The Allies began Operation Compass in North Africa. The British, under Major General Richard O’Connor, began an offensive in the western desert of Egypt. Soon after dawn the 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions launch a surprise attack on the Italians in Egypt. 7th Armoured cuts the coast road to the west and isolates Sidi Barrani. Beginning at 0500 hours, Allied artillery and aircraft bombarded the Italian camp at Nibeiwa, Egypt for two hours. At 0715 hours, ground troops began moving toward the rear of the fort for attack; they were spotted by Italian aircraft, but it was too late for the Italians to reorganize the defenses. Troops of the Indian 4th Infantry Division, supported by tanks of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment, captured the camp at 0830 hours. The tanks and men had spent two days advancing slowly under cover of darkness with Hurricane lamps — shaded from the Italians — to guide them over the rough desert tracks. Windscreens were removed from vehicle to avoid the sun reflecting on them. By day, 30,000 men and machines lay entirely still under the burning sun. The Italian defensive positions face the east. The defenders were preparing breakfast of coffee and rolls when the British barrage began. The attack came from the west. Two more forts surrendered later. At 1.30 pm the attack on the Tummar camps opened and by nightfall practically the whole area was in Allied hands. Italian artillery men encounter the British Matilda’s for the first time and fought against them with great bravery, but with little success. An English combatant at the scene described the battle: “The Italian and Libyan dead were everywhere. The guns were piled around with empty cases where men had fired to the very last. The Italians…fought like hell in Nebiewa.” Italian positions at Tummar West and Tummar East were also captured by dusk. Along the coast, tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade cut off the main road to prevent an Italian withdrawal. Meanwhile, British monitor HMS Terror and gunboats HMS Ladybird and HMS Aphis bombarded Italian positions at Sidi Barrani and Maktila.
Mussolini’s military problems expand exponentially on 9 December 1940, as the British launch Operation Compass. This is an offensive by two divisions (more or less) of the British Army Western Desert Force against ten divisions of the Italian 10th Army. Anyone familiar with the respective capabilities of the two armed forces knows that a 1:5 British disadvantage in an assault against entrenched Italian positions is a complete mismatch… in favor of the British.
The British advanced troops, after assembling in their jump-off points at 01:00, commence a diversionary artillery barrage from the east against the southernmost Nibeiwa encampment at 05:00. This plays into Italian preconceptions of where an attack must arise — the East — and their defenses all point in that direction. At 07:15, the main artillery barrage commences. Shortly afterward, the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade jumps off against Nibeiwa from the northwest and swarms the Italians from the rear. The British occupy the camp by 08:30, killing 818 Italians (including commander General Pietro Maletti of the Maletti Group), wounding 1338 and taking 2,000 prisoners. Maletti personally mans a machine gun against a British tank, which cuts him down.
At 13:50, the British attack another encampment just to the north known as Tummar West. This camp holds out until 16:00, but the result is basically as same as in the morning attack: 1351 Italians killed, 840 wounded, and numerous prisoners. The surviving Italians either surrender or engage in wild flight north to the coast.
The Selby Force (1800 men under Brigadier A. R. Selby) moves forward to surround the remaining Italians at Maktila, but, in the best news of the day for Mussolini, the defenders there manage to escape. They don’t get very far, however. By nightfall, the fleeing Italians are backed against the sea near Sidi Barrani with nowhere else to run. The Royal Navy controls the seas, so the Italians have no escape, though they hold out through the night. Basically, their position becomes an armed prison camp.
It is fair to say that, while individual Italians fight with great bravery and distinction (there are reports of piles of bodies everywhere), overall today’s battle is perhaps the most cataclysmic example in history of well-supplied, numerically superior, elite troops either being unable or unwilling to resist. Leaders are on sides are dumbfounded at the ease of British success. General O’Connor’s British Army troops suffer only 56 deaths during the day.
The Greeks capture Pogradec, over 40 miles (64 kilometers) inside Albanian territory. The entire Italian right wing behind the Greek occupied port of Porto Edda has been put to flight and a whole series of strategically important peaks in the northern sector of the front has been captured by the Greeks, a government spokesman declared tonight. “On to Valona!” the Greeks shouted, coupling this slogan with their battle cry of “Tirana by Christmas.” Tirana, Albania’s capital, some 60 miles above Valona, is the object of another Greek drive from the east. The immediate objective of both drives was Tepeleni, a road junction about 20 miles from Valona.
Admiral Angelo Iachino, the former Italian Naval attaché in London, becomes the new Commander-in-chief of the Italian Navy (Regia Marina), replacing Inigo Campioni.
