Posted on 12/22/2011 5:09:15 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
How'd that work out for ya, Adolph?
The photo shown at the link will be on the front page of tomorrow’s edition - Homer.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f22dec41.htm
Allies make plans in Washington
Monday, December 22, 1941 www.onwar.com
Churchill and Roosevelt at the Arcadia conference.In Washington... The Arcadia Conference is being held. The purpose of the meeting is war planning by the British leader, Churchill and the American President Roosevelt as well as their Chiefs of Staff and other political leaders from both countries. Decisions made at the conference included a confirmation of policy to Germany First as well as the establishment of a Combined Chiefs of Staff to direct the entire Allied military endeavor. British General Wavell is appointed to control operations in the East. Plans are also made for a buildup of US forces in Britain prior to a land invasion of Europe, and the continuation of bombing offensive in Europe.
On Wake Island... After continuing the bombardment of the island the Japanese land 200 men on the island to fierce resistance from the 450 US Marines stationed there.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/22.htm
December 22nd, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
Minesweeper HMS Algerine launched.
ASW trawler HMS Inkpen launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Othello commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
U-380 commissioned.
U-193, U-531 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: After a week of talks between Stalin and Eden, and their military and diplomatic advisers, the two sides achieved “identity of views” on the conduct of the war against Hitlerite Germany, according to the official communiqué.
On questions relating to the postwar settlement, however, the communiqué is evasive. “An exchange of views,” it says, “providing much important and useful material which will facilitate the future elaboration of concrete proposals.” The talks were rounded off with a banquet in the Kremlin given by Stalin. Earlier, Eden was taken to the battlefront. He said the Russian troops were “truly magnificent”. He met German PoWs who wore only thin unlined coats and poor boots, and lacked gloves; they were suffering in the bitter cold.
Eden arrived in Moscow by a roundabout route that included a 72-hour train journey. In five sessions he talked with the Russians for some 20 hours.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The US submarine S-38 sailing from Manila sinks the Hayo Maru, a cargo ship of 445 tons during this war patrol. During the patrol she will fire torpedoes at 5 ships. (Skip Guidry)
Japanese soldiers land at Lingayen, aiming for Manila.
The US Provisional Tank Group goes in support of General Wainwright (commander North Luzon Force) at Damortis on Lingayen Gulf. Wainwright sends his corps cavalry (the 26th Cavalry (PS)) forward to act as the divisional screen. 26 Cav’s Scout car platoon runs into the Japanese 48th Reconnaissance and 4th Tank Regiments north of Damortis and falls back. Damortis is important because as long as it is held the Japanese invasion force is bottled-up between the landing beaches and the mountains.
Japanese infantry supported by aircraft began assaulting Damortis at 1300.
26 Cav called for assistance. Wainwright requested a company of tanks from Weaver. Weaver could only send a platoon of five tanks because of shortage of fuel. They met the enemy light tanks about 6 miles north of Damortis. The lead Stuart was hit and burst into flames. Each of the other four Stuarts were hit and they all withdrew to Rosario where they were destroyed by air attack the next day.
Morton says the Stuarts were hit by 47mm “anti-tank” fire. If he means that the Japanese tanks carried a 47mm gun, then the Stuarts were badly outgunned. However, if these were infantry anti-tank guns, then the US tank-men had been ‘Rommelled’ - unsupported US tanks attacking an enemy mixed infantry-armour force. If so, they wouldn’t be the last to make this mistake.
A further problem arose later that afternoon because of the divided command (i.e. that the tanks were not placed under Wainwright’s command). At dusk the rest of C Coy 192 Tank Battalion pulled out of joint defensive positions (with 26 Cav) and fell back on Rosario, citing orders from Brig-Gen Weaver. 26 Cav stayed in position. As C Coy left, Japanese tanks attacked the 26 Cav rear guard and got among the horses, causing heavy casualties. Despite this disaster, 26 Cav maintained its cohesion and successfully covered the withdrawal from Damortis and Rosario. It was to repeat this performance several times more in the bitter weeks ahead proving the value of well-led cavalry in a withdrawal. (Michael Alexander)
WAKE ISLAND Since the 11th the island has been regularly bombarded by the Japanese. Today the 2nd landing attempt is offshore, supported by aircraft from carriers Hiryu and Soryu yesterday and today. The first landings against fierce resistance from the defending Marines.
