Hungary joined the Tripartite Pact. Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki and Foreign Minister István Csáky signed a protocol in Vienna, Austria, joining the Tripartite Pact. The Hungarian government endorsed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo alliance and pledged to provide Hungarian resources to the Axis powers. Hungary adds its name to the Tripartite Pact of 27 September 1940 (which makes it a quadripartite pact, but as other nations start adding their names, people just call it the Axis for convenience). This makes Hungary a nominal ally of Germany, Japan, and Italy (though with some key reservations on its obligations thereto). The country that Hitler really wants to sign the pact is the Soviet Union, but that appears unlikely after the disastrous Molotov mission to Berlin earlier in the month.
Hungary has benefited from the First and Second Vienna Awards (which gave it Rumanian territory) and historically sides with Germany. Despite its recent acquisitions from Romania, Hungary still feels slighted by the Treaty of Trianon which ended World War I in the region. This is not the first entanglement that Hungary has entered into with Hitler: on 24 February 1939, it joined the Anti-Comintern pact after sharing in the spoils from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Admiral Miklós Horthy rules the country with an iron fist and is united with Hitler in a fierce hatred of Communism. However, his alliance is based more on a shared fear of the Soviet Union than it is on a love of Germany.
A Greek government spokesman declared tonight that Italian troops were retreating so rapidly along the central Albanian front that it was difficult for the Greeks to keep up with them. The Italian front, It was said, was broken northwest of Konitza, Greece, some 10 kilometers (about six miles) inside Albania and west of the river Aoos. It was described as an utter rout, and the spokesman said “very important booty including munitions, trucks, and guns had fallen to the Greeks.
The battle for the summit of Morava continues on 20 November 1940. The Italians are holding on fiercely because the mountains control the key valleys below that lead toward the coast. The Greek Group under Lieutenant-General Georgios Kosmas, however, is tenacious and has the benefit of local knowledge of the mountains.
Elsewhere, the Greek Liuba Detachment attacks across the Kalamas River in the Thesprotia sector, the Greek 8th Infantry Division takes Vissani in the Kalamas sector, and the Greek 2nd Infantry Division advances in the direction of Aidonochori and Drymades in Negrades sector.
CIGS to Wavell: “PM and Secretary of State for War have authorised me to send you the following:
“You will have learnt from AOC-in-C strength of air forces which will be available from day to day in Egypt after approved air support to Greece has been provided. We realise how disturbing reduction of air forces must be to you, especially at this moment, but we are making every effort in our power to ensure that you have the squadrons you have estimated necessary to proceed with “Compass”. You will appreciate that developments in Greek theatre are likely to lead to further persistent demands for our assistance which will be the more difficult to resist so long as your forces are not actively engaged. Nevertheless decision as to how and when to act with regard to “Compass” must rest with you and we have full confidence in your judgement.
Wavell in Cairo to CIGS:
“Compass” in active preparation and forward depots already made. Main difficulties transport, spares for artillery and tanks, protection against air attack and secrecy. Can deal with first two locally as far as resources allow but air protection dependent on arrival Hurricanes in time. Am arranging to concentrate all AA artillery I can make available, taking risks elsewhere in Egypt. Shall endeavour to stage operation if air situation makes it at all possible but the less air support the larger the casualties will be and the greater the risk of failure.
The Indian Army arrives at Port Suez and at Port Sudan. They bring with them cooks to prepare meals for the separate company messes for British, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Untouchable soldiers. The role of these soldiers is unpopular with the Hindu majority of India where the Congress Party remains aloof from the war. Muslims, on the other hand, support the war effort. The reinforcements are welcome nonetheless. Britain has only 8,000 troops in the Sudan against Italy’s 300,000.
British cruiser HMS York delivered anti-aircraft guns to Piraeus, Greece and returned to Alexandria, Egypt.
As part of the RAF shakeup that has removed Air Marshal Dowding from his position, Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd (formerly Air Officer Commanding, Balloon Command, and only recently promoted to Air Marshal) has been appointed Deputy to the Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Middle East Command. To take up that post in Cairo, Boyd flies in a Blenheim bomber across the Mediterranean en route to refueling point Malta. This is a more-or-less normal route, but Boyd’s bomber goes far off course. It winds up far to the north over Sicily. Italian fighters scramble and force it to land in a field, where Boyd and six others are taken as prisoners.
