Battle of the Pacific: In the Philippines, the American and Filipino troops are withdrawing as fast as they can from central and southern Luzon on 30 December 1941. The American 31st Infantry Division marches to Dalton Pass in central Luzon to cover these withdrawals while Filipino troops set up defensive lines in the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese correctly read these Allied troop movements as presaging an American redoubt at Bataan and send 48th Division south as fast as it can to disrupt these Allied moves. A race develops between the Allied and Japanese troops to reach the entrances to the peninsula and secure them before the other side can.

Wednesday 11 June 1941

"Lebanon. 11 June 1941. Fort Merdjayoun in the town of Merdjayoun, which was occupied by French forces before being captured on 11 June 1941 by elements of the 7th Australian Division AIF. The town was then occupied by 2/33rd Battalion, a cavalry unit and a battery of artillery in a defensive role." (Australian War Memorial 128437).

Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: The Australian 21st Brigade continues marching north from Tyre toward Sidon as part of Operation Exporter on 11 June 1941. Further inland, the Australian 25th Brigade takes Merdjayoun (Merjayun). The Australians, feeling confident, leave only a skeleton force to hold Merdjayoun and send the bulk of the 25th Brigade north to attack Jezzine.

Free French 1st Infantry Brigade and 2nd Infantry Brigade attack Kissoue south of Damascus. The Vichy French, however, are massing large forces to block the Commonwealth troops' advances.

A French Dewoitine D.520 shoots down a British Curtiss Tomahawk. It is the only Tomahawk that the RAF loses during the campaign.

Journalist Alan Moorehead talks to captured Vichy French soldiers and gets a surprise: their morale is excellent. He reports that the French say that they are resisting the British invasion fiercely because they are professional soldiers and the attack was unprovoked. Another factor is that Germany essentially is holding their relatives in metropolitan France hostage. There also is an element of simple Gallic pride, as the French soldiers feel that the British look down on them ("like the Italians") for losing France to Hitler.

In other words, the French are resisting not just for pragmatic reasons, but for pride. However, the silver lining is that, once the defending French soldiers prove their point about their ability to resist, they eventually will give in to the inevitable and surrender. There is some hard fighting left before that can happen, though.

A Curtiss Tomahawk of 3 Squadron at Lydda (Lot), 11 June 1941 (via Mike Mirkovic).

European Air Operations: During the day, RAF Bomber Command sends 25 aircraft to bomb Bremerhaven, but 19 turn back due to Reich air defenses. The British, like the Luftwaffe before them, are gradually coming to the realization that daylight bombing raids are extremely costly.

RAF Fighter Command sends fighters on Rhubarb and Roadstead operations. RAF 11 Group (12 planes of RAF No. 74 Squadron and 12 of No. 609 Squadron escort five Blenheim bombers of 16 Group) conducts a Roadstead operation that targets a tanker defended by flak-ships off Dunkirk. The pilots report scoring a hit on the tanker, but there is no verification from German records. Luftwaffe Oblt. Johannes Seifert of 3./JG 26 downs a Hurricane from RAF No 248 Squadron during daylight action.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command raids the industrial Ruhr River Valley, the Rhineland, Hamburg, and Bremen. The weather is good, and the British will continue attacking the Ruhr for the next 19 nights. They put 98 bombers over Dusseldorf and 80 over Duisburg. RAF Bomber Command also sends 24 aircraft to Boulogne and 20 bombers on minelaying missions.

The Luftwaffe drops leaflets over East Anglia, as it did during the summer of 1940, and sends planes across Great Britain. These tout German successes in the Atlantic and they warn, with some credibility, that further resistance to the Reich will mean starvation throughout the British Isles.

East African Campaign: The Indian 15th Punjab Regiment of the Indian 3rd Battalion completes the capture of Assab, which essentially just means checking the town for any Italian stragglers. The entire Red Sea now is clear of Axis influence, and soon American freighters will be able to cross it to deliver supplies to British forces in Egypt.

(Kraupa; Tuskany; Duskamp, Federal Archive Bild 101II-MW-3509-30). 

