The Battle of Tirad Pass, the "Philippine Thermopylae", took place in northern Luzon in the Philippines. A 60-man Filipino rear guard commanded by Brigadier General Gregorio del Pilar was ultimately defeated by the 33rd Volunteer Infantry Regiment under Major Peyton C. March, with the delaying action allowing President Emilio Aguinaldo and his troops escape capture.
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Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of embattled Britain, and Franklin Roosevelt, President of the ostensibly neutral United States, jointly wrote Josef Stalin, the head of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union who had presided over the decimation of its officer corps just before World War Two, stating:
We realize fully how vitally important to the defeat of Hitlerism is the brave and steadfast resistance of the Soviet Union and we feel therefore that we must not in any circumstances fail to act quickly and immediately in this matter on planning the program for the future allocation of our joint resources
It's often noted that the United States was quite involved, obviously, in aiding the fighting Allies prior to December 7, 1941, but running across these day by day entries such as this really do provide quite a revelation. The US, in a communication such as this, was effectively acting as if it was at war.
It nearly was, although it wasn't a declared belligerent yet. Just this past week, however, the US had entered into a "charter" with the UK about what the post-war world should look like, and it had made a declaration under the Monroe Doctrine, quite sensibly and in keeping with its historical position, that it would not allow German U-boat attacks in the Western Hemisphere. But at the same time the House of Representatives had nearly started sending inductees into the Army home, as the first inductees had planned on, when their October conscription dates were up.
Roosevelt remains a controversial President in some quarters, particularly for his role in expanding the government in the Great Depression. It's interesting how the shock and horror of the Second World War, once we were in it, has pretty much silences his pre-war actions in edging up, and indeed over, the line that crossed into war. His view and attitude were correct, but the degree to which the US not only flaunted its neutrality, but pretty much ignored it short of an actual declaration of war, is really remarkable.
On the same day, the Philippine Army Air Corps was inducted into the United States Army Air Forces in the Far East.
Filipino guerillas captured an American troop train at Alaminos, Laguna.
Boston Beaneater's catcher Marty Bergen killed his wife and six year old duaghter with an axe, and then killed himself. He'd become mentally unstable after the death of his son. He was such a good cathcer, that he later received some votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
As horrific as this sounds, a much beloved, I'm told, great uncle of mine did the same thing, kill his wife and daughter, while deranged, then killing himself. He turned out to be suffering from a brain tumor.
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Philippine General Arcadio Maxílom reorganized his forces on Cebu for guerilla warfare against the United States.
The United States Senate ratified the Anglo-German Treaty of 1899 in which the UK renounced its claims to the Solomons.
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