THE BLITZ

THE BLITZ

The Battle of Britain lasted from 10th July 1940 until the 30th October 1940 which was overlapped by the period of The Blitz. From the 7^th September 1940 bombing raids on London, known as “The Blitz” began. With German invasion plans on hold, German Dictator Adolf Hitler turned his attention to destroying London in an attempt to force the British to come to peace terms. London was bombed systematically for 56 out of the following 57 days or nights. Whereas the Battle of Britain targeted mainly the airfields of fighter command on the south coast, the Blitz concentrated on London and other cities of Britain. The Blitz was an attack of continued night-time bombing operations on Britain when daylight attacks proved to be unsustainable. The Blitz ended on the 11^th May 1941 as Germany shifted its focus toward the Soviet Union and the East. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz marked the first major defeat of Germany’ military forces when their operations failed to give Germany air superiority over Britain.

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(1940)

On the 15^th September 1940 a large-scale raid was launched against London but the Luftwaffe suffered significant losses for very little gain. Gradually, by October 1940 the Luftwaffe began to attack with night-time raids to avoid defending RAF fighters.

The invasion of Britain was an uncoordinated venture by the German Luftwaffe, navy and infantry and consequently Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion indefinitely on the 17^th September 1940.

On the 24^th September 1940 King George VI inaugurated the George Cross in recognition of the bravery of his citizens during the Blitz. The King and Queen Elizabeth felt justified to face the people of the East End of London after Buckingham Palace had been bombed on the 10^t^h and 13^th September 1940. To boost the morale of their citizens the King and Queen continued to live in London during the Blitz and throughout the war. Because of the Queen’s morale boosting abilities Hitler considered her ‘to be the most dangerous woman in Europe’.

On the 14^th October 1940 Balham underground station was hit by a 1400kg bomb causing the northbound tunnel to collapse. The station was one of many designated air raid shelters for civilians and this disaster resulted in the deaths of 65 people but over 400 civilians managed to escape to safety. In the blackout a double decker bus crashed into the crater caused on the road above, fortunately without any loss of life.

On the 21^st October 1940 the city of Liverpool was raided by the Luftwaffe. The docks and ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead were the largest on the west coast of England and therefore attracted German bombing raids second only to raids on London.

On the night of the 24/25^th October 1940 the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) conducted its first raid on Britain when their aircraft attacked Harwich and Felixstowe. Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini had insisted that the Regia Aeronautica be involved in the raids on Britain. Of the eighteen bombers involved in the raid, one crashed on take-off and three were lost on the return journey. Not all of the bombers found their targets but ten crews reported they were successful. The next major operation was on the 29^th October 1940 when fifteen bombers escorted by fighters bombed Ramsgate. Five Italian aircraft suffered damage due to local anti-aircraft fire.

The most severe Luftwaffe raid was on the city of Coventry occurred on the 14^th November 1940 when 13 German aircraft fitted with electronic navigational aids accurately dropped marker flares at 7.20 pm. Following bombers dropped high explosive and incendiary bombs and many fires spread out of control. With many utilities destroyed, the fire brigade were unable to control the fires. At approximately 8.00 pm Coventry Cathedral had been bombed and was on fire. The raid climaxed around midnight and by the time the all clear sounded at 6.15 pm over 4,000 homes were destroyed and approximately two thirds of the city’s building damaged. 568 people lost their lives with another 1,200 people injured.

On the 29^th November 1940 the Luftwaffe launched a massive bombing raid on Liverpool. The worst single incident was when a building above an underground shelter in Durning Road, Edge Hill received a direct hit. The building collapsed killing 166 people and injuring many more who were sheltering in the basement.

On the following night, the 30^th November 1940, the Luftwaffe launched a bombing raid on Southampton where the docks and the Supermarine factory at Woolston were the main targets. The Woolston factory was where the Supermarine Spitfire fighter was manufactured.

During the month of December 1940 bombing raids were exchanged between Britain and Germany. On the night of the 4^th December 1940 approximately sixty German bombers attacked Birmingham. A week later, on the night of the 11^th December 1940, two hundred and seventy eight German bombers launched the largest raid of the war on Birmingham. Apart from explosives, 2,500 incendiary bombs were dropped causing widespread fires in both the residential and industrial areas. Over five hundred people were either killed or seriously injured.

Manchester Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and the Free Trade Hall were among the many large buildings damaged when the Luftwaffe bombed Manchester on the 22nd/23rd and the 23rd/24th December 1940. A total of approximately 450 tons of high explosive bombs were dropped and approximately two thousand seven hundred people were killed or seriously injured on the two nights.

London sustained another large German air raid on the 29^th/30^th December 1940 with the bombing in the St. Paul’s Cathedral area of the city. Twenty nine incendiary bombs fell on the dome of the Cathedral and one burnt through the lead covered wooden dome. The bombs fell outward and landed on the stone gallery below and the fire was soon extinguished as was the fire in the dome. The scene was captured on the iconic photograph where the Cathedral was shown surrounded by thick black smoke which was called “St. Paul’s Survives”. Approximately six hundred and fifty people were killed or injured that night.

(1941)

On the 1^st January 1941 the previous night’s bombing raid on London revealed damage or destruction to the Old Bailey, the Guildhall and eight of Christopher Wren’ churches.

19^th, 20^th and 21^st February 1941 was when the German Luftwaffe attacked Swansea in their “Three Night’s Blitz”. Seeing Swansea as a legitimate target the bombers were aiming for the docks, the port and the oil refinery. A large part of the city centre was severely damaged with the loss of 230 civilians and a further 409 being injured. The Germans were hoping to cripple coal supplies and to destroy the civilian and emergency service morale. To boost the morale of the citizens the King, Queen and Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Swansea.

London was bombed on the 8^th March 1941 and Buckingham Palace was hit but did not sustain any major damage. Thousands of incendiary and hundreds of high explosive bombs were dropped on Portsmouth on the 10^th March 1941. Glasgow was attacked on the 13^th & 14^th March 1941 and Portsmouth Docks and Devonport were subjected to a series of devastating raids from the 19th March 1941. Over 4,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were engaged in the bombing raids of March 1941.

April 1941 was the month when the Blitz was concentrated on British Cities.

Bristol and Avonmouth suffered heavy German air attacks on the 3^rd, 4^th, 7^th and 11^th April 1941. Effectively the Blitz of Bristol had ended on the 11^th April 1941. Coventry also suffered two heavy raids by German bombers on the 8^th/9^th and the 10^th/11^th April 1941. Major damage and destruction was caused to some factories, central police station, Coventry Hospital and churches. Birmingham had Luftwaffe raids on the 9^th and 10^th April 1941 where the Bull Ring, the Prince of Wales Theatre and the Midlands Arcade were badly damaged or destroyed. The surrounding areas also received considerable damage. Belfast had two separate raids on the night of 7^th/8^th April 1941 and the 16^th April 1941. The first raid was to test Belfast’s defences but the second was a large scale raid on the dockyard area where aircraft carrier HMS Furious was slightly damaged while having a refit. With the exception of London the raid was the cause of the greatest loss of life in any one night. The Luftwaffe returned to London on the 19^th April 1941 and many major public buildings were hit and damaged. The raid on London proved to be one of the heaviest of the war with regards to the loss of civilians and homes. On the 24^th April 1941 the communal air-raid shelter at the Portland Square in the city of Plymouth took a direct hit. Seventy-six people were killed and just three people survived. However, the Royal Dockyards at HMNB Devonport was the main target for the Luftwaffe.

Liverpool was subjected to a seven night bombing campaign from the 1^st/7^th May 1941. Sixty nine berths in the docks out of one hundred and forty four were put out of action and Liverpool Cathedral damaged. Thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged making Liverpool the most heavily bombed area of Britain with the exception of London. There were four separate raids by the Luftwaffe on Belfast. Two in April 1941 and the next two in May 1941. The raids in May took place on the 4^th/5^th May 1941 and the 5^th /6^th May 1941. Over the four separate raids 6,300 homes were demolished or badly damaged and another 50,000 required repairing. Nottingham was attacked on the 7^th/8^th May 1941 but the attack was intended for the Rolls-Royce Plant at Derby. The British had produced a counter-measure for the German radio navigation system known as the “X-Gerät Beam”. Damage to Nottingham was minimal with many bombs falling on open farmland. The final large raid on London was on the 10^th/11^th May 1941 and the House of Commons was damaged. However, Hull, Liverpool Belfast and Glasgow were also targeted. The Blitz of Britain ended as Germany shifted its focus toward the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe lost 2,400 aircraft without achieving any of its objectives during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz combined. The casualties were over 86,000 people killed or seriously injured during the Blitz and over one million homes destroyed or damaged. Finally British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when visiting Liverpool at the end of the Blitz stated, “I see the damage done by the enemy attacks but I also see the spirit of an unconquered nation”. A child of the Liverpool Blitz Mrs. Dorothy Laycock, at a later date, summed it up by saying: – “They tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. They nearly did but didn’t quite, did they?”

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SECOND WORLD WAR June 1941

Jun1

SECOND WORLD WAR June 1941

(Britain)

In an effort to reduce the production and consumption of civilian clothes, the Board of Trade’s President Oliver Lyttleton announced on the 1^st June 1941 that rationing was to be introduced. This rationing safeguarded the raw materials and released workers and factory space for war production. Around a quarter of the British population was entitled to wear some sort of uniform as part of the armed forces, therefore raw materials and labour was mostly directed to military uses for the fabrics involved. The “Make Do and Mend” campaign was encouraged to make existing supplies of civilian clothes last longer.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the vice chairman of the Council of People’s Commissioner for the Soviet Union Vyacheslav Molotov gave radio speeches to their respective countries announcing the German invasion of the Soviet Union on the 22^nd June 1941. Both leaders agreed they would venture into a joint effort to fight Nazism. (See Germany-Operation Barbarossa)

During the Battle of the Atlantic the British cargo ship Brockley Hill was torpedoed and sank off Greenland by German U-boat U-651 on the 24^th June 1941. U-651 was on her first patrol and commanded by Kapitänleuntant Peter Lohmeyer, when she attacked Convoy HX133. Brockley Hill’s master James Howard and the remaining 41 members of the crew were picked up by merchant ship Sauger. U-651 went on to sink SS Grayburn on the 29^th June 1941 but was sunk on the same day by the convoy escort. U-651‘s career was a short one as she was on her one and only patrol. Her crew were rescued by the Royal Navy and then interrogated by the Admiralty.

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(Germany)

Aged 82 years Kaiser Wilhelm II died of pulmonary embolism at Doorn in the Netherlands on the 4^th June 1941. Wilhelm was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia who abdicated on the 9^th November 1918 just prior to Germany’s defeat in the Great War. Following the abdication he and his family fled into exile in the Netherlands. He was buried in a mausoleum in the grounds of Huis Doorn. A few hundred people attended his funeral.

German and Italian assets were frozen in the United States of America in response to the worsening events in Europe. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the freezing of the assets of the Axis powers on the 14^th June 1941. With relations deteriorating further between the Axis powers and America, on the 16^th June 1941 Roosevelt ordered the withdrawal of German and Italian consular staffs from the USA by the 10^th July 1941.

