General Erwin Rommel moved an advance force of the German 5th Light Division to a narrow pass 17 miles west of the Allied forward positions at El Agheila, Libya to block any Allied advances toward Tripoli. He also ordered the construction of defensive positions in the desert to the south to prevent the Allies from bypassing the pass.
Another supply convoy for Rommel’s Afrika Korps departs from Naples bound for Tripoli. It has four freighters and is escorted by two destroyers and a torpedo boat.
The British Chiefs of Staff estimate that one German armored division and three motorized divisions could reach the Bulgarian-Greek border by March 6, with an infantry division arriving by March 11. This is thought to be the maximum strength that the Germans could field until April 15.
The Greeks are looking forward to the British expeditionary force. However, issues of strategy continue. There are multiple proposed lines, with the Metaxas Line on the Bulgarian border, the Aliakhmon Line behind the Metaxas, and the Nestos Line. The Greeks refuse to contemplate any territorial losses, so they want to try to hold the most advanced lines, while the British are more realistic and believe only lines further back have any likelihood of holding.
To try to reach some kind of resolution to this disagreement, both Middle East Commander General Wavell and Lustreforce commander Henry Maitland Wilson fly into Tatoi airfield. They will meet with Anthony Eden and CIGS John Dill, who remain in Athens to address just this kind of issue. However, no agreement is possible, because the two allies have different priorities. In any event, the first convoy for Lustreforce is scheduled to leave Alexandria tomorrow.
During the early morning there are no less than four meetings between the Greek and British military staffs, trying to agree on a defensive strategy. In the event of an attack on Macedonia the British urge a quick pull back to the Aliakhmon line whereas Papagos clings to the more advanced Nestos line, “If the Yugoslavs should fight, that is where we Greeks should stand”, declared Papagos. Dill snapped, “General, you will have to fight that battle.”
The Athens press, echoing a defiant statement of Premier Alexander Korisis that Greece is “indifferent to threats,” asserted early today that the nation will fight to the bitter end regardless of the German army’s sweep across Bulgaria to Greece’s northern border. The new surge of Greek defiance followed reports that British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Greek leaders in conference here had reached agreement on “most of the important Anglo-Greek questions of the moment.”
An earthquake in the Greek city of Larissa has left 10,000 homeless.
Wavell arrives later in the morning in Athens, and sometime later Maitland Wilson, the commander-designate of the British forces in Greece, arrived at Tatoi airfield.
Turkey and the rest of the Balkans, now converted by high strategy into a potential zone of battle for the European war, strained tonight at final preparations for the worst. Turkey disclosed she had mined the Dardanelles, historic pawn of war, and had called up all naval reservists while Turkish warships concentrated there. Fresh troops moved from Istanbul toward the Bulgarian border. Massed Bulgarians and their new-found comrades-in-arms, Germany’s panzer divisions, faced massing Turkish and Greek troops along uneasy frontiers. Salonika, Greece, lay only 65 miles from Germany’s new front. German diplomatic sources here said Russia’s statement to Bulgaria showing Soviet disapproval of German troops in Bulgaria was only of “theoretical Importance” since Russia constitutes a defensive and not an offensive force. Yugoslav diplomatic circles expected that country might join the axis within a week. Prince Paul was said to be considering leaving for Germany Thursday.
Turkey canceled its non-aggression pact with Bulgaria after only two weeks.
The USSR warns Bulgaria that it does not approve of its pro-Axis regime, saying that the German occupation will only escalate the war.
Free French Headquarters, Cairo to General de Gaulle: “I am happy to inform you that the garrisons of the Kufra Oases surrendered at 9:00 AM on March 1, after a three-week siege. The capture of these enemy positions by Free French forces, is one more step toward final victory. Vive le France!” — Signed, De Larminet.
