16th March
Two He111's of the German 10th Air Corps went on an armed reconnaissance mission during which they attacked units of the British Mediterranean Fleet west of Crete. Upon returning to base, the crews report torpedo hits on two heavy naval vessels which they describe as battleships. This supposed success meant a substantial reduction in the Royal Navy's strength in the Mediterranean. German leaders urge the Italian navy to get involved and to co-operate with the German attack on Greece that is planned for April 6, by sending their vessels forward into the eastern Mediterranean north and south of Crete. The Italians point out that the ships they are most worried about are the carriers and the Luftwaffe seems to have missed these, but they will do what they can with the light forces available to them.
British convoys are still bringing units of the army into Greece and Crete. Priority has been given to take the New Zealand Division to Crete (as it is considered vital to protecting a line of retreat if needed), but the Australian formations are steadily growing in Greece itself. The defence infrastructure of Crete itself is considered inadequate, and the New Zealanders are being used in an improvement program; this will take some time, especially as vital equipment such as AA guns is not available in the needed quantities.
The supply situation is made worse in Egypt due to mining raids on the Suez Canal by German aircraft. As a result badly-needed supplies are unable to get ashore. The British solution is, almost bizarrely, to hang nets over the canal so they can at least see where the mines land and deal with them.
20th March
In Hawaii Admiral Bloch states in a letter that the depth of water at Pearl Harbor is 45 feet, and for that and other reasons, he does not recommend anti-torpedo baffles. CINCPAC agrees, until such time as a light efficient net is developed. No-one seems to have pointed out to the Admiral how shallow Taranto harbour is (some 40 feet).
It has taken Rommel much longer than he anticipated to get all his force unloaded and ready for operations. Losing two of the supply ships to air attack didn't help (although at least one of the two ships was already unloaded). In fact is has taken so long that the following convoy is already on its way to Algiers with the next part of his force. Fortunately for the Italian navy, the Mediterranean fleet is preoccupied with the operations planned in the Eastern Mediterranean in support of Greece, and so far the convoy has only been harassed by aircraft from Malta, sinking one transport ship.
The Vichy government is doing everything it can short of declaring war on Britain to show it is cooperating with Germany, whose veiled threats about what will happen if they DON'T co-operate are becoming increasingly blunt. Fortunately for them, Hitler is preoccupied with the preparations for Barbarossa at the moment. Their current position is to offer the Axis all help possible in Algeria, including port facilities, fuel, and food supplies. There is growing opposition and resentment to this, which is being suppressed by the regime with an increasingly heavy hand.
In Egypt, General O'Connor is looking at how best to allocate his troops to deal with what he expects to be an attack on Tunisia once Rommel's force is established in Algeria. His main problem is that no sooner do more forces arrive, they are tasked to something else, and as a result he has had little in the way of substantial reinforcements. Currently XIII Corps consists of three divisions, 2nd Armoured, 6th Australian and 4th Indian. He has 7th Armoured refitting in the delta and a South African Brigade as his reserves. The Free French expect to have about a division in Tunisia once they have finished relocating from Ethiopia, plus what will effectively be a somewhat under-armed armoured brigade.
His main problem is equipment. While considerable supplies have been arriving, much of this has gone to Greece and Crete with the ANZAC forces. While the base workshops have repaired what was repairable after the campaign across the desert, much of the transport simply had to be written off for spares. Fortunately a considerable amount of Italian equipment is available; indeed the Free French are outfitted with Italian trucks and support vehicles. Because of the transport shortage and the poor infrastructure in Libya, he intends to position his forces in a number of locations where, as far as possible, they can be supplied at sea until he can build up enough strength to foray into Algeria (assuming, of course, that the politicians will let him). One brigade of 2nd Armoured will be forward in Tunisia in support of the Free French forces until their Armoured Brigade is ready to deploy. The 4th Indian Division will be at Tripoli. The 6th Australian Division plus a brigade of 7th Armoured will be at El Agheila and Benghazi. He is still not happy with the state of training of 2nd Armoured, who he feels are insufficiently prepared compared to 7th Armoured, so the remaining two brigades will be held around Tobruk where they will keep training (the advanced Brigade is the one which saw combat in the Cyrenaica campaign).
