Today in World War II History—December 23, 1942: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 23, 1942: US First War Loan Drive ends, raising $13 billion (quota was $9 billion). Read more: War Bonds in World War II.
So notes Sarah Sundin.
On the same day, Operation Winter Storm officially ended, dooming the German soldiers at Stalingrad to death or imprisonment at the hands of the Red Army.
Today in World War II History—December 19, 1942: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 19, 1942: Free French take Pichon, Tunisia from Germans.
From Sara Sundin's blog.
Today saw the high water mark of Operation Winter Storm, the German effort to relieve Stalingrad. German troops advanced to a point 30 miles south of Stalingrad, which is not close in military offensive terms. They could not advance further, and the trapped forces had insufficient fuel to commence an effort to break out.
Jews in the UK held a day of mourning for victims of the Holocaust.
Rommel withdrew German forces from Tunisia, thereby saving his forces while disobeying an order from Hitler.
Something perhaps Gen. Paulus later had time to contemplate.
The Vichy French scuttled their own ships in harbor in Toulon to keep them out of German hands. It was a brave act by Vichy, perhaps the most admirable thing it did during the war. Operation Lila, the German offensive operation to seize the French Navy, had in fact commenced on November 19.
Three battleships, seven cruisers, fifteen destroyers, twelve submarines and thirteen torpedo boats of the French Navy went down at French hands.
Admirable though it was, it was not as admirable as what the Italian Navy would do the next year, which was to bolt to the sea so that it could join the Allies. Indeed, in retrospect, or even at the time, the decision not to break out can be questioned, but Vichy was still making pretenses to being the de jure French government at the time, even though it was rapidly losing that status, and in fact already had.
Venezuela broke off relations with Vichy.
James ("Jimi) Marshal Hendrix, the greatest guitar player who ever lived, was born in Seattle, Washington.
Self-taught, and unable to read music, Hendrix came out of a blues saturated background and crossed over into Rock & Roll during its greatest era. Nobody played the guitar like he did before him, and nobody has surpassed his abilities since. Amazingly, Hendrix did not take up the guitar until he was 15.
A master of distortion at a time in which using it had not yet been figured out, Hendrix became a full time musician following his discharge from the Army in 1962. Entering the music scene in the turmoil of the 1960s, Hendrix was unfortunately drawn to the drug culture of the era, which ended up taking his life in 1970 at age 27. In his short musical career he established a body of music which stands out to this day.
Hendrix was just learning how to read music at the time of his death, and interestingly enough, was learning how to play wind instruments in addition to the guitar and bass that he already knew how to play. Given that 80 years of age isn't an uncommon one, had drugs not taken his life, he could still be living today, and the music scene would have undoubtedly developed much differently than it did since 1970.
For the past thirty-six hours I had received no orders or information from a higher level. In a few hours I was liable to be confronted with the following situation:(a) Either I must remain in position on my western and northern fronts and very soon see the army front rolled up from behind (in which case I should formally be complying with the orders issued to me), or else(b) I must make the only possible decision and turn with all my might on the enemy who was about to stab the army from behind. In the latter event, clearly, the eastern and northem fronts can no longer be held and it an only be a matter of breaking through to the south-west.In case of (b) I should admittedly be doing justice to the situation but should also - for the second time - be guilty of disobeying an order.(3) In this difficult situation I sent the Fuhrer a signal asking for freedom to take such a final decision if it should become necessary. I wanted to have this authority in order to guard against issuing the only possible order in that situation too late....The airlift of the last three days has brought only a fraction of the calculated minimum requirement (600 tons = 300 Ju daily). In the very next few days supplies can lead to a crisis of the utmost gravity.I still believe, however, that the army can hold out for a time. On the other hand - even if anything like a corridor is cut through to me - it is still not possible to tell whether the daily increasing weakness of the army, combined with the lack of accommodation and wood for constructional and heating purposes, will allow the area around Stalingrad to be held for any length of time.
Having just concluded Operation Uranus around Stalingrad, the Red Army launched Operation Mars near the Rzhev salient outside of Moscow.
