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BULGARIA TO ACCEPT NAZI OCCUPATION (2/14/41)
Microfilm-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 2/14/41 | C.L. Sulzberger, Frank L. Kluckhohn, Percival Knauth, C. Brooks Peters

Posted on 02/14/2011 4:40:55 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: milhist; realtime; worldwarii
Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread
1 posted on 02/14/2011 4:41:03 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
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Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept

2 posted on 02/14/2011 4:41:57 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
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Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance

3 posted on 02/14/2011 4:42:35 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: r9etb; PzLdr; dfwgator; Paisan; From many - one.; rockinqsranch; GRRRRR; 2banana; henkster; ...
Sofia Yields Right – 2-3
Bills Seek to Bar Sales of Liquor to Service Men – 3
The International Situation – 3
President Denies Any Controversy over More Destroyers for Britain – 4
U.S. Sent Britain $675,470,249 Arms – 4
Sentiment for Bill Rising, Survey Finds – 4
Germans Report Sinking of 13 British Ships; Several ‘Liners’ Said to have Been in Convoy – 5
Clothing Sale Halts in France for Curbs – 5
Military Attache Sent to Eire for First Time – 5
Women Hang Effigy Near British Embassy; Other Anti-Aid Crusaders Storm Capitol – 6
Defense Pre-Empts Use of Magnesium – 6
Award $34,618,000 for Work on Bases – 7
Jews Fight Nazis in Amsterdam Riot – 7
British Explorers Led Desert Raiding – 8
The First Family of the Chinese Republic – 8
15-Billion Outlay on Defense Upheld – 9
The ‘Aircobra’ Joins the U.S. Air Fleet – 9
Yugoslav Inaction Sought by Hitler – 10
Texts of Day’s War Communiques – 11
4 posted on 02/14/2011 4:44:01 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/feb41/f14feb41.htm

German Afrika Korps arrives in Tripoli

Friday, February 14, 1941 www.onwar.com

In North Africa... The first units of what will become the Afrika Korps begin to land at Tripoli. The advance guard is a battalion of light infantry and an antitank unit.

In the North Atlantic... The Admiral Hipper returns to Brest, having sunk a total of eight ships on its cruise.

In Germany... Hitler meets the Yugoslav Premier Cvetkovic and his foreign minister at Berchtesgaden to urge them to join the Tripartite Pact. They still refuse to commit their country, in the hope that Hitler will soon be preoccupied with relations with the Soviet Union and that they can get aid from Britain and the USA.

In East Africa... The 22nd East African Brigade takes Kismayu with fire support from the cruiser Shropshire and other smaller vessels. Elsewhere in Somaliland the British advance is also rapid.


5 posted on 02/14/2011 4:46:53 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm

February 14th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Bulgarian ambassador is seen at the Foreign Office by Sir Alexander Cadogan in an attempt to impress on the Bulgarians the great mistake they would be making if they threw in their lot with the Germans.
MS trawler HMS Ronaldsay launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

VICHY FRANCE: Admiral Darlan is appointed interior minister; he keeps his other posts.

GERMANY: Berchtesgaden: Hitler presses the Yugoslav Premier, Dragisa Cvetkovich, to join the Tripartite Pact.

Hitler also issues final orders for the occupation of Bulgaria. The Bulgarians can now complete their mobilisation.

The heavy cruiser ‘Admiral Hipper’ ends a 140 day cruise in which it has sunk eight ships, one of which was sailing independently and seven of which were in unescorted convoy SLS64. (Ric Pelvin)

Ron Babuka adds: An interesting story:

M/S Borgestad NS * 3924 gt
Built in Copenhagen, Denmark 1925.