Task Force 14, the Wake Relief Expedition, including the USS Saratoga is recalled at 0911 hours (Hawaii Time) with the lead ships 515 miles northeast of Wake. (Gordon Rottman)
Major James P. S. Devereux, the commander of the Wake Island Detachment, 1st defence Battalion, spends a lot of time in consultation with First Lieutenant William W. Lewis, the commander of Battery E. Battery E was the closest 3-inch antiaircraft battery to Wake’s south beach, the most probable scene of a Japanese landing. Devereux and Lewis compute the distances, azimuths, and fuse settings required for Battery E to shower the shoreline with accurate airbursts. (Gregory J. W. Urwin, Temple University)
AUSTRALIA: Boom defence vessel HMAS Karangi commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The Arcadia Conference, in Washington DC, between the British and the US begins. They confirm the policy from Placentia Bay in August of Germany first. They also establish the Combined Chiefs of Staff for the entire Allied military effort. A general strategic program is approved of a US buildup in Britain and continuing the bombing offensive. The concept of further losses in the Pacific is accepted with the understanding that a stiff defence will hold these to a minimum. This conference will last through the 7th of January.
Submarine USS Grunion launched.
Destroyer USS Hambleton commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
"More than 40,000 Jews are murdered at Bogdanovka in the Transnistria region of Romania."
"While some Jews were being burned alive at Bogdanovca, Romania, Romanian death squads took others into the forest to be executed. Made to undress completely in the bitter cold of December, men, women, and children were forced to kneel on the edge of a precipice.
They were then shot, with their bodies falling into the valley below. This skull with its gaping hole is testimony to these forest executions, in which over 40,000 died by the end of December."
"The United States passes amendments to the Selective Service Act, making men ages 20 to 44 eligible for military service."
"Half-clad Jewish women and a young girl about to be executed on the beach at Liepaja, Latvia, are forced to pose for a final photograph during a mid-December murder spree that took the lives of at least 2700 Jews.
The executions were carried out by a Latvian SD guard platoon and the 21st Latvian Police Battalion, as well as men of the Schutzpolizei (German border police) under the supervision of Fritz Dietrich, a local SS commander.
Dietrich saw to it that the executions were filmed to provide evidence that the primary perpetrators were Latvians."
"Battleship Row" at about 0800 on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft. Ships are, from lower left to right: Nevada (BB-36) with flag raised at stern; Arizona (BB-39) with Vestal (AR-4) outboard; Tennessee (BB-43) with West Virginia (BB-48) outboard; Maryland (BB-46) with Oklahoma (BB-37) outboard; Neosho (AO-23) and California (BB-44).
There is a theory advanced by the History Channel or something like it that what has long been assumed to be torpedo drop splashes center-left may be propeller spray from a Japanese midget sub recoiling from the combination of launching it's torpedoes and buffeting by shock waves from prior torpedo hits (radiating wave). No aircraft is visible in the photo to account for a drop splash and the torpedoes have either not yet detonated or they were duds. there also appears to be a surprising lack of AA fire given the amount of damage evident in the photo.
The battleship Tennessee was 625 ft from stem to stern which makes those splashes about 1,000 - 1,200 yards away. The torpedo run tracks are pretty long and the airplanes that dropped them could have already passed over the battleships and moved out of the field of view to the right.
Hard to say. I suspect two aircraft dropped their torpedoes whose run tracks crossed on their way into BBS Tennessee.
White smoke in the distance is from Hickam Field. Grey smoke in the center middle distance is from the torpedoed USS Helena (CL-50), at the Navy Yard's 1010 dock.
Notice the large fuel storage tanks unharmed.
Don’t forget that the picture could have been taken from one of the aircraft that droped those torpedos. The rear gunner could have snapped it looking back as they banked away.
Oops! Morning coffee hadn't kicked in yet. The splashes are about 400 - 600 yards away.
That's also true but under an assumption of if you can see them, they can see you, I wonder if such maneuver would have exposed the plane(s) to more AA than the pilot(s) preferred. However, the photo shows no real evidence of any AA so, the maneuver you describe may have been the case.
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I don't see any sign of hits on battleship row in the photo so it must be very early in the attack. The AA crews haven't yet figured out what is happening.
It appears that one torpedo detonated and it's shock waves are radiating 400-600 yards out. The california extreme center-right appears to have taken a hit or near miss by something. Smoke is beginning to billow from the Helena center-distant. As you say, the photo appears to have been taken in the first minutes of the attack on battleship row.
See:
“Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor”
The stealth attack of Pearl Harbor by Japanese midget submarines is a little known story of WWII. Aired January 5, 2010 on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/killer-subs-pearl-harbor.html
Thanks!
The Japanese were very busy while the US was still reeling from Pearl Harbor.
Has the media yet reported the full extent of our losses in Hawaii? I haven’t read it every day since I am on a borrowed computer.
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