GERMAN TROOPS ENTERING ATHENS; DEFENDERS FIGHT HARD TO LAST (4/27/41)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 4/27/41 | C. Brooks Peters, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
The Balkans, 1941: Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, April 1941
North Africa – Rommel’s First Offensive, 24 March-15 June 1941
Marcks’ Plan, August 5, 1940
Operation Barbarossa (Dir. 21), December 18, 1940
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Cyclists in the Van – 2
The International Situation – 3
Tobruk Guns Send Axis Unit to Cover – 3
Swift Final Drive Made by Germans – 4
$5 Mailed to Churchill by Italy (Texas) Farmer – 4
Italians in Yanina in Greek Round-Up – 4
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Europe and Africa – 5-6
Belgium’s Nazi Paper Still Sees Long War – 6

News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 8
The Nazis Stand Upon the Threshold of the Middle East (map) – 9
Germany in a Position for Near East Thrust – 10
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 11

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/apr41/f27apr41.htm

Germans enter Greek capital

Sunday, April 27, 1941 www.onwar.com

In the Balkans... The Germans enter Athens in Greece. An Allied transport is bombed off Nauplia and two destroyers that come to the rescue are also sunk. Many of the soldiers on all three ships are lost.

In North Africa... General Paulus arrives in North Africa on an inspection tour of Rommel’s force. He has orders from OKH to try to bring Rommel under control and sort out a situation which, from Germany, seems very confused. He immediately halts preparations for more attacks on Tobruk. German reconnaissance units enter Egypt and occupy the Halfaya Pass, one of the few routes from Egypt by which the Cyrenaica plateau can be reached.

In the Mediterranean... The carrier Ark Royal flies a further 23 Hurricane fighters to Malta. A small convoy also arrives at the island with some supplies from Gibraltar and some reinforcements which are to join the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The ntl.andrew.etherington site is stuck on April 25. I will monitor the situation and update our threads when it is back to normal.

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 605 April 27, 1941

Greece. Dutch liner SS Slamat leaves Nauplia harbour with 211 crew and 500 Allied troops at 4 AM, too late to escape an attack by 9 Stukas at 7 AM. British destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck are sunk by more Stukas while rescuing survivors. Of 983 on board SS Slamat, HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck, only 66 survive. 2nd Panzer Division motorcycle troops enter Athens and hoist the Nazi flag over the Acropolis. However, 4200 troops including British 1st Armoured Brigade are evacuated from beaches South of Athens. All day, 5th Panzer Division crosses the Corinth Canal and, at 5.30 PM, Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment crosses onto the Peloponnese peninsula at Patras. Allied troops evacuate from the Peloponnese to Crete by boat but Greek Cretan 5th Division are left behind, trying to return home for the defense of their island. German bombing sinks 5 steamers.

At 1.30 AM 300 miles West of Ireland, U-110 sinks British SS Henri Mory (26 crew and 2 gunners lost, 3 crew picked up by HMS Hurricane, 1 man rescued after 8 days by British steamer Lycaon). At 2.42 AM 100 miles Southwest of the Faroe Islands, U-147 sinks Norwegian SS Rimfakse (11 crew lost, 8 survivors on a raft picked up by British SS Hengist). 80 miles South of Iceland, U-552 sinks British trawler Commander Horton at 2.10 AM (all 14 crew killed) and British MV Beacon Grange at 4.12 PM (2 killed, 74 crew and 8 gunners picked up by the Belgian trawler Edouvard Anseele).

At Tobruk, German high-level bombers draw the fire of British anti-aircraft guns guarding the harbour while 24 dive bombers attack the AA gun emplacements (4 guns are destroyed, 8 killed, 1 bomber shot down). To prevent this happening again, the AA guns are moved and concealed while dummy emplacements are constructed to confuse the bombers (during raids, explosives are set off to simulate firing of the dummy guns).

[texanyankee]

Got 7 outta the 20 questions correct this morning.

Interesting little tidbit about farmer Windham from Italy, Texas..... wondering if any of his decendents are still in the area....

[CougarGA7]

Here is Churchill's speech.