"France, Saint-Nazaire.- Admiral Karl Doenitz on the quay in front of incoming U-boat U-93, the crew standing on the U-boat deck in anticipation of the award of the Knight's Cross to Lieutenant Claus Korth, U-93's commander.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-79 (Kptlt. Wolfgang Kaufmann), on its first patrol out of Kiel, is operating west of Iceland when it torpedoes and sinks 1524 ton Norwegian freighter Havtor. There are six deaths and 14 survivors.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 2056-ton British freighter Moorwood near 19C Buoy north of Whitby. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 3178-ton British freighter Baron Carnegie just east of St. Davids in St. George's Channel. There are 25 deaths (16 are listed as "missing" but never are found). British 1358-ton freighter Seine takes Baron Carnegie in tow, but Baron Carnegie sinks north of Fishguard.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 2842-ton British freighter Westburn a few miles north of Skinningrove off Hartlepool. Taken in tow, the Westburn arrives in Hartlepool later in the day.

Royal Navy submarine H.32 grounds in the Clyde. After it frees itself, H.32 goes to Ardrossan for repairs.

The Kriegsmarine makes a rare fleet maneuver (the Royal Navy, by comparison, keeps its ships constantly in motion). This is Operation Sommerreise (Summer Journey). The Germans send heavy cruiser Lutzow (damaged during the invasion of Norway), light cruisers Emden and Leipzig, and destroyers Eckhold, Galster, Lody, Z.23, and Z.24 to Norway. The plan is for Lutzow to break out into the Atlantic and be joined there by sister ship Admiral Scheer.

The British, of course, keep very close tabs on German warships. They learn today from Ultra decrypts about Operation Sommerreise and begin preparing a response. The Admiralty brings the Home Fleet to one hour's notice.

Convoy OB-334 departs from Liverpool.

U-130 (K.Kapt. Ernst Kals) is commissioned at Kiel.

"The crew of an Australian Vickers Light Tank Mk VI works on their vehicle during the advance into Syria, 11 June 1941."(© IWM (E 3149E)).

Battle of the Mediterranean: British troops under General O'Moore Creagh prepare for the upcoming Operation Battleaxe, scheduled to begin on 15 June. On the other side, newly appointed commander of the 15th Panzer Division General Walter Neumann-Silkow is more worried about his supply situation than the enemy, as his panzers are running low on petrol.

Royal Navy submarine Taku (Lt. Commander Edward C.F. Nicolay) torpedoes and sinks 1600-ton German freighter Tilly L.M. Russ in Benghazi Harbor.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Torbay rams and sinks a caique about 15  miles south of Mitylene (Lesbos). The caique is being used as a troop transport, there is an unknown number of casualties.

The RAF attacks Benghazi and sinks Italian naval trawlers Mario Bianco and Cirene.

At Malta, the Luftwaffe drops bombs between Ta Qali and Mosta, as well as eight east of Valletta. A much larger attack of an estimated 22 Axis aircraft is spotted 30 miles north of the island but turns back when the RAF scrambles fighters.

Convoy BA-3 departs from Karachi bound for Aden.

Battle of the Pacific: Captured whaler Adjutant with prize crew departs German raider Komet for minelaying operations in New Zealand waters.
Anglo/US Relations: President Roosevelt agrees to occupy Iceland with US troops. While there is no danger of combat in Iceland, this will free up 25,000 British troops who have been unopposed, though not invited, by the Icelandic government. Iceland is critically important to the Allies for protection of their cross-Atlantic convoys, as both ship and air patrols emanating from there cover a large area that U-boats are using with great success.

Vickers Light Tank Mk VI with Australian crew during the advance into Syria, 11 June 1941.

Japanese/Dutch Relations: While the Germans have conquered The Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies remain a powerful force in the Pacific. Not only do the Dutch there possess a strong navy, but they also control raw materials that the Japanese need. Today, however, the Japanese accept defeat in their attempts to lock up more oil and other supplies. This is another skirmish in a trade battle that has broken out across the globe, with the Axis and Allies vying to "lock-up" sources of supply of strategic commodities such as oil and tungsten.

Japanese/Soviet Relations: The Japanese and Soviets, who recently reached an agreement regarding the border in Manchuria, expand their economic relations.

Anglo/Soviet Relations: Sir Stafford Cripps, ambassador to Moscow, returns to London for consultations. Cripps is England's point man for the Soviet Union because he is a committed Socialist with decidedly Marxist leanings and works well with the Russians. Cripps' departure in the face of all the warnings he has been receiving about a prospective attack by Germany leaves Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin very suspicious about what Winston Churchill is planning.

