Saturday 7 June 1941

Firemen battle blazes in Chungking (Chongqing), China resulting from the devastating Japanese air raid of the previous night. 7 June 1941.

Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: Operation Exporter, the invasion of the Vichy French possessions of Syria and Lebanon from Palestine, unofficially begins when Australian troops infiltrate behind French positions beginning around 21:30. They are led by Jewish locals, including a young man named Moshe Dayan. The infiltrations are from the Hanita Kibbutz, and the sappers cut wires and clear mines.

In anticipation of the invasion, planned to begin in earnest on 8 June, Royal Navy units depart from Port Said (Force C of troopship Glengyle escorted by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry and destroyers Hotspur, Ilex and ISIS) and Alexandria (Force B of light cruisers Ajax and Phoebe, with destroyers Janus, Jackal, Kandahar and Kimberley). The Glengyle carries men of No. 11 Commando to seize a bridge at the mouth of the Litani River in Lebanon.

The main invasion will not start until the early hours of 8 June. It is divided into three columns or prongs - west, center, and east. The three prongs are isolated and not mutually supporting.

The main prize is the coast road. It is the most direct route into Syria and can be easily protected by the Royal Navy and RAF. British commandos from ‘C’ Battalion British Special Service Brigade are assigned to land at key points just behind the border in order to disrupt the French response, but seas are heavy and look like they may interfere with that. The Australian 21st Brigade advances to capture a key bridge over the Litani River.

Further inland in the center, the Australian 25th Brigade is to take the French picket line along the border and then proceed inland. Poor French morale is expected to prevent a major response.

In the eastern sector, the Indian 5th Brigade has the objective of advancing to seize Deraa and reach Kuneitra.

None of these objectives are considered especially difficult to achieve by commanding General Henry Maitland Wilson. This is one of the least-known major operations of World War II, perhaps because it is an unprovoked act of aggression by Allied forces against a neutral power which tends to undermine their moral authority - though, let's be clear, the Allies have loads of surplus moral authority relative to the Axis.

European Air Operations: RAF Fighter Command conducts a sweep over France, and RAF Bomber Command sends 22 planes to lay mines. After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 33 planes to attack Prinz Eugen, recently arrived at Brest. It is in dry-dock for engine repairs and an easy target, but the bombers score no hits.

Vera Bushfield, the wife of Governor Harlan Bushfield of South Dakota, christens the ship at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey (South Dakota State Historical Society Archives).

U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), on its 9th patrol out of Lorient and operating off of the west coast of Africa, torpedoes and sinks 7628-ton British freighter Kingston Hill southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. There are 14 deaths. Some sources place this sinking on 8 June.

The Royal Navy shares the lingering concern about an invasion, and at 20:00 it receives erroneous reports of major German naval units at sea. The Home Fleet goes on one-hour notice, which is peak readiness one step short of actually going to sea, and remains on this alert through the night.

British 281-ton examination vessel No. 10 hits a mine and sinks at Milford Haven.

Newly commissioned destroyer HMCS Saguenay arrives at St. John's to join the new Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF).

Canadian corvettes HMCS Ville de Quebec (Quebec City) and HMCS Charlottetown (Kingston) are laid down, minesweeper Melville is launched at Levis, Quebec.

Battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) is launched at Camden, New Jersey by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. It is the lead ship of its class, with three more to follow, and is designed to fit within the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty.

U-85, U-207 and U-332 are commissioned.

Soviet submarine Shchuka Class Serie X Bis Sub SHCH-405 is commissioned.

USS South Dakota is launched, 7 June 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: During the night, the Luftwaffe makes a major raid on the Royal Navy port of Alexandria, and also Suez. Flying from the Italian-held Rhodes, 31 Junkers Ju 88 bombers cause 230 deaths. Following the raid, the British authorities commence an evacuation from Alexandria that will include about 40,000 people. This aerial attack likely is a by-product of the massive shift of the Luftwaffe from west to east in contemplation of Operation Barbarossa. The Germans are accumulating about 2770 planes in Eastern Europe, and an occasional raid on British bases in the Mediterranean is good operational practice.

Italian bombers attack Tobruk.

The RAF, for its part, bombs Benghazi and Derna. RAF No. 830 Squadron, serving with the Fleet Air Arm on Malta, sends 7 Fulmar Swordfish against Tripoli Harbor to drop magnetic mines ("cucumbers").

An Italian convoy of three freighters escorted by destroyers Frescia, Strale, Marco Polo and Victoria depart from Naples bound for Tripoli. There also is distant support of two cruisers and three destroyers. While the Italian Navy has the resources to make an impact across the Mediterranean, it prefers to use its ships in these low-risk operations and retain its "fleet in being."

