Sunday 2 February 1941

Dr. Serge Voronoff at his monkey-gland laboratory in France.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks (Cretan 5th Division of II Corps) on 2 February 1941 finally take full possession of the Trebeshina (Trebeshinë) massif. The nearby Greek 15th Division also makes small gains, completing the capture of the village of Bubeshi.

Italian forces in the area, however, remain unusually feisty for Italian troops of World War II. Thus, little profit appears likely from this commanding position in the area achieved by the Greek troops. Further progress may depend upon British troops, which remain in Egypt and Libya pending the completion of operations there and Greek approval to accept them. The RAF is busy in support of the Greeks. The Greeks are trying to take the strategically decisive port of Valona (Vlorë) quickly, and capture of the Trebeshinë heights is necessary to accomplish that. However, Klisura Pass is just the gateway toward Valona, not on its doorstep, and much work remains to be done (such as the capture of Tepelenë) before the port is even threatened, much less overcome.

With the benefit of hindsight and in light of later events (Operation Marita), the protracted defense of the Trebeshinë heights by two battalions of the Italian Blackshirts may be seen as having secured Valona and, thus, the entire Italian position in Albania for the duration of World War II. It salvages a tiny bit of Italian military honor. With the benefit of even more hindsight and perhaps a bit of arguable interpretation, the use of crack Cretan troops in Albania rather than keeping them in Crete may have contributed to future Allied defeats there as well.

Spinning things out a bit further.... perhaps beyond the breaking point... the successful Italian defense of the Trebeshinë heights may have played an even larger role in the outcome of World War II. If the Italians in Albania had folded completely in a short period of time, Hitler might not have authorized Operation Marita (at least partly intended to rescue the Italians). In that case, he might have had those troops available at the start of Operation Barbarossa. Many historians theorize that, had those troops been used in the Soviet Union right from the opening of hostilities, Moscow might have been captured before the winter snows and the entire course of world history altered. But, that is sheer speculation.

Map of initial attacks on Keren, Eritrea.

East African Campaign: The Italian collapse in Eritrea continues. The 5th Indian Infantry Division takes Barentu, with the Italians retreating at first down a small road that turns into a mule track. The reported prisoner haul is 8000, but this figure seems high. Ultimately, the Italians abandon the road altogether and simply hike overland toward the coast. While this prevents the pursuing British from catching up to them, it also forces them to abandon every single vehicle, including guns, trucks, and tanks. The Italian troops (largely colonial) from both the Cochen Mountain and Barentu fronts head for Keren on the Keren Plateau, which has fewer natural defensive advantages than the positions the British already have overcome. However, it is located at 4300 feet above sea level, which forces the British to attack essentially while going uphill.

Preliminary operations against Keren already are underway. Gazelle Force crosses the Baraka River with some difficulty (the Italians have blown the Ponte Mussolini bridge) and ascends toward the plateau. The British troops make it all the way to within about 6 km of Keren, where it is stopped at the Donglolaas Gorge. Normally, the area can be traversed without difficulty, but the Italians have dynamited the overhanging escarpments, filling the gorge with boulders and debris. The Italians also rather unhelpfully have mined the approaches.

In Abyssinia, the advancing South African troops capture Hobok.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command begins a sustained campaign against the Channel invasion ports, in conjunction with Coastal Command. Among the targeted ports today are Berck, Le Havre, and Ostend. After dark, the RAF bombs Brest.

The Circus Operations continue. As opposed to Rhubarb missions, which are fighters only, the Circus missions include a token force of bombers to make their interception by the Luftwaffe more potentially profitable. This attack in the daylight is by five Blenheims against Boulogne. The British claim three fighters destroyed.

The Luftwaffe remains dormant. There are scattered raids over eastern England, with a few bombs dropped here and there.

Battle of the Atlantic: German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which have been in the far North Atlantic near Bear Island for several days waiting for the weather to improve, finally manage to complete refueling from tanker Adria. They each receive about 3400 tons of fuel and then quickly head to the southwest. Rather than head south of Iceland, as they did during their abortive breakout attempt in late January, the two ships head north of Iceland. Their objective is a passage through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. Around this time, one of the Gneisenau's crewmen, named Liske, is lost overboard in the heavy seas and not recovered.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 834-ton British freighter The Sultan in the outer fringes of the Thames Estuary. There are two deaths and 12 survivors.

Royal Navy 505 ton trawler HMT Almond hits a mine and sinks off Falmouth. All 19 onboard perish.

Belgian 168 ton coaster Pallieter (formerly Hero) has its cargo shift during a storm. This causes the ship to sink in the Firth of Forth.

The Luftwaffe attacks 5135-ton British freighter Waziristan in the Atlantic shipping lanes west of the Faroes Islands. A near miss disables the ship, which eventually is taken under tow by tug Bandit and brought to Kirkwall.

Convoy FN 398 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 402 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 14 departs from Suez.

U-431 is launched.

Italian POWs are being brought to the fortress area at Tobruk for processing, 1941 (Australian War Memorial). Tobruk serves as the embarkation point for Italian POWs heading for Alexandria.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Australian 6th Division continues pursuing the Italians west of Derna. While not in wild flight, the Italians are moving with some alacrity back toward Benghazi - which itself is being evacuated. They also are engaging in skillful minelaying and combat destruction. This is slowing down the Australian infantry, as each minefield requires a methodical clearing before the advance can continue.

With Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell's permission in hand, General O'Connor of XIII Corps is preparing to send his armored forces south of the mountain (Jebel Akhdar, or Green Mountain) that bifurcates northeast Libyan operations. This requires supplies that must be shipped to Tobruk - not in perfect working order after the recent battles there - and then transport north toward Derna. O'Connor is torn between getting his supplies in order and then sending his troops (Combe Force) out fully prepared, or sending what he has available out quickly in order to increase the likelihood of blocking the Italian retreat.

O'Connor adopts the latter course. He orders Lieutenant Colonel J.F.B. Combe, commanding 11th Hussars, 2nd Rifle Brigade and assorted field, antitank and antiaircraft artillery) to set out first thing in the morning of the 3rd. The 7th Armoured Division will follow shortly thereafter. The basic plan is for the Australians to herd the Italians westward north of the mountain, while Combe Force moves directly westward and cuts them off further west. This unit becomes known as Combe Force.

Elsewhere, the Royal Navy is active. Operation Picket by Force H is launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. This is an attack by eight Skuas of RAF No. 810 Squadron on a strategically important San Chiara Ulla Dam at Lake Tirso, Sardinia. This attack, which aims to destroy hydroelectric facilities as well using torpedoes, is executed but does not damage the targets due to low clouds, hail, rain, antiaircraft fire, barking dogs and the whole lot. Four torpedoes are released, but apparently, they hit a sandbar or other obstruction. The British lose a Skua, with the three crewmen rescued by the Italians and taken prisoner. It is an interesting operation in the abstract, full of derring-do and the like, but results only in quite a bit of profitless effort on both ends of the Mediterranean.

Admiral Somerville still plans to carry off companion operation Operation Grog (formerly Result) (the bombardment of Genoa). However, he decides against it on this sortie due to the weather. Force H then retires to Gibraltar. Many lessons are learned from this somewhat embarrassing affair which is put to good use eventually in the famous "Dambusters" raid later in the war.

A diversionary operation for the disappointing Operation Picket and abortive Operation Result is underway in the eastern Mediterranean. In Operation MC 7, a large force of Royal Navy ships essentially simulates a typical convoy from Alexandria to Malta.

Italian tug Uso sinks between the islands of Korčula and Lastovo, Yugoslavia. The cause of sinking apparently is a mine; some accounts say it is by a torpedo, but the source of the supposed torpedo is not given. Sometimes, witnesses at the scene don't even know what happened and can only guess. Post-war record checks don't always resolve such issues.

In Malta, the government decides to set up a new department, the Food and Distributions Office. This office, under Marquis Barbaro of St George, will implement a rationing scheme. As part of this process, households will be issued rationing cards.

Wellingtons based on Malta attack Castel Benito, a Libyan airfield that the Italians enlarged in the late 1930s. This is but the latest in many air attacks on the field.

Keren, Eritrea, around the time of World War II.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst aren't the only German heavy ships operating in the Atlantic; battlecruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper also are on the loose. There also are many other German ships of various purposes roaming the high seas which can help them fulfill their commerce-raiding missions. One of them operating in the western Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, is German raider Atlantis. Today, it captures 7301-ton Norwegian tanker Ketty Brøvig, which is full of 6370 tons of fuel oil and 4125 tons of diesel oil from Bahrain. The Atlantis puts a prize crew aboard and will use the tanker to fuel itself and whatever other Axis ships it encounters. This is an example of how an entire fleet can "live off the land" in the middle of the ocean.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Formidable is on its way up the eastern African coast to join the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria. Its presence there is necessary to replace the battered HMS Illustrious, which is heading for permanent repairs in the United States (at some point the two carriers pass, which must give the boys on the Formidable quite an eyeful of what to expect for themselves). Today, it operates as part of Force K, a determined British effort to track down German raider Atlantis. While having no success in that mission, it is in the vicinity of Italian Somaliland (Somalia), and the British decide to take advantage of that fact. Formidable launches its Swordfish against Mogadishu harbor to lay mines. The nine Albacores then attack Mogadishu itself in Operation Breach.

Italian destroyers are operating in the Red Sea. After dark, they attack one of the BS convoys but are deterred by the Royal Navy escorts.

German battlecruiser Admiral Scheer transits from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

Battle of the Pacific: German raider Orion completes an overhaul at Maug Island in the Marianas and heads for the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Voronoff claims that monkey glands may contain the secret to eternal youth. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 13 July 1924.

British Government: General Alan Brooke, commander of United Kingdom Home Forces and in charge of anti-invasion preparations, records in his diary that he had dinner at Chequers and then gave a presentation to Prime Minister Churchill, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and various others in Churchill's coterie. Everybody is complimentary, he says, but Churchill "would not acknowledge that an invasion ... was possible in the face of partial sea-control and local air-control."

US Government: Dean Acheson is made Assistant Secretary of State.

Canada: Prime Minister William Mackenzie King makes a radio speech to the Canadian people. He states that the Germans are engaging in barbarity:

Total war means an indiscriminate attack on every front, by every means, however fiendish. Practiced by the [fascists], as we have seen, it is war against homes, hospitals, schools and churches. It is war on men, women and children.

King emphasizes the importance of fully supporting the war effort. He informs the public that Canada will double the number of troops it already is contributing to the war effort in Europe.

Australia: Prime Minister Robert Menzies continues his epic journey from Melbourne to London, recorded in his voluminous diary (these entries most likely written on the plane). Today, he stops at Baghdad. He meets the Regent, who he describes as "clear-headed but only 25, afraid of his advisers." Menzies describes the new Iraqi Prime Minister as "a stop-gap, being a little better [than his predecessor] but not much." He then continues on to Jerusalem for the night.

