Greek fighters pushed steadily beyond Pogradetz, Italian stronghold 30 miles inside Albania, and in the south they engaged tattered Italians battling fiercely to hold Argirocastro,’ the second and last major Fascist “invasion” base, and keep open their path to the Adriatic sea. The Greek high command’s communique tonight said that in the Korçë (Korytza) area six abandoned Italian airplanes, “among other material,” had fallen to the Greeks. A government spokesman declared that not only had Italian reinforcements failed to halt the Greek advance but that these reinforcements were being pushed back in disorder despite their “desperate efforts.”
Greek III Corps on 26 November 1940 continues advancing slowly toward Lake Ohrid. The Greeks are on foot, which makes their advance slow, but also steady, as they do not have to rely on vehicles that break down in the snowy conditions. The Greeks capture half a dozen aircraft abandoned by the Italian Regia Aeronautica. The Greek 2nd Infantry Division is approaching Sucha Pass.
Fourteen Italian troop transports with new contingents for service against Greece docked at Durazzo, Albania, today, protected by the “Disperata” aviation squadron, according to reports reaching the Yugoslav frontier at Struga. The troops were said to have proceeded inland immediately. Strength of the reinforcements was not given. It was believed to be probably about one division, or 15,000 men.
In the wake of the German–Soviet Axis talks, Vyacheslav Molotov told the German ambassador to the Soviet Union that the USSR was willing to join a four-power pact with Germany, Italy and Japan if new Soviet territorial demands were met, including expansion into the Persian Gulf and the annexation of Finland. Stalin informs the German ambassador that Russia is prepared to join the four-power pact provided that:
- German troops are immediately withdrawn from Finland.
- That within the next few months the security of the Soviet Union in the Straits is assured by the conclusion of a mutual-assistance pact with Bulgaria, and by the establishment of a base for land and naval forces by the Soviet Union within range of the Bosporus and Dardanelles.
- That the area south of Batum and Baku in the general direction of the Persian Gulf is recognized as the center of the aspirations of the Soviet Union.
- That Japan renounces her rights to concessions for coal and oil in northern Sakhalin.
Hitler called Stalin a “cold-blooded blackmailer” and refused to make any response to the Soviet proposal.
The Jilava Massacre took place overnight near Bucharest, Rumania. The Iron Guard executed 64 members of the old government of deposed King Carol II of Romania.
The Technical University of Delft in Amsterdam was closed for an indefinite period by German authorities today as a sequel to a student strike yesterday after a Jewish professor was dismissed. Student demonstrations have occurred also at the Universities of Leyden and Utrecht.
Casualties in the explosion which capsized the refuge steamer Patria in Haifa Harbor, Palestine, on Monday were placed officially today at 22 known dead and 25 injured seriously enough to need hospital treatment. Many more are still missing. The ultimate death toll will be estimated at 267.
The issue of Jewish settlement in Palestine has risen to become a major issue due to the terrorist bombing of the transport Patria in Haifa Harbor on the 25th. British Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Lloyd bemoans those who illegally transport refugees to Palestine, calling them “foul people who had to be stamped out.” This comment is widely viewed as being anti-Semitic and outrageous, and perhaps it is. However, Lord Lloyd appears to be concerned about the fact that many of the people being transported illegally are perishing somewhere along the way, and thus this is a very dirty business where unscrupulous people are profiting at the expense of people they are leading to their deaths.
Last month, the Nazis deported the 113,000 Poles who used to live in this dilapidated part of Warsaw in order to make room for the 138,000 Jews from other parts of the city. Then, the ghetto was sealed: there are just 28 exit points, all guarded by German and Polish militia assisted by the ghetto’s own Jewish police force. Only 53,000 people have permits to leave the ghetto: the rest must stay inside on pain of death. Over 150,000 people, unable to leave the ghetto’s confines in order to work, roam the streets begging for a new job. All wireless sets have been confiscated; telephones have been cut. The Nazis have appointed a Judenrat [Jewish Council] to run the ghetto’s affairs, including supervising its economy and providing a Jewish Police force. Its leader, Adam Czerniakow, tries to cushion his people from the constant German demands for enormous bribes and slave labor, but finds himself in the role of collaborator and hated by his people.