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union which was launched on the 22^nd June 1941. German dictator Adolf Hitler had diverted his armed forces away from Britain in an effort to wipe out the communist regime of the Soviet Union. Although not having achieved air supremacy over Britain and having abandoned a subsequent invasion, Hitler thought Britain was unlikely to recover from the military set-backs she had suffered. He also thought Britain would seek an armistice and then enter into an alliance with Germany against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was totally unprepared for the furious attack launched over a 2,900 km (1,800 miles) front, despite having been warned by Churchill six weeks previously. Churchill had received intelligence reports from the Balkans regarding the German invasion but the Kremlin responded by stating that Britain was spreading ugly rumours against the Germans. Germany entered a Non-aggression Pact with the Soviet Union in August 1939 which for Hitler, was a devise to buy time to defeat the Western democracies before turning east. Hitler was at the pinnacle of his power and was ready to take on the Soviet Union. He did so in the knowledge that with exception of Britain, most of continental Europe was under German occupation or neutral. With a rapid advance of the German troops they had captured Baltic cities of Kaunas and Vilnius on the 24^th June 1941. German forces occupied Dubno and Lutsk in the south and Baranovichi in the north of the Eastern Front on the 25^th June 1941. By the 28^th June 1941 the Germans had massively encircled Soviet Red Army near Minsk and Bialystok. 0peration Silver Fox was launched on the 29^th June 1941 by Finnish and German forces combined against the Soviet Union. The attack was designed to cut off and capture the key Port of Murmansk and the attack was launched from Finnish and Norwegian territory. Operation Silver Fox ended in November 1941. (See the Eastern Front)

On the 23^rd June 1941 Hitler arrived for the first time at the Wolf’s Lair which was his Eastern Front military headquarters. The top secret high security site was located in the Masaurian woods east of the Prussian town of Rustenburg.

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(Mediterranean Campaign and the Desert War)

During the Siege of Malta on the 1^st June 1941 Air Vice Marshall Forster Maynard was replaced by Air Commodore Hugh Lloyd as Malta’s Air Officer Commanding. After an inspection tour of the island Lloyd realised he had fewer than sixty aircraft in which to defend the island. However, it was his intention to take on the German Luftwaffe. By cannibalising slightly damaged aircraft and sifting through wrecks he was able to obtain spares to keep the remaining aircraft serviceable. When the Luftwaffe departed for the Eastern Front after Germany had undertaken Operation Barbarossa the Italian Regia Aeronautica was left to continue the air campaign against Malta. By mid-June 1941 supplies were beginning to reach Malta and Royal Air Force (RAF) British Hurricane fighter aircraft were arriving in readiness to defend the island.

Vichy France controlled Syria and Lebanon was invaded by the Allies on the 8^th June 1941. The invasion was aimed at preventing Nazi Germany from using the Vichy French controlled Syria and Lebanon for attacks on Egypt. Included in the Allied attack was an Israeli soldier Moshe Dayan who was attached to the Australian-led reconnaissance task force. On the 7^th June 1941, the night before the invasion, Dayan’s unit crossed the border and secured two bridges over the Litani River. As they had not been relieved, as expected on the 8^th June 1941, they assaulted a Vichy police station and captured it. Whilst defending his position a sniper’s bullet struck the binoculars he was using and metal/glass fragments were forced into his left eye. Dayan lost the eye and so badly damaged was the eye socket area that it was not possible for a glass eye to be fitted. He was compelled to wear a black eye patch permanently. Australian troops advancing from British held Palestine entered the Lebanese town of Merdjayoun on the 11^th June 1941. The Australians opposed by badly equipped defenders were soon in control of the town. The majority of the Australians on the 13^th June 1941were diverted north to attack Jezzine in Lebanon in order to advance to Beirut. A small garrison of Australians were left to hold Merdjayoun. Following a strong Vichy French counter-attack the garrison was forced to withdraw on the 15^th June 1941. With the aid of re-enforcements sent as a relief column Allied troops successfully defended the pass back to Palestine and recaptured Merdjayoun on the 24^th June 1941.

During the North African Campaign the British Army launched Operation Battle-Axe on the 15^th June 1941 in an effort to relieve the Siege of Tobruk. The intention was to clear the eastern Cyrenaica of German and Italian troops who were fighting a defensive campaign for the first time in the war. On the first day, the 15^th June 1941 the British lost over half their tanks. The only success was achieved on the second day when they repulsed a big German counter-attack. On the third day the British were forced to withdraw to prevent being encircled by the German. Winston Churchill had expected a complete success and was displeased that Operation Battle-Axe had failed with the loss of most of the tanks sent to support it. On the 22^nd June 1941 Churchill replaced General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East with General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, India. Wavell and Auchinleck were ordered to exchange duties.

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(The Eastern Front)

In Finland on the 9^th June 1941 negotiations brought Germany and Finland together in readiness for possible attack on Soviet Union. Following Operation Barbarossa Finland declared war, on the b 25^th June 1941, against the Soviet Union. On the 29^th June 1941 German and Finnish troops launched an attack against the Soviet Union across the barren northern terrain known as Operation Silver Fox. (See Germany)

In the Baltic the Soviet Union began the first mass deportation of the Lithuanian people which was conducted on the 13th June 1941. The NKVD and NKGB Russian troops based in Lithuania escorted approximately 20,000 deportees on trains to Siberia. These deportees were Lithuanian families who were selected as being Anti-Soviet families. On the 14^th June 1941 similar deportations began with Estonian and Latvian being transferred to Siberia. During Operation Barbarossa, German officially occupied Lithuania from the Soviet Union on the 27^th June 1941 after the Soviet forces had retreated. During the retreat the Soviets massacred between 1,000 and 1,500 mostly ethnic Lithuanian Jews on the 25^th June 1941.

In Hungary on the 26^th June 1941 the city of Kassa was bombed by an unidentified aircraft. The true identity of the attacking aircraft has never been established but there are two possible explanations. The first was that the Soviet aircraft attacked the city by mistake when they were targeting a German radio station in the Slovakian city of Preslov, thirty kilometres north of Kassa. The second was that Germany feigned the bombing to provoke Hungary into attacking the Soviet Union. This attack on Kassa was the pretext for Hungary and Czechoslovakia to declare war on the Soviet Union on the 27^th June 1941.

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(Other Theatres and Areas)

In America, the Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African-American military pilots who were formed on the 2^nd June 1941 into the 99^th Fighter Squadron. This unit consisted of four hundred and twenty nine enlisted men and forty seven officers. Their programme involved primary training at Morton Field then conversion training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. The War Department had set up a system to accept those African-American applicants with flight experience or higher education. This ruling ensured the most intelligent applicants were eligible to join.

The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army during the Second World War. The USAAF was created on the 20^th June 1941 under the command of General Henry H. Arnold, to amalgamate both the Air Corps and GHQ Air Force. The Air Corps had been the statutory military branch since 1926. GHQ Air Force had developed into an independent force similar to Britain’s Royal Air Force in 1935. However, while Britain and Germany had separate air forces independent of their army or navy, during the Second World War the American Air Force remained a part of the army.

American President Franklin D. Roosevelt became very wary of the increasing aggression of Germany toward the Soviet Union. He made some diplomatic moves to improve U.S./Soviet Union relationships. These relations were soured between the two countries over the Soviet Unions’ aggressive annexing of nearby countries and the changing borders. On the 24^th June 1941, in a press conference speech, Roosevelt opposed Congress regarding the Lend-Lease bill which would give aid to the Allies but would exclude the Soviet Union.

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In Ethiopia the British had forced an Italian surrender in May 1941. The Duke of Aosta who was the Italian Viceroy of Ethiopia continued the fight at Assab, the last Italian harbour on the Red Sea. On the 10^th/11^th June 1941 a surprise landing at Assab by the 3/15^thPunjab Regiment secured the pier unopposed. Two Italian Generals were taken prisoner after the Punjabis had landed. The Civil Governor was taken to HMS Dido where he surrendered Assab to the Rear Admiral R.H.C. Halifax who was the Senior Officer Red Sea Force. The Punjabis took five hundred and forty seven prisoners along with the two Generals and thirty five Germans.

Spain under Fransisco Franco during the Second World War was officially a neutral country. In recognition of the assistance of Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War Franco wrote to Hitler on the 19^th June 1941 offering to join the war on the Axis side. Franco’s offer was for volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front but not on the Western Front, thereby maintaining neutral status with the Allies. On the 26^th June 1941 Hitler approved of Spanish volunteers and the Blue Division was quickly raised, then sent to Germany for training before serving at the Siege of Leningrad which began in September1941.

The SS Mareeba was an Australian freighter sailing in the Bay of Bombay carrying 5,000 tons of sugar from Batavia to Colombia on the 26^th June 1941. Mareeba was attacked by the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran and received nine shots to her hull. Several shots hit her engine-room and Mareeba slowly began to sink. A team of German boarding party placed demolition charges to sink her quickly. Mareeba’s forty eight man crew were taken prisoner and taken on board Kormoran who sped away to avoid retaliation for the sinking.

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SECOND WORLD WAR May 1941

May1

SECOND WORLD WAR May 1941

(The Blitz)

Liverpool was subjected to seven nights of bombing that devastated the city. The peak of the bombing was from the 1^st to 7^th May 1941 involving six hundred and eighty one Luftwaffe bombers who dropped 2,135 high explosive bombs and 119 other explosive devices such as incendiary bombs. Of the one hundred and forty four cargo berths in the docks, sixty nine were put out of action inflicting 2,895 casualties. Liverpool Cathedral was damaged and over 6,500 homes completely demolished and a further 190,000 damaged leaving many thousands of people homeless. After the 7^th May 1941 the Luftwaffe air assault diminished as Germany turned their attention toward attacking the Soviet Union. Liverpool was the most heavily area of the country with the exception of London and the final raid was conducted on the 10^th January 1942.

Belfast was attacked by the Luftwaffe on four separate evenings April and May 1941. The third raid during the Belfast Blitz in Northern Ireland took place overnight of the 4^th/5^th May 1941 where incendiary bombs predominated. The total casualty raid was 150 people killed with many more injured. The 4^th and last raid on Belfast took place overnight of the 5^th/6^th May 1941. Over the four separate raids 1,300 homes were demolished, 5,000 badly damaged and 50,000 slightly damaged or required “first aid repairs”.

Nottingham was attacked on the 7^th/8^th May 1941 by Luftwaffe bombers. The Germans had developed a radio navigation system designed for night bombing pf Britain known as the “X-Gerät Beams”, but the British had found a counter-measure to divert the attack away from the main target. The beam had been set to cover the Rolls-Royce Plant at Derby but the Luftwaffe followed the beam to Nottingham. Over one hundred bombers took part in the raid and many bombs fell on open farmland. Two churches and one hotel were destroyed and a further five buildings were damaged. 253 people were killed and 294 injured during the raid. The period when the X-Gerät radio beams aimed at Britain endedwhen the Germans moved their forces to the east in preparation for the invasion of theSoviet Union.

On the 10^th/11^th May 1941 the House of Commons was damaged on the last large raid on London. Other targets were Hull, Liverpool, and Belfast and shipbuilding area of the River Clyde. Germany shifted its focus toward the Soviet Union and the East bringing to an end “The Blitz” on Britain.

Across Britain, by the end of the Blitz, over 40,000 civilians had been killed, 46,000 seriously injured and over one million homes had been damaged or damaged. The Luftwaffe had lost 2,400 aircraft without achieving any of its objective during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz combined,

Finally at the end of the Blitz British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, after visiting Liverpool and the surrounding areas in May 1941 said, “I see the damage done by the enemy attacks, but I also see the spirit of an unconquered people”. To sum it all up we can use the words of Mrs. Dorothy Laycock, a child of the Liverpool Blitz, “They tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. They nearly did but they didn’t quite, did they?”