German/US Relations: Brazilian steamer Ozorio rescues the last eleven survivors from the US freighter SS Robin Moor (Captain E. W. Meyers). The Robin Moor was sunk in the South Atlantic on 21 May by U-69 (Kapitänleutnant Jost Metzler) while carrying contraband aircraft parts bound for the British in the Middle East. The sinking has become a major diplomatic incident, but not sufficiently for the United States to declare war.

Bomb damage in Belfast at Ravenscroft Avenue, East Belfast looking toward the Hollywood Arches (11 June 1941).

Nagano, however, remains opposed to war with the United States if it can possibly be avoided. He takes a very dim view of Admiral Yamamoto's plans to attack Pearl Harbor. However, almost everyone else in the top tier of the Japanese military prefers to strike the United States while it remains relatively weak in the Pacific.

US Military: Battleship USS Arizona departs from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for Long Beach, California.

Soviet Military: Soviet General Georgi Zhukov continues quietly building up forces in the European portion of the Soviet Union. He orders the transfer of some Red Army units from Transbaikal to the Kyiv region. However, Zhukov remains bound by Premier Joseph Stalin's wishes to do nothing to provoke the Germans.

Two related German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) who have survived Operation Mercury meet in Canea, Crete, 11 June 1941 (Federal Archive Bild 183-H25246).

German Military: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 32, "Preparations For The Period After Barbarossa." The directive turns out to have no effect on anything aside from planning but does offer insight into Hitler's mindset on the eve of Operation Barbarossa.

As he is wont to do, Adolf Hitler begins making plans for operations far in the future that depend on operations closer in time to turn out as planned. So, today he tasks the OKW Operations Staff led by General Alfred Jodl with working up plans for the period after the Soviet Union is conquered.

Hitler notes pointedly that, "The main efforts of the armaments industry can be diverted to the Navy and Airforce." The Reich armaments sector takes this to heart, and begin to view the production of shells and other munitions as a low priority. This will have baleful consequences for the Wehrmacht late in 1941 and in 1942 as Soviet resistance proves fiercer than expected.

Hitler demonstrates in Directive No. 32 that he views Operation Barbarossa more as a temporary pause in other operations already on the docket than a major, long-term undertaking. So, he anticipates implementing Operation Felix, the planned seizure of Gibraltar. His thinking is revealed when he orders the capture of Tobruk in "about November," when the Afrika Korps can be "brought to the highest possible efficiency in personnel and equipment." This, presumably, would only be possible after the Wehrmacht can redirect forces from the conquered Soviet Union.

Interestingly, Hitler barely mentions Operation Sea Lion, the proposed invasion of England, in Directive No. 32, and only in passing. He notes that preparations for the invasion would "serve the double purpose of tying down English forces at home and of bringing about a final English collapse through a landing in England." He is more interested, however, in a resumption of the "Siege of England," which can be undertaken "with the utmost intensity" only after the Soviet Union is beaten.

British soldiers looking across the river at Baghdad, 11 June 1941.

British Military: Major-General Neil Ritchie is sent to the Middle East Command to join the staff of the British Eighth Army in Cairo. His replacement in charge of the British 51st Highland Division is Major General Douglas Neil Wimberley. Wimberley institutes strenuous training routines for future operations - the division is seen as having gotten a bit slack after almost two years of home defense in anticipation of a German invasion that never came.

American Homefront: The President of Fordham University, Rev. Robert I. Gannon, gives a commencement address at the school entitled "What Will Replace It." The "it" is civilization, and Gannon says in part:

we believe that democracy will rise again, but not until the authority of God is recognized again in public and in private life. Apparently, then, it has fallen our lot to see the end of a civilization.

He notes that whatever the ways of the world, religion will always be there for people. The theme of the address mirrors a growing pessimism in some quarters about the state of the world in 1941.

"Health Lecturer" Russell James is arrested in Minneapolis for practicing healing without a license. He sells a health food product made out of powdered bananas and whey (which does sound pretty healthy). The Hennepin County District Court deliberates for three hours, then finds him not guilty.

Exterior view of the N. 11 Mikoyan Bread-Baking Plant, Moscow, June 1941 (Meyer, Hannes).

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

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Monday 3 February 1941

"Can Air Defense Save America?", February 1941 issue of Popular Science. Shown are F4F-3 Wildcats. The accompanying article notes that Wildcats cost $30,000, could reach 37,500 feet in altitude, and had a top speed of 328 mph.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek forces consolidate their hold on the Trebeshinë massif on 3 February 1941. This area is considered the gateway to the key Italian port of Valona. The weather and continued Italian resistance, however, precludes further advances for the time being.

