Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Day 850 December 28, 1941

Libya. British 22nd Armored Brigade and Afrika Korps skirmish in the desert near El Haseiat. British suffer greater losses although they outnumber Afrika Korps in tanks.

Overnight off Mersa Matruh, Egypt, U-75 attacks convoy ME-8, from Tobruk to Alexandria, sinking British SS Volo (24 killed, 14 survivors picked up by landing craft LCT-11 and landed at Alexandria). British destroyer HMS Kipling counterattacks and sinks U-75 with depth charges (14 dead, 30 survivors).

Luzon, Philippines. US and Filipino troops retreat from Japanese Lingayen Force another 10-20 miles to D4 line (Tarlac City to Cabanatuan City, 4th of 5 defensive lines North of Manila) as the main withdrawal to Bataan continues. Japanese again bomb Manila, sinking 4 freighters in Manila Bay. To the South, Japanese 16th Infantry Division captures Luisiana 15 miles inland from Lamon Bay.

Malaya. 22nd Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn Brigade is deployed at Kuantan on the East coast to protect the aerodrome (which will help Japanese operations in Southern Malaya) and to prevent threatened landings from the sea.

US destroyer USS Peary is evacuating from Philippines to Australia. At 2.20 PM, 4 Japanese aircraft drop 500-pound bombs and torpedoes but cause no damage. At 6 PM off Menado, Dutch East Indies island of Celebes, 3 RAAF Hudsons mistake USS Peary for a Japanese ship and bomb her. USS Peary is again damaged by near misses (1 killed and 2 wounded by bomb splinters).

Operation Drumbeat. With Germany now at war with USA, there are no restrictions on U-boats sinking US merchant shipping. U-66, U-109, U-123, U-125 and U-130 are in mid-Atlantic en route to raid shipping on the East coast of America.

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