Greek 3rd Army Corps engaged in heavy fighting with Italian 9th Army near Korcë (Koritza), Albania. Italian troops fleeing in southern Albania from the advance of the Greeks have set on fire their northern sector base town of Koritza, the Greek high command reported today. The high command’s announcement was issued shortly after a government spokesman reported the recapture by the Greeks of the town of Konitza, in the central Pindus mountain region. After driving the last of the Italian troops from Greece in a smashing offensive, Greek forces are advancing into Albania along a 120-mile front from the Ionian Sea to the Yugoslav frontier, authoritative reports from the front claimed tonight.
The Greek counter-offensive continues on 17 November 1940, with moderate success all along the front. Greek III Corps, operating in the direction of Korçë, is reinforced with the 13th Division. The larger force is now called “K” Group of Divisions (OMK), under the overall command of Lieutenant-General Georgios Kosmas. While this force is moving forward, it is not making what one would call spectacular progress against the Italian 9th Army, but instead is grinding through each ridge and valley in the snow and mud. The Greeks are almost entirely on foot, which limits their advances and exploitation of breakthroughs (of which there are many).
The other sectors of the front are reasonably stable, with the Greeks on the attack. The Greek Liuba Detachment advances along the coast in the Thesprotia sector, while the 8th Infantry Division advances toward the Kalamas River. The Greek 2nd Infantry Division advances in the Negrades sector. Near Koritsa, the Greek 9th, 10th, and 15 Infantry Divisions make progress.
Convoy WS.4B (Winston Special) departs from Liverpool. It is a major military convoy with numerous passenger liners converted to military purposes:
Andes (25,689 tons)
Duchess of Atholl (20,119 tons)
Viceroy of India (19,267 tons)
Otranto (20, 026 tons)
Orcades (23, 456 tons)
Strathallan (23,772 tons)
Strathaird (22,284 tons)
Empress of Canada (21, 517 tons)
Reina Del Pacifico ( 17,702 tons)
Strathnaver (22,283 tons).
The Winston Special convoys are composed of infantry and weapons such as tanks and artillery, bound for the Middle East. While the cargo convoys across the Atlantic, of course, are of prime importance, these Winston Special convoys require extensive preparation and absorb much of the Royal Navy’s resources.
Around this date, MI5, the British Intelligence Service, figure out an ingenious way to use captured spy currency to fund its own operations. German spies often carry large sums of money whilst… spying. When captured, that is an awful lot of money to just go to waste (it sometimes must be used as evidence at trial, so cannot just be spent outright). It wasn’t like in the 21st Century when global bankers just magically create money via keystrokes whenever they need for whatever purpose suits them — in those days, actual banknotes meant something.
So, the Bank of England and MI5 set up an arrangement whereby the intelligence service gives the bank the confiscated notes in exchange for new British banknotes that can be spent. The Bank of England then keeps the confiscated money somewhere in its vaults until such time as it is no longer conceivably needed for trial. In this fashion, MI5 funds some of its own operations. The British officer in charge of bringing the confiscated banknotes (and it was real currency, not forged, else the bank would not accept it — again, different days) to the bank is Lt. Col. W. E. Hinchley-Cooke, who requires joint approval for the deposits from another member of MI5, Squadron Leader Henry Arnold. Nowadays, there would be all sorts of issues about “oversight” and this and that with this sort of self-funding modus operandi, but again, things were different back in the day.
Radio Travail, a black radio station operated by the propaganda section (S01) of SOE, began broadcasting from Britain, though claiming to be from France.
General Maurice Gustave Gamelin, Allied Commander in Chief up to the time of the French collapse, and former Premiers Leon Blum and Edouard Daladier, hitherto confined in “administrative internment” at the Chateau of Chazeron near Vichy, were formally arrested today and transferred to the detention center at Bourrasol near Riom.