The ships of Operation Rocket - the ferry mission of Hawker Hurricanes to Malta - arrive back at Gibraltar without incident.

Operation Battleaxe, originally scheduled to begin today, has been pushed back to 15 June. The reason: delays in bringing tanks forward from Alexandria to General O'Moore Creagh's troops. The attack is to be a larger-scale version of Operation Brevity on 15 May.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill sends a message to Malta Governor Dobbie in reply to a pessimistic cable sent by the latter on the 5th:

I am entirely in agreement with your general outlook. It does not seem that an attack on Malta is likely within the next two or three weeks.  Meanwhile other events of importance will be decided, enabling or compelling a new view to be taken. You may be sure we regard Malta as one of the master-keys of the British Empire. We are sure you are the man to hold it and we will do everything in human power to give you the means.

The War Office also responds today to General Dobbie's request for more troops. It requests "further details" for defensive armaments. Dobbie responds immediately, listing a need for Bofors guns and anti-tank artillery.

There is an air raid on Malta during the early morning hours by Italian BR-20 bombers. The Italians bomb the Luqa, Manoel Island, Marsa, and Wardia areas, and in the process lose a bomber and perhaps two more at sea.

Students participating in a live national radio broadcast at the 1941 National High School Drama Conference of the National Thespian Dramatic Honor Society for High Schools. June 7, 1941. (Courtesy of the Educational Theatre Association).

Special Operations: Having arrived by parachute in France on the night of 11/12 May, the Commando team members of Operation Josephine B have spent most of the past month in Paris. There, they made contact with a Commando who had gone to ground there, Joël Letac, a member of the Commando team from failed Operation Savanna. Joining the team, Letac and the others have traveled to the site of their original objective: the transformer station at Pessac.

After dark, Sergeant J. Forman climbs the perimeter wall that had stymied their first attempt to blow up the station in May. He manages to get across without hitting any of the high voltage cables, then opens a door for his comrades. The team sets up plastic explosives within half an hour on each of the eight main transformers. Then, the team gets back on their bicycles and leaves. The mission turns from a failure into a success: six of the eight transformers blow up, and work on the Bordeaux submarine base is delayed by weeks. Electrified trains in the region have to be replaced with coal-burning locomotives. It will take an entire year to repair all the damage.

Damage at the Pessac Power station, 7 June 1941.

The team is well-funded - they have a quarter of a million francs for their mission, which converts to about a year's wages of £1,400 - and set out for Spain and thence Lisbon. They are in no hurry.

The Germans in the commune of Pessac take reprisals. They shoot twelve German guards, fine the commune one million francs, imprison 250 people, and impose a strict curfew (21:30 to 05:00).

For the British, it is a massive success and enhances the prestige of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) after some failures.

The US Asiatic Fleet in Manila Harbor, the 1930s. The Japanese began keeping close tabs on this fleet in early 1941.

Spy Stuff: Japanese Consul in the Philippine Islands Katsumi Nibro cables Tokyo that the US Navy has eight destroyers, fourteen submarines and two target towing ships in Manila Harbor.

Jockey Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway at the Belmont Stakes, 7 June 1941. Whirlaway becomes the fifth horse to win the Triple Crown. According to a report in the Pittsburgh Press, Arcaro took an early lead and then turned back and yelled, "Go to Hell! We're off to the races!"

Japanese/Italian Relations: Japan recognizes the Independent State of Croatia, now led nominally by the Duke of Savoy. In actual fact, the Duke takes virtually no part in governance and leaves it to local leaders.

German/Bulgarian Relations: Hitler meets with King Boris of Bulgaria in Berlin.

German Military: In preparation for Operation Barbarossa, long columns of Wehrmacht troops are heading east in Poland. This is very noticeable to locals because the military vehicles clog the roads and all civilian vehicles are prohibited for hours at a time. Full vehicles are traveling east, empty ones back to the west. Of course, civilians see the military traffic on the roads, and it is fairly obvious to them what is in store. A local, Polish physician Zygmunt Klukowski, writes in his diary that it "is the same as during a war."

USS South Dakota at its Christening, 7 June 1941.

Soviet Military: The NKVD arrest General Boris Lvovich Vannikov for "failing to carry out his duties." Vannikov is the People's Commissar for Armament. It is unclear what he is really accused of, and it may, in fact, be nothing more than having unintentionally crossed Premier Joseph Stalin in some way (Stalin has a habit of arresting and torturing underlings, then at some point reinstating them). Vannikov will be released on 25 July 1941 and reinstated fully to essentially the same position in February 1942.

Despite increasing evidence of German troop buildups along the border, Stalin prohibits any "provocative" defensive precautions. Everything is to remain as is, with the Soviet Union continuing to fulfill its trade agreements with Germany and sending supply trains west across the border.

