Greek forces today captured Argirocastro, most important Italian base in southwestern Albania, after a long hand-to-hand battle through the streets with the Fascist defenders, according to frontier reports reaching here. More than 340 prisoners were captured after artillery had buried nearly 400 more persons in ruins, the reports said. The furious battle for the strategic town, in which Greek artillery hurled shells into the town from the mountain heights and infantry stormed Argirocastro with bayonets, was said to have been one of the bloodiest of the war. The main body of the Italian army was said to be retreating north in the direction of the Tepelini river. In smashing through the Italian line of defense and taking the strategic town, the Greek forces were believed to have isolated Fascist troops reportedly fleeing from Santa Quaranti in the south. Simultaneously with the capture of Argirocastro, a furious aerial battle between Italian and British planes was said to have occurred over the town. Three of 10 Fascist bombers reportedly were shot down.
The Greek offensive in Albania grinds forward on 28 November 1940, the men braving blizzards and rocky terrain to push the Italians back. There are few villages to mark their progress, but they are making good ground that is gradually bringing them closer to important Italian bases.
Greek II Corps is reinforced again, this time with the Cavalry Division. The Corps now has received two fresh divisions in two days. The Cavalry Division crosses the Legatitsa River and continues the advance toward Përmet (Premeti).
Greek III continues moving toward Pogradec, the most significant objective off its front.
Greek troops occupy the heights above Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër), a historic town in Epirus. However, the Italians still hold the town and are fighting hard to keep it.
Italian destroyers Pigafetta, Da Recco, Pessagno, and Riboty, accompanied by torpedo boats Prestinari and Bassini, bombard Greek positions on Corfu. The Italian high command has given up early plans to invade the island. The RAF raids the ports of Porta Santi Quaranta in southern Albania, Durazzo, Brindisi and Elbasan in central Albania.
An appeal to the United States for aid was made today by Constantine Maniadakis, Minister of National Security, and right-hand man of Premier John Metaxas.
British Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell is busy planning Operation Compass, the planned offensive against the Italians in Egypt. He orders the Commander of British Troops Egypt, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, to prepare limited five-day operations. He writes to Wilson:
“I do not entertain extravagant hopes of this operation but I do wish to make certain that if a big opportunity occurs we are prepared morally, mentally and administratively to use it to the fullest.”
The general plan of attack will be to send British and Indian troops through the Sofafi–Nibeiwa gap, with armored formations attacking Nibeiwa from the west.
The government increasingly is trying to shape the lives of its citizens to better withstand what now looks to be a long-term siege of Great Britain. Two different authority figures give their views today, and their news is not good. However, it is judicious and necessary from a medical perspective.
Lord Horder, who chairs the British Medical Committee, has grown increasingly concerned about the risk of epidemics due to the devastation being wrought to dwellings and the other signs of aerial combat (such as dead bodies). He cautions the public that “We have more to fear from germs than Germans.”
Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food who recently ended banana imports, has further bad news. he announces a cut in milk rations during the winter months. The government further advises that milk may be unsafe without first boiling it to reduce the risk of typhoid.
Operation COLLAR: British Royal Navy Force H handed off the responsibility of escorting Allied convoy ME.4 to the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet. At 1430 hours, British freighters Clan Forbes and Clan Fraser of this convoy reached Malta. British freighter New Zealand Star would continue sailing, escorted by cruisers and destroyers, for Alexandria, Egypt.
British submarine HMS Regulus goes missing in the Aegean. It is presumed lost due to a mine. Nobody survives.
Der ewige Jude [The Eternal Jew], a German propaganda film purporting to prove the Jews’ evil influence, opens in Berlin. The German film industry remains quite active throughout the war. Today, it releases its most notorious films, “The Eternal Jew” (Der ewige Jude), likely the most anti-Semitic film ever made. Directed by Fritz Hippler and with a screenplay by Eberhard Taubert, it interweaves documentary footage with acting. Many view this film as a response to a 1934 British film of the same name which portrayed Jews in a sympathetic light.
