarine HMS Perseus was sunk by a mine, off Keffalonia, Greece. One survivor escaped from a depth of 170 feet and swam ten miles to shore. At 1215 hours in the South China Sea, an Australian Hudson Mk. I of No. 1 Squadron RAAF based at Kota Bharu in northeastern Malaya, sighted three Japanese ships about 160 nautical miles from the base. At 1230 hours, the same aircraft reported a convoy of a battleship, five cruisers, seven destroyers and 22 transports 226 nautical miles from the base. Other aircraft were dispatched to shadow the ships but failed to find them because the area was being battered by a monsoon. The Japanese Consulate in Honolulu sent the following to the Foreign Office in Tokyo: "(1) On the evening of the 5th, among the battleships which entered port were and one submarine tender. The following ships were observed at anchor on the 6th: 9 battleships, 3 light cruisers, 3 submarine tenders 17 destroyers, and in addition there were 4 light cruisers, 2 destroyers lying at docks (the heavy cruisers and airplane carriers have all left). (2) 2. It appears that no air reconnaissance is being conducted by the fleet air arm”
6 December 1942 Bomber Command flew Operation Oyster, a special raid carried out by all of the operational day-bomber squadrons in No. 2 Group. Their targets were the Philips radio and valve (electron tube) factories in the town of Eindhoven. Ninety three aircraft took part in the raid, 47 (PV-1) Venturas Mk. Is of RAF No. 21, RAAF No. 464 and RNZAF No. 487 Squadrons, 36 (A-20) Boston IIIs of Nos. 88, 107, and 226 Squadrons and ten Mosquito Mk. IVs of No.105 and No.139 Squadrons; 83 aircraft actually bomb. Bombing was accurate and severe damage was caused to two factories in the complex. The bomber casualties were heavy: nine Venturas, four Bostons and a Mosquito were lost over the Netherlands or the sea. This was a loss rate of 15 percent for the whole force; the Venturas, the aircraft with the poorest performance, suffered 19 per cent casualties. Three more aircraft crashed or force-land in England and most of the other aircraft were damaged, 23 by bird strikes! German attacks push Allied forces back near Medjez el Bab, Tunisia. Twelfth Air Force DB-7 Bostons, with fighter escort, bombed the bridge over the Medjerda River at El Bathan. F-4 and P-38 Lightnings flew patrols and reconnaissance missions over parts of Algeria and Tunisia. The 18,713 ton troop ship SS Ceramic was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-515 about 620 nautical miles west-northwest of Lagens Field, Azores Islands, The ship had departed Liverpool, England, on 23 November and steaming independently to Australia carrying 633 crewmen, troops and nurses. There was only one survivor, Royal Engineer sapper, Eric Munday, who was taken on board the U-boat to spend the rest of the war in a German POW camp. The rest of the crew and passengers were left to perish in the stormy seas. It was many months before the British Admiralty learnt what happened to the Ceramic as she sank before any distress signal could be sent.
6 December 1943 In the U.S. Fifth Army area, Italy, the British X Corps seized the crest of Mt. Camino and for the next three days mopped up the western slopes as far as the Garigliano River. In the U.S. VI Corps area, elements of the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, reached the top of Hill 769, but the Germans retained positions on the reverse slope.
6 December 1944 Submarines USS Segundo, USS Trepang, and USS Razorback sank all ships in a 7-ship Japanese convoy, escorted by destroyer Kuretake and submarine chaser CH-33, in the South China Sea. Segundo was creditted with damaging Yasukuni Maru (later scuttled) and sinking a unidentified ammunition ship. The British 2nd Army was denied the prize of Arnhem in the Netherlands when the Germans demolished dykes and flooded the area between Arnhem and Nijmegen. In Germany a division of the US XX Corps crossed the river Saar near Patchen using assault boats.
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Post by emron on Dec 6, 2017 22:17:44 GMT 12
5 December 1939 Heavy fighting took place between Soviet Army and Finnish Army in the Karelia region in southern Finland. Russia rejected a League of Nations proposal to end the war with Finland.
