Thursday 5 June 1941

The Japanese bombing Chungking.

Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: The RAF sends three Blenheims to raid Aleppo airfield in Syria on 5 June 1941. The Luftwaffe and Italian Regia Aeronautica have used Aleppo as a transit hub for flights to Iraq, and the Italians still have CR.42 fighters and SM.79 transports there. Defending French Morane 406 fighters fail to avert the attack, which destroys a hanger and plane on the ground.

The Vichy French bomb the Transjordanian capital of Amman.

The British Middle East Command is ironing out the details of its planned invasion of Syria, Operation Exporter. General Maitland Wilson, who is planning the operation, will command the initial stages of the operation from the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Then, he will hand off the direction of operations to Major-General John Lavarack of the 1st Australian Corps once Damascus and Beirut have fallen and the campaign effectively has been decided.

Brigadier Sydney Rowell, chief of operations of the Corps, argues that control of operations should vest in the local commanders from the start, but Thomas General Blamey, on Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell's staff in Cairo, overrules him. The British feel, from intelligence information gathered from French defectors, that the invasion of Syria will be a simple affair, and Blamey wants to "not rock the boat." Rowell and Blamey have a lack of respect for each other which rapidly is turning personal.

Rowell and headquarters for the 1st Australian Corps move to Nazareth in anticipation of the invasion.

The Royal Navy continues re-deploying its ships to support the invasion of Syria. Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry and destroyers Hero and ISIS leave Alexandria. They are to rendezvous with troopship Glengyle at Port Said, which is to embark on invasion troops.

In Iraq, the British occupy Kirkuk.

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler arrives at Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt) on 5 June 1941. He is in a BMW 355 bearing his standard "SS-1" plates. Visible (grey hair) is Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, the “leader” of the Jewish community. Himmler is on an inspection tour of the manufacturing process at the camp (they make uniforms and other items). Karl Wolff, Himmler's Chief Adjutant, is visible, as is Ghetto Administrator Hans Biebow (face at extreme left, over the shoulder of the political officer). Poland at this time is a beehive of activity due to the looming start of Operation Barbarossa.

European Air Operations: Before dawn, the Luftwaffe bombs Birmingham, England. However, bombing accuracy is extremely poor, and the bombs generally fall in the countryside.

Luftwaffe ace Heinz Wiest (six victories) of JG 51 perishes in a flying accident.

East African Campaign: East African 22nd Infantry Brigade captures over 1000 Italian troops near the Omo River at Sciola in Galla-Sidamo.

Heavy cruiser ORP Burza H-73 seen off Bangor, Ireland, 5 June 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Royal Navy gets another victory in its campaign to eradicate the German supply fleet from the North and South Atlantic. Cruiser HMS London, accompanied by destroyer Brilliant, find 9789-ton German tanker Egerland midway between the Cape Verde Islands and Brazil. Following standard procedure, the 94-man German crew scuttles the Egerland and go into captivity. The Royal Navy now has eliminated over half the German supply network in only a few days, and this inevitably will hinder extended U-boat operations.

U-48 (Kptlt. Herbert Schultze), on its 12th patrol out of Kiel in the Atlantic midway between Ireland and St. John's, torpedoes and sinks 6054-ton British tanker Wellfield. There are 8 deaths and 34 survivors. The survivors are picked up by Norwegian freighter Heina.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 3540-ton British coal hulk Himalaya at Portland, Dorset.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 73-ton Royal Navy balloon barrage drifter Lavinia L. off Sheerness. There is one death.

Royal Navy 505-ton trawler Ash hits a mine and sinks in the Thames Estuary. There are some men wounded, but everybody survives.

British 6278-ton freighter Myrmidon hits a mine in the Crosby Channel. The Myrmidon makes it back to Liverpool. Eventually, it heads to New York for complete repairs.

Royal Navy destroyer Matabele hits a submerged object off Barrow. It has to return to Barrow for repairs and is out of service until August. With so many vessels being sunk all around Great Britain, underwater hazards not marked on charts are multiplying and becoming a serious problem.

The Royal Navy continues landing ground reinforcements in Iceland. This month, an infantry battalion and artillery battalion arrive. The British occupation presence is rapidly building to a total of 25,000 men. The Icelandic government remains officially neutral but offers no resistance to the British. The British build numerous facilities at Reykjavik and elsewhere, including No. 30 General Hospital and No. 50 General Hospital. The British are preparing to hand off occupation duties to the United States, but that process has not yet begun.

Canadian corvettes HMCS Buctouche (Lt. William W. Hackney) and Sherbrooke (Lt. Commander Eric G. M. Donald) are commissioned.

U-573 (Kptlt. Heinrich Heinsohn) is commissioned in Kiel.

The Kriegsmarine places an ambitious order for 102 new U-boats to be built. Germany only has so much steel, most imported from Scandinavia, and the army and navy both need what is available for their projects. Thus, there is constant competition for steel allotments, which is a symptom of a larger issue facing the Reich.

Fiat CR-42-Falco 161 Gruppo CT Stormo Autonom 164a 164 5 MM7475, Rhodes, June 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Wehrmacht announces that its final count of prisoners taken on Crete amounts to about 15,000 British and Commonwealth troops. This number generally is considered a little high, the number is probably closer to 12,000, but there is no question that a lot of Allied troops become POWs on Crete. Many British and Commonwealth troops still remain at large, hiding in caves and with local villagers.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Triumph encounters three small Italian ships in the Gulf of Sirte along the coast southeast of Misrata. Using its deck gun, Triumph sinks escorting Italian gunboat Valoroso, 245-ton freighter Frieda and 244-ton freighter Trio Frassinetti.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Unique (Lt. A.F. Collett, RN), on its 9th war patrol, makes a daring intrusion into Lampedusa Harbor early in the morning. At 08:22, it torpedoes and sinks 736-ton Italian freighter Arsia inside Lampedusa Harbor. Collett has to fire two torpedoes because the first at 07:53 misses and hits the shore just astern of the ship. There are no casualties. Shrapnel from the Arsia damages 275-ton freighter Egusa and small fishing boat Giuseppe Padre (two casualties). Some sources place this as occurring on 3 June, and that Unique arrives back at Malta today.