Dutch law professor Rudolph Cleveringa is arrested by Nazis.
German Reserve Police Battalion 101 was deployed to the Lodz ghetto and was given orders to shoot anyone who came too close to the fence.
Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Markovic meets with Hitler in Berlin. Hitler pressures Yugoslavia to sign the Tripartite Pact, but the Serb-dominated officer corps violently opposes this. Regent Prince Paul of Yugoslavia knows that signing the agreement will only cause trouble and is extremely leery, so the Yugoslavs pass. Hitler proposes a bizarre swap, a Yugoslavian alliance in exchange for the Greek seaport of Salonika — which the Greeks still possess. At this point in time, Hitler is offering potential allies territory which he has no ability to give, and the offers themselves illustrate his intentions.
Following the Iron Guard’s brutal assaults on its political enemies in Rumania on the 27th, Ion Antonescu’s government declares a state of emergency.
Kyosti Kallio resigned as President of the Finnish Republic today for reasons of health. He had served three and a half years out of his six-year term of office.
Konstantin Rokossovsky, a former prisoner accused of treason (on fabricated evidence) but released from Kresty Prison in Leningrad for unexplained reasons on 22 March 1940, assumes command of the newly formed 9th Mechanized Corps in the Kyiv Military District. It has the 19th and 20th Tank Divisions and the 131st Motorized Division. Soviet records can be obscure, but it appears Rokossovsky takes over from the start. Rokossovsky only survived the 1930s officer purges because he refused to sign a false statement, but was badly beaten for doing so. He never blamed Stalin for his mistreatment, but rather the NKVD (Soviet secret police).
Operation Canned commences off Italian Somaliland. Light cruiser HMS Leander departs from Aden in a mission to bombard Italian positions at Banda Alulu.
The Luftwaffe sends over 40 fighter-bombers (Jabos) during the day, but they accomplish little. Daylight raids are increasingly pointless, particularly with the shortening hours of daylight, but the Luftwaffe continues with occasional Jabo sweeps. Losses are about even, with half a dozen planes lost by each side.
German Luftwaffe bombers attacked Liverpool, England, United Kingdom overnight. A parachute mine hit Edge Hill Training College on Durning Road, the site of a large underground shelter; the blast, boiling water from a damaged boiler, and gas from damaged pipes killed 166 of the about 300 civilians taking shelter there. 96 were seriously injured. Lieutenant Newgass, RNVR, was called to defuse a large parachute mine, dropped during a devastating Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool, which had penetrated the roof of a gasometer at Garston Gasworks. He was lowered into the gasometer wearing breathing apparatus six times, and despite working under the most difficult and dangerous of circumstances — in the dark, in a couple of feet of water, and surrounded by explosive gas — eventually managed to make the weapon safe. He was awarded the George Cross for his heroism.
Flight Lieutenant John Dundas of No. 609 squadron shot down Major Helmut Wick in air combat over the English Channel, south of the Isle of Wight. Wick, the Geschwaderkommodore of JG 2, was Germany’s current highest scoring ace of the war at the time with 56 kills to his credit. Major Wick was seen to parachute from his Messerschmitt and drift towards the water but his body was never recovered. Dundas probably never knows who he shot down, however, because minutes later he himself is killed in the same air battle.
Wick is last seen baling out over the Channel and likely landed while still alive in the water. The winter weather is unforgiving, the sea is cold, and the rescue can’t happen soon enough. In fact, Wick’s body is never found. As happens more than once in the continuing battle, the downed airman’s Luftwaffe colleagues circle above the downed pilot as long as they can. One, Hptm. Rudi Pflanz stays so long that he has to crash land in France because he runs out of fuel. One of the crueler aspects of the Battle of Britain — and war in general, on both sides — is that so many men must watch their friends and colleagues die moments after they were alive, well and at the top of their game.