Former President Herbert Hoover, giving the Commencement address to the graduating class at Haverford College, 7 June 1941.

US Military: President Roosevelt reviews the two plans for the defense of the Pacific, ABC-1 and Rainbow 5, that have been worked up during the spring. The plans envisage cooperation with the British Commonwealth and the Dutch forces in the East Indies, with a heavy emphasis on defensive activities in the Pacific Theater while the main effort is against the Reich and Italy in Europe. Roosevelt neither approves nor disapproves of the plans, but familiarizes himself with them and suggests they be returned to him should war actually break out.

The US Maritime Commission is implementing the new ship-seizure law signed by President Roosevelt on 5 June. The inventory includes 39 Danish, 28 Italian and 2 German ships, along with random ships from Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, and other nations. The fast (Blue-Riband holder) 83,423-ton French liner Normandie remains docked at its berth in midtown New York and also is subject to seizure, but there are no plans at this time to use it.

US Government: President Roosevelt departs the White House at 11:30 for Annapolis and embarks on a weekend cruise on the USS Potomac. He is accompanied by Crown Princess Martha of Norway, Princess Ragnhild, Harry L. Hopkins, Robert Hopkins, Diana Hopkins, Capt. John R. Beardall.

Joe DiMaggio at the plate in Sportsman Park, St Louis, MO, June 7, 1941. Also visible is Hall of Fame catcher Rick Ferrell and umpire Bill Grieve, with Yankee Charlie Keller on deck to the left.

Iraq: The reinstated Monarchist Iraqi government under Regent Abdul Ilah (Abdullah) sets up a Committee of Enquiry to investigate the Farhud riots of 1-2 June.

Holocaust: There is an outbreak of typhoid at Zamość Prison in southeastern Poland. Unfortunately, the local doctors are inmates in the prison, too.

Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King places a wreath during an event in Kingston, Ontario, on June 7, 1941. This is to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald (Queens University Archives).

American Homefront: Former President Herbert Hoover gives the Commencement address at Haverford College. The CBS radio network broadcasts it. Hoover notes:

We have been told with monotonous repetition by the collectivists and left-wingers that our frontiers are gone. They say our industrial plant is built. They claim there is no safety valve for human energies. They assure us that we have come to an age of humdrum problems of underconsumption, overproduction, and the division of the existing pot. They say that new opportunity for youth has shrunken. That is not so. There was never in history a more glorious frontier for youth than today. Adventure and opportunity beckon in every avenue of science. They beckon from the great profession of men trained to research. They beckon from its thousands of applications. From it spring tens of thousands of new services and industries. In them human courage, character, and ability have an outlet that never came even with the two-gun frontiers.

Meanwhile, 24,000 people pack Chicago Stadium to hear speeches against the America First movement. Abraham Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg calls Charles Lindbergh President Roosevelt's new "Copperhead," a Civil War term for Democrats in the North who choose to oppose the war and advocate a negotiated settlement with the South.

Whirlaway wins the Belmont Stakes by three lengths and completes the U.S. Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. It is the fifth horse to accomplish that rare feat.

Golfer Craig Wood wins the U.S. Open.

Joe DiMaggio hits in his 22nd straight game in Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri. He gets three singles in an 11-7 win over the Browns.

"My Sister and I" by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra reach No. 1 on the new Billboard singles chart.

The UAW strike at the North American plant in Los Angeles that began on 5 June continues. President Roosevelt is considering exercising emergency powers by taking over the plant unless the strike ends.

The New Yorker - Saturday, June 7, 1941 - Issue # 851 - Vol. 17 - N° 17 - Cover by Ilonka Karasz.

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

Saturday 5 April 1941

The weather is warm, so a couple takes a walk at the Washington, D.C. Tidal Basin on April 5, 1941 (Library of Congress). If the weather is warming up during wartime, that means that the military campaigning season can't be far behind.

Italian/Greek Campaign: Adolf Hitler by 5 April 1941 has prepared the Wehrmacht for Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia. Field Marshal Wilhelm List has his Twelfth Army in position in Bulgaria to invade both Greece and Yugoslavia. Generaloberst Maximilian von Weichs, meanwhile, is assembling the Second Army in Austria for a second blow after List stages the actual invasion. Mussolini also intends to take part, sending General Vittorio Ambrosio down along the coast from the Fiume region toward Ljubjana, Zadar, Split, and Kotor after List's men force Yugoslav forces to abandon those places in order to meet the new threat. Originally, General Halder's plan was to use merely a reinforced corps to invade Greece - now three entire armies of approximately 85 divisions are waiting to attack, including five Hungarian ones.

