12 December 1939

CHINA: Two Chinese provinces bordering Manchukuo, Chahar and Hopei, are declared to be autonomous by the Japanese.

SWITZERLAND: Ethiopia asks the League of Nations Assembly to discuss the Hoare-Laval peace proposal before Ethiopia replies stating that ". . . in order that, by a full and free public debate, conducted frankly in the face of the world, free from all pressure, direct or indirect, every Member State should be enabled to express its opinion on the true practical significance of the proposals submitted to Ethiopia and: on the general problem of the conditions which are indispensable if a settlement between the victim of a properly established act of aggression and the aggressor government is not in practice to result in destroying the League of Nations by bringing final ruin upon the system of guaranteed collective security provided for by the Covenant."

The League of Nations Committee of Eighteen postpones the adoption of the oil sanctions against Italy for the invasion of Ethiopia stating ". . . the committee should refrain from any measure which might have a political character, so long as the Council of the League had not been able to take a decision on the merits of the new proposals put forward by France and the United Kingdom. The adoption of any new measure by the Committee of Eighteen might prejudice the action which the Council, in virtue of its powers, would shortly have to take."

CHINA: Zhang Xueliang and General Yang Hucheng kidnap General Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an (Sian) in an effort to force Chiang to declare war against the Japanese. There are demonstrations of support for Chiang across China, including the Communist Chinese. These demonstrations force Chang to release Chiang and Chiang's support reflects a great deal of unity among the Chinese people. Hucheng is imprisoned by Chiang and spends decades under house arrest until Chiang Kai-shek dies in the 1970s.

INTERNATIONAL: Italy, Germany, and Portugal reject the Franco-British proposal of 4 December on mediation in Spain because they consider reconciliation between the Nationalists and Republicans as hardly conceivable. The Franco-British proposal asked Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Russia to mediate in Spain and organize an effective control scheme.

UNITED STATES: The motion picture "Camille" opens in New York City. This romantic drama directed by George Cukor stars Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor and Lionel Barrymore. Garbo is nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role. Members of the American Film Institute voted this film as No. 33 on the list of the 100 Greatest American Love Story.

CHINA: Yesterday, the USN river gunboat USS Panay (PR-5) departed Nanking with the remaining members of the U.S. Embassy staff. As the Japanese are attacking the city, the majority of the staff had left on 22 November. Also embarked on Panay are a number of civilians. The ship starts upriver, escorting three Standard Oil barges. Two British river gunboats, HMS Ladybird and HMS Bee and a few other British craft follow the same course. For 2 miles (3,2 kilometers) this little flotilla is fired upon repeatedly by a shore battery commanded by Colonel HASHIMOTO; his object is to provoke the U.S. into a declaration of war, which will eliminate civilian influence from the Japanese government and complete the "Showa Restoration." (The Showa Restoration was a combination of Japanese nationalism, Japanese expansionism, and Japanese militarism all carried out in the name of the Showa Emperor, Hirohito.) The shooting is so wild that Panay and her convoy, making slow speed against the current, pull out of range without suffering a hit. An advanced Army unit notifies naval authorities that Chinese troops are fleeing the capital in ten ships. At 1100 today, USS Panay and the three tankers anchor near Hoshien, upstream from Nanking. American flags are hoisted on their masts and painted on the awnings and topsides. The day is clear, sunny and still. Panay's crew eat their Sunday dinner and secure. No guns are manned or even uncovered. Shortly after 1330 hour, three Japanese Navy aircraft fly overhead and release 18 bombs, one of which disables Panay's forward 3-inch (7,62 centimeter) gun, wrecked the pilothouse, sick bay and fire room and wound the captain and several others. Immediately after, 12 more planes dive-bomb and nine fighters strafe, making several runs over a space of 20 minutes. Panay's crew fight back with 30-caliber (7.62 millimeter) machine guns. By 1406 hours all power and propulsion are lost, the main deck is awash and, as the captain sees that his ship is sinking, he orders her to be abandoned. Japanese planes strafe the boats on their way to shore, and even comb the reeds along the riverbank for survivors. Two of the three oil barges are also bombed and destroyed. The Panay survivors, kindly treated by the Chinese, manage to get word through to Admiral Harry Yarnell, Commander-in-Chief Asiatic Fleet, and are taken on board U.S.S. Oahu (PR-6) and HMS Ladybird two days later. Two sailors and a civilian passenger die of their wounds; eleven officers and men were seriously wounded. The Japanese maintain that the attack was unintentional, and they agree to pay US$2 million (US$26.3 million in 2004 dollars) in reparations.

GERMANY: The Government announces they would never return to the League of Nations stating, "At no period of its existence has it proved competent to make a useful contribution to the treatment of actual problems of world politics. On the contrary it has exercised only a harmful, even dangerous, influence on the whole political development of the post-war period. Under the protection of alleged ideals it became more and more the instrument of particular wire-pullers of the Versailles order. Instead of guiding international politics along the road of fruitful development through a reasonable balance of the natural forces and needs of the nations, Geneva has principally occupied itself with the elaboration and application of methods for working against such a development. The complete failure of the League is today a fact which requires no further proof and no further discussion. The hopes which, above all, many small nations. placed in the League have given way to the realization that the Geneva policy of collective security has in fact led to a collective insecurity . . . the political system of Genera is not only a failure but pernicious."

