Thursday 10 April 1941

USS Niblack (DD-424), which launches depth charges today, 10 April 1941.

Operation Marita/Operation 25: The Germans of the XL Panzer Corps continue to roll in Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941. By the morning, the Germans have regrouped and now are ready to advance south toward Kozani. Capturing Kozani would put the Wehrmacht troops in position to drive to the coast at Larissa or nearby, cutting off the British forces holding on the Aliakmon Line near Thessaloniki. However, there is a lot of rough terrains to cover, things are a little different now than in the drive west against light opposition.

The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), under the command of Hitler's former chauffeur Josef "Sepp" Dietrich, captures Vevi in southern Macedonia and immediately turns to clear the enemy from the Kleisoura Pass southwest of Vevi. pass This leads to the town of Klidi in the south (it also is known as the Klidi Pass or Kirli Derven). The plan is to take Klidi and then drive downhill to Kastoria in northwest Greece.

SS-Sturmbannführer Kurt "Panzer" Meyer leads LSSAH's reinforced Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion) south into the pass, which is defended by scratch forces mixed Australian/New Zealand/Greek formation known as the "Mackay Force" under the Australian General Iven Mackay. Meyer's forces, backed by the 73rd Infantry Division, attack Glava Hill and Delinski Dol, but the Mackay Force is under orders from General Henry Maitland Wilson to "stop a blitzkrieg down the Florina Valley." Today, it does that, stopping the Germans cold.

In the north of Yugoslavia, the 14th Panzer Division of General von Kleist's 2nd Army takes Zagreb. Colonel Slavko Kvaternik of the Ustasa within the city declares an Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska - NDH). Croatian fascist strongman Ante Pavelic returns from his exile in Italy to join in the proclamation, illustrating its Fascist orientation. This declaration of independence triggers an unexpected result, causing Hungary to decide that the Tripartite Pace to which both it and Yugoslavia are signatories no longer bars it from invading the now-dismembered country. Hungary prepares to send its tanks across the border tomorrow, the 11th.

Adolf Hitler and Ante Pavelic' at the Berghof.

Meanwhile, local Communist Party Secretary-General Josep Broz "Tito" (Tito is one of his assumed names taken when the Communist Party in Yugoslavia is outlawed) forms a Military Committee.

To the southeast in Greece, the battle of the Metaxas Line is over. The Greek commander of the Eastern Macedonian Army Section, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Bakopoulos, has ordered the forces holding out behind German lines to surrender. As of yet, the Germans at Thessaloniki and the British on the other side of the Aliakmon River have not engaged in any battles aside from a minor encounter between a German patrol and defending New Zealanders. Both sides took minor casualties, relatively speaking, during the battle, the Germans about 500 men killed.

The German government grows sensitive about the image it is projecting by bombing Belgrade in Operation Punishment. It ends the bombings, and the Ministry of Propaganda warns the media to "omit" sensational comments such as "its streets are covered with corpses of women and children." In fact, Luftflotte IV stops bombing northern Yugoslavia altogether - it hasn't bombed any Croatian areas at all - and turns its attention solely to southern Yugoslavia and Greece.

The Royal Hellenic Navy loses patrol boat A-2 to unknown causes. Axis troops seize Yugoslavian minesweeper Kobac at Sebenico.

Convoy AG 12 departs from Alexandria bound for Phaleron Bay. Previous convoys have gone to nearby Piraeus, which is the ordinary modern port for Athens, but German bombing temporarily has put the port out of commission. Convoy AS 25 (five Greek ships) departs from Piraeus.

British 3791-ton troopship HMS Ulster Prince, part of Convoy AC 3 which departed from Alexandria bound for Tobruk on the 6th, returns to Alexandria and grounds in Great Pass as it enters. It suffers minor damage.

Hungary decides to join the invasion of Yugoslavia today, 10 April 1941, due to the declaration of independence by Croatia - until then, Hungarian leader Admiral Horthy felt bound by the fact that both it and Yugoslavia were signatories to the Tripartite Pact.

