December 27th, 1941...A ray of light in the Allied gloom as the British launch Operation Archery, a commando raid on the German naval base at Vaagso and the Lofotens, in western Norway. British commandos, in green berets and winter kit, completely surprise the German defenders. Among the attackers are a detachment of Canadian infantry, eager to avenge the Hong Kong disaster.
The British display their usual ferocity in battle, in wild fights in fish factories and warehouses, and their usual flair, as Major Jack Churchill plays "The March of the Cameron Men" on his bagpipes in full view of the enemy.
The British sink five German merchant ships, totalling 16,000 tons, destroy the German-run factories, take 98 PoWs, and open the German safe. It has about $10 US in paper and coin.
The raid irritates Adolf Hitler, and he talks about turning the whole Atlantic and Norwegian coast into "Fortress Europe." He orders forts built from Norway to the Pyrenees. 18,000 German troops are sent to reinforce Norway's defenses. They never fire a shot. The Nazis even form a panzer division in Norway, whose geography is noted for its lack of roads.
More importantly, Hitler also orders the German Navy to deploy its toughest ships to Norway, thus removing them from the Atlantic sealanes. The raid's results are immense.
The same day, Dr. Fritz Todt tells his top aide, Albert Speer, that bad weather has turned the Russian road net into a mess. He orders that workers creating great Autobahns in Germany drop their tools and head east to repair roads in Russia, which have turned to quagmire, snarling the German supply lines. Todt also tells Speer that he has seen "stalled hospital trains in which the wounded had frozen to death, and witnessed to the misery of the troops in villages and hamlets cut off by snow and cold."
Speer promises to do his best on the roads, but notes that Todt is convinced that Germany is "physically incapable of enduring such hardships, and psychologically doomed to destruction in Russia."
Off the Philippines, the USS William B. Preston, a seaplane tender, comes under heavy Japanese bombardment. Preston manages to evade her attackers. But Japanese troops swarm all over the Philippines, as the Americans successfully retreat into Bataan.
On the Philippine island of Corregidor, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, his staff, and his family, are in their quarters in Malinta Tunnel. This centerpiece of America's Manila Bay defenses is a giant underground fortress. Corregidor itself boasts a variety of siege artillery, immense mortars, disappearing guns, and even a streetcar line to connect them.
Joining MacArthur in Malinta Tunnel is the president of the Philippines, Manuel Quezon, suffering from tuberculosis.
To avoid useless destruction, MacArthur declares Manila an "open city," in consultation with Washington, hoping it will end the bombing. MacArthur withdraws his flak guns and ends the city's blackout. The Japanese bomb the city anyway, killing hundreds of civilians.
December 28th, 1941...the British carry out Operation Anthropoid, paradropping two Czechs, Jan Kubis, and Josef Gabcik, into Pilsen. They are to get in touch with the Czech underground and help them plan acts of resistance.
The United States faces another crisis, U-boats off the East Coast. Poor planning has left the Eastern seaboard bereft of escort vessels and airpower to protect coastal convoys loaded with Venezuelan crude oil, bound for New Jersey for refining. Nazi U-Boats feast on this, sinking tankers directly offshore. U-boat boss Adm. Karl Doenitz writes, "American vacationers in Florida can now witness acts of war from the beach, climaxing in the red glorioles of blazing tankers."
Unable to win at sea, the Americans decide they can win in the press. They announce that one of their aircraft found a U-boat and sank it, and that the pilot radioed, "Sighted Sub, Sank Same." This phrase becomes part of World War II mythology, but the event never happened.
New Zealand scrapes the bottom of the manpower barrel and comes up with 35th, 36th, and 37th Battalions, to defend the country. New Zealand has no tanks, very few guns, and almost no vehicles at home. However, 2nd New Zealand Division is regrouping in Egypt, for another match with Rommel.
In the Philippines, Douglas MacArthur's logistics and transport officers are doing all the work, for little glory, executing a brilliant retreat to Bataan. They use every vehicle possible, even buses, to move supplies to Bataan, but leave behind more than they bring in.
The Japanese regard the American move as one that can help them, calling it "a cat entering a sack." The 4th and 7th Japanese Regiments advance south, tanks leading.
In Burma, the Japanese hurl 15 planes at Rangoon. They run into 10 Flying Tiger P-40s, and flee. The Americans return to base for fuel. While the P-40s gas up, 10 Japanese bombers and 20 fighters arrive. Disaster ensues, as the Japanese pound the base, the planes, the hangars, and the fuel tanks.
December 29th, 1941...Soviet troops re-take Kerch and Feodosiya in the Crimea.
