Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Nov 7 – 13, 1940

Nov 7, 1940: British cargo ship Cambridge is sunk off Australia laid by German auxiliary vessel Passat a few days earlier

Nov 8, 1940: Admiral Nomura Kichisaburo is appointed Japanese ambassador to the United States

Nov 9, 1940: Crew of US freighter City of Rayville is rescued one day after their vessel is sunk near Australia by a German mine, becoming the first American merchant ship in the war to be sent to the bottom of the ocean

Nov 10, 1940: Japanese forces undertake almost complete withdrawal from south Chinese province of Guangxi

Nov 11, 1940: British carrier-based planes launch devastating attack on Italian battle fleet at Taranto, southern Italy, later providing inspiration for Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku in his planning of the raid on Pearl Harbor

Nov 12, 1940: Harold Stark, US chief of naval operations, proposes ‘Plan Dog’ for a coming two-ocean war in which Atlantic commitments take precedence, and the Pacific gets secondary priority

Nov 13, 1940: Admiral Takahashi Sankichi says Australia will eventually be included in Japanese-led new order in the Asia Pacific

Categories: War

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