Operation Rocket is in progress. This is another in a regular series of operations from Gibraltar to fly fighter aircraft to Malta. Aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and Furious carry Hawker Hurricanes, escorted by battlecruiser Renown and six destroyers. The two carriers, leading two separate groups, intend to fly off 43 Hurricanes once they are within range of Malta.

At Alexandria, Royal Navy submarine HMS Rorqual departs with a load of supplies for Malta. These trips take almost a week now because of the Luftwaffe's control over the skies now that Crete is in German hands. Australian destroyers HMAS Vendetta and Voyager also depart, carrying supplies to Tobruk. Vendetta and Voyager complete the journey after dark, quickly unloading and returning to Mersa Matruh before dawn.

The British reinforce Cyprus with Australian troops. The Germans, however, have their eyes fixed on the East and no longer are interested in more island adventures in the Mediterranean.

At Malta, the military government sends the War Office a warning that the island is not prepared to withstand a Luftwaffe invasion using airborne troops, as on Crete. The cable notes that local air superiority has been lost. On the bright side, the cable bravely states that "Malta is in a much better position to stand up to it than was Crete." The problem is that the risk of airborne landings requires defenses inland, while the danger of seaborne landings requires troops guarding the beaches. The British forces on Malta have insufficient troops to guard against both possibilities simultaneously. The cable concludes with a request for three squadrons of fighters (meaning an additional squadron to add to the two already present), two infantry battalions and additional artillery.

The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., 5 June 1941.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: Convoy VK-2 departs Sydney bound for Wellington. The two ships are escorted by Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia and New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles.

Dutch/French Relations: The government of the Dutch East Indies closes the Karimata Strait and Sunda Strait to Vichy French vessels. The French in Indochina is completely dominated by Japanese Imperial forces.

Chinese packed tight into a Chungking air-raid shelter. Could the air could in such an enclosed space possibly be enough for all those people? Well... the Chinese sadly found out it wasn't enough.

US/French Relations: The US State Department issues a statement expressing its "sympathetic friendship and thought for the well-being of the French people and the French Empire." It notes that the US plans "to maintain full and friendly diplomatic relations with the French Government at Vichy."

US Government: President Roosevelt's administration requests funding of $10.4 billion in army defense spending in the fiscal year 1942 (which begins in September 1941). This is a vast sum for the time, especially with the country still supposedly at peace.

Chinese packed tight into a Chungking air-raid shelter.

China: The Japanese launch another of their regular air raids against the Nationalist capital of Chungking (Chongquing). The Chinese have built enormous air-raid shelters from sandstone caves in cliffs overlooking the city, and they are packed tight with people during air raids. Guards lock the public shelters' gates during raids so that people can't leave until the all-clear sounds. The shelters have some flaws: they are narrow, have no outlets aside from the front doors that are locked, no sources of air aside from that entrance (which, as noted, is closed during raids), and they are literally jammed with people standing one against the other. It does not take much imagination to see some problems developing from that design.

Damage from the Chungking air raid of 5 June 1941 (Mel Jacoby).

Today, the raid begins at about 18:00. During the three-hour raid, guards flee the Jiaochangkou air raid shelter tunnel downtown, leaving it locked and jammed with people. Finally, two hours after the raids end at midnight, someone arrives with the keys. About 700 people inside have suffocated.

Some people trampled in Chungking during the 5 June 1941 raid (Mel Jacoby).

There are problems at other shelters, too. The Japanese raids are intermittent, and following some attacks, the Chinese leave the shelters thinking the raid is over. However, as soon as the bombers return, the people surge to re-enter the shelters. Many people are trampled and killed. How many is impossible to say, but the pictures alone suggest it was a lot of people.

A casualty carried out of a Chungking shelter following the raid of 5 June 1941 (Mel Jacoby).

Some reports state that 4,000 Chinese perish in this incident, but there are widely varying estimates of the number killed. The higher figures may include people who perish during the mass panics at shelters during the raid, along with victims of the raid itself. Many victims result from stampedes of people on flights of stairs outside the shelters bored into the hills above town. Reporters Mac Fisher of United Press and Mel Jacoby snap pictures of dead people on one such set of stairs leading to a shelter that receives worldwide distribution. For many people, these pictures become their image of the war in China - and it isn't pretty.

Holocaust: Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru departs from Yokohama for Vancouver carrying Jewish refugees from Europe. This is a continuation of a very roundabout escape route used by small numbers of Jews during the first two years of the war.

HMS Ariguani (F 105) in the Clyde, 5 June 1941. Ariguani is a Fighter Catapult Ship (FSC) that embarks a Fulmar, visible on the left.

Yugoslavian Homefront: Stored ammunition at historic Smederevo Fortress in Yugoslavia, located about 45 km to the southeast of Belgrade, explodes under mysterious circumstances. It kills about 2,500 people. Shrapnel lands as far as 10 km away. The blast destroys most of the southern wall of the fortress, and many casualties result from the destruction of a nearby railway station where many people are waiting for trains. Half the population of the city is killed or wounded, a total of 5500 people.

Greek Homefront: Greek Prime Minister-in-exile Emmanouil Tsouderos makes a radio broadcast from Alexandria to occupied Greece. He states in part:

Unite as one man more closely than ever around our national symbols, around our flag and our heroic King. Keep your heads high as men who have been victorious. Do not trust the enemy; and have confidence in the final victory. Help each one of you, with every means at your disposal in order that we may achieve the final victory. Help our country to overcome the present misfortunes until the glorious day of liberation of a Greece great and new.

Greek resistance to the occupying German troops is heightening due to recent atrocities committed against civilians on Crete at Kandanos and elsewhere.

HMS Roxborough is seen off Bangor, Ireland, on 5 June 1941.

American Homefront: Sandor Szabo wins the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship over former football star Bronko Nagurski in St. Louis.