Major General Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel, a veteran of the abortive counterattack against Erwin Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division at Arras, becomes the Commander of the Royal Armoured Corps. Perhaps due to his lengthy name, Martel is known simply as “Q.” He is one of the leading British tank strategists, having written a prescient paper in November 1916 in which he envisaged entire tank armies — before a single tank had yet to see combat.
The British Government announces official statistics showing that 705,279 workers are unemployed in Britain. This is down substantially from the start of the war. Ordinarily, a lower unemployment rate would be considered a positive for the country, but factories producing war goods and shipyards finishing warships are running flat-out. Men are being sucked out of the factories into the Army, Navy, and RAF. The specter of a labor shortage looms — or a military one.
It was officially announced today that Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Stephen Csáky would go to Belgrade tomorrow for a two-day visit at invitation of the Yugoslav Government.
Illegal Jewish immigrants to Haifa are deported to Mauritius
The Luftwaffe attacks London throughout the night of 8/9 November in one of the heaviest sustained assaults of the entire campaign. Radio Berlin makes a point of claiming that this is in retaliation for the RAF bombing of German cities. After dark, the Luftwaffe again takes a night off, and there are few flights during the day, either. The London raid thus acquires the air of a one-off stunt rather than a prolongation of the Battle of Britain.
While the Germans are loudly proclaiming that they are retaliating against the British, the air war remains far from even. Estimates are that the Luftwaffe drops 7,455 tons of bombs on Great Britain during the month of November, while the RAF drops 475 tons on German. Of course, the British are dropping the majority of their loads on the occupied countries nearby, but in terms of damage to the combatant nations, there is no question that Great British is suffering many times worse than Germany.
Air reconnaissance by Blohm und Voss Bv 138A-1 three engine seaplnes of the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons, 406th Coastal Reconnaissance Group (2 und 3 Staffel/Kustenfliegergruppe 406 or 2 and 3.Ku.Fl.Gr. 406) has had to be cancelled until further orders on account of technical faults in the aircraft concerned. The main problem was that the aircraft structure needed strengthening.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 5 Blenheims in daylight; 4 aircraft bombed various targets. No losses.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 39 Blenheims and Wellingtons overnight to Bremen, Antwerp, Boulogne and Lorient. 1 Blenheim lost.
The RAF and Royal Navy support Operation Compass without much interference from the Italians. The RAAF chips in with dive-bomber attacks by Gloster Gauntlets (open-cockpit biplanes are perfectly satisfactory weapons against minimal opposition), and the Hurricanes of RAF No. 274 Squadron clear the way by shooting down four biplane Fiat CR 42s.
The Italian Air Force bombs the island of Levkas (Santa Maura) and Arta Bay. The Greek army continues to grind forward in horrendous weather.
The RAF also raids the Italian airfield at Benina in East Africa, and Gallabat and Gherile in Somaliland.
U-103, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, sank British steamer Empire Jaguar (5186grt) in 51‑34N, 17‑35W. At 0132 hours on 9 Dec 1940 the Empire Jaguar (Master Hywel Tudor Thomas), a straggler from convoy OB.252, was torpedoed and sunk by U-103 296 miles 248° from Slyne Head. The master, 34 crew members and two gunners were lost. The 5,186-ton Empire Jaguar was carrying ballast and was bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Battleship Bismarck arrived at Hamburg, Germany.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank completed refitting at Rosyth. The ship proceeded to Methil under tow. The anti-aircraft ship departed Methil at 1830/10th escorting convoy EN.39.
Convoy FN.355 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Quorn, HMS Wallace, HMS Wolfhound, and HMS Woolston and sloop HMS Lowestoft. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 11th.
Polish destroyer ORP Piorun and Destroyer HMS Vimy departed Belfast at 2030 escorting Aircraft carrier HMS Formidable to the Clyde. Destroyer HMS Burnham was also in the escort.
Destroyers HMS Escapade and HMS Brilliant arrived at Scapa Flow at 1300 after escorting Battleship HMS Rodney.
Destroyers HMS Matabele, HMS Bulldog, and HMS Electra departed Scapa Flow at 1730 escorting Battleship HMS King George V for trials west of the Orkneys. The destroyers arrived back at Scapa Flow at 1900/10th.
Destroyer HMS Broadway, which was damaged in a collision on the 7th, departed Scapa Flow at 1530 to meet convoy WN.50 in the Pentland Firth and act as additional escort until daylight on the 10th. Destroyer Broadway then joined convoy FS.59 at Methil for passage to the Humber. The destroyer arrived at Hull at 1805/11th for repairs.