The Wehrmacht makes final preparations for what is expected to be a very straightforward operation. German commandos occupy the docks along the Danube to facilitate landings. Adolf Hitler tells Romanian leader Ion Antonescu that the invasion will take place on the 6th.

Yugoslavia's policy, as set for in Plan R-41, is to defend the entire frontier - unlike, say, Holland, which from the start in May 1940 intended only to preserve "Fortress Holland," a roughly rectangular region bordered by Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This also is what Greece would like to do. However, the Yugoslav Army is too small to defend everywhere, and as the famous dictum goes, he who defends everything defends nothing.

British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and CIGS General John Dill were supposed to return to England in March, but have remained in the region due to the growing crisis. Today, they fly from Athens to Cairo.

General Henry Maitland Wilson, fresh of Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell's staff in Cairo, takes command of British forces in Greece. He receives Ultra decrypts stating that the Germans will invade in the morning. While often such information is of inestimable value, for that to be the case, one must have the means to take advantage of it. There is nothing further that Wilson can do to meet the invasion.

The British line is stretched along the Aliakmon River in northeast Greece, and Wilson has his headquarters at the base of Mount Olympus in central Greece. This spot is handy for communications both with his own troops and the Greeks defending against the Italians in Albania. With the main Greek troop concentration in the west near the Adriatic coast, they have few troops to spare in the east. Thus, the British forces, hurriedly brought over pursuant to Operation Lustre over the past couple of months, play a critical role in defending the heart of the country - and the rear of the Greek army in Albania.

While General Wilson is in overall command of British operations in Greece as commander of "W" force, General Thomas Blamey takes command of newly formed 1st Australian Corps. This incorporates British, Australian and New Zealand units. General Carton de Wiart, a legendary military figure who led operations in northern Norway early in 1940, becomes head of the British military mission in Yugoslavia. De Wiart has had his residence in Poland and is considered a specialist about the region.

British Operation Lustre continues bringing troops into Athens. Convoy AN 25 (one Greek and five British ships) departs from Alexandria bound for Piraeus. In addition, some British garrisons are landed on Aegean islands - today, the 1st Battalion of the British Bedfordshire lands on Lemnos.

East African Campaign:  Riding in armored cars, the 11th (African) Division (Major-General H. E. de R. Wetherall) crosses the Awash River and arrives at the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the capital of Italian East Africa. The Italians do not put up a fight, and in fact, they have abandoned the city, but the South Africans wait until negotiations conclude before entering. The Italian commander, the Duke of Aosta, has taken his remaining forces out of the capital for continued resistance. From his positions in mountain fortresses in Gondar, Amba Alagi, Dessie and Gemma, the Duke of Aosta intends to form a "redoubt" which will continue the resistance. Aosta orders the Italian leader in the city, Agenore Frangipani, to surrender the city rather than cause harm to its Italian residents. The South African air force raids the airfield.

At Massawa, the situation is not much better for the Italians. The 10 Infantry Brigade of the 5th Indian Infantry Division has reached the outskirts of the well-defended port, where it has hooked up with Briggs Force, which has come from a completely different direction. Things look dire for the Italians. Italian Rear Admiral Mario Bonetti asks for surrender terms at 13:30, but then an order arrives from Rome to "fight to the last man." British General Cunningham, meanwhile, warns that if Bonetti does not surrender, Cunningham will not instruct the British to protect Italian civilians from native tribesmen. At Addis Ababa, the Polizia dell'Africa Italiana (Police of Italian Africa) have remained in the city to maintain order, which is probably best for both the Italians and the British.

Me 109E 5/JG 27 Uffz. Hans Niederrhofer in Bitola (Bitolj), Macedonia,  April 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe continues shifting units east. These include units of JG 54 and SKG 77.

Operation Savanna, a Special Operations Executive (SOE) mission, ends in complete failure. This was the operation begun on 15 March 1941 in which an RAF Whitley inserted an assassination squad near Vannes to kill Luftwaffe pilots of the pathfinder group. British intelligence was faulty, and the pilots did not travel on one bus to their airport as believed. Without a target, the Special Operations Executive men accomplished nothing and headed for the coast for extraction. Out of five paratroopers involved in the operation, one goes missing, another fails to reach the rendezvous spot, and three make it to the Sables d'Olonne beach on schedule for a submarine pickup. In the event, the kayaks used for the extraction are damaged on the submarine, so only two of the three men can be taken off in a dinghy paddled ashore by Geoffrey Appleyard of the SOE's Small Scale Raiding Force. The third SOE man, Joël Letac, remains behind and proceeds to join partisans in Paris.