China: The indeterminate fighting in Southern Honan (Henan) continues. The Japanese 11th Army evacuates Wuyang.

Dr. Voronoff claims that monkey glands may be able to create a race of supermen. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 September 1936.

French Homeland: For unexplained reasons, the Germans seize the monkeys of French researcher Dr. Serge Voronoff. Now, this leads to the question, who is Dr. Voronoff and who cares about his monkeys? Well, there's a story to that.

Dr. Voronoff is the 74-year-old brother-in-law of the wife of ex-King Carol II of Romania. He has maintained a monkey farm and laboratory near Mentone for decades. He is a specialist in monkey glands, specifically, applied uses of monkey glands for medicinal purposes.

Now, monkey glands may not sound like a particularly exciting field. However, at this point in time, there are many hopes that monkey glands may have special powers. Specifically, there are claims that monkey glands are the fountain of youth. Dr. Voronoff does not mind the publicity, and in fact has made some wild claims of his own, reported in the international press, that monkey glands literally can create an army of supermen. And, in German hands, that would be an army of Wehrmacht Supermen.

Which means there may be something quite special about these particular monkeys. Who knows what... alterations the good doctor has made to them? It makes the otherwise inexplicable decision of the Germans to seize the monkeys quite explainable. As for Dr. Voronoff - he and his 26-year-old wife previously booked tickets to New York and arrived there on 6 September 1940.

Italian Homeland: Apparently as a result of reversals in Libya, Benito Mussolini declares southern Italy a war zone and places it under martial law.

Dr. Voronoff's monkeys seized; 2 February 1941 Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

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

Sunday 2 February 1941

Dr. Serge Voronoff at his monkey-gland laboratory in France.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks (Cretan 5th Division of II Corps) on 2 February 1941 finally take full possession of the Trebeshina (Trebeshinë) massif. This is a strategic location vital for further operations. The nearby Greek 15th Division also makes small gains, completing the capture of the village of Bubeshi.

Italian forces in the area remain unusually spirited for Italian troops of World War II. Thus, little profit appears likely from this commanding position in the area achieved by the Greek troops. Further progress may depend upon British troops, which remain in Egypt and Libya pending the completion of operations there and Greek approval to accept them. The RAF is busy in support of the Greeks. The Greeks are trying to take the strategically decisive port of Valona (Vlorë) quickly, and capture of the Trebeshinë heights is necessary to accomplish that. However, Klisura Pass is just the gateway toward Valona, not on its doorstep, and much work remains to be done (such as the capture of Tepelenë) before the port is even threatened, much less overcome.

With the benefit of hindsight and in light of later events (Operation Marita), the protracted defense of the Trebeshinë heights by two battalions of the Italian Blackshirts may be seen as having secured Valona and, thus, the entire Italian position in Albania for the duration of World War II. It salvages a tiny bit of Italian military honor. With the benefit of even more hindsight and perhaps a bit of arguable interpretation, the use of crack Cretan troops in Albania rather than keeping them in Crete may have contributed to future Allied defeats there as well.

Spinning things out a bit further.... perhaps beyond the breaking point... the successful Italian defense of the Trebeshinë heights may have played an even larger role in the outcome of World War II. If the Italians in Albania had folded completely in a short period of time, Hitler might not have authorized Operation Marita (at least partly intended to rescue the Italians). In that case, he might have had those troops available at the start of Operation Barbarossa. Many historians theorize that, had those troops been used in the Soviet Union right from the opening of hostilities, Moscow might have been captured before the winter snows and the entire course of world history altered. But, that is sheer speculation.

Map of initial attacks on Keren, Eritrea.

East African Campaign: The Italian collapse in Eritrea continues. The 5th Indian Infantry Division takes Barentu, with the Italians retreating at first down a small road that turns into a mule track. The reported prisoner haul is 8000, but this figure seems high. Ultimately, the Italians abandon the road altogether and simply hike overland toward the coast. While this prevents the pursuing British from catching up to them, it also forces them to abandon every single vehicle, including guns, trucks, and tanks. The Italian troops (largely colonial) from both the Cochen Mountain and Barentu fronts head for Keren on the Keren Plateau, which has fewer natural defensive advantages than the positions the British already have overcome. However, it is located at 4300 feet above sea level, which forces the British to attack essentially while going uphill.

Preliminary operations against Keren already are underway. Gazelle Force crosses the Baraka River with some difficulty (the Italians have blown the Ponte Mussolini bridge) and ascends toward the plateau. The British troops make it all the way to within about 6 km of Keren, where it is stopped at the Donglolaas Gorge. Normally, the area can be traversed without difficulty, but the Italians have dynamited the overhanging escarpments, filling the gorge with boulders and debris. The Italians also rather unhelpfully have mined the approaches.

In Abyssinia, the advancing South African troops capture Hobok.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command begins a sustained campaign against the Channel invasion ports, in conjunction with Coastal Command. Among the targeted ports today are Berck, Le Havre, and Ostend. After dark, the RAF bombs Brest.

The Circus Operations continue. As opposed to Rhubarb missions, which are fighters only, the Circus missions include a token force of bombers to make their interception by the Luftwaffe more potentially profitable. This attack in the daylight is by five Blenheims against Boulogne. The British claim three fighters destroyed.