UNITED STATES: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a bit upset with National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio. The FCC scolds the radio network for a skit that starred Mae West. The satirical routine is based on the biblical tale of Adam and Eve and, well, it got a bit out of hand. So, following its scolding by the FCC, NBC banned Miss West from its airwaves for 15 years. Even the mere mention of her name on NBC was prohibited.

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces that Britain has no legal obligation to assist France in the event of Italian aggression.

RAF Bomber Command: 'Security Patrols' - Hornum - Borkum. 77 Sq. Six aircraft. One bombed a flarepath, one damaged by Flak. Two enemy aircraft seen, but these did not attack. 102 Sq. Two aircraft One bombed a flarepath. The purpose of these operations over the seaplane bases of Borkum and Hornum was to curb the activities of the German mine laying aircraft. A system of standing patrols is initiated with Whitley's operating in relays and bombing any sign of activity.

RAF Coastal Command: The Secretary for Air announces that 57 attacks have been made on German submarines.

U-13 laid a mine barrier off the Firth of Tay, which later claimed one ship sunk.

GERMANY: The German liner 'Bremen' (51000 tons) arrives at Bremerhaven from Murmansk, having evaded the British blockade. Bremen had been steaming down the North Sea at full speed from her temporary hiding place at Petsamo, in Kola Fjord, U.S.S.R., up in the Arctic circle. When Bremen was in the North Sea about 117 nautical miles (216 kilometers) south of Stavanger, Norway, she was intercepted by the British submarine HMS/M Salmon (N 65) within easy torpedo range, and her huge size made her a target that could hardly be missed. Yet, even though she was escorted by German aircraft, the Bremen was still a merchant ship and so, in international law, could not be sunk unless she refused to stop when challenged. It was not an easy decision for Salmon's captain to make, especially with his knowledge of what was happening to British liners and merchant ships out in the Atlantic, where they were being sunk by U-boats without warning. Yet, in spite of the great temptation, he brought the Salmon to the surface and flashed the letter K, which in code meant "Stop Instantly." The Salmon's gun was loaded, but before a shot could be fired across the Bremen's bows, the escorting Dornier-18 aircraft came diving down allowing the ship to proceed to Germany.(Peter Beeston)

The Government issues a decree making two years of forced labor mandatory for all male Polish Jews between 14 and 60.

FINLAND: Today Colonel Paavo Talvela's seven Finnish battalions start a counter-attack against Soviet 139th Division at Tolvajärvi, northern Karelia. The Soviet division has been stopped in numerous small battles in four previous days. By Christmas the 139th and the assisting 75th Division had been beaten back almost to their starting positions.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Russia rejects the League of Nations demands for peace with Finland.

U.S.A.: Actor Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman), 56, dies in Santa Monica, California of a heart attack.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: On U-23, two later heroes of the U-boat war, Otto Kretschmer and Adi Schnee, fired two torpedoes at a rock, which appeared in the darkness to be a warship.

RAF Fighter Command: Operational Instruction No. 56 commands Blenheim Mk 1F fighters of No. 23 Squadron. to begin Operation Intruder attacks against enemy aerodromes at night.

USS Claxton (DD-140), commissioned as HMS Salisbury (I-52), part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)

Destroyer HMS Martin launched.

Submarine HMS Urge commissioned.

Minesweeper HMS Romney commissioned.

EIRE:

Constraints, rules of 'The Emergency'

The Irish Times

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Joe Joyce

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The first winter of the second World War was notable for minor skirmishes in western Europe and all-out warfare in the east of the continent while people in Ireland were still adjusting to the constraints and practices of “The Emergency” (this is what the Irish government called World War II. Some of the preoccupations of the time were recorded by Quidnunc in the Irishman’s Diary on this day in 1940.

I SUPPOSE that the great majority of my readers by this time have grown accustomed to listen in to the English news from Hamburg and Station DJA, whatever that may be, and to recognise the dulcet tones of His Lordship of Haw Haw, as well as those of his anonymous colleague who, in my humble opinion, speaks far more respectable English, and whose criticisms are likely to be far more damaging than those of the now world-famous announcer.

How many of them, however, have been listening to the infinitely more interesting and better-informed English broadcasts from Sweden, which nightly give an admirable survey of the present situation in Scandinavia, with particular reference to Finland?

Every night, with the exception of Sunday, the Swedes broadcast in English at a quarter to 10.

Their broadcasts can be heard best on the medium wave band at 265 metres (1.13 MHz). They only last about five minutes, but they should not be missed.

Another Boundary Problem

Several citizens of this State (Eire) have been wondering what will happen to them when, and if, they have occasion to visit the six counties (Northern Ireland). I am not suggesting that they have reason to fear imprisonment or anything similarly drastic. Their concern is entirely for the inner man.

What will happen, they ask, when they want a meal at a hotel or restaurant in Belfast? Will they not be entitled to butter, sugar or bacon?

On that point, I think, they can be assured, that is to say, if the Belfast system agrees strictly with the English plan. I gather from the cross-Channel newspapers that anybody who takes a meal in a public resort is entitled to a certain amount of the rationed commodities, even though he has no ration card.

That does not solve my own personal problem.

Normally, when I visit the North, I stay with friends. My friends certainly will not be entitled to claim an extra ration of butter and bacon for me. Certainly, too, I shall not accept a portion of their very scanty ration. What am I to do? I like butter and bacon.

Will I be permitted to take a small quantity of each in my suit-case when I cross the Border?