East African Campaign: The Italians are well dug in at Keren, the key to the conquest of Eritrea for the British. They occupy the heights surrounding the town, including a spur rising 1800 meters (6000 feet) to the right of the road. Having occupied the area for years, the Italians have had plenty of time to select the most defensible positions. It is obvious from the local geography that Keren is the best point remaining to close the door on the British before they reach Asmara and the Eritrean highlands.

The British troops begin arriving today at Keren. The 11th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 4th Indian Division, fresh off the victory at Mount Cochen, approaches the town's outskirts and prepares to reconnoiter the region. The Italians bide their time, knowing that, while the British might have the upper hand in a fluid battle, their fixed defenses will make them extremely difficult to dislodge.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 113 planes to lay mines during the night. Otherwise, everything is quiet on both sides except for some scattered raids in Eastern England, including a few bombs dropped on London.

"Supermarine Spitfire Mk Is of No. 92 Squadron RAF taking off from Manston, Kent, February 1941." © IWM (CH 2537).

Battle of the Atlantic: Having evaded the Royal Navy patrols and topped off their fuel tanks, German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau proceed through the Denmark Strait. Once through, they will menace the shipping lanes to the south. The Royal Navy has no idea where they are, and earlier reports by a British cruiser south of Iceland that it had sighted the German ships (which it did) have been dismissed as "illusions."

U-107 (K.Kapt. Günther Hessler) stalks Convoy OB 279 in the North Atlantic shipping lanes. It torpedoes and sinks 4633-ton British refrigerated freighter Empire Citizen and 5051 ton Royal Navy ocean boarding vessel HMS Crispin (which remains afloat until the 4th). There are 78 deaths and 5 survivors of the Empire Citizen, and there are 19 deaths on the Crispin. 

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Royal Navy 352-ton minesweeping trawler HMT Arctic Trapper off of Ramsgate. There are 17 deaths.
The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 2660-ton freighter Dione II in the shipping lanes northwest of Ireland. It loses power and falls behind its convoy, Convoy SC 20, making it easy prey for attackers.

Royal Navy anti-submarine ship MA/SB-12 hits a mine off Milford Haven. It is taken in tow but eventually sinks.

British 212-ton freighter Calyx hits a mine and is damaged in the Mersey Estuary 8 miles from the Bar Light Vessel. It makes it to Liverpool.

Royal Navy 89-ton drifter Midas is engaged in a collision and sinks off Dungeness.

The Kriegsmarine lays defensive minefield Rugen off the Norwegian coast.

Convoy OB 282 departs from Liverpool, Convoy FS 403 departs from Methil, Convoy AS 14 departs from Piraeus, Convoy ASF 14 departs from Piraeus, Convoy HX 107 departs from Halifax.
Royal Navy corvettes HMS Abelia and Violet commissioned, minesweeper HMS Blackpool commissioned, minesweeping trawler HMS Flotta launched.

Soviet submarine K-21 commissioned.

U-432 launched.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Lieutenant John Combe of the 11th Hussars Regiment sets out at 07:00 to the south of Green Mountain (the Jebel Akhdar) with about 2000 men in wheeled vehicles. This is "Combe Force." The British 7th Armoured Division follows later in the day. The objective is to bypass Benghazi to the south via Msus and Antelat and close the Benghazi-Tripoli road. The Italians already are evacuating Benghazi, but Italian troops are still east of the city, being pursued by the Australian 6th Infantry Division. While Combe's troops face little opposition, the terrain is rougher than on the well-built coastal road.

Italian 1130 ton freighter Multedo is lost around this date in the Gulf of Sirte of unknown causes.

There is another victim of the Luftwaffe minelaying of the Suez Canal. This time, it is 4934-ton British freighter Derwenthall. The mine blows off the ship's rudder, but the Derwenthall makes it to Suez in tow.

General Erwin Rommel is appointed to command "German Army Troops in Africa." There are as yet no German troops in Africa, but his command will evolve into the later Afrika Korps.

Fry, Arizona in January 1941. Courtesy Arizona Historical Society/Tucson.

Battle of the Pacific: A pair of US destroyers operating off Oahu, Hawaii make what they believe to be an underwater contact. It is unidentified, so USS Dale, Hull and Lamson spend time searching the area for intruders. They find nothing and eventually return to base.