Even Norwegian school children are staging demonstrations against Major Vidkun Quisling’s rule and these apparently have assumed such proportions that the Norwegian authorities have issued special instructions to directors of high schools, ordering the immediate expulsion of pupils “showing a provocative attitude toward the new regime.” Secret police reports on pupils who take part in demonstrations outside the schools will be communicated to the directors who will be compelled to expel them. Apparently one of the worst offenses of young Norwegians is the beating of pupils belonging to the Quisling youth organization.
The Tartu Art Museum was established in Tartu, Estonia.
Charles de Gaulle, having appealed to the Vichy captives at Libreville to join his cause but had little success, returns to London. He remains under a cloud due to the disaster at Dakar.
The Luftwaffe raids Southampton with a heavy force of 150 bombers, and London with 49 bombers. The Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano chips in with an attack on Harwich by half a dozen bombers.
Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside replaced Sir Hugh Dowding as Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command. Dowding was removed as the head of RAF Fighter Command after losing a political struggle with Sholto Douglas and other Big Wing proponents. This has been brewing for months and is the end result of an internal power struggle within the RAF. Dowding has supported Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, who has opposed the “Big Wing” tactic where time and effort is taken to assemble massive fighter formations rather than send squadrons into action piecemeal. Both tactics have advantages and drawbacks, but the Big Wing strategy is becoming much more practical with the recovery of the RAF from its summertime losses. Deputy Chief of the Air Staff Sholto Douglas takes Dowding’s job, who is relegated to a staff position in the Ministry of Aircraft Production with responsibility for ordering American planes.
Basically, Dowding is being retired, though he will still have a desk and phone. Douglas, meanwhile, has been in a position to decide this political battle to his own advantage due to silent political backing within the Air Ministry. AVM Trafford Leigh-Mallory also has his eyes on Keith Park’s job, which is more prestigious than his own. Without Dowding to run interference, that becomes much more likely. The power combination of Douglas/Leigh-Mallory has prevailed over that of Dowding/Park.
Hugh Dowding will remain a revered figure and be granted various honors which are richly deserved. Many take this change in leadership as an indication that the RAF will “lean toward France,” as advocated by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard and others. In reality, though, that process is gradual and has more to do with shifting Luftwaffe priorities than it does a conscious decision by the RAF.
Staff changes often happen in bunches to cloak what is really going on, and this is no exception. The RAF forms a new RAF Command for Army Cooperation. Its first chief is Air Marshal Arthur Barratt.
Adolf Galland claimed his 53rd, 54th, and 55th victories.
Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld scored his first victory; his victim was a British Wellington bomber.
The Luftwaffe loses two competent pilots in action today, Oblt. Eberhard Henrici, Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 26 (seven victories) and Roloff von Aspern of JG 54 (18 victories).
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 5 Blenheims to Northern Germany during the day which turned back.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 Wellingtons and Whitleys overnight to Gelsenkirchen and Hamm; only 22 reported bombing primary target. 2 Whitleys bombed Lorient. No losses. Bomber Command sends a raid against an oil installation in the Ruhr river valley at Gelsenkirchen, and also sends planes against the U-boat pens at Lorient and various Luftwaffe airfields. The RAF also bombs Hamburg for the second consecutive night, an attack which receives wide play in the London media as retaliation for the “murder raids” on Coventry.
The RAF bombs Mogadishu in Italian Somaliland.
The Italian Regia Aeronautica attacks Alexandria.
The British attempted Operation WHITE, an attempt to deliver fourteen aircraft from the carrier HMS Argus to Malta, but only five planes made it. British aircraft carrier HMS Argus launched 12 Hurricane and 2 Skua aircraft to reinforce Malta, but 6 Hurricane aircraft were ditched at sea and 1 Skua aircraft crash landed on Sicily, Italy after becoming lost. This is a repeat of successful Operation HURRY in August (though some planes were lost then, too). Unlike that earlier operation, though, this one goes disastrously wrong. The Argus releases the planes too early — as it turns out — and 8 of the 12 Hurricanes are lost.
