19 December 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: Some 200 troops watched the heir to the throne and her sister perform in a royal pantomime of Cinderella today. The show, "somewhere in England", was in aid of the Royal Household wool fund.

Margaret Rose was the star as a pretty little Cinders, while Princess Elizabeth was her dashing Prince Charming. Accompanied by a military orchestra, the princesses sang many of the old favourites, inviting the audience to join in the choruses. The pumpkin-turned-carriage was a sedan chair used by Queen Anne.

The rest of the cast was made up of children from the local village, all of whom had been coached by the local schoolmaster. Buttons, played by the brother of one of Queen Elizabeth's maids, was singled out for special praise.

Destroyer HMS Stanley (I-73) is sunk by U-574. She has been part of the escort for convoy HG76 from Gibraltar and reported the presence of a U-boat while on station astern of the convoy. Half an hour later U-574 scored a direct hit; HMS Stanley exploded and sank (38° 12' N.; 17° 23' W.) with the loss of all but 25 of her crew. Within 12 minutes, however, sloop HMS Stork gained revenge by sinking the submarine near Punta Delgada, by ramming and depth charges; 28 dead and 16 survivors who are picked up. Formerly USS MCCalla (DD_253) she was part of the destroyers-for-bases deal, commissioned into the RN on 12 Oct. 1940. (Ron Babuka)

Vintage submarine HMS H. 31 is lost, cause unknown NW of the coast of Spain. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Minesweeper HMS Seaham commissioned.

Minesweeper HMS Clacton launched.

Light cruiser HMS Newfoundland launched.

Submarine HMS Unruffled launched.

GERMANY: Brauchitsch is formally removed as Commander-in-Chief. Hitler assumes the duties. Initial success in leads Hitler to a hypnotic belief in his ability. When the success turns, Hitler remains convinced and therefore believes that the efforts of others is at fault.

ITALY: Benito Mussolini requests German assistance for his hard-pressed troops in Cyrenaica in the form of a Panzer Division and various logistical support.

U.S.S.R.: The German attacks on Sevastopol continue. The Soviets bring in 14,000 reinforcements via sea between today and the 25th.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Royal Navy is reeling from a series of heavy blows which have left senior admiralty figures contemplating total withdrawal from the Mediterranean.

The sinking by a U-boat of the cruiser HMS GALATEA near Alexandria, was the beginning of the present difficulties. Two days later, Axis aircraft attacked the four cruisers and sixteen destroyers escorting the supply ship Breconshire on one of her many trips to Malta.

Yesterday evening the convoy ran straight into an enemy convoy heading for Benghazi. The Italians opened fire, but beat a retreat when the British mounted a counter-attack. Tragedy struck early this morning after the Breconshire had been delivered to Malta: the escorts sailed into a minefield. The cruiser HMS NEPTUNE is mined 20 miles north of Tripoli at 33 15N, 33 30E, Neptune sets off four mines, and other ships attempting rescue are also mined, the destroyer HMS KANDAHAR's stern has been blown off, and the cruisers HMS PENELOPE and HMS AURORA have been damaged. Consequently there are 763 casualties and just one survivor of the sinking, Able Seaman (later Petty Officer) Norman Walton (January 15, 1921 - April 20, 2005). The loss of Neptune occurred on the night of December 19. Commanded by Captain Rory O'Conor, she was leading Force K, a cruiser raiding squadron sent to intercept and destroy an important Italian convoy carrying Panzer tanks, troops and supplies to Tripoli. Having become trapped in a minefield 12 miles offshore, Neptune struck four mines in three hours and sank with the loss of 764 officers and men. Thanks to his courage, tenacity and supreme physical fitness, Able Seaman Walton, then aged 20, survived three days in the water and two on a raft before being picked up by an Italian torpedo boat; after 15 months in Italian PoW camps, he was released in 1943. Walton later gave a dramatic account of the sinking: "We had been at action stations since 8pm, when soon after midnight there was an explosion off our starboard bow. The captain stopped engines and went astern but we hit another mine, blowing the screws and most of the stern away. Then we were hit abaft the funnel. We were ordered up top and had a bad list to port and were down in the stern. The destroyer HMS Kandahar came up to take us in tow. "With seven others, I was asked to go forward to help with the tow, but Kandahar then hit a mine and slewed off. Then we hit a fourth mine and we were lifted up and dropped back again. I got the Petty Officer off the forecastle from beneath the anchor chain but he had broken his back. Four of us - Price, Middleton, Quinn and me - climbed down the anchor. They jumped in, but I wanted somewhere to swim to, not just float around, and when I saw a Carley raft I jumped in and swam to it. "I took the tow rope back to Middleton, who had no lifejacket, and when we got back to the raft it was crowded - about 30 people on and around it. We saw the ship capsize and sink, and gave her a cheer as she went down. We picked up Captain O'Conor, who was clinging to what looked like an anchor buoy, and he and three other officers finished up on a cork raft attached to ours. The sea was thick with oil and most of us had swallowed a lot of it. A few died around us that night and at daylight there were 16 of us left. The weather was pretty rough, and two officers tried to swim towards the Kandahar, but they never made it." Since there was no room for him on the raft, Walton simply hung on to it - periodically swimming around it in circles in order to keep warm. "By the fourth day there were only four of us left, including the captain, who died in my arms that night. I was in the water for three days before being able to find room aboard the raft. Most of the lads just gave up the ghost, but I was very fit because of playing so much sport and this is probably why I survived. "I had a smashed leg, and by Christmas Eve on the fifth day there was only Price and myself left. I saw an aircraft, waved to it and an hour later an Italian torpedo boat came alongside and threw me a line. I collapsed when I got on board and woke up on Christmas Day in a Tripoli hospital. They told me Price was dead." When he was picked up, Walton found that the oil in the water had temporarily blinded him: "On Boxing Day I got my sight back and looked in a mirror. My tongue was swollen to twice its size and my nose spread across my face, which was black from the oil and from exposure. Still, apart from my broken leg I was almost back to normal by New Year's Day, when I was put on a ship bound for Italy full of German and Italian troops going on leave." (Telegraph Group Limited)

