Greeks continue to push Italians back into Albania. Greek 3rd Army Corps has advanced 20 miles North since taking Korçë on November 22. After 7 days of hard fighting, they capture parts of Pogradec on Ohrid Lake in Southeastern Albania on the border with Macedonia. They advance no further in this sector and the front line will run through the center of town. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Italo-Grecian_War_1940-1941_-_political_map_of_operations.gif
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Overnight, German destroyers Galster, Lody and Beitzen sail again from Brest, France, to raid shipping off Cornwall, England. They sink British tug Aid, French tug Abeille and British barge BHC10. Royal Navy destroyers HMS Javelin, Jersey, Jackal, Jupiter and Kashmir engage the German destroyers 20 miles South of The Lizard peninsula, Cornwall. 2 torpedoes from Lody destroy the bow and stern of HMS Javelin (46 killed) which has to be towed back to Devonport for repairs until December 28, 1941. The German destroyers escape back to Brest with only minor damage and no casualties.
Lunching yesterday with C.[1], editor of France. . . To my surprise he was in good spirits and had no grievances. I would have expected a French refugee to be grumbling endlessly about the food, etc. However, C. knows England well and has lived here before.
Operation Collar. After yesterday’s engagement 20 miles South of Sardinia at Spartivento, Royal Navy’s Force H turns back to return to Gibraltar and hands over convoy ME4 to Mediterranean fleet to continue East. At 2.30 PM, freighters SS Clan Forbes & SS Clan Fraser arrive at Malta escorted by destroyers HMS Decoy & HMS Hotspur. Destroyers HMS Defender & HMS Hereward and cruisers HMS Manchester & HMS Southampton escort SS New Zealand Star on towards Alexandria, Egypt.
Operation Collar, Battle of Spartivento. 10 AM; spotter aircraft from HMS Ark Royal & Italian cruiser Bolzano find Italian warships & British Force H (from Gibraltar). Holding aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal in reserve, British are outgunned by heavier fire & longer range of the Italian ships which close for battle. 11.30; British gain the advantage when battleship HMS Ramillies and cruisers HMS Berwick & Newcastle arrive from the East (Malta). Italian Admiral Campioni’s orders are to avoid combat with equal forces. He orders a withdrawal but Italian cruisers are already engaged. At 12.22, there is an exchange of fire lasting 54 minutes from 23–14 km, as the Italians lay smoke and turn away. HMS Berwick is hit at 12.22 & 12.35 by Italian cruiser Fiume (7 dead). British start to pursue but are turned back by shells from Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto at 29 km. Italian destroyer Lanciere is crippled by cruiser HMS Manchester but is towed to safety. http://www.regiamarina.net/detail_text_with_list.asp?nid=37&lid=1&cid=3
Operation Collar. As a distraction for convoy ME4, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, cruisers HMS Glasgow and Gloucester plus 4 destroyers from Alexandria, Egypt, raid the Italian seaplane base at Port Laki on the Agean island of Leros at 6 AM. However, Italian Navy is aware of the convoy ME4 and escort warships moving from Gibraltar to Malta. 2 battleships (Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare) and 3 cruisers (Fiume, Gorizia and Pola) plus 11 destroyers leave Naples and 3 more cruisers (Trieste, Trento and Bolzano) plus 3 destroyers depart Messina, Sicily. They rendezvous South of Naples in the Tyrrhenian Sea at 6 PM and sail West to engage the British fleet South of Sardinia. They will be joined by 4 torpedo boats, 7 submarines and 10 motor torpedo (MAS) boats.
Operation Collar. Admiral Somerville’s Force H departs Gibraltar (battlecruiser HMS Renown, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruisers HMS Sheffield and Despatch plus 11 destroyers) to escort convoy ME4 to Malta. They sail North of the convoy to screen against attack by the Italian fleet and will hand over the convoy to Mediterranean fleet warships (from Malta and Alexandria, Egypt) between Sardinia and Sicily on November 27.
Operation Collar. Convoy ME4 from Britain passes the Straits of Gibraltar bound for Malta and Alexandria (merchant ships SS New Zealand Star, SS Clan Forbes and SS Clan Fraser, escorted by cruisers HMS Manchester and HMS Southampton carrying 1,370 RAF personnel to reinforce the garrison at Malta). Destroyer HMS Hotspur and 4 corvettes join to escort the convoy at Gibraltar. Mediterranean convoys are escorted from Gibraltar to Malta by Admiral Somerville’s Force H and then onwards to Alexandria, Egypt, by Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean fleet. Battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Malaya, cruisers HMS Newcastle, Coventry and Berwick plus 5 destroyers are on their way from Alexandria to pick up the convoy in mid-Mediterranean.
