Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

1941 : The Yugoslav army surrenders


On this day in 1941, the Yugoslav army, encircled in Bosnia, surrenders to Germany and signs a formal capitulation in Belgrade.
By the time the Yugoslav government surrendered, 6,000 Yugoslav officers and 335,000 men had been taken prisoner, overwhelmed by the sheer force of Axis numbers.

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1940. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1940 - Corvette HMS Bittersweet laid down Sorel PQ

1940 - Heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk bombarded a German station for sea planes at Stavanger, destroying four aircraft and badly damaging the installations, but was in return badly damaged by bombs from German Ju88 aircraft of II. /KG 30. X-turret's magazine had been destroyed. The ship was very lucky to survive this ordeal and she barely reached Scapa Flow with her stern awash the next morning. She was beached at Scapa Flow to prevent her sinking. Suffolk was out of action until February 1941

1940 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Birch commissioned

1940 - U-13 sank SS Swainby

1940 - U-79, U-80 laid down

1940 - RAF bombers attack a submarine in Bergen Fjord and a supply ship at Larvik

1940 - British aircraft mine German sea and coastal communications

1940 - With the bulk of the Home Fleet having returned to Scapa to refuel, HMS Furious, with inadequate facilities available, was slowly refueling. She also took the time to repair her tired and somewhat mangled air group, which now consisted of 12 Swordfish, five of 818 Squadron and seven of 816 Squadron. Fortunately, crew casualties to date have not been serious - two dead and three wounded

1940 - S class submarine HMS Sterlet lost in the Skagerrak with all crew of 30. It is thought that she may have been sunk by minesweeper M 75 on 17 April or mined as she made her way home on 22 April

1940 - Australia - RMS Queen Mary arrives after her secret voyage from New York

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1941. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1941 - MS Venezuela sunk by U-123 at 53N, 18W

1941 - U-141 had a collision with the German ship Ameland in Bergen & suffered damage

1941 - Escort carrier HMS Attacker laid down

1941 - U-566 commissioned

1941 - U-573 launched

1941 - Destroyer HNLMS Van Galen (ex-HMS Noble) launched

1941 - Corvette HMS Monkshood launched

1941 - German raider Atlantis sinks the Egyptian liner Zamzam and takes 220 passengers prisoner. These passengers included "Life" magazine photographer David Scherman

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1942. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1942 - At 0523, the unescorted & unarmed Heinrich Von Riedemann was hit by one torpedo from U-66 on the port side in the way of #6 tank. The explosion wrecked the steering gear and the port diesel engine. The ship was pouring oil from the tank while steering circles until the other engine was stopped. 20 minutes after the hit, the ship was abandoned in three lifeboats. At 06.40 hours, another torpedo hit the ship setting her on fire, which went out after 25 minutes. At 0755, a third torpedo struck and set the ship on fire again. The tanker finally sank at 0905. The boat of the master containing 15 men landed at Blanquilla Island at 0100 on 18 April, the survivors were picked up on 20 April by the steam merchant Maricaibo and landed at Caracas two days later. 29 men in two lifeboats were picked up by the Karmt at 1330 on 17 April and landed at Trinidad one day later

1942 - U-123 spotted the unarmed and unescorted Alcoa Guide and pursued her for hours before Hardegen opened fire with the gun on parallel course at 0523 because he was out of torpedoes. The first shell struck the starboard side on the saloon deck. The master then ordered the helmsman to throw the wheel hard to starboard to try and ram the U-boat. Moments later a shell hit the bridge, fatally injuring the master and jamming the rudder. With the engines still running, the vessel began circling out of control and U-123 continued firing with the gun and the AA Armament. A damaged ammonia condenser kept men from reaching the engine room to stop the engines. Hardegen ceased fire and allowed the crew of eight officers and 26 men to get off the ship. Six officers (including the master, who died in the lifeboat) and 22 men left in two lifeboats, while the Alcoa Guide was still running at high speed. The U-123 continued the shelling and one hour later, after 25-30 rounds; the freighter sank about 300 miles east of Cape Hatteras. On 19 April, destroyer USS Broome picked up 27 survivors and landed them at Morehead City, North Carolina. Four other survivors got away on a raft and became separated from the boats. At 1600 on 16 May, the British steam merchant Hororata located the raft in 34.35N/71.08W, but only one man was still alive

1942 - Submarine USS Snook laid down

1942 - U-739 laid down

1942 - Submarines HMS Shalimar & Strongbow laid down

1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Kentville launched Port Arthur ON

1942 - Submarine HMS Sportsman launched

1942 - Soviet submarine SC-139 renamed from SC-423 (former SC-315)

1942 - In the Mediterranean, U-81 used her 88-mm gun to attack shore-based targets near Haifa

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1943. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Emery & Gantner launched

1943 - Frigates USS Sheboygan & San Pedro laid down

1943 - U-175 sunk SW of Ireland, in position 47.53N, 22.04W, by depth charges & gunfire from the USCGC Spencer. 13 dead and 41 survivors

1943 - Destroyer escort USS Gilmore commissioned

1943 - U-1200, U-1271 laid down

1943 - U-314, U-473, U-855 launched

1943 - U-850 commissioned

1943 - Minesweepers USS Motive & Prevail commissioned

1943 - U-631 had a collision with U-71in the North Atlantic. Both boats were damaged, and U-71 had to return to base

1943 - At 0747 & 0749, U-628 fired torpedoes at the convoy HX-233 in grid BE 4615 (47°22N/21°58W) and observed one hit on each of two ships. In fact, Fort Rampart was damaged and the American steam tanker Harrison Smith was missed. At 1130 the same day, U-628 hit the straggling Fort Rampart with a coup de grâce, but the vessel did not sink, until 0326 on 18 April when U-226 finally sank the ship about 900 miles ENE of the Azores with a coup de grâce and gunfire. Fort Rampart was on her maiden voyage. Six crewmembers were lost. The master, 40 crewmembers, six gunners and three passengers (DBS) were picked up by HMCS Arvida & landed at Greenock