Wick is a propaganda hero, and in one of those freaky coincidences is on the cover of that day’s German propaganda publication, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (BIZ). He is standing beside Hermann Göring, whose wayward decisions have sabotaged the Luftwaffe effort and helped keep the RAF strong.
The new Kommodore of JG 2, replacing Wick, is Hptm. Karl-Heinz Greisert.
Lt Harold Reginald Newgass earns the George Cross for disarming a land mine lodged in a fuel tank full of coal gas.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 6 Blenheims in daylight to Coxyde-les-Bains on Belgian coast to bomb a hotel — the Terynick — believed to be in use as a German headquarters. 2 aircraft bombed this target and 1 direct hit was claimed. No losses to the Blenheims.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 77 aircraft overnight to many targets, the largest raid being by 24 Blenheims to Dusseldorf. 1 Blenheim lost. Bomber Command sends bombers against Mannheim, Dusseldorf, the synthetic oil installation at Politz, Stettin, Cuxhaven, Antwerp, Boulogne, and Le Havre.
At Malta, there are several air raids as ships arrive at 14:30 in Grand Harbour from the Operation Collar convoys. The Italians are active because they know that there are many British ships operating in the area due to Operation Collar. A raid by half a dozen CR 42 fighters, followed by ten bombers escorted by another ten fighters, around 13:30 is particularly fierce. The Italians lose an SM 79 bomber and a fighter. The British freighters, meanwhile, sustain no damage and unload quickly.
The weather is very rough in the mid-Atlantic. This makes the merchant marine service increasingly all-or-nothing around this time, because either you make it across or have a ship close at hand to rescue you if you get torpedoed — or you don’t. And, if you don’t, your odds of survival are not good. The action is erratic, with equipment not always acting the way it would in more normal weather and more unsuccessful attacks than usual.
The U-104, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Harald Jürst, went missing, and was probably lost to a mine, northwest of Tory Island, Ireland in the northern Atlantic Ocean. During its career under Kapitänleutnant Jürst the U-104 sank 1 merchant ship for a total of 8,240 tons and damaged 1 merchant ship damaged for a total of 10,516 tons.
German U-boat U-95, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Gerd Schreiber, damaged Norwegian steamer Ringhorn (1298grt) in 55‑29N, 18‑01W. At 0827 hours the Ringhorn (Master Torger N. Humlevik), a straggler from convoy OB.248 since 26 November due to bad weather, was missed by a torpedo from U-95 (Schreiber) in 55°29N/18°01W and tried to escape at full speed while sending a distress signal after which HMS Wanderer (D 74) (Cdr A.F.St.G. Orpen, RN) was detached from convoy HX.89 but did not find her. She was missed again by a torpedo at 0933 hours, but the U-boat surfaced at 1025 hours and attacked with the deck gun. After two hits in the funnel and near the bridge the crew abandoned ship. U-95 had soon to break off the shelling due to the rough seas and missed at 1112 hours with a third torpedo that was a tube runner. Believing the ship will sink the Germans left the area but the crew reboarded the vessel that was only damaged at the superstructure and arrived at Belfast Lough on 1 December.
U-103, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, sank British steamer St Elwyn (4940grt) in 55‑30N, 19‑30W and Greek steamer Mount Athos (3578grt) in 55‑30N, 15‑25W.
At 0842 hours the unescorted Mount Athos, a straggler from convoy OB.248, was hit under the bridge by one torpedo from U-103 and sank by the stern within 4 minutes about 200 miles south-southwest of Rockall. The crew had managed to send a distress signal and HMS Folkestone (L 22) (LtCdr C.F.H. Churchill, RN) and HMS Seaman (W 44) were ordered to proceed to assistance, but found nothing in the area. On 30 November, nine survivors were picked up by HMS Vanquisher (D 54) (Lt A.P. Northey, DSC, RN) which was escorting convoy OB.251. The 3,578-ton Mount Athos was carrying coal and was bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone.
