17 January 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

January 17th, 1939 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: IRA bombs blast London, Manchester, Birmingham and Alnwick in Northumberland.

FRANCE: Battleship FS Richelieu launched.

GERMANY: Jews are forbidden to drive cars or practise as dentists, pharmacists or vets.

17 January 1940

January 17th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

EUROPE: 79 degrees of frost are reported in Moscow, and the sound between Denmark and Sweden freezes over.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British Foreign Office replies to the U.S. protest on the treatment of mail, concluding that "His Majesty's Government find themselves unable to share the views of the United States government that their [the British] action in examining neutral mail in British or neutral shipping is contrary to their obligations under international law."

At 1700, SS Cairnross (Master Laurence Halcrow) in Convoy OB-74 struck a mine, laid on 6 January by U-30 and sank seven miles 276° from the Bar Lightvessel, Liverpool. The master and 47 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Mackay and landed at Liverpool.

At 1156, U-25 spotted two steamers 6-7 miles north of Muckle Flugga, Shetland Isles and fired one torpedo at 1235 hours that missed the first ship, the Enid. Ten minutes later, another torpedo was fired at the second ship, the Polzella, which was hit near the bridge and sank in 12 seconds with the loss of all men. The Norwegian ship went to her assistance and the order was given to lower the boats, but the U-boat surfaced and fired a shot across the bow to stop her. When the ship turned away they opened fire and after three shots the crew abandoned ship. Then the U-boat fired 21 rounds from the deck gun and hit seven times. At 1410 a coup de grâce was fired that broke off the forepart and caused the ship to sink. One part of the Norwegian crew reached land in their lifeboats, while the rest were rescued by a Danish ship of A. P. Møller and Co and taken to Las Palmas.

Submarine HMS Traveler laid down.

Corvette HMS Convovulus laid down.

FRANCE: Polish cryptographers break the Luftwaffe Enigma key of October 28th. This allows for routine decoding hereafter.

AUSTRIA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA: RAF Whitley bombers make night leaflet raids on Prague and Vienna.

FINLAND: Russians on the Salla front are driven back 12 miles by the Finnish Army.

GIBRALTAR: US passenger liner SS Manhattan and freighter SS Excambion are detained at Gibraltar by British authorities; the former is kept there for only a few hours before being allowed to proceed.

AUSTRALIA: AMC HMAS Westralia commissioned.

17 January 1941

January 17th, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Swansea: The town is badly hit by incendiaries and HE.

Glasgow:

Winston Churchill ended his tour of the civil defence organisation here with a speech made in the presence of President Roosevelt's personal envoy, Harry Hopkins. The Prime Minister told his American visitor: "We don't require in 1941 large armies from overseas. What we do require are weapons, ships and aeroplanes. All that we can pay for we will pay for, but we require far more than we shall be able to pay for ..."

Minesweeping trawler HMS Horatio commissioned.

Fair Isle: A Luftwaffe Heinkel He-111 crash lands at Vaasetter on Orkney, killing two of its crew. The plane had been on a weather reconnaissance mission when it was pursued and shot down by allied aircraft. Miraculously three crew members survive the crash, and are met by a small group of islanders, led by George 'Fieldy' Stout, who made a citizen's arrest. The men await the arrival of a Royal naval detachment.

GERMANY: In a speech to miners Göring says "There is not task so great that it cannot be solved by a German." Referring to air-raids he remarks, "Everywhere in the Reich, armament factories are undisturbed. Here and there an occasional bomb has temporarily caused interruptions, but not a single plant, not a single factory of importance, has been destroyed."

GREECE: CIGS to Wavell:

The refusal of the Greeks of 102 Reg. RHA and company of light tanks for the Albanian front is noted.

...Assume you have explained to Metaxas the information on which our desire to supply forces to meet a German invasion is based ... may be the Greeks have information ... which causes them to view the German preparations in a different light.

CHINA: The Nationalist government disbands the Communist New Fourth Army as rebellious.

SOUTH CHINA SEA: The Vichy French and Thailand fight the Battle of Koh Chang: the Vichy French retaliate against Thai moves against Cambodia. The French squadron (Rear Admiral Jules Terraux) consisting of light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet, colonial sloops Admiral Charner and Dumont D'Urville and sloops Tahure and Marne, decisively defeats a Thai Navy force in a surface gunnery and torpedo action fought in the Gulf of Siam, sinking coast defence ship Dhonburi and torpedo boats Cholbury and Songkhla and damaging coast defence ship Sri Ayuthia and torpedo boat Trat in about two hours.

