The Panzer Regiment of German 5th Light Division completed disembarking from freighters at Tripoli, Libya. A parade was staged with the newly arrived tanks, with some of the tanks going around the town multiple times to make their numbers seem greater. The tanks headed east toward Sirte after the parade. The tank regiment is composed of two battalions and has 150 tanks; more than half the tanks had 50 mm or 75 mm guns. The machine-gun regiment has two fully motorized battalions; one anti-tank battalion was equipped with 50 mm guns and the other with dual-purpose 88 mm guns. Meanwhile, General Erwin Rommel, Commander of the Afrika Korps, has flown back to Germany for further orders. He learns that his 5th Light Division, now largely in place in Tripoli (its Panzer regiment unloads in Tripoli today), soon will be joined by the 15th Panzer Division. Once both divisions are fully assembled, Rommel is to advance eastward and recover Benghazi. Already, the Germans have 150 tanks in Tripolitania. Pursuant to Hitler’s 18 February 1941 decision, the tanks have been up-gunned to carry 50-75 mm guns. The antiaircraft forces have 88 mm guns which can double as land artillery or even, in exceptional emergency cases, anti-tank weapons.
Further Italian attacks on Monastery Hill result in nothing but additional casualties. The Italian Primavera Offensive continues on 11 March 1941. However, what little impetus the attack managed on its first two days is now gone. The center of the offensive, at Monastery Hill, is proving an immovable barrier to the Italians. The Italian Puglie Division attempts to flank Monastery Hill, but this fails and the division is withdrawn and replaced with the Bari Division.
More than 500,000 Nazi troops were poised tonight on the Bulgarian frontiers with Turkey and Greece and reliable reports from Sofia said only Adolf Hitler’s “go” signal was awaited. German headquarters are at Plovdiv, 40 miles from the Greek frontier, 80 from the Turkish. Nazi staff officers no longer dash about Sofia’s streets. All are at Plovdiv waiting. The military flow southward through Balkan mountain passes of tanks, supply trucks and troops has dwindled to a trickle. Makeshift ambulances covered with red crosses, physicians and nurses mostly make up the southward trek now. This fact was taken by reliable on-the-spot observers to mean that a showdown was imminent.
The British at Keren continue to build their forces for another attempt to take the town. Much further south, British forces continue to move further through the barren country toward Addis Ababa.
Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, visiting London, searches for eloquence in his diary about the conditions in England:
“London is drab and grey. There is a tough and determined spirit, but the colour and gaiety have gone. In squares like Berkeley Square, houses ruined, windows boarded up. The shops everywhere with windows reduced to peep holes…. One feels the hurry and pressure of events. Sandbags in the doorways, ground floor windows bricked up; death around the corner. No more leisurely strolling about the Charing Cross Road book shops or sauntering in Piccadilly. But enough!”
Menzies is extremely popular in London as a sort of possible alternative to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Not everybody is enamored with Churchill’s single-minded obsession with orienting the entire country in a deathmatch with Hitler. Menzies drops a hint today in his diary that some are almost desperate for an alternative: he writes down that newspaperman Ronald Cross pleads with him, “We must not let you leave this country!” In fact, Menzies will remain in London for months, but he has no real power there and recognizes the authority of Churchill.
The coming visit to axis capitals of Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka and a staff of military experts is one of the replies which the United States must expect to the British aid bill, authorized German spokesmen indicated today. They left it free for anyone to guess what the concrete result will be of this first visit of a Japanese foreign minister to Germany since 1905. But the synchronization of Matsuoka’s departure from Tokyo with final stages of passage of the British aid bill, plus the disclosure here that military men will be with him, make It certain that America will figure in the discussions.
Jews in Belgium are required to register for forced labor.
