Thursday 22 May 1941

Junkers Ju 87 Stukas flying in open formation from the Argos airfield (Peloponnese) to perform attacks near Crete, 22 May 1941.

Anglo/Iraq War: The real action in the Iraq war on 22 May 1941 has shifted far to the east. All German supplies to the Rashid Ali government must pass through Vichy Syria, which has given the Luftwaffe transit rights. The British are gearing up to invade Syria in response. General Maitland Wilson, who is drawing up plans for the invasion, today meets with Major General John Lavarack, who will command British troops in the assault, at Sarafand.

Wilson plans to invade Syria in three separate brigade columns along isolated roads - a risky gambit, as the columns would not be able to support each other. However, British military intelligence reports that French morale in Syria is very low and the invasion will be easy.

At Fallujah, the Iraqi 6th Infantry Brigade counterattacks. They have Italian-made light tanks, but the RAF provides critical support with 56 sorties. The RAF destroys an Iraqi relief column of 40 vehicles heading for Fallujah, losing an Audax biplane (the crew reaches British lines by removing the Lewis machine gun and using it to hold off Iraqis trying to capture them). The British hold their ground and capture six light tanks.

Six sailors from HMAS Yarra go undercover to conduct reconnaissance at Maqil, Iraq. This is pursuant to Operation Scoop, the full-scale invasion of Iraq.

European Air Operations: RAF Fighter Command conducts Rhubarb operations during the day. RAF Bomber Command sends 16 planes on anti-shipping missions. There is extensive reconnaissance on both sides regarding the Bismarck/Prinz Eugen sortie to the North Atlantic.

British troops in Iraq, May 1941.

East African Campaign: The Allies (East African 22nd Infantry Brigade) capture Sodo (Soddu) in Abyssinia. The Italian 21st and 24th Colonial Divisions withdraw across the Omo River in Galla-Sidamo.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-111 (Kptlt. Wilhelm Kleinschmidt), on its first patrol and operating with Wolfpack West south of Greenland, torpedoes and sinks 4813-ton British freighter Barnby. This is additional destruction to Convoy HX-126, which has suffered badly and now is dispersed with every ship on its own. After this, U-111 heads for Lorient.

U-103 (KrvKpt. Viktor Schütze), on her fourth patrol and operating off Freetown, torpedoes and badly damages (later sinks) 6857-ton British freighter British Grenadier. The entire crew is picked up by Portuguese freighter Ganda before the ship sinks and taken to Freetown.

German Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen continue up the Norwegian coast. At 04:14, the destroyers detach from the Flotilla and head to Trondheim. At the very end of the day, around midnight, Admiral Lütjens orders the turn toward the northwest for the breakout through the Denmark Strait.

HMS Hood heads toward the Denmark Strait, 22 May 1941.

At 23:00, Battleship HMS King George V, battlecruiser Hood, fleet carrier HMS Victorious, cruisers and destroyers head to sea to support the ships (cruisers Birmingham and Manchester and five trawlers) guarding the Denmark Strait.

The minelayer HNMS Nautilus (M 12) of the Royal Dutch Navy, lost to a collision on 22 May 1941.

Royal Dutch Navy minelayer HNLMS Nautilus collides with British freighter Murrayfield near Saltfleet at 00:23. The Nautilus sinks, but there are no casualties.

British freighter Ben Veg collides with freighter Brittany and sinks in the Irish Sea about 8 miles north of Point of Ayre, Isle of Man. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages British 5249-ton freighter Empire Progress southwest of Needles. There are four deaths. The master beaches the ship at Totland Bay, and it is later taken to Southampton for repair.

German 5088-ton freighter Ditmar Koel hits a mine and sinks off the island of Juist near Norden in Lower Saxony.

German freighter Käte Grammerstorf hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea north of Ameland, Friesland.

Italian torpedo boat Lupo (Captain Francesco Mimbelli), badly damaged on the night of 21/21 May 1941 while escorting a convoy to Crete.

HMS Edinburgh intercepts and captures German freighter Lech in the Bay of Biscay.

Royal Navy destroyer HMCS Saguenay completes a refit at Barrow-in-Furness.

Minelayer Teviot Bank lays minefield BS-61 in the English Channel.

Convoy SL-75 departs Gibraltar for England, Convoy WS-8B (Winston Special) departs the Clyde bound for Freetown (and ultimately Suez).

Corvette HMCS Arvida is commissioned.

US Navy tug USS Hoga is commissioned and minesweeper Nuthatch is laid down.

U-564 (Oblt. Reinhard Suhren) rescues the four-man crew of a downed Junkers Ju-88 off of Gdynia (Gotenhafen).

U-373 (Oblt. Paul-Karl Loeser) and U-571 (Kptlt. Helmut Möhlmann) are commissioned.

HMS Gloucester undertaking evasive maneuvers prior to being sunk, 22 May 1941. This photo was taken from a Luftwaffe bomber (IWM (HU 24829)).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Two completely separate, but inextricably intertwined - battles develop at Crete. The British lose both of them.