In Leningrad, three to four thousand people a day are dying of starvation. Authorities raise the average worker's daily bread ration from eight to 10.5 ounces, but to little avail. A city official says later, "Death would overtake people in all kinds of circumstances. While they were on the streets, they would fall down and never rise again; or in their houses, where they would fall asleep and never awake; in factories, where they would collapse while doing a job of work. There was no transport, and the dead body would usually be put on a hand-sleigh drawn by two or three members of the dead man's family; often, wholly exhausted during the long trek to the cemetery, they would abandon the body halfway, leaving the authorities to deal with it."
Another Leningrad writer notes that day, "To take someone who has died to the cemetery, is an affair so laborious that it exhausts the last vestiges of strength in the survivors; and the living, fulfilling their duty to the dead, are brought to the brink of death themselves."
In the Philippines, Japanese troops take Cabanatuan.
In Burma, the Japanese bomb Rangoon, and knock out the main railway station, the wharfs, and warehouses full of lend-lease supplies to China. Thousands of people flee the city, which is rapidly being depopulated. Due to the previous day's devastating air raid, the Flying Tigers are out of the game.
December 30th, 1941... Winston Churchill addresses the Canadian Parliament, vowing defiance against Axis aggression. He says that France's leader, Marshal Petain, has said "England shall have her neck wrung like a chicken." Churchill retorts, "Some chicken! Some neck!" The Canadian parliamentarians roar.
The Indian Congress Party, which has fought British rule for 30 years, supports the Allied war effort, outraging its spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Despite his nonviolent rhetoric, Gandhi has sporadically praised Adolf Hitler. Gandhi resigns from the party.
30 Japanese bombers attack the fortified island of Corregidor, now Douglas MacArthur's headquarters. As the defenders give the alarm, yelling "Meatball!" MacArthur hops up on an observation post to watch the action, disdaining a helmet offered him. Corregidor's massive mortars and guns, some of which date back to 1901, can block Manila Bay. The Japanese must open this cork to use the Manila harbor bottle. On the island, MacArthur's young son, Arthur, called "the Sergeant," wants to know when he can go home to the family apartment in Manila.
Japan's 48th Division batters the Philippine 92nd Division, which includes 300 boys from Manila's cadet schools and some American Texas National Guard tanks. Both sides take a pounding, but the Americans have to retreat. Japanese troops are within 30 miles of Manila.
That city is a mess. Mayor Jorge Vargas has posted "Open City" signs, but the city is covered by a fine dust of ash from the burned US fuel dumps. There has been no garbage collection for days, as most city officials have fled to the hills or Bataan.
In Russia, Germans tabulate seven months of casualties: 200,000 dead. In one day alone, more than 14,000 Germans are forced to submit to amputation. 62,000 more frostbite cases are considered "moderate," meaning that the victim will not suffer amputation, but cannot return to duty.
The Russians tabulate some statistics, too, of British convoys to Archangel through the Barents Sea. The British have delivered their ally 750 tanks, 800 fighter aircraft (mostly Hawker Hurricanes), 1,400 vehicles and 100,000 tons of stores. British convoys must sail through icy waters, under heavy U-boat and Luftwaffe attack, to deliver this materiel. The merchant ship sailors who man these vessels receive no thanks or reward from Russia for 50 years, when the Boris Yeltsin government approves a medal for the convoy veterans.
December 31, 1941...The Soviet advance from Moscow grinds on, capturing another town. In the Crimea, Soviet marines in black coats battle Germans amid -20 Celsius temperatures. Wounded men freeze and die where they fall. The Germans are forced to break off attacks on Sevastopol to deal with this threat.
In Ottawa, Winston Churchill faces the press, and is asked about Yugoslavia, where partisans, Germans, Italians, and Nazi puppet troops are chasing each other round the mountains. "They are fighting with the greatest vigor and on quite a large scale, and we don't hear very much of what is going on there. It is all very terrible. Guerilla warfare and the most frightful atrocities by the Germans and Italians, and every kind of torture, but the people keep the flag flying."
In Manila, the sound of New Year's revelry is punctuated by the smashing of alcohol supplies to prevent the Japanese from getting them. US forces also open their quartermasters' stores to Manila citizens, who haul home vast quantities of frozen food and beef, which should have gone to Bataan.
In North Africa, the 2nd South African Division under Maj. Gen. Klopper attacks the Italian fortified port of Bardia.
In Malaya, British and Indian troops battle to stop the Japanese advance, but fail. Japan now holds most of a vast land that includes 38 percent of the world's rubber and 58 percent of the world's tin. Allied economists start scrambling to find replacements.
At Rastenberg, Adolf Hitler tells his associates, "Let's hope 1942 brings me as much good fortune as 1941."
On the battleship USS Washington, Lt. Cdr. Ray Hunter has the watch. Washington is steaming off Key West with USS North Carolina and USS Hornet, two of the most powerful and newest ships in the Navy, escorted by a covey of ancient four-stack destroyers. Hunter writes in the log, "2300. Shifted steering control to the bridge. Average steam 594. Average rpm 76.0. Happy New Year. Beat Japan."
