The last Italian troops were driven out of Egypt by the British Operation COMPASS offensive. At Bardia, Libya, British monitor HMS Terror bombarded the port from 1220 to 1717 hours. British mechanized forces, carrying the war to Italian soil by invading Libya during a desert sandstorm, tonight were reported driving upon the Fascist coastal base of Bardia. Both Bardia, 10 miles across the border from Egypt, and the port of Tobruk farther west were reported in flames after British air and sea attacks. The big Italian naval base of Tripoli, west of Bardia at the other end of Libya, was bombed during Friday night, it was stated officially, and two ships were hit directly. Bitter winds filled the air with clouds of dust as the British mobile forces battled the remnants of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani’s Egyptian forces in the Sollum (Sallum), Egypt, and Fort Capuzzo areas on the border.
The British 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades continue their whirlwind advance across the desert into Italian Libya on 15 December 1940 as Operation Compass morphs from a planned five-day tank raid into a stunningly effective strategic offensive. The Italians, for their part, want no part of the Tommies and scoot further back along the coast road every day. Today, the British take Sollum and easily defensible Halfaya Pass on the fly, bypassing isolated Italian garrisons in the desert to the south (the actual date when the British take these points varies from source to source, but there is no question they are up for grabs by now). Next up for the British are Sidi Omar and nearby Fort Capuzzo, which the Italians show no sign of wanting to defend either. The unlikelihood of the Italians making a stand at Fort Capuzzo is underlined by the fact that they basically abandoned it earlier in the year when they weren’t even under much pressure there.
The Italians, meanwhile, bet all their chips on their stronghold of Bardia, commanded by General Annibale Bergonzoli (known as “Electric Whiskers” due to his once-flaming red beard). The Tenth Army retreat there and reinforce Tobruk, which, aside from being a well-defended fortress, also constitutes a key port which would be much handier for the British than the much smaller one at Sollum. The Italians also bring up three divisions from the interior of Libya and station them on a line between El Mekili and Derna. Since the Italians now have ample warning of an attack and the British are outrunning their supplies, this line has a reasonable chance of holding — but it well inside Libya and 168 km northwest of Tobruk along the most direct route. The British already have Bardia surrounded, trapping the 40,000 Italians inside.
Germany intimated today that she will intervene if Italy is threatened with a serious defeat in North Africa but ridiculed Britain’s desert offensive as “an insignificant sortie” designed to bolster British prestige. The hint of Nazi interference to save Germany’s partner from a debacle in the western desert was made by Adolf Hitler’s official Nazi party organ, the Voelkischer Beobachter, in an article displayed prominently on the front page. Belittling British victories in the desert, the article was significant in that it was the first comment of a Nazi newspaper on the Egyptian campaign. Until now German readers have known nothing of the war in north Africa except what has appeared in Italian communiques reprinted in Germany. “Do the English really think Germany would stand by to see weariness in Italy?” asked the Voelkischer Beobachter.
The Greek 3rd Infantry Division, which took Porto Palermo on the 13th, resumes its advance north toward the key port of Himara in Albania. The Italians have regrouped, though, and now are fighting hard. The weather now is the Italians’ ally. The Regia Aeronautica also is active against the advancing Greek troops.
The ashes of Napoleon II were brought from Vienna to Paris, exactly one hundred years to the day since the retour des cendres when Napoleon Bonaparte’s repatriated remains were interred at Les Invalides. The move was meant as a gesture of reconciliation on the part of Hitler, but a popular joke among the French went that the Parisians would have preferred coal to ashes. Benito Mussolini continued to assert his objection to this friendly gesture by Adolf Hitler to France. Hitler, with his deep fascination regarding obscure European social history, realizes that very few things stir the French soul like repatriating Napoleon to France. The transfer of the dead Emperor’s exhumed body from his place of exile on remote St. Helena back to Paris on 15 December 1840 was one of the great celebrations in 19th Century French history. So, realizing that bringing up memories of Bonaparte’s royal line might also remind the French who sent him to St. Helena in the first place, and realizing that it is 100 years to the day later, Hitler craftily arranges to bring back another dead Napoleon: Napoleon II, also known as the Duke of Reichstadt and “The Eaglet.” While never holding real power and still an infant upon his father’s capture, Napoleon II did technically hold the title Emperor of France for a week before his own abdication. Napoleon II has been interred in deep obscurity in Vienna, Austria since even before the return of his father’s remains.