Reliable informants said tonight that Generalissimo Francisco Franco had abruptly turned down a German demand for facilities to fly military planes across Spain to Africa. These informants said that a well-planned “swift diplomatic maneuver” by Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop thus collapsed, and as a result, Gen. Espinosa de los Monteros, Spanish ambassador to Berlin, lost his job. This is the story: Von Ribbentrop, it was said, summoned the Spanish ambassador to the Berlin foreign office and read to him rapidly a document containing German proposals for “Spanish cooperation.” Most important of these was a demand for Spanish territorial facilities to fly military planet to Africa. About the same time, tonight’s informants continued, German Ambassador Baron Eberhard von Stohrer called upon the Spanish foreign minister, Ramon Serrano Suner, in Madrid “to discuss details for carrying out of the agreement” which, Von Stohrer claimed, already had been reached in Berlin. Serrano Suner was taken by surprise. He declared he had no knowledge of the agreement and had not even heard of Von Ribbentrop seeing the Spanish ambassador to Berlin on the subject.
As English diplomats arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, a bomb smuggled into their luggage exploded, killing 2. George W. Rendel, the former British minister to German-occupied Bulgaria, escaped assassination in a bomb explosion in the lobby of the Pera Palace hotel in Istanbul, but two other persons were killed and 23 injured. Rendel himself, apparently the main intended victim, was unhurt. He is just settling into his room in the Pera Palace Hotel, with his luggage still in the baggage room, when there is a tremendous explosion. Rendel’s daughter Ann is slightly injured due to a bomb planted in Rendel’s luggage. One of the dead was identified early today as a Turkish plainclothesman.
Demonstrators in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, hold a protest rally against growing Axis influence.
The Stavka (Soviet High Command) continues to plan for an offensive west into German territory upon the outbreak of war (which is assumed to be initiated by the Germans). In the latest Strategic Deployment Plan, Deputy Commander of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff Aleksandr Vasilevsky proposes to put the main Soviet weight in the direction of southern Poland. Somewhat prophetically, the plan envisages hostilities beginning on 12 June 1941. The Germans, meanwhile, are arming their north and south prongs heaviest, while leaving the center — the area Vasilevskiy proposes to attack the hardest — relatively weak. Timoshenko, Zhukov, and Molotov meet with Stalin to discuss how to orient the troops.
Operation BERLIN, the Atlantic cruise of German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, continues. While not sinking a lot of ships, the cruisers’ mere presence in the Atlantic is scrambling Royal Navy deployments. Far out in the Atlantic, the cruisers rendezvous with tankers Ermland and Uckermark. The operation’s commander, Admiral Lütjens, holds a conference on his flagship, the Gneisenau, with the captains of all of the ships.
Lütjens then receives a message from Berlin: proceed to Brest, France. The reason for this (which means crossing the convoy routes again) is to provide a diversion for a contemplated break out into the Atlantic of heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper. In addition, the Operation BERLIN cruisers can prepare in port for the expected breakout later in the spring of battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen. Once all of the German heavy ships are together in the Atlantic, they will constitute an overpowering force — at least, that is the plan.
German bombing during the Manchester Blitz severely damaged the Old Trafford football stadium. 135 German aircraft dropped 122 tons of high explosive bombs and 830 incendiary bombs on Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, United Kingdom. Heavy raids also hit Manchester and Salford during the night. Old Trafford football ground, home of Manchester United, suffers two direct hits from German bombs. The main stand is nearly demolished and the United Road terrace damaged and the pitch scorched.
The Luftwaffe also bombs Portsmouth during the night of 10/11 March. The German bombs kill ten Royal Navy officers and damages destroyer HMS Witherington at its jetty. The Witherington has to be beached on a mudflat and is later repaired. Destroyer HMS Tynedale also is damaged by near misses, but the repairs are effected in just nine days. Destroyer HMS Sherwood also is damaged. Minesweeping trawler HMT Revello is sunk (one death), but later refloated and repaired. Four other minesweeping trawlers and monitor Marshall Soult also are damaged.
During the night of 11 to 12 March, six British Handley Page Halifax bombers of No. 35 Squadron of No. 4 Group from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, United Kingdom attacked Le Havre, France. It was the operational debut of the four-engine heavy bomber. It was marred by the accidental shoot-down of one of them by an RAF nightfighter.
