There is one year left before the war comes to the United States and the Pacific Theater.
Italian Ambassador Alfieri met with Adolf Hitler, who gave him a second lecture against Italy attacking Greece. Hitler said that Mussolini should resort to mobile courts-martial and executions if he wanted to turn the situation around. Hitler did agree to authorize fifty heavy troop transport planes to move fresh units from Italy to Albania.
Mussolini continues his purge of the top leadership of the Italian military, dismissing General Cesare de Vecchi, Governor of Dodecanese Islands, and replacing him with General Ettore Bastico.
During the night a British and Commonwealth force of 30,000 men and 275 tanks under Major General Richard O’Connor sets forth on a 70-mile march around the Italian minefield’s flank and prepares to take the enemy from the rear. General O’Connor’s men involved in the Operation COMPASS raid complete their march from Mersa Matruh to the front lines. The plan is to attack the Italians from the rear. Included in the force are 275 tanks, held further back. The Italian reconnaissance planes do not spot the advancing British forces, which are supplied by depots deposited in the front lines well in advance. The British troops, who think they are on an exercise, finally are told that they are going to be involved in a major offensive. The Western Desert Force includes the 7th Armoured Division, 4th Indian Division, and the 16th Infantry Brigade. Selby force (Brigadier A.R. Selby) prepares dummy tanks to confuse Italian reconnaissance.
The Royal Navy also is involved in Operation Compass. Monitor HMS Terror, gunboat HMS Ladybird, and minesweeper HMS Bagshot form Force A from Alexandria and head for positions off the Italian bases in Egypt. They bombard Sidi Barrani.
Greek soldiers, shouting the new battle cry “Tirana by Christmas,” have taken Delvino, about 10 miles northeast of the newly-captured town of Porto Edda, and are closing on the abandoned Italian base at Argirocastro, it was reported early today. The Greek high command reported the capture of the town and said its soldiers had fought “successful local engagements” against the Ital ians at various points along the front from the sea to the Yugoslav frontier.
The Italians on 7 December 1940 continue retreating on the southern and middle sectors of the line. Most of the action takes place in the air, where the RAF bombers based near Athens raid Italian shipping and the ports of Durazzo and Salona.
Admiral Canaris, head of the German military intelligence service Abwehr, meets with Franco in Madrid. Canaris conveys Hitler’s desire that Franco declare war on Great Britain in January and allow passage of Wehrmacht troops from France. Franco demurs, giving his standard reply that Spain is not prepared for war. He has an extensive laundry list of items that he would require in advance, particularly grain, before entering the war.
King Boris of Bulgaria was reported tonight to have been told that Soviet Russia would help him if Bulgaria’s neutrality should be endangered. The king returned today from his residence near the Black sea port of Varna, where he was said to have been visited by a Soviet Russian emissary. It was reported the emissary also told King Boris Bulgaria should not attack her neighbors. The king is considering his answer to the Russians, it was said. Bulgarian Nazis distributed leaflets urging Boris to closer cooperation with Germany and extremist students delivered speeches of a like nature. The first air raid practice was held here.
Apparently due to rough weather, the Luftwaffe bombers stay on the ground today, giving England its first full day without any air raids since 7 August 1940. When the weather is sketchy, both sides make different evaluations of whether to mount missions. However, Luftwaffe fighter-bombers and torpedo bombers are operational during the day.
RAF Fighter Command: No. 263 becomes the first Squadron to be operational with the Westland Whirlwind single-seat twin-engined fighter. They are used at first on convoy patrol.
The Fairey Barracuda dive bomber took its first flight.
The 100th Beaufighter aircraft rolled off the production line at Filton, South Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 2 Blenheims during daylight; 1 bombed Brest and 1 Zeebrugge. No losses.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 69 aircraft overnight, mostly to Düsseldorf. 5 aircraft — 3 Wellingtons, 1 Hampden, 1 Whitley — lost. 4 Hampdens minelaying off Brest.
As part of the preparation for Operation COMPASS, RAF Wellington bombers based on Malta raid the Castel Benito airfield in Libya. They destroy 29 Italian planes.
U-99 sank Dutch steamer Farmsum (5237grt), a straggler from convoy OB.252, in 52‑11N, 22‑56W. At 2239 hours on 7 Dec 1940, U-99 fired a torpedo at the Farmsum (Master B. Jansma), a straggler from the convoy OB.252, in heavy seas. The torpedo was a surface-runner and struck the ship above the waterline at the stern, blowing the stern gun overboard. A second torpedo was fired on the bow of the ship but also struck the stern. The next torpedo hit amidships and caused the ship to sink within three minutes. 19 survivors abandoned ship in lifeboats and were eventually picked up by HMS Ambuscade (D 38) (LtCdr R.A. Fell, RN) with severe signs of frostbite, four of them died. The 5,237-ton Farmsum was carrying coal and was bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
U-65 refueled at sea from German supply ship Nordmark.
