Monday 17 April 1941

Italian Bersaglieri (Marksmen) march through the city streets of Dubrovnik as crowds watch on following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia following the Yugoslav capitulation of 17 April 1941.

Operation Marita/Operation 25: Yugoslavia unconditionally surrenders to Germany and Italy on 17 April 1941. Or, rather, the Yugoslav Army surrenders, effective at noon on 18 April, which amounts in practice to the same thing. In addition, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Cincar-Marcovic signs surrender documents to Italy and Germany on behalf of the Yugoslav government - but he does not have the authority to do so. While Hungary has invaded Yugoslavia, it decides that it is not "at war" with Yugoslavia and thus does not have to sign any peace treaties with it. And what about Bulgaria? And the new Independent State of Croatia? In fact, it's not clear what the heck actually happened today.

The situation may be legally muddled, but the inescapable conclusion is that Yugoslavia is now out of the war.

Yugoslav assistant to Commander General Danil Kalafatovic, Lieutenant General Mihailo Bodi, and German Colonel General Maximilian Freiherr von Weichs sign an armistice in the building of the Czechoslovak ministry in Belgrade. Separately, the Ban and National Assembly of Slovenia surrender to the Italians. The Yugoslavs resisted for twelve days.

Virtually the entire Yugoslav government, including King Peter II, already has fled to Athens via RAF Flying boat flying from the island of Kotor. The military situation clearly is hopeless for the Yugoslavs and has been for several days. All that remains is for them to see how the Axis powers will divide up the country. The Germans have very definite ideas on that, and they revolve around a complete abnegation of the treaties signed after World War I.

Others in Yugoslavia are not so fortunate as King Peter and Prime Minister Simovic. Around 6,000 Yugoslav officers and 335,000 troops are put in POW camps. The dispersal of Yugoslav units along the frontier and in remote areas where they have not been captured, though, provide the seeds for a partisan campaign.

Greece is still fighting alongside their British allies. However, it is plain to see how things are going. Prime Minister Winston Churchill reads the contents of a telegram from Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell. In it, Wavell recounts discussions held in Athens between local British commander General Henry Maitland Wilson and Greek Commander in Chief General Alexander Papagos. While agreeing to the British withdrawal down the waist of Greece, Papagos noted (according to Wavell's message):

as things might become critical in future, he [Wilson] should re-embark British troops and save Greece devastation.

The War Cabinet minutes note that "arrangements to this end [the British evacuation from the mainland] were being made."

Jermyn Street looking towards St. James's Street, 17 April 1941 (Copyright Westminster City Archives).

However, that is not the extent of Papagos' requests:

In this telegram [from General Wilson], General Wavell had also been informed that Crete must be held in force, and that it was important that strong elements of the Greek Army should establish themselves in Crete, together with the King and Government.

The War Cabinet Minutes again state that the members "expressed their agreement with the line taken in this telegram."

In the field, British troops in Greece continue moving back to the line Thermopylae-Corinth that Papagos has approved. This requires a retrograde move of at least 100 miles for most units. The New Zealand 21st Battalion, which delayed the panzers at the Platamon railway tunnel yesterday, continue performing delaying maneuvers at the Tempe and Pinios Gorges.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 1196 ton Greek freighter Damaskini in Oreos Channel near Euboea.

The Luftwaffe bombs and badly damages 7020 ton Greek freighter Petrakis Nomikos at Piraeus. The skipper beaches the ship quickly, which saves it from sinking but also makes it an attractive target for further attacks.

The Yugoslavs scuttle destroyer Zagreb in Cattaro Harbor. There are four deaths. The Germans, however, capture largely intact destroyers Beograd and Dubrovnik and damaged destroyer Ljubjana.

The remaining 18 planes of the Yugoslav Air Force fly to Greece, ending their operations in Yugoslavia.

Hayling Island, with the decoy site marked with an arrow (Natural History Museum in Cumberland House Portsmouth, via Portsdown Tunnels).

European Air Operations: The Wehrmacht High Command issues a statement:

In retaliation for the British air raid on the residential and cultural center of the German capital on the night of 9th-10th April, the German Luftwaffe last night carried out a grand assault on the British capital.... In future, any British air raid on residential quarters of Germany will be answered by increased retaliation.

Needless to say, perhaps, but the Luftwaffe has been pounding British "residential quarters" relentlessly since September 1940. Also, note the reference to a "cultural" center - meaning, don't bomb the Berlin Opera House again.

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies must drive through the London devastation to reach 10 Downing Street. He notes in his diary:

It takes a long time to reach Downing Street. All round Victoria there is damage and confusion. The Admiralty has a great chunk cut out of it. Charing Cross Station is ablaze, and the Halifax Building in the Strand also. Shell-Mex building has a great unexploded bomb, and is evacuated. Two bombs fell on either side of the street from Australia House. In Middle London, every street shows the marks. There are at least 1000 dead and 2000 seriously injured.

Among many, many others, Lord and Lady Stamp are killed. Lord Stamp was the Government adviser on Economic Coordination.

RAF Bomber Command replies to the Luftwaffe's massive raid on London last night with another large raid of their own on Berlin. About 118 bombers, the largest raid so far, including for the first time in operations heavy Stirling bombers, hit the German capital. The RAF loses a Wellington, two Hampdens, five Whitleys, and a Stirling. There also are diversionary raids by 35 planes against Cherbourg and 13 planes against Rotterdam. One RAF bomber can't make it to Berlin because of thick haze and cloud cover and drops its stick on Cologne or a nearby area instead. This factor also makes the entire raid inaccurate.

The Luftwaffe also is active after dark. It raids one of its favorite targets, Portsmouth. The raid, however, is very unusual. The large force of Luftwaffe bombers drops their 170 tons of high explosives and 5400 incendiaries on a brightly lit target that they assume to be the city of Portsmouth. In fact, it is a "Q" decoy site set up in Farlington Marshes on Hayling Island just to the south of Portsmouth in Hampshire. The decoy involves a number of decoy fires that burn for four hours, attracting the bomber navigators away from the city. The bombs destroy a Heavy Anti-aircraft Artillery battery at Southwest Hayling, killing the soldiers there, along with some pillboxes and other military installations. Portsmouth itself largely is spared. The residents of Hayling Island, though, are not, and they are somewhat annoyed at having the decoy site set up in their own backyards.

