Posted on 12/02/2010 4:54:57 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
Nazis Repeat Raid – 2
Italy Rations Spaghetti in New Food Restriction – 2
The International Situation – 3
Kennedy Resigns as London Envoy to Combat War – 3-4
Ships, Bases Asked by Admiral Stark – 4
General Advance Claimed by Greeks – 5
B.B.C. Cancels Broadcast by a Pacifist Conductor – 5
Nazi Ace Shot Down in Fight over Channel; Major Wick, 25, Credited with 56 Planes – 6
British Take 22 Germans off Brazilian Ship; Captain Charges Violation of Neutral Zone – 6
Stone Age Venus Statue Reported Found in Italy – 6
Marines Creating New Striking Units – 7
Army Adds Serums to Combat Disease – 7
Gas-Propelled Plane Claimed by Italians – 7
U-Boats Torpedo 3 British Vessels – 8
Wire Executives Called to Defense – 8
Yugoslavia Honors its 22D Anniversary – 8
Will Head 1941 Drive of Boy Scouts in City – 9
Petain Leaves Today for Marseille Visit – 9
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 10
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f02dec40.htm
Royal Navy announces command changes
Monday, December 2, 1940 www.onwar.com
From London... Various command changes for the Royal Navy are announced. Admiral Tovey is to succeed Admiral Forbes as Commander in Chief, Home Fleet. Forbes goes to Plymouth Command. Admiral Harwood becomes Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm
December 2nd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Bristol suffers a heavy night raid by 121 German bombers.
London: CIGS telegrams C-in-C Med. to make landing craft and ships available for use in Operation Compass if requested.
Minesweeping trawlers HMS Balta and Copinsay launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Ophelia commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
SPAIN:
Madrid: In a significant act of defiance, the Spanish dictator, General Franco, today ignored pressure from Nazi Germany and signed a financial pact with Britain. At the same time Franco gave a categorical assurance to Britain and the US that in no circumstances will Spain join the war against Britain or allow Spain to be used for military operations. The pact with Britain will release Spanish funds in London which have been frozen since the start of the Spanish Civil War.
EGYPT:
Cairo: Wavell meets with General Platt from the Sudan and General Alan Cunningham from Kenya (brother of the naval C-in-C). They decide that an operation must be planned to recapture Kassala in East Africa. But this would need at least one infantry division to be supplied from Egypt and that in turn would depend upon the outcome of the forthcoming offensive.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-99 claims her third armed merchant cruiser when she torpedoes AMC Forfar and sinks her west of Ireland at 54 35N, 18 18W. Forfar was sailing independently to meet convoy SC 14. (Alex Gordon)(108)At the same time nearby convoy HX90 is attacked just before the Western Approaches escorts arrive. Eleven ships are lost to the U-boats.
The armed merchant cruiser HMS Montrose was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic in position 54.35N, 018.18W, by U-99, Kptlt. Kretschmer, Knight’s Cross, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Knight’s Cross with Swords, CO. There were 185 casualties in this incident. Montrose was the former Canadian National Steamships cargo-liner SS Lady Somers (16,402 GRT). She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser renamed HMS Forfar. She had been detached from convoy HX-90 was on route to join convoy OB-251 when she was hit by five torpedoes from U-99. Due to the intense convoy battle underway and the stormy weather rescue operations were delayed, leading to the high casualty toll. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Montpelier laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 459 December 2, 1940
British armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar, which has just left convoy HX-90, is sunk by U-99 with 5 torpedoes between 5.46 and 6.57 AM (172 crew killed, 21 survivors rescued later in the day by Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent, British destroyer HMS Viscount and British SS Dunsley). Between 4-7.30 AM 300 miles West of Ireland, U-47 U-52 U-94 U-99 and U-101 attack convoy HX-90 (which is still unescorted) with good visibility from the Northern Lights, sinking 5 ships (22,868 tons of shipping) and damaging 2 more (119 lives lost). Destroyer HMS Viscount rescues 79 survivors and Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent rescues 106. U-94 finds the convoy after the coastal escort vessels arrive and sinks 2 more ships after dark (5 killed, survivors rescued by British SS Empire Puma from the same convoy and corvette HMS Gentian).
