HMS Naiad, sunk in the Mediterranean on 11 March 1942.
Battle of the Pacific: General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), departs from Corregidor on 11 March 1942. His escape has been moved up several days due to threats made over the Japanese propaganda network. MacArthur and his party board one of four PT boats at Corregidor's North Dock at 19:45, while others who are leaving (including Admiral Rockwell) are taken to Bataan where their boats await. MacArthur's boat then leads the three other boats in a diamond formation through rough weather. The four boats are separated in the darkness and sea swells, with MacArthur's boat and two of the others reaching Mindanao on 13 March (and Australia on 17 March). The fourth boat, PT-32, loses engine power and its party is taken back to Corregidor (they later make it to Australia). MacArthur thanks the men involved for saving him from "the jaws of death."
General Jonathan Wainwright now commands in Luzon, though MacArthur has indicated that he intends to continue to control operations through proxies. Wainwright commands roughly 95,000 Allied forces on Bataan and Corregidor. The Japanese commander, General Homma, is under firm orders from Tokyo to resume his offensive and evict the remaining Allied forces from the Philippines.
In Burma, the British north of Rangoon launch a counterattack from Nyaunglebein. The 1st Burma Division with the 1st and 2nd Burma Brigades targets Pyuntaza and Shwegyin. This is all part of a retrograde movement toward the safety of India and the creation of a redoubt in northern Burma. After this attack, most of the units withdraw toward Kanyutkwin. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma and India and newly appointed Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, assumes command of the Chinese 5th and 6th Armies. These armies actually are quite small and amount in total to about the size of one British division.
USS Pollack (SS-180). Among its achievements was being among the first three US submarines on war patrol during World War II, the first to reach Japanese waters, and the first to get a confirmed victim (USS Pollack SSN 603).
USS Pollack (Lt. Cdr. S.P. Moselely, SS-180), operating in the East China Sea about 270 miles east of Shanghai, torpedoes and sinks 1454-ton Japanese freighter Fukushu Maru. It also apparently sinks 5266-ton passenger ship Baikal Maru. A little later, Pollack sinks two sampans with its deck gun. There is some dispute about Baikal, and either it was not sunk at all or was salvaged after the war and converted into a whale factory ship.
Japanese submarine I-2, operating off West Sumatra, torpedoes and sinks 4360-ton British passenger/cargo vessel SS Chilka. There are seven dead and at least three survivors.
US 4932-ton passenger/cargo ship SS Mount McKinley grounds off Unimak Island, Aleutians and is wrecked. Everyone survives.
PB2Y-3 at Noumea Harbor New Caledonia March 11, 1942 (USAF).
Eastern Front: A snowstorm on the central front that began on 10 March increases in intensity throughout the night. Travel becomes difficult. General Walter Model manages to fly through the storm to Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia. He is there to argue in favor of the quick start of Operation Brueckenschlag, a drive toward Oshtakov which would close a gap between Army Groups Center and North (Brueckenschlag literally means "bridge-building"). This is an ambitious operation that, if successful, would trap six or seven Soviet armies and deprive them of a third of their gains during the winter counteroffensive. The weather is so bad, however, that today the Luftwaffe asks for a postponement of offensive operations due to severe icing conditions.
European Air Operations: After several days of full-strength raids, the RAF takes a day off to recuperate.
Fukushu Maru, sunk on 11 March 1942.
Battle of the Atlantic: U-126 (Kptlt. Erwin Rostin), on its first patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks independent 2609-ton US freighter Caribsea about a dozen miles east of Cape Lookout Lighthouse, North Carolina. Rostin had been chasing a tanker but settled on the Caribsea when it suddenly appeared. Because Caribsea sinks quickly, no distress call is sent and the men are forced to use two rafts that float free. Fortunately, they are found by a passing freighter after only ten hours. There are 21 dead and seven survivors.
U-701 (Kptlt. Horst Degen), on its second patrol out of St. Nazaire, torpedoes and sinks 507-ton Royal Navy trawler HMT Stella Capella about 12 miles southeast of Vattarnes Lighthouse, Iceland. The trawler is heading to Stornoway to repair its defective anti-submarine equipment. All 33 men on board perish.
