Posted on 12/23/2010 4:53:39 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Greeks occupy Himarra
Monday, December 23, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the Balkans... The Greeks continue their advance, occupying Himarra, in Albania.
Over Britain... German aircraft raid Manchester for a second consecutive night.
From London... Lord Halifax becomes British ambassador to the United States. Anthony Eden takes over as foreign secretary. David Margesson becomes secretary of war (army minister).
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
December 23rd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Anthony Eden replaces Lord Halifax as Foreign Secretary; Halifax becomes ambassador to the USA. Captain David Margesson, Chief Whip in the Baldwin and Chamberlain governments, becomes War Minister. Thus Churchill has balanced a promotion of an old friend with the advancement of an old foe who had a hand in attempts to get Churchill and Eden dislodged from their constituencies.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and of York and Cardinal Hinsley, Archbishop of Westminster, with Walter Armstrong, the Moderator of the Free Church Federated Council, have drawn up a letter to the Times, containing five standards calculated to guide statesmen in solving post-war social and economic issues. The fifth point states:
The sense of a divine vocation must be restored to man’s daily work; resources of the earth should be used as God’s gifts to the whole human race and used with due consideration for the needs of the present and future generations.
London: Churchill assures the Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, that Australia has a higher defence priority than the Mediterranean.
He then broadcasts to the Italian people blaming the war between the British Empire and Italy on Mussolini and warning them of calling in “Attila over the Brenner Pass with his hordes of ravenous soldiers and his gangs of Gestapo policemen...”
Corvette HMS Aubretia commissioned
Minesweeping trawler HMS Hamlet commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Jacques Bonsergeant, a 28-year-old engineer who had a fight with a German sergeant, is the first Frenchman to be executed by the Nazis in Paris.
Individual Frenchmen were laying wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and groups of Parisians gathered in the streets to remember the dead of both wars. In the afternoon, the Germans had begun to disperse the groups, and 123 arrests were made, among them 90 schoolchildren. In the scuffles, four people were hurt. One of those arrested was Bonsergeant, a civil engineer. He was visiting Paris for the wedding of a friend and was caught up inadvertently in the ‘demonstration’. He was jostled by German soldiers and arrested.
GERMANY:
Augsburg: The Messerschmitt 261 long-range aircraft makes its maiden flight. The aircraft has a range of 6,800 miles, and was originally designed to fly non-stop from Berlin to Tokyo to carry the Olympic Torch for the 1940 Games.
Daily Keynote speech from the Reich Press Chief
Once again the British have dropped 5 bombs on Zurich. The Minister emphatically reminds us of his earlier instructions not to praise Switzerland for the furious remarks of the Swiss press regarding the British attacks. It is not in our interests to show gratitude for any protests that Switzerland might happen to make.
U-558 launched
U-553 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ALBANIA:
The advancing Greeks capture the town of Himara.
SINGAPORE:
The Reuters News Agency reports:
A communiqué from Air Marshal Brooke Popham, the British Commander-in-Chief in the Far East, states that recently large transports of troops from every branch of service have arrived in the Malayan states. This has reinforced the already massive defences of Singapore and also the fighting power of the other sections of Far East Command.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Launceston laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Grampus launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 480 December 23, 1940
In Albania, Greek forces push back Italian troops another 20 miles up the Ionian coast, taking the small town of Himarra.
In Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa General Rodolfo Graziani removes General Mario Berti from command of Italian 10th Army after the collapse in the initial stages of Operation Compass. Graziani appoints his Chief of Staff General Giuseppe Tellera to take over 10th Army.
Destroyer HMS Havock collides with battleship HMS Valiant during gunnery practice. HMS Havock will be repaired at Malta until February 20 1941.
Lord Haw Haw warns of a second night of bombing for Manchester. From 7.15 PM until 1.29 AM, 171 aircraft home in on the still-burning city and drop 195 tons of high explosive bombs plus 893 incendiary canisters. In 2 nights, 363 civilians are killed and 1183 wounded.
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