Sunday 22 June 1941

German troops of Army Group South cross the Bug River on 22 June 1941.

Eastern Front: As Adolf Hitler has planned since July 1940, the Reich invades the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The attack is made without a declaration of war and proceeds along a 2000-mile (2900 km) front. It is one of the greatest miscalculations in history.

The Wehrmacht has sent sappers and saboteurs across the border after dark on the 21st, and they work through the night securing bridges across key waterways and neutralizing border fortifications. These advance groups secure every single bridge across the 500-mile length of the Bug River that divides the two sides.

At about 01:00, the Soviet Stavka notifies Soviet military districts along the border to "bring all forces to combat readiness" but to "avoid any provocative actions" (NKO Directive No. 1). Very few units even receive the directive before hostilities begin, much less implement it. The directive suggests that Stalin, at last, has begun to believe the massive amount of intelligence suggesting that Germany has been preparing an invasion - but much too late.

The Luftwaffe has planes in the air as the day begins, and at around 03:15 they begin bombing Soviet-occupied cities in Poland and further north and east. The targets include the naval base at Kronstadt, Sevastopol, and Ismail in Bessarabia.

As dawn breaks on 22 June 1941, German troops are heading east (Federal Archive).

At roughly 03:15, the Wehrmacht sets into motion roughly three million men organized into 140 division. A fierce artillery barrage breaks out to pave the way for the advance. The advance before dawn on a front that stretches from northern Finland to Romania. They are highly organized and mechanized (17 panzer divisions and 12 motorized divisions), with 3200 tanks and full artillery and air support. They face a roughly equal number of Soviet soldiers and armor in the border region, but they are disorganized, lack artillery and aerial support, and are undermined by German infiltration units.

General Zhukov telephones Premier Joseph Stalin at 03:25 to inform him of the invasion. Stalin is dismissive and refuses a request to strike back immediately, which is the standard planned response to an invasion.

The main battles of the day are the Defense of Brest Fortress, Battle of Hanko and Battle of Białystok–Minsk.

The Soviets have about 230 divisions in the border area. However, Soviet divisions are only roughly half the size of German division (depending upon how degraded the German divisions are from combat), so numbers alone do not tell the whole story.

The German general plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941. The main weight is to the north of the front, though Adolf Hitler feels the most important acquisitions are to be made in the south.

There are four main lines of advance:

1. The Far North, attacking from Petsamo, Finland toward Murmansk.
2. Army Group North, pointing toward Leningrad
3. Army Group Center, pointing toward Moscow
4. Army Group South, pointing toward Kiev

Soviet Chief of Staff Georgy Zhukov travels to the headquarters of General Kirponos' Southwest Front to coordinate a defense. Zhukov quickly sees that pre-war plans for an immediate counteroffensive into German-occupied Poland and occupation of German territory are impossible.

German headquarters troops head east, 22 June 1941.

German soldiers advancing past the Soviet state border marker, 22 June 1941.

During the night, Vichy French destroyer Guépard sorties from Beirut Harbor. It engages two Royal Navy cruisers and six destroyers off the Syrian coast. With the odds stacked against it, the French ship quickly retreats to Beirut after taking one 6-inch shell from HMS Leander. The RAF raids Beirut Harbor during the day and damages Vichy French destroyer Vauquelin.

The Vichy French forces that evacuated Damascus on the 21st make their way west to Beirut. Habforce continues advancing and takes the Vichy French airfield at Palmyra. However, the French counterattack and retake the airfield, forcing Habforce back into Iraq.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends 17 aircraft on anti-shipping missions. It also sends a Circus mission on the rail-yards at Hazebrouck. Blenheim IV bombers from 2 (B) Group are escorted by 16 fighter squadrons. After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 70 aircraft to attack Bremen and 27 aircraft to attack Wilhelmshaven.

German troops rush across a captured bridge, 22 June 1941.

Battle of the Baltic: Heretofore a quiet German lake, the Baltic Sea becomes a contested battle zone as the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe join in the attacks on the Soviet Union.

German S-28 torpedoes and sinks Estonian freighter Estonia.

German S-59 and S-60 combine to torpedo and sinks Lithuanian freighter Gaisma.

German S-31 uses its deck guns to sink Estonian freighter Litsa.

German S-31 torpedoes and sinks Soviet freighter Shuka off Liepāja.

German S-44 torpedoes and sinks Soviet patrol boat MO-238 off Hanko.

Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 aircraft of 806 Küstenfliegergruppe bombs and sinks Soviet freighter Luga off Kronstadt.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Soviet tugboat Perkunas.

Estonian freighter Ruhno hits a mine and sinks off Kronstadt.

German troops advancing, 22 June 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-77 (Oblt.z.S. Heinrich Schonder), on its first patrol out of Kiel, torpedoes and sinks (2379-ton British weather ship Arakaka about 450 nautical miles (520 miles, 830 km) east of St. John's. There are 45 deaths.

U-141 (Oblt.z.S. Philip Schüler), on its second patrol about 100 nautical miles (190 km, 120 miles) torpedoes and sinks 1277-ton Swedish freighter Calabria. There are three deaths and 21 survivors.

German raider Atlantis, disguised as Dutch freighter Brastagi, stops and sinks 5372-ton British freighter Balzac hundreds of miles east of Salvador, Brazil and west of Africa. There are three deaths, and the Atlantis takes 45 crew prisoner.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Royal Navy transport HMT Beech at Scrabster, Caithness. There is one death.