European Air Operations: Adolf Hitler is very upset at last night's bombing that gutted the Berlin Opera House. He confronts Luftwaffe boss Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering about antiaircraft defenses, then departs from his Fruhlingssturm headquarters south of Vienna to oversee Operation 25/Operation Marita. While he just as easily could review the operations from Berlin, Hitler likes to give the appearance of being at the front with his troops.

The Luftwaffe attacks Birmingham on the night of 10/11 April, with 206 bombers dropping 246 tons of high explosives and 1183 incendiaries. After dark, it attacks Coventry again. Overall, about 475 people are killed and 700 seriously wounded in the two Coventry raids of two nights earlier and tonight.

East African Campaign: The British now hold the key points in Italian Somaliland, Eritrea, and Abyssinia. However, many Italian strongholds remain in far-flung places. The British 11th African Division advances southwest from Addis Ababa to attack one of them, Jimma. They have to halt at Abaiti on the Omo River, where the Italians have blown the bridges.

At Assab, Eritrea, the Italians watch British troops approach and do what Italians in other ports have done in that situation: they start scuttling their ships:

• 6366-ton freighter India
• 7565-ton tanker Piave
• 9834-ton Sannio
• 57-ton coastal freighter Scillin
• 59-ton coastal freighter Circeo
• 80-ton coastal freighter Dante
• 64-ton coastal freighter Sicilia

The British later salvage India, Piave, and Sannio.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-52 (Kptlt. Helmut Möhlmann) torpedoes 6563-ton Dutch freighter Saleier east of Greenland. The ship goes down extremely quickly, in a  matter of seconds, but all 63 men on board survive pickup by the destroyer USS Niblack - unusual for a ship sinking so fast and during the colder months so far north. Saleier had been dispersed from Convoy OB 306. The Niblack, which is on its way to Iceland and nearby strictly by chance - then unsuccessfully attacks an (apparently false) submarine contact by dropping three depth charges. This apparently is the first US naval combat involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic - though nobody on the German side is aware of it and nothing comes of it, and thus it passes virtually unnoticed by anyone. But it most definitely is the first US combat incident of World War II, and shows just how close the US is coming to open conflict.

The Luftwaffe attacks shipping in the Tyne. A bomb strikes Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Naiad, already under repair, and damages it slightly some more.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 4887-ton British freighter Thirlby about 140 miles northwest of the Butt of Lewis. It is brought in to Loch Ewe in tow.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 943-ton British freighter Busiris off Runnel Stone in Mount's Bay, Cornwall.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 397-ton Dutch freighter Virgo five miles northwest of Bar Light Vessel. It is towed to Liverpool.

The Admiralty, happy that the RAF damaged German heavy cruiser Gneisenau in Brest over the night with four bomb hits, transfers six of its submarines to the Mediterranean.

British Convoy DS 1 departs from Scapa Flow, the first of the DS convoys. It is composed of two troopships and two escorts, bound for Reykjavik. Return convoys are SD convoys.

Convoys T-10 and HX 120 depart from Halifax. Convoy TC-10 is a two-transport Canadian troop convoy that is escorted the entire way by battleship HMS Rodney and other ships as well.

U-401 (Kapitänleutnant Gero Zimmermann) and U-565 (Oberleutnant zur See Johann Jebsen) are commissioned.

Australian soldiers defend Tobruk, 10 April 1941. Just three months earlier, they captured the fortress, today they are defending it themselves. It is one of numerous such reversals during World War II.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel records his thoughts today:

I am convinced the enemy is retreating, we have to push after him with all forces. Target to be made clear to every man is the Suez canal. To prevent a breakout of the enemy from Tobruk, an encirclement has to be pursued by all means.

Forward Detachment Prittwitz (led by Major General von Prittwitz) advances south on the Via Balbia, which runs east of Tobruk and is the main road in the region. At noon, the detachment encounters British troops. Everything is extremely fluid with no clear battle lines, and, just as with British Generals Neame and O'Connor recently, the Germans lose one of theirs due to the confusion. Prittwitz perishes when he is fired upon by them - his driver had driven past the lead elements of his detachment without noticing. Lieutenant Colonel Graf Schwerin takes over the detachment.

