Thursday 27 March 1941

"Lt (A) Clifford's torpedo being released, as seen by Mid (A) Wallington, Observer in the second aircraft." Battle of Cape Matapan, 27 March 1941. © IWM (A 9801).

Italian/Greek Campaign: In events that directly impact the course of the campaign Albania, army generals in Belgrade stage a coup d'état on 27 March 1941. At 02:15, a group of Royal Yugoslav Air Force (VVKJ) officers in Zemun, and Royal Guard officers in nearby Belgrade, strike. VVKJ deputy commander Borivoje Mirković oversees occupation of key installations in Belgrade such as the Zemun air force base, Belgrade bridges, government buildings, and army barracks. Exactly who initiated the coup is somewhat murky.

Regent Prince Paul is in Zagreb. He immediately returns by train to Belgrade. Upon arrival, he immediately is forced to sign papers abolishing his regency and is sent into exile in Greece. The British want him out of the way, so they send him first to Kenya, then to South Africa to sit out the war.

The rebels surround the royal palace and issue statements over the radio. Public demonstrations break out in Belgrade and elsewhere. Crown Prince Peter II Karađorđević, 17 years old at the time of the coup, is declared to be of age and crowned king. The new government does not outright renounce Prince Paul's signing of the Tripartite Pact, but it refuses to ratify it. Prince Peter - now King Peter - appoints the chief of the air staff, General Dušan Simović, as Prime Minister. Crowds in the street cheer him and demonstrate in favor of the Soviet Union and against Germany.

All of this turmoil and the alien-sounding names leads to some black humor abroad. As recorded by Australian Prime Minister Menzies in his diary, one common joke is "Ah! Robbing Paul to pay Peter!" Another is, "It's hard to tell vitch vitch is vitch."

International reaction is swift and deadly. In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill piously announces that "Yugoslavia has found its soul" - which reinforces the feeling England was behind the whole thing all along. Menzies notes that "War Cabinet [meeting] more cheerful as a result." He further writes, "we are all wishfully thinking that the tide has turned." It hasn't, at least not yet.

Adolf Hitler sees it somewhat differently. His transient diplomatic coup that he has been working on literally for months disappears overnight, and he is furious. Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 25, the gist of which is obvious from its title: "Plan of Attack on Yugoslavia." It states "my general intention to break into Yugoslavia ... to deal an annihilating blow to the Yugoslav forces." He also obviously has been thinking about gain to be had from taking the country, because he specifically mentions that "seizure of the Bor copper mines [is] important for economic reasons." Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece, is to begin "if possible simultaneously - but in no event earlier." In a preview of coming attractions elsewhere, Hitler vows an "Ohne Gnade," or merciless invasion.

Belgrade demonstrators, 27 March 1941.

East African Campaign: The Italians realize that their defenses at Keren have become untenable with the British capture and clearing of the Dongolaas Gorge. During the night, the Italians withdraw from Keren to Asmara, but large formations on the Sanchil Ridge (the Savoia Grenadiers and Bersaglieri) are left in the lurch and must surrender. British units advance after an artillery barrage at 04:30, and the Italians on Sanchil surrender by 05:40. They are in Keren itself by 10:30. The advance British units don't wait around, at 07:30 they immediately begin pursuing the Italians down the Nacfa/Asmara road (Asmara being the capital of Eritrea). By 12:30, the 5th Indian Division is a mile west of Habi Mantel.

At Enghiat to the north, the Italians also withdraw during the night, so the Foreign Legion Battalion advances there as well. By the end of the day, it hooks up with the Indian troops advancing past Keren, and they thereby swell their bag of Italian prisoners.

Total casualties at Keren are unclear, but estimates are in the vicinity of 3000 Italian deaths, 4500 other Italian casualties, along with 9000 Eritrean Askari killed and 12,000 wounded. The British, who lost 536 killed and 3229 wounded, have Massawa next on their list, after Asmara. However, the Italians had staked everything on holding Keren and, as elsewhere, once the main blocking position was overcome, there was virtually nothing behind it.

British Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell has need of the troops which have been tied up at Keren for seven weeks. He orders the 4th Indian Division to move to Port Sudan for transport back to Egypt. Italian defenses in Abyssinia now are irreparably broken.