Churchill sends Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal a strongly worded "Action this Day" memorandum criticizing the RAF's failure to "hit the enemy cruiser in Brest." In fact, the RAF has hit Gneisenau, but apparently the British do not know this yet. Churchill chastises the Air Ministry for "neglecting the dive-bomber type of aircraft," which of course is exemplified by the Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju 87 Stuka.

Lt. Ernest Oliver Gidden, RNVR, earns the George Cross for defusing a bomb on Hungerford Bridge.

South Hayling antiaircraft battery, destroyed as the result of a British Q decoy operation that spared Plymouth.

East African Campaign: The South African 1st Infantry Brigade skirmishes with Italian forces near Cambolcia Pass in Abyssinia.

Battle of the Atlantic: German raider Atlantis is operating in the south Atlantic when lookouts spot 8,299-ton Egyptian liner Zamzam in the pre-dawn hours. Captain Rogge mistakes the liner for a British liner being used as a troop transport. He orders his crew to open fire at a range of 5 miles (8 km). The Atlantis quickly destroys the Zamzam's radio and takes aboard 202 passengers as prisoners. Among those on board are 138 Americans, including Fortune magazine editor Charles J.V. Murphy. Rogge puts the neutrals on German supply ship Dresden for transport to Portugal.

One of the passengers is Life magazine photographer David E. Scherman, who takes some pictures of the ship. Rather than surrender the film to the Germans as they demand, he puts them in tubes of toothpaste and shaving cream and smuggles them out for publication in his magazine in the 23 June 1941 issue.

This is German raider Atlantis at dawn on April 17, 1941. This was taken by Life photographer David Scherman from a lifeboat shortly after the attack. He then successfully smuggled the film out past German guards.

Much farther north, off the coast of England, the Kriegsmarine sends its 2nd MTB Flotilla against Convoy FS 464 near Great Yarmouth. They hit:

• 1446-ton British freighter Effra (sunk, two dead)
• 1298-ton Dutch freighter Nereus (sunk, all survive)
• 5673-ton British freighter Ethel Radcliffe (towed to Yarmouth)

The Luftwaffe attacks the city of Rochester and, in the process, sinks 623-ton British coaster Montalto. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 394-ton Danish trawler Naeraberg between the Faroes and its destination of Fleetwood. Everyone survives.

British 1578-ton collier Parnu sinks following its collision on the 16th with freighter Fluor about a dozen miles off Cape Wrath.

U-123 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle), on its fourth patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 6991-ton Swedish tanker Venezuela. This is an inefficient attack, requiring five torpedoes, which can be quite frustrating for a U-boat commander. Reportedly, the crew of 49 takes to the lifeboats, but there are no survivors... which may not be a coincidence with the difficulty of the sinking.

Norwegian 1608-ton freighter Profit hits a mine and sinks while en route from London to Hull. There are 12 deaths.

Convoy SL 72 departs from Freetown.

U-566 is commissioned.

Jermyn Street, Westminster, 17 April 1941 (Copyright Westminster City Archives).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British in Libya mount an attempt to retake Fort Capuzzo in the morning, losing four tanks. The German troops in Gruppe Schwerin also launch an attack against the northeast section of the Tobruk perimeter but also are repulsed.

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel personally supervises an attack on Tobruk by two companies of motorcycle troops, reinforced by artillery, at Ras Mdaauar. This attack makes progress close to the barbed wire, which is held as a jump-off point for future operations. Rommel decides to wait for reinforcements - which were supposed to arrive on the recent convoy that the Royal Navy destroyed off Tripoli - before launching a set-piece attack on Tobruk.

Both sides use their planes to harass the other. The Luftwaffe sends 41 Junkers Ju 87 Stukas against key points within the Tobruk perimeter, while the RAF bombs the investing German and Italian troops.

The Royal Navy has another success with its patrols off Libya. Submarine HMS Truant torpedoes and sinks the 279-ton Italian ammunition barge Vanna off Appolonia. The Truant also attacks 2576 ton German freighter Samos near Benghazi but misses. Some accounts state that the Samos sinks today due to a mine, but other accounts state that happens on 19 April.

Royal Navy destroyers HMS Greyhound and Voyager shells and sinks Italian bark Romagna in the Mediterranean off Libya.

A British flotilla of torpedo boats, the 3rd Motor Launch, arrives in Gibraltar. It is composed of seven launches.

The Luftwaffe bombs Malta with 15 aircraft at 20:47. They hit the St. Paul's Bay area.

Anglo/US Relations: The US turns over four newly completed fast freighters to the British under Lend-Lease.

Canadian/US Relations: Canadian leader Mackenzie King continues his meetings with President Roosevelt. Among other things, they discuss defense production cooperation.

Igor Sikorsky, Homburg securely in place, flying his VS-300 helicopter with pontoons, 17 April 1941 (Sikorsky Historical Archives).

US Military: Igor Sikorsky slaps some "auxiliary floats" (pontoons) his VS-300 helicopter with which he recently set a US duration record. By lifting the helicopter, thus equipped, above the water near his Stratford, Connecticut plant, Sikorsky sets another first. He lands the helicopter both on land and water, making it a truly amphibious aircraft.

US Government: William S. Knudsen, director of the Office of Production Management (OPM), announces that automakers and motor truck manufacturers agree to cut production by 20% beginning on 1 August 1941. He states that this is expected to cut the production of such civilian vehicles by about 1 million over the first year. The purpose is to switch resources to war production. The automakers agree to the cuts for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the likelihood that cut would be imposed upon them if they did not do so voluntarily.

