November 6th, 1941 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Token laid down.
GERMANY: U-595 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: In a major speech commemorating the 24th anniversary of the Revolution, Stalin today called on the west to establish a "second front" in Europe against the Nazis. He told a rally of Moscow party workers: "There is no doubt that the absence of a second front is making the enemy's task easier, but we hope that a second front will be established, and in the near future, thus relieving the task of the Russian army."
The delegates, meeting in the ornate marble hall of the Mayakosvsky Underground station because of the Luftwaffe's continuous attacks, gave Stalin a thunderous welcome and cheered again when he told then that the Germans, who had been given orders to kill everything Russian, "would get their war of annihilation and would be exterminated without mercy". It was a brave speech to make with the Germans hammering at the gates of Moscow, but Stalin was full of confidence: "Our army must win, and will win. The German army must be defeated, and will be defeated."
There are three basic facts, he said, which will lead to Hitler's army being crushed: "The first of these facts is the instability of German imperialism, and Hitler's New Order. We are assured that Hitler acts like Napoleon in everything. I can tell you that Hitler no more resembles Napoleon that a kitten resembles a lion."
"Secondly, Napoleon fought for liberal forces against reactionary forces. Hitler is fighting for reaction and will perish by the hand of the progressive forces.
Thirdly, who doubts that Britain and the United States will give us full support to conquer Hitler? .... Modern war is a war of machines. The war will be won by the one who has an overwhelming superiority on the output of machines. This is one of the fundamental reasons for the inevitable doom of the predatory Nazi imperialism. Our task is now revenge." Today, at the traditional military parade before Lenin's tomb in Red Square, Stalin urged the army to defend "Holy Russia." The soldiers, in full battle kit, marched straight from Red Square to take their place in Moscow's front line.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Brereton issues training order directing that all units were to work “maximum hours” and specifying that 40% of all training flights were to be at night. (Marc Small)
All but one of Eubank’s B-17 flight had reached the Philippines, the long hold-out being one with a bad engine dead-lined in Darwin.
U.S.A.: President Roosevelt announces a loan of 1 billion dollars (US) to the USSR for financing Lend-Lease supplies.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Odenwald, a German blockade
runner, is captured by USS Omaha about
577 nautical miles (1068 km) northeast of Natal, Estado do Rio Grande do Norte,
Brazil, in position 00.40N, 28.04W. She was carrying a
cargo of rubber from Japan.
The United States had proclaimed a security zone in waters
adjoining the Western Hemisphere, although this almost certainly had no real
meaning in international law. The British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) oiler
Olwen had reported a German raider on November 4. On 6 November 1941 USN Task
Group 3.6, light cruiser USS OMAHA (CL-4) and destroyer
USS SOMERS (DD-381), on patrol in the South Atlantic midway between Brazil and Africa,
en-route to Recife, Brazil, encountered a steamer showing American colours and the name "Willmoto,
Philadelphia." But her appearance was wrong for this ship, and the
suspicions of the U.S. ships were aroused. The ship was in fact ODENWALD, a
German vessel that had been in Japan since the outbreak of war, and was now
running the blockade with a cargo of rubber and food. ODENWALD initially did not
respond to challenges.
A boarding party was sent from OMAHA, but before it got there the crew of the German ship began to abandon ship, and hoisted a distress signal meaning "I am sinking. Send boats." The Germans had in fact exploded charges in order to scuttle the ship. U.S. sailors boarded her and with the help of a diesel engine specialist from Somers, salvaged the ship. The cruiser's Curtiss SOC Seagull aircraft and the Somers screen the operation. The three ships then proceed to Trinidad, British West Indies, because of possible complications with the Brazilian government; in view of the precarious fuel state in the American ships, USS Somers' crew ingeniously rigs a sail that cuts fuel consumption and allows her to reach her destination with fuel to spare. British Royal Fleet Auxiliary oiler Olwen subsequently reports that she had made the "raider" signal when what was probably a surfaced submarine had fired upon her at dawn on 4 November. Ten U.S. and British warships had searched for two days for a phantom enemy.
The legalities of this episode are ambiguous. Most authorities do consider the showing of false flags to be a legal ruse of war. The U.S. Neutrality Acts stipulated that any foreign ship that used U.S. colours would be banned from American ports for three months, but this law did not apply here. On the face of it, the U.S. ships had no right to board the German. On the other hand, the German ship had signalled that she was sinking and requested help, and the U.S. government argued that this made it a case not of seizure but of marine salvage, and in fact in 1947 the crews of the two U.S. warships were awarded prize money, the first time U.S. sailors had received it since 1839. Members of the boarding party itself got $3,000 each, a pretty hefty sum in those days. (66)(Keith Allen)
In the North Atlantic, USN destroyer USS Madison (DD-425), on the flank of convoy ON-39 (U.K. to North America), carries out a depth charge attack about 504 nautical miles (934 kilometers) east of St. John's, Newfoundland, in position 45.50N, 40.40W; investigation later proves their quarry to have been a whale.