Battle of the Atlantic: The British note the approach of good campaigning weather, stoking their invasion jitters. After all, the chatter out of Berlin during the fall was that the invasion of England, Operation Sea Lion, would simply be postponed until the spring. Four Royal Navy minelayers (Agamemnon, Menestheus, Port Quebec and Southern Prince) depart from Scapa Flow to lay minefield SN 8. These operations may seem mundane, but they are taken extremely seriously by the British, and they withdraw heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk from the patrols on the Denmark Strait to provide cover, along with cruiser Suffolk. Separately, minelayer Teviotbank lays minefield BS 53.

The Kriegsmarine sends half a dozen destroyers through the Straits of Dover just after dark to reinforce their forces in the Bay of Biscay. The RAF observes these movements and sends some of its own destroyers out to investigate, but there is no contact. The Admiralty assumes that this presages some kind of cruiser sortie such as Operation Berlin - but, in fact, it is a simple ship transfer unrelated to larger operations.

U-105 (Kapitänleutnant Georg Schewe) is operating off the coast of South America - such extended operations are made possible by the German supply ship network - when it spots a freighter. Schewe torpedoes and sinks 5200-ton British freighter Ena de Larrinaga. It is the first U-boat success off the coast of South America, extending the conflict into a completely new sector. There are 5 deaths on the Ena de Larrinaga, while 38 survivors are left adrift at sea for 13 days before being found.

U-76 (Kptlt. Friedrich von Hippel), on its first patrol, is part of the wolfpack attacking Convoy SC-26 about 250 miles south of Iceland. The convoy already has taken massive losses. The repeated attacks have put the British are on high alert. When Hippel fires a torpedo shortly before dawn that damages and ultimately sink 5351-ton British freighter Athenic, the Royal Navy escorts swarm to attack the submarine. HMS Scarborough and Wolverine force U-76 to the surface, enabling the crew to escape before it sinks. There are one death and 42 survivors, including von Hippel. On the Athenic, all 40 people are rescued by HMS Arbutus.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 450-ton British freighter St. Clement just off Aberdeen. There is one death.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 496-ton British freighter Rattray Head in the same area as the St. Clement off Aberdeen. There are three deaths.

Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine collides with 789-ton British freighter Lairdswood in the Irish Sea. The destroyer proceeds to Greenock for repairs which take well over a month.

The Regia Aeronautica bombs and sinks 2290 ton Greek freighter Sifnos off the island of Milos, north of Crete.

U-431 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Dommes) is commissioned.

A caboose of the Dowling & Camp sawmill in Slater, Florida. 5 April 941 (Photographer George Pettengill via Donald R. Hensley, Jr.).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Afrika Korps continues rolling eastward, moving out from Benghazi to take Barce. As with all operations in North Africa, the distances are astounding for those used to the tiny advances made in a typical European conflict. To date, the Afrika Korps has covered about 200 miles from El Agheila and faced barely any resistance from the British. The British 2nd Armoured Division has followed orders to retreat and avoid combat, but nobody on the British side expected this kind of massive retrograde movement. General Wavell has sent the former commander of XIII Corps during Operation Compass, Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor, forward to investigate and offer counsel to the current commanders there. O'Connor dutifully is driving west from Cairo, a difficult drive made dangerous by the fact that nobody really knows where General Erwin Rommel's panzers are at any given moment.

The British are scampering southeast on the Via Balbia toward Gazala. The Luftwaffe gets Bf 110s in the air to harass the retreating British around Derna and Junkers Ju 87 Stukas at Msus.

The Luftwaffe notes that the Royal Navy has brought in to Tobruk a cruiser and 13 transport ships for evacuations - though the road remains open to Egypt. In fact, the Germans are mistaken, the cruiser is almost certainly a wrecked Italian one (the San Giorgio). The British actually are using their transports to bring troops in, not take them out. This incident just illustrates the difficulties of relying on aerial reconnaissance.

On the ground, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel orders the Ariete Division toward the fortress at Mechili and the 5th Panzer Regiment, incorporating the Ariete Division's tanks, toward Msus. Rommel also orders Fliegerfuehrer Afrika to transport elements of the 5th Light Division to At Tmimi in the evening to block the British retreat on the Via Balbia coastal road.

The troops in the lead are those of Graf Schwerin. At this time, he is moving his forces to the northeast. They arrive at Tengeder around 21:00. Schwerin needs air supply for further maneuvers, however. A pincer movement directed at Msus is developing, though how many British troops will remain to be captured is an open question. The Italian Brescia Division also is on the move, reaching Regima and Driana at 22:00.

Today is one of General Rommel's classics. He flies to the front in his Fieseler Storch observation plane and takes personal of the Ariete Division troops approaching Mechili. It is this kind initiative that the British, relying on Ultra decrypts and spy reports to allocate their forces, cannot foresee. It is one of the few times of the war when the British are operating blind, on an even footing with the Germans who of course don't have anything like Ultra reports - which helps to explain the otherwise inexplicably chaotic British retreat. It also is a high point for German arms, with their troops in Libya sending the British packing and final preparations for Operation Marita on the other side of the Mediterranean.