Boyd’s loss, while most unfortunate, is not what really worries the uppermost echelons of the British government; it is what he knows that causes concern. Boyd is carrying confidential papers, which he destroys by setting alight the downed bomber; and he also knows about the Top Secret Ultra project. Boyd, to his credit, does not reveal what he knows about that potentially war-winning decoding operation, and the Italians and Germans, of course, have no idea that he is hiding such information. Boyd spends his captivity in the Castle Vincigliata (Castello di Vincigliata) camp near Florence, Italy.
This is a puzzling incident that may tie in with the loss of the 8 Hawker Hurricane fighters flying to Malta on the 18th. While it is unproven why the plane wound up over Sicily, some accounts state that the bomber was short of fuel. That is the same reason the fighters failed to make land at Malta. Boyd, incidentally, escapes from Axis control in December 1943 and finally takes up his command — three years late.
In Malta, the issue of troop morale is a major concern. Mail deliveries have not improved. Accordingly, the island command grants all ranks the opportunity to send one private telegram per month to the United Kingdom. There are strict limitations placed on the content of such messages, which are only to relate to matters of importance (which do not include terms of endearment).
There may be no marmalade for British breakfasts unless the Ministry of Food stops haggling over the price it is prepared to pay for the current crop of Seville oranges. Any further delay means that the fruit will start going bad. The dispute is over GBP 77,000, which could make the difference of a farthing to a two-pound jar of marmalade. Housewives who are waiting to make their own marmalade are getting frustrated. Extra sugar is available — but no oranges.
The Luftwaffe (I,/KG 55) bombs Birmingham for the second night in a row. 116 German bombers dropped 132 tons of high explosive bombs and 296 incendiary bombs on Birmingham, England, United Kingdom in a heavy attack overnight. The Germans lose one bomber. The Luftwaffe does little during the day, and the short daylight hours make such missions unnecessary anyway.
The Corpo Aereo Italiano chips in by sending a dozen bombers against Harwich again during the night. It is unclear why the Italians always attack Harwich, perhaps because it is easy to find from the air and they do not have the sophisticated guidance beams used by the Luftwaffe bombers.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 3 Blenheims in daylight but they turned back without bombing.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 68 aircraft overnight — 43 to Duisburg, 17 to airfields and 8 to the submarine base at Lorient. Good bombing was reported at Duisburg and the airfields but Lorient was completely cloud-covered. 1 Whitley lost.
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring lifts a ban which he had placed on Stab,/JG 53 (headquarters unit) regarding its unit emblem. The pilots and ground crew were never happy with this slight. JG 53 is the “Pik As” (Ace of Spades) squadron, and Göring had ordered the emblems removed because the wife of Geschwaderkommodore Major Hans-Jürgen von Cramon-Taubadel was Jewish. The Geschwader picks up its 500th victory of the war shortly after the ban is lifted.
JG 53 is one of the Luftwaffe’s elite fighter units, home to top aces Werner Mölders and Hans Karl Meyer. Such formations have a certain leeway within the Wehrmacht available to almost nobody else because they are highly skilled and irreplaceable personnel. The men of the unit have been removing the Swastikas from the tails of their planes as a form of silent protest about the Goering decision about Cramon-Taubadel’s wife. Very few open acts of defiance against the German leadership occur during the war, especially successful ones, so this is worthy of note. The initiative for the change appears to have been a new Kommodore, Major Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn, whose wife was not Jewish (in fact, it is unclear if he ever married).
No. 261 Squadron RAF was transferred to RAF Station Takali on the island of Malta.
The newly formed 97 Gruppo (Italian 238a and 239a Squadriglia) of the Regia Aeronautica equips with the Junkers JU87. These Squadriglia will operate on the Greek-Albanian front.
The RAF bombs military installations at Mai Edaga, Gura in Eritrea.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa transferred to convoy EN.29.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank arrived at Scapa Flow at 0830 after convoy EN.28 escort.
Destroyers HMS Brilliant, HMS Beagle, and HMS Bulldog departed Loch Alsh at 1435 and joined destroyer HMS Electra which departed Scapa Flow at 1430. The destroyers rendezvoused off the Butt of Lewis and proceeded to 60N, 17W to meet Battleship HMS Rodney and escort her to Scapa Flow. The four destroyers met battleship Rodney on the 22nd. Destroyer Bulldog lost touch after the rendezvous during the night and arrived at Scapa Flow at 1400/23rd. The battleship and the other destroyers arrived at Scapa Flow at 1430/23rd.
