On this day during W.W. 2

March 28, 1941. Battle of Cape Matapan

In late March 1941, as British ships of the Mediterranean Fleet covered troop movements to Greece, Mavis Batey, a cryptographer at Bletchley Park, made a breakthrough, reading the Italian naval Enigma for the first time. The first message, the cryptic “Today’s the day minus three,” was followed three days later by a second message reporting the sailing of an Italian battle fleet comprising one battleship, six heavy and two light cruisers, plus destroyers to attack the merchant convoys supplying British forces. As always with Enigma, the intelligence breakthrough was concealed from the Italians by ensuring there was a plausible reason for the Allies to have detected and intercepted their fleet. In this case, it was a carefully directed reconnaissance plane.

At the same time, there was a failure of intelligence on the Axis side. The Italians had been wrongly informed by the Germans that the Mediterranean Fleet had only one operational battleship and no aircraft carriers. In fact the Royal Navy had battleships, while the damaged British aircraft carrier (HMS Illustrious) had been replaced by HMS Formidable.

On 27 March, Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell, with the cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Gloucester, HMS Orion and HMAS Perth and a number of destroyers, sailed from Greek waters for a position south of Crete. Admiral Cunningham with HMS Formidable, HMS Warspite, HMS Barham and HMS Valiant left Alexandria on the same day to meet the cruisers.

On 28 March, 150 miles west of Crete, an IMAM Ro.43 floatplane launched by Vittorio Veneto spotted the British cruiser squadron at 06:35. Italian cruisers Trieste, Trento and Bolzano close in and open fire at 08:12 from 13 miles without success, then battleship Veneto joins in at 10:55 from 14 miles but cause little damage to 4 Allied cruisers as the Italians experienced trouble with their rangefinding equipment. Torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable attack Veneto at noon and again at 15:09, hitting a propeller and causing flooding which stops her for 90 minutes. Admiral Cunningham immediately orders the Mediterranean fleet to close on the damaged Italian battleship. Torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable and from Crete (815 Squadron) attack at 19.36, crippling Italian cruiser Pola. Cruisers Zara and Fiume remain to help Pola while Vittorio Veneto and the other ships run for cover at Taranto. After dark, battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite close to 2 miles unnoticed by the Italian ships (which have no radar). They open fire at 23:30, sinking 2 Italian cruisers Fiume and Zara and 2 destroyers Alfieri and Carducci while destroyer Oriani escapes with heavy damage.
Photo: The battleship Vittorio Veneto firing upon the Allied cruisers during the action off Gavdos

@captainwalker dirty Brits, using underhand tricks on my poor Italian brothers.

@captainwalker said in On this day during W.W. 2:

March 28, 1941. Battle of Cape Matapan

{snip} The Italians had been wrongly informed by the Germans that the Mediterranean Fleet had only one operational battleship and no aircraft carriers. In fact the Royal Navy had battleships, while the damaged British aircraft carrier (HMS Illustrious) had been replaced by HMS Formidable. {snip}

{snip} Admiral Cunningham with HMS Formidable, HMS Warspite, HMS Barham and HMS Valiant left Alexandria on the same day to meet the cruisers.

{snip}

In the phrase, “the Royal Navy had battleships”, did you mean to instead say, “the Royal Navy had three battleships”? I’m curious by the way you put that.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Midnight_Reaper it should read three…HMS Barham, Valiant and Warspite

29 March 1943
*Tunisia: Advancing units of the British 8th Army facing fierce resistance occupy Gabes and El Hamma.
*Berlin is again heavily bombed in RAF night attack.

March 30, 1941. North Africa
General Rommel is ready to get moving. Since he does not have orders from OKH to attack, he gives his directives verbally. He tells the 5th Light Division to attack Mersa Brega in the morning. The 5th Light has had patrols out and reports that it captured an armoured car. The British 2nd Armoured Division defends Mersa Brega. Rommel is encouraged by recent skirmishes, including the capture of El Agheila, and also wants to advance to the Jebel Achdar (Green Mountain) south of Benghazi because it is a rare source of potable water in the desert.

