Heinkel He 280 V-1 DL+AS with engine intake fairings. The jet engines are not available on 13 January 1942, so the Germans are only conducting glider tests.
Battle of the Atlantic: Operation Drumbeat (Unternehmen Paukenschlag) officially begins on 13 January 1942. The first of vie German U-boats begin arriving along the east coast of the United States during the day, though most are still making the transatlantic crossing. While U-123 (Kptlt Reinhardt Hardegen) already has sunk British freighter Cyclops on 11 January, that was on the outbound journey about 300 miles east of Cape Cod and was not officially part of Operation Drumbeat. Following that success, Hardegan continued west and today arrives along the coast. Not sure where he is, Hardegan proceeds southwest toward Rhode Island Sound. Hardegan then spots the Montauk Point lighthouse on the eastern tip of Long Island and quickly establishes his position. The U-boat commanders and crews are astonished to find U.S. shipping to be operating in peacetime conditions. Not only are the ships illuminated, but the cities and towns along the shore have not imposed blackouts, which makes spotting even darkened ships easy. There also are few if any naval patrols and no convoys. Air patrols are spotty, with some conducted by blimps. This is a huge change from conditions everywhere else in the world.
Plattsburgh Daily Republican, January 13, 1942 (Plattsburgh, N.Y.).
Battle of the Pacific: With the Japanese having closed up on the Allied outpost line across the neck of the Bataan Peninsula, General MacArthur decides to launch some spoiling attacks. On the east flank of II Corps (eastern half of the line), the Filipino 21st Infantry Division launches an attack at 06:00. Preceded by an artillery barrage, this attack clears a small area on the left flank of the Philippine Scouts 57th Infantry Division. As hoped, this sets back Japanese plans to launch their own attack there. Further west, however, the Filipino 51st Division is forced to withdraw from the outpost line to the definitive line along the Balantay River. These are all preliminary moves, with the Japanese not yet in a position to launch a set-piece attack to break the Allied defenses.
On the Malay Peninsula, General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch- American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific, visits the front. The Indian III Corps is withdrawing into Johore State, with vehicles routed through Segamat. Johore is the final tranche of land on the mainland north of Singapore. Wavell already has instructed local commander General Arthur Percival to build fortifications on Singapore Island to repel an invasion, but he has not done so. The Australian 8th Division, commanded by Major-General Gordon Bennett, replaces the 11th Indian Division on the front lines, as the 11th Division has been devastated in the battles further north.
A convoy arrives in Singapore bringing 51 Hurricane fighters but only 24 pilots. There are surplus pilots in Singapore, but they are Brewster Buffalo pilots and will have to retrain in the new planes. The planes also will take time to assemble and get ready for flight.
Coupon checks issued by the Philippines government dated 13 January 1942. Despite the battle underway in Bataan, the business of government continues.
On Tarakan Island, the Dutch are retreating toward Kembes. However, their native soldiers are deserting, and Captain W.F.J. Kroon of Compagnie Menado is forced to surrender. The Japanese soon execute all of the Europeans (about 8) except for Kroon himself. The next Japanese objective in the region is Balikpapan.
In Burma, the Joint Military Council notes the rapid advance of the Japanese into the country. The generals propose building a new supply road to the Nationalist Chinese through northern Burma which they have a better chance of holding against the Japanese invasion. This road, north of the current Burma Road, will run through Myitkyina and connect to the current Burma Road at Wandingzhen, Yunnan. This eventually is called the "Ledo Road." Its construction is a massive project through very rough terrain and depends on holding northern Burma, which is by no means certain. The Japanese are invading Burma, in fact, in large part to cut off such roads which enable Chiang Kai-shek to hold out in Chungking. The only alternative to a road from India to China is air supply, which requires a dangerous flight over the Himalayas (known as "the Hump"). However, the Allies at this time do not have aircraft for sustained use of this route.
The cover story in the 13 January 1942 Look magazine is "Our War With Japan."
Eastern Front: Generalmajor Maximilian Fretter-Pico now has four Axis Divisions in position for an attack on the new front in the Crimea at the Parpach Narrows. The objective will be the recapture of the port of Feodosia on the south coast and destruction of the Soviet 44th Army. The Luftwaffe has brought powerful units east from refittings in the Reich and the local command is led by General Robert Ritter von Greim. General Erich von Manstein's 11th Army still maintains a siege around Sevastopol in the west, but offensive operations there are unlikely while the Soviets maintain a presence centered on Kerch.