Demonstrations in Belgrade, 27 March 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe's transfers of units to Romania and Bulgaria switches into high gear. Hundreds of aircraft make the journey during the day. This necessarily dilutes Luftwaffe's strength in North Africa, France and elsewhere.

The Luftwaffe continues its recent pattern of fighter sweeps during the day, with occasional bombs falling in the south and southeast.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 38 bombers against Cologne and 39 bombers against Dusseldorf. Another 13 aircraft attack the usual Channel ports of Brest, Calais, and Dunkirk.

The British in Greenland spot Luftwaffe bombers overhead.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-98 (Kptlt. Robert Gysae) is operating along the convoy routes south of Iceland when it spots 6695-ton British freighter Koranton. The Koranton is a straggler from Convoy SC 25. A torpedo sends the ship down quickly because it is loaded with 8769 tons of pig iron. All 41 men on board perish.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 642-ton freighter Meg Merrilies south of St. Govan's Light Vessel (now known as St. Gowan's) in the Bristol Channel off the Pembrokeshire coast, Wales. While the ship is taken in tow, it eventually sinks. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe also bombs and damages 430-ton British salvage vessel Palmstone southeast of St. Govan's Light Vessel. The captain beaches the ship at Milford Haven. It later is taken to Pembroke.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 396-ton Dutch freighter Oud Beijerland just south of St. Govan's Light Vessel. The ship makes it back to Milford Dock.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages British depot ship Alecto at the mouth of the English Channel.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 212-ton British trawler Fort Dee east of the Faroes Islands.

British 178-ton trawler Kinclaven sinks off the Faroes from unknown causes. There are many mines in the vicinity, and also Luftwaffe attacks near there today.

Dutch 5483-ton freighter Alioth hits a mine and is damaged near the mouth of the Humber. The ship makes it back to Hull.

British cable layer CS Faraday, bombed on the 26th, sinks off Dale, Wales. There are eight deaths.

On U-46 (Kapitänleutnant Engelbert Endrass), Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Helmut Pöttgen falls overboard and is lost. He likely would have gotten his own command someday, and perhaps become a famous commander. However, because of this incident, Pöttgen never gets a chance to show it.

Convoy OG 57 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX 117 departs from Halifax.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Burdock (K 126,  Lt. Harold G. Chesterman) is commissioned.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Petard is launched today.

U-563 (Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Bargsten) is commissioned.

"New Zealand members of the LRDG pause for tea in the Western Desert, 27 March 1941." © IWM (E 2307).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Royal Navy under Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell is heading toward an epic clash with the Italian Fleet under Admiral Iachino. Pridham-Wippell has four cruisers and numerous destroyers. In addition, Admiral Cunningham is bringing battleships HMS Warspite, Barham and Valiant and aircraft carrier Formidable from Alexandria. The British aerial reconnaissance spots the Italians by noon, but the British already know from spies and Ultra decrypts what is going on. Despite misgivings, the Italians proceed with their somewhat pointless advance toward the convoy routes between Alexandria and Piraeus, Greece.

The Afrika Korps already is feeling the pinch from the movement of Luftwaffe units out of the North African theater. A proposed attack to take the Gialo Oasis (Jalu) to the south is shelved for the time being because it is considered accessible only by air - and no planes are available. In fact, to perform reconnaissance in that direction, the Germans must ask Italian air units to do it.

With Keren finally taken, General Wavell flies back to Cairo from East Africa.

At Malta, the British observe that the Luftwaffe now is maintaining a continuous fighter patrol off the east coast. The RAF scrambles occasionally to confront them, but no interceptions are made. The purpose of this screen is unclear, but it may be to prevent reconnaissance missions over the convoy route from Naples to Tripoli.

British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden and CIGS Sir John Dill continue their unexpected stay in Mala. Dill passes the day by touring military units.

Demonstrators in Belgrade, 27 March 1941.

Battle of the Pacific: Thanks largely to pressure from visiting Australian Prime Minister Menzies, the British today establish the Australian Shipbuilding Board. The Board's objective is to build 1420-ton frigates for the Royal Navy in Australia.

Captain Ellis S. Stone's US Navy Task Group 9.2 completes its visit to Tahiti and proceeds to Pearl Harbor.

German/Italian Relations: Hitler sends Mussolini a letter stating:

I consider it necessary, Duce, that you should reinforce your forces on the Italian/Yugoslav front with all available means and with the utmost speed.

