On this day for
yesterday:
https://ww2db.com/event/today/12/13
13 Dec 1931
United States
While visiting New York City in the United States, Winston Churchill was struck by a car as he crossed the street, having looked the wrong way as he crossed. He suffered injuries to the head but would recover fully. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | New York | CPC]
This happens to Americans in the UK!
13 Dec 1936
With the frontal attack on Madrid, Spain having failed, the Spanish Nationalist forces attempted to tighten their siege by cutting off the capital from the rest of Republican Spain. José Varela launched an offensive to cut the Corunna Road which ran for 25 miles north of Madrid. ww2dbase [The Spanish Civil War | AC]
13 Dec 1937
China
The Japanese Sabae Regiment occupied the Guanghua Gate in Nanjing, China after two days of heavy fighting. In the afternoon, Chinese forces twice attempted to attack the headquarters of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force at Tangshuizhen, but the Japanese was able to repulse the attacks. Later in the day, Zhongshan Gate and Taiping Gate were captured by the Japanese as well, while Japanese Navy warships began to arrive to provide support. By nightfall, the Chinese capital city was declared as captured. German businessman John Rabe, who was in Nanjing, noted the diary entry on this date "It is not until we tour the city that we learn the extent of destruction. We come across corpses every 100 to 200 yards. The bodies of civilians that I examined had bullet holes in their backs. These people had presumably been fleeing and were shot from behind. The Japanese march through the city in groups of ten to twenty soldiers and loot the shops.... I watched with my own eyes as they looted the café of our German baker Herr Kiessling. Hempel's hotel was broken into as well, as almost every shop on Chung Shang and Taiping Road." On this day, troops of the Japanese 16th Division massacred over 3,000 Chinese people, military and civilian, attempting to flee the combat near Guanjiangan and Jiangli areas of Nanjing. Troops of the Japanese 114th Division captured over 1,000 Chinese during its mop up operations, most of whom would be executed within days. Vessels operated by the 11th Task Force of the Japanese 3rd Fleet fired on Chinese refugees attempting to cross the Yangtze River. ww2dbase [Battle of Nanjing and the Rape of Nanjing | Nanjing | CPC]
13 Dec 1939
In China, troops of the Chinese 47th Corps captured the Taihang Mountain and cut the Taosin Railway by taking the stations at Poshan and Changkou. Chinese troops launched an offensive in eastern Shanxi Province in China, nearly encircling the Japanese 36th Division. ww2dbase [Winter Offensive | CPC]
Atlantic Ocean
At the Battle of the River Plate, British naval forces damaged German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, forcing her enter the neutral port of Montevideo for repairs. HMS Cumberland was ordered to join Exeter, Ajax and Achilles off the Plate estuary off Uruguay. ww2dbase [Battle of the River Plate | Admiral Graf Spee | Cumberland | Exeter | CPC]
Finland
Ivan Khabarov was relieved as the commanding officer of Soviet 8th Army due to its poor performance in Finland. ww2dbase [The Winter War | Ivan Khabarov | CPC]
13 Dec 1940
Führer Directive 20 was issued to prepare for Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
German Army units began redeployment in preparation for Operation Barbarossa. ww2dbase [TH]
British 4th Armored Brigade crossed the desert between Halfaya and Sidi Omar in Egypt in an attempt to cut the road to Tobruk, Libya. To counter the British naval bombardment, Italian submarine Neghelli attacked British cruiser HMS Coventry 40 miles northeast of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 2042 hours, nearly blowing off her bow; she was able to sail under her own power to Alexandria, Egypt for repairs. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
British submarine HMS Truant sank Italian ship Sebastino Bianchi 20 miles off the southern tip of Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarine U-43 torpedoed and damaged British ship Orari 450 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom at 2046 hours. ww2dbase [CPC]
13 Dec 1941
I-68
* was attacked by American depth charges on this day and following days, damaging many battery cells and flooded the aft torpedo tubes. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | CPC]