At 2024 hours the St. Elwyn (Master Edward Thomas Alexander Daniells, DSC and bar), dispersed from convoy OB.249, was hit near the bridge by one torpedo from U-103 about 500 miles east of Bishop Rock. The U-boat had spotted the ship at 0951 hours and had to overtake her again after a first submerged attack failed due to the zigzag course. The ship sank by the stern after being hit by a coup de grâce in the engine room at 2027 hours. The master and 23 crew members were lost. 16 crew members were picked up by the British merchant Leeds City and landed at Gourock. The 4,940-ton St. Elwyn was carrying coal and was bound for Santos, Brazil.
Battleship HMS Nelson and destroyers HMS Somali, HMS Mashona, HMS Maori, and HMS Douglas departed Scapa Flow at 2310 for Rosyth where they arrived at 1415/29th.
Heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk arrived at Scapa Flow.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa departed Rosyth in the afternoon to rendezvous with convoy EN.33.
Destroyer HMS Cotswold with British steamer Ben My Chree departed Lerwick at 2300 and proceeded to Aberdeen where they arrived at 1030/29th. The destroyer returned to Scapa Flow.
Destroyer HMS Vimy departed Scapa Flow at 1400 for the Clyde to escort Norwegian steamer Oslofjord (18,673grt). Destroyer Vimy arrived at 1300/29th. Both ships departed the Clyde at 1700/29th for the Tyne.
British steamer Skipjack (1167grt) was damaged at Dover by German shore gun battery.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Manx Prince (221grt, T/Skipper A A Grounds RNR) was sunk on a mine at the entrance to the Humber, 3.5 miles 130˚ from Spurn Light House. There were no casualties and the crew was rescued by minesweeping trawler HMS Cortina (213grt).
Escort ship/destroyer HMS Wryneck from detached from the HMS Warspite group to refuel at Malta at 0700 and rejoined later that day.
Steamers Clan Fraser and Clan Forbes arrived at Malta, escorted by destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Hotspur at 1430. Both destroyers remained at Malta for repairs.
Destroyer HMS Greyhound joined the HMS Warspite group.
Steamer New Zealand Star, escorted by destroyers HMS Defender and HMS Hereward and covered by light cruisers HMS Manchester and HMS Southampton, proceeded to the east.
At 1700, destroyer HMS Griffin was sent into Malta with engine defects.
Heavy cruiser HMS York and light cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Gloucester swept to the northward of Hurd Bank to cover the passage of the corvettes.
The HMS Malaya group was covering the passage of convoy ME.4. Destroyers HMS Diamond and HMAS Waterhen were detached to escort convoy AS.7 of four ships to Port Said, where they arrived o 2 December.
Italian submarine Dessie made an unsuccessful attack on light cruiser HMS Glasgow in 36‑30N, 12‑59E.
Italian destroyers Pigafetta, Da Recco, Pessagno, and Riboty and torpedo boats Bassini and Prestinari shelled Greek positions near Corfu.
New Zealand Division light cruiser HMS Leander completed escorting convoy BS.9 on the 26th and was relieved on the Red Sea convoy escort route by Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart.
Light cruiser HMS Leander departed Aden on the 28th. On 29 November at 1038, she conducted Operation CANNED, the bombardment of a factory and wireless station at Banda Alulu, Italian Somaliland. Ninety eight rounds of six inch ammunition were fired. Following the bombardment, she arrived at Bombay on 2 December. Light cruiser HMS Leander remained there until 27 December.
Convoy OB.251 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers HMS Vanquisher and HMS Viscount and corvette HMS Gentian. The escort was detached on 1 December.
Convoy SL.57 departed Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser HMS Canton to 15 December, sloop HMS Bridgewater to 30 November, and anti-submarine trawler HMS Bengali to 30 November.
On 15 December, destroyers HMS Vanquisher, HMS Viscount, HMS Whitehall, and HMS Winchelsea, and corvettes HMS Gentian and HMS Hibiscus joined. On 16 December, catapult ship HMS Pegagus joined. The destroyers and the catapult ship were with the convoy for one day only. Corvette Gentian was detached on 17 December and corvette Hibiscus on arrival. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 19 December.