In Malta, major shortages are developing in several basic areas. Water supplies to the troop are shut off for 18 hours a day to conserve water. In addition, civilians have taken to hoarding kerosene, so rationing is instituted. Each purchase is limited to half a gallon, and the police are instructed to watch supplies carefully.

In Seattle, Washington, Czech skating star Věra Helena Hrubá flashes her visa to enter the United States. 5 April 1941. She left Czechoslovakia on the "last plane out" during the German occupation. Hruba intends to pursue US citizenship. Hruba is famous for telling Hitler after the 1936 Olympic Games that she would rather skate on the Swastika rather than for it. Her brother Rudy is a Hollywood film producer, and she has aspirations to become an actress. Under the stage name Vera Ralston, she will attain success as a "poor man's" Sonja Henie.

Battle of the Pacific: Australian trading schooner Gerard is commissioned as an auxiliary patrol vessel.

Soviet/Yugoslavian Relations: The two countries announce a treaty of friendship and nonaggression in Moscow. There are no economic responsibilities nor military guarantees, as there are with the Tripartite Pact - it is more a symbolic statement. The most important aspect is that, with this agreement, the Soviet Union gives public de jure recognition of the new Yugoslav government, something that actually had been given on 3 April in private between Andrey Y. Vyshinsky, the Soviet Vice-Deputy of Foreign Affairs, and Milan Gavrilovic, the Yugoslav Ambassador to the USSR and a Cabinet member in the Simovic government.

In hindsight, some view this agreement as more of a slap at Germany by the Soviets than signifying anything of consequence regarding Yugoslavia. However... this seems to be more a case of reading meanings into actions based on later events that may not really have been there originally. The Soviets simply don't want to be involved in a Balkan war at this time which might embroil them in a larger war with Germany.

Yugoslav Ambassador to the Soviet Union Milan Gavrilovic, left, in Moscow with British Ambassador to the USSR Stafford Cripps, right, at the time of the Friendship Pact with the Soviet Union.

Italian/Yugoslav Relations: Italy closes its land border with Yugoslavia at Fiume. Not only that, the Italians mine the bridge. The Yugoslavs at the Fiume consulate decide not to get trapped on the wrong side of the bridge and return to Yugoslavia.

Spy Stuff: Reports continue to flow into Moscow about a German invasion of the Soviet Union. A spy ring centered in Prague (the mysterious "Lucy" ring) reports around this date that the invasion will begin on 15 May - which in fact was Hitler's original intention as set forth in his 18 December 1940 Fuhrer Directive, but the situation has changed and Operation Marita must come first. Presumably, the spy - whoever it was - got a peek at that document and felt it was worth reporting.

Somewhat paradoxically, one of the problems with the Soviet military intelligence about Operation Barbarossa is that there simply is too much - everyone is claiming that an invasion is coming like a chorus singing out of tune. Not only do the different sources give different dates and other particulars, but sometimes the same sources change their basic particulars such as the date. The Germans themselves do not know when the invasion will occur - and there remains an exceedingly slim possibility that it may not occur at all. Hitler, meanwhile, is sending Stalin reassuring messages to not believe all these false rumors. Stalin views the entire issue as one of "English provocation," as he writes on one of the reports.

The Soviets do, however, have one unquestionably reliable source that is beginning to raise some concern - but not in Moscow. Trade between the two countries is proceeding according to agreements reached in 1939 and 1940 which provide, in general terms, for shipment to Germany of raw materials such as grain and shipment to the USSR of German finished goods. The German embassy in Moscow notes without elaboration that the Soviet exports to Germany increased during March 1941, while shipments in the other direction fell precipitously. Hitler, of course, would rather not ship equipment to the Soviets that they can later use against them. The Soviets, however, do not seem to read much meaning into this trend, and in fact, adhere to their trade obligations with extreme diligence so that the Germans cannot claim a breach of the agreements.

Bette Davis cuts her 100 lb 33rd birthday cake in Littleton, New Hampshire. Davis and the rest of the cast are there for the world premiere of her Warner Bros. film, "The Great Lie." 5 April 1941.

German Military: At Rechlin airbase north of Berlin, Ernst Heinkel demonstrates his prototype Heinkel He 280 V1 jet fighter to skeptical Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) big shots such as the head of development Ernst Udet. While the viewers are impressed by the fact that the jet burns kerosene, which is much easier to obtain than high-octane airplane fuel, overall the presentation falls flat. Udet does not approve of the project. Heinkel has been developing the plane, designed by his chief designer Robert Lusser, on his own dime because he feels very deeply that it is a major step past current piston-engine fighters. While Heinkel badly wants the RLM to approve the project and fund it, he is prepared to continue developing it on his own - for patriotic reasons as much as financial ones.

