December 5th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The ex-American destroyer HMS Cameron (I-05) (former USS Welles (DD-257)) is bombed, capsized and badly damaged in Portsmouth harbour as she refits. Not worth repairing, she is used for experimental purposes by the US Navy as the worst damaged but surviving destroyer available and is extensively studied for explosive effects and damage control. She is consigned for scrapping on 1 December, 1944.Destroyer HMS Salisbury (ex-USS Claxton) commissioned.
Torpedoed Canadian destroyer Saguenay limps into British port
after taking a hit from a German torpedo; first Canadian warship torpedoed.
RAF Bomber Command: Night raids are carried out on Düsseldorf and Turin.
VICHY FRANCE: In a letter to Churchill, Professor
of Philosophy, Louis Rougier transmitted the following assurances from
Marshal Petain:
1. France would not sign a separate peace with the Axis before the end of hostilities
between Great Britain and Germany.
2. France would not cede naval or air bases or the fleet to the Axis and would resist any
attempt by Spain, Germany or Italy to seize the French colonies in North Africa.
3. France accepted the submission of French Equatorial Africa to General de Gaulle as a
fait accompli till the end of the war on the understanding that the territories would then
be restored to France and that meanwhile no attack would be directed against French West
Africa, North Africa or Morocco.
This is an attempt to create a secret agreement between England and Vichy
France that would commit the French to return to the war as soon as "the British
'or their allies' were in a position strong enough to stage a landing and equip
French colonial troops."
GERMANY:
Hitler meets his generals to discuss his initial plans for the invasion of the USSR. After
a four-hour meeting he approves the plans of Halder and Brauchitsch. Colonel
General Franz Halder, Chief of the General Staff, and Field Marshal Walther von
Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
U-109 is
commissioned.
ALBANIA:
Greek forces advancing along the coastal road occupy the Italian's southernmost Albanian
sea base at Santi Quaranta. The Italians evacuate Argyrokastra.
CHINA:
Japan appears to have lost control of large areas of northern China following a
three-month offensive by Chinese Communist troops of the Eight Route Army to disrupt
Japanese installations in the region.
Within the last few days there have been signs that the exhausted Communists are winding
down the operation, known as the Hundred Regiments campaign, in the belief it has achieved
its political aim of disrupting talks between Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists and Japan.
According to Communist claims, the campaign, which has seen Chinese troops abandon hit and
run tactics for outright confrontation, has achieved all its military aims; attacks on
Japanese outposts have forced the enemy to retreat into large enclaves; and those
positions still held by the Japanese have been so severely damaged that it will be at
least six months before most major installations are operative again. Among the most
heavily damaged are the Peking-Hankow railway, cut in 86 places, and the Anshan steel
mills in Manchukuo. According to Communist estimates, Japan's North China Army has lost at
least five battalions.
However, internal critics fear that the extravagant use of manpower - with the Chinese
outnumbering the enemy by ten to one - is too expensive with Communist casualties of
22,000.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) arrives at Nichols Field, Luzon, from Selfridge Field, Mount Clemens, Michigan. (Marc Small and Jack McKillop)
CANADA: First Canadian corvettes join Battle of the Atlantic. Four former USN destroyers which had been turned over to a Canadian care-and-maintenance party in November are commissioned by the Royal Navy at Halifax, Nova Scotia: Ringgold (DD-89) becomes HMS Newark (G 08), Sigourney (DD-81) becomes HMS Newport (G 54), Tillman (DD-135) becomes HMS Wells (I 95), and Robinson (DD-88), becomes HMS Newmarket (G 47), part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)
U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Thief of Baghdad" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan and Michael Powell, this Arabian Nights fantasy adventure stars Sabu and Conrad Veidt.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired) takes the oath of office as Ambassador to Vichy France.