Will the customs man believe that the contraband is for my own personal use? I can only hope so.

Evacuation

An Irish girl who has been teaching in England has told me some interesting things about the evacuation scheme over there.

It has been clear recently that the scheme has not been working with the expected smoothness.

The children who had been evacuated from the crowded cities to less thickly populated area have been “seeping” back again

The scheme, apparently, has suffered from opposition on all sides. Parents, lonely for their children, have snatched at every opportunity to bring them home. Many school teachers have accepted the scheme grudgingly, and sneer at it openly. The children’s “hosts” have resented their presence, while many families in the “reception areas” have been hard set to fee and shelter their little guests at 8s. a head.

In addition, many people think that, because there have been no air raids yet, there never will be any – which seems to be a dangerous assumption. I hope, however, that it will be justified.

YUGOSLAVIA:
Belgrade:
In order to improve relations with Germany, Yugoslavia signs a friendship pact with Hungary.

"They wish to place their neighborly feelings, mutual esteem, and confidence on a solid and durable basis which will serve their mutual interests and Danubian peace and prosperity."

EGYPT: Final accounting of last three days of battle shows that Western Desert Force has captured 38,300 Italian and Libyan prisoners, 237 guns and 73 light and medium tanks, and over 1,000 other vehicles. O'Connor's total casualties were 624 killed, wounded and missing.
No. 3 RAAF's Gloster Gauntlet Mk II fighters are retired on grounds of antiquity and lack of spare parts.

U.S.A.: Washington: Lord Lothian (Philip Kerr), Britain's ambassador to the US, dies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at sea in heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), sends a telegram to King George VI expressing his regrets at Lord Lothian's passing. "I am very certain," Roosevelt informs the King, "that if he had been allowed by Providence to leave us a last message he would have told us that the greatest of all efforts to retain democracy in the world must and will succeed."

Washington: In a report drawn up by army officers they report that all is not well with the draft and the equipment of the conscripts.
The army lacks not only arms and ammunition for such a force, but housing facilities and all items of equipment down to shoe strings. The army lacks barracks and tent camps to house the men. It lacks uniforms, shoes and other items of clothing. Strikes are holding up the progress of the defence program.

Italian GENERAL UGO DE CAROLIS, commanding the infantry elements of the Torino Division, is killed while directing the advance of a column from that division on the Russian front. (Michael F. Yaklich)

EGYPT: British General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command, receives the first of a number of notices that forces intended for the Middle East must be diverted to the Far East to help stem the Japanese advance. First call is for the British 18th and Indian 17th Divisions, RAF light bomber squadrons, and antiaircraft and anti-tank guns.

LIBYA: The British Eighth Army's XXX Corps moves to the Libyan-Egyptian frontier to destroy isolated Axis garrisons and open communication lines. XIII Corps begins probing the Axis' new line, which extends from Gazala southward.

BURMA: 3rd Squadron American Volunteer Group - Chinese Nationalist Air Force, ground echelon, leaves by train from Toungoo for Rangoon's Mingaldon Air Base. Locals aware of our move as we were greeted with at each station stop with smiles and cheers plus gifts if fruit, rice candy and a betel nut chew through the train cars windows. Tried the betel nut for the first and last time ever. (Chuck Baisden)(personal diary)

The Japanese begin small-scale operations, using infiltration tactics. From Thailand, a small force crosses into lower Tenasserim unopposed.

British General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander-in-Chief India, is given responsibility for Burma, previously within Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham's Far Eastern Command, and is promised reinforcements to strengthen the small garrison, fighting strength of which does not exceed 30 battalions during the campaign. Lieutenant General D. K. MacLeod's Burma Army, charged with protecting the Burma Road and Tenasserim airfields, is a heterogeneous group of Burmese, Indian, and British forces, some poorly trained, formed into the Burma 1st Division (Burma 1st and 2d Brigades and Indian 13th Brigade) and Indian 16th Brigade. The 16 obsolete RAF fighters on hand are augmented by a squadron of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) fighters, which is flown in to Mingaladon from the AVG base in China. Air strength is eventually increased but not enough to alter ground operations materially.

MALAYA: Last night Japanese units advancing from Singora attack positions of the 11th Indian Division at Jitra. After a brief fight the British forces withdraw.

British Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, decides to withdraw the Indian III Corps from Kelantan since the airfields there are already in possession of the Japanese; movement of surplus supplies to rear is begun. Troops fight delaying actions while awaiting rolling stock in which to withdraw. The Japanese penetrate the Jitra position and force the Indian 11th Division task force back to the Kedah River. The Indian 11th Division force, called the Krohcol force, on the Kroh-Patani road, also falls back under pressure and at midnight 12/13 December, passes to the direct command of corps. The Indian 12th Brigade Group is released from reserve for action on the west coast.

HONG KONG: Insect class gunboat HMS Moth is scuttled in dry dock in Hong Kong harbour. She is raised by the Japanese and renamed Suma, but is finally destroyed on 19 March 1945 when she sets off an American mine in the Yangtse river above Nanking. (Alex Gordon)(108)

British troops evacuate Kowloon in any vessel that can sail to Hong Kong Island. The Royal Engineers destroy anything useful on the north side.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Captain Jesus A. Villamor led the P-26As of the 6th Pursuit Squadron, the only ones of their type to see action in World War II. Villamor shoots down a Mitsubishi G3M2 of the 1st Kokutai over Batangas. (Rob George and Matt Clark)

This was the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Air Force, not the US Army Air Forces. This squadron operated 12 Boeing P-26A Peashooters, open cockpit monoplane fighters with a top speed of 235 mph (378 km/h), from Batangas, Luzon.