At Malta, the conscription recently ordered by Governor Dobbie begins. Men line up at Birkirkara School to be processed. In addition, Police Constable Carmel Camilleri is awarded the George Medal for actions he took on 4 November 1940. On that date, Camilleri rescued an RAF pilot from a cliff into which his plane had crashed.
The British at Mescelit Pass make some tentative moves forward. The 1st Royal Sussex advance across the Anseba Road and reach the vicinity of Mendad. Other troops head toward Massawa. There is only scattered Italian opposition on the road to Massawa.
The Italians at the port of Massawa see the British approaching and know what that invariably means — the same thing that happened at Kismayu and Mogadishu. So, the captains of three Italian submarines — Archimede, Guglielmotti, and Ferraris — set out to run the British blockade into the Indian Ocean.
British commandos are at sea en route to the Lofoten Islands on 3 March 1941. This is Operation CLAYMORE, an attack on fish-oil plants at these islands in northern Norway. The Royal Navy task force is Operation Rebel. The British ships have not been spotted and are heading into the islands from the west.
Prime Minister Robert Menzies, visiting London, gives an address to the Foreign Press Association on diplomatic relations in the Pacific region. As he puts it in his diary, the solution is:
“Policy vis a vis Japan is not appeasement in the sense of offering sops to Cerberus, but a proper blend of friendliness & a plan statement that we can and will defend ourselves and our vital interests.”
Churchill is sick with a cold and absent from Whitehall. Menzies notes that the British War Cabinet refuses to take any major decisions in his absence, and vows to find “the secret of having my cabinet unwilling to decide any important questions in my absence.”
There are persistent theories that, around this time, several highly placed individuals in the British government are considering replacing Churchill with Menzies. Churchill is seen as a ruthless autocrat, while Menzies is far more amenable (and quite level-headed). However, this is a highly debatable theory based on scant evidence, though there is little question that Menzies is making a smashing impression in London. His absence from Melbourne, though, is gradually causing his highly placed political supporters there to look elsewhere. This is a fairly typical and recurrent political scenario, where a domestic leader becomes more popular abroad than at home (a more modern example is Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia).
German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau reached the Cape Verde Islands area in Central Atlantic. Admiral Lütjens plans to intercept British convoys en route to and from Freetown. This is a major convoy route, with supplies for England flowing north and troop convoys heading south.
German submariner Bootsmannsmaat Artur Mei fell overboard from U-97 440 miles west of Ireland. He was never seen again.
A famous image of a weeping Frenchman (Jérôme Barzotti (fr)) was published in this week’s issue of Life magazine. The photograph is a still from film footage shot in Marseille during a procession of French regimental flags on their way to Africa to preserve them from surrender.
Former King Alfonso of Spain was buried this morning with a simple ceremony in the Spanish Church of Monserrat, where he must lie until either the monarchy is restored in Spain or ceases to become a political issue. Then the body will go into the last regal tomb of the Escorial.
Anton Mussert, leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, met with Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Mussert has been busy forming the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division “Nederland,” but this visit probably concerns the recent General Strike centered in Amsterdam that the SS brutally put down.
Ernst Cahn was executed by the Germans. Cahn was the Jewish co-owner of the Koco ice cream parlor in which German troops were sprayed with ammonia on February 19, 1941. The incident sparked the large scale protest strike known as the “Februari Strike” which began on February 24, 1941 and lasted until February 27, 1941. Cahn was the first man to be shot in the Netherlands since the German occupied the country in May 1940. He had moved his family from Germany to Amsterdam to escape Nazi persecution, only to face the occupation in May 1940. His shop served as a center for Jewish resistance against Nazi anti-Jewish laws. In February 1941, Cahn and others in the shop resisted a Nazi Ordnungspolizei raid by spraying German police with ammonia. Subsequently, Nazis rounded up hundreds of innocent Jewish men in Amsterdam and deported them to Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps. Of the more than 420 men rounded up and deported, only two survived.
The Luftwaffe bombs Cardiff again with 47 bombers.
