Friday 21 February 1941

A Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighter.

Italian/Greek Campaign: As has been the case often recently, poor winter weather curtails operations in Greece today, 21 February 1941. Both sides are looking to launch offensives soon, with the Italians steadily building up forces for a major offensive.

East African Campaign: HMS Formidable is stuck in the Red Sea waiting for the Suez Canal to be cleared before it can join the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria. The crew occupies itself supporting army operations, bombing Massawa, but they accomplish little. The Luftwaffe mining of the Suez Canal has achieved a tremendous amount for the small investment involved.

The campaign along the Juba River continues as the British move toward the ultimate prize of Mogadishu. At dawn, the Transvaal Scottish South African troops embark in armored cars to Margherita. The Italians have artillery positioned, but the South African artillery stops it. South Africans take Margherita during the afternoon. The new commander is Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon le Roux. The next objective to the north is Jelib, and the 22nd East African Brigade is coming from the north to block the Italians' retreat from that city.

The Indian 7th Infantry Brigade attacks the Italian 112th Colonial Battalion at Cub Cub but makes little progress.

Damage during the Swansea Blitz, 19-21 February 1941.

European Air Operations: After dark, the Luftwaffe completes its three-day attack on Swansea, Wales. As on the other nights, the bombers appear over the city around 19:50 and continue the attack until after midnight. Known as The Three Nights' Blitz, the attacks result in 230 dead (of 167,000 residents), 409 injured and 7000 homeless. The entire city center of about 41 acres is completely destroyed by 1273 high explosive bombs and 56,000 incendiary bombs. It is the worst sustained bombardment in Wales.

If there is a silver lining for the British, it is that the fire watchers organized by the Swansea Council prevent the incendiaries from combining to create a firestorm. This shows that, with adequate intervention, incendiary bombs can be greatly reduced ineffectiveness. In addition, the vital dock facilities and oil installations are largely unscathed. The number of casualties also is relatively light due to the presence of numerous Anderson and domestic shelters, some built before the war. Swansea is a textbook study on how to suffer a devastating aerial assault while containing the consequences as much as possible due to good preparation.

RAF Bomber Command, meanwhile, sends 34 bombers to raid Wilhelmshaven. It also sends 42 aircraft to lay mines off Brest.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe also raids Skálafjørður, also known as Kongshavn (King's harbor) in Eysturoy, Faroe Islands. The British have oil installations there, along with associated shipping. They sink 398-ton anti-submarine trawler HMS Lincoln City, while anti-submarine trawler HMS Leicester City shoots down one of the attacking German planes.
Royal Navy destroyer HMS Clare collides with British freighter Petertown just outside the Bristol Channel. Clare makes port at Plymouth but spends until October in port being repaired.

U-552 (K.Kapt. Erich Topp), on its first mission (though Topp previously commanded U-57), is heading out for its station along the convoy routes when it is spotted on the surface by RAF aircraft. The submarine takes some minor damage and continues with its mission. This is an omen of things to come, for U-boats are vulnerable while in transit to their patrol stations because they must make the trips on the surface.

The Lockheed Hudson bomber, T-9449, which crashed near Musgrave Harbour, 20 February 1941, killing Dr. Frederick Banting. This is some time after the crash, as the engines have been removed. The plane wound up in a remote area and survived intact through the 1970s. Pieces of it no doubt still lie where they came to rest.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Air Chief Marshal Arthur Longmore sends the Air Ministry in London a telegram criticizing air supply to the Middle East. It is well known that Longmore feels that sending planes to Greece is a waste of time, and he is rapidly rising on Churchill's list of officers to get rid of.

Operation MC 8, a supply convoy to Malta, concludes without a hitch today. Light cruisers HMS Orion, Gloucester, Ajax, and destroyers Mohawk, Nubian and Diamond arrive in the predawn darkness. They deliver 1300 troops in total (two battalions), and the Germans and Italians apparently never notice. The ships (except for Diamond) head back out at dusk.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Ursula (Lt.Cdr. G.C. Phillips) spots a convoy from Trapani in Sicily, bound for Tripoli. It torpedoes and damages Italian freighter Sabbia. Italian torpedo boat Montanari counterattacks, damaging Ursula. Sabbia eventually makes it to Tripoli, and Ursula gets away.