The Japanese make another preliminary landing, at Legaspi, southern Luzon. The task force of 2,500 men from Palau Islands, Caroline Islands, goes ashore unopposed and secures Legaspi and the airfield.

Major General George M. Parker, Jr., whose South Luzon Force consists of 41st and 51st Divisions (Philippine Army), sends elements of the 51st forward to delay the Japanese, but contact is not made for several days. Tuguegarao Airfield falls to the Aparri force early in morning. Japanese planes attack Luzon in force.

Over 100 Japanese aircraft hit targets at Clark Field, Batangas, and Olongapo on Luzon Island. The single Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress that is sent against Japanese transports at Vigan damages a transport.

EAST INDIES: The bulk of the Australian "Sparrow Force" arrives at Koepang, Dutch Timor. This Force is the garrison given the code-name Sparrow Force that is to defend the island and protect the airfield at Penfui. The troops begin to take up defensive positions around Koepang, the capital of west Timor, and the aerodrome at Penfui. This component of the Force comprises the Tasmanian 2/40th Battalion Australian Imperial Force (AIF) supported by artillery, signals, medical and headquarters troops. Sparrow Force's anti aircraft capability is provided by a British unit, 79th Anti Aircraft Battery Royal Army, veterans of the Battle of Britain. They are joined by one of Australia's new Independent Companies, the largely Western Australian, No.2 or the 2/2nd Independent Company. The Australian elements of Sparrow Force total 70 officers and 1330 men. The existing Netherlands East Indies garrison numbers about 500. At Penfui RAAF Hudson medium bombers from No. 2 Squadron begin flying anti shipping sorties.

PACIFIC OCEAN: SS Shinai (2,410 GRT) privately owned (George L. Shaw) Canadian merchantman off Kuching, captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy off northern Borneo. At least one man, the Chief Engineer, is known to have died during his time as a POW of the Japanese. The ship was renamed Shinai Maru and was sunk by Allied a/c on 17 Sep 44.

The unarmed 6,210 ton U.S. freighter SS Vincent en route from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to Panama, is shelled and sunk by Japanese armed merchant cruisers Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru about 555 nautical miles (1 028 kilometers) west-northwest of Easter Island in position 22.41S, 118.19W. All 36 crewmen are captured by the Japanese; two die in captivity.

In the Sulu Sea, USN submarine USS S-38 (SS-143) mistakenly torpedoes and sinks Norwegian merchantman SS Hydra II west of Cape Calavite, Mindoro, Philippine Islands, believing her to be a Japanese auxiliary. SS Hydra II had been en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Hong Kong, when she is diverted to Manila by the outbreak of war.

In the South China Sea, Dutch submarines operate off Malaya against Japanese invasion shipping. HNMS K XII torpedoes and sinks a Japanese army cargo ship about 1.4 nautical miles (2,6 kilometers) northeast of Kota Bharu, in position 06.08N, 102.16E.; meanwhile, HNMS O 16 torpedoes and damages three Japanese army cargo ships off Patani/Singora, Thailand.

The USN heavy cruiser USS Pensacola (CA-24) departed Pearl Harbor 29 November 1941 with a convoy bound for Manila in the Philippines. Today, the U.S. troops aboard the troop transports are organized as Task Force South Pacific and placed under command of Brigadier General Julian F. Barnes. The convoy is ordered to proceed to Australian.

WAKE ISLAND: Two Japanese "Mavis" reconnaissance flying boats (Kawanishi H6K4, Navy Type 97 Flying-boats) of the Yokohama Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based in the Marshall Islands bomb the island in a pre-dawn raid. One is shot down by a Marine F4F Wildcat pilot.

CANADA: Algerine-class minesweepers HMCS Sault Ste Marie (ex-HMCS The Soo), Winnipeg, St Boniface, Portage, Wallaceburg, Border Cities, Middlesex, Oshawa, Kapuskasing and Rockcliffe ordered.

French Vice Admiral Emil Henri Muselier, Commander in Chief of the Free French Naval Force and Merchant Marine, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to inspect the submarine Surcouf and the corvettes Mimosa, Aconit and Alysse which are stationed here on escort duty. In London, French Brigadier General Charles-AndrÇ De Gaulle, Commander-in-Chief Free French Forces, orders Muselier to prepare a Free French Naval Force in Halifax to begin preparations for the liberation of the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean about 19 miles (30 kilometers) off the southeastern coast of Newfoundland. Muselier notifies the Canadians and the American Embassy in Ottawa, Ontario, of his orders. Washington attempts to halt the mission and Canada announces its intention to land its own troops on the islands to prevent Axis use of the island's radio transmitter. De Gaulle again orders the expedition to proceed and Saint Pierre and Miquelon are duly liberated by the Free French on 24 December 1941.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class NISHIKAICHI Shigenori begins, with the aid of HARADA Yoshio, a Japanese resident of Niihau Island, to terrorize the inhabitants of the island into returning papers confiscated on 7 December. In response to this campaign of intimidation, the islanders flee to the hills.