NEWFOUNDLAND: The first American troops arrive at St. John’s, Newfoundland, aboard the USAT Edmund B. Alexander. She will serve as a barracks ship for the 1200 troops until permanent quarters are built ashore.

U.S.A.: The first Consolidated Liberator destined for the RAF (AM 258) makes its maiden flight. It will be delivered by air across the Atlantic in March.

Bethlehem Steel, of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, changes its operations to all-out war production of steel plate for ships and tanks, structural steel for defence plants and forgings for guns, shells and aircraft engines.

Bethlehem's 15 shipyards will build 1,121 ships, more than any other shipbuilder in World War II. At peak of production, Bethlehem employs almost 300,000 people, 180,000 of them in shipbuilding. (Drew Halevy)

Secretary of the Navy Knox testified for the lend-lease bill.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The unescorted SS Alameda Star (Master Harry Cecil Howard, Commodore of the Blue Star Line) evaded three attacks about 35 miles NE of Rockall, before the ship was hit at 0745 by U-96. After two coups de grâce were fired at 0805 and 0907, the U-boat fired 28 incendiary shells (about 15 hits) between 0932 and 0948. The Alameda Star finally sank in 58°40N/13°38W three minutes after another coup de grâce had been fired at 0955. The master, 136 crewmembers, 29 gunners and 194 passengers were lost.

17 January 1942

January 17th, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Corvette HMCS Sorel arrived Leith, Scotland for repairs.

Minesweeping trawler BHMS Sir Tristram launched.

Corvette FS Commandant d'Estienne d'Orves (ex-HMS Lotus) launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler is getting rid of the generals who have failed to bring him victory in Russia. He sacked Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch on 19 December and took the opportunity to make himself C-in-C of the army. Field Marshal von Leeb, the commander of Army Group North, resigned yesterday after Hitler refused him permission to retreat from Demyansk where 100,000 men are nearly surrounded.

Another Field Marshal, von Bock of Army Group Centre, was relieved on 20 December at his own request because of stomach trouble brought on by his failure to take Moscow. Field Marshal von Rundstedt of Army Group South was sacked for telling Hitler it was madness not to retreat after the loss of Rostov, making a clean sweep of his commanders in Russia. Today von Reichenau, who took over from von Rundstedt, dies when his plane crashes while flying him to Leipzig for surgery and he suffers severe head injuries. The tank genius General Guderian was sacked on Christmas Eve for a withdrawal in defiance of Hitler's orders. Hopner went for the same reason, leaving Hitler now in supreme command.

U-442 launched.

U-232 and U-194 laid down.

ARCTIC OCEAN: In the first U-boat attack on an Arctic convoy, the Tribal class destroyer HMS MATABELE is torpedoed and sunk by U-454 in the Barents Sea off Murmansk at 69 21N, 35 34E while escorting convoy PQ-8. There are only three survivors as the destroyer explodes when hit a second time a few hours later and sinks in two minutes. Even in that short time, many had managed to abandon ship only to be frozen to death in the icy waters.(Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)(108)

At 1846 hours, SS Harmatris in Convoy PQ-8 was hit by one torpedo from U-454 amidships and caught fire. The fire was extinguished and the ship reached port safely.

Soviet steam trawler RT-68 Enisej torpedoed and sunk by U-454.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: At 0735 Destroyer HMS Gurkha is hit by one torpedo from U-133 and catches fire from bow to stern. HNMS Isaac Sweers tows GURKHA clear of the burning oil on the surface. They are North of Bardia at 31 50N 26 14E. Most crewmembers are then transferred to the Dutch destroyer by boats and landed at Tobruk this evening. There are 9 casualties. The burning destroyer has to be scuttled north of Sidi Barrani. Gurkha had been escorting the Malta convoy MW-8B (four fast transports covered by Admiral Vian's Mediterranean Fleet cruiser force), which had arrived in Malta on 19 January without further casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

EGYPT: 30 Corps, British Eighth Army, receives the surrender of the Halfaya garrison and takes 5500 German and Italian prisoners. The 1st Free French Brigade Group was to have participated in the attack on Halfaya, had the garrison not surrendered. They have been besieged by a South Africans unit. The Italian a garrison unit, built around the Savona Division and under the orders of that division's commander, General De Giorgis, is still holding on despite being completely surrounded, badly outnumbered, 500 miles in the British rear. This unit has held this position since being bypassed during Operation Crusader on December 8, 1941.

LIBYA: With the destruction of the Axis forces in East Cyrenaica and reopening of communication line from there into Egypt, the first phase of Libyan campaign is successfully concluded. In West Cyrenaica, British 13 Corps reconnoiters the Germans El Agheila position.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African Nationalists push a motion in Parliament to make the nation a republic disassociated from Britain, that would declare neutrality. The Parliament rejects the Afrikaners' motion.

