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Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
November 28 Friday
ASIA: The Japanese Foreign Ministry sends the following message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.: "Well, you two Ambassadors have exerted superhuman efforts but, in spite of this, the United States has gone ahead and presented this humiliating proposal. This was quite unexpected and extremely regrettable. The Imperial Government can by no means use it as a basis for negotiations. Therefore, with a report of the views of the Imperial Government on this American proposal which I will send you in two or three days, the negotiations will be de facto ruptured. This is inevitable. However, I do not wish you to give the impression that the negotiations are broken off. Merely say to them that you are awaiting instructions and that, although the opinions of your Government are not yet clear to you, to your own way of thinking the Imperial Government has always made just claims and has borne great sacrifices for the sake of peace in the Pacific. Say that we have always demonstrated a long-suffering and conciliatory attitude, but that, on the other hand, the United States has been unbending, making it impossible for Japan to establish negotiations. Since things have come to this pass, I contacted the man you told me to in your #1180 and he said that under the present circumstances what you suggest is entirely unsuitable. From now on do the best you can."
U.S. passenger liner SS "President Harrison", chartered for the purpose, sails from Shanghai, China, for the Philippine Islands, with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and regimental staff embarked. "Stirring scenes of farewell," U.S. Consul Edwin F. Stanton reports to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, accompany the marines' departure.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Corvette HMCS "Battleford" departed for first operational patrol with the Sydney to Liverpool Convoy SC-57 as escort to Iceland. The convoy arrived Liverpool on 15 Dec 41 after 3 ships were sunk by U-130.
EASTERN FRONT: Overextended and short of supplies, the German 3.Panzerkorps of 1.Panzerarmee evacuates Rostov-on-Don and withdraws to the Mius river 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the west. Soviet 9th Army and 56th Army attack remaining German elements of 1.Panzerarmee around Rostov. The city was reoccupied by Soviet forces later on the same day. Hitler orders 1.Panzerarmee must halt its withdrawal and hold Rostov. Soviet battleship "Parizhskaya Kommuna" and destroyer "Smyshleny" bombard German positions around Sevastopol
In the morning the Waffen SS took Vysokovo and continued its advance towards Moscow. German 7.Panzerdivision crossed the Yakhroma bridge over the Moskva-Volga canal 37 miles north of Moscow at 0330 hours, but it would be driven back at the end of the day. The tanks are very exposed and fall back across the bridge at 1000 hours. German infantry hold a small bridgehead all day despite fierce counterattacks from Soviet 1st Shock Army as well as aerial bombing, artillery and Katyusha rocket launchers. By then the assault units were within a 20-mile radius of the Kremlin. The backdoor to Moscow is open but this is the easternmost point of the German advance. The thermometer stood at 26 below zero Fahrenheit. The men had to spend the nights in the open. They put on everything they had—but it was not enough. They had no sheepskin jackets, no fur caps, no felt boots, no fur gloves. Their toes froze off. Their fingers in the thin woolen mittens turned white and stiff. But the frost struck not only at the troops' feet. The oil froze in the machines. Carbines, machine pistols, and machine-guns packed up. Tank engines would not start. In these circumstances it is hardly surprising that Manteuffel's combat group was unable to hold the Yakhroma bridgehead, in spite of the defenders' stubborn resistance, when two Soviet brigades, the 28th and 50th Brigades of the Soviet 1st Shock Army, wearing winter greatcoats and felt boots, attacked them. Their infantry was supported by T-34s, whereas all that the 25.Panzer Regiment, 7.Panzerdivision, had left were some Skoda Mark III tanks with 3.7-cm. cannons and a few Mark IVs with 7.5-cm. cannons. Soviet 4th Army, 52nd Army, and 54th Army began attacking German 18.Armee around Tikhvin.