Destroyers HMS Bradford and HMS Broadwater departed Plymouth at 1800 to work up at Scapa Flow. Destroyer Broadwater put into Milford Haven at 1200/21st to correct defects. Destroyer Bradford arrived at Scapa Flow at 1600/22nd.
The Walrus from light cruiser HMS Manchester capsized and sank at Sullom Voe. Naval Airman D. W. Charnock was lost.
British tanker Chesapeake (8955grt) was damaged by German bombing off the Lizard.
Destroyers HMS Foxhound and HMS Fortune departed Gibraltar to join aircraft carrier HMS Furious and escort her to Freetown.
Italian torpedo boat Confienza was sunk in an accidental collision with Italian armed merchant cruiser Capitano A. Cecchi (2321grt) off Brindisi.
Italian coastal steamer Ardita III (57grt) was sunk by British bombing at Assab.
Convoy OB.246 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyer HMS Walker. On 21 November, sloop Chevreuil and corvettes HMS Crocus and HMS Heartsease joined the escort. The escort was detached on the 24th.
Convoy OB.247 did not sail.
Convoy FN.338 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Valorous and HMS Versatile. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 22nd.
Convoy FS.340 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer HMS Winchester and sloop HMS Egret. The convoy arrived at Southend on22 November.
Convoy HG.47 departed Gibraltar with thirty ships. Sloop HMS Rochester escorted the convoy from 20 November to 4 December. Destroyer HMS Hotspur escorted the convoy on the 20th only. Destroyers HMS Highlander and HMCS Saguenay joined the convoy on the 30th. Destroyer Saguenay was torpedoed on 1 December and was assisted by destroyer Highlander to port. Destroyers HMS Achates and HMS Anthony were detached from convoy SL.55 to replace the destroyers. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 4 December.
In Washington, President Roosevelt conferred with Undersecretary of State Welles. and Ambassador Bullitt, Representative Doughton, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and with Harold D. Smith, Director of the Budget, and John Blandford, assistant director. He left for a Thanksgiving visit to Hyde Park.
The Senate was not in session. An Interstate Commerce subcommittee heard further testimony on wire-tapping charges.
The House heard discussion of various topics, but transacted no business and adjourned at 1:22 PM until noon on Friday.
Even before it will have had time to accustom itself to two tax increases voted at this session of Congress, the American public will be asked to go deeper into its pocket for funds to defray the mounting cost of government and defense. This, in effect, was the prediction of Representative Doughton of North Carolina, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, after he had a conference today with President Roosevelt, and just before the Chief Executive called his budget officers into session at the White House. Mr. Doughton prophesied that a new tax bill would be introduced early next session and indicated it would yield enough revenue to meet the deficit in the regular expenditures of the government and possibly have some left over to apply against the heavy costs of re-armament. Although the Congressional leader did not mention it, the Administration is also expected to ask that the new tax bill be linked with a proposal to raise the statutory debt. limit to at least $65,000,000,000. The present ceiling is $49,000,000,000, having been placed at that figure, by one of the tax bills passed this year.
Stimson-Layton Agreement: U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson and British Minister of Supply Sir Walter Layton agreed to a partial standardization of British and American military weapons and equipment. The agreement established a general policy of pooling British and American technical knowledge, patents, and formulas for weapons production.
The U.S. government disclosed today that 26 giant Consolidated “Liberator” four-engined bombers ordered for the United States army were being released for sale to the British as fast as they could be produced and that negotiations were under way for the early release of 20 more B-17C “Flying Fortress” bombers. Gen. George C. Marshall, army chief of staff, outlined the terms of the transactions to reporters. Marshall said he understood that the first of 26 four-engined B-24 bombers had been delivered to the British last Saturday by the Consolidated Aircraft Co. at San Diego, California. The remainder of this group is to be delivered between now and the first part of March, he added.
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said today that the U.S. Navy is testing a fighting plane with a speed of more than 400 miles an hour. The plane, designated XF4U, was built by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Co.