Colonel Leclerc's Free French force continues pounding away at the El Tag fortress in Kufra. The Italians in the fort can do nothing about the mortars and 75mm field gun firing from 1.5 and 3 km away, respectively.

The last photograph of Major Banting.

Battle of the Indian Ocean:  German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, having sunk two ships about 2000 km east of Madagascar on the 20th, today sinks a third. It is 7178-ton Canadian freighter Canadian Cruiser. The entire crew becomes POWs. The Canadian Cruiser notifies the Royal Navy of its plight, causing nearby patrolling cruiser HMS Glasgow to head toward the spot.

Battle of the Pacific: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) stands 10-15 miles off Oahu and lanches 31 USAAC Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighters. Taking off in flights of three, the fighters will be based at Wheeler Field in the Wahiawa District near Pearl Harbor (next to Schofield Barracks). Wheeler lies just north of the naval base. This is the first time in US Navy history that a regular USAAC fighter is flown off a carrier's deck in a ferrying operation - something the British have been doing with some regularity in the Mediterranean. Looking ahead, some of these fighters will be present and get into action on 7 December 1941.

The P-36 fighter is approaching obsolescence. The USAAC already has a better fighter, the P-40, in service. However, at this time, the P-36 is considered the basic American fighter.

Spy Stuff: In a memo to Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Alexander Cadogan, Prime Minister Winston Churchill inquires about a digest of intercepted phone calls between different foreign embassies in London. The British are tapping the Thai Embassy phones, and the Thais have conversations with the Japanese and Nepalese embassies which involve top secret information about Japanese war plans. This appears to be a primary source of British information about Japanese plans.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting.

Applied Science: Major Sir Frederick Grant Banting, inventor of insulin and a top aviation medicine researcher, perishes from wounds and exposure suffered following a 20 February 1941 Lockheed Hudson crash in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. The plane's engines fail, causing the bomber to come down in a remote forested area. Banting survives in the frigid weather for a day, into 21 February 1941, before succumbing. Banting, who had just re-enlisted despite being in his forties, was on his way from Gander to London to serve as a liaison between the medical services of Canada and Great Britain. It is a terrible way to go, a Nobel Laureate wasting away in the wilderness.

Anglo/US Relations: Churchill complains in a note to Harry Hopkins about having to give up "all our direct investments" to the Americans. "Is this really necessary?" he writes. It really is necessary. Despite his plaints, the British government authorizes the transfer. This effectively places the financial future of Great Britain in American hands - where, to be honest, it has been throughout the conflict.

Japanese Military: The Japanese Consulate in Honolulu is a hotbed of spies. Today, Consul Ojiro (Otohiro) Okuda sends his first true spy message to Tokyo. He observes fleet movements in Pearl Harbor from a hill hear his office, then sends the information to the IJN. The message notes the recent comings and goings of warships in the harbor, and also provides a detailed list of the ships currently in the harbor (which must have taken some effort to compile), to wit:

Seven battleships (three of the New Mexico class, two of the Pennsylvania class, one each of the Oklahoma and California classes); four heavy cruisers, (two of the New Orleans class and two of the Portland class); ten light cruisers, (four of the Honolulu class; six of the Omaha class of which one is in drydock); thirty destroyers; three destroyer tenders; aircraft carriers, Yorktown and Enterprise; one troop transport; one submarine tender; (no submarines were visible).

It takes quite some military knowledge to distinguish between different classes of ships, including cruisers, so Okuda likely received extensive training in Japan before assuming his position in Hawaii. The military planners in Tokyo find Okuda's information useful but do not wish to compromise him, so they consider sending a military aide to make the observations.

