World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Friday, December 12, 1941
Day 834

December 12, 1941: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at top left: "U.S. Planes Sink 3 Japanese Warships"
(The headline was close to correct. The two ships mentioned in the report were involved in the attack on Wake Island, both were destroyers. Hayate was damaged by USMC shore guns and beached, the ship was a total loss. The other destroyer, Kisaragi was sunk by USMC aircraft. The battleship Haruna was not sunk or even attacked. The attack was against the light cruiser Natori and the destroyer Harukaze, neither of which were sunk.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in columns 3-4: "U.S. Bombers Cripple Second Battleship"
(I have no record of the action.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 5: "V.C. For Submarine Commander"
(Lt. Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, commanding officer of HMS Upholder, awarded the Victoria Cross.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 7: "11 Frenchmen Executed"
(General Otto von Stülpnagel, Military Commander of Paris, announces the execution of 11 Frenchmen for possessing firearms . Otto von Stülpnagel, while he was the military commander of occupied France, had a difficult relationship with the Nazi hierarchy. Making numerous formal complaints about theft of art, treatment of the French and various other things, he finally resigned in 1942. He was replaced by his cousin Cark-Heinrich von Stülpnagel. Otto returned to Berlin, where he stayed until the end of the war. He was arrested by the Allies for war crimes [he had executed over 100 French civilians,] but he committed suicide before he could be tried.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Daily Telegraph and Daily News, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Nazi Casualties 4,200,000"
(The report claims this figure comes from "official German sources" but this could not have been true. According to Wikipedia, German casualty figures for Operation Barbarossa from June 22, 1941 until Dec. 5, 1941 were:
186,542 killed
40,157 missing
655,179 wounded.
Total: 881,878.)


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


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at bottom right of the German Panzerschiff Lützow.
(The report, from a Uruguayan newspaper, claims that Lützow was operating off the coast of Argentina This report was false. Lützow was under repair at Howaldtswerke in Kiel, Germany for the month of December 1941.)


December 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: "Italian Cruiser Probably Sunk; British Report"
(The report was false.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 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: "Beaumont Boy First Casualty Of This County - Lee H. Duke, 19, Dies In Action"
(Seaman 2nd Class Lee Herwin [not Herman] Duke, was killed on USS Curtiss AV-4, a seaplane tender. While the report states his body was not recovered, it had been recovered and transferred to U.S. Navy Hospital at Pearl Harbor. He is buried in Beaumont, Texas.)
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "First U.S. Hero Of World War II Killed After Blasting Jap Vessel"
(The report claims that Capt. Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr. was the man who sank the Japanese battleship Haruna, but he actually attacked the light cruiser Natori and the destroyer Harukaze, neither of which were sunk. A minesweeper, W-10 was damaged and grounded in the same attack. That ship was a total loss, but it is likely that that ship was attacked by Lt. Schaetzel's aircraft.

Capt. Kelly was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Liberty ship Colin P. Kelly, Jr. was named in his honor.)
[Read an interview with his wife from page 3 of The Eveningf Star of Dec. 13, 1941 here.]
[See a photo of Capt. Kelly in The Evening Gazette of Dec. 13, 1941.]
[Also see "The President Honors a Hero's Son"in The Evening Star of Dec. 18, 1941.]


December 12, 1941: Front page of the San Antonio Express, San Antonio, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline report: "Rifle Wrecks Power Line Leading To Army Station"
(I have included this newspaper because the Synchronicity Conundrum has struck again. On Dec. 3, 2022 someone shot up an electrical sub-station in Moore County, North Carolina, leaving over 40,000 people without power for several days.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Krieg bis zum siegreichen Ende - Deutschland und Italien im Kriegszustand mit USA.
(War until the victorious end - Germany and Italy at war with USA.)


December 12, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Das Reich und Italien an Japans Seite - Kriegszustand mit USA.
(The Reich and Italy on Japan's side - state of war with USA.)
2. Leidenschaftliches Bekenntnis des Führers: Gemeinsamer Kampf mit allen Mitteln bis zum Endsieg.
(Passionate confession of the Führer: Common fight with all means up to the final victory.)



   
Page published December 12, 2022