Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

HMS ACHERON (December 17, 1940)
British destroyer, launched March 18, 1930. While running trials after a refit the Acheron hit a mine off the Isle of Wight and sank in minutes. Lives lost were 151 men (six officers and 145 ratings). There were only 15 survivors.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

17 December 1941, Singapore
The British Reuters News Agency reported:
British Governor Shenton Thomas has addressed the legislative assembly of Singapore saying that the fate of Penang (northwest Malaya) depends on events in Kedah (farther northwest). Further unpleasant surprises may still lie in store; but it is certain that Singapore will not fall to the Japanese.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

Thursday 17 December 1942
The German Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) announced:
In Cyrenaica the German-Italian armoured army is withdrawing westward as scheduled. All attempts by the enemy to interfere with its movements have been warded off in violent fighting.

Secret Report of the German SS Security Service on internal affairs, No 344 of 17 December 1942 (extract):
1. General comments: Rumours are rife all over the Reich that approximately 80,000 to 100,000 German troops have been completely encircled at Stalingrad. This has triggered revived fears that Stalingrad may turn into a "second Verdun." However, a reassuring and calming effect is resulting from stories told by (German) soldiers on leave from the Russian front, who say that the enemy is deploying mainly very young untrained boys or old men and that the quality of his weapons has also deteriorated greatly. Following the recent concrete details offered in Wehrmacht reports, the people have been following the military situation in North Africa attentively, although in many cases they are unable to form a clear picture of what is going on.

[Peter Clare]

December 18, 1941
Japan invades Hong Kong

On this day, Japanese troops land in Hong Kong and a slaughter ensues.
A week of air raids over Hong Kong, a British crown colony, was followed up on December 17 with a visit paid by Japanese envoys to Sir Mark Young, the British governor of Hong Kong. The envoys' message was simple: The British garrison there should simply surrender to the Japanese--resistance was futile. The envoys were sent home with the following retort: "The governor and commander in chief of Hong Kong declines absolutely to enter into negotiations for the surrender of Hong Kong. ..."
The first wave of Japanese troops landed in Hong Kong with artillery fire for cover and the following order from their commander: "Take no prisoners." Upon overrunning a volunteer antiaircraft battery, the Japanese invaders roped together the captured soldiers and proceeded to bayonet them to death. Even those who offered no resistance, such as the Royal Medical Corps, were led up a hill and killed.
The Japanese quickly took control of key reservoirs, threatening the British and Chinese inhabitants with a slow death by thirst. The Brits finally surrendered control of Hong Kong on Christmas Day.
On this same day: Censorship is imposed with the passage of the 1st American War Powers Act
The War Powers Act is passed by Congress, authorizing the president to initiate and terminate defense contracts, reconfigure government agencies for wartime priorities, and regulate the freezing of foreign assets. It also permitted him to censor all communications coming in and leaving the country.
FDR appointed the executive news director of the Associated Press, Byron Price, as director of censorship. Although invested with the awesome power to restrict and withhold news, Price took no extreme measures, allowing news outlets and radio stations to self-censor, which they did. Most top secret information, including the construction of the atom bomb, remained just that.
The most extreme use of the censorship law seems to have been the restriction of the free flow of "girlie" magazines to servicemen-including Esquire, which the Post Office considered obscene for its occasional saucy cartoons and pinups. Esquire took the Post Office to court, and after three years the Supreme Court ultimately sided with the magazine.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

Monday 18 December 1939, Paris
The French Havas News Agency reported:
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain inspected French fortifications on his recent visit to the Western front. These fortifications include the reinforced Maginot Line defences which have all ready been reported, and the extensions of the Line to the Ardennes, The North Sea, and the Jura mountains in the south, parallel to the Swiss border. Thus an Allied fortification system has been developed that offers far greater security against invasion than existed in September, and the British and French armies are now free for future operations.
Military experts believe that such large quantities of war matériel and trained troops can be assembled here by spring, that the Germans will find it impossible to break through and the Battle of the Rhine will have been settled automatically.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

Wednesday 18 December 1940
The American United Press Agency reported:
The mud that had frozen solid over the last few weeks is now covered with a layer of snow from three to six feet deep, which is severly impairing military operations (in Macedonia).
The military doctors have reported numerous cases of frostbite among the troops.
The Greek and Italian units fighting in the mountains are suddenly confronting a common enemy; avalanches. Reports from the front indicate that the violent fire of the heavy artillery has caused the snow on the mountain slopes to shift and that soldiers, mules and guns have been swept away by the tumbling masses of snow.