"Western Union," featuring a very young Robert Young in a rare early technicolor film, opens today, 21 February 1941.

Soviet Government: The Kremlin reveals today that former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov and two others have been removed from the Central Committee. Tellingly, Litvinov's place is filled by V. G. Dekanozov, ambassador to Germany and an architect of the 1939 Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact. Litvinov is Jewish and married to an Englishwoman. Violently opposed to fascism, his dismissal is an obvious gesture to Hitler and Germany.

Another dismissal is of Polina Semyonovna Zhemchuzhina Molotov, Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov's wife. Apparently not intended as a slap at her husband, the dismissal likely is due to the fact that she is Jewish, and also because Stalin dislikes her for personal reasons. Polina also is suspected of being a spy, apparently stemming from knowing some (unidentified) foreign spies. The fact that Polina is an outspoken Zionist probably doesn't help her cause, considering that Stalin is trying to improve relations with Hitler.

Australian Government: Prime Minister Robert Menzies finally makes it to London, a month after he set out from Melbourne. He is staying in the same suite at the Dorchester previously occupied by Wendell Willkie. Menzies notes that "So far I have seen only a few bombed places" and "Day raids have for the time been practically discontinued, and the street traffic... seemed almost normal." He has lunch with several cabinet ministers, noting that Minister of Labour and National Service Ernest Bevin "would be a great hand with a fractious union, but I would think of limited mental powers." He also finds Lord Woolton "quiet and perhaps a little deaf," while Home Secretary Herbert Morrison "is rather arresting, smallish, humorous, broadminded."

Norway: Following the lead of other nations, Norway breaks diplomatic relations with Romania.

South Africa: Lord Harlech becomes the High Commissioner.

Dutch Homefront: The German Grüne Polizei, local Dutch police and assorted German paramilitary organizations such as the WA ("Weerbaarheidsafdeling") are incensed by Jewish self-defense groups on the Waterlooplein injuring their comrades on the 20th. The Germans begin the process of rounding up 425 hostages, all young Jewish men and send them to Kamp School. After spending time there, the men will be sent to various concentration camps in Germany. Two will survive the war.

Italian Homefront: The government cuts the ration various cooking ingredients, including olive oil and butter, by half.

American Homefront: Promising young stars Robert Young and Dean Jagger team with Randolph Scott in Fritz Lang's "Western Union," which opens today. It is a rare 20th Century Fox technicolor film (there remain very few color film cameras in Hollywood) and is filmed on location in House Rock Canyon, Arizona and Kanab and Zion National Park, Utah. Reviews of the time generally focus on how colorful and vivid the film is - the acting and story are distinctly secondary. Several Native Americans appear in the film, including Chief John Big Tree and Chief Thundercloud. The Academy Film Archive will preserve the "Western Union" in 2000. Lang, incidentally, left Germany in 1934 in disgust at the German regime's control over the film industry despite being offered the plum position of head of UFA by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.

Buster Keaton stars in Columbia Pictures' "So You Won't Squawk," a two-reeler directed by Del Lord, a veteran director for Mack Sennett. It also opens today.

Buster Keaton in "So You Won't Squawk," released on 21 February 1941. This period generally is considered a lull in Buster's career, and he vows never again to "make another crummy two-reeler" once his ten-picture deal with Columbia is up.

February 1941

February 1, 1941: US Military Reorganization
February 2, 1941: Wehrmacht Supermen
February 3, 1941: World Will Hold Its Breath
February 4, 1941: USO Forms
February 5, 1941: Hitler Thanks Irish Woman
February 6, 1941: Operation Sunflower
February 7, 1941: Fox Killed in the Open
February 8, 1941: Lend Lease Passes House
February 9, 1941: Give Us The Tools
February 10, 1941: Operation Colossus
February 11, 1941: Afrika Korps
February 12, 1941: Rommel in Africa
February 13, 1941: Operation Composition
February 14, 1941: Nomura in Washington
February 15, 1941: Churchill's Warning
February 16, 1941: Operation Adolphus
February 17, 1941: Invade Ireland?
February 18, 1941: Panzerwaffe Upgrade
February 19, 1941: Three Nights Blitz
February 20, 1941: Prien's Farewell
February 21, 1941: Swansea Blitz Ends
February 22, 1941: Amsterdam Pogrom
February 23, 1941: OB-288 Convoy Destruction
February 24, 1941: Okuda Spies
February 25, 1941: Mogadishu Taken
February 26, 1941: OB-290 Convoy Destruction
February 27, 1941: Operation Abstention
February 28, 1941: Ariets Warns Stalin