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(The Mediterranean Campaign and the Desert War)

The Anglo- Iraqi War began on the 2^nd May 1941. The pro-Nazi and nationalist party, who were seeking independence from Britain, had overthrown the pro-British regime in April 1941. This change of government led to a British invasion of Iraq. Substantial Iraqi ground forces were deployed to the plateau overlooking RAF Habbaniya where airstrikes were launched at the RAF station. On the 6^th May 1941 Iraqi troops withdrew from RAF Habbaniya after taking heavy casualties and were overwhelmed by British air supremacy. The five day siege had been lifted by the Royal Air Force’s own resources. Berlin instructed the Luftwaffe to send a small force of aircraft to Iraq on the 6^thMay 1941 and the bulk of the aircraft arrived in Mosul, north of Baghdad on the 13^th May 1941 in order to support the Iraqi government. On the 17^th May 1941 the British Royal Air Force attacked the Iraqis in Fallujah which was secured on the 21^st May 1941. The Iraqi counter-attack was defeated on the 23^rd May 1941. British forces began to advance toward Baghdad on the 27^th May 1941. With no serviceable aircraft available as the British advanced on Baghdad the German military mission fled Iraq on the 29^th May 1941. On the 30^th May 1941, with the British on the outskirts of Baghdad, the Iraqi government fled from Iraq. On 31^st May 1941 the Mayor of Baghdad surrendered and an armistice signed ending the Anglo-Iraqi War.

The Battle of Crete began on the 20^th May 1941 when German paratroopers staged an airborne invasion on the island. This was the first occasion when paratroopers were used en masse as an invasion force. Alongside Cretian civilians were Greek and British defenders who inflicted heavy casualties on the German paratroopers. On the 21^st May 1941, through a combination of communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation and German offensive, Maleme Airfield sited in Western Crete fell. This enabled the Germans to land reinforcements and the Allies withdrew to the southern coast of the island. The British destroyer HMS Juno was bombed and sunk by Italian aircraft southeast of Crete on the 21^st May 1941. Two British cruisers HMS Fiji, HMS Gloucester and destroyer HMS Greyhound was bombed and sunk by the Luftwaffe around Crete on the 22^nd May 1941. The Luftwaffe had further success with bombing and sinking of British destroyers HMS Kashmir and HMS Kelly off Crete on the 23^rd May 1941. The German advance on the island was temporarily halted when the Australian and New Zealand defenders carried out a bayonet charge causing heavy German casualties which forced the Germans briefly to withdraw on the 27^th May 1941. On the same day Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, sent a message to Winston Churchill explaining Crete could no longer be defended and troops must be withdrawn. The Chiefs of Staff agreed and ordered the evacuation. From the 28^th May 1941 to the 1^st June 1941 over 18,000 British troops were evacuated to Egypt leaving 12,000 British and Dominion troops and thousands of Greeks on the island when the Germans controlled Crete from the 1^st June 1941.

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(Britain)

During the Battle of the Atlantic a total of sixty three ships were sunk (351,294 tons) with a further three ships damaged (23,992 tons). These ships were lost to German U-boats during the course of May 1941. German submarine U-110 was a member of the Atlantic wolf pack attacking Allied shipping. On the 8^th May 1941 U-110 had successfully sunk two Allied ships but the convey escort destroyer HMS Broadway proceeded to drop depth charges. U-110 was forced to surface and abandon ship. Before the German crew could scuttle U-110 a boarding party from HMS Bulldog entered the ship and discovered her code books and “Enigma” machine. U-110 was taken in tow back to Britain but sank en route to Scapa Flow. The documents captured from U-110 helped Bletchley Park code breakers solve a German cypher code which turned out to be one of the biggest secrets of the war. HMS Hood was patrolling the Bay of Biscay to stop German ships attempting a breakout from Brest when she was ordered to the Norwegian Sea. The Admiralty had received a false report that the German battleship Bismarck had sailed from Germany and Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow on the 6^th May 1941. When Bismarck sailed for the Atlantic on the 19^th May 1941 she was joined by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and escorted by three destroyers. The Admiralty ordered Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales to pursue the German ships before they could break out into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping. In the early hours of the 24^th May 1941 Hood engaged Prinz Eugen. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen opened fire on Hood which was struck by several German shells which exploded internally causing her to sink within three minutes. Of the 1,418 members of the Hood’s crew only three survived. Prince of Wales received damage from German hits and coupled with mechanical problems she was forced to disengage. However, she managed to hit Bismarck three times who had to head for safety in occupied France where she could be repaired. Bismarck was spotted by the Royal Navy and sunk on the 27^th May 1941. Prinz Eugen had sustained damage but managed to reach occupied France and receive repairs.

Several German cities were attacked on the 12^th May 1941 by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to counter some of the German Luftwaffe raids on Britain. These raids happened despite the radio speech made by Hermann Göring in 1940, “If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil my name is Meier”. Göring was the Reich Marshall of the Greater German Reich, Germany’s highest rank, and was referring to the Jewish problem. This speech would come back to haunt him when Bomber Command began large scale operations against German targets in 1942.

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(Germany)

On the 10^th May 1941 Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess flew a Messerschmitt Bf 110 to Scotland on a solo peace mission, parachuting into Eaglesham near his objective of Dungavel House after running out of fuel. His self-styled mission was an attempt to negotiate a peace between Britain and Germany. His proposals were for Germany to have a free hand in Europe and Germany respecting the integrity of the British Empire. The British government rejected his proposals and treated him as a prisoner of war for the remainder on the Second World War. Hess had a reputation of total loyalty to future dictator Adolf Hitler who made him deputy party leader in 1933. He was declared second to Hermann Göring in line of succession in 1939. As Hitler became preoccupied by military and foreign policy Hess’s power waned and was further undermined by Martin Bormann and other top Nazi leaders. In an effort to restore his influence Hess flew to Scotland. After the war Hess was tried as a war criminal at the Nuremburg Trials. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment at Spandau Prison in Berlin. From 1966 he remained the only inmate until his death in 1987.

On the16^th May 1941, in the Western Desert Campaign, German Commander Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps troops successfully defeated British troops at Halfaya Pass which is located on the Egyptian/Libyan border. The British had previously attacked through Halfaya Pass and pushed eastwards towards Libya when a German counter/attack forced the British back to Halfaya Pass. The British Scots and Coldstream Guards garrisoned and secured their positions and took control of the Halfaya Pass allowing the remaining British Army to retire back to Egypt. After a period of stalemate the German determined attack on the 26^TH/ 27^TH May 1941 forced the British to abandon the pass.

SS Robin Moor an American merchantman was sunk by German submarine U-69 off Sierra Leone on the 21^st May 1941. She sailed from New York to Mozambique via South Africa carrying a commercial cargo without convoy protection, because at the time America was a neutral country. She sailed under the American flag in an area considered to be relatively safe from U-boats. Robin Moor was stopped by U-69 whose captain had decided to sink her and the nine officers, twenty nine crewmen and eight passengers were allowed to board her four lifeboats. U-69 torpedoed Robin Moor which then sank. The captain of U-69 radioed the lifeboats position and on the 8th June 1941 one lifeboat containing Robin Moor’s captain and ten others were rescued. The other three lifeboats were presumed lost as they were never found. The sinking of a neutral nation’s ship caused a political incident in the United States and U-69’s captain justified his actions by saying the ship has been sunk as she was carrying supplies to German’s enemy.

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(Other Theatres)

In Ethiopia Emperor Haile Selassie entered Addis Ababa, his capital in triumph on the 5^th May 1941. In 1936 Italy had invaded Ethiopia and the Emperor fled the country and lived in exile in the British city of Bath. Italy conquered Ethiopia in 1937. She declared war against the United Kingdom and France in June 1940. From Ethiopia, Italy invaded British Somaliland in August 1940 but the British launched a counter-invasion and the Italians were to go on the defensive in January 1941. The Italian North African War was effectively over by the 6^th April 1941 when the Italian flag was replaced by the Union flag over the Viceroy’s residence. A break-away Italian army led by the Duke of Aosta, Viceroy of Ethiopia continued the fight. He was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian army and fierce fighting by the Italians slowed the British counter-invasion. The Italians were besieged by the British and Commonwealth troops and despite fierce Italian resistance, with the lack of water and supplies running low they were forced to surrender at Amba Alagi on the 15^th May 1941. After the proclamation of surrender had been read the Italian army marched away, a British General took the salute and the Allied troops presented arms as accorded by the honours of war. The officers were allowed to keep their firearms whilst being transferred for internment as prisoners-of-war.

At the instigation of the Japanese, a peace agreement was signed between Thailand and France in Tokyo on the 9^th May 1941 officially ending the Franco-Thai War. Some areas of French Indochina had been fought over between Thailand and Vichy France during the Franco-Thai War of 1940 to 1941. Following the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940 the French were forced to allow Japan to set up military bases enabling Japanese access to Allied Burma. The peace agreement stated that France would relinquish their hold on the disputed border territories with Thailand.

The “Strike of the 100,000” began on 10^th May 1941 in German-occupied Belgium and was led by Julien Lahaut, head of the Belgian Communist Party. The demand of a wage increase was the object of the strike and also a means of passive resistance to the German occupation. Originating in the Cockeril steel works in Eastern Belgium, the news soon spread through the Province of Liége, the industrial Province of Hainaut in the west and the neighbouring areas of Flanders. The national press of the Belgian Resistance gave widespread coverage and the Germans agreed to an 8% increase in wages in order to end the disruption. The strike lasted eight days and ended on the 18^th May 1941.

In America, on the15^th May 1941 the first Civilian Public Service (C.P.S.) camp opened for conscientious objectors. The C.P.S. provided conscientious objectors an alternative to military service and the camps encouraged them to perform work of national importance. Nearly 12,000 draftees unwilling to do any form of military service, were sent to 152 C.P.S. camps from 1941 to the disbanding of the C.P.S. in 1947. However, one conscientious objector who did serve his country, wore the uniform and saluted the flag was Desmond T. Doss who enlisted to become a combat medic. As a conscientious objector he refused to bear arms in combat but instead became a medic with the 77^th Infantry Brigade. For his exceptional valour in rescuing and treating his fellow troops in the Pacific Campaign he was awarded two Bronze Star Medals and the Medal of Honour.

Dublin, the capital of neutral Southern Ireland was attacked by the Luftwaffe on the 31^st May 1941. The attack occurred in the early morning when four bombs fell in the North Strand area of the city. A total of twenty-eight people were killed, ninety civilians were injured and approximately three hundred houses were damaged or destroyed leaving four hundred people homeless. The renamed Connolly Station located in the North Strand Road was the most likely target as streams of refugees were arriving from Belfast following the Luftwaffe raids on that city. It has been suggested the raid by the Luftwaffe was a warning to Southern Ireland to keep out of the war but the suggestion appears never to have been proven.

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Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service April 1941.

Apr30

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service April 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

02/04/1941 13.55 Rochford An aeroplane taking off from Rochford Aerodrome

Crashed into a hanger severely injuring 2 men. A/C Dennis Fear No 642065, age 19 and A/C2 Wilkingson. No 922795. Both conveyed to Southend General Hospital where Dennis Fear died 4.4.41. Cause of accident unknown.

04/04/1941 10.45 Grays Hill 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field adjoining

Harding Elms Road. Time and date of falling not known. No damage or casualties. B.D.S. 5.6.41.

04/04/1941 15.45 Wickford 1 – H.E unexploded found in a field 300 yards East

of Wickford Hall Southend Road. No damage or casualties.

08/04/1941 13.35 Paglesham 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found 400 yards North

East of East Hall. No damage or casualties.

08/04/1941 23.15 Foulness I.Bs (a number) burnt out at Small Gains Farm.

Island No damage or casualties.

