Posted on 12/09/2011 6:44:58 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
President to Talk on Radio Tonight – 2
The President’s Message – 3
Text of War Declaration – 3
The Day in Washington – 3
Four-Hour Chronology of Declaration of War – 3
President’s Power Greatly Enlarged – 4
The Decision is Made (photo) – 4
‘We Will Gain the Inevitable Triumph-So Help Us God’ (photo) – 5
Capital Swings into War Stride; Throngs Cheer for the President – 6
Britain Joins U.S. against Japanese – 6-7
The International Situation – 7
British Columbia Coast Blacked Out for Attack – 7
Text of Prime Minister Churchill’s Speech in Commons on Japan’s Attack – 8
History is Heard: Studies Here as the President Asked for Declaration of War (photos) – 9-12
1 Battleship Lost – 10-11
Hawaii Calm Since Blitzkrieg, Governor Says; Food Control Planned to Conserve Supplies – 13
Wake and Guam Reported Taken – 13-14
First Casualties Told to Families – 14
Why Wednesday in Tokyo is Tuesday in New York – 14
Surprise by Japan Repeats 1904 Tactics; Russia Also was Struck Without Warning – 14
China Goes to War with Axis States – 15
United States Possessions Captured by the Japanese (photos) – 15
Japanese Aerial and Ocean Forces Strike in Widening War in the Pacific (map) – 16
Philippines Pounded All day as Raiders Strike at Troops – 17-18
Malaya Thwarts Push by Japanese (by F. Tillman Durdin) – 18-19
Dingell Urges Court-Martial for Officers He Says were ‘Napping at Pearl Harbor’ – 19
Large U.S. Losses Claimed by Japan – 19-20
Rome Backs Japan, Dodges War Issue (by Herbert L. Matthews) – 20
Japan Seen Trying for Air ‘Knockout’ – 20-21
Japanese Capture Marines in China – 21
Turn Back to Sea (by Lawrence E. Davies) – 21-22
Japanese Arrests in Country at 345 – 22
F.B.I Rounding Up Germans in Nation – 23
Japanese on Coast Call War ‘Hara-Kiri’ – 23
German Americans Pledge Support to War Effort – 23
Canal Zone Seizes Nationals of Axis – 23-24
Rush of Recruits Crowds Stations – 24-25
Nazis Give Up Idea of Moscow in 1941 – 26
Russians Launch Attack on Crimea (by Daniel T. Brigham) – 26-27
Soviet Sees Gains in New Diplomacy (by C.L. Sulzberger)– 27
Nazis Thrust Back in Libyan Fighting (by Joseph M. Levy) – 27-28
Russia to Aid Poles Build Larger Army – 28
U.S. Way of Life Held Worth Any Sacrifice – 28
Petain Sends Hitler ‘Condolence’ Message – 28
Greek Famine Toll Rising, Ankara Hears – 28
First Heavy Tank Passes Army Test (with photo) – 29
Americans Take Their Stand to Guard Strategic Points Against Possible Sabotage or Attack (photos) – 30-32
Japan’s War Pattern (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 33
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 34-35
Camouflage Urges as Defense Measure – 35
Vichy Surprised by ‘Suddenness’ – 35
Editorials – 36-38
United We Stand
For the Record
The Market Reaction
The Daring of Desperation
“The Root of Evil”
Cheerless Window
Topics of the Times
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f09dec41.htm
Siege of Leningrad continues
Tuesday, December 9, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... The Soviet drive against Guderian’s forces reaches and captures Elets. In the north, under General Meretskov, the Red Army retakes Tikhvin but cannot relieve the siege at Leningrad. The situation inside the city is desperate, rations are below the starvation level.
In Malaysia... Japanese troops continue to land at Kota Bharu, Singora and Patani. Japanese forces occupy Bangkok.