At Sea Off Crete:

Everyone on both sides by this point understands that Maleme airfield in the western portion of Crete is the key to the German invasion of Crete (Operation Mercury). From the British perspective, the goal is preventing German reinforcements and supplies to that location, which can only come in by two routes: Junkers Ju 52 transport planes flying from the north, and caiques from Greek ports. The Luftwaffe understands that, if it cannot maintain effective communications with its troops on Crete, they are doomed and the entire invasion will fail.

Both German routes to Crete depend upon airpower. The commander of the Luftwaffe VIII Air Corps, General Freiherr Wolfram von Richthofen, has a powerful force of Bf-109s, Bf 110s, Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers, and Dornier Do-17 and Junkers Ju-88 medium bombers. These oppose Royal Navy Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet, which has gathered 14-19 large warships (including battleships HMS Valiant and Warspite) to block the German supply routes. The Germans and Italians have no naval presence worth mentioning, and the RAF is too distant to play much of a role (considering that it evacuated Crete on 19 May). The events of Operation Mercury on 22 May 1941 thus develops into a classic confrontation between air and naval power, something that has been debated by all major powers for over twenty years.

While little recognized, the real problem for the Royal Navy is far away. Two desperately needed aircraft carriers are far away, at Gibraltar with Force H, after having just completed Operation Splice (sending planes to Malta). They could steam east... but the Bismarck is on the loose, and the carriers will be needed in the Atlantic. The Royal Navy is being stretched, and the ships off Crete are paying the price.

HMS Gloucester, sunk off Crete on 22 May 1941. The Gloucester was a modern ship, commissioned on 31 January 1939.

Luftwaffe reconnaissance identifies the locations of the Royal Navy units at first light. Stukageschwader 2, commanded by Lt. Col. Oskar Dinort, takes off immediately. The Junkers Ju-87 dive bombers spot two cruisers and two destroyers about 25 miles north of Crete. Cruisers HMS Fiji and Gloucester are slightly damaged by near misses, while the Germans ignore destroyers Greyhound and Griffin. After the Luftwaffe planes leave, the Royal Navy flotilla heads west to join the rest of the fleet about 30 miles off the coast.

East of Crete, the Royal Navy has gotten out of position due to its successful blocking of a German convoy during the night. Admiral Cunningham (in Alexandria) has ordered the ships to pursue the caiques and destroy them. This has brought them far to the north and them easy to attack. The Stukas fall on them next, slightly damaging cruisers HMS Carlisle and Naiad. These ships also escape to the west without being able to destroy the German convoy.

The early success of the Royal Navy ships in defending themselves is due to their use of massive quantities of anti-aircraft ammunition. Already, their stocks are running low, and should their guns fall silent, they would become easy prey to the accurate Luftwaffe Stukas. Gloucester has only 18% of its ammunition left, and Fiji only 30.

Around 10:30, British Force C spots an Axis convoy, escorted by torpedo boat Sagittario, south of Milos. The British ships open fire and damage Sagittario and some caiques. However, the British are soon chased off by the Luftwaffe, and light cruiser HMS Naiad suffers four near misses and has two turrets knocked out. While the ship can still steam at 16 knots, the damage is structural and thus severe. Light cruiser Carlisle is hit on the bridge, killing Captain T.C. Hampton. The entire force heads back to Port Said for repairs. Light cruiser Perth also suffers damage.
Shortly after noontime, Bf 109s escort Dornier Do-17 bombers to attack the Royal Navy ships that are heading west. While the Dorniers are usually thought of as level bombers, every bomber in the Luftwaffe is designed to serve as a dive bomber, too. The planes destroy battleship Warspite's starboard 4- and 6-inch batteries. The planes cause chaos on the deck by strafing and killing many sailors manning guns.

"Photograph taken by a German airman recording the sinking of HMS GLOUCESTER off the coast of Crete, 22 May 1941." © IWM (HU 1997D).

The first flight of Luftwaffe planes of Stukageschwader 2 now has had time to return to base, rearm and refuel, and return to battle. They catch destroyer Greyhound off Antikythera, east of Crete, where it has been sent to intercept a reported German seaborne convoy to Crete. Greyhound sinks quickly. Cunningham orders several ships to the area to pick up survivors, but he has not been told that the ships have expended their anti-aircraft ammunition. The Luftwaffe pounces again and sets cruiser Gloucester ablaze. It sinks at 16:00. Out of a crew of 807, 722 perish.

At this point, Rear Admiral Edward King, in local command, gives up. He leaves all of the survivors of both Gloucester and Greyhound to their fate and runs back toward Alexandria with cruiser Fiji and destroyers Kandahar and Kingston. The Luftwaffe sends floatplanes to help pick up more than 500 British sailors who otherwise would perish, along with some Royal Navy destroyers who return during the night.

HMS Fiji under attack, with bombs falling astern, just before her sinking.

King's ships, however, are still exposed. A single Bf 109 fighter-bomber (Jabo) carrying a 550-pound bomb spots the fleeing Fiji. The bomb is a near miss which opens the cruiser's plates and causes extensive flooding. The pilot radios in the position and half an hour later a Junkers Ju 88 (Lieutenant Gerhard Brenner) arrives and hits the cruiser with three 110-pound bombs in the forward boiler room. Fiji sinks around 18:00.