German/Hungarian Relations: Hungary suddenly has become much more important in the German order of battle now that Yugoslavia is an enemy. Hitler and Ribbentrop meet with the Hungarian ambassador and remonstrate with him to cooperate in the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. As usual, Hitler offers his "partners" little chunks of the conquests should they help.

German/Bulgarian Relations: Hitler also meets with the Bulgarian ambassador. Bulgaria also has an expanded role to play now that German troops can use it to invade Yugoslavia as well as Greece.

German/Japanese Relations: German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop finally makes time to meet with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka. Matsuoka later meets with Hitler.

Peter II and Air Force General Dusan Simovic after the 27 March 1941 coup.

Anglo/US Relations: The British formally lease their naval base at Chaguaramas, Trinidad (off the coast of Venezuela) to the United States for a term of 99 years pursuant to the September 1940 destroyer-for-bases deal. Trinidad takes the base back in 1963.

The Anglo/US "ABC-1" talks that began in January conclude today. There is broad agreement on strategic cooperation should the United States enter the war. Plan ABC-1 posits placing the priority on the defeat of Germany over that of Japan, with a pronounced emphasis on securing the North Atlantic. There will be a combined Chiefs of Staff and US naval protection of convoys. These conclusions are summarized in "The United States British Staff Conversation, Report," 27 March 1941. American participants include Rear Admiral Ghormley and Major General S.D. Embick, while British participants include Rear Admirals Bellairs and Danckwerts and Major General Morris.

Congress approves President Roosevelt's request for $7 billion in Lend-Lease aid. Still fishing off Florida on Presidential yacht USS Potomac, Roosevelt quickly signs it.

Applied Science: The US Army Air Corps sends a B-18 Bolo over the ocean near Cape Cod to test the new centimetric radar system. The plane manages to make the first air-to-air contact by a USAAC plane (the RAF already has done it). It also shows promise for detecting contacts on the ocean, too.

South African pilots and crew taking a captured Italian Caproni 133 bomber from Mogadishu to South Africa. This is at Broken Hill (Kabwe), Zambian Central Province. South African ace Cornelius Arthur van Vliet, flying the plane down, is the man at the left. 27 March 1941.

Spy Stuff: Japanese liner Nitta Maru makes port in Hawaii, bringing with it Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa poses as a diplomat. Knowing what to look for from earlier reports out of the Honolulu Consulate, Yoshikawa quickly observes that the battleships are parked next to each other, and with no anti-torpedo netting.

German Military: Hitler indicates that Operation Barbarossa, tentatively scheduled for 15 May 1941, will have to be postponed until mid-June due to the need to invade Yugoslavia and Greece first.

POWs: Up until now, Oflag IV-C camp Colditz Castle has been a POW camp for Polish prisoners. Today, the Germans begin moving the Poles out, sending them to Oflag VII-B in Eichstatt, Germany.

China: The Chinese continue attempting to surround the advance elements of the Japanese Army at the Battle of Shanggkao. However, the Japanese are alert to their peril and stay one step ahead of the Chinese as they retreat back to their bases. This will be a steady retreat that takes some time, but the Japanese have no need to occupy the territory in the area because it serves no strategic purpose if attacks further west are not going to be made.

American Homefront: US General Secretary of the Communist Party Earl Browder begins a four-year prison sentence at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He has been convicted of passport fraud.


March 1941

March 1, 1941: Rettungsboje
March 2, 1941: Oath of Kufra
March 3, 1941: Germans in Bulgaria
March 4, 1941: Lofoten Islands Raid
March 5, 1941: Cooperation With Japan
March 6, 1941: Battle of Atlantic
March 7, 1941: Prien Goes Under
March 8, 1941: Cafe de Paris
March 9, 1941: Italian Spring Offensive
March 10, 1941: Humanitarian Aid
March 11, 1941: Lend Lease Becomes Law
March 12, 1941: A New Magna Carta
March 13, 1941: Clydeside Wrecked
March 14, 1941: Leeds Blitz
March 15, 1941: Cruisers Strike!
March 16, 1941: Kretschmer Attacks
March 17, 1941: Happy Time Ends
March 18, 1941: Woolton Pie
March 19, 1941: London Hit Hard
March 20, 1941: Romeo and Juliet
March 21, 1941: Plymouth Blitz
March 22, 1941: Grand Coulee Dam
March 23, 1941: Malta Under Siege
March 24, 1941: Afrika Korps Strikes!
March 25, 1941: Yugoslavia Joins The Party
March 26, 1941: Barchini Esplosivi
March 27, 1941: Belgrade Coup
March 28, 1941: Cape Matapan Battle
March 29, 1941: Lindbergh Rants
March 30, 1941: Commissar Order
March 31, 1941: Cookie Bombs