The Luftwaffe remains dormant. There are scattered raids over eastern England, with a few bombs dropped here and there.

Battle of the Atlantic: German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which have been in the far North Atlantic near Bear Island for several days waiting for the weather to improve, finally manage to complete refueling from tanker Adria. They each receive about 3400 tons of fuel and then quickly head to the southwest. Rather than head south of Iceland, as they did during their abortive breakout attempt in late January, the two ships head north of Iceland. Their objective is a passage through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. Around this time, one of the Gneisenau's crewmen, named Liske, is lost overboard in the heavy seas and not recovered.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 834-ton British freighter The Sultan in the outer fringes of the Thames Estuary. There are two deaths and 12 survivors.

Royal Navy 505-ton trawler HMT Almond hits a mine and sinks off Falmouth. All 19 men on board perish.

Belgian 168-ton coaster Pallieter (formerly Hero) has its cargo shift during a storm. This causes the ship to sink in the Firth of Forth.

The Luftwaffe attacks 5135-ton British freighter Waziristan in the Atlantic shipping lanes west of the Faroes Islands. A near miss disables the ship, which eventually is taken under tow by tug Bandit and brought to Kirkwall.

Convoy FN 398 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 402 departs from Methil, Convoy BS 14 departs from Suez.

U-431 is launched.

Blindfolded Italian POWs are brought to the fortress area at Tobruk for processing, 1941 (Australian War Memorial). Tobruk serves as the embarkation point for Italian POWs heading for Alexandria.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Australian 6th Division continues pursuing the Italians west of Derna. While not in wild flight, the Italians are moving with some alacrity back toward Benghazi - which itself is being evacuated. They also are engaging in skillful minelaying and combat destruction. This is slowing down the Australian infantry, as each minefield requires a methodical clearing before the advance can continue.

With Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell's permission in hand, General O'Connor of XIII Corps is preparing to send his armored forces south of the mountain (Jebel Akhdar, or Green Mountain) that bifurcates northeast Libyan operations. This requires supplies that must be shipped to Tobruk - not in perfect working order after the recent battles there - and then transport north toward Derna. O'Connor is torn between getting his supplies in order and then sending his troops (Combe Force) out fully prepared, or sending what he has available out quickly in order to increase the likelihood of blocking the Italian retreat.

O'Connor adopts the latter course. He orders Lieutenant Colonel J.F.B. Combe, commanding 11th Hussars, 2nd Rifle Brigade and assorted field, antitank and antiaircraft artillery) to set out first thing in the morning of the 3rd. The 7th Armoured Division will follow shortly thereafter. The basic plan is for the Australians to herd the Italians westward north of the mountain, while Combe Force moves directly westward and cuts them off further west. This unit becomes known as Combe Force.

Elsewhere, the Royal Navy is active. Operation Picket by Force H is launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. This is an attack by eight Skuas of RAF No. 810 Squadron on a strategically important San Chiara Ulla Dam at Lake Tirso, Sardinia. This attack, which aims to destroy hydroelectric facilities as well using torpedoes, is executed but does not damage the targets due to low clouds, hail, rain, antiaircraft fire, barking dogs and the whole lot. Four torpedoes are released, but apparently, they hit a sandbar or other obstruction. The British lose a Skua, with the three crewmen rescued by the Italians and taken prisoner. It is an interesting operation in the abstract, full of derring-do and the like, but results only in quite a bit of profitless effort on both ends of the Mediterranean.

Admiral Somerville still plans to carry off companion operation Operation Grog (formerly Result) (the bombardment of Genoa). However, he decides against it on this sortie due to the weather. Force H then retires to Gibraltar. Many lessons are learned from this somewhat embarrassing affair which later will be put to good use in the famous "Dambusters" raid later in the war.

A diversionary operation for the disappointing Operation Picket and abortive Operation Result is underway in the eastern Mediterranean. In Operation MC 7, a large force of Royal Navy ships essentially simulates a typical convoy from Alexandria to Malta.

Italian tug Uso sinks between the islands of Korčula and Lastovo, Yugoslavia. The cause of sinking apparently is a mine; accounts say it is by a torpedo, but the source of the supposed torpedo is not given.

In Malta, the government decides to set up a new department, the Food and Distributions Office. This office, under Marquis Barbaro of St George, will implement a rationing scheme. As part of this process, households will be issued rationing cards.

Wellingtons based on Malta attack Castel Benito, a Libyan airfield that the Italians enlarged in the late 1930s. This is but the latest in many air attacks on the field.

Keren, Eritrea  around the time of World War II.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst aren't the only German heavy ships operating in the Atlantic; battlecruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper also are on the loose. There also are many other German ships of various purposes roaming the high seas which can help them fulfill their commerce-raiding missions. One of them operating in the western Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, is German raider Atlantis. Today, it captures 7301-ton Norwegian tanker Ketty Brøvig, which is full of 6370 tons of fuel oil and 4125 tons of diesel oil from Bahrain. The Atlantis puts a prize crew aboard and will use the tanker to fuel itself and whatever other Axis ships it encounters. This is an example of how an entire fleet can "live off the land" in the middle of the ocean.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Formidable is on its way up the eastern African coast to join the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria. Its presence there is necessary to replace the battered HMS Illustrious, which is heading for permanent repairs in the United States (at some point the two carriers pass, which must give the boys on the Formidable quite an eyeful of what to expect for themselves). Today, it operates as part of Force K, a determined British effort to track down German raider Atlantis. While having no success in that mission, it is in the vicinity of Italian Somaliland (Somalia), and the British decide to take advantage of that fact. Formidable launches its Swordfish against Mogadishu harbor to lay mines. The nine Albacores then attack Mogadishu itself in Operation Breach.

