Posted on 02/23/2011 5:38:10 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions * – 7
The Naval Line-Up in the Pacific (map) – 8
Japan’s Push South is Held Up by Russia – 9
The New York Times Book Reviw
Author of “Captain Horatio Hornblower” – 11-12
* Answers Saturday
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/feb41/f23feb41.htm
British promise 100,000 men for Greece
Sunday, February 23, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Athens... The Greeks agree to accept a British force which at this stage is intended to be 100,000 men with suitable artillery and tank support. The Greeks are very reluctant to accept anything less since it would not be enough to fight the Germans off and would only encourage them to attack. The disposition of the British and Greek forces is also discussed. The British prefer a position along the line of the Aliakmon River but the Greeks are unwilling to give up the territory which this line does not cover. No final decision is made — a serious omission in light of later events.
In East Africa... In Somaliland the main Italian forces defending the line of the Juba River have been defeated. General Cunningham’s troops are now advancing very rapidly toward Mogadishu. There is a small Free French landing in Eritrea.
In Occupied Holland... The SS raid on the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam is completed. About 400 Jews are arrested and deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
February 23rd, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
Churchill to Sir Alexander Cadogan:
“...we should continue to give increasing support to de Gaulle. I cannot believe that the French nation will give their loyalty to anyone who reaches the head of the state because he is well thought of by the Germans. We should reason patiently with Washington against giving any food to unoccupied France or North Africa. ...I am sure Darlan is an ambitious crook. His exposure and Weygand’s weakness will both ... inure to the credit of de Gaulle.”
ITALY: Rome: While admitting the loss of 200,000 troops in Ethiopia, Mussolini says victory is assured, and that Italy will fight “to the last drop of blood.”
GREECE: Athens: After talks lasting all night and much of today, the Greek Premier, Alexander Korizis, agrees to Eden’s proposal for British aid.
The Greek government agrees to accept a British force which at this stage is intended to be 100,000 men with suitable artillery and tank support. The Greeks are very reluctant to accept anything less since it would not be enough to fight the Germans off and would only encourage them to attack. The disposition of the British and Greek forces is also discussed. The British prefer a position along the line of the Aliakmon River but the Greeks are unwilling to give up the territory which this line does not cover. No final decision is made — a serious omission in light of later events. (Jack McKillop)
BULGARIA: Sofia: German tanks and motorised columns have been infiltrating Bulgaria from their bases in Romania over a remote crossing of the Danube at Cernavoda in Dobruja. At the same time they have ostentatiously made no attempt to cross the main bridges over the river.
This piecemeal invasion seems to indicate that Hitler means to increase his pressure by degrees and wait for Britain to serve an ultimatum on Bulgaria before moving into the country openly to “save it from the British.”
The secrecy surrounding these moves is helped by the rigid censorship of the Bulgarian press. All military news is banned and domestic news is replaced by foreign despatches. Ordinary Bulgarians have no idea that German Panzers are rolling through their land.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Luftwaffe Ju 87 Stuka British Monitor HMS Terror off the North African coast, near Tobruk, Libya. (Jack McKillop)
EGYPT: Cairo: Wavell decides against the projected bombing of the Ploesti oilfields as 1. it would necessitate violating Turkish airspace, and 2. it would attract the attention of the Germans to a British presence in Greece that we are trying to keep secret.
ERITREA: A small force Free French troops lands in Eritrea. (Jack McKillop)
ITALIAN SOMALILAND: The main Italian forces defending the line of the Juba River have been defeated. The troops of General Alan Cunningham, Commander in Chief East Africa Command, are now advancing very rapidly toward Mogadishu. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
At 2242, HMS Manistee was hit by one torpedo from U-107 south of Iceland, while escorting Convoy OB-288. The damaged ship continued and sank in 58°55N/20°50W after the U-boat hit her with two further torpedoes at 0758 on 24 Feb.
SS Svein Jarl lost the Convoy OB-288 in very bad weather and went missing. 19 Norwegians, 1 Swede and 1 Briton perished with the ship. Sunk by U-69 at 59.30N, 21W.
At 2327, SS Anglo-Peruvian in Convoy OB-288 was torpedoed and sunk by U-96 SW of Iceland. The master, 26 crewmembers and two gunners were lost. 17 crewmembers were picked up by the British SS Arberton and landed at Halifax on 4 March. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 542 February 23, 1941
Operation Canvas. General Cunningham splits his force in Italian Somaliland. He sends 12th African Division North up the Juba River towards the Ethiopian border while the motorized Nigerian Brigade of the 11th African Division races up the coast road towards Mogadishu.
