Posted on 03/19/2011 6:29:57 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/mar41/f19mar41.htm
HMS Malaya torpedoed escorting convoy
Wednesday, March 19, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... The British battleship Malaya is seriously damaged by a torpedo from U-106 when with a convoy in the Atlantic. The Malaya goes to New York for repairs — the first major British warship to receive such help.
In Belgrade... The Germans repeat their demands on Yugoslavia. They now give the Yugoslavs five days to make a decision.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/19.htm
March 19th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
London: Free French officials set up their own central banking system.
Mass produced vegetable rissoles are to be sold at 8d a pound.
London: Exiled German socialist groups join together to form the Union of German Socialists, pledged to work for a “democratic and socialist future for Germany.”
London: A massive German raid by 479 bombers leaves 750 people dead after they drop 122,292 incendiaries.
London: The ‘BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC’ Committee of all Ministers and heads of the armed services has its first meeting.
London: Churchill’s fears of the havoc which German raiders could cause on the North Atlantic sea lanes causes him to ask Roosevelt for assistance in tracking German ships. Although Churchill refrains from asking the President to escort American supply convoys to Britain, he does say:
“It would be a very great help if some American warships and aircraft could cruise about this area [central North Atlantic] as they have a perfect right to do without any prejudice to neutrality.
VICHY FRANCE: The government in the form of Admiral Darlan announces that “vowing that Frenchman shall eat. Serves notice that its naval ships would convoy merchantmen if the British persist in their blockade of France.
If the British continue this blockade, ... I will be obliged to ask permission to provide arms and protection for our merchantmen. I will let nothing stand in the way of the French People’s eating. The Germans are more generous and more comprehensive of the needs of humanity than the English.”
GERMANY: A German ultimatum gives Yugoslavia 5 days to accept the German terms.
Rommel flies to Hitler’s HQ to report and obtain fresh instructions. Field-Marshal von Brauchitsch told him that there was no intention of striking a decisive blow in Africa in the near future, and he could expect no reinforcements. After the arrival of the 15th Panzer Division at the end of May, he was to attack and destroy the British units around Agedabia. Benghazi “might perhaps be taken.”
The Wehrmacht High Command announced:
On March 16, German reconnaissance aircraft attacked a powerful formation of enemy war vessels consisting of 2 heavy units, 6 cruisers and 2 or 3 destroyers, in the Mediterranean 23 miles west of Crete. each of the 2 heavy units was struck by one air-launched torpedo.
The entire coal-mining industry and the coal trade in Germany have been amalgamated into a giant cartel known as the Reich Coal Union. it is hoped that, with centralised control, this vital industry will be able to increase its production beyond the 246 million tons achieved this year. A significant boost is necessary if the increase in arms production demanded by the government is to be possible and the German people are to be able to buy fuel.
ALBANIA: Good weather allows the Italians to mount fresh attacks, supported by armor, artillery, and some of the heaviest tactical air strikes yet experienced in this theatre. But the Greeks are ready and these new efforts have no success. The continued Italian assaults are apparently an effort to keep the Greeks on the defensive, bolstering Cavallero’s assertion that this failed offensive has somehow saved Italian “honour” and forestalled further Greek advances. (Mike Yaklich)
GREECE: The British Military Mission to Greece reports that Greek morale is high and fortifications are well prepared although there is a severe shortage of reserves with the oldest class of reservists about to by called up.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Deloraine laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Ottawa: in an agreement signed by Adolf Berle, the assistant US secretary of state, and William Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Great Lakes will soon become the biggest shipbuilding area in the world - the ships to be built on the Canadian side, with power and finance from the US side.
“The extent to which intensified submarine and air attacks on convoys necessitate an expansion in the programme is still unknown,” said President Roosevelt, but he estimated that the number of ships needed would be “several times” those now available.
Minesweeper (ex-whaler) HMCS Suderoy VI commissioned.
Minesweeper HMCS Thunder launched Toronto, Ontario.
Corvette HMCS Dundas laid down Victoria, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt responds to Churchill’s protest about leaks in the blockade of Germany. He is deliberately vague in an attempt to walk a tightrope between British problems and America’s conciliatory policy toward Vichy.
Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra record one of their biggest musical successes, “Green Eyes” featuring vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly. The record became one of Decca Records’ all-time greats. This record was on the Pop Charts for 21 weeks and was Number 1 for four weeks. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: HMS MALAYA sustains serious damage from a torpedo from U-106 while escorting a convoy. She goes to New York City for repairs, the first major British warship to receive such help. (Jack McKillop)
U-105 sank SS Mandalika in Convoy SL-68. (Dave Shirlaw)
HMS Ark Royal locates three ships captured by prize crews from the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, two scuttle themselves while the third SS Polykarp is recaptured.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 566 March 19, 1941
Rommel meets with Hitler, Generalfeldmarschall Brauchitsch and Chief of Staff General Halder. Rommel is told to expect no reinforcements in Libya until the 15th Panzer Division arrives in May but to go ahead with reconnaissance in force and to take Benghazi if possible.
Germany needs access through Yugoslavia for the planned invasion of Greece (Bulgaria has too few roads and railways while Albania is thronged with beaten Italians and can be supplied only by sea). Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (an anglophile, educated in England and married to a Greek princess) has resisted German pressure. Hitler now gives him an ultimatum - join the Tripartite pact in 5 days - and an empty promise not to move troops through Yugoslavia.
At 00.30 AM 350 miles West of Nouakchott, Mauritania, U-105 sinks Dutch SS Mandalika (previously German SS Nordmark seized by the Dutch on 10 May 1940 at Batavia, Indonesia) in convoy SL-68. 3 crew are killed and 62 survivors picked up by British corvette HMS Marguerite. Another vessel is lost from the convoy when British steamer Clan MacNab collides with Norwegian tanker Strix and sinks.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau end their raiding cruise in the Atlantic and start the return voyage to Brest, France. They plan to approach Brest overnight & arrive at dawn on March 22, as German intelligence does not know the disposition of Royal Navy ships in the area. However, the British are equally unsure about the location of the German battlecruisers.
Overnight, 370 German bombers attack London in the heaviest raid this year, killing 750 civilians. Several freighters and auxiliary anti-aircraft ship Helvellyn are sunk or damaged in London docks.
Interesting that the unions COULD CARE LESS that we were in a headlong rush to militarize at that time, knowing that we were about to get drawn into a very nasty war.
Not surprising - unions have ALWAYS been anti-American, always will be. They need to be CRUSHED in this country, both public sector and private.
Was that Col Donovan same Wild Bill of later OSS fame ?
Even during WWII Unions have been against the American people. They would strike in the middle of a war.
The very same.
Turks and Greeks together wirh the Brits...those were dark days
Good story with Wild Bill
Unions caused problems all through the war,thinking of the coal miners for one
Heh, so the communists were just as selfish and greedy 70 years ago as they are today.
By the way, it’s not included in your list of headlines, but there is an interesting story right in the middle column of the front page about the communists infiltrating colleges and universities. District Attorney Thomas Dewey was going after them. The unions (communist fronts) were not pleased.
Also, the return of Wild Bill Donovan...
Today’s edition is prettty good!
Interesting to see an read.....thanks.
“An American with 5000 annual salary and two dependent children pays about $75 in Federal tax.”
Using this calculator:
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
That translates to 2011 dollars as $79,039 salary and $1186 in Federal tax.
Note how low taxes were! Even after two terms of FDR!
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