RAF Bomber Command: Day of 11 March 1941
4 Blenheims to Holland; 2 bombed. No losses.
RAF Bomber Command: Night of 11/12 March 1941
Kiel
27 Wellingtons; many hits claimed on shipyards. Kiel reports 6 people killed and 17 injured. No aircraft lost.
The R.A.F. announced tonight it had made heavy overnight raids on Tripoli and Tripolitania last night and early today, destroying two enemy aircraft on the ground, damaging others, and setting off a large fire and loud explosions.
The RAF also attacks the Italian bases at Rhodes.
At Malta, the Luftwaffe launches a heavy raid against Sliema, a residential district on the west coast that has received little attention in the war so far. There are 21 deaths and 16 badly wounded.
U-106, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Jürgen Oesten, sank British steamer Memnon (7506grt) at 20-41N, 21-00W. At 1546 hours on 11 March 1941 the unescorted Memnon (Master John Parry Williams) was hit on starboard side underneath the aft mast between holds #5 and #6 by one G7e torpedo from U-106 while steaming on a zigzag course at 16 knots in clear weather and moderate sea with a heavy swell about 220 miles west of Cape Blanco, French West Africa. The ship had been warned about the presence of a U-boat in the vicinity and passed an empty lifeboat about two hours before the attack, but the Germans managed to submerge and reach such a favorable attack position only 80 minutes after spotting the fast ship that the torpedo could be fired from a distance of less than 400 meters. The explosion blew the hatch covers off, threw some of the ore carried as cargo over the deck and buckled the plates on the starboard side. The 62 crew members, two gunners (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 12pdr and one machine gun) and six passengers (RAAF personnel) began to abandon ship in four lifeboats. However, the two port boats were on the weather side and rendered unseaworthy as they were forced across the after deck by the waves. Their occupants, provisions and gear were later transferred to both intact starboard lifeboats. The ship quickly settled by the stern on an even keel with water reaching the aft gun platform within three minutes, forcing the gunner and two sailors who had remained at the gun to float off the stern on a raft. The two wireless operators were the last men to leave the ship after sending a distress signal and were picked up by the boats after jumping overboard. The Memnon sank by the stern about 15 minutes after being hit on starboard side aft by a second G7e torpedo fired as coup de grâce at 1547 hours. U-106 surfaced astern of the sinking vessel to question the survivors and while doing so pointed out two Chinese sailors swimming in the water, who were subsequently rescued by the lifeboats. Four crew members were lost. As the distress signal had been received by a Spanish ship about 200 miles away, the master decided to stay on the sinking position in hope they came to their assistance, but apparently they did not even report it to the British authorities. After 36 hours the two starboard boats set sail and kept together despite a very heavy sea. The smaller boat was in charge of the master and as it was sailing faster it went ahead in order to send help to the other boat when reaching the coast. It arrived off St. Louis after five or six days, but landing was too dangerous due to the surf so they decided to head for Dakar, passing a French steamer en route that did not notice the boat despite burning a flare. Dakar was reached on 21 March and a local fisherman piloted the lifeboat to Yoff from where all 22 survivors were quickly taken to a hospital due to their weakened state. The other lifeboat in charge of the chief officer reached the coast about 30 miles north of St. Louis on 20 March, but on the same day one occupant died of exposure and was buried at sea. They met a local fisherman who tried to guide the boat over the sand bar at the mouth of the river Senegal. However, the sea proved to be too rough so they decided to proceed to Dakar, arriving off the harbor during the morning of 23 March. There they met the French motor merchant Kilissi which had just left that port bound for Casablanca. The chief officer went aboard and the French master provided him with a chart, gave provisions and water to the men in the boat and agreed to land the boatswain and second steward at Dakar as they were both in a much debilitated condition. The lifeboat with 24 European and 13 Chinese crew members, one gunner and three passengers then proceeded to Bathurst and was towed in by the launch of the harbormaster in the evening of 24 March. All survivors at Dakar were interned by the Vichy French authorities, but after 25 days all seven Chinese survivors were allowed to leave across the border to Bathurst together with the master, chief engineer officer, boatswain and another crew member. Only 14 men of military age, including one gunner and three passengers, were taken to an internment camp at Koulikoro in French Sudan. Three of these men escaped from captivity in April and tried to reach British territory by following the river Niger, but were caught near the border. On 29 May 1941 all internees were taken to Kaolack and allowed to leave to Bathurst in exchange of two gallons of petrol and seven French prisoners for each of the British. The 7,506-ton Memnon was carrying general cargo, including wheat and zinc concentrates and was bound for Swansea, England, United Kingdom.