Rommel orders the Italian Brescia Division forward from Mechili to take over for Schwerin's force. He also orders the Ariete Division forward toward El Adem. Due to all these troop movements, today is often cited as the start of the siege of Tobruk. The port city is defended by the 9th Australian Division, with overall command under General Morshead. The British strengthen their defenses at Halfaya Pass to the south by bringing up the 22nd Guards Brigade.

Moving his headquarters forward to Gazala airfield, Rommel's biggest problem is one of supply. Some detachments have run out of food and water.

The Royal Navy sends off four destroyers from Suda Bay to be based in Malta. The purpose is to interdict Axis supply convoys operating between Naples and Tripoli. Rommel's advances on land, the British believe, can be stopped - at sea.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Abingdon is damaged by mines at Malta. Repairs will take until June. It is the second ship damaged or sunk by mines there recently.

Royal Navy gunboats HMS Aphis and Gnat bombard German positions at Gazala and Bomba.

An Italian convoy of four ships (Bosforo, Ogaden, Persiano, and Superga) departs from Palermo, Sicily for the final leg of its trip from Naples to Tripoli. Another convoy arrives at Tripoli.

The War Office transfers Special Service troops from Malta back to Alexandria. They have been among the troops guarding Gozo Island pursuant to Operation Picnic.

The war is creeping closer. Notice that the news of the capture of British Generals O'Connor and Neame now is being made public. The El Paso (Texas) Herald-Post, 10 April 1941.

Anglo/Irish Relations: Visiting Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies is an advocate of less rigid English relations with Ireland. He has prepared a memo on the matter, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill finds it "very readable." Menzies continues in his diary:

Winston and Kingsley Wood exhibit the blank wall of conservatism. There is triangular prejudice on this matter. Winston is not a receptive or reasoning animal. But they will come to it! [Emphasis in original].

In this instance, Menzies' liberal instincts clash with Churchill's conservative ones. Throughout his diary, Menzies is alternately attracted and repelled by Churchill's very strong personality, and this is an instance of the latter. The bottom line is that Churchill has very definite ideas about how to handle the Irish question, and those ideas do not include being "soft" or "lenient."

Anglo/US Relations: President Roosevelt authorizes the transfer of ten Coast Guard cutters to the Royal Navy. The British will work up the cutters in Long Island Sound through the end of May.

Anglo/Turkish Relations: President Inonu once again declines to join the Allies.

US/Polish Relations: Having met with President Roosevelt, General Sikorski concludes his brief visit to the United States and returns to England.

An IJN B5N in early 1941. The "VI-324" on the tail would change to AII-324 due to today's changes (Famous Airplanes of the World - B5N "Kate", number 32, page 44, January 1992, by Bunrin Do Company via Japanese Aviation.).

Japanese Military: The Imperial Japanese Navy forms the First Air Fleet, composed of all seven of its aircraft carriers. Altogether, they can launch 474 aircraft. The carriers are arranged as follows:

• Kaga - Carrier Division 1
• Akagi - Carrier Division 1, also flagship of the First Air Fleet
• Soryu - Carrier Division 2
• Hiryu - Carrier Division 2
• Hosho - Carrier Division 3
• Ryuo - Carrier Division 4
• Shoho - Carrier Division 4 (when it joins the fleet)
• Shokaku - Carrier Division 5
• Zuikaku - Carrier Division 5

Admiral Chuichi Nagumo is the First Air Fleet's first commander. Of interest to modelers is that the IJN changes all carrier aircraft tail codes are changed to reflect this

US Military: Admiral John Newton brings his fleet back into Pearl Harbor, concluding its "goodwill" missions to Australia and Fiji.

Japanese Government: War hawks Musatsume Ogura, Admiral Teijiro Toyoda, and Lieutenant General Teiichi Suzuki join the cabinet. Admiral Osami Nagano becomes the new chief of the Naval Staff, replacing Prince Hiroyasu Fushimi, who has resigned (but technically remains in the cabinet). Seiichi Ito becomes the new chief of staff of the Imperial Combined Fleet.

Iraq: The British at Habbaniyah Airfield outside Baghdad are getting increasingly nervous about the new government of Rashid Ali. While there haven't been any attacks on the base yet, the Ali government is distinctly anti-British and pro-German. The British War Cabinet authorizes troop transfers from General Claude Auchinleck's command in India to Iraq.