Italian destroyers are operating in the Red Sea. After dark, they attack one of the BS convoys but are deterred by the Royal Navy escorts.

German battlecruiser Admiral Scheer transits from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

Battle of the Pacific: German raider Orion completes an overhaul at Maug Island in the Marianas and heads for the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Voronoff claims that monkey glands may contain the secret to eternal youth. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 13 July 1924.

British Government: General Alan Brooke, commander of United Kingdom Home Forces and in charge of anti-invasion preparations, records in his diary that he had dinner at Chequers and then gave a presentation to Prime Minister Churchill, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and various others in Churchill's coterie. Everybody is complimentary, he says, but Churchill "would not acknowledge that an invasion ... was possible in the face of partial sea-control and local air-control."

US Government: Dean Acheson is made Assistant Secretary of State.

Canada: Prime Minister William Mackenzie King makes a radio speech to the Canadian people. He states that the Germans are engaging in barbarity:

Total war means an indiscriminate attack on every front, by every means, however fiendish. Practiced by the [fascists], as we have seen, it is war against homes, hospitals, schools and churches. It is war on men, women and children.

King emphasizes the importance of fully supporting the war effort. He informs the public that Canada will double the number of troops it already is contributing to the war effort in Europe.

Australia: Prime Minister Robert Menzies continues his epic journey from Melbourne to London, recorded in his voluminous diary (these entries most likely written on the plane). Today, he stops at Baghdad. He meets the Regent, who he describes as "clear-headed but only 25, afraid of his advisers." Menzies describes the new Iraqi Prime Minister as "a stop-gap, being a little better [than his predecessor] but not much." He then continues on to Jerusalem for the night.

China: The indeterminate fighting in Southern Honan (Henan) continues. The Japanese 11th Army evacuates Wuyang.

Dr. Voronoff claims that monkey glands may be able to create a race of supermen. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 September 1936.

French Homeland: For unexplained reasons, the Germans seize the monkeys of French researcher Dr. Serge Voronoff. Now, this leads to the question, who is Dr. Voronoff and who cares about his monkeys? Well, there's a story to that.

Dr. Voronoff is the 74-year-old brother-in-law of the wife of ex-King Carol II of Romania. He has maintained a monkey farm and laboratory near Mentone for decades. He is a specialist in monkey glands, specifically, applied uses of monkey glands for medicinal purposes.

Now, monkey glands may not sound like a particularly exciting field. However, at this point in time, there are many hopes that monkey glands may have special powers. Specifically, there are claims that monkey glands are the fountain of youth. Dr. Voronoff does not mind the publicity, and in fact has made some wild claims of his own, reported in the international press, that monkey glands literally can create an army of supermen. And, in German hands, that would be an army of Wehrmacht Supermen.

Which means there may be something quite special about these particular monkeys. Who knows what... alterations the good doctor has made to them? It makes the otherwise inexplicable decision of the Germans to seize the monkeys quite explainable. As for Dr. Voronoff - he and his 26-year-old wife previously booked tickets to New York and arrived there on 6 September 1940.

Italian Homeland: Apparently as a result of reversals in Libya, Benito Mussolini declares southern Italy a war zone and places it under martial law.

Dr. Voronoff's monkeys seized. This appeared on the 2 February 1941 Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

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

Sunday 26 January 1941

The crew of HMS Wallace with pieces of a Junkers Ju 88 bomber they shot down on 26 January 1941 (© IWM (A 2808)).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Italians launch on 26 January 1941 their largest attempt yet to recover the strategic Klisura Pass in the center of the front. Greek II Corps, which now includes the 5th Division, struggles to retain control of the pass after effective attacks by the Italian Legnano Division. After picking up some ground, however, the Italian advances lose momentum and the troops fall back.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sends a long message to his Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Archibald Wavell, in which he elucidates his growing worries about Greece. He writes that the Germans are:

already establishing themselves upon the Bulgarian aerodromes and making every preparation for action against Greece.

Churchill is juggling the competing priorities of Libya and Albania, but it really is a false choice: he has a winning campaign in progress in the former, and basically no chance of affecting the outcome in the latter. He even has admitted recently, to Harry Hopkins, that victory in Greece is impossible against the Germans.

He further writes that:

sustaining of the Greek battle, thus keeping in the field their quite large army [becomes] an objective of prime importance.... [T]he massive importance of taking Valona and keeping the Greek front in being must weigh hourly with us.

The bottom line, according to Churchill, is that Wavell must "conform [his] plans to larger interests at stake" because "the destruction of Greece would eclipse victories ... in Libya and might affect decisively [the] Turkish attitude." In fact, contrary to Churchill's belief, Greece will remain little more than a sideshow to the decisive battles of World War II.

With this message, Churchill makes clear that his overriding objective at this stage is political, not military, and that winning a battle is not the same as winning the war. It is highly reminiscent of later reasoning by Adolf Hitler, who routinely places political objectives before military reality during the campaign in the Soviet Union.

Building N-26 of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, Fifth Naval District Headquarters communications center at Hampton Roads, catches fire, January 26, 1941. (National Archives and Records Administration NSNorfolk-1941_33 (RG 71-CA, Box 314, Folder B)). The building was a total loss.

