ROOSEVELT ASKS JAPAN’S AIM IN INDO-CHINA; NEW BRITISH FLEET STEAMS INTO SINGAPORE (12/3/41)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/3/41 | Frank L. Kluckhohn, Otto D. Tolischus, John MacCormac, Joseph M. Levy, Daniel T. Brigham, more

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Advance on Moscow – Operations, 26 August-5 December 1941
North Africa, Auchinleck’s Offensive, 18 November-31 December 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Major Allied Forces and Positions, December 1941
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Major Japanese War Objectives and Planned Opening Attacks

[Homer_J_Simpson]

A Test for Tokyo – 2-3
Japan Still Says U.S. Must Give In – 3
Shanghai Marines Now in Philippines – 3
British Dominions Are Watching U.S.-Japanese Parleys Intently – 4
The International Situation – 4
Japanese in Manchukuo Kill 2 Soviet Soldiers – 4
Tobruk Line is Cut – 5
Russians Push On – 6
U.S. Aid to Soviet is Found Lagging (by Arthur Krock) – 6-7
Retaking of Swabue Reported by Chinese – 7
China Relief Held a National Problem – 7
2 Capital Ships Lead Armada into British Base in Far East (by F. Tillman Durdin) – 8-9
Crossroads of the Far East Where the Clouds of War Hang Low (photos) – 10-12
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 13-14

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f03dec41.htm

Soviet troopship sunk by mines
Wednesday, December 3, 1941 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... The Soviet transport ship J. Stalin (7500 tons), evacuating troops besieged at Hango since June, is wrecked by 4 mines. Approximately 2000 are killed. German forces later capture the wreck.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/03.htm

December 3rd, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Tenacious laid down.

AA cruiser HMS Charybdis commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-389, U-420 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

SWITZERLAND: Eggs and products based on eggs are rationed. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)

BALTIC SEA: Finnish Submarine Vetehinen makes a surface attack on a 7-ship convoy shooting both bow and stern torpedoes. Enemy artillery fire was heavy, no hits on either side. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: General Walther von Reichenau succeeds von Rundstedt as commander of Army Group South.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Brereton returns and is instructed by MacArthur to plan on leaving on 8th December for another trip, this time a 5,733-mile journey to Djakarta, Singapore, Rangoon, and Chunking, to co-ordinate defensive measures with the Dutch, British, and Chinese, and to receive a report on Japanese air activities from Chennault.

Hart personally briefs Lieutenant John Walker Payne, Jr, Commander of the US Yacht Isabel and assigns his ship to the “Defensive Information Patrol”. Payne sails the same day.
(Marc Small)

The men of the 5th Air Base Group at Del Monte field, are joined by two ordnance companies and a second contingent is due on December 10th with ammunition and 110,000 US gallons (91,594 Imperial gallons or 416,395 litres) of aviation fuel. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Pirie launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Red Deer arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: Roosevelt again meets with British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, and indicates the US would enter the war on the British side the British if they were attacked by Japan, but did not explicitly promise this. (Marc Small)

Submarine USS Halibut launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-124 sank SS Sagadahoc. (Dave Shirlaw)

[JoeProBono]

[Vermont Lt]

Interesting on how damaged the microfiche gets as we move towards the 7th. I remember pulling the same fiche when I was in college. Next to November 1963, it was the most requested fiche in our library.

[JoeProBono]

[Mike Darancette]

Within a week the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse would be sunk by Japanese aircraft for going on a fools mission.

[henkster]

One of the great “what ifs” of WW2 involves the Prince of Wales and Repulse. The British planned on sending an aircraft carrier with them, HMS Indomitable. However, on November 3 Indomitable ran aground in the West Indies during her workups, and she had to put into Norfolk for repairs.

The big question is whether an aircraft carrier would have provided the air cover to keep the slow Japanese bombers away. We can discuss more of that next week.

[Lancey Howard]

This is really a great edition. Wow!
We’re getting real close now...

[CougarGA7]

Off the cuff, I would say the Illustrious would have just been sunk with the others. After all, the Illustrious at this time only had a complement of 33 aircraft with the bulk of them being Swordfish bi-planes. The fighter complement consisted of the 805dt squadron made up of about 12 Fairey Fulmar fighters (hardly a match for the Zero). The only thing that really would have protected the Illustrious from the same fate of the Repulse and the Prince of Wales would be its array of anti-aircraft guns which likely would have been insufficient.

[beebuster2000]

Nagumo Task Force roughly 2/3 of the way to Pearl. roughly south of the midpoint of the Aleutians.
The entire Task Force makes a final refuel from Supply Group Two consisting of three tankers. this refueling was one of the great unknowns in the plan, it wasn't clear it could be done, and had never been done by the IJN at sea under such conditions and at such scale.
The effective range of the task force, was well short of the distance needed to traverse and return, even after stripping out all unnecessary gear and packing the fleet with drums of fuel below decks. The US, and particularly Kimmel and Short at “Fortress Hawaii” believed it was impossible for the IJN to come so far east and attack. Their lack of imagination on this point, and their underestimation of the willingness of the IJN to take huge operational risks were the main factors in the surprise element, even though numerous war warnings were issued.

From “At Dawn We Slept”

At 11:30, after refueling the entire task force, Supply Group Two, consisting of the tankers and their escort destroyer, headed Northwest for its rendezvous point, where it would pick up the rest of the fleet on its return voyage. As they pulled away, their officers and crew lined up on the deck and saluted the task force in farewell. Toho Maru signaled “Good-bye and we hope your brave mission will be honored with success”. Everyone felt “deeply moved by this” Chigusa recorded.

This cutting down of Nagumo’s oil reserves reduced his margin of safety....and left him little or no room for evasive actions or unplanned high-speed runs.

