10 December 1941

GERMANY: Reichsführer-SS (British Field Marshal and U.S. 5-star General) Heinrich Himmler, commander of the Schutzstaffel or SS, orders that commissions, made up of physicians who were formerly concerned with "euthanasia" are to be set up to "comb out" prisoners in concentration camps who are unfit for work, are ill, or are "psychopaths." Tens of thousands of prisoners, picked out in this way by psychiatrist Professor Werner Heyde, Professor Nitsche and other physicians, are killed by gas in the extermination centers at Sonnenstein and Hartheim.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-431 fired three torpedoes at a British destroyer in the Mediterranean, but all missed.

NORTH AFRICA: Tobruk: The Allied garrison at Tobruk has today been finally relieved, some 18 days after the start of Operation Crusader which has been masterminded by Sir Claude Auchinleck.

This vital Mediterranean port was taken from the Italians in January this year by General Wavell's forces. Since April it has been held by the 7th Australian Division, and some 32,667 troops. 34,000 tons of supplies, 7,516 wounded and 7,097 Axis PoWs have been ferried in and out of the harbour.

EGYPT: British General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command, tells British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: "Enemy is in full retreat."

LIBYA: The siege of Tobruk is lifted after eight months as the Polish garrison breaks out of town early in the morning and joins other British Eighth Army forces in the Acroma area. A forward supply base is soon organized at Tobruk.

HONG KONG: Early in the morning, elements of the Japanese 38th Division attack the Shing Mun Redoubt. The redoubt consists of five pillboxes connected by trenches and underground tunnels designed to be held by a battalion for five weeks; it falls in five hours. The defenders, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment, are suffering from malaria and can't hold. British Major General Christopher Maltby, General Officer Commanding Hong Kong, pulls his troops, including two battalions of partially trained Canadians, back to Hong Kong Island.

MALAYA: As the Japanese continue destructive attacks on airfields in northwestern Malaya, the RAF abandons the airfield at Sungei Patani and withdraws all serviceable aircraft from Butterworth. From Butterworth, an RAF bomber squadron reduced to two aircraft, withdraws to Taiping and No. 21 Squadron, RAAF equipped with (F2A) Buffalo Mk. Is (six repairable aircraft) to Ipoh. The Japanese begin a series of heavy air attacks against Penang Island. The Indian 9th Division withstands attacks while organizing delaying positions south of Kota Bharu. Indian 11th Division columns operating along the Thailand frontier attempt to delay enemy. A Far East Council is formed at Singapore.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Two Japanese task forces, each consisting of about 2,000 men, arrive off northern Luzon from Formosa. Landings begin simultaneously at Aparri, on the north coast, and near Vigan on the west coast.

Far East Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses, P-40s, and Seversky P-35As attack the two convoys landing troops and equipment; a transport at Vigan is destroyed. The strikes include the much publicized attack of Captain Colin P Kelly Jr on a warship off Aparri. Captain Kelly, who is killed when his B-17 is shot down by fighters as he is returning to Clark Field, is later posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for destroying a battleship. However, later information reveals that he attacked the heavy cruiser HIJMS Ashigara, probably scoring near misses.

Manila: In another disastrous reverse for America, Japanese naval squadrons have destroyed half the US Far East Air Force in the Philippines.

Despite the shock of Pearl Harbor, the Americans were once again caught by surprise. Several warnings had been sent to General Douglas MacArthur, the US commander in the islands, but US headquarters vacillated. For example, it refused the air commander, General Brereton, permission to launch a pre-emptive strike against Japanese air bases in Formosa - which might have prevented the attack.

The Japanese pilots were delighted to find the American aircraft laid out, as if for inspection, on the runways at Clark, Ibu and Nicholls Fields. It took them under half a hour to ensure that Japan will have the air superiority needed for the invasion of the Philippines. Meanwhile, the Japanese third air division mounted "extermination" raids on RAF airfields in northern Malaya. On the first day, half Britain's air strength was lost.

Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon is practically obliterated by Japanese "Nell" (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers) and "Betty" (Mitsubishi G4M1, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) bombers based on Formosa. Destroyers USS Peary (DD-226) and Pillsbury (DD-227), submarines USS Seadragon (SS-194) and Sealion (SS-195), minesweeper USS Bittern (AM-36), and submarine tender USS Otus (AS-20), suffer varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB-681) is destroyed by a direct hit. Submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon (ASR-6) tows Seadragon out of the burning wharf area; minesweeper USS Whippoorwill (AM-35) recovers destroyer USS Peary, enabling both warships to be repaired and returned to service. Minesweeper USS Bittern is gutted by fires. Antiaircraft fire from U.S. guns is ineffective. During the bombing of Manila Bay area, unarmed U.S. freighter SS Sagoland is damaged.

Submarine USS Sea Lion damaged beyond repair by Japanese aircraft at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines while undergoing a regular overhaul and scuttled there. 4 men died inside the boat during the initial bombing attack.

Not repaired, she was scuttled on 25 December 1941 to prevent her capture by the Japanese.

Minesweeper USS Bittern badly damaged during an air raid on Cavite Navy Yard while undergoing repairs. Although not hit, Bittern suffered extensive damage from fire, near misses, and flying debris from submarine USS Sea Lion moored alongside. Too badly damaged for repair, the minesweeper was scuttled in Manila Bay after her crew had transferred to USS Quail.