2020

Wednesday 29 January 1941

US Ski troops during rifle training at Fort Lewis, Washington. They are in the 87th Mountain Regiment. The whole idea of mountain troops in the US is very new, and the men don't have white uniforms that eventually will become the norm around the world.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Greek Prime Minister General Ioannis Metaxas passes away on 29 January 1941 of a phlegmon of the pharynx, leading to incurable toxemia. His successor is former minister and bank governor Alexander Koryzis.

Metaxas remains a very divisive figure in Greece to this day. He also was a man of many contradictions, as he was fervently pro-German during World War I and later came to fear them. Some deplore his authoritarian style and dictatorial policies, while others remember him as a populist who always put Greece and the Greek people first. One thing is for certain: he left Greece in a much better military posture than anyone thought possible. Not only is the Greek army shoving the Italians all over Albania, he also gives the Greek state at least a chance of holding off the Germans along the Bulgarian border with his chain of fortifications known as the Metaxas Line.

On the Trebeshina mountain range, the Greeks turn the tables on the two Italian Blackshirt battalions who took the peaks recently. The Cretan 5th Division of III Corps launches its own attack to recapture the key area that has changed hands several times. However, the Blackshirt battalions defend strongly.

East African Campaign: The British offensive against Italian possessions in East Africa expands today. The South Africans enter Italian Somaliland from Kenya with the 1st South African, 11th and 12 African (local) Divisions. General Wavell remains in Nairobi watching over developments.

Major-General Noel Beresford-Peirse's British 4th Indian Division ends a fake diversionary attack it has been staging against Mount Itaberrè and Mount Caianac, north of Agordat. It also fails to capture Mount Laquatat, which it really does want to take. These are rare failures for the advancing British forces, which otherwise have had little opposition on their advance into Italian East Africa. Beresford-Pierse sends the 1st Battalion of the 6th Rajputana Rifles Regiment to take Mount Cochen, which it does. The Italian troops in the sector, however, are in good fighting form and make plans to try to retake the mountain.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command continues its persistent and fruitless attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven. It sends 25 Wellingtons to attack it, to no effect. If ever there were a warship that earned its keep by simply remaining afloat as a persistent target, it is the Tirpitz.

After an extended period (ten nights) without major air attacks, the Luftwaffe ramps back up slowly, sending 36 bombers against London. Many Londoners, feeling a false sense of security due to the lack of recent raids, have gone back to sleeping at home. This raid sends many back to the shelters and tubes.

Kids wearing Zoot Suits in Chicago, Chicago, 1941 (Library of Congress).

Battle of the Atlantic: German raider Kormoran, operating 600 hundred miles west of Freetown, at 13:00 sights 11,900-ton British refrigerator ship Afric Star. Captain Detmers of the Kormoran has to fire on the ship when it does not surrender. The Kormoran crew boards the ship confiscates codebooks, takes 76 prisoners (including two women), and, when scuttling doesn't work, finally has to sink it with gunfire and torpedoes.

After dark, the Kormoran crew sights another ship and shells it. This ship, unlike the Afric Star, gets off a distress call that the Kormoran can't jam. Once again the Kormoran crew boards, and, helped by the codebooks taken earlier in the day from the Afric Star, identifies the ship as the 5273-ton British freighter Eurolychus. It is carrying bombers for Ghana (the Gold Coast). Detmers sinks this ship with a torpedo as well and takes four British and 39 Chinese crew prisoners (there are 10 deaths and 28 survivors are picked up later by a passing Spanish freighter). Detmers has to leave the scene quickly because, responding to the distress calls, HMS Norfolk and Devonshire show up. One of the men who is rescued by the Spanish ship, Frank Laskier, later becomes a propaganda hero for the merchant marine. Fortunately for the Kormoran, it outruns the Royal Navy ships in the darkness.