10/04/1941 13.00 Dunton 1 – H.E unexploded was found in a field East of

Berry Lane. No damage or casualties. (disposed of by B.D.S. 10.5.41).

11/04/1941 Mountnessing 1 – A.A. Shell exploded in a field West of St

Anns Cottages, St Anns Lane. No damage or casualties.

13/04/1941 21.00 South Weald 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field 200

yards from cow shed at Gilstead Hall. No damage or casualties.

14/04/1941 South Weald 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field 300

yards West of Spital Lane and 500 yards North of A.12. No damage or casualties. (disposed of by B.D.S. 28.4.41).

14/04/1941 15.50 Wickford 3 – H.Es exploded on open ground 100 yards East

of junction of Sugden Avenue and London Road. No damage or casualties.

15/04/1941 Ingrave 1 – H.E exploded found in Forty-five field, 30

yards South East of pond at Clemoes Farm, Thorndon Park. No damage or casualties.

16/04/1941 21.30 Childerditch 10 – H.Es exploded in fields between the Village

Hall and Hall Lane. 1 cow injured. Slight damage to property.

16/04/1941 21.30 Little 1 – H.E exploded in Dunton Road, 200 yards East

Burstead of Calvers Farm. Road blocked. No casualties.

16/04/1941 21.50 Canvey 3 – H.Es exploded near Beech House Promenade

Island East, 2 on foreshore and 1 100 yards North of sea wall. Considerable damage to jetty, overhead electric cables and to property. No casualties.

16/04/1941 Little Warley 3 – A.A. unexploded Shells, 1 100 yards East of

Hall Lane and 100 yards North of L.M.S. railway, 1 150 yards East of Hall Lane and 40 yards North East of pond in field and 1 300 yards West of Hall Lane and 400 yards North on L.M.S. railway (all disposed of by B.D.S. 9.5.41).

16/04/1941 21.60 Mountnessing 2 – H.Es exploded, 1/4 mile South of

Mountnessing Hall Farm and 100 yards North of Railway and 1 on Sewerage Farm. Extensive damage to sewer main and sprinklers. No casualties.

17/04/1941 02.10 Wickford I.Bs (about 100) burnt out between the junction of

Nevendon Road and Park Drive. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

17/04/1941 02.15 Wickford 1 – H.E. exploded in a field 100 yards North of

Railway Arch and South of Third Avenue, Shotgate. No damage or casualties.

17/04/1941 02.25 Hockley I.Bs (a number) burnt out in Great Bullwood, 1

mile South of Wardens Post N.4. No damage or casualties.

18/04/1941 05.00 Canewdon 3 – H.Es exploded in fields 1/4 mile North West of

Bolt Hall. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 21.30 Vange I.Bs (about 50) burnt out at Gales Corner

Timberlog Lane. Damage by fire to a small factory, a house and sheds. Telephone wires down at junction of Gordon Road. 1 slight casualty.

19/04/1941 21.30 Brentwood I.Bs (a number) at the Barracks, Gt. Warley and

Mental Hospital grounds. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 21.30 Thundersley 1 – H.E. exploded at Longfords Crescent, 1

unoccupied bungalow wrecked. No casualties.

19/04/1941 21.35 South 1 – Paramine unexploded 500 yards from East end

Benfleet of Highcliffe Road. Parachute at Canvey Island. Police Station (exploded 22.4.41 by B.D.S.). No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 21.40 Laindon 2 – H.Es exploded at Albert Drive, 4 bungalows

badly damaged and several slightly damaged. 1 slight casualty. Several persons suffering from shock.

19/04/1941 21.40 Wallasea 11 – H.Es exploded in fields 200 yards South of

Grass Farm. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 21.45 Laindon 4 – H.Es exploded 2 between Victoria and Milton

Avenues and 2 at Dunton Drive. Extensive damage to Rose Cottage. Slight damage to Belvedere and other property. Water main fractured. Several persons suffering from shock.

19/04/1941 21.45 Pilgrims 1 – H.E. exploded in Lower Crow Green Road. No

Hatch damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 21.48 Laindon 1 – H.E. exploded in Elmore Crescent (unclassified

road closed). Gas main fractured. No casualties. (road open 16.4.41).

19/04/1941 21.55 Mountnessing 2 – Parachute mines exploded 1 in mid-air

at Swallows Cross. No casualties. Severe damage to property and telephone wires. Parachute and tail cap found painted green with No 3226 in yellow.

19/04/1941 22.00 Childerditch 2 – Para mines, 1 exploded in meadow on Jury Hill

and 1 unexploded on North side of Arterial Road. A.127. 10 yards from road, 300 yards East of Little Warley cross roads (exploded 21.4.41). No damage or casualties. (road open 23.5.41).

19/04/1941 22.10 Brentwood 2 – Para mines exploded, 1 in Sawyers Hall Lane

and 1 at Cocoran’s Farm, Bishops Hall Estate. Extensive damage to unoccupied farm property and other property. No casualties. Tail caps found.

19/04/1941 22.14 Rochford 2 – Para mines exploded near Costed Hall.

Damage to property. No casualties. Tail caps found marked with green lettering Nos 3241 and 3231 both 2 1/2 miles from water-ways.

19/04/1941 22.15 Great 2 – Para mines exploded West of Vicarage Lane

Wakering and 400 yards North of High St. 2 slight casualties. Slight damage to property. Tail caps and parachutes in possession of the Police. Tail caps black with figures 19 in green stencil and the word NARVI in chalk.

19/04/1941 22.30 Laindon 1 – H.E. unexploded in a field 400 yards East of

Partridge Farm and 300 yards South of Dry Street. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 22.30 Billericay 2 – H.Es exploded in field 200 yards West of Acors

Farm Kennel Lane. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 Hutton 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in a field adjoining

Challacombe Close. No damage or casualties. (dealt with by BDS 5.5.41).

19/04/1941 22.40 Pitsea I.Bs (about 50) between Glenhurst Avenue and

Rosetown Drive. Damage by fire at “Corborie” Rectory Road and 19 Chelvedon Avenue. No casualties.

19/04/1941 22.40 South 2 – Para mines exploded on open ground North

Fambridge West of pumping station, Fambridge Road. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

19/04/1941 22.45 Basildon 2 – H.Es exploded 1 in Cleveland Road and 1 in

Marlborough Road. 2 houses demolished and extensive damage to other property. Gas main damaged. No casualties.

19/04/1941 22.48 Canvey 1 – H.E. exploded on Scar Elbow Farm between

Island the gas compressor and Kynoch’s Hotel. No damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 23.05 Nevendon I.Bs (a number) in field near Felmore’s Farm. No

damage or casualties.

19/04/1941 23.10 Great Warley 1 – H.E. exploded in field between Thatchers Arms

P.H. and Warley Lodge. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

19/04/1941 Raweth 1 – H.E. exploded in Pear Tree Meadow, Fox’s

Farm. No damage or casualties.

20/04/1941 03.15 Canvey Roof and doors of “Redferne Lodge” damaged by

Island shrapnel. No casualties.

20/04/1941 03.15 Canvey 2 – H.Es exploded in fields between Winter

Island Gardens and Waterside Farm. No damage or casualties.

20/04/1941 03.15 Wickford 6 – H.Es exploded in line from East end of Brown’s

Ave, to Senfield Drive. 1 fatal casualty (Frederick Brickdell 33 years.) 4 serious and 3 slight casualties. Several persons suffering from shock, 6 houses wrecked and a number badly damaged. Brown’s Avenue blocked. Fire broke out but was extinguished. Electric and telephone wires down. A number of persons rendered homeless.

20/04/1941 04.10 Shenfield 2 – H.Es exploded in Hall Lane 1/4 mile North East

of Searchlight Station. No damage or casualties.

20/04/1941 04.10 South Weald 1 – Para mine exploded in field adjoining the

Poplars Farm, Brook Street. Extensive damage to property. Several persons rendered homeless. 2 lambs killed. Parachute at Brentwood Police Station.

20/04/1941 04.10 Brentwood 4 – H.Es, 1 exploded and 3 unexploded. The

unexploded near L.N.E.R. between Kavanaghs and Mascalls Bridges, 1 16 yards South of track, 1 150 yards South and 1 25 yards North of track about 250 yards East of Mascalls Bridge. The exploded H.E. 400 yards West of Kavanaghs Bridge and 200 yards South of track. (disposed of B.D.S. 29.4.41). No damage or casualties.

20/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in ploughed field 25

yards West of L.M.S.R. and 50 yards North of Orchard Cottage, Hall Lane. No damage or casualties. (disposed of B.D.S. 9.5.41).

20/04/1941 Wickford 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell 50 yards from Railway

Arch at Fanton Hall. No damage or casualties. (dealt with by B.D.S. 8.5.41).

21/04/1941 Langdon 1 – H.E unexploded 20 yards North of junction on

Hills Park and Nightingale Avenues. No damage or casualties. (Disposed of by B.D.S. 30.4.41).

21/04/1941 Great 1 – H.E. unexploded near sewer beds at Barlylands

Burstead Farm. No damage or casualties. (dealt with B.D.S. 9.5.41).

21/04/1941 Barling 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in garden at Bolts Farm

Cottage. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 30.4.41).

24/04/1941 Great Warley 1 – H.E. exploded in field behind Mangrove

Cottages Warley Road. No damage or casualties.

25/04/1941 East 1 – H.E. unexploded in field 50 yards South of

Horndon Station Road. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 10.5.41).

25/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in field adjoining Hall

Lane opposite Rectory Chase. No damage or casualties. (Disposed of B.D.S. 17.5.41).

28/04/1941 Raweth 1 – H.E unexploded in field 1/4 mile South East of

Dallymans Farm. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 5.5.41).

28/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in a ploughed field East

of Hall Lane. 100 yards from Hall Lane and 20 yards from North side of field. No damage or casualties.

SECOND WORLD WAR April 1941

Apr1

SECOND WORLD WAR April 1941

(The Desert War)

When Italy entered the war in June 1940 they already had an army of 236,000 men, equipment and supplies in Libya. Their attempt to captured Egypt had been halted by the British and they were driven back into Libya. Germany intervened by sending re-enforcements under Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps. By the end of March 1941 Rommel had reached and captured El Agheila. The British were in retreat and Rommel, known as the “Desert Fox”, was set to continue the desert war.

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By the 6^th April 1941 Rommel’s Afrika Korps had advanced 400 miles, forcing the British to retreat to Egypt, when he assigned some of his force to begin the siege of Tobruk. The German siege of Tobruk began on the 10^th April 1941, where a garrison of British troops, mostly Australian remained, to deny the German/Italian axis powers access to the town’s port. The Siege of Tobruk was to last for two hundred and forty one days. The reason the British and the Axis Powers wanted control of Tobruk was that it had a deep protected harbour, for the British so they could defend Egypt and the Suez Canal. For the Axis Powers, to bring in supplies rather than having to transport them from the distant port of Tripoli in Libya. On the 13^th/14^th April 1941 German tanks attacked the Australian defences but they were held off by artillery fire and the German infantry was forced back by the Australian infantry. In the meantime, Rommel had advanced eastward toward Egypt and was at the frontier by the 24^th April 1941. With the failure to capture Tobruk during the march eastward, Rommel believed the only way to take Tobruk was by a deliberate attack. This attack was not possible until sufficient support units had arrived in the area. On the 27^th April 1941 Major-General Friedrich Paulus a Deputy Chief of the General Staff, arrives from Berlin to enquire about Rommel’s intentions. Also to let him know there was little chance of more help being available and to concentrate on holding defensive position on the Egyptian frontier.

