U-BOATS ATTACK EIGHT SHIPS IN CONVOY; GREEKS BREAK FOE’S LINE, CAPTURE 5,000 (12/3/40)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/3/40 | A.C.Sedgwick, C.L. Sulzberger, James Aldridge, David Anderson, Percival Knauth

[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]

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Calls Heard Here – 2
The International Situation – 3
Italians Fall Back – 3-5
Greek Crossed Lines to Obtain War Data – 4
Canadians May Yet Fight on Mediterranean Front – 4
Greeks Hold Foe in Mountain Trap, but Terrain Makes the Gains Slow – 6
Germans Pounding at English Cities – 6-7
Finnish Reindeer Meat is Imported by Germany – 7
The Texts of the Day’s War Communiques – 8-9

[samtheman]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

Notice the article on the far left, front page, regarding teachers accused of being commies.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f03dec40.htm

British order American ships

Tuesday, December 3, 1940 www.onwar.com

In London... The British government announces that it has placed a first order with US yards for the construction of 60 merchant ships.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/03.htm

December 3rd, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:
London: The Food Ministry announces extra rations of four ounces of sugar and two ounces of tea per person for Christmas.
The government orders 60 merchant ships from the USA to replace losses in the Atlantic.

Midlands: The Luftwaffe returns targeting Birmingham in particular.

London: Churchill to First Sea Lord:
The new disaster which has overtaken the Halifax convoy requires precise examination. We heard about a week ago that as many as 13 U-boats were lying in wait. Would it not have been well to divert the convoy to the Minches?

Churchill also telegrams to C-in-C Mediterranean to outline the plan for the capture of the Italian island of Pantelleria, codename “Workshop”

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 82 Squadron bombs Essen. Weather bad. Only 1 aircraft attacked primary target, four aircraft lost due to accidents. Two crews killed, one crew PoW.

GERMANY: U-76 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: At anchor in the poorly defended Suda Bay, cruiser HMS Glasgow is hit by two torpedoes from Italian aircraft and badly damaged.

AFRICA: The RAF bombards the Italian base at Kassala in the Sudan.

CANADA: Corvette HMS Arrowhead arrived Halifax from builder Sorel, Province of Quebec.

Patrol vessel HMCS Renard arrived Halifax for Local defence Force. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: Washington: Ambassador Joseph Kennedy tenders his resignation in order to devote himself to keeping the US out of the war.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks on USS Tuscaloosa to inspect bases acquired from Great Britain under Destroyer-for Bases agreement. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer HMCS St Laurent rescued survivors from the British tanker Conch (8,376 GRT), which had been sunk from convoy HX-90 by U-99, Kptlt. Kretschmer, Knight’s Cross, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Knight’s Cross with Swords, CO, in approximate position 55.40N, 019.00W. One of the greatest convoy battles of the war was fought on the nights of 02-03 December when seven U-boats attacked the Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX-90. Nine of the convoy’s 35 merchant ships were sunk for a total of 52,817 tons and another two ships were damaged. Most critical was the loss of two large British tankers, each of which carried over 11,000 tons of aviation fuel and fuel oil. In addition to Conch, Kretschmer sank the British freighter Stirlingshire (6,022 GRT), and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar. U-101, Kptlt. Ernst Mengersen, Knight’s Cross, CO, sank three ships including the second tanker. German long-range aircraft sank the last of the nine ships during the day on 03 Dec. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on 05 Dec. The total shipping lost amounted to over 69,000 tons. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 460 December 3, 1940

The attack on convoy HX-90 continues despite escort vessels. At 10.58 AM, U-99 sinks the abandoned hulk of British MV Conch, damaged yesterday morning by torpedoes from U-47 & U-95. British SS W. Hendrik, stopped by her captain who believes she had been hit by a torpedo, is bombed & sunk by a Focke-Wulf Fw-200 (5 killed). The final victim in convoy HX-90 is British SS Victoria City, sunk by U-140 at 9.42 PM (all 43 hands lost).

Greeks push Italians back 15 miles along the Ionian coast past the archeological site at Butrint & capture the Albanian Riviera town of Sarandë. Suda Bay is now an active British naval base for the defense of Crete & as a staging post for movements through the Mediterranean. At 3.40 PM, Italian torpedo bombers attack Suda Bay, badly damaging British cruiser HMS Glasgow with 2 torpedoes (3 killed, 3 wounded). HMS Glasgow will be patched up at Alexandria, Egypt, until February 1941 but not fully repaired until August 1942 in New York, USA.

Destroyer HMS Campbeltown, one of the first 8 destroyers transferred from the US Navy in September, is damaged in collision with British tanker Conus off Liverpool (repaired at Liverpool until March 28 1941).

German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran departs Gotenhafen to raid Allied shipping in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Germany’s largest raider, she carries provisions for 12 months, 280 moored mines & 40 ground mines plus spare parts & torpedoes for U-boats.

51 German aircraft bomb Birmingham, dropping 55 tons of high explosive bombs and 448 incendiary canisters.

[BroJoeK]

"Notice the article on the far left, front page, regarding teachers accused of being commies."

Can you even imagine such a report today?

The bigger news, which will never be reported, was how few aren't, I'd guess.

[BroJoeK]

"Calls Heard Here – 2"

Note Churchill's report that U-boat sinkings had caused a one-third reduction in Britain's imports of critical materials.

Somewhere I think I've read the estimate that if imports had been cut by half, Britain could not have sustained itself.

So at this point, Hitler was closer than he knew to bringing Britain to it's knees.

[CougarGA7]

It sure does look like the Greeks are about to breakout into that valley just outside Tirana. If they do that they should be able to wrap up the port cities in that plain to the south as well. The Italians are not making a very good showing here for certain.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Somewhere I think I've read the estimate that if imports had been cut by half, Britain could not have sustained itself.

They are about out of money to buy imports with anyway. Churchill had better work something out with his bud in the White House to keep the goods flowing.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Italians are not making a very good showing here for certain.

I thought this was an Italian invasion of Greece. Why is all the fighting going on in Albania? This strategy stuff is more complicated than you might think.

[CougarGA7]

What was it? Oh, yeah, “I am going to pay him [Hitler] back in his own coin. He will find out that I have occupied Greece.”

I think something has gone wrong with the plan.

Where was it that I read that in a Vichy, France town on the Mediterranean coast just about 20 miles from the Italian border, the townspeople put up a sign that said, “This is French territory, Greek troops stop here.”