Captain Lars Grotnæss. Commodore ship in Convoy SLS 64, which left Freetown with 19 ships on January 30-1941 bound for Liverpool without an escort. 12 ships were British, 4 Greek. The Norwegian D/S Bur and D/S Varangberg had ended up so far behind by February 12 they barely had contact with the convoy. Borgestad had a cargo of cotton. Early on the morning of February 12, in position 37 12N 21 20W (between Madeira and the Azores) the German Admiral Hipper attacked, at a distance of 2500 meters. (In fact, the captain on Hipper had just previously been notified of Convoy HG 53 and was given orders to attack, so when SLS 64 showed up in his course, he initially thought he had encountered HG 53 - see D/S Tejo). Captain Grotnæss must have given the order to disperse, because ship after ship turned around and desperately tried to get away, but Borgestad and the other ships at the head of the convoy had no time for such manoeuvres, as Hipper was quickly advancing, and Grotnæss chose to fight, in spite of Borgestad’s inferior armament. He headed directly towards Admiral Hipper, in an effort to get that ship as far away from the convoy as possible, with the gunners loading and firing, loading and firing. When after a fierce battle Borgestad eventually sank, 30 men and 1 woman went down with her. (Other ships lost were the Greek Perseus, 14 died, the British Derrynane, 36 died - Schrewsbury, 20 died, Oswestry Grange, 5 died - Warlaby, 36 lost and Westbury with 5 dead).

The 1st mate on Borgestad, Harald Nergaard had his American wife Norma (born Hayes) with him on the ship. She was employed as a stewardess, was 21 years old and from Tacoma. They are both listed under the first “related link” below. The captain was posthumously awarded the highest ranked Norwegian decoration “Krigskorset” for his actions during this battle, which were officially acknowledged as having saved the convoy from total destruction by the Hipper (Meisel). As it was, 7 went down, while 12 escaped (2 of which were damaged). The distress calls from the fleeing ships were received by the Admiralty, which dispatched the battle ship Renown and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal from Gibraltar that same afternoon, as well as some destroyers, partly to assist the convoy, and partly to catch the German ship. But Admiral Hipper, which had spent a tremendous amount of ammunition in this battle and had no interest in being engaged by the British force in such a state, quickly headed for Brest, arriving there without having been located. For days there was great fear for the remains of Convoy SLS 64. Varangberg finally reached Gibraltar on Febr. 17, while Bur, as one of the last ships, arrived St. Miguel (Azores) on Febr. 18.

MORE on Norma Nergaard (”Krigsseileren” No. 3, 1998): Those of you who live in Scotland and have access to a library might be able to find some articles written by Norma Nergaard in Glasgow Sunday Mail, dated July 16, 23 and 30, and Aug. 6-1938. Her parents were born in England and after having graduated from High School in Tacoma in the summer of 1938 she and her elder sister Mabel travelled to England on board Borgestad, in order to visit relatives in Scotland. Since the ship was not certified for passengers they were hired as mess girls, sailing south along the U.S. coast, stopping in San Pedro, Calif., Panama, Jamaica and through the Caribbean before heading north to London, arriving 45 days later. Once in England they purchased 2 used bicycles and headed for Scotland where Norma was subsequently hired as a journalist for the newspapers Edinburgh Record and Glasgow Sunday Mail, and it was in the latter that she wrote some articles about her travels. When the war broke out she returned to Tacoma, and when Borgestand showed up on the west coast in the spring of 1940 she met up with Harald Nergaard again, and at the end of June that same year they were married. Again she was hired as a mess girl so that the bride and groom could be together. They had a 10 days “honeymoon” in Ceylon while Borgestad was there. Norma was posthumously awarded Krigsmedaljen in May-1946 .

NORTH AFRICA: The 11th Hussars are attacked by a flight of fighter aircraft from Fliegerkorps X the first contact that 7 Armd. Div. has with the Luftwaffe in North Africa.

Libya, Tripoli:

The first troops of Hitler’s new Afrika Korps disembarked today, two days after their commander, General Erwin Rommel, arrived with orders to rescue the wretched Italian army, which in two months has lost 130,000 prisoner of war, 380 tanks and 845 guns to Britain.

Rommel has been promised two divisions, one armoured, but these will not arrive until late April. For the time being, then, he has to face the British with only a reconnaissance battalion and anti-tank battalion. He plans to hoax the enemy with dummy tanks mounted on Volkswagen motor cars.

Despite orders that he should not attempt an offensive until his two divisions arrive, Rommel is already planning a probe into the British defences. He could be luckier than he expects. The British are strung out along the coast of Libya for over 500 miles from the Egyptian border at El Agheila.