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(The Battle for Greece)

When Italy failed to win the Greco-Italian War which had begun on the 28^th October 1940, Hitler decided to intervene on the 4^th November 1940. The Greek Army had forced the Italians to retreat into Albanian territory and by the 24^th March 1941 the Italian offensive was cancelled as it had ended in complete failure. British troops were transferred from North Africa to Greece beginning on the 4^th March 1941. They were required to assist the Greeks in their battle against the advancing German troops.

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The German invasion of Greece, known as Operation Marita began on the 6th April 1941 with the Greek Army occupying the Greek border with Albania. British and Commonwealth reinforcements had arrived in anticipation of a German attack. However, the Germans invaded from Bulgaria, thereby creating a second front. By the 8^th April 1941 Salonika in Greece was captured. On the 11^th/12^th April 1941 the Battle of Vevi was fought between Commonwealth troops and forces from Nazi Germany. The battle took place near the town of Amyntaion close to the Greek North West border. The Allies withdrew owing to adverse weather conditions in the mountains passes. Kleisoura Pass in the Greek mountains and was strategically important as it stood on the main Allied defensive line from Albania. Between the 13^th and 14^th April 1941 organised resistance by some elements of the Greek 20^th Infantry Division were in position to halt the rapid German advance through Yugoslavia. With intense effort and artillery support the attacking Germans managed to split the line and drive some Greek forces into the higher ground, and the remainder surrendered to the Germans. The retreating element of the Greek armed forces was forced to surrender around mid-day on the 14^th April 1941 as there was not sufficient transport to bring reinforcements from the Albanian border. German Blitzkrieg tactics overwhelmed the British troops who had been sent to assist Greeks. Outnumbered on the ground and in the air the Greek and Allied forces were unable to deploy sufficient troops to stop the German advance at any one position. With the Germans approaching Athens the city was placed under martial law and the Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis committed suicide by shooting himself on the 18^th April 1941. The same day the British began to plan for the evacuation of Greece as it was clear the Allied forces could not halt the German advance. The Greek government agreed that the armed forces should be evacuated. On the 23^rd April 1941 the Greek Army surrendered to the Germans and the Greek government including King George II of Greece escaped to Crete. Beginning on the 24^th April 1941 British and Allied forces began their evacuation from Greece. Despite an acute shortage of Allied shipping more than 50,000 Allied troops were evacuated, mostly to Crete but others went to Egypt. Tanks, heavy equipment and trucks had to be abandoned. On the 27^th April 1941 German troops occupied the Greek capital Athens. Jointly Germany and Italy occupied the capital while the country was divided into three separate zones occupied by the Germans, Italians and the Bulgarians.

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(Britain)

April 1941 was the month for the Blitz of British Cities. Luftwaffe raids targeted major city centres including industrial and dock areas.

Bristol and Avonmouth suffered heavy air attacks on the 3^rd, 4^th, 7^th, and 11^th April 1941. However, the attack on Bristol on the 7^th April 1941 was acting as a diversionary raid as the Luftwaffe were making Liverpool their main target for the night. Although not realised at the time the Blitz on Bristol had ended on the 11^th April 1941 as the Luftwaffe switched their attention to Belfast, London, Plymouth, Coventry and Birmingham.

Coventry suffered two heavy night raids by the Luftwaffe on the 8^th/9^th and the 10^th/11^th April 1941. The damage caused by the two raids included some factories, the central police station, the Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital, King Henry VIII School and St. Mary’s Hall. Christ Church was the main architectural casualty of the raids when most of the building was destroyed leaving only the spire standing. The two raids resulted in the death of 451 people and over 700 seriously injured.

Two separate raids by the Nazi Luftwaffe against the City of Birmingham took place on the 9^th & 10^th April 1941. The first raid was made up of 235 bombers who dropped 280 tons of explosives and 40,000 incendiary bombs on the city centre. The Bull Ring suffered heavy damage and the Prince of Wales Theatre together with the Midland Arcade were destroyed. Outlying areas including Small Heath, Aston and Nechels also suffered heavy damage. The second raid had 245 bombers dropping 254 tons of explosive and 43,000 incendiary bombs causing major damage to Solihull, Hall Green and Erdington and the combined two raids caused 1,121 casualties. (Continue from here again)

The Belfast Blitz comprised four separate German air raids during April/May 1941. The first raid was probably only to test the Northern Ireland City of Belfast’s defences on the 7^th/8^th April 1941. Two hundred Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city on the 16^th April 1941. Aircraft carrier HMS Furious was berthed in the dockyard having a refit when she was hit by a single small bomb but only sustained light damage. The raid consisted mainly of high explosive bombs causing the death of approximately 900 people and 1,500 injured, which was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. Only London had a higher casualty rate on any one night. The 3^rd and 4^th raids were carried out during early May 1941.

The Luftwaffe returned to London in waves lasting all night on the 19^th April 1941 and dropped hundreds of tons of bombs for which they lost only two aircraft. Many important landmarks and public buildings were hit. St Paul’s Cathedral had the north transept slightly damaged and the remaining stained glass windows were shattered. The Speakers House at Westminster, the Law Courts, Selfridges and Christie’s Auction House were also damaged. The total casualties were roughly 2,300 killed and another 3,000 seriously wounded. With many homes hit the raid proved to be one of heaviest of the war.

The Royal Dockyards at HMNB Devonport was the main target carried out by the Luftwaffe on the city of Plymouth. On the evening of the 24^th April 1941, during a heavy bombing raid, the communal air-raid shelter at Portland Square took a direct hit. Seventy-six people who had taken refuge in the shelter were killed and just three people survived. The square was away from the dock area but in the central area of the city.

—

During April 1941, the Battle of the Atlantic saw the loss of forty-four ships sunk (247,758 tons) and a further four damaged (28,793 tons) giving a total loss of 276,550 tons. Convoy SC-26 was an east-bound convoy of twenty-three ships which sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool. The convoy was intercepted by eight U-boats in the Atlantic on the 2^nd/3^rd April 1941. Thirteen ships were either sunk or damaged that night (56%) with the loss of 72,631 tons. The only escort was Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC) Worcestershire who managed to destroy one U-boat, U-76.

German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were anchored at Brest in France on the 22^nd March 1941. After a successful raid on British convoy shipping in the Atlantic the two ships made for safe anchorage at Brest. One of the surviving British convoy ships radioed their position to British battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V but the German ships escaped to safety. The two ships entered dry-dock for routine maintenance but were subjected to repeated British air raids. Gneisenau was moved from the dry-dock to the harbour and on the 6^th April 1941 she was struck by a torpedo from a British Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber inflicting heavy damage. The attack killed 72 servicemen initially and wounded a further 90, of whom 16 later died of their wounds. Scharnhorst also suffered numerous attacks and although damaged she had not been struck by any torpedo.

—

Malta, a strategically important island in the Mediterranean and pitted the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany against the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy. The Siege of Malta had begun in June 1940 and the Axis Powers resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission. Malta, a British colony ideally positioned to defend North Africa and to attack Axis ships transporting supplies and reinforcements from Europe. Consequently it was one of the most intensely bombed island during the war. German General Erwin Rommel stated that the Axis Powers would end up losing control of North Africa unless Malta was defeated. The Axis Powers air superiority was taking its toll on the island with their bombing raids but the Allies had some success during April 1941. The Royal Navy had intercepted the Axis 14^th Destroyer Fleet on 15^th/16^th April 1941, carrying German Afrika Korps supplies, when they sank eight German and Italian ships for the loss of destroyer HMS Mohawk. Further success was had when the Malta convoys began to get through bringing with them much needed Hurricane fighter planes as reinforcements for the obsolete Gloster Sea Gladiators and Hurricanes already on the island.

—

In the Kingdom of Iraq, British forces begin to land in Basrah on the 18^th April 1941. The Kingdom was an independent state which had been governed by the United Kingdom until 1932. Under the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 the U.K. had obtained permission to build two military bases to ensure control of Iraqi petroleum. The Iraqi government was responsible for internal security, but the U.K. had been allowed to retain the bases, RAF Shaibah near Basra and RAF Habbaniya between Ramadi and Fallujah. As well as protecting British petroleum interests they were an air link between Egypt and India. Nationalist and anti-British Rashid Ali became Prime Minister of Iraq in March 1940. In January 1941 Rashid Ali resigned as P.M. but on the 1^st April 1941 he seized power in a coup d’état. British relations with Rashid Ali had become unsatisfactory which resulted in Britain sending troops to assist the Iraqi Army. (See Other Theatres – 1^st April 1941)

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(Germany)

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by German troops advancing through Romania and Hungary on the 6^th April 1941. Hitler had ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia at the end of March 1941 after Yugoslavia had rejected entry into the Tripartite Pact. The Luftwaffe had been ordered to attack Yugoslavia’s capital Belgrade and the two day assault began on the 7^th April 1941. Germany ordered the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to be split into two separate territories which would be annexed to German and Italy on the 10^th April 1941. The city of Belgrade surrendered on the 12^th April 1941 and the German Army continuing the invasion of Yugoslavia on the 16^th April 1941 until Yugoslavia finally surrendered on the 17^th April 1941. Yugoslavia became a Fascist State by conquest.

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(Italy)

Italy’s North African War effectively ended on the 6^th April 1941 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Previously Abyssinia), when the Italian flag was hauled down and the Union flag was hoisted over the Italian Viceroy’s official residence. The residency had previously been the palace of Emperor Haile Selassie. The British, under the command of General Archibald Wavell, had planned and executed a three-pronged attack. Although outnumbered by the Italians Wavell had RAF air support. In January 1941 Lieutenant-General William Platt led his forces from Sudan into Eritrea and the Italians soon retreated. Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham advanced north from Kenya into Italian Somaliland while a third force crossed from Aden and took Somaliland by amphibious assault. These three forces linked up to push deep into Ethiopia. The great majority of Italy’s forces had already abandoned the city leaving it in charge of armed police who surrendered to British divisional commander Cunningham. Remnants of the Italian army in Eritrea were retreating toward the Eritrean town of Dessie in March 1941. Several thousand Italian troops continued a guerrilla war until September 1943 when Italy surrendered to the Allies. Hitler’s invasion of Poland and declaration of war with Britain and France had brought Italy into the war which then exposed their weaknesses in its military. Greece and North Africa soon fell. And only German military intervention in early 1941 saved Mussolini, who went by the nickname “Il Duce” (“the Leader”), from a military coup.

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(Other Theatres)

In Iraq Rashid Ali staged a military coup d’ état on the 1^st April 1941. He was nationalistic and anti-British who resented the British having air force bases at RAF Shaibah near Basra and RAF Habbaniya between Ramada and Fallujah. The government had broken off diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany but in March 1939 Rashid Ali was the new Prime Minister of Iraq. Although not a pro-Axis supporter he made some initial contacts with German representatives in Ankara and Berlin. He resigned as P.M. in January 1941 and seized power in a coup d’ état on the 1^st April 1941. A Pro-Axis government was installed in Iraq on the 3^rd April 1941 with Nazi support and funding. The British response was to air lift re-enforcements to Iraq on the13^th April 1941 and arriving at RAF Shaibah on the 18^th April 1941. The new Iraqi government moved ground forces to occupy the plateau south of RAF Habbaniya on the 30^th April 1941. This was the opening moves of the Anglo-Iraqi War during May 1941. (See Britain – 18^th April 1941)

—

The United States of America occupied Greenland on the 10^th April 1941 to act as a protectorate for Greenland’s neutrality. Following the fall of Denmark in April 1940 Greenland was left an unoccupied territory of an occupied Denmark. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorised Secretary of State Cordell Hull to sign an agreement with the Danish envoy to the USA Henrik Kauffman. This agreement allowed the presence of American troops to guarantee Greenland’s neutrality. This action was independent to the occupied Danish Government’s wishes declaring the agreement void and Kauffman a traitor to the state. Greenland automatically entered the war in December 1941 after the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbour, allowing Greenland to provide “stepping stones” for America’s aircraft delivery to Europe.