However, things don’t quite go as Hitler intends. For one thing, the whole affair elicits barely a yawn from the French public, for whom Napoleon II is just a name drawn from aged history books. Napoleon II never ruled France and was barely a blip along the Napoleonic line — which itself is rapidly fading from importance, particularly since Napoleon III proved such a monumental disaster — given his defeat by the Germans at Sedan, the memory of which is a lot fresher than that of Napoleon II. In fact, one thing that Hitler probably didn’t consider is that bringing up the Napoleonic dynasty at this sensitive moment in French history might remind the French that, just as the Germans in 1870 broke through a vastly overrated French Army at Sedan, so too did such an army succumb in an eerily similar way at the same place in 1940. However, Hitler is never known for being particularly empathetic about what other nations might think about his obviously manipulative decisions.
More importantly from the perspective of present relations, however, French Premier Marshal Petain doesn’t even bother attending the ceremony in Paris, which is under German occupation. While Petain has his own issues to deal with at the moment, including the situation with the recently dismissed Pierre Laval, his blasé attitude merely reflects the complete indifference within France by just about everyone. This puts the final verdict to this obvious attempt at emotional manipulation. Hitler, informed that Petain won’t attend, does not attend the ceremony either, and professes outrage that his grand gesture would be dismissed when he “meant so well.” Hitler probably did mean this as a kind gesture, but it does nothing at all to soften relations between the countries. This leaves Hitler’s brief June visit to Paris as the only time that he ever visited Paris, his most significant conquest.
Parisians make light of the whole affair — while the Germans aren’t looking — and the joke is that they would have preferred coal to ashes during a hard winter. The French government as a whole also takes a dim view of the entire affair for decades, and it is not until 1969 that it sets aside a small chamber opposite the entrance of the Dome des Invalides for the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte’s only legitimate child. The whole affair also rankles Mussolini, who remains extremely jealous of Hitler’s overtures to the French.
A reported German attempt to send Nazi troops through France to Libya and Greece to help Italy without disturbing the Italian home morale was declared today to have been rebuffed by France with a flat “no” from Chief of State Marshal Philippe Petain. Petain and a majority of his ministers were said in advices from Vichy to diplomatic sources here to have considered the German move, reportedly made through Vice-Premier Pierre Laval before he was ousted last week from the French government, as an axis attempt to gain a foothold on the French Mediterranean bases.
Pierre Laval was freed from imprisonment after pressure by Hitler. Relations between Germany and Vichy France, currently under great strain, are not helped when the German ambassador, Abetz, formally requests that Laval be released and reinstated. Petain indeed releases Pierre Laval from house confinement but does not restore him to his former positions. However, Laval accrues additional prestige due to being seen as the Germans’ “man in France.” Even though he now is out of office, he is by no means forgotten.
General Harold Alexander is appointed to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command (southwest England, a sensitive area of defense). His temporary rank of lieutenant-general, achieved as a result of his successful withdrawal of I Corps at Dunkirk, becomes permanent. Alexander achieved renown among the troops by being on the last destroyer leaving Dunkirk on 3 June 1940 — they appreciate little touches like that.
Prince Michael Sturdza is forced to resign as Rumanian Foreign Minister after a conflict with Antonescu.
It is widely noted among historians that the Japanese learned vital lessons from the British aerial attack on Taranto which sank three battleships in November 1940. They learn these lessons because two German officers, Baron von Gronau (former German air attaché at the embassy in Tokyo) and Colonel Johann Jebsen (a member of Admiral Canaris’s intelligence staff (Abwehr)), today proceed down to Taranto and write up a report about the attack which they send to Tokyo.