The planes are sent off in two waves, each led by a Skua, and only four Hurricanes from the first wave and none from the second reach Malta. The Skua leading the first wave arrives safely at Malta, while the second gets lost (apparently after the Hurricanes all ditch) and crash-lands on Sicily.
A Short Sunderland flying boat sees two of the Hurricanes in the first wave ditch and lands to pick up a survivor. The Hurricane pilot, Sergeant R A Spyer (a very lucky man), reports that he simply ran out of fuel. There are many reasons why a plane can run out of fuel short of its destination — heavier headwinds than expected, for instance — but such things must be accounted for properly when lives are at stake. Launches must be timed with some margin of error. There is no reason to release convoy planes early due to potential enemy threats (and none seem to have been present, except in the minds of excuse-making historians). You can always reverse course and try again another time or show a little courage and simply sail forward for another six hours. In other words — it simply was a fatal mistake to send the Hurricanes off when it was done.
Overall, one must chalk up this disaster to poor RAF/RN staff work. This is one of those great tragedies that nobody remembers and only affects a relatively small group of people but is made all the more poignant from being so easily preventable. Somebody made a boneheaded error, sent these pilots off to die, and no trace of the missing planes or pilots is ever found. Nobody, apparently, ever is called to account for this disaster, either. The pilots simply vanish and soon the entire incident is swept under the rug. Imagine the ruckus if this happened in peacetime.
When you read accounts about how wonderful and perfect the Royal Navy was during the Second World War, remember this incident, too.
U-137, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Herbert Wohlfarth, in attacks on convoy OB.244 sank Swedish steamer Veronica (1316grt) in 55‑20N, 08‑45W and British steamer Saint Germain (1044grt) in 55‑40N, 08‑40W.
At 1730 hours, U-137 spotted two ships from the convoy HG.46 and sank both with one torpedo each north-northwest of Tory Island. The Saint Germain was hit at 2014 hours and the Veronica at 2040 hours. The Saint Germain (Master Ernest Welch Bearpark) was hit in the bow, developed a list to port and stayed afloat abandoned until she sank the next day in 55°20N/08°50W. The master and 17 crew members were picked up by HMS Mallow (K 81) (LtCdr W.B. Piggott, RNR) and landed at Londonderry. The 1,044-ton Saint Germain was carrying pit props and was bound for Port Talbot, Wales.
The unarmed Veronica (Master Robert Elmquist) was struck by the torpedo on the port side at the after end of #2 hold at 2040 hours while steaming in a dark night on a non-evasive course at 7 knots and sank by the bow in half a minute about 36 miles northwest of Tory Island. The master had sighted the U-boat about 200 meters off the port beam just a few moments before the torpedo explosion, which destroyed the bridge and trapped his leg under wreckage. He was dragged down, but managed to get free and came to the surface beneath a raft with two slightly injured men on it who hauled him aboard. In the early morning of 23 November, they were picked up by the Icelandic motor fishing vessel Erna about 11 miles northwest of Oversay Island and taken to a hospital after being landed at Londonderry in the afternoon. The 1,316-ton Veronica was carrying iron ore and was bound for Barrow-in-Furness, England.
British minefield BS.47 was laid by minelayer HMS Teviotbank and destroyer HMS Icarus.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank transferred from convoy WN.38 to EN.27 and then to WN.39 off Buchanness.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa departed convoy WN.38 in Pentland Firth and arrived at Scapa Flow at 0635/17th.
Destroyer HMS Douglas departed Liverpool at 1245 for Scapa Flow where she arrived at 0730/18th.
Destroyer HMS Burnham departed Plymouth at 1730 to work up at Scapa Flow. The destroyer arrived at Scapa Flow at 1645/19th.
Destroyer HMS Vimy departed Rosyth for the Tyne to escort British steamer Kylefisher. Destroyer Vimy departed the Tyne at 1700/18th. At 0330/19th she rendezvoused off May Island with Destroyer HMS Somali and submarine depot ship HMS Titania from Rosyth.