The Navy converts an old Navy airstrip located seven miles west of Pearl Harbor into Marine Corps Air Station Ewa. There are plans to develop the strip into a major airbase.

Battleship USS Arizona makes port in Pearl Harbor.

German Military: Field Marshal von Brauchitsch brings OKH Chief of the General Staff General Franz Halder up from Zossen to the Chancellery in Berlin. They are there to show the army's plans for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, to Adolf Hitler. The intelligence service estimates that the Wehrmacht would be outnumbered both in divisions - the Soviets having 155, slightly more than the Germans - and armor - the Soviet tanks outnumbering German ones 10,000 to 3500. Halder further cautions that, while the Soviet armor is inferior, "Even so, surprises cannot be ruled out altogether." The plan assumes that numerical inferiority will not prevent victory because of quality and surprise. Halder also warns that transferring the army to the East will make any operations in the West, such as Operation Attila (the occupation of Vichy France), essentially impossible.

Hitler is excited nonetheless. He exclaims (there are various different versions of this extremely famous quote):

When Barbarossa commences the world will hold its breath and remain silent!

While he approves the plan, which envisages three essentially equal thrusts in the north, center, and south, Hitler clings to the belief that the main effort should be in the north, toward Leningrad, with the advance in the South toward Kyiv taking secondary priority. He likes the idea of working together with the Finns, who he calls "a plucky people," and thus wants to join with them quickly. The general consensus in the army, however, is that the main effort should be in the center, toward Moscow. These conflicting viewpoints will not be resolved until the campaign actually starts and, some have argued, go a long way toward dooming the entire invasion.

Separately, Field Marshal Fedor von Bock returns from medical leave. He re-assumes command of Army Group Center (technically, he commands Army Group B) in Poland. Von Bock is pessimistic about the prospects for forcing the Soviet Union to make peace and is one of the few willing to question Hitler about it. However, Hitler has told von Bock that Germany has plenty of resources with which to handle the Soviets.

First B-17D, February 3, 1941 (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives) by San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives (Flickr).

US Military: Deputy Chief of Staff General Moore urges a formal codification of US defense objectives and army strength. At this point, the US Army is still nebulous, with only vague projections of millions of men being drafted. There is no planning at all being done as to how many divisions these men would form, or what kind of divisions (infantry, armored, cavalry, etc.) they would be. Essentially, the army is "playing it by ear" at this point, with no concrete plans for how a mobilization would proceed.

Soviet Military: A new military intelligence service is instituted separate from the NKVD. Called NKGB, it has Vsevolod Merkulov leading it as People's Commissar of State Security.

Kliment Voroshilov receives his third Order of Lenin. He has been a member of the Central Committee since 1921, People's Commissar for Military and Navy Affairs since 1925, a member of the Politburo since 1926, People's Commissar for Defense since 1934, and a Marshal of the Soviet Union since 1935.

US Government: Debate continues in Congress over the Lend-Lease Bill. The passage in the Senate appears to be assured, but in the House is much less certain. The Administration is engaged in a full-scale effort to win passage of the Bill because Great Britain has run out of money to fund the war and from this point is going to have to rely upon US largesse one way or another.

Australian Government: Prime Minister Robert Menzies is spending the day in Jerusalem on his way from Melbourne to London. He has time to ponder some eternal questions in his diary:

Further impression. Can these mandates [i.e., Israel] really work. There is here a problem of reconciling Jew and Arab, which will become active again after the war. We, the mandators, have all the odium of attempting settlement & direction without the real power of government.... [H]aving regard to the strategical position of Palestine we should have cut out sentimentality long ago and taken it over.

Cuba: President Fulgencio Batista, who took office on 10 October 1940, begins tightening his grip on the country. At this point, Batista has the support of the local communists and implements progressive policies.

China: In the continuing Battle of Southern Honan, the Japanese 11th Army takes possession of Tamshin, to the east of Canton. The Chinese 5th War Area, meanwhile, re-occupies Paoanchai and Wuyang. The Japanese have very efficient troops, but they do not have enough manpower to occupy the large swathes of China that it is capable of taking. This will forever curtail its successes in China.

American Homefront: In United States v. Darby Lumber Co., 312 U.S. 100 (1941), the US Supreme Court upholds the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This decision establishes that the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution grants Congress the authority to regulate employment conditions within several states.

Life Magazine, "War News From Inside Germany," February 3, 1941.

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