Posted on 04/01/2011 5:24:25 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
Notes Handed U.S. – 2
The International Situation – 3
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 4-5
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/apr41/f01apr41.htm
Iraqi coup led by nationalist
Tuesday, April 1, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Iraq... A coup is led by the nationalist politician Rashid Ali and a group of officers calling themselves the “Golden Square.” They are opposed to the British presence in the country. The Regent Faisal escapes to Transjordan. By April 3rd, a new government has been installed. The British send troops from India and the Middle East to ensure access to the vital oil supplies.
In North Africa... The British withdraw from Mersa Brega, abandoning almost the only available defensive position before the open space of the Cyrenaica Plateau.
In East Africa... Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, is taken by the British forces led by General Platt.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/01.htm
April 1st, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: The Commons rejects government proposals to allow theatres to open on Sundays.
RAF Bomber Command: Last night 6 Wellingtons from 9 and 149 Squadrons attacked the German port of Emden. One specially-modified aircraft from each squadron dropped a 4,000-pound bomb on the target. Like the 2,000-pounder, which was first used last July, this new bomb has a thin, blunt-nosed case packed with HE. Already nicknamed the “cookie” or “blockbuster” by air and ground crews.
London: Churchill instructs Wavell to not hesitate to implement a full blockade on French Somaliland and its port of Djibouti.
Cambridge: When a small boy told Alice Stutley, a Cambridge air-raid shelter marshal, that there was a dead body in the shelter in the park, she thought it was an April Fool’s Day trick. When she finally agreed to go and look she found a man who had shot himself through the head.
The body was that of Jan Willen ter Braak, a German spy charged with “liquidating” Churchill. He had lodged in Cambridge since last autumn, posing as a Dutch scientist who was working on fossils. But frequent visits to London, and to Whitehall in particular, soon alerted the Secret Service. Today they had found a transmitter, a Luger pistol and a file on Churchill’s movements in ter Braak’s rooms and were waiting for him to return.
YUGOSLAVIA: Belgrade: The Senate is dissolved and the government order a general mobilization. The Yugoslav Army has 900,000 men on active service but with mobilization, that will be increased to 1.4 million. (Jack McKillop)
Hitler today demanded the demobilization of the Yugoslav army and ratification of the Axis Pact. A third demand - that Yugoslavia apologize for the anti-Nazi demonstrations - is less of a problem for Belgrade. Meanwhile the Germans are making plans to attack Yugoslavia in line with the Fuhrer’s 25th war directive.
Yugoslav officials are planning to sign a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. The treaty promises no Enmity between the two nations and that each country will come to the aid of the other, should one be attacked by a third party.
ITALY: Japanese Foreign Minister MATSUOKA Yosuke, on an official visit to Rome, has separate meetings with King Victor Emmanuel III and dictator Benito Mussolini. Matsuoka has arrived from Berlin where he had discussions with Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. (Jack McKillop)
LIBYA: Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame, General Officer Commanding Western Desert Force, orders the British 2nd Armoured Division to withdraw towards Benghazi; the retreat is hampered by the breakdown of most of their tanks. He also orders the Benghazi garrison to prepare demolition charges and be prepare to evacuate on 24 hours’ notice. (Jack McKillop)
ERITREA: Asmara the capital of Eritrea has fallen to the advancing 5th Indian Division. Italian General Nicola Carnimeo, commander of the 2nd Colonial Division, though wounded in the leg, tries with scraps of his defeated army to hold up the Indian advance at Adi Tecesan, 35 miles (56 kilometres) from Asmara. He failed. With nothing left, the Italians sent out two policemen with a white flag, and declared Asmara an open city. The Italian destroyer Leone runs aground off Eritrea and is scuttled by its crew to prevent it from being captured by the British. (Jack McKillop)
IRAQ: A coup is led by the nationalist politician Rashid Ali and a group of officers opposed to the British presence in the country; they call themselves the “Golden Square.” The Regent Faisal escapes to Transjordan (now Jordan). (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC: The USN’s heavy cruisers USS Chicago (CA-29) (Rear Admiral John H. Newton, Commander Cruisers Scouting Force) and USS Portland (CA-33) and destroyers USS Clark (DD-361), USS Conyngham (DD-371), USS Reid (DD-369), USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Downes (DD-375) arrive at Suva, Fiji Islands from Brisbane, Australia. (Jack McKillop)
Neame’s abandoning the only defensible position west of the escarpment, most of his broken down tanks [the Brits never developed the field recovery and repair units for tanks the Germans did], and has ordered Benghazi prepped for demolition.
And back in London? “Libya. No change in the situation “ Don’t these people talk to each other? ‘Cause the genie is now officially out of the bottle. And 15th Pz. is in-country.
I imagine they talk to each other. But I don't think they see the primary purpose of news releases as giving the outside world the most accurate, up-to-date information available, regardless of how it reflects on the British military.
True. But considering what’s going on in Libya, with Rommel now at [for the time being] full strenth, and about to debouch on a sand covered pool table, the old “Cat’s on the roof” joke comes to mind.
I think they are afraid to mention that things have begun to unravel.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 579 April 1, 1941
Eritrea. Advancing British tanks are met by 2 police officers from Asmara, declaring the Eritrean capital an open town. At 10 AM, 5th Indian Division enters the town and takes 5,000 Italian POWs plus 1,500,000 shells and 3,000,000 small arms rounds. Armoured cars under Colonel Bernard Fletcher (”Flitforce”) are dispatched along the Via Imperiale towards Adigrat to cut off Italian retreat South into neighbouring Ethiopia. German merchant ships continue leaving Massawa before the British arrive. In the Red Sea, destroyer HMS Kandahar intercepts German steamer Bertram Rickmers which is scuttled by the crew, while SS Lichtenfels returns to Massawa to avoid capture.
8 German merchant ships are scuttled by their crews in various South American ports, to avoid being impounded by American and Canadian authorities. This follows the ABC Staff Agreement and seizure of Axis ships in US ports.
Rommel holds 5th Light Division at Mersa Brega. British commander in Libya General Philip Neame (holder of both an Olympic Gold Medal and Victoria Cross) orders British forces to make a fighting retreat to Agedabia, if attacked. They will then split to cover the coastal road to Benghazi and routes through the desert South of the Green Mountain. Neither part will be strong enough to resist the German attack but they are not sufficiently mobile to provide mutual support.
German bombers sink British tanker San Conrado and Norwegian tanker Hidlefjord (all 29 hands lost) 45 miles West of Milford Haven, Wales. 3 other tankers are damaged in the raid.
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