General Wavell’s battle-weary 7th Armoured Division has been pulled back to Egypt for rest and refitting. Its place has been taken by the new and inexperienced 2nd Armoured Division. Other British forces have been diverted to Greece, greatly weakening Wavell’s strength in the Western Desert. The key to North Africa is the Mediterranean supply route. German aircraft are bombing Malta from Sicily, so the RAF can no longer strike at Axis shipping sailing for Tripoli. And the British, unable to use the Mediterranean, must take supplies round the Cape of Good Hope.

ITALIAN SOMALILAND: The Italians are on the run in East Africa. Their latest loss is the port of Kismayu, on the Indian Ocean, which was occupied at 14:00 by West, East and South African troops, under the command of Lt. Gen. Alan Cunningham.

The port is the first major prize in what he plans will become a two-pronged drive, up the coast to Mogadishu, the colonial capital, and northwards up the river Juba to Ethiopia. His offensive into Italian territory began in earnest only three days ago, after an eight-week preliminary operation to recapture first parts of Kenya occupied by the Italians and then frontier posts on the Kenya-Somaliland border.

The resistance on the road from Afmadu has been dealt with by the Gold Coast Regiment and an Indian mountain battery, while South African planes have pounded the port. Next stop: Mogadishu.

U.S.A.: In baseball, the entire Brooklyn Dodger team leaves New York City to train in Havana, Cuba for most of the spring. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Woolsey launched.

Destroyer USS Grayson commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

PUERTO RICO: Fleet Landing Exercise (FLEX) No. 7, which had begun on 4 February, concludes in the Culebra-Vieques area. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau enter the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait, and refuel from tanker Schlettstadt some 150 miles south of Cape Farewell. (Navy News).

At 2257, the Holystone, a straggler from convoy OB-284, was torpedoed and sunk by U-101 west of Ireland. The master, 35 crewmembers, two gunners and two passengers were lost. (Dave Shirlaw)


6 posted on 02/14/2011 4:49:58 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 533 February 14, 1941

Operation Canvas, Italian Somaliland, East Africa. General Cunningham’s African forces attack the port of Kismayu where the Juba River flows into the Indian Ocean, supported by shelling from British cruisers HMS Shropshire, Hawkins, Ceres and Capetown. They capture Kismayu, opening the way to the main Italian position at Jilib and the road to Mogadishu.

At midday in the Indian Ocean, German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis, prize ships Ketty Brøvig & Speybank and supply ship Tannenfels (sent from Italian Somaliland) rendezvous with cruiser Admiral Scheer (the largest group of German ships outside European waters during WWII). Despite stormy seas, the ships resupply each other and tanker Ketty Brøvig refuels Admiral Scheer.

400 miles West of Ireland, U-101 sinks British steamer Holystone at 10.57 PM (36 crew, 2 gunners and 2 passengers lost) and Italian submarine Bianchi sinks British SS Belcrest.

British motor torpedo boat MTB.41 sinks on a mine in the North Sea (8 killed).


7 posted on 02/14/2011 4:51:51 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
Knew a man who had been in the 15th Air Force flying out of Bari, Italy. Was shot down over Bulgaria and kept in a Bulgarian POW camp; when the Soviets were approaching in 1944, the Bulgarians put all the Americans onto a train and shipped them to Turkey, which shipped them to Syria. The Turks provided abundant food to the starving men, which caused many of them to be ill from eating too much too soon.

I told the story to a Bulgarian pastor, who explained to me that Bulgaria acted to protect the Americans, because it was never at war with America.

8 posted on 02/14/2011 4:59:11 AM PST by DeaconBenjamin (A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you're NOT talking real money)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Berlin_%28Atlantic%29

Operation Berlin (Atlantic)

Operation Berlin was a successful commerce raid performed by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau between January and March 1941. The commander-in-chief of the operation was Admiral Günther Lütjens, who subsequently commanded the famous cruise of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.


9 posted on 02/14/2011 5:03:54 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
Off Topic: Has anyone else read this book ?? I have found it an enjoyable read. About a Lt. in the Pacific - True story.

Promo Video

10 posted on 02/14/2011 11:13:05 AM PST by Tank-FL (Keep the Faith - Congratulations - Albert - your Old Corps Now!-)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
And another day in the Warsaw Ghetto:

Karmelicka Street, which is the only artery of traffic between the Nalewki ghetto and the Grzybowska ghetto, is always ripe for acts of savagery. A few days ago I witnessed a tragic scene of that sort through my window, which faces Karmelicka Street.