The Admiralty is furious at King's "lack of aggression." After the battle, he is court-martialed for his decision and relegated to a desk job at the Admiralty. He will never go to sea again and will retire on 15 June 1944.

The Admiralty decides to reinforce failure and sends five more destroyers from Malta. Two of them, Kashmire and Kelly, shell Maleme after dark. However, this exposes their position to the Germans, who radio Athens to send more planes early on the 23rd.

The Luftwaffe also attacks Force A1 west of Crete, damaging battleship HMS Valiant. The Luftwaffe loses five Junkers Ju-87s and five Junkers Ju-88s and has sixteen more planes damaged. Significantly, the Luftwaffe does not lose any fighters because the RAF has withdrawn theirs.

After dark, the Royal Navy maintains patrols off Crete, but the Luftwaffe continues attacking. Destroyer Havock suffers damage to its boiler room from a near miss. There are 15 deaths and ten wounded.

Force D shells and sinks Romanian freighter Carmen Sylva.

Another view from a Luftwaffe plane of HMS Gloucester rolling over on 22 May 1941 (Imperial War Museums (collection no. PC 2250).

In Suda Bay, half-sunk cruiser York, which is beached and has been used as a gun platform, finally is abandoned after being hit by more bombs. The Royal Navy opens the seacocks and does other things to render it unusable to the Germans.

Seeing the way things are going, the Admiralty orders Royal Navy destroyers HMS Decoy and Hero to evacuate Greek King George and the rest of the Greek government from Crete.

Submarine Rorqual lays mines in the Gulf of Salonika. The ships of Operation Splice, the air-ferry mission to Malta, arrive back in Gibraltar. At Malta, it is a fairly quiet day, with reconnaissance patrols spotting an Axis convoy off the eastern Tunisian coast (likely returning from Tripoli). The RAF launches attacks and claims a sinking, though apparently, the Axis ships suffer no damage.

According to his Private Secretary John Colville's diary, Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the evening dismisses the losses of Fiji and Gloucester and the other ships, saying:

What do you think we build the ships for?

Churchill, of course, is the former head of the Royal Navy. It is interesting to compare this sort of statement with the endless criticism that Adolf Hitler receives for similarly callous statements about Wehrmacht casualties.

Map of British counterattack, 22 May 1941.

Maleme Airport:

The New Zealand troops at Maleme require time to be relieved by other troops in order to counterattack the vital Hill 107 which overlooks Maleme airport. The British still worry about a sea landing, so they keep many available forces on the coast nearby. Two New Zealand battalions, the 20th Battalion of the 4th Brigade and the 28th Maori Battalion of the 5th Brigade, finally launch a counterattack. While planned for 02:00, it does not get into motion until after daylight. The Allied counterattack under New Zealand Second Lieutenant Charles Upham fails despite wreaking havoc on machine-gun nests and other positions, and the Germans tighten their grip on the airfield. Upham, who goes out of his way to rescue several isolated soldiers, wins the Victoria Cross.

Aerial view of Maleme Airfield during Operation Mercury, with planes scattered all about on the runway.

Maleme airfield is still under artillery fire throughout the day. The Luftwaffe continues feeding planes into the inferno with reinforcements and supplies. While able to land, most either crash into other planes at the chaotic end of the runway or are blasted by shellfire. Still, enough planes get through to maintain the German position and enable it to expand as the day goes on. The Luftwaffe loses dozens of transports but saves the bridgehead.

The Allies, meanwhile, are utterly confused about German intentions, and some commanders believe the German transports are taking Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) off the island rather than bringing them in.

Ruins at Heraklion following fighting on 22 May 1941.

Elsewhere On Crete:

The Australian 19th Infantry Brigade contains the Fallschirmjäger attacking Retimo. The German 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment withdraws under heavy pressure to positions east of Heraklion. With the main effort now clearly at Maleme, the goal of other German forces on the island is first and foremost to avoid capture or death.

Elsewhere in North Africa, there is little ground activity. RAF bombers raid Benghazi.

"A German Pzkw Mk III tank advances through the desert during Rommel's drive on Bir Hakeim, June 1942. The tank was superior to its British rival, the Matilda, in terms of both reliability and armament." This photo may have been taken on 22 May 1941, as that is its production date. © IWM (MH 5852).

Propaganda War: The propaganda agencies of both the Reich and Great Britain paint very different pictures of the fighting on Crete. The German public is told of stirring air attacks, but the dire straits of the Fallschirmjäger are glossed over. The British press, on the other hand, dwells on Luftwaffe losses and the supposedly solid position of the British forces on land.

German/Soviet Relations: Reich Ambassador Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow, Russia. Schulenburg, who knows about Operation Barbarossa (or at least strongly suspects it), reports that it is a friendly meeting.

Anglo-US Relations: Churchill gives a candid evaluation of the fighting on Crete to President Roosevelt, calling the battle "severe, because, having no airfields within effective range, we cannot bring any Air Force into action." He adds:

Two of our cruisers and two destroyers sunk today. We are destroying many of highest-class German troops and have sunk at least one convoy.

This is an extremely accurate appraisal, and much more honest than what the statement he issues to the House of Commons.