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1944. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1944 - Destroyer USS Eugene A Greene laid down

1944 - Submarine USS Tiru laid down

1944 - Escort carrier USS Bismark Sea launched

1944 - U-342 sunk SW of Iceland, in position 60.32N, 29.20W, by depth charges from an RCAF 162 Sqn Catalina. 51 dead (all hands lost). U-342 was a Type medium-range Type VIIC U-boat, built by Nordseewerke, at Emden. She was commissioned on 12 Jan 43. U-342 was on her first patrol at the time of her loss and had not sunk or damaged any ships. OLtzS Albert Hossenfelder was her only commanding officer. Albert Hossenfelder was born in 1908, at Sprottau, in Lower Silesia. He joined the navy in 1935 as a reservist officer. His first operational service was in patrol craft. He eventually commanded the 17th Patrol Flotilla from Feb to Sep 41, when he transferred to the U-boat force. He completed his conversion training in Apr 42 & was assigned as the Second Watch Officer in the Type VIIC boat U-371, commanded by the 'ace' Kptlt Waldemar Mehl, Knight's Cross, where he served until Oct 42. During this time, U-371 conducted an amazing 13 patrols in the very dangerous Mediterranean theatre of operations & sank nine ships (including three RN warships) for a total of 42,451 tons, & damaged four more ships for further 28,072 tons. Hossenfelder was selected for command & underwent his U-boat commander's course from Nov-Dec 42. He was appointed to the command of U-342 on 12 Jan 43, at the age of 34, & was promoted to OLtzS on 01 Feb 43. Albert Hossenfelder was lost with his entire crew when U-342 was sunk on 17 Apr 44

1944 - U-986 sunk SW of Ireland, in position 50.09N, 12.51W, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Swift & USS PC-619. 50 dead (all hands lost)

1944 - Minesweeper USS Incredible commissioned

1944 - Destroyer USS Brush commissioned

1944 - Corvette KNM (ex-HMS) Tunsberg Castle commissioned

1944 - U-546 shot down an RAF 53 Sqn Liberator in the Bay of Biscay

1944 - U-993 shot down an RAF 53 Sqn Liberator

1944 - Repair ships HMS Albatross commissioned

1944 - Submarine HMS Teredo laid down

1944 - U-682 commissioned

1944 - U-2321 launched

1944 - HMC ML 121 commissioned

1944 - Corvette HMS Pembroke Castle commissioned Port Glasgow, Scotland

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For the Seadogs: April 17th 1944. From: SeaWaves Magazine


1945 - U-398 reported missing in the North Sea or Arctic, position & cause unknown. 43 dead (all hands lost)

1945 - Tug HMCS Glenella commissioned

[ADM199]

Winterbottom initially gave Churchill a selection of Ultra intercepts along with anotations pointing out what he thought were most relevent. He felt that other senior Officers eventually realised the power he was wielding and removed him from this task. Winterbottom then took on what I would say was a more important task. That was setting up the ground rules for the use of Ultra,and the formation of Special Liason Units who handled information from U.K. to Field Commanders.
His book"The Ultra Secret"is a very good insight into Ultra and its use,even though it was written from memory,as nothing official had been released at this time.

[Peter Clare]

1943 : Warsaw ghetto uprising put down


On this day in 1943, Waffen SS attacks Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto.
Shortly after the German invasion of Poland, in September 1939, nearly 400,000 Polish Jews were confined to a 3.5-square-mile area that normally housed about 250,000. The "ghetto" was sealed off with a 10-foot-high wall. Anyone caught leaving was shot on sight. As if this weren't bad enough, the Nazis strictly controlled the amount of food that was brought into the ghetto, forcing Jews to live on a bowl of soup a day. By July 1942, about 80,000 Jews had died.
On July 22, 1942, Heinrich Himmler ordered that Jews be "resettled" to extermination camps, such as Treblinka. Two months later, more than 300,000 Jews had been sent to the gas chambers. Less than two years after the internment in the ghetto, only 60,000 Jews remained. But those who survived formed a Jewish Fighting Organization, called ZOB, which managed to smuggle in weapons from anti-Nazi Poles. Armed, they were able to resist further deportations by attacking Germans from rooftops, cellars, and attics. A severe winter and a shortage of trains also prevented the SS from deporting more Jews to death camps.
But spring brought Nazi retaliation. On April 19, 1943, Passover, Himmler sent more than 2,000 Waffen SS soldiers to combat the Jewish resistance. German tanks, howitzers, machine guns, and flamethrowers were met with Jewish pistols, rifles, homemade grenades, and Molotov cocktails. The Jews were able to fend off the German assault for 28 days. Finally, SS General Jurgen Stroop set the entire ghetto block, now reduced to an area 1,000 yards by 300 yards, on fire and blew up the synagogue. By May, 56,065 Jews were dead. It is estimated that the Germans lost 300, with 1,000 wounded.

[Peter Clare]

1945 : Operation Corncob is launched while Hitler celebrates his birthday


On this day in 1945, Allied bombers in Italy begin a three-day attack on the bridges over the rivers Adige and Brenta to cut off German lines of retreat on the peninsula. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler celebrates his 56th birthday as a Gestapo reign of terror results in the hanging of 20 Russian prisoners of war and 20 Jewish children: Of these, at least nine are under the age of 12. All of the victims had been taken from Auschwitz to Neuengamme, the place of execution, for the purpose of medical experimentation.