U-94 (Oblt. Otto Ites), on its third patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 1630-ton Norwegian freighter Hvoslef about two miles east of Fenwick Island off Delaware Bay. There are six dead and three injured men who required hospitalization out of 14 survivors.
Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli (Cmdr Carlo Fecia di Cossato) sinks 3628-ton Panamian transport SS Cygnet about four miles east of Dixon's Light, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Cossato uses his deck gun in addition to a torpedo, apparently to economize on torpedoes during a successful patrol far from his base. All 30 men aboard survive.
German E-boat S-70 torpedoes and sinks 951-ton British collier SS Horseferry off Sheringham. There are 10 deaths.
Battle of the Mediterranean: U-565 (Oblt. Johann Jebsen), on its fourth patrol out of La Spezia, torpedoes and sinks 5450-ton British light cruiser HMS Naiad north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt (south of Crete). There are 82 dead and 582 survivors.
Malta comes under the jurisdiction of Commander in Chief Middle East Forces. Naval and RAF garrisons are under command of Commander in Chief Mediterranean and Air Officer Commanding in Chief, respectively. Lieutenant General Sir William Dobbie, Governor of Malta, remains commander in chief, but his days are numbered. The Axis has been pounding the island relentlessly in recent weeks and Winston Churchill is casting about for a replacement for Dobbie. There are some highly placed individuals who believe that Dobbie is a bit too religious and fatalistic.
Italian police at a conference in Berlin (Oranienburg), 11 March 1942 (Federal Archive Bild 121-1080).
US/Canadian Relations: Representatives of both countries meet in Ottawa to discuss the creation of a Northwest Staging Route. This will be the air route between Edmonton, Alberta, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, for the purpose of ferrying aircraft to Alaska.
Anglo/Indian Relations: Following closely on President Roosevelt's cable suggesting political reform in India, Prime Minister Churchill issues a statement in which he agrees to negotiations with Indian leaders, including the Indian Congress Party, and appoints Sir Stafford Cripps as the negotiator. Cripps will leave on 22 March. Churchill's main goal is India's full participation in the war effort. For this, he embraces the "Draft Declaration" which contemplates self-government after the war. Sending Cripps is a calculated move by Churchill, who views him as a political rival and calculates that failure in India will damage Cripps.
Brazil: President Getúlio Vargas issues a decree reiterating his authority to declare war or impose a state of national emergency. Brazilians are worried about U-boat attacks in the Caribbean and are preparing to seize Axis nationals and their property.
American Homefront: In Omaha, Nebraska, 11-year-old Warren Buffett buys his first shares of stock (Buffett sometimes gives a date of 12 March 1942). They are three shares of Cities Service preferred stock. Being underage, he must use his father's brokerage account. The purchase consumes all of the money Buffett has saved since age 6. "I went all in," Buffett reminisced in February 2019. "I had become a capitalist, and it felt good."
"Li'l Abner" comic strip by Al Capp from 11 March 1942.
Japanese troops advancing in Java, March 1942 (Sectie Militaire Geschiedenes Landmachstaf).
Battle of the Pacific: The battle in Burma nears its end on 7 March 1942 when the Japanese send the 17th Indian Infantry Division defending Pegu on the road to Rangoon in full retreat. A counterattack by the 1st Burma Division and 7th Armored Division also fails. The new commander in Burma, General Harold Alexander, realizes that Rangoon is lost and orders the British Indian to move first to Taukkyan and then to Prome, 200 miles to the north. Alexander himself remains with local commands in the vicinity of Rangoon, which now has been completely abandoned with strategic facilities destroyed. This begins a hard-fought retrograde movement by the British Army to India which lasts for several months. Today decides the Burma Campaign.
As at other ports facing capture, the Allies scuttle any ships at Rangoon that can't escape - but most have been able to leave due to the proximity of India and the time taken by the Japanese to cross Burma. This includes 382-ton British freighter SS Nyounghla. In the coming decades, the British Army awards the battle honors Pegu and Pegu 1942 to participants.
The Arizona Daily Star for 7 March 1942 notes that "Allies Facing Exhaustion in Java Battles." Almost as interesting to the paper's readers is that "Filipinos Are Ordered to Give Up All Bolos." Bolos are knives that the locals use as both weapons and tools.