OPM also is in discussions with manufacturers of tin cans to reduce the amount of tin being used. They are arguing with the manufacturers about the percentage, 10% less tin versus 17%. The savings are expected to amount to 5000-7500 tons of tin for a 10% cut.

Duke Street looking toward Piccadilly, 17 April 1941 (Copyright Westminster City Archives).

Iraq: The situation in Iraq is tense. The British remain holed up in Habbaniyah Airfield near Baghdad, while new Iraqi leader Rashid Ali applies to Germany for military assistance to evict the British. The British have a convoy on the way by the sea which is expected very shortly - some sources say the 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment arrives today at Basra. Iraqi forces surround the British airbase but make no provocative moves at this time.

Holocaust: At the direction of SS-Untersturmfuehrer Maximilian Grabner, Auschwitz Concentration Camp ceases sending Polish relatives the ashes of now-deceased political prisoners after they have been cremated.

British Homefront: Popular singer Al Bowlly, who reached his peak in the late 1920s and early 1930s but since has faded badly in popularity, is killed during the Luftwaffe raid on London that lasts throughout the night of 16-17 April 1941. Bowlly had taken the last train home the night before from a performance at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street, High Wycombe, despite being offered a place to stay there overnight. A Luftwaffe parachute mine explodes just outside his flat at 32 Duke Street, Duke's Court, St James, London, at 03:10 and blows the bedroom door off its hinges - it strikes Bowlly in the head, killing him instantly. There is a blue commemorative plaque in his honor at Charing Cross Mansion, 26 Charing Cross Road, a previous residence which the plaque describes as "his home at the pinnacle of his career."

American Homefront: Charles Lindbergh at 20:00 speaks to an overflow crowd of 10,000 at the Chicago Arena, with an additional 4,000 outside the arena, on behalf of the America First Committee. By one count, he is interrupted by applause 31 times while giving an address of only about 2,000 words. His main points:

• The US is being led into war by a minority of war-mongers;
• That 80% of the public opposes joining the war;
• The US is unable at this time to defeat Germany.

Among issues favored by the America First Committee is an anti-convoy bill. Isolationists believe that participating in convoys inevitably would lead to war.

The front-page cartoon on the Chicago Daily Tribune, 17 April 1941.

April 1941

April 1, 1941: Rommel Takes Brega
April 2, 1941:Rommel Takes Agedabia
April 3, 1941: Convoy SC-26 Destruction
April 4, 1941: Rommel Takes Benghazi
April 5, 1941: Rommel Rolling
April 6, 1941: Operation Marita
April 7, 1941: Rommel Takes Derna
April 8, 1941: Yugoslavia Crumbling
April 9, 1941: Thessaloniki Falls
April 10, 1941: USS Niblack Attacks
April 11, 1941: Good Friday Raid
April 12, 1941: Belgrade and Bardia Fall
April 13, 1941: Soviet-Japanese Pact
April 14, 1941: King Peter Leaves
April 15, 1941: Flying Tigers
April 16, 1941: Battle of Platamon
April 17, 1941: Yugoslavia Gone
April 18, 1941: Me 262 First Flight
April 19, 1941: London Smashed
April 20, 1941: Hitler's Best Birthday
April 21, 1941: Greek Army Surrenders
April 22, 1941: Pancevo Massacre
April 23, 1941: CAM Ships
April 24, 1941: Battle of Thermopylae
April 25, 1941: Operation Demon
April 26, 1941: Operation Hannibal
April 27, 1941: Athens Falls
April 28, 1941: Hitler Firm about Barbarossa
April 29, 1941: Mainland Greece Falls
April 30, 1941: Rommel Attacks

2020

Monday 14 April 1941

"The For'ard 14" guns of HMS KING GEORGE V firing during practice." April 1941. © IWM (A 3888).

Operation Marita/Operation 25: The German 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ("LSSAH," still only brigade-size during the battle for Greece) is through the Klidi and Kleisoura Passes by 14 April 1941. It now is pursuing the retreating British and Greek armies south. The German 9th Panzer Division comes up against the new Allied blocking position at Siatista Pass, but such is the disarray on the Allied side that only one battalion of the 82nd Regiment of the 12th Greek Division is in place to delay them.

The spearheads of the 9th Panzer Division reach Kozani in northern Greece, which was the first main objective following the XL Panzer Corps' turn south. In addition, the Germans send some units across the Aliakmon River near Thessaloniki and take Katerini, which is only 6 km from the coastline. The British have pulled back slightly there, but remain in the vicinity to prevent further German advances.

The British strategy right now still is to stop the Germans, not to evacuate. They put forces into three main zones: the Olympus Pass, the Servia Pass, and the Platamon tunnel sector west of Olympus. In effect, the British have abandoned the Aliakmon Line even though they still have scattered units trying to hold it. The British organize "Savige Force" under Brigadier S. G. Savige with 1st Armored Brigade and 17th Australian Brigade to defend their left flank.

The Yugoslavian Zetska Division had been leading the advance to the west against the Italian positions in Albania, but the sudden appearance of German forces on its flank has compelled it to retreat. Today, it sits on the Pronisat River, watched carefully by the Italian 131st Armored Division Centauro. Because of this withdrawal, the Greek forces in Albania are now completely cut off. However, the Italians in Albania are very quiet.

The RAF bombs the Italian port of Valona (Vlore) with Swordfish torpedo bombers of RAF No. 815 Squadron. They sink 3329-ton Italian freighter Luciano and 1228 ton Italian freighter Stampalia. The British lose a Swordfish, with one man killed and two becoming prisoners.

King Peter arrives at a secret British airbase in northwest Greece at Paramythia. That is an Italian-made Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparrowhawk. Peter is fourth from the left facing the camera, bare-headed and in a tweed jacket. (R.J. Dudman via Serbianna).

King Peter II abandons Yugoslavia and flees to Athens. He departs from Kopino Polje airport in Niksic, Montenegro, thence to Paramythia, the site of a top-secret RAF airfield (near the Yugoslav/Albanian border) previously used (in February) by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and CIGS John Dill. Prime Minister (and Yugoslav Chief of Staff) Dusan Simovic and other top military and government leaders also flee separately. The Yugoslav gold reserves also are flown out. Peter flies from here to Athens, then to Alexandria, then to Jerusalem, then to Cairo.