Operation Mars remains a controversial offensive, as the Soviets later claimed it was a diversion designed to tie down German forces in the north so that they could not be redeployed to the south. This view has been taken by famed student of the Red Army, Anthony Beever. Noted historian David Glanz, however, disagrees, and I frankly feel that Glanz has the better side of the argument.
It should be noted that the offensive was supposedly the subject of a radio false information campaign by the Soviets, something they were very good at, designed to draw attention to it prior to its commencement. The overall problem is that, as a diversion, if it was one, it was a big one which wasn't skillfully executed, which would be odd as its success, diversion or not, should have been something sought by the Soviets.
The Soviet offensive would ultimately fail, which may provide the reason for its having been claimed as a diversion. If it was a diversion, it was a massive one, involving over 700,000 troops. Notably, in Mars the Red Army was encountering German troops, who fought stubbornly from its onset, rather than the forces of Germany's Eastern Front allies. Additionally, the offensive started after Uranus had concluded, whereas if it were a diversion it would seem more likely that it would have commenced simultaneously.
As with Stalingrad, the German forces were subject to a Hitler no retreat order. Hitler had issued a similar order the prior winter, which had proven instrumental in stabilizing the front. The strategic situation had changed since then, however, and while it worked in this instance, it was costly. The Germans took 40,000 casualties, small compared to the outsized 335,000 casualties the Red Army took, but the losses would not be made up by the German 9th Army by the following spring and therefore made it less effective in resumed offensive operations that year.
The Washington Post ran an article with the headline:
This was the written report on the live announcement by Rabbi Stephen Wise announcement of the prior day. It did not make the front page.
The Luftwaffe began to fly supply missions into Stalingrad.
At Meijez el Bab British forces made a disastrous attack on the town, which was defended by German paratroopers of the Luftwaffe's 5th Fallschirmjager Regiment. The unit had been in North Africa since the summer, at which point it became part of the Afrika Korps. It's deployment to Tunisia had been by plane, but they had not made a combat drop.
Medjez al Bab is an ancient city and was the site of a prior battle, the Battle of Bagradas River in 536 at which Eastern Roman Empire forces under Belisarius fought rebel forces under Stotzas.
British SOE operatives and Greek resistance fighters raided the Gorgopotamos viaduct in Operation Harling.
Case Blue, the 1942 German summer offensive on the Eastern Front, came to an end having not achieved its goals, which had been to capture the oil fields of Baku, Grozny and Maikop.
The thought was that without oil, the Soviets couldn't fight, and the Germans would be able to. Indeed, taking Soviet oil production had been part of the original goal of Operation Barbarossa, with the thought being that the Germans needed it to wage war against the United Kingdom.
It's strategic aims, often criticized, were sound and grasped the importance of petroleum on the ability to wage modern war. Hitler had a major role in forming the campaign's development and direction and frankly, while the campaign is often criticized for redirecting German assets to southern Russia rather than the north, with the focus being Moscow, the plan demonstrated a good gasp on resources and modern warfare, and the protracted nature of the latter. Had the campaign succeeded in its goals, which were problematic in more ways than one, it would have at least deprived the Soviet Union of significant war fighting assets. It probably would not have succeeded in providing those to the Germans, however, as the Soviets would have destroyed oil production facilities prior to the Germans taking them. Whether the Germans had the capacity to restore production is doubtful.
The plan was, moreover, overambitious and its initial success caused the Germans to take actions which reduced its potential effectiveness.
In spite of its ultimate failure, the offensive was remarkably successful at first, which encouraged the Germans to overextend themselves. By November the offensive had lost steam, without succeeding in its goals, and Operation Uranus soon demonstrated that the Germans were now grossly overextended. The Soviets, additionally, managed to increase the size of their army throughout the campaign and by its end had over 1,000,000 more men in the field than the Germans did. The Germans, for their part, lost 200,000 men during the campaign and the Romanian army was effectively ground down to semi ineffective. By the campaign's end, moreover, the Germans were relying on Romanian, Hungarian and Italian troops to a dangerous extent.
The end of the campaign came with the Soviets launching a series of winter offensives.
Case Blue brought the Germans to their high water mark of World War Two. Its failure was followed by losing ground in the East in the winter of 1942, which they were also doing in North Africa at the same time. Indeed, due to its failure it should have been obvious to the Germans that wining the war was not impossible.
Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress, held a press conference in which he revealed information leaked from Europe of German atrocities against the Jews.
Rabbi Wise had the information for three months, but has been asked not to reveal it by the U.S. Government as it could not be confirmed, which of course it could not. At this point, however, he correctly felt that releasing the information was necessary.
Wise had been born in Hungary, but came to the US as an infant with his parents. His father and grandfather were also rabbis.
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Peadar Kearney, writer of the Irish National Anthem A Soldiers Song, "Amhrán na bhFiann" died at age 58.
The Red Army completed encircling the German 6th Army, which was trapped in Stalingrad.
In a matter of mere days, the Red Army had blasted through Romanian lines north and south of the city and completely routed it. German efforts at counter-attacks failed. 250,000 German troops were besieged in the city. It was a brilliantly planned and executed Red Army offensive, featuring massive use of artillery and rapid advancement of armor and horse cavalry.
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The offensive also showed that the Germans had committed a fatal error in trusting the front near Stalingrad to their allies. To the north of the city the front was defended by Romanian, Hungarian and Italian armies. To the south, Romanian. The Romanian Army had already shown itself to be worn out earlier in 1942.
The Governor General of French West Africa accepted the authority of Admiral Darlan.
Japanese general Tomitarō Horii, age 52, was swept out to sea after trying to canoe to his troops in the Battle of Buno-Gona. This resulted in his death due to drowning.
The Red Army established a bridgehead across the Don at Kalach-na-Donu, trapping 250,000 German and Romanian troops at Stalingrad.
The Germans, facing plenty of problems on the Don, formed Army Group Don with Erich von Manstein as its commander. The group was located between Group A, in the south, and Group B, in the north.
Von Manstein, who would lose a son in the war, was an excellent German general who was known to openly clash with Hitler. However, that fact and his post-war writings have glossed over his culpability for horrific German actions during the war, something that was not uncommon with surviving officers of the German army who operated to create the "clean army" myth. Von Manstein was one of those German figures who regarded Communism and Judaism as part and parcel of each other.
Von Manstein served a prison term post war for war crimes and did not rejoin the West German Army when it was formed, but did receive a secret veto over which German officers could be members of it. He died at age 85 in 1973.
Paul Ludwig von Kleist was made commander of Army Group A on this day as well.
Von Keist would not be as lucky as Von Manstein, post-war. He was turned over by the Western Allies to Yugoslavia and convicted of war crimes there. The Yugoslavians then turned him over to the Soviets, who also convicted him of war crimes. He died in Soviet captivity of a heart attack in 1954 at age 73.
Today In Wyoming's History: November 20: 1942 NHL abolishes regular season overtime until World War II is over.
Rommel returned to Africa.
During his absence, things had not gone well for the Axis. There's no reason to believe that they would have gone any better had he been there.
Rommel arguably has an outsized reputation. Perhaps because the British tended to admire him, for some reason, as an adversary, and as they measured their success in the desert in terms of defeating his command, he's obtained the reputation of being a "clean" German commander. There actually is some evidence to support this, but it's mixed and not as clear-cut as sometimes claimed.
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The Battle of Santa Cruz Islands began with the Japanese, operating under the assumption that they had taken Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, moved ships from the Shortland Island towards Guadalcanal in order to support the Japanese ground forces on the islands. Aircraft from Henderson Field ended up attacking the Japanese convoy throughout the 25th, sinking a light cruiser. This alerted the Japanese that Henderson Field remained in American hands, but they pushed forward in hopes of engaging the American Navy in a decisive naval battle.
The Japanese, grossly underestimating Marine Corps strength at Henderson Field, sends 100 troops across the Tenaru who are met and wiped out by 2,500 Marines supported by 37mm anti tank rifles and artillery. When the first attempt fails, he sends another group of slightly larger size, which meat the same result. Even a third attempt was tried.
Given the Japanese losses, the Marines follow up with a counterattack inland and surround the Japanese force on the coast, advancing on it with M3 Stuart tanks and supported by fighter aircraft. Nearly the entire force of Japanese troops, over 700, are killed, to the loss of 44 Marines. The battle demonstrated the casual disregard of the life common to the Japanese military, and was frankly ineptly fought on their part.