The Luftwaffe suffers another loss when Oblt. Günther Rall, Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 52, commits one of the cardinal sins of a fighter pilot, much like Hptm. Johannes Schmid of JG 26 on 6 November. After shooting down a Soviet aircraft for his thirty-sixth kill, he watches intently as it crashes, allowing another Russian fighter to sneak up behind him and shoot him out of the sky. Oblt. Rall breaks his back upon crashing and at hospital is placed in a body cast, temporarily paralyzed, and told "No more flying". Months of painful recovery begin.
GERMANY: A state funeral was held for Werner Mölders in Berlin, Germany.
Joachim von Ribbentrop met with Hiroshi Oshima in Berlin, Germany, promising that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war. Ribbentrop, however, did not know Japan was planning on starting the war soon.
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini arrived in Berlin, Germany. The grand mufti of Jerusalem pledges to cooperate in the extermination of the Jews and offers to enlist Arabs to fight for Germany. Adolf Hitler promises the Mufti of Jerusalem (Hajj Amin al Husseini) that upon German conquest of Palestine, the Jewish population will be exterminated. Britain and Russia are both power bases of Jewry, Hitler said, and he will carry on the fight until the last traces of Jewish hegemony is eliminated. The German Army will in the future break through the Caucasus into the Middle East and help to liberate the Arab world. Germany's only other objective in the region will be the annihilation of the Jews.
Hitler meets with King Michael of Rumania and Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu.
INDIAN OCEAN: HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse" arrive at Colombo, Ceylon. They will form the British Far East Fleet based at Singapore. The carrier "Indomitable" was scheduled to join them, but was damaged on the 3rd while training in the West Indies.
MEDITERRANNEAN: Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring's Oberfehlshaber Süd and Bruno Lörzer's II Fliegerkorps are transferred from central Russia to the Mediterranean to begin an assault on Malta. Along with several bomber Gruppen, this force also contains all three Gruppen of JG 53 along with II./JG 3. The fighters of JG 53 are led by Major Günther von Maltzahn with Hptm. Herbert Kaminski, Oblt. Freidrich-Karl 'Tutti' Müller, Fw. Herbert Rollwage and Hptm. Wolfe-Dietrich Wilcke. The II Fliegerkorps units are based in Sicily. Kesselring arrives in Rome to take up appointment as Commander-in-Chief South.
U-562 moves into the Mediterranean. Twelve Italian submarines were employed on supply missions to Africa through the end of December.
The U-95, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Gerd Schreiber, was torpedoed and sunk in the western Mediterranean Sea, south-west of Almeria, Spain by the Dutch submarine HNMS O 21. Of the ship's complement, 35 died and 12 survived. During its career the U-95 sank 8 ships for a total of 28,415 tons and damaged 4 ships for a total of 27,916 tons.
Six Blenheims, four from RAF No.18 Squadron and two from RAF No.107 Squadron, attack a tanker in the bay of Navarino.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Crusader: There is renewed heavy fighting around Sid Rezegh. German tank forces try to destroy the link between the New Zealand infantry and the Tobruk garrison. Aware of the return of 15.Panzerdivision and 21.Panzerdivision towards Tobruk, British 7th Armored Division again attacks 15.Panzerdivision but runs into an anti-tank screen left behind in the wake of the advancing German tanks (a classic blitzkrieg tactic). Despite being outnumbered, 15.Panzerdivision continues moving west towards Tobruk, holding off the British attack. This battle will continue over 3 days resulting in heavy losses to both sides and one of the New Zealand brigades is forced out of the action. Elsewhere, an Italian attack of two motorized battalions near Tobruk saw the capture of a New Zealand field hospital, which resulted in the capture of 1,000 troops and 700 medical staff members. Italian Bologna division is badly cut up in the action east of Tobruk.
In East Africa, Italian surrender terms are accepted and 22,000 Italian troops surrender. Mussolini's East African Roman Empire has ended.
Eleven Wellingtons from RAF No.40 Squadron launch a heavy raid on Benghazi.