U-74, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat, damaged Icelandic trawler Frodi (97grt) with gunfire 200 miles southeast of Reykjavik. Five crewmen were killed. Around 0800 hours on 11 March 1941 the Frodi (Master Gunnar Jens Árnason) was attacked three times by U-74 with 2cm gunfire about 192 miles southeast of Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. The vessel was heavily damaged by gunfire but reached Vestmannaeyjar the next day and Reykjavik on 15 March. The 123-ton Frodi was bound for Fleetwood with a cargo of fish. On 9 Feb 1942, the Frodi was en route from Stykkisholmur to Grundarfjordur in coastal cargo service, when she ran aground and sank on Vesturbodi, Sneafellsnes.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau refuel from tankers Ermland and Uckermark. Conference held on board Gneisenau with the Captains of both battleships and the tankers.
Destroyer HMS Escapade departed Rosyth for Scapa Flow following repairs, and arrived at 0730/12th.
Destroyer HMS Witherington was damaged by German bombing while alongside the jetty at Portsmouth. The destroyer was towed to a mud bank and beached. Repair was completed in five and a half months at Portsmouth. In this heavy bombing at Portsmouth during the night of 10/11 March, the following officers of HMS Vernon were killed A/Sub Lt L. Farman, Lt Cdr G. R. Murray, Lt Cdr W. H. Newman (ret), T/Paymaster Sub Lt J. A. Hewlett RNVR, Commissioned Electrician W. J. Gulliford and Lt H. Mould (ret). Lt J. H. Rogers RNVR, also of Vernon, died of injuries from this raid of 15 March. Gunner J. Apps (ret), A/Sub Lt J. A. Stobbs, and Skipper J. Watt RNR, of HMS Excellent were also killed in this air raid.
Destroyer HMS Tynedale was damaged by near misses German bombing while berthed at Pitch House Jetty at Portsmouth. The destroyer was repaired in nine days.
Destroyer HMS Sherwood, under repair at Portsmouth, was damaged by a near miss of German bombing.
During the night of 10/11 March, Minesweeping trawler HMS Revello (230grt, A/T/Lt Cdr L. C. Gilbert RNR) was sunk by German bombing at Portsmouth. T/Lt J. P. Thorpe RNVR, was lost in trawler Revello. The trawler was raised and drydocked on 20 August. The ship was repaired and recommissioned.
Monitor HMS Marshall Soult and four minesweeping trawlers were damaged by German bombing at Portsmouth.
Destroyer HMS Cattistock in the North Sea was damaged by German bombing. The damage required five days to repair.
German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau refueled at sea from German tankers Ermland (6528grt) and Uckermark (7021grt). After refueling, the four ships in a line thirty miles apart swept for British shipping.
Submarine HMS Severn departed Halifax for Freetown, arriving on the 25th for patrol duties.
British steamer Trevethoe (5257grt), from convoy FS.32, was sunk by S.28 in 52-46N, 1-57E, east of Orfordness during the night of 11/12 March. One gunner was lost on the steamer.
British steamer Royal Star (7900grt) was damaged by German bombing at Stonehaven.
British trawler Aberdeen (163grt) was sunk by near misses of German bombing in Cardigan Bay. Eight crew of a ten man crew were lost.
