USS Kearny photographed in Iceland after its arrival there on 19 October 1941, showing the damage caused by the torpedo attack of 17 October 1941.
Battle of the Atlantic: Pursuant to President Roosevelt's standing orders for US Navy warships to protect convoys in the North Atlantic, the 1630-ton destroyer USS Kearny (DD-432) is sailing with Convoy SC-48 south of Iceland when disaster strikes. During the night, U-568 (Kptlt. Joachim Preuss), on its second patrol out of St. Nazaire, spots Kearny illuminated by the fires of a burning freighter. Captain Preuss fires one torpedo that strikes Kearny in the starboard forward fire room (roughly amidships). Quick action by the Kearny's crew seals off the flooding, but the ship sustains heavy damage.
Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers of the VS-6 in flight on 17 October 1941.
Fortunately for the men of the Kearny, the fire room and engine room are separate, and they can use another fire room in the rear of the ship. Thus, it retains engine power despite the damage. The Kearny, under escort by USS Greer (DD-145), makes it safely back to Hvalfjordur, Iceland on the 19th, and then at the end of the year to Boston for repairs. There are 11 deaths and 22 injured, the first combat deaths for the US Navy since World War I. U-568, meanwhile, survives a brief depth charge attack by HMCS Pictou and then escapes on the surface into the night.
The Kearny incident reflects the greatly increased (and controversial) role of US Navy ships in the North Atlantic during 1941. The Kearny actively engaged in attacks on U-boats upon arriving at Convoy SC-48 on 16 October, dropping depth charges throughout the morning of the 17th. Thus, it "began hostilities." The entire incident reflects the murky nature of US involvement in World War II in October 1941, as the United States is not at war and at least arguably should not be engaging in military actions unless it wants to be at war. There are strong arguments of every side of questions like this: in brief, the US maintains that it has a right to keep open its sea lanes and protect its ships, while German views peacetime US military support of England as violating international law. There is nothing that the Reich can do to retaliate directly against the United States following this incident, or vice versa, short of declaring war. However, Hitler does hold a grudge, while Roosevelt decides that now is not the time to declare war. Active US Navy participation in convoy protection is a very sensitive political topic both in 1941 and later.
Some feel that Roosevelt purposefully putting warships in harm's way is a deliberate provocation. Hitler certainly does. He learns about the entire incident, either through the United States media, his spies, or codebreaking activities. Along with other incidents, he specifically mentions the Kearny incident - highlighting its participation in attacking the U-boats, of course - during his declaration of war on the United States on 11 December 1941.
German soldiers take the crew of a Soviet T-34 tank prisoner at Kalinin (Tver). T-34 tank number 4 of the 21st Armored Brigade rammed a German self-propelled guns StuG III of Lieutenant Tachinski of the 660th Assault Gun Battery. Both vehicles were put out of action. This was a Soviet raid on German forces at Kalinin, the Germans still attempting to eliminate resistance in the area. Either 17 or 18 October 1941.
Eastern Front: In the center of the German advance on Moscow, Paul Hausser’s SS-Infanterie-Division (mot.) Das Reich and the attached "Hauenschild Brigade" of 10th Panzer Division batter against the defending Soviet 32nd Siberian Rifle Division from Vladivostok. The battle along the two parallel highways to Moscow (the Minsk and Moscow Highways) takes place at Borodino Field, site of the 1812 Napoleonic battle won by France at great cost. Just as at that earlier battle, the invading force pushes back the heroic defenders after fierce fighting. The Soviet troops fall back on Mozhaysk, the anchor of the main defensive ring around Moscow. The Stavka, alarmed by the continued German advance against elite troops, beings pulling troops north from Ukraine for the defense of Moscow.
A view of USS Greer showing the damage amidships incurred on 17 October 1941.
Charles Lindbergh gives a speech for the America First Committee in Des Moines, Iowa, 11 September 1941.
Eastern Front: In a curt, don't-bother-me-again reply to General Kirponos' 10 September 1941 request to withdraw from Kyiv, Joseph Stalin personally responds:
Do not abandon Kiev and do not blow up the bridges without Stavka permission.
The Soviet troops stay put even as the German panzers continue driving toward each other to the east to close an encirclement. Battle of the Atlantic: On 11 September 1941, Kriegsmarine Wolfpack Markgraf, composed of 14 U-boats in a picket line, confronts Convoy SC-42 in the North Atlantic 100 miles southeast of Greenland. The convoy departed from Nova Scotia on 30 August 1941 bound for Liverpool.