German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper departed Kiel, Germany for an anti-shipping sortie in the Atlantic, Operation NORDSEETOUR.
Battleship Bismarck entered the Kiel Canal.
Dutch 2,489-ton freighter Stolwijk, part of Convoy SC.13, runs aground in County Donegal, Ireland and is lost. There are 10 deaths and 18 survivors. This loss is directly attributable to the weather, as the storms damage her rudder. She breaks up on the rocks off Tory Island. The Irish lifeboat crew earns medals from the Netherlands and the British for their heroic rescue of the crew.
Destroyer HMS Sabre, returning to Londonderry after escorting convoy SC.13, was damaged by heavy seas northwest of Ireland. Destroyer Sabre was repaired at Belfast completing on 18 January.
Minelayers HMS Southern Prince, HMS Menestheus, HMS Port Quebec, and HMS Agamemnon laid minefield SN.10 A, east of Iceland at Seidisfjord and from the northern end of the Faroes — Iceland minefield, escorted by destroyers HMS Bath, HMS Keppel, HMS Douglas, and HMS St Albans during the night of 7/8 December. Battlecruiser HMS Repulse, light cruiser HMS Arethusa, and destroyers HMS Somali, HMS Mashona, HMS Eskimo, and HMS Bedouin were at sea to cover this operation. The Repulse group arrived back at Scapa Flow at 1450/10th.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa transferred to convoy EN.37 for escort to Pentland Firth. A northerly gale at Scapa Flow interfered with the exercises and delayed undocking of Destroyer HMS Bradford.
Destroyer HMS Broadway was damaged in a collision with an unknown ship at Scapa Flow. Destroyer Broadway departed Scapa Flow at 1530/9th en route to Hull. The destroyer arrived in the Humber at 1805/11th and began repairs completed on 7 January.
Submarine HMS Sunfish damaged Norwegian tanker Dixie (1715grt) in 62-10N, 5-05E.
British steamer Yewarch (827grt) was damaged by German bombing off Dudgeon Buoy, Humber.
British steamer Hertford (10,923grt) was damaged by a mine in 35‑30S, 135‑25E, west of Kangaroo Island, near Adelaide.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Capricornus (219grt, T/Skipper B. J. Savage RNR) was sunk by a mine two miles 94° from Nore Light Vessel.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Cortina (213grt, T/Skipper T. A. Phillipson RNR) was sunk in a collision with British 1827 ton freighter Lormont off the Humber. Lormont also sunk.
Battleship HMS Ramillies, aircraft carrier HMS Argus, troopship Franconia (20,175grt), and destroyers HMS Kelvin, HMS Eclipse, HMS Wrestler, and HMS Velox departed Gibraltar to join Aircraft carrier HMS Furious and anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Dido, returning from Takoradi, in 37‑50N, 17‑30W. After the rendezvous, destroyer Velox returned to Gibraltar and the other ships went on to England.
Submarine HMS Triumph arrived at Gibraltar after patrol eastwards of the Straits.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Calcutta arrived at Alexandria after covering convoy AS.6.
Light cruiser HMS Gloucester and heavy cruiser HMS York arrived at Alexandria after covering convoys.
Monitor HMS Terror, gunboat HMS Ladybird, minesweeper HMS Bagshot departed Alexandria as Force A for Mersa Matruh. The monitor and gunboats operated supported by destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Janus, and HMS Nubian during the night of 8/9 December. Monitor Terror and gunboat Ladybird bombarded Sidi Barrani.
Gunboat HMS Aphis bombarded Maktila.
German raider Komet sank Norwegian steamer Vinni (5181grt) five miles south of Nauru Island in South Pacific. There were no casualties on the Norwegian steamer.
Submarine HMS Regulus (Lt Cdr F.B. Currie), which departed on patrol on 23 November, was declared lost after failing to return from a patrol in the Straits of Otranto. Lt Cdr Currie, Lt Sir G. P. G. Muntz, Lt O- C. Round, Lt A. M. Green, Warrant Engineer W. R- Fielden, and the fifty ratings of the crew were lost with Regulus.