Future History: Spalding Rockwell Gray, actor, and writer, is born in Providence, Rhode Island. He begins a theatrical career in New York in the late 1960s, and vaults to celebrity status with the film version of his classic monologue "Swimming to Cambodia" in 1987. The film, among other things, features Gray describing his quest for his "perfect moment." Gray, already a supporting actor, goes on to various film roles. Spalding Gray passes away in 2004, apparently by suicide following a car crash in Ireland. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Sag Harbor, New York.

Martha Argerich is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She becomes one of the top classical pianists in the world. She also is famous in medical circles for surviving malignant melanoma in the 1990s following experimental treatment at the John Wayne cancer institute in Santa Monica, California. As of 2018, her cancer remains in remission and she continues to give recitals.

Stuart Watkins is born in Newport, Wales. He becomes a top Welsh international rugby union wing. Watkins begins his rugby career at Cross Keys before switching to his home town of Newport in 1963.

Robert Kraft is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He becomes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group and owner of NFL team the New England Patriots.

Beechcraft F-2 Expeditor reconnaissance aircraft near Ninilchik, Alaska, June 5, 1941 (3:35PM, USAAC photo).

June 1941

June 1, 1941: Farhud Pogrom
June 2, 1941: Massacres on Crete
June 3, 1941: Kandanos Massacre
June 4, 1941: Kaiser Wilhelm Passes Away
June 5, 1941: Death in Chungking
June 6, 1941: Hitler's Commissar Order
June 7, 1941: Commandos Strike at Pessac
June 8, 1941: British Invade Syria and Lebanon
June 9, 1941: Litani River Battle
June 10, 1941: British Take Assab
June 11, 1941: Hitler Thinking Beyond Russia
June 12, 1941: St. James Agreement
June 13, 1941: Lützow Damaged
June 14, 1941: Latvian June Deportations
June 15, 1941: Operation Battleaxe
June 16, 1941: The Old Lion
June 17, 1941: British Spanked in North Africa
June 18, 1941: Turkey Turns Its Back
June 19, 1941: Cheerios Introduced
June 20, 1941: Birth of US Army Air Force
June 21, 1941: Damascus Falls
June 22, 1941: Germany Invades Russia
June 23, 1941: A Soviet KV Tank Causes Havoc
June 24, 1941: Kaunas and Vilnius Fall
June 25, 1941: Finland Declares War
June 26, 1941: Bombing of Kassa
June 27, 1941: Encirclement At Minsk
June 28, 1941: Minsk Falls
June 29, 1941: Brest Fortress Falls
June 30, 1941: Mölders Becomes Top Ace

2020

Sunday 23 February 1941

HMS Terror, sunk today.

Italian/Greek Campaign: British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and CIGS Anthony Dill inter alia continue their discussions with the Greek government throughout the day of 23 February 1941. The Greeks feel that putting insufficient British troops on the Greek mainland (the British already are on Crete) would merely invite an invasion that could not be repelled. Finally, with great reluctance, Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis agrees to accept a British expeditionary force projected at 100,000 well-armed troops. The disagreement about tactics lingers, however: the Greeks want to defend the Bulgarian frontier along the Metaxas Line, while the British prefer positions (along the Aliakmon River) further back.

In Cairo, Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell considers, then rejects a proposal from London that the RAF bomb the Ploesti oil fields from bases in Greece. He reasons that this would violate Turkish air space and also give the Wehrmacht a pretext (not that it needs one) to invade Greece by revealing the British presence there. Neither of those reasons, however, has a particularly strong foundation (Hitler should know about RAF activity in Albania already, and the bombers could avoid Turkey). However, there is another reason that would make any attack on the oil fields explosive in more ways than one. While the British don't know this, one of Hitler's greatest fears (he confesses to Marshal Mannerheim at their meeting in June 1942 that he has nightmares about it) is the Allied bombing of the Romanian oil fields. RAF attacks on the oil could force Hitler's hand early before the British are even on mainland Greece. Thus, Wavell makes the proper decision from mistaken premises. Great weight is placed upon Wavell's support since it is common knowledge (as noted in the minutes) that he would prefer to finish off the Axis forces in North Africa first.

Prime Minister Churchill, the most ardent backer of a British presence in Greece, is under no illusions about possible success in the Balkans. He notes in a message to Eden that the "odds seem heavily against us in Greece." Australian Prime Minister Menzies discusses the question of a campaign in Greece "largely with Australian & New Zealand troops" with the heads of RAF Bomber Command (Air Marshal Sir Richard Pearse) and Fighter Command (Sholto Douglas) and comes away with more questions than answers. He notes that committing his men to an uncertain campaign in Greece "is not easy." A big War Cabinet meeting is scheduled for the 24th to discuss the issue, and Menzies is a troubled man.

East African Campaign: Operation Canvas begins. It is a two-pronged advance to take Mogadishu and other Italian forces in Italian Somaliland (Somalia). Having pocketed Jelib (Somalia), General Cunningham begins sending his forces on the road northeast to Mogadishu. He sends the 11th African Division together with the 23rd Nigerian and 22nd East African Brigades toward Mogadishu. Italian defenses are now in a state of collapse, and the 35th Works Company quickly throws a bridge across the Juba river at Mabungo. Meanwhile, the British 12th African Division drives along the Juba River toward the Abyssinian border.

Indian 7th Infantry Brigade and Free French Brigade d'Orient capture Cub Cub. The British capture 436 prisoners, four guns and many supplies.

Propaganda leaflet dropped in France, 23/24 and 24/25 February 1941 (McMaster University, WWII Propaganda Collection 0102).

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe attacks Skaalefjord, missing British tanker War Pindari. It also sends 49 bombers against Hull just after dark at 19:30. There are 13 deaths and 27 injured, including the death of a six-month-old baby, and 36 are left homeless. Right at midnight, an aerial mine hits the Alexandra Dock and sinks lighters "Brakelu" and "Monarch."

RAF Bomber Command attacks Boulogne with 52 planes.

Battle of the Atlantic: A classic Wolf Pack operation unfolds against Convoy OB 288 south of Iceland. It is a textbook operation of how the Luftwaffe can work in combination with the U-boat fleet to wreak devastation on the convoys. A Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor of I,/KG 40 spots Convoy OB 288 heading west about 500 km south of Iceland (370 km northwest of Rockall). The convoy has dispersed and is without escort, but it aware that it is being shadowed and has turned north to avoid U-boats. The ships also close up their spacing again - which makes it easier to attack them.