In Berlin, meanwhile, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering has his eye on Iraq as well. The country fits into the, shall we say, larger war aims of the Third Reich. However, it is far away over air space largely controlled by the British, so even getting airplanes to it is a chore. Goering believes that supporting the Ali government with his Luftwaffe would increase his own prestige within the hierarchy - which of course he is almost at the top of already, but there is a lot of infighting that he worries about nonetheless - so he is thinking of sending some units there. The main problem is that there is no ground support for Luftwaffe planes in Iraq because it is all controlled by the British, so capturing the RAF facilities is somewhat of a prerequisite to Luftwaffe operations. However, the facilities likely can't be captured without the Luftwaffe's assistance.

American Homefront: The Anthony and William Esposito trial begins in New York City. They are accused of the 14 January 1941 killing of a police officer and a holdup victim. The case receives a lot of media attention because the incident happened near the Empire State Building and a visiting photographer was on the scene to snap some pictures right after it happened. The Esposito brothers enter an insanity plea and exhibit odd "insane" conduct in the courtroom.

Hooverville, in Seattle's Pioneer Square, burns down today. A Depression-era shantytown begun about 1931, its burning causes the Seattle Port Commission to condemn all shacks and other rudimentary habitations in the area.

Toronto Birch Cliff Public Schools teachers and students pose with an ambulance they have purchased for the Canadian Armed Forces. The school raised the money for the ambulance and an extra $200, both of which were presented today to the Department of National Defense, 10 April 1941.

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

Thursday 20 February 1941

The cockpit of a Beaufighter Mk IF of RAF No. 252 Squadron, based at RAF Chivenor, Devon. © IWM (CH 17305).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The situation remains stable in Greece on 20 February 1941, with neither side making much progress. However, the British military mission in Athens chooses to see the glass as half full. It sends a telegram to the War Office in Whitehall that is full of optimism:

All Italian counter-attacks have been repulsed. Today concentric Greek attacks are to take place southwards and westwards with a view to clearing up Southern portion of Shennell ridge north-east of Tepelene. If these succeed Tepelene should fall and second-phase operation will include operations towards Berat and also between Tepelene and the sea.

The report does note that the 5th Cretan Division has incurred "about 3000 casualties... many with frostbite." In fact, the division has suffered horribly, over 5000 casualties, both from the weather and fierce Italian resistance near Tepelene. When one reads reports such as this, a natural conclusion is that the military observers know that Prime Minister Churchill is bent on sending troops to Greece, so they are painting a rosy picture to support or buttress that decision that may not exactly comport with the actual fighting. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we'll see the same tendency within the Wehrmacht in 1945. It is the same as regurgitating to a teacher answers that you know may not quite be accurate - but you want to secure that "A" by hook or by crook.

The Germans make an offer to mediate in the Greco-Italian war. Greece immediately rejects it.

East African Campaign: The South African assault across the Juba River near Jumbo continues today. At 06:30, the Natal Carbineers head across the pontoon bridge under fire. Some troops head north to cut the road north of Jumbo that the Italians could use to escape, while the Transvaal Scottish heads directly toward the town.

The Italians, as so often during the campaign, are abandoning their positions. By 10:30, the remaining troops in Jumbo - not many - surrender. Lieutenant-Colonel G.T. Senescall accepts the capitulation, and the British take 30 officers, 100 other Italian troops and an unknown number of native troops. The South Africans then quickly head for Yonte, making 14 miles in armored cars before coming under fire. They plan an attack on the Italians in the morning.

A separate advance across the Juba River also takes place. The 11th African Division and 22nd East African Brigade, supported by armored cars and South African light tanks, force a crossing at 04:00 near Bardera. This puts them within striking distance of Mogadishu.

The Italians in Massawa, Eritrea see the writing on the wall regarding the advancing British, just as other ships did at Kismayu earlier in the month. Four ships attempt to break out into the Indian Ocean. Italian armed merchant cruisers Ramb I and Ramb II set a course for the Pacific and elude all British patrols, while Italian sloop Eritrea and German supply ship Coburg also make good their escape.

