Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

1941 : American carrier Lexington heads to Midway


On this day, the Lexington, one of the two largest aircraft carriers employed by the United States during World War II, makes its way across the Pacific in order to carry a squadron of dive bombers to defend Midway Island from an anticipated Japanese attack.
Negotiations between the United States and Japan had been ongoing for months. Japan wanted an end to U.S. economic sanctions. The Americans wanted Japan out of China and Southeast Asia and Japan to repudiate the Tripartite "Axis" Pact with Germany and Italy before those sanctions could be lifted. Neither side was budging. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull were anticipating a Japanese strike as retaliation-they just didn't know where. The Philippines, Wake Island, Midway Island-all were possibilities. American intelligence reports had sighted the Japanese fleet movement out from Formosa (Taiwan), apparently headed for Indochina.
The U.S. State Department demanded from Japanese envoys explanations for the fleet movement across the South China Sea. The envoys claimed ignorance. Army intelligence reassured the president that, despite fears, Japan was most likely headed for Thailand-not the United States.
The Lexington never made it to Midway Island; when it learned that the Japanese fleet had, in fact, attacked Pearl Harbor, it turned back-never encountering a Japanese warship en route or employing a single aircraft in its defense. By the time it reached Hawaii, it was December 13.

[Peter Clare]

6 December 1942

Eindhoven
This was a special raid carried out by all of the operational day-bomber squadrons in 2 Group. Their targets were the Philips radio and valve factories in the Dutch town of Eindhoven. 93 aircraft took part in the raid - 47 Venturas, 36 Bostons and 10 Mosquitos. 1 of the Mosquitos was a photographic aircraft. Eindhoven was well beyond the range of any available fighter escort. The raid was flown at low level and in clear weather conditions.
Bombing was accurate and severe damage was caused to the factory, which was situated in the middle of the town. Because the raid was deliberately carried out on a Sunday, there were few casualties in the factory but several bombs fell in nearby streets and 148 Dutch people and 7 German soldiers were killed. Full production at the factory was not reached again until 6 months after the raid.
The bomber casualties were heavy: 9 Venturas, 4 Bostons and 1 Mosquito were lost over Holland or the sea. This was a loss rate of 15 per cent for the whole force; the Venturas, the aircraft with the poorest performance, suffered 19 per cent casualties. 3 more aircraft crashed or force-landed in England and most of the other aircraft were damaged - 23 by bird strikes!

Eindhoven, 6 December 1942

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[Peter Clare]

6/7 December 1944

Leuna: 475 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups. 5 Lancasters lost. This was the first major attack on an oil target in Eastern Germany; Leuna, near the town of Merseburg, just west of Leipzig, was 250 miles from the German frontier and 500 miles from the bombers' bases in England. There was considerable cloud in the target area but post-raid photographs showed that considerable damage had been caused to the synthetic-oil plant.
Osnabrück: 453 aircraft - 363 Halifaxes, 72 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 7 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost. This was the first major raid on Osnabrück since August 1942. The raid was only a partial success. The railway yards were only slightly damaged but 4 factories were hit, including the Teuto-Metallwerke munitions factory, and 203 houses were destroyed.
Giessen: 255 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No 5 Group. 8 Lancasters lost. There were two aiming points for this raid. 168 aircraft were allocated to the town centre and 87 to the railway yards. Severe damage was caused at both places.
42 Mosquitos to Berlin, 10 to Schwerte and 2 to Hanau, 37 RCM sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitos lost - 1 from the Berlin raid and an Intruder aircraft which crashed in France.
Total effort for the night: 1,343 sorties, 23 aircraft (1.7 per cent) lost.

Railway yards at Giessen

[Peter Clare]

USS OKLAHOMA and USS ARIZONA (December 7, 1941)
US battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor during the sneak attack by Japanese naval planes. This cowardly attack triggered the American involvement in World War II. Death toll from both ships amounted to 1,592 men, 1177 from the Arizona and 415 from the Oklahoma. Two other battleships, the West Virginia (105 dead) and the Tennessee were damaged and 196 Navy and 65 Army Air Force planes destroyed. All told, a total of 2,409 servicemen and 68 civilians were killed and 1,178 were wounded. Only 29 Japanese aircraft were shot down. That same afternoon the United States Chief of Naval Operations issued the following order "Execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan". During the Pearl Harbor attack, fifteen navy men earned the nation's highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Ten were awarded posthumously. (In all, 433 Medals of Honor have been awarded, 219 posthumously)

[Peter Clare]

1941 : "A date which will live in infamy"


On this day, in an early-morning sneak attack, Japanese warplanes bomb the U.S. naval base at Oahu Island's Pearl Harbor-and the United States enters World War II.
President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull knew a Japanese attack was imminent. Having received intelligence reports of intercepted coded messages from Tokyo to the Japanese ambassador in the United States, the president anticipated Japanese reprisals for his government's refusal to reverse economic sanctions and embargoes against Japan. The Roosevelt administration had remained firm in its demand that the Japanese first withdraw from China and French Indochina, which it had invaded in 1937 and July 1941, respectively, and renounce its alliance with fascist Germany and Italy.
But Japan refused, demanding that the United States first end the embargo on oil shipments vital for Tokyo's war machine. Although negotiations between the two nations continued up to the very last minute, Roosevelt was aware of a secret November 25 deadline, established by Tokyo, that confirmed military action on the part of the Japanese should they not received satisfaction from the negotiations. While forewarned, Washington could not pinpoint the time or place of an attack.
Despite initially objecting to war with America, Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto believed that if Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was determined to go to war, it was Japan who had to make a preemptive strike. Yamamoto studied the devastating November 1940 British attack against the Italian fleet at Taranto, and planned and led the sneak attack against the United States. Approximately 360 Japanese warplanes were launched from six aircraft carriers, reinforced by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The first dive-bomber was spotted over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time. It was followed by 200 aircraft, which decimated the American ships anchored there, most of which were only lightly manned because it was Sunday morning. Among the 18 U.S. ships destroyed, sunk, or capsized were the Arizona, Virginia, California, Nevada, and West Virginia. More than 180 planes were destroyed on the ground and another 150 were damaged (leaving but 43 operational). American casualties totaled more than 3,400, with more than 2,400 killed (1,000 on the Arizona alone). The Japanese lost fewer than 100 men.
In the short term, the Japanese goal of crippling U.S. naval strength in the Pacific, and thereby giving Tokyo free reign to gobble up more of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in its dream of imperial expansion, was successful. But the war had only just begun.