After the war Norman became a professional boxer, fighting under the name of Patsy Dodds, although he still fought bare-knuckle and at fairgrounds. One of the other middleweights he fought was my father, John Thomas Etherington. (Don't know who won though!)

Allied troops of the 4th Indian Division today added Derna to the list of towns captured since the 8th Army launched Operation Crusader barely a month ago. Rommel signalled the retreat on 16 December after the Allies attacked his defensive line at Gazala.

A counter-attack by Panzers had bought time, but only at a price: Rommel was left with fewer than 40 tanks for the Afrika Korps against nearly 200 for the 8th Army. He decided to move a long way back - into Cyrenaica - in order to await reinforcements from a secure position. By the time Britain's 4th Armoured Brigade began the pursuit, Rommel and his Italian allies were well on their way.

The Afrika Korps and the Italian Mobile Corps are heading west by an inland desert route, while the Italian infantry divisions have marched along the coast road. Like the vanquished, the British are also running short of supplies: a large proportion of their forces is in danger of being stalled for lack of petrol. In fact, both sides are weary after a month of blood fighting, never more so than at Sidi Rezegh and at Tobruk, the main prize of this campaign to date.

EGYPT: During the night of 18/19 December, the Italian submarine R.Smg. Sciro launches three SLC (Slow Moving Torpedo) human torpedoes off the British naval base at Alexandria. The SLCs are a 21-inch (53 centimeter) torpedo fitted with an electric motor powered by batteries with an explosive charge in the detachable head. The weapon is manned by two operators using breathing apparatus. After release the SLCs, the submarine returns to La Spezia, Italy. Anticipating the return of the British Force B to Alexandria, the harbor nets are left open allowing the three SLCs to slip in and direct their weapons toward the designated targets. Since the expected aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (94) is no longer in the harbor, the three attach their explosive charges to the battleships HMS Valiant (02) and Queen Elizabeth (00) and the large tanker SS Sagona. Two Italian frogmen are captured, Lieutenants Luigi Durand de la Penne and Bianchi. They refuse to divulge any information until moments before the explosion (because they are being interrogated right above the area of the keel where the explosion is to occur). At 0600 hours local, the first charge detonates under the tanker SS Sagona and badly damages both the tanker and the destroyer HMS Jervis (F 00), which is moored alongside for refueling. The charge under HMS Valiant detonates at 0620 hours, and the one under HMS Queen Elizabeth at 0624 hours. The depth of water is 15 to 50 feet (4,6 to 15 meters) and the charges weighed about 300 kilograms (661 pounds). Both battleships were severely damaged and remained out of the war for a period of time. The Italians are interned in a POW camp for the rest of the war. This attack, which neutralizes the ability of the British to oppose the Italian Regia Marina with its battleships, allows deeply needed convoys to supply Axis forces in Africa. Additionally, de la Penne and Bianchi are awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour in 1945 by Vice-Admiral Charles Morgan, t he Valiant's skipper at the time. (John Nicholas, Tom Hickcox and Jack McKillop)

BURMA: The Japanese overrun Bokpyin, a village about 100 miles (161 kilometres) north of Victoria Point. A controversy. known as the “Tulsa” Incident, arises as a U.S. officer asks the Government of Burma to Impound lend-lease material at Rangoon (a valuable part of which is loaded on the SS Tulsa in the harbor), pending a decision on its use. At the suggestion of the senior Chinese representative in Burma, a committee is subsequently formed to determine the division of supplies.

