Pearl Harbour - the world at war, December 1941

The War in Dorset - December 1941

While the Telecommunications Research Establishment continued to develop their ‘Blind Navigation’ two more British planes crashed in Dorset – a Wellington bomber on 16^th December 1941 near Powerstock and a Beaufighter (the long-range heavy fighter modified from the Beaufort bomber) at Pulham on 29^th December. Both crews survived the crashes.

(From ‘Dorset’s War Diary - Battle of Britain to D Day’ by Rodney Legg, Dorset Publishing Company 2004).

During 1941 construction began of the Starfish (from SF for Special fire) Decoy on Brownsea Island that was to play such an important role in the defences of Poole. Elstree Studios' pyrotechnics crew helped to install theatrical explosives and fires to mimic the bombing of Poole and draw the Luftwaffe's attention away from the town.  Designated as PE1, it was operated by the Royal Navy who also maintained decoys to protect the Royal Navy Cordite Factory at Holton Heath– HH1 on Arne and HH2 on Gore Heath.

 (From  ‘Poole and World War II’ written by Derek Beamish, Harold Bennett and John Hillier and published by Poole Historical Trust in 1980 and ‘The Book of Poole Harbour’ edited by Bernard Dyer and Timothy Darvill and published by The Dovecote press Ltd 2010.)

 

1st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron:

In December 1941 the newly formed 1^st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron moved from their secret training location in Wales to Shaw House, an impressive Elizabethan building in Newbury, Berkshire.  There they had lectures and motor cycling, driving and weapons training.

On 26^th December their designation changed to 1^st Air Landing Company, Reconnaissance Corps.  Major C.J.H.Gough (later of Arnhem fame), known as ‘Freddie’, was their commanding officer and the squadron soon acquired the nickname of FGS or ‘Freddie Gough’s Squadron’. He was a stickler for discipline and set exacting standards in search of 'the best of the best' in selection and everyday duties. All Air Landing (gliderborne) troops were volunteers.

 (From the War Diary of 1^st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron, WO166/6955 National Archives at Kew, ‘Airborne Forces’ by Lt-Col T.B.H. Otway, D.S.O. London: Imperial War Museum, 1990 and Paradata  – the living history of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces.)

Dick joined 1st Air Landing Reconnaissance on 20th April 1942.

 

At the beginning of December 1941 German heavy artillery were within range of Moscow but the German commanders realised that their exhausted and frozen troops could not take Moscow this winter (frostbite casualties were now exceeding the number of wounded in battle), even as they began a final assault on the city. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012).

 

2nd December 1941 – the new National Service Bill introduces compulsory service for women.

 

 

5^th December 1941 – Soviet forces mount a surprise counter-attack to defend Moscow and the Germans advance is halted.

 

6^th December – Roosevelt approves the commencement of atomic weapons research in the USA.

 

7^th December 1941 – Admiral Yamamoto’s Japanese carrier fleet bomb the US fleet in Pearl Harbour.  The Americans, taken completely by surprise (Japan had not declared war on the US), lost the battleships Oklahoma and Arizona, two destroyers and 188 aircraft. Many other ships and planes were damaged and 2,335 servicemen were killed.  The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

Japanese forces land on Kota Bahru in the far north-east of Malaya and are able to make their first air raid on Singapore the next day.

 

8^th December 1941 – the USA and the UK declare war on Japan.

Japan attacks the US controlled Phillipines bombing the Philippine capital of Manila and American airbases. Half the US Far East Airforce are destroyed.

Japanese forces attack the British territory of Hong Kong and Japanese forces occupy Shanghai in China.

 

Mass killing began at the Chelmno extermination camp near Lodz in Poland. More than 152,000 people were murdered there during the war, mostly in the gas chambers, including Jews and Romanies from Poland, Hungarian Jews, Czechs and Soviet Prisoners of War.

 

9th December 1941 – China declares war on Germany and Italy.

Japanese troops occupy Bangkok, Thailand.

 

10th December 1941 – Allied Forces enter Tobruk in Libya. This was their first major overseas victory.

The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse, which had been sent to defend Singapore, are sunk by the Japanese.

The Japanese take Guam, an American base in the Mariana islands.

 

11^th December 1941 – Germany and Italy declare war against the USA and the USA declares war against Germany and Italy.

 

14^th December 1941 – Thailand becomes an ally of Japan.

 

15^th December 1941 – Japanese troops enter Burma.  The Battle of Burma begins with a Japanese bombing attack on the capital of Rangoon on 23^rd December.

 

16^th December 1941 – Japanese forces land in Borneo.

 

18^th December 1941 – Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island.

The British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant are sunk by the Italian Navy while in Alexandria harbour, Egypt.

 

19^th December 1941 – Hitler took over complete control of the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht.

 

22nd December 1941 – Roosevelt and Churchill meet at the Arcadia conference in Washington and agree to pool British and US resources and develop strategy to win the war together.

Japanese forces land near Manila in the Philippines. US and Philippine troops with the American Commander-in-Chief General Douglas Macarthur, withdraw to the Bataan peninsula.

 

23rd December 1941 – Japanese forces finally land on and occupy Wake Island an American base in the Pacific between Hawaii and the Mariana Islands (after unsuccessful attacks on 8th and 11th December

 

25th December 1941 – surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese.

 

 

26^th December 1941 – Winston Churchill addressed the US Congress with his speech “A Long and Hard War” rejoicing that “the United States, united as never before, have drawn the sword for freedom and cast away the scabbard”.

27th December 1941 - A combined services commando raid on German occupied islands off Norway results in 150 Germans killed and 16,000 tons of shipping destroyed as well as defences and infrastructure.

 

During 1941 Allied merchant shipping lost 503 ships, equalling 2,530,011 gross tons. to U-boats world-wide. Only 35 U-boats were sunk (from World War 2 Timelines).