A German Focke-Wulf Fw200 Kondor leads U-69, U-73, U-96, U-107, U-123 and Italian submarines Bianchi and Barbarigo to convoy OB-288, 300 miles South of Iceland. Just before midnight, U-69 sinks British SS Marslew (13 killed, 23 rescued) and U-96 sinks British SS Anglo-Peruvian (29 lost, 17 rescued). U-107 and Bianchi hit British ocean boarding vessel HMS Manistee which keeps moving, leading to an all night chase.
50 miles off Sfax, Tunisia, British submarine HMS Upright sinks Italian steamer Silvia Tripcovich.
In Athens, there is confusion among Greek and British commanders as to the best defense against a German invasion from Bulgaria. The Greeks insist on holding the fortified Metaxas Line along their Eastern border with Bulgaria, while the British propose a line further Southwest along the Vermion Mountains and the Haliacmon River. The meeting breaks up without agreement.
Those are some tough “20 questions.” Looking forward to the answers.
Let me thank you again for posting this material....I look forward to your morning posts.
News is definitely picking up in the Pacific.
Thanks for sticking with it during these days of lousy copies. The readability will be improving over the next few weeks as the microfilm and equipment improved. I call this period the dark days of the war. Luckily it happened during a relatively slow period for news.
Just stopped by to say “Hi” and pose the quick question:
Who did better in Cyrenaica:
Mussolini 1940-41
or
Qaddafi, 2011?
I second the big “Thank You” .. Hang in there Homer
I can maybe get close to only one of the question
Saudi is from the Kings name or “House of Saud”
I would think that student protests of Nazi troops would not be a life sustaining activity.
Some Czech students found that out back in November 1939 when they went up against the "Elite Guards," which I think is how the Times referred to the Waffen SS.
It certainly is a toss-up. Since Qaddafi doesn’t have an ally with a competent military to pull his coals out of the fire, I would have to lean towards Mussolini in 1940-41.
A chemist at Berkley by the name of Glenn T. Seaborg makes an interesting discovery while examining some alpha-emitters in Np238 (Neptunium).
Just for a little background. On January 20th, Seaborg had identified this alpha-emitter after bombarding uranly nitrate hexahydrate transmutating some of it into the relatively new element Neptunium. Their suspicions were that this alpha-emitter my be a new element with the atomic number of 94.
Today, Arthur C. Wahl, a second year graduate student on Seaborg's team discovered he could precipitate this alpha-emitter from the Np238 in an acid solution using thorium as a carrier. This proved that this particle was definitely not element 93 (Neptunium), but he found that he could not separate the particle from the thorium he had used to precipitate it.
That evening using a new oxidation chemistry method, Wahl and Seaborg began to successfully separate the Th (thorium) from the alpha-emitter. By Tuesday evening (two nights from now) they will have finally separated all the Th and Seaborg will come the the conclusion: "With this final separation from Th, it has been demonstrated that our alpha activity can be separated from all known elements and thus it is now clear that our alpha activity is due to the new element with the atomic number 94."
Though the name for element 94 would not be established until 1942, Seaborg had already decided that he would name this new element Plutonium.
from Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb
"The Canadian line concerned did not use the North American flag without reason, although it must certainly have known that the United States has never tolerated the misuse of its colors."
"England is always thinking of new ways and means of involving the United States in this English war, either through propaganda or other tricks, but in any case through falsification and fraud."
"If the example of the Canadian Cruiser were to be repeated it would be the business of the United States to see to it that this misuse of the American flag by armed British merchantmen does not impair the security of peaceful American vessels."
"It is time for Washington to do something about this rude violation of the American flag. The American colors are being treated in a most disgraceful manner."
4 US Carriers in the Pacific
Enterprise
Yorktown (until April, 1941)
Saratoga (undergoing refit in Bremerton until April 1941)
Lexington?
In any event, at most 3 effective at any one time, and frequently 2 (Lexington was Pacific based but shifted around as needed for fleet exercises).
Langley by this point had lost its designation as a CV.
Damn it, Homer, first Egypt, then Libya, Bahrain and now Bulgaria?
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