U-93 (Kptlt. Claus Korth), operating in the Northwest Approaches, has a big day. It sinks 4929 ton Greek freighter Aikatern, 5886-ton British freighter King Robert, and 10,468-ton British tanker W.B. Walker. All three ships are part of Convoy SC 19. Everybody on King Robert and Aikatern survives, while four men perish on the Walker.

U-94 (Kptlt. Herbert Kuppisch) is operating in the same general area as U-93. It torpedoes and sinks 4353-ton British freighter West Wales. West Wales is a straggler from Convoy SC 19. There are 16 deaths and 21 survivors, rescued by the convoy escorts HMS Antelope and Anthony.

U-106 (Kptlt. Jürgen Oesten), on its first patrol out of Kiel (heading for Lorient), torpedoes and sinks 2962 ton Egyptian freighter Sesostris. Everybody perishes.

British 8967 ton transport Westmoreland hits a mine in the Thames Estuary and is abandoned by its crew. A prize crew boards and takes it to Liverpool.

German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continue heading northeast toward a rendezvous with an oil tanker. The weather remains very rough, and the German ships are beyond the range of RAF reconnaissance, so they proceed unmolested.

Convoy FN 395 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 399 departs from Methil.

The Germans continue laying defensive minefields off Norway.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Ilfracombe and antisubmarine warfare trawler HMT Polka are launched.

Submarine USS Marlin is launched, the destroyer USS Bailey is laid down.

U-152 (Kapitänleutnan Peter-Erich Cremer) is commissioned.

"Members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in a pay queue, 29 January 1941." © IWM (HU 104557).

Battle of the Mediterranean: As the Italian Tenth Army evacuates the Cyrenaica of Libya, the British troops occupy the abandoned Derna. The Australian 6th Infantry Division follows on the Via Balbia, but the Italians have broken contact and left the road full of booby traps. The Italians in Benghazi also are beginning to move west, and the British 7th Armored Division sends units south of the Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountain) via Msus and Antelat to try to cut them off. It is rough going, and in any event, the Italians have a head start.

The Luftwaffe sends planes to bomb the Suez Canal again. Previously, it has failed, as the canal lies at the extreme range of German planes. This time, however, the Germans succeed, dropping mines from Heinkel He 111 bombers.

Anglo/US/Canadian Relations: The U.S.–British Staff Conference in Washington, D.C. officially begins today (preliminary meetings began on the 27th). The subject is the formulation of a joint Allied global military strategy. The general framework of the conference includes a "Europe first" policy if a global war breaks out in the Pacific as well as Europe. This conference will last until 27 March 1941 and culminate in the top-secret ABC-1 report. If any confirmation were needed, this conference by its very nature conclusively establishes that the US is prepared to enter the war on the side of Great Britain - but only when the time is right.

San Francisco, 1941.

Soviet/Finnish Relations: Despite the fact that the Winter War between the two countries has been over for the better part of a year, relations between them remain prickly. Petsamo in the far north is of particular interest to the Soviets because it contains valuable nickel reserves and a new and elaborate processing plant. Petsamo, on the other hand, is Finland's only deepwater port which is free of interference from the great powers. Thus, the area has strategic value as well as simply economic value.

Stalin, who had possession of Petsamo at the end of the Winter War but returned it to Finland, wants the nickel. Molotov has been enquiring about it since 23 June 1940. However, the Germans also want the nickel, and that was one of the major provisions of the trade agreements reached between the two countries that month. Nickel is one of the major reasons that Molotov demanded that Germany take its hands off Finland when he visited Berlin in November 1940, and why Hitler refused to even consider Molotov's demands for joining the Tripartite Pact. Nickel was one of the major contributing factors to Operation Barbarossa, though of course Hitler's obsession with the protection of the Romanian oil fields probably played a larger role.

Today, the Soviets and Finns begin talking about the issue in more depth in Moscow. Finnish ambassador to Moscow J.K. Paasikivi has some negotiating room, as the Finns are more interested in the territory in the south than in the far north. One of the possibilities discussed is a trade of Petsamo for other territory. Marshal Mannerheim is furious and threatens to resign, and this President Ryti quickly quashes the whole idea.

"A group of Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) drivers at a pay parade somewhere in England, 29 January 1941." © IWM (HU 104539).

British Military: Winston Churchill sends a lengthy memo to Secretary of State for War David Margesson. Among many other things, he expands a criticism he has made to General Wavell in North Africa about the "tooth to tail" ratio of fighting men to service troops. He says that "our main objective in this theatre" of the Middle East is the transfer of forces to Greece and/or Turkey. He contemplates having 12 divisions available for this purpose "by July."