Convoy SLS.57 departed Freetown escorted by anti-submarine trawler HMS Spaniard to 30 November. On 18 December, destroyers HMS Amazon and HMS Ambuscade, corvettes HMS Crocus and HMS Heartsease, anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Lillian joined the convoy. The convoy arrived at Liverpool n 22 December.
President Roosevelt conferred today with Secretary Hull, Chairman Norman Davis of the Red Cross and Thomas W. Lamon, concerning European relief, and with the Defense Commission regarding aluminum supplies.
The Senate was in recess.
The House heard protests against consideration of the Logan-Walter bill, received the Howard W. Smith bill to make defense saboteurs liable to life imprisonment and requiring thirty days’ notice of strikes and lockouts, the Hoffman bill to outlaw strikes on defense projects, and the Celler bill to permit alien refugees to remain in the United States. The House adjourned at 2 PM until noon Monday.
Representative Smith of Virginia, chairman of the Committee to Investigate the National Labor Relations Board, introduced a bill today providing penalties up to life imprisonment for persons convicted of sabotage in defense industries. The measure would require a thirty-day notice to employers and to the Secretary of Labor of the intention of labor in those industries to strike. One clause would make it unlawful to require a person seeking employment in a defense industry either that he join or that he not join a labor organization. Attorney General Jackson advised Congress that there was no need for law-enforcement legislation in the current defense labor situation, since strikes present no problem that “is either novel or out of hand” so far as the Department of Justice is concerned.
President Roosevelt conferred today for an hour and a half with Secretary Hull, Norman H. Davis, chairman of the Red Cross, and Thomas W. Lamont, New York banker. The conference is understood to have concerned war relief, and growing out of it was said to be the possibility that the United States might send limited supplies of food and medicine to some European countries, particularly Spain and unoccupied France. If British permission were obtained soon enough, it was said, some officials believed that supplies might reach their destination by Christmas. No details were announced after the conference, but it was stated that diplomats would not be surprised if grain were sent to Spain and milk for children and medicine to unoccupied France.
Edward R. Stettinius Jr., chief of the materials division of the defense commission assured President Roosevelt today “once and for all” that there would be no shortage of aluminum for the production of army, navy and British planes in this country. At a press conference at which he reported having given this information to the president a short time before, Stettinius said that expansions already under way and planned in the aluminum industry would increase the level of ingot production from the present capacity of 465,000,000 to 690,000,000 by July, 1941, and to 825,000,000 by July, 1942. This production schedule, Stettinius said, provided for present programs of the army, navy and the British in this country and also for the natural growth of civilian consumption. If the military load increased beyond present schedules, he said, “unessential” civilian consumption could “easily” be dropped. “This amounts to a doubling of an essential industry with private capital without government financial assistance,” the defense commission member declared.
Measures to alleviate suffering among European children this winter are being considered by government and Red Cross authorities, it was learned tonight after a long White House conference on the foreign relief problem. The plan, calling for the shipment of canned milk, medicines and similar supplies to parts of Europe for the relief of children only, was described in informed quarters as still being in the tentative stage. Unoccupied France and Spain were believed most likely to benefit at first if the plan became effective. The undertaking was said to depend largely on whether British authorities would permit the supplies to pass through the blockade of the European continent. It was emphasized in informed quarters that there was no present intention by authorities here to attempt a large-scale European feeding program such as Herbert Hoover and others have been advocating for the relief of inhabitants of German-occupied countries.
John Cudahy of Milwaukee resigned orally to President Roosevelt today as ambassador to Belgium. Cudahy said he intended to devote his time to writing, particularly a novel about Poland, where he served as ambassador from 1933 to 1937 when he became minister to the Irish Free State. He took over the Belgian post Jan. 15, 1940, and remained there for two months after the German occupation. He left July 18 when the Germans ordered diplomatic representatives out of the country.