U-48 completes its patrol career, returning to Kiel.

U-467 is laid down.

A reconnaissance Ju 88 D bomber of the 3/F, 22, June 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Union torpedoes and sinks 1004-ton Italian freighter Pietro Querini south of Pantelleria.

The Royal Navy mounts some supply missions to Tobruk, sending 758-ton British tanker Pass of Balmaha and 951-ton Greek store ship Antiliklia, both with a heavy escort. However, the Luftwaffe is dominating the skies and forces the Antiklia to take refuge in Mersa Matruh.

At Malta, a Bristol Blenheim bomber making an attack on an Axis convoy suffers severe damage. The pilot is badly wounded, so the observer, Sergeant JS Sargent, takes control and manages to get the plane back to Malta despite having no flying training.

Soviet searchlights illuminate the sky over Moscow, 22 June 1941. However, there are no Luftwaffe attacks - yet.

German/Soviet Relations: German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop calls Soviet Ambassador Dekanozov to the Foreign Ministry at the Wilhelmstrasse. Once Dekanozov is there, Ribbentrop reads him a long-winded tirade accusing the Soviets of numerous offenses, and then sums up with a terse declaration of war. Ribbentrop then dismisses the Soviet ambassador.

In the morning, Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announces the invasion. He later quotes Hitler as saying:

At this moment a march is taking place that, for its extent, compares with the greatest the world has ever seen. I have decided today to place the fate and future of the Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May God aid us, especially in this fight!

On the Soviet side, Stalin does not make any appearances either in person or over the radio on the 22nd. Instead, Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov makes a radio broadcast around noontime:

Without a declaration of war, German forces fell on our country, attacked our frontiers in many places ... The Red Army and the whole nation will wage a victorious Patriotic War for our beloved country, for honor, for liberty ... Our cause is just. The enemy will be beaten. Victory will be ours!

After having gotten a few hours of sleep after staying up much of the night following the advance of the invasion, Hitler addresses the Reichstag. Giving a characteristically distorted account of the events leading up to the invasion ("For weeks constant [Soviet] violations of this frontier have taken place"), Hitler casts the battle as one for the preservation of Europe:

German and Rumanian soldiers are united under Chief of State Antonescu from the banks of the Pruth along the lower reaches of the Danube to the shores of the Black Sea. The task of this front, therefore, no longer is the protection of single countries, but the safeguarding of Europe and thereby the salvation of all.

Italy and Romania also declare war, while Hungary and Slovakia break relations with the USSR. Hungary's leader Admiral Horthy prefers to wait until the invasion proves itself before declaring war.  So, he and his staff leave word that they have "gone fishing" (nobody is actually going fishing on such an eventful day). Finland does not declare war despite the fact that Wehrmacht troops are operating from its soil against the Soviet Union, the first of many lukewarm Finnish contributions to the invasion.

The Soviet NKVD orders all German embassy personnel, including Ambassador Schulenberg, to assemble in the embassy chancellery. This is standard practice in such situations, as much for the safety of embassy personnel as anything else, but it has an element of foreboding. Nobody is harmed. Schulenberg already has taken the precaution of sending his dog back home to Germany.

Smoke rising over Kovno from German shelling, June 22-25, 1941. Credit: George Kadish, photographer, Beit Hatefutsoth, Israel.

German/Spanish Relations: Spanish Foreign Minister Serrano Suner telephones to inform Foreign Minister Ribbentrop that Spain would be happy to contribute a volunteer division - the "Blue" Division - for operations against the Soviet Union.

Anglo/Soviet Relations: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes a radio broadcast in which he pledges all aid to the Soviet Union that Great Britain can provide:

Any man or State who fights against [Hitler] will have our aid. ... It follows, therefore, that we shall give whatever help we can to Russia and to the Russian people.

He also calls Hitler "this bloodthirsty guttersnipe" and, countering Hitler's pose as a defender of Europe from communism, states that Hitler's regime "is indistinguishable from the worst features of communism."

British Ambassador Sir Stafford Cripps is in Moscow and is able to coordinate the early stages of an alliance. Soviet Ambassador Maisky meets with Foreign Secretary Eden in London.

Soviet Military: The Stavka issues a general mobilization and proclaims martial law.

New York Times, 22 June 1941.

German Military: The Wehrmacht issues a communique. Somewhat surprisingly, it focuses mainly on the western front, most likely because it does not want to give any useful information about Operation Barbarossa to the enemy.

Since the early morning hours of today, we have been engaged in hostilities along the Soviet Russian border. An attempt by enemy aircraft to fly into East Prussia, has been repelled with heavy losses. German fighter planes shot down large number of Red bombers. In the struggle against the British Isles, powerful German aerial formations bombed the harbour installations of Southampton last night. Extensive fires broke out in the docks, warehouses and food manufacturing works. Further air attacks were aimed at airfields in northern Scotland and the Midlands. A large British freight vessel was severely damaged by bombs north of Sunderland. Yesterday afternoon a small number of British bombers with powerful fighter cover flew against the French Channel coast. German fighter planes shot down 26 British aircraft in violent dogfights. German flak and naval artillery brought down two more enemy aircraft. [German ace] Lt. Col. Galland won three air victories in these struggles.