Sidney Hillman had his inning today in his struggle with John L. Lewis over shaping of C.I.O.’s future policies. He used it to virtually nominate Philip Murray as Lewis’ successor on a program for a united labor movement and a curb on Communists, Nazi and Fascists in labor affairs. From the same platform where Lewis yesterday bitterly attacked the Hillman partisans and their demands for new conferences on labor peace, Hillman responded today with a speech for labor unity as a part of national defense. With it he coupled a warning of what labor would face if foreign totalitarianism reached these shores, urged C.I.O. to maintain the “democratic processes” in labor action and expressed the hope that out of the convention “will come a stronger labor movement.”
Negotiations for a settlement of the Vultee aircraft strike, now in its sixth day, continued throughout today without interruption and without outward evidence of progress. Major Sidney Simpson, war department labor advisor and a participant in the parleys between representatives of tho C.I.O. United Automobile Workers and Vultee officials, declined comment beyond saying negotiations were still under way.
The War Department activates the Panama Canal Air Force at Albrook Field, Canal Zone. This new unit, which is assigned to the Army’s Panama Canal Department, assumes administrative and operational control of all units in the Panama Canal which were previously under the 19th Wing.
German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin sank British steamer Maimoa (8011grt) in the Indian Ocean at32‑14S, 100‑56E. The entire crew was made prisoners of war.
Japan’s peace approaches to Chungking — both present and tentative moves — and any future approaches will all be rejected. China has decided that she must continue. fighting until a final settlement of what is now regarded as a second world war and will refuse to make peace with Japan until peace is also achieved in Europe. This definite policy originated with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and has now finally been concurred in unanimously by his generals and other advisers. China’s unqualified attitude toward the world political situation is that the democracies must stand or fall together, and therefore the Chungking Government will flatly refuse even “honorable” peace terms, such should be offered by Tokyo.
Japanese warships and transports have arrived off Saigon and the Japanese have demanded the right to occupy the city.
Heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra arrived at Fremantle. The heavy cruiser departed the same day for steamer Maimoa’s position. On 22 November, heavy cruiser Canberra rescued some crew from steamer Port Wellington sunk the next day and searched for the German ship until 24 November. The Australian cruiser returned to Fremantle on the 27th.
Australian minesweeping trawler HMAS Goorangi (223grt, T/Commissioned Officer from Warrant Rank D. McGregor, RANVR (S) was lost in a collision off Port Phillip with British troopship Duntroon (10, 346grt). In the evening of 20 November 1940, while en route from Queenscliff to Portsea in Port Phillip Bay where she intended to anchor for the evening, she collided with the 10,364 ton, outward-bound passenger-liner, MV Duntroon, which struck her amidships on the port side. Duntroon’s captain had believed that she was on a parallel course to Goorangai and overtaking her. By the time he realized Goorangai’s true course, with Duntroon travelling at more than 17 knots, it was too late to avoid the collision. Goorangai was cut in two and sank in less than a minute with the loss of her entire crew of 24. Just six bodies were recovered in subsequent salvage operations. She was the first ship lost by the RAN in World War II. McGregor, T/Warrant Officer K. J. Matheson, RANR, Lt Cdr G. W. Boyle, RANR (minesweeping advisor), and twenty one ratings, were lost in the trawler.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 132.22 (-2.26)
Born:
Helma Sanders-Brahms, film director, screenwriter, producer and actress, in Lower Saxony, Germany (d. 2014).
Jim Horn, American session and touring saxophonist (Duane Eddy; Wrecking Crew; George Harrison), in Los Angeles, California.
Died:
Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, 84, American writer and suffragist.
The Royal Australian Navy Bathurst-class minesweeper-corvette HMAS Geraldton (J 178) is laid down by Poole and Steel Ltd (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia).
The Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) Acciaio-class submarine Platino is laid down by Cantieri Odero Terni Orlando (O.T.O.), (La Spezia, Italy).
The Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette HMCS Kamsack K 171) is laid down by the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. (Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada).
The Royal Navy Hunt-class (Type III) escort destroyers HMS Airedale (L 07) and HMS Albrighton (L 12) are laid down by the John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland).
The Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvettes HMCS Baddeck (K 147) and HMCS Buctouche (K 179) are launched by the Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd. (Lauzon, Quebec, Canada).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Marguerite (K 54) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Arthur Norman Blundell, RNR.
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