In the South China Sea... The British battleship Prince of Wales and the Repulse, on their way to Japanese landing sites in Malaysia, are spotted by Japanese submarines. The ships continue until sighted by Japanese aircraft and then turn back.
In the Pacific... Gilbert Islands, Tarawa and Makin are occupied by the Japanese.
That vacuum tube hearing aid on p38 must have been something to wear.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm
December 9th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: LONDON: It is announced that the Netherlands and Soviet governments have agreed to exchange ambassadors. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-659 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: The Russian advance from Moscow liberates Elets. Advancing from Leningrad they liberate Tikhvin.
EUROPE: Although the news is dwarfed by the dramatic entries of America and Japan into this second world war, several more countries are also now involved. This week Britain has declared war on Finland, Romania and Hungary following their failures to end actions in support of Germany. And China has formally issued a declaration of war against Japan, Germany and Italy.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Far East Air Force B-17s from Mindanao, Philippine Islands fly recon missions. (Jack McKillop)
WAKE ISLAND Japanese bombers of the 24th Air Flotilla again attack Wake, destroying more of the naval air station, the hospital and much of Camp 2. (Gordon Rottman)
MALAYSIA: Japanese troops land at Kota Bharu, Singora and Patani.
Sqn-Ldr Arthur Stewart King Scarf (b.1913) flew on a lone raid in the face of many fighters. He returned his crew safely before dying of wounds. (Victoria Cross)
THAILAND: Bangkok is occupied by the Japanese.
HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repluse are sighted by the Japanese north of Singapore.
CHINA: The Nationalist government declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy.
INDIAN OCEAN: At midnight on the 9th of December 1941 HMS Glasgow in error sank the RIN patrol vessel HMIS Prabhavati with two lighters in tow en route for Karachi, with 6 inch shells at 6000 yards. The vessel was alongside the lighters and appeared to those in Glasgow to be a large Japanese submarine on the surface. HMS Glasgow arrived in Bombay with the survivors on 9th. HMS Glasgow had left Colombo for patrol on 6 December 1941, she returned to Colombo on the 25th. (Dave Shirlaw)
PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Swordfish makes initial US submarine attack on Japanese ship. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Fear of Japanese invasion spreads on British Columbia coast; government orders blackouts; closes Japanese-Canadian newspapers, schools.
Algerine-class minesweepers ordered in Canada - HMS Antares, Arcturus, Aries, Clifton, Friendship, Gozo, and Lightfoot.
River-class frigates ordered in Canada - HMS Inver, Lossie, Parrett, and Shiel. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: The devastating blow struck by the Japanese at the US Pacific Fleet’s base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, came as a complete surprise. How was it that the United States was caught so unawares?
For some months now, US code-breakers have been able to read the top-secret Japanese diplomatic cipher under the codename Magic. The first indication of the imminence of war came on 4 December, when the staff of the Japanese embassy here in Washington began to leave and Magic revealed that they had destroyed their codebooks. On the night of 6-7 December Tokyo began transmitting a long message in code to the ambassador in Washington, to be handed to the US state department. Transcription difficulties caused it to be delayed, but by 7 o’clock in the morning the US codebreakers had deciphered it anyway. They also had reports of Japanese convoys.
The Americans now knew that Japan was bent on war, but not where it would strike first. Suspicion fell on the Philippines, because the Pearl Harbor strike force had maintained strict radio silence since leaving the Kurile Islands on 26 November. Warnings were sent to all Pacific bases, but that to Pearl Harbor was delayed through poor signal handling.
CUBA declares war on Japan. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEXICO breaks diplomatic relations with Japan. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-124 was attacked near the island Ascension off Georgetown by ground artillery, but suffered no damages.
U-134 sank SS Steinbek.
U-652 sank SS St Denis. (Dave Shirlaw)
And of course FDR's Fireside Chat
"Mediation not working? Try our 30-06, with sling, bayonet and scabbard, for instant results. Immediate delivery available."