As usual, the Wehrmacht's figures are exaggerated, though the three victories cited for ace Adolf Galland are accurate. As if anybody needed a reminder, though, this emphasizes that the Reich is now in a two-front war.

A captured Red Army officer in Przemysl, on or about 22 June 1941.

Finish Military: Finland has mobilized its entire military and is busy stationing units along the Soviet border. It is planning attacks toward Leningrad and the Svir River. Finnish ships continue laying mines in the Gulf of Finland. An infantry regiment and a light artillery battalion occupy the demilitarized Ahvenanmaa (Aland) islands in the Baltic Sea.

Finnish commandos, wearing civilian clothing, fly across the border in Luftwaffe Heinkel He 115s to see if they can cut off the Stalin canal. However, it is too heavily guarded, and the men return on foot back toward Finland. On the way, they cut (temporarily) the Murmansk railway. While the railway is a top objective throughout the war, this is the only time the Finns manage to seriously disrupt it for any length of time. In a sense, this is the high point of the war for the Finns in their repeated attempts to block this vital artery.

US Military: US Marines embark on ships bound for Iceland. They will take over occupation duties there from the 25,000 British troops.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy William F. "Frank" Knox personally conducts a memorial ceremony, held onboard submarine USS Triton (SS 201), over the last known location of the lost submarine USS O-9.

Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, in the Bundesrat Hall of the Foreign Office in Berlin, read to the press on 22 June 1941 at 5 o'clock in the morning a note intended to justify the attack on the Soviet Union. Note the prominent picture of Hitler in the background.

German Government: After finishing his business in Berlin, Hitler boards his command train Amerika. He sets out for his new military headquarters in the pine forests of East Prussia near the town of Rastenburg - the Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze). Hitler chooses that name on the train because it was his own code name during the 1920s. While he would be perfectly capable of running operations from Berlin, Hitler prefers to be seen as commanding the war effort "from the front."

Soviet Government: After he comes to accept that Germany has launched a full-scale invasion, Stalin loses his nerve. He appears (according to those present) as if he cannot make decisions. Stalin spends more time talking with his internal security chief, Lavrentiy Beria, and Foreign Minister Molotov than he does with his generals. This suggests that he is more concerned for the moment about protecting his own position as leader of the Soviet Union (or whatever will be left of it after the invasion) than figuring out how to stop the Germans. This begins a lengthy period in which Stalin retreats, makes no public appearances or speeches, but retains control of the government with an iron hand using the state security apparatus.

Lithuania: In conjunction with Operation Barbarossa, a popular rebellion breaks out called the June Uprising. The rebels seek a restoration of Lithuanian independence. There are hopes that German troops will help ensure this. The Lithuanian Activist Front seizes key installations in Kaunas, including the Presidential Palace, post office, telephone and telegraph, radio station and radiophone.

Holocaust: Romanian Jews from the Dorohoi district are transported in cattle cars to concentration camps in Tirgu and Craiova.

British Homefront: Taking advantage of the dramatic news about Operation Barbarossa, the British government releases casualty figures for the war to date. It states that the British armed forces have lost 18,627 killed, with civilian casualties totaling 35,756 dead. The RAF has lost 6,326 dead, 1338 wounded, 1879 missing and 408 taken as prisoners.

American Homefront: New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio gets two hits in five at-bats against the Detroit Tigers in New York. One of his hits is a home run. This extends his hitting streak to a club-record 35 games.

Moscow citizens listening to the announcement of the German attack on the Soviet Union, 22 June 1941.

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

Friday 25 April 1941

"German Panzer III tanks advance along a railway line in pursuit of retreating British troops in Greece between 25 and 30 April 1941." © IWM (HU 39517).

Operation Marita: Today, 25 April 1941, is Anzac Day, and it marks another failed expedition in the Mediterranean. Allied troops ride south through Athens, having covered 100 miles in 12 hours.

The British evacuation from mainland Greece, Operation Demon, switches into high gear today. Transports from several Greek ports take thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers to Crete and Egypt. Some 10,200 troops depart through the ports of Nafplio and Megara.

Troopships Thurland Castle and Pennland (once White Star Liner Pittsburgh) depart from Megara, escorted by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry and several destroyers. The 16,322-ton Red Star Liner Pennland is attacked by the Luftwaffe and badly damaged near San Giorgio Island. There are four deaths, while roughly 350 men are taken off by escorting destroyer Griffin. The Griffin then scuttles Pennland. Thurland Castle also is damaged. Australian destroyers HMAS Waterhen and Vendetta also take off troops. The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Royal Navy troopship Pittsburgh in the Gulf of Athens, while troopship Ulster Prince sinks in the Aegean.

The Luftwaffe remains active above Greek waters:

Greek yacht Thraki sunk off Myli
Greek freighter Thraki sunk at Porto Heli
1722-ton Greek freighter Sofia sunk off Megara
128-ton Greek coaster Anna Maria sunk off Vostizza
602-ton Greek freighter Marios sunk off Aigio
1570-ton Greek freighter George A. Dracoulis sunk off Chalkis
982-ton Greek freighter Thraki sunk off Port Kheli
Greek Navy torpedo boat Kyzikos sunk off Salamis
1171-ton Greek freighter Dimitrios Nomikos sunk off Karystos, Euboea (later raised by the Germans and repaired) 

The German 6th Mountain Division (Generalmajor Ferdinand Schörner) and elements of the 5th Panzer Division advance through the pass at Thermopylae, the defending Australian and New Zealand rearguard troops having withdrawn to Thebes.