American destroyer USS Niblack patrolling off Iceland on the 10^th April 1941 escorted a task force which landed American troops in Iceland. Before the landings Niblack was making a preliminary patrol and picked up three boatloads of survivors from a torpedoed merchantman vessel. A German U-boat was detected and driven off after Niblack’s commander ordered the dropping of depth charges in the area. This action was believed to be the first act of war between Germany and the USA even though America was still neutral at the time. However, on the 11^th April 1941 the United States began sea patrols in the North Atlantic in order to safeguard the American servicemen based on occupied Greenland.

On the 10^th April 1941 Roosevelt declared the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden should no longer be combat areas but should be open to United States shipping owing to their neutrality.

—

The Independent State of Croatia was established on the 10^th April 1941. It became a puppet state of Germany and Italy and was founded by utilising occupied Yugoslavia. Adolf Hitler had issued a directive for the Axis Powers to invade Yugoslavia on the 27^th March 1941. Croatia was created utilising territories of Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Independent State of Croatia was governed by a one-party state run by the fascist Ustasa organisation. The regime targeted Serbs, Jews and Roma as part of a large-scale campaign of genocide, as were the anti-fascist or dissident Croats and Muslims.

—

The Soviet Union/Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed in Moscow on the 13^th April 1941. Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka and Ambassador Yoshitsugu Tatekawa signed on behalf of Japan and Foreign Minister Vyacheslau Molotiv for the Soviet Union. The pact was signed to ensure the neutrality between the two countries allowing the Soviet Union to safeguard its eastern border and concentrate on the European theatre of war. It also allowed Japan to continue its war with China. Japan was aware that the diplomatic relationship with the United States of America was rapidly deteriorating.

————————————-

–

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service March 1941.

Mar31

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service March 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

01/03/1941 13.00 Langdon Joseph William O’Neil 17 years, a member of the

Hills A.F.S. attached to East Ham Fire Station of “Landour” Park Avenue was tampering with a Cannon Shell at home when it exploded. Parts of both hands were blown away. O’Neil and his mother Emily were seriously injured and his sisters Theresa 3 years and Peggy 13 years slightly injured. O’Neil died in Billericay Hospital 3.3.41.

08/03/1941 04.00 Hadleigh Damage to glass at “Joyclin” by A.A. Shrapnel. No

casualties.

08/03/1941 23.05 Ashingdon 1 – H.E exploded on Bentalls Farm, 130 yards

North East of Ulverstone Road. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 07.09 Rochford 11 – H.Es exploded and a number of I.Bs burnt out

in fields at the corner of Rectory and Ashingdon Road. Damage to telephone wires and property. 1 slight casualty.

09/03/1941 20.35 Rochford I.Bs (a number) in the vicinity of Ashingdon Park

Estate and Rectory Farm. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

09/03/1941 21.40 Doddinghurst 2 – H.Es exploded in fields at Pear Tree

Green. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 21.45 Mountnessing 4 – H.Es exploded in fields near May’s Café,

Church Road. Damage to property and overhead electric and telephone cables. No casualties.

09/03/1941 21.55 Billericay 3 – H.Es and a number of I.Bs in line from

Littlebrook Farm Outwood Common Road to 200 yards South of Outwood Common Railway Bridge. Slight damage to property. 1 slight casualty.

09/03/1941 21.55 Wickford 2 – H.Es exploded in fields near L.N.E.R. Goods

Yard. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 21.55 Runwell 1 – H.E. exploded in a field 150 yards North East of

“Ingraf”. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

09/03/1941 21.55 Laindon 1 – H.E. exploded in a field North of A.127 near

East end Waverley Avenue. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 22.05 New 4 – H.Es exploded on New England Island. No

England damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 22.05 Haven Gore 3 – H.Es exploded 2 on Havengore Island and 1

500 yards West of Havengore Farm. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 22.15 South Weald 4 – H.Es exploded 3 in the stackyard of Rochetts

Farm and 1 in a ditch at side of Weald Road. Damage to property and water main. Weald Road blocked.

09/03/1941 22.15 Bentley I.Bs (about 30) burnt out in fields surrounding

Hillfields House, slight damage to property. No casualties.

09/03/1941 23.15 Raweth 1 – H.E. unexploded in a field 200 yards North of

Wardens Post M.12 Raweth Lane. No damage or casualties (removed by B.D.S. 15.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Laindon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. 200 yards North of

Ghyillgrove Farmhouse, Honeypot Lane, in a field. No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 Night South Weald 1 – Small U.X.B. and wire at Prieze Hall. No

damage or casualties (dealt with by B.D.S. 30.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Fobbing 1 – Small U.X.B. and wire (dealt with by B.D.S.

28.3.41) No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 Night Laindon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in garden of “North Crisp”.

No damage or casualties (dealt with by B.D.S. 19.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Laindon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in field 1/2 mile East of

Hotwater and Lee Wootons Lane. No damage or casualties (dealt with by B.D.S. 11.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Langdon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in garden of “Myosotes”

Hills Lee Chapel Lane. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S 19.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Pitsea 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. 8 yards North East of

Mess room of Sewerage Works. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 11.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Wickford 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in a field at rear of

“Janroe” Waterworks Road. No damage or casualties dealt with by B.D.S. 28.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Langdon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. and Parachute in field 40

Hills yards North of Dry Street. No damage or casualties. (dealt with by B.D.S. 28.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Langdon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. and Parachute in field 1/2

Hills mile West of Dunton Wayletts Signal Box 20 yards North of Railway. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 14.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Little Warley 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in Brickfields Yard. No

damage or casualties (dealt with by B.D.S. 10.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Vange 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in roof of shed at “Glen

Lowge” Glen Road. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 28.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Hutton 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in field at Tally-Ho! Drive

Hunters Chase. No damage or casualties (dealt with by B.D.S. 10.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Laindon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. near allotments 60 yards

West of “White House” in a tree at Albemarle Crescent. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 28.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Brentwood 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in a swamp in Harts Wood

Hartswood Road. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 10.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Langdon 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. in a field Nr Lee Chapel

Hills and High Road. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 19.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Thundersley 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. wire and parachute,

balloon and board in field 600 yards South of Great Burches Farm. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 10.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Downham 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. found near “Frenwill”. No

damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 12.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Raweth 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. wire parachute and board

opposite Good Companion Garage, Chelmsford Road (dealt with B.D.S. 10.3.41). No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 Night Rayleigh 2 – Parachutes and wire found at Hylands Farm

(taken by B.D.S. 10th).

09/03/1941 Night Raweth 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. wire parachute balloon

and board at Dallymans Farm, London Road. No damage or casualties (dealt with B.D.S. 28.3.41).

09/03/1941 Night Billericay 1 – Small Yellow U.X.B. wire parachute and board

at Buckwyns Farm, Buckwyns Estate (dealt with B.D.S. 28.3.41). No damage or casualties.

09/03/1941 Night Laindon 10 – H.Es unexploded in fields East of Noak Hill

Road. No damage or casualties. (all dealt with B.D.S. 28.3.41).

11/03/1941 06.55 Foulness 2 – H.Es exploded on Ridge Marsh Farm. No

Island damage or casualties.

11/03/1941 22.55 Childerditch 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in a field at Nuttys Farm,

60 yards West of farm buildings. No damage or casualties.

12/03/1941 20.30 Brentwood 1 – A.A. Shell exploded on tennis courts at

“Merrymead” Sawyers Hall Lane. No damage or casualties.

12/03/1941 23.15 South Parts of Barrage Balloon in a field near Clifford

Benfleet Road (removed by RAF).

13/03/1941 20.30 Hockley 1 – H.E exploded in field at Brammerton Road. 1

slight casualty. Slight damage to property.

13/03/1941 20.45 Hockley 1 – H.E exploded 50 yards West of Southlands

Railway Crossing of L.N.E.R. Damage to track, telephone wires and signals. Train service suspended. No casualties.

13/03/1941 20.55 Thundersley 1 – H.E. unexploded in a field near St Michaels

Avenue Daws Heath. No damage or casualties.

13/03/1941 21.00 Canvey 1 – H.E exploded in a field between Coastal Wharf

Island and Catholic Church. 1 50 yards from Tank of Oil. No damage or casualties.

13/03/1941 21.30 Raweth 1 – H.E. exploded near “Downwood” Hooley Drive,

Trende Hayes. Slight damage to property. No casualties.

13/03/1941 21.30 Raweth 1 – H.E. exploded at Maple Drive, Trende Hayes.

No damage or casualties.

13/03/1941 21.45 Rochford 2 – H.Es exploded, 1 near stackyard at Doggetts

Chase and 1 150 yards North of Russell Terrace, Stambridge Road. Slight damage to property. 1 slight casualty.

13/03/1941 Found Downham 1 – H.E. exploded in a field at Grange Road. No

damage or casualties. Time of occurrence not known.

14/03/1941 00.45 Foulness 2 – H.Es exploded in fields North East of Church.

Island Damage to telephone wires. No casualties.

14/03/1941 03.00 Doddinghurst 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell at Cows Farm.

No damage or casualties.

14/03/1941 20.55 Thundersley 1 – H.E exploded in field 250 yards South of

Southend Arterial Road and 200 yards East of St Michaels Avenue Daws Heath. No damage or casualties.

15/03/1941 00.30 Raweth 1 – H.E exploded and 1 I.B. burnt out at Beeches

Farm. No damage or casualties.

15/03/1941 00.40 Foulness 1 – H.E exploded on main Military concrete road

Island opposite New Wick Farm. Damage to road which is blocked, telephone and electric cables. No casualties.

15/03/1941 01.00 Thundersley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell fell in field 1/4 mile North

East of “Ivedene” Daws Heath Road. No damage or casualties. (dealt with B.D.S. 22.3.41)

15/03/1941 03.35 Creeksea 1 – H.E. exploded on disused timber shed at

Creeksea Ferry. Timber shed demolished. Telephone and electric cables down. No casualties.

15/03/1941 10.00 Childerditch 1 – A.A. exploded Shell crater found in gateway of

Childerditch Farm Cottages, 150 yards from Brickfields Road. No damage or casualties.

15/03/1941 20.45 Hullbridge I.Bs (about 50) at Coventry Corner. 1 serious

casualty, the occupant of a bus which was set on fire (property of Westcliff Motor Services Limited. Also garden shed fired.

15/03/1941 21.00 Hullbridge I.Bs (about 16) at Abbleside Gardens. No damage

or casualties.

15/03/1941 22.00 Doddinghurst 1 – H.E. exploded in a field at Pettettes

Farm Mountnessing Road. No damage or casualties.

17/03/1941 10.00 Wallasea 1 exploded Sweep Cutter of German origin found

Island on the sea wall near Grass Farm. (Navy Depot informed.)

19/03/1941 00.50 Laindon 3 – H.Es exploded, one in garden of “Woodlands”

Norfolk Road, 1 at Alexander Road and 1 at Rosebury Avenue. Damage to property, gas main fractured. No casualties.

19/03/1941 00.50 Little I.Bs (about 50) burnt out in fields at Rectory Road

Burstead and near the Church. No damage or casualties.

19/03/1941 01.15 Basildon 10 – H.Es exploded in fields 500 yards North of

Bethwick Lane. No damage or casualties.

