TOKYO REPORTS HULL PLAN IMPOSSIBLE; RUSSIANS PRESS THE RETREATING NAZIS (12/5/41)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/5/41 | Otto D. Tolischus, Daniel T. Brigham, Joseph M. Levy, Hanson W. Baldwin

[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]

Domei Gives Stand – 2-3
Dive Bomber Plant is Opened in Ohio – 3
Debris Fills Roads – 3-4
The International Situation – 3
Soviet Loss at Hangoe Held Vast; British Ultimatum to Finns Seen – 4
Timoshenko Wins Anew by Tactics – 5-6
R.A.F. in Libya Pounds Axis Units – 6
History at Rostov – 7
‘Dental Cocktail’ Devised to End Pain – 7
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 8-9
Riom is Made Ready for Defeat Hearing – 9
46 Experts on Way to Aid Traffic for China; 30,000 Tons a Month on Burma Road is Goal – 9
50,000 Planes a Year in Sight, Says Jouett – 9
Nazis See Diversion in U.S. Aid to Turkey – 9

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f05dec41.htm

Germans abandon attack on Moscow
Friday, December 5, 1941 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... After a month of discussion with his Generals, Hitler finally agrees to halt the drive for Moscow.

From Berlin... Hitler orders the transfer of the whole of the Luftwaffe 2nd Air Corps from the Eastern Front to aid the Italian air force in control of the Mediterranean. The aim is to reduce the effectiveness of the attacks of the British Malta forces on the Axis supply convoys to North Africa.

In Moscow... Stalin and General Sikorski, the head of the exiled Polish government meet. A friendship and mutual aid agreement between the Soviets and the Poles is signed by the two leaders.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/05.htm

December 5th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: AA cruiser HMS Cleopatra commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: German Major Friese is wounded by two pistol shots from a cyclist on the Left Bank, a fusillade of shots at Germans at the Porte d’Issy and a bomb explosion in Boulevard Blanqui. For the Germans this means not sitting in the cafes’ glass terraces, for Parisians it means body searches, queues and the continual demand for papiers. On the Boulevard Malsherbes there is an attempted assassination of an MSR leader.

GERMANY:
U-175 commissioned.

U-273 laid down.

U-218 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Hitler agrees to a halt in the offensive towards Moscow, due to growing German weakness.

The Soviets launch a major counter-offensive.

The German Fliegerkorps II and Luftlotte 2 are ordered, by Hitler, from the Eastern Front to the MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The goal is to disrupt the attacks from Malta against the Axis supply convoys for North Africa.

A friendship and mutual aid agreement between the Soviets and General Sikorski, of the Polish Government in Exile in London, is signed in Moscow.

Tokyo: JAPAN: assures the USA that its build-up of troops in Indochina is a purely defensive measure.

AUSTRALIA: The government today cancelled all army leave as the prospect of war with Japan grows more likely. Japanese convoys are on the move in Asia, and the only question now seems to be where, not whether, they will strike.

Allied forces have been brought to the first degree of readiness. Australian service chiefs have been summoned and the Australian war cabinet has issued orders for emergency measures in the Pacific.

However, Australia has the bulk of its army strength - three divisions - in North Africa and the Middle East. So far there is no question of their return, as the war cabinet does not believe that there is an immediate threat to Australia.

Meanwhile, John Curtin, the Australian prime minister, is anxiously following the efforts of the United States to negotiate with the Japanese and thereby avert an extension of the European war to the Pacific. The government here wonders whether, if negotiations fail, the United States will take the lead in armed defence against Japanese aggression. Despite the links with Britain and the British base at Singapore, it is the Americans are seen as potentially the major Allied power in the Pacific.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Visit by Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, commander of the British Far East Squadron. Phillips met with MacArthur and Hart at Cavite. Phillips requests assignment of two destroyer divisions to operate with HMS Repulse and HMS Renown. Hart demurs. Hart receives message from Captain John Creighton, USN, his liaison officer in Singapore, that the British had been informed by the US government that the US would enter the war on the British side if one of several possibilities occurred. Hart requested further information from the Navy Department.

COMYANGPAT is dissolved as the Yangtze gunboats arrive at Cavite. (Marc James Small)

Radar at Iba picks up contact fifty miles off shore after evening dusk and patrol of P-40’s is vectored in to discover a flight of Zero fighters, which turn north when they spot the American aircraft.