German troops in Thermopylae Pass, 25 April 1941.

Far to the west, the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH, still of brigade-size) races southward toward the Gulf of Patras. The battle in the west has become a race to the ports of the Peloponnesos which the British are using for Operation Demon (also ports in east Attica). The LSSAH moves along the western foothills of the Pindus Mountains, moving from Arta to Missolonghi. British Commonwealth troops are on the way to the Peloponnesos as well. The Germans drop Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) to seize bridges over the Corinth Canal so that the following Wehrmacht ground troops can use them to continue their pursuit, but British artillery destroys the bridge. This places additional pressure on the LSSAH advance toward Patras.

The RAF has been in retreat for the past week, and today it leaves the mainland entirely. Air Commodore John D'Albiac establishes new headquarters on Crete at Heraklion. King George II of Greece also establishes new headquarters on Crete along with the rest of his government.

The Germans know that the Allies are retreating to Crete. General Kurt Student, commander (and founder) of the Fallschirmjäger, previously has suggested an airborne operation to take Crete, which, with the addition of the Operation Demon evacuees is becoming heavily fortified. Today, Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 28, "Operation Mercury," which authorizes an invasion of Crete. The operation "will employ for the purpose, primarily, the airborne forces and the air forces stationed in the Mediterranean area," and is to occupy Crete "As a base for air warfare against Great Britain in the Eastern Mediterranean." Hitler cautions that "transport movements must not entail any delay in the mounting of 'Undertaking Barbarossa,'" seemingly directly addressing historians who will conclude that Operation Marita fatally delayed the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Iraq War: The Germans are bemused by the situation in Iraq.  The Germans and Italy agree to provide financial assistance to Iraq's pro-Axis Rashid Ali government but have no other way of assisting them. The Iraqis have assembled troops around the British enclaves such as Habbaniyah airfield and the port of Basra, but show no signs of attacking. The British have occupied Mosul airfield and taken up defensive positions there.

"Aircraft of Fighter Command displayed at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, during a visit by Scottish newspaper correspondents. In the foreground is a Hawker Hurricane Mark I of No. 315 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF based at Speke, Liverpool; in the background a Bristol Blenheim Mark IF of No. 23 Squadron RAF based at Ford, Sussex, while, overhead, three Supermarine Spitfires, flown by the flying instructors of No. 58 Operational Training Unit based at Grangemouth, prepare to give a flying demonstration." 25 April 1941. © IWM (H 9179).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command raids coastal targets during the day with 27 aircraft, and Kiel after dark with 69 bombers. The Luftwaffe raids Sunderland with 57 bombers.

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies - who plans on returning to Australia in about a week - visits air raid shelters at King's Cross and Old Street. He writes in his diary:

Indescribably pathetic. Malodorous, or rather stuffy. Bunks of wire arranged in tiers of 2 or 3 along the platforms and in the recesses. Canteen arranged. Little children staggering in beneath bundles of bed-clothes. Old women & men, going down to their nightly burial, for this happens every night, and not just when the alert blows. These people are "deep shelter conscious." They are drab, dreary, and look infinitely sad - standing in the queues for their places, for which they have tickets. Squatting on the metal treads of narrow stairs, there to hunch up asleep all night. Stretched out in a bunk, with electric trains swishing and roaring past every few minutes.

Battle of the Atlantic: Hitler has instructed Konteradmiral Karl Dönitz to avoid all provocations with the US Navy. Doenitz duly communicates this to his subordinates today.

U-103 (Kptlt. Viktor Schütze), on its 4th patrol off the coast of West Africa, torpedoes and sinks 2267 ton Norwegian freighter Polyana about 47 miles (76 km) southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. The ship, which had been part of Convoy OG-58 but was detached, sinks within a minute and there are no survivors of the international crew (19 Norwegians, 2 British, one Danish, one Tunisian, one Spanish, one Maltese). Captain Schütze missed with his first torpedo just before midnight on the 24th but the second does hit the freighter at 00:38 on the 25th.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 10,022-ton Norwegian tanker Polarsol about 180 miles off Myrdals Jokull Light, Iceland. The tanker makes it to Kames Bay in tow.

Royal Navy boarding vessel HMS Maron captures a French fishing boat, Joseph Elise, off Casablanca. The British put on board 15 sailors to take the ship to Gibraltar with the original French crew.

U-553 (Korvette Kpt. Karl Thurmann) has engine trouble and returns to base.

The Royal Navy learns that Spanish liner Marques De Commillas is traveling from New York to Spain carrying the Italian Naval Attache to Washington. The Admiralty sends light cruiser HMS Diomede from Bermuda to intercept it.

Convoy HX 123 departs from Halifax, bound for Liverpool.

Royal Navy submarine HMS P-3111 is laid down.

U-413 is laid down.

"This photo of American airmen, all in the rank of leading aircraftman, was taken at RCAF Uplands, near Ottawa, on April 25, 1941. From left to right: J.G. Magee of Washington, D.C.; A.C. Young of Cleveland, Ohio; C.F. Gallicher of Tulsa, Oklahoma; C.G. Johnston of Chicago, Illinois; A.B. Cleaveland of Springfield, Illinois; and O.N. Leatherman of Lima, Ohio. PHOTO: DND Archives, PL-2753." Source: Royal Canadian Air Force. John Magee is the author of the famous poem, "High Flight," which has become the Air Force's official poem. It begins, "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth."