The situation west of Moscow continues to deteriorate for the Wehrmacht. During the morning, Soviet I Guards Cavalry Corps crosses the Rollbahn, the main road between Vyazma and Rzhev. Fourth Army is forced to evacuate Medyn, a key position just to the south. The critical railway that supplies several German armies lies just to the west, and the Germans manage to get one last train of supplies through before the Red Army cuts the line to Rzhev. At Sychevka just to the north, the Ninth Army headquarters comes under Soviet attack. General Strauss, the army's commander, stays in Sychevka but orders his staff south to Vyazma. At around dusk, he leaves also. The Germans have a plan to close the gap, but the loss of Medyn - one of the "corner posts" for the operation - renders that virtually unachievable. One thing is clear, however, and that is that the Germans have to reopen the railway line north to Rzhev or the position there is unsustainable. The prospect of losing entire armies is now becoming close to reality for the Germans.
Damage caused by "the Waller's raid" on 13 January 1942 in Lowestoft. This view is from London Road north facing east.
Western Front: Just before dusk, a lone Dornier bomber bombs Lowestoft, England, during a heavy snowfall. Four bombs land in the main shopping area at tea time and kill 70 people, including 50 sailors. Many of the casualties are in Waller's restaurant, hence this is often called "the Waller's raid." The town's largest cinema, the Odeon, is hit, and a complete block of shops is destroyed. The dead include the wife of the Superintendent of Police, Mrs. Mills. Waller's orders thirty wreaths for the graves.
Allied Relations: In London, Representatives of nine German-occupied nations sign a declaration, approved by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, that vows punishment against those who order war crimes and those who participate in them. The document provides for:
the punishment, through the channels of organized justice, of those guilty of, or responsible for, these crimes, whether they have ordered them, perpetrated them, or participated in them.
Polish General Wladyslaw Sikorski and French General Charles de Gaulle are among the signatories.
At the Arcadia Conference in Washington, which is in its final days, the Combined Chiefs of Staff agree to begin moving some United States Air Force units to the United Kingdom as soon as possible. The US Army V Corps already has a presence there.
The prototype Heinkel He 280 V1, DL+AS, with engine intakes and exhausts faired over, that was lost 13 January 1942 when Helmut Schenk successfully ejected from it.
German Military: The Luftwaffe secretly has been developing ejection seats, and on 13 January 1942, they get their first successful use in a real-life crisis. While piloting the Heinkel He 280 prototype jet-engined fighter, which is equipped with an ejection seat that has never been used, test pilot Helmut Schenk finds that the plane's control surfaces have iced up and become inoperative. Schenk pulls the lever at 2400 meters (7875 feet) after severing his tow line to a pair of Bf 110C tugs (the plane's jet engines are not ready yet). Ernst Heinkel is developing the He 280 without official Luftwaffe support and it never goes into operation, but this successful use of an ejection seat is a world-first for any plane. The Luftwaffe also is putting ejection seats into other fighters it is developing such as the Heinkel He 219 Uhu (Owl) night fighter. The Allies, however, have no ejection seats in development and no plans to do so.
US Military: Some sources place the first flight of the Igor Sikorsky USAAF R-4 helicopter on 13 January 1942. However, better records suggest that it takes place on 14 January, so we discuss it there.
The prototype He 280 V1 DL+AS being towed by a Heinkel He 111 bomber on a previous flight.
British Homefront: A puzzle is printed in the 13 January 1942 edition of The Daily Telegraph. It had been created by W.A.J. Gavin, chairman of the Eccentric Club. It is very difficult because he thought the crossword puzzles in the publication were not hard enough. A small group of ordinary citizens is invited to the newsroom to try to solve the puzzle within a 12-minute deadline (five people manage to do this). Someone from the War Office takes down the names of some of the people and invites them to interview with Colonel Nichols of the General Staff. Several of the puzzle-solvers wind up working at Bletchley Park helping to decipher German military codes from the Enigma machine in the top-secret Ultra program. It turns out that many of the codebreakers, not just the Daily Telegraph people, are crossword fans.
Japanese-Canadians are barred from fishing, 13 January 1942.
Canada Homefront: War hysteria is reaching a crescendo all along the west coast of the United States and Canada. There are numerous reports of "suspicious activities" being printed in newspapers. Among other things, the Canadian government in Ottawa today prohibits fishing by Japanese-Canadians.
Henry Ford, right, with his famous "plastic" soybean car.
American Homefront: The Ford Motor Company patents its idea of a body for cars made of plastic. Ford previously has built a car made of soybean, which is demonstrated on 13 August 1941, and some material derived from soybeans apparently is what is meant by "plastic." The "plastic" actually is a mixture of soybean fibers with resin and other binding agents (there is some doubt as to the exact formula). According to some accounts, hemp is included in the formula, but that is unproven. The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, lists the reasons for building such cars:
promote agriculture
improved safety of these cars
replace metals, which incidentally would aid the war effort.