The RAF raids Tripoli in the early morning hours, causing only slight damage. The Luftwaffe also is in action, claiming to have destroyed an armoured car, self-propelled gun, and tanker.
Photo: Bf 109E-4Trop JG27 off North African coast, 1941
Source: worldwartwodaily

@captainwalker one of the best colour photos of the war, in my opinion.

March 31, 1941. North Africa
At 07:45, the Afrika Korps launches the next stage of its offensive, sending 50 tanks and taking part in the defences at Mersa Brega. The Afrika Korps takes Ajdabiya. The British lose numerous armoured cars and light tanks. This attack is into the “Mersa El Brega Gap,” an area between the coast and desert where the flat ground makes it good tank country.
The British 2nd Armoured Division of XIII Corps is poorly sited in the area and its units are quickly overrun or sent packing. The attack features the 5th Light Division, the 5th Panzer Regiment, and two Italian divisions, Ariete and Brescia. Ariete Division sends its reinforced 12th Bersaglieri battalion into the heights north of Mersa Brega. The British counterattack but are beaten off, and the Italian air force attacks the British around Agedabia and Mersa Brega.
This attack is an unusual example of how British top-secret Ultra intelligence can work against them. The British have been decoding messages from Berlin which effectively have ordered Lieutenant General Rommel not to attack until he has all of his projected forces assembled. This is not supposed to be the case until May. However, Rommel has decided on his own initiative to attack, confounding the British, who expected him to wait.
Rommel has other good news: elements of the 15th Panzer Division begin to arrive in Tripoli.
Photo: Afrika Korps panzers and scout vehicles on the road to Mersa Brega, 31 March 1941. Nice, flat, unobstructed roads without many bridges and little air defence make these areas perfect for tank advances.
Source: worldwartwodaily

…desert where the flat ground makes it good tank country.
… Nice, flat, unobstructed roads without many bridges and little air defence make these areas perfect for tank advances.

It also worked in '91 in similar nearby terrain.

31 March 1943
*New Guinea: MacKechnie Force - consisting mainly of the 1st of the 162nd Inf. and named after the officer in command, is taken by sea to the mouth of the river Waria to occupy that position and a neighboring airfield.
*Solomon Islands: Russel Islands come under several Japanese air attacks.
*Aleutian Islands: The American Pacific Commands issue a directive for the invasion of Attu. The operation is to take place on 7 May and will be directed by Adm. Kinkaid, Commander of Tf-16. Under him are R-Adm. Rockwell in charge of landing force operations, and Gen. Albert Brown, heading the 7th division.
*China: The Americans open training centers for Chinese infantry and artillery officers.
*Iran: The American air force takes over responsibility for a big factory at Abadan that assembles aircraft supplied by the USA to the USSR.
*Sardinia: A large US bombing force (nearly 100 Fortresses) attacks Cagliari, the relay post for Axis shipments to Tunisia and an important air base.

April 1, 1941. Libya, North Africa
Rommel has strict orders from Berlin not to advance on Mersa Brega until further reinforcements arrive in the form of 15th Panzer Division at the end of May, however, the need for a fresh water supply from the green mountain (Jebel Akhdar), and the necessity in his opinion of attacking before the British build up their defences, makes him prompt General Johannes Streich to use his 5th Light Division to capture this narrow coastal defile and open the way to Cyrenaica proper.
At first light, German 5th Light Division attacks British 2nd Armoured Division at Mersa Brega while the Luftwaffe provide close air support. British anti-tank guns hold the panzers at bay throughout the day but by 19.00hrs Mersa Brega falls to the Afrika Korps. Under orders not become heavily engaged with German tanks, the British withdraw 30 miles northeast toward Agedabia overnight.

