Posted on 12/18/2010 5:49:16 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Thomas E. Griess, Series Editor, The Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Aid Plan Outlined – 2-3
Flags at City Hall Cause a Dispute – 3
The International Situation – 3
Hem in Libyan Port – 4
50,000 Nazi Troops Reported in Italy – 5
Navy Shuffles Plans to Add 40 Destroyers, Making the Total 365 Afloat or Projected – 5
Greeks Push Gains Through Icy Peaks – 6
300 Nazis Shifted to New Mexico Camp – 6
London Hears Nazis Plan an Invasion in February – 6
City’s Quota 3,663 in the Next Draft – 7
Yesterday by the Belligerents the Texts of the Communiques Issued (huh?) – 8-9
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f18dec40.htm
Germany plans to attack USSR
Wednesday, December 18, 1940 www.onwar.com
From Berlin... Hitler issues Directive 21. Its message is simple: “The German Armed Forces must be prepared, even before the conclusion of the war against England, to crush Soviet Russia in a rapid campaign.” The projected operation is given the code name Barbarossa. Hitler has modified the draft plans prepared by the army in one important respect. Although three lines of attack are still suggested, Hitler’s scheme reduces the importance which has been laid on the advance to Moscow. He suggests that after the first battles the center group should swing north to help clear the Baltic States and Leningrad before moving on the capital. The preparations are to be ready by May 15, 1940.
In the Mediterranean... The British submarine Triton is sunk by an Italian tropedo boat in the Straits of Otranto. Valona in Albania is shelled by the British battleships Valiant and Warspite (during the night of December 18-19). The Italians are also active in support of their armies in Albania with Lukova, just north of the Corfu Channel being shelled.
In Britain... A total of 10,969 people evacuated from Gibraltar have now arrived.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/18.htm
December 18th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Harrow: Churchill visits his bomb-damaged old school.
London: Churchill writes to Wavell “ask and it shall be given” (Matthew VII, 7)
Canadian Munitions Minister Clarence Decatur ‘CD’ Howe 1886-1960 joins 152 other survivors of torpedoed liner ‘Western Prince’ in arriving safely in England. (Dave Shirlaw)
Minesweeping trawler HMS Refundo sank while under two after being mined.
Escort carrier HMS Biter launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Brora launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
Hitler issues Directive No. 21. Headed ‘Operation Barbarossa’ it began:
The German Armed Forces must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign before the end of the war against England. For this purpose the Army will have to employ all available units to be safeguarded against surprise attacks...
Preparations ... are to be completed by May 15, 1941. Great caution has to be exercised that the intention of an attack will not be recognised.
The mass of the Russian Army in western Russia is to be destroyed in daring operations by driving forward deep armoured wedges, and the retreat of intact, battle-ready troops into the wide spaces of Russia is to be prevented. The ultimate objective of the operation is to establish a defence line against Asiatic Russia from a line running from the Volga River to Archangel.
Romania and Finland are to be provide jumping off areas for attacks on the northern and southern flanks as well as troops to aid the German forces. Various Finnish-German armies are to advance on Leningrad and the Lake Ladoga area, cut the Murmansk railway line, secure the Petsamo nickel mines and occupy the Russian ice-free ports on the Arctic Ocean. Much depended on whether Sweden would permit the transit of German troops from Norway.
In a speech to officer cadets today, Hitler says: “Truly, this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his ‘Lebensraum’ in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.” (258, p.2162)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
On the night of 18th/19th the two battleships Warspite and Valiant bombard Valona, Albania.
At the same time battleship HMS Malaya passes through to the west.
ADRIATIC SEA: Submarine HMS Triton reported missing after possibly being mined in the Strait of Otranto. Italians claim she was sunk by torpedo boat Confienza on the 18th, but possibly by Italian MTB Clio. Lost with all hands . (Dave Shirlaw)
BALKANS, MACEDONIA:
The American United Press Agency reports:-
The mud that had frozen solid over the last few weeks is now covered with a layer of snow from three to six feet deep, which is severely impairing military operations.
The military doctors have reported numerous cases of frostbite among the troops.
The Greek and Italian units fighting in the mountains are suddenly confronting a common enemy: avalanches. Reports from the front indicate that the violent fire of the heavy artillery has caused the snow on the mountains to shift and that soldiers, mules and guns have been swept away by the tumbling masses of snow.
NORTH AFRICA:
3 CR42s are shot down by 274 Sqn. RAF.
Reinforcements arriving from Italy include a whole ‘Gruppo’, the 20th, with 13 Fiat G50bis fighters, capable of 385 mph and armed with 2 m/c guns.
Mike Yaklich adds: The Fiat G50bis fighter (”Freccia”) did not carry a cannon— its
armament, as with virtually every Italian fighter until mid-1942, was a pair
of 12.7mm mgs synchronized to fire through the propeller arc. This left it
woefully under-gunned by modern standards. The main improvement on the G50bis
(which appeared in mid-1940) over the original G50 was the provision of
self-sealing fuel tanks and a sheet of armour plate behind the pilot (the first
Italian fighter plane to be so furnished). The G50 variants had good
manoeuvrability, but were hampered by their substandard armament and poor
engine performance. Nonetheless, the top Italian ace of the Greek campaign,
Lt. Livio Bassi, was credited with seven aerial victories in the G50bis before
he himself was mortally wounded crash-landing his badly shot-up aircraft after
a dogfight with the British in February 1941. Admittedly, most of Bassi’s
“kills” were unescorted Blenheim bombers shot down while his unit, 154th
Gruppo, was deployed in defence of the Albanian port of Valona (he also bagged
one Greek Potez 63 reconnaissance plane).
