Posted on 03/05/2011 5:55:24 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/mar41/f05mar41.htm
British troops leave for Greece
Wednesday, March 5, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Mediterranean... Operation Lustre begins. British troops are convoyed from Alexandria in Egypt to Greece. (By April 2nd, a total of 58,000 troops are deployed.) Italian submarines carry out unsuccessful patrols along the convoy routes.
From London... The British government severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
In Vienna... Hermann Goring meets with Romanian dictator, General Antonescu, to secure the participation of Romania in Operation Barbarossa.
In the Balkans... Italian prisoners, captured by Greek forces in Albania, report that 1500 Alpini troops were drowned in the sinking of the transport ship Liguria and that Allied bombing raids have caused heavy casualties and significant confusion behind Italian lines.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/05.htm
March 5th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Air Ministry announces: A new contingent of fliers trained in Canada has arrived in the London area. They are the strongest aerial detachment to land in Great Britain so far.
The British government and the Belgian and Polish governments in exile severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. (Jack McKillop)
Corvette HMS Auricula commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Berchtesgaden: Hitler issues a directive calling for closer links with Japan, but insisting that Operation Barbarossa be kept a secret.
U-451 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
AUSTRIA: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring meets with Romanian dictator, Prime Minister General Ion Antonescu, in Vienna to secure the participation of Romanian Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. (Jack McKillop)
HUNGARY: Budapest: The British Exchange News Agency reported:
A telephone report from a British correspondent in Belgrade said:
It Appears increasingly probable that Germany will issue an ultimatum to Greece demanding that the situation be decided immediately. Presumably this step will take place around March 15, when German forces in Bulgaria will have reached their full strength.
BULGARIA: Sofia: Britain has broken off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. George Rendel, the British minister, today handed the Bulgarian government a strongly-worded note protesting against Bulgaria’s active co-operation with Germany which, it declared, constituted a grave threat to Britain’s ally, Greece, and was “incompatible with the maintenance of British diplomatic representation in Bulgaria.
Mr Rendel added a verbal note in even more scathing terms. Alluding to the disappearance of one Mr Grenovich, a Bulgarian official at the British legation, he said: “It has poisoned affairs and put Bulgaria’s civilisation back 100 years. I tried for years to deal with the Bulgarians as a civilised western people. Now that appears to be impossible.”
The USSR has also condemned the entry of German troops into Bulgaria. “It cannot be regarded”, said the Kremlin, “as furthering peace possibilities in the Balkans.”
ALBANIA: Italian prisoners, captured by Greek forces in Albania, report that 1500 Alpini troops were drowned in the sinking of the transport ship Liguria and that Allied bombing raids have caused heavy casualties and significant confusion behind Italian lines. (Jack McKillop)
GREECE: Eden sends the British ambassador at Belgrade back with a confidential note for the Regent explaining British plans for Greece and saying that both Greece and Turkey planned to fight if attacked. If Yugoslavia joined the Allies she would have a British army to fight by her side.
Eden also reports on the darkening mood of the Greeks who are reluctant to evacuate their forces from Albania if Yugoslavia does not attack from the north, and who are only offering the British 23 battalions of troops to delay any German advance into Salonika until British reinforcements arrive.
EGYPT: Operation Lustre, the transporting of British and Commonwealth troops from Alexandria, Egypt, to Greece, begins. An advance party of I Australia Corps and the Australian 6th Division embarks for Greece in the light cruisers HMS Gloucester, Bonaventure and York. (Jack McKillop)
CANARY ISLANDS: U-106 refuelled from the German supply ship Charlotte Schliemann at Las Palmas. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Corvettes HMS Bittersweet and Fennel departed Halifax with 27 ship Convoy HX-113 for Liverpool. HX-113 arrived safely in Liverpool on 21 Mar 41 with all of its merchant ships intact, subsequently for completion Bittersweet to the Tyne, and Fennel to Greenock. Under normal circumstances, an early version of the Flower-class corvette did not have the endurance for an operational transit across the Atlantic, particularly in the stormy weather typically experienced during late winter. This indicates that Bittersweet and Fennel were attached for transit but likely did not actively engage in anti-submarine screening, especially in view of their uncompleted condition. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: A Gallup poll asked the question:
If American merchant ships with American crews are used to carry war materials to Britain, and some of them are sunk by German submarines on the way over, would you be in favour of going to war against Germany?