During the night of 11/12 March, British steamers Contractor (6004grt), Novelist (6133grt), and Markhor (7917grt) and Swedish steamer Stella (1189grt) were damaged by German bombing at Manchester.
Steamer Contractor was damaged by a near miss.
Steamer Novelist had direct hit through number 2 hatchway.
Steamer Markhor sustained a direct hit. She was repaired at Glasgow.
Steamer Stella was sunk at her berth. She was refloated in October 1941 with a broken back. She was repaired and put in service as British steamer River Swift.
Light cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Arethusa and destroyers HMS Fearless, HMS Fortune, and HMS Foresight departed Gibraltar escorting British troopship Strathmore (23, 428grt). On 12 March, the three destroyers returned to Gibraltar. Light cruiser Arethusa was detached on the 15th to support sloop HMS Scarborough with convoy HG.55. Destroyers HMS Legion, HMS Burwell, HMS Broadwater, and HMS Ripley were sent from Falmouth for escort duty. The first three destroyers joined light cruiser Sheffield, but destroyer Ripley did not make contact. Light cruiser Sheffield was damaged by the explosion of two British mines close aboard off Islay Island at 0552 on the 17th. The damage did not require immediate repair. The force arrived in the Clyde on the 17th at 1315.
Battleship HMS Rodney was with the convoy on the 15th and battleship HMS Royal Sovereign on the 16thand 17th. Armed merchant cruiser HMS Chitral was detached on the 24th. The convoy was joined by destroyers HMS Columbia, HMS Montgomery, HMS Vanity, and HMS Wanderer, sloop HMS Weston, corvettes HMS Nastrutium, HMS Periwinkle, and HMS Primrose, and anti-submarine trawlers HMS Arab, HMS Ayrshire, and HMS Lady Madeleine. Destroyers Montgomery and Vanity, sloop Weston, and the trawlers were detached later on the 24th. The remainder of the escort was dispersed when the convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 30th.
Heavy cruiser HMS York and light cruisers HMS Bonaventure and HMS Gloucester departed Suda Bay late on the 11th to patrol in the Western Aegean. British tanker Desmoulea (8120grt), torpedoed at the end of January, departed Suda Bay for Piraeus towed by tug Irene Verenicos and escorted by destroyer HMS Hotspur. On 12 March, destroyer HMS Havock was sent from Piraeus to relieve destroyer Hotspur and return with the tanker to Suda Bay, due to poor weather.
Greek destroyer RHS Sphendoni reported an anti-submarine attack six miles south of Cape Thaso at 1930/11th.
Greek destroyer RHS Psara attacked and claimed the sinking of an Italian submarine at 1515/11th, twelve miles 200° from Falconera.
British gunboat HMS Ladybird departed Alexandria to relieve gunboat HMS Gnat in the Inshore Squadron.
Convoy HX.114 departed Halifax, escorted by armed merchant cruiser HMS Chitral.
Convoy BHX.114 departed Bermuda on the 9th escorted by ocean escort armed merchant cruiser HMS Worcestershire. The convoy rendezvoused with convoy HX.114 on the 14th and the armed merchant cruiser was detached.
With the sailing of BHX.114, the Admiralty suspended the sailing of these convoys until BHX.127 on 13 May.
Convoy AS.18 with four British and two other ships departed Piraeus escorted by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta and destroyer HMS Hasty. The convoy was joined by destroyer HMS Hero from Suda Bay. Convoy AS.18 arrived at Alexandria on the 14th.
Convoy AN.19 with eight British ships, twelve Greek ships, two other ships departed Alexandria escorted by Greek destroyers RHS Spetsai and RHS Hydra. The convoy was joined at daylight on the 13th by Australian destroyer HMAS Vendetta, Sloop HMS Grimsby, and the steamers of the convoy originating at Port Said. Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry departed Alexandria on the 12th to join the convoy. Cruiser Coventry was able to meet the convoy due to bad weather and was forced to take shelter at Suda Bay on the 14th. The convoy arrived at Piraeus on the 15th.