The car is also a thousand pounds lighter than similar cars and thus much more fuel-efficient, but that apparently is not one of the reasons for building it. The idea is decades ahead of its time. Filing the patent helps somewhat to dilute the heavy skepticism among some that the whole idea of non-metal cars is just a publicity stunt. To Henry Ford, though, this is a real goal, and he spends millions of dollars developing the idea. In any event, the production of passenger cars, metal or otherwise, is about to be banned by the US government due to the war. However, Ford's research money does not go to complete waste, as it leads to the development of non-dairy whip toppings (first called "Delsoy") and other soybean-based products at Ford's Carver Laboratory during World War II. Rather than the dawn of a new era, however, the patent is a last gasp of the old one, as from this point forward the Ford Motor Company puts aside the idea of building such cars and focuses on the war effort.
Leningrad, 13 January 1942. Finding potable water, which is used to make soup for dinner. Someone has brought their sled, left, to make the daily ritual a bit easier.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt forms the U.S. War Production Board. Its chairman is Donald M. Nelson. The WPB replaces the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board. Nelson's main job is helping or forcing civilian factories (such as the major automobile factories in Detroit) to convert to war production.
Nineteen shipyards on the west coast go to continuous, around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week production schedules. The U.S. Maritime Commission faces a manpower crisis in the shipyards, many of which are newly built in areas without experienced workers. This leads to more employment by women and Africa-Americans. Major production yards are located at Oakland and San Francisco, California, Tacoma, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Henry J. Kaiser is a major driving force behind ship construction on the west coast, and he has several yards for his Kaiser Permanente organization at Richmond, California.
At the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York, the new exhibition is Latin-American Art. Among the artists featured are Diego Rivera, famous for his murals such as one in the lobby of Rockefeller Center, and Wifredo Lams. The United States is doing everything it can think of to tighten ties with Latin America during the early days of the war.
Eastern Front: The German main effort in the Soviet Union remains on track on 9 July 1941. Already, the panzers are closing on Leningrad and Kyiv, though a bit of work remains before Moscow comes into sight. With three months of good campaigning weather left, there seems little reason why Operation Barbarossa shouldn't be completed by early fall and end in a decisive German victory.
In the Far North sector, the German Operation Arctic Fox grinds forward only a little bit further, as 169th Infantry Division of XXXVI Corps pushes from Salla to Kayral. However, the geography (lakes and woodland) favors the defense, and it gets no further against the Soviet 14th Army for the time being. In fact, the three Soviet divisions there push the German troops back before setting up a strong perimeter anchored by lakes on either side.
Further north, General Dietl's Army of Norway is stopped at the Litsa River, too. Further south, the Finns plan an attack to begin July 10th on the Karelian Isthmus against Soviet 7th and 23rd Armies. Finnish troops occupy Morgonland.
In the Army Group North sector, the Germans are about 150 miles from Leningrad with the fall of Pskov to the 36th Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Otto Ottenbacher).
In the Army Group Center sector, the 20th Panzer Division of General Hoth's 3rd Panzer Group takes Vitebsk as Soviet counterattacks peter out. Hoth's panzers and General Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group are poised to close a pincer around Smolensk. Behind the front, the army group completes the destruction of the pockets of enemy troops near Bialystok. An estimated 300,000 Soviet prisoners are taken and about 40 Soviet divisions destroyed (Soviet divisions are generally much smaller than Allied or German divisions)..
In the Army Group South sector, the Germans cross the Dneipr River. The 13th Panzer Division, part of Panzer Group 1, takes Zhitomir (Zhytomyr).
The Luftwaffe remains supreme in the skies. The German JG 3, led by Luftwaffe Major Günther Lützow, shoots down all 27 bombers of a Soviet attack on its own airfield. The Germans suffer no losses. Hptm. Hans “Gockel” von Hahn, Gruppenkommandeur I./JG 3, receives the Ritterkreuz for 24 victories.
Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: In the early morning hours, the Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, with units of the 6th Divisional Cavalry Regiment, marches into Damour. By 04:00, Australians are driving completely through the town and soon secure it from the few Vichy French troops who haven't slipped out. The road north to Beirut is now clear. British artillery already is in position to fire on Beirut.
Behind the scenes, Vichy French commander General Henri Dentz is pursuing an armistice. He sees the Allies closing in on Beirut from both the south, through Damour, and from the east, via Aleppo. In addition, today the British take Homs in the north.
Despite his superiority in troops, Dentz cannot get supplies from France due to Royal Navy control of the eastern Mediterranean and the French have little hope of holding out for long. He sends destroyers Guepard, Valmy, and Vaquelin on a desperate mission to Salonika, Greece to embark reinforcements that have made their way there from France with German approval. On their way back, however, the RAF spots them a few hundred miles off the Syrian coast. Rather than lose the ships, the French order the ships to Toulon. This leaves no major French warships in the Levant.