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Germans need some breathing room around Tobruk, and the British are determined not to let them have it. The Allies launch attacks all along the Tobruk perimeter that are repulsed, including one in the south at 03:00, a tank sortie at 12:30, an attack against the Italian Brescia Division at 15:15, and another attack in the south at 22:30. British artillery is proving to be quite effective, directed at times by an artillery spotter Lysander plane and outranges some of the Italian artillery.

The Luftwaffe attacks British armor south of Capuzzo, destroying some armored cars. At noon, Gruppe Herff attacks southeast of Capuzzo to try to give the southern German forces more of a cushion between the two Allied lines. The Germans make some progress through Halfaya Pass to Buq Buq at the cost of 7 dead and 10 wounded. British Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell later claims that he allows his forces to withdraw in hopes of inducing the Afrika Korps to become over-extended.

The RAF bombs Derna airfield and town. The last two remaining Hurricanes operating out of Tobruk fly out to Alexandria, where there are only 13 Hurricane fighters. The only RAF plane remaining in Tobruk is a Lysander for artillery spotting.

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel has been intending to launch a push all along the Tobruk perimeter. However, the "bad experience of the last days" with Italian troops (some recently have surrendered) forces the Germans to focus their attacks using the 5th Light Division and the 15th Panzer Division. The Luftwaffe Fliegerkorps X in Naples is ordered by Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering's headquarters to use air transport to bring 15th Panzer units from Naples to Derna.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Usk disappears on or about this date in the Mediterranean.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Upholder torpedoes and badly damages 5428 ton German/Italian troopship Antoniette Lauro just off Kerkenah, Tunisia. The captain manages to beach the ship in Kerkenah Bay.

The Royal Navy, pursuant to Operations Salient and Dunlop, puts to sea Force H from Gibraltar. Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal carries aircraft to fly off to Malta.

A convoy departs from Naples bound for Tripoli carrying elements of the 8th Panzerregiment in five ships. The convoy has a heavy Italian escort.

The Luftwaffe builds a new runway at Comiso, Sicily.

US Secretary of State Cordell Hull emphasizes the need for US protection of war convoys, 25 April 1941 LA Times.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German raider Pinguin scores another success, shelling and sinking 6828-ton British freighter Empire of Light north of the Seychelle Islands. The Germans take 70 prisoners.

Japanese destroyer Tanikaze is commissioned.

Spy Stuff: The British codebreakers at Bletchley Park in Operation Ultra learn about the German plans for Operation Hercules, the airborne assault on Crete from Luftwaffe transmissions. Of the three German services, the Luftwaffe is the newest and has the worst security in its radio transmissions. Throughout the war, Luftwaffe intercepts are a major source of British intelligence information, and that includes switching around evacuation beaches in Greece.

US/Greek Relations: Greek resistance has collapsed too quickly for the United States to send any aid, but today President Roosevelt issues a statement saying that the US still intends to send some. The situation in the Balkans has changed extremely rapidly, and it is difficult to keep track of the course of events.

Anglo/US Relations: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sends President Roosevelt a telegram expressing appreciation for the extended Neutrality Patrols ordered in "Navy Western Hemisphere Defence Plan No. 2." He informs the President of the routes of British convoys currently at sea. He also says that he is "not at all discontented with Libya" because Tobruk "is exercising its powerful attractive influence."

A performance attended by 5000 people by Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for patients of Bellevue Hospital, New York City, 25 April 1941 (AP via Yorkvilleonthenet).

German/Finnish Relations: The Germans inform General Heinrichs of the Finnish high command about Operation Barbarossa.

Australian Military: The Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is established.

German Government: Hitler telephones Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and has him come to his command train Amerika near Graz, Austria. Ribbentrop later recalls:

He said that all the military Intelligence reaching him confirmed that the Soviet Union was preparing in a big way along the entire front from the Baltic to the Black Sea.  He was not willing to be taken by surprise once he had recognized a danger.  Moscow’s pact with the Serbian putschist government was a downright provocation to Germany and a clear departure from the German-Russian treaty of friendship.  In this conversation I recommended that he listen first to our ambassador [to Moscow], Count [Werner von der] Schulenburg.... I wanted to try a diplomatic settlement with Moscow first.  But Hitler refused any such attempt and forbade me to discuss the matter with anybody;  no amount of diplomacy could change the Russian attitude, as he now recognized it, but it might cheat him of the important tactical element of surprise when he attacked.  He requested me to put on a show of complete support for his view, and explained that one day the West would understand why he had rejected the Soviet demands and attacked the East.

Hitler also talks to one of his aides, Colonel Walter Scherff, asking him, "What can you, a war historian, tell me about preventative wars?" Scherff recalls later that he tells Hitler:

Only somebody with the deepest sense of responsibility can take such a decision, and then only after looking at it from every possible angle.  Because he will be risking immense dangers in starting such a war.

Scherff recalls that Hitler states:

Britain will just have to climb down, once we have defeated her last ally on the continent.  If she does not, we shall destroy her, with all the means that we shall have when all Europe as far as the Urals is at our feet.

These sentiments echo those expressed by Hungarian leader Admiral Horthy during his visit on the 24th - that defeating the Soviet Union is the way to defeat Great Britain and end the war in the West.

