Posted on 12/12/2011 4:53:17 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
War Opened on Us – 2
Senate is Bitter in Hawaii Debate – 3-4
Our Declaration of War – 3
Miss Rankin Voted ‘Present’ in Weak Voice; Clerk Had to Call Her Name a Second Time – 4
Blocked in Luzon – 5-6
The International Situation – 5
‘We Shall Do Our Best’ Gen. MacArthur States - 6
Would Open Yale Gifts to Salvage Boxes Now – 6
Japanese Report Manila Air Blows – 6
Japanese Held Off in Northern Malay – 7
British Warships List 595 Missing – 7
Prince of Wales and Repulse were Sunk by Aerial Torpedoes, Survivors Declare – 8-9
City Students Urged to Be Calm in Crisis – 9
U.S. Fliers Score – 9-10
Filipinos Extend All Resources to Us – 10
Daily Display of Flags Advocated by Cashmore – 10
Japanese Ships of These Types Victims of U.S. Bombs (photos) – 11
Casualty List Delay is Upheld by Walsh – 11
Patriotism Keynotes Democrats’ Meeting – 11
Allies Strike Back with Damaging Blows in the Pacific Arena (map) – 12
Axis to Get Lesson, Churchill Warns – 13
Nazi Withdrawal in Africa Goes On – 13-14
Service Men in London Cheer News of U.S. War Against the Axis (photo) – 14
Von Bock Relieved on Moscow Front (by C. L. Sulzberger) – 15
Picture that Illustrates Lines Below (photo) – 15
Drive for Kharkov Started by Soviet – 16
Nazis Slay Eleven in France as Foes – 16
America First Acts to End Organization – 17
U.S. Envoy Confers with Petain, Darlan – 17
Japanese Begin to Pay (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 18
Voters Wanted Strong Action Against Japan for Years, Gallup Institute Poll Finds (by George Gallup) – 18
Spectacular Display in Skies is Due Tonight – 18
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 19-20
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f12dec41.htm
Japanese landing in south Luzon
Friday, December 12, 1941 www.onwar.com
Japanese soldiers coming ashoreIn the Philippines... Kimura Detachment and 2500 men of the Japanese 16th Infantry Division, land in south Luzon at Legaspi. Air attacks continue against any remaining American aircraft.
In Malaya... Jitra is abandoned by the 11th Indian Division to advancing Japanese forces.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/12.htm
December 12th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyers HMS Panther and Paladin commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-458 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWAY: First Combined Operation took part in the attack against Vaagsøy on the Norwegian coast. It was the first time the Royal Navy, Army and Air Force (Bomber command and Coastal Command) “was under one leader”. (Torstein)
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army forces Guderian back from Stalinogorsk.
Italian GENERAL UGO DE CAROLIS, commanding the infantry elements of the Torino Division, is killed while directing the advance of a column from that division on the Russian front. (Michael F. Yaklich)
ROMANIA declares war on the United States. (Dave Shirlaw)
SPAIN: U-575 was supported in the Spanish harbor Vigo from 2130hrs to 0200hrs. (Dave Shirlaw)
THAILAND: Japanese troops infiltrate Burma.
BURMA: 3rd Squadron American Volunteer Group - Chinese Nationalist Air Force, ground echelon, leaves by train from Toungoo for Rangoon’s Mingaldon Air Base. Locals aware of our move as we were greeted with at each station stop with smiles and cheers plus gifts if fruit, rice candy and a betel nut chew through the train cars windows. Tried the betel nut for the first and last time ever. (Chuck Baisden)(personal diary)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Captain Jesus A. Villamor led the P-26As of the 6th Pursuit Squadron, the only ones of their type to see action in World War II. Villamor shoots down a Mitsubishi G3M2 of the 1st Kokutai over Batangas. (Rob George and Matt Clark)
This was the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Air Force, not the US Army Air Forces. This squadron operated 12 Boeing P-26A Peashooters, open cockpit monoplane fighters with a top speed of 235 mph (378 km/h), from Batangas, Luzon. (Jack McKillop)
2,500 Japanese soldiers of the 16th Division land at Legaspi, Luzon. Known as the Kimura Detachment, this landing on southern Luzon forms part of a pincer tactic.
MALAYA: Last night Japanese units advancing from Singora attack positions of the 11th Indian Division at Jitra. After a brief fight the British forces withdraw.