The Turks intern several French ships in the port of Iskanderum:
4500-ton auxiliary tanker L'Adour
405-ton tanker Cyrus
Sloop Elan
Patrol boats Djebel Samin, Massalia, and Jean Mic
Minesweepers Avocette and Lecid
Trawler La Vaillante
Tugs Chambrum, Marius, and Marseillaise
French submarine Caiman manages to get away and heads for Bizerte.
Allied artillery opens up on Beirut, 9 July 1941.
European Air Operations: RAF Fighter Command sends a Circus mission to Mazingarbe power station, while RAF Coastal Command sends 15 planes on coastal sweeps.
After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 82 bombers to Aachen marshaling yards and 52 against Osnabruck.
The War Cabinet receives a report, the Air and Home Security Situation Report for the week, that notes, "The German effort by day was again very small." However, "Enemy bombing was somewhat heavier than in previous weeks," with 304 bombers observed overhead as compared to 195 in the previous week. There were 78 people killed and 67 seriously injured.
Wing Commander Douglas Bader claims a probable victory and a damaged enemy plane.
Battle of the Baltic: The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Soviet minesweeper Nalim off Guba Zapadnaya Litsa.
Battle of the Atlantic: U-98 (Kptlt. Robert Gysae), on its third patrol out of St. Nazaire, is operating northwest of the Azores when it spots ships dispersed from Convoy OB-341. Gysae sinks two British ships:
5945-ton Designer (67 deaths, 11 survivors)
4897-ton Inverness (6 deaths, 37 survivors)
They are the U-boats only successes of the patrol.
Three German minelayers hit mines and sink while en route from Finland to Swinemunde:
Hannsestadt Danzig
Preußen
Tannenberg
They apparently ran into a Swedish mine barrage east of Öland, Sweden.
Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire intercepts 4260-ton Panamanian freighter St. Cergue east of southern Iceland. It puts aboard the St. Cergue an armed guard and sends it to Skopenfjord for inspection.
British 97-ton freighter Blue Mermaid hits a mine and sinks about 8 miles off Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. There are two deaths.
Royal Navy minelayers HMS Agamemnon, Menetheus, and Quebec lay Minefield 67A in the North Sea.
Royal Navy submarine HMS P-38 is launched and anti-submarine warfare trawler Birlip is launched.
US submarine USS Flying Fish and minesweeper Skylark are launched, and light cruiser Biloxi is laid down. The Flying Fish is sponsored at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine by the wife of CINCPAC Admiral Husband Kimmel.
U-585 is launched, U-522 is laid down.
Colonel Bernhard-Hermann Ramcke presents medals to paratroopers in Crete, Greece (Iron Crosses to Oberfeldwebel and sergeant), 9 July 1941. (Weixler, Franz Peter, Federal Archives, Bild 1011-166-0526-30).
Battle of the Mediterranean: There is a flurry of activity at Tobruk, where the Germans bombard the defending Australians with artillery and air attacks. During the attacks, the Royal Navy ships in the harbor scatter, and two destroyers are damaged by near misses as they try to leave for open water:
HMS Decoy
HMAS Stuart
The ships make it Alexandria but require repair.
Royal Navy submarine HMS Torbay surfaces and sinks German patrol boats LV, LVI and L 12 east of Kithera (Kythera), Greece. Some accounts place this incident on 8 July.
Royal Navy submarine HMS Cachalot departs from Gibraltar for Malta on a supply mission.
RAF Bomber Command mounts several operations today despite some marginal weather conditions. It attacks Naples with 9 Wellington bombers based on Malta, but only 6 make it to the target due to bad weather. The ones that drop their bombs hit the Gare Centrale (main railway station) and some warehouses. Seven Blenheim bombers make a dawn attack on Tripoli Harbor, but four are shot down. Hawker Hurricanes of RAF No. 185 Squadron attack the floatplane base at Syracuse, damaging a total of a dozen seaplanes and floatplanes.
The Luftwaffe attacks Alexandria with 23 planes.
Romanian torpedo boat Năluca, victor of the Action of 9 July 1941.
Battle of the Black Sea: In a naval action known simply as the Action of 9 July 1941, Romanian torpedo boat NMS Năluca combines with motor torpedo boats Viscolul and Vijelia to sink Soviet Shchuka-class submarine Shch-206 near Mangalia.
In addition, Soviet minesweepers RTShch-103 and 108, along with gunboat No. 102 also are lost on or close to this date. They apparently sink during the same incident as Shch-206, though that is not certain.
Spy Stuff: The British Ultra team at Bletchley Park cracks a German code being used by the Luftwaffe in the Soviet Union. The Allies now can read German transmissions almost in real time using the Enigma machine.