Convoy BS.18 A departed Port Sudan, escorted by sloop HMS Shoreham. The convoy was dispersed on the 15th.
Convoy BS.19 departed Suez. Sloop HMS Yarra joined on the 17th and was detached when the convoy dispersed on the 19th.
In Washington, President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill. He conferred with leaders of the Senate and House and it was announced afterward that he would ask Congress tomorrow for appropriations totaling $7,000,000,000 to finance the Lend-Lease program. He conferred also with the Secretaries of War and Navy and their aides and discussed the defense program with Bernard M. Baruch.
The Senate was in recess. The Temporary National Economic Committee heard Senator O’Mahoney, its chairman, summarize the committee’s work.
The House completed Congressional action on the lease-lend bill, tabled the Cox resolution for a special House committee to conduct a continuing investigation of the defense program, refused to concur in Senate amendments to two naval defense authorization bills, and adjourned at 4:44 PM, until noon tomorrow. The Military Affairs Committee heard Mayor La Guardia and others on the bill to ban prostitution in Army camp areas.
President Franklin Roosevelt enacted H.R. 1776, the Lend-Lease Act. The U.S. Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act; the “cash and carry” provisions of Neutrality Act of 1939 are changed to permit transfer of munitions to Allies. The bill passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate with large majorities. Although criticized by isolationists, the Act proves to be the primary means by which the United States will provide Great Britain, the USSR, and other belligerents with war material, food, and financial aid without the U.S. having to enter combat. Soon afterward, President Roosevelt this afternoon signs into law the Lend-Lease Bill. In a breath-taking burst of speed, congress rushed the Lend-Lease bill to the White House today, President Roosevelt signed it, and four minutes later ordered an undisclosed list of war materials sent to England and Greece. At 3:40 PM. Mr. Roosevelt was waiting at his desk, surrounded by photographers. At 3:51, a White House official signaled to newsmen, with a wave of his hand, that the measure which might conceivably shape the whole history of the world had become law. A list of war supplies, the property of the army and navy, had already been drawn up, In consultation with high officers of the two services. At 3:55 Mr. Roosevelt ordered it on its way to England and Greece, and at 4 o’clock, reporters filed into his office for the regular semi-weekly press conference. Immediately after the bill was signed the U.S. Army and Navy approved the export of the first material to be released under the terms of the act. Though what is involved is being kept secret for military reasons, it is believed that the first shipments will include 24 motor torpedo boats already ordered to British design which have been held up by the US attorney-general and will help to defend Britain against invasion. Most of the material released today will go to Britain. Some will go to Greece, and some to China. The president’s assistant (and Soviet spy), Laughlin Currie, has been sent to determine what the Chinese need.
Long expecting passage, the US Army and Navy immediately begin shipping items to Great Britain. While the British are the prime recipients of aid under the bill, it is not limited to Great Britain. China, Greece and other opponents of Hitler present and future (such as the Soviet Union) also are eligible for aid under the terms of the law (once they actually are opposing Hitler, which the USSR is not as of yet). Roosevelt wastes no time: he almost immediately sends Congress an order for the full $7 billion in war material.
Although criticized by isolationists, the Act proved to be the primary means by which the United States would provide Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and other belligerents with war material, food, and financial aid without the U.S. having to enter combat. The Act also allowed the recipients to defer payment until after the war. The first American Lend-Lease food shipments departed the U.S. on April 16th and helped divert an acute food shortage in Britain. Between April and December, the U.S. delivered one million tons of food to the British. By the end of the war, the U.S. extended $50 billion in aid to the Allied powers.
A group of Senators who opposed the Lend-Lease bill met today in the office of Senator Johnson, of California, and are reported to have agreed that a speaking campaign should be undertaken “to keep the country out of a foreign war.” About fifteen Senators attended.
Averell Harriman is President Roosevelt’s latest personal envoy to Great Britain. He leaves by air for London.