While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that lead to the destruction of Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April 1945.

WAKE ISLAND: Twenty six Japanese naval land attack planes fromthe 24th Air Flotilla, based on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, bomb Marine installations on Wilkes and Wake islet. During the interception of the bombers, Captain Henry T. Elrod, USMC, executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Eleven (VMF-211), shoots down a "Nell" bomber (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bomber); this is the first USMC air-to-air "kill" of the Pacific War. Almost 400 construction workers volunteered to construct defenses, man guns, treat wounded, cook and distribute rations, repair and clear bomb damage, stand watch, and even offered to join the Marines. However, most refused to work on defenses and hid in the brush. Some caused difficulties for the Marines and a number were arrested and confined in the brig. (Gordon Rottman)

Japanese submarines HIJMS RO 65, RO 66, and RO 67 arrive off Wake. Shortly before midnight, submarine USS Triton (SS-201), patrolling south of the atoll, encounters a Japanese warship, probably a picket for the oncoming assault force.

MARIANA ISLANDS: A company of a Japanese Special Naval Landing Force and a Japanese Army detachment lands on Guam and captures the 271 Navy personnel and 122 Marines on the island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The British Navy's Force Z under Admiral Tom Phillips left Singapore in the evening of 8 December to find the Japanese fleet. The force consists of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53) (35,000 tons), battlecruiser HMS Repulse (34) (26,500 tons), British destroyers HMS Electra (H 27), Express (H 61) and Tenedos (H 04) and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire (D 68). The ships are spotted today in the South China Sea by the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-58 just before dawn and attacked by a force consisted of 60 "Nell" bombers (Mitsubishi G3M2 Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers (of the Genzan and Mihoro Kokutais Naval Air Corps) operating with 26 "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M1 Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) of the Kanoya Kokutai. All are based in French Indochina. The battleship HMS Prince of Wales is hit by four torpedoes and sinks at 1233 hours local. The battlecruiser HMS Repulse is hit by 14 torpedoes and sinks at 1320 hours local. The death toll from both ships is 840 men (Repulse 513, and the Prince Of Wales, 327). A total of 2,081 men are saved by the four escorting destroyers and taken back to Singapore. The Far Eastern Fleet commander, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips goes down with his ship. In this action, the Japanese lost only four planes. After this disaster, the dominant role of battleships in war comes under grave doubt. This leaves the Allies with no active battleships in the Pacific.

Without an aircraft carrier to provide air cover, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips was relying on the RAF at Singapore to provide fighter escort. But Japan's assault on Malaya tied up the RAF and denied them two airfields from which they might have operated. Then the ships were seen by a Japanese submarine.

Midshipman Robert Ian Davies, an 18 year old Australian, on HMS Repulse was last seen firing at Japanese planes as his gun position submerged. (Reviewed for Victoria Cross) (Jim Paterson)

Four USN destroyers, USS Barker (DD-213), Bulmer (DD-222), Parrott (DD-218) and Stewart (DD-224) of Destroyer Division 58, USN Asiatic Fleet, that had been sent to help screen Phillips's ships, having arrived at Singapore too late to sortie with the British force, search unsuccessfully for survivors before returning to Singapore.

In Memory of Able Seaman STEPHEN SHERIDAN D/MD/X 1995, H.M.S. Prince of Wales., Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who died age 28 on Wednesday 10 December 1941. Son of Stephen and Hannah Sheridan, of West Derby, Liverpool. Remembered with honour PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL. (Rob Graves)

An SBD Dauntless from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-70 about 193 nautical miles (358 kilometers) northeast of Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, in position 23.45N, 155.35W. This is one of the submarines used to scout the Hawaiian area in connection with the Pearl Harbor attack and is the first Japanese combatant ship sunk by U.S. aircraft during World War II.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Aircraft from USS Enterprise attack and sink Japanese Submarine I-70 north of Hawaiian Islands. A participant in the Pearl Harbor Attack, I-70 is the first Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.

PBY piloted by LT Utter of VP-101 shoots down Japanese ZERO in first US Navy air-to-air kill during World War II.

Minesweeper HMCS Vegreville commissioned.

Patrol vessel HMCS Nenamook commissioned.

Corvette HMCS Woodstock launched Collingwood, Ontario.

U.S.A.: AIPO (American Institute of Public Opinion) asked: "Which country is the greatest [sic] threat to America's future, Germany or Japan?" Germany - 64%, Japan - 15%, Both - 6%, Undecided or don't know - 15%. (Will O'Neil) (135)

Destroyers USS Doran and Earle launched.

Submarine USS Flying Fish commissioned.

Destroyers USS Bennett and Fullam laid down.

A Treasury agent reports to Army authorities in San Francisco, California, that "an estimated 20,000 Japanese in the San Francisco metropolitan area were ready for organized action." The Army staff immediately began planning for mass evacuation of West Coast Japanese.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-130 sank SS Kirnwood, Kurdistan and Star of Luxor in Convoy SC-57.

BRAZIL: USN PBY Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Fifty Two (VP 52) supported by seaplane tender (destroyer) USS Greene (AVD-13) and small seaplane tender USS Thrush (AVP-3), begin antisubmarine patrols over the south Atlantic from Natal, and thus inaugurate operations from Brazilian waters.