It is a wild affair, with ships sinking all around, some on fire, and men in the water and in lifeboats. The action is confusing and so are the historical records, with different sources identify different ships sunk on different days. However, it is confirmed across all sources that September 10 and September 11, 1941, are horrendous days for Convoy SC-42.
U-82 (Kptlt. Siegfried Rollmann), on its first patrol out of Trondheim, is in the thick of it. It sank 7,465-ton British freighter Empire Hudson on the 10th, and today sinks three ships and seriously damages a fourth in quick succession just after midnight:
7519-ton British freighter Bulysses
3915-ton British freighter Gypsum Queen
1999-ton Swiss freighter Scania (damaged)
5463-ton British freighter Empire Crossbill
However, that is not the only punishment that the Wolfpack inflicts today.
Swedish freighter SS Garm, sunk on 11 September 1941 by U-432. There are six deaths from a crew of 20.
Three other U-boats get in on the action:
U-432 (Kptlt. Heinz-Otto Schultze) sinks 1231-ton Swedish freighter Garm
U-207 (Oberleutnant zur See Fritz Meyer.) sinks British freighters 4924-ton Berury and 4803-ton Stonepool
U-207's crew does not have very long to celebrate its two kills. Convoy escorts HMS Leamington and Veteran launch depth charges and sinks U-207. There are no survivors among the 41-man crew.
To add to the devastation, U-105 (Kapitänleutnant Georg Schewe) finds a convoy straggler 1549-ton Panamanian-flagged freighter Montana (a Panamanian flag generally indicates that it is a United States ship).
To date, Convoy SC-42 has lost 15 of its 65 ships. It still has a long way to Liverpool, too. However, as reinforcements, the Admiralty sends naval trawler Buttermere and Flower-class corvettes HMCS Wetaskiwin, HMCS Mimosa, and HMS Gladiolus from convoy HX 147 and the 2nd Escort Group consisting of the Admiralty type flotilla leader HMS Douglas (Commander WE Banks senior officer), the Town-class destroyer HMS Leamington, the V and W-class destroyer HMS Veteran and S-class destroyers HMS Skate and HMS Saladin. This armada guards Convoy SC-42 the rest of the way but SC-42 will lose yet another ship on the way to its destination.
A barrage balloon station in England garrisoned by the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (AP Photo).
POWs: The commandant of Stalag 318 (later Stalag VIII-F and known as the "Russian Camp"), Colonel Falkenberg, notes on September 11, 1941:
These cursed Untermenschen [sub-humans] have been observed eating grass, flowers and raw potatoes. Once they can’t find anything edible in the camp they turn to cannibalism.
Hermann Goering hears of this comment and retells it, with some embellishments, often at parties.
Japanese Military: Emperor Hirohito takes personal command of the Japanese Imperial Army. This is merely a ceremonial command, but some analysts in the United States wrongly interpret this as a peaceful gesture.
Admiral Yamamoto and his staff continue planning the attack on Pearl Harbor as he begins ten days of meetings with the Imperial Japanese Navy's General Staff. The Japanese Combined Fleet conducts a training exercise in the North Pacific.
US Military: The ground-breaking ceremonies for the Pentagon building take place in Arlington, Virginia on a patch of farmland. It will take two years to build at a cost of $83 million. The Pentagon is planned to consolidate 17 War Department buildings into one complex. It has been ordered by Brig. General Brehon B. Somervell.
President Roosevelt with Microphones, September 11, 1941 (NARA).
American Homefront: President Roosevelt gives a Fireside Chat on the sinking by a U-boat of USS Greer, a US Navy destroyer sunk near Greenland on 4 September 1941. The Germans claim that the Greer shot first and the U-boat reacted in self-defense. Roosevelt calls the incident an "outrageous" incident of "piracy" and recites a list of other grievances at sea against the Germans. FDR gives the U.S. convoy escorts the right to fire at submarines on sight. He cautions, however, against overreacting to these "acts of international lawlessness."
We have sought no shooting war with Hitler, we do not seek it now.
Roosevelt vows to keep open the seas "no matter what it costs" and likens U-boats to rattlesnakes.
At an American First Committee rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Charles Lindbergh accuses President Roosevelt and his administration of engaging "subterfuge" and using "dictatorial powers" to push his "war party" toward war. His most controversial remark, however, follows:
The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration.
This remark and others during the speech are similar to the public statements of Adolf Hitler.
Vizeadmiral Johannes Bachmann (KIA April 1945) inspects Schiermonnikoog 'Vredenhof' Cemetery in the Dutch Frisian Islands, 11 September 1941.