5 December 1940 British destroyer HMS Cameron (former USS Welles DD-257) was damaged by German aircraft while in drydock at Portsmouth, England, killing 14. As the drydock flooded, she capsized, and would remain so until Feb 1941. German armed merchant cruiser Thor and British armed merchant cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle exchanged 6-inch shells 300 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. HMS Carnarvon Castle was hit 27 times (4 killed, 32 wounded) while Thor was able to disengage unharmed. HMS Carnarvon Castle would soon receive temporary repairs at Montevideo, Uruguay, using steel plates salvaged from the scuttled German pocket battleship Graf Spee.
5 December 1941 3,033 ton SS Chakdina carrying 380 wounded soldiers including 97 New Zealanders; several officers and medical personnel, departed Tobruk, Libya, for Alexandria, Egypt, escorted by two warships. Chakdina was not a hospital ship and not marked as one. At about 2100 hours, a Luftwaffe aircraft attacked the ship and put a torpedo into her aft hold causing her to sink in three and a half minutes. There was very little chance of escape, except for those who were not wounded or were in a favorable position at the time. Only 18 of the New Zealand wounded were picked up by the escort destroyer HMS Farndale. The U.S. Navy Task Force 12 (Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance), comprised of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2); the heavy cruisers USS Astoria, Chicago, and Portland and the destroyers USS Drayton, Flusser, Lamson, Mahan and Porter departed Pearl Harbour. Lexington was carrying 18 Vought SB2U-3 Vindicators of Squadron VMSB-231 which were to be flown off to reinforce Midway Island. Radar at Iba, Luzon, Philippines, picked up a contact fifty miles off shore after dusk. A patrol of P-40's was vectored in and discovered a flight of Zero fighters, which turned north when they spotted the American aircraft.
5 December 1942 German hospital ship Graz struck a mine 10 miles northeast of the port of Bizerte, Tunisia and sank, with 50 Greek sailors lost and only 11 rescued out of her crew. Three British armed trawlers HMS Canna, Bengali and Spaniard were berthed in the harbour at Lagos, Nigeria, when a petrol spill caught fire engulfing the three ships. One by one they exploded and in the process killed around 200.
5 December 1943 Attacks and counterattacks marked the continued fight for possession of the summit of Monte Camino, Italy. In the British Eighth Army area, V Corps pushed toward Ortona, whose harbour could be used for supply, the Indian 8th Division crossed the Morn River. Japanese bombers made their first strategic daylight raid on Calcutta, India, damaging dock area; 350 people were killed and 150 injured in the attack.
5 December 1944 Saarland Germany: The battle for the key industrial area of the Saar basin moved towards a climax as Patton's US 3rd Army exploited the three bridge-heads established across the Saar river. Advances up to 9 miles have been made, and in the central sector of the front the Americans were within 5 miles of the capital Saarbrücken. Fighting was taking place in Saarguemines, where the Germans were putting up stiff resistance. Saarlautern has been captured, and the first belt of the Siegfried Line defences attacked.
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Post by emron on Dec 5, 2017 7:56:01 GMT 12
4 December 1939 En route to Basis Nord in northern Russia, U-36 was sunk by British submarine HMS Salmon with the loss of all hands(40). King George VI arrived in France to inspect British Army and RAF units and to view the French Maginot Line. Moscow: the Soviet Union rejected a Swedish offer to mediate in the war with Finland. Returning home from the hunt for the German battle-cruisers after the sinking of HMS Rawalpindi, battleship HMS Nelson was damaged by a mine laid by U-31 off Loch Ewe, northwest Scotland. She was laid up in Portsmouth for repairs until August 1940.
4 Dec 1940 Major General Richard O'Connor, Commander, Western Desert Force, moved to his battle headquarters, Egypt, in preparation for Operation Compass (the attack against Italian troops in North Africa). Greek forces captured Përmet (capturing 500 Italians), Pogradec, and Sarande in Albania.
4 December 1941 Japanese invasion fleets departed from various locations for their destinations in Malaya and Thailand. Later this day, American PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported that the 30 Japanese transports detected on the previous day in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina were no longer there. The Japanese Navy's Guam Invasion Group, South Seas Force, departed Haha Jima at 0900 hours. This force consisted of nine transports, four each heavy cruisers, destroyers and submarine chasers, three gunboats, two each coastal minesweepers and netlayers, and one each minelayer, oiler and seaplane tender. The British 4th Armoured Brigade moved east to counter the Axis advance toward Bardia, Libya and Sollum, Egypt. Erwin Rommel responded by pulling back the advances toward Bardia and Sollum for a concentrated attack toward Tobruk.