Regarding the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, Churchill comments that "Should we fail to catch them going out, your Navy should surely be able to mark them down for us." All pretense of US neutrality, of course, is long gone.

Anglo/Ireland Relations: Churchill has an unpleasant meeting with Irish High Commissioner John Dulanty, as reported in the War Cabinet minutes. Churchill claims that Dulanty has used "the usual arguments" in opposition to an Irish draft in Northern Ireland, such as the likelihood of violent protests. Churchill responds that British public opinion is "hard and bitter" and would lead to a "permanent embitterment of feeling after the war." The War Cabinet minutes suggest that plans for a draft in Ireland will proceed despite objections, but be limited to those already in the Home Guard.

"Aerial perspective of the City of London looking east towards Tower Bridge." 22 May 1941. © IWM (HU 131469).

Anglo/Vichy France Relations: The British demand that the Vichy French government stop collaborating with Germany:

If the Vichy government, in pursuance of their declared policy of collaboration with the enemy, take action or permit action detrimental to our conduct of the war or designed to assist the enemy's war effort, we shall naturally hold ourselves free to attack the enemy wherever he may be found, and in so doing we shall no longer feel bound to draw any distinction between occupied and unoccupied territory in the execution of our military plans.

Vichy continues its drift toward further collaboration.

German Military: Field Marshal Albert Kesselring moves his headquarters of Luftflotte 2 from the Channel coast to Bielany, a suburb of Warsaw. The Air Fleet will operate in support of Army Group Center under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, whose target is Moscow. Kesselring and von Bock established a close working relationship during the invasion of Poland and, later, of the Netherland and Belgium. Airfields in Poland, however, are not yet complete for all of the Luftwaffe units - many Poles are being impressed into service to clear land and build structures.

Heinrich Himmler forms a Norwegian SS organization, basing it on the German original.

Soviet Military: Destroyer Razjarennyj is launched.

P-40 Kittyhawk fighters in the Philippines in 1941.

US Military: Both the US Army Air Corps and the RAF place orders for the P40D/Kittyhawk I/Curtiss Hawk 81 fighter.

The US Navy continues transferring ships from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

US President Roosevelt issues orders to prepare for the seizure of the Azores.

British Government: Churchill makes a statement to the House of Commons about Crete, his third in the past three days. He states in part:

Fighting is continuing with intensity, and, although the situation is in hand, the Germans have gained some local successes, at heavy cost. They are using large numbers of airborne and parachute troops, and these are increasing daily.... At Maleme Aerodrome, 10 miles South-West of Canea, it appears that the enemy are now in occupation of the aerodrome and the area to the West of it, but the aerodrom is still under our fire. Elsewhere in this sector the coastal line remains in our hands.

Churchill is silent on the Royal Navy losses at sea, which his private secretary confirms he is well aware of at this time. He simply says, "I am sorry to say that I have got no definite information as to the results, but I feel they can hardly be other than satisfactory."

In fact, the results are sea are far from satisfactory for the Royal Navy, as he well knows. Churchill also does not mention the issue of German troops wearing New Zealand uniforms, something he has claimed to be the case in the previous two statements.

"Aerial perspective of the City of London looking southeast." 22 May 1941. © IWM (HU 131470).

German Government: Hitler ends his brief stay at his old apartment in Munich and heads up to Berchtesgaden. He holds a war conference, and Admiral Raeder notifies Hitler about the Bismarck mission. Hitler, who at one point during the war confesses that he "can't sleep a wink with large ships operating, first asks somewhat plaintively, "Herr Grossadmiral, can’t we fetch the ships back?" However, he reluctantly consents to Operation Rheinübung due to the effect it would have on Kriegsmarine's morale. Hitler is worried about the effect the Bismarck operation will have on the United States.

Hitler's adjutant and personal friend, Walther Hewel, writes in his diary for 22 May:

... Drove up the mountain. Conference with the Chief [Ribbentrop], Raeder, and Keitel on naval strategy, convoy issue, the Raeder “interview,” and on Dakar, the Canaries and the Azores! Very interesting. The Fuhrer still vacillates in his attitude toward America, as “you cannot peer into Roosevelt’s mind.” If he wants a war, he will always find the means, even if legally we are in the right. Japan holds the key.

Adolf Hitler ends his two-day vacation in Munich and meets with Admiral Erich Raeder. They discuss a possible Kriegsmarine invasion of the Azores. Hitler sees it as a base for Luftwaffe bombers. Raeder reports that, should the Germans take the Azores, they would have no way of defending them.

China: Chinese 4th Pursuit Group disperse to new airfields, and just as they are landing, 25 Japanese G3M bombers with an escort of A6M Zero fighters appear overhead. The Japanese bomb Lanzhou. Kao You-hsing, flying an I-16, still has his engine running after landing and takes off to fight the Japanese formation singlehandedly and disrupts the attack. This buys enough time for other Chinese planes to get in the air, preventing them from being destroyed on the ground. The Japanese lose one bomber, but the bomb the city without further interference.

The Chinese redirect 17 I-153s of the 5th Pursuit Group to Lanzhou to defend against the attack. However, while refueling at Tianshu (Gansu Province), all of the planes are destroyed on the ground by bombing. Lu Enlung, leader of the 5th Pursuit Group, is relieved of command.