The Government seizes French ships in U.S. ports. One of the ships seized is the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the seas at this time, France's SS Normandie, while it is docked at New York City. The ship is 1,029 feet (314 meters) long and a beam of 119 feet (36 meters), displaces 85,000 tons and can do 32.1 knots. She was placed in "protective custody" by the Navy when France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940; it was clear that the U.S. government was not about to let a ship of such size and speed fall into the hands of the Germans, which it certainly would upon returning to France. She is formally requisitioned by the Maritime Commission on 16 December, transferred to the USN on the 24th, renamed Lafayette and assigned hull number AP-53. A contract for her conversion to a troop transport is awarded to Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co., a subsidiary of Todd Shipyards, Inc., on 27 December.

The Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established under the Chief of Naval Operations to provide rapid air delivery of critical equipment, spare parts, and specialist personnel to naval activities and fleet forces all over the world.

CARIBBEAN SEA: SS Nereus (10,653 GRT) Canadian Saguenay Terminals bulk carrier, (ex-USN collier) disappeared in the Caribbean Sea. There were no survivors from the 61 passengers and crew that were onboard. The cause of her loss has never been established although sabotage was originally suspected. RAdm George van Deurs, USN (Retired) who had served in this class of ship, has suggested the class was poorly constructed to begin with and that the natural acidity of coal seriously weakened the ship's plating and frame. It is now generally accepted that both Nereus and sister ship Proteus were unseaworthy and broke up in heavy seas.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's envoy Admiral Frederick Horne, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, meets with French Admiral Georges Robert Vichy High Commissioner for the Antilles (Martinique and Guadeloupe), Guiana and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, to discuss terms for neutralization of French possessions in the western hemisphere.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 12/13 November, 14 RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

FRANCE: Bordeaux: Four merchant ships, one tanker and a naval auxiliary moored in Bourdeaux, 60 miles from the sea, erupted this morning as limpet mines stuck to their hulls by British canoe commandos blew up. This is was known as Operation FRANKTON. Royal Marine raiders had paddled 81 miles through Europe's most dangerous estuary in icy conditions, for five nights, to reach their target. There is no plan to recover survivors. Initially five heavily-laden canoes carrying ten men were left submarine ten miles south of the Gironde estuary. They had to paddle north, round Pointe de Grave and then south down the Gironde, through tidal races. The first casualties were swept away in heavy seas offshore and taken prisoner. Near the Pointe, five-foot waves capsized a second two-man canoe. The men clung to other cockles, but had to be ordered to let go, a death sentence in such cold water. One whispered: "That's all right sir, I understand." In the river mouth a third canoe was swept off course.

Two cockles and four men survived to attack the fast merchant-men vital to Bordeaux's supply line. The men were Major Hasler, aged 28, his partner, Marine Sparks, and Corporal Laver with Marine Mills. Hidden in riverside reeds by day, they moved with the floodtide by night. In conditions likely to cause hypothermia they slipped alongside their targets, with nine hours to escape. If captured on the way to neutral Spain they will be shot.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 25: 78 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yard; 17 attack the target with the loss of two aircraft. A diversion is flown against the Drucat Airfield at Abbeville by 12 aircraft but the target is overcast and the aircraft return without attacking.

GERMANY: Berlin: The State Opera House, bombed by the British last year, reopens with a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin decides to defeat German attempts to supply Stalingrad before crushing Paulus's trapped army.

Stalingrad: Field Marshal von Manstein has decided to make his relief attack for Stalingrad near Kotelnikovo, some 60 miles south-west of the city, even though he has a point near Nizhne Chirskaya that is closer to Stalingrad, but to attack from here would involve a crossing of the Don which von Manstein regards as too risky. The German code name for this operation is "Wintergewitter" (Winter Storm). General Hoth is in tactical command of the operation which starts today.
Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, part of which is trapped in Stalingrad, is spearheading the attack from Kotelnikovo.

Von Manstein, ordered to "recapture the positions previously occupied by us", describes his operation as a "race with death", and there is no doubt that the Sixth Army is doomed if he loses. The Luftwaffe has failed the impossible task set it by Göring's boast to Hitler that he could keep the trapped army supplied. Heinkel He-111 bombers have been pressed into service as transports, but Russian fighters are taking a heavy toll.

The Germans in the Stalingrad pocket are hungry and cold. They are eating their horses; some freeze to death, and it is doubtful if they have enough fuel to break out.

Yet the beleaguered General Paulus is making no effort to link up with Hoth's advancing tanks, which are making good progress. He will not abandon the ruins of Stalingrad until Hitler gives him permission - and Hitler will never do that.

ITALY: RAF (B-24) Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group, under operational control of the USAAF IX Bomber Command, attack the dock area at Naples.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: S class submarine HMS P.222 (the only one of her class not to be named) is located by Italian destroyer R.N. Fortunale which was escorting a convoy to Tunis and depth charged to destruction off Capri. There are no survivors (Alex Gordon)(108)

British submarine HMS/M Traveller (N 48) left Malta on 28 November for a patrol in the Gulf of Taranto. She also had to reconnoitre Taranto harbour on the Italian "heel" for a Chariot human torpedo attack (Operation PORTCULLIS). She is reported overdue today and is presumed lost on Italian mines in her patrol area.

Italian frogmen rode into Algiers harbour last night on their two-man underwater chariots, sank two merchantmen and damaged two others.