The Condor vectors in (via U-boat command B.d.U) every U-boat and Italian submarine in the vicinity:

• U-69 (Kapitänleutnant Jost Metzler, first patrol)
• U-73 (Kptlt. Helmut Rosenbaum)
• U-95 (Kptlt. Gerd Schreiber)
• U-96 (Kptlt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock)
• U-107 (K.Kapt. Günther Hessler, first patrol)
• U-123 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle)
• Italian submarine Michele Bianchi (C.C. Adalberto Giovannini, first BETASOM patrol from Bordeaux)
• Italian submarine Barbarigo (Capitano di Corvetta Enzo Grossi)

The submarine attacks begin at 23:27, with an attack by U-69. Details of this convoy attack have been uncertain, with who sunk what unclear and subject to some controversy and guesswork. All told, the victims of OB 288 (including those sunk on the 24th, but not those in following days) are:

• 4542-ton British freighter Marslew (U-69, 13 deaths, 23 survivors)
• 5457-ton British freighter Anglo-Peruvian (U-96, 29 deaths, 17 survivors)
• 3385-ton British freighter Linaria (U-96)
• 5458-ton British freighter Sirikishna (U-69)
• 3807-ton British freighter Cape Nelson (U-95)
• 1908-ton Norwegian freighter Svein Jarl (U-95, all 22 perish)
• 4427-ton British freighter Temple Moat (U-95, a straggler)
• 5360-ton Royal Navy ocean boarding ship HMS Manistee (U-107, no survivors)
• 8685-ton Dutch freighter Grootekerk (U-123, no survivors)
• 4260-ton British freighter Waynegate (U-73)
• 5360-ton British freighter Manistree (U-107, first attacked by Bianchi, all 141 perish)
• 10,946-ton British transport Huntingdon (Bianchi and U-96, everyone survives).

Simply listing the victims does not give the full flavor of the action. U-107 and Bianchi chase HMS Manistee (Lt Cdr E. H. Smith RNR) throughout the night before finally sinking it (destroyer HMS Churchill finds no survivors). U-123 similarly spends nine hours chasing the Grootekerk before sending it under. The Royal Navy escorts counterattack, and U-69 is subjected to a three-hour attack. However, all of the submarines escape, leaving behind a nightmarish scene of burning ships and men in the frigid water.

The Linaria sinking is particularly murky, as Italian submarine Bianchi, U-73 and U-96 all may have sunk it. The sinking of the Huntingdon also is murky, but the best scholarship (Jürgen Rohwer, Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Marinearchiv) suggests that U-96 hit the ship first, followed by the kill shot from Bianchi. Even the men on the scene did not know who did what, so piecing it all together requires a lot of detective work, comparison of different accounts and the like.

British 698-ton coaster Shoal Fisher hits a mine and sinks east of Falmouth. Everyone survives and arrives safely at Falmouth.

Convoy OB 290 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX 111 departs from Halifax.

President Roosevelt and Fala in his Ford Phaeton, February 1941 (National Archives  NPx 73-113:59).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Upright (Lt. Edward Dudley Norman, DSC, RN) torpedoes and sinks 2365 ton Italian freighter Silvia Tripcovich off Sfax (east of Kuriat Island). This is roughly along the line that Italian convoys take to Tripoli.

Greek submarine Nereus claims to sink an Italian freighter near Valona in the Adriatic, but there is no confirmation.

A German convoy departs from Naples bound for Tripoli. It has a heavy escort and carries more troops for General Rommel's Afrika Korps.

Royal Navy Monitor HMS Terror, bombed on the 22nd, sinks off the Libyan coast at 04:20. The Luftwaffe continues its attacks on Benghazi and Tobruk.

The Free French continue bombarding Italian fortress El Tag at Kufra. The Italians are holding out, but are not mounting any sorties despite outnumbering the surrounding French.

Governor Lt. General William Dobbie issues a statement about conscription on Malta, which as created many hard feelings among the locals:

We must be as strong as possible in order to ensure that all attacks are decisively beaten off, should they be attempted.  The Government must, therefore be in a position to utilise the resources of Malta (including the manpower) to the best advantage, and it is for that reason that conscription of manpower is being brought into being.

Applied Science: Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, who discovered Plutonium (atomic number 94) on 14 December 1940 (credit to Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin M. McMillan, and Arthur C. Wahl as well), makes further progress in his research of the element. Working in famous Room 307 of Gilman Hall of University of California, Berkeley. Seaborg, working together with Arthur C. Wahl and Joseph W. Kennedy, produces and identifies plutonium in the 60-inch cyclotron. Progress is quickening, with the scientists gaining more knowledge about what will become a key part of nuclear weapons. However, at this point they still have not produced visible amounts of plutonium, merely traces that are too small to be weighed.

U-203 during its commissioning at Kiel on 18 February 1941.

German/Japanese Relations: Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop meets with Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima. Ribbentrop takes the position that the Japanese should strike only at the British, and go to war with the Americans only if the Americans attacked. Throughout this period, Ribbentrop maintains a healthy respect for United States power, though he does blithely tell Oshima that the Japanese Navy could defeat the US Navy. The general gist of Ribbentrop's counsel is that Japan enter the war soon - but avoid the US.

Anglo/Soviet Relations: In a somewhat cryptic note sent to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden (currently in Athens), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill rejects a suggestion (coming from Sir Richard Stafford Cripps, a Socialist who specializes in relations with the USSR) that Eden should visit Moscow. Churchill does not trust Stalin, feels that he could arrest Eden, and muses that the "Best way of gaining Russians (favor) is a good throw (success) in the Balkans."

A3-1 of the CA-6 Wackett Trainer at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Fishermans Bend factory in February 1941. Photo: CAC.