The Japanese land additional forces at Buna.
The Germans crossed the Don in inflatable rafts at Luchinsky.
The Germans sent an expedition of Gebirgsjäger, their mountain troops ("mountain hunters") to the summit of Mount Elbrus in the Caucuses. The 18,500-foot peak is the highest in Europe.
The effort was clearly a stunt, resulting only in the planting of the Nazi era German flag at the summit. When Hitler learned of it, he was enraged.
Today in World War II History—July 13, 1942: Nazis massacre 5000 Jews in Rovno, Ukraine. Italian frogmen swim 5 km to Gibraltar and plant limpet mines, sinking three Allied ships.
And Feodor von Bock, as Sundin also reports on her blog, was relieved of command of Army Group B, although that became effective on July 15.
Von Bock was not a Nazi, and indeed personally disliked the Nazis, but he was also passive in regard to their atrocities within his command. That command included several officers who later were participants in the July 20 plot, which he was invited to participate in, but he declined to do so.
He was killed at the extreme end of the war when a vehicle he was in, along with his wife and stepdaughter, was strafed.
The German 21st Panzer division was repulsed by Australian and South African forces in an attack featuring heavy losses at Tel el Eisa and the El Alamein "box".
The USS Seadragon, still off of Cam Ranh Bay, sank the transport Shinyo Maru.
The RAF bombed Duisburg during thunderstorms, but missed the industrial areas.
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On this day in 1942 the last British "cavalry" charge. . . maybe . . . occurred at Toungoo Burma.
This is sort of a well known historical footnote, which means that it's often not really very well understood. The unit conducting the charge was a Sikh element of the Burma Frontier Force and was part of the Indian Army, although it's sometimes asserted that this unit was in the nature of paramilitary police. The Frontier Force still exists today as part of the Pakistani Army. That categorization, however, is probably improper, and the various unis of the Frontier Force did see extensive combat during the war.
The officer in command of the charge, Cpt. Arthur Sandeman, was an officer of the Central Indian Horse. The battle at Taungoo itself was actually principally between the Chinese Nationalist Army, which had been given the task of defending Burma, and the Japanese. Indeed, the charge occurred when the unit, which was actually a column of mounted infantry, not cavalry, mistook a Japanese unit for a Chinese one while on patrol. The patrol accordingly went to close with what they thought were their Chinese allies when it turned into a charge by necessity. Sandeman and most of his men were killed in the ensuing charge.
The Frontier Force was not the only cavalry unit involved in the battle, which would prove to be a Chinese defeat, as the Chinese had committed a motorized cavalry unit to the action.
It could well be argued, of course, that this charge was not a British one, although it was British led.
Malta, which had been besieged from the air for months, suffered its heaviest air raid today.
Entrapped German troops at Demyansk attempt a breakout.
On this day in 1941, the American Volunteer Group, the "Flying Tigers", flew their first combat mission.
This really surprised me as I thought the band of aviation soldiers of fortune had been in China in combat prior to December 7. Obviously not so. I also thought it was immediately folded into the United States Army Air Corps with the arrival of the war. Also, not so. That would wait until July, 1942.
This I ran into first here:
More can be read about this mission here:
As also listed there, the Japanese landed on Mindanao, Borneo, Celebes and the Moluccas.
And they sunk a freighter off of Cape Mendocino, California, a frightening thing for coast residents. It was, of course, a submarine attack.
Ernest King was appointed CiC of the US Navy.
Lindbergh wrote Hap Arnold and volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army.
Goebbels commenced a winter clothing drive for German troops, an effort which was disguised as a patriotic home front type of thing, but which likely fooled few.
The Belgian government in exile declared war on Japan.
And another letter home.
Italy achieved what was amounting to a rare naval victory when it attacked two Royal Navy battleships at Alexandria, Egypt, and disabled them, using three manned torpedoes, dispatched from a submarine. The HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth were badly damaged in the bold attack, and the HMS Jervis, a destroyer, was as well.
Because of the way the HMS Queen Elizabeth settled, it had the illusion of remaining afloat, something that was maintained until she could be dry docked and repaired.