The battle on Java also is coming to an end. Allied troops have moved to the interior of Java near Bandung. Japanese troops under Colonel Toshishige Shoji moving south from Batavia arrive at the plateau of Lembang, which is within 5 miles (8 km) of Bandung. The Allies under Major-General Jacob J. Pesman, the commander of Stafgroep Bandung, prepare to make a last stand in the hills south of the town. Other Japanese forces take the key port of Tjilatjap on the south coast, which would be the Allies' only avenue of escape. The situation is hopeless for the Allies, and they prepare to surrender.
South of Java, Japanese aircraft bomb and sink 3051-ton Norwegian freighter SS Woolgar. The crew manages to launch one lifeboat, and the crew endures an epic 88-day journey to Port Blair, Andaman Islands, where the Japanese make them prisoners. Japanese destroyer Arashio intercepts Dutch minesweepers Jan Van Amstel, which also is trying to escape Java, and sinks it. There are 23 deaths and the rest of the crew become prisoners.
German destroyers Friedrich Ihn, Hermann Schoemann and Z 25 sink Russian freighter Ishora during Operation Sportpalast on 7 March 1942. The photo is taken by V. Gernhard from Z 25. The Tirpitz, while part of the operation, was not present.
A RAAF Hudson patrol plane of No. 32 Squadron sights a convoy of 11 Japanese ships heading for Salamaua/Lae. A Japanese invasion force lands in Northern Sumatra, with Japanese ships entering the South Andaman Sea.
Pleased with the success of the flying boat raid on Hawaii of 4 March 1942, the Japanese plan a second "K Operation" for 7 March. However, the planes and crew are not ready, so the operation is postponed to 10 March. The Americans, meanwhile, have been listening to Japanese propaganda broadcasts boasting of the raid's effects (which in reality were negligible), figure out how it was carried out, and prepare to give another such attack a hot reception.
Eastern Front: The Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front is overstretched, and this is beginning to affect overall operations. Eighteenth Army informs the OKH that it is ready to begin Operation Raubtier ("Beast of prey"), whose aim is to re-establish the former line along the Volkhov River and thereby trap Soviet 2nd Shock Army to the west. The gap in the German lines is only about six miles wide, though the Soviet incursion bulges out to the west. Closing this gap is well within the Wehrmacht's abilities. However, the operation depends upon strong Luftwaffe support, and it is fully engaged in supplying the trapped German garrisons at Kholm and Demyansk. Knowing that the two encircled outposts cannot survive without each day's deliveries, Hitler postpones Operation Raubtier. The Eighteenth Army then tries to build up its forces sufficiently so that it can mount the operation with only minor Luftwaffe support, that but will take several days.
European Air Operations: After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 17 bombers to attack the U-boat pens at St. Nazaire. Another 17 Hampden bombers lay mines off Lorient, another major U-boat base. One Hampden fails to return.
SS Barbara, sunk on 7 March 1942.
Battle of the Atlantic: U-126 (Kptlt. Ernst Bauer), on its third patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 4627-ton US freighter Barbara about 9 miles northwest of West Tortuga Island, Dominican Republic. The ship bursts into flame and the crew must jump into the sea quickly without being able to launch any lifeboats. The surviving crew clings to rafts and debris, with 16 of them, including the master and a stewardess, being picked up by a PBY Catalina flying boat (the pilot is cited for overloading his plane). Another 21 survivors make it to shore after almost three days at sea. In total, there are 26 dead and 59 survivors.
U-126 also sinks 5104-ton US freighter Cardonia in the same area. This time, Bauer uses his deck gun after the Cardonia's crew spots the U-boat sinking the Barbara and evades two torpedoes. After firing 56 rounds, the ship catches fire. After the crew abandons ship, Bauer fires a coup de grâce torpedo which sinks the ship at 12:16. Twenty of the crew make landfall in a lifeboat, while 15 others are rescued by USS Mulberry. The master, Gus Warren Darnell, is awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal for his evasive maneuvers and other conduct during the attack. Overall, there is one dead (in the initial attack) and 37 survivors.