Despite the clear reluctance of many Italian soldiers to fight alongside the Germans - which led to world contempt in their 1940 desert campaign - the bravery of these frogmen, who have sunk or damaged ships in Gibraltar and Alexandria and during the Crete landings, is much admired by the Royal Navy which has had to take special precautions, including the use of concussion grenades.

Beaten but not unbowed, the Afrika Korps, has not lost its ability to sting. The regrouped and replenished Eighth Army has met fierce resistance from the retreating Axis at Mersa Brega, with Rommel ducking a strong right hook by New Zealand tanks. The going has not been easy for the Allies. The road to Tripoli is carpeted with mines and booby traps. In the west, Free French forces and the British 1st Guards Brigade have driven off strong Axis counter-attacks at Medje el Bab, but German reinforcements are flooding into Tunis.

TUNISIA: Blade Force, British First Army, is dissolved, component elements reverting to parent units. The British 6th Armoured Division is in contact with the Germans east and southeast of Medjez el Bab.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, with P-38 Lightning escort, bomb the rail facilities and harbor area at Tunis; B-26 Marauders on a mission to bomb at Sousse or La Hencha abort due to very bad weather; and P-38s and P-40s fly widespread reconnaissance operations.

LIBYA: USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s fly sweeps and attack ground forces in the El Agheila and Brega areas.

NEW GUINEA: From Oro Bay, Papua New Guinea, tanks are moved forward by sea to Hariko and hidden. Corvettes with Australian forces embarked (18th Brigade Headquarters, 2/9th Battalion, and Officer Commanding 2/10th Battalion) arrive off Soena Plantation after nightfall; they withdraw to Porlock Harbor after a few troops are unloaded because of the news that Japanese naval force is moving on Buna. Around midnight, the Japanese begin landing at the mouth of the Mambare River, near Cape Ward Hunt.

In Papua New Guinea, USAAF A-20 Havocs strafe barges off Sanananda Point while B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the airfields at Lae and Salamaua.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the 2d Marine Division begins the relief of the Army's Americal Division west of the Matanikau River. A Japanese party raids Fighter Strip 2 under cover of darkness. The 2d Marine Division Signal Company and the 18th Naval Construction Battalion arrive.

USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses begin a series of daily attacks on the Japanese airfields nearing completion at Munda, New Georgia Island. Nine SBD Dauntlessess join the attack which is the first by the USMC.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: An attempted photographic reconnaissance mission over Kiska Island by a USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberator and two P-38 Lightnings returns without result due to weather. Another reconnaissance B-24 is turned back by a weather front west of Buldir Island.

NEWFOUNDLAND: In St. John's, an arsonist sets fire during a barn dance in the Knights of Columbus hostel, killing 99 people and seriously injuring another 100, mostly military personnel and their dates. A subsequent inquiry determines arson to be the cause but finds no evidence of sabotage.

U.S.A.: A secret memorandum by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George C. Marshall contains instructions on how to handle Latin Americans of German descent. "There interned nationals are to be used for exchange with interned American civilian nationals." (Mike Yared)

Ella Mae Morse's hit song "Mr. Five By Five"with Freddie Slack's Band was released today .

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan departed Loch Ewe as part of the close escort for the 19-ship convoy JW-55A, bound for the Kola Inlet. A RN battleship and several other fleet units formed the distant escort due to the threat of attack by the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst . JW-55A arrived safely on 22 Dec 43.

FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 153: Four B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 800,000 leaflets on Paris, Amiens and Orleans at 2033-2044 hours without loss.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Rommel is appointed C-in-C of Hitler's "Fortress Europe", under the overall command of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

During the night of 12/13 December, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos attack three cities: 19 bomb Essen with 14 hitting the Krupps Armaments Works (with the loss of one) and five bombing the city; nine attack the city of Dusseldorf; and one bombs a castings factory at Osnabruck.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army area, the British X Corps extends farther eastward to relieve final elements of the U.S. VI Corps on Mt. Maggiore, and the boundary is adjusted accordingly. In the U.S. II Corps area, the 142d Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, begins preliminary operations in preparation for an assault on Mt. Lungo on 15 December; they occupy St. Giacomo Hill, between Lungo and Maggiore, and after nightfall takes Hills 141 and 72.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the road, railroad, and landing ground at Terracina; P-40 and A-36 Apache fighter-bombers hit trucks along roads in the Chieti-Francavilla area and bomb the town of Itri; and fighters fly patrols and reconnaissance over the battle area.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: German submarine U-593 torpedoes and sinks British escort destroyer HMS Tynedale (L 96) about 148 nautical miles (273 kilometers) east of Algiers, Algeria, in position 37.10N, 06.05E. Tynedale was escorting the slow escorting convoy KMS-34 (U.K. to Gibraltar to Alexandria, Egypt). A long hunt ensues by British escort destroyers HMS Calpe (L 71) and Holcombe (L 56) and USN destroyers USS Benson (DD-421), Niblack (DD-424) and Wainwright (DD-419). At 1445 hours, HMS Holcombe is hit by a Zaunkönig (Gnat) T5 electric torpedo fired by U-593 and sinks about 115 nautical miles (213 kilometers) east-northeast of Algiers off Bougie in position 37.20N, 05.30E; 83 crewmen are lost. The survivors are picked up by the USS Niblack. U-593 was chased by several escort vessels, being sunk after 32-hour chase. (Jack McKillop & Alex Gordon)(108)

U.S.S.R.: A Czech-Soviet treaty concerning postwar cooperation and mutual assistance for the duration is signed in Moscow.