Convoy OG.47 with thirty ships departed Liverpool and Bristol escorted by destroyer HMS Wild Swan, sloop HMS Leith, corvettes HMS Gardenia, HMS Fleur de Lys, and HMS Primula. British CAM ship HMS Pegasus, destroyer HMS Highlander, and corvettes HMS Campanula and HMS Periwinkle departed Portland and met the convoy. Corvettes Fleur de Lys with a damaged asdic dome and Campanula with an engine room defect on the 12th were detached to Londonderry. Destroyer Wild Swan, corvette Gardenia and CAM ship Pegasus were detached on the 15th. The convoy and sloop Leith arrived at Gibraltar on the 21st.
Auxiliary minelayer HMS Manchester City and armed merchant cruiser HMS Dunnottar Castle were in a collision.
British steamer Royal Scot (ex-Royal Sovereign, 1527grt) was sunk on a mine in 51‑24N, 03‑08W. One crewman was lost from the British steamer.
The RAF bombs and damages German barge Usaramo at Bordeaux, causing the crew to run it on the beach and abandon it.
Armed merchant Cruiser Dunnottar Castle and auxiliary minelayer Manchester City collide, but the damage is slight.
Convoy HG.48 with nineteen ships departed Gibraltar. Sloop HMS Deptford escorted the convoy from 10 to 23 December. Destroyer HMS Vidette escorted the convoy from 10 to 13 December. Destroyer HMS Caldwell joined from convoy OB.260/18th and escorted the convoy until 23 December. Sloop HMS Scarborough, destroyer HMS Vansittart, and corvettes HMS Bluebell and HMS Honeysuckle joined the convoy from convoy OB.260/20th. They remained with the convoy until 23 December. Destroyer HMS Westcott also joined the convoy on the 20th and remained with it until 23 December. In Home Waters, destroyer Vansittart escorted the Clyde section and corvette Bluebell escorted the Oban section. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 23rd.
Heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland arrived on the South America Station to join flagship heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and light cruiser HMS Enterprise.
French sloop Commandant Bory departed Toulon escorting submarines La Vestale, La Sultane, L’Arethuse, and L’Archimede for Dakar. They called and Oran on 13 and 14 December, passing Gibraltar on the 15th. The ships arrived at Casablanca on the 16th.
President Roosevelt’s inspection tour of defense sites in the Caribbean sea took him today to the little British island of Antigua where he conferred with officials for an hour. Sir Gordon J. Lethem, governor of the British Leeward islands, and Administrator Herbert Boon went aboard the president’s cruiser, the Tuscaloosa. After the conference, Sir Gordon told newsmen accompanying the president that Antiguans generally approved establishment of a United States base there and were “looking ahead to its aspects of international cooperation.”
Calling tax-exempt bonds “slacker money,” Secretary Morgenthau announced today that a $500,000,000 issue of “national defense notes” going on sale Wednesday would be fully taxable. The notes will be the first wholly taxable federal issue in history, and the treasury head made clear that they were intended to set a precedent to be followed hereafter. It is his intention, he said, to ask congress for authority to make all future federal securities issues taxable.
While a House committee today studied the question of enacting legislation to curb strikes in defense plants, a jurisdictional A.F.L. strike tied up construction work for a day on a new $4,500,000 home for the war department. This strike, in which 115 carpenters quit work in protest against members of the wood and metal lathe workers union installing backing for metal bases, was called off tonight on orders from William L. Hutcheson, general president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America. After a conference between union officials and a labor department conciliator, it was announced that the disagreement between the two A.F.L. unions would be decided by the president of the building and construction trades department of the federation, John P. Coyne. Hutcheson, attending the national convention of the union at Lakeland, Fla., in sending the word which ended the Strike, said that he did not question the right of the local to strike but that he did not wish the stoppage of work to retard the completion of a defense project.
The John Philip Sousa Bridge opened in Washington, D.C. The John Philip Sousa Bridge opens in Washington, D.C. before a crowd of more than 12,000. Sousa’s two daughters, Jane and Helen, and his sister Catherine are present. Naturally, the US Marine Band provides musical entertainment. The Sousa bridge replaces earlier bridges in the same spot, one of which the retreating US forces (from the British) burned down during the War of 1812 in 1814. It’s an interesting juxtaposition to the current world situation.
The Navy made contracts today with installation of additional facilities at plants owned by their company. The contracts called for an estimated expenditure of $18,160,746. Most of the construction is already far advanced. The expansion involves the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division at East Hartford, Connecticut, the Hamilton Standard Propeller Division at East Hartford and the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division at Stratford, Connecticut. The contracts, all cleared through the National Defense Advisory Commission, provide for the following:
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division: $14,799,000 for additional plant facilities and equipment amounting to about 432,000 square feet of floor space for manufacture of engines and for office space and engine test houses.