The Valiant was a sister ship, both being of the Queen Elizabeth Class. She'd be reassigned to the Pacific later in the war. Both British battleships would return to action, but it would take more or less a year to accomplish.
All the Italian frogmen survived and were made Prisoners of War.
On the same day, the British HMS Neptune was sunk by mines off of Tripoli. The HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope were damaged. The following day, the HMS Kandahar was hit and had to be scuttled.
The bold and unconventional Italian attack, and the successful minefield laying, reversed the naval balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean in favor of the Axis.
It also somewhat cuts into the myth that there were no naval surface actions during the war. In fact, there were a lot of them, and at this stage of the war the naval battle in the Mediterranean remained a heavily surface campaign.
Walter von Brauchitsch was relieved as Commander in Chief of the Germany Army. Hitler replaced him with Hitler, a tipping point in the war for a variety of reasons. With this, the German Army's bargain in which it supported the rise of the Nazis in exchange for Nazi support for the Army was essentially betrayed and shown to be worthless, as the Nazi co-opting of the Army was effectively complete.
Moreover, it showed an increasing strain in the German war effort as the dawn of realization that not only had Operation Barbarossa failed started, but it was obvious that the Soviets were not only not defeated, but they were beginning to reverse German fortunes for the first time in the war. The obvious fear that Germany had overstretched herself and now the decline would become general was developing.
Von Brauchitsch was effectively retired by the act and never received another command. He was imprisoned after the war on war crimes but died in a British military prison before he could be tried.
Hitler, who was already Commander in Chief of the Wehrmacht, would remain CiC of the Heer for the rest of the war.
The Indian 4th Division took Derna, Libya, where the Germans were also experiencing setbacks. It was a victory, but the Germans had pulled out before they could be trapped and defeated there.
The Japanese invaded Davoa, in the Philippines.
Sgt Maj. John Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers won a posthumous Victory Cross for falling on a Japanese hand grenade at the battle for Hong Kong, making him the first Canadian soldier to receive that award during World War Two.
His citation read:
At Hong Kong on the morning of 19th December 1941 a Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers to which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn belonged became divided during an attack on Mount Butler, a hill rising steeply above sea level. A part of the Company led by Company Sergeant-Major Osborn captured the hill at the point of the bayonet and held it for three hours when, owing to the superior numbers of the enemy and to fire from an unprotected flank, the position became untenable. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn and a small group covered the withdrawal and when their turn came to fall back, Osborn single-handed engaged the enemy while the remainder successfully rejoined the Company. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn had to run the gauntlet of heavy rifle and machine gun fire. With no consideration for his own safety he assisted and directed stragglers to the new Company position exposing himself to heavy enemy fire to cover their retirement. Whenever danger threatened he was there to encourage his men.
During the afternoon the Company was cut off from the Battalion and completely surrounded by the enemy who were able to approach to within grenade throwing distance of the slight depression which the Company was holding. Several enemy grenades were thrown which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade which exploded killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others.
Company Sergeant-Major Osborn was an inspiring example to all throughout the defence which he assisted so magnificently in maintaining against an overwhelming enemy force for over eight and a half hours and in his death he displayed the highest quality of heroism and self-sacrifice.
Osborn was born in England, reflecting a Canada in which the English speaking population still had strong connections to the United Kingdom and in fact a fair number were English born. He'd served in the Royal Navy during World War One.
The United States started the Office of Censorship.
It censored communications during the war coming into and out of the country.
The National Defense Garden Conference commenced to encourage growing your own.
Both of these last two items are from here:
Also on that site, you can read about Victory Gardens as well, here:
The endless series of nearly meaningless declarations of war continued, with Nicaragua declaring war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
The Under Secretary said that the Secretary was absent from the Department because of a slight indisposition and that the President had therefore asked Mr. Welles to request the Japanese Ambassador and Mr. Kurusu to call to receive a communication which the President wished to make to them. Mr. Welles then read to Their Excellencies the following statement (a copy of which was handed to the Ambassador)
"I have received reports during the past days of continuing Japanese troop movements to southern Indochina. These reports indicate a very rapid and material increase in the forces of all kinds stationed by Japan in Indochina."It was my clear understanding that by the terms of the agreement-and there is no present need to discuss the nature of that agreement-between Japan and the French Government at Vichy that the total number of Japanese forces permitted by the terms of that agreement to be stationed in Indochina was very considerably less than the total amount of the forces already there.