Propaganda: The weekly broadcasts of British author P.G. Wodehouse from Berlin (the second one is tonight) become a topic of debate in the House of Commons. Foreign Affairs Secretary Anthony Eden vows to make clear to Wodehouse in some fashion that aiding the Germans is not a good idea.
Berlin, Charlottenburg Chaussee (today Straße des 17. Juni): - double-decker bus with advertising "ATA", in the distance, the Victory Column, 9 July 1941. (Proietti, Ugo, Federal Archives, Bild 212-055).
German/Ukrainian Relations: The Germans in Lviv arrest Yaroslav Stetsko, recently proclaimed leader of the independent Ukrainian state by Stepan Bandera's faction of Ukrainian National Movement
US Military: Congress authorizes $14.9 million for construction of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina.
President Roosevelt asks the Secretaries of War and Navy to prepare an estimate of the overall production requirements required to win a coming war in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
A member of the 11th Company of the Leibstandarte checks his weapon before an attack on the Stalin Line in the woods north of Miropol, 9 July 1941.
Soviet Military: Soviet aircraft designers are optimistic about the prospects of rocket-powered planes (not jets). They meet to prepare a report to send to Joseph Stalin.
British Government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes a speech in the House of Commons regarding the occupation of Iceland by US troops on 7 July. He notes:
The military occupation of Iceland by the forces of the United States is an event of first-rate political and strategic importance; in fact, it is one of the most important things that has happened since the war began.
While this may be a bit hyperbolic, Churchill notes that the occupation means that the US will not only send Great Britain whatever supplies it requires, "but also to make sure we get them." This reveals Churchill's true and enduring fear of World War II, that the Germans will be able to prevail if they can isolate Great Britain and prevent ships from reaching it.
Soviet Government: Nikolai Voznesensky is tasked with preparing a war production plan for the Soviet economy.
Holocaust: Bălţi (Romania) is occupied by German and Romanian troops. This begins a pogrom that eventually wipes out the Jewish population of the city, estimated at around 14,000 people.
Trawniki Concentration Camp in the Lublin District of the General Government begins operation as a holding pen for refugees, Soviet civilians, and Soviet officials that the Security Police and SD have designated as either potential collaborators or dangerous persons. Today, 676 inmates are imprisoned there.
The first Roma arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Gypsies are destined to become the third-largest group of deportees to Auschwitz, after Jews and Poles.
American Homefront: Royal Navy battleship HMS Malaya leaves New York Harbor under the command of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger after repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Malaya was torpedoed twice by U-106 on 20 March 1941 about 250 miles northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Today, she heads out for trials, with her next port of call Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, Malaya will provide protection for a fast convoy. Malaya is nearing the end of her useful service life because she did not undergo an extensive reconstruction during the inter-war years like her sister ships HMS Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, and Valiant.
Berlin on the Unter den Linden behind the arsenal, 9 July 1941 (Proietti, Ugo, Federal Archives, Bild 212-056).
Damage at Friar Lane, Nottingham, this picture was taken 9 May 1941.
Anglo/Iraq War: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on 9 May 1941 sends a telegram to Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell which states:
Our information is that Rashid Ali and his partisans [actually Iraqi government military forces] are in desperate straits. However this may be, you are to fight hard against them... [Y]ou should exploit situation to the utmost, not hesitating to try to break into Baghdad even with quite small forces and running the same kind of risks as the Germans are accustomed to run and profit by.
Churchill adds that "There can be no question of negotiation with Rashid Ali" unless he surrenders unconditionally. Furthermore, Wavell is to aid Free French General Catroux in an invasion of Syria "In face of your evident feeling of lack of resources" - a typical Churchillian dig at what he personally judges to be Wavell's lack of fighting spirit.
At Fort Rutbah, the RAF bombs the fort and loses a plane to small-arms fire. The Iraqi government sends a convoy of 40 trucks armed with machine guns to reinforce the small garrison. The British of the Arab Legion who are an advance party of Habforce continues to wait for reinforcements from the main column before attacking and withdraw to a more defensible position.
Jihad has been proclaimed by the Grand Mufti.
A Junkers Ju-52 transport being used for training exercises in preparation for Operation Mercury, the airborne assault on Crete, 9 May 1941.
European Air Operations: The two sides engage in a war of communiques today. Berlin Radio announces successful raids on Derby and Nottingham, where they targeted the critical Rolls-Royce aircraft engine plant. The British Air Ministry engages in a little humor when it responds that, during last night's raids, two cows and a few chickens had been killed in the East Midlands. What the RAF actually is saying in surprisingly candid fashion (if you know what actually happened) is that many Luftwaffe bombers missed their target cities due to successful deception measures. The Germans aren't told about that little secret, however, and no doubt take it as a little innocent bravado.