In North Africa, training for Operation COMPASS, the attack on the Italians in Egypt, continues for a second day. The troops are not told what they are training for. The men, in fact, are training in how to attack replicas of Italian positions at Nibeiwa and Tummar. After this, the rank and file are told there is another set of exercises planned in December as deception in case word leaks out, but there will not be.
Westminster: Churchill telegrams to Wavell:
“Re:- Operation COMPASS… am having a Staff study made of possibilities open to us, if all goes well, for moving troops and also reserve forward by sea in long hops along the coast, and setting up new supply bases to which pursuing armoured vehicles and units might resort.”
Churchill’s idea of seaborne landings behind enemy lines will become a common theme during World War II, particularly in the Pacific. However, in the Mediterranean theater, the concept produces decidedly mixed results and proves much better in theory than in practice.
The British Government announced bananas will no longer be imported to conserve shipping capacity. Lemons and onions are also very scarce. People are asking why, as soon as unrationed foods are price-controlled, they disappear from the shops. The reason is that supplies are diverted to the Black Market for people who are prepared to pay more. Lord Woolton promises a little extra tea and sugar for Christmas. Britons like their bananas. There is nothing wrong with that, so do I. Bananas are great! Their love for bananas, in fact, was just as true during the early part of World War II as always.
Unfortunately, though, by late 1940 several banana boats have been torpedoed, and shipping space is needed for other goods. In addition, fast banana boats (they need to be fast because bananas spoil so rapidly) fare poorly in slow convoys and occasionally become “rompers,” or ships that outrun their convoys and become vulnerable. In short, banana boats are becoming more trouble than they are worth.
Food Minister Lord Woolton, a very popular fellow, thus takes the controversial and unpopular decision to discontinue the wartime importation of bananas in favor of oranges. Oranges are more convenient because they take up less space (particularly as concentrated orange juice) and do not spoil as quickly (and can be refrigerated, though freezing is a little trickier). As part of this decision to ban bananas, a subtle campaign — what we might now call a whisper campaign — is launched in England to disparage bananas as unhealthy and unnecessary. This is both to create a “sour grapes” attitude among consumers and to prevent the Germans from thinking they have achieved a moral victory by depriving English consumers of something that they love. Bananas virtually disappear from Great Britain for exactly five years, until the holiday season in 1945; and the banana trade does not recover to pre-war levels for a full decade. Many English children grow up not even knowing what bananas are or how to eat them.
Lord Rothermere (Harold Sidney Harmsworth), a media baron (The Daily Mail, etc.) whose newspapers engaged in a cynical jingoistic campaign advocating war before World War I, passes away at age 72 in Bermuda (many English plutocrats ride out the war in the Bahamas and Bermuda). Rothermere is widely regarded as a champion of Neville Chamberlain’s campaign of appeasement and at times has displayed some sympathies to Hitler’s fascist regime (they were friends in the 1930s). To be fair, however, Rothermere also raised the alarm in the mid-1930s London press about Germany’s rapid rearmament. He had championed the advancement of British aviation from the early days of flight. He also called as early as 1935 for more attention to German rearmament and particularly the emergence of the new Luftwaffe.
Operation COLLAR: Aircraft from British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious raided the Italian seaplane base in Port Laki, Leros, Dodecanese Islands to distract Italian forces while Allied convoy ME4 sailed for Malta from Gibraltar, but the Italians did not fall for the feint and launched a powerful fleet westward to intercept the convoy.
The British 27th Armoured Brigade was established, under the command of Brigadier C. W. Norman, from the conversion of the 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade. The Brigade would be mainly employed in the trialing of specialized armored vehicles.
