http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
March 15th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
London: Winston Churchill to the Admiralty controller:
Give me a report on the progress of the ships to carry and disgorge tanks. How many are there? What is their tonnage? How many tanks can they take in a flight? When will each one be ready? Where are they being built? What marks of tank can they carry?
Minesweeper HMS Sidmouth launched.
ASW trawler HMS Quadrille launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Rysa launched.
Minesweepers HMS Alarm and Algerine laid down.
Submarine HMS Umbra launched.
Corvette HMS Bryony launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
BELGIUM: Liege: Belgian politicians of all parties form the “Independent front” resistance movement.
FRANCE:
Paris: The city’s art collectors have had the honour of receiving a Reichsmarschall Herman Göring . He is here to pick for himself the best of the privately owned works of art which Hitler has ordered to be considered as war booty - to be used as a bargaining weapon in future peace negotiations with France.
He has already chosen works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Goya from the stock of stolen art work stored at the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume. They will be taken to Karinhall, his mansion near Berlin.
Soon after the German occupation Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi Reichsleiter for home affairs, set up a special organisation to bring works back to Germany. By the autumn, Rosenberg estimated that some 22,000 objects of value had been “collected”, including 5,281 paintings and 2,477 pieces of furniture. Special care has been taken to seize Jewish-owned works of art. The assets of the Rothschild banking family, whose members fled the country when the Nazis came, have been rushed to Germany in special trains.
GERMANY:
U-82, U-433, U-434 launched.
U-371 commissioned.
U-168, U-181, U-210 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ALBANIA: Very heavy Italian artillery fire against the Greek positions conceals the fact that only a few limited initiatives are being made on the ground. Over the following two days, there will be artillery fire only, and no ground attacks. (Mike Yaklich)
PORTUGAL: Lisbon: the Portuguese capital has become a haven for refugees from all over Europe fleeing from Nazi persecution. Many spend weeks in miserable accommodation here waiting in terror for a passage on a ship to Australia or the Americas, as far as possible from the Third Reich. There are now so many refugees in the Atlantic port that the American Export Line, the only US shipping line with a regular European service, has stopped taking bookings until existing ones are cleared.
ERITREA: British 4th and Indian 5th divisions launch a series of attacks towards Keren. The first attacks by the 4th Division go fairly well but not all the gains can be held. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Japanese forces take Fengxin, in Kiangsi province, in a major new assault on Shanggao.
AUSTRALIA: Two transports sail from Brisbane, Queensland, with troops bound for Thursday Island off the north coast of Queensland; Port Moresby, New Guinea; and Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Tug HMCS Hodgeville assigned to St John’s. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt said here tonight that there is no longer the slightest doubt that the American people have demanded a policy of all-out, unqualified aid for Britain, Greece, China and the governments of the democracies in exile.
Prussian autocracy was bad enough, the President told the White House correspondent’s dinner in a key address, but “Nazism is far worse.”
Mr Roosevelt spoke of the “vital bridge across the ocean, the bridge of ships” carrying good and arms to “those who are fighting the good fight.”
He promised that the US will supply Britain and the Allies “aide until victory” and that there will be an “end of compromise with tyranny.”
“Song Of The Volga Boatmen” by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. This song, which debuted on the charts on 22 February 1941, was charted for 8 weeks, was Number 1 for 1 week and was ranked Number 10 for the year 1941. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Today and tomorrow, German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sink or capture 16 unescorted ships in the Newfoundland area.
Today Gneisenau captures the Norwegian tanker BIANCA (5688 tons), POLYKARB (6400 tons), the British SAN CASIMIRO (8000 tons), putting prize crews onto these vessels to sail them to Bordeaux. BIANCA and SAN CASIMIRO encounter HMS Renown and 46 British prisoners are released and the German sailors taken captive, although not before they had scuttled the tankers. (Alex Gordon)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 562 March 15, 1941
950 miles East of Nova Scotia, German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst encounter an unescorted convoy of empty merchant ships returning to USA, sinking 3 tankers (6 crew and 1 gunner killed, most rescued). Gneisenau also captures 3 tankers which will sail with prize crews for France (only Norwegian tanker Polykarb will reach Bordeaux). Most of the merchant seamen are rescued by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.
Battle of Keren, Eritrea. Since February, Italian defenses in the Dongolaas Gorge have been reinforced to 25,000 troops. 4th and 5th Indian Divisions (13,000 men) resume the attack at 7 AM, taking hilltops either side of the Gorge during heavy fighting all day and night. Ground changing hands several times and there are heavy casualties on both sides. Italians still hold the dominating position in Fort Dologordoc.
In mid-Atlantic 650 miles Southwest of Cape Verde Islands, German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran meets U-124 to resupply her with provisions and 7 torpedoes. The sea is too rough so they head South looking for calmer waters.
South of Iceland, U-110 spots convoy HX-112 (41 merchant ships, escorted by 5 destroyers and 2 corvettes) and summons U-37, U-74, U-99 & U-100. Overnight, U-110 torpedoes British tanker Erodona, setting her cargo of fuel oils from Aruba on fire (32 crew and 4 gunners lost). Convoy escorts drop 24 depth charges and chase off U-110, which is not damaged. MV Erodona’s burnt out hulk will be towed to Iceland and repaired (returning to service in February 1944).