BRITISH END RELATIONS WITH RUMANIA; PREPARE TO BLOCK NAZI BALKAN MOVE (2/11/41)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 2/11/41 | Robert P. Post, C.L. Sulzberger

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Action by London – 2
Soviet Seen Taking a Hands-Off Policy – 3
The International Situation – 3
Extension of War Feared in Balkans – 4
Britain Sends Bombers to North Malaya; Japanese Call Move a Threat to Thailand – 5
Genoa Death Toll Put at 72 by Italy – 5
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 6-7

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/feb41/f11feb41.htm

Darlan to be Petain’s deputy

Tuesday, February 11, 1941 www.onwar.com

In Vichy France... Darlan is nominated to be successor and deputy to Petain. He is to hold office as Foreign Minister, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Information as well as his rank as Commander in Chief of the Navy.

In East Africa... General Cunningham’s forces extend their advance from Kenya into the Italian Somaliland and take Afmadu.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/11.htm

February 11th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: The Stirling bomber made its operational debut last night when three of No. 7 Squadron’s Stirlings, led by Sqn. Ldr. Griffith-Jones, DFC, dropped 56 500lb bombs on oil-storage tanks in Rotterdam.
Prime Minister to Minister of Shipping:

Is it true that the steamship ‘New Toronto’, which arrived at Liverpool, was ordered to proceed north-about to London, and is it true that this order was only cancelled as a result of the protest of the captain, who pointed out the enormous value of his cargo, which contained, inter alia, 19,677 sub-machine guns and 2,456,000 cartridges? The arrival of these ships with large consignments of invaluable munitions ought to receive your personal attention in every case.

Submarine HMS Ultimatum launched.
Light cruiser Jacob Van Heemskerck commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: Admiral Darlan becomes Marshall Petain’s successor and Deputy in the Vichy government. Darlan is also named Foeriegn Minister, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Information, and Commander in Chief of the French Navy.

THE NETHERLANDS: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Romania.

GERMANY:

U-80 launched.
U-68 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

LIBYA: Tripoli: The first troops of German 5th Light Infantry Division land.

ITALIAN SOMALILAND: South African and Gold Coast troops occupy the military centre of Afmadu.

U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Aaron Ward and Buchanan laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Submarine HMS Snapper is sunk in the Atlantic Southwest of Ushant. All 39 crew are lost. It is believed that she was attacked by German minesweepers M2, M13 and M25 which were conducting an A/S sweep in the area and dropped over 50 depth charges when Snapper broke surface after firing a torpedo. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Between 0133 and 0135, U-136 fired four torpedoes at Convoy SC-67 south of Iceland and reported hits on two steamers and on a corvette and later sighted debris and two lifeboats. In fact, the Heina and HMCS Spikenard were sunk. Heina in station #72 was hit below the #2 hatch, developed a heavy list and sank vertically three hours later. All men were picked up by HMCS Dauphin and landed at Londonderry, where the injured master was taken to a hospital. The remaining survivors left for Glasgow on 14 February.
Destroyer ORP Blyskawica escorted a convoy to Iceland. But on the 14th she was again damaged in a storm and returned to Greenock. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 530 February 11, 1941

Operation Colossus. At 0.30 AM, British paratroops of X Troop blow up the Tragino aqueduct, Southern Italy. They head West towards the coast to meet submarine HMS Triumph, but they are soon captured (remaining POWs until 1943, except Lieutenant Deane–Drummond who escapes, returns to England in 1942 and joins 1st Airborne Division). Although water supplies are temporarily interrupted, the aqueduct is quickly repaired and no harm is done to the Italian war effort or morale.

At 1 AM, British monitor HMS Erebus bombards Ostend, Belgium, for 40 minutes escorted by destroyers HMS Quorn and HMS Eglinton.

Convoy carrying the first German troops arrives at Tripoli, despite an unsuccessful attack by British submarine HMS Unique.

Another submarine HMS Snapper disappears en route from the Clyde to the Bay of Biscay (all 41 hands lost), either lost on a German minefield or depthcharged 70 miles Southwest of Brest, France, by German minesweepers M-2, M-13 and M-25.

East Africa. In the Dongolaas Gorge near Keren, Eritrea, Indian 3rd Batt/1st Punjab Regiment advances and takes the next peak, Sanchil. Italians respond with shell and mortar fire all day and a counterattack by Savoia Grenadiers. Indian troops are forced off both Sanchil and Brig’s Peak, retreating back to Cameron Ridge. Further South in Italian Somaliland, Cunningham’s forces from Kenya take the road junction at Afmadow, at the North end of the Juba River.

800 miles West of Gibraltar, German cruiser Admiral Hipper (which left Brest, France, on February 1) sinks British SS Iceland carrying 962 tons of oranges from Seville, Spain, to Britain. Hipper picks up all 23 crew who are taken prisoner. SS Iceland is a straggler from convoy HX53. Just before midnight, Hipper locates the convoy on radar at 15km and shadows it all night.