East African Campaign: The British continue advancing into Eritrea toward Agordat, taking Biscia.

In Churchill's message to General Wavell, he echoes earlier complaints about what he views as redundant troops in Wavell's command:

Certainly, there is no need to send another South African Division to swell the 70,000 troops of various kinds who are now officially out of action in Kenya.... How can you expect me to face the tremendous strain upon our shipping, affecting as it does our food and import of munitions, in order to carry more divisions this country to the Middle East, when you seem opposed to taking a South African Division which would only have less than half the distance to come.

Evidently, Churchill is having a cranky day. However, the strained tone of his message underlies the strain that the British military is experiencing - despite its absolutely stunning successes in Libya - in the Mediterranean basin.

View looking southeast following a fire. Firefighters managed to prevent the flames from spreading to Buildings N-21 and N-23, January 26, 1941. National Archives and Records Administration NSNorfolk-1941_43 (RG 71-CA, Box 323, Folder A).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks Hanover with 17 bombers during the night. The Luftwaffe continues with only sporadic raids both during the day and at night.

Destroyer HMS Wallace (Lieut Cdr E G Heywood-Lonsdale) shoots down a Junkers Ju 88 and a Bf 110 off the East Coast, receiving a great deal of publicity for it.

Commander Heywood-Lonsdale congratulates his gun crew aboard HMS Wallace, 26 January 1941. © IWM (A 2807).

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe bombs and destroys 7557-ton British freighter Meriones that has run aground on Haisborough Sands, Norfolk (it apparently ran aground and is an easy target). Everybody survives.

Swedish 2023-ton freighter Belgia, running in Convoy FN 92 in the Thames Estuary, is attacked and heavily by the Luftwaffe. There are six deaths and 20 survivors. The wreck eventually drifts ashore at Frinton and is taken to Harwich and repaired. As a salvage, it is renamed Empire Bell.

The Luftwaffe attacks Convoy FS 395 and damages 1177-ton British freighter Gwynwood at the Barrow Deep with near misses. Leaking badly, the ship reaches Gravesend for repairs.

British 586-ton freighter Sandhill hits a mine and is damaged off Blackpool. The ship makes it to port.

British freighter 1568-ton Catford hits a mine off Oaze Bank and is damaged so badly that the crew beaches it. After temporary repairs, the ship is taken to Gravesend for repairs.

Dutch 6869-ton freighter Beemsterdijk hits a mine and eventually sinks off The Smalls Lighthouse (west of Grassholm). There are three survivors and 39 deaths. The crew tries to save the ship and anchors it, but eventually sinks and takes the crew with it. There is speculation this was a British mine, though why one would be there is unclear.

U-105 (Kapitänleutnant Georg Schewe) finishes off the sinking of the burning wreck that is 3564-ton British freighter Lurigethan today. The U-boat also fires two torpedoes at escorting corvette HMS Arabis, but misses. There are 16 deaths, the Arabis picks up the 35 survivors.

Convoy OG 51 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FN 392 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 396 departs from Methil, Convoy SLG 1 departs from Freetown.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Cachalot (Commander John D. Luce) lays fifty mines in Minefield FD 28 off Bud (near Molde), Norway. The Kriegsmarine also lays mine off Norway, with four minelayers seeding defensive minefield Pommern near Stavanger.

A map on the 26 January 1941 New York Times shows the situation in Libya, with fighting constricted to a fairly narrow plateau near the coast.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian North African commander Marshal Rodolfo Graziani is told by his intelligence people that a massive British tank force is approaching Mechili. This report is greatly exaggerated, but Graziani decides not to take any chances with his main armored force. He orders a withdrawal despite the fact that the Italian Babini Group is holding off the British. The Italians thus voluntarily give up their most favorable defensive position in Libya on the Jebel Akhdar upland area. This action is described in two different ways: 1) the Italians escape the British 4th Armored Brigade of the 7th Armored Division, or 2) the British "let the Italians escape." In reality, the Italians are not in many difficulties at any point and simply leave before they eventually are forced out.

Graziani makes the decision, however, to order General Giuseppe Tellera, the local commander, to continue defending Derna. The Babini Group is ordered to continue blocking the way west from the area. Tellera asks for more tanks (he has about 50 tanks and the false intelligence reports suggest that the British have 150 tanks approaching Mechili alone when they have only about 50 Cruiser tanks and 95 light tanks along the entire line), but this request is denied. With this decision, Graziani has made it impossible to hold Derna because the British troops can simply sweep around the city now that the Italian tanks are withdrawing.

Thus, the Australians continue outflanking the main Italian positions. The 2/4th Australian Battalion cuts the Derna-Mechili road and crosses Wadi Derna after dark. The Italians counterattack fiercely during the night with the 10th Bersaglieri of the Babini Group at Wadi Derna. They manage to blunt the Australian advance to encircle Derna from the south. The Italians finally are fighting, losing 40 Bersaglieri dead and 56 captured, but it is too late to save Derna. The withdrawal from Mechili uncovers the deep flank of the Derna position. Derna, a town of about 10,000 people, is in serious jeopardy now, particularly since their main infantry force, the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha," has been decimated in fierce fighting. However, the Italians continue to defend it.

The British plan is to get around Derna and cut the coast road from Derna to Benghazi. This will isolate the garrison and make its surrender inevitable. General O'Connor of XIII Corps gives the memorable order to General O'Moore Creagh of the 7th Armored Division:

You are going to cut the coast road South of Benghazi, and you are going now!