On Wednesday 18 December (1940), when the Wehrmacht had completed the military build-up it began in August, Hitler signed Directive 21 ordering Operation Barbarossa, The German attack on the Soviet Union. Once again it was for a blitzkrieg which was expected to last for three to four months. The preparations were to be completed by 15 May 1941.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

German Army Decree of 18 December 1943 on the award of special badges to individual soldiers who destroy tanks, etc.:
The Führer has approved the ruling that the "special badge for individual soldiers who destroy tanks (etc.)" may also be awarded to soldiers who have destroyed an enemy tank (etc.) or put it out of action in close combat with hand explosives or iron crowbars; but the badge may not be awarded for knocking out enemy tanks with "Puppchen" (an unsuccessful model of antitank weapon using a German bazooka mounted on a light carriage).

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

18 December 1944
The American United Press News Agency reported from General Eisenhower's Headquarters:
The German Army has counterattacked along a 120-mile-wide front between Aachen and Luxembourg. A field order from von Rundstedt, which was found on captured Germans, says: "The time has now come when the German Army must rise again and strike." The report is that the first German panzer group crossed over the Belgian border between Zitterwald and Schnee-Eifel and penetrated 2 miles into Belgian territory where they reached the town of Honsfeld aproximately 12 miles southeast of Malmedy. In this zone, German King Tiger tanks bypassed the sentry chain of American infantry, who remained in thier positions and took up battle with von Rundstedt's troops as they followed up the tanks. The German drive is also threatening the Belgian crossroads of St Vith.

On Monday 18 December, the attack by Sixth SS Panzer Army ground to a virtual standstill.

[Christos]

16th of December, 1939......

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay...1939....It is the last 24 hour period for Cpt. Hans Lanngsdorff and the crew of the pocket battleship, ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE. Having entered port near midnight on the 13th. Preparations are now under way for the 'scuttle' of the warship....Only Langsdorff (and other officers) know at this stage that a scuttle will be the course of action taken. The worlds press have been speculating for days about the possible outcome, and interest in Montevideo reaches fever pitch as the hour for Graf Spee's departure draws near. Spectators continue to line the forshore region; some have cameras, most don't...(I've not seen one of these photos yet..perhaps they may spring to light from private collections?) The German ambassador to Uraguay has already had his application for extension of the ship's stay REJECTED.....rumours of possible British ships, mostly spread by the British themselves, are circulating Uruguay with rapid speed...One rumor follows on top of another. All anybody is sure of is the appointed hour for sailing out of harbor. When this day comes, there will be a spectator 'mob' of 750,000 people, all waiting to watch the battle.....Langsdorff has made his repairs, buried his dead...now, he waits...........
FINLAND...Karelian Isthmus....1939
The main Russian assault is launched today, taking place in the SUMMA sector. Intensive artillery preparations are followed by waves and waves of Red Army soldiers....That same night, Finnish soldiers that have recieved special training in preparation for this offensive, move forward, ghostlike, and manage to destroy 70 Soviet tanks, without much in the way of heavy weapons, and with most tanks knocked out by Finn home-made ordnance...Pipe grenades are stuffed into vision slits and exhausts, 'Molotov' cocktails are mainly used against engine decks of tanks, to force the evacuation of the AFV, or the asphyxiation of it's crew; many will be cut down trying to escape their steel coffins.

NORTH AFRICA....1940
The first units of the Australian 6th Division move up to the battle zone to their jump off points for attack, in their attempt to take the Italian held fortress of BARDIA. The 4th Indian division has placed the coastal fort under siege, and await the arrival in their assembly areas of the 6th Aussie division.. 16th Brigade are the first to arrive, taking their positions on the flank of 7th Armored division, which were already patrolling around Bardia, together with elements of the 16th Infantry brigade, left behind by when the 4th Indians pulled out. The arriving Aussies find the hard and stony ground difficult to dig in...a bitterly cold wind sweeps the dusty plain, as 'Diggers' wear every item of clothing in their kits to stay warm. Leading the Aussies is Maj. Gen IVEN MACKAY, while brigade commanders 'Tubby' Allen (16th), Leslie Moreshead (17th), and Horace Robertson (19th). High attrition rate to supply vehicles has caused difficulty in supply build-up, but Mackay feels he has enough to launch the attack. 80 posts defend Bardia, with a total of 5 Italian divisions in various states of readiness....(2nd Blackshirt, 1st Blackshirt, 62nd 'Marmaeica' Division,63rd 'Cirene' division, and in Bardia, the 64th 'Cantanzaro' division)... this totals 45,000 men. Commander BERGONZOLI has 300 artillery pieces comprising light and medium field guns, He has 127 tanks (mainly CV3/33s not in running order (90), and the rest only a dozen M-13s are in running order. a 'switch' line in the southern portion of the defences has been built, with most artillery going there, the western side perimeter is on a flat plateau which extends up to a mile inside Italian lines, leading to a rough, broken 'wadi' then to the coast, where cliffs rose sharply to 600 feet...Bardia was going to be a tough 'nut'...The Australians, dug in at their assemby positions....wait....