Italian Homefront: In one of these odd but characteristic fascist moments, Il Duce Benito Mussolini gives a speech in Rome's Adriano Theater which is defiant with hints of defensiveness. He dates the beginning of the war from February 1, 1935, not September 1, 1939, when the conquest of Ethiopia began - but then corrects himself and says it actually began in 1922 when he seized power. He emphasizes that despite the "gray days" so far in the war:

Great Britain cannot win the war. I can prove this logically and in this case belief is corroborated by fact. This proof begins with the dogmatic premise that although anything may happen, Italy will march with Germany, side by side, to the end.

Earlier, Mussolini foretold where this might lead: "to the last drop of blood." Fatalistically, he does not say what "anything may happen" might mean, but the "last drop of blood" the war might require is chilling (and, in his case, accurate). This sense of fatalism imbues many of Hitler's speeches throughout the war as well.

Dutch Homefront: The Germans, with the assistance of Dutch police, complete their roundup of 450 Jewish male hostages, all aged 25-30. They will all be sent to concentration camps, and two will survive the war. Many ordinary Dutch citizens are outraged at the Germans' heavy-handed approach, and a general meeting of various groups, such as the local communist party, is scheduled for the 24th in the Noordemarkt to discuss retaliation.

Future History: Ronald Kenneth Hunt is born in St. Louis, Missouri. Ron Hunt becomes a major league baseball player in 1963 with the new New York Mets. Playing second base, he set a single-season record for being hit by more pitches (50) in a season than anyone since 1900.

Lodz, Poland, Jews on the bridge above Zgierska St., which connects the two parts of the ghetto. February 1941.

February 1941

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

2020

Thursday 28 November 1940

Artist Ethel Gabain, a commissioned artist hired by the Ministry of Information to record Blitz scenes, in East London, 28 November 1940.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek offensive in Albania grinds forward on 28 November 1940, the men braving blizzards and rocky terrain to push the Italians back. There are few villages to mark their progress, but they are making good ground that is gradually bringing them closer to important Italian bases.

Greek II Corps is reinforced again, this time with the Cavalry Division. The Corps now has received two fresh divisions in two days. The Cavalry Division crosses the Legatitsa River and continues the advance toward Përmet (Premeti).

Greek III continues moving toward Pogradec, the most significant objective off its front.

Greek troops occupy the heights above Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër), a historic town in Epirus. However, the Italians still hold the town and are fighting hard to keep it.

Italian destroyers Pigafetta, Da Recco, Pessagno, and Riboty, accompanied by torpedo boats Prestinari and Bassini, bombard Greek positions on Corfu. The Italian high command has given up early plans to invade the island. The RAF raids the ports of Porta Santi Quaranta in southern Albania, Durazzo, Brindisi and Elbasan in central Albania.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends bombers against Mannheim, Dusseldorf, the synthetic oil installation at Politz, Stettin, Cuxhaven, Antwerp, Boulogne, and Le Havre.

The Luftwaffe sends over 40 fighter-bombers (Jabos) during the day, but they accomplish little. Daylight raids are increasingly pointless, particularly with the shortening hours of daylight, but the Luftwaffe continues with occasional Jabo sweeps. Losses are about even, with half a dozen planes lost by each side.

The Luftwaffe, recently having pounded several other moderate-sized English cities such as Coventry and Brighton with large-scale raids, turns its attention to Liverpool during the night. It sends 340 bombers which drop massive parachute land mines. The raid kills 164-166 and injures 96 more when a landmine scores a direct hit on a shelter at Edge Hill Training College on Durning Road. The scene is gruesome, as it is not the blast that kills everyone, but rather boiling water released from a boiler and gas from damaged pipes.

John Charles Dundas, who perished on 28 November 1940 after shooting down Luftwaffe ace Helmut Wick. Dundas had 12 victories.

Helmut Wick, one of the Luftwaffe's leading aces, has a good day that turns horribly wrong. He gets a victory in the morning, his 55th, and then during the afternoon scores his 56th confirmed kill. This finally catches fellow Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland, who Wick has been chasing since the war began.

However, shortly after, Wick meets his own fate. It is believed to be at the hands of Flight Lieutenant Dundas (RAF No. 609 Squadron) near the Isle of Wight. Dundas probably never knows who he shot down, however, because minutes later he himself is killed in the same air battle.

Wick is last seen baling out over the Channel and likely landed while still alive in the water. The winter weather is unforgiving, the sea is cold, and the rescue can't happen enough. In fact, Wick's body is never found. As happens more than once in the continuing battle, the downed airman's Luftwaffe colleagues circle above the downed pilot as long as they can. One, Hptm. Rudi Pflanz stays so long that he has to crash land in France because he runs out of fuel. One of the crueler aspects of the Battle of Britain - and war in general, on both sides - is that so many men must watch their friends and colleagues die moments after they were alive, well and at the top of their game.

Wick is a propaganda hero, and in one of those freaky coincidences is on the cover of that day's German propaganda publication, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (BIZ). He is standing beside Hermann Goering, whose wayward decisions have sabotaged the Luftwaffe effort and helped keep the RAF strong.

The new Kommodore of JG 2, replacing Wick, is Hptm. Karl-Heinz Greisert.

Lt Harold Reginald Newgass earns the George Cross for disarming a land mine lodged in a fuel tank full of coal gas.

The cover of BIZ No. 48, 28 November 1940. That is Helmut Wick on the right (I believe).

Battle of the Atlantic: The weather is very rough in the mid-Atlantic. This makes the merchant marine service increasingly all-or-nothing around this time, because either you make it across or have a ship close at hand to rescue you if you get torpedoed - or you don't. And, if you don't, your odds of survival are not good. The action is erratic, with equipment not always acting the way it would in more normal weather and more unsuccessful attacks than usual.

U-104 (Kptlt. Harald Jürst) and its 49 crewmen, after having torpedoed two ships on the 27th (and sinking one), disappears into the sea, with nobody surviving. The most common theory is that the U-boat wandered into a defensive Royal Navy minefield (SN 44, laid on 8 November) northwest of Londonderry, County Derry, Northern Ireland. It is not known when it sinks, either, as it is not considered missing by the Kriegsmarine until well into December.

U-103 (Kplt. Viktor Schütze), on its second patrol out of Lorient, is operating in the Atlantic sea lanes about 930 km from Bishop Rock (200 miles southwest of Rockall). It downs two ships. First, it torpedoes 3578 ton Greek freighter Mount Athos. There are 19 deaths. Mount Athos is a straggler from Convoy OB 248 and sinks within four minutes. However, even in that short time, the wireless operator manages to get out a message with the ship's position. Nine survivors are picked up on the 30th by an escort from Convoy OB 251, HMS Vanquisher.

U-103 also torpedoes and sinks 4940-ton British freighter St. Elwyn. There are 16 survivors and 24 men perish. Survivors are picked up by British freighter Leeds City.

U-95 (Kptlt. Gerd Schreiber), on its first patrol out of Kiel, fires two torpedoes at 1298-ton Norwegian collier Ringhorn and misses with both. It is possible that the torpedoes are defective - there are problems with torpedoes in the cold during the war's early years. In any event, Schreiber, undoubtedly frustrated at wasting so much ordnance on a relatively small ship, surfaces and uses his deck gun. The Germans damage the freighter and the crew abandons ship, expecting it to sink. However, they later reboard it and bring it to port at Belfast.

Greek 2950-ton freighter Eugenia Cambanis, traveling in convoy SC 13 in the Atlantic off Newfoundland, sinks in a gale after its cargo shifts. Sources are unclear on what happens to the crew, either they all live or all perish - the story of the Battle of the Atlantic. The crew abandons the ship, certain it will capsize and sink... but it doesn't sink. The derelict, in fact, does not go to the bottom until finally shelled by Norwegian patrol boat Hilda Knudsen on 19 December.

Royal Navy 221-ton trawler HMT Manx Prince hits a mine and sinks off the mouth of the Humber in the North Sea, about 5 km from Spurn Point, Yorkshire. Everybody aboard survives, taken aboard minesweeping trawler HMS Cortina.

The German coastal guns at Cap Gris Nez (Hellfire Corner) score a rare long-range success - sort of - when they hit 1167 ton British freighter Skipjack at Dover. However the ship is only damaged, and at that distance, there is little chance of a successful follow-through. The Skipjack makes it to port for repairs.

Italian submarine Dessie fires torpedoes at light cruiser HMS Glasgow in the Atlantic and misses.

Convoy OB 251 departs from Liverpool, Convoys Sl 575 and SL 57 depart from Freetown.

Australian destroyer HMAS Napier (G 97, Captain Stephen H. T. Arliss) is commissioned.

Consolidated Model 28 - U.S. Navy PBY - flying boats in final assembly at the Consolidated Aircraft factory in San Diego in November 1940. Photo credit: Consolidated Aircraft.

Battle of the Mediterranean: British submarine HMS Regulus goes missing in the Aegean. It is presumed lost due to a mine. Nobody survives.

Operation Collar continues, with battleship HMS Malaya covering the return of Convoy ME 4 - the outward-bound voyage of the Malta convoy MW 4 - to Alexandria.

Operation Canned commences off Italian Somaliland. Light cruiser HMS Leander departs from Aden in a mission to bombard Italian positions at Banda Alulu.

At Malta, there are several air raids as ships arrive at 14:30 in Grand Harbour from the Operation Collar convoys. The Italians are active because they know that there are many British ships operating in the area due to Operation Collar. A raid by half a dozen CR 42 fighters, followed by ten bombers escorted by another ten fighters, around 13:30 is particularly fierce. The Italians lose an SM 79 bomber and a fighter. The British freighters, meanwhile, sustain no damage and unload quickly.

Henry Maitland Wilson, Italy, 30 April 1944 (Imperial war Museum TR 1762).

North Africa: British Middle East Commander Archibald Wavell is busy planning Operation Compass, the planned offensive against the Italians in Egypt. He orders the Commander of British Troops Egypt, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, to prepare limited five-day operations. He writes to Wilson:

I do not entertain extravagant hopes of this operation but I do wish to make certain that if a big opportunity occurs we are prepared morally, mentally and administratively to use it to the fullest.

The general plan of attack will be to send British and Indian troops through the Sofafi–Nibeiwa gap, with armored formations attacking Nibeiwa from the west.

German/Yugoslavian Relations: Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Markovic meets with Hitler in Berlin. Hitler pressures Yugoslavia to sign the Tripartite Pact, but the Serb-dominated officer corps violently opposes this. Regent Prince Paul of Yugoslavia knows that signing the agreement will only cause trouble and is extremely leery, so the Yugoslavs pass. Hitler proposes a bizarre swap, a Yugoslavian alliance in exchange for the Greek seaport of Salonika - which the Greeks still possess. At this point in time, Hitler is offering potential allies territory which he has no ability to give, and the offers themselves illustrate his intentions.

Soviet Military: Konstantin Rokossovsky, a former prisoner accused of treason (on fabricated evidence) but released from  Kresty Prison in Leningrad for unexplained reasons on 22 March 1940, assumes command of the newly formed 9th Mechanized Corps in the Kyiv Military District. It has the 19th and 20th Tank Divisions and the 131st Motorized Division. Soviet records can be obscure, but it appears Rokossovsky takes over from the start. Rokossovsky only survived the 1930s officer purges because he refused to sign a false statement, but was badly beaten for doing so. He never blamed Stalin for his mistreatment, but rather the NKVD (Soviet secret police).

Romania: Following the Iron Guard's brutal assaults on its political enemies on the 27th, Ion Antonescu's government declares a state of emergency.

China: The commander of the Japanese 11th Army in Hubei Province (Han River sector), Lieutenant General Waichiro Sonobe, orders a retreat under pressure from the continuing Chinese offensive. The Japanese engage in a scorched earth policy, burning down villages and inflicting heavy casualties on civilians and the advancing Chinese troops.

Holocaust: German Reserve Police Battalion 101 is assigned to guard the perimeter of the Lodz ghetto and shoot anyone who tries to leave.

German Homefront: The German film industry remains quite active throughout the war. Today, it releases its most notorious films, "The Eternal Jew" (Der ewige Jude), likely the most anti-Semitic film ever made. Directed by Fritz Hippler and with a screenplay by Eberhard Taubert, it interweaves documentary footage with acting. Many view this film as a response to a 1934 British film of the same name which portrayed Jews in a sympathetic light.

British Homefront: The government increasingly is trying to shape the lives of its citizens to better withstand what now looks to be a long-term siege of Great Britain. Two different authority figures give their views today, and their news is not good. However, it is judicious and necessary from a medical perspective.

Lord Horder, who chairs the British Medical Committee, has grown increasingly concerned about the risk of epidemics due to the devastation being wrought to dwellings and the other signs of aerial combat (such as dead bodies). He cautions the public that "We have more to fear from germs than Germans."

Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food who recently ended banana imports, has further bad news. he announces a cut in milk rations during the winter months. The government further advises that milk may be unsafe without first boiling it to reduce the risk of typhoid.

Opening Fashion Exhibit at the Parsons School of Design. New York City, 28 November 1940.

November 1940

November 1, 1940: Hitler Irate
November 2, 1940: U-31 Sunk - Again
November 3, 1940: Kretschmer's Master Class
November 4, 1940: Spain Absorbs Tangier
November 5, 1940: Jervis Bay Meets Admiral Scheer
November 6, 1940: San Demetrio Incident
November 7, 1940: Galloping Gertie
November 8, 1940: Italian Shakeup in Greece
November 9, 1940: Dutch Fascists March
November 10, 1940: Fala and Doc Strange
November 11, 1940: Taranto Raid
November 12, 1940: Molotov Takes Berlin
November 13, 1940: Molotov Foils Hitler
November 14, 1940: Moonlight Sonata
November 15, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Sealed
November 16, 1940: France Keeps Battleships
November 17, 1940: Malta Hurricane Disaster
November 18, 1940: Hitler Berates Ciano
November 19, 1940: Birmingham Devastated
November 20, 1940: Hungary Joins Axis
November 21, 1940: Dies White Paper
November 22, 1940: Italians Take Korçë
November 23, 1940: U-Boat Bonanza!
November 24, 1940: Slovakia Joins In
November 25, 1940: Molotov's Demands
November 26, 1940: Bananas Be Gone
November 27, 1940: Cape Spartivento Battle
November 28, 1940: Wick Perishes
November 29, 1940: Trouble in Indochina
November 30, 1940: Lucy and Desi Marry

2020

Monday 22 April 1940

April 22, 1940, is considered the first day of real combat between the British and Germans. There apparently is some disagreement as to whether the first action took place at Steinkjer on 21 April, or in the Gudbrandsdal north of Lillehammer on 22 April.

Norway: The Supreme Allied War Council meets in Paris on 22 April 1940 and degenerates into a political scuffle between Prime Minister Paul Reynaud and former Prime Minister Daladier. The leaders are out of touch with events on the ground and engage in wishful thinking about advancing on Oslo to route the Germans.

Norway Army Operations: The German 196th Division advancing north from Oslo captures Lillehammer and advances further up the Gudbrandsdal. The British 148th Brigade sent down to block them is forced to retreat again. They try to dig in at Faaberg, North of Lillehammer, but the German mountain troops prove that training is important when they scale the 2,165-foot Balbergkamp to sidestep the British down on the road. The British, outflanked, then retreat another 20 miles and set up a blocking position at Tretten Gorge, a narrow chokepoint in the Gudbrandsdal defile.

The 196th Division is advancing on Trondheim from the south, while the German 359th Infantry Division pushes south from Trondheim to meet them.

The German 181st Infantry Division and 3rd Mountain Division troops at Steinkjer are putting pressure on General de Wiart's 146th Territorial Brigade. There is fierce fighting at Vist between The Lincolnshire Regiment and King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Regiment, defending at Krogs farm, and the German 138th Mountain Regiment. In the evening, the British begin a fighting withdrawal back to the main base at Namsos. The Luftwaffe is completely crushing his base at Namsos and the British supply lines to de Wiart's troops to the south.

The German 69th Infantry troops at Bergen begin pushing east.

Norway Naval Operations: Aircraft carrier HMS Glorious departs from Scapa Flow ferrying 18 Gloster Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron for use in Norway. The Gladiators are not converted for carrier takeoffs and landings.

Norway Air Operations: The Luftwaffe bombs the British base at Namsos again. The RAF also is in operation over Norway, but they are bombers from England.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe bombs Scapa Flow and lays mines along the British coast.

French reconnaissance aircraft fly over Prague on 22-23 April.

Battle of the Atlantic: Two Lockheed Hudsons spot U-43 on the surface in the North Sea and drop bombs. The U-boat receives a few nicks and carries on.

Convoy OA 134 departs from Southend, Convoy OG 27F forms at Gibraltar, and Convoy HX 37 departs from Halifax.

British corvette HMS Clarkia (Lt. Commander Frederick J. G. Jones) is commissioned.

North Africa: The newly arrived New Zealand Division conducts training exercises near El Saff.

Denmark: The Germans order the Danish army disbanded and confiscate its weapons.

British Military: Three vice chiefs of staff are appointed: John Dill as Vice Chief of the General Staff; Tom Phillips, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff; and Vice-Chief of the Air Staff Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse. Air Marshal William Sholto Douglas is named Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, and General Percival becomes Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office.

US Navy: Rear Admiral Joseph Taussig, commandant of the Fifth Naval District at Norfolk, Virginia, testifies before a joint House-Senate committee on Pacific fortifications. He predicts that war with Japan is inevitable. The US Navy officially reprimands him and repudiates his testimony.

Holocaust: Germans and Poles are forbidden from entering the Jewish Ghetto of Lodz.

Lodz Ghetto "No Entry" posting: "In accordance with the police ordinance of April 8, 1940, all Poles and Germans are forbidden from entering the Ghetto Area"  (Schmitt, Federal Archive).