U-155 (Kptlt. Adolf Cornelius Piening), on its first patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 7874-ton Brazilian tanker Arabutan about 81 miles off Cape Hatteras. Arabutan sinks within 13 minutes. Piening claims to have seen no neutrality markings. The crew successfully launches the lifeboats and are rescued quickly by USCGC USS Calypso. There are 54 survivors and one death.
SS Uniwaleco, sunk on 7 March 1942.
U-161 (Kptlt. Albrecht Achilles), on its second patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 9755-ton South African tanker Uniwaleco. The first attack at 17:59 causes the ship to run out of control in circles, so a second torpedo is fired as a coup de grâce. The ship then sinks within three minutes. There are 33 survivors and 18 deaths.
U-701 (Kptlt. Horst Degen), on its second patrol out of St. Nazaire, torpedoes and sinks Danish 272-ton fishing trawler FV Nyggjaberg in the North Atlantic near Iceland. There are no survivors from the 21-man crew.
The Russian steamer Ishora is under fire from the German destroyer Hermann Schoemann in the afternoon of 7 March 1942. The photo is taken from the German destroyer Z 25 by V. Gernhard.
Operation Sportpalast, a German sortie into the Atlantic including battleship Tirpitz, continues today. in the Arctic. German destroyers Friedrich Ihn, Hermann Schoemann and Z 25 sink Russian 2815-ton passenger ship Ijora (or Izhora or Ishora) near the Kola Inlet. Tirpitz is not present during this encounter and does not meet up with the destroyers for another 30 minutes.
Battle of the Mediterranean: The Royal Navy sends Force H from Gibraltar on a resupply convoy to Malta. The main objective is to fly off planes from aircraft carriers HMS Argus and Eagle to the embattled garrison, which has been enduring around-the-clock air raids for many days straight. Eagle flies 15 Spitfires off which make it to the island, becoming the first Spitfires to operate there. This doubles Malta's air cover.
Applied Science: US Navy non-rigid airship K-5 conducts a successful experiment in conjunction with the submarine USS S-20 off the New London, Connecticut coast fo a radio sonobuoy. The experiment shows the utility of using sonobuoys to detect the sounds of a submerged submarine's propellers. The blimp receives the signals at a distance of up to three miles and sometimes up to five miles.
US Military: Major General Alexander M. Patch, arrives on New Caledonia Island. He will assume command of the New Caledonia Task Force.
US Navy Patrol Wing 10 completes a three-month, roundabout withdrawal from the Philippines via Java to Perth, Western Australia. The unit has been devastated by enemy action and having to leave equipment and ground personnel behind. Three out of its four wing squadrons (VP-21, VP-22, and VP-102) are officially stricken from the order of battle. The sole remaining squadron, VP-101, will conduct patrol operations off the Australian west coast, which the Japanese Air Force recently has raided, with its PBY-4 and PBY-5 Catalinas.
Headquarters, 8th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) and the 35th, 36th, and 80th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor) arrive at Brisbane from the United States in their P-39s.
USAAF Fifth Air Force transfers the Headquarters, 22nd Bomber Group (Medium), from Brisbane to Ipswich, Australia.
The Tuskegee flying school for black pilots graduates its first class of students. They join the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The men are Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., and Second-Lieutenants Mac Ross, Charles DeBow, LR Curtis, and George Roberts.
US Government: California Representative Carl Hinshaw warns the House that a major attack on the West Coast is imminent:
Word has come to us the Japanese timetable will bring the second phase of their plans into action about April 15. This includes a major attack on Hawaii, and the commencement of sabotage action on the West Coast, in preparation for events to follow.
If our administrative officials do not get down to quick action to evacuate all Japanese and all other enemy aliens immediately — They may, by inaction, have committed so great a sin that even history may never forgive them.
There is a very real fear of a Japanese invasion all along the coast.
The New Yorker, 7 March 1942.
American Homefront: The New Yorker for 7 March 1942 publishes a brief item (on page 7) which notes that:
We've heard from a naval officer who got promoted recently, which necessitated a reshuffling of his insignia. When his stars were removed, he found, on the back of each, a label reading "Made in Japan."