Winston Churchill addressing merchant ship crews in Liverpool, 25 April 1941.

British Government: Churchill visits Liverpool to see bomb damage.

US Government: Reports have been received that the German press has been supportive of Charles Lindbergh's recent America First speech in New York City. President Roosevelt, a firm interventionist, gives an interview about the current domestic controversy over aiding the British in the war against Germany:

There are people in this country ... [who] say out of one side of the mouth, 'No, I don't like it, I don't like dictatorship,' and then out of the other side of the mouth, 'Well, it's going to beat democracy, it's going to defeat democracy, therefore I might just as well accept it.' Now, I don't call that good Americanism ... Well, Vallandigham, as you know, was an appeaser. He wanted to make peace from 1863 on because the North 'couldn't win.' Once upon a time there was a place called Valley Forge and there were an awful lot of appeasers that pleaded with Washington to quit, because he 'couldn't win.' Just because he 'couldn't win.' See what Tom Paine said at that time in favor of Washington keeping on fighting!

The President appears to be comparing supporters of the America First Committee with the Copperheads who opposed the US Civil War. It is a thinly veiled attack on Charles Lindbergh, the leading voice of the America First Committee. Lindbergh reads this and decides to resign his commission in the US Army Air Corps Reserve.

Cambodia: The new king of Cambodia is Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

Spain: There are reports of 2500 German troops prowling the streets of Madrid posing as tourists. This has been a precursor to some German invasions.

Tahiti: The government of Tahiti allies itself with the Free French.

German Homefront: The German government has been critical of alcohol abuse, so German brewers consider making "light beer." The government also is critical of tobacco use, not for health reasons, but for its effect on morale and discipline.

Future History: Bertrand Tavernier is born in Lyon, France. He goes on to become a renowned filmmaker, actor, and director. He will win a BAFTA award in 1990 for "Life and Nothing But." He remains active in the film industry, releasing the documentary "Voyage à travers le cinéma français" in 2016.


April 1941

Sunday 30 March 1941

Bristol Blenheim TR-A of RAF No. 59 Squadron at RAF Hawkinge following the attack on shipping off Calais on 30 March 1941 (Photo by crew member Sgt. Len Hunt - from the book "Bristol Blenheim - Theo Boiten"').

Italian/Greek Campaign: The action at the Albanian front is desultory on 30 March 1941, with artillery exchanges but very little movement on the ground. As has been the case for several days, the main action is of the diplomatic variety. This activity necessarily concerns the fate of Yugoslavia, as nobody expects the Allies to be able to defend the long border stretching from Bulgaria to Albania. Thus, if the Wehrmacht invades Yugoslavia as well as Greece, the fate of both Yugoslavia and Greece depends upon the ability of the Yugoslav military as much as anything else.

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Momčilo Ninčić summons German ambassador Viktor von Heeren. Ninčić has a statement indicating that Yugoslavia will honor its international agreements, including the Tripartite Pact. Von Heeren prepares to send the diplomatic note on to Berlin when he receives instructions from Berlin to avoid any contact with Yugoslavian officials and to return to Berlin. It is unclear if von Heeren ever delivers the message, and Ribbentrop certainly never replies to it.

The Yugoslav Army begins deploying troops to the frontiers.

Deputy chief of the German General Staff (Oberquartiermeister I) Lieutenant General Friedrich Paulus arrives in Budapest for discussions with the Hungarian chief of staff. The chief of staff agrees to attack Yugoslavia. There is some confusion at the highest levels of the government, as Admiral Horthy approves of the attack, but Prime Minister Teleki is out of the loop entirely.

East African Campaign: General Lewis Heath's 5th Indian Infantry Division continues to pursue the fleeing Italian troops toward the port of Massawa. The 4th Indian Infantry Division has been redirected to Port Sudan for shipment to Port Sudan - showing the amount of confidence that Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell has in a single division's ability to subdue the port's garrison.

The Italians in Massawa realize the fate awaiting them. Italian 7565 ton freighter Piave makes a run for it and heads for Assab.

In Addis Ababa, the Italian commander, the Duke of Aosta, also realizes what is happening. He messages Rome that he will resist for as long as he can.

Pilot Officer L.W. Stevens in his Hawker Hurricane during the Battle of Britain. While flying with RAF No. 145 Squadron, Stevens is KIA 30 March 1941. Photo from: "The Battle of Britain" Author: T.C.G.James.

European Air Operations: The British have learned that German heavy cruisers are in Brest following their very successful Operation Berlin. After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 109 bombers to pay them a visit. They are both in dry dock, and neither is hit. Another force of 3 bombers based at Thorney Island raids shipping off Calais at 16:30.

The RAF loses at least one bomber during the Calais raid, TR-A of RAF No. 59 Squadron, which makes it back to RAF Hawkinge and crash-lands after losing hydraulics and throttle control. The crew survives, though two are wounded, one very seriously. The RAF also loses at least one Hawker Hurricane.

The Luftwaffe continues with its recent pattern of scattered raids by single planes. A Spitfire of RAF No. 41 Squadron shoots down a Junkers Ju 88 which lands at Wilton Moor, Eston, Yorkshire during the afternoon. All three Luftwaffe crew perish.

USS Gar, USS Grampus in the background, 30 March 1941. Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler), on its second patrol out of Lorient, is southwest of Iceland when it spots and sinks 3759-ton British freighter Coultarn. There are three deaths.