The Yugoslav government is under no illusions. It is considering asking the Germans for a ceasefire. Some accounts state that they request one late today.

British Col. Oakley-Hill, an old Albanian hand, has been trying to organize the Albanian resistance. With the situation rapidly changing, he is recalled. Resistance efforts, however, will continue.

The Luftwaffe damages British 7264-ton transport Clan Cummin at sea, then it hits a mine and sinks in Eleusis Bay northwest of Athens. While 36 men are rescued by the Allies, 77 become German prisoners.

Time Magazine, 14 April 1941 - Adolf Hitler - "Spring is Here."

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks Dutch power stations with 14 bombers and coastal targets with another 14 bombers during the day. Then, after dark, the RAF sends 94 bombers to attack the French port of Brest, where German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are in drydock.

The RAF has a tragic accident when a Halifax bomber crashes at Tollerton, near RAF Linton on Ouse. The engineer apparently shuts off the engines accidentally. Two of the crew are injured.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-52 (Kptlt. Helmut Möhlmann), on its 8th and final patrol, torpedoes and sinks 6563-ton Belgian freighter Ville de Liège about 810 miles (1300 km) east of Cape Farewell, off southern Greenland. There are ten survivors. This is U-52's final victory, it will return to port after this and spend its remaining years as a training boat. During its eight patrols, it sank 13 Allied ships.

The Luftwaffe attacks shipping at Falmouth and bombs and sinks Free French Naval Forces gunboat Conquérante. Also sunk is French gunboat Suippe, which is later refloated.

German guard ship H 453 Gretchen sinks of unknown causes.

USS Gar (Lieutenant D. McGregor) is commissioned at New London, Connecticut.

The Des Moines Register, 14 April 1941. The big news is yesterday's Russia/Japan nonaggression pact.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Visiting Australian Prime Minister Menzies is concerned, and he notes the situation tersely in his diary:

The position in Libya becomes worse, and Egypt is threatened. In Balkans, the Jugo-Slavs are going to collapse, and as the Greeks have not withdrawn their Albanian divisions, the Aliakhmon line will probably be turned and our Greek position rendered untenable.

At the War Cabinet meeting, Menzies disagrees with Churchill's strategy to hold Tobruk as a rallying point. Menzies views the War Cabinet as "deplorable" and Churchill as a "dictator" who cows his ministers into submission. Menzies, who has been planning to leave for several decides, decides to remain for a couple more weeks to participate in "grave decisions" that will be made about his homeland's troops.

Today is the first coordinated German attack on Tobruk, and it is a complete flop. It starts well enough when German sappers cut defensive wires and fill in the Italian-built anti-tank ditch at 02:30. Then, supported by heavy machine-gun fire, they advance. At 04:30/05:20, 38 Afrika Korps tanks break through the first line of fortifications and into the Tobruk perimeter. Supported by Junkers Ju 87 Stukas, they make good progress at first. The Australian defenders, though, have been told to let the tanks pass so they can trap the accompanying infantry.

The British have artillery sited on the spot and knock out 17 of his 5th Panzer Regiment tanks of Group Olbrich (General Olbrich). The remaining panzers withdraw at 07:30 into the desert in disarray, but the 8th Machine Gun Battalion which follows them in is trapped. The 8th loses about 900 men to death or capture, leaving it with a strength of only about 300 men (casualty estimates for this action vary widely, but those figures are from the Germans themselves, though they may include some earlier casualties, too). General Rommel is furious at the failure to capitalize on the initial breakthrough and will sack General Streich, commander of the 5th Light Division, as a result.

The German prepare for a siege. They bring up the Italian Trento Division and put it under the command of the Brescia Division. They also put Detachment Schwerin in the line, along with most of the 5th Light Division. A second attack scheduled for 18:00 is canceled, an indication of the depth of the fiasco in the morning. The Afrika Korps also goes over to the defense of Bardia/Sollum/Sidi Oma. The RAF has complete air superiority, and forward Detachment Knabe is bombarded by Royal Navy gunboat HMS Gnat and its accompanying two destroyers in the Bay of Sollum. Royal Navy gunboat HMS Aphis bombards Bardia.

The Luftwaffe is doing what it can. It attacks the Gnat in the Bay of Sollum and badly damages it, killing one sailor. The Gnat makes it to port in Mersa Matruh, then proceeds to Port Said. Lieutenant General Rommel requests control over Luftwaffe operations in Libya by X Fliegerkorps.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 2485-ton Turkish freighter Trabzon off Laurium/Lavrio/Lavrium (about 60 km southeast of Athens and north of Cape Sounio).

Royal Navy auxiliary tanker RFA Pericles, which had been damaged during the Luftwaffe bombing of Suda Bay, Crete, sinks (it breaks in half) while en route to Alexandria. Everyone aboard survives.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku is proceeding from Gibraltar to Malta, along with fellow submarines Torbay and Undaunted, when a torpedo - apparently launched by an Italian submarine - is spotted coming toward it. Taku takes evasive action and avoids the torpedo. Apparently, because of this incident, the Admiralty (CinC Mediterranean) orders Taku and Torbay back to Gibraltar for other missions.

Convoy AN 27 (four British and six Greek ships) departs from Port Said bound for Suda Bay, Crete. The ships carry reinforcements and supplies for the troops in Greece.

Australian Corporal John Hurst Edmondson earns a posthumous VC when, while badly wounded during a bayonet charge in the morning darkness, he saves the life of his commanding officer.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: British ammunition ship Fort Stikine catches fire and in Bombay Harbor and explodes in a massive fireball. The blast wave destroys the docks, sinks four nearby ships, and damages 11 others. It explodes again half an hour later. A total of 231 men are killed in the explosion, with another 476 men injured, but the devastation is far worse: an estimated 1000 people simply vanish and 2000 are hospitalized. The Fort Stikine was carrying 124 gold bars, of which all but one remain unrecovered.