General Claire L. Chennault and his "Flying Tigers," a group of "volunteer" pilots, set up headquarters 150 miles (241 kilometers) from Rangoon. From today until 4 July 1942, they destroy 297 Japanese planes and kill some 500 of the enemy. (Tom Hickcox)

MALAYA: The Japanese are active against the right flank of the Krian River line; on the Grik road, the Japanese frustrates the efforts of the Indian 3 Corps to recover lost ground. RAF fighters based at Ipoh are forced to withdraw to Kuala Lumpur. The Indian 9th Division continues their withdrawal southward in eastern Malaya and abandons the Kuala Krai railhead.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Luzon, the Japanese Legaspi detachment reaches Sipoco and is reported to be pushing toward Daet.
On Mindanao, two enemy task forces from the Palau Islands, totaling about 5,000 men, arrive off Davao during the night of 19/20 December. Enemy aircraft discover and attack Del Monte airfield.

HONG KONG: Japanese troops surround the headquarters of Canadian Brigadier J. K. Lawson at Wong Nei Chong Gap on Hong Kong Island. Lawson is killed in attempted breakout becoming the first Canadian General killed in WWII.
Canadian Sergeant Major (WOII) John Robert Osborn (b. 1899) of The Winnepeg Grenadiers dies during an attempt to recapture Mount Butler. Osborn Lawson falls on a grenade to save others in the company and is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Five British naval ships are scuttled to prevent capture by the Japanese: (1) the barrage/gate vessels HMS Aldgate (Z 68) and Watergate (Z 56), (2) the tugs HMS Alliance (W 77) and Poet Chaucer and (3) the boom defense vessel HMS Barlight (Z 57). Barlight is raised by the Japanese and commissioned on 20 September 1942 as Netlayer 101. She is sunk on 15 June 1944 in Tanapag Harbor Saipan Island, Mariana Islands by USN destroyer USS Halsey Powell (DD-686).

AUSTRALIA: The air echelon of the USAAF’s 93d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) transfers from Clark Field, Luzon to Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory, with B-17s. The ground echelon is attached to the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) and will fight as infantry on Luzon and Mindanao Islands in the Philippines.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The USN’s Task Force 8 (TF 8) (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.), formed around the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), heavy cruisers, and destroyers, sails from Pearl Harbor proceeding to waters west of Johnston Island and south of Midway to cover TF 11 and TF 14 operations. (TF 11 is en route to the Marshall Islands while TF 14 is en route to Wake Island.) Destroyer USS Craven (DD-382), in TF 8, is damaged by heavy sea soon after departure, however, and returns to Pearl for repairs.

WAKE ISLAND: Japanese Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers (given the Allied Code Name “Nell” in 1942) assigned to the Chitose Kokutai (Chitose Naval Air Corps), bomb Wake Island, targeting installations on Wake and Peale islets.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-172 torpedoes and sinks a 5,113 ton unarmed U.S. freighter about 296 nautical miles (549 kilometers) south-southeast of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Twenty five crewmen survive and are rescued.

In the South China Sea, the Dutch submarine HNMS O2 is scuttled by her own crew, about 22 nautical miles (40 kilometers) east of Kota Bharu, Malaya, to prevent her capture by the Japanese. The sub was damaged by depth charges from two Japanese destroyers earlier in the day.

CANADA: Algerine-class minesweepers HMS Melita, Octavia, Persian, Postillion, Scorpion (ex-HMCS Sole Bay), Thisbe, Truelove, Welfare ordered in Canada.

U.S.A.: The US Selective Service (draft) Act is amended requiring the registration of all males 18-64. The age for those subject to military service is 20-44.

Other powers granted by Congress to the president include press censorship; control of an estimated $7 billion of enemy property in the United States; and that to let contracts without competitive tendering.

The president is authorised to re-organize the executive branch of the government in any way that he pleases to prosecute the war more effectively.

The executive news editor of the Associated Press, Byron Price, aged 50, has been appointed "director of censorship". The president has appointed Mr Justice Owen Roberts of the Supreme Court as chairman of the board of inquiry into American unpreparedness for the Pearl Harbor raid.

The USAAF’s 1st Air Force is reassigned from the Air Force Combat Command to the Eastern Theater of Operations, US Army which is subsequently redesignated the Eastern defence Command.

Escort carrier USS Altamaha laid down.

Destroyer USS Beale laid down.

Destroyer USS Bailey launched.

MEXICO: Mexico breaks diplomatic relations with Hungary.

NICARAGUA: Nicaragua declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.