U-124 (Kptlt. Georg-Wilhelm Schulz), on her fourth patrol and in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands, torpedoes and sinks 3767-ton British freighter/passenger ship Umona. There are 100 deaths, including 15 passengers. The Umona was carrying, among other things, jam, maize and similar goods that are in short supply in England.

British 210 ton trawler Nisus disappears near the Faroe Islands. There are many British minefields in the area, and it is a favored hunting ground for the Luftwaffe.

Dutch coaster Celebes disappears during a trip from Liverpool to Falmouth.

Royal Navy anti-aircraft ship Alynbank is back in action after repairs to its collision damage from 23 December 1940.

Convoy OB 304 departs Liverpool, Convoy SC 27 departs from Halifax.

USS Gar, with USS Grampus in the background, 30 March 1941. Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum.

Battle of the Mediterranean: General Rommel is ready to get moving. Since he does not have orders from OKH to attack, he gives his directives verbally. He tells the 5th Light Division to attack Mersa Brega in the morning. The 5th Light has had patrols out and reports that it captured an armored car. The British 2nd Armoured Division defends Mersa Brega. Rommel is encouraged by recent skirmishes, including the capture of El Agheila, and also wants to advance to the Jebel Achdar (Green Mountain) south of Benghazi because it is a rare source of potable water in the desert.

The RAF raids Tripoli in the early morning hours, causing only slight damage. The Luftwaffe also is in action, claiming to have destroyed an armored car, self-propelled gun, and tanker.

The damaged freighter Ruhr, carrying men and vehicles for the Afrika Corps, is towed back to Sicily. Troop casualties on it are reportedly 30 men. The rest of the ships of 15th Naval Transport Squadron accompanying it are in Tripoli at 09:00.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Rorqual (Lt. Commander Dewhurst) torpedoes and sinks 3645-ton German freighter Laura Corrado about 40 miles (70 km) north of Trapani, Sicily.

The Vichy French send a convoy of six freighters, escorted by destroyer Simoun, from Casablanca back into the Mediterranean. This, of course, requires passage through the Straits of Gibraltar. The Royal Navy has had conflicting views on how to handle such transits in the past, leading to at least one court-martial. This time, the Royal Navy sends out a large force led by light cruiser HMS Sheffield to intercept the French. This is Operation Ration by Force H.

The French ships pass under the guns of their forces at Nemours, and the British are unable to intercept the convoy when the French open fire. On their way back, the Royal Navy ships are attacked by French aircraft. Sheffield is damaged by a near miss and destroyer HMS Forester is hit and requires four weeks of repairs.

Italian submarine Dagabur attacks cruiser HMS Bonaventure escorting Convoy GA-8 south of Crete but misses.

The victorious Royal Navy fleet, led by battleships HMS Barham, Valiant and Warship and aircraft carrier Formidable, arrives back at Alexandria around sunset.

At Malta, the Luftwaffe sends four Junkers Ju 88 bombers which bomb Ta Qali airfield. One Hurricane on the ground is slightly damaged, but overall it is an unsuccessful mission. Neither side loses any planes.

Camp Hulen, Palacios, Texas. View of the 300,000 elevated water tank. 30 March 1941 at 14:00. Camp Hulen is named after Major General John A. Hulen, who suggested the spot in the 1920s due to the availability of water.

US/Anglo Relations: In keeping with the expressed desires of English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the US Navy seizes 63 ships (26 Italian, 35 Danish and 2 German) interned in US ports. Over 900 Axis sailors (850 Italian, 63 German) are taken into custody. Some of the ships carry valuable cargo. A final decision has yet to be made whether to use them in North Atlantic convoy runs to Great Britain. The decision to seize the ships is a consequence of the recent ABC-1 Conference between US and British military leaders in Washington, D.C.

As part of Operation Fish, the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) departs Simonstown (Cape Town) carrying gold bullion being used by Great Britain to pay for war supplies. Its destination is New York.

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Menzies note that Churchill, elated by recent victories, has been communicating with President Roosevelt. Menzies, never one to mince words in his private diary, writes:

Great news of naval victory in Mediterranean at which Winston sends off cables to Roosevelt.... What a genius the man has. He has maintained by cable and letter the most easy and informal correspondence with Roosevelt; always treating him as a friend and ally, and also U.S.A - 'Don't you think we could do so and so.' Result, F.D.R. has passed into the position of an ally without perhaps realising how some of the steps have come about.

While this entry is highly flattering of Churchill, it is not so high-minded about President Roosevelt.

Spy Stuff: Churchill learns through "sources" that the Wehrmacht has redirected three panzer divisions from Romania, thence to Southern Poland, and then further south. There, they will participate in the invasion of Yugoslavia. This crystallizes the belief in Churchill's mind that a German invasion of the Soviet Union is next on Hitler's list - after he takes care of Greece and Yugoslavia. The source of Churchill's knowledge is poor practices by a German Lorenz cipher machine operator, who sends the same 4000-character message twice.

USS Barnett (AP-11) McCawley-class attack transport off the Norfolk Navy Yard on 30 March 1941 (Photo No. 19-N-23945, U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command).