London is the main target during the night when about 500 Luftwaffe bombers attack. There are subsidiary attacks at RAF airfields including RAF Waddington, where a direct hit on an air-raid shelter kills ten people, including seven women.
Liverpool, Hull, and many other cities in the industrial north are devastated by the recent Luftwaffe raids. In Hull alone, there are an estimated 1000 dead and 40,000 homeless out of a population of 330,000. The Germans have been extremely effective at targeting the docks in their target cities recently, but the British are stepping up their jamming attempts of the crude German navigational system based on radio waves. That jamming already is having some effect, as evidenced by the "cows and chickens" remark.
Attacks continue at Hull, but few planes hit anything of importance. The Luftwaffe focuses on the port and damages 64-ton sailing barge Whitaker's No. 17, 5117-ton British freighter Dan Y Bryn, and 3067-ton British freighter Castilian. There are two deaths on the Castilian.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command attacks coastal targets. It then sends 146 bombers against Mannheim and Ludwigshafen during the night.
East African Campaign: The perimeter at Amba Alagi remains quiet as the British forces await reinforcements which are only a day away. The East African 22nd Infantry Brigade moves to the southwest around Laka Shala in Galla-Sidamo.
Winston Churchill sends Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie and congratulates him on being "the first [monarch deposed by the fascists] to return in triumph."
HMS Bulldog alongside U-110, 9 May 1941.
Battle of the Atlantic: Events of 9 May 1941 are little remembered by the public after the fact, but they are of far-reaching consequence. They are so important that this almost could be considered a case of losing a battle but thereby winning a war.
The British recently captured German weather ship Munchen near Iceland, securing prized Kriegsmarine naval codes, and today they pull off an even greater intelligence coup. U-100 (Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp), one of the top U-boat commanders (he sank the Athenia on 3 September 1939), is operating off of Cape Farewell, Greenland and shadowing Convoy OB-318 as part of Wolf Pack West. Lemp attacks the convoy, and all goes well at first as he sinks to ships:
4976-ton British freighter Esmond (all survive)
2609-ton British freighter Bengore Head (40 survivors, one dead).
However, the convoy escorts (HMS Bulldog, Broadway, and Aubretia) force the U-boat to the surface with depth charges. Lemp and his crew abandon ship (15 dead, 32 survivors) a little too quickly, and U-110 fails to sink. Lemp himself perishes during the incident under very murky and controversial circumstances.
Noticing the U-boat failing to sink, a boarding party from the Bulldog, led by 20-year-old Sub-Lt. David Balme, quickly rows over to the U-boat despite the ever-present fear that scuttling charges could go off at any moment. The Royal Navy sailors grab the extremely valuable Enigma coding machine along with its codebooks, rotor settings, and charts.
After everything of value has been removed from the U-boat (including the submarine's chronometer), the British sink it (during a storm, so perhaps not intentionally) to maintain the secret of its capture. It is an astonishingly lucky find for the British Ultra operation at Bletchley Park, which has been in need of the equipment and information. Of immediate benefit, the documents aboard enable the British to break the German Reservehandverfahren code, a reserve German hand cipher. The capture also becomes is a key step on the road to British scientist Alan Turing's first computer, Colossus. The capture of U-110 is so significant that it later is given the code name Operation Primrose. Winston Churchill will not even tell President Roosevelt about it until January 1942.
Fritz-Julius Lemp, Captain of U-110, KIA 9 May 1941.
U-103 (KptLt.Viktor Schütze), on its fourth patrol out of Lorient and operating off of West Africa, torpedoes and sinks 7120-ton British freighter City of Winchester. There are 91 survivors and six deaths.
U-201 (Kptlt. Adalbert Schnee), on its first patrol out of Kiel, also attacks convoy OB-318 as part of Wolf Pack West a couple of hours after the capture of U-110. Schnee hits two ships:
5969-ton Empire Cloud (badly damaged)
5802-ton Gregalia (sunk)
While the Empire Cloud is disabled and considered unsafe, so the crew abandons ship. However, a tug is called from Greenock, which manages to tow it back to port, where it is repaired and returned to service. There are no casualties on either ship.
Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli torpedoes and sinks 8817-ton Norwegian tanker Alfred Olsen several hundred miles off Freetown. Everyone survives.
Off Freetown, Royal Navy Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Cilicia captures 4564-ton Vichy French transport SS Criton. The Criton is carrying shells for the French base at Dakar. The British send the ship to Freetown, with a skeleton party of armed guards supervising the Vichy French crew.