Battle of the Pacific: The US Marines garrison Palmyra Atoll (due south of the Hawaiian Islands) with the Marine Detachment, 1st Defense Battalion. Legally, this is the southernmost point in the United States because it is an incorporated territory. It operates under the jurisdiction of the US Department of the Navy and is the center of the Palmyra Island Naval Defensive Sea Area established by President Roosevelt on 14 February 1941.

Royal Navy destroyer HMAS Waterhen (D22) towing the damaged hospital ship HMHS Vita 400 miles (650 km) to Tobruk following her bombing. Judge for yourself - do you think that the Vita appears different from other ships? Can you spot the huge red crosses on her side and funnel? Do you think that is sufficient marking for an attacking plane to know enough not to attack it?

War Crimes: The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 4691-ton British hospital ship HMHS Vita off Tobruk. Reports indicate that 8 German planes attack it and that a bomb deflects off her rear mast (with very high-resolution pictures you can see that it is bent backward slightly) and explodes just off her side, opening her plates and flooding her engine room (thus no damage is visible above water). The Vita, carrying 430 patients, makes it to Tobruk, where it sinks on 22 April 1941. While mistakes happen in war, committed by both sides, hospital ships are clearly marked and off-limits to all attacks. No, these are not especially famous incidents, but if you attack a hospital ship, that's a war crime whether it gets a lot of media attention or not.

German/Egyptian Relations: Today, Farouk sends Hitler a personal note through his ambassador in Tehran. Farouk states that ''he was filled with admiration for the Fuhrer'' and was ''certain that the Germans are coming as liberators" and would "soon liberate Egypt from the British yoke." But Egypt was not the only goal, important as it was. The Grand Mufti also met with Hitler around this time and wished "the elimination of the Jewish national home in Palestine."

Egypt is the cornerstone of the British position in the Mediterranean. It is more important than Gibraltar. The Suez Canal enables them to bring in troops from their dominions in India, Australia, New Zealand and their other holdings in Asia to counter the German and Italian positions in North Africa and the Balkans. It also is a potential British escape route for their massive forces in Greece and North Africa. In fact, seizing Egypt is the fundamental goal of German military policy in the Mediterranean, the heart of Adolf Hitler's "Peripheral Strategy."

Hitler has been cultivating his ties to the Arab world for years. For instance, he gave King Farouk of Egypt a Mercedes Benz 540k sports cabriolet for the king's wedding in 1938. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem also is on close personal ties with Hitler, while Rashid Ali in Iraq is eyeing the British at the Habbaniyah airbase near Baghdad and wishing them to be gone. King Farouk without question is the monarch in position to help further Hitler's war aims in the Mediterranean Basin.

The mere fact that Farouk feels confident enough to send this (top secret) sign of dissatisfaction with British hegemony over his country is telling. It suggests that the British hold on Egypt - and elsewhere in the Arab world - may be weakening.

Life Magazine, April 14, 1941 - New York Harbor.

US/Icelandic Relations: Fresh off its agreement to occupy Greenland, the US begins talking with the Icelandic government to see if a similar arrangement can be made there.

US/Chinese Relations: Author Ernest Hemingway and his wife Martha Gellhorn, ostensibly in Asia as tourists (there's a war on!), meet with Chinese Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in Chungking.

Australian/British Relations: Australian delegates to the ABDA Conference being held in Singapore later in the month embark on Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney. Attending will be representatives of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the Dutch East Indies.

German Military: Australian soldiers at Tobruk report seeing what almost certainly are German 88-mm antiaircraft ("8.8 cm Flak 41") guns (they call them "long-barrelled guns on strange carriages"). The guns are not used and are there to exploit the expected breakthrough into Tobruk (German 88's, as they are routinely called, also are used as ground artillery and even, in a dire emergency, as anti-tank weapons). General Rommel used the guns in an anti-tank role at Arras in May 1940, so he is well aware of their versatility. They are sort of a halfway ground between tanks and artillery, with many mounted on vehicles. Their chief drawback, however, is that they have no armor protection and are vulnerable not just to artillery and tanks, but even to rifle fire.

April 14, 1941, Old Gold Cigarettes ad.

US Military: The US Army Air Corps places an order for 2000 Model 74 (BT-13A) Vultee (Stinson) L-1 Valiant observation planes. These planes will bear the designation O-49 and perform various auxiliary services such as towing, artillery spotting and espionage flights.

Holocaust: The Vichy French undertake a mass arrest of Jews in Paris.

Future History: Peter Edward Rose is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He becomes one of the top baseball players in history, accumulating numerous records which still stand, including but not limited to:

• Most hits (4256)
• Most career winning games played (1972)
• Most career games played (3562)
• At bats (14,053)
• Singles (3215)
• Most Outs (10,328).

Rose stars for the Cincinnati Reds during the prime years of his career, playing from 1963 to 1986. He also manages the Cincinnati Reds from 1984-1989, becomes a 17x All-Star, is a member of three World Series championship teams, and is a member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Pete Rose is barred from the Major League Hall of Fame due to allegations that he bet on baseball games while a player-manager of the Reds. Many consider Pete Rose, if not the greatest baseball player of all time, certainly worthy of being on an all-star team composed of the greatest players of all time.

Pete Rose circa 1963.