2020

Thursday 21 March 1940

The crew of HMS Ursula in 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: British submarine HMS Ursula sinks German freighter Heddernheim off the Danish coast on 21 March 1940. It is the first victory by a British submarine over a German ship during the war.

At 01:00, U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) torpedoes and sink1,654-ton Danish freighter Algier about 15 miles northwest of Foula, Shetlands. There are 18 survivors and 5 crew perish. The Algier was carrying 11 Studebakers along with 302 tons of copper, 228 tons of tin, and 130 bottles of mercury. It was bound for Copenhagen.

Then, at 03:26, U-38 torpedoes and sinks 3,270-ton Danish freighter Christianborg. There are 24 survivors and one crew perishes.

Norwegian freighter Svinta sinks from unknown causes.

The Queen Mary departs from New York to an unpublished destination which turns out to be Sydney, Australia. It will be re-fitted as a troopship there.

Convoy OA 114 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 114 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX 29 departs from Halifax, Convoy OG 23F forms at Gibraltar.

European Air Operations: A Sussex farmer, Gerald Winter, sees an RAF plane crash and risks his life to drag the pilot out of the burning plane.

German Military: German Labour battalions in the Todt Organization begin constructing bunkers along the "Ostwall," the border with the Soviet Union.

Applied Science: Sir Henry Tizard briefs the British Cabinet of research by two physicists at Birmingham University working on an atomic "super-bomb." He cautions that "It is quite conceivable that Germany is, in fact, developing this weapon." The government has appropriated funds to study this issue.

Three French cabinet ministers, Édouard Daladier, Georges Bonnet, and Paul Reynaud, 1940.

French Government: Paul Reynaud becomes the new Prime Minister, as 239 French Deputies vote in favor and 1 against. However, indicating once again the fractured sentiment, there are 300 abstentions.

Former PM Edouard Daladier becomes Minister of National Defense and War. Reynaud also will serve as his own Foreign Minister. There are three Socialists in the cabinet. There will be an inner war cabinet of nine members. Daladier still has widespread support, and Reynaud essentially is forced to have him in the cabinet. However, former Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet is excluded.

Turkey: There is a secret meeting between British and Turkish representatives.

China: The Chinese battle it out with the Japanese defenders of Wuyuan all day long, then finally capture the city at 16:00. The Japanese move north.

At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Chinese 93rd Infantry Division crosses the Yung River and heads toward Tatang. This is an attack along the lines of communication of the Japanese 22d Army spearhead at Yungshun.

British Homefront: George Orwell writes a review of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in which he concludes, "I would kill Hitler if I could, but I cannot dislike him."

American Homefront: Woody Guthrie makes his first recording for the Library of Congress.

Howard Hughes increases his stake in Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (T.W.A.), which he has been building since May 1939, to 30%. This gives Hughes a controlling share of T.W.A.

In this photo, taken between March 7 and 21, 1940, the "Normandie, "Queen Mary" and "Queen Elizabeth" sit in port. The "Mary" and the "Elizabeth" are painted wartime gray. The "Normandie" is slated to be painted gray, too.