U-107 (KrvKpt. Günter Hessler), on its second patrol and operating off of Freetown, Sierra Leone, is in the midst of a wildly successful patrol during which it sinks or damages a phenomenal 14 ships during more than two months at sea. To stay at sea that long, U-boats need regular supply from "Milch" ships. Today, U-107 is supplied with food and 14 torpedoes when it hooks up with the Egerland, which is disguised as an American freighter.
The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 3010-ton Royal Navy mine destruction ship HMS Queenworth in Outer Dowsing Channel. Everybody survives.
The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 97-ton British trawler Tankerton Towers off St Govan's Light Vessel in the mouth of Bristol Channel. All eight aboard survive.
The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 1737-ton British freighter Ostrevent near Helwick Light Vessel in the Humber.
The Luftwaffe damages a mine destruction ship, HMS Corfield, with near misses in the Humber.
The Luftwaffe damages 4950-ton British freighter Fishpool at Barrow.
The Luftwaffe bombs and damages British tankers San Roberto (5890 tons) and British Statesmen (6991 tons) just over twenty miles northeast of Spurn Point, East Riding of Yorkshire. The tankers are towed to Immingham.
Spanish fishing trawler Luis Puebla hits a mine and sinks in the Bay of Biscay north of Gijón, Asturias. There are three survivors and nine deaths.
US aircraft carrier USS Ranger and heavy cruiser Vincennes, with a destroyer escort, conduct a neutrality patrol in the Atlantic.
Another Italian submarine that has escaped from Eritrea, the Ferraris, arrives at Bordeaux after a long journey.
Convoy SC 31 departs from Halifax, bound for Liverpool.
Royal Navy destroyer HMS Brocklesby, minesweeper Polruan (Lt. Commander John S. Landers), and Anti-Submarine Warfare trawler Tarantella (Lt. Robert A. Balfour) are commissioned.
Canadian minesweeper HMCS Ungava and corvette Matapedia (Lt. Ronald J. Herman) are commissioned.
HMS Nigella, which picked up 45 survivors from Empire Cloud northeast of Cape Farewell. The Empire Cloud had been torpedoed by U-201.
Battle of the Mediterranean: The first four ships related to Operation Tiger (MW 7A and 7B out of Alexandria) reach Malta. They carry 30,000 tons of supplies. In addition, two tankers and a destroyer loaded with supplies, HMS Breconshire, also arrive. This is the largest convoy to arrive at Malta during the war and is aided by very cloudy weather. The main force of Operation Tiger coming from Gibraltar is still at sea.
One ship, however, fails to make it. British 9200-ton freighter Empire Song hits a mine during the night which sets off its ammunition cargo, causing it to explode. The Empire Song and its 57 tanks, 10 aircraft and several trucks quickly sink. There are 18 deaths and 130 survivors.
In addition, freighter New Zealand Star hits a mine but manages to make it to Malta.
At Tobruk, General Rommel's men intercept a British wireless communication that leads them to suspect that a major British offensive may be in the offing. Rommel orders defenses along the perimeter of Tobruk strengthened and orders Kampfgruppe von Herff to initiate offensive patrols.
The Royal Navy's nightly shuttle to Tobruk continues as Australian destroyer HMAS Vendetta evacuates wounded and takes them to Alexandria.
At Malta, Governor Dobbie draws up a plan to replace soldiers with female auxiliaries. The jobs will include service as cooks, dining hall waitresses, messengers, and similar functions. Among other things, this involves an increase in pay for the women (subject to Whitehall approval).
Convoy AS 30 departs from Suda Bay, Crete under heavy escort, bound for Alexandria.
An Enigma machine (lower left) aboard U-124 in March, 1941 (Dietrich, Federal Archives).
Spy Stuff: Bulgarian agents confirm other warnings, such as the one on 6 May from Richard Sorge in Tokyo, that the Germans are planning an attack on the Soviet Union. Anglo/Free French Relations: There is a muddle within the British hierarchy about how to deal with Vichy Syria, which is in the formative stages of being used to transfer German planes and troops to Iraq. The British have been allowing the Vichy government in Syria wide latitude and even been paying some Vichy sailors interned at Alexandria. This passive attitude has extended to permitting regular passages of French transport SS Providence between Marseille and Beirut - even as other Vichy ships have been captured on the high seas. In effect, the British Middle East Command has been conducting its own independent foreign relations with the Vichy forces in Syria even though there is a growing sense that the French will soon be allowing the Germans transit rights to Iraq.
First, Major-General Edward Spears, who is on the staff of Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell, is a fervent Francophile and has been acting as a liaison to General De Gaulle, cables De Gaulle in Brazzaville that there is no need for him to visit Cairo to plan an attack on Syria. "There would, in fact, be some disadvantage to your doing so," he writes, which presumably means that De Gaulle's presence would antagonize the Vichy authorities in Syria.