HONG KONG: Insect class gunboat HMS Moth is scuttled in dry dock in Hong Kong harbour. She is raised by the Japanese and renamed Suma, but is finally destroyed on 19 March 1945 when she sets off an American mine in the Yangtse river above Nanking. (Alex Gordon)(108)
PACIFIC OCEAN: SS Shinai (2,410 GRT) privately owned (George L. Shaw) Canadian merchantman off Kuching, captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy off northern Borneo. At least one man, the Chief Engineer, is known to have died during his time as a POW of the Japanese. The ship was renamed Shinai Maru and was sunk by Allied a/c on 17 Sep 44. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Algerine-class minesweepers HMCS Sault Ste Marie (ex-HMCS The Soo), Winnipeg, St Boniface, Portage, Wallaceburg, Border Cities, Middlesex, Oshawa, Kapuskasing and Rockcliffe ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Naval Air Transport Service is established. (Dave Shirlaw)
Haiti, Honduras, Panama declare war on Germany and Italy. (Dave Shirlaw)
CARIBBEAN SEA: SS Nereus (10,653 GRT) Canadian Saguenay Terminals bulk carrier, (ex-USN collier) disappeared in the Caribbean Sea. There were no survivors from the 61 passengers and crew that were onboard. The cause of her loss has never been established although sabotage was originally suspected. RAdm George van Deurs, USN (Retired) who had served in this class of ship, has suggested the class was poorly constructed to begin with and that the natural acidity of coal seriously weakened the ship’s plating and frame. It is now generally accepted that both Nereus and sister ship Proteus were unseaworthy and broke up in heavy seas. (Dave Shirlaw)
So the question is what would have happened if Germany and Italy had not declared war on the US. Would we have concentrated only on Japan and simply continued lend/lease?
Jeannette Rankin voted Present.
(Cast the only no vote on Japan.)
(Also cast a no vote on WWI.)
Thanks again, Homer.... I was quite busy at work last week... but, I spent several hours this weekend catching up...
I found it interesting, that suggestions about Roosevelt “knowing the attack was coming” were hitting the front page of the NYT even in the very first days. At least, there were reports from several people that the government had been warned that Hawaii was a target.
Simply amazing the sheer volume of important news that came out in this past week. I bet my father and grandfather were very interested in reading it all... My Dad was 8 years old at that time.
I find it interesting that the headlines and articles indicate that the Japanese were “checked” at all points to include the Philipines and Wake Island since both fell within a short period of time after the Times published this edition. I guess it was important to the papers at the time to help keep up american spirits and not report everything as the fault of the administration.
No, the US would have declared war on Germany and Italy. Roosevelt figured (correctly) that the idiot Hitler would declare war on the US and take him off the hook with a potential fight with congress. It was Germany's only declaration of war during the entire war.
Part of it is simply fog of war, coupled with some censorship in the theater of battle.
For example, the US believes that the Haruna has been sunk. However, she is not even near the Philippines. A cruiser was damaged but not sunk in that attack.
There will be a lot of confusion and incorrect claims until the end of the war. When the allies got a look at enemy records and were able to compare them with our own, then the battle claims in many US records were adjusted.
Yes, after the war there will be a considerable adjustment of reports. In the Pacific, the United States will create the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) which will compare available Japanese records of shipping losses to American reports of the same losses.
A number of submarines with outstanding war records will see their official claims adjusted, generally downward. A number of officially reported attacks and kills will not be borne out by Japanese records, and in most cases, even where the Japanese confirmed loss of a ship, the tonnage will be reduced.
However, despite JANAC’s adjustments, it will be clear that the “Silent Service” slaughtered Japanese merchant shipping, and accounted for a significant number of combatants as well. What Doenitz tried, and failed to do against the British, the Americans will accomplish against the Japanese.
You know, in all the excitement I didn’t read where Admiral Stark gave the United States Navy it’s first orders of the war:
“Execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan.”
I guess if nobody else wants to play by the rules, there’s no reason we should either.
The Romanians declared war on us? Uh oh. We’ve got our hands full now!
The Japanese were checked in their initial attacks on Wake.
The initial assault was driven off. The Japanese had to send carriers and battleships to finally take the island in a second try several weeks later.
So the Wake report has merit. You can, however, safely disregard anything that comes from MacArthur.
You’re right about Wake, it did fall when no support was forthcoming, and after a strong effort on the part of Marines and civilian contractors to retain control.
I chose not to make the commentary about dugout Doug but you are absolutely correct. He assured FDR that he and his forces were alert and ready when he was finally located and told about Pearl Harbor. He and his forces were caught by surprise with his aircraft and other resources on the ground and clustered for easy destruction. He was a shameless and shameful self-promoter who was much worse than McClelland during the Civil War. His decisions were responsible for a number of fiascos and men needlessly lost in engagements like Peleliu and the events leading up to Bataan as well as his approach to making a filmed landing and invasion where he did in the Philippines. FDR should have left him to the Japanese at Corrigedor and found a more competent general.
Admiral Hart gave this order as well, before Stark did so he technically pre-empted his chain of command. Looks like emotions are running high in the U.S. Navy right now.
I'm not worried. We have Costa Rica on our side.
I still think he should have been canned after his dispersement of the Bonus Army. It would have save the U.S. a lot of military fiascos.
You’re right. The Bonus Army fiasco was probably his most shameful moment. That is the type of “leadership” you get from political generals.
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