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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)