Rear Admiral William D. Leahy, whom President Roosevelt has just appointed Ambassador to France, sailed for New York on his way to Washington this afternoon, ending an active Governorship of Puerto Rico which has lasted a little more than fourteen months. Mrs. Leahy was with him.
While justifying expenditures to carry out the nation’s defense program as quickly as possible, Senator Tydings of Maryland, in an address here yesterday, called for a broadening “right now” of the income-tax base to balance government income and expenses not related to military preparedness.
C.I. O, workers at the Aluminum Company of America plant in Kensington, Pennsylvania voted tonight to end a week-long strike which stopped work on several big national defense orders and made 7,000 employees temporarily idle. The strikers are to return to work tomorrow morning. Under the agreement, a $27-a-week worker blamed by the union for causing the walkout because he threatened a committeeman attempting to collect $12 in back dues will be transferred to the Logans Ferry plant of the company. Ralph M. Ferry, superintendent of the plant, said: “This solution is of the type we have been urging right along and is quite satisfactory.” In addition to halting production on several million dollars’ worth of orders, the workers lost wages estimated by the company at $200,000 during the shutdown. The company had charged the strike was caused entirely by the question of dues collections, and that it violated a contract provision that such matters be taken up through a grievance committee.
Minutes of the National Labor Relations Board, read today into the record of the Smith Committee investigating the board, indicated the extent to which Dr. W.M. Leiserson and Edwin S. Smith had been deadlocked for months in issues of policy extending from how to handle charges of communism to decisions in representation and complaint cases.
Re-elected for his seventeenth term as president of the American Federation of Labor, William Green expressed the conviction today that public opinion would compel an early peace in labor’s ranks, despite the refusal of the Congress of Industrial Organizations to resume unity negotiations.
A 2,500-page report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the case of Harry Bridges, Australian-born officer of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, was received today by Attorney General Jackson from J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI.
The Navy Department today applauded “the generosity of Mr. Henry Ford” for providing facilities at the Ford Motor Company’s trade school to give technical instruction to naval recruits.
The Ottawa Rough Riders defeated the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers 8-2 in the first of the two-game series for the 28th Grey Cup of Canadian football.
A hostile demonstration at the United States Embassy by partisans of General Juan Andreu Almazan, unsuccessful Presidential candidate, marred the welcome here this evening to Henry A. Wallace, President Roosevelt’s ambassador to the inauguration of General Manuel Avila Camacho as President of Mexico next Sunday. Several hundred persons milled about the automobile procession, as it inched its way through the square before the embassy, but his escort of motorcycle police prevented them from reaching Mr. Wallace’s car. They pounded on the windows of other machines in the procession, however, shouting “Viva Almazan!” and “Death to Avila Camacho!” Later, while Mexican officials were taking their leave of Mr. Wallace at the residence of United States Ambassador Josephus Daniels, around the corner from the embassy building, the crowd tried to storm the embassy gates. Police reserves were called out and dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas.
The United States and 14 coffee-producing nations of the western hemisphere today signed an unprecedented agreement designed to stabilize the corfee industry and bolster the economic defenses of the New World. The agreement divides on a quota basis the United States and world markets among Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela. The amount of coffee which each of the nations may send to this country and to areas outside the United States in any one year is limited by the pact in an effort to assure “equitable terms of trade for both producers and consumers by adjusting the supply to the demand. The session listened in silence; then burst into applause.
One hundred persons were reported killed or injured when five cars of a Shanghai-Nanking railway train believed to be bearing numerous Japanese and Chinese officials to Nanking were derailed by dynamiting of the line. The accident, allegedly the result of mining of the tracks by Chinese guerrillas, occurred at Soochow about fifty miles west of Shanghai. It was said the passengers included Japanese and Chinese officials who planned to take part in the scheduled signing tomorrow in Nanking of a “peace treaty” between Japan and the Japanese-sponsored Chinese regime headed by Wang Ching-wei.