Hamilton Standard Propeller Division: $1.761,746 for additional plant facilities and equipment. Amounting to about 48.600 square feet of floor space at East Hartford and additional machinery at its rented plant at Pawcatuck, Connecticut, for the manufacture of aircraft propellers.
Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division: $1,600,000 for additional plant. facilities and equipment at Stratford amounting to about 250,000 square feet of floor space for manufacturing aircraft and for office space, storage space and assembly hangars.
The National Industrial Council was warned yesterday by E.A. Tamm, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not to yield to “hysteria” due to the public attention now centered on fires and explosions in industrial plants.
While Army ordnance authorities have closed the War Department’s doors to the Johnson rifle, the Marine Corps apparently is still willing to be shown the merits of the weapon as compared with the standard Garand M-1, it was disclosed in San Diego today. Captain Melvin Johnson, 31-year-old Boston attorney and Marine Corps reserve officer, who designed the rifle, is supervising a series of service tests at the Marine rifle range in La Jolla.
The Cincinnati Reds trade third baseman Lew Riggs to Brooklyn for second baseman Pep Young.
The Special Landing Operation No. 2 exercise, conducted by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps in the Caribbean Sea, was completed.
The German commerce raiders Atlantis and Pinguin rendezvoused in the Indian Ocean with the captured Norwegian tanker Storstad. The two German raiders would use the Storstad’s cargo of 10,000 tons of diesel oil to refuel their vessels.
A trading of air blows between French Indo-China and Thailand (Siam) along their disputed frontier was reported officially here tonight. A communiqué said a Thai plane dropped seven bombs on the important border town of Savannket, this morning, causing material damage but no casualties. French colonial officials withheld. information on any counter-blow to this attack, but reiterated that “we will retaliate for any Thai attacks.” Nevertheless, they said, “there still is a chance for a settlement.” Earlier, French warplanes dropped twenty-two bombs on the Thai town of Lakhon in “retaliation” for the bombing of the Indo-China town of Vientiane, capital of Laos Province, by Thai planes yesterday, it was stated.
The Vichy French government, still engaged in a border war with Thailand, forms the French Groupe Occasionnel squadron. It has a light cruiser and four patrol boats (avisos). The battle in southern Indochina is as much a naval war as it is a ground campaign, as the area is dominated by the Mekong Delta and its tributaries.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka declared today there is no need for current differences between Japan and the United States to lead to an armed clash “if both of us attend to our own business.” “It would be foolish for the United States and Japan to fight; I will make every effort to avoid such a conflict,” Matsuoka said in an interview in which he freely discussed Japan’s foreign relations with every nation except Soviet Russia. “I do not blame westerners for misunderstanding our activities in China,” he went on. “We are far away and it appears at present that we are not minding our own business, but the future will show our true intentions. However, I do not see any possibility at this time of altering our policy in China, even if it brings the prospect of bettering our relations with the United States, because we are convinced we are doing right.”
Matsuoka, however, knows that neither side is “minding its business” at this point. There is rampant Japanese aggression in China, while effective U.S. sanctions are helping to cause the Japanese to look longingly at the Dutch/Indonesian oilfields to the south.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 131.46 (+0.17)
Born:
Sammy Strain, American pop and R&B singer (Little Anthony & The Imperials, 1958–72; 1992–2005 — “Hurt So Bad”; The O’Jays — “Use Ta Be My Girl”), in Brooklyn, New York, New York.
Bill Crow, ABA guard (Anaheim Amigos), in Los Angeles, California.
Died:
Pietro Maletti, 60, Italian military officer (killed in action in North Africa).
Naval Construction:
The Royal Canadian Navy Bangor-class (Diesel-engined) minesweepers HMCS Trois Riviere (ex-HMCS Three Rivers) (J 269) and HMCS Brockville (J 270) are laid down by Marine Industries Ltd. (Sorel, Quebec, Canada).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type XIV U-boat U-461 is laid down by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel (werk 292).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Loosestrife (K 105) is laid down by Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd. (Aberdeen, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Oxlip (K 123) is laid down by A & J Inglis Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland); completed by Kincaid.
The Royal Navy LCT (Mk 1)-class landing crafts tank HMS LCT 11 and HMS LCT 12 are launched by Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
The Royal Navy LCT (Mk 1)-class landing craft tank HMS LCT 13 is launched by the John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland).
The U.S. Navy 70-foot Elco patrol motor torpedo boat USS PT-18 is launched by the Electric Launch Company Ltd. (Elco), (Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIB U-boat U-83 is launched by Flender Werke AG, Lübeck (werk 291).
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