Convoy OB.255 departed Liverpool escorted by corvette HMS Arbutus. The convoy was joined the next day by destroyers HMS Chelsea, HMS Cottesmore, HMS Verity, HMS Veteran, and HMS Wolverine and corvette HMS Camellia. Corvette Arbutus was detached on the 8th and the rest of the escort on the 10th.
Convoy FN.353 departed Southend, escorted by destroyer HMS Vortigern and sloop HMS Egret. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 9th.
Convoy FN.354 did not sail.
Convoy SL.58 departed Freetown escorted by heavy cruiser HMS Kent, returning to England for repairs, to 23 December, sloop HMS Bridgewater to 8 December, anti-submarine trawler HMS Turcoman to 9 December. On the 23rd, destroyers HMS Kelvin and HMS Kipling joined the convoy for the day and escorted the heavy cruiser to Plymouth. Destroyer HMS Shikari joined on the 24th. On the 25th, destroyer HMS Broke, corvettes HMS Anemone, HMS Heliotrope, and HMS La Malouine, and anti-submarine trawlers HMS St Kenan and HMS St Zeno joined. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 28th.
Convoy SLS.58 departed Freetown escorted by anti-submarine trawlers HMS Kelt and HMS Spaniard to 9 December. Ocean boarding vessel HMS Marsdale was involved in the escort of the convoy. On the 29th destroyers HMS Harvester and HMS Highlander joined the convoy for the day only. Also on the 29th, sloop HMS Wellington joined and was detached on the 31st. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 2 January.
A two-point plan for financial aid to Great Britain is being discussed, it was learned today, by highly placed U.S. administration aides, some of whom predicted that it would be adopted. The plan: 1. The British would use their own investments in this country to buy war supplies, as long as the investments lasted. 2. The United States would make a flat promise to grant loans when those British resources were exhausted. (Some officials suggested that such loans might perhaps be backed by certain British collateral.) As seen by persons in influential positions, the situation is that the British have enough money to pay for their multi-billion dollar war purchases here for a year or more, but want to know where the money is going to come from after that.
Embattled Greece has been promised immediate American assistance in an exchange of messages between President Roosevelt and King George II, and high quarters indicated tonight that the aid would include warplanes. Mr. Roosevelt’s message, made public by the state department, did not specify the form in which help would be given, simply pledging King George that “steps are being taken” to provide assistance in line with “the settled policy of the United States to extend aid to those governments and peoples who defend themselves against aggression.”
Secretary of the Navy Knox asked congress to authorize $300,000,000 worth of alterations on naval vessels to afford them greater protection against air attack. Secretary Knox sent a letter to the House Naval Committee asking authorization of the funds. He declared that details of the plans were confidential. Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, emphasized in a statement that the present aircraft defenses of the fleet were good, adding: The whole program is designed to have our ships not only abreast of requirements but ahead of them.” The Navy Department estimated that from five to six years would be required to complete the proposed alterations on ships already with the fleet. Presumably, the improvements would be included in ships under construction. “Information on developments in the European war, augmented by experience obtained during our own fleet maneuvers,” Secretary Knox wrote, “has conclusively indicated the necessity of improving the means by which our combatant vessels may oppose aircraft attacks and the entire question has been under study in the Navy Department for some time.”
President Roosevelt worked in shirt sleeves because of the heat today in the flag quarters aboard the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa off Puerto Rico, reading and answering mail from Washington.
Maynard Barnes, American charge d’ affaires in Paris, reported to the state department today that after six days’ effort he had established direct contact with Mrs. Elizabeth Deegan, clerk in the embassy, and that she was held by German police in a small Paris hotel. Barnes reported that Mrs. Deegan was “well treated and in good health” and expressed the hope that she would be “released shortly.”
A “national committee for food for the five small democracies” with former President Herbert Hoover as honorary chairman was formed today in order to “save millions” from the “inevitable famine and pestilence which confront them.” Coincidentally, opposition to the “Hoover plan for feeding conquered populations in Europe,” came from “25 outstanding women” who said in a statement that America’s own national security would be endangered by any action making easier “Hitler’s task in holding the small conquered nations in subjection.” Among those listed as signers were Helen Hayes, actress; Margaret Culkin Banning, author; Marion Edwards Park, president of Bryn Mawr college; Mrs. Sherwood Anderson, wife of the author; Alice Duer Miller, author; and C. Mildred Thompson, dean of Vassar college. Listed as members of the national food committee were former Vice-President Charles G. Dawes and several cabinet members in the Hoover administration; General John J. Pershing, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, former governor general of the Philippines; Hendrik Willem Van Loon, author; Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 37 educational leaders, and 29 theologians. The national food committee said that before the next harvest there would be in Finland, Norway, Holland, Belgium and central Poland “a tragic problem of the loss of lives of millions of children, of women and of men, and the aftermath of a stunted and diseased generation.”