4 December 1942 In the first US raid on Italy's mainland, twenty USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberator bombers today attacked Naples, sinking the cruiser R.N. Muzio Atendolo and damaging two other light cruisers R.N. Raimondo Montecuccoli and Eugenio di Savoia, and four destroyers. Hits were also scored on numerous harbour installations and a railway yard. Acting Wing-Cdr. Hugh Gordon Malcolm (b.1917) was shot down and killed while leading ten Blenheim Vs of No.18 Squadron RAF, without fighter escort, to attack the airfield at Chougui, Tunisia. As they approached the airfield, they were attacked by a large number of German aircraft and all were shot down. Malcolm had also led his bomber squadron with great daring in previous weeks and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on 27 April 1943. His was the first RAF V.C. to be won in North Africa. US 2nd Marine Raider Battalion (Carlson's Raiders), reached the Lunga perimeter, Guadalcanal, having marched west from Aola Bay and completed a month of foraging in which they killed 400 Japanese at the cost of 17 of their own number.
4 December 1943 USN submarine USS Sailfish (SS-192) torpedoed and sank escort aircraft carrier HIJMS Chuyo about 280 nautical miles southeast of Tokyo. Following two earlier attacks in the night when 3 torpedoes caused major disabling damage, Sailfish attacked again at 08:42 and hit the carrier with one or two torpedoes on the port side. The hits caused massive flooding and Chūyō capsized very quickly to port six minutes later. There were very few survivors because of the speed at which she sank. Only 161 crewmen and passengers were saved, including one American prisoner of war. 737 passengers and 513 crewmen were lost. Unbeknown to Sailfish, Chuyo was carrying 20 survivors from her sister ship USS Sculpin (SS-191) which was damaged and scuttled about 154 miles north of Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, on 19 November. Only one of these sailors survived. Task Force 50 (Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall) attacked Japanese installations on Kwajalein and Wotje Atolls. Marshall Islands At 2323 hours, a "Betty" bomber launched an aerial torpedo which struck the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) on the starboard side. The torpedo knocked out her steering gear. The carrier began circling to port amidst dense clouds of smoke pouring from ruptured tanks aft. An emergency hand-operated steering unit was quickly devised, and Lexington made for Pearl Harbour for emergency repairs. Two other ships are damaged, light cruiser USS Mobile and destroyer USS Taylor, by friendly fire.
4 December 1944 In the British Eighth Army area, Italy, the Polish II Corps took Montecchio. In the Corps area, the British 46th Division was attacking toward the Pideura ridge against strong resistance. The Canadian I Corps took Ravenna and reached the Lamone River, cutting Highway 16 where it crossed the river; the Canadian 1st Division began an attack across the Lamone River during the night of 4/5 December. The last German pocket west of the river Maas, Netherlands, was cleared by the British 2nd Army. In France the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps began a final drive toward the Sarre and West Wall. he In Germany US 3rd Army end the recent offensive toward the Ruhr. Units of the US XX Corps quickly advanced towards an intact bridge at Saarlautern, in the 3rd Army sector.
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Post by emron on Dec 3, 2017 22:09:34 GMT 12
3 December 1939 The second prototype of the Short Model S.29 Stirling four-engined bomber, RAF serial number L7605 made its first flight. The first prototype flew on 14 May 1939 but crashed and was totally destroyed. This one landed safely and development work proceeded. The battlecruiser HMS Renown and aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (RN Force K) arrived at Cape Town, South Africa. German armoured ship Admiral Graf Spee stopped British refrigerated freighter SS Tairoa (7,983 BRT) and then sank the merchantman about 598 nautical miles southeast of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic. The 81 man crew were captured; casualties 5 injured. Ironically, the same day British Commodore Commanding South Atlantic Station, Henry H. Harwood, ordered British Force G: heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, light cruiser HMS Ajax and New Zealand light cruiser HMS Achilles to maintain station off the coast of Argentina south of the River Plate estuary by 12 December. Most of the crew of Tairoa, including Capt. William B. S. Starr were transferred to the Altmark the following day, 4 December. The 7 crew remaining prisoner on the Admiral Graf Spee were released at Montevideo, Uruguay on 14 Dec., following the Battle of the River Plate. The 302 crewmen from Newton Beech, Ashlea, Huntsman, Trevanion, Doric Star and Tairoa being held prisoner on the Altmark were rescued by destroyer HMS Cossack in Jøssingfjord, Norway after the crew of the Cossack forced the Altmark to ground and boarded the ship on 16 February 1940.