January 1st, 1942...With the Allies in retreat everywhere but Russia, the New Year opens grimly. But the free world's defiance is seen in Washington DC, where Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign, along with 26 nations, the United Nations Declaration. This document joins the US, Britain, the USSR, and their allies in the struggle to "ensure life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve the rights of man and justice."
The Axis reacts to this rhetoric by advancing. Japanese troops head for Manila in the Philippines and Kuantan in Malaya. Japanese bombers paste Rangoon.
At dawn, Japanese troops attack in Malaya, taking on the 1/8th Punjabis. The Indians rout the Japanese, but only 30 men in one Indian company survive.
In Borneo, Japanese troops invade the island of Labuan, scooping up the British Resident, Hugh Humphrey. "I was repeatedly hit by a Japanese officer with his sword (in its scabbard) and exhibited for 24 hours to the public in an improvised cage, on the grounds that, before the Japanese arrived, I had sabotaged the war effort of the Imperial Japanese Forces by destroying stocks of aviation fuel on the island."
In Zagreb in Croatia, Nazi engineers finish demolishing the city's immense Synagogue, spiritual home to the city's 12,000 Jews. Josef Goebbels takes to radio to call 1942 the "Year of Service in the East and on the Land," and sends 18,000 Hitler Youth leaders to Russia to start building Nazi settlements. They will be joined by pro-Nazi youth from Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, and Belgium. After the war, those pro-Nazis will have a lot of explaining to do at their treason trials.
Meanwhile, the RAF keeps the German people busy with air raids on ports and cities.
In Bletchley Park, England, British codebreakers and mathematicians working amid strict security and tea break four of Germany's top "Enigma" codes, one used by the Luftwaffe for its most secret message, and three lesser Luftwaffe codes.
Among the messages the British break is one from the Luftwaffe High Command saying that the Enigma code is unbreakable.
New Zealand releases its casualty lists for the Libyan Campaign (Operation Crusader): 671 dead, 209 died of wounds, 1,699 wounded, 2,042 PoWs.
HMNZS Achilles goes to Dawn Action Stations at 0410, while three days north of Sydney, escorting 4,250 Australian troops and 10,000 tons of equipment to Port Moresby, amid muggy heat.
January 2, 1942...One battalion of the 1st Formosa Regiment and two of Japan's 47th Infantry make the triumphal march into Manila, watched only by a curious few. Most people stay home and ignore the Japanese leaflets seeking the co-operations of the Manilans in "crushing Anglo-American Imperialism." The Japanese are disappointed not to be seen as liberators. Crestfallen, they round up all Europeans (except Germans, Italians, and Spaniards) and lock them up in the Santo Tomas University, which will become a notorious internment camp for the rest of the war.
Japanese troops also take over Cavite Naval Base and find it a total wreck from their own bombs. The destroyed 200 American torpedoes in the lockers is no loss to the Japanese...they all had defective exploders anyway.
On Corregidor, MacArthur announces that the retreat to Bataan is complete. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright's successful delaying actions have paid off. The Japanese have suffered heavily : 627 dead, 1,232 wounded, seven missing. The US North Luzon Force has lost 12,000 overall, mostly Filipinos deserting. The South Luzon Force has lost only 1,000 men.
More than 80,000 troops are now in Bataan, all worn out and beginning to suffer malaria and from food shortages. Also present are 26,000 civilians. Food supplies are enough to feed 100,000 men for 30 days. MacArthur places his men on half rations, and scurries to deploy his few trump cards...some tanks, a few P-40s, the 4th Marines...in the mountainous jungle.
American morale is high. They expect a huge relief convoy at any moment.
In North Africa, Gen. B.C. Klopper's 2nd South African Division accepts the surrender of Bardia from its Italian defenders. 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry, attached to 2nd SA, is along for the win. The Kiwis release 650 of their countrymen from captivity.
On the Eastern Front, Adolf Hitler forbids the Ninth Army to make any further withdrawals, "not one inch of ground." The Soviets break through German lines at Rzhev anyway. 2nd Panzer Army reports that the Soviets are getting accurate intelligence from local Russian citizens.
In Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill confer, and work out details of the American arms program. Instead of making 12,750 aircraft, the US will produce 45,000. Instead of 15,450 tanks, 45,000. Instead of 262,000 machine guns, 500,000. All other weapon production is to be increased by 70 percent.
January 3rd, 1942...Just for payback, the Flying Tigers bomb Japanese airbases in Thailand, and score a number of hits.
In Washington DC, American planners determine that it is impossible to relieve the Philippines. All the defenders can do is delay the inevitable, and hopefully derail the Japanese timetable of advance. Realizing that the 80,000 American defenders are doomed, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson grimly notes, "There are times when men must die."
HMNZS Achilles reaches Port Moresby and unloads her convoy.