[Peter Clare]

1941 : The United States declares war on Japan


On this day, as America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan.
Leaning heavily on the arm of his son James, a Marine captain, FDR walked haltingly into the House of Representatives at noon to request a declaration of war from the House and address the nation via radio. "Yesterday," the president proclaimed, "December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
Roosevelt's 10-minute speech, ending with an oath-"So help us God"-was greeted in the House by thunderous applause and stamping of feet. Within one hour, the president had his declaration of war, with only one dissenting vote, from a pacifist in the House. FDR signed the declaration at 4:10 p.m., wearing a black armband to symbolize mourning for those lost at Pearl Harbor.
On both coasts, civilian defense groups were mobilized. In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered the rounding up of Japanese nationals, who were transported to Ellis Island and held in custody indefinitely. In California, antiaircraft batteries were set up on Long Beach and the Hollywood Hills. Reports on supposed spy activity on the part of Japanese Americans began pouring into Washington, even as Japanese Americans paid for space in newspapers to declare unreservedly their loyalty to the United States. The groundwork was being laid for the tragic internment of Japanese Americans, thought a necessary caution at the time but regretted years later as a hysterical and bigoted response.

[Peter Clare]

SS COAMO (December 9, 1942)
US freighter of 7,057 tons, built in 1925 for the Agwilines of New York. The vessel was en route from Gibraltar to New York when it simply disappeared without trace. It was later discovered that the ship had been torpedoed by the German U-boat the U-604 The Coamo was carrying 186 persons including the crew. The entire merchant marine crew of 133 men plus 37 Armed Guards and 16 Army personnel were lost, in this, the greatest tragedy to befall a single crew on a US Merchant Marine ship in WWII. (The U-604 was scuttled in the South Atlantic on August 11, 1943. The crew was saved by the U-185 which was then depth charged and sunk on August 24. Fourteen men from the U-604 were killed.

[Peter Clare]

1940 : Brits launch offensive against Italians in North Africa


On this day, two British divisions, half of them composed of Indian troops, attack seven Italian divisions in Egypt. Overwhelmed, the Italian position in Egypt collapsed.
Italy had declared war on Great Britain in June. At that time, Italian General Rodolfo Graziani had almost 10 times the number of men in Libya than the British forces in Egypt under General Archibald Wavell, which were commissioned to protect the North African approaches to the Suez Canal. A vast western desert stretched between the antagonists, who sat for months without confrontation. In the meantime, Italian forces had passed into Egypt-but Britain had also reinforced its own numbers. British cryptographers were also able to break the Italian military code, enabling British commanders to anticipate Italian troop movements, size, and points of vulnerability.
British command decided to make a first strike. On December 7, armored car patrols surreptitiously set out to determine gaps in the minefield the Italians had laid. On December 9, Major General Richard Nugent O'Connor from Mersa Matruh in Egypt launched a westward offensive. Thirty thousand Brits warred against 80,000 Italians-but the British brought with them 275 tanks against the Italians' 120. As O'Connor cut through a gap in the chain of forts the Italians had established, the British 7th Armored Division swept along the western coast to cut off any hope of an Italian retreat. Within three days, 40,000 Italian prisoners were taken. The end of the Italian occupation of North Africa had begun.

[Peter Clare]

HMS REPULSE and HMS PRINCE OF WALES (December 10, 1941)
British warships sunk by Japanese naval aircraft off Kuantan, Malaya. The ships were spotted by the Japanese submarine I-58 just before dawn and attacked by a force of nine 'Betty' torpedo-carrying planes of the Japanese 22nd Naval Air Flotilla from the Japanese base at Saigon and led by Lieutenant Haruki Iki. The battleship Prince of Wales was hit by four torpedoes and sank at 12.33pm. The cruiser Repulse was hit by 14 torpedoes and sank at 1.20pm. The death toll from both ships was 840 men (Repulse 513, and the Prince Of Wales, 327). A total of 2,081 lives were saved by the escorting destroyers HMS Electra, Vampire and Express and taken back to Singapore. The day after the sinking, Lieutenant Iki flew over the grave site of the two ships and dropped a bouquet of flowers. The Far Eastern Fleet commander, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips went down with his ship. In this action, the Japanese lost only four planes. After this disaster, the dominant role of battleships in war came under grave doubt. The sinking of these two battleships gave the Japanese complete command of the sea and left the door to the 'impregnable fortress' of Singapore, wide open.

[spidge]

December 10, 1944 9 Dutch citizens hanged by nazis
December 10, 1944 German counter attack at Dillingen-bridgehead at Saar
December 10, 1943 British 8th Army occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy
December 10, 1942 Hitler names Mussert "leader of Netherland people"
December 10, 1942 North Africa: 5th German pantser army forms under col-gen von Arnim
December 10, 1941 British battleship Prince of Wales sinks off Singapore
December 10, 1941 Japanese troops landed on northern Luzon in the Philippines
December 10, 1941 Japanese troops overrun Guam
December 10, 1940 British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani)