Wednesday 7 May 1941

"Smouldering grain cascades slide into the river at Hull after the raid on the night of 7/9 May 1941." © IWM (HU 660).

Anglo/Iraq War: In a cable on 7 May 1941 to Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill noted that "It would seem that the Habbaniya show has greatly improved, and audacious action now against the Iraqis may crush the revolt before the Germans arrive." Churchill sends Wavell the actual text of an Ultra decrypts of Wehrmacht wireless communications, something that very few people even within the highest levels of the military were privy to.

The British troops at Habbaniya continue pushing the Iraqi troops back toward Baghdad. Further south, the Indian 20th and 21st Brigades sortie out of the port of Basra and attack nearby port Ashar. Brigadier Slim arrives at Basra as chief of staff to General Edward Quinan.

The Italians have some planes in Iraq, and today they score a rare success when they damage 176-ton British tanker barge Safiyeh in the Persian Gulf. The barge is towed to Abadan for repairs.

Both sides are planning to send reinforcements - the Germans via Viche-held Syria - but the British have troops already on the march and already are having success on the ground in Iraq.

The Germans send Fritz Grobba to Iraq to become their official representative in Baghdad.

One of 50 Guy Mk IA armored cars, seen here during anti-invasion exercises in Southern Command, 7 May 1941. It sports a 15 mm Besa MG.

European Air Operations: The May Blitz reaches its climax. The Luftwaffe pattern of focusing on single cities over multiple nights continues as they begin raids on Kingston on Hull for the first of two consecutive nights. There is massive damage, and an estimated 40,000 are made homeless. In the harbor, 53-ton freighter Ril Ida sinks at Victoria Dock, Hull.

The May Blitz on Liverpool and Merseyside continues for a seventh consecutive (and last) night. The entire dock area is destroyed or still in flames. A hit on a school shelter kills 160 people, and a hospital sees 60 patients and staff perish.

There is more destruction in the harbor, too. Destroyer HMS Hurricane takes a direct hit and sinks, but fortunately, it is in shallow water and is raised and returned to service by January 1942. Destroyer Viscount and CAM ship Maplin also are damaged by the ship, with the Viscount also out until January 1942. 43 ton flat Ellesbasnk sinks at Stanley Dock, and 201-ton tug Hornby also is sunk, but later raised and returned to service. Other ships hit at Liverpool:

• 46-ton sailing barge Ida Burton (sunk)
• 4672-ton British freighter Clan Macinnes (damaged).

There are fires throughout Liverpool, but it continues to function both as a city and a port (though the port is reduced to only 25% of previous capacity now). As has been done before in other cities, troops are brought in to maintain order and clear debris. Cars are no longer permitted downtown - where streets are full of debris anyway - and most of the phone system is out. Overall, it is estimated that 1450 people have been killed since the bombing began on 1 May.

Other Luftwaffe attacks occur on Tynemouth Borough in Northumberland, West Hartlepool, Hartlepool and Billingham in Co Durham and Middlesbrough in Yorkshire. The attacks are not large - Hartlepool is bombed by nine planes - but they stretch out British air defenses and cause a lot of pain and suffering and damage to property.

The Luftwaffe continues attacking British shipping elsewhere as well, sinking 260-ton minesweeping trawler Susarion east of Humber Light Vessel and 96-ton naval drifter Gowan Hill at the port of Greenock. Also sunk at Greenock is 106-ton British freighter Bluestone (everyone survives).

The RAF conducts a Roadstead Operation to Gravelines. After dark, Bomber Command sends 15 bombers against the U-boat pens at St. Nazaire and another 89 bombers against the port of Brest. There also are attacks by 16 planes against coastal targets.

RAF ace Douglas Bader shoots down a Bf 109 during the day and also claims another probable.

The first B-17 Flying Fortress in RAF service arrives in Great Britain at RAF Watton. RAF No. 90 Squadron, a World War I unit, is reformed to handle the heavy bombers, which soon will relocate to West Raynham.

East African Campaign: The situation at Amba Alagi temporarily settles down into garrison duty as the Allied forces await the arrival of reinforcements.

HMS Somali in a prewar 1939 photo. The Somali captured German weather ship Munchen on 7 May 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-94 (Kptlt. Herbert Kuppisch), on its fourth patrol, spots Convoy OB 318 southwest of Iceland, and the convoy's escorts spot it as well. The escorts drop 98 depth charges but fail to sink Kuppisch's boat. After shaking the Royal Navy ships off, Kuppisch resumes stalking the convoy and torpedoes and sinks 5658-ton Norwegian freighter Eastern Star (three dead) and 10,263-ton British tanker Ixon (everyone survives). The escorts attack U-94 again after this, but Kuppisch gets away.

Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli spots 4310-ton Norwegian freighter Ferlane a few hundred miles off of Guinea Bissau and sends it to the bottom. Everybody aboard survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 12-ton fishing trawler Waterlily at Bessom Creek, West Mersea (near Clacton-on-Sea).

British 72-ton steam barge Kineenan hits a mine and sinks at Liverpool. All five men aboard are killed.

U-93 (Kptlt. Claus Korth) is on its fourth patrol near Greenland when it has an incident involving its machine gun. Three men are wounded, but the U-boat continues its patrol.

Two Italian submarines, Archimede and Guglielmotti, complete the long journey from Eritrea when they arrive in Bordeaux.

Convoy OB 319 departs from Liverpool.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Mignonette is commissioned.

Destroyer USS Woolsey is commissioned (Lt. Commander William H. Von Dreele).

U-352 is launched, U-260 and U-662 are laid down.

A flak gun deployed in front of the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, a short distance from Constitution Square in the center of Athens. Mt Hymettus is in the background. May 1941 (Heber, Federal Archive).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The at Tobruk has turned into normal patrols and artillery exchanges. The Royal Navy has begun a nightly supply shuttle from Alexandria, with fast destroyers dashing in, unloading and returning to port before dawn.

The pace at sea is picking up, though. Operation Tiger, which left Gibraltar on the 6th, continues steaming toward Alexandria. The transports carry tanks, but the more important tank personnel are still sent on the much longer, but safer, route around South Africa.

Royal Navy cruiser HMS Ajax and destroyers Havock, Hotspur and Imperial are passing by Benghazi to meet the Tiger convoy when they detour to bombard the city. They sink Italian freighters Capitano Cecchi and Tenace.

The Luftwaffe attacks Tobruk Harbor and scores some successes. Sunk is minesweeper Stoke, while minesweeping whaler Svana is damaged by a near miss.

The Luftwaffe raids Suda Bay, the center of British operations on Crete. They damage 1545-ton Greek freighter Tanais, which the Germans later raise and return to service.

The Germans are still consolidating their hold on mainland Greece. The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 1216-ton Greek freighter Katina P. at Astakos on the west coast.

Italian 2939 ton freighter Pascoli hits a mine and sinks near Saseno (Sazan) Island (near Vlore).

Churchill allows General Freyberg, commander in Crete, to receive actual Ultra decrypts of German wireless transmissions using the Enigma code machine. These decrypts show in real-time that the Luftwaffe is planning an aerial assault by paratroopers. However, the Secret Intelligence Service cautions Freyberg not to act on the Ultra decrypts unless and until he received independent verification of their contents so that the Germans would not suspect a security breach. Freyberg dutifully complies, and thus does not rearrange his defenses from the beaches to prospective aerial landing zones at Maleme Airfield and elsewhere despite having a very clear picture of how the battle will develop.

During his speech to the House of Commons (see below), Winston Churchill states that:

The loss of the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal and the loss of our position in the Mediterranean, as well as the loss of Malta, would be among the heaviest blows which we could sustain. 

Basically, Churchill confirms the wisdom of German Admiral Raeder's "peripheral strategy" which so far has worked well and still retains a lot of promise.

At Malta, there are several air raid alerts. The planes attack Luqa Airfield and some other military positions, and the RAF loses two Hurricanes when the planes collide (one pilot killed).

Lord Gort arrives at Gibraltar as the new Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

The front page of the New York Daily News, 7 May 1941.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German raider Pinguin is operating in the Arabian Sea a few hundred miles off Somalia when it spots and sinks 3663-ton British tanker British Emperor. There are 45 deaths total; while many men are taken on board the Pinguin, it will sink on the 8th and take them to their deaths. This is because the radio operator on the British Emperor manages to get off a distress call, which draws in Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Eagle and heavy cruisers Cornwall and Hawkins from the port of Mombasa. New Zealand light cruiser Leander and light cruisers Glasgow and Liverpool also join in the search for the Pinguin.

Spy Stuff: In an unusual incident, the Royal Navy has diverted three light cruisers (HMS Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Manchester) from their coverage of minelaying Operation SN 9A to seek out a German weather ship off Iceland. This is Operation EB, and it succeeds when the cruisers capture 306-ton German weather ship Munchen. The weather ship is taken to Thorshavn.

Capturing the German ship itself, though, is not the real prize. Among other things, quick action by men on destroyer Somali recovers valuable Enigma codes from the Munchen. Such codes can be extremely valuable so long as the Germans don't know they have been broken because Kriegsmarine Enigma operators are extremely careful and it is difficult to break their codes otherwise. Such codes also typically remain in effect for extended periods.

Australian/Canadian Relations: After an exhausting trip across the Atlantic by flying boat from Portugal to New York, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies boards a Douglas bomber and flies up to Ottawa for talks with Canadian leader MacKenzie King. Australia and Canada have a tight relationship because many Australian pilots are being trained in Canada at Empire Air Training Schools in Canada. Menzies gives five speeches and shows films of bomb damage in England.

View from the Victoria Monument in Derby Square, Liverpool during the May Blitz (Stewart Bale).

British Government: Winston Churchill gives a speech, giving a nod to his erstwhile French allies by making kindly references to Napoleon (who British troops defeated, caught and exiled, of course):

Some have compared Hitler’s conquests with those of Napoleon. It may be that Spain and Russia will shortly furnish new chapters to that theme. It must be remembered, however, that Napoleon’s armies carried with them the fierce, liberating and equalitarian winds of the French Revolution, whereas Hitler’s empire has nothing behind it but racial self-assertion, espionage, pillage, corruption and the Prussian boot.

During his remarks, Churchill bashes Leslie Hore-Belisha, the former Secretary of War under Neville Chamberlain. He accuses Hore-Belisha at length and in great detail for not focusing sufficiently on tank development and production. Hore-Belisha, who is present, retorts that Churchill is "indulging in petty recriminations," has not been in that position "for 20 months," and that Churchill has "enjoyed unprecedented powers" since becoming Prime Minister and thus - presumably - should bear the blame for any current deficiencies. The exchange reflects deep worry among the British about the state of their tank forces as compared to the feared panzers.

The House of Commons holds a vote of confidence in the government, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill prevails by 447 to 3. This evidences a slight firming in his overall support despite recent reversals in Libya and Greece.

China: The Battle of South Shanxi, aka the Battle of Jinnan and Zhongtiao Mountains Campaign and the Chungyuan Operation, begins. The Japanese Imperial Army's North China Front Army with six divisions and three brigades under Hayao Tada attacks to secure the Zhongtiao Mountains. The Japanese 3rd Air Group supports ground operations. The Chinese defense is hampered by extreme friction between the separate Nationalist (Kuomintang) and Communist (CPC) forces. The Japanese quickly move to surround the Nationalist Chinese forces, and they call on aid from nearby Communist forces of the 8th Route Army.

Serbia: The Sanski Most revolt continues. Ustaše authorities take prominent hostages at the railway station army barracks to prevent any more attacks on their people. The Germans respond to Ustaše calls for assistance and send 42 soldiers from their base at Prijedor and secure the area of the revolt. However, word has gotten out about the revolt to the surrounding area, and Serbs begin to pour into Tramošnja looking for a fight. The Ustaše kill three Serbs, while the Germans take three casualties. The day ends with Serbs forming a defensive perimeter on the slopes of Kijevska Gora above Sjenokos. The Germans order more troops to the area.

American Homefront: Detroit Tigers baseball star Hank Greenberg, who was drafted on 16 October 1940, is inducted into the US Army and reports to Fort Custer at Battle Creek, Michigan. Greenberg initially was turned down by the draft board (marked 4F) due to "flat feet," but Greenberg requested to be readmitted and ultimately was found fit for military service. He states: "I made up my mind to go when I was called. My country comes first." He trains as an anti-tank gunner and ultimately, with a temporary break in service, will serve for 47 months, the longest of any major league player.

"Ronald Ford (aged 7) climbs a drainpipe to show that there are no ill effects following his inoculation against diphtheria, which took place the day before (7 May 1941) at Argyle Street School Clinic." © IWM (D 3179).

May 1941

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

2020

Monday 5 May 1941

Emperor Haile Selassie during World War II.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe on 5 May 1941 raids Belfast again, the fourth and final raid of the Belfast Blitz. The German bombers cause widespread damage and lightly damage aircraft carrier HMS Furious and seaplane tender Pegasus. In addition, destroyer Volunteer and corvette La Malouine also are damaged, the latter fairly seriously (three months to repair). British 1719-ton freighter Fair Head and 6044-ton freighter Cape Breton are sunk (the latter refloated and repaired), while 2839-ton freighter Shepperton Ferry and 4283-ton blockship Frederika Lensen are damaged.

Other Luftwaffe targets during the night include Glasgow, Newcastle, North Shields and Cullercoats in Northumberland, Cleadon, Annfield Plain and Blaydon in Co Durham and Hull in Yorkshire.

The Luftwaffe "May Blitz" raids continue against Liverpool. Several more ships are damaged, some for the second time, including 6770-ton freighter Silversandal and 4672-ton freighter Clan Macinnes. In addition, 155-ton barge Traffic is sunk, and 231-ton whaler Sumba suffers a near miss and has to be beached before proceeding to Barry for repairs.

The Luftwaffe attacks several British ports and shipping in the English Channel during the day, causing widespread damage. In the Channel, they sink Royal Netherlands Navy trawler HNLMS Jean Frederic. There are 25 deaths.

The Luftwaffe also raids Lowestoft, sinking 147-ton Royal Navy boom defense vessel Fidelia.

In an attack on Greenock, the Luftwaffe heavily damages destroyer HMS Marksman as well as submarines Traveller and Trooper, which are under construction.

RAF Bomber Command sends 141 planes against Mannheim after dark.

A map of the situation in Iraq contained on page 6 of the 5 May 1941 New York Times.

Anglo-Iraq War: British troops are holding their own at Habbaniyah Airfield despite being badly outnumbered. They do have complete control of the air. The Iraqis are slowly giving ground near the airport.

The British Defence Committee gives Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell control over operations in Iraq. The Germans also have their eyes on Iraq and plan to supply it via their allies in Vichy Syria.

Emperor Haile Selassie during an address to the League of Nations.

East African Campaign: Haile Selassie, exiled from his kingdom of Abyssinia by the Italians, makes a triumphant return to his capital of Addis Ababa. The return is timed to mark the 5th anniversary of the Italian occupation of the city. Accompanying him is Orde Wingate. The Emperor is welcomed by streets lined with African troops and a 21-gun salute. Selassie gives thanks "to Almighty God that I stand in my palace from which the Fascist forces have fled." May 5 thereafter is celebrated in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as Arbegnoch Qen or Patriot's Day.

At Amba Alagi, the Indian troops (3/2nd Punjab Battalion) mount a pre-dawn raid across the exposed rock - the "Middle Position" - against entrenched Italian positions. In previous such situations, the Italians have proven adept at defending such positions with well-positioned machine guns, and this battle continues that pattern. The Indian troops are pinned down at barbed wire throughout the day and suffer 8 dead and 28 wounded, finally retreating after dark.

Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, 5 May 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), on her fourth patrol out of Wilhelmshaven, sends two torpedoes into 4976-ton British freighter Queen Maud 200 miles west of Sierra Leone. When the freighter takes its time sinking, Liebe pumps another one into her, and Queen Maud sinks with the loss of one crewman. There are 43 survivors

British 436-ton freighter St. Eunan hits a mine five miles southwest of St. Ann's Head and is damaged. The St. Eunan makes it to port.

U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler), the first Type VIIC U-boat, departs from Lorient for its first mission.

Two ships of the Royal Navy 1st Minelaying Squadron departs Loch Aish to lay minefield SN 9A, accompanied by four destroyers.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Begonia rescues 17 survivors of an unidentified merchant ship.

Convoy OG-61 departs from Liverpool bound for Gibraltar.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Mayflower is commissioned at Tyne, and corvettes HMCS Kamsack, Morden and Sherbrooke are commissioned in Canada.

Time magazine, 5 May 1941. Ramon S. Castillo, acting President of Argentina from 3 July 1940 to 27 June 1942 and President thereafter, is the cover story (Ernest Hamlin Baker). Castillo's overthrow in 1943 will begin the rise to power of Juan Peron.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Fighting has died down on the Tobruk perimeter. The Axis forces hold a small wedge in the perimeter defenses on a 3-mile (4.8 km) front with a maximum depth of 2 miles (3.2 km). However, they have been ordered by visiting General Paulus to cease offensive operations unless the British begin evacuating the port - which they are not doing.

Winston Churchill writes to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal that "I am most deeply concerned" at how the air war is developing in the Middle East:

If at the present time... we have a superiority [but] can only just hold our own, what will be our position in June, when... the enemy will have, or may have, nearly double our strength?

He adds as an aside that "personally I never expected the Greek venture to succeed unless Turkey and Yugoslavia both came in."

Luftwaffe III Gruppe of JG 27 relocates to Sicily in order to prepare for the upcoming Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete.

Part of Convoy WS 8A reaches Gibraltar from England. This is the Tiger Convoy which carries badly needed tanks for General Wavell in North Africa. The plan - a pet project of Winston Churchill - is to send this convoy directly through the Mediterranean, past German, Italian and Vichy French possessions.

The Royal Navy sends destroyers HMAS Voyager and Waterhen from Alexandria to Tobruk on a transport mission during the night. They immediately unload and head back within hours. This is the first supply mission to the port since the Germans invested it. This is the first of planned nightly supply missions.

The RAF (830 Squadron) lays mines in Tripoli Harbor. The pilots observe an Axis ship mysteriously blow up in the harbor while they are at work.

There is some trepidation in London (principally by Churchill) that the Germans may invade Cyprus instead of Crete. The Australian 7th Infantry Division (cavalry regiment) arrives there today.

Convoy WS 7X arrives in Bombay, India loaded with troops.

Bread rationing begins in Malta, but the price is reduced. It is a quiet day, with only one air raid alert that concerns planes that don't cross over the island. Convoy MW 7B departs Alexandria for Malta.

Spy Stuff: Tokyo suspects that its communications with the embassy in Washington, D.C. are being broken and read. It sends a message to this effect today to the embassy. An investigation is begun.

14th Street and Ninth Avenue (northeast corner) on 5 May 1941 (Museum of the City of New York). Parts of this building survive unaltered near the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

US/French Relations: Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton tells the War Cabinet that the US is poised (by early July) to deliver 14,000 tons of flour in two merchant ships to Vichy France on humanitarian grounds. Winston Churchill permits this and other shipments to pass through the Royal Navy blockade under the overarching theory that this may give the US some leverage with the Vichy government which at some point could become useful to the war effort. The War Cabinet minutes suggest that Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to Washington, had agreed to this shipment without explicit permission to void previous British policy on the matter, which did not allow such shipments. At this point, it basically is a fait accompli.

Churchill does require that, as a condition of this continuing US aid, the French permit no further Germans entry into French possessions in North Africa - a demand that will not be met and is more an attempt to save face than anything else. This agreement appears to be motivated as much to ingratiate Churchill with President Roosevelt as to help the French. Churchill rationalizes that the blockade has been ineffective anyway.

US/Australian Relations: After his meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal on the 4th, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies departs from Lisbon aboard flying boat "Dixie Clipper" bound for Horta, the Azores. Menzies arrives safely. He is en route to Bermuda, and then New York.

Anglo/Irish Relations: Churchill writes in a memo to Herbert Morrison that "Northern Ireland does not appear to be making its utmost contribution to the war effort... one-eighth of the insured population is out of work." He requests that steps be considered to have Northern Ireland "display some initiative."

German/Romanian Relations: Marshal Ion Antonescu, who keeps a very close eye on Soviet troop movements, warns Hitler that the Soviets are massing troops around Kyiv and Odessa in what may be springboards for offensive action. In addition, Antonescu states:

The thing worth noting is that factories around Moscow have been ordered to transfer their equipment into the country’s interior.

Hitler, of course, already is planning to invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Hitler inspects the Kriegsmarine in Gotenhafen (Gdynia), apparently aboard the Bismarck, 5 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler makes an inspection tour of the Kriegsmarine base at Gotenhafen (Gdynia). While there, Hitler visits his two new battleships, Tirpitz and Bismarck. He has a meeting with Admiral Günther Lütjens, who is in command of an upcoming sortie aboard the Bismarck to the Atlantic, and Captain Lindemann of the Bismarck. Many believe that, during this meeting, Hitler creates overly optimistic expectations within Lütjens that informs some of his questionable aggressive decisions later in the month. Hitler also inspects U-57, a U-boat sunk near Brünbuttel but later repaired and returned to service.

Soviet Government: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin delivers two secret speeches to a Kremlin banquet held to honor a thousand graduating officers. All of the top Soviet brass, including Foreign Minister Molotov, Mikoyan, Voroshilov, Kalinin, and Lavrenti Beria, are there. The Germans later capture two attendees who independently recall that Stalin stated that the pact with the Third Reich was simply a temporary expedient. He states in his first speech:

New tank models, the Mark 1 and 3, are on their way;  these are excellent tanks, whose armor can withstand 76-millimeter shells. In the near future there will also be a new tank graced with my own name. This tank will be a veritable fortress. Today we have up to a hundred armored and mechanized divisions which still need to be organized into an entity. Our war plan is ready, we have built the airfields and landing grounds, and the frontline aircraft are already there. Everything has been done by way of clearing out the rear areas: all the foreign elements have been removed. It follows that over the next two months we can begin the fight with Germany. Perhaps it surprises you that I tell you of our war plans. But we have to take our revenge for Bulgaria and Finland.

Later, after much drinking by all, Stalin delivers a second speech. In this one, he states:

The slogan of peaceful policies is now obsolete—it has been overtaken by events. During the years of the capitalist encirclement of the Soviet Union we were able to make good use of the slogan while we expanded the Soviet Union’s frontiers to the north and west. But now we must discard this slogan for the reactionary and narrow-minded slogan that it is, as it will not serve to win us one more square inch of territory. It is time to stop chewing that particular cud, Comrade Chosin:  stop being a simpleton! The era of forcible expansion has begun for the Soviet Union. The people must be schooled to accept that a war of aggression is inevitable;  they must be in permanent mobilization.

This aggressive stance will be hidden from the West, of course. It certainly does not justify in any way Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. However, in hindsight, it serves as a countervailing argument to those who point to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa as an epic mistake.

British Government: First meeting of the Tank Parliament, a Cabinet Committee devoted to armored forces. Churchill has formed to "make a general examination of the present position and prospects of armored formations." The Tank Parliament will engage in long-range planning of equipment and strategy, and will, as today's minutes indicate, take into account that "we might have to reckon with a break eastwards by the Germans."

Venezuela: General Isaias Medina Angarita becomes president.

French Homefront: Coco Chanel comes up with a new strategy in her long-running campaign to gain control over perfumes issued in her name in the 1920s. She writes to the occupying German government - she lives in the Ritz with many top German officers - claiming proprietary ownership over company Parfums Chanel, and in particular its leading brand Chanel No. 5. It is another step in a long, complicated struggle by Coco to recover what she views as her rightful ownership over the perfumes.

Channel claims sole ownership of the company over Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who are Jewish directors of perfume house Bourjois and control Parfums Chanel. Coco Chanel herself only has ten percent of the stock in their company, and basically just licenses her name to the Wertheimer brothers, but she long has felt that she deserves all of it for various murky reasons. Her past attempts have failed, but she decides to try again. The argument that Chanel makes (this time) is that the Wertheimer brothers, being Jewish, have abandoned the property (they sailed to New York in 1940). Coco writes:

I have, an indisputable right of priority ...the profits that I have received from my creations since the foundation of this business ...are disproportionate ...[and] you can help to repair in part the prejudices I have suffered in the course of these seventeen years.

The Germans, of course, are not averse to helping out a fellow "Aryan" against some Jews who have fled (for very good reason). They discover, however, that the Wertheimer brothers have assigned their controlling rights in Parfums Chanel to a "front," Christian businessman and industrialist Felix Amiot. This tactic, fairly common during the Occupation, foils Coco's plan.

Coco Chanel with Adolf Hitler.

Future History: The legal battle over Chanel No. 5 continues for years, and the Wertheimer brother will manage to operate the company from New York throughout the war using agents. The Germans and French government ultimately reject Coco Chanel's petition to obtain sole ownership. The controversy, in fact, outlasts the war, as if it never happened. At the end of the war, Amiot returns control over the perfume company - including Chanel No. 5 - to the Wertheimer brothers, but the legal proceedings and attempts to regain control by Coco Chanel continue and intensify.

Ultimately, the parties reach a settlement which makes Coco a very rich woman for a very unlikely reason: the brand depends in part on her image. The Wertheimer brothers reason that if it is revealed that Coco consorted with German officers during the Occupation, the entire business could be ruined. Basically, she extorts them by threatening to ruin herself. So, while they are on solid legal grounds in retaining ownership, they give Coco a generous portion of their profits essentially to keep her quiet and remain a positive image for the brand.

Thus, Coco Chanel's wartime "collaboration" (if it can be called that, and this is a very contentious issue) actually inures to her benefit in the long run. While there are scandalous rumors for the rest of her life, Coco Chanel's image remains intact until after her death in 1971 - at the Ritz.

The Front page of the 5 May 1941 NY Times.

May 1941

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

2020

Sunday 4 May 1941

Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House, 4 May 1941. Visible behind him is Hermann Goering, who technically is the leader of the Reichstag.

Anglo-Iraq War: The British on 4 May 1941 continue their successful defense of Habbaniyah Airfield, Basra and their other fortified positions in Iraq. The RAF has complete control of the air. British reinforcements, called "Iraqforce," are now on the march to Iraq from Palestine and Transjordan (Habforce and Kingcol), while men are trickling into Basra from India. The motley group of British ground forces in Habbaniyah already are having some success forcing the Iraqis back toward Baghdad, suggesting they will be able to hold out until the relief arrives.

The RAF raids the Iraqi forces, including Baghdad (where it drops leaflets) and other enemy areas. The Luftwaffe has a small presence at Mosul Airfield for receiving supplies via Vichy Syria, which the RAF also attacks.

There still is Iraqi resistance at Basra, where Iraqi gunboats and merchantmen remain outside of British control. Australian sloop HMAS Yarra arrives there today to help deal with the Iraqi shipping.

A Messerschmitt Bf 110D3 Zerstorer IAF 4.ZG76 in Iraqi markings, Mosul Iraq May 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe continues bombing Liverpool. The May Blitz is notable for its ferocity and accuracy. The Germans have refined their techniques and finally are targeting port infrastructure and vulnerable shipping in the harbor with great success. The aftereffects of the devastating explosion of 7649-ton ammunition ship Malakand on the 3rd continue to be felt there, and 295-ton ship Pneumatic Elevator No. 11 sinks due to the blast effects, adding to the numerous ships sunk or damaged. Other ships damaged today by the Luftwaffe include:

• 274-ton tug Bison
• 10,254-ton liner Talthybius
• 7005-ton freighter Baron Inchcape
• 201-ton tug Hornby
• 99-ton tug Enid Blanche
• 719-ton hopper barge No. 33
• 209-ton barge Aid
• 67-ton flat John
• 46-ton sailing barge Bongo
• 7801-ton freighter Roxburgh Castle.

Some of the ships are repaired, but others are hit in subsequent raids and destroyed. The port is devastated and in chaos, with many ships on fire, others slowly sinking, and new ships still being docked and unloaded. There are separate attacks by 55 bombers targets Barrow-in-Furness, and 17 bombers on Hartlepool, with a small force hitting Middlesbrough. The Germans lose a couple of Junkers Ju 88s, one to engine failure, another to a night fighter.

Joseph Goebbels and Joachim Ribbentrop give the Hitler Salute at the 4  May 1941 speech by Adolf Hitler at the Kroll Opera House (Federal Archives).

East African Campaign: The 5th Indian Division, which has been advancing from the south, attacks the Italian positions at Amba Alagi. The Italians, though somewhat distracted by a separate attack coming up the Falaga Pass, are dug in and give little ground. The Gold Coast 24th Infantry Brigade attacks Italian positions at Wadara in Galla-Sidamo, while the Indian troops at Amba Alagi do capture a few foothills (Pyramid, Whale Back, and Elephant ). From here the going becomes steeper and more open to Italian fire.

Another British force is heading south toward the city, with a third force, the South Africans, also approaching. The Italians, meanwhile, are hiding out in caves which are very defensible, but also have no access to resupply and scant stores of even the most basic necessities such as food and water.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), operating out of Lorient on her 9th and most successful patrol, is off of Freetown in the Atlantic when it fires three torpedoes and uses its deck gun to sink 5230-ton Swedish freighter Japan. The entire 55-man crew (and four passengers) makes land and survives, but is captured and interned by the Vichy French. The ship is part of Convoy OB-310. The U-38's deck gun explodes, injuring the gun crew.

The Luftwaffe hits 234-ton minesweeping trawler HMT Ben Gairn with a parachute mine at Waveney Dock, Lowestoft, Suffolk. There are no casualties, but the ship is destroyed.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 222-ton British freighter Tregor off Trevose Head. The six-man crew survives.

The Luftwaffe also damages 545-ton Belgian freighter Marie Flore off Trevose Head. Marie Flore tries to make it to port but cannot get there and is beached at Padstow.

The Luftwaffe also damages destroyer HMS Southdown in the North Sea by a near miss. The ship is leaking and temporarily loses steering but makes it to port.

The Luftwaffe damages minesweeper Selkirk and patrol yacht HMY Franc Tireur in the Thames Estuary. Both ships make it back for repairs.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Latona (Captain Stuart L. Bateson) is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: German General Paulus, temporarily in command of the Afrika Korps, seen enough of the abortive attack on Tobruk. He orders that no more attacks be made by Rommel's forces unless there are signs of Allied retreat. Paulus already is looking toward his rear and orders that a new defensive line must be built in Gazala. In this sense, he is basically in agreement with the failed Italian strategy which began the campaign, believing in the value of fixed defensive positions in the defensive rather than Rommel's faith in mobile operations. Rommel dutifully begins constructing defensive outposts facing the Tobruk perimeter. From this point forward for the next couple of months, the Germans and Australians will engage in only local actions, with the Germans holding their small three-mile wide incursion into Tobruk's defenses.

The campaign evolves into competing supply buildups between Germany and Great Britain, with both sides holding unique advances in that struggle (the Royal Navy largely controls the sea and can be supplied from India, Australia, and New Zealand in addition to England, while the Axis has a short, though dangerous, supply route from Italy).

Churchill cables his Middle East commander General Archibald Wavell in Cairo. He states that is is "most important not to allow fighting around Tobruk to die down" due to the Germans' over-extension following his "premature audacious advance." He encourages counterattacks "at the earliest possible moment" to prevent the Afrika Korps from being able to "gather supplies and strength for a forward move." Churchill and Paulus, thus, see the North Africa campaign developing the same way, and this is not a coincidence, as the British are reading the German codes via the Ultra decryption program.

Churchill also notes in his cable the "success of Demon." This is a reference to Operation Demon, a daring gamble of running disguised freighters directly through the Mediterranean to Egypt. In fact, one Demon ship already has been sunk, though two have made it through.

New Zealand Major-General Bernard Freyberg, the British leader in Crete, is feeling a bit exposed now that the Germans have had some time to digest the Greek mainland. He asks Wavell for permission to evacuate about 10,000 men who are refugees from the mainland and, by and large, unarmed. He notes that they have "little or no employment other than getting into trouble with the civil population."

The Germans occupy the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.

Italian torpedo boat Giuseppe La Farina hits a mine and sinks off Kerkennah. The Italians are busy supplying the Afrika Korps in Tripoli and today send a convoy of seven troopships from Naples. The Italians provide a heavy escort three light cruisers and 8 destroyers, with some smaller torpedo boats also involved.

At Malta, the Luftwaffe remains active. Minesweeper HMS Fermoy, which was damaged earlier in the month and under repair, sinks from its damage.

Santa Fe Excursion train, 4 May 1941.

War Crimes: The Luftwaffe damages 7117-ton hospital ship Karapara in Tobruk Harbour. While accidents happen, hospital ships are clearly marked and there have been many incidents involving them. The Karapara makes it to Port Said for repairs. While there may seem little to gain by attacking hospital ships, driving them off or destroying them isolates the Australians holding out in Tobruk.

Anglo/US Relations: Churchill cables President Roosevelt and suggests that the Royal Navy is seriously considering occupying the Canary Islands (which he never actually names) and other Portuguese islands in the Atlantic in order to forestall a Wehrmacht occupation there. The US, he proposes, would serve as the "guarantor" that those islands would be returned to Portugal after the war. He also notes that "We are determined to fight to the last inch and ounce for Egypt, including its outposts of Tobruk and Crete."