March 1940

March 1, 1940: Soviet Breakthroughs Past Viipuri
March 2, 1940: Soviets Swarm West in Finland
March 3, 1940: Soviets Across Gulf of Viipuri
March 4, 1940: USSR Apologizes to Sweden
March 5, 1940: Katyn Forest Massacre Approved
March 6, 1940: Finns Head to Moscow
March 7, 1940: The Coal Ships Affair
March 8, 1940: Peace Talks Begin in Moscow
March 9, 1940: Soviets Harden Peace Terms
March 10, 1940: Germany Draws Closer to Italy
March 11, 1940: Winter War Peace Terms Finalized
March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)
March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends
March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia
March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe
March 16, 1940: First British Civilian Killed
March 17, 1940: Enter Dr. Todt
March 18, 1940: Mussolini To Join the War
March 19, 1940: Daladier Resigns
March 20, 1940: Soviets Occupy Hango Naval Base
March 21, 1940: Paul Reynaud Leads France
March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!
March 24, 1940: French Consider Alternatives
March 25, 1940: Reynaud Proposes Action
March 26, 1940: C-46 First Flight
March 27, 1940: Himmler Authorizes Auschwitz Construction
March 28, 1940: Allies Ponder Invading Norway
March 29, 1940: Soviets Prefer Neutrality
March 30, 1940: Allied Uncertainty
March 31, 1940: The Tiger Cage

2019

Thursday 14 December 1939

Honor Guard on the Admiral Graf Spee, December 14, 1939.

German Government: Hitler meets Vidkun Quisling on 14 December 1939. Admiral Reader, the originator of the idea of invading Norway, has convinced Adolf Hitler to meet Vidkun Quisling. Quisling is a minor Norwegian politician who is pro-German, pro-defense and also a huge anti-Semite. A friend of explorer Fridtjof Nansen, Quisling among other things had been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to Britain in the Soviet Union (there are rumors he was a spy), given the Romanian Crown Order and also the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava for humanitarian efforts. More recently, he had become the "Fører" of his Nasjonal Samling, the Norwegian equivalent of the NSDAP. He has an awesome resume, particular with the kinds of international contacts that Hitler envies - the one catch is that he isn't very popular in Norway, seen as more of a quaint quack than a national leader.

At the Hitler meeting, Quisling is like a Hitler dream. He asks for help with a pro-German coup that would open the huge Norwegian coastline to the U-boat fleet and save them days of transit to their Atlantic stations. Thereafter, he - as leader of Norway - would help to broker an Anglo/German settlement. Hitler is polite and promises to fund Quisling's party, but he is enough of a realist to see many of Quisling's promises as puffery, "broker's talk." His financial and moral encouragement of Quisling does not dissuade Hitler in the slightest from continuing to plan the invasion of Norway, which is not really what Quisling has in mind, and in fact, encourages it. Basically, Hitler sees Quisling as a potentially useful tool for managing a conquered nation, while Quisling sees himself as a future potentate.

The main result of the meeting is that Hitler orders the OKW (military high command) to begin a preliminary study on invading Norway. The first operational name for the project is "Studie Nord." The eventual code name is Weserubung ("Weser Exercise," because it is planned for April 9, which is the little-known holiday "Weser River Day" in Germany).

Winter War Army Operations: In the far north, the Soviets begin a new offensive in the Petsamo region, the one area where they still have freedom of action.

Winter War Naval Operations: Soviet destroyers Gnevny and Grozyaschi shell Uto Island.

Battle of the Atlantic: German liner Columbus, perhaps emboldened by the successful return to Germany of the Bremen from Murmansk, slips out of Vera Cruz, Mexico to return to Germany. There is an involved situation wherein Australian cruiser HMAS Perth is shadowing the Columbus, while several American destroyers and the cruiser USS Vincennes (CA 44) are shadowing the Perth, much to the latter's annoyance.

The Columbus almost slips out unnoticed, but two US destroyers see it leave and tail it. German freighter Arauca also departs from Vera Cruz before Columbus, perhaps as a decoy. The US ships in pursuit openly broadcast the Columbus' position for anyone who might be interested.