RAF Bomber Command: Night of 3/4 March 1941
Cologne
71 Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys. 1 Hampden lost. Partial cloud hampered bombing but many fires were reported. Cologne records no bombs in the main city but a few on western outskirts. An opencast coal mine claimed 300-500 Reichsmarks (£30 — £50) compensation for damaged equipment.
Minor Operations: 8 Wellingtons bombed Boulogne without loss. 7 aircraft to Brest with 1 Stirling lost. This was the first Stirling to be lost; Squadron Leader J. M. Griffiths-Jones, D.F.0 of 7 Squadron, and his crew all died; their names are on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing.
The night squadrons of Bomber Command were stood down because of bad weather for the next week.
The Italians continue their aggressive operations in Greece, bombing Larissa north of Athens. The RAF shoots five of the bombers down. This attack adds insult to injury, as Larissa has been devastated by earthquakes recently.
Corvette HMS Trillium is completed at Greenock and departs for workups at Tobermory.
Destroyer HMS Whaddon arrived at Scapa Flow at 1430 from the Clyde to carry out working up exercises.
Destroyer HMS Brilliant arrived at Portsmouth at 1000 to refit prior to transfer to the Western Approaches.
Motor gun boat MGB 12 was mined off Milford Haven. The gunboat sank in tow on the 6th.
Destroyer HMS Burnham, which departed Aultbrea on the 2nd, was damaged in a collision alongside destroyer HMS Malcolm, which departed Aultbrea on the 3rd, in the North West Approaches. Destroyer Burnham was repaired at Liverpool completing on 27 April. Destroyer Malcolm was repaired at Liverpool completing on 7 April.
British mine destructor ship HMS Corfield was damaged in a collision with British steamer Cormead (2848grt) in the Thames Estuary. The mine destructor ship was repaired at Blackwall from 5 to 14 March.
Patrol trawler HMS Cobbers (275grt, T/Skipper L. Turner RNR) was sunk by German bombing off Lowestoft. Four crewmen were rescued. Turner and eight ratings were killed and two ratings were missing.
Auxiliary yacht HMS Tiny (5grt) was sunk by German bombing at South Dock, Sutherland.
British steamer Port Townsville (8661grt) was badly damaged by German bombing in 52-05N, 5-24W. Two passengers were lost. The steamer sank on the 4th.
Battleship HMS Warspite, aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, and five destroyers departed Alexandria for gunnery and flying exercises. Following the exercises, destroyer HMAS Stuart proceeded to Port Said for escort duty in convoy AN.17.
British steamer Knight of Malta (1553grt), which had departed Alexandria on the 1st escorted by anti-submarine whaler HMS Southern Maid with troops for Tobruk, ran aground during the night of 2/3 March two miles 273° from Ras Azzaz. There were no casualties. Destroyer HMS Wryneck was sent to assist to assess the possibility of salvage. The cargo was salved. Salvage of the ship was abandoned after bombing attacks on corvette HMS Peony and tug HMS St Issey on the 10th.
Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal with destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Duncan departed Gibraltar for flying exercises and returned later that day.
Submarine HMS Pandora departed Gibraltar and carried out lookout exercises and anti-submarine exercises with the convoy HG.55 before the convoy sailed.
Convoy HG.55 departed Gibraltar, escorted by sloop HMS Scarborough, destroyer HMS Wrestler, submarine HMS Pandora, and corvettes HMS Coreopsis, HMS Gentian, and HMS Jonquil. Destroyer Wrestler was detached on the 6th. Corvettes Gentian and Jonquil detached on the 10th and corvette Coreopsis on the 14th. On 14 March, submarine HMS Pandora joined convoy OG.55. Light cruiser HMS Arethusa joined the convoy on the 15th and escorted it through the day before continuing to Scapa Flow. Destroyers HMS Ambuscade and HMS Bulldog and corvette HMS Heartsease joined the convoy on the 17th. On 18 March, corvettes HMS Arabis, HMS Mallow, and HMS Violet and anti-submarine yacht HMS Philante joined. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 22nd.