Would favour war 27 %
Would not favour war 61%
Qualified and undecided 12%
In baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers’ president Larry MacPhail issues instructions that all Dodger players must live in Brooklyn. MacPhail is also campaigning for visiting teams to stay in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Ludlow commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0525, MS Murjek was hit by one torpedo from U-95 WNW of Rockall. The ship had been missed by a first torpedo at 0506 hours and sank only after four additional hits at 0533, 0551, 0625 (dud) and 0655. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 552 March 5, 1941
The British government breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in response to their alliance with Germany.
Reichsmarschall Göring meets with Romanian dictator General Antonescu in Vienna, demanding Romanian participation in the upcoming German invasion of USSR.
20 miles East of Catania, Sicily, British submarine HMS Triumph sinks Italian steamers Marzamemi and Colombo Lo Faro.
Swedish MV Murjek is sailing from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Gothenburg, Sweden, with lights on and transmitting radio messages identifying herself. At 5.25 AM, 200 miles South of Iceland, U-95 sinks the friendly, neutral merchant vessel with 5 torpedoes (all 31 hands lost).
I got 1,6,11,18, and 20 correct. FAIL.
Vietnam is in the news, probably for the first time in years. Something tells me that it's going to be in the news for a long time.
That's what — about $13,000 in today's money?
Not even a coat mind you — just a jacket.
The NYT has catered to limousine liberals for a long time.
9 months before Pearl Harbor:
Would favour war 27 %
Would not favour war 61%
Qualified and undecided 12%
German Forces Moving Into Bulgaria:
The Twelfth Army (12.Armee-Oberkommando) under the command of Field Marshal (Generaloberst) Wilhelm List
This army composed of the following units:
-XVIII Mountain Corps (XVIII Gebirgsarmeekorps), under General der Gebirgstruppen (Lieutenant General) Franz Boehme, consisted of the 2d Panzer Division/2.Panzer-Division (at Marianopol)
5th and 6th Mountain Divisions/5.-6.Gebirgs-Division (at Petritsi & Meleniko)
72d Infantry Division (at Nevrokopi)
and the reinforced 125th Infantry Regiment (at Marianopol)
These troops moved into assembly areas in southern Bulgaria opposite the Greek frontier.
-XXX Infantry Corps (XXX. Armeekorps)
under General der Artillerie (Lieutenant General) Otto Hartmann, composed of the 50th and 164th Infantry Divisions/50.-164.Infanterie-Division (at Pasmakli & Kridjali)
-XL Panzer Corps (XL.Panzerkorps)
under General der Panzertruppen (Lieutenant General) Georg Stumme, composed of the 9th Panzer Division/9.Panzer-Division
the reinforced 1st SS Motorized Infantry Regiment (Leibstandarde SS-Adolf Hitler)
and the 73d Infantry Division/73.Infanterie-Division (at Dubnica)
In total, Germans attacked Greece with 3 Panzer Divisions, 2 Mountain Divisions, 4 Infantry Divisions
A minor correction. The German rank “Generaloberst” translates to Colonwel General, the German equivalent of a 4 Star. Field Marshal[Generalfeldmarschall] is the equivalent of a 5 Star. List is either a Field Marshal or a Colonel General.
I never noticed that-thanks. Sometimes it actually makes sense to read what I cut and paste.
http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/
“Purchasing Power of Money in the United States
from 1774 to 2000”
BTTT
Thanks!
“Current data is only available till 2009. $1820.00 in the year 2009 has the same “purchase power” as $125 in the year 1941.”
Lieutenant General Walter C. Short,
Headquarters, Hawaiian Department,
Fort Shafter, Hawaii.My Dear Short: I would appreciate your early review of the situation in the Hawaiian Department with regard to defense from air attack. The establishment of a satisfactory system of coordinating all means available to this end is a matter of first priority. General Chaney has prepared a report of recent exercises held in the United States and incorporated therein his views and recommendations based on his experience in these exercises and his observation of the system and method employed by the British. A copy of this report is being sent to you.
An air defense exercise is contemplated for the West Coast in the Spring. This exercise is to include an establishment similar to that which has been set up in the Air Defense Command exercise in the Northeast and tested during January. It is highly desirable that representatives from Hawaii be present to observe the details of this exercise. If this is found to be impracticable, we will consider having officers sent to the exercise who shortly thereafter are due for station in Hawaii.
Faithfully yours,
[Stamped] (Sgd) G. C. Marshall,
Chief of Staff.
In Marshall's reference to the "method employed by the British" I'm pretty certain that they mean the torpedo attack at Taranto. Short will answer this letter later this month.
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