The Belgian Congo considers itself at war with Italy, the governor-general announced tonight in an official communique. The Congo, he said, was determined to continue the closest collaboration with Britain and her allies. Italy, he added, had committed hostile acts against Belgium, including the use of Belgian airdromes for Italian planes engaged in bombing England. Many Italians in the Congo were reported arrested last night. Governor-General Pierre Marie Joseph Ryckmans, against the feelings of some in the colony but with the approval of the Belgian government-in-exile in London, declares war on Italy. He states that his purpose is “to continue the closest collaboration with Britain and her allies.”
The Belgian Congo is not of much value militarily or strategically. However, the move helps the rump Belgian government in London to establish its credentials and burnish its claim to be the legitimate post-war government. The Belgian Congo also provides some logistical help to the coming British East Africa campaign. However, this is significant for a much more subtle reason which cannot yet be appreciated except by some very specially placed scientists: the Belgian Congo is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, including extremely high-quality ores of an as-yet obscure metal called uranium.
The Luftwaffe does little during the day aside from raid Bristol again as well as Plymouth. After dark, it continues targeting Bristol and also bombs London. The Luftwaffe loses four planes.
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring orders a halt to Kriegsmarine use of Luftwaffe torpedo bombers (all planes in Germany are under Luftwaffe control, no exceptions). He furthers orders a halt to the production of the F-5 air torpedo that they use. Göring, it is widely assumed, is simply protecting his own turf and, in the process, hurting the German war effort.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 2 Blenheims to Belgian airfields during daylight which turned back.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 69 aircraft overnight to widespread targets but less than half found primary targets. 2 Hampdens minelaying in Kiel Bay. No losses from any operation. Bomber Command hits Cologne hard, focusing on armament factories. It also raids Antwerp, Berlin (railways), Boulogne, Calais, Flushing, Rotterdam, and Turin (an arsenal). Coastal Command contributes attacks on the U-boat pens at Lorient, Ghent oil installations, shipping in the North Sea, and various Luftwaffe airfields.
James Lacey was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Medal.
The RAF presence in mainland Greece begins to make its presence noticed. It bombs Valona Harbor, a major Italian supply port in Albania. The raid is successful and causes extensive destruction.
Eight Swordfish aircraft from British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle attacked Tripoli, Libya at 0520 hours.
No. 826 and No. 829 Squadrons of the British Fleet Air Arm embarked on carrier HMS Formidable for convoy escort duties to Cape Town, South Africa.
Aircraft carrier HMS Formidable departed Greenock and arrived at Glasgow on the 27th, escorted by destroyer HMS Vesper.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank arrived at Scapa Flow at 1040 after escorting convoy EN.31 in Pentland Firth.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa departed Scapa Flow at 1000 to join convoy WN.44.
Destroyer HMS Cotswold departed Scapa Flow at 1315 and met British steamer Ben My Chree with troops off Aberdeen. The destroyer escorted the steamer to Lerwick arriving at 1200/27th.
Free French armed patrol coaster Medoc (1166grt, under the command of Polish Cdr Stankiewicz) was sunk by a German aircraft torpedo off Rame Head in the English Channel. The Polish Commander was lost with the vessel. Lt T. O’Shanohun RNR, T/Lt H. J. Murray RNVR, Polish Midshipman Krasicki, thirty six British ratings, a Polish petty officer were lost on Medoc.
Dutch steamer Walenburg (496grt) was damaged on a mine in 50‑40N, 01‑08W.
Aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, light cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Glasgow, and destroyers HMS Janus, HMS Juno, HMS Mohawk, and HMS Nubian raided the Italian seaplane base at Port Laki, Leros at 0600 before joining ME.4 cover.
One Swordfish of the 819 Squadron was lost with Lt R- W. V. Hamilton, A/Sub Lt (A) J. R- B. Weekes, Naval Airman J. C. H. Garnham.