1941.....
Eastern Front.....
The previous week has seen intense fighting, and the German 9th Army is finally defeated as the Soviets retake Kalinin, north of Moscow....A Russian advance in the Ukraine brings them within 30 miles of Orel.
North Africa:
During the night, Rommel finally calls it quits for his first attempt at Tobruk. During the previous weeks fighting, Rommel has lost 38,000 men from his command, against some 18,000 by the British. AK tank losses amount to 300 tanks, against 278 by the Allied forces....it is the beginning of a retreat that will take them back to their assembly areas in Tripoli. This is an example of one of Rommel's great weaknesses....he just did not know when to stop throwing good troops after bad, and he is to make this same error several times during the Desert conflict.
BORNEO:
Japanes troops land at MIRI, SARAWAK, and SERIA in Brunei. Their 'oil-road' is taking shape rapidly......



1942:
EASTERN FRONT:
Manstein's relief operation for Stalingrad (Winter Storm), is rudely interrupted by a violent Soviet offensive that wipes out the Italian 8th and the Rumanian 6th armies. Manstein is forced to detach divisions to plug the massive holes created......
NORTH AFRICA:
Axis withdrawl from El Agheila costs 20 tanks and 500 casualties in rearguard actions.
GUADALCANAL:
Patch orders the 132nd Infantry to assault and capture Mount Austen, which dominates the surrounding area. This operation is preparation for an offensive planned for January, 1943.


1944
ARDENNES:
At 0530, German artillery, operating by artificial moonlight, opens fire on US First Army sector, as the first shots of a counteroffensive they know as "Wacht am Rhein"...The Allies will refer to it as "The Bulge". Artillery barrage is only brief (between 20 and 90 minutes), but the effect on US troops is devastating for it's surprise value...Montgomery had only stated the day before that the German Army is capable of NO major offensive operations.....This is proved startlingly incorrect, with the Germans managing to pull together a force of about 30 divisions (total 250,000 men), nearly 2000 guns, 1000 tanks and approx. 1,500 aircraft (of the 3,000 promised by Goering). The attack will be conducted on an 80 mile front. Opposing them immediately to their front are no more than 6 Allied divisions...Gerows V corps (2nd, 99th, 106th), and Middletons VIII corps (28th, 4th and 9th armored), a total of approx. 80,000 men, most of whom are completely unprepared for a simultanious attack by 4 German armies. Skorzeny's commandos, dressed in U.S. uniforms, get behind American lines and cause much confusion, although their ruse is actually discovered very quickly; it takes time for the news to filter down to the units at the front, as roadblocks are set up, and the GIs proceed to quiz each other on a grand scale about Hollywood movie stars private lives, or the Baseball league. Omar Bradley described it.."A half million GIs played cat & mouse with each other....three times I was forced to prove my identity. The first time by identifying Springfield as the Capital of Illonois (his questioner thought it was Chicago), the second by locating the Guard between the Center and Tackle on a line of scrimmage, and the third by naming the current spouse of Betty Grable."
The 101st and 82nd airborne divisions are given immediate orders to prepare for a drop. Allies are seriously handicapped by the winter weather preventing their tactical air-force from flying in support...but of course, this is all as planned for the Germans.

[Bodston]

From 'Tank War' by Janusz Piekalkiewicz

Friday 19 December 1941
The German News Bureau reported:
On December 18, in temperatures of 15 below zero Centigrade and during a light snowfall, fairly violent battles took place in the central sector of the Eastern Front. The enemy kept up his pressure on us in many sectors and tried to breach German lines in successive waves of attack. The Soviets supported their attacks with strong artillery and armoured forces. We sealed them off wherever they succeded in achieving small local breaches. Counterstrokes by our own infantry are clearing up our positions.

Beromünster Radio (Switzerland)
19 December 1941:
...The present military situation can be briefly characterized by saying that the initiative has now passed to the Allies in Russia and in Libya, while the Japanese are dictating the action in the Far East and Pacific theaters.

On Friday 19 December 1941, the German leadership crisis came to a head when the gravely ill C-in-C of the German Army, Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, resigned his command. Hitler took over as army C-in-C. He also recommended that Field Marshal von Bock go on indefinite sick leave, and Field Marshal von Kluge, formerly commander of the Fourth Army, now took command of Army Group Center.