" . . . These men and women who have watched the principle nations of the world drawn into the Second World War one by one . . ."
It's on CBS so it must be official.
Try imagining the NYT allowing such ad today. We've slid a long way.
"This map is entitled "Jewish Executions Carried Out by Einsatzgruppe A" and stamped "Secret Reich Matter."
It shows the number of Jews executed in the Baltics and Belorussia by late 1941.
The legend near the bottom states that "the estimated number of Jews still on hand [was] 128,000."
The coffin is a symbol for the number of dead Jews in each designated area."
Clearly the US was not allowing accurate early reporting of the real naval and aircraft losses at Pearl Harbor??
Was that mainly for intel reasons to keep the Japanese uncertain about the extent of their initial successes?
Or would we know that the Japanese military had a fairly accurate damage assessment? In which case censoring the information was mainly about keeping the US public in the dark??
Anyone know about how decisions were made (and who made them) on what info to reveal?
A few passing remarks of my own:
1) re: the editorials, nice to see an era in which the NY Times editorial team could still be considered pro-American.
2) interesting tiny item on A14 about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem paying a visit to Adolf Hitler in this very week. Isn’t that the Grand Mufti who was very pro-Holocaust and also a relation of Yassir Arafat, if I am remembering correctly?
3) re: Hitler’s reaction, I recall that he was jubilant in private with Goebbels, claiming that Japan had “never been defeated” and would be some ideal ally etc. It was surely a mistake (from Germany’s point of view) for Hitler to declare war on the USA and ensure that we would adopt a “Europe first” policy. We likely would have ended up in war with Germany anyway, but had Hitler held off it’s more likely that the US public would have expected a strongly “defeat Japan first” policy??? That’s just speculation, but Hitler’s declaration of war made it easier for the US public and officialdom to see Germany as pulling the strings, the center of the Axis etc.
I found this article interesting, fwiw:
http://news.yahoo.com/pearl-harbor-day-did-adolf-hitler-react-attack-184500199.html
It is not a definitive answer to your question, but I recommend listening to Roosevelt's fireside chat at #8. Here is a quote. (I got the transcript from tomorrow's post.)
Of necessity there will be delays in officially confirming or denying reports of operations, but we will not hide facts from the country if we know the facts and if the enemy will not be aided by their disclosure.
To all newspapers and radio stations - I say this: You have a most grave responsibility to the nation now and for the duration of this war
If you feel that your government is not disclosing enough of the truth, you have every right to say so. But - in the absence of all the facts, as revealed by official sources - you have no right in the ethics of patriotism to deal out unconfirmed reports in such a way as to make people believe that they are gospel truth.
Then from later in the talk:
Your government knows that for weeks Germany has been telling Japan that if Japan did not attack the United States, Japan would not share in dividing the spoils with Germany when peace came. She was promised by Germany that if she came in she would receive the complete and perpetual control of the whole of the Pacific area - and that means not only the Far East, but also all of the islands in the Pacific, and also a stranglehold on the west coast of North and Central and South America.
We now [sic] also that Germany and Japan are conducting their military and naval operations in accordance with a joint plan. That plan considers all peoples and nations which are not helping the Axis powers as common enemies and each and every one of the Axis Powers.
And that's the official gospel truth. You have to give Roosevelt credit. He is really good at what he does.
Yep. I would say its official now.
Who in the world was Jeanetto Rankin?
The only member of Congress to vote against the WW2 declaration of war?
Is she related to Wrong Paul? lol
N.Y. Congresswoman (I think) who voted against entry into WWI. After 20 years out of Congress she ran again last year and won. So she did it again. If you go back to the audio thread and listen to the follow up to Roosevelt's speech to the joint session they talk about her.
Wow. Could you imagine if the devastation had been shown on TV and the complete loss was shown immediately?
The country could have been demoralized.
As it was, the US faces months and months of bad news, during that time the government may as well have declared a thumb war with the emperor.
Or something like that. heh
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