A supply convoy for the Afrika Korps departed Naples with steamers Aegina (2447grt), Adana (4205grt), Arta (2452grt), and Sabaudia (1590grt) escorted by destroyers Tarigo and Freccia and torpedo boat Castor. The convoy arrived without event at Tripoli on the 6th.
In the U.S. capital, President Roosevelt canceled all engagements today because of a severe head cold, but kept in touch with legislative leaders by telephone; he signed the Urgent Deficiency Appropriation bill and “blanketed in” under the Civil Service specified employees of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The Senate debated the Lend-Lease bill, approved with amendments the bill amending the Excess Profits Tax bill to grant relief to “hardship” cases and recessed at 6:14 PM until 11 AM tomorrow.
The House debated the $1,420,977,559 Agriculture Department supply bill for 1942; accepted Senate amendments to the excess profits tax “hardship cases” bill and sent it to the White House, and passed the bill authorizing the Navy to sell equipment and supplies to the Philippine Commonwealth. Its Judiciary Committee heard Undersecretary of War Patterson on the defense labor situation. The House adjourned at 5:03 PM until noon tomorrow.
Administration forces, working desperately to obtain a vote on the Lend-Lease bill by this week-end, failed today in an initial effort to limit debate on the measure. Senator Clark, Missouri Democrat, blocked a proposal by Chairman George, Georgia Democrat, of the senate foreign relations committee that the senate agree unanimously to limit future speeches on the bill itself to one hour each, and speeches on amendments to a half hour. Clark and Senator Wheeler, Montana Democrat, said they had not filibustered against the bill, ‘but added that it was a measure of such great importance there should be no limitation on debate. “I don’t wonder that some of the proponents of this bill would like to see it jammed through at the earliest possible moment,” Wheeler declared, “because they know as I do that when the people understand it there will be a tremendous up rising over the country against it.
President Roosevelt cancelled all appointments today and remained in his living quarters in the White House because of a head cold.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an order freezing all Bulgarian assets in the United States. There, in fact, are very few Bulgarian assets in the U.S., but this is another instance of Roosevelt using his economic powers as a means of punishment.
Congress entered its third month today with three major bills enacted, five more passed by the House of Representatives but blocked in the Senate by the Lend-Lease debate, and only more taxes and appropriations marked “certain” on its future slate. A batch of other important bills may reach the floors later in the session, but all of these have been placed in an indefinite category by Democratic leaders. Among these are:
- Expansion of the Social Security Act to cover workers not now benefiting.
- Proposals to curb strikes in defense industries.
- Higher government loans pegging minimum prices for wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco and rice.
- Amendments to tighten the Hatch Act limiting campaign expenditures and barring non-policymaking Federal employees from political activity.
- Amendments to the Wagner Labor Relations Act.
Here is a thumb-nail review of what the Seventy-seventh Congress has done to date. Major bills that have passed and become law:
- Raising the public debt limit from $49,000,000,000 to $65,000,000,000 and taxing the income from all future issues of government securities.
- Appropriating $313,500,000 for 200 cargo ships to replenish world tonnage lost in the war.
- Supplying $175,000,000 for Army clothing.
Bill awaiting final action on conference report:
- Urgent deficiency appropriation of $393,687,775 for relief in the last four months of this fiscal year and for defense housing.
Bills, besides the British aid measure, that have passed the House and await Senate action:
- Appropriating $1,415,991,838 (as reported by Senate committee) for the independent agencies of the government.
- Treasury-Post Office Supply Bill carrying $1,146,394,496.
- Authorizing $245,228,500 (as reported by Senate committee) for Navy public works, including $58,250,000 to complete construction at bases on sites leased from Britain in this hemisphere, and for defense works at Samoa and Guam.
- Legislation to permit the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to $100,000,000 of mortgages for defense housing.