New Zealand and Indian troops of the British Eighth Army launched an attack on the Gazala Line in Libya while the Germans launched a counterattack. British tanks exploited the gap opened by Indian troops, but the advance was soon halted by German tanks. Both sides incurred heavy casualties in men and equipment after the day's fighting. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
Niihau Incident: Downed Japanese pilot attempted to recover sensitive documents seized from him by Niihau islanders; two of the islanders attacked and killed the pilot. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Detailed Timetable | CPC]
General Timoshenko's Southwest Front assaulted German lines at junction of 2.Panzergruppe and 2.Armee. 2.Armee withdrew, leaving 2.Panzergruppe's flank unprotected. Feldmarschall von Bock secretly ordered Armeegruppe Mitte to withdraw to a winter line 90 miles west of current positions, without informing Hitler. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | TH]
Chinese troops mounted an offensive against Japanese troops in the Hong Kong area; earlier on the same day, the last British troops in Kowloon on the mainland were evacuated onto Hong Kong island. ww2dbase [Battle of Hong Kong | CPC]
Japanese Navy aircraft again struck the US Navy base at Olongapo at Subic Bay at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Various other bases and airfields in the Manila Bay area were attacked as well. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
British destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Maori, and HMS Legion and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Isaac Sweers defeated Italian light cruisers Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano and torpedo boat Cigno off Cape Bon, Tunisia at 0325 hours. The two Italian cruisers sank (1,020 killed, 645 survived) with nearly 2,000 tons of aviation fuel meant for Axis forces fighting in North Africa. ww2dbase [Battle of Cape Bon | Isaac Sweers | CPC]
Goebbels wrote in his diary "The World War is here, the extermination of the Jews must be the necessary consequence." ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | AC]
The United States Marine Corps formed the Marine Garrison Forces, 14th Naval District at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [CPC]
Just after 0000 hours, Dutch submarine O.16 entered Mueang Patani, Thailand and damaged four Japanese freighters with six torpedoes, sinking a number of them in shallow water. All ships would later be repaired and put back into service. At 0200 hours, rearguard Indian troops blew up the bridge at Jitra, British Malaya before joining the main body falling back toward Gurun to the south. Later on the same day, Japanese troops arrived at the abandoned airfield at Alor Setar, British Malaya, capturing bombs and aviation fuel. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | CPC]
British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian transports Fabio Filzi and Carlo del Greco in Gulf of Taranto, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=116
*The submarine changed its name. https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=116
Belgium
The German Gestapo arrested Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) radio operator Mikhail Makarov in the Rue des Atrebates, Brussels, Belgium. There followed a year long series of arrests of Soviet Agents across Europe including the complete elimination of the "Red Orchestra" espionage group. By 1943 the Soviets would have no active agents still operating within greater Germany. ww2dbase [Brussels | AC]
Japan
The Japanese Navy ordered submarines I-15, I-9, I-10, I-17, I-19, I-21, I-23, I-25 and I-26 to shell the west coast of the United States on the night of 25 Dec 1941. A detailed list of targets was included in the order. Rear Admiral Tsutomu Sato, aboard I-9, was given tactical command of the operation. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | DS]
Philippines
USS S-39 fired four torpedoes at a Japanese transport just north of the San Bernardino Strait in the Philippine Islands, scoring one hit. ww2dbase [S-39 | CPC]
Russia
Allied convoy PQ-5 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Arkhangelsk | CPC]
I hope that it brought some SPAM!