I have to say, that is a moving scene. Like a gambler going all in, Nagumo and the IJN drop the fuel tanks, and are now on an all or nothing run to the target. You cant help but feel a little emotional at the scene in the middle of the Pacific with the support vessel crew on deck, saluting the attack force as it steams away to uncertainty.

[CougarGA7]

• U. S. DEMANDS EXPLANATION OF JAPAN MOVES - AMERICANS PREPARE FOR ANY EMERGENCY; NAVY DECLARED READY - Hawaiian newspaper headline

• "1. Military transport (name unknown) departed for mainland on 2nd. 2. Luline arrived from San Francisco on 3rd." - R.C.A. coded traffic from Honolulu to Tokyo

• "Judging from all indications, we feel that some joint military action between Great Britain and the United States, with or without a declaration of war, is a definite certainty in the event of an occupation of Thailand." - Message from Washington to Tokyo transmitted in Purple code. Translated on December 5th

• "Wyoming and two seaplane tenders departed third." - R.C.A. coded traffic from Honolulu to Tokyo

• British intelligence in Manila sends an urgent cable to British intelligence in Hawaii saying: We have received considerable intelligence confirming following developments in Indo-China. A. 1. Accelerated Japanese preparations of air fields and railways. 2. Arrival since Nov. 10 of additional 100,000 repeat 100,000 troops and considerable quantities fighters, medium bombers, tanks and guns (75 mm). B. Estimate of specific quantities have already been telegraphed Washington Nov. 21 by American military intelligence here. C. Our considered opinion concludes that Japan envisages early hostilities with Britain and U.S. Japan does not repeat not intend to attack Russia at present but will act in South.

• Colonel Bicknell is shown by Rochefort the first message from the Navy Department in Washington reporting that the Japanese were destroying their codes and secret papers.

• The two war warning messages, both concerning the destruction of the Japanese codes and code machines were sent by OPNAV to CINCAF, COM16 (Hart), COM14 (Bloch), and CINCPAC (Kimmel). The first one reads: HIGHLY RELIABLE INFORMATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED THAT CATEGORIC AND URGENT INSTRUCTIONS WERE SENT YESTERDAY TO JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS AT HONGKONG, SINGAPORE, BATAVIA, MANILA, WASHINGTON, AND LONDON TO DESTROY MOST OF THEIR CODES AND CIPHERS AT ONCE AND TO BURN ALL OTHER IMPORTANT CONFIDENTIAL AND SECRET DOCUMENTS. The second message read: CIRCULAR TWENTY FOUR FORTY FOUR FROM TOKYO ONE DECEMBER ORDERED LONDON, HONGKONG, SINGAPORE, AND MANILA TO DESTROY MACHINE. BATAVIA MACHINE ALREADY SENT TO TOKYO. DECEMBER SECOND WASHINGTON ALSO DIRECTED DESTROY, ALL BUT ONE COPY OF OTHER SYSTEMS, AND ALL SECRET DOCUMENTS. BRITISH ADMIRALTY LONDON TODAY REPORTS EMBASSY LONDON HAS COMPLIED.

  These two messages alone should are the single most important ones sent to the fleets in both the Philippines and Pearl Harbor. The Japanese destruction of their codes are a sure indication that full scale war is immanent.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Interesting on how damaged the microfiche gets as we move towards the 7th. I remember pulling the same fiche when I was in college. Next to November 1963, it was the most requested fiche in our library.

I have been wondering about the varying condition of microfilm for three years now. I don't think the lousy condition is due to extra abuse of the film itself. The vertical lines that mar the text seem to begin suddenly at the beginning of a new reel and may or may not be gone with the next reel. I haven't come up with a satisfying explanation for the lines. The condition of the paper when first photographed is a factor, as is the quality of the photography itself. Occasionally some debris will get rolled up in the reel and then appear on the copy. Then the condition of the reader and the copying set up there can either help or hurt the clarity of the copies I post. From what I have see so far there will be gradual improvement from now through the end of the reel, which ends on Dec. 10. Then as far as I have seen on the next reel - Dec. 11-20 - it is pretty clear again.

JoeProBono, that reader looks like the same model I used to use at UC Santa Cruz. Since they removed all their microfilm of the WWII era papers and put it in a warehouse in Berkeley I have been using a slightly different model at the Monterey Public Library.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

HIGHLY RELIABLE INFORMATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED THAT CATEGORIC AND URGENT INSTRUCTIONS WERE SENT YESTERDAY TO JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS AT HONGKONG, SINGAPORE, BATAVIA, MANILA, WASHINGTON, AND LONDON TO DESTROY MOST OF THEIR CODES AND CIPHERS AT ONCE AND TO BURN ALL OTHER IMPORTANT CONFIDENTIAL AND SECRET DOCUMENTS.

But not Honolulu.

[beebuster2000]

more than that, the Hawaii Command gets intel that the Hawaiin Japanese embassy is burning large amounts of papers.

Also, the FBI has Japanese locals phones tapped and records converations between them and Japan which are clearly suspected of being reports on ship movements and presence in the Harbor.

Again, no one puts the pieces together largely because of a total lack of imagination: Kimmel and Short just flat out refused to believe the Japanese had the capability and the daring to raid Pearl.

[TADSLOS]

Just a note of thanks to you for putting this all together on a daily basis. I am really enjoying this history lesson.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

My pleasure. I only wish Mrs. Homer shared the sentiment. She has become strongly anti-war since I started doing this.

[GeronL]

Whatever. We all know the Japanese are too busy with Manchuria to do anything drastic.

Whatever happened to those “Shanghai Marines” in the Philippines?

65 cent luncheon?