Japanese aircraft of the 12th Kokutai also attack Chengu during the day.

Grave of Private Walter Fleming, number 3710998, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, at Habbaniya War Cemetery, Iraq. KIA 22 May 1941.

Holocaust: Jews in Croatia are required to wear a Yellow Badge, also known as the Yellow Star of David, reflecting similar medieval practices. The practice will spread around Occupied Europe. The badges include the word "Jew" in local languages.

Norwegian Homefront: The German occupation authorities call striking theatrical workers in to remonstrate with them. The workers are told to get back to work "or else."

American Homefront: Technicolor film "Blood and Sand" is released. Starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Rita Hayworth, it features supporting roles by Anthony Quinn, John Carradine, and Lynn Bari. It becomes quite popular and will win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, due in part to set designer Rouben Mamoulian using the paintings of Spanish painters Goya, El Greco and Velázquez for inspiration.

Future History: Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, born in Glasgow, Scotland. He will become a top British track-and-field athlete, holding the British record for the 100-meter sprint from 1967-1974, and thereafter a leading British politician. As of this writing, Lord Campbell is the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews.

HMS Greyhound, sunk 22 May 1941 off Crete.

May 1941

May 1, 1941: British Hold Tobruk
May 2, 1941: Anglo-Iraq War
May 3, 1941: Liverpool Hammered
May 4, 1941: Hitler Victory Speech
May 5, 1941: Patriots Day
May 6, 1941: Stalin In Command
May 7, 1941: May Blitz
May 8, 1941: Pinguin Sunk
May 9, 1941: U-110 Captured
May 10, 1941: Hess Flies Into History
May 11, 1941: The Hess Peace Plan
May 12, 1941: Tiger Arrives Safely
May 13, 1941: Keitel's Illegal Order
May 14, 1941: Holocaust in Paris
May 15, 1941: Operation Brevity
May 16, 1941: Blitz Ends
May 17, 1941: Habbaniya Relieved
May 18, 1941: Croatia Partitioned
May 19, 1941: Bismarck at Sea
May 20, 1941: Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1941: Robin Moore Sinking
May 22, 1941: Royal Navy Destruction Off Crete
May 23, 1941: Crete Must Be Won
May 24, 1941: Bismarck Sinks Hood
May 25, 1941: Lütjens' Brilliant Maneuver
May 26, 1941: Bismarck Stopped
May 27, 1941: Bismarck Sunk
May 28, 1941: Crete Lost
May 29, 1941: Royal Navy Mauled Off Crete
May 30, 1941: Sorge Warns, Stalin Ignores
May 31, 1941: British Take Baghdad

2020

Wednesday 8 January 1941

HMS Gloucester enters Grand Harbour, Malta on 8 January 1941.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Greek Commander-in-chief Papagos on 8 January 1941 launches a major attack on the Italian Julia division defending Klisura Pass. The Greek II Corps leads the attack, with the 1st Division on the left and the 15th and 11th Divisions on the right. The Greeks make good progress in very hard fighting, putting themselves in a position to finally capture the pass.

The Klisura Pass is considered necessary for the Greeks to press on and take the critical Italian port of Valona and free troops for the defense of eastern Greece against an anticipated German invasion from Bulgaria. The Italian commander in Albania, Cavallero, immediately begins transferring troops from other sectors with which he intended to launch his own offensive.

European Air Operations: The RAF air command on Malta launches a night raid against Naples. The Italians have dispersed their fleet to Naples and other points, but the RAF is tracking them down. Battleship Giulio Cesare is damaged slightly by three near misses and must be moved to La Spezia for repairs. It is not as significant a blow as it might be, because the Italians are not using their capital ships anyway - though they have plenty of fuel to do so if they wished.

Another benefit of the mission for the British is that it induces the Italians to move their battleship Vittorio Veneto to La Spezia as well, to get it out of harm's way - a rather incongruous way to handle what should be your mightest offensive weapon. The Italian naval command at this point appears obsessed with keeping a "fleet in being," a strategy that in a calculated fashion uses the threat of warships to draw enemy airpower away from on-shore targets. There are pros and cons to this strategy, which certainly appears to fit with the overall Italian mindset during the conflict, but essentially removes these warships from active operations where they might actually be of strategic use (such as off North Africa or Albania).

RAF Bomber Command also sends seven Wellington bombers to raid Wilhelmshaven. The target is German battleship Tirpitz, still under construction but almost finished. The RAF does not score any hits, though some near misses scuff up the paint a bit. This is another example of Axis warships drawing fire away from other, arguably more productive, targets. It is the one area in which the Axis navies constantly excel.

For its part, the Luftwaffe sends a few scattered raiders across during the day but stays on the ground after dark.

The prototype Vultee XP-54, nicknamed the "Swoose Goose."

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe (Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors of I,/KG 40) bombs and sinks 6278-ton British freighter Clytoneus in the Western Approaches. Everybody survives. KG 40 has just been turned over to Admiral Doenitz's forces to assist with U-boat operations.

British 683 ton Trinity House tender Strathearn hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea. There are 15 deaths.