3 December 1940 Greek troops pushed Italian troops back 15 miles, capturing Sarandë, Albania. To the far south, Italian torpedo bombers attacked the British naval base at Suda Bay, Crete, at 1540 hours, damaging British cruiser HMS Glasgow with two torpedoes (3 killed, 3 wounded. Destroyer HMCS St Laurent rescued survivors from the British tanker Conch (8,376 GRT), which had been sunk by U-99 (Kptlt. Kretschmer). One of the greatest convoy battles of the war was fought on the nights of 02-03 December when seven U-boats attacked the Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX-90. Nine of the convoy's 35 merchant ships were sunk for a total of 52,817 tons and another two ships were damaged. Most critical was the loss of two large British tankers, each of which carried over 11,000 tons of aviation fuel and fuel oil. In addition to Conch, Kretschmer sank the British freighter Stirlingshire (6,022 GRT) and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar. U-101, (Kptlt. Ernst Mengersen) sank three ships including the second tanker, Appalachee. German long-range aircraft sank the last of the nine ships during the day on 03 Dec. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on 05 Dec.
3 December 1941 Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau, who was commanding the German Sixth Army, succeeded Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt as commander of Army Group South. Von Rundstedt was fired by Hitler because he demanded he should be allowed to withdraw from Rostov. US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 30 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina, 10 more than the previous day. Meanwhile, a Japanese fleet departed Hainan Island in southern China for Thailand. Carrier USS Enterprise began to launch F4F Wildcat fighters of the US Marine Corps for Wake Island. The Soviet evacuation convoy that had departed Hanko, Finland on the previous day sailed into the Corbetha minefield in the Gulf of Finland. One minesweeper was sunk and several other vessels were damaged. More than 1700 of the 5600 passengers and crew aboard troop ship Iosif Stalin, which was seriously damaged by 3 mines and gunfire from shore batteries, were rescued by other convoy escorts. 3000 who remained aboard were taken prisoner by German forces when she ran aground later on the Estonian shore. As many as 850 died. The Axis attempt to reach Bardia in Libya and Sollum and Halfaya Pass in Egypt failed to breach the Allied positions that stood in the way.
3 December 1942 In Algeria, the Germans continued to attack Tebourba and began to use 4 newly-arrived Tiger I tanks to occupy it during the night of 3/4 December. The 11th Brigade, British 78th Division, whose positions were penetrated, withdrew with heavy losses to the region north of Medjez el Bab. Combat Command B, U.S. 1st Armoured Division, engaged the Germans on the El Guessa heights, southwest of Tebourba. To the south, French and U.S. forces captured Faid Pass. In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs, B-25 Mitchells and P-40 Airacobras bombed and strafed Sanananda Point and the Buna areas and attacked a small torpedo boat in Dyke Acland Bay. During the night of 3/4 December, B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed airfields at Lae and Salamaua. Admiral Tanaka brought 10 Japanese destroyers to Guadalcanal in another Tokyo Express Run at night; only 300 of 1500 drums loaded with supplies actually reached the destination. Eight USMC SBD Dauntlesses, seven USMC TBF Avengers and USAAF P-39 Airacobras and USMC F4F Wildcats attacked the Tokyo Express in New Georgia Sound; the destroyer HIJMS Makinami was slightly damaged. On New Georgia Island, the Japanese were discovered to be constructing an airfield at Munda Point, which became a target for almost daily air attacks.
3 December 1943 During the night of 3/4 December, RAF Bomber Command sent 527 aircraft, 307 Lancasters and 220 Halifaxes, to Leipzig; 451 bombed the target while nine Mosquitos made a feint towards Berlin. The Pathfinders found and marked this distant inland target accurately and the bombing was very effective; this was the most successful raid on Leipzig during the war. There were few fighters over Leipzig and only three bombers were believed to have been lost in the target area, two of them being shot down by flak. A relatively successful raid, from the point of view of bomber casualties, was spoiled when many aircraft flew by mistake into the Frankfurt defended area on the long southern withdrawal route and more than half of the bombers shot down on this night were lost there. Twenty four aircraft, 15 Halifaxes and nine Lancasters, were lost, 4.6 per cent of the force. The British 8th Army V Corps captured San Vito, Italy. The German 26th Panzer Division mounted fierce resistance as New Zealand troops attacked Orsogna on the Gustav Line. The British X Corps, 56th Division, was almost at the summit of Monte Camino (Hill 819) and Monastery Hill (Hill 963) but was forced back from the latter.