Well, times sure have changed in a hurry.
The San Francisco News continues its series of "helpful hints" to ethnic Japanese regarding their coming internment. In today's entry, the paper warns against leaving too hastily to their new homes:
General DeWitt again cautioned the aliens and Japanese-Americans against a too hasty disposition of farms, shops, residences, and other property, pointed out that Federal officials are being appointed to assist them in handling and transfer of their property. Until they have an opportunity to turn their properties over to an official custodian, such persons should not dispose of their possessions unless they receive full value in return, the general said.
There is a surreal air to these articles, which treat the evacuations as akin to a going away to summer camp with the government's sole aim to make the journey as painless and safe as possible.
The Saturday Evening Post, 7 March 1942.
Future History: Michael Dammann Eisner is born in Mount Kisco, New York. After graduating from Denison University in 1964, he quickly becomes involved in the entertainment industry. Very early in his career, Barry Diller at ABC hires Eisner as his personal assistant. This sets Micheal Eisner on a path to success, and he joins Paramount Pictures in the 1970s when Diller becomes chairman there. Diller makes his old assistant president and CEO of the film studio, and Eisner repays the favor by greenlighting a string of classic pictures including "Star Trek" and its sequels, "Saturday Night Fever," and "Beverly Hills Cop." In 1984, Diller leaves Paramount and Eisner moves on to the Walt Disney Company, where he becomes CEO and Chairman of the Board. Eisner once again proves to have an uncanny touch at choosing good films and is largely responsible for the "Disney Renaissance" that begins with "The Little Mermaid" in 1989. Eisner leaves Disney in 2005 and goes on to other entertainment pursuits such as his own talk show on CNBC. Michael Eisner remains involved in the entertainment industry and is a legendary corporate figure.
Tamara Faye LaValley is born in International Falls, Minnesota. In 1960, Tamara (known as Tammy Faye) meets Jim Bakker and marries him a year later. Together, they form a popular televangelist organization, the PTL (Praise The Lord) Club, which takes them to heights of fame. In 1987, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker get embroiled in scandal due to Jim Bakker's involvement with assistant Jessica Hahn. Tammy Faye divorces Bakker in 1992 after he is sent to prison for 45 years on 24 fraud and conspiracy counts. her next marriage, to property developer Roe Messner, also involves scandal when he is convicted of bankruptcy fraud. Tammy Faye Messner (her final name) passes away on 20 July 2007 from cancer.
Collier's, 7 March 1942. During World War II, Collier's readership reaches 2.5 million.
Eastern Front: The Germans continue their giant pincer movement at Uman on 16 July 1941. This involves several Wehrmacht armies heading for a meeting behind a huge Soviet troop concentration. Soviet Marshal Budyonny is determined to hold Kyiv and views assembling a mass of men in a relatively confined space as the best way to do that. The Germans also are forming a giant pincer at Smolensk further north. There are so many armies swirling about that another German encirclement here or there is not only not decisive, it is almost perfunctory.
General Halder hopefully notes in his war diary that "the enemy is softening" and "here, it seems he has nothing left in the rear." However, in fact, the Soviets always have plenty left in the rear to replace any troops the Germans take prisoner.
In the Far North sector, the 1st Jaeger Brigade of Finnish VI Corps reaches the northern shores of Lake Ladoga at Koirinoja on the eastern side of the lake. This divides the defending Soviet 7th Army, which also is defending against the Finnish VII Corps advance toward the western side of the lake. The Stavka grows concerned and begins calling in reinforcements from elsewhere along the Finnish Front.The Finns begin redeploying their forces, sending Finnish 1st Division forward to cover the eastern flank of the advance and also sending forward Finnish 17th Division (which had been left guarding the Soviet base at Hanko). German 163rd Infantry Division, the one that had traveled across Sweden by rail at the outbreak of the war, joins the attack as well. By the standards of the Finnish Front, this is a dramatic expansion of strength. The next objective is the railroad junction of Suvilahti.