Royal Navy minelayers HMS Adventure and Teviotbank lay minefields ZME 12 and BS 48, respectively. These are in the St. Georges Channel and off the east coast.

Convoy OB 271 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 378 departs from Southend, Convoy FN 379 is postponed, Convoy HG 50 departs from Gibraltar.

Royal Navy destroyer HMAS Nizam (Lt. Commander Max J. Clark) commissioned.

U-559 launched.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Excess, the latest supply operation for Malta, continues with a complicated series of ship movements. Force A departs from Suda Bay, Crete and heads toward Malta. Force B warships arrive at Malta and disembark their troops, then quickly depart for escort duties of convoys still headed toward the island. Force D is reinforced by Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the destroyer HMAS Stuart. Force D then joins Force A southeast of Malta but then switches to escort Convoy ME 6. So far, Operation Excess is running as smoothly as previous convoys and virtually without incident.

The Australian 6th Division begins active patrols around the Tobruk perimeter, probing Italian defenses. They find a similar layout to the one at Bardia, two defensive lines with antitank ditches, barbed wire, and concrete pillboxes.

General Archibald Wavell, British Middle East Commander, replies diplomatically to Prime Minister Churchill's insinuations of the past couple of days that his army has become a haven for slackers:

I can assure you that I have always had question of rearward services constantly in mind and have been as anxious as anyone to cut down on non-fighting units. Except for anti-aircraft.... But the more I see of War, especially present-day War, the more I am impressed by the part that administration plays.

This dispute about the "Tooth-to-tail Ratio" will continue on both sides, though it really has not begun yet on the German side. As much as anything, such concerns are a sure sign of a military that is overstretched and unable to meet all of the threats that are popping up. Wavell, incidentally, is absolutely correct that modern wars are won not by valor in combat (alone), but by logistics and weaponry. This is a lesson that is and will be hammered home brutally to some participants during the course of the conflict.

At Malta, cruisers HMS Gloucester and Southampton dock just long enough to disembark their troops, then head back out to sea. These troops buttress the island's antiaircraft defenses.

The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) approaches the Italian administration center of Murzuk, in the southwest corner of Libya and hundreds of miles distant from other British forces. They are aided by local French and tribesmen. Their intent is to attack the Italian airfield and headquarters at Murzuk both to disrupt Italian administration and to incite violence throughout Libya.

Convoy AS 10 departs from Piraeus for Suda Bay.

Battle of the Pacific: Contract workers arrive on Wake Island onboard the USS William Ward Burrows. They are to construct a naval air station (NAS) there.

USS Wasp (CV-7), in Norfolk Naval Shipyard for refitting, 8 January 1941.

Anglo/Free French Relations: The British release Vice Admiral Muselier, imprisoned since New Year's day on espionage and treason charges. The British MI5 intelligence branch concludes that Muselier has been set up with fake documents planted by two security people (Commandant Howard and Adjutant Colin) hired on their own recommendation. The reasons for the smear are murky, apparently, Muselier offended Howard in some way and he had Colin draw up the phony documents which, among other things, suggested that Muselier compromised Operation Menace (the failed attack on Dakar). Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden tenders a note of abject apology.

This decision avoids a very sharp rupture in Anglo/French relations. Charles de Gaulle views the entire affair as a plot by MI5 to discredit him personally, and had been on the brink of turning his back on the British - to the extent possible, as he essentially is a British client ruler - had the charges not been dropped.

This is a much better outcome politically than if Winston Churchill had followed his initial inclinations and had Muselier shot outright. However, de Gaulle forever after holds a grudge against the British intelligence service due to this incident. Muselier, for his part, returns to his duties in charge of Free French naval forces.

US/Vichy French Relations: Admiral William D. Leahy presents his credentials to the Petain government in Vichy. This comes one day after Roosevelt accepted former ambassador Bullitt's resignation.

Anglo/US Relations: Roosevelt observer "Wild Bill" Donovan arrives in Cairo for talks with British Middle East Commander General Wavell.

North Fort Lewis, Pierce County, Nebraska, home to the US 41st Infantry Division. President Roosevelt has inducted the 41st Division into federal service for a term of one year. January 8, 1941 (Courtesy Lewis Army Museum).

German Military: Adolf Hitler convenes a meeting of his senior military advisors at Berchtesgaden. He admits that Germany cannot invade England until it is "crippled" and the Luftwaffe "has complete air superiority." Neither of those things has happened or appears likely to happen any time soon (though the U-boat campaign is showing great promise in the former area). Hitler places his hopes on eliminating all opposition on the Continent, relying on the clear superiority of the Wehrmacht on land. Hitler plans to shore up the Italians both in Greece and North Africa, but he does not trust them and wants no communications to them which they can pass along to the British.

This meeting is the beginning of Hitler's acknowledgment that he has no real allies in Western Europe. He does not trust the Italians, and he knows now the Vichy French and Spanish will never help him conquer the British. Planning for Operation Attila, the occupation of Vichy France and seizure of the French fleet at Toulon continues.

