Posted on 12/06/2012 5:00:16 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
The News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 28
The Battle of North Africa Approaches a Climax (map) – 29
Great Distances Slow Allied Drives in Africa (Baldwin) – 30
Italian Peace Seen Only by Conquest (MacDonald) – 31
Men at Front See Tough Tunis Fight (Kluckhohn) – 32
Russia Begins a Second Winter Campaign (map) – 33
Red Army is in Shape for Winter Offensive (Parker) – 34
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 35
The News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 28
The Battle of North Africa Approaches a Climax (map) – 29
Great Distances Slow Allied Drives in Africa (Baldwin) – 30
Italian Peace Seen Only by Conquest (MacDonald) – 31
Men at Front See Tough Tunis Fight (Kluckhohn) – 32
Russia Begins a Second Winter Campaign (map) – 33
Red Army is in Shape for Winter Offensive (Parker) – 34
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 35
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/dec42/f06dec42.htm
Allies retreat under German pressure
Sunday, December 6, 1942 www.onwar.com
In Tunisia... Allied forces near Medjez el Bab are pushed back by renewed German attacks.
In New Guinea... US forces managed to reach the beach on the east side of Buna after heavy fighting. The Australian attack at Gona has little success. Japanese reinforcement fighting along the coast from the west make some headway.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
December 6th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The war in the air has reached a stage where German bombers hardly venture into British skies, while Bomber Command pounds German cities every night.
It is, however, a time of some concern for the RAF. Bomber losses during the year have been high with 1,453 aircraft lost and 2,724 damaged in action. There are still only 200 Lancaster in service, and the Germans have learnt how to jam Gee, the navigational device.
There is also some confusion about the future role of Bomber Command. Sir Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, has urged the formation of an Anglo-American force of 4,000-6,000 bombers.
The result, he says, would be “25 million Germans rendered homeless, 900,000 killed and one million seriously injured.” The plan has met fierce opposition.
In other areas, Fighter Command continues its often costly offensive sweeps across France; Coastal Command, the “Cinderella” command, is at last getting the aircraft it needs; and in the Middle East the RAF has learnt how to support an army in the field.
NETHERLANDS: The RAF makes a heavy raid on the Philips radio factory at Eindhoven, flying at low level in daylight with a mixture of de Havilland Mosquitoes, Douglas Bostons and Lockheed Venturas. (22)
TUNISIA: German attacks push Allied forces back near Medjez el Bab. These German attacks will continue over the next four days.
German troops push back the US 1st Armoured Division in the Eli Guessa heights.
OKW and the overall theatre commander in Rome, (Oberbefehlshaber Sud) Luftwaffe GFM ‘Smiling’ Albert Kesselring, directly orders the local military commander in Tunis, Gen. d. Pz. Truppe Walther Nehering to mobilize all Jewish labour for fortification work. The order specifies that the Jewish leaders are to select the manpower and that the Jewish community are to furnish equipment and food for the men. The labour columns are to be detached to the German commanders in Bizerte, Tunis-North and Tunis-South for work on the main defensive line (Hauptkampflinie). Italian Jews are to be excepted on the protest of the Italian Consul General. (252, p.412) (Russell Folsom)
NEW GUINEA: Allied units reach the beach east of Buna. Australian forces mount another attack on Japanese positions at Gona. Other Japanese forces are attempting to move a relief column along the coast, but progress is slow.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Waskesiu launched Esquimalt, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
Light fleet carriers USS Belleau Wood and Princeton launched.
Destroyer USS Thatcher launched.
Corvette USS Brisk commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-103 sank SS Henry Stanley in Convoy ON-149.
U-155 sank SS Serooskerk in Convoy ON-149. (Dave Shirlaw)
It seems to me the newspapers were painting a far more optimistic picture of the war than actually existed a year after Pearl Harbor. On the other hand its been really interesting to read every morning how America geared up for war and eventual victory. I must admit I’ve become much more a student of WW2 than I ever have been in the past. Thanks again for doing this...
I wish there was a golf story in one of these posts so I could ping the golf ping list. Surely, many FReepers do not know of your excellent work here, HJS!
I stopped posting sports threads after Pearl Harbor. Well, I did cover the New Year's bowl games a few weeks later. But I'm willing to resort to trickery to gain new readers. You can ping them to this thread so they can follow the link below that will take them to the June 13, 1939 sports special where they can read about Byron Nelson's 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open. Then, when they see how excellent our WWII threads are they will be hooked!
The P32 cartoon is interesting in that the artist elected to arm the German soldiers with either Finnish Suomi KP-31s, or Soviet PPD-40/PPSh-41s.
Manpower Dictator of the Nation
what a title
draft stops at 38
cool, I’m 40
The surprising part for me is the suspension of voluntary enlistment. It looks like the military is now taking draftees only. This McNutt guy held everyone’s destiny in his hands. I didn’t know it ever came to that.
I stopped posting sports threads after Pearl Harbor. Well, I did cover the New Year's bowl games a few weeks later. But I'm willing to resort to trickery to gain new readers. You can ping them to this thread so they can follow the link below that will take them to the June 13, 1939 sports special where they can read about Byron Nelson's 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open. Then, when they see how excellent our WWII threads are they will be hooked!
U.S. Open playoff, June 13, 1939.
.
There are only 34 Rules Of Golf.
Email me if you want on the Golf Ping List:
Visit PGA.com, an excellent site.
Wow, first time ever that a golf ping gets no hits! Not many history majors amongst the link denizens, I guess.
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