NORTH AMERICA: The US War Cabinet meets, deciding to go to war with Japan if Japan attacks British Malaya, as the Philippines and other US interests would be threatened.
Headquarters Western defence Command at the Presidio of San Francisco issues a SECRET message to the commanding Generals of the Northwest Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier Northern California Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier Southern California Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier;
NORTHERN EUROPE: Allied convoy PQ-4 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia.
The Finnish 8th Division ends its offensive in the northern part of the Maaselka Isthmus. Also battles in Kestenga cease and a quiet phase begins.
US Secretary of State Hull tells Finland he is not sure to what extent; "
PACIFIC OCEAN: The air echelon of US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 secretly flew 12 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters from Ewe to Ford Island for further transfer to USS "Enterprise". Later on the same day, the USN's Task Force Eight (TF 8) (Vice Admiral William Halsey), comprised of the aircraft carrier USS "Enterprise" (CV-6); the heavy cruisers USS "Chester" (CA-27), "Northampton" (CA-26) and "Salt Lake City" (CA-24); and the destroyers USS "Balch" (DD-363), "Benham" (DD-397), "Craven" (DD-382), "Dunlap" (DD-384), "Ellet" (DD-398), "Fanning" (DD-385), "Gridley" (DD-380), "Maury" (DD-401) and "McCall" (DD-400), departs Pearl Harbor on a mission to deliver the 12 Wildcats, a detachment of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Eleven (VMF-211), to Wake Island. Halsey approves "Battle Order No. 1" that declares that "Enterprise" is operating "under war conditions." "Steady nerves and stout hearts," the carrier's captain concludes, "are needed now." Supporting PBY Catalina operations will be carried out from advanced bases at Wake and Midway.
Pensacola convoy: USN reinforcement convoy en route to the Philippines arrives at Oahu.
US Navy Commander W. S. Cunningham relieved US Marine Corps Major James P. S. Devereux as the overall commanding officer of Wake Island. Seaplane tender USS "Wright" (AV-1) arrives with the ground echelon of Marine Aircraft Group Twenty One (MAG-21) to establish an advance aviation base. 9 US Navy officers and 58 sailors arrived with Cunningham aboard "Wright".
Upon receipt of war warning message from Washington, US air units go to full alert and begin recon patrols toward Formosa. Brereton requests permission to conduct high-altitude photo reconnaissance of Takao in Southern Formosa. MacArthur demurred, citing "the War Department instructions to avoid any overt act" and directed that all Army reconnaissance, including that conducted in co-operation with the Asiatic Fleet, be limited to two-thirds the distance from Luzon to Formosa. MacArthur met with Hart and Sayre at 1530 hours at Sayre's office to discuss messages received by all three from their respective Departments. Hart and Sayre later stated that MacArthur is buoyant and positive that war would not break out before the beginning of 1942. Arnold cables Brereton to "take steps" to protect personnel and equipment against subversive activities. At 1630 hours Brereton suspends alert but orders all units on war readiness status.
Robert L. Shivers, head of the FBI office in Hawaii receives a message from J. Edgar Hoover stating that "peace negotiations were breaking down [with Japan] and to be on alert at all times as anything could happen." Shivers passed this on to Colonel Bicknell of the Army and Captain Mayfield of the Navy in Hawaii.
During their storm-fraught passage to rendezvous with the river gunboats proceeding from Shanghai to Manila, the submarine rescue vessel USS "Pigeon" (ASR 6) experiences steering casualty. Minesweeper USS "Finch" (AM 9), which lost both anchors in the storm, stood by to render assistance, and eventually, after three tries, managed to take the crippled ship in tow the following day.
UNITED KINGDOM: Slight Luftwaffe activity by night over Wales and South West England.
Dutch government-in-exile orders Netherlands East Indies to send two submarines to Singapore under Royal Navy control.
WESTERN FRONT: At the Rue Championnat in Paris, a grenade attack is made on a military traffic post. 2 soldiers and a Frenchman are killed and 7 wounded.
