Posted on 01/15/2011 5:41:50 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
The index by author at the bottom of Homer's profile will updated in a few minutes to include February 1940 The missing section is down to six months - September 1939-January 1940.
Hull 1st Witness – 2
‘Rotten’, Dastardly’, Roosevelt Says of War Charge Made by Wheeler – 3
The International Situation – 3
3 British Warships Hit in Axis Attack in Mediterranean – 4
A Close Call for the Ark Royal in the Mediterranean (photo) – 5
2 Slain as Police Battle 2 Gunmen in 5th Ave. Throng – 6-8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 9-10
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jan41/f15jan41.htm
Emperor returning to Ethiopia
Wednesday, January 15, 1941 www.onwar.com
In East Africa... Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Ethiopia during the night (January 15-16).
Over Germany... A British force of 76 bombers raids Wilhelmshaven during the night.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
January 15th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Cruiser minelayer HMS Adventure is damaged for the second time on a mine while on passage from Milford Haven to Liverpool.
RAF Bomber Command designates oil targets as the “sole primary targets.” Seventeen plants are designated in cities and cities connected with the oil industry. Hanover, Magdeburg, Bremen and Oppau are listed as targets. (Jack McKillop)
London:
The Admiralty announces the promotion of Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet to admiral.
Corvette HMS Godetia laid down.
Corvette HMS Anchusa launched.
Minesweeper HMS Felixstowe launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Hoxa launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
LUXEMBOURG: German soldiers loot the ancient monastery of Clairvaux, which was founded in 1115.
GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler meets with Romanian Prime Minister General Ion Antonescu at Salzburg and informs him of his intention to invade the Soviet Union with Romanian collaboration. Antonescu tells Hitler that first he must liquidate the Legionary Movement, but neglects to ask for more than just a promise of additional aid, armaments, and war materials. (Jack McKillop)
During the night of 15/16 January, 96 RAF Bomber Command aircraft are sent to bomb Wilhelmshaven; 70 actually bomb the target. This raid is rated as successful. (Jack McKillop)
U-179 is laid down.
U-151, U-554 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Italian motorship Citta di Messina (2,472 BRT), escorted by the torpedo boat Centauro, is torpedoed and sunk by the submarine HMS Regent. It is the first sinking of a supply ship bound for North African in 1941. (Mark Horan)
CHINA: Kiangsi, central CHINA: The growing tension between rival Nationalist and Communist factions, which flared into open violence last week when the 10,000 strong New Fourth Army of the Communists was surrounded and disarmed, is likely to be made worse by the Nationalist Kuomintang ruling that the New Fourth must now be disbanded.
The incident is feared to have severely damaged the Chinese war effort and removed any prospect of further military collaboration between the two rivals against Japan.
Communists are denouncing the disarming as part of a Nationalist-Japanese plot. The Communists fear that 25,000 comrades who are still in Kiangsi, which is Nationalist dominated, face a similar danger. They claim that the original Nationalist order to the New Fourth to cross the Yellow River was always intended to trap it.
ETHIOPIA: Five Years after he was forced into exile Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, is home. He was flown over the frontier from Sudan shortly after 11am by the RAF and was greeted by a welcoming party of British officers, native chiefs and troops from the Ethiopian regular army.
The Emperor had been forced into exile by the Italian invasion, pleading in vain for aid at the League of Nations. Today he issued a proclamation urging his people to rebel themselves against the Italian invaders: “Italy is cornered by the grip of Great Britain by sea, air and land power. The Italians will not escape my trusted warriors.”
Haile Selassie, who was accompanied by his two sons, thanked the government and people of Britain for their support in his “bitter trials”. So the man who had lived in Bath as plain Mr Smith was once more “His Imperial Majesty - Lion of Judah, king of the Kings of Ethiopia.” His return is expected to boost even further the momentum of British attacks on Mussolini’s faltering empire.
CANADA: Minesweepers HMCS Gananoque and Goderich laid down Toronto, Ontario.
Destroyers HMCS Assiniboine, St Francis and Columbia departed Halifax for EG-4 Greenock. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Gwin commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: AMC HMCS Prince Henry arrived Bermuda for workups. (Dave Shirlaw)
Day 503 January 15, 1941
Minelaying cruiser HMS Adventure is damaged on a mine for the second time, in Liverpool Bay en route from Milford Haven, Wales. She is towed into Liverpool (under repair until May when she is further damaged in an air raid,finally returning to service on June 27).
350 miles West of Ireland, Italian submarine Luigi Torelli attacks a small convoy of 6-7 merchant ships, sinking Norwegian SS Brask (12 crew killed, 20 rescued) and Greek SS Nemea (17 crew killed, 14 rescued).
Overnight, 76 RAF bombers raid the naval base at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Wellington bombers of No. 57 Squadron attack Emden, Germany.
At least Sen. Wheeler saw where Roosevelt was heading with his plans. And, of course, Roosevelt reacted like all ‘presidents for life’ who can be counted on to hold onto their power until carried out the door, one way or the other.
bump
I find it interesting how the opposition to Roosevelt and to aiding the Allies don’t follow any political boundaries. Wheeler is a staunch Democrat from Montana and is probably F.D.R.’s most vicious adversary. In today’s accounts of the isolationist movement it is often portrayed as a Republican movement against F.D.R. but that really wasn’t the case at all. It was a real mixed bag.
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