The day before yesterday lunching with H. P., editor of ——-[1]. H. P. rather pessimistic about the war. Thinks there is no answer to the New Order [2], i.e. this government is incapable of framing any answer, and people here and in America could easily be brought to accept it. I queried whether people would not for certain see any peace offer along these lines as a trap. H. P.: “Hells bells, I could dress it up so that they’d think it was the greatest victory in the history of the world. I could make them eat it.” That is true, of course. All depends on the form in which it is put to people. So long as our own newspapers don’t do the dirty they will be quite indifferent to appeals from Europe. H. P., however, is certain that ——- [3] and Co. are working for a sell-out. It appears that though —— [4] is not submitted for censorship, all papers are now warned not to publish interpretations of the government’s policy towards Spain. A few weeks back Duff-Cooper [5] had the press correspondents up and assured them “on his word of honour” that “things were going very well indeed in Spain.” The most one can say is that Duff-Cooper’s word of honour is worth more than Hoare’s.
100 miles off the North coast of Ireland, U-100 sinks 6 merchant ships in convoy SC-11 between midnight and 8 AM and then another from the same convoy at 9 PM (24,601 tons of shipping, 119 merchant seamen killed). 78 survivors are rescued by convoy escorts, sloop HMS Enchantress and destroyers HMCS Skeena & HMCS Ottawa. 4 men float in a lifeboat for 2 days until picked up by a Norwegian steamer and landed at Belfast. During the attack, U-100 is depth charged by a destroyer but escapes with minor damage. http://www.uboat.net/ops/convoys/convoys.php?convoy=SC-11
Greek 3rd Army Corps finally takes Korçë, 10 miles inside Albania, after a week of heavy fighting against Italian 9th Army. They take 2000 prisoners and capture 135 field guns and 600 machineguns. However, the Greeks are poorly motorised and have no armour, allowing the Italians to withdraw and regroup.
Post-tweeting 1940
If you want just a little bit more, check out our new Storify piece remixing some key events of May 1940 http://t.co/alkpygoj7 months ago
I'm confident @ukwarcabinet will return. This after all is not even (quite) the end of the beginning. Thanks for reading.7 months ago
I've certainly developed a new appreciation for their work during the war and hopefully you have too.7 months ago
Before I go I'd like to take a second to pay tribute to all the ordinary people doing extraordinary things captured in these records.7 months ago
...and that's it from me. I'm starting a new research role here at the Archives. Wish me luck. It's been a fascinating few years.7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Considerable reinforcements have reached Australian forces in New Guinea. Japanese withdrawn 10 miles http://t.co/sG3eEdGX7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Road blocks "and now rain" holding up UK advance in Madagascar but civilians friendly and co-operating http://t.co/vytOZfVV7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Germans well established in Stalingrad city centre and may hold substantial part of southern suburbs http://t.co/ZS0Au7y57 months ago
Bomber Command: Karlsruhe and Bremen attacked with good results. More than half of Dusseldorf "effectively devastated" http://t.co/zpruoCro7 months ago
India Secretary supports dismissal of the Prime Minister of Sind after he publicly criticised "British Imperialism" http://t.co/IEf8sQc37 months ago
UK to admit only Jewish refugee children with parent "already in this country" from Unoccupied France. Over 60s refused http://t.co/ixfrn46O7 months ago
Cabinet approves celebration on 15th November of 2nd anniversary of Defence of Great Britain from "blitz" of 1940-41 http://t.co/ttl1WTW97 months ago
PM: Situation in a fortnight's time will "make it very much easier to reach a decision as to the proper line of action" http://t.co/idWX9al97 months ago
General Wilson asks permission to establish advanced bases in North Persia to meet a possible German advance http://t.co/XVIEkjtZ7 months ago
Cabinet rejects offer from General Chiang Kai-shek that 8,000 Chinese troops could be flown into India http://t.co/6dCHu9tb7 months ago
General Brooke: We have made successful attacks on Benghazi and Tobruk. UK forces have entered Tananarive in Madagascar http://t.co/HX1RfuZq7 months ago
Air Chief: Bad weather has restricted bomber operations but Gestapo HQ at Oslo has been bombed by 4 Mosquitoes http://t.co/6HJ3NpdQ7 months ago
UK continues to plan for evacuation of Soviet fleet from Black Sea. "Not an appropriate moment" to raise this with USSR http://t.co/VWcq0mcS7 months ago
Lord Cherwell: Agent has obtained German army casualty figures: 1m in first 6 months of 1942, 3.5m since start of war http://t.co/DdxuKxrd7 months ago
Eden: German morale "has risen only slightly this summer and remains spiritless" but morale of armed forces "high" http://t.co/FVBgg4Y57 months ago