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ASIA: The Japanese Foreign Ministry sends the following message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.: "Well, you two Ambassadors have exerted superhuman efforts but, in spite of this, the United States has gone ahead and presented this humiliating proposal. This was quite unexpected and extremely regrettable. The Imperial Government can by no means use it as a basis for negotiations. Therefore, with a report of the views of the Imperial Government on this American proposal which I will send you in two or three days, the negotiations will be de facto ruptured. This is inevitable. However, I do not wish you to give the impression that the negotiations are broken off. Merely say to them that you are awaiting instructions and that, although the opinions of your Government are not yet clear to you, to your own way of thinking the Imperial Government has always made just claims and has borne great sacrifices for the sake of peace in the Pacific. Say that we have always demonstrated a long-suffering and conciliatory attitude, but that, on the other hand, the United States has been unbending, making it impossible for Japan to establish negotiations. Since things have come to this pass, I contacted the man you told me to in your #1180 and he said that under the present circumstances what you suggest is entirely unsuitable. From now on do the best you can."
U.S. passenger liner SS "President Harrison", chartered for the purpose, sails from Shanghai, China, for the Philippine Islands, with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and regimental staff embarked. "Stirring scenes of farewell," U.S. Consul Edwin F. Stanton reports to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, accompany the marines' departure.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Corvette HMCS "Battleford" departed for first operational patrol with the Sydney to Liverpool Convoy SC-57 as escort to Iceland. The convoy arrived Liverpool on 15 Dec 41 after 3 ships were sunk by U-130.
EASTERN FRONT: Overextended and short of supplies, the German 3.Panzerkorps of 1.Panzerarmee evacuates Rostov-on-Don and withdraws to the Mius river 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the west. Soviet 9th Army and 56th Army attack remaining German elements of 1.Panzerarmee around Rostov. The city was reoccupied by Soviet forces later on the same day. Hitler orders 1.Panzerarmee must halt its withdrawal and hold Rostov. Soviet battleship "Parizhskaya Kommuna" and destroyer "Smyshleny" bombard German positions around Sevastopol
In the morning the Waffen SS took Vysokovo and continued its advance towards Moscow. German 7.Panzerdivision crossed the Yakhroma bridge over the Moskva-Volga canal 37 miles north of Moscow at 0330 hours, but it would be driven back at the end of the day. The tanks are very exposed and fall back across the bridge at 1000 hours. German infantry hold a small bridgehead all day despite fierce counterattacks from Soviet 1st Shock Army as well as aerial bombing, artillery and Katyusha rocket launchers. By then the assault units were within a 20-mile radius of the Kremlin. The backdoor to Moscow is open but this is the easternmost point of the German advance. The thermometer stood at 26 below zero Fahrenheit. The men had to spend the nights in the open. They put on everything they had—but it was not enough. They had no sheepskin jackets, no fur caps, no felt boots, no fur gloves. Their toes froze off. Their fingers in the thin woolen mittens turned white and stiff. But the frost struck not only at the troops' feet. The oil froze in the machines. Carbines, machine pistols, and machine-guns packed up. Tank engines would not start. In these circumstances it is hardly surprising that Manteuffel's combat group was unable to hold the Yakhroma bridgehead, in spite of the defenders' stubborn resistance, when two Soviet brigades, the 28th and 50th Brigades of the Soviet 1st Shock Army, wearing winter greatcoats and felt boots, attacked them. Their infantry was supported by T-34s, whereas all that the 25.Panzer Regiment, 7.Panzerdivision, had left were some Skoda Mark III tanks with 3.7-cm. cannons and a few Mark IVs with 7.5-cm. cannons. Soviet 4th Army, 52nd Army, and 54th Army began attacking German 18.Armee around Tikhvin.
