http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/may41/f15may41.htm
British launch Operation Brevity
Thursday, May 15, 1941 www.onwar.com
In North Africa... Wavell begins an operation code named Brevity. It is designed to capture Halfaya Pass and gain ground leading to the more open areas of the Cyrenaica Plateau. The information which has been received from the interception of German signals, especially from the recent reports of General Paulus on the situation in Africa, has convinced Churchill that the German forces are weak and overextended. General Gott commands the Brevity operation. His plan calls for mixed columns to advance to Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo and for a tank force to move to Sidi Aziz. On the first day the forces on the coast reach and capture Halfaya, but the 22nd Guards Brigade is held up in heavy fighting at Capuzzo. The tank force on the left makes good ground initially but the approach of the German 8th Panzer Regiment causes the British to decide to withdraw during May 16th.
In Occupied Yugoslavia... An independent Kingdom of Croatia is established with Italian backing.
From London... The British government announces that German planes are arriving in Syria and using Syrian bases to move on to Iraq.
Over Syria... The RAF bombs Palmyra and Damascus airfields. These attacks continue over the next few days.
In the Mediterranean... There are powerful German air attacks on the island of Crete. These are in preparation for the coming landing and are designed to subdue the garrison and compel the RAF to withdraw its few aircraft from Crete.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
May 15th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Cranwell: The Gloster E.28/39 (W 4041) makes its first flight. It is powered by a single 860-lb thrust Whittle W. 1 turbojet engine. This is the first flight by a British jet-propelled aircraft.
At 7.40pm today piloted by Gloster Aircraft Company’s chief test pilot, Gerry Sayer, the aircraft flew for 17 minutes.
Afterwards Wing-Cdr frank Whittle, Britain’s jet engine pioneer, said: “I was very tense, not so much because of any fears about the engine, but because this was a machine making its first flight.” Afterwards there was an impromptu celebration in the officers’ mess. Further test flights will now be made.
London: Anthony Eden informs Vichy Authorities that the RAF will attack Luftwaffe aircraft based in Syria. (Yanni Kadari)
Aircraft carrier HMS Victorious commissioned.
Corvette HMS Coltsfoot launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Marshal Petain at Vichy announce replacement of Franco-German armistice agreement by a new collaboration scheme.
Concerning the meeting between Admiral Darlan and the Führer; Marèchal Pètain declares his complete approval. (Yannis KADARI)
GERMANY: Dr Sigmund Rascher asks Himmler for permission to carry out medical experiments on prisoners at Dachau concentration camp.
U-169, U-195 laid down.
U-577, U-578 launched.
U-577, U-578 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GREECE: The British Mediterranean Fleet is ordered to stay in the waters around Crete.
CRETE: The Luftwaffe starts bombing the island.
EGYPT: Cairo: RAF Headquarters in the Middle East announced:
On Monday, aircraft of the SAAF went into action in Cyrenaica for the first time when the RAF bombed enemy aircraft at Gambut airfield. On Monday night through to Tuesday morning, heavy English bombers overflew the Mediterranean and attacked the German airfield at Kattavia on the isle of Rhodes.
Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm took off to attack the Al Amarah military barracks in Iraq, 48 miles from the Persian Gulf. A factory in Al Musayyib, a fuel tank in Rashid and motorised transports were likewise bombed on Tuesday. The SAAF operated without a halt. In Abyssinia their targets were Fort Aba Maela and military positions at Ama Magiihr. In Lekemti aerial machine guns fired on a motorised transport column and aircraft on the ground. Three of General de Gaulle’s Free French aircraft raided Gondar airfield (Ethiopia).
British forces in Egypt have been preparing for Operation Brevity. Their objective is to capture Halfaya Pass, utilizing the recent arrival of tanks in the Tiger Convoy. The Tiger Convoy being one of Churchill’s operations, started while he was 1st Lord of the Admirality, has given him reason to dub these tanks “tiger cubs”. This operation kicks off and initially good gains against the Axis forces are achieved.
LIBYA: A British offensive starts from the Sollum area in an attempt to relieve Tobruk and capture the Halfaya Pass. (Operation Brevity) Tanks and infantry succeed in retaking Sollum, but within hours the British are forced to withdraw leaving garrisons on the escarpment at Halfaya.
SYRIA: The RAF has bombed Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground at three airfields in Vichy-French SYRIA: Damascus, Rayak, east of Beirut, and Palmyra. General Dentz, Petain’s High Commissioner in Syria, protested last night at the raids, which were a response to German efforts to ship aircraft, tanks, and other arms to Iraq to bolster Rashid Ali, the anti-British politician who seized power in Iraq last month. (Yannis Kadari)
JAPAN: Tokyo: Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy, warns Moscow that Germany plans to invade during the third week in June.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Sackville launched Saint John, New Brunswick.
Corvette HMCS Galt commissioned.
Corvettes HMS Arrowhead, Bittersweet, Eyebright, Fennel, Hepatica, Mayflower, Snowberry, Spikenard, Trillium and Windflower transferred to RCN and retained the same names. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: relations between Vichy France and the United States degenerated sharply today as the senate passed a bill empowering the government to seize foreign shipping in US harbours.
Under the Ship Seizure Bill the US can take over vessels “by purchase, charter, requisition” or may take them “into protective custody.” Although not specifically aimed at Vichy, the measure is a response to Petain’s decision to collaborate more closely with Germany. Armed guards have already been placed on board all French ships in US ports, including the 83,423-ton liner ‘Normandie’. A score of French merchant ships will be put in “protective custody” as they arrive.
USN Patrol Squadron Fifty Two (VP-52) deploys to Naval Air Station (NAS) Argentia, Newfoundland from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island with ten PBY-5A Catalinas. Support is provided by the seaplane tender USS Albemarle (AV-5). These aircraft will fly antisubmarine warfare (ASW) patrols over the North Atlantic. (Jack McKillop)
In a baseball game played against the Chicago White Sox before 9,040 fans in Yankee Stadium in New York City, the White Sox defeat the New York Yankees 13-1. This was New York’s fifth straight loss and nobody particularly cared that Yankee centerfielder Joe DiMaggio hit a single in the first inning and drove in the Yankees only run. This was the beginning of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, a record that is yet to be broken. (Jack McKillop)
The motion picture “A Woman’s Face” opens in New York City, USA. This thriller, directed by George Cukor and starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Veidt, Marjorie Main and Donald Meek, is about a blackmailer (Crawford) who despises everyone because of her facial scar. After a plastic surgeon (Douglas) performs an operation to correct her disfigurement, she is torn between returning to her old life or starting a new one with a new name. (Jack McKillop)
Battleship USS Washington commissioned.
Submarines USS Amberjack and Halibut laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Submarine FS Surcouf assigned to Bermuda for anti-raider patrols.
At 2029, the Benvenue, dispersed from Convoy OB-314, was torpedoed and sunk by U-105 about 420 miles WSW of Freetown. One crewmember and one gunner were lost. The master, 47 crewmembers, one gunner and six passengers (army personnel) were picked up by the Empire Trader and landed at Freetown.
After 0415, the three-masted Notre Dame du Châtelet was sunk by U-43 with 45 rounds from the deck gun and AA gunfire. The survivors abandoned ship in two lifeboats. The day before, the vessel had encountered the Italian submarine Cappellini in 47°42N/13°56W. The Italian submarine Otaria picked up two of the survivors on 23 May.
(Dave Shirlaw)