April 3, 1941. Libya, North Africa

Rommel orders 5th Light Division to cross the desert south of the Green Mountain and slice across the Cyrenaican bulge, while sending a mixed German and Italian force along the coastal road towards Benghazi. Rommel flies from unit to unit in his Fieseler Fi 156C Storch airplane, giving orders and solving problems. When 5th Light Division tanks run low on petrol he orders them to halt for 24 hours and sends back trucks to bring more fuel. Although a risky move he can see the British continue to retreat in confusion. A supply dump at Msus is blown up at the rumour of approaching German tanks and vast amounts of much needed fuel go up in smoke. This error will badly hamper the mobility of British armour in the coming days.

Photo: The Fieseler Storch of General Rommel passes above the German column in desert.

April 4, 1942. Eastern Front
Siege of Leningrad Day 209. 62 Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers and 70 other bombers escorted by 59 Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighters attack the Soviet fleet at Kronstadt. Battleship October Revolution is hit 4 times, cruiser Maxim Gorky suffers 7 hits while battleship Petropavlovsk, cruiser Kirov and destroyers Silny and Grozyashchi are also damaged.
Siege of Sevastopol Day 108. German shelling finally destroys Soviet destroyer Sovershenny (under repair after being bombed and capsizing on November 12, 1941).

@captainwalker

heh heh the guys musta known they were getting their picture taking. Gunner and pilot both looking at the camera :)

Nice photo. I’m assuming soviets didn’t have much air to intercept ?

April 6, 1944. Eastern Front
After a march of about 150 miles, the continuously moving but surrounded forces under the command of the German 1st Panzer Army – Hube’s Pocket – establish contact with the German 4th Panzer Army to the south of Tarnopol. Although the German force has lost some heavy equipment and weapons, as well as sustaining casualties, it has also destroyed considerable quantities of Soviet equipment during the fighting withdrawal to the German lines. The escaping troops are able to re-join the line within days. Marshal Zhukov, commanding the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front, is subsequently blamed for the Soviet failure to destroy the encircled German force of about 200,000 troops. There is heavy fighting north of Razdelnaya as a small pocket of German and Romanian forces (elements of German 6th Army) is reduced by forces of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front.
Photo: Soldiers admiring Tigers of sPzAbt 507 in an assembly area near Tarnopol, April 1944.

@captainwalker nice pic . Bloody awful ground to move in though .

@Wittmann
yea that car in the middle looks stuck

Left wing of B-17G LG-W 42-31333 Wee Willie 322nd BS 91st BG falls away after having suffered a direct flak hit over Stendal on April 8 1945. 8 were killed, pilot and 1 crewman survived

@captainwalker month before the war ended.

On This Day: April 10th, 1941:
Axis forces under Erwin Rommel begin the 241 day Siege of Tobruk against a garrison of British, Australian, Polish, Czech and Indian soldiers.
The Siege began when Axis forces attempted to take the strategically important port of Tobruk in Libya. The port would grant Axis forces a secure port near their border and most importantly, out of range from RAF bombers.
The days on the North coast of Africa are horrendously hot and the nights extremely cold. Both sides would also have to contend against hot desert winds, mechanical failures and difficult terrain.
The Germans were suprised to find heavily dug defences, accurate artillery fire and anti-tank weapons, as they assumed the garrison would withdraw by sea. As the Germans tanks advanced, The British Royal Horse Artillery engaged them head on, forcing them to change direction, whereupon British cruiser tanks fired upon them from three sides, destroying 16 German tanks.
Relief operations against the Axis were attempted but were ultimately unsuccessful. As both sides invested further in the siege, the allies placed minefields, launched Commando raids, used naval gunfire support and fought off repeated Axis assaults.
By December Erwin Rommel, low on supplies withdrew from the siege. He would succeed in capturing Tobruk in June 1942 after the Battle of Gazala.

Picture shown: Colourised photo of a Bren gunner from the 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment at Tobruk.