http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm
March 16th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Bristol is severely attacked by the Luftwaffe. Fire-watchers dealt with the incendiaries, but there were heavy casualties, many of them caused by a bomb which hit a crowded public shelter.
GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler predicts that Britain will fall by 1942, no matter how much aid it gets from the US.
PORTUGAL: The Portuguese capital of Lisbon, 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. (Dave Shirlaw)
ALBANIA: The Italian attack in the sector between the Aoos and Osumi rivers, which had been going on for ten days, is called off. The Italians have lost 12,000 men, and had not gained an inch. However, the Greeks have been compelled by the Italian offensive to do nothing to strengthen their forces which face the German threat elsewhere. (Jack McKillop)
The decision to halt the offensive is announced to senior Italian commanders. (Mike Yaklich)
GREECE: Two He 111s of the German 10th Air Corps went on an armed reconnaissance flight during they attacked units of the British Mediterranean Fleet west of Crete. Upon returning to base the crews report torpedo hits on two heavy naval vessels which they describe as battleships. This supposed success meant a substantial reduction in the Royal Navy’s strength in the Mediterranean, so German leaders urge the Italian navy to get involved and to co-operate with the German attack on Greece that is planned for April 6, by sending their vessels forward into the eastern Mediterranean north and south of Crete.
ETHIOPIA: The 4th Indian Division made the main assault to the right of the road, at Fort Dologorodoc, which was taken at 6.30 in the morning. The Italians launched eight determined counter-attacks and rained shells and mortar bombs on the 2nd Bn. the a West Yorkshire Regiment, who held on with courage and resolution. In these counter-attacks the Savoia battalions, Alpini, Bersaglieri and Grenadiers, were decimated: five days fighting cost them nearly 5,000 casualties, 1,135 of them killed, including their commander, General Lorenzini.
BRITISH SOMALILAND: Two battalions of British troops are landed at Berbera from Aden, capture the port and take 200 prisoners. They have been transported in two light cruisers, two destroyers and seven other vessels.
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. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: During the night, battlecruisers “Scharnhorst” and “Gneisenau”, in company with the tankers “Ermland” and “Uckermark” fall upon an allied convoy and wait until dawn to begin their attack; 9 ships are sunk:
“Empire Industry” (previously a German ship) (3,650 tons),
“Mangkai” (formerly the German ship Scheer) (8,290 tons), Rio Dorado (4,500 tons),
“Silverfir” (4,350 tons), British “Demeterton” (5,250 tons), Norwegian “Grandi” (1,850 tons), “Royal Crown” (4,360 tons), “Sardinian Prince” (3,490 tons), the French “Myson” (4,560 tons), the Danish “Chilean Reefer” (1,830 tons), British merchantmen Simnia (6,200 tons), San Casimiro (8,050 tons), British Strength (7,140 tons), Athelfoam (6,550 tons), the Norwegian Bianca (5,700 tons) and Polykarb (6,400 tons), all from a dispersed convoy, Approximate position 40° 30’ North, 43° 45’ West. (Alex Gordon and Navy News)
U-106 was chasing Convoy SL-68 when the unescorted Almkerk crossed the way of the convoy and the U-boat. At 1636, a torpedo hit MS Almkerk on the starboard side and a minute later a second hit on the portside. All hands abandoned the ship unhurt and she sank after 15 minutes. The ships of SL-68 sighted this. The British SS Martand picked up one lifeboat on 18 March. The other boat landed in Vichy-French Guinea. After some time in captivity, the lifeboat was allowed to depart for Freetown, where it arrived on 30 March.
At 0018 and 0022, U-110 fired torpedoes at Convoy HX-112 and reported one tanker sunk and a possible hit on a steamer. At 0632 hours, the U-boat attacked again in grid AE 8781 and reported another tanker sunk. However, Allied reports only mention the damaging of the tanker Erodona at the time of the first attack.
U-99 attacked Convoy HX-112 several times and sank five ships, Venetia, J.B. White, Ferm, Beduin and Korshamn and damaged the Franche-Comte. Attempts to save the Beduin failed, because she broke in two in 61°20N/11°55W. The forepart was shelled and sunk by a British trawler in 61°02N/11°53W on 19 March, while the afterpart was sunk in 61°07N/10°50W on 20 March. The escorts picked up 20 survivors while ten the Icelandic trawler Hilmir put others ashore at Fleetwood on 23 March. Ferm caught fire after she was torpedoed. All crewmembers abandoned ship and were picked up by an escort vessel. The floating tanker was taken in tow the next day, but she sank in 61°30N/09°30W on 21 March. J.B. White was first torpedoed and then sunk by a coup de grâce from U-99 WSW of the Faroes. Two crewmembers were lost. The master and 37 crewmembers were picked up by destroyer HMS Walker and landed at Liverpool.
ASW trawler HMS Lady Lilian sunk by German aircraft west of Ireland. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 563 March 16, 1941
East Africa.
Battle of Keren, Eritrea. Overnight, 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment creep up the steep mountainside to attack the concrete trenches of Fort Dologorodoc. Unaware, Italian troops sally forth from the Fort at 4 AM to counterattack 5th Mahratta Light Infantry holding the foothills. West Yorkshires capture Fort Dologorodoc in hand-to-hand combat at 6.30 AM (taking 400 Italians prisoners).
Operation Appearance; reconquest of British Somaliland. 2 Indian battalions cross the Red Sea from Aden in 2 troop transports (escorted by British cruisers HMS Glasgow & Caledon, destroyers HMS Kandahar & Kingston) and land at Berbera. The Italian garrison is only 60 strong and riddled with malaria; they line up on the beach to surrender without a fight. 200 Allied POWs are released. The port at Berbera will be used to supply the advance of General Cunningham’s African troops into Ethiopia.
Between 4.28 AM and 3.50 PM 950 miles East of Nova Scotia, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sink another 10 unescorted freighters (most crewmen rescued). Danish MV Chilean Reefer bravely fires her tiny deck gun at Gneisenau, which destroys Chilean Reefer with 73 11-inch shells (9 crew killed, 3 taken prisoner). British battleship HMS Rodney responds to distress signals from Chilean Reefer but cannot get close enough to fire her guns before the faster cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst race away. HMS Rodney picks up a lifeboat with survivors from Chilean Reefer.
Albania. Italians have not broken the Greek defenses in the Trebeshinë heights, although they have made some local gains. Primavera Offensive is called off after 8 days with 12,000 Italians killed and wounded.
85 miles West of Ireland, German bombers sink British anti-submarine trawler HMT Lady Lilian and damage HMT Angle.
50 miles east of Malta, British submarine HMS Parthian damages Italian steamer Giovanni Boccaccio.
At 4.36 PM 220 miles off the coast of Gambia, West Africa, U-106 sinks Dutch MV Almkerk (carrying 7087 tons of wheat from Australia). All 66 crew abandon ship in 2 lifeboats (1 picked up by the British steamer Martand on March 18). 1 lifeboat lands in Vichy French Guinea but is allowed to proceed to Sierra Leone, arriving at Freetown on March 30.
Overnight, 162 Luftwaffe bombers attack Bristol targeting the docks at Avonmouth and the city center (257 civilians killed, 391 injured).