[abb]

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15047

SS New Toronto

New Toronto SS was a British Cargo Steamer of 6,568 tons built in 1919 and owned by the Elder Dempster Line. On the 5th November 1942 when on route from FORCADOS & LAGOS for UK carrying a cargo of 8,000 tons including, wolfram, tin, kapok, cotton, palm oil, 3 boxes gold and 10 bags of mail she was torpedoed by German submarine U-126 and sunk. 4 persons lost from a total of 49.

[abb]

[Tank-FL]

On the first page there is a story about a Soviet General “killing himself” - yes sir, if you beleive that try this the word gullible is not in the dictionary.

[Fiji Hill]

The headline that grabbed my attention is the one that read, "Gen. Krivitsky Found Dead." Gen. Walter G. Krivitsky was a high official in the People's Committee for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police and espionage apparatus. his memoirs, In Stalin's secret service; an exposé of Russia's secret policies by the former chief of the Soviet intelligence in western Europe (New York: Harper, 1939) had been a best seller--and are still in print in 2011. He was found dead in Room 532 of the Hotel Bellevue in Washington, DC after apparently shooting himself. However, he had warned previously that if he was found dead, his murder would likely be made to look like suicide. To this day, it is still unclear whether or not Krivitsky died by his own hand.

The Bellevue, located on E Street NW near the Capitol, has been renovated and is now called the George. For many years, guests would request to stay in Room 532, but I believe the building in which it was located was demolished and replaced.

[PAR35]

The US navy should buy the plans for the Erebus/Terror and they would have a solution for their search for a littoral combat ship. Certainly looks better gunned than the two toys that they’ve bought for that purpose.

Erebus length- 405 ft. draft 11’8” guns 2x15”, 2x6”, 4x3”
Lockheed length 378’ Draft 12.8 ft, gun 57mm
GD length 419’, Draft 14.1 ft, gun 57mm.

The Erebus was wider than the Lockheed design, narrower than the GD design. The newer designs are much faster, but the older British design could be re-engined to make up some of the difference. And with adequate armor and big guns, you don’t need to be able to run away as quickly.

[abb]

I’ve been fascinated with the UK “monitors” ever since I read this book nearly forty years ago.

http://www.douglasreeman.com/Douglas%20Reeman%20Novels/default%20-%20DRNovelsUKA.html

HMS Saracen - by Douglas Reeman

[PAR35]

Something to look for at Half Price books.

[abb]

Reeman’s WW2 naval fiction compares to the Hornblower “fighting sail” era books.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

As a kid I read C.S. Forrester’s “The Good Shepherd” over and over. That was about a WWII destroyer on convoy duty. I’m pretty sure it was USN rather than RN. My most vivid recollection now is the steward bringing the skipper sandwiches and hot coffee on the bridge where he spent endless hours on duty. And the cold. I’ll be posting an interview with Forrester in the NYT Book Review section in a few weeks.

[abb]

If you want “cold” on the bridge of a ww2 convoy warship, this one will stick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ulysses_%28novel%29
HMS Ulysses - Alistair MacLean

[Larry381]

The US navy should buy the plans for the Erebus/Terror and they would have a solution for their search for a littoral combat ship. Certainly looks better gunned than the two toys that they’ve bought for that purpose.

Two famous names in the British Navy. I believe it was Erebus and Terror, two British Hecla class bomb ships commanded by Sir John Franklin that disappeared in 1845 while searching for the Northwest Passage. I don't believe the ships or any of her crews were ever heard from again.

[Larry381]

Communist General Walter G. Krivitsky, the former head of Soviet Military Intelligence in Western Europe, had defected and was slated to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, before the British Government, and before a New York State legislative committee investigating Communist infiltration in the education systems in the state.

Krivitsky was naming persons who had been assassinated and said he could prove that many peculiar deaths were bona fide assassinations. He indicated that many assassins were medical personnel…which allowed for the deaths being attributed to natural causes. Krivitsky claimed that the assassins used a complete series of chemicals that produced symptoms of liver, heart, and kidney failure, and cancer, leukemia or blood cell diseases.

Krivitsky was assassinated on February 10, 1941, by a bullet to the head in the Hotel Bellevue in Washington, D.C. Krivitsky was scheduled to testify the next day before the New York legislative committee investigating the state’s educational systems.

[CougarGA7]

Did they actually prove that he was assassinated? This looks like an interesting story.

[Larry381]

There appears little doubt he was assassinated but to this day who did it is unknown.There are a number of good books about Krivitsky and the many American spies he was aware of-but only by their code names. Had he lived there is little doubt the history of Soviet espionage here and in Europe would have been far different.

In his diary, declassified in 2002, Guy Liddell, the wartime head of MI5’s B Division, admitted ‘There is no doubt that the Russians are better in the matter of espionage than any other country in the world.’ Evidence to support this came from the defection in January 1940 of Walter Krivitsky, the former head of Soviet Military Intelligence in Western Europe, who became the most significant defector yet from the elite of the Soviet intelligence services. Krivitsky gave tantalising clues pointing to a network of agents embedded deep in both the British government and the intelligence services. Though he did not know their identities, he was talking about the Cambridge Five, headed by the notorious trio of Burgess, Maclean and Philby.