Heavy cruiser HMS York was detached to Suda Bay at 0500 to refuel and join the 3rd Cruiser Squadron off Cape Matapan at 1530.
The remainder of Force A and troopship Ulster Prince arrived at Suda Bay for refueling of the destroyers between 0700 and 0830. Force A departed Suda Bay at 1030.
Eight Swordfish from aircraft carrier HMS Eagle raided Tripoli at 0520 in Operation TRIPE. No aircraft were lost.
Drifters HMS Fellowship and HMS Lanner departed Malta for Suda Bay at 0800.
Battleship HMS Ramillies, light cruiser HMS Newcastle, anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry, and destroyers HMS Greyhound, HMS Griffin, HMS Diamond, HMS Defender, and HMS Hereward departed Malta at noon to join Force B, the Ark Royal group of Force H. The ships joined heavy cruiser HMS Berwick at sea.
Battleship HMS Malaya departed at noon after repairing a flooded water tight compartment which had limited her speed.
During the night of 26/27 November, battleship HMS Ramillies and cruisers HMS Berwick and HMS Newcastle were attacked by Italian torpedo bombers.
New Zealand Division light cruiser HMS Leander was relieved in the Red Sea Force by Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart.
Convoy OB.250 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers HMS Achates, HMS Active, and HMS Anthony and corvette HMS Picotee. The escort was detached on the 29th.
Convoy FN.343 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Wallace and HMS Westminster. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 28th.
Convoy FN.344 departed Southend, escorted by destroyer HMS Vivien and sloop HMS Londonderry. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 28th.
Convoy FS.345 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer HMS Vanity and escort ship/destroyer HMS Gleaner. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 28th.
Convoy FS.346 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer HMS Woolston and sloop HMS Lowestoft. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 28th.
Convoy MW.4 of steamers Breconshire, Memnon, Clan Ferguson, and Clan Macauley with battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Malaya arrived at Malta at 0813.
Convoy of steamers Waiwera, Devis, Volo, Rodi, and Cornwall departed Malta at 1613, escorted by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta and destroyers HMAS Vampire, HMAS Vendetta, and HMAS Voyager. Destroyer HMS Dainty was delayed with engine defects and joined later.
U.S. destroyers of the 72nd Destroyer Division and six newly recommissioned, unassigned destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend Lease.
U.S. Name — British Name — Commanding Officer
USS Sigourney (DD-81) — HMS Newport (G 54) — Lt Cdr A H.P Noble
USS Robinson (DD-88) — HMS Newmarket (G 47) — Lt Cdr G B O’B Harding
USS Ringgold (DD-89) — HMS Newark (G 08) — Lt Cdr R H.W Atkins
USS Fairfax (DD-93) — HMS Richmond (G 88) — Lt Cdr A F L.Evans
USS Tillman (DD-135) — HMS Wells (I 95) — Lt Cdr E J Lee
USS Claxton (DD-140) — HMS Salisbury (I 52) — Cdr E G A Clifford
USS Bailey (DD-269) — HMS Reading (G 71) — Cdr R Heathcote
USS Swasey (DD-273) — HMS Rockingham (G 58) — Cdr L.M Shadwell
USS Meade (DD-274) — HMS Ramsey (G 60) — Cdr P G Agnew Rtd
USS Shubrick (DD-268) — HMS Ripley (G 79) — Lt Cdr J A Agnew
HMS Wells, HMS Salisbury, HMS Newmarket, HMS Newark, HMS Richmond, and HMS Newport were not commissioned until 5 December.
HMS Newark was damaged on 9 December 1940 in a collision with destroyer HMS Newmarket. After repairs at St Johns from 19 December to 29 January, she departed for England but had to turn back when two depth charges were washed overboard in heavy weather and exploded close aboard.