Farther north, Axis Operation Arctic Fox is stalled at the village of Kayraly just beyond the road junction of Salla. General Hans Feige, commander of German XXXVI Corps, is hesitant about continuing the advance, so General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, in command of Army of Norway, pays him a visit. Falkenhorst convinces Feige to resume the advance, but Feige wins substantial time to regroup and the offensive remains dormant for the time being. The Soviets land an additional battalion of soldiers in the Bay of Litsa, reinforcing the defense of Murmansk.
"Near Mogilev on the Dneipr. A mounted patrol has reached a burning village, the scene of fierce enemy resistance. The German artillery has demolished the enemy, the village is clear, and the infantry now can march through." 16 July 1941 (Kessler, Rudolf, Federal Archives, Bild 101I-137-1032-14A).
In the Army Group North sector, a Soviet counterattack against LVI Army Korps (General Erich von Manstein) makes some progress. The 8th Panzer Division (Major General Erich Brandenburger) takes the brunt of the attacks on the Shelon River. A large part of its difficulties arises from the speed of its advance, as it has outrun its infantry - something that Hitler has been worried about. Manstein sends the 3rd Infantry Division (Lt. General Curt Jahn) to rescue it, and the Soviets decimate it as well. The Luftwaffe supplies the German troops by air as the slower Wehrmacht troops approach from the southwest.
In the Army Group Center sector, the Soviet 16th Army hurls counterattacks against the German 29th Motorized Division and 17th Panzer Division in Smolensk. Bitter house-to-house fighting takes place in the suburbs while the Germans slowly expand their grip on the heart of the city.
In the Army Group South sector, the Battle of Uman continues. General Ewald von Kleist’s 1st Panzer Group continues to split the defending Soviet Southwestern and Southern Fronts, taking Koziatyn. General Eugen Ritter von Schobert’s 11th Field Army, meanwhile, advances north from the Romanian border, and General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel’s 17th Field Army advances to the south of Uman. The movement of all these armies gradually tightens the noose around the trapped Soviet defenders. Soviet Marshal Budyonny is under orders to stay where he is in order to shield Kyiv, and he does. Romanian troops take Kishinev.
The Luftwaffe's nine-victory ace Kurt Sauer of JG 53 becomes a prisoner.
View from the dorsal turret of a Blenheim bomber after bombing the docks of Rotterdam during the raid on 16th July 1941.
European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends a low-level raid at Rotterdam. The attacking 36 Blenheim bombers of RAF Nos. 18, 21, 105 and 139 Sqns scream across the Channel at mast height and score hits on a reported 22 ships (97,000 tons "destroyed," 43,000 tons "severely damaged"), including converted Dutch liner Baloeran, and harbor installations. However, the RAF loses four bombers in the process due to extremely heavy German Flak.
Five Blenheims undertake a sweep off the Dutch coast, while five Hampdens lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 107 planes against Hamburg. The 51 Wellingtons, 32 Hampdens, and 24 Whitleys fly into bad weather, and only 52 planes report actually making it to the target while 52 others bomb secondary targets. The RAF loses 3 Wellingtons and a Hampden. Damage is moderate, with some fires, 1 injury and 154 people made homeless.
Battle of the Baltic: In a rare incident, Soviet battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya and cruiser Kirov, with Red Air Force support, bombard the German-held port of Riga. This is another example of the Germans' occasionally shaky grip on the Baltic being exposed.
German Panzer III at Oinasniemi, Finland, 16 July 1941.
Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 2039-ton British freighter Elizabete off the Tyne. The ship makes it back to port in the Tyne.
Two Royal Navy gunboats, HMMGB 90 and 92, are consumed in a fire in Portland Harbour, Dorset.
US light cruisers USS Philadelphia and Savannah depart with destroyers Gwin and Meredith from Bermuda on a neutrality patrol.
Convoy OB-347 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX-139 departs from Halifax, bound for Liverpool.
Free French Flower-class corvette FFL Lobelia (K 05, formerly HMS Lobelia) is commissioned.
U-701 (Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen) is commissioned, U-408 is launched.
U-701 is commissioned in Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg. Note that Kapitänleutnant Degen is saluting the flag. 16 July 1941.
Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian submarine Nereide claims that it damages Greek submarine Triton using a torpedo and its deck gun between Ikaria and Mikonos. There is no confirmation of this attack.