April 1941

April 1, 1941: Rommel Takes Brega
April 2, 1941:Rommel Takes Agedabia
April 3, 1941: Convoy SC-26 Destruction
April 4, 1941: Rommel Takes Benghazi
April 5, 1941: Rommel Rolling
April 6, 1941: Operation Marita
April 7, 1941: Rommel Takes Derna
April 8, 1941: Yugoslavia Crumbling
April 9, 1941: Thessaloniki Falls
April 10, 1941: USS Niblack Attacks
April 11, 1941: Good Friday Raid
April 12, 1941: Belgrade and Bardia Fall
April 13, 1941: Soviet-Japanese Pact
April 14, 1941: King Peter Leaves
April 15, 1941: Flying Tigers
April 16, 1941: Battle of Platamon
April 17, 1941: Yugoslavia Gone
April 18, 1941: Me 262 First Flight
April 19, 1941: London Smashed
April 20, 1941: Hitler's Best Birthday
April 21, 1941: Greek Army Surrenders
April 22, 1941: Pancevo Massacre
April 23, 1941: CAM Ships
April 24, 1941: Battle of Thermopylae
April 25, 1941: Operation Demon
April 26, 1941: Operation Hannibal
April 27, 1941: Athens Falls
April 28, 1941: Hitler Firm about Barbarossa
April 29, 1941: Mainland Greece Falls
April 30, 1941: Rommel Attacks

2020

Tuesday 8 April 1941

Land mine damage in Great Yarmouth on April 8, 1941 (Archant Library).

Operation 25/Operation Marita: At day's end, the Germans have broken through the Greek lines along the Bulgarian border, while the Germans have isolated Yugoslavia from the outside world and are in the vicinity of Zagreb and advancing toward Belgrade.

Belgrade is the prize in Yugoslavia, and Ewald von Kleist wants it. He sends his panzers off at 05:30 toward the city from the northwest. They capture Nis in Serbia and head down the Morava Valley toward the capital. The Yugoslav is giving ground everywhere.

The weather is poor over Belgrade, so the Luftwaffe's Operation Punishment ends today. There is tremendous devastation, but total casualty estimates vary from the as low as 1500 to 17,000. Later estimates of the extent of the damage also vary wildly, with some stating that half of the housing stock is destroyed. Among many other national treasures, the National Library of Serbia is destroyed, along with its medieval manuscripts and other irreplaceable artifacts.

The 1st SS Division Adolf Hitler has moved into the front lines and now sits astride the main railway link between Belgrade and Thessalonica (Thessaloniki). The Yugoslavs in Belgrade now are effectively isolated.

Max Dobislav, who becomes an ace, with his Bf 109E of 8,/JG 27, April 1941.

Greece along the Bulgarian border is still a secondary theater as events play out to the north. The Greek Army vigorously defends the Rupel Pass but it badly outnumbered. The British 1st Armoured Division moves forward when the Wehrmacht's 30 Infantry Corps begins breaking out through the Dorian Gap. The weather is poor here as well, a typical late-winter scene of snow at the higher elevations and rain in the valleys. The Germans begin to push through the Florina Gap. The British further back on the Aliakmon Line prepare for the onslaught on their own positions, which is only a day or two away now.

The British hurry some of their units (such as the 16th Australian Brigade) forward to support the Greeks on the frontier, but the battle is rapidly becoming a lost cause. The Australians are inexperienced in snow and there is virtually no transport in the mountains they are crossing. The Germans, meanwhile, have mountain troops leading their attack, with the 6th Mountain Division in the vanguard. The 164th Infantry Division captures Xanthi, and the 50th Infantry Division has Komotini and is advancing beyond it.

Strategically, what is happening is obvious on the map. While von Kleist in the north picks apart the internals of the Yugoslav state virtually at his leisure, the panzer forces in southern Yugoslavia have completely bypassed the Greeks and the British to the south. Worst of all for the Allies, the Germans have taken almost no casualties in their drive west through a non-essential portion of the country (from the Yugoslav view). The Greek High Command, of course, notices this, and they put out a communique to that effect which states that the German advance is "exposing the left flank of our brave army."

Some Yugoslav units do see what is going on and take pains to try and prevent it. The 20th "Bregalnička" Infantry Division, part of the 3rd Territorial Army of the Yugoslav army, ties in with the Greeks on the Metaxas Line. It works hard to stop the German 2nd Panzer Division of XVIII Mountain Corps from outflanking the Greek divisions, a task which is vital for the Metaxas Line to have any chance of holding. The 20th Infantry Division, however, can do nothing about the Germans heading due west to the north in what everyone recognizes is a deep flanking maneuver.

Meanwhile, the Yugoslav 3rd Army is fighting well - but headed in completely the wrong direction. While the Germans invade from the north and east, the Yugoslavs are heading... west. In what must have seemed like an extremely clever strategy over holiday dinners, the Yugoslavs intend to defeat the Italians in Albania before turning back around and then dealing with the Germans. This, the strategy posits, would free the mass of the Greek Army stuck in Albania to head east and stop the Germans flooding in from Bulgaria. However, while the Italian Army is weak, it isn't that weak, and in fact, has been dramatically strengthened for their recently concluded Primavera Offensive. The Yugoslavs are making a high stakes gamble based upon the assumption that the Germans can be held at the frontiers until the Italians surrender - a fatal misreading of the situation.

German General Stumme in command of LX Corps, the spearhead cutting east through southern Yugoslavia, is not troubled by any of the Allied moves. He consolidates his grip on southern Yugoslavia and sets his sights on the real prize: the Greek port of Thessalonica (Thessaloniki) not far across the border to the south.

So, some units of the Yugoslav Army do make some progress in the wrong direction. The Yugoslav "Komski" Cavalry Regiment takes the village of Koljegcava in the Valjbone River Valley of Albania, while the 31st "Kosovska" Division breaches the Italian line along the Drin River. However, the Yugoslav High Command begins hedging its bets and recalls the "Vardarska" Division to confront the XL Panzer Corps at Skopje. The Greek Western Macedonian Army Section in Albania also makes some progress toward Durrës, capturing about 250 Italians. However, in strategic terms, the slight gains made by the two armies are meaningless.

The Luftwaffe pays Piraeus another visit, which they are doing every day during this period. They previously virtually destroyed the port on the 6th when they scored a lucky hit on ammunition ship Clan Fraser. Today, the Germans damage 7777-ton Greek tanker Ekaterini Coumantarou.