HMS Ramsey, HMS Rockingham, and HMS Wells had faulty stop valves which required extensive repairs.
HMS Ramsey arrived at Devonport on 17 December and was under repair until 29 January. Destroyer HMS Rockingham arrived at Plymouth 22 December and was under repair until 22 February.
HMS Reading and HMS Ripley departed Halifax with convoy HX.93 on 3 December and arrived at Plymouth on 17 December.
HMS Newport, HMS Salisbury, and HMS Richmond departed Halifax on 15 December after convoy HX.96 and the first two arrived at Belfast on 30 December and Richmond arrived at Plymouth on 31 December.
HMS Newmarket departed Halifax on 15 January 1941 with convoy HX.104 and arrived at Belfast on 26 January and Plymouth on 30 January.
HMS Newark and HMS Wells finally departed Halifax on 4 February 1941, but Wells had to be towed back by Newark after twelve hours steaming because of a faulty lubrication system. Newark was damaged by weather. HMS Newark and HMS Wells departed again on 26 February and arrived at Belfast on 5 March and Plymouth on 9 March.
Today in Washington, President Roosevelt signed the Ramspeck Bill, lunched with Bernard Baruch and afterward conferred with Secretaries Knox and Stimson, Attorney General Jackson and Sydney Hillman, Defense Commissioner on defense policy. His callers included P. D. Houston of the American Bankers Association.
The Senate passed the Walter-Logan Bill and completed Congressional action on the Sabath bill to increase penalties for defense sabotage. It confirmed unanimously the nomination of Harry A. Millis to the National Labor Relations Board and the appointment of Representative John J. Dempsey to the Maritime Commission. It recessed at 2:17 PM until noon Friday.
The House of Representation was in recess. Its Judiciary Committee discussed legislation to prevent strikes in national defense industries.
President Roosevelt today projected a rigid governmental economy program under which the regular federal budget would be cut to the bone and expenditures for rearmament held to essential items. Outlining the program at his semi-weekly press conference, Mr. Roosevelt said he would enunciate such a policy in the forthcoming budget and establish a strict rule that all national defense projects must be free of extraneous considerations.
The government intends to keep defense plants open and undamaged, President Roosevelt declared today following a White House conference devoted to ways and means of preventing strikes which would interfere with production of war materials.
President Roosevelt sent to the Senate today the nomination of Rear Admiral William D. Leahy, retired, as Ambassador to France.
Two legislative proposals touching on the controversial issue of American financial aid to British will be considered by the senate foreign relations committee tomorrow. Chairman Walter F. George made the announcement after a conference with President Roosevelt today. George emphasized there was little likelihood of action at this session of congress on the measures a resolution by Senator King, Utah Democrat, to repeal Johnson and neutrality act bans on loans and credits, and a counter-proposal by Senator Nye, North Dakota Republican, for a senatorial inquiry into the extent of British financial resources in this country. Before meeting with Mr. Roosevelt, George conferred with his long-time friend Secretary of State Hull.
President Roosevelt today invited Chairman Martin Dies of the House Committee on Un-American Activities to confer with him on means of curbing fifth column activities. Dies charged yesterday, in a statement issued through his office here, that the State and Justice Departments were working at cross purposes with his committee. He denounced what he termed the “deplorable weakness of our government’s method of dealing with fifth columnists.”
Asserting that the radio industry had done “its job well” in the field of news dissemination, President Roosevelt expressed the belief tonight that democracy would “not tolerate any attempts at domination or control by government of the free and open avenues of public information.”
The Senate in a surprise move today passed by 27 votes to 25 the Logan-Walter bill subjecting rules and regulations of administrative agencies to judicial review and sent it back to the House with restrictive amendments which, nevertheless, House sponsors of the legislation predicted would be accepted.
President Roosevelt signed today the Ramspeck bill which permits the Chief Executive to put under the merit system about 200,000 employes of “temporary” government agencies, if they pass noncompetitive examinations. A large proportion of the jobs affected have been subject to patronage.