3 December 1944 The British Eighth Army opened an offensive toward Bologna, Italy with three corps abreast. The Polish II Corps, which was to secure the left flank of the army by clearing the foothills to the left of V Corps, jumped off at 2300 hours. V Corps attacked along Highway 9 toward the Santerno River. The Canadian I Corps, in the Adriatic coastal sector, continued toward Ravenna and the Santerno River with the Canadian 1st Division on the left and the Canadian 5th Armoured Division on the right, The Canadian 1st Division enveloped and took Russi and the Canadian 5th Armoured Division seized Godo, on the Russi-Ravenna road, during the night of 3/4 December. In the British Fourteenth Army's XXXIII Corps area, Burma, the East African 11th Division established a bridgehead across the Chindwin River at Kalewa, undertaken under fire. The Indian 20th Division secured a bridgehead across the river to the north in the Mawlaik area, crossing a brigade and used Kalewa site for crossing the rest of the division. The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flew Mission 10: 86 Mariana Island-based B-29 Superfortresses were dispatched to attack the Musashino aircraft plant and docks and urban areas in Tokyo; 60 B-29s bombed the primary target and 15 hit alternate targets. Seventeen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bombed Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands; seven others, escorting a photographic aircraft over the Bonin and Kazan Islands, bombed Haha Jima and Iwo Jima. During the night of 3/4 December, B-24 Liberators on snooper missions continued to bomb Iwo Jima.
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Post by emron on Dec 2, 2017 19:33:08 GMT 12
2 December 1939 The German liner SS Watussi was scuttled by her crew after she was spotted by a Junkers Ju 86Z-7 of 15 Squadron, SAAF which directed the heavy cruiser HMS Sussex and battlecruiser HMS Renown to intercept. The freighter had already been set on fire and abandoned when Sussex arrived and picked up the crew and passengers. Renown later sank the burning hulk with gunfire about 80 miles south of Cape Point. Watussi had been acting as a supply ship for German surface raiders. German armoured ship Admiral Graf Spee stopped 10,086-ton British freighter SS Doric Star in the South Atlantic. The warship then torpedoed, shelled, and sank the merchantman about 684 nautical miles east-southeast of St. Helena Island. United Kingdom: Conscription was extended to all men between the ages of 19 and 41.
2 December 1940 Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Forfar (former ocean liner SS Montrose), operating on the Northern Patrol, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-99 under the command of Otto Kretschmer. Forfar was en route to join convoy OB 251 and about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland. Thirty-six officers, including her commanding officer, Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy, and 136 men lost their lives. The 21 survivors were rescued by the Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS St. Laurent, the British destroyer HMS Viscount and the British cargo steamer Dursley. Shortly after, German submarines U-47, U-52, U-94, U-99, and U-101 attacked Allied convoy HX-90 before their Western Approaches escorts could arrive. Eleven ships were lost to the U-boats.
2 December 1941 Soviet troopships Iosif Stalin and Maya, along with a number of other warships and transport vessels, departed Hanko, Finland with the last of the 12,000 troops aboard. This marked the final Soviet evacuation from Finnish territory occupied by the Soviet Union at the conclusion of the Winter War. With the Kremlin in sight, at 20 miles, some German units reached the northern suburbs of Moscow. German military intelligence was unaware that the Soviets have secretly been massing more than 700,000 fresh troops from the east. The Japanese carrier force "Kido Butai" sailing for the Hawaiian Islands and the target of Pearl Harbour received a special radio signal: "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208", from Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto. This was the order to execute the attack. Battleship HMS Prince of Wales, battlecruiser HMS Repulse and destroyers HMS Electra Encounter, Express and Jupiter arrived in Singapore and will form the British Far East Fleet. US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 20 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina. The Axis attack on Tobruk, Libya that began on 30 Nov was halted as Axis tank losses reached such a level that repairs must be made before any further operations were possible.