Hart receives message from Captain John Creighton, USN, his liaison officer in Singapore, that the British had been informed by the US government that the US would enter the war on the British side if one of several possibilities occurred. Hart requested further information from the Navy Department.

Japanese Foreign Ministry advises Commonwealth Government that the Japanese counsel would be remaining in the Home Islands for a while due to a “cold”.

(Marc Small)

During the late afternoon, MacArthur, through Sutherland, directs that FEAF aircraft encountering unknown aircraft in international airspace are to act defensively but, if such are encountered within Philippine airspace, they are to be attacked and shot down.

Isabel reaches Camranh Bay, is discovered by Japanese patrol aircraft, and is ordered by Hart to return to Manila.
(Marc Small)

U.S.A.: Knox advises cabinet meeting that the Japanese fleet was at sea. He suggested they were heading south, but Roosevelt suggested that they might be headed north. The reference is presumably to the strike force directed against the Philippines and Malaya, as the Pearl Harbor strike force was under radio silence.

Destroyer USS Emmons commissioned.

USS Lexington sails with Task Force 12 to ferry Marine aircraft to Midway, leaving no carriers at Pearl Harbor. (Dave Shirlaw)

[PzLdr]

Wasn’t it Fliegerkorps X that was sent to the Med?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Thanks for these posts as always. Something tells me it’s going to be a momentous week.

[SamAdams76]

I get the feeling that it will be a momentous week as well. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to a quiet, peaceful weekend here in Pearl Harbor.

[beebuster2000]

with regard to the article that “50,000” planes a year might be produced, the US ultimately produced around 500,000 combat planes during the war, a staggering number.

as for warship production, by 1943 the US was essentially producing an entire new Navy every year. When the USN arrived at Japan for attack it brought sixteen (!!) aircraft carriers. Contrast that with the six en route to Pearl as of this date.

Lesson here: dont pull on superman’s cape

[Cheburashka]

It’s Friday, December 5, 1941. Expect big things to be happening by Monday.

[TalonDJ]

That is fleet carriers. If you count light and escort carriers the number is closer to 100.

[TalonDJ]

Have we started the ‘when/where will the Japanese attack’ betting pool yet? My money is that they will attack around the 20th starting near Vladivostok.
Who is in?

[dfwgator]

I think they’ll strike Hollywood first.

[beebuster2000]

My money is that they will attack around the 20th starting near Vladivostok.

If that is your bet I am in for 10 grand

[CougarGA7]

I say they will invade Thailand by the 15th. I’m betting they are going to keep moving down that coast until they take Singapore.

[CougarGA7]

• PACIFIC ZERO HOUR NEAR; JAPAN ANSWERS U. S. TODAY - Hawaiian newspaper headline

• "We have completed destruction of codes, but since the U.S. - Japanese negotiations are still continuing I request you approval of our desire to delay for a while yet the destruction of the one code machine." - Message from Washington to Tokyo transmitted in Purple code. Translated on December 6th

• Mary L. Ross, a clerk in the Cable Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff logs a message to be sent to Hawaii and other stations. This message logged as being sent on the same day is cable No. 519, the message on the Winds Code.

• Washington's "good night" message to Hawaii, designed to verify if Hawaii had gotten all the messages sent to it that day is returned by Hawaii verifying that they had received messages 517 through 521. This would include message 519, the Winds Code message.

• Panzer forces around Leningrad grind to a halt along the Leningrad, Piatitskoe and Volokolamsk roads.

• The Red Army begin a counter offensive in the Kalinin Front sector that will spread from Kalinin to Kastornoe.

[CougarGA7]

I think they should.....I still would support that actually.

[dfwgator]

I say they will invade Thailand by the 15th

Thailand?

[dfwgator]

I’ve got tickets to this weekend’s New York Football Giants - Brooklyn Dodgers NFL game, I hope nothing happens to interrupt it.

[TalonDJ]

Well their posture and actions in French Endochina make it pretty clear they have designs on Thailand. But with all the reports of the troops fighting near Moscow it seems likely the Russians have stripped their defenses elsewhere. I doubt the Japanese leadership will be able to resist the low hanging fruit of Siberia. It is practically on their doorstep and would secure their flank for advances to the south. It is sparecly populated so they would not have the trouble that china has been giving them. All they need to do is seize the trans Siberian railroad and they can get a lock on the whole north eastern end of the continent.