CHINA: Pilots of the 3d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down three Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-30, Army Type 97 Light Bombers (to be given the Allied Code Name “Ann”) near Mengtzu at 1017 hours local.

PHOENIX ISLANDS: The six USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17s that landed on Palmyra Island in the Line Islands yesterday continue on to Canton Island.

JAPAN: The Japanese Carrier Striking Force sails to participate in operations in the Bismarck Archipelago.

SINGAPORE: Time is running out for the hard-pressed defenders of Malaya. With Kuala Lumpur in Japanese hands and its inhabitants in flight, the Japanese 5th and Guards Divisions are pressing southwards to Johore State where the coming battle will decide the fate of Singapore.

In their first clash with the Japanese at Gemas, the Australians ambushed and slaughtered a large number of bicycle-riding Japanese and withdrew next day in good order. The 45th Indian Brigade was defeated on the Muar river by the Japanese Guards Division. Fierce fighting followed, with Lieutenant-General Percival's army forced to retreat towards Singapore.

MALAYA: Additional reinforcements are moved into the Muar-Yong Peng area as the Japanese continue attacks and build up. West Force withdraws a battalion from Segamat, and East Force releases one from Jemaluang for operations in this area.
Twenty seven Japanese bombers attack Sembawang Airfield and destroy most of the buildings and the water supply.

BORNEO: Japanese troops land at Sandakan, in British North Borneo.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the II Corps counterattacks to restore the western portion of the line, formerly held by the 51st Division, Philippine Army (PA), and makes limited progress. The U.S. 31st Infantry, moving north from the Abucay Hacienda area, reaches the Balantay River on the left but is unable to make much headway on the right. Reserves move forward to plug a gap between the assault battalions. The Japanese encircling column begins an unopposed march down the Abo-Abo River toward Orion. In the I Corps area, Moron defenders fall back under enemy pressure to a ridge south and southeast of Moron.

PACIFIC: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-60 is sunk by British destroyer HMS Jupiter 25 miles (40 kilometres) north-northwest of Krakatoa, Java, Netherlands East Indies, in position 06.00S, 105.00E.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Echuca launched.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Nipigon returned to Halifax from Sydney Force.

U.S.A.: 78th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) and its three subordinate units, the 82d, 83d and 84th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor) of the USAAF, are constituted.

The War Department appoints Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Commanding General of the USAAF’s Far East Air Force (FEAF), as commander of tactical forces in the Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) area of the Southwest Pacific.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0359, the unescorted RFA Nyholt, dispersed from convoy ON-52, was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-87 about 180 miles south of Cape Race. The explosion destroyed three tanks on her port side, but she remained afloat and tried to get to Newfoundland. The U-boat had difficulties to hit the wild zigzagging tanker and missed with four torpedoes at 0404, 0408, 0455 and 0534. While reloading the tubes, the tanker tried to ram the U-boat and both ships turned in circles near to each other’s until the stern tube was reloaded. The stern torpedo was fired at 0821 hours and hit the ship amidships on the port side, followed by a bow torpedo four minutes later, but the last torpedo fired at 0826 hours missed and the U-boat had to sink the ship with the deck gun after the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats. 120 rounds were fired between 0902 and 0935 hours, of which about 70 were hits. When the Nyholt was abandoned, the master and two men fell overboard and only the master could be rescued by one of the lifeboats. The first engineer died on the second day, his wool sweater was given to someone who had none and the lifeboats became separated during a storm around 21 January, one of them with 13 crewmen, one passenger and one gunner in it was never seen again. The motor boat with 24 survivors was spotted by a Hudson aircraft nine days after the sinking, just as they were about to bury a crewmember, who died in the lifeboat. The aircraft dropped two life vests containing two thermoses with warm liquids, apples, oranges, cigarettes and some sandwiches of the aircraft crew. The survivors were later picked up by the HMCS St Clair and landed at Halifax on 27 January. The master died on board of the destroyer, while a passenger (the former first engineer of Taranger) died at a hospital on 5 February.

At 1121, the unescorted SS Octavian was hit by two torpedoes from U-203 and immediately sank off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The ship had been reported missing with a crew of 16 Norwegians and 1 British on board.

U-123 sank SS San Jose at 39.15N, 74.09W - Grid CA 5756.

17 January 1943

January 17th, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Anti-aircraft shells and shrapnel kill 23 people and injure 60 during a raid on the city by 118 German planes; six are reported lost.

Minesweeper HMS Steadfast launched.