19/03/1941 01.15 Laindon 1 – H.E. unexploded in a field 300 yards North of

Bencons Farm, Wash Road. No damage or casualties B.D.S. 10.5.41.

19/03/1941 03.05 Great Warley I.Bs (about 100) burnt out at Codham Hall. No

damage or casualties.

19/03/1941 03.05 Shenfield & I.Bs (a number) at Highlands and Priests Lane.

Hutton Damage to property. No casualties.

19/03/1941 03.30 Great Warley 2 – H.Es exploded in field at Codham Hall Farm.

No damage or casualties.

19/03/1941 13.30 Ramsden 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in garden of

Bellhouse Malveas Cycle Shop premises, 50 yards East of Fox & Hounds P.H. No damage or casualties. (removed by B.D.S. 29.3.41).

19/03/1941 Billericay 1 – A.A. Shell exploded in a field 50 yards North of

Thrift Wood Lane Tye Common. No damage or casualties.

19/03/1941 21.10 Paglesham 4 – H.Es exploded and a number of I.Bs burnt out

at East Hall. Slight damage to property. Overhead electric cables down. 18 pigs killed.

20/03/1941 00.60 Hutton 1 – H.E. exploded on North side of River Wid, 400

yards from Wash Road. Electric cables down. No casualties.

20/03/1941 01.15 Mountnessing Damage to property in Brentwood Division

at Burnt House Lane and main road, Padham Green, due to mine exploding in Chelmsford Division. No casualties.

21/03/1941 13.50 Runwell 1 – H.E. unexploded found in bed of River Crouch,

100 yards East of “Ilgars”. No damage or casualties.

21/03/1941 21.00 Bowers 4 – H.Es exploded craters found on Marshes, 500

Gifford yards South of Great Russels Farm. No damage or casualties.

22/03/1941 Great 1 – H.E. unexploded found 1/4 mile West of

Wakering Croftman’s House Paynters Lane Road. No damage or casualties. Road closed. Dealt with B.D.S. 27.3.41

23/03/1941 13.00 Rochford A pear shaped object (metal) of German origin, 3

feet long having the appearance of a Buoy which appeared to have contained a canister which had exploded, was found in the River Crouch. (Removed by Admiralty.)

24/03/1941 11.00 Great A fatal accident occurred at the New Ranges when

Wakering Sapper William Frederick Walden, 20 years. No. 2118986 of the 200th Field Co. R.Es stationed at Battlesbridge was killed while working in a mine field as the result of a land mine exploding.

25/03/1941 11.45 Dunton 1 – H.E unexploded was found 50 yards South of

railway and 50 yards East of Berry Lane. No damage or casualties. (Dealt with by B.D.S. 10.5.41).

26/03/1941 Shenfield 2 – A.A. unexploded Shells found on a spare plot of

land in Middleton Road. No damage or casualties.

27/03/1941 Mountnessing 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in Turnip

field at Arnolds Farm, 40 yards East of Lower Road. No damage or casualties. (disposed of B.D.S. 8.4.41).

29/03/1941 10.00 Rayleigh 1 – A.A. exploded Shell found1/2 mile North West

of gas holder. No damage or casualties.

29/03/1941 East Horndon 1 – A.A. Shell exploded in Jackson’s Wood

Meadow, at rear of Mount Thrift Farm. No damage or casualties.

SECOND WORLD WAR March 1941

Mar1

SECOND WORLD WAR March 1941

(Britain)

British commandos conducted a raid on the Nazi- occupied Lofoten Islands off Narvik in Norway, known as Operation Claymore on the 4th March 1941. They achieved their objective of destroying fish oil factories and over 3,600 tons of oil and glycerine. As well as capturing German code information they took over 200 German prisoners, destroyed eleven ships and one German armed trawler surrendered to destroyer HMS Somali. The commandos suffered only one casualty in the whole operation which was an accidental self-inflicted wound by an officer who managed to shoot himself in the leg with his own pistol.

Operation Lustre began on the 4^th March 1941 during the Middle East Campaign when British troops were transferred by a series of naval convoys from Alexandria in Egypt to Greece. The first British troops landed in Greece on the 7^th March 1941. British troops were required to assist the Greeks in their battle against advancing German troops. The Greek army were opposing the Italian forces who had been virtually defeated. Germany sent troops to re-enforce the Italians and Britain reciprocated by re-enforcing the Greeks. It did however, leave the Allied forces weakened in North Africa leading to Rommel’s successful counter-attack in April 1941. (See Germany – 24^thMarch 1941)

During the Blitz on Britain’s cities, a Luftwaffe bomber flew over Buckingham Palace in London on the 8^th March 1941 and dropped a single high explosive bomb. The North Lodge was hit and demolished but one policeman was killed. Later the same day another wave of German aircraft dropped high explosive bombs over the Palace forecourt. No casualties were reported among the Palace staff and the Palace itself did not sustain any major damage. On the 19^th March 1941 London was subjected to the worst bombing raid of the year when it was one of twelve cities having been hit by numerous Luftwaffe raids during March 1941. On the night of the 10^th March 1941 Portsmouth was raided by the Luftwaffe who dropped thousands of incendiary and hundreds of high explosive bombs. Although serious damage was caused the city coped remarkably well in extinguishing the fires and securing the damaged buildings. 93 people were killed, over 200 were injured and over 1,000 were made homeless. On the nights of the 13^th-14^th and the 14^th-15^th March 1941 Luftwaffe bombers raided the Clydebank district of Glasgow. The main targets were the armaments factory at the Singer Sewing Machine works, John Brown & Co shipyard and Beardmore’s engine works. Over the two nights 528 people were killed and 617 seriously injured. 11,350 homeless people were given temporary accommodation. Plymouth Docks and neighbouring Devonport was subjected to a series of devastating raids from the 19th March 1941. The city lost its historic Guildhall and the main shopping streets were badly damaged and more than 900 people were killed and over 40,000 were made homeless.

The Battle of Keren in Eritrea was a conflict during The East Africa Campaign and was fought between a mixed Italian Army of regular and colonial troops and the British/Free French forces. The British army consisted mainly of Sudanese and Indian troops under the British flag. Keren is surrounded on most sides by a jumble of steep granite mountains and sharp ridges with road and rail access along a valley. The natural fortification was ideal for the Italians to defend against an attack along the valley road to Keren, as they occupied the high ground. The British attacked on the 27^th March 1941 and forced the Italian army off the high ground. The Italian defence positions at Keren were untenable and the defenders withdrew along the road from Keren to Aasmara with the British in pursuit.

On the Mediterranean island of Crete British heavy cruiser HMS York was disabled in Souda Bay by two explosive motorboats of the Italian Regina Marina on the 25^th March 1941. Six motorboats packed with explosives attacked three targets in pairs. Of the six motorboats only three were successful, two struck York which was run aground to prevent her sinking. The third damaged Norwegian tanker Pericies. Submarine HMS Rover supplied electrical power to enable York’s guns to operate as anti-aircraft defence. After Rover was damaged by German aircraft she was towed away for repair. York was further damaged beyond repair and was abandoned after having her main guns wrecked by demolition charges on the 21^st May 1941.

At Cape Matapan, off southern Greece, a naval engagement took place between the 27^th -29^th March 1941. The Battle of Cape Matapan was fought between the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy against the Italian Regia Marina. Italian messages had been intercepted and decoded by “enigma” at Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in England. The messages informed the British that an Italian battleship, six heavy and light cruisers were about to attack merchant convoys supplying British forces in the Mediterranean. This enabled ships of the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy to intercept and sink or severely damage several ships of the Italian navy. In order not to disclose “enigma” a Sunderland flying boat was dispatched and the Italian ships located. Two separate British patrols converged on the Italian fleet. The first was commanded by Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippel with cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Gloucester, HMS Orion and HMS Perth and a number of destroyers sailed from Greek waters. Admiral Cunningham with HMS Formidable, HMS Warspite, HMS Barham and HMS Valiant left Alexandria the same day to join up with the cruisers. On the morning of the 28^th March 1941 a number of Italian ships engaged with Pridham–Wippel’s group but the Italians experienced range finding problems with their guns and they changed course to join up with the remainder of the Italian ships. The British had inflicted considerable damage to the Italian Regia Marina. They had one battleship damaged, three heavy cruisers and two destroyers sunk and one destroyer badly damaged. In the battle over 2,300 Italian sailors were killed and 1,015 were taken prisoner. The British suffered four light cruisers slightly damaged, one torpedo bomber shot down and three killed. On the early morning of the 29^th March 1941 Admiral Cunningham ordered a signal to be sent to the Italians that they were unable to rescue any more of the 1,015 survivors due to the risk of air attacks. He gave the location of the remaining survivors for the Italian hospital ship Gradisca to recover.

In the Battle of the Atlantic the Allies suffered huge convoy losses during March 1941. A total of forty ships were sunk (234,847 tons) and a further ten ships were damaged (98,329 tons) mainly from German U-boat attacks.

—————————

(Germany)

German dictator Adolf Hitler instructed Chief of German Police of the dreaded SS Heinrich Himmler to order the expansion of Auschwitz concentration camp on the 1^st March 1941. The new camp was to house 100,000 prisoners of war and be located outside the village of Birkenau in Poland.

In North Africa German Panzers began to arrive in greater numbers on the 12^th March 1941 following Lt-General Erwin Rommel’s appointment as head of the Afrika Korps in February1941. Rommel’s attack on El Agheila on the 24^th March 1941 began a new stage in the war. It was the beginning of the German involvement in one of the war’s major fronts. Fighting against the Italians the British had extended their front from Egypt to Tobruk in Libya and the Italians were defeated and surrendered. The British were substantially weakened when some of the forces were sent to assist in the Greco-Italian War. Rommel sensed the British weakness and ordered an attack on El Agheila Fort. The British realised they could resist against a concerted German attack and retreated. There was little action apart from the British setting delaying tactics and the Germans reoccupied El Agheila. For Rommel the campaign to take El Agheila was a success and the North African Campaign had begun. Mersa Brega in Libya is the most southerly part of the Mediterranean Sea and was the opening phase of Rommel’s first offensive on the 31^st March 1941. The Afrika Korps took Mersa Brega by pinning down the British with his infantry whilst despatching his Panzers across the open desert flanks. This tactic was the first example of moves that were to become his signature.

On the 27^th March 1941 Hitler issued a directive to his military leaders to plan for an invasion of Yugoslavia. The new government of Yugoslavia had rejected the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany negotiated by Prince Regent Paul earlier in the month. When the pact was rejected Hitler was enraged which led him to order the invasion. (See Other Theatres – 4^th March 1941)

—————————

(Italy)

The Italian Spring Offensive began on the 9^th March 1941 during the Greco-Italian War. The Greek Army had advanced deep into Albanian territory and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini supervised the last Italian attempt of the war to defeat the Greeks. The Greek artillery had not been neutralised and the exploitation of advantageous terrain allowed the Greeks to maintain an active defence. The Italians began the attack with heavy artillery and air bombardment followed by numerous infantry assaults. On the 14^th March 1941 Italian General Ugo Cavallero advised Mussolini to halt the offensive as the attacks were futile. On the 24^th March 1941 the offensive was cancelled as the offensive had ended in complete failure. Italian casualties amounted to over 18,000 dead and wounded while the Greeks suffered 5,300 dead, wounded and missing.

—————————

(Other Theatres)

Bulgaria officially signed the Tripartite Pact on the 1^st March 1941 in Vienna. The Tripartite Pact was a defensive military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan and the agreement was signed in Berlin during September 1940. The Kingdom if Bulgaria had been an ally of Germany during the Great War but hesitated to sign the new pact due to internal differences of opinion. However, Bulgaria was finally forced to agree Germany’s wishes when Germany needed to move their troops through Bulgaria to assist in the Italo-Greek War. By signing the Tripartite Pact there was not any possibility of Bulgaria militarily resisting German access through the country side.

