December 9th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Corvettes HMS Loosestrife and Oxlip laid down.
GERMANY:Also, during the month of November, 7,455 tons of bombs were dropped on British targets by the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe estimate the British dropped 475 tons during the same month.
Kreigsmarine: Air reconnaissance by Blohm und Voss Bv 138A-1 three engine seaplnes of the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons, 406th Coastal Reconnaissance Group (2 und 3 Staffel/Kustenfliegergruppe 406 or 2 and 3.Ku.Fl.Gr. 406) has had to be cancelled until further orders on account of technical faults in the aircraft concerned. The main problem was that the aircraft structure needed strengthening.
ITALY:
Rome: The Italian High Command announced:
Despite unfavourable weather conditions the Regia Aeronautica has bombed military targets
at Santa Maura [the Greek island of Levkas] and the Arta Bay. In East Africa there were
enemy air raids on Gallibat and Gherille (Somaliland), resulting in several deaths and
injuries.
ALBANIA: The Greeks capture Pogradec, over 40 miles (64 kilometers) inside Albanian territory.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Italian torpedo boat Calipso (679 tons) sinks near Tripoli, Libya, after hitting a mine laid by the British submarine HMS/M Rorqual (N 74).
NORTH AFRICA:
LIBYA:
Soon after dawn the 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions launch a surprise attack on the
Italians in Egypt. 7th Armoured cuts the coast road to the west and isolates Sidi Barrani.
No. 3 RAAF's Gloster Gauntlets dive-bombed, 33 Sqn. (Gladiators) strafed and 274 Sqn
(Hurricanes) shot down four CR42s. 1,000 prisoners are taken in the first thrust of
Operation Compass.
Nibeiwa: At 7 a.m. British tanks storm their way into the Italian fort. The tanks and men
had spent two days advancing slowly under cover of darkness with Hurricane lamps - shaded
from the Italians - to guide them over the rough desert tracks. Windscreens were removed
from vehicle to avoid the sun reflecting on them. By day, 30,000 men and machines lay
entirely still under the burning sun.
The Italian defensive positions face the east. The defenders were preparing breakfast of
coffee and rolls when the British barrage began. The attack came from the west. Two more
forts surrendered later. At 1.30 pm the attack on the Tummar camps opened and by nightfall
practically the whole area was in Allied hands. Italian artillery men
encounter the British Matilda's for the first time and fought against them
with great bravery, but with little success. An English combatant at the
scene described the battle: "The Italian and Libyan dead were everywhere.
The guns were piled around with empty cases where men had fired to the very
last. The Italians...fought like hell in Nebiewa."
Italian GENERAL PIETRO MALETTI, commander of the motorized (brigade-sized) "Maletti Group," is cut down by a British tank's machinegun while himself manning a machinegun during the surprise attack on his unit's encampment at Nibeiwa, in one of the first actions of "Operation Compass," the extraordinarily successful British offensive which nearly destroyed the Italian forces in North Africa (and which is sometimes referred to as the "Wavell Offensive"). (Michael F. Yaklich)
EGYPT: Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani, Chief
of the Army General Staff, Governor-General of Libya, and Commander in Chief
North Africa, debated whether to continue his attack into Egypt or wait for
supplies. He decided to deploy his infantry divisions into strongpoints
facing east and south at Sidi Barrani. He then requested some motorized
transport to assist in furthering the invasion, but Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini rejected this request for the planned invasion of Yugoslavia.
British General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief Middle East Command,
receives reinforcements including 31,000 motorized troops, 120 guns and 275
tanks (50 of which are Matilda's and 100 Cruisers), 60 armored cars and 150
aircraft (among them Hurricanes which outclass all Italian fighters in the
region).
Wavell consolidates his forces under General Richard O'Connor and he
launches the first British offensive against the Italian forces today.
Cairo: The British Middle East Air Force announced:
Reconnaissance flights have revealed that extensive damage was done during the (British)
bombing of Castel Benito near Tripoli, Libya on December 7. In the hours leading to Monday
morning, British planes raided the Benina airfield [East Africa].
JAPAN: Foreign Minister MATSUOKA Yosuke states that war with the United States is not inevitable stating, ". . . if both of us attend to our own business I cannot think there will be any serious clash. . . . We have no difference that cannot be surmounted if we keep our heads cool and mind our business. . . . We do not pass judgment on what the United States does in the West, and we try to confine ourselves to this part of the world."
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South West Pacific, the 6,030 ton British freighter SS Triaster is sunk by explosive charges by the crew of the German auxiliary cruiser HK Orion. (Andy Etherington)
CANADA: Minesweepers
HMCS Trois Riviere (ex-HMCS
Three Rivers) and Brockville laid down Sorel, Province of Quebec.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-103 sank SS Empire Jaguar in Convoy OB-252.