Posted on 04/26/2011 5:10:56 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
#1 – “Amapola” ((Pretty Little Poppy) - Jimmy Dorsey, with Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell
#2 - “Oh Look at Me Now” - Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers
#3 – “Alexander the Swoose,” - Kay Kyser, with Harry, Ginny, Jack and Max
#4 – “Do I Worry” – Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers
#5 - “Blue Flame” – Woody Herman
#6 - “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” – Benny Goodman, with Louise Tobin
#7 - “Dolores” - Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers
#8 - “The Wise Old Owl” – Al Donahue, with Dee Keating
#9 - “Frenesi” - Artie Shaw
#10 - “Dolores” – Bing Crosby and the Merry Macs
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/apr41/f26apr41.htm
Allied rearguards slow German advance
Saturday, April 26, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Balkans... The main German advance is halted by the Allied rearguard at Thebes. The rearguard falls back during the night. Meanwhile, there are two German attempts to move into the Peloponnese to interfere with the evacuation of the Allied troops. A paratroop force is dropped at Corinth to take a vital canal bridge but it is blown up before they can do so. At the west end of the Gulf of Corinth, the German SS Leibstandart Adolf Hitler Division begins to cross over the Patras.
In East Africa... The Allied forces take Dessie with 8000 Italian prisoners.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 604 April 26, 1941
Greece. With Germans advancing on Athens and Luftwaffe attacks on mainland evacuation beaches, most Allied troops have been sent across the Corinth Canal Bridge to evacuate from the safety of the Peloponnese peninsula. Just after dawn, German paratroops land on both sides of the bridge which is quickly blown up by Allied demolition charges (killing several German troops) but German engineers have a crossing operational by the end of the day. British 1st Armoured Brigade and New Zealand 4th Brigade are trapped on the mainland, turn around and march back to beaches South of Athens where 8300 are evacuated overnight. Another 12,950 men are evacuated from the Peloponnese peninsula. Destroyer HMS Defender evacuates the crown jewels of Yugoslavia. Luftwaffe relentlessly attacks the embarkation ports and ships at sea sinking Greek torpedo boat Kydonia and 3 steamers.
Libyan/Egyptian border. German troops attack British and Australian positions at Halfaya Pass. Allied troops hold the Pass all day but withdraw overnight to Buq Buq, Egypt. Possession of good defensive positions at Halfaya Pass allows Rommel to concentrate his forces for an attack on Tobruk.
Operation Tiger. British freighters Clan Chattan, Clan Campbell, Clan Lamont, Empire Song & New Zealand Star (carrying 295 tanks to General Wavell in Egypt) leave the Clyde escorted by battleship HMS Rodney, cruiser HMS Naiad and destroyers HMS Havelock, Hesperus & Harvester.
1st South African Brigade captures the town of Dessie, Ethiopia, 130 miles South of Amba Alagi, and takes 4000 Italian prisoners.
Giving up Halfaya [”Hellfire”] Pass is going to cost Wavell big timein alittle over 5 weeks. And the commander of the Pass’ defense then, Major [Pastor] Bach, will give new meaning to the phrase, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”.
British Leave; Vast Equipment Reported Saved.
Nice headline, but unfortunately it neglects to specify that it was the Germans who were busily "saving" most of this abandoned Allied equipment.
A wounded British soldier is helped by one of his comrades, after their capture by the Germans. Over 7000 British and Commonwealth troops were taken prisoner during the Greek campaign
The destroyers Diamond and Wryneck came back from the convoy to pick up the survivors, but the bombers also came back and both destroyers were sunk; from all three ships only 50 survived.
On the night of April 27 more than 21,000 men of the expeditionary force were safely lifted from five different beaches, and the next night another 5,000 of the 6th New Zealand Brigade group were lifted from the extreme southern end of the Peloponnesus.
The only large group remaining were some 7,000 waiting in Kalamata Bay, from where more than 8,000 had already been taken off. But it was now April 28 and both the 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' Division and the V Panzer Division were in the Peloponnesus. The advance guard of the Panzers overwhelmed a small 4th Hussars perimeter-guard, burst into Kalamata, captured the naval embarkation officer and his signalman, and so cut communication with the approaching ships.
The thousands of Allied soldiers in the town were not organised for fighting; indeed, only about 800 of them were fighting troops, the rest belonging to base units. There was great confusion and very little resistance when the Germans crashed into the town and soon large numbers of prisoners were rounded up. It was easy to be captured; it took determination and courage to fight in these circumstances. Among the few who did was a Royal Tanks major who fired at German gun positions for two hours with a Bren-gun, and a New Zealand sergeant who, covered by the major's Bren-gun, assembled a party of New Zealanders, and even after being wounded led them in attacks on one German machine-gun position after another. Months later in a prison camp he learned that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross.
The fighting at Kalamata on April 28 was vicious, with about 100 casualties on each side and, incredibly, in the end it was the surviving Germans who surrendered, so Allied hopes of being evacuated ran high.
A Royal Naval squadron of two cruisers and six destroyers had been on the way in when the fighting broke out in the town, and a signal lamp warning had been flashed to them, 'Boche in harbour'. The First Lieutenant of the leading destroyer, the Hero, went ashore to find out what was happening, but the Captain commanding the squadron, seeing tracer fire and hearing explosions in the town, reasonably decided that the number of men now likely to be saved did not justify risking his ships.
He therefore ordered his force to withdraw; and although - about 40 minutes later - the First Lieutenant of the Hero signalled that all firing had ceased and evacuation was possible, the Captain did not alter his decision. The cruiser he commanded had not yet taken any part in the evacuation from Greece, and appearances on shore might well have seemed much worse than they were. Whatever the reason, over 7,000 men were left behind, some of whom had fought the rearguards all the way from the mountains of northern Greece two weeks before.
Marshall Cavendish History Of The Second World War
An interesting aspect here is that the accounts that have the BEF evacuating their tanks and other equipment are in UP stories filed from Berlin. The sources are German! What a striking divergence there is between the contemporary news accounts and the historical account you posted as a reply.
History may not be Mr. Cavendish's strong point.
Doesn’t seem like anyone is getting that one right.
So I see
Considering the discussion we just had about this I can't believe that went right past me
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