- Supplemental appropriation of $1,376,277,202 for Army housing and vast expansion of work at naval bases, including those on British island possessions, and Samoa and Guam.
The House began consideration today of the 1942 fiscal appropriation of the Agriculture Department, which was made to show a book saving of $4,927,934 from Bureau of the Budget estimates and $193,023,502 from the 1941 fiscal year allowances. A substantial part of the savings over this year’s appropriation was brought about by action of the Appropriations Committee in allowing only $50,000,000 in cash for farm parity payments, against $212,000,000 allowed for this year. However, the bill contains authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to make up this deficiency by contracting for parity payments to be financed presumably out of future appropriations.
Vichy France agrees under American pressure not to supply the German war machine with oil from French North Africa.
John G. Winant started his first working day as United States Ambassador by granting newspaper men an interview in which he declared American aid to Great Britain was increasing daily.
The U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision in Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496 (1941). This case introduces what is known as “Pullman Abstention,” wherein federal courts abstain from hearing cases that involve questions of sensitive application of U.S. Constitutional claims to state policy. In short, when state social policy is at issue, the proper court to decide a case is the state court in the state in question despite the presence of questions relating to the U.S. Constitution. If deciding the state law ground for relief could obviate the need to adjudicate the federal issue, then the state court should be the proper court to hear the case. This Pullman Abstention doctrine leads to decades of refinement and a clear set of rules for deciding the issue, and the general result is that the state court hears the case first, and if the application of state law does not determine the outcome, then a federal court can hear the claims based on the U.S. Constitution.
Restraints imposed by a group of dress manufacturers on the copying of their styles by other producers were declared illegal today by the Supreme Court. The court acted similarly against a group of millinery makers.
The U.S. Treasury reported today that early income tax payments were running 58 percent ahead of a year ago under the new defense tax system which requires more Americans to pay more taxes than ever before.
In another move to reserve first call on essential materials for defense industries the Office of Production Management imposed a mandatory priority today on the producers of magnesium.
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, seriously injured in an airplane crash last Wednesday night, “improved this afternoon and his general condition now is good,” an attending physician said after visiting the World war ace at 5:30 PM. Rickenbacker, president of the Eastern Airlines, was under an oxygen tent and was given the second blood transfusion in two days at 1 p.m. The flier tonight was talking more coherently than he had in 36 hours. Rickenbacker and eight others suffered Injuries and seven died in the crash of an E.A.L. sleeper plane.
Upton Close, former U.S. intelligence officer, world traveler, reporter, lecturer, novelist, and authority on the Far East, speaks about “Our Job in the Pacific,” at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco.
U.S. Navy heavy cruisers USS Chicago (CA-29) (Rear Admiral John H. Newton, Commander Cruisers Scouting Force) and USS Portland (CA-33), light cruisers USS Brooklyn (CL-40) and USS Savannah (CL-42), destroyers USS Clark (DD-361), USS Conyngham (DD-371), USS Cummings (DD-365), USS Cassin (DD-372), USS Case (DD-370), USS Shaw (DD-373), USS Tucker (DD-374), USS Reid (DD-369), and USS Downes (DD-375), and oiler USS Sangamon (AO-28), depart Pearl Harbor for Samoa (see 9 March 1941).
The U.S. Marine Corps set up 8 men (6 Marines and 2 US Navy corpsmen) and 2 5-inch guns on Johnston Island.
With virtually the entire world either engaged in active hostilities or hovering on the brink of open warfare, Soviet Russia has been quietly yet none the less surely extending her activities through the entire Far East with the intention of sovietizing all Asia.
