http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/08.htm
March 8th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Liverpool: Cpl James Patrick Scully (1909-74), Royal Pioneer Corps, worked solidly for seven hours to rescue people trapped under a bombed building. (GC)
In Luftwaffe air raids of renewed vigour, 34 people are killed and 80 injured tonight when London’s Cafe de Paris night-spot is bombed. Buckingham Palace is also hit; after it was showered with incendiaries, a stick of high explosive fell across the front courtyard. A lodge disappeared and a policeman was killed, but most bombs fell in Green Park.
Plymouth is also heavily attacked and the dockyards damaged.
GERMANY: U-204 commissioned.
U-372 launched.
U-463 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine K-54 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GREECE: Telegram from the British Military Mission, Athens to Wavell:
General Papagos yesterday have impression of greater optimism. He states indications led him to hope Yugoslavia might yet fight. He therefore reverted to question of holding Nestos position if Yugoslav collaboration at last moment made this possible. From the point of view of morale he emphasised fact that troops in Eastern Macedonia were recruited locally, and that, if fighting in forward positions would be defending their own homes. He remains anxious about lorry situation in view new supply difficulty, and urges that every available lorry be sent as early as possible.
MALTA: Axis aircraft drop 76 tons (70 metric tonnes) of bombs on this 122 square mile (316 square kilometer) island today. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Quinte launched from North Vancouver, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The U.S. Senate passes the “Lend Lease” bill by a vote of 60 to 31. The House of Representatives had passed the bill by a vote of 260 to 165 on 8 February 1941 but there are differences in the two bills and it is sent to a joint committee to resolve the differences. (Jack McKillop)
The National Television System Committee (NTSC), the organization responsible for setting TV and video standards in the U.S., formally recommends TV standards to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), calling for 525 lines and 30 frames per second. (Jack McKillop)
In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Hugh Mulcahy becomes the first major leaguer drafted and is inducted in the Army today. Mulcahy, an All Star in 1940 while leading the National League in losses for the second time, serves in the Army including a year in New Guinea and the Philippines. He was known as the “Losing Pitcher”, with a career total of 45 wins, 89 losses, and an ERA of 4.49. He returns on July 11th, 1945 but he will pitch only 96 innings in 23 games before ending his career in 1947. More than 100 major leaguers will be drafted within the next two years, and two—Elmer Gedeon who played five games for the Washington Senators in 1939 and Harry O’Neill who played one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1939—will be killed in action. (Michael Ballard and Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-47 (Cdr Prien) is sunk by destroyer HMS Wolverine while attacking convoy OB293, 200 miles south-east of Iceland.
Current theory is that Guenther Prien wasn’t actually sunk in this attack, but was lost to unknown causes. Apparently the belief among many is that the attack by Wolverine was on UA, which received damage but escaped the attacker. Wolverine then lost contact after following a school of porpoise. (Lawrence Paterson)
At 0109, SS Dunaff Head in Convoy OB-293 was torpedoed and sunk by UA south of Iceland. Five crewmembers were lost. The master, 34 crewmembers and four gunners were picked up by destroyer HMS Verity and landed at Loch Ewe. (Dave Shirlaw)
Convoy SL-67 escapes attack from the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau because the battleship HMS Malaya is present. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler has ordered that no risk of damage to the ships is to be run if this can be avoided. (Jack McKillop)
At 0341, SS Harmodius in Convoy SL-67 was torpedoed and sunk by U-105 NNE of the Cape Verde Islands. 13 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 59 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by destroyer leader HMS Faulknor, transferred to HMS Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March.
Between 0547 and 0608,U-124 fired six single torpedoes at Convoy SL-67 north of the Cape Verde Islands and observed four ships going down. Schulz reported five ships with about 33.000 tons sunk and another ship damaged. In fact four ships were sunk in the attack, the Nardana, Hindpool, Tielbank and Lahore. The master and 27 crewmembers from Hindpool were lost. Six crewmembers were picked up by destroyer leader HMS Faulknor and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. The Guido rescued four crewmembers and two gunners. Lahore caught fire, was abandoned the next day and sank in 21°03N/20°38W. The master and 81 crewmembers were picked up by destroyer HMS Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. 19 crewmembers from Nardana were lost. The master, 104 crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by Faulknor and Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. No record of Tielbank survivors. (Dave Shirlaw)
Royal Navy Force H is ordered to the Canary Islands to search for the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and to cover convoys crossing from the United States.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 555 March 8, 1941
At 1.19 AM 150 miles South of Iceland, German submarine UA sinks British SS Dunaff Head in convoy OB-293 (5 killed, 34 crew and 4 gunners picked up by destroyer HMS Verity). UA is counterattacked and badly damaged by depth charges from destroyer HMS Wolverine.
A German wolf-pack (U-105, U-106 & U-124) now patrols the coast of West Africa. Reports from cruisers Scharnhorst & Gneisenau guide U-124 & U-105 to British convoy SL-67 but they do not locate the escorting battleship HMS Malaya. At 3.41 AM, U-105 sinks SS Harmodius but is then depth charged by convoy escorts. Between 5.47 and 6.08 AM, U-124 sinks 4 more British steamers and is then driven off. 62 merchant seamen are killed but destroyers HMS Faulknor and HMS Forester rescue over 300 survivors.
As Allied troops sail North from Egypt to Greece, the first tanks for Rommel’s Afrika Korps head South from Italy to Libya. 5th Light Division’s Panzer Regiment departs Naples in freighters Alicante, Arcturus, Wachtfels and Rialto bound for Tripoli, arriving safely on March 10 escorted by Italian destroyers Fulmine, Baleno and Turbine. Remarkably, these parallel convoys of troops and equipment are mostly unmolested by the British and Italian submarines patrolling the Western Mediterranean.