Posted on 12/11/2011 5:51:00 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/11.htm
December 11th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: “We have a very hard period to go through,” Winston Churchill told MPs in a report in the new situation created by Japanese attacks on US and British possessions in the Far East. But within a few months the flow of munitions and aid from the US “will vastly exceed anything that could have been expected on the peacetime basis that has ruled up to the present.” Then, he said, Britain, the US and the Soviet Union would teach the “gangs and cliques of wicked men” a lesson that will not be forgotten in a thousand years.
Destroyers HMS Calpe and Tetcott commissioned.
The Free Polish government declares war on Japan. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY and ITALY declare war on the USA.
GERMANY:
U-600 commissioned.
U-607, U-608, U-661 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
SPAIN: U-574 received support (supplies, etc.) in the Spanish harbor of Vigo. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Italian submarine Ammiraglio Caracciolo was sunk off Bardia by HMS Fandale. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine Shch-204 of the Black Sea Fleet is mined and sunk in the Varna area off the coast of Bulgaria. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)
Off MALAYA: HMS Repulse and HMS PRINCE OF WALES were heading for Singapore when they were attacked by Japanese aircraft. On of the Repulse’s survivors describes the end: “The Prince of Wales is hardly distinguishable in smoke and flame ... I can see one plane release a torpedo ... It explodes against her bows. A couple of seconds later another explodes amidships and astern.” Immediately after this the Repulse, too, was hit and the men plunged into oil-filled water. A destroyer later picked up the lucky ones: “We were stripped, bathed and left naked ... to sweat the oil out of the pores in the great heat.”
Canadian National Steamships Line SS Colborne attacked and badly damaged by Japanese a/c at Penang. She was able to return to Canada. (Dave Shirlaw)
SOUTH CHINA SEA: The Dutch submarine O 19 attacks the American ! freighter Lillian Lukenbach, probably in the South China Sea. Fortunately the attack is unsuccessful. Lillian Lukenbach is a 6369 grt turbine steamer, built in 1919 by Sun Shipbuilding of Chester, Pennsylvania. (Bram M. Otto)
WAKE ISLAND The Japanese attempt to land a 450-man party of the Maizaru 2d Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). The landing force at is repulsed by 450 US Marines, who also sink 2 Japanese destroyers and damage seven other ships with their Marine coast defence guns and the remaining fighter aircraft. This force withdraws to Kwajalein. (Arnold Lloyd Gladson, Marine and Gordon Rottman)
CANADA:
Minesweeper HMCS Grandmere commissioned.
Corvettes HMCS Summerside and Drumheller departed St. John’s to join eastbound Convoy SC-59. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Congress declares war on Germany and Italy. They also vote to use US forces anywhere in the world. The term of those enlisted under the Selective Service Act is extended for the duration plus 6 months.
” Therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the government to carry on war against the Government of Germany; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.” They also vote to use US forces anywhere in the world. The term of those enlisted under the Selective Service Act is extended for the duration plus 6 months.
Colonel Charles W. Bundy, the senior officer responsible for Pacific operations in the War Plans Division, is killed in an airplane crash. He is replaced by Dwight Eisenhower. (Jay Stone)
Contract establishes the Naval Salvage Service. (Dave Shirlaw)
CUBA: Havana breaks off diplomatic relations with Berlin. (Mike Yared)
MEXICO broke diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy. (Dave Shirlaw)
NICARAGUA declared war on Japan. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Patrol vessel HMS Lady Shirley was hit by one torpedo from U-374, exploded and sank at 0421 with all hands. HMS Rosabelle tried to find the U-boat, but was also torpedoed 0442 hours and sank. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f11dec41.htm
Germany, Italy declare war on US
Thursday, December 11, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Washington... Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. Shortly afterward, the US Congress issues a declaration of war against Germany and Italy.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet advances in the Moscow counteroffensive continue with the recapture of Stalinogorsk.
In North Africa... Rommel’s forces retreating from Tobruk reach Gasala
In the Pacific... Japanese attempts to occupy the island are thrown back. Two Japanese destroyers are also sunk by the 450 US Marines stationed on the island. Relief is promised by Admiral Kimmel.
In Malaya... The 11th Indian Division at Jitra is attacked by advancing Japanese units from Singora.
Belushi wrote for the New York Times? The Germans attacked Pearl Harbor, and the Tirpitz was off Malaysia?
The Tirpitz and a “German Aircraft Carrier” in the Pacific?
Better than admitting those insignificant Japanese did it, I guess.
And that “Hong Kong holding!” story is a farce, too. The “Gin Drinkers Line”, which is supposed to stop the Japanese for at least a month, is being held by just 3 battalions of untrained Canadian Conscripts, and will fall tonite when a Japanese Lt. and ten men take a key redoubt.
for later
Interesting reference to possible “suicide” planes attacking Repulse and Prince of Wales. Is it known since if there were any cases of that so early in the war, or was it merely speculation?
A pilot might be hit by AA and opt to try to crash into the target if he thinks he’s doomed anyway, but I’ve never heard of the Japanese flying suicide missions so early in the war.
It does say something that it could be recognized clearly so early in the war that this ‘Kamikazi’ idea for aircraft fits with Japanese military culture, but I don’t know enough to have any idea what the source(s) of these references might be for the NY Times at this point in time.
I wonder if the Tirpitz made a stop at the secret Nazi Antarctic base on it’s way around the Cape?
CBS - Congress Declares War on Germany
EIAR - Benito Mussolini Declares War on the U.S.
Mostly it is about the Filipino resistance (Anthony Quinn is cast as a Filipino)...which made me think of Ferdinand Marcos writing the reports about his own alleged heroism (he slipped and used the wrong pronoun once, giving himself away)...which reminded me in turn of Kerry apparently authoring the reports that were the basis for one or more of his medals.
The movie was very pro-Filipino--surprising if you have been taught to believe that America was hopelessly racist towards Asians at that time.
Wow, reports on fighting in Russia, the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong, North Africa, Wake - it is now a breathtakingly world war. What must it have been like to watch it contemporaneously unfold?
TCM also frequently shows “They Were Expendable,” another John Wayne movie set in the Philippines. That one starts on December 7, 1941 and ends with the last plane out before the Japanese take over. It was released in December 1945, so we won’t be posting the review here. It was directed by John Ford, but I like it just the same.
The true turning point of the war.
There was no rule that the US would have automatically got into the fight against Germany, which had no treaty obligations to come to the aid of Japan in this case. (Not that treaty obligations were much of a concern to Hitler.)
No, Hitler just decided all on his own, and for no particularly logical reason, to declare war on USA. The single act which doomed the Reich. Apparently never even really gave it much thought.
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