British Government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill remains hacked off about Minister of Shipping Ronald Cross making statements that Churchill did not like. Upset at some of Cross' statements, Churchill required that all press comments by "junior ministers" be cleared by him. Today, he casts his net a bit further and memos the Minister of Information, Alfred Duff Cooper. In this memo, Churchill demonstrates his worst authoritarian streak and outright bans Cross from giving weekly radio broadcasts (which presumably is within his wartime powers... sort of). The interesting thing is that he does not (apparently) tell Cross this himself, but instead tells the news outlets not to air him.

Churchill also states in the same memo that he is upset at broadcasts by socialist John Boynton "J.B." Priestley. Churchill states that he "is far from friendly to the Government, and I should not be too sure about him on larger issues." Quite a tacit implication there. Priestley, however, is extremely popular with ordinary citizens - only Churchill himself draws larger audiences - perhaps because he espouses populist left-wing ideas These resonate deeply with the population (which Churchill will find out definitively to his own regret in 1945). This memo eventually leads to the cancellation of Priestley's popular radio talks - though Priestley's son says in 2015 that in fact, it was the Cabinet that disliked Priestley and poisoned Churchill against him rather than the other way around. In any event, the days of Priestley's talks now are numbered.

A police raid just after midnight on 29 January 1941 at the 7566 Club at 7566 Melrose Avenue. Blue laws prohibited the sale of alcohol at that time of day. With no television, prime time radio broadcasts ending early, not much else to do at that time of day for the restless. It looks like there are women there, too.

Soviet Military: First flight of the Tupolev ANT-58 medium bomber.

German Government: Franz Schlegelberger is appointed German Minister of Justice after Franz Gürtner passes away.

Singapore: Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies is continuing his long journey to London and now is in Singapore. In his diary entry for today, he notes that the new Commander in chief of the Far East, Air Chief Marshall Sir Robert Brooke-Popham has "shoulders a little stooped" and his "hair and mustache are both sandy and wispy and a little indeterminate." On the other hand, Menzies likes the governor, Sir Shenton Thomas, who strikes Menzies as "brisk and I should think efficient." He also notes that Brooke-Popham says that, at his meeting with Churchill before assuming his position in Singapore, Churchill had told him to "Hold out to the last, my boy, God bless you" - which does not seem overly optimistic.

Indochina: The Vichy French and Thais continue to negotiate a peace deal under the auspices of the Japanese. An unofficial cease-fire remains in effect.

China: The Nationalist Chinese capture Zhenyang from the Japanese, while the Japanese 4th Cavalry Brigade captures Huai-yang. In the Battle of Southern Honan, the Japanese 11th Army holds its ground against attacks by the Chinese 5th War Area.

Bela Lugosi's "The Devil Bat" advertisement in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 29, 1941.

January 1941

January 1, 1941: Muselier Arrested
January 2, 1941: Camp Categories
January 3, 1941: Liberty Ships
January 4, 1941: Aussies Take Bardia
January 5, 1941: Amy Johnson Perishes
January 6, 1941: Four Freedoms
January 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Plans
January 8, 1941: Billions For Defense
January 9, 1941: Lancasters
January 10, 1941: Malta Convoy Devastation
January 11, 1941: Murzuk Raid
January 12, 1941: Operation Rhubarb
January 13, 1941: Plymouth Blitzed
January 14, 1941: V for Victory
January 15, 1941: Haile Selassie Returns
January 16, 1941: Illustrious Blitz
January 17, 1941: Koh Chang Battle
January 18, 1941: Luftwaffe Pounds Malta
January 19, 1941: East African Campaign Begins
January 20, 1941: Roosevelt 3rd Term
January 21, 1941: Attack on Tobruk
January 22, 1941: Tobruk Falls
January 23, 1941: Pogrom in Bucharest
January 24, 1941: Tank Battle in Libya
January 25, 1941: Panjiayu Tragedy
January 26, 1941: Churchill Working Hard
January 27, 1941: Grew's Warning
January 28, 1941: Ho Chi Minh Returns
January 29, 1941: US Military Parley With Great Britain
January 30, 1941: Derna Taken
January 31, 1941: LRDG Battered

2020