Sixteen German He 111 bombers dropped 11,520 B1 E1 incendiaries on the city of Sheffield in central England, United Kingdom between 1900 and 1950 hours, starting large fires as a beacon for the main force of 50 He 111 bombers and 11 Do 17 bombers. The German raid ended at 2215 hours, damaging steelworks. The Luftwaffe, after a quiet day, revisits Sheffield, which it originally bombed on 12 December. This raid continues its recent practice of repeatedly bombing medium-sized British towns with full-scale attacks. While only a small group of 16 German Heinkel He 111 bombers arrives soon after darkness, they drop thousands of incendiaries that start massive fires. This creates a target visible to the main force, which arrives overhead a couple of hours later. The Luftwaffe pounds the eastern half of the city for three hours, but most of the bombs miss the city’s important factories. The two aerial attacks together kill 750 people and destroy 3000 homes and small businesses. During the night, the Luftwaffe loses five aircraft.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 71 Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys overnight to Berlin, Frankfurt and Kiel; less than half bombed primary targets. Kid reports bombs in the naval yard and in other parts of Kiel with 2 people killed (1 a soldier) and 5 injured and some houses destroyed. 3 Whitleys lost. 8 Hampdens minelaying off Brittany without loss. They also attack Naples. For Naples, it is the second night in a row. As if in a pointed statement to the Italians that “you can run, but you can’t hide,” the British damage another Italian cruiser in the port of Naples. The raids are notable because the British mistakenly bomb the Basel, Switzerland railway station in an epic navigational error.
Battleship HMS Rodney and destroyers HMS Matabele, HMS Escapade, HMS Electra, and HMS Bulldog arrived at Scapa Flow at 1300.
Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth and her escorts arrived at Rosyth at 1330.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa departed Methil at 1830 escorting convoy EN.41, after arriving off May Island at 1300 escorting battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Destroyers HMS Southdown and HMS Brilliant arrived at Scapa Flow at 2100 after escorting battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth. On the passage from Rosyth, HMS Brilliant picked up a fighter pilot crashed off May Island.
Destroyer HMS Eclipse arrived at Scapa Flow at 0245 after duty with Force H.
Destroyer HMS Leamington arrived at Scapa Flow at 1400 after escorting Convoy SL.56 with destroyer HMS Burnham, and began working up at Scapa Flow.
Minesweeper HMS Britomart was in a collision with Minesweeper HMS Seagull. She was repaired at Aberdeen completing on 11 January.
In a flying accident north of Kirriemuir, a Swordfish of 767 Squadron crashed killing Sub Lt (A) B. C. Pocock RNVR, Lt P. K. L. Odhams and Leading Airman H. V. Jones.
British steamer N. C. Monberg (2301grt), in convoy FS.360, was sunk by German motor torpedo boat S.58 east of Yarmouth in 52‑40N, 02‑10E. Eight crewmen and the naval gunner were lost on the British steamer.
Monitor HMS Terror bombarded Bardia from 1220 to 1717.
British Port Said section of convoy MW.5B of steamers Volo, Rodi, Pontfield, and Ulster Prince departed Port Said in Operation HIDE.
Light cruiser HMS Orion departed Alexandria for Suda Bay and Piraeus.
Free French submarine Narval, which had departed Malta on her third patrol on the 2nd, was lost in a mining off Kerkenah. The submarine was to have arrived back at Malta on the 16th.
Light cruiser HMS Sheffield arrived at Gibraltar from Azores patrol.
Deep in the Atlantic, German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer transfers its prisoner to supply vessel Nordmark. The British continue fruitlessly to search for heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer around the Canary Islands.
Convoy SL.59 departed Freetown escorted by anti-submarine trawlers HMS Kelt and HMS Spaniard to 17 December. The convoy was joined on the 20th by armed merchant cruiser HMS Cathay to 31 December. On 1 January, destroyers HMS Scimitar and HMS Skate, ocean boarding vessel HMS Crispin, corvettes HMS Arabis, HMS Clarkia, and HMS Mallow, and anti-submarine trawlers HMS Man O War, HMS Northern Dawn, HMS Northern Pride, and HMS St Elstan joined. The ocean boarding vessel and corvette Clarkia were detached on 3 January. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 5 January.