German Military: Adolf Hitler holds a private meeting in the Cabinet Room of the Chancellery in Berlin with about 250 top leaders of the Wehrmacht, including Colonel General Franz Halder, Field Marshal von Bock, and General Hermann Hoth, all of whom take fairly thorough notes or immediately write down their recollections. It is a fairly remarkable meeting, with issues discussed that will dramatically influence the Operation Barbarossa campaign.

Hitler directs that Army Group Center's mission was to head due east to the Dneiper River, and only then head north. Moscow, he casually mentions, is "absolutely irrelevant." This directly contradicts a very strong body of opinion among the men to whom he is speaking. They feel that Moscow is of the utmost importance as the entrance of the land bridge to Asia and the center of Soviet life (including the focus of the entire railway and road system). Nobody challenges Hitler on this strategy, but some in the room will make their own contrary views known eventually - and act on those views.

Hitler does not think the campaign will be much trouble. He thinks it will all be over by fall, declaring:

We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down.

Moving from the specific to the general, Hitler remarks on the ultimate objective of the campaign. It is not just the conquest of the Soviet Union, but the "eradication" of Communism itself "for all time." To do this, he authorizes "liquidation of the Bolshevik commissars and the Communist intelligentsia." As recorded by Halder, Hitler says:

The war against Russia cannot be considered in a knightly fashion; the struggle is one of ideological and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness.... The commissars are the bearers of ideologies directly opposed to National Socialism. Therefore the commissars will be liquidated. German soldiers guilty of breaking international law... will be excused.

John Keegan, The Second World War (Hutchinson, 1989), page 186. The liquidations would be carried out by SS Einsatzgruppen following behind the fighting troops.

After being translated into an official OKW order, this directive becomes known as the "Commissar Order." As Hitler indicates himself (according to the notes), it is illegal under the terms of the Geneva Convention of 1929. Some will argue the Convention does not apply to the Soviet Union because the USSR never ratified the Convention (though the previous Russian government had). Article 82 of the Geneva Convention, however, states:

In case, in time of war, one of the belligerents is not a party to the Convention, its provisions shall nevertheless remain in force as between the belligerents who are parties thereto.

Thus, even if the USSR was not a party to the Geneva Convention, Germany, as a signatory at least arguably was bound to follow it (though, again, some will argue that it need be followed only in cases where both opposing governments, and not just one, have ratified it). The Geneva Convention, of course, forbids exterminating entire classes of captives. The OKW will begin working up its drafts of this order quickly.

Luftwaffe jet prototype Heinkel He-280 makes its maiden flight under its own power under the command of test pilot Fritz Schäfer. It features tricycle landing gear and a compressed-air ejection seat. The Luftwaffe has expressed little interest in the plane, preferring to focus on other designs, so Ernst Heinkel has been continuing with the plane's development on his own initiative. The main holdup is the engine, the HeS 8, which has been behind schedule. On the bright side, the engines burn inexpensive kerosene. The Luftwaffe, specifically RLM development chief Ernst Udet, remains uninterested. Heinkel views the Luftwaffe's failure to pursue this design as one of its biggest mistakes.

The Heinkel He 280.

US Military: Eight B-18 Bolo bombers of the USAAC 73rd Bombardment Squadron arrive at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska. This is part of a slow but steady buildup of a US military presence in Alaska (not yet a US State); they are the first bombers to be based in Alaska.

The first flight of the Vultee A-31 Vengeance prototype V-72 dive bomber. It takes place at Vultee's factory at Downey, California. The British Purchasing Commission, in need of a dive bomber, already has placed orders for 300 of them. The plane is well behind schedule, as delivers originally were scheduled to begin in October 1940.

Yugoslavia: With Belgrade in an uproar after the recent bloodless coup, Italian and German nationals have left.

Future History: Graeme Charles Edge is born today in Rochester, Staffordshire, England. He becomes a founding member of rock group Moody Blues alongside Denny Laine, Clint Warwick, Mike Pinder, and Ray Thomas. As of this writing, Edge is the only remaining original member of The Moody Blues still performing in the band.

The Heinkel He-280.

March 1941

March 1, 1941: Rettungsboje
March 2, 1941: Oath of Kufra
March 3, 1941: Germans in Bulgaria
March 4, 1941: Lofoten Islands Raid
March 5, 1941: Cooperation With Japan
March 6, 1941: Battle of Atlantic
March 7, 1941: Prien Goes Under
March 8, 1941: Cafe de Paris
March 9, 1941: Italian Spring Offensive
March 10, 1941: Humanitarian Aid
March 11, 1941: Lend Lease Becomes Law
March 12, 1941: A New Magna Carta
March 13, 1941: Clydeside Wrecked
March 14, 1941: Leeds Blitz
March 15, 1941: Cruisers Strike!
March 16, 1941: Kretschmer Attacks
March 17, 1941: Happy Time Ends
March 18, 1941: Woolton Pie
March 19, 1941: London Hit Hard
March 20, 1941: Romeo and Juliet
March 21, 1941: Plymouth Blitz
March 22, 1941: Grand Coulee Dam
March 23, 1941: Malta Under Siege
March 24, 1941: Afrika Korps Strikes!
March 25, 1941: Yugoslavia Joins The Party
March 26, 1941: Barchini Esplosivi
March 27, 1941: Belgrade Coup
March 28, 1941: Cape Matapan Battle
March 29, 1941: Lindbergh Rants
March 30, 1941: Commissar Order
March 31, 1941: Cookie Bombs

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