Yugoslavia, always a tenuous state created out of disparate elements, begins to crumble. Croatian separatists proclaim a new Croatian government in Zagreb. German troops of von Kleist's 1st Panzer Group already are on the city's outskirts. On cue, Croatian soldiers mutiny in Bjelovar. The Luftwaffe quite noticeably is not targeting any Croatian cities, as Croatians tend to favor the Axis over the Allies - as opposed to Serbians, whose cities are getting savaged.

Convoy ASF 24 (five freighters) departs from Piraeus bound for Alexandria. Other convoys at sea are AN 25 and AG 11.

As during the Polish campaign, early headlines are all favorable to the Allied cause as the Germans sweep through Yugoslavia. LA Times, 8 April 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe returns to Coventry with 230 bombers. They drop a combined 330 tons of high explosives, causing extensive damage and casualties. Among the devastation, the main body of the "new" Christchurch off New Union Street, constructed in 1830-32, is destroyed.

RAF Bomber Command, No. 2 Group, continues to focus on Axis shipping. The bombers hit the Kiel Canal with 160 bombers, Bremerhaven with 22 bombers, and shipping off the Danish coast. The RAF also attacks a bridge under construction at Ringkøbing on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in western Denmark.

Princess Mary visits Hull.

"Coffee shop at 278 10th Avenue in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, April 8, 1941." Photo courtesy of the  New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) photo collection at the La Guardia and Wagner Archives/CUNY.

East African Campaign: British troops enter Massawa after a brief struggle, but the battle is not yet over. The 7th and 10th Infantry Brigades lead the charge as they capture hill forts surrounding the port. The French Foreign Legion captures the Italian Admiralty building, at which point Rear Bonetti quickly surrenders, sending 9590 surviving Italian troops into captivity.

The Italians still man the ships in the harbor, and four Italian submarines escape, but the Allies have their eyes on the 17 large merchant ships and many smaller ones anchored there. General Cunningham already has designated the 4th Indian Infantry Division, one of the key components of Operation Compass, for shipment back to Egypt, and he would love to use the port to do it. The port has modern facilities, but the Italians have wrecked the equipment and scuttled ships in the harbor, making it quite a chore for the British to return the port to working order.

After learning of Admiral Bonetti's surrender, the Italian crews of many ships finally bow to the inevitability of the British occupation today and scuttle their ships:

• Destroyer Vincenzo Giordano Orsini
• Torpedo boats MAS 204, 206, 210, 213 and 216
• Italian 11,760-ton passenger ship Colombo
• Italian 3245-ton freighter Clelia Campenella
• Italian 5211-ton tanker Giove
• Italian 4958-ton freighter Prometeo
• Italian coasters San Giorgio (90 tons), Pirano (108 tons), and Trieste (96 tons)
• Italian trawlers Ardita (19 tons) and Sole (15 tons)

In addition, the RAF bombs and sinks Italian minelayer Ostia. Italian 18 ton coastal ship Mario M. sinks in the Red Sea of unknown causes.

These sinkings greatly complicate the British task of putting the port back into service to repair vessels damaged in the conflict in the Mediterranean.

At Addis Ababa, the British occupation forces turn their attention to securing their lines of communication back to Asmara. The Duke of Aosta and his Italian and colonial forces now are bottled up in the mountains and no longer poses an immediate threat even as they continue to hold out. However, at some point, the British will have to flush these troops out.

"Two NYA workers and a chef prepare meals for other NYA workers at the Los Angeles City Playground and Recreation Center Project, April 8, 1941." Photo courtesy of the National Archives via The Living New Deal).

Battle of the Atlantic: U-107 (K.Kapt. Günther Hessler) is on its second patrol. U-107 is one of the war's most successful U-boats, and this extended patrol (it lasts for over two months) is the most successful. Today, U-107 is stalking dispersed ships from Convoy OG 57 south of the Azores, and it torpedoes and sinks two ships:

• 3314-ton British freighter Helena Margareta (27 deaths, 9 survivors, Captain Owen T. Jones gets the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery, U-107 surfaces and sinks it with gunfire)
• 3829-ton British freighter Eskdene (all 39 aboard survive)

Hessler in U-107 continues stalking the convoy after the attack.

U-124 (Kptlt. Georg-Whilhelm Schulz), operating in the same general area as U-107, is north of the Cape Verde Islands and sinks 2697-ton British freighter Tweed. There are three survivors and 25 deaths.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 2848-ton British freighter Cormarsh off Sheringham Buoy (near Cley, Norfolk). The ship makes it to Hull.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages British 5792-ton freighter Chaucer near the Humber Light Vessel.

British 8621-ton tanker Ahamo hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea east of Sutton on Sea. There are fourteen deaths.

German freighter Kurzesee sinks from unexplained causes off Skjervøy, Norway. A likely cause is hitting a mine, but an air attack is possible, too.

Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser HMS Bulolo captures Vichy French 4279-ton freighter Fort de France in the Atlantic between Martinique and Casablanca. Bulolo's crew takes it to Gibraltar.

German raider Atlantis crossed into the South Atlantic from the Indian Ocean.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Intrepid lays minefield JO in the English Channel.

Convoy SL 71 departs from Freetown.

Canadian corvette HMCS Chilliwack (K 131, Lt. Leslie L. Foxall) is commissioned.

U-80 (Oberleutnant zur See Georg Staats) is commissioned.

The New Berlin, Illinois Island Grove school, 8 April 1941 (New Berlin Area Historical Society).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Afrika Korps takes the fortress of Mechili in the morning. The remnants of the 2nd Armored Division get some new stragglers from the west during the night to reinforce their position and try to break out, but the 5th Light Division (Major Bolbrinker) takes the fortress by 08:00. Major-General Gambier Parry, General Officer Commanding 2nd Armoured Division, surrenders and now joins Generals Neame and O'Connor in captivity.

General Erwin Rommel quickly tasks the Italians with occupying Mechili while the sends the German 5th Light Division troops to help out at Derna. By nightfall, the Germans have taken the Derna airfield, the town itself, and about 800 prisoners. While some British troops still hold out, their cause is hopeless.

