Big Short Sunderland flying boats assisting in the evacuation of key British personnel from Greece. ULTRA intercepts gave Allied planners the chance to second guess the Germans and evacuate troops from safe locations.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/apr41/f20apr41.htm
Greeks forced to surrender
Sunday, April 20, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Balkans... Allied forces still active have all passed through the Thermopylae position. The Greek forces in Epirus that have been fighting the Albanian campaign are forced to surrender to the SS Leibstandart Adolf Hitler Division.
East Africa... The 1st South African Brigade is fighting Italians in defensive positions south of Dessie.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/20.htm
April 20th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
Plymouth: Heavy air raids wipe out an area of 600 yards radius around the Guidhall; mediaeval buildings simply vanished.
In all 1,000 people have died, with 30,000 made homeless as 18,000 houses have been destroyed.
However, Devonport dockyard - the bombers’ target - is still working. The Royal Navy is clearing the wreckage and the lord mayor and lady mayoress, Lord and lady Astor have been raising morale. A band is playing on Plymouth Hoe for open-air dancing. At night 50,000 people leave Plymouth to shelter on the moors, in barns, in churches, even cow-sheds.
GERMANY:
Gen-Leut Kurt Student, leader of the new XI. Fliegerkorps which took under its control all air transport units, suggests to Goring that an attempt be made to invade Crete from the air.
GREECE:
Allied forces pull back to Kalamata, Nauplia and Monemvasia. They are retreating southwards through Thermopylae, with some detachments remaining to slow the German advance.
CHINA:
Japan captures Ningbo.
U.S.A.:
New York: Reuters News Agency announced:
Undersecretary-of-State Patterson of the US War Department, and other American and Canadian leaders, have seen a demonstration of the first 28-ton tanks built for the US Army. The new tanks have a 400-hp airplane engine, a maximum speed of 24 mph and are equipped with several heavy machine-guns and one 37-mm cannon.
Yorktown and four destroyers are transferred from Pacific to Atlantic Fleets. (By the summer, three battleships, one aircraft carrier, four light cruisers, seventeen destroyers and 16 auxiliaries had been transferred.) (Marc Small)
The motion picture “That Uncertain Feeling” is released in the U.S. The film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, stars Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Alan Mowbray and Eve Arden. This romantic comedy is about a married couple (Oberon and Douglas) who have problems and get involved with an absurd pianist (Meredith). The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Music category. (Jack McKillop)
President Roosevelt announces an exchange of defence articles with Canada. (Jack McKillop)
As far as the Time's war coverage goes, they seem to be pretty current on developments in Greece. More so than the coverage of action in North Africa. I suppose it is harder to control information originating near a heavily populated city like Athens than out in the desert.
Big Short Sunderland flying boats assisting in the evacuation of key British personnel from Greece. ULTRA intercepts gave Allied planners the chance to second guess the Germans and evacuate troops from safe locations.