Admiral Graf Spee is given 48 hours to leave Montevideo port or be seized by the government after Captain Langsdorff requests two weeks. The British through their naval attaché Henry McCall are all over the Uruguayans and force this decision, though the authorities give the ship an extra day more than required (or allowed) by international law. Commodore Harwood of Force G, meanwhile, is lurking outside the estuary - 120 miles wide - with his battered ships, pondering what might happen in another action against the pocket battleship.

British destroyer Kelly (Lord Mountbatten) is damaged by a mine off the Tyne. Freighter Inverlane hits a mine but is beached before sinking and is later re-floated.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Ursula sinks Kriegsmarine escort vessel F-9.

The British release US freighter Extavia from detention at Gibraltar.

Convoys OA 53 and OB 53 depart from Southend and Liverpool, respectively.

Kapitän zur See Hans W. Langsdorff at the funeral of his men. (Photo courtesy of Hugo R. Sochi, from the private collection of Delia S. Neumann wife of Matrosenobergefreiter Gustav Neumann, Division 3, Admiral Graf Spee)

European Air Operations: The RAF sends 42 planes, its largest force yet, to attack German harbors. The Luftwaffe has a successful day, shooting down 5 of the attacking bombers.

Western Front: Premier Daladier summarizes the results of the first three months of the year in a communiqué, stating that 2,100 French soldiers had lost their lives. He rather incongruously contrasts this with 2,975 road deaths in Great Britain during the same period - road deaths having increased dramatically due to the blackout.

League of Nations: The League expels the USSR, which doesn't really notice since it has been boycotting the League anyway. The reason is for violating (among other things) the UN charter the USSR signed in 1934. Furthermore, the League coordinates relief efforts for the Finns. With Italy, Germany, and Japan already having left the League for one reason or another, it is losing relevance.

China: The Chinese Winter Offensive continues. Chinese 40th Army and 27 Army surround Japanese 36 Infantry division at Changtze and Tunliu; River North Army crosses the Han River; 19th Army Group of Chinese 9th War Area beats off a Japanese counterattack by Japanese 33rd and 40th Infantry Divisions Yuchiafan, Lungkang, and Dafan.

American Homefront: Festivities are in full swing for the Atlanta premiere of "Gone With the Wind," attended by Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and most of the cast. There are extended festivities, including a costume ball and various parades, which all culminate on 15 December 1939. It is probably the most elaborate film premiere of all time.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard flying to Atlanta for the premiere of Gable's film "Gone With The Wind" - the salary of which had enabled Gable to marry Lombard.

December 1939

December 1, 1939: Finland Fights for its Life
December 2, 1939: First RAF Bombs on Germany
December 3, 1939: Soviets Still Advancing in Finland
December 4, 1939: Molotov to Roosevelt - Mind Your Own Business
December 5, 1939: Prien Returns
December 6, 1939: Attacks on Mannerheim Line
December 7, 1939: Kollaa Holds!
December 8, 1939: Polish Pilots Return
December 9, 1939: First British BEF Fatality
December 10, 1939: The Soviets Capture Salla in Finland
December 11, 1939: Finns Make Their Move
December 12, 1939: Finnish Success in the Winter War
December 13, 1939: Battle of River Platte December 14, 1939: Quisling Meets Hitler
December 15, 1939: Chinese Winter Offensive in High Gear
December 16, 1939: Battle of Summa
December 17, 1939: End of Admiral Graf Spee
December 18, 1939: Battle of Heligoland Bight
December 19, 1939: British Disarm Magnetic Mines
December 20, 1939: Finnish Counterattacks Continue
December 21, 1939: Finns Plan More Counterattacks
December 22, 1939: Enter Chuikov
December 23, 1939: Failed Finnish Counterattack
December 24, 1939: Soviets on the Run
December 25, 1939: Fresh Soviet Attacks
December 26, 1939: Vicious Battles at Kelja
December 27, 1939: Grinding Finnish Victories
December 28, 1939: Liberators
December 29, 1939: Finns Tighten the Noose
December 30, 1939: Finnish Booty
December 31, 1939: Planning More Soviet Destruction

2019