Posted on 05/12/2011 5:09:02 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/may41/f12may41.htm
British supplies arrive in Egypt
Monday, May 12, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Mediterranean... All the ships of the British convoys have reached their destinations. Operation Tiger has brought 238 tanks and 43 Hurricanes to Egypt for the loss of 57 tanks.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 620 May 12, 1941
3 ex-US Coast Guard Cutters are commissioned into Royal Navy at New York as convoy escort ships HMS Sennen, Walney & Totland with crews from battleship HMS Malaya (which is under repair in USA).
The British convoy carrying 135 infantry tanks, 82 cruiser tanks, 21 light tanks and 43 Hurricane fighters through the Mediterranean (Tiger convoy) arrives at Alexandria, Egypt. Churchill’s gamble has paid off and Allied forces in North Africa can face the Afrika Korps on level terms.
British gunboat HMS Ladybird is severely damaged by German dive bombers in Tobruk harbour (4 killed, 14 wounded). She settles on an even keel in 10 feet of water allowing her 3 inch gun, still above water, to be used in an anti-aircraft role.
British submarine HMS Rorqual sinks 2 small Greek vessels carrying German troops, off the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. At 8.30 PM, Italian torpedo boats Pleiadi and Pegaso sink British submarine HMS Undaunted off Tripoli, Libya (all 32 hands lost).
http://www.hmshood.com/history/timeline4.htm
12 May: Vice Admiral Lancelot E. Holland, new commander of the Battle Cruiser Squadron and Second in Command of the Home Fleet, set up command in Hood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelot_Holland
http://www.kbismarck.com/histoperi.html
12 May 1941: Admiral Lütjens and the Fleet Staff embark in the Bismarck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_L%C3%BCtjens
Japanese spy reports from Hawaii, including later "bomb plots" of Pearl Harbor, were intercepted by the FBI and other US intellignece.
None of this data was passed on to Admiral Kimmel or General Short.
“238 tanks”... 88 bait.
The Brits in North Africa can face the Germans on roughly QUANTITATIVELY equal terms, but QUALITATIVELY? Not yet.
I looked around for some pics of any ceremony on board the Hood that may have taken place, but likely any such pics would have been lost with the ship. Probably so with the Lutjens ceremony on the Bismark.
He looks......thrilled.
From History.Com:
On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler sends two bombers to Iraq to support Rashid Ali al-Gailani in his revolt against Britain, which is trying to enforce a previously agreed upon Anglo-Iraqi alliance.
At the start of the war, Iraqi Prime Minister General Nuri as-Said severed ties with Germany and signed a cooperation pact with Great Britain.
In April 1941, the Said government was overthrown by Ali, an anti-British general, who proceeded to cut off the British oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Britain fought back by landing a brigade on the Persian Gulf, successfully fending off 9,000 Iraqi troops. Ali retaliated by sealing off the British airbase at Habbaniya.
Hitler, elated at the grief the British enemy was enduring in the Middle East, began sending arms, via Syria, as well as military experts to aid Ali in his revolt.
On May 12, Hitler sent Major Axel von Blomberg, an air force officer who was to act as a liaison between Iraq and Germany to Iraq, along with the two bombers. Blomberg arrived in the middle of an air battle between Iraqi and British fighters and was shot dead by a stray British bullet.
By the end of the month, Iraq had surrendered, and Britain re-established the terms of the original 1930 cooperation pact. A pro-British government formed, with a cabinet led by former Prime Minister Said.
Iraq went on to become a valuable resource for British and American forces in the region and in January 1942 became the first independent Muslim state to declare war on the Axis powers.
. . The Z3, the first fully operational electromechanical computer, was partially financed by German government-supported DVL (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fur Luftfahrt, i.e. German Experimentation-Institution for Aviation), which wanted their extensive calculations automated. A request by his co-worker Helmut Schreyer — who had helped Zuse build the Z3 prototype in 1938 — for government funding for an electronic successor to the Z3 was denied as "strategically unimportant". (Wiki)
Page 37 is shocking as is 72. And the nekkid teacher on 68.