United Kingdom
British battleship HMS Duke Of York departed the Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom with Winston Churchill on board, sailing for the United States. The battleship was escorted by destroyers HMS Faulknor, HMS Foresight, and HMS Matabele. ww2dbase [First Washington Conference | Duke of York | Scotland | CPC]
The British police raided the office of Lord Sempill who had been passing military secrets to the Japanese for some years. Various secret document were discovered which he should have handed back to the Admiralty three weeks earlier. ww2dbase [AC]
United States
Minoru Yasui was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an enemy alien. ww2dbase [Minoru Yasui | CPC]
13 Dec 1942
Italian troops fought off an attack by British troops north of El Agheila, Libya in a rear guard action. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
American troops captured Buna, New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
"Millions of human beings, most of them Jews, are being gathered up with ruthless efficiency and murdered", reported American journalist Edward R. Murrow. "There are no longer 'concentration camps' - we must speak now only of 'extermination camps'." ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
United Kingdom
The British Admiralty announced the loss of the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Penylan (Lieutenant-Commander J. H. Wallace DSC, RN) which had been torpedoed and sunk off Start Point, Devon, England, United Kingdom by German E-Boat S-115 on 3 December 1942, while escorting convoy PW-257. ww2dbase [AC]
The Enigma codebooks captured by HMS Petard from the sinking German submarine U-559 arrived at Bletchley Park's Hut 8 and within one hour intercepts of German submarine signals allowed the British Admiralty to instantly pinpoint the location of fifteen U-Boats. ww2dbase [Enigma Code Broken | Bletchley Park | Milton Keynes, England | AC]
13 Dec 1943
American code breakers learned that battleship Yamato was scheduled to arrive at Truk, Caroline Islands on 25 Dec 1943 ferrying men and supplies. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
Put that into the game!
One of the first war crimes trials was held in Kharkov, where 4 Germans are accused of using death vans to murder thousands of civilians. ww2dbase [Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | TH]
German Armeegruppe Mitte was heavily engaged in defensive combat in and around Vitebsk, Byelorussia. ww2dbase [TH]
USS Puffer sank Japanese freight Teiko Maru west of the Philippine Islands, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Puffer | CPC]
Atlantic Ocean
After TBF Avengers from USS Bogue attacked the surfaced German submarine U-172 in the eastern Atlantic the day before and after a 27-hour running battle that included over 200 depth charges being dropped from the destroyers USS George E. Badger, USS Clemson, USS Osmond Ingram, and USS Du Pont, U-172 sank with 13 killed and 46 survivors taken prisoner. ww2dbase [U-172 | Bogue | DS]
China
The Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) team in transit to Xamba, Suiyuan Province, China reached the Yellow River in Ninxia Province. As the river was partially frozen, thus no ferry service was available, they waited several weeks for the ice to thicken before attempting to drive their vehicles across. ww2dbase [Ningxia | CPC]
Dutch East Indies
Patrol Boat No. 102 completed her starboard propeller calibration work at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Stewart | Surabaya, Java | CPC]
13 Dec 1944
German 7.Armee withdrew to fortified positions on the Westwall on the French-German border. ww2dbase [TH]
Pacific Ocean
US submarine USS Bergall and Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko engaged in a brief combat south of French Indochina during in which both vessels sustained damage; Myoko was hit by one torpedo (of six fired) on the aft port side while Bergall was damaged by an 8-inch shell that passed through without detonating. ww2dbase [Bergall | South China Sea | CPC]
They needed to put in a porthole!
Philippines
USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Japanese positions in northern Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | DS]
In the late afternoon south of Mindoro, Philippine Islands, a special attack aircraft struck light cruiser USS Nashville amidships, killing 133 and wounding 190. Two hours later, another special attack aircraft struck, hitting destroyer USS Haraden. ww2dbase [Tokko "Kamikaze" Special Attack Doctrine | Nashville | Bohol Sea | CPC]
Singapore
Patrol Boat No. 102 arrived at Seletar Naval Base, Singapore at 1848 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]
13 Dec 1945
Germany
Juana Bormann was executed by hanging in Hamelin, Germany. ww2dbase [Juana Bormann | Hamelin | CPC]
36 of the 42 accused war criminals at the Dachau trial were sentenced to death. ww2dbase [Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
United Kingdom
William Joyce's treason conviction was upheld by Lords William Jowitt, Hugh Macmillan, Robert Wright, Gavin Simonds, and Samuel Porter of the British House of Lords, with Porter dissenting. ww2dbase [William Joyce | London, England | CPC]
The funny man, Lord Haw-Haw.
https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=1159
13 Dec 1962
John Cunningham passed away. ww2dbase [John Cunningham | CPC]
https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=379
13 Dec 1969
Raymond Spruance passed away. ww2dbase [Raymond Spruance | CPC]
He tended to get seasick!
https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=80
aircraft and damaging nearby facilities. ww2dbase [Debach Airfield | Woodbridge, England | CPC]