The Japanese-sponsored government at Nanking, preparing for the formality of recognition by Tokyo Saturday, has sent a “last exhortation” that the Chungking Government stop fighting and join in peaceful cooperation with Japan. This was conveyed in an open telegram from President Wang Ching-wei of the Nanking regime to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of Chungking, who was addressed as “Mr. Chiang Kai-shek.” General Chiang is not expected to reply. The treaty-signing scheduled for Saturday will mark another step in Japan’s drive toward dominance in “Greater East Asia.” In return for formal recognition, the Wang Government, set up March 22, 1940, under Japanese auspices, will pledge to Tokyo virtually complete and permanent Japanese control of its military and economic affairs, a reliable source declared.
The commander of the Japanese 11th Army in Hubei Province (Han River sector), Lieutenant General Waichiro Sonobe, orders a retreat under pressure from the continuing Chinese offensive. The Japanese engage in a scorched earth policy, burning down villages and inflicting heavy casualties on civilians and the advancing Chinese troops.
Lieutenant General Waichiro Sonobe ordered the Japanese 11th Army to fall back in Hubei Province, China.
Captain Tokuji Mori was named the commanding officer of the Japanese cruiser HIJMS Settsu.
The Royal Thai Air Force begins aerial bombing after the alleged bombing of Thai positions around Nankorn Panom by French planes. Border clashes between Thailand and French Indo-Chinese forces on the Cambodian frontier flamed into open warfare today when five French planes bombed Thai positions around Nankorn Panom, according to official dispatches from the front.
Light cruiser HMS Durban departed Penang.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 130.14 (+0.36)
Born:
Bruce Channel [McMeans], American singer (“Hey! Baby”), in Jacksonville, Texas.
Clem Curtis, Trinidadian-British singer (The Foundations — “Baby Now That I’ve Found You”, “Build Me Up Buttercup”), in Trinidad, British West Indies.
Jim Neilson, Canadian NHL and WHA defenseman (NHL All-star, 1967, 1971; New York Rangers, California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons; WHA: Edmonton Oilers), in Big River, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Died:
Nicolae Iorga, 69, Romanian writer, literature historian and Prime Minister of Romania, murdered by fascists.
Frank Tinney, 62, American blackface comedian and actor.
Naval Construction:
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “S” (Stalinec)-class (2nd group, Type IX-modified) submarine S-37 is laid down by the Marti Yard (Nikolayev, U.S.S.R.) / Yard 198.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-209 is laid down by F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 638).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Rockridge is laid down by Hill; completed by Richardson and Clark. She will be transferred to South Africa after the war and converted to a survey ship, becoming the HMSAS Protea.
The Royal Navy Dance-class ASW trawler HMS Mazurka (T 30) is launched by Ferguson Bros. Ltd. (Port Glasgow, Scotland).
The Royal Navy “T”-class (Second Group) submarine HMS Thrasher (N 37) is launched by Cammell Laird Shipyard (Birkenhead, U.K.).
The Royal Navy Black Swan-class sloop HMS Ibis (U 99) is launched by Furness Shipbuilding Ltd. (Haverton Hill-on-Tees, U.K.); completed by Richardson Westgarth.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Zinnia (K 98) is launched by Smiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Abelia (K 184) is launched by Harland & Wolff Ltd. (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
The Royal Navy “L”-class destroyer HMS Lance (G 87) is launched by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd. (Scotstoun, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Bar-class boom defense vessel HMS Barrhead (Z 40) is commissioned.
The Royal Navy Bangor-class (Diesel-engined) minesweeper HMS Bridport (J 50) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant Ian Walter Douglas MacDougall, RNVR.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Mayflower (K 191) is commissioned with an all-Canadian crew. Her first commanding officer is A/Lieutenant Commander George Hay Stephen, RCNR. She is transferred with nine other Flower-class corvettes to the Royal Canadian Navy in May 1941, becoming the HMCS Mayflower.
The Royal Australian Navy “N”-class destroyer (Flotilla leader) HMAS Napier (G 97) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Captain Stephen Harry Tolson Arliss, RN.
History Diaries 