An official drawing of Flight Sergeant R.W. Gellard by military artist Eric Henri Kennington. Gellard is awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) on 20 February 1941 (© IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1319))

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe's Three Nights Blitz continues in Swansea. The attacks are focusing on the heart of the city - there is no subtlety to these attacks. Most of the damage is done by high explosives, as the British are getting better at putting out incendiaries. During the day, there are the usual random bombs dropped in East Anglia.

RAF Bomber Command attacks the docks at Ymuiden, Holland during the day and does a Rhubarb Mission over France after dark.

The Bristol Beaufighter holds high promise, and the Air Ministry has dispersed its production to several different companies. The first Beaufighter Mk I built by Fairey flew on 7 February 1941, and today the first Weston-built Beaufighter Mk IF (F meaning it is destined for Fighter Command) flies at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. These Beaufighters all use the Hercules engine, but shortages of this engine are anticipated, so Merlin engines will be adopted in future versions.

JG 51 Kommodore Mölders, after a long interval, gets two more victories, giving him 58 total to lead the war. This keeps him ahead of Adolf Galland.

Hans-Joachim Marseille of JG 27 returns to his unit at Berck-sur-Mer from leave. The unit soon will be heading to the East to support Operation Marita.

Luftwaffe ace Heinz Pohland of Stab LG 2 perishes in a flying accident.

Günther Prien departs from Lorient on his tenth (and last) patrol in U-47, 20 February 1941. Many people see in this picture a much older-looking man than the almost boyish figure who sank HMS Royal Oak in 1939. The strains of war and all that. These are among the last pictures of what some consider the greatest U-boat commander of all time (U47.org).

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe is very active against shipping today. It causes havoc in the Northwest Approaches and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Admiralty is worried about German surface raiders and is implementing - or re-implementing - a policy of including submarines as escorts. Today, the first convoy, HG 54, includes a submarine escort, HMS Tuna.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 1278-ton British freighter Rigmor south of Falmouth. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages minesweeper HMS Bramble off Harwich. The damage is light and the ship is back in service by the end of the month.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 162-ton British trawler Scarborough In the Atlantic west of Limerick. The bomb knocks out its engines, but it is towed into port.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 7138-ton British tanker British Splendor just off Lizard. The British Splendor makes it back to port.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 4312-ton British freighter St. Rosario in the Atlantic northwest of Ireland. The ship turns back to port.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 1997-ton British freighter Rosenborg in the same area as the St. Rosario. The St. Rosario also turns back and barely makes it to the Clyde.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 12,223-ton British tanker D.L. Harper in the Atlantic northwest of Ireland. The empty tanker continues on to Halifax.

British 5261-ton iron ore freighter Fort Médine hits a mine and sinks in the Bristol Channel near Swansea (off Mumbles Head). There are one death and 46 survivors.

Royal Navy 244-ton minesweeping trawler Marjory M. Hastie hits a mine off the Tyne. The captain quickly beaches the ship at Whitburn. It later is refloated and repaired.

Three destroyers, escorted by four other destroyers, lay minefield GS in the English Channel.

Convoy OB 289 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HG 54 departs from Gibraltar,

U-558 (Oberleutnant zur See Günther Krech) is commissioned, U-128, U-565, and U-566 are launched.

Prien saluting his men as they prepare to depart, 20 February 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: There is a minor skirmish between advance units of General Rommel's Afrika Korps and British troops of XIII Corps in the vicinity of El Agheila.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Regent (Lt. Commander Brown) attacks a convoy of transports bringing the Afrika Korps to Tripoli. It torpedoes 5609-ton transport Menes. Menes is disabled and taken in tow, making it to Tripoli later in the day. Italian escort destroyer Saetta attacks Regent and damages it, forcing it to return to Malta.

Operation MC 8, a typically convoluted supply operation to Malta, continues. Several ships depart from Malta for Alexandria. The Luftwaffe quickly attacks them but fails to make any significant hits.

Royal Navy 462-ton trawler HMS Ouse hits a mine and sinks at Tobruk. There are 12 deaths and nine survivors, including the commander, Sub Lt. W.V. Fitzmaurice.

Convoy AS 15 departs from Piraeus bound for Alexandria and Port Said, Convoy BS 16 departs from Suez.