The Luftwaffe begins moving units south to help the Italians out in North Africa. Stab,/JG 27 and II,/JG 27 (Hptm. Wolfgang Lippert) begins moving to Bucharest, Romania as a stepping stone to the Middle East.

Max Schmelling, former Heavyweight boxing champion, makes an appearance on the 26 January 1941 New York Times. As a propaganda hero, Schmelling will take part in the Crete jump in May 1941, quickly leave for medical reasons, and then sit out the rest of the war.

Anglo/US Relations: Wendell Willkie arrives in Great Britain as the latest of President Roosevelt's personal emissaries. He carries a personal, handwritten letter from President Roosevelt which has received a great deal of media attention. The letter contains a poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Anglo/Abyssinian Relations: Churchill sends a message to South African leader General Jan Smuts in which he writes that:

it has become apparent that Haile Selassie stands out as the only possible candidate for the throne of a new Abyssinia. The Emperor is, in all probability, the only enlightened Abyssinian Prince.

Churchill notes that Selassie already has crossed the border and is leading an uprising against the Italian occupiers.

British Government: Churchill, on a very busy day, writes a memorandum showing that he is incensed by what he views to have been an insensitive radio broadcast by a "junior Minister" (Minister of Shipping Sir Ronald Cross) to the United States. He bans all Ministerial broadcasts other than by members of the War Cabinet without his personal approval. This also is an early sign that Cross's position is in jeopardy.

Headlines for 26 January 1941 in The New York Times.

Australian Government: Prime Minister Menzies continues his long journey to visit London, reaching Darwin by air today.

China: The Japanese 11th Army continues moving forward in the Battle of Southern Honan, capturing several towns.

Future History: Theodore Scott Glenn is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He overcomes childhood illnesses to graduate from The College of William and Mary, serves three years in the US Marines, and works as a reporter in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A frustrated screenwriter, he takes acting classes to learn dialogue and studies acting at the Actors Studio. Dropping his first name, Scott Glenn begins working in soap operas, then graduates to film work in 1970. He gets small roles in films like the "The Keep" (1983), "Silverado" (1985) and the film for which he is best known, "The Right Stuff" (1983). Scott Glenn continues to act, recently in Netflix's "Daredevil" series.

The Tiburon, California trestle, 26 January 1941 (Marin Magazine).

January 1941

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

2020

Monday 13 January 1941

Charles Church, Plymouth after the blitz of 1941 (derektait, Flickr).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek government announces the victory at Klisura Pass on 13 January 1941 around noontime. It becomes a day of national celebration, with Premier Metaxas and King George appearing on a balcony together.

The Greeks continue to press forward through the snow and howling winds. The Tuscano division is retreating in disarray, with one of these battalions surrounded and on or about this date surrendering. The gateway appears open to the key port of Valona, and taking it would go a long way toward ending the war and completing the conquest of Albania - if the Italians can't find a way to bar the Greek advance.

While in public everything appears to be going wonderfully for the Greeks, behind the scenes there are growing worries in England and Athens. The Germans are known to be massing in Romania, and they easily could slip through Bulgaria to invade Greece from the northeast. General Papagos, the Greek Commander-in-chief, informs British Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell that Greece would need substantial reinforcements to deter the Wehrmacht. The British Chiefs of Staff already have made the decision to send troops to Greece, but Wavell does not have nine divisions in his entire theater of operations.

The Italians, of course, are in worse shape than the Greeks at the moment. Mussolini arrives in Albania for talks with the prime minister there. He has Chief of the Defense Staff Ugo Cavallero take over from General Ubaldo Soddu, who is relieved of command in Albania and thus has more time for his real passion, composing soundtracks to movies.

As for the Germans, they indeed are assembling a striking force in Romania. Where and when it will be used is in doubt. Speculation worldwide is that Hitler will invade Bulgaria, and then funnel the Wehrmacht across its border to Greece in order to bail out Mussolini. Hitler, however, does not want to invade Bulgaria, which the Soviet Union clearly and unequivocally has warned him is part of its "security zone." Thus, Hitler is exerting pressure on King Boris of Bulgaria to sign the Tripartite Pact. German troops already are infiltrating into Bulgaria, clad in civilian clothes, to prepare for the attack on Greece.

Newsweek, 13 January 1941: "London Scene: Fire Bomb Grows as a War Menace."

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command targets Lorient, home of the U-boat fleet, during the night. It also sends Wellingtons of RAF No. 57 Squadron to bomb Ostend, Belgium and Boulogne, France.

A Halifax bomber carrying out flight tests experiences engine failure and crashes near Baldersby St. James, killing all six onboard.

The Luftwaffe returns to Plymouth again, and this follow-up raid causes more problems than the initial ones did. About 50 bombers drop incendiaries during the night, killing 26 people and injuring 117. Two men, Cyril Lidstone and George Wright are awarded George Medals for extinguishing an oil fire. Because the gas works at Coxside are hit, Plymouth is without gas for three weeks - which is a major issue in the middle of winter. An electrical plant at Prince Rock also is hit, stopping electricity for a day.

Picnicking at the beach, January 1941. Sarasota, Florida. Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott.

Battle of the Atlantic: It is a quiet day at sea. The Luftwaffe attack on Plymouth damages 507-ton British freighter Wooler at Victoria's Wharf. The freighter is then towed to Southampton for repairs.