BBC - Winston Churchill: Westward Look the Land is Bright

[texanyankee]

wow.....according to zabasearch.com, there is a Frances Windham (born Feb 1918) still residing in Italy, Texas. Gotta be some connection to Ferrell.

[CougarGA7]

I see that the Day-by-day is still referring to the Leibstandarte as a regiment. Rory’s pretty good about detail so I’m going to e-mail him and compare sources. I have them as a brigade at this time. Funny how this keeps showing up.

[Cheburashka]

I see that the Day-by-day is still referring to the Leibstandarte as a regiment. Rory’s pretty good about detail so I’m going to e-mail him and compare sources. I have them as a brigade at this time. Funny how this keeps showing up.

---

Newspapers are the first draft of history. Don't expect them to get everything right. More accurate information will be available days, months, years, decades later.

Add in the fact that this is the New York Times...

[CougarGA7]

I think the newspaper is referring to it as a division, which is definitely wrong. I’m talking about the Day-by-Day history post. The owner of the site is very good at getting detail correct. One of the exercises we have done here with these threads is to see how the papers don’t correspond with the actual events.

[Larry381]

[Larry381]

While surfing Wikipedia a while ago looking for original sources on the war in Greece, I ran into this:

The Germans drove straight to the Acropolis and raised the Nazi flag. According to the most popular account of the events, the Evzone soldier on guard duty, Konstantinos Koukidis, took down the Greek flag, refusing to hand it to the invaders wrapped himself in it, and jumped off the Acropolis. Whether the story was true or not, many Greeks believed it and viewed the soldier as a martyr.

This is the first time I've ever heard this story, anyone know if its true?

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Here is Churchill's speech. BBC - Winston Churchill: Westward Look the Land is Bright

This is worth a listen. It is not a sound bite - maybe 15 minutes - but if you have forgotten what it is like to have a leader who possesses not only great eloquence but also respect for the intelligence and character of his audience, this is a good reminder. You can see why the British people were willing to stick with Churchill despite the set-backs, the screw ups and the eccentricity. It may be my imagination but this talk seems a little more low-key than those of last spring and summer. After the ordeals of the intervening months there is no need for cheerleading. Just a sober situation report with the encouraging belief that with America's backing (which now appears to be forthcoming) the allies will prevail in the end.

I'm not sure about the posting date though. In The Grand Alliance Churchill places it on May 3, the evening preceding his letter to Roosevelt of May 4.

[CougarGA7]

Interesting that he has it on the 3rd. The radio archive has it today and since the Times says "Churchill to Speak Today", I assumed that it was correct. I wouldn't have a clue how to verify the actual date short of contacting the BBC.

Hey, as an aside, I just finished up my next book review for you and in the process of looking for something I wanted found this:

Proceedings Magazine Archives

There are some really good articles in some of these old issues.

[CougarGA7]

My understanding is that this story is a legend. There is not historical proof or witnesses that have confirmed this act. This does not mean, however, that it is false. This is just one of those details that we will probably never know exactly what took place.

[PAR35]

I see that the Day-by-day is still referring to the Leibstandarte as a regiment. Rory’s pretty good about detail so I’m going to e-mail him and compare sources. I have them as a brigade at this time.

I'm less sure of this than most things, but wasn't it re-designated a brigade before the Balkans, but still at regimental strength at this point? (Or am I thinking of when it was re-designated a division, but still at brigade strength a little later?)

[CougarGA7]

All my sources have them as at brigade strength. That’s why I sent a message out to Rory to see if he has anything different. It really is not that important, but I’m curious at this point.

[CougarGA7]

Rory got back with me and he agrees that regiment is likely the wrong designation at this point. I think that brigade is the right terminology for this unit and Rory pointed out to me that Wikipedia is where the statement that they were a brigade sized unit that retained the regiment moniker comes from.

This reference is not cited so I can’t tell you where that statement comes from. I did do some research on some of the sources around that statement and found that they call this unit a brigade when referring to their operations in Greece. I added a [citation needed] to that sentence so who knows, maybe someone who has some information on that will turn up.

[PAR35]

You are probably correct. There used to be a really good website on the SS, but I can’t remember what it was, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my web safety software blocked it.