Steady expansion of the regular army and National Guard by voluntary enlistments promises to reduce selective service quotas of the next four months by about 25 percent, military authorities have estimated, From present indications, they said, only about 600,000 trainees would have to be inducted to swell the land forces to the total of 1,418,000 men contemplated by June 30.
A blanket increase of $1 a day for all regular classifications of inside and outside day men, with corresponding increases for piece workers, was the demand presented by the United Mine Workers in behalf of 450,000 soft-coal miners before the Appalachian joint conference of miners and operators that convened at the Hotel Biltmore in New York to negotiate a new agreement for the industry.
Three thousand workers at the sheet mill of the Aluminum Company of America in Edgewater, New Jersey were called out on strike early this morning by the executive committee of the Aluminum Workers of America, Local 16, a C.I.O. affiliate.
The economic demobilization which the United States will face at the end of the national defense effort can be cushioned only by “a national economic constitution which shall abolish the economic uncertainties which seem to threaten even our political system,” said Senator O’Mahoney of Wyoming today in closing the public sessions of the Temporary National Economic Committee, of which he is chairman.
Hadassah sponsored a British Relief benefit at the Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.
Maurice Hindus spoke on “When Russia Fights Germany” lecture at the Curran Theater in San Francisco, with lunch following at the Clift Hotel Roof Lounge. Hindus was considered America’s best informed citizen on the Soviet Union.
Dr. Jean Pajus, author of “The Real Japanese of California,” spoke at the Down Town Forum in San Francisco about “Under What Conditions Will Enduring Peace be Possible after the War?” Dr. Pajus was a University of California professor of political science.
Bronko Nagurski defeated Ray Steele to reclaim the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship.
The Western Hupei Operation basically ends as a great success for the Japanese. The 13th Division has chased the Chinese back toward Chunking and devastated a large area to the south and west of the Yangtze River. Many civilians perish during such terror raids, which the Japanese specialize in.
Vichy French and Thai delegates negotiated a treaty in which Thailand regained territory west of the Mekong River. Today is the official signing of the Frontier Agreement between the Vichy French and the Thai government. Symbolically, the agreement is completed aboard a Japanese warship in the Gulf of Siam. While the Thais get all the territory in Laos and Cambodia on the right side of the Mekong River that they originally sought, the Japanese are the real winners: they get basing rights for their planes at Saigon, a monopoly on Indochinese rice production, and a chance to show the world who really dominates the Far East. Japan dictated that France would return parts of Cambodia and Laos, which the French had gained from Thailand about 40 years prior, to Thailand.
Rear Admiral Gumpei Sekine, a widely read Japanese naval critic, advanced today a bold geographical definition of Japan’s “co-prosperity sphere”- including India, Australia and the Philippines.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 123.27 (-0.37)
Born:
Rex Mirich, AFL and NFL defensive tackle and defensive end (Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Boston Patriots), in Florence, Arizona (d. 2021).
Ray Fortin, Canadian NHL defenseman (St. Louis Blues), in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada (d. 2023).
Shelly Zegart, American quilt historian, in Pittsburgh.
Died:
Walford Davies, 71, British organist, composer, educator, and broadcaster (BBC).
Naval Construction:
The U.S. Navy Aloe-class net tender USS Butternut (YN-4) is laid down by the Lake Washington Shipyards (Houghton, Washington, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Pennywort (K 111) is laid down by A & J Inglis Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland); completed by Kincaid.
The Royal Navy LCT (Mk 1)-class landing crafts, tank HMS LCT 25 and HMS LCT 26 are launched by Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
The Royal Navy “O”-class destroyer destroyer HMS Offa (G 29) is launched by the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 207 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy 70-foot Elco motor torpedo boats HMS MTB 258, HMS MTB 259, HMS MTB 260, HMS MTB 261, HMS MTB 262, HMS MTB 263, HMS MTB 264, HMS MTB 265, HMS MTB 266, HMS MTB 267, HMS MTB 268, HMS MTB 269, and HMS MTB 270, formerly U.S. Navy PT boats, are commissioned.
History Diaries 