ITALIANS ABANDON KORITZA, KEY BASE, IN HEAVY FIGHTING, ATHENS REPORTS (11/17/40)

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

Greeks Press Foe – 2-3
Warrior Bishop, 70, Spurs Greeks’ Fury; Patriarch Boasts Italian Price on His Head – 3
The International Situation – 4
Raiders of London Driven off Early – 4-5
Cross-Country Dog Flies Home with Boy * – 5
Letters from Britain Stress Courage of All Amid Great Discomforts of Nightly German Air Raids – 6-8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 9-10

News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 11
The Job Facing Britain’s Navy (map) – 12
Both Sides Strike Hard in a Grim War at Sea – 13
Stalin Policy Still a Puzzle – 14
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 15

* This is the third installment of the Trixie story. It began on October 24 (see image #10) and continued on November 7 (see image #14).

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/nov40/f17nov40.htm

RAF bombs Gelsenkirchen

Sunday, November 17, 1940 www.onwar.com

Over Germany... British bombers conduct a raid on the Gelsenkirchen oil plant, in the Ruhr, during the night.

Over Britain... There is a nighttime raid on Southampton by 150 German aircraft.

In London... Air Marshal Dowding is replaced at Fighter Command by Air Marshal Sholto Douglas. Dowding is sent to work for the Ministry of Aircraft Production in the section dealing with orders for American planes. A new RAF Command for Army Cooperation is created, to be led by Air Marshal Arthur Barratt.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/17.htm

November 17th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Fighter Command:
The Luftwaffe attacks Bath.

The C-in-C of Fighter Command since 1936, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, the commander of 11 Group, the two men who planned and controlled the strategy which won the Battle of Britain, have been deprived of their jobs.

It may be argued that the austere Dowding - nicknamed “Stuffy” - was overdue for retirement, and that the New Zealander Park is worn out and deserves a rest, but the manner of their dismissal has enraged their young pilots. Dowding, a brilliant organiser whose uncompromising manner has never made him popular with the Air Staff, was told, albeit courteously, that he had to go in a personal interview on 13 November. The official letter informing him of his retirement says that the Air Council has “no other work to offer you”, although this may not exclude a non-operational role. Park will take over No. 23 Training Group.

Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the commander of 12 Group, is known to have opposed the tactics of Dowding and Park. Leigh-Mallory is a believer in the “big wing” rather than in Dowding’s “penny packet” tactics’ He seems to have won his point; he is to take over Park’s group.

London:

Telegram from Churchill to Chief of Air Staff:

I watch these figures with much concern (aircraft losses). ...we are now not even keeping level, and there is a marked downward turn this week, especially in Bomber Command. Painful as it is not to be able to strike heavy blows after Coventry ... I feel we should nurse Bomber Command.

MALTA: Operation White: Second delivery of 12 Hurricanes from HMS Argus: only four arrive on the island; eight aircraft run out of fuel before reaching Malta.

SOMALILAND: British naval forces bombard Mogadishu.

CANADA: Corvette HMS Hepatica arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-123 lost a seaman overboard. [Mechanikergefreiter Fritz Pfeifer].
U-137 sank SS Veronica and Saint Germain. (Dave Shirlaw)

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 444 November 17, 1940

Overnight, RAF bombers raid Hamburg for the second night running.

12 Hurricanes and 2 Skuas fly off British aircraft carrier HMS Argus destined for Malta but many get lost en route. 6 Hurricanes crash in the sea (1 pilot rescued by a Sunderland Flying Boat) and 1 Skua crash lands on Sicily (pilot and observer taken prisoner).

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding is removed as commander of RAF Fighter Command, despite his brilliant performance conserving fighters and pilots in the Battle of Britain. Nonetheless, he will be rewarded with a peerage in 1943 as Baron Dowding of Bentley Priory. Newly appointed Chief of the Air Staff Charles Portal replaces him with rival (and advocate of big-wing tactics) Sholto Douglas.

40 miles North of Ireland, U-137 sinks 2 ships in convoy HG-46; British MV Saint Germain at 8.14 PM (all 18 crew picked up by corvette HMS Mallow) and Swedish SS Veronica at 8.40 PM (17 crew killed, 3 survivors on a raft picked up after five days by a fishing trawler). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/658.html

3 days after leaving base at Lorient, France (and traveling 300 miles West), torpedo mechanic (Mechanikergefreiter) Fritz Pfeifer is washed overboard from U-123. Despite losing one of the torpedo crew, U-123 will go on to sink 5 ships in 2 days.

There is heavy fighting between Greek 3rd Army Corps and Italian 9th Army near Korçë, Albania.

Mr Gedye’s op-ed on “Stalin Policy still a Puzzle” is puzzling in itself. Mr. Gedye clearly has no clue what is going on inside the USSR at this point. He therefore choses to cloak his speculation in the mantle of ideology. He completely misses the point that Stalin is above all a pragmatist. He seeks total and absolute power, and will use any means necessary to achieve it. If ideology is a valid means, so be it. However, as he has shown with his ruthless purges of the broad spectrum of Party leadership, he doesn’t care about what ideology they championed. If they posed a potential threat, they were eliminated.

In regard to Hitler, it appears inconceivable that a man like Stalin will pursue a policy of appeasement. Yet that is exactly what he will do.

In short, Mr. Gedye offers no insights worthy of note in his article, and several red herrings.

henkster: "In short, Mr. Gedye offers no insights worthy of note in his article, and several red herrings."

Well, now I am just shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- about such a thing at the New York Times.
Red herrings?
No insights?
How is this even possible?

Fortunately, I'm certain things will only improve in future decades, and the NY Times will become renowned for it's in-depth insights, factual, fair and balanced.

So no one will ever need another source, right?

:-)

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