13 December 1941
Gazala , Libya : New Zealand and Indian troops of the Eighth Army launched an attack on the Axis held Gazala Line in Libya while the Germans launched a counterattack. British tanks exploited the gap opened by Indian troops, but the advance was soon halted by German tanks. Although the Trieste Division successfully held south of Gazala Line at Alem Hamza, 1st Battalion The Buffs from 5th Indian Infantry succeeded in taking Point 204, some miles west of Alem Hamza. They were thus left in a vulnerable salient and 7th Indian Infantry Brigade to their left were ordered to send northwards 4th battalion 11th Sikh Regiment, supported by guns from 25th Field Regiment and 12 Valentine tanks from 8th Royal Tank Regiment, to ease their position. The force found itself confronted by the Afrika Korps, fielding 39 tanks and 300 lorries of infantry and guns. Once again, the 7th Armoured Division were not in place to intervene, and it was left to the force’s artillery and supporting tanks to face the threat. They took heavy casualties but 11th Sikh Regiment and British Field Artillery managed to knock out nine German tanks and to stall the counterattack.
13th Corps commander General Godwin-Austen ordered Gott to get the British armour to a position that it could engage the Afrika Korps since he was unaware that 7th Armored Division commander General Gott and his senior commanders were no longer confident they could defeat the enemy directly (lack of confidence is never a good sign among senior officers) , despite their superiority in numbers. The Germans’ superior tactics and anti-tank artillery compels them to prefer making a wide detour to attack the enemy’s soft-skinned elements and lines of supply to immobilise them
Both sides incurred heavy casualties in men and equipment after the day’s fighting.
Russia : After a massive artillery and rocket bombartment General Semyon Timoshenko’s Southwest Front assaulted German lines at junction of 2. Panzer Army and 2. German Army in further north. 2. German Army withdrew, leaving 2. Panzer Army’ flank unprotected. Field Marshall Fedor von Bock secretly ordered Army Group Center to withdraw to a winter line 90 miles west of current positions, without informing Hitler.
Hong Kong : Chinese troops mounted an offensive against Japanese troops in the Hong Kong area; earlier on the same day, the last British troops in Kowloon on the mainland were evacuated onto Hong Kong island. Japanese 38th Division which broke mainlnd British defences in Gindrinkers Line , is preparing to land on Hong Kong island itself.
Philippines : Japanese Navy aircraft again struck the US Navy base at Olongapo at Subic Bay at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Various other bases and airfields in the Manila Bay area were attacked as well.
Mediterranean Sea : Naval Battle of Cape Bon : With decoding of Italian wireless encryption , Royal Navy Destroyer Force 4 (Royal Navy destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Maori, and HMS Legion and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Isaac Sweers) sortied from Gibraltar , intercepted Italian light cruisers Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano (full of fuel and other supplies bound to North Africa) and torpedo boat Cigno under command of Vice Admiral Antonio Toscana off Cape Bon, Tunisia at 0325 hours. In a well executed night action Royal Navy destroyers torpedoed both Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano. The two Italian cruisers sank (1,020 killed along with Admiral Toscana , 645 survived) with nearly 2,000 tons of aviation fuel meant for Axis forces fighting in North Africa.
Royal Navy submarine HMS Upright torpedoed and sank Italian troop transports Fabio Filzi and Carlo del Greco off Cape Vito , Sicily.
Berlin , Germany : Goebbels wrote in his diary “The World War is here, the extermination of the Jews must be the necessary consequence.”
South China Sea and British Malaya : Just after 0000 hours, Dutch submarine O.16 entered Mueang Patani, Thailand and damaged four Japanese freighters with six torpedoes, sinking a number of them in shallow water. All ships would later be repaired and put back into service. On Malaya at 0200 hours, rearguard 11th Indian Division troops blew up the bridge at Jitra, British Malaya before joining the main body falling back toward Gurun to the south. Later on the same day, Japanese troops from 5th Division arrived at the abandoned airfield at Alor Setar, British Malaya, capturing bombs and aviation fuel. Now in possesion of two main airfields captured almost intact and with four times more aircraft and total air superiorty General Yamashimata’s 25th Army is ready to march towards south on British Malaya and main British naval base “Gibraltar of East” Singapore with in 100 day target set by Tokyo. British strategists at the other hand do not expect Japanese to move south from Khota Baru towards Malaya at all because of thick jungle till Japanese secured their rear in Thailand and Burma.
Japanese tanker Taizan Maru was torpedoed and sunk by Free Durch submarine HNLMS K XII off French IndoChina.
Burma : Further up Malay Peninsula, the British evacuated Victoria Point, the Burmese town nearest to the Thai border.
Borneo : Indian troops destroy oil installitions in Sarawak and Brunei.
Belgium : German Gestapo arrested Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) radio operator Mikhail Makarov in the Rue des Atrebates, Brussels, Belgium. There followed a year long series of arrests of Soviet Agents across Europe including the complete elimination of the “Red Orchestra” espionage group. By 1943 the Soviets would have no active agents still operating within greater Germany.
Kola Peninsula : Allied convoy PQ-5 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia.
United Kingdom : British battleship HMS Duke Of York departed the Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom with Winston Churchill on board, sailing for the United States. The battleship was escorted by destroyers HMS Faulknor, HMS Foresight, and HMS Matabele.
The British police raided the office of Lord Sempill who had been passing military secrets to the Japanese for some years. Various secret document were discovered which he should have handed back to the Admiralty three weeks earlier.