World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Thursday, November 27, 1941
Day 819

November 27, 1941: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
 
Historical note: On this day U.S. military forces received a war warning from Washington. In the warning was this line "...an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days."


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 8: "German Threat to Raze Belgrade"
Also note the report in column 3: "Report Riots in Denmark"


November 27, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 8: "Moscow Reports 6,000,000 German Loses"
(Radio Moscow boasting of a massive loss of German soldiers. This propaganda was for the German public to consume, because it was nowhere near true. According to Wikipedia, the total figures for German casualties in Operation Barbarossa from June 22, 1941 until Dec. 5, 1941 were;
186,542 killed
40,157 missing
655,179 wounded.
Total: 881,878.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline report: "Churchill Asks Draft For Women"


November 27, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 8: "British Battleship Malaya Hit Again, Nazis Claim"
(The battleship torpedoed was not Malaya, but was HMS Barham. The report of a British battleship being torpedoed was something the Admiralty was quick to ignore [See "British Deny Nazis Have Sunk Cruiser" in The Bakersfield Californian of Nov. 26, 1941.] Barham had been torpedoed by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen and his U-331, but he did not know that he actually sank the ship. In his war diary he writes that he heard the detonations and heard bulkheads collapse, but could not confirm that the ship sank. He signaled U-Boat command on the 26th, and they wrote the following in their war diary; "U-331 - 1 battleship torpedoed in the Eastern Mediterranean. A very satisfactory result." In fact the German naval high command did not know that Barham was lost. The Admiralty and Prime Minister Winston Churchill would keep it that way until Jan. of 1942. The information blackout included the relatives of the over 850 men who were lost in Barham.

In fact, the Admiralty and the Germans were withholding information on several significant vessel losses. On Nov. 19 the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney was sunk, with all hands, in battle with the German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] Kormoran, which was also sunk. While the Australians were aware that Sydney was missing, the Germans did not know Kormoran was lost. Over time, because of lack of communication, of course, they had to assume Kormoran had been sunk or captured. The details of Kormoran's loss was not known in Germany for some time. Further to this, a second Hilfskreuzer, Atlantis, had been sunk by HMS Devonshire on Nov. 22nd, a fact the Germans were aware of. Finally on Nov. 24, the cruiser HMS Dunedin, was sunk by U-124 with the loss of over 400 men.)
Also note the report in column 8: "Germans Claim Sinking Of British Destroyer"
(The propaganda ministry should have stuck with the truth, they did recently sink a cruiser, HMS Dunedin, but no destroyer of the Jervis class or any other class.)
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "Navy Has Secret Devise to Find Ships and Planes From Afar"
(The unattributed report lets the Japanese know that members of the 4th U.S. Marine Regiment were aboard and when they left Shanghai. The last paragraph alerts the Japanese of the upcoming sailing of the liner President Harrison, which will be carrying U.S. Naval personnel. President Harrison did not sail soon enough. On Dec. 8, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese seized the ship, which was still at Shanghai. It was renamed Kakko Maru and later Kachidoki Maru and used as a transport. It was sunk on Sept. 12, 1944 by the submarine USS Pampanito SS-383. Sadly, the ship was carrying British prisoners of war, over 400 were killed.)
Also note the report in column 5: "London Story Credits Gettysburg Address To Lindbergh"


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Europa unangreifbar und blockadefest.
(Europe unassailable and blockade-proof.)
2. Die große Rede des Reichsaußenministers.
(The Great Speech of the Reich Foreign Minister.)


November 27, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Alle Siegesaussichten sind bei uns - Europa ist unangreifbar geworden!
(All chances of victory are with us - Europe has become unassailable!)
2. Ribbentrop stellt fest: Roosevelt ist der Hauptschuldige dieses Krieges.
(Ribbentrop states: Roosevelt is the main culprit in this war.)
Note the report at bottom left: "Schlachtschiff torpediert - Kreuzer versenkt"
(Battleship torpedoed - Cruiser sunk.)
[The German verson of the attack on HMS Barham and HMS Dunedin.]



   
Page published November 27, 2022