Dr. Benes, the Czechoslovak president, today shifted his country closer to the Soviet Union when he signed a treaty of "amity, mutual aid and collaboration after the war". With Stalin looking on, he put his signature to the treaty during a Kremlin ceremony. Molotov signed for the Soviet Union. "The day of retribution for Germany will come," Benes said, "and our much-suffering people will have won a new, solid and lasting peace." Molotov replied: "Our army is fighting for all people under the German yoke."

CHINA: Forty one Japanese bombers and fighters bomb the western side of Hengyang Airfield, causing considerable damage. Thirty one USAAF Fourteenth Air Force 31 P-40s and six P-38 Lightnings intercept the Japanese force, claiming 20 airplanes shot down; two P-40s are lost. Meanwhile, nine B-24 Liberators bomb Hankow Airfield.

BURMA: Twenty eight USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and 13 B-24 Liberators carry out a saturation bombing strike against a bridge at Myittha, over which a large volume of Japanese goods are flowing to the north. Despite this large air effort only the approach spans suffer effective damage.

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators make light raids on Ceram Island and in the far western part of the NEI.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-40s dive-bomb Bogadjim Road.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Thirty four Australian (P-40) Kittyhawks bomb Gasmata on New Britain Island.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Twenty five USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators flying out of Ellice Island bases, bomb Engebi Islet in Eniwetok Atoll.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, six USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells strafe Arigua Plantation; nine others, with fighter support, bomb the supply area at Bonis; the fighters afterwards strafe Japanese forces between Kieta and the Aropa River. Other fighters strafe the harbor at Tonolai and cover USN SBD Dauntless strikes against targets in the Ratsua-Porton-Chabai-Soraken areas and the Kieta Harbor-Tobera Bay area. Meanwhile, over 20 B-24 Liberators bomb the Kahili area and Poporang.

PACIFIC: From Glen Boren's diary: Arrived in the morning with our planes flying off for the field. We got to Lugan Field about 1230, had lunch and headed for the strip for aircraft maintenance. Lots of hole patching, fixing oil leaks in the rocker box covers to stop oil from streaking the windshields, etc.

UNITED KINGDOM: During the night of 12/13 December, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 749: seven B-24 Liberators and four B-17 Flying Fortresses drop leaflets over France, the Netherlands and Germany.

NORTH SEA: In the Barents Sea Norwegian Corvette KNoM Tunsberg Castle (ex-HMS Shrewsbury Castle) (K 374) mined off Båtsfjord, Norway. Five crewmembers are lost.

BELGIUM: A German A4 (V-2) rockets lands in Antwerp at Hoboken in Lage Weg at 0748 hours; 44 people are injured.

FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps is virtually halted by Maginot fortifications in the Hottviller-Bitche area, but Combat Command A, 12th Armored Division, reaches Bettviller, its objective. VI Corps commits the 14th Armored Division between the 103d and 79th Infantry Divisions. The 79th Infantry Division enters Soufflenheim as the Germans pull back toward the West Wall and it begins clearing Seltz.

In the French First Army area, General Jean-Joseph Lattre de Tassignym commander of the First Army, alters the plan of action, calling for the capture of Colmar and Cernay but deferring the drive to the Rhine River at Brisach unless circumstances are favorable. II Corps is to make the main effort through Colmar to Rouffach, where it will link up with I Corps coming from Cernay. I Corps is so spent that it suspends offensive until 15 December.

GERMANY: Düren falls to the US 1st Army. German forces withdraw across the Roer river.

In the U.S. First Army's VII Corps area, the 104th Infantry Division takes Pier in a two-pronged assault and forces the Germans to withdraw across the Roer River. Elements of the 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, drive into Mariaweiler. Hoven is cleared of the Germans. Combat Command R, 3d Armored Division, and the 60th Infantry Regiment finish clearing most of the region west of the Roer River northwest and west of Düren during the day. The 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, begins clearing Derichsweiler

In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, the situation in the Dillingen bridgehead improves. The 357th Infantry Division, 90th Infantry Division, mops up bypassed resistance within its sector and the 359th and 358th Infantry Regiments establish contact, opening the corridor through a fortified belt through which tanks are moved to the 357th. A vehicular ferry is put into operation. An effective smoke screen permits delivery of tanks and tank destroyers to the bridgehead. Limited progress is made in the Saarlautern bridgehead by the 95th Infantry Division. The combat efficiency of both the 90th and 95th Infantry Divisions has been lowered sharply because of insufficient reinforcements and exhaustion. In the XII Corps area, the 35th Infantry Division begins an attack across the lilies early in morning: the 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment, crosses and begins to clear Habkirchen, gaining a weak hold there; the 320th Infantry Regiment, assisted by tanks, clears Bliesbruck, France, on the near side of the river, in preparation for a crossing.

The 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division, gets forward elements across the German border and its relief is begun by the 87th Infantry Division, during the night of 12/13 December.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force Flies Mission 748: 895 bombers and 928 fighters are dispatched to make an H2X attack on Merseburg and visual attacks on rail targets; four bombers and seven P-51 Mustangs are lost: 458 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb a marshalling yard (M/Y) at Darmstadt; 347 B-17s hit the I.G. Farben synthetic oil plant at Merseberg with the loss of two aircraft;

275 B-24 Liberators bomb a M/Y at Hanau with the loss of three and 87 others bomb a M/Y at Aschaffenburg; and 47 other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.