2 December 1942 Force Q with light cruisers HMS Aurora, Argonaut, Sirius and destroyers HMS Quentin and HMAS Quiberon went into action in the Strait of Sicily. Achieving complete surprise in darkness using RDF (radar), Force Q attacked a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by four destroyers and two torpedo boats. The British sank all four merchantmen and the destroyer R.N. Folgore with gunfire and torpedoes and damaged an additional destroyer and a torpedo boat. The convoy escort counterattacked with torpedoes and gunfire, inflicting light damage with gunfire. As they returned, destroyer HMS Quentin was sunk by Italian torpedo aircraft north of Cape Bon. Papua New Guinea: Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and P-400 Airacobras attacked four destroyers off Buna and Gona, and the airfield and positions in the in the Buna area and between Watutu Point and Cape Killerton. As a result of this attack, the destroyers, originally bound for Gona with 800 reinforcements, landed the troops near the mouth of the Kumment River 12 miles to the north. The US merchant ship SS Coamo was sunk by German submarine U-604 off Bermuda while on route to New York from Gibraltar. The ship was detached from the convoy she started in and was never heard from again. A total of 186 lives were lost in what was the greatest loss aboard any US flag merchant vessel during WW2. At the University of Chicago the first man-made, self-sustaining atomic chain reaction was achieved. Italian physicist, Enrico Fermi allowed the "pile" of uranium, moderated by graphite rods, to run for four and a half minutes, which produced just one half-watt of power, but proved man can control atomic power.
2 December 1943 The British 56th (London) Division, which had already been badly mauled in earlier fighting for Monte Camino, Italy, launched a new attack and reached the summit under cover of darkness. The British 8th Army captured Lanciano and in V Corps area, Castelfrentano fell to New Zealand troops. 105 German Ju 88 bombers of Luftflotte 2 bombed shipping and personnel operating in support of the Allied Italian Campaign, at Bari harbour, Italy. The attack opened at 19:25. Bari's inadequate air defences were taken by surprise and the bomber force was able to bomb the harbour with great accuracy. Hits on two ammunition ships caused explosions which shattered windows 7 miles away. A bulk petrol pipeline on a quay was severed and the gushing fuel ignited and a sheet of burning fuel spread over much of the harbour, engulfing undamaged ships. Twenty-eight merchant ships laden with more than 34,000 tons of cargo were sunk or destroyed. One of the destroyed vessels —the U.S. Liberty ship John Harvey— had been carrying a secret cargo of 2000 M47A1 mustard gas bombs. The destruction of John Harvey caused liquid sulfur mustard from the bombs to spill into waters already contaminated by oil from the other damaged vessels. The many sailors who had abandoned their ships into the water became covered with this oily mixture. Hundreds of Italian civilians were poisoned by a cloud of sulfur mustard vapour that had blown over the city. The huge explosion of John Harvey, possibly simultaneously with another ammunition ship, sent large amounts of oily water mixed with mustard into the air, which fell down like rain on men who were on deck at the time. This affected the crews of the nearby Hunt-class destroyers HMS Zetland and HMS Bicester.The wounded were pulled from the water and sent to medical facilities whose personnel were unaware of the mustard gas, because the U.S. military command wanted to keep the presence of chemical munitions secret from the Germans. Although he was not informed of the cargo carried by John Harvey, investigator Dr. Stewart F. Alexander rapidly concluded that mustard gas was present. He convinced medics to treat patients for it's exposure and saved many lives as a result. 1000 military and merchant marine personnel as well as 1000 civilians were killed in the disaster.
2 December 1944 The US 3rd Army crosses the river Saar in several places and one unit reaches Saarlautern, Germany. On patrol near Moroc, Philippines, destroyer USS Cooper accompanied by destroyers USS Allen M. Sumner and USS Moale, engaged two Japanese destroyers, HIJMS Kuwa and Take. USS Cooper was struck by a torpedo causing an explosion on her starboard side and breaking the ship in two about 9 nautical miles south of Ormoc. Before being hit, USS Cooper and the other two destroyers sank HIJMS Kuwa and damaged her sistership HIJMS Take. Cooper sank within minutes taking the lives of 191 crewmen. "Black Cat" PBY-5A Catalinas picked up 168 survivors that night and the next day. One PBY carried 56 in addition to its eight-man crew. USS Allen M. Sumner was damaged by horizontal bomber, and USS Moale was damaged (possibly by Kuwa) in Ormoc Bay. This was the only naval engagement of the Pacific War in which US ships were fired upon simultaneously from the air, sea and from shore batteries in one short desperate four hour battle.