Continued use by the Chinese of small ports in the provinces of Chekiang and Fukien to bring in military supplies and export commodities, despite the Japanese blockade, is reflected in the report here last night of mass raids by Japanese planes on coastal points between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Japanese naval fliers are said to have carried out repeated attacks in the last three days. At Wenchow the raiders are stated to have bombed wharves and other harbor facilities and 400 junks loaded with military supplies. Depots and small ships at Taichow Bay and buildings at Tsimei, north of Amoy, are also said to have been bombed. The shooting of an official of the puppet Central Reserve Bank in downtown Shanghai at noon yesterday by a Chungking agent brought to a climax a series of terroristic and sabotage actions presumably performed by Chungking adherents in recent weeks. The bank official was wounded. attacker was arrested.
The Shanghai railway services have twice been interrupted by dynamitings and a puppet official has been killed and several pro-Nanking Chinese and a Japanese have been wounded recently. Many arrests have apparently failed to break up the Chungking faction.
Lauchlin Currie, President Roosevelt’s special fact-finding emissary to China, departed for home by Clipper today with a dossier of information on China’s financial condition, the nature of which he declined to disclose before presenting it at the White House. Mr. Currie said his mission to Chungking was limited to efforts to obtain first-hand information on China’s economic conditions. He intimated that he was satisfied with the results of his investigation, but would not comment on the views expressed in Chungking by the Chinese, who said they were sure he would recommend all-out aid to China.
[Ed: Whatever his report, it is certain that Josef Stalin will get it first from Currie, who is the pay of the Soviet Union.]
Japanese circles in Vichy said tonight that Tokyo had sent a third proposal for settlement of the border dispute between French Indo-China and Thailand. The French Ministers were said to have accepted the proposal except for a few minor details.
Light cruiser HMS Dauntless arrived at Penang.
New Zealand Division light cruiser HMS Achilles departed Wellington with convoy AP.14. The convoy was escorted to 300 miles southeast of Chatham Island. The cruiser left the convoy on the 5th and returned to New Zealand.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 120.88 (-0.98)
Born:
Mike Pender [Prendergast], British rock vocalist and guitarist (The Searchers — “Needles & Pins”), born in Liverpool, England, united Kingdom.
Jim Jones, NFL and AFL split end (Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos), in Henderson, South Carolina.
Died:
Ernst Cahn, 51, owner of Amsterdam Koco ice cream parlor, executed by the Nazis.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy Bar-class boom defense vessel HMS Barcock (Z 177) is laid down by the Blyth Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Ltd. (Blyth, U.K.).
The Royal Navy Hunt-class (Type III) escort destroyer HMS Holcombe (L 56) is laid down by A. Stephen & Sons Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland).
The U.S. Navy Fletcher-class destroyers USS Nicholas (DD-449) and USS O’Bannon (DD-450) are laid down by the Bath Iron Works (Bath, Maine, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy Isles-class minesweeping trawler HMS Inchcolm (T 18) is launched by Cook, Welton & Gemmill (Beverley, U.K.) ; completed by Holmes.
The Royal Navy Isles-class minesweeping trawler HMS Cava (T 145) is launched by Fleming & Ferguson Ltd. (Paisley, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Alyssum is launched by George Brown & Co. (Greenock, Scotland); completed by Kincaid. She will be transferred on completion to the Forces Navales Françaises Libres (Free French Naval Forces) and commission as Alysse.
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 211 is commissioned.
The U.S. Navy coastal patrol yacht USS Amber (PYc-6), former yacht Infanta, later Polaris, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant William B. Combs, D-V(G), USNR.
The U.S. Navy coastal patrol yacht USS Topaz (PYc-10), former yacht Doromar, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant (j.g.) Sidney R. Jackson, D-V(S), USNR.
The U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Kite (AM-75), former M/V Holy Cross, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander George Louis Burns, USNR.
The U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Linnet (AM-76), former M/V Georgetown, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander William Burton Holden, USN.
The U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Goshawk (AM-79), former M/V Penobscot, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant (j.g.) Allan Dwight Curtis, USNR.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IXC U-boat U-125 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Kapitänleutnant Günther Kuhnke.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Begonia (K 66) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant Thomas Arthur Rennie Muir, RNR.
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