Petty Officer H. G. Eves, Leading Supply Assistant R- N. Smith, Supply Assistant K. Pimlott were killed when their Proctor crashed during an engine test near St Vigeans.
Convoy OB.244 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers HMS Castleton, HMS Viscount, and HMS Whitehall, sloop HMS Sandwich, and corvettes HMS Cyclamen, HMS Hibiscus, and HMS Rhododendron. The escort, less sloop Sandwich, was detached on the 21st. Sloop Sandwich was detached on the 22nd.
Convoy FN.336 departed Southend, escorted by destroyer HMS Woolston and sloop HMS Lowestoft. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 19th.
Convoy FS.337 departed Methil, escorted by destroyers HMS Valorous and HMS Versatile. The convoy arrived at Southend on 19November.
Units of Convoy WS.4B departed Liverpool on the 17th and units from Clyde departed the next day. The two sections met on the 18th. The convoy was composed of troopships Andes (25,689grt), Viceroy of India (19,267grt), Duchess of Atholl (20,119grt), Otranto (20,026grt), Orcades (23,456grt), Strathallan (23,772grt), Strathaird (22,284grt), Empress of Canada (21,517grt), Reina Del Pacifico (17,702grt), and Strathnaver (22,283grt). The convoy was escorted by heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire, which was relieved on the 20th by heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk from Scapa Flow, light cruiser HMS Edinburgh from the Clyde and given local escort by British and Canadian destroyers HMCS Ottawa, HMCS Skeena, HMCS St Laurent, HMCS Saguenay, HMCS St Albans, HMCS St Marys, and HMCS Bath.
Convoy HX.89 with twelve steamers departed Halifax at 1300 escorted by Canadian destroyers HMCS Columbia and HMCS St Francis and auxiliary patrol boats HMCS Elk and HMCS Husky. The Canadian destroyers departed the escort at 1715/18th. Ocean escort was armed merchant cruiser HMS Comorin, which was detached on the 28th.
Convoy BHX.89 departed Bermuda on the 15th, but returned to Bermuda later that same day and did not join HX.89.
On the 28th, destroyer HMS Warwick and corvettes HMS Campanula, HMS Fleur De Lys, and HMS Periwinkle joined the convoy HX.89. On 29 November destroyer HMS Wanderer and corvette HMS Clematis joined. Corvette Campanula was detached on the 30th. Anti-submarine trawler HMS Huddersfield Town escorted the convoy in Home Waters. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 1 December.
The U.S. Army gets its first draftees tomorrow, two months and two days after President Roosevelt signed the nation’s first peacetime conscription bill. War Department officials said that the initial group only a small fraction of the 800,000 men to be called by next June 30 for a year’s military training would be inducted in New England, at Chicago and at scattered points on the Pacific coast. Some other corps areas will begin receiving men Tuesday while in others the draftees will not be called until later.
A showdown fight over sine die adjournment and over Senate action on the House-approved Logan-Walter bill loomed tonight on the Congressional calendar for the coming week. Democratic leaders expressed confidence that both the House and Senate would adopt an adjournment resolution which they plan to introduce in the lower chamber on Tuesday. But some observers doubted that the leadership could muster a quorum, despite the hurry calls sent to all members to return to the Capitol. A drive for action on the Logan-Walter bill was being organized by Senators William H. King of Utah and Edward R. Burke of Nebraska. The measure would provide for court reviews of all rules and regulations of quasi-judicial Federal agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board. But Senator Sherman Minton of Indiana, acting Democratic leader, predicted that the Senate would not pass the measure. Expressing confidence that the sine die adjournment resolution would be adopted, he said Congress should not remain in session to discuss a bill which President Roosevelt “would certainly veto if it ever reached his desk.”
Wendell L. Willkie said yesterday that Congress should stay in session “continuously throughout this critical period.”