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Post by emron on Dec 2, 2017 14:13:34 GMT 12
1 December 1939 Firefight between Finnish coastal batteries at Russaro and the Soviet cruiser Kirov and her destroyer screen; Kirov and one of her destroyers were damaged. Anti-Aircraft cruiser HMS Black Prince (81) laid down at Harland & Wolff, Belfast. In Germany, Ernst Udet was appointed Director General of Air Force Equipment (Generalluftzeugmeister).
1 December 1940 German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Tribesman 500 miles west of the Cape Verde islands; 8 were killed and 14 survived. Operation Nordseetour began with the departure of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper on her first Atlantic mission. Armed merchant cruiser 'Carnarvon Castle' was badly damaged in action with raider 'Thor' off Brazil, her second and equally successful fight with an AMC. 'Kormoran' was the first of a second wave of raiders to leave for operations in the Atlantic. Destroyer HMCS Saguenay was badly damaged by Italian submarine Argo while escorting Convoy HG-47 300 miles west of Ireland. 21 crewmembers killed. She was the first Canadian warship to be torpedoed by an enemy submarine. Saguenay later reached Barrow in Furness for repairs. German submarine U-101 sank the already-damaged British tanker Appalachee (7 killed, 32 survived) and damaged British ship Loch Ranza of convoy HX-90.
1 December 1941 British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire located German supply ship Python, refuelling submarines UA and U-68 in the South Atlantic, 1,150 miles west of South Africa. Python was scuttled as her crew sighted Dorsetshire, but Dorsetshire backed off due to the threat of the two submarines. Two additional German submarines and four Italian submarines arrived to join UA and U-68 in rescuing Python's survivors. German 15th Panzer Division practically wiped out the 20th Battalion of New Zealand 2nd Division at Belhamed, Libya. This led to the withdrawal of the remaining NZ forces to Zaafran, 5 miles to the east, covered by tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade. All British, Indian and Australian forces in Malaya were at battle stations following the declaration of a state of emergency as fear of Japanese invasion grew.
1 December 1942 Brigadier-General Ira Eaker was named the commanding officer of the US Eighth Air Force in Britain, replacing Carl Spaatz who became the commanding general of the US Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. In Tunisia the Axis forces forestalled an offensive, intended for 2 December, counterattacking strongly toward Tebourba with tanks and infantry supported by aircraft. Blade Force fell back with heavy tank losses. Whilst on a routine mission to take relief personnel to the Timor garrison, corvette HMAS Armidale was attacked and sunk, by 2 torpedoes dropped by IJ aircraft, off Betano Bay. 40 personnel from Armidale and 60 embarked men of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army were killed. 45 survivors on two boats were recovered by HMAS Kalgoorlie guided by an RAAF flying boat. She was the only Bathurst-class corvette to be lost to enemy action. U.S. Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, Commanding General I Corps, flew to Dobodura, Papua New Guinea, and took command of all troops in Buna area. 1 December 1943 US Fifth Army launched an offensive on the Garigliano River in Italy, led by British X Corps. German troops in the Crimea in Russia were completely isolated, as Soviet troops completed their control of the northern end of the Dneiper River bend. B-24 bombers of the 7th Bombardment Group (H) attacked Rangoon harbour and railway yards in Burma. US IX Fighter Command aircraft began operations from the United Kingdom when 28 P-51B fighters flew a sweep over north-western France. The mission also marked the debut of the Merlin-powered Mustang fighter in USAAF service. The Teheran Conference between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin concluded.
1 December 1944 Soviet troops cross to the west bank of the Ondava River in the vicinity of Humenne and Trebisov, Czechoslovakia. South of Budapest the Russian 57th Army continued to advance. The 4th Ukraine Front attacked positions held by the German 1st Panzer Army, northeast of Budapest, Hungary. Twenty six USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators based on Guam, Mariana Islands, bombed the airfield on Iwo Jima. In Italy the British Eighth Army continued preparation for an offensive on 3 December. In the V Corps area, the Indian 10th Division secured the Casa Bettini bridge over the Montone River and was relieved on the right flank by the Canadian I Corps troops.
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