"The stationing of these increased Japanese forces in Indochina would seem to imply the utilization of these forces by Japan for purposes of further aggression, since no such number of forces could possibly be required for the policing of that region. Such aggression could conceivably be against the Philippine Islands; against the many islands of the East Indies; against Burma; against Malaya or either through coercion or through the actual use of force for the purpose of undertaking the occupation of Thailand. Such new aggression would, of course, be additional to the acts of aggression already undertaken against China, our attitude towards which is well known, and has been repeatedly stated to the Japanese Government.
"Please be good enough to request the Japanese Ambassador and Ambassador Kurusu to inquire at once of the Japanese Government what the actual reasons may be for the steps already taken, and what I am to consider is the policy of the Japanese Government as demonstrated by this recent and rapid concentration of troops in Indochina. This Government has seen in the last few years in Europe a policy on the part of the German Government which has involved a constant and steady encroachment upon the territory and rights of free and independent peoples through the utilization of military steps of the same character. It is for that reason and because of the broad problem of American defense that I should like to know the intention of the Japanese Government."
The Japanese Ambassador said that he was not informed by the Japanese Government of its intentions and could not speak authoritatively on the matter but that of course he would communicate the statement immediately to his Government. Mr. Kurusu said that, in view of Japan's offer of November 20 to transfer all its forces from. southern Indochina to northern Indochina, it was obvious no threat against the United States was intended. Both Mr. Kurusu and the Ambassador endeavored to explain that owing to lack of adequate land communication facilities in Indochina a rapid transfer of forces from northern to southern Indochina for purposes of aggression against countries neighboring southern Indochina could not be easily effected. Mr. Kurusu asked whether the reports to which the President referred were from our authorities. Mr. Welles said that he was not in position to say any more on that point than was contained in the statement.The Ambassador said that it appeared to him that the measures which Japan was taking were natural under the circumstances, as the strengthening of armaments and of military dispositions by one side naturally leads to increasing activity by the other side. Mr. Welles stated that, as the Japanese Ambassador must be fully aware, this Government has not had any aggressive intention against Japan. The Ambassador said that, while he did not wish to enter into a debate on the matter, he wished to point out that the Japanese people believe that economic measures are a much more effective weapon of war than military measures; that they believe they are being placed under severe pressure by the United States to yield to the American position; and that it is preferable to fight rather than to yield to pressure. The Ambassador added that this was a situation in which wise statesmanship was needed; that wars do not settle anything; and that under the circumstances some agreement, even though it is not satisfactory, is better than no agreement at all.
Mr. Welles pointed out that the settlement which we are offering Japan is one which would assure Japan of peace and the satisfaction of Japan's economic needs much more certainly than any other alternative which Japan might feel was open to her.
Mr. Kurusu said that having just recently arrived from Japan he could speak more accurately of the frame of mind which is prevalent in Japan than could the Ambassador. He dwelt briefly upon the reaction which has been caused in Japan by our freezing measures and he said that this produces a frame of mind which has to be taken into account.
Mr. Welles pointed out that, as the Ambassadors must fully understand, there is a frame of mind in this country also which must be taken into account, and that frame of mind is produced by the effect of four years of the measures taken by Japan in China causing the squeezing out of American interests in Japanese-occupied areas. Mr. Kurusu then repeated what he had said two or three times previously about the effect of the Washington Conference treaties upon China which had caused China to flaunt Japan's rights. He said that in view of the actual situation in the Far East there were points in our proposal of November 26 which the Japanese Government would find it difficult to accept. Mr. Welles asked whether we may expect shortly a reply from the Japanese Government on our proposal. The Ambassador replied in the affirmative, but said that it might take a few days in view of the important questions which it raised for the Japanese Government. Mr. Kurusu expressed the hope that the American Government would exercise cool judgment in its consideration of questions under discussion between the two Governments. Mr. Welles said that we are asking for cool judgment on the part of Japanese statesmen.