Hitler evidently has been paying attention to events in Washington, too. President Roosevelt's veiled threats during his recent State of the Union speech obviously did not escape his attention. He tells his leaders that war with the United States may be approaching as well. Hitler and his cronies live under the delusion that the US cannot intervene on the Continent in any time frame that might affect the current wars in progress or others being contemplated. This is because of, among other reasons, the so-far successful U-boat campaign and the huge head start that Germany has in military preparations and achievements.

British Military: While Hitler is busy with his war conference at the Berghof, Winston Churchill is holding similar meetings at Whitehall. The Defence Committee is studying the Balkan situation. Anthony Eden, having a busy day, strongly advocates sending British troops to Greece immediately in order to induce Turkey to join the Allied side and form a "Balkan bloc." Churchill himself says that "there was no other course open to us but to make certain that we had spared no effort to help the Greeks who had shown themselves so worthy." Thus, the matter basically is decided, although it must be ascertained whether it is possible.

The Chiefs of Staff thus cable Commander-in-Chief of the RAF's Middle East Command Air Marshal Sir Arthur Murray Longmore and ask him if air units are available for immediate transfer to Greece. Longmore replies that he wants to keep his units supporting General Wavell's advance, but he does not have the final say. Discussions of the Defence Committee on this key strategic question continue into the 9th.

Japanese Military: Army Minister Tojo Hideki issues a military decree, "Instructions For the Battlefield," which essentially commands Japanese soldiers to fight to the death rather than be captured.

Soviet Military: The second round of war games begins. This time, General Zhukov commands the Soviet forces, and General Kulik commands the invading "Blue" forces.

US Military: The USAAC orders the first prototype of the Vultee XP-54.

Due to lingering disagreements about whether the US Pacific fleet should be based at Hawaii (among other things), President Roosevelt decides to replace Admiral James Richardson as Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet (CinCPac) and CinCUS (should the Pacific and Atlantic fleets ever merge). Admiral Husband E. Kimmel will replace him effective 1 February 1941. In addition, Admiral Ernest J. King, an advocate of a strong US naval presence in the Pacific, will become Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet (CinCLant). Richardson will hold no further active commands.

Baltimore News-Post, 8 January 1941.

US Government: Following President Roosevelt's militaristic State of the Union address, his administration releases a proposed budget of $17.5 billion for the Fiscal Year 1942 (beginning 1 July 1941). This budget includes a massive $10.8 billion war (defense) budget (it is still called the War Department, not the Department of Defense, at this point). With military expenditures exceeding 50% of all government spending, this is a record peacetime commitment, the highest in US history.

Canadian Government: Accepting the recommendation of its subcommittee, the Canadian war council excludes Japanese-Canadians from military service.

Indochina: The conflict between Thailand and the Vichy French continues to sizzle. The Royal Thai Air Force attacks the French at Siem Reap and Battambang.

German Homefront: It has taken the better part of a year, but the port facilities at Narvik, Norway have been repaired. It is the key port for the shipment of Swedish iron ore to German war factories. Today, the first freighter departs for Germany carrying ore.

British Homefront: Lord Baden-Powell, the inspiration for the Boy and Girl Scout movement, passes away at age 83. Baden-Powell is one of the very few prominent British people ever to have kind words for Hitler's "Mein Kampf," calling it "A wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organization etc. - and ideals which Hitler does not practice himself." Having spent the last few decades of his life in Africa, he passes away in Kenya.

American Homefront: Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" is nearing completion. Newspaper critics have received an advance rough-cut screening (minus the score), and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (uninvited) watches and later writes that the film is a "vicious and irresponsible attack on a great man" - the great man being William Randolph Hearst. Hearst hears about this and remonstrates with his own gossip columnist, Louella Parsons, about why she hasn't told him that the film was calculated to attack him.

Parsons, on or about this date, then angrily demands a private screening of the film herself (apparently she did not crash the critics' screening like Hedda). She threatens a lawsuit (on Hearst's behalf" and hints darkly about other means of professional retaliation. Nobody messes with William Randolph Hearst, not only because of his money, power, and influence as the boss of a national chain of newspapers but also because of the dead guy once found on his private yacht. RKO Pictures studio head George J. Schaefer accedes to Parsons' demands and schedules a private screening for her (and Hearst's lawyers) on 10 January.

Future History: Graham Arthur Chapman is born in Stoneygate, Leicester. Chapman develops an interest in writing and teams up with John Cleese, another struggling comedian, whilst still in school. They write for various television comedy series, then team up with other young comedians (Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam) in the 1960s to form a sketch comedy group, Flying Circus. Together, they develop various classic comedy sketches, which lead to a television series of their own and a series of comedy films. Everyone within the group basically agrees that Chapman is the best actor in the troupe (at least at that time, though John Cleese also becomes a renowned comedy actor outside the group). Perhaps Chapman's high point with the group is playing the lead role in classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Chapman continues with Monty Python and branches out into his own successful career but passes away in 1989 from cancer at age 48.

Not everyone is enthusiastic about President Roosevelt's massive military preparations. "Thin Ice," published January 8, 1941, by S. J. Ray.

