Posted on 04/21/2011 5:23:14 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/apr41/f21apr41.htm
Allies evacuating Greece
Monday, April 21, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Balkans... Greek Commander in Chief Papagos recommends that the Allies leave and permission for the evacuation is given from London.
In East Africa... The 1st South African Brigade is fighting Italians in defensive positions south of Dessie.
In North Africa... Three battleships from the Mediterranean Fleet shell Tripoli on their return from escorting a Malta convoy. Cunningham has only undertaken this operation under protest and with direct orders from Churchill. At first Churchill wished to try to block the post by sinking the battleship Barham in the entrance to Tripoli Harbor.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/21.htm
April 21st, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 21 Sqn lose two aircraft on anti-shipping strikes in the North Sea.
The Luftwaffe raid Plymouth and continue for the next 8 nights. Decoy fires help to save the dockyards but at the expense of the city.
Corvette HMS Spikenard completed South Shields, Tyne and left for workups. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Students plan to invade Crete from the air is put to Hitler.
U-612 laid down.
U-154 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FINLAND: Recruitment of Finnish volunteers for Waffen SS begins at Helsinki. (Mikko Härmeinen)
GREECE: Papagos recommends that the Allies leave Greece and permission to evacuate is received from London.
A brief account by NX1755 Cpl. L.J. Irvine of the escape of my party from Greece.
After the 2/2 Bn. was broken up, I, with a few others, found ourselves completely cut off from retreating towards Larissa, so we took to the hills and made for the coast. The battle took place on 18/4/41. We struck the coast at a small village called Koritza on 21/4/41. We rested for a day and then pushed on, making for Volos, crossing the Larissa plain that night. We passed through an enemy tank patrol that had come from Aya to cut off the escaping troops. Next morning the Germans followed our tracks along the beach but we evaded them. Enemy planes patrolled the coast all day and made it difficult to move. We reached a small village near Zogara, called Poiri, 25/4/41, where we learned the whole of Greece was taken. We waited a few days in the hope of getting a boat, eventually setting out on 30/4/41 to walk around Salonika and into Turkey.
Two days later we met a Greek who tried to advise us against our plan, but when he saw we were determined, he asked us to wait a few days and he would get a boat for us, that would take us to one of the islands, where we would be passed on, and eventually reach Turkey. We waited, and he did get us a boat which took us to Skiathos, on the night of 11/5/41.
Skiathos was then occupied, so the people hid us until nightfall, when we were put in a small boat and taken to Skopelos, passing quite close to a German patrol boat on the way. Skopelos also was occupied by Germans but we were hidden by the Greeks. It was impossible to get a boat away for some time, the islands were constantly patrolled, both by sea and air, and benzine and oil was unprocurable, and all the serviceable boats were commandeered to take Germans to Crete.
Eventually we got in touch with a chap who had a letter from the British Consulate in Turkey, we were trying to contact him for some time. He took us to the island of Helonossis on 27/7/41, where we caught a larger boat on 31/7/41, which took us to Skyros, from Skyros to Chesme, 2/8/41, on the Turkish coast, where we were quarantined for 10 days. The Consul got to work in the meantime and arranged for our transportation through Ankara to Syria, and thence to Palestine. We went to Corps H.Q. at Alex, who sent us on here.
My party consisted of: Pte. Murphy, 2/2 Bn.; Pte. Edwards, 2/2 Bn.; Pte. Robb, 21st Bn. N.Z.E.F. (Cpl. NX1755 Irvine, L.J., H.Q.Coy, 2/2 Bn., A.I.F. via Bill Howard)
LIBYA: Battleships Barham, Valiant and Warspite bombard Tripoli, Libya on their return to Alexandria. This action by Admiral Cunningham is done under protest after direct orders from Churchill.
Other ships shell Benghazi harbour.
SINGAPORE: Conference between UK, US, and Dutch. (Air Vice-Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham chaired meeting, US naval representative was Purnell); “ADB” Plan was developed but both US War and Navy Departments recommended it be rejected as they felt it was defeatist and compromised US interests by insisting on defence of trade routes over offensive actions against Japanese. (Marc Small)
AUSTRALIA: Melbourne: Politicians move to oust the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, whom they blame for high Australian casualties in Greece.
U.S.A.: Hyde Park, New York: President Roosevelt and the Canadian Prime Minister, William Mackenzie King, today agreed at the President’s family home here on an unprecedented measure of collaboration ultimately aimed at helping the British war effort.
Canada is to sell the US arms, raw material and ships. There are also unconfirmed reports that the US is prepared to take over a role in the defence of Canada to release more Canadian troops for service overseas.
Submarine USS Gudgeon commissioned.
Submarine USS Albacore laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1420, the unescorted Calchas was sunk by two torpedoes from U-107 about 550 miles north of the Cape Verde Islands. The master, 21 crewmembers, one gunner and one of the nine passengers were lost. 33 survivors landed at Sal Maria Island, Cape Verde on 4 May. 23 survivors landed at Boavista Island, Cape Verde and 33 survivors landed at St Louis, Senegal after sailing 650 miles in 16 days in the #5 lifeboat. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 599 April 21, 1941
Libya. Operation MD2. Before dawn, British battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Barham & HMS Valiant and cruiser HMS Gloucester, escorted by 9 destroyers, bombard Tripoli for 49 minutes guided by flares dropped by aircraft from carrier HMS Formidable (Italian torpedo boat Partenope and 6 freighters are damaged). At Tobruk, 24 German bombers escorted by 21 fighters sink 2 British steamers and damage 2 more ships and a quay. RAF Hurricanes (73 and 274 Squadrons) shoot down 4 Luftwaffe aircraft.
Greece. British and ANZAC troops have withdrawn past the fearsome cliffs at Thermopylae which are now held against German attack by a rearguard force. At 6 PM, the first German attempts to cross the valley are broken up by 2 Australian 25-pounder field guns. Luftwaffe aircraft, flying from hastily constructed airfields, attack the cliffs at Thermopylae and harass shipping off the coast. Dive bombers sink Greek torpedo boat Thyella, hospital ships Ellenis & Esperos and several freighters.
At 3 PM 300 miles North of the Cape Verde Islands, U-107 sinks British SS Calchas (24 killed). 89 survivors escape in lifeboats (56 reach Cape Verde Islands, 33 land at St. Louis, Senegal on May 7 after sailing 650 miles).
Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs Plymouth, England, damaging cruiser HMS Kent and destroyers HMS Lewes & HMS Leeds (HMS Leeds under repair until December).
Old school
I can at least answer about the composition of the Infantry Division:
A German infantry division of 1940-41 was made up of roughly three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a battalion with anti-tank weapons, a reconnaissance battalion, a headquarters unit, and support troops, possessing a total strength of approximately 17,000 men.
A squad consisting of 10 soldiers was the smallest operational unit, and a platoon of four squads was the primary sub-unit of a company. A regular infantry company contained about 180 men, though specialized companies could be significantly larger. Each battalion contained four companies, while each regiment included three battalions and two specialized companies.
As to the German Panzer and Motorized Infantry divisions I'll leave that to the experts in here.
Some girl on girl action in the bubble bath. Nekkid scupture in the art section.
I had an uncle in the Cav. during WWII. They didn’t take their horses with them to the Pacific.
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