Following months of negotiations between Germany and Yugoslavia, Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia met with Adolf Hitler on the 4^th March 1941 at his country retreat of Berghoff where Paul agreed to join Axis Pact. He set his conditions for Yugoslavia to join the Axis Powers and Hitler agreed providing all the terms were published. Following discussion with the Yugoslav government some members of the cabinet resigned on the 21^st March 1941 in protest at Prince Paul’s Pact with the Nazis. On the 25^th March 1941 Paul’s commitment to the Tripartite Pact was signed in Vienna. However, the regime was overthrown and a new government was proclaimed when the seventeen year old Crown Prince Peter was declared King on the 27^th March 1941. The government refused to ratify the Yugoslav signing of the Tripartite Pact which enraged Hitler who issued a directive to invade Yugoslavia. (See Germany – 27^th March 1941)

In America the Lease-Lend programme had been approved by Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act on the 11^th March 1941. The Lease-Lend programme was devised as a means of aiding Great Britain in its war against Germany. America’s reasoning for granting the aid was that if your neighbour was successful in defending his home, the security of your home was enhanced. British morale was bolstered in the knowledge they were not alone in their struggle against Germany.

The Western Defence Command (WDC) of America was established on the 17^th March 1941. The command formation of the U.S. Army was responsible for the training of soldiers prior to their deployment overseas. The coordination for the defence of the Pacific Coast region of the United States was little more than a planning agency until the 11^th December 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.

Japanese Takeo Yoshikawa arrived in Hawaii on the 27^th March 1941 under the cover of being a vice-consul named Tadashi Morimura. Yoshikawa had been discharged from the Imperial Japanese Navy after having suffered a severe stomach ailment in 1936. He began a career in Naval intelligence at the Navy Headquarters in Tokyo after studying every source he could access to become an expert on the United States Navy. In 1940 he passed Foreign Ministry English examinations to qualify as a junior diplomat. Upon arriving in Hawaii he began his spying career by observing the U.S. Fleet movements and security arrangements at Pearl Harbour. His observations were transmitted to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.

——————————————

Second WORLD WAR February 1941

Feb1

Second WORLD WAR February 1941

(Britain)

In the Western Desert Campaign on the 7^th Feb 1941 the Italian Special Armoured Brigade (10^th Army) saw initial success in a dawn attempt to break out of the encirclement of the Benghazi-Tripoli Road in Libya. After several days of desperate fighting the retreating Italians were cut off by the British Combe Force during the Battle of Beda Fomm. The Combe Force was a mobile flying column commanded by Major-General John Frederick Boyce Combe, CB. DSO & Bar. The 25,000 strong Italian 10^th Army formally surrendered before the end of the day. On the 9^th February 1941 British troops captured El Agheila from the Italians. During this campaign, known as Operation Compass, the British took 138,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners, hundreds of tanks and more than one thousand guns and aircraft. British losses were approximately 1,900 men killed or wounded. On the same day British Prime Minister Winston Churchill halted the advance at El Agheila and began to withdraw troops to assist in the defence of Greece. By the 14^th February 1941 the withdrawal of the British troops in North Africa had weakened their defences. In the meantime Germany’s Afrika Korps was heading toward El Agheila. When the British halted and having weakened their forces at El Agheila they had underestimated the German’s ability to wage war in the desert. German Lt-General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps took the opportunity to successfully attack and capture El Agheila on the 20^th February 1941. Rommel was able to use this time to prepare for an offensive in which they retook El Agheila. (See Germany – 14^th February 1941)

When American Mr. Wendell Willkie visited Britain at the end of January 1941 he carried with him a letter of introduction from American President Roosevelt. Churchill’s response to this letter was to make an international radio address on the 9^th February 1941 in which he gave his speech “Give us the tools, and we will finish the job”. Concluding the speech he quoted Roosevelt’s hand written verse from Longfellow, which said “Applies to you people as it does to us”. Here is the verse:

… Sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears, With all the hope of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate.

“What is the answer that I shall give, in your name, to this great man, the thrice-chosen head of a nation of a hundred and thirty million? Here is the answer I will give to President Roosevelt: Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence, all will be well. We shall not fail or falter, we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilism and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job”.

Operation Grog was the name given to the attacking of Genoa Harbour in Italy by British battleships on the 9^thFebruary 1941. The British fleet comprised of HMS Malaya, HMS Ark Royal, HMS Renown and HMS Sheffield was accompanied by ten destroyers. While four destroyers carried out anti-submarine sweeps, the heavy ships attempted to deceive Italian and German observers into thinking they were supporting a convoy as a feint movement. The harbour was bombarded and four cargo ships were sunk and a further eighteen were damaged. Italian battleship Caio Duilo was being repaired in dry dock but a salvo from HMS Malaya failed to hit the target. An error by a gunnery officer on HMS Sheffield caused an armour-piercing shell to hit Genoa Cathedral but it failed to explode. The shelling of Genoa caused 144 civilians to lose their lives and a further 272 were wounded. After the Italian fleet failed to intercept the British fleet returned to Gibraltar on the 11^th February 1941.

In East Africa, British forces entered Italian held Somaliland on the 11^th February 1941. With the Italians demoralised over their losses in the North African campaign Italian Viceroy Aosta withdrew his advanced position and consolidated his forces in Italian East Africa. The British had broken the Italian communication codes which enabled them to advance and capture Italian Somaliland capital Mogadishu on the 25^thFebruary 1941.

In the Mediterranean, during the North African Campaign, British Royal Navy Submarine HMS Upright attacked an Italian convoy on the 25^th February 1941. The convoy was sailing from Naples in Italy to Tripoli in Libya and Upright sank Italian cruiser Armando Diaz 45 miles off Sfax in Tunisia. On board Armando Diaz, 464 members of the crew were killed and 147 survived.

The “Three Nights Blitz” of Swansea occurred during the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st February 1941. The German Luftwaffe selected Swansea, on the south coast of Wales, as a legitimate target due to its importance as a port, docks and oil refinery. Swansea’s destruction was seen as being a major boost to Germany’s war effort by crippling coal exports and demoralising the civilian population and emergency services. A sustained total of fourteen hours of bombing activity over the three nights saw the city unprotected by Allied fighters allowing German bombers unrestricted access. The centre of Swansea was devastated with 857 properties destroyed and 11,000 damaged. At the end of the three days 230 people had died, another 409 injured and a total of 7,000 people had lost their homes. Following the Swansea blitz the King, Queen and Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Swansea to help boost morale.

During the course of February 1941, daily heavy attacks saw British controlled Malta entering into their critical period. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy continued to oppose both German and Italian air and sea forces. The Axis powers resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking ports, towns, cities and Allied shipping supplying the island. German “Afrika Korps” commander General Erwin Rommel (see Germany- 3^rd February 1941) recognised that without the defeat of Malta they would not be able to control and supply their North Africa campaign.

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(Germany)

On the 3^rd February 1941 Lt-General Erwin Rommel was appointed as head of “Afrika Korps” to command the small blocking force to shore up Germany’s failing Italian ally in Libya. Hitler had selected Rommel to lead the German forces in North Africa in January 1941. Elements of the Afrika Korps began to arrive in Tripoli in Libya on the 11^th February 1941. Rommel arrived in Tripoli on the 14^thFebruary 1941 and his Afrika Korps began moving east towards the British held positions in El Agheila on the Mediterranean coast of Libya. (See Britain – 20^th February 1941)

On the 20^th February 1941 Greece rejected a German offer to mediate in the Greco-Italian War. On the 21^st February 1941 German troops moved through Bulgaria toward the Greek front to give assistance to the struggling Italian army.

In February 1941 the German U-boat offensive in the Atlantic was increasingly successful. However, on the 24th February 1941 the “Happy Time” peaked when Britain’s Western Approaches Command (WAC) was transferred from London to Liverpool and given the responsibility for defending the trade in the North Atlantic. During February 1941 a total of 44 Allied ships were sunk (211,885 tons) and a further 3 ships damaged (28,340 tons).

In German controlled Vichy France Admiral Francois Darlan was appointed head of the Vichy Government on the 24^th February 1941. When France surrendered to Germany in 1940, Philippe Pétain formed a new Vichy government with a view to entering into an armistice with Germany. Darlan served as the Minister of Marine in the Pétain administration and replaced Pierre Étienne Flandin as “Vice President of the Council”. He was became de facto head of the Vichy government by becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and National Defence answerable only to Pétain. On the 11^th February 1941 he was named as Pétain’s eventual successor.

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(Italy)

In the Battle for North Africa German Dictator Adolf Hitler realised he would have to support Italy in the war against Britain in the desert. He informed Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini on the 9^th February 1941 that reinforcements were on the way to North Africa. (See Germany – 3^rd February 1941)

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(Other Theatres)

In America Admiral Husband E. Kimmel took over the position of Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet on the 1^st February 1941 from Admiral James Richardson. The previous year the fleet’s base had been transferred from San Diego in California to Pearl Harbour on Hawaii. This move was designed to be more responsive to any aggression by the Japanese. In early 1941 Kimmel wrote an account stating he believed a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was a possibility and he took all practical steps to minimise the damage should an attack take place. Kimmel’s instinct proved to be correct as the Japanese did invade Pearl Harbour in December 1941.

The United States House of Representatives voted 265-165 in favour of the Lend-Lease bill on the 8^th February 1941. American President Franklin Roosevelt had presented the bill to the Senate on the 10^th January 1941 in order to aid Britain in her war against Germany.

The Nazi officials of Vienna in Austria began to deport Austrian Jews to ghettos in Poland on the 15^th February 1941. A total of 5,000 Jewish men, women and children were transported in order to make Vienna “free from Jews”. When the officials were satisfied the task was complete the transportations ended in the autumn of 1941. The Jewish people were rounded up and put onto “transport” trains each carrying approximately 1,000 people who were totally unprepared for what faced them when they reached their destination.

In Spain on the 26^th February 1941, Dictator Francisco Franco belatedly replied to Adolf Hitler’s three week old letter. He stated that the price for Spain’s entry into the war supporting the Axis Powers would come with demands of his own. To repay Germany for their assistance in the Spanish Civil War, he would permit volunteers to join Germany on the Eastern Front to fight against communism. Hitler approved the use of Spanish volunteers on the 24^th June 1941. In order to claim neutrality, Franco had not committed Spain to the Second World War on the Axis side, as he did not wish to fight against Britain and her allies.

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Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service 18 January 1941.

Jan18

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service 18 January 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

18/01/1941 15.35 Billericay 10 – H.Es 8 exploded and 2 unexploded in fields

East of Lawness Farm. No damage or casualties. (Dealt with by B.D.S. 9.4.41).

18/01/1941 16.45 Hockley Barrage Balloon grounded in a field near

Homefield Farm, Greensword Lane. Damage to electric cables.

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service 16 January 1941.

Jan16

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service 16 January 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

16/01/1941 01.04 Brentwood A German Dornier 17 shot down by night fighter

crashed in flames in Hartswood 100 yards from junction of Woodman and Hartswood Roads. Machine completely burnt out. Remains of 3 bodies found in wreckage.

16/01/1941 05.15 Canvey A German Heinkel 111 shot down by night fighter

Island crashed in flames in River Thames 100 yards South of Oil Wharf Jetty Hole Haven. Occupants 2 dead and 3 prisoners (1 at Oldchurch Hospital).