CANADA:
Minesweeper HMCS Transcona laid down Sorel, Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMCS Chambly commissioned.
Destroyer HMCS St Croix returned to Halifax to repair hurricane damage. In refit to Mar 41.
Corvette HMS Hepatica departed Halifax with Convoy HX-97 armed with a dummy (wooden); real weapon installed at Greenock. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-100 sank SS Napier Star.
U-96 damaged SS Pendrecht in Convoy OB-259. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 475 December 18, 1940
In the Bay of Biscay, 40 miles off the Gironde Estuary, British submarine HMS Tuna sinks French tug Chassiron and attacks Italian submarines Brin and Bianchi without success. British submarine HMS Triton sinks in the Otranto Strait off Taranto, Italy (cause unknown). Italian cruisers Eugenio & Montecuccoli and destroyers Pigafetta, Da Recco, Pessagno & Riboty shell Greek forces on the Albanian coast near Corfu.
South Atlantic. 800 miles South of Cape Verde Islands, German cruiser Admiral Scheer captures British SS Duquesna carrying 3,500 tons of frozen beef and 15 million eggs from Argentina to Britain (91 crew and 8 passengers taken prisoner). Admiral Scheer’s captain Theodor Krancke allows Duquesna to radio for help before stopping her with shots across the bow, to distract Royal Navy from cruiser Admiral Hipper’s breakout from the Denmark Strait. Duquesna is held near Brazil to supply food to German raiders until scuttled on February 18 1941.
North Atlantic. Italian submarine Veniero stops Greek steamer Anastassia with a torpedo (18 crew killed). The wreck of Anastassia is allowed to drift away after 10 survivors are taken prisoner. U-100 sinks British SS Napier Star at 8.20 AM (59 crew & 12 passengers lost; 9 crew, 1 gunner & 4 passengers picked up by Swedish MV Vaalaren and landed at Liverpool on 23 December). U-96 hits Dutch tanker Pendrecht with 1 torpedo at 4.15 PM, tearing a 14m hole (the crew abandons ship but reboards when 2 other armed tankers arrive and keep U-96 at bay). British destroyer HMS Legion escorts Pendrecht to the Clyde for temporary repairs, arriving on 21 December, before going to USA for permanent repairs.
British minesweeping trawler HMT Refundo hits a mine and is taken under tow but sinks 1 mile off the coast of Suffolk, England, near Felixstowe (2 killed).
Hitler issues Führer Directive 21 for the invasion of Soviet Russia, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. The goal: “The German Wehrmacht must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign.”
Egomania, that fatal disease of all conquerers, was taking hold.
One has to wonder what would have happened if Hitler had delayed, or even avoided the Russian campaign. I guess I never realized just how worried he was about the Russian buildup of forces in the West. I've often wondered WHY Hitler felt he needed to invade Russia..... From the sounds of these articles, it seems he was afraid he was about to lose his Eastern gains?
I like the “Bombing of industry in the Urals if necessary”.
Destroying the Soviet Union was always one of Hitler’s main goals. The timing of his invasion was due to several reasons one of which was his belief that Britain was holding out due to their hope that the Soviets would come in on their side.
Imagine how things might have worked out if Hitler hadn’t attacked in the West in 1940 and once having subdued Poland he attacked Russia. Any thoughts?
Having fought for years in WWI on the Western Front in France, Hitler always planned for a bitzkreig; “one last battle,” with France. His mistake was in assuming that Britain would make peace after France’s defeat.
Well when Hitler invaded Poland that naturally bought England and France into the war. And obviously England would never agree to any terms with Hitler and the Nazis. I can’t imagine Hitler would have thought the Brits would have just rolled over and given up. Nazi propaganda and the Germans themselves always made the Brits out to be a determined, even tough foe. But history is full of ‘’ifs’’.
Halder and the OKH staff continually sought to subvert Hitler’s strategic intentions with their almost monomaniacal focus on Moscow.
Although Hitler wanted to seize objectives in the north and, especially, the south [notably the donets basin and the Ukrainian black earth farmland], Halder placed the bulk of the German forces on the Minsk-Smolensk-Moscow axis, including two of the four panzergruppen allocated for the offensive [Hoth’s and Guderian’s].
The German Navy used the Denmark Strait like a super highway.
Stalin had already seized portions of Romania not covered by the Non-Aggression Pact, when the Germaqns were engaged ion the west. Hitler was highly sensitive to that move, as it endangered the Ploesti oil fields, his principal source of petroleum.
Additionally, Molotov’s visit to berlin in the fall of 1940 was basically a bust.
Having said that, the war in the West was a sideshow for Hitler. His entire world view revolved around attaining Lebensraum in the East. War with the USSR was an inevitability.
The irony of that phrase is breathtaking. Walter Wever’s death just bit Adolf Hitler in the ass.
I like reading these newspapers from decades past. I can figure out the Nazis strategy to be beat the British, but I have yet to figure out the British strategy to beat the Nazis. How were they supposed to beat the Nazis during the time of 1939-42? It seems like their idea was just to keep going from one month to the next.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.