John L. Lewis, caustic critic of the administration’s foreign and domestic policies, warned C.I. O.’s national convention today of the dangers of a post-war “economic collapse” and advocated a program to meet it. “This program calls for a progressive raising of real wages and purchasing power,” Lewis said in his annual report, “for the absorption of all the unemployed through reduced working hours and expanded production, and for legislation to insure security and opportunity for young and old people, the unemployed and all the needy who are not otherwise provided for.” The C.I.O., he declared, should push more vigorously for the adoption of the program. He said the first step was through union organization.
Sidney Hillman, vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and labor chief of the national defense advisory commission, left for Washington tonight after a second conference with John L. Lewis, president of the C. I.O., leaving the major points of dispute on union policy still far from settled.
The Detroit News announces in a banner headline that “Detroit Expedition Ready To Blaze Auto-Trail To Cape Horn.” A group led by a Detroit News employee heads out just before midnight in a stock 1941 Plymouth to drive south to the tip of South America. Experts who are familiar with the route caution that, for long stretches, no road exists, and that lines on the map may mean only that a highway is planned, not actually constructed. This is an obvious publicity stunt to sell papers and promote the city’s car industry — back when Detroit still had industry.
An unexplained explosion, the third in a week in a plant of the American Cyanamid and Chemical Corporation, today badly damaged half of one large building at the corporation’s near-by Bridgeville works, injuring two men, neither seriously. Fire today destroyed the small plant of the Pennsylvania Chemical Co. which the owner asserted was working on a government order for incendiary bombs. Michael Bozich, owner of the plant, charged that fire was “arson with intention of sabotage.” Bozich said the fire broke out in one end of the basement of the stone and frame building about 8:30 a.m. The 60 by 80 foot structure was located in an open field 200 yards off a highway and six miles southeast of Johnstown. Bozich said he had an order to deliver bombs to the U. S. army at the Aberdeen, Maryland proving grounds November 20.
Defense measures need not necessarily increase the working day of the laboring man, but, if an emergency occurs and the times require the ten or twelve hour day, American men should be willing to do their part, according to Dr. Harry A. Millis, Professor Emeritus of Economies at the University of Chicago and new member of the National Labor Relations Board.
Officials of Vultee Aircraft, Inc., took up in a statement today the issue of defense profits raised by leaders of the strike by the United Automobile Workers, C.I.O., which has closed the company’s plant in Downey, California.
PBYs (VP 54) inaugurate flight operations from Bermuda; seaplane tender (destroyer) George E. Badger (AVD-3) provides support.
Green Bay Packers become the first NFL team to travel by plane, to their game today in New York.
Jimmy Wilson gets his reward for managing the woeful Phillies in the 1930s and for his late-season role with the Reds. He becomes manager of the Chicago Cubs replacing Gabby Hartnett.
The long-running Battle of South Kwangsi concludes. The Japanese 22nd Army engages in a scorched earth strategy and destroys Chinhsien before withdrawing to Hainan Island.
Fresh assassinations in the Japanese-controlled Hongkew district of Greater Shanghai by anti-Japanese terrorists brought veiled threats from the Japanese military today that if British and American authorities were not able to “preserve order” in the International Settlement the Japanese would do so.
Born:
Luke Kelly, folk musician, in Sheriff Street, Dublin, Ireland (d. 1984).
Jillian Sackler [Gillian Tully], British philanthropist and patron of the arts (The Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum), in Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom (d. 2025).
William Simons, Welsh actor (‘PC Alf Ventress’ — “Heartbeat”), in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom (d. 2019)
Harry Humphries, American former United States Navy SEAL who currently works as a consultant and actor in Hollywood films, in Kearny, New Jersey.
Died:
Ralph Barnes, 41, American journalist (plane crash).
Eric Gill, 58, English sculptor and printmaker.
Raymond Pearl, 61, American biologist.
History Diaries 