With Benghazi, Derna, and Mechili in their pocket, the Germans now can focus on Tobruk. Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell flies out of Tobruk, but his plane experiences engine trouble (likely due to desert sandstorms) and lands in the desert near Sollum. An armored car picks him up.

Meanwhile, the British still don't know what has happened to General O'Connor and Lieutenant General Philip Neame, their military leaders in Libya (they are in German custody). As visiting Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies notes in his diary following discussions at the War Cabinet:

Balkans bad. O'Connor & Neame missing in Libya. The clouds are dark and there is a lurid patch in the sky - I hope not sunset.... The generals of the War Office are still behind the times. "We have so many divisions" - as if divisions counted. Armour and speed count, and when we catch up to that idea, we will catch up to the Germans.

Menzies notes that "we hope to make a stand" at Tobruk. Until Neame can be located, Major General John Lavarack assumes his duties.

British mooring vessel Moor hits a mine and sinks near the Ricasoli Breakwater Light Vessel at the entrance to Grand Harbour, Malta. There are only one survivor and 28 deaths. The ship suffers a massive explosion around 17:00 that attracts attention from many viewers, turns on its side, and sinks rapidly.
An Axis convoy of five freighters departs Naples for Tripoli.

US/Greenland Relations: Greenland is an odd case. While it is part of Denmark, Greenland's government has announced its effective independence. However, the Danish Minister to the United States, Henrik de Kauffmann, still represents Greenland's interests. He prepares a document, "Denmark-United States: Agreement Relating to the Defense of Greenland," setting forth joint defense of Greenland. This effectively grants the United States responsibility for Greenland's defense from the Axis powers.

King Peter II of Yugoslavia.

US/Yugoslavian Relations: The Yugoslav attaché in Washington has requested as much US assistance that it can provide. In fact, the US can offer virtually no assistance except words, some of which President Roosevelt provides today. He states:

the United States will speedily furnish all material assistance possible in accordance with its existing statutes. I send Your Majesty my most earnest hopes for a successful resistance to this criminal assault upon the independence and integrity of your country.

The Germans already have a stranglehold on Yugoslavia, and the Italians and Luftwaffe dominate the skies, making any shipments by sea extremely unlikely.

US/Polish Relations: President Roosevelt meets with General Sikorski, leader of the Polish government in exile.

US Military: Evans Fordyce Carlson, considered a Far East specialist due to his experience in China, resigned his commission in 1939. Today, he is recommissioned at the rank of Major. Carlson has extensive experience working with Chinese Communist guerillas fighting Japanese invaders.

Joe Louis and Tony Musto at their weigh-in for their 8 April 1941 title fight (Boxing Hall of Fame in Las Vegas).

American Homefront: Earle W. Graser perishes in an automobile accident when he apparently falls asleep at the wheel while driving to his radio station in Detroit. Graser, a young radio actor, has played The Lone Ranger since 30 January 1933 - coincidentally, the same date that Adolf Hitler took power. His is the voice that yells "Hi-Yo, Silver" in both the radio and television series and likely the one that most people would recognize.

Joe Louis knocks out Tony Musto in the Arena at St. Louis, Missouri. It is his 16th successful defense of the World Heavyweight Championship.

Future History: Margaret Anne Lennon is born in Los Angeles, California. As Peggy Lennon, she will begin appearing with her sisters Dianna Barbara, Kathy and Janet as the Lennon Sisters on the Lawrence Welk Show from 1955-1968. Peggy will continue performing with the group - which still tours as of this writing - until her retirement in 1999.

Vivienne Isabel Swire is born in Tintwistle Cheshire, near Glossop, Derbyshire. As Vivienne Westwood due to her marriage to Derek Westwood, she and her second husband Malcolm McLaren become clothes designers, with McLaren managing the Sex Pistols. When the Sex Pistols wear Vivienne's clothing, she garners a lot of attention. Westwood becomes a key mover behind the fashions of the punk movement, with a definite edge of leather bondage gear, spikes, chains and the like. She goes on to form her own fashion company, designs clothing for many celebrities such as the characters in "Sex and the City," and become politically active.As of this writing, Dame Vivienne Westwood continues to be perhaps the top fashion celebrity in England, at least in certain circles - though there are several claimants to that throne.

Darlene Faye Gillespie is born in Montreal, Quebec. She becomes famous as a child actress, appearing as a singer and dancer on the original Mickey Mouse Club television series from 1955-1958. She goes on to a singing career and various other adventures.

Earle Graser, the first radio "Lone Ranger," perishes on 8 April 1941 in an automobile accident.

April 1941

April 1, 1941: Rommel Takes Brega
April 2, 1941:Rommel Takes Agedabia
April 3, 1941: Convoy SC-26 Destruction
April 4, 1941: Rommel Takes Benghazi
April 5, 1941: Rommel Rolling
April 6, 1941: Operation Marita
April 7, 1941: Rommel Takes Derna
April 8, 1941: Yugoslavia Crumbling
April 9, 1941: Thessaloniki Falls
April 10, 1941: USS Niblack Attacks
April 11, 1941: Good Friday Raid
April 12, 1941: Belgrade and Bardia Fall
April 13, 1941: Soviet-Japanese Pact
April 14, 1941: King Peter Leaves
April 15, 1941: Flying Tigers
April 16, 1941: Battle of Platamon
April 17, 1941: Yugoslavia Gone
April 18, 1941: Me 262 First Flight
April 19, 1941: London Smashed
April 20, 1941: Hitler's Best Birthday
April 21, 1941: Greek Army Surrenders
April 22, 1941: Pancevo Massacre
April 23, 1941: CAM Ships
April 24, 1941: Battle of Thermopylae
April 25, 1941: Operation Demon
April 26, 1941: Operation Hannibal
April 27, 1941: Athens Falls
April 28, 1941: Hitler Firm about Barbarossa
April 29, 1941: Mainland Greece Falls
April 30, 1941: Rommel Attacks

2020

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