At first I was startled and frightened by the terrible sound of a mass of people moving, like the roaring of the sea; after two or three minutes I was frightened by the silence that followed. I looked through my window and the street was empty. Not a living soul was there; it was as if all of creation were dead.

In less than a minute a Nazi murderer with a face as red as fire, whose every movement expressed burning wrath, came striding with a singularly heavy step in search of a victim. In his hand was a whip. Behind him, at a distance of a few paces, came his comrade. Both of them glanced in every direction with malicious eyes. The Jews had all disappeared.

Near the building at 25 Karmelicka they met a poor ragged peddler, whose every aspect bespoke oppression, standing near his basket of wares. An awful encounter. The unfortunate peddler became a target for the blows of the murdering beasts. He fell to the ground at once, and one of them left him and went away.

But not so his companion. The very physical weakness of his victim inflamed the soldier. As soon as the peddler fell, he began stamping on him and beating him mercilessly with his whip. He beat him in various ways, cruelly and sadistically – sometimes on the head, sometimes on the face, sometimes a kick, sometimes a jab. He didn’t leave a single part of him unharmed. From a distance it looked as though he was beating a corpse.

The beaten man lay flat, without a breath of life. But the tormentor would not let him alone. It would be no exaggeration to say that he beat him without stopping, without pity, for about twenty minutes. It was hard to comprehend the secret of this sadistic phenomenon. After all, the victim was a stranger, not an old enemy; he did not speak rudely to him, let alone touch him. Then why this cruel wrath!

How is it possible to attack a stranger to me, a man of flesh and blood like myself, to wound him and trample upon him, and cover his body with sores, bruises, and welts, without any reason? How is it possible? Yet I swear that I saw all this with my own eyes

11 posted on 02/14/2011 11:17:27 AM PST by Larry381
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To: Tank-FL
I saw the book at Costco. I read the blurb and it looked interesting but I passed for some reason. I really enjoyed Seabiscuit. If fact, I excerpted from it just about a year ago when Seabiscuit was finishing up his racing career by preparing for and winning a big race at Santa Anita.
12 posted on 02/14/2011 1:28:18 PM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Note the mysterious death of Soviet defector Walter Krivitsky in DC. His widow and son would stay with Whittaker Chambers for several months.


13 posted on 02/14/2011 10:58:08 PM PST by iowamark
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To: iowamark
Pavel Sudoplatov on page 49 of Special Tasks (his memoir) says: "Walter Krivitsky, an intelligence officer who defected in 1937 and emerged in America in 1939, wrote a book, In Stalin's Secret Service,and in February 1941 was found dead in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. It was assumed that he was assassinated by the NKVD, although the police verdict was that his death was a suicide. There was an NKVD order issued to look for Krivitsky, but this was routine for all defectors. We were not sorry to see him go, but it was not through our efforts that he died. We believed he shot himself in despair as a result of a nervous breakdown."

Sudoplatov claimed to be responsible for Trotsky's assassination and was in charge of the Sooviet espionage effort to obtain the secrets of the atomic bomb from America and Great Britain. He set up a network of illegals who convinced Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, Bruno Pontecorvoco, Alan Nunn May, Klaus Fuchs, and other scientists in America and Great Britain to share atomic secrets with the Soviets. He documents all sorts of dirty deeds and other than being quite out of character to not eliminate a defector, there does not appear to be any good reason to doubt him on this.

The circumstances of Krivitsky's demise are highly suspect, but there is a good chance that this might be the only such case for which they are not guilty. Maybe we can start a new conspiracy theory and claim that FDR ordered his elimination to get on the good side of Uncle Joe.

14 posted on 02/15/2011 7:13:53 AM PST by Western Phil
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To: Western Phil

For extra credit someone may want to review the FBI report on Krivitsky: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/krivit.htm

Walter G. Krivitsky

570 pages

General Walter G. Krivitsky was found dead in the Bellevue Hotel in Washington, D.C., on February 10, 1941. Krivitsky was the former head of the Soviet Military Intelligence in Western Europe. Although his death was declared a suicide, some people were suspicious that the Soviets may have murdered him. No information was ever uncovered to prove his death was anything other than suicide


15 posted on 02/15/2011 1:15:40 PM PST by Western Phil
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