Convoy SLS.59 departed Freetown escorted by anti-submarine trawler HMS Bengali to 17 December. On 2 January, corvettes HMS Heartsease and HMS Hollyhock joined the convoy; Hollyhock was detached on 5 January. Corvettes HMS Bluebell and HMS Candytuft joined on 3 January and were detached on 4 January. Destroyers HMS Amazon and HMS Ambuscade and anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Lillian joined on 5 January. The convoy arrived on 7 January.
Convoy SC.16 departed Halifax at 1100 with ocean escort of battleship HMS Royal Sovereign. On the 29th, destroyers HMS Active, HMS Antelope, and HMS Georgetown joined the convoy. They were detached on the 30th. Corvettes HMS Heather and HMS Picotee and anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Madeleine joined on the 29th and escorted the convoy into Liverpool arriving on the 31st.
President Roosevelt returns to the capital tomorrow to pump new life into the rearmament drive, admitted by defense chieftains to be lagging. Observers believed that drastic action to step up production of defense materials was imminent, possibly a presidential proclamation extending the present “limited” emergency to a full emergency. Some observers felt Mr. Roosevelt would keep this drastic move as an ace in the hole and limit his immediate action to a fireside chat emphasizing the need for prompt preparedness. Documents to put the nation on a full emergency basis are ready and need only the president’s signature and seal.
After a long telephone conversation with Secretary Hull in Washington, President Roosevelt today told patients of the foundation for the victims of infantile paralysis here that he hoped to return for a two-week stay in the Spring “if the world survives.” The President made this statement offhand while addressing a few informal remarks to the patients at the end of a luncheon. “I hope to be down here next March without any question — if the world survives — for the usual two weeks next Spring,” he said. It was recalled that, when leaving here in the Spring of 1939 a few months before the start of the European war, the President promised to be back in the Fall “if we don’t have a war.”
Mr. Roosevelt conferred by phone with the Secretary of State, who is in Washington, just before detraining at Warm Springs at 11 AM. There was no definite information as to what Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Hull discussed in their first direct conversation since the President left Miami for a Caribbean cruise nearly two weeks ago. Presumably Secretary Hull gave his chief a round-up of the international situation. Twice again during the day Mr. Roosevelt indicated that he considered the international situation as one of extreme gravity.
Just before boarding his private car early this evening for the trip to Washington, he indicated deep concern to Judge Revell of Greenville, Georgia, remarking that he was “trying to keep things steady.” Finally, addressing assembled villagers, as he stood on the platform just before his special train pulled out for Washington, Mr. Roosevelt said that he would return in the Spring “if things go all right.” The President will confer with Secretary Hull immediately after his arrival in Washington tomorrow, Major General Edwin M. Watson, secretary to the President, announced on the train this evening. General Watson said that the meeting had no special importance. Earlier it had been said that Mr. Roosevelt would have no appointments tomorrow.
A decision on the question of extending further aid to Great Britain, with particular reference to credit and, possibly, shipping, is expected in many circles after Mr. Roosevelt’s return to the nation’s capital tomorrow. The American military attaché in London, Brigadier General Raymond E. Lee, has been recalled to Washington, and a series of conferences on the matter have been regarded as likely.
The Duke of Windsor and his party will sail from Miami for Nassau aboard the yacht Southern Cross Tuesday afternoon, Captain Vyvyan Drury, aide-de-camp to the former King, announced in Miami today.
Acceleration of the national defense program by a declaration of a state of emergency and the enactment of legislation that “will be equivalent to full industrial, military and naval mobilization” is advocated in a statement issued today by thirty-four educators and research scientists of institutions at Princeton, New Jersey.
Congressional leaders said today that President Roosevelt’s expected veto of the Logan-Walter bill might prevent a recess of the national Legislature over Christmas and perhaps force continuation of the session until the New Year.