A 12-day strike at Vultee Aircraft Corp. which tied up work on military contracts totaling $84,000,000 ended today with ratification by striking C.I.O. workers of a new contract which will increase wages of 5,200 employees by $1,400,000 annually. Employees will begin returning to work at 7 a.m. tomorrow under the watchful eyes of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents determined to see that no spies obtain entrance in the guise of workers.
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote about her reading of Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, calling it “coarse, cruel, and horrible in spots,” but also “compelling” and “real”.
There is a major snowstorm in the Northeast, with up to 8 inches of snow in Boston and over 2 inches in New York City.
In one of those mysteries of the sea, 642-ton Nicaraguan freighter Grijalva departs from Playa Del Carmen for Veracruz but then vanishes with its crew. It is unknown if this loss is war-related.
The first aircraft was ferried from Gander, Newfoundland, to the United Kingdom. It was the first of approximately 10,000 aircraft that would make the journey during the war.
German armed merchant cruisers Komet and Orion sank New Zealand troopship Rangitane (16,712grt) in the Pacific in 36‑48S, 175‑07W. Seven crew and six passengers were lost and the rest made prisoners of war. New Zealand Division light cruiser HMS Achilles and armed merchant cruiser HMS Monawai were dispatched to intercept. Achilles departed Lyttleton on the 27th, but no contact was made with the German ship. She returned to patrol off Auckland on the 30th and arrived at Auckland on 1 December.
The Japanese advance in central Hupei along the Han River continues. The Japanese 11th Army advances and captures Hsienchu. There is heavy fighting around Liuhouchi, Lichiatang, Peinchai, Wangchiaho, Yunanmen, Chinchi Shan, and Chingmingpu.
The question of aid to China, in her fight with Japan, the Far Eastern partner in the totalitarian Axis, was emphasized anew today by a visit of the Chinese Ambassador, Dr. Hu Shih, and T.V. Soong, head of the Bank of China, with Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
Japan has made a new series of demands for air and naval bases in French Indo-China, it was learned here tonight. These bases, if strongly equipped, would enable the Japanese to bomb Singapore from the Asiatic mainland and threaten the passage to the United States of vital rubber and tin supplies from the Malay Peninsula through the South China Sea. The first and most important of these demands is for control of Saigon, administrative capital of Indo-China. It is a large and important commercial and naval base at the southern tip of the country, only 640 miles from Singapore. The Japanese have also asked for further bases in the Gulf of Tongkin and along Indo-China’s South China sea coast. What is more, official reports reaching here indicate that the Japanese are steadily moving troops that had been in Nanning, in South China, and from the island of Hainan, which is now the main Japanese headquarters in this region, down along the Indo-China coast. Japanese bases have already been established north of Saigon and some Japanese troops and officials have already arrived in Saigon.
Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, who expects to leave for Washington next month as Japan’s new Ambassador to the United States, said today there was no issue between Japan and the United States that could not be solved without recourse to war.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 131.94 (-0.02)
Born:
Jim Hayes, AFL defensive end and defensive tackle (Houston Oilers), in Meridian, Mississippi.
Died:
Gheorghe Argeșanu, 57, Romanian cavalry general and Prime Minister of Romania (killed in the Jilava Massacre).
Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, 72, English newspaper proprietor.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy harbour defence motor launch HDML 1039 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy motor launch ML 136 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy motor launch ML 137 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy motor launch ML 142 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy landing craft tank LCT 17 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy landing craft tank LCT 18 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Eyebright (K 150) is commissioned with a Canadian crew. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant Egbert Randell, RCNR. She will be transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in May 1941, becoming the HMCS Eyebright.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Snowberry (K 166) is commissioned with a Canadian crew. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant Roy Stanley Kelley, RCNR. She will be transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in May 1941, becoming the HMCS Snowberry.
History Diaries 