The Luftwaffe suffers another loss when Oblt. Günther Rall, Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 52, commits one of the cardinal sins of a fighter pilot, much like Hptm. Johannes Schmid of JG 26 on 6 November. After shooting down a Soviet aircraft for his thirty-sixth kill, he watches intently as it crashes, allowing another Russian fighter to sneak up behind him and shoot him out of the sky. Oblt. Rall breaks his back upon crashing and at hospital is placed in a body cast, temporarily paralyzed, and told "No more flying". Months of painful recovery begin.
GERMANY: A state funeral was held for Werner Mölders in Berlin, Germany.
Joachim von Ribbentrop met with Hiroshi Oshima in Berlin, Germany, promising that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war. Ribbentrop, however, did not know Japan was planning on starting the war soon.
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini arrived in Berlin, Germany. The grand mufti of Jerusalem pledges to cooperate in the extermination of the Jews and offers to enlist Arabs to fight for Germany. Adolf Hitler promises the Mufti of Jerusalem (Hajj Amin al Husseini) that upon German conquest of Palestine, the Jewish population will be exterminated. Britain and Russia are both power bases of Jewry, Hitler said, and he will carry on the fight until the last traces of Jewish hegemony is eliminated. The German Army will in the future break through the Caucasus into the Middle East and help to liberate the Arab world. Germany's only other objective in the region will be the annihilation of the Jews.
Hitler meets with King Michael of Rumania and Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu.
INDIAN OCEAN: HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse" arrive at Colombo, Ceylon. They will form the British Far East Fleet based at Singapore. The carrier "Indomitable" was scheduled to join them, but was damaged on the 3rd while training in the West Indies.
MEDITERRANNEAN: Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring's Oberfehlshaber Süd and Bruno Lörzer's II Fliegerkorps are transferred from central Russia to the Mediterranean to begin an assault on Malta. Along with several bomber Gruppen, this force also contains all three Gruppen of JG 53 along with II./JG 3. The fighters of JG 53 are led by Major Günther von Maltzahn with Hptm. Herbert Kaminski, Oblt. Freidrich-Karl 'Tutti' Müller, Fw. Herbert Rollwage and Hptm. Wolfe-Dietrich Wilcke. The II Fliegerkorps units are based in Sicily. Kesselring arrives in Rome to take up appointment as Commander-in-Chief South.
U-562 moves into the Mediterranean. Twelve Italian submarines were employed on supply missions to Africa through the end of December.
The U-95, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Gerd Schreiber, was torpedoed and sunk in the western Mediterranean Sea, south-west of Almeria, Spain by the Dutch submarine HNMS O 21. Of the ship's complement, 35 died and 12 survived. During its career the U-95 sank 8 ships for a total of 28,415 tons and damaged 4 ships for a total of 27,916 tons.
Six Blenheims, four from RAF No.18 Squadron and two from RAF No.107 Squadron, attack a tanker in the bay of Navarino.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Crusader: There is renewed heavy fighting around Sid Rezegh. German tank forces try to destroy the link between the New Zealand infantry and the Tobruk garrison. Aware of the return of 15.Panzerdivision and 21.Panzerdivision towards Tobruk, British 7th Armored Division again attacks 15.Panzerdivision but runs into an anti-tank screen left behind in the wake of the advancing German tanks (a classic blitzkrieg tactic). Despite being outnumbered, 15.Panzerdivision continues moving west towards Tobruk, holding off the British attack. This battle will continue over 3 days resulting in heavy losses to both sides and one of the New Zealand brigades is forced out of the action. Elsewhere, an Italian attack of two motorized battalions near Tobruk saw the capture of a New Zealand field hospital, which resulted in the capture of 1,000 troops and 700 medical staff members. Italian Bologna division is badly cut up in the action east of Tobruk.
In East Africa, Italian surrender terms are accepted and 22,000 Italian troops surrender. Mussolini's East African Roman Empire has ended.
Eleven Wellingtons from RAF No.40 Squadron launch a heavy raid on Benghazi.
NORTH AMERICA: The US War Cabinet meets, deciding to go to war with Japan if Japan attacks British Malaya, as the Philippines and other US interests would be threatened.
