GREEKS DRIVE FOE FROM 2 KEY POINTS (12/5/40)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/5/40 | A.C. Sedgwick

[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]

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Premedi Captured – 2
The International Situation – 3
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 4-5

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f05dec40.htm

Hitler approves army plans

Thursday, December 5, 1940 www.onwar.com

In Berlin... An outline plan for the attack on the Soviet Union is presented to Hitler by the army. As in the last version it provides for a three-pronged attack, with the center force moving toward Moscow being the strongest. Hitler agrees to allow planning to go ahead on this basis but suggests some modifications. He also orders planning for the attack on Greece to continue.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/05.htm

December 5th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: The ex-American destroyer HMS Cameron (I-05) (former USS Welles (DD-257)) is bombed, capsized and badly damaged in Portsmouth harbour as she refits. Not worth repairing, she is used for experimental purposes by the US Navy as the worst damaged but surviving destroyer available and is extensively studied for explosive effects and damage control. She is consigned for scrapping on 1 December, 1944.
USS Ringgold (DD-89), commissioned as HMS Newark (G-08), USS Sigourney (DD-81), commissioned as HMS Newport (G-54), USS Tillman (DD-135), commissioned HMS Wells (I-95), and USS Robinson (DD-88), commissioned as HMS Newmarket (G47), part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)

Destroyer HMS Salisbury (ex-USS Claxton) commissioned.

Torpedoed Canadian destroyer Saguenay limps into British port after taking a hit from a German torpedo; first Canadian warship torpedoed.(Dave Shirlaw)

RAF Bomber Command: Night raids are carried out on Düsseldorf and Turin.

VICHY FRANCE: In a letter to Churchill, Professor Rougier transmitted the following assurances from Marshal Petain:
1. France would not sign a separate peace with the Axis before the end of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany.
2. France would not cede naval or air bases or the fleet to the Axis and would resist any attempt by Spain, Germany or Italy to seize the French colonies in North Africa.
3. France accepted the submission of French Equatorial Africa to General de Gaulle as a fait accompli till the end of the war on the understanding that the territories would then be restored to France and that meanwhile no attack would be directed against French West Africa, North Africa or Morocco.

GERMANY: Hitler meets his generals to discuss his initial plans for the invasion of the USSR. After a four-hour meeting he approves the plans of Halder and Brauchitsch.

U-109 is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ALBANIA: Greek forces advancing along the coastal road occupy the Italian’s southernmost Albanian sea base at Santi Quaranta. The Italians evacuate Argyrokastra.

CHINA: Japan appears to have lost control of large areas of northern China following a three-month offensive by Chinese Communist troops of the Eight Route Army to disrupt Japanese installations in the region.
Within the last few days there have been signs that the exhausted Communists are winding down the operation, known as the Hundred Regiments campaign, in the belief it has achieved its political aim of disrupting talks between Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists and Japan.
According to Communist claims, the campaign, which has seen Chinese troops abandon hit and run tactics for outright confrontation, has achieved all its military aims; attacks on Japanese outposts have forced the enemy to retreat into large enclaves; and those positions still held by the Japanese have been so severely damaged that it will be at least six months before most major installations are operative again. Among the most heavily damaged are the Peking-Hankow railway, cut in 86 places, and the Anshan steel mills in Manchukuo. According to Communist estimates, Japan’s North China Army has lost at least five battalions.
However, internal critics fear that the extravagent use of manpower - with the Chinese outnumbering the enemy by ten to one - is too expensive with Communist casualties of 22,000.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) arrives at Nichols Field, Luzon, from Selfridge Field, Mount Clemens, Michigan. (Marc Small and Jack McKillop)

CANADA: First Canadian corvettes join Battle of the Atlantic. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The motion picture “The Thief of Baghdad” opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan and Michael Powell, this Arabian Nights fantasy adventure stars Sabu and Conrad Veidt. (Jack McKillop)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 462 December 5, 1940

British destroyer HMS Cameron, one of the first 8 destroyers transferred from the US Navy in September, is bombed and badly damaged while refitting in drydock at Portsmouth (14 killed). The dock floods and HMS Cameron capsizes. She will be refloated in February 1941 and repaired by April 1942 but never see active service again.

German armed merchant cruiser Thor and British armed merchant cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle exchange 6-inch shellfire 300 miles South of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thor is not hit and leaves the area quickly to avoid Allied hunting groups. HMS Carnarvon Castle is hit 27 times (4 dead, 32 wounded) and will be repaired at Montevideo, Uruguay, using steel plates from German pocket battleship Graf Spee which had been sunk there in December 1939.

British submarine HMS Sunfish sinks Finnish steamer Oscar Midling (no survivors) off the Stadlandet peninsula, Norway.

British motor torpedo boats MTB.32, MTB.29 and MTB.31 sweep the coast of Holland near the mouth of River Scheldt, sinking German steamer Paranagua.

250 miles West of Ireland, Italian submarine Argo sinks British steamer Silverpine (35 killed).

6 miles off Cape Misurata, Libya, Italian torpedo boat Calipso sinks on a mine (laid by British submarine HMS Rorqual on August 16).

[gitmogrunt]

http://www.greece.org/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=426&Itemid=378

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Thanks for the link.

Not to take anything away from the Greek effort, but I wonder why the Soviet Union isn't included on the chart that shows # of days resistance to Nazi-Fascist forces. They underwent invasion for much longer than Greece without being conquered. Didn't they also have to deal with the same armies of the same four nations that the Greeks did? Pluse a couple more.