The Luftwaffe raids the Suez Canal with 24 bombers during the night and also raids Tobruk in conjunction with the Regia Aeronautica. The RAF raids Tripoli and Benghazi.
An Italian convoy of three ships departs from Taranto bound for Tripoli.
Executions at Banjica concentration camp, Serbia, 16 July 1941. These apparently are the first at the camp.
Partisans: The partisan uprising Montenegro - the "13 July Uprising" - continues. Insurgents in Virpazar use some small boats to trade some injured Italian soldiers for food and medicine in Scutari.
Stalin's son, leader of an artillery battery, doesn't have much to say as a POW.
POWs: In an embarrassing incident for the Soviet Union, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin's son, artillery regiment Lieutenant Yakov Iosifovich Jugashvili (aka Yakov Dzhugashvili), is captured by the Wehrmacht. He is the eldest of Stalin's four children, the son of his first wife, Kato Svanidze. Yakov winds up in a POW camp near Borisov (Barysaw), and one of the other prisoners "outs" him. The Germans publicize the capture in order to use him for propaganda purposes.
Stalin, according to his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, believes that Yakov has voluntarily surrendered at the behest of his wife, Yulia. Stalin is so sure of this that, as soon as he hears of the incident, he orders Yulia imprisoned and "interrogated" (which in the USSR of the 1940s usually means some element of torture and mistreatment).
There actually is some evidence that Yakov surrendered voluntarily because a letter written by his brigade commissar alleges that he willingly put on civilian clothes in an attempt to escape from a pocket, but then chose to stay behind and be caught anyway. Since Yakov is caught in civilian clothes, the Germans technically have the right to shoot him - but the Germans shoot anyone they like anyway (pursuant to Keitel's pre-war orders), so they don't need any special reason to do so. Instead, the Germans keep Yakov alive in hopes of using him as a bargaining chip, shuttling him between several POW camps before sending him to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Yakov does not get along with the British prisoners and slips into a deep depression.
What happens to him there is not exactly known, but he does not survive the war. There are various theories and "interpretations" of the story. It is believed, pursuant to captured German documents, that Yakov is shot by a guard for disobeying orders. However, other variants of the story have him voluntarily throwing himself on the electrified wire surrounding the camp or getting into arguments with the British prisoners and then making some kind of disturbance.
Williams Air Force Base, now known as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, sits on about 4,000 acres of land in Mesa, AZ. It is about 30 miles southeast of Phoenix. Williams AFB was established on July 16, 1941. It was used during World War II for training fighter pilots. It was named after Charles Linton Williams, who was born in Arizona and was a pilot. Over 26,500 men and women passed through the base and earned their wings.
Allied Relations: General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, is startled at his headquarters in Brazzaville when he receives a copy of the Treaty of Saint-Jean D'Acre that ended the war in the Levant. He cannot believe that it makes no mention of the Free French at all. In a fit of pique, he repudiates it. However, he quickly is brought to his senses and ultimately channels his anger into advocating for the self-determination of the peoples of Lebanon and Syria - something the British already have decided to do.
US/German/Italian Relations: US Navy transport USS West Point (formerly the SS America) anchors off Staten Island and embarks 137 Italian and 327 German citizens. They are former employees of the consulates that the United States closed during the recent "consulate war." At 14:55, the West Point raises its anchor and proceeds to Lison, where the quarantined foreign nationals will be dropped off.
Ann Frank and Otto Frank, Laurens Nieuwenhuis (Miep’s foster father), hand in hand with his granddaughter Irene. Walking behind him are, from left to right: Anna Nieuwenhuis (Miep’s foster mother), Otto Frank, Anne Frank and Esther (an office worker at Opekta). Bep Voskuil. This is on 16 July 1941, the wedding day of Jan and Miep Gies.
German/Swedish Relations: After hearing some intelligence reports of Swedish ships at Göteburg loading steel for trade with Great Britain, the Germans warn Sweden not to permit any ships to head there or face invasion.
Anglo/US Relations: President Roosevelt's personal emissary Harry Hopkins arrives by air in London.
US Military: Chief of Staff General Marshall instructs General "Hap" Arnold, commander of the US Army Air Force, to send reinforcements to the Philippines, including B-17 bombers.
