December 8th, 1940 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Churchill telegrams Roosevelt with his summary of the events of 1940, the current
situation and what he believes that Great Britain will need from the United States in
order to survive and attain ultimate victory. Churchill requests that the US Navy extends
its Neutrality Patrols much further out into the Atlantic and that the US brings pressure
to bear on Eire to allow use of the western Irish ports by either US or Allied warships.
In return Churchill promises to try to re-unite Ireland after the war by asking the people
of Ulster to join with the South.
The main problem in 1941, explains Churchill, will be lack of merchant shipping to bring
the 43 million tons of supplies that Britain needs annually and lack of escort vessels to
protect them from the U-boats and long-range anti-shipping aircraft. He also requests
2,000 combat aircraft be supplied per month, the majority heavy-bombers.
Finally, Churchill points out that Britain may no longer be in a position to pay for these
arms.
ALBANIA:
Greek forces capture Argyrocastro and Delvino as Italy pulls back towards Himara.
SPAIN:
Madrid: Franco refuses to co-operate with Hitler's plan to invade Gibraltar, forcing the
operation to be cancelled.
NORTH AFRICA:
Operation Compass:
RAF Wellingtons based in the Egyptian Delta destroy ten Italian aircraft at Benina in
Libya.
The Allied troops are told that their advance is not a desert exercise, but the "real
thing."
PACIFIC OCEAN: German Auxiliary Cruiser KM Orion sinks the merchantmen Triadic and Triaster, while KM Komet sinks the Komata.
CANADA:
Ottawa: Both Houses of Parliament passed bills calling for a 25% excise tax on Canadian
luxury manufactures and suspending importation from the US of practically all manufactured
articles until after the war.
Bangor-class minesweepers HMCS
Drummondville, Swift Current, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Vegreville, Grandmere,
Gananoque and Goderich ordered.
U.S.A.:
$50 million is to be lent to Argentina to help stabilise her currency.
Both Eisenhower and Marquat write to MacArthur "> MacArthur to inform him that the US had no definite plans to bolster the Philippine defenses and that the defence of the islands are on a back burner. (Marc Small)
In professional American football, the Chicago Bears shut out the Washington
Redskins big time. The final score: Chicago 73, Washington 0.
WEST INDIES: The 5,000 ton German freighter SS "Idarwald" is intercepted off Cuba by HMS Diomede
(D 92), while the USN destroyer USS Sturtevant (DD-240) stands by. She
is at once scuttled by her crew and sunk near the Yucatan Channel between
Cuba and Mexico.