Convoy FS 387 departs from Methil.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Petunia is commissioned.

U-597 is laid down.

Destroyers USS Laffey and Woolworth are laid down.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The perimeter at Tobruk is quiet, with the Australian 6th Infantry Division methodically preparing for its next assault on an Italian fortress, and the British 7th Armoured Division repairing its tanks and getting is supplies in order. General Wavell takes this lull to fly to Athens, where he pays a courtesy call on King George II and Prime Minister General John Metaxas. They do not discuss business today, but will tomorrow.

In Malta, there are two air raid alerts. One of them involves Junkers Ju 88s which apparently are on a get-acquainted flight, as they fly over the island in perfect formation but do not attack. This is an omen of things to come, as Fliegerkorps X based at Catania, Sicily now has more than just Stukas with which to attack.

Royal Navy light cruisers HMS Orion and HMAS Perth take on passengers deposited there during the Excess Convoy. They then depart with them for Malta.

Soviet Military: Ivan Konev becomes Commander-in-chief of the North Caucasus Military District, while Andrey Yeryomenko (Eremenko) takes over as commander of the prestigious 1st Red Banner Far Eastern Army based in eastern Siberia.

Jesse Jones on the cover of Time Magazine, 13 January 1941. Jones has been head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and also currently is the US Secretary of Commerce. Much of mid-century Houston's skyline was a result of Jones.

US Military: The federal government inducts seven Nation Guard units from Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina into the US Army.

German Government: Adolf Hitler begins another round of diplomatic events. These will take place from 13-20 January 1941 and include visits from Mussolini, General Antonescu of Romania, and others. The first to visit is King Boris III of Bulgaria. Hitler asks the king to join the Tripartite Pact and permit passage of German troops through Bulgarian territory into Greece. Hitler's overarching objective, however, is to get Bulgaria to declare war on Great Britain. King Boris demurs and makes no promises at this time.

US Government: The US government extends US citizenship by birth to all residents born in Puerto Rico.

French Indochina: The French begin preparing a naval action against the invading Thai forces.

China: The attacks continue by the Nationalist Chinese 3rd War Area against the encircled portions of the Chinese Communist New 4th Army near Maolin on the Yangtze River.

Swiss Homefront: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, one of the truly towering avant-garde writers, creator of the literary stream of consciousness technique and author of classics such as "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Many," "Ulysses," and "Finnegan's Wake," passes away in Zurich, aged 58. The cause of death is a perforated ulcer. Joyce had moved there in 1940 to avoid the German occupation of France, but had lived on-and-off in Zurich (and other continental cities) since 1915. James Joyce is buried at Fluntern Cemetery near Zurich Zoo.

Life Magazine, 13 January 1941.

American Homefront: The behind-the-scenes battles between William Randolph Hearst and RKO Studios over Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane," nearing its premiere, continue. Today, the Hollywood Reporter has a front-page story describing how the Hearst chain of newspapers is applying pressure on all of Hollywood - and not just RKO - to get  RKO Pictures studio head George J. Schaefer to quash the film. The strategy, the Hollywood Reporter states, will be for the Hearst newspapers to run a series of pieces decrying Hollywood's practice of hiring immigrants and refugees to do jobs that could be filled by Americans.

Many of these immigrants, of course, are world-famous specialists such as Marlene Dietrich who are busy becoming US citizens as quickly as they can (she already has, as has Albert Einstein). A goodly proportion also is Jewish and fled Europe due to fear of Hitlerism. Einstein fled Europe when he learned that his home had been confiscated for use as a Hitler Youth camp. For them to return now would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Hearst gossip columnist Louella Parsons, still smarting from being scooped by former protégé Hedda Hopper, indeed has been calling the studios and making these threats. The other studio bosses - including Louis B. Mayer and Nicholas Schrenck, the boss at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's parent company - are considering how to respond in some kind of unified fashion.

Separately, the US Supreme Court decides Sibbach v. Wilson & Co., 312 U.S. 1 (1941). This is a civil procedure decision regarding the proper jurisdiction of state versus federal laws in diversity jurisdiction cases.

In this case, which involves a car accident in Indiana, the appellant had appealed lower court rulings that held she was required to submit to a physical examination pursuant to FRCP 35(a). The court has diversity jurisdiction, meaning, the case is in federal court because the appellant and respondent reside in different states.

Appellant's argument is that Indiana state law does not require her to undergo a physical examination and that state law controls on such a substantive issue rather than federal law. Thus, the appellant claims she should not be required to undergo the exam. The respondent wants the uniform federal civil procedure rules applied in every federal court case regardless of how the plaintiff originally obtained federal jurisdiction.

The Court holds that in diversity proceedings, the determining factor as to whether to apply uniform federal rules or state laws is whether the rule in question is substantive in nature, or merely procedural. Procedural rules are those that simply address the manner or means through which substantive law may be adjudicated. Substantive rules to be applied are those of the state in which the court is based, while procedural rules to be applied are those contained in the uniform federal statutes.

In this particular case, the Supreme Court holds that state law controls the issue of a physical examination because that involves a substantive matter and not just how the case should be tried. Thus, the appellant does not have to submit to the physical examination because Indiana law does not require one.

Finally, the Modernaires vocal group joins the Glenn Miller Orchestra on a permanent basis today.

Lou Salica and Tommy Forte in their bantamweight title fight held in Philadelphia Arena, 13 January 1941. Salica successfully defended his title in a close and controversial decision.

January 1941

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

2020