British Military: Captain J.A.V. Morse is named Naval Officer in Charge of Syrian ports with his headquarters at Beirut.
Vichy French Military: General Weygand becomes governor-general of Algeria.
Hermann and Auguste van Pels in Amsterdam on the day of Jan and Miep Gies’ wedding, July 16, 1941. They hide with Anne Frank and her family in the annex in Amsterdam. They both perish late in the war, Hermann at Auschwitz, Auguste at Theresienstadt (Anne Frank Foundation).
Soviet Military: In another twist in a very long road of the power of commissars, every Soviet command once again is provided with both a military and a political commander of equal responsibility. These commissars have no military training, but they have a lot of opinions and their own channels to Moscow. If the military commander does not do what they say or acts "improperly," the commissars and will denounce them. This gives the commissars outsized power and influence over military commanders, who ignore them at their peril.
Commissar of State Security 3rd Rank (19.07.1941) (the equivalent rank of Lieutenant General) Mikheev Anatoly Nikolaevich, head of the political side of the Kyiv Military District, provides an excellent example of how this works today when he accuses NKO Commissar/Marshal Semyon Timoshenko of treason. Mikheev points out the obvious, that Timoshenko had connections with General Pavlov and other executed "traitors," though his real motivations in making the charge may have nothing to do with that. Stalin begins to look at Timoshenko a bit differently and eventually takes away his title of NKO Commissar. However, Timoshenko remains in good standing, more or less, and gradually satisfies Stalin's suspicions.
"Coal Mining in Illinois, Strip mining photos," Coal City Public Library, July 16, 1941 (Photo printed by Douglas-Edwards Camera Shop, Joliet, IL)
German Government: At Fuhrer Headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia, Hitler convenes a meeting of his cronies: Hermann Goering, Keitel, Alfred Rosenberg, Bormann, and Hans Lammers (head of the Reich Chancellery). They contemplate something that was never decided before Operation Barbarossa: how to divide up the certain-to-be-conquered Soviet Union.
While plans remain vague, Hitler foresees Germany occupying all of the Soviet Union up to the Urals. He plans to keep the choicest and most strategic prizes for German, including Ukraine (necessary for its food production), the Crimea (as a tourist resort for Germans), the Baltic States (which have many ethnic Germans), the Baku oil fields (Germany has no indigenous oil fields), and the Kola Peninsula in the far north (considered important strategically). Of course, Germany hasn't conquered any of these places yet, but that is considered just a matter of time. Hitler also plans to annex Finland ultimately into the Greater Reich, but the time being will allow it to have its cherished territory of East Karelia.
Hitler confirms Rosenberg's appointment as Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories.
Japanese Government: The Imperial Headquarters-Cabinet Liaison Conference has decided to attack south, rather than north toward Vladivostok, Russa as the Germans want. Foreign minister Matsuoka, however, greatly favors the northern strategy and drops some hints to both the Soviets and the Americans that it will join the attack on the USSR. The Soviet ambassador is startled and demands assurances that the recently signed non-aggression pact between the two countries will be honored. This causes a rift within the Japanese government, and Prince Fumimaro Konoye (Konoe) resigns to form a new cabinet - without Matsuoka. The ironic thing about this sequence of events is that Matsuoka's strategy has a lot to offer - more than drawing the United States into the war, at least.
Miep and Jan Gies on their wedding day, 16 July 1941.
Holocaust: The Petain government ordains that no more than 2% of lawyers can be Jewish.
The Wehrmacht permits men who are 50% Jewish or married to women who are 50% Jewish to serve.
Miep Gies gets married. Gies is one of the Dutch citizens who will hide Anne Frank and her family and four other Jews in an annex in Amsterdam. This marriage gives Gies Dutch citizenship and prevents her deportation back to the Reich where she is a citizen.
American Homefront: The New York Yankees travel to Cleveland to play the Indians at League Park. Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio goes 3-4 against pitchers Al Milnar and Joe Krakauska. While not known now, this is the last game of DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak This record is never broken, and never even approached.
Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, hitting in his 56th consecutive game in Cleveland, July 16, 1941 (BL-5595-95, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library).