Charges of communism within its ranks today split wide open the union representing 8,000 employees of the strategically important Boeing Aircraft Company. Over the protest of the union president, a mass meeting of local 751 of the aeronautical mechanics union voted yesterday to accept the trial board report finding Vice-President Donald R. Keppler “guilty of communistic activity.” The vote was 429 to 344.
Last honors to the Marquess of Lothian, the British Ambassador, were paid today at the public funeral service in the Cathedral Church of SS Peter and Paul. The rites were attended by Cabinet officers, Supreme Court justices, the entire diplomatic corps with the exception of the German and Italian missions, and hundreds of ordinary citizens who wished to join in the homage to Lord Lothian. All the seats in the huge nave of the fourteenth-century style Gothic cathedral were filled, as were those in the north gallery, and late comers were obliged to stand in the rear and in the chapels adjoining the nave.
Headquarters, Eighth Naval District, closed at Charleston, South Carolina, and established at New Orleans, Louisiana; Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson, Jr., is Acting Commandant.
“Pride of the Bowery,” starring “The East Side Kids,” is released.
A mutual defense understanding between Mexico and the United States, expected to shape into a far-reaching program of military and economic collaboration within the next year, was reported unofficially today under discussion between Mexico City and Washington. A source close to the administration of President Manuel Avila Camacho described the two governments as moving “cautiously” toward an understanding under which: 1. Financial assistance from the United States might be accepted for improvement of existing naval bases, which would be at the disposal of the United States fleet for servicing, refueling and repairs. 2. Mexican air bases might be enlarged and made available for United States short-range fighter planes operating between the United States and the Panama Canal Zone, or to naval planes in support of the fleet in the event of actual warfare off Mexico’s Pacific coast, in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Caribbean Sea. Linked with these discussions, this source disclosed, further conversations are underway contemplating: A border agreement patterned after that between the United States and Canada; possible transfer of four United States destroyers to Mexico; limited mechanization of the Mexican army with United States financial aid; exchange of naval, air and army officers for a better understanding of defense problems and Mexican guarantees to United States capital for investment in Mexico.
German raider Atlantis, in the uninhabited Kerguelen Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, remains stuck on a rock which has torn a chunk from its outer hull (but, fortunately for the German crew, not the more important inner hull).
Both Chinese and Japanese sources reported today a Japanese aerial bombardment yesterday of a Burma Road bridge and of a Chinese hydro-electric plant near Kunming, but their versions differed. Domei, Japanese news agency, said the new Kung-kuo Bridge over the Mekong River was blasted successfully and the power plant also bombed. Chinese reports said nine Japanese planes made the attacks, but failed to damage either target.
After nearly two peaceful days on the troubled border between Indo-China and Thailand (Siam), eight Thai planes were reported to have dropped more than 30 bombs today in a two-hour attack on the frontier towns of Savannakhet and Vientiane. Besides the air bombing, Thai forces were said to have fired five artillery shells across the Mekong River into Savannakhet. French Indo-China officials said the new flareup surprised them because they had expected progress toward a settlement to grow out of what they considered radio peace feelers from Bangkok.
Vice Admiral Jean Decoux, French Governor General of Indo-China, tonight emphasized that his government was ready “at any moment” to renew normal dealings with Thailand’s government at Bangkok.
Born:
Nick Buoniconti, AFL and NFL linebacker (NFL Champions, Super Bowls VII and VIII-Dolphins; AFL All-Star, 1963–1967, 1969; Pro Bowl 1972, 1973; Boston Patriots, Miami Dolphins) and sportscaster (NBC), in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 2019).
Barbara Valentin, Austrian actress, in Vienna, Austria (d. 2002).
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy “U”-class (Third Group) submarine HMS P-32 is launched by Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.).
The Royal Navy LCT (Mk 1)-class landing craft, tank HMS LCT 12 is commissioned.
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “S” (Stalinec)-class (2nd group, Type IX-modified) submarine S-101 is commissioned.
The Nihon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) Kagerō-class destroyer HIJMS Urakaze (浦風; “Wind on the Sea”) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Commander Shiraishi Nagayoshi.
History Diaries 