After attacks of influenza many persons experience a higher degree of immunity from the disease, thus indicating that a preventive vaccine might be feasible.
The American Federation of Labor reports that there are 8,130,000 registered unemployed in the United States.
Mexican painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo remarry in San Francisco (divorced in 1939).
The Ottawa Rough Riders defeated the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers 12-5 in the second of the two-game series for the 28th Grey Cup of Canadian football.
Brazil’s President Getulio Vargas, addressing officers of the Brazilian Army Reserve, declared today that “the love of peace does not signify the cultivation of suicidal pacifism.”
Recent developments in Europe and especially in America have caused a drastic change in Japanese tactics in the Far East, according to foreign military and naval experts. They declare the Japanese are adopting new policies for their expansionist program. Burma is held to be a new target. The Japanese are said to be concentrating all their forces in South and Central China at six main centers — Ichang, Hankow, Nanking. Shanghai, Swatow and Canton. These seasoned veterans of many battles with the Chinese are being reinforced by recruits from Japan and held in readiness for transfer to Hainan Island and Formosa before the push southward, experts say.
Japanese business houses that had been established wherever the Japanese Army occupied small towns are being obliterated by the Chinese in places evacuated by the invaders. Although Japanese guards were left to protect such establishments, Chinese guerrillas are gradually wiping out these outposts. Japan’s entire Far Eastern policy hinges upon the result of Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura’s ambassadorship to the United States. He has declared he will attempt to persuade the United States to adopt a more lenient attitude toward Japan. A more lenient attitude would mean the lifting of embargoes on petroleum, scrap iron and machine tools for Japan’s continuance of the war against China.
The government said today that two Indo-China border cities were machine-gunned by Thai (Siamese) forces yesterday. A low-flying Thai plane sprayed the waterfront of Vientiane, an important border city, with machine-gun bullets, and Poipet was fired upon from across the Mekong River, the government said. It added that no casualties were reported and the French did not retaliate. It said “many hundreds” of Communists had been arrested in a drive against subversive elements in Indo-China.
Kumataro Honda, former Japanese Ambassador to Germany, was appointed Ambassador to Nanking today, succeeding former Premier Nobuyuki Abe.
British 10,923-ton freighter Hertford runs into a mine and is damaged in the Spencer Gulf off Kangaroo Island in the vicinity of Adelaide. These are mines laid in November by German raider Pinguin.
German raiders Komet and Orion are operating off Nauru west of the Gilbert Islands. The weather is poor, preventing their plan to bombard the phosphate operations on the island. However, during the evening, Komet, disguised as Japanese freighter Manyo Maru, encounters and sinks 5264-ton Norwegian freighter Vinni about 10 km south of the island. The disguise, incidentally, works perfectly, and although the Komet is spotted from the shore, it is believed to be a harmless Japanese freighter. Everybody on board the Vinni is taken aboard the Komet.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 131.29 (+0.96)
Born:
Gerry Cheevers, Canadian NHL and WHA goaltender (Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted 1985; NHL Champions, Stanley Cup-Bruins, 1970, 1972; NHL All-Star, 1969; Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins; Cleveland Crusaders [WHA]) and broadcaster, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Tom Michel, NFL halfback (Minnesota Vikings), in Oakland, California (d. 2005).
Stan Boardman, British comedian (“The Comedians”, “Opportunity Knocks”), in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom.
Naval Construction:
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-227, U-228, U-229, U-230, U-231, and U-232 are ordered from F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 657–662).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type XB U-boats U-233 and U-234 are ordered from F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 663 and 664).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-303 and U-304 are ordered from Flender Werke AG, Lübeck (werk 303 and 304).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-361 and U-362 are ordered from Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges, Flensburg (werk 480 and 481).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-711, U-712, U-713, and U-714 are ordered from H C Stülcken Sohn, Hamburg (werk 777–780).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IXC/40 U-boats U-801, U-802, U-803, and U-804 are ordered from Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbau AG, Bremen (werk 359–362).
The Nihon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) Type B1 (I-15-class) submarine I-37 is laid down by the Kure Naval Arsenal, Kure, Japan.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-78 is launched by Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack (werk 6).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-201 is launched by F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 630).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-555 and U-556 are launched by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 531 and 532).
The U.S. Navy transport ship USS Wharton (AP-7), formerly the freighter Southern Cross, is commissioned. Her commanding officer is Captain Elroy Leonard Vanderkloot, USN.
History Diaries 