As with all the early Luftwaffe jets, the main factor delaying the prototype's refinement is the engine. The HeS 8 engine is coming along slowly, and another engine, the HeS 30, is also proceeding along at about the same pace and may even be a better choice. What Heinkel does not know is that the RLM has other jet projects that it feels have more potential than the He 280. They don't feel the need to pursue two of these iffy projects at this stage - especially with the war going so well.

Soviet Military: Some sources claim that the Soviets make the maiden flight of the MiG-3, designed by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich, today. However, the I-200, as it is designated at this stage, flew on 5 April 1940. In fact, over 20 MiG-3 fighters already have been delivered to the Red Air Force by this time.

Polish Military: Major General Franciszek Kleeberg, one of the few heroes of the Polish campaign for the Poles for his solid performance between the Bug and Vistula rivers in early October, perishes in a hospital near Dresden. Kleeburg has been imprisoned in Oflag IV-B Koenigstein, where he experienced severe health problems and became an invalid. He is buried in Dresden. After the war, his remains are brought back to Poland and reburied amongst those of his fallen comrades in Operation Group Polesie on the site of his last battle.

US Military: Congress appropriates $14.5 million in the "Fifth Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Act, 1941." Among other things, it allocates $14.575 million to establish a Marine Corps training ground on the east coast.

The New Yorker - Saturday, April 5, 1941 - Issue # 842 - Vol. 17 - N° 8 - Cover by Roger Duvoisin.

Yugoslavian Government: The government only now is beginning to return to some semblance of normalcy following the abrupt 27 March 1941 coup against the government of regent Prince Paul. The cabinet of new Prime Minister General Dušan Simović meets for the first time. Like the country as a whole, the new cabinet is deeply divided about whether to resist German demands for cooperation or work with the Axis. In fact, the cabinet is about equally divided in three parts between those who want to collaborate, those who prefer to resist, and those who don't know what to do.

Japanese Homefront: Rubber stocks are running low in Japan due to the trade sanctions imposed by President Roosevelt. The Japanese take diplomatic steps to secure all rubber exports from Thailand, Indochina and the Dutch East Indies.

British Homefront: Sir Nigel Gresley passes away at age 64. He is the designer of the Mallard Pacific locomotive, which set speed records, and the Flying Scotsman Express.

American Homefront: Warner Bros. drama "The Great Lie" premieres in Littleton, New Hampshire. This is a week before its wide release and is done at star Bette Davis' request to benefit a local hospital there. The story involves a typical 1940s "difficult marital situation," wherein a married man has a baby with another woman, and then abruptly perishes - leaving everyone to figure how to, um, split the baby. While the film is quickly forgotten after the war, during the war years "The Great Lie" is quite popular. It leads to a radio adaptation featuring stars Davis and Mary Astor, and Astor wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Future History: Michael Moriarty is born in Detroit, Michigan. Michael studies acting in London in the mid-1960s, then gains fame as a baseball player in "Bang The Drum Slowly" (1973), a film about a dying player on the New York Yankees. The role was somewhat appropriate because Moriarty's grandfather was a long-time Major League Baseball player, coach, and umpire. Moriarty goes on to star in "Law & Order" on television from 1990-1994. He has appeared in many successful films such as "The Last Detail" and has espoused various political causes. He currently lives in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada and continues to perform music, write and act.

An ordinary traffic incident between two Chevy sedans at 23rd and Harrison in San Francisco, 5 April 1941 (San Francisco Public Library, via Flickr).

April 1941

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

2020

Saturday 15 March 1941

A dead child in Clydebank. This picture of the aftermath of the Clydebank Blitz was censored during the war. On or about 15 March 1941.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The first phase of the Italian Primavera Offensive ends today, 15 March 1941. At Mussolini's insistence, ground attacks continue, but the main effort now is Italian artillery barrages. The offensive is a failure, but at least it is not a catastrophe like the opening offensive of the war in October, when the Italians not only failed to advance but were forced to retreat ("We are advancing to the rear!"). The Italian lines hold while the Generals bring up reinforcements and plan new attacks. Responding to recent strong Regia Aeronautica activity, the RAF attacks Italian airfields at Berat and Valona.

Mussolini knows by this point that he cannot lose this war because the Wehrmacht is just over the horizon and the weather is improving. However, if he is to regain any semblance of equality with Hitler, Mussolini must pull off some kind of military achievement in the few weeks that remain before the German tide washes over the battlefield. Thus, he has every incentive to throw his men into further pointless battles that wash the mountain crags and gullies with their blood, in the vague hope that suddenly his troops will find some weakness in the Greek lines and turn a disaster into an honorable campaign.

