BRITISH THRUST ITALIANS INTO A TRAP; GREEKS TAKE COAST TOWN OF PALERMO (12/14/40)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/14/40 | Larry Allen, A.C. Sedgwick, Herbert L. Matthews, James Aldridge

[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]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
North Africa, 1940: Graziani’s Advance and Wavell’s Offensive, 13 September 1940-7 February 1941 (Map 34a)
Marcks’ Plan, August 5, 1940
The Mediterranean Basin (Map 33)
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Thousands Caught – 2
Fleet’s Guns Rout Italians in Desert – 2-3
Australians Arriving in Egypt to Join the Offensive (photo) – 3
Nazi Plane Output Said to Reach 3,500 a Month – 3
Wavell Asked ‘Crushing Defeat’ of Italians; Hope to ‘Shorten the War’ Voiced in Order – 3
The International Situation – 4
Greeks Push Ahead – 4-5
British Advance Conceded in Rome – 5-6
Italians Drop Guns in Hasty Retreat – 6
‘Panzer’ Division Keeps Up Fast Pace * – 7
Yule Cheer in Camps Endorsed by Lehman – 7
Armored Units of the United States Army in Manoeuvres in Kentucky – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 9-10

* Were they demoted overnight? Yesterday they were the 1st Armored Division. Today they are the 2nd.

Brig. Gen. George A. Patton Jr., commanding the division, remained on the highway, checking in late-arriving units. . . .

Which emerged from the experience determined to be early-arriving units in the future.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f14dec40.htm

Interned IRA members riot

Saturday, December 14, 1940 www.onwar.com

Over Italy... British aircraft bomb Naples. The Italian cruiser Pola is damaged.

In Ireland... Interned IRA members set fire to Curragh Camp, near Dublin, and clash with police and military troops. Four IRA members are reported injured.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm

December 14th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: Churchill enjoys a private screening of Charlie Chaplin’s film ‘The Great Dictator’.
French torpedo boat FS La Melpomene which had been taken over by the RN founders in bad weather in the English Channel east of the Lizard. There are 3 survivors, who are picked up by destroyer Mistral (another French ship in British hands) but about 100 become casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Corvette HMS Burdock launched.
Destroyer HMS Blencartha commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Lamerton launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: A dozen RAF Wellington bombers attempted to attack German shipping in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven. Bad visibility and weather hampered their efforts, and fierce fighter attacks shot down five of the Wellingtons.

U-151, U-152 launched.
U-71 commissioned.

U-254 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion sink the submarine ‘Naiade’ off Bardia.
Royal Navy Swordfish based on Malta bomb Tripoli, Libya.

NORTH AFRICA: 274 Sqn (RAF) shoot down six Italian S79s on one interception later gathering another 5 CR42s.
Leading troops of 4 Armoured Brigade are 20 miles west of Bardia and will soon be able to harass enemy traffic along the road from Bardia to Tobruk. Most of the division is across the Libyan-Egyptian border; but the Italians are still holding out in Halfaya, Sollum, Sidi Omar and Capuzzo, and have a division in Bardia.

CANADA:

Minesweeper HMCS Quinte laid down North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Corvette HMCS Timmins laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia.. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The development contract for the Boeing XB-29 heavy bomber is amended to provide a fund increase to produce three flyable XB-29s. (Jack McKillop)

Aircraft carrier USS Hornet launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-100 sank SS Euphorbia and Kyleglen in Convoy OB-256.
U-96 damaged SS Empire Razorbill and sank SS Western Prince. (Dave Shirlaw)

HMS Ark Royal and Force H are redeployed from Gibraltar to the Atlantic to search the Azores for commerce raiders.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 471 December 14, 1940

Operation Compass. A Vickers light tank (3rd The King’s Own Hussars, 7th Armored Brigade) captures Fort Capuzzo, in Libya just across the border with Egypt. Royal Navy starts shuttling Italian POWs back to Alexandria, Egypt. Armed boarding vessel Fiona and auxiliary schooners Farouk and Fawzia deliver 3100 POWs from Mersa Matruh and then return. Italian submarine Naiade, sent out yesterday to harass British warships, is detected by destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion 20 miles Northeast of Bardia, Libya, and brought to the surface with depth charges. Naiade is scuttled and all 41 crew are rescued by HMS Hereward. 8 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from 830 Naval Air Squadron at Malta attack the harbour at Tripoli, Libya.

RAF bombs Italian naval base at Naples, damaging Italian cruiser Pola.

400 miles West of Ireland, U-100 sinks British steamers SS Kyleglen at 8.16 AM (all 36 hands lost) and SS Euphorbia at 7.55 PM (all 34 hands lost). At 8.55 AM, 200 miles South of Iceland, U-96 stops British liner Western Prince with a torpedo (14 killed). After allowing 100 crew and 55 passengers to abandon ship in lifeboats, U-96 sinks Western Prince at 10.21 AM. 154 survivors are picked up by British steamer Baron Kinnaird and 1 by destroyer HMS Active.

HMS Branlebas, a torpedo boat captured from the French off Portsmouth on July 3 1940, sinks in rough weather in the English Channel 30 miles Southwest of Plymouth (97 hands lost, Free French destroyer Mistral rescues 3 survivors).

[Psalm 73]

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly inept the Italian forces were - for a military from a western industrialized nation to perform so uniformly poorly just bogles the mind.........

[globelamp]

Well, Italy was economically weak, the army was not terribly modern and the leadership was almost comically inept and delusional. Attacking into mountain terrain on a narrow front with virtually no numerical superiority is usually a recipe for disaster (Greece), as is pushing your supply lines way too far with a technologically inferior force (Egypt).

Mussolini overestimated his military capabilities in a ridiculous manner, simply put. Had he focused on one single campaign instead of spreading his forces, things might have gone a bit better.

One should also not disregard that most Italians were hardly gung-ho about going to war, with good reason. Can´t really hold that against them.

[Larry381]

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly inept the Italian forces were - for a military from a western industrialized nation to perform so uniformly poorly just bogles the mind.......

As bad as they were in Egypt and Albania,what happened to the Italians in Russia was a complete disaster and a horror. According to German sources the Russians despised the Italians more than any other army fighting against them, even the Germans. They were particularly brutal to captured Italian troops and there are stories about the Calvary of Italians troops in Russia that makes one hair stand on end.

[iowamark]

For those interested in early tank warfare, a US Army short filmed at Fort Knox in 1940:

“The Tanks are Coming” Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN6htrp8Pnc

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZb3gBHV5ls