FRANCE: Brothels should be established at all Waffen-SS garrisons in occupied France. This is the view of Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer, who believes that what he calls "this naturalness" will increase the performance of his men, presumably in their military duties.

Himmler's order was conveyed in a letter to Karl Albrecht Oberg, the head of the police and the SS in occupied France, on 5 January. he is apparently worried by the increase is sexual diseases amongst the SS soldiers; prostitutes in the brothels, however, would come under regular medical supervision.

GERMANY: Raiding Berlin for the second night in a row, the RAF drops 8,000-pound bombs on the city; the BBC broadcaster Richard Dimbleby flies as an observer.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet Navy lists submarine L-23 Black Sea Fleet Karkinitski zaliv (mined off Yevpatoeria by German ASW aircraft).

CHINA: Chungking: In a move to strengthen the alliance with China and end a long-standing Chinese grievance, Britain and the US have surrendered their century-old neo-colonial territorial rights to the international settlements. The decision made by Britain and America, formally agreed last week, abrogates their citizens' rights to immunity from Chinese law and national rights to station troops under the so-called "unequal treaties", legacies of the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The deal was the result of pressure from the Chinese Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, who said that the humiliation of a century had been wiped away.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 37 105mm and 12 155mm artillery pound the Gifu with 1,700 shells between 1430 and 1600 into the "Gifu", an area of 1000 square yards, on Guadalcanal. An all out assault is precluded due to the hour, which wastes the effect of this barrage. US troops 300 yards from the pocket are dazed by the concussion. US forces also use loudspeakers to broadcast a demand for surrender.

U.S.A.: Light fleet carrier USS Cowpens launched.

Escort carrier USS Natoma Bay laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Flaherty launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Vestfold, while in Convoy HX-222 with HMS LCT 2239, 2267 and 2344 as deck cargo, torpedoed and sunk by U-268.

17 January 1944

January 17th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Eisenhower appoints General Omar N. Bradley to command the US Army in the field under him.

Escort carrier HMS Rajah commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss."L-23" - by surface ASW ships, NW to cape Tarhankut.

ITALY: British X Corps of the 5th Army begins Operation Panther with attacks along the river Garigliano.

LIBERIA: Monrovia breaks off diplomatic relations with Berlin. (Mike Yared)

AUSTRALIA begins rationing on meat.

Frigate HMAS Barcoo commissioned.

NEW BRITAIN: Japanese resistance at Arawe ends.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Tillsonburg (ex-HMS Pembroke Castle) commissioned.

U.S.A.:

Destroyer USS Cushing commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Astute commissioned.

Destroyers USS Hank and John W Weeks laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-377 sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Ireland, in position 49.39N, 20.10W, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Wanderer and frigate HMS Glenarm. 52 dead (all hands lost).

U-305 Sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland, in position 49.39N, 20.10W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Wanderer and the frigate Glenarm. 51 dead (all hands lost).

U-544 Sunk in the North Atlantic north-west of the Azores, in position 40.30N, 37.20W, by depth charges and rockets from Avenger aircraft (VC-13) of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal. 57 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

17 January 1945

January 17th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Light cruiser HMCS Ontario commissioned Belfast.

Aircraft carrier HMS Venerable commissioned. (DS)

BELGIUM: Against light opposition the 502nd Parachute Infantry closed out the battle at Bastogne for the 101st Airborne Division by seizing the village of Bourcy, seven kilometres northeast of Bastogne. Eighty four prisoners were taken bringing to 1,728 seized by the division since the battle began on 16 December 1944. The remainder of the division is trucked to the rear and goes into VIII Corps reserve in the vicinity of Sibert. During the one month battle for Bastogne the division took, 3,458 casualties. (Jay Stone)

In one 30 hour period the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry took 5.8% of those casualties, to include one Field Artillery Forward Observer. Taking lots of casualties can never be equated with effectiveness but the battalion, along with its comrades in Task Force Desorby, gave more than it got. (Jay)

GERMANY: U-1308, U-2534 commissioned.

U-2523 sunk at position 4 at the Blohm and Voss yard in Hamburg, by bombs. Wreck broken up.

U-2515 sunk in Dock 111, Hamburg, by bombs while damaged sections from mining were being replaced. Wreck broken up.

(DS)

HUNGARY: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappears while in Soviet custody. (Rodney Sanders)

POLAND: Warsaw is cleared of German resistance by the Russians.

Konev's 1st Ukrainian front liberates Krakow via Kielce. (Russ Folsom)

CANADA: Auxiliary minelayer HMS Menestheus commenced conversion to amenities ship North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Corvette HMCS Parry Sound departed St John's as escort for Convoy HX-332. (DS)

U.S.A.: Submarine USS Mero launched. (DS)

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