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

Monday 8 July 1940

Operation Catapult, July 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-99 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer) continues its successful patrol on 8 July 1940, torpedoing and sinking 5,758-ton British freighter Humber Arm at 07:53. The steamer is sailing with convoy HX-53. All 43 on board survive and are picked up by British destroyers. The escorts then spend 14 hours dropping depth charges on U-99, but it escapes after diving to a dangerous 350 feet. The crew almost succumbs to oxygen deprivation and U-99 gradually exits the area under low power.

Convoy OA 179 departs from Methil.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Catapult, the neutralization of the French fleet, continues. At Casablanca, British torpedo boats attack the French battleship, Jean Bart. In addition, the British attack Dakar for the second day without inflicting any major damage.

Italian submarine Guglielmo Marconi torpedoes Destroyer HMS Escort in the Western Mediterranean. The destroyer eventually sinks.

Admiral Cunningham in the Mediterranean is running Operation MA5, a convoy from Malta to Alexandria. He has provided massive protection for it, including virtually all of the Royal Navy forces in the Mediterranean. The Italian Navy under Admiral Campioni also is running an operation in the same general area covering a convoy to Benghazi. The British learn of the Italian operation and break off their own, but proceed to positions in the general vicinity of Taranto to intercept the Italians when they return to Italy. The Italians complete their own convoy and then learn of the British fleet presence. They arrange their own dispositions for possible fleet action. These are the preliminary stages of the Battle of Punta Stilo.

Force H under Admiral James Somerville, led by battlecruiser Hood and aircraft carrier Ark Royal, leaves Gibraltar to help cover the big Malta-Alexandria convoy and related operations.
The Regia Aeronautica damages Royal Navy cruiser Gloucester, killing the captain, 11 others, and wounding 9.

At Malta, quarrymen dig out 30 new rock shelters near Luqa aerodrome. There are international press reports about recent raids on the island. There is an attempted raid at 14:20, but defending RAF fighters disperse it before it reaches the coast.

Aircraft carrier HMS Hermes off Dakar during a convoy run. In the background, HMS Dorsetshire.

European Air Operations: The RAF mistakenly bombs two Swedish torpedo boats temporarily being held in the Faeroe Islands by the authorities. The boats had been bought from Italy. The two boats are damaged but proceed on to Sweden.

The fighter forces "mix it up" during the day, and the Luftwaffe shoots down 3 Spitfires and two Hurricanes. JG51 gets the kills.

Lt. Johann Bohm of 4./JG51 is forced down after being damaged in combat. He lands at Bladbean Hill, Elham, Kent. This gives the British a good Bf 109E to study and is the first largely undamaged Bf 109 to land in Great Britain. Coincidentally, later in the day another Bf 109E also lands later in the day at Sandwich, Kent, flown by Lt. A. Striberny of 3(J)./LG 2. This one is a Bf 109E-3. The British learn that there is heavier armor plating in the cockpit area on this series of aircraft.

Twin-engine Bf 110 Zerstorers are being used as fighter-bombers. A flight of them crosses the English coast at Dungeness and is intercepted by Spitfires from No. 54 Squadron. An escorting formation of Bf 109s then gets involved and shoots down two Spitfires and damages another.

Heinkel 111s of III./KG 54 attack industrial targets at Bristol.

RAF bombers attack Kiel, where heavy cruiser “Lützow” is being repaired following torpedo damage. A bomb hits the Lützow but fails to explode. They also raid Ostend, hitting a German supply ship, and also damage port infrastructure. The priority of RAF Bomber Command is shifting to the barges in canals in places like Zwolle, Haten, Weest, Elberg, and Deft.

RAF Fighter Command forms No. 10 Group for the defense of southwest England.

German/Swedish Relations: The governments sign a formal agreement permitting Wehrmacht troop and supplies transit on the Narvik railway under certain circumstances.

British/Swedish Relations: The British lodge a formal protest about the decision by Stockholm to allow German military transit on the Narvik railway.

Soviet/Finnish Relations: The Soviets demand transit privileges across Finnish territory to their base at Hango.

Soviet Military: The Soviets establish a Danube Flotilla on the territory they have occupied in Romania.

Swiss Military: The Swiss government mobilizes its army and allocates them to three Alpine fortresses. The Swiss have gotten wind of a German desk planning exercise, Operation Tannenbaum, the invasion of Switzerland. Hitler has some sort of grudge against Switzerland which leads to violent outbursts among his staff.

Japanese Military: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches battleship Yamato. Yamato has the largest guns in the world.

French Government: Free French leader Charles de Gaulle makes a BBC address in which he criticizes the British for their attacks on the French fleet, saying "all Frenchmen are dismayed."

The Vichy French prepare to withdraw their ambassador to the Court of St. James in London.

British Government: The nine divisions recovered from France are reorganized to face a possible invasion.

Norwegian Government: King Haakon refuses a request made by the German-controlled Storting (legislature) that he abdicate.

US Government: The US Joint War Planning Committee examines possibilities for the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean. The tentative plan is to send the US 1st Marine Brigade from New York to invade it.

British Homefront: Tea rationing begins, with 2 oz. per person per week. This is a big deal in the British Isles, with many extravagant literary expressions of calamity. This is a subtle but telling indication that the U-boat menace is real and growing.

The Republican ticket, Newsweek, 8 July 1940.

July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020