Year 1941

Diary for Friday, June 13, 1941: Sea War Ferry steamer St Patrick sunk by German aircraft in Irish Sea off Fishguard (23 killed). Air War Britain: Attempted night raid on […]

Diary for Thursday, June 12, 1941: Home Front Germany: Berlin civil defence authority warns the population to take immediate shelter in air raids owing to danger posed by heavy HE

Diary for Wednesday, June 11, 1941: Air War Germany: RAF begins series of 20 consecutive night raids on the Ruhr, the Rhineland, Hamburg and Bremen. Britain: Widespread German night raids

Diary for Tuesday, June 10, 1941: Home Fronts Britain: House of Commons debate the debacle at the German airborne invasion of Crete. Hore-Belisha declares: ‘For the first time in history

Diary for Monday, June 9, 1941: Middle East Allied forces occupy Tyre and cross river Litani (Lebanon). Sea War Mediterranean: Vichy destroyers Guepard and Valmy bombard Australian troops advancing along

Diary for Sunday, June 8, 1941: Middle East INVASION OF SYRIA AND LEBANON by British Commonwealth and Free French forces at three points. Politics Free French promise full independence to

Diary for Saturday, June 7, 1941: Air War Egypt: 230 killed in night raid on Alexandria (evacuation of 40,000 people commences, June 8).

Diary for Friday, June 6, 1941: East Africa Commonwealth forces cross river Omo, capturing 2,000 Italians and 14 guns.

Diary for Thursday, June 5, 1941: Air War China: Air raid on Chungking; 700 Chinese entombed and suffocated in tunnel shelter. Sea War Mediterranean: British sub Taku sinks 3 Italian

Diary for Wednesday, June 4, 1941: Home Fronts Germany: Death of ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor in World War One, aged 82 (at Doorn, Holland). Air War Egypt: 170 killed,

Diary for Tuesday, June 3, 1941: East Africa British regain control of Debarech, near Gondar (Ethiopia), after Italians have twice recaptured the town. Sea War Mediterranean: Italian transport explodes during

Diary for Monday, June 2, 1941: Politics Hitler and Mussolini confer at Brenner Pass. Neutrals Vichy France: Census of Jews ordered.

Diary for Sunday, June 1, 1941: Sea War Mediterranean: Ju 88 bombers sink AA cruiser Calcutta north of Alexandria. British naval losses in the Airborne invasion of Crete: sunk: 3

Diary for Saturday, May 31, 1941: Middle East Armistice signed between British and Iraqi Army. Neutrals Thailand: Death of ex-King Prajadhipok, son of Chulalongkorn, at Virginia Water, England, aged 47.

Diary for Friday, May 30, 1941: Middle East Fall of the Raschid Ali regime in Iraq: the usurper flees to Iran.

Diary for Thursday, May 29, 1941: Sea War Mediterranean: British destroyers Imperial and Hereward lost to air attack while evacuating troops from Crete .

Diary for Wednesday, May 28, 1941: Sea War Mediterranean – Evacuation of British and Commonwealth forces from Crete begins: 17,000 evacuated up to night May 31 – June 1. Atlantic

Diary for Tuesday, May 27, 1941: Sea War Atlantic: BISMARCK SUNK. Damaged German battleship Bismarck fights hopeless battle against British battleships King George V and Rodney and is finally torpedoed

Diary for Monday, May 26, 1941: Sea War Atlantic: Swordfish torpedo-bombers score two hits on battleship Bismarck, disabling her steering-gear; the battleship’s AA gunners are confused by the slow-flying biplanes.

Diary for Sunday, May 25, 1941: Sea War Atlantic: Lagos and Takoradi harbours mined by U-boat U-69 (nights May 25-26 and 26-27). Politics Admiral Raeder, C-in-C German Navy, warns that