In other U-boat actions, U-37 sinks Swedish SS Gwalia at 4.18 AM (16 killed, 4 survivors on a raft picked up after 11 days by a British destroyer) and British Jeanne M. at 4.46 AM (7 killed, 19 picked up by antisubmarine trawler HMT Erin) 230 miles north of Cape Roca, Portugal. West of Ireland, U-43 sinks British MV Pacific President at 9.01 AM (all 50 hands lost) and British tanker Victor Ross at 9.41 AM (all 44 hands lost) and U-99 sinks Norwegian SS Samnanger at 8.50 PM (all 30 hands lost).
Admiral of the Fleet, Earl of Cork and Orrery, arrives at Gibraltar aboard destroyer HMS Jersey to conduct a Board of Inquiry into Admiral Somerville’s handling of Battle of Spartivento. Somerville’s decision to disengage in the face of superior forces will be upheld and no disciplinary action taken.
Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs Bristol.
There is a huge "back story" behind this, details of which are still clouded in mystery.
It's said that Old Joe was not just pro-peace and anti-war, but defeatist and even pro-Nazi.
What's certain is that over time Kennedy grew increasingly anti-Roosevelt, his feelings becoming personal and bitter after the death of his oldest, Joe Jr., for which he held FDR responsible.
No way. Not the B.B.C. Must be some kind of mistake... maybe a typo?
It would be interesting to learn how these units worked out.
What units did they eventually become, and how did realities of war match ideas about it in 1940?
I’m sure Holland Smith is a familiar name. This new specialized division they are talking about is to become the 1st Marine Division which will see action at Guadalcanal, Peleliu, and Okanawa.
I’m not familiar with this second unit being commanded by Vogel, but I know that Vogel will be instrumental down the road in the creation of the unit of Navajo code talkers.
"Howlin' mad, and with good reason"?
That Gen. Smith? ;-)
Was most curious about the mention of paratroops.
Somehow have never seen the words "marines" and "paratroops" mentioned together.
Did I miss something?
I don’t recall ever reading about airborne units in the USMC. Right from the start they arrived at the scene of the battle in landing craft. Of course, in 1940 they could not have known that they would see most of their action on small, heavily defended islands unsuited to invasion by parachute.
Ah. Paramarines. They did create those but they never were used as far as I know as paratroops. There was the 1st Parachute Regiment which was attached to the 1st Marine Division (this report may actually be referencing their creation since I’m not sure when they were founded) and as far as I know landed on Guadalcanal amphibiously not by air. If I remember right Paramarines were disbanded before the end of the war because with the nature of the combat in the Pacific with many small attacks on distant islands, there just wasn’t an effective way to deliver them to the target in comparison to just landing them amphibiously.
Today there are two or three Marine units that are parachute qualified units. One of them I know of is a recon/infiltration unit called MARSOC (MARine Special Operations Command). I met some of these guys in Maryland several years ago. Pretty hard core bunch.
Hmmmmm... I'm obviously misinformed.
Always thought that in order to qualify for Marines, you had to have enough sense not to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
Isn't that what the Army is for? ;-)
Lol. There are a few that get to take the dive. Like I said, these guys are a special breed of cat because they are absolutely fearless.
Kennedy believed that Britain should have made peace with Hitler after the fall of France and allow him to turn east to attack Russia. This is very likely what would have happened had Churchill not become Prime Minister. Kennedy was extremely anti-semitic and anti-communist to the point of having considerable sympathy for Nazism. He opposed FDR’s policy of aid to Britain as it gave Britain the means to avoid making a peace deal. His careful public demeanor slipped when he said: “democracy was dead in England and may be dead here.”
Of course, Kennedy’s greatest fear was the US entering the war, which would mean military service for his sons.
Thanks. My understanding is you have it exactly right.
But now that you mention the Kennedy quote, we just have to wonder.
Having been a major player in electing Roosevelt, and later his own son, John, what in the world could he have been thinking of, saying "democracy is dead"?
Maybe he just meant: Old Joe's own investments in politcs at that point seemed to have been for naught.
And so the age-old lament: politicians bought with his illegally earned money just wouldn't stay bought.
It's a cruel, cruel world... ;-)
FDR once referred to Joseph Kennedy as “a pain in the neck” which I find a bit ironic.
If the dates in Wikipedia are correct, this would become the 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion. (The show the 1st in October, 1940, 2nd in December, and the 3rd trained in ‘early 1941’.)
Though I always approach Wikipedia with a degree of skepticism, I think those dates sound pretty reasonable.
Anything on them being dropped anywhere?
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