Then Mr. Kurusu said that the Japanese felt that we had made real progress in our discussions and that the Japanese Government had been hopeful of being able to work out with us some settlement of the three outstanding points on which our draft of June 21 and the Japanese draft of September 25 had not been reconciled. He asked whether the Secretary would be willing to consider resuming our efforts to reconcile our differences on those three points, in view of all the progress that had been made, instead of approaching the problem from a new angle as we had done in our latest proposal which seemed to the Japanese Government to require a completely fresh start.
Mr. Welles said that our proposal of November 26 represented an effort to restate our complete position, as it has always stood. He said, however, that he would be glad to refer to the Secretary Mr. Kurusu's suggestion.
On this day in 1941, the Air Force auxiliary the United States Civil Air Defense Services, whose named was soon changed to the Civil Air Patrol, came into existence.
The organization came into being through Executive Order No. 9 issued by F. H. La, which provided:
December 1, 1941
Administrative Order No.9
Establishing Civil Air Patrol
By virtue of the authority vested in me through my appointment as United States Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, through the Executive Order of the President creating said Office, dated May 20, 1941. I have caused to be created and organized a branch of this Office of volunteers for the purpose of enlisting and training personnel to aid in the national defense of the United States, designated as the Civil Air Patrol.
In conformity with said organization, Major General John F. Curry, U.S.A. Air Corps has been assigned to this office by the U.S. Army and designated by me as its National Commander. Said organization shall be formed as outlined in the attached chart, which is made a part of this Order as if written herein in full. The Civil Air Patrol shall carry out such Orders and directives as are issued to it by the Director of Civilian Defense. It shall be the duty and responsibility of the National Commander to see that the objectives and purposes and orders issued in conformity with the policy of this office are carried out and that all activities are reported regularly to the Director through the Aviation Aide.
All enlistments and appointments in the Civil Air Patrol may be disapproved by the Director of the Office of Civilian Defense.
F. H. LaGuardiaU.S. Director ofCivilian Defense
The wartime status of the CAP is frankly a little murky. Often noted that it was a "civilian" organization using private aircraft, it rapidly came to deploy light aircraft owned by the government. Moreover, as the war progressed, the aircraft became armed and the CAP conducted over 80 bombing and depth charge runs on German U-boats during the war, suppressing their activities but sinking none of them. The members of the organization were commanded by an Army general during the war, and wore Army Air Corps uniforms. Given all of that, the better argument is that they were in fact a combat organization. It's role in the Second World War, in that sense, may be imperfectly analogous to the Coast Guard, somewhat, or the United States Health Service, both of which became wartime auxillaries of the U.S. Navy.
As such, they're further notable in that they fielded some women pilots during the war, one of whom, Willa Beatrice Brown, was African American. This would mean that the Civil Air Patrol, not any of the other branches of the military, was the first to deploy women officially to a combat service and the first branch of the Army to integrate, albeit to a very small extent.
The subsequent view of the CAP is, at least to some extent, confused by the later creation of the cadet branch, which came into being some during World War Two (October 1942) and which somewhat replicated, at that time, JrROTC, which was limited to the Army. Like the "adult" branch, the cadet program also included females in its ranks.
We've posted on the CAP a fair amount here before, with the longest World War Two themed one being the following two.
As those threads explain the CAP pretty well, we'll leave it at that.
Franklin Roosevelt cut short a vacation at Warm Springs, Georgia to deal with the mounting crisis of almost certain war with Japan.
Also on this day, the Japanese Navy suddenly changed its communications code, a significant event in that the US had cracked the prior one. This meant that the US was suddenly unable to eavesdrop on radio communications of the Japanese navy, although the Japanese had gone radio silent on their dispatched missions leading towards the events of December 7.
Yugoslavian partisans attacked Italian forces in Montenegro at Pljevilja. They were predicatably put down, after which the local movement began to severely split, with sizable numbers joining pro Axis militias.
Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt, feuding with Hitler after ordering a retreat against Hitler's orders following the German setbacks at Rostov, resigned. In North Africa, the Afrika Corps fought with New Zealand and British troops at Belhamed Libya with inconclusive results.
Karl Jäger issued a report detailing with precision the murderous activites of Einsatzkommando in the Baltics.
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