East African Campaign: Lieutenant-General William Platt finally has his forces arranged to attack the Italian strong point of Keren again. At 07:00, the 4th Indian Infantry Division begins attacking from Cameron Ridge, on the left side of Dongolaas Gorge. Their objectives are Sanchil, Brig's Peak, Hog's Back and the three peaks of Mount Sammana - essentially, the heights overlooking the gorge. The main problem for the Indian troops is that there is no cover - they are exposed to Italian fire from above, and often from all sides. Both sides take heavy casualties in this attack. The RAF sends Blenheim and Wellesley bombers over the battlefield, but bombs do little against the rocks and gravel.

On the right side of the Dongolaas Gorge, the 5th Indian Infantry and 2nd Highland Light Infantry also attack. As on the left, the problem for the British is the fact that the Italians have the high ground and can shoot down on soldiers advancing over bare rock. The British forces make little progress on this site, either. However, after dark, the 9th Brigade makes progress and attacks the Pimple and Pinnacle features. After a vicious battle, the Indian troops take the Pinnacle. However, the Italian forces at Fort Dologorodoc remain intact and plan a counterattack in the morning.

While Platt attacks the strong Italian defenses at Keren, he also wants to flank the strong point and cut its lines of communications. The Indian troops of 4/16 Punjab probe the Italian defenses on Engiahat and find them to be very strong. The British bring up artillery for an assault on Engiahat, while a Foreign Legion battalion moves up to occupy Mount Gegghiro and free troops for the assault on Engiahat.

The Glasgow Herald reported on the recent heavy Luftwaffe raids on Glasgow and Clydebank, 15 March 1941.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command puts 21 bombers over Dusseldorf. Another 37 aircraft attack the U-boat pens at Lorient.

The Luftwaffe attacks London with 101 bombers, losing two Heinkel He 111s.

Glasgow and Clydebank begin recovering from the Clydebank Blitz of 13-15 March. The authorities later calculate that 528 people have been killed and 617 seriously injured in Clydebank, and 1200 killed and 1100 seriously injured in all of Clydeside. Glasgow is calculated as having about 650 people killed. The massive number of people made homeless in Clydebank are dispersed to surrounding localities.

"Distribution of people made homeless by the raids who were evacuated from Clydebank, 17 March 1941." National Records of Scotland, ED31/528.

Battle of the Atlantic: Operating in the Atlantic shipping lanes near the Cape Verde Islands, German heavy cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst only have a few days left to find targets. Scheduled to head to Brest on the 18th, they have little time to find more victims. Normally, a few days at sea in the vast Atlantic would pass without incident, and the ships would make a quick run to the coast. However, Admiral Lütjens gets lucky. With his two tankers trailing him, Lütjens spots a dispersed convoy and decides to go to work.

The bait is tankers and other merchant shipping without an escort. They have been dispersed from Convoy OB 294. Gneisenau captures three and sinks a fourth, while Scharnhorst sinks some ships, too:

• 5688-ton Norwegian tanker Bianca (captured, all survive)
• 8046-ton British tanker San Casmiro (captured, two crew are taken POW on Gneisenau)
• 6405-ton Norwegian tanker Polykarp (captured)
• 4388-ton British freighter Royal Crown (sunk, all survive)
• 4564-ton British freighter Myson (sunk, all survive)
• 4507-ton British freighter Rio Dorado (sunk, all perish)
• 7139-ton British tanker British Strength (sunk, two dead, rest POWs)
• 6554-ton British tanker Athelfoam (two dead, rest POWs)
• 6197-ton British tanker Simnia (sunk, three dead, rest POWs).

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 Become Law
March 12, 1941: A New Magna Carta
March 13, 1941: Clydeside Wrecked
March 14, 1941: Leeds Blitz
March 15, 1941: Cruisers Strike!
March 16, 1941: Kretschmer Attacks
March 17, 1941: Happy Time Ends
March 18, 1941: Woolton Pie
March 19, 1941: London Hit Hard
March 20, 1941: Romeo and Juliet
March 21, 1941: Plymouth Blitz
March 22, 1941: Grand Coulee Dam
March 23, 1941: Malta Under Siege
March 24, 1941: Afrika Korps Strikes!
March 25, 1941: Yugoslavia Joins The Party
March 26, 1941: Barchini Esplosivi
March 27, 1941: Belgrade Coup
March 28, 1941: Cape Matapan Battle
March 29, 1941: Lindbergh Rants
March 30, 1941: Commissar Order
March 31, 1941: Cookie Bombs

2020