The Free French under Colonel Leclerc continues to invest the El Tag fortress at Kufra. The French are pounding the well-garrisoned Italian base with a 75mm field gun and several mortars. So far, the Italian troops have held firm, but their commander is very unsure of himself and looking for a way out.

Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) Sir John Dill, who is in Cairo with Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, pays a surprise (and surreptitious) visit to Malta with Eden. The two discuss the situation with Governor Dobbie, tour the island's defenses, then return to Cairo on a Sunderland flying boat.

CIGS Field Marshal Sir John Dill in Cairo, 18 February 1941 (© IWM (E 2384E)).

Battle of the Indian Ocean: The Admiralty is right to be concerned about the German warships, a point proven by heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer. While it has been fairly quiet, Admiral Scheer has been on an extended cruise in the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, defying Admiralty attempts to locate it. Today, operating west of Seychelles, it uses its Arado 196 floatplanes to locate and capture two ships: 6994-ton British tanker British Advocate and 2546 ton Greek freighter Grigorios C II. Admiral Scheer keeps the tanker, but sinks the freighter and takes its 27 men prisoner. A third freighter, 7178 freighter Canadian Cruiser, is also in the vicinity and spots Admiral Scheer, sending a distress call to the Admiralty.

Convoy BA 1 departs from Bombay, bound for Aden.

Anglo/US Relations: Prime Minister Winston Churchill telegrams President Roosevelt with information about Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka. Churchill has been a font of information recently about Japanese plans without disclosing the source of his knowledge: decrypts of coded Japanese transmissions:

I have better news about Japan. Apparently Matsuoka is visiting Berlin, Rome and Moscow in the near future. This may well be a diplomatic sop to cover absence of action against Great Britain. If Japanese attack which seemed imminent is now postponed, this is largely due to fears of United States. The more these fears can be played upon the better....

Churchill is painting quite a melodramatic picture. There is no indication that the Japanese are planning an attack in early 1941 aside from idle speculation. He is achieving his purpose, though, of keeping Roosevelt focused on potential war danger to the United States and thereby putting England and the US "in the same boat" - if only in Churchill's (and Roosevelt's) mind. The lingering danger for the United States, of course, is quite real - but not quite yet.

At the War Cabinet meeting, Churchill reveals that he had received a personal telegram from Ambassador to the US Lord Halifax. The ambassador recommended that Great Britain simply hand over its remaining assets to the United States and trust that the Lend-Lease Bill would pass and the US would underwrite the British war effort. The only issue left - as noted by Chancellor of the Exchequer Kingsley Wood - is to provide an orderly liquidation of whatever money the country has left.

As a stunt to show its capabilities, the Army drives a Willys Quad prototype jeep up the U.S. Capitol steps. In the jeep are US Senators Meade and Thomas (one apparently driving). Driving jeeps up and down steps became a bit of a fad during the war - King Michael of Romania also was photographed doing something similar. Washington Daily News, 20 February 1941.

US/Japanese Relations: Financial attaché of the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. Nishiyama Tsutomo makes a concrete proposal to the Roosevelt administration to avoid conflict. In effect, he asks that the US allow Japan to take over the Dutch East Indies - with all of its oil - so that the two countries can have a "commercial understanding." Roosevelt, of course, is using oil as an economic weapon against Japan and refuses. Roosevelt asks Secretary of State Cordell Hull to warn the Japanese discretely that if they so much as look at the Dutch East Indies, there will be war. In fact, any Japanese move south of China - which includes Taiwan and Indochina - would be a big no-no. Basically, Roosevelt draws a line in the South China Sea and warns the Japanese not to cross it.

Australian Government: Prime Minister Robert Menzies finally arrives in England, completing the last part of the journey from Lisbon in one hop. This is the most hazardous part of the journey, as the Luftwaffe often strays out into the Atlantic from its French bases. Menzies notes that there is a lot of snow in the fields and "unaccustomed cold." Along the route to his accommodations, Menzies writes, "you see troops in ones or twos." As he goes to bed, he hears "the reasonably distant concussion of guns."

Holocaust: Deportation of 30,000 Jewish residents of Plotzk, Poland to ghettos begins today.

A toll booth and office in Brisbane, Australia, 20 February 1941. Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 4054.

February 1941

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

2020