However, in the evening Winston Churchill himself cables De Gaulle. Among other things, Churchill casually mentions that De Gaulle should go to Cairo. Surprised, De Gaulle quickly replies (in English, which is very rare for him) "I shall go to Cairo soon." The entire incident is very revealing of the general confusion that infests relations between Great Britain and France during this period. Another outcome of this incident is that relations between Spears and De Gaulle deteriorate, to Spears' personal regret.
Junkers Ju-52 transports standing in wait for Operation Mercury, the airborne assault on Crete, 9 May 1941.
Australian/US Relations: Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies is in Washington, D.C. In the morning, he meets with Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Menzies notes that:
I gather that the whole Cabinet would come into the war tomorrow if Roosevelt would say the word. But he hangs back, preferring an "incident" (e.g., as a result of the Atlantic patrol) to a formal declaration.
Menzies notes that Dean Atcheson is "friendly but confused. Famous Harry Hopkins a great disappointment - a sort of gangling yokel."
Soviet/Yugoslav Relations: The Soviet Union withdraws diplomatic recognition of the Yugoslav government-in-exile. Led by King Peter, the exiles have been camping out in Jerusalem under British protection, along with remaining remnants of the Yugoslav Army, Navy and Air Force that managed to leave the country. Some army elements do remain in Yugoslavia, and they are in the process of regrouping as partisans and forming the primarily Serbian "Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland" (Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini, or JVUO, or Četniks) under Royalist General Draža Mihailović. However, communist partisans in the region also are stirring, and the Soviets may prefer to back them. The official reason for withdrawing recognition is that the German government now controls the country.
Soviet/Belgian Relations: The Soviets also withdraw recognition of the exiled government of Belgium.
Soviet Norwegian Relations: The Soviets also withdraw recognition of the Norwegian government.
Fort Rutbah, Iraq, 9 May 1941. This photograph was taken from an RAF Blenheim bomber that attacked the fortress.
Japanese/Vichy French Relations: The inconclusive border wall between Thailand and French forces in Indochina comes to an official end with the signing of a peace treaty in Tokyo. Thailand basically gets all the territory that it sought in the war. The Japanese, who have been serving as an "honest broker" in the affair (but actually strongly favor the Thais), guarantee the new borders. The Vichy French in Indochina are isolated and have been largely powerless to influence the one-sided negotiations.
British Military: The Air Ministry announces the existence of "a large number of paratroops who have completed their training and are ready for action." Philippines: Now that his staff has arrived on USAT Washington, Brigadier General Clagett, the newly arrived commander of the Philippines Department Air Corps, begins organizing his command. Ernest Hemingway, on his way back to the States from his six-week stay in Asia, is in Manila and parties with the enlisted men, at least one of whom he knows personally through a mutual female acquaintance. Hemingway, who claims never to have gotten anywhere near the war, makes eerily insightful comments about the situation in China. These include views that the Nationalists and Communists soon will be fighting each other in addition to the Japanese, and that Japan might well be at war with the United States soon.
City of Winchester (Master William Samuel Coughlan), sunk on 9 May 1941 by U-103 (Victor Schutze) while transiting from London to Capetown. The City of Winchester carried 6500 tons of general cargo and was sunk off Freetown about 400 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. The 91 survivors included the master, and they were rescued by Norwegian freighter Herma and taken to Takoradi.
Serbia: At Sanski Most, the Germans kill 27 Serb civilians as reprisals for the recent uprising. The troops force townspeople to hang the bodies in the town square for two days. This incident leads to bitter hatred between the Serbs and the Ustaše, who start contemplating how to wipe out (ethnically cleanse) the population of the entire region. A reign of terror against the Serbian locals commences. There remain many rebels in the nearby hills who will lay low until July.
China: At the Battle of South Shanxi, the Japanese North China Front Army continues to attack the 9th Army of the Chinese 1st War Area at Fengmenkou and Lungwanwo. The Japanese also capture Wangyuan and attack Tungfeng. In addition, the Japanese Imperial Air Force raids the Nationalist capital of Chungking.
American Homefront: Singer Billie Holiday records "God Bless the Child" at the Okey Records studio on Seventh Avenue in New York City. It is the first recording of the jazz song written by Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr. "God Bless the Child" will not be released until 1942. The song will become one of Holiday's signature songs and a major event in her eventual autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues."
Future History: Operation Primrose, the capture of U-110, will become the starting point for the screenplay of "U-571" (2000).
A memorial to the Sanski Most Revolt will be set up at Šušnjar in 1971 and designated a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2003.
Monument to the Sanski Most uprising of May 1941. The monument was constructed in 1970 and designed by Sarajevo architect Petar Krstić. The monument is controversial because tiles bearing the names of Muslim victims of the revolt have been removed.
