http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm
December 7th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Fighter Command: No. 263 becomes the first Squadron to be operational with the Westland Whirlwind single-seat twin-engined fighter. They are used at first on convoy patrol.
GERMANY:
The RAF tonight bombs the industrial city of Dusseldorf.
NORTH AFRICA:
RAF Wellingtons based in Malta bombed Castel Benito in Libya and destroyed 29 Italian aeroplanes.
During the night a British and Commonwealth force of 30,000 men and 275 tanks under Maj. Gen Richard O’Connor sets forth on a 70-mile march around the Italian minefield’s flank and take the enemy from the rear.
PACIFIC OCEAN: German Auxiliary Cruiser Komet sinks the merchantman Vinni.
U.S.A.:
The American Federation of Labor reports that there are 8,130,000 registered unemployed in the United States.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 464 December 7, 1940
Operation Compass. General O’Connor’s Western Desert Force (30,000 troops, artillery, trucks and 275 tanks including 48 Matilda slow but heavily armoured “infantry” tanks) hides out all day and night in No-Man’s Land. Windshields are removed from all vehicles to prevent sunglare. O’Connor’s luck holds and they are not spotted by Italian reconnaissance aircraft. They recuperate and prepare for the advance to the Italian forts using supplies hidden in advance (Forward Supply Depots hold enough fuel, food, water and ammunition for the planned 5 day raid). AfricaMap1.jpg
At 10.39 PM, U-99 sinks Dutch SS Farmsum 500 miles West of Ireland (16 killed). 19 crew abandon ship in lifeboats. 4 more die of exposure and 15 are eventually rescued with severe frostbite by destroyer HMS Ambuscade.
2 British minesweeping trawlers sink. HMT Capricornus hits a mine near the Nore Light Vessel in the Thames Estuary. HMT Cortina sinks after a collision in the Humber Estuary.
As German armed merchant cruisers and Orion prepare to raid Allied phosphate mining island of Nauru in the South Pacific, Komet stops Norwegian MV Vinni with shellfire and scuttles her after all 32 crew are taken prisoner. Germans_attacks_on_Nauru-en.svg
This will get extremely interesting in exactly one year.
Your following will surely double.