April 1940

April 1, 1940: Weserubung is a Go
April 2, 1940: British Subs On Alert
April 3, 1940: Churchill Consolidates Power
April 4, 1940: Missed the Bus
April 5, 1940: Mig-1 First Flight
April 6, 1940: Troops Sailing to Norway
April 7, 1940: Fleets At Sea
April 8, 1940: HMS Glowworm and Admiral Hipper
April 9, 1940: Invasion of Norway
April 10, 1940: First Battle of Narvik
April 11, 1940: Britain Takes the Faroes
April 12, 1940: Germans Consolidate in Norway
April 13, 1940: 2d Battle of Narvik
April 14, 1940: Battle of Dombås
April 15, 1940: British in Norway
April 16, 1940: Germans Cut Norway in Half
April 17, 1940: Trondheim the Target
April 18, 1940: Norway Declares War
April 19, 1940: Dombås Battle Ends
April 20, 1940: Germans Advancing in Norway
April 21, 1940: First US Military Casualty
April 22, 1940: First British Military Contact with Germans
April 23, 1940: British Retreating in Norway
April 24, 1940: British Bombard Narvik
April 25, 1940: Norwegian Air Battles
April 26, 1940: Norwegian Gold
April 27, 1940: Allies to Evacuate Norway
April 28, 1940: Prepared Piano
April 29, 1940: British at Bodo
April 30, 1940: Clacton-on-Sea Heinkel

2019

Saturday 9 March 1940

Jews taking their things to the Lodz Ghetto (Gauss, Federal Archive).

Winter War: The Finns admit in a 9 March 1940 communique that the Soviets have established a beachhead on the far (northwestern) shore of Viipuri Bay. However, they are quick to add that everywhere else the line is holding.

The British and French still promise assistance, but they want a formal request for assistance. Their offers are cynical: while they promise 12,000 troops, only 4,000 are allocated to Finland; the rest would be to seize control of iron ore mines in Norway and Sweden.

Winter War Army Operations: While there are no major breakthroughs, the Finnish positions are deteriorating. They evacuate key positions in the Gulf of Viipuri.

Winter War Air Operations: The Finns perform strafing missions with nine Moranes and a Fiat, destroying 6 trucks, and also shoot down 2 Soviet I-153 and a Tshaika. Ten new Hawker Hurricanes, much more advanced than current planes on either side, arrive at the Sakyla base, but must be worked up and pilots trained on them.

Winter War Peace Talks: The Soviets are demanding a huge slice of Finnish territory to the west of Lake Ladoga, including Salla in Lapland. The Finns are aghast because they never expected to lose all access to Lake Ladoga. Marshal Mannerheim calls at 17:00, and he tells PM Ryti that General Heinrichs, in charge of the most sensitive area of defense on the Karelian Isthmus, says that there is no military hope. Mannerheim thus urges acceptance of the Soviet terms, draconian as they may be perceived.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-14 (Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Wohlfarth) has a big day.

First, at 05:42 U-14 torpedoes and sinks 1,097-ton British freighter SS Borthwick north of Zeebrugge. All 21 aboard survive. Next, U-14 torpedoes SS Abbotsford at 11:30. The freighter does not sink, and 643 ton SS Akeld turns around to assist. U-14 then puts a torpedo into the Akeld, which sinks. U-14 then turns back to the 1,585 ton Abbotsford and puts a second torpedo into it, sinking it. All crewmen are lost on both ships, 19 on the Abbotsford and 12 on the Akeld.

U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) spots a fleet (6 ships) of neutral Irish trawlers in the Donegal Bay fishing grounds. It should not attack at all, because the trawlers have their lights on, indicating neutrality. However, U-38 surfaces and fires a warning shot anyway - which hits the trawler Leukos. The Leukos sinks and all 11 aboard perish.

U-28 (Kapitänleutnant Günter Kuhnke) sinks 4,979 ton Greek freighter P. Margaronis 125 miles west of Brest, France. All 30 crew perish.

British freighter Chevychase hits a mine and sinks.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Kelly (Lord Mountbatten) collides with destroyer HMS Gurkha, damaging the Kelly.

The Kriegsmarine conducts minelaying operations.

The British commission two minesweeping trawlers, HMS Hazel (W. E. Coggin) and HMS Juniper (Lt. Commander G. S. Grenfell).

The British at Gibraltar detain US freighter Exmoor.

Convoy OB 105 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HG 22F departs from Gibraltar, and Convoy SL 23F departs from Freetown, and Convoy HX 26 departs from Halifax.

Anglo/Italian Relations: The British authorities release the 13 Italian coal ships that they have been holding near Kent. However, they warn the Italians that they must find an overland source of supply. The timing is interesting because it comes on the eve of a visit to Rome by Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. This resolves the "Coal Ships Affair."

Admiral Raeder and Hitler.

German Military: Admiral Raeder, who is the de facto head of the proposed invasion of Denmark and Norway, cautions Hitler that the British and French may occupy Norway at the earliest opportunity. They will use assistance to the Finns, he cautions, to seize strategic positions throughout Scandinavia. Thus, Operation Weserubung should be executed at the earliest opportunity.

Canadian Military: In a pungent show of team spirit, Canadian soldiers who left their hockey team to serve their country with the BEF don their Toronto Maple Leafs team jerseys while training in England.

British Homefront: The UK press, which has a mind of its own, accuses the US industry of war profiteering. Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph Kennedy replies, "We're not playing Shylock, getting rich off misery." He also rather pointedly adds, "America's desire to stay out of this war is getting stronger." The US Supreme Court ultimately rules that businesses are perfectly entitled to take profits from war contracts even if this is seen by some as "war profiteering."

Finnish Homefront: Reserve Lieutenant Martti 'Make' Uosikkinen, a gymnast who is one of Finland's top athletes, is killed in action at Kollaa.

Holocaust: Polish Jews from Lodz who have been forced to move into the Jewish Ghetto find conditions there deplorable: "A refuse dump choked with rats. A stinking toilet full of melting snow. A leaking roof. 1 little room for 7 people," says Irena Liebman.

Future History: Raúl Juliá is born in Floral Park, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He becomes famous as an actor in the 1960s and 1970s for appearances on Broadway, television shows such as Sesame Street, and films such as "Kiss of the Spider Woman." He passed away in 1994.

March 1940

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

2019