World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Wednesday, November 12, 1941
Day 804

November 12, 1941: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at top right: "Submarines Hit Axis Again"
(The report from the Admiralty seems to have been either wishful thinking or just made from whole cloth. I can find no record of any such an action.)
On this day the Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison, M.P. sent a memo to the War Cabinet entitled "Article In The "Sunday Pictorial" Question of Further Powers To Deal With Such Articles." (Read this memo here PDF.)
Another memo, this from the Foreign Minister, Mr. Anthony Eden, M.P., the Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison, M.P. and the Minister of Information, Mr. Brenden Bracken, M.P. was sent to the War Cabinet. This was entitled: Publication by the press of articles likely to prejudice the relations of His Majesty's Government with foreign powers." (Read the memo here, PDF.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at top left: "Shipping Losses Down By 320,000 Tons A Month"
(Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the following at the House of Commons. In the four months ended in June, we lost just over 2,000,000 tons of shipping. An average of 500,000 tons a month. In the last four months ending in October we lost less than 750,000 of shipping. An average of 180,000 tons a month.

I don't know where Churchill got his numbers, but official British figures for that period of time are below. Note that these figures are for British merchant ships only, they do not include warships, Allied or neutral shipping.

March: 83 ships at 364,757 tons.
April: 75 ships at 361,578 tons.
May: 92 ships at 386,953.
June 60 at 268,548 tons.
Total: 310 ships at 1,381,654 tons. Average of 345,412 per month.

July: 30 ships at 94,310 tons.
August: 26 ships at 96,196 tons.
September: 57 ships at 214,664 tons
October: 32 ships at 151,177 tons.
Total: 145 ships at 556,947 tons. Average of 139,236 tons per month.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in columns 3-4: "Growing Demand for the Conscription of Women"


November 12, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 1: "U.S. Admiral Urges Showdown Now"
(Rear-Admiral Harry Yarnell, USN, warned that if the Japanese were not confronted it would be disastrous for the U.S. and Great Britain. While a full-on attack against the Japanese at that moment was not feasible, he was not incorrect in his assessment. In an exercise in 1932, Yarnell had proved that Hawaii could be successfully attacked by aircraft. However, as is usually the case, the higher-ups dismissed his report. Less than a month from this date, on Dec. 7, 1941, Yarnell would tragically be proven right again.)
Also note the report in column 3: "Norwegian Ship Overdue"
(The Norwegian freighter Silvaplana, was captured by the German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] Atlantis on Sept. 10. The ship was taken as a prize, there were no casualties among the crew. The Germans renamed the ship Irene and used it as a blockade runner until HMS Adventure approached her on Apr. 10, 1943. The ship was promptly scuttled.)
Also note the report in column 4: " Ulysses Ban Approved"
(The famous book by James Joyce banned in Sydney by the Sydney Diocesan Synod for being "of a character at once described as degraded and degrading.")


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 5: "Japanese Ship Lost - Mined"
(The report claims that a 283-ton ship named Shotoku Maru had gone missing between Korea and Japan. This may be true, but I can find no ship of that spelling in Lloyd's Register. I do find it interesting that the loss of this ship is being attributed to a mine, when, according to the report, there is no evidence of what caused the loss, it just vanished.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 1: "Hitler May Be Forced to Try Invasion Because Starvation Plan Has Failed, Churchill Says"
 
Also note the report in column 5: "German Radio Bans N.B.C. Correspondent In Censorship Fight"
(Alex Drier, Berlin correspondent for NBC, was banned from the air by the Germans. Well, there was a war going on, and he was transmitting information from an enemy country to their enemy, so, I can't say this was a surprise or even uncalled for.)
 
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "Six More Circus Elephants Ill; Deaths of Ten Called Murder"


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 3: "Racketeer In Suicide Leap"
(Abraham Reles, A.K.A. Kid Twist, a hitman of Meyer Lansky's "Murder Inc." is reported to have committed suicide by jumping to his death from the sixth floor of the Half Moon Hotel. He was under police custody at the time, after turning government informant. On that day, Nov. 12, he was scheduled to testify against Albert Anastasia, one of the founders of Murder Inc. It was thought by many that he was killed, and it is possible that he was, but it was officially decided that his death was an accident caused by him trying to escape through the window using bed sheets and a wire, which came undone.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Plunge Fatal To Squealer"
(Notice the vastly different tone of this article when compared to the one in the Xenia paper above.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "Rich Dog Lives Dog's Life; Tax Collector Calls"
(In an attempt to take as much money as possible from everyone, including dogs, Massachusetts' State Tax Commissioner, Henry F. Long, rules that a $2,000 trust, set up for the care a dog, is subject to a 6% tax. This amounts to only $120, but the dog cannot go out and earn more money should it outlive the funds bequeathed it in the will. This is low, even for Massachusetts in 1941.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline: "Call Rail Strike Dec. 7"
(This would prove to be an unfortunate day to strike against the U.S.A.)
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "Ice-Pick Killer Dies in Fall From Window of Hotel Room"
(Another report about the death of Abraham Reles.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Deutschland hat einen soziale Währung.
(Germany has a social currency.)


November 12, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Churchill: Wir waren 1940 am Ende.
(Churchill: We were finished in 1940.)
2. England lebt seitdem von der Gnade der Roosevelt-Juden.
(England has lived at the mercy of the Roosevelt Jews ever since.)



   
Page published November 12, 2022