To continue a discussion, compare the Olds ad with the Mercury and Chrysler ones.
May 12th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
Erith, Kent: The Rt Hon the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire (b. 1906), who had worked on many new and unknown devices, was killed with his assistants by an old bomb they were examining. (George Cross)
The RAF’s attack on targets in northern Europe continued last night for the second night running. There have been raids on Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Emden and Rotterdam, and although not terribly effective, they have had some spectacular and deadly results. One airman described the explosion of a heavy bomb on Hamburg: “The flash was like a great flaming red ball, half a mile across ... we felt a kick from the blast.”
Submarine HMS Unrivalled laid down.
Corvette HMS Bergamot commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Bute launched.
Minesweeper HMS Fraserburgh launched.
Destroyer HMS Middleton launched.
Corvettes HMS Snowdrop and Stonecrop launched.
Submarines HMS Turbulent and Unbending launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:
I ask you to avoid any sort of cynicism, frivolousness and puerile or brazen expressions, in broadcast reports about air raids, which destroy immeasurable cultural, economic and human treasures. Things must be described in a manly, stern and serious way. This is how we can best live up to the mood in [bombed] cities like Hamburg and Bremen - For the rest, I am firmly convinced that we are fortunate that the bombing raids made on German territory are taking place in the northern part of the Reich and not in the south, and that these severe trials are being borne by hardy Ditmarshers [= people of Schleswig-Holstein] and other Nordic people.
U-516 laid down.
U-128 commissioned.
U-155 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
EGYPT:
Cairo: RAF Headquarters in the Middle East announced:
In Iraq, our fliers continued their raids on rebel-occupied airfields and on other military targets. The military barracks and the airfield buildings and motor vehicle park at Mosul (northern Iraq) received more than twenty direct hits. The military barracks at Al Amarah, Ad Diwaniyah, An Nasiriyah, and Ad Daghgharah (all in Iraq) were also damaged. In Abyssinia, fighter planes and bombers of the South African Air Force supported our ground troops in their destruction of the Italian army in East Africa. Two British aircraft did not return from these missions.
Submarine HMS Undaunted was believed to have been sunk off Zuara on the Libyan coast by depth charges dropped from the Italian corvette Pegaso. Although Undaunted should have been on her way back to Malta by this date, there is no other explanation for her loss.
Insect class gunboat HMS Ladybird of the Inshore Squadron sunk in Tobruk harbour by aircraft attack. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Alexandria:
The Allied ‘Tiger’ convoy arrives bearing 238 tanks and 43 Hurricanes for the Allied desert army. The tanks include 135 Matildas, 82 of the new 2-pdr-gunned Mark VI Crusader cruiser tanks and 21 light tanks.
SYRIA:
6 Luftwaffe He-111s under the command of Colonel Junck landed in the Syrian capital of Damascus on their way to Iraq to support the revolt of Rashid Ali.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Whyalla launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Pictou arrived Halifax from builder Collingwood, Ontario.
Corvette HMCS Rimouski arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
Corvettes HMCS Napanee, Chicoutimi and Barrie commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
New York: The United Press News Agency reported:
The American Institute of Petroleum has concluded an investigation showing that Germany must have enough oil to supply its land and air forces for an indefinite period.
In Washington, the Japanese ambassador, Nomura Kichasaburo, presents Secretary of State Cordell Hull with a proposal for the establishment of “just peace in the Pacific.”
Three more U.S. Coast Guard Lake-class ships are transferred to the Royal Navy. USCGC Champlain (CGC-48) is renamed HMS Sennen, USCGC Sebago (CGC-51) is renamed HMS Walney, and USCGC Cayuga (CGC-54) is renamed HMS Tortland. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine USS Drum launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Black day for U-38. The boat hunted a freighter and fired four torpedoes, but all missed. (Dave Shirlaw)
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