Anglo/Portuguese Relations: Perhaps coincidental to Churchill's cable to President Roosevelt (but perhaps not), Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, on his way to New York, calls on Portuguese Prime Minister Dr. Salazar in Lisbon. Salazar, Menzies writes in his diary, is "very sincere and earnest" and tells Menzies that "The Portuguese won't fight." Of course, the Portuguese are in no danger so long as Spain remains neutral, though Hitler still dreams of drawing Franco into his collection of satellites and then occupying Portugal and its Atlantic islands.

German Military: While Adolf Hitler already has set the date for Operation Barbarossa as 22 June 1941, not everyone agrees with the decision. In fact, there is little enthusiasm for it within the uppermost reaches of the German government and military, including by Luftwaffe boss Hermann Goering. Admiral Raeder continues to press for his "peripheral strategy," which focuses on cutting off Great Britain's overseas possessions in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. That strategy to date has had great success, but the British remain entrenched in Egypt and at Gibraltar. The vast mass of the Wehrmacht, however, already is positioned in the East, and Hitler sticks with his plan to invade the Soviet Union.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt attends the dedication ceremony for the Home of Woodrow Wilson. Staunton, VA, May 4, 1941. FDR gives a speech on "The Power of Spiritual Force" (Margaret Suckley, FDR Presidential Library and Museum).

US Military: Brig. Gen. Henry B. Clagett, with his chief of staff Col. Harold Huston George, arrive at Manila in the Philippines to command the newly created Philippine Department Air Force. They arrive on a Boeing 314 Clipper (Pan-American Air Lines). Their mission is to expand the air defenses in the Philippines.

Soviet Government: The Politburo replaces Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov with Joseph Stalin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. This makes Stalin the de jure head of the Soviet government These appointments in the USSR are mere formalities, though, as there is no question that Stalin runs the government and always is the de facto national leader.

Hitler and Goering on 4 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House (the Reichstag building itself has been unusable since the infamous fire several years ago). As often happens during his wartime speeches, Hitler sums up past events rather than giving a specific preview of coming events. In essence, it is a victory speech and covers events from the beginning of the war to date.

Hitler digs deep, delivering a polemic on why Germany is at war that is based on equal parts paranoia, self-delusion, and outright fabrications. He propounds some of his standard themes - that Germany was forced into the war based on decisions taken by others "as early as 1936," that the plot against Germany was formed by "great international Jewish financial interests," and that "this criminal" Winston Churchill (he also terms him a "fool" and a "drunkard") was personally responsible for the blockade and aerial campaign against the Reich.

Hitler also puts forth an economic argument for German policy in the Balkans - which obviously involves a lot of Wehrmacht military activity. He argues that reliance on money, or "worthless democratic money paper" as he puts it, is inherently unfair, and only mutual trade agreements such as those between the Reich and the Balkan states is fair. The wars that Germany has just won were the product of "filthy British politics" which had duped Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece and had forced a defensive campaign by the Wehrmacht to protect its southeast flank.

Hitler summarizes the Greek Campaign (Operation Marita) by claiming that Churchill had committed "one of the greatest strategic blunders of this war" by trying to garrison and defend it. He credits the order to attack Yugoslavia to the coup there. He notes that "the Greek soldiers have fought with the greatest bravery and contempt of death," and that the British force in Greece was there to attack the Reich and thus had to be removed. He gives figures of 57 officers and 1042 noncommissioned officers and men killed, 181 officers and 3571 noncommissioned officers and men wounded, and 13 officers and 372 noncommissioned officers and men wounded. Regarding future operations, he merely states that he views them with "perfect tranquillity and great confidence."

Needless to say, the speech is pure propaganda. Churchill's belated and inadequate military aid to Greece turned out to do nothing but offer Hitler a convenient excuse for why he attacked. No mention is made in the speech, of course, of Hitler's intense preparations for invading Greece long before the first British boot set foot there.

Singapore: Winston Churchill asks General Ismay for a "report on the efficiency of the gunners and personnel" manning air defenses in Singapore.

Romania: Madeleine Cantacuzino (soon to be Madeleine Lipatti) and Dinu Lipatti gave the first Romanian performance of Lipatti’s Symphonie concertante for two pianos and strings.

American Homeland: There is a concert held for the Deutsches Kriegshilfswerk [German war workers] at the California Hall in San Francisco, California. There is a strong German presence in San Francisco, where the Germans maintain a consulate.

Future History: Nickolas Ashford is born in Fairfield, South Carolina. He will become half of the famous singing group Ashford & Simpson. He will pass away in 2011.

Baseball in San Bruno Park, California on May 4, 1941 (Fred Beltramo, San Bruno Public Library).

May 1941

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

2020