Ninety USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs strike the defended villages of Gemund, Harperscheid, Hellenthal, Schleiden, Schoneseiffen, and Wollseifen, and the towns of Dorsel, Mayen, and Wiesbaden. Fighters fly armed reconnaissance and strafing and bombing missions in western Germany and support the U.S. 83d Infantry Division in the Strass-Gey area, cover the U.S. VII Corps in the Duren area and support the U.S. XII and XX Corps in the Habkirchen and Bliesbruck areas (the 35th Infantry Division assault across the Blies River) and Saarlautern-Dillengen.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attack four cities: 51 bomb the I.G. Farben South synthetic oil plant at Blechhammer and five others hit targets of opportunity.

During the day, 140 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters are dispatched on a G-H raid to the Ruhrstahl steelworks at Witten; 136 bomb the target. German fighters intercept the force in the target area and eight Lancasters are lost.

It was the town's first major raid of the war. The steelworks are not hit and bombs fell all over the town, destroying 126 houses and five industrial premises.

During the night of 12/13 December, 540 RAF Bomber Command aircraft, 349 Lancasters, 163 Halifaxes and 28 Mosquitos, are dispatched to bomb Essen; 529 bomb the city with the loss of six Lancasters. This is the last heavy night raid by Bomber Command on Essen. During the post-war interrogations of Albert Speer, the German Armaments Minister, he is asked which forms of attack are most effective in weakening the German war effort. After referring to the effectiveness of daylight raids and to some of the Oboe Mosquito attacks, Speer paid a compliment to the accuracy of this raid on Essen: "The last night attack upon the Krupp works, which was carried out by a large number of four-engined bombers, caused surprise on account of the accuracy of the bomb pattern. We assumed that this attack was the first large-scale operation based on Oboe or some other new navigational system." In another raid, 49 Mosquitos bomb Osnabruck

AUSTRIA: Two USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack the Main marshalling yard at Graz while a third aircraft bombs the city of Gattersford.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack four cities: 11 hit a synthetic oil facility at Ostrava Moravaska and two each bomb marshalling yard at Libeau and the cities of Puchov and Troppau.

ITALY: British troops attack Faenza. In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, the Germans, counterattacking at dawn, temporarily force back the outpost of the Indian 19th Brigade on MT Cerere. The 6th Armoured Division begins the second phase of its offensive, during the night of 12/13 December, employing the 61st Brigade, which gets elements into Tossignano, where they come under heavy pressure.

In the British Eighth Army's Canadian I Corps area, the 5th Armoured and 1st Divisions advance from the Fosso Vecchio River to the Naviglio Canal, which runs from Faenza to the sea, and attack across it during the night of 12/13 December. The 1st Division gains a bridgehead north of Bagnacavallo, but the 5th Armoured Division is forced back to the Fosso Vecchio River.

CHINA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38 Lightnings on armed reconnaissance attack many targets of opportunity including town areas, road and rail traffic, and supplies at or near Sinantien, Paoching, Hengyang, Changsha, Kweilin, Nan Tan, Hochih, and Szeenhsien. Several fighter-bombers drop napalm on Yangtong Airfield.

THAILAND: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity at Chiengmai.

BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) area, the British XV Corps begins an offensive (Operation ROMULUS) to clear the Arakan coastal sector and gain air and naval bases from which to support future operations. While the Indian 25th Division pushes southward along the Mayu Peninsula toward Akyab, the West African 82d Division begins clearing the Kalapanzin Valley in the Buthidaung area and the West African 81st Division attacks in the Kaladan Valley in the vicinity of Kyauktaw.

Eleven USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb several storage areas north of Lashio while 20+ P-47 Thunderbolts knock out bridges at Namyao and Inailong, Burma, and Kunlong, China, and damage others at Ho-hko, Burma and Hinlong, and Kunlong, China. Over 40 fighter-bombers hit Japanese headquarters, trucks, town areas, troop concentrations, and supplies at Sedo, Pale, Chaunggyi, Tada-u, Hsenwi, Shwebo, and Thabyetha.

Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Kutkai damaging three warehouses and two other buildings. Fighter-bombers on armed reconnaissance attack many targets of opportunity including town areas, road and rail raffic, and supplies at or near Wan Pa-Hsa.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: Twenty four Saipan-based USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Iwo Jima. Individual B-24s from Saipan and Guam fly five snooper strikes against Iwo Jima during the night of 12/13 December.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area on Leyte, the 32d Infantry Division straightens their lines south of Limon and during the night of 12/13 December and shells Japanese positions ahead of it on Highway 2 as far south as Lonoy. XXIV Corps chases off a Japanese vessel sighted near Linao at dawn. The 77th Infantry Division consolidates positions just north of Ormoc while amassing supplies and artillery.

USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators, with fighter cover, bomb Bacolod Airstrip on Negros Island while B-25 Mitchells hit San Roque Airfield on Mindanao Island.

General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, presents Major Richard I. Bong with the Medal of Honor he was awarded "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944" at Tacloban Field, Leyte.

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators bomb Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island. In the Ambon-Ceram-Boeroe Islands area, B-25 Mitchells hit three airfields and attack barges.

NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Far East Air Forces A-20 Havocs hit the airfield on Jefman Island a small island off the coast.

U.S.A.: The 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) is inactivated. (Marc James Small)