Headquarters Western defence Command at the Presidio of San Francisco issues a SECRET message to the commanding Generals of the Northwest Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier Northern California Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier Southern California Sector, Pacific Coastal Frontier;
NORTHERN EUROPE: Allied convoy PQ-4 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia.
The Finnish 8th Division ends its offensive in the northern part of the Maaselka Isthmus. Also battles in Kestenga cease and a quiet phase begins.
US Secretary of State Hull tells Finland he is not sure to what extent; "
PACIFIC OCEAN: The air echelon of US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 secretly flew 12 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters from Ewe to Ford Island for further transfer to USS "Enterprise". Later on the same day, the USN's Task Force Eight (TF 8) (Vice Admiral William Halsey), comprised of the aircraft carrier USS "Enterprise" (CV-6); the heavy cruisers USS "Chester" (CA-27), "Northampton" (CA-26) and "Salt Lake City" (CA-24); and the destroyers USS "Balch" (DD-363), "Benham" (DD-397), "Craven" (DD-382), "Dunlap" (DD-384), "Ellet" (DD-398), "Fanning" (DD-385), "Gridley" (DD-380), "Maury" (DD-401) and "McCall" (DD-400), departs Pearl Harbor on a mission to deliver the 12 Wildcats, a detachment of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Eleven (VMF-211), to Wake Island. Halsey approves "Battle Order No. 1" that declares that "Enterprise" is operating "under war conditions." "Steady nerves and stout hearts," the carrier's captain concludes, "are needed now." Supporting PBY Catalina operations will be carried out from advanced bases at Wake and Midway.
Pensacola convoy: USN reinforcement convoy en route to the Philippines arrives at Oahu.
US Navy Commander W. S. Cunningham relieved US Marine Corps Major James P. S. Devereux as the overall commanding officer of Wake Island. Seaplane tender USS "Wright" (AV-1) arrives with the ground echelon of Marine Aircraft Group Twenty One (MAG-21) to establish an advance aviation base. 9 US Navy officers and 58 sailors arrived with Cunningham aboard "Wright".
Upon receipt of war warning message from Washington, US air units go to full alert and begin recon patrols toward Formosa. Brereton requests permission to conduct high-altitude photo reconnaissance of Takao in Southern Formosa. MacArthur demurred, citing "the War Department instructions to avoid any overt act" and directed that all Army reconnaissance, including that conducted in co-operation with the Asiatic Fleet, be limited to two-thirds the distance from Luzon to Formosa. MacArthur met with Hart and Sayre at 1530 hours at Sayre's office to discuss messages received by all three from their respective Departments. Hart and Sayre later stated that MacArthur is buoyant and positive that war would not break out before the beginning of 1942. Arnold cables Brereton to "take steps" to protect personnel and equipment against subversive activities. At 1630 hours Brereton suspends alert but orders all units on war readiness status.
Robert L. Shivers, head of the FBI office in Hawaii receives a message from J. Edgar Hoover stating that "peace negotiations were breaking down [with Japan] and to be on alert at all times as anything could happen." Shivers passed this on to Colonel Bicknell of the Army and Captain Mayfield of the Navy in Hawaii.
During their storm-fraught passage to rendezvous with the river gunboats proceeding from Shanghai to Manila, the submarine rescue vessel USS "Pigeon" (ASR 6) experiences steering casualty. Minesweeper USS "Finch" (AM 9), which lost both anchors in the storm, stood by to render assistance, and eventually, after three tries, managed to take the crippled ship in tow the following day.
UNITED KINGDOM: Slight Luftwaffe activity by night over Wales and South West England.
Dutch government-in-exile orders Netherlands East Indies to send two submarines to Singapore under Royal Navy control.
WESTERN FRONT: At the Rue Championnat in Paris, a grenade attack is made on a military traffic post. 2 soldiers and a Frenchman are killed and 7 wounded.
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