He would prefer to have his forces further forward ready to intervene faster in Tunisia when it proves necessary, but at the moment his logistics simply don't allow it. He takes comfort in the fact that Rommel has equally troublesome logistics problems to solve, and at least his transports aren't being sunk out from under him by the Royal Navy and RAF. The Free French are occupying forward positions on the Tunisia-Algeria border, and if attacked will fight a delaying action until he can reinforce them.
22nd March
The Italian convoy to Algiers, which had managed to avoid interception by the Royal Navy so far, runs into a force of cruisers and destroyers from Force H. The forces fleet carrier is unfortunately in dock, so instead a surface force of cruisers and destroyers has been sent. Air cover for the convoy is limited; there is now a Luftwaffe airfield operating near Algiers, but this so far only consists of a squadron of fighters and one of Stukas. The Royal Navy attacked the convoy just after dawn, and sank four merchant ships and three escorting destroyers for the loss of one destroyer and damage to two cruisers. The Luftwaffe dive bombers attacked as the force was retreating west, but only managed to land one hit on HMS Southampton. Fortunately the Stukas are not from Fliegerkorps X, and are more used to dealing with army support than with ships
23rd March
Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers, with a fighter escort, conduct a raid on Malta. A total of thirteen German planes are shot down while the British lose two fighters. British authorities decide to withdraw all bombers and flying boats from Malta as a result of the raid. As air bases are now available in Tunisia, there is less need to have the longer-ranged aircraft so vulnerable to enemy attack, and it seems likely they will next be needed to intervene in Tunisia or Greece in any case.
The Vichy regimes in Syria and Lebanon, which have been in secret discussions in Cairo with the Free French and the British, come to an agreement. In a similar manner to Tunisia, a considerable number of people will resign; those who wish will be transported to France, or to a neutral or allied country of their choice. In return, the two countries will declare for the Free French. The decision has been helped along by subtle hints pointing out that the forces in the desert have little to do at the moment, and Syria and the Lebanon are really quite close. The British are keeping quiet about the fact that they are still short of equipment and transport, while the presence of the veteran 7th Armoured Division is being mentioned. However the agreement will not be made public for some days. The more cynical among the allies reckon this is to allow certain parties to get away with ill-gotten gains; they are quite correct in this assumption.
This will leave Vichy as only controlling French Morocco, Algeria and (oddly) Madagascar out of its former colonies, a serious political blow to them when it becomes public.
The Italian convoy that had scattered when intercepted by the Royal Navy straggles into Algiers. The Vichy regime, desperate to show its compliance with German 'requests', starts unloading operations immediately. This is just as well, as that night the RAF pays a visit in the form of a bombing raid by Wellingtons, which sinks one of the ships in the harbour and sets another on fire. With the convoy losses at sea, and now this, the supply convoy has lost over half the equipment sent.
25th March
In Vienna's ornate Belvedere Palace today, the Yugoslav premier, Dragisa Cvetkovich, put his signature to the pact which binds his country to Germany and the Axis. He had left behind in Belgrade a government and country deeply divided, with the Serbs passionately pro-British and the Croats equally pro-German.
After the signing, the premier said that his chief aim was peace and security for the Yugoslav people. Von Ribbentrop welcomed Yugoslavia as a "new partner", and promised that Germany would respect the country's territorial integrity and not make military demands. Nobody believes him, least of all the Yugoslav premier, and there are disturbances in Belgrade when it becomes known that Yugoslavia has signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany.
Increasing Axis activity in the form of air reconnaissance has been observed south and west of Greece and Crete and there are daily attempts to observe the harbour at Alexandria. It is suspected from this additional interest in the activities and whereabouts of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet that the enemy was planning some form of surface action. Secret intelligence intercepts confirmed that there would be attacks on British convoys but in planning the response it was most important to ensure that the Italians did not get any idea that this was known or suspected. While a number of the infiltrating reconnaissance planes have been shot down, they are starting to come over at high altitude, and this is making it very difficult for the Goshawks to intercept them (like most carrier planes, they are optimised for performance below 20,000 feet). A request is made to London for a squadron of Spitfires to make interception more likely.
Despite the damage done to the previous convoy, another one is ready to leave Naples. Rommel is pressing hard for more men and equipment, as he wants to attack Tunisia before the allies can rebuild their strength. Intelligence reports show that Imperial troops are arriving in Greece in numbers, and if they are in Greece they obviously can't be in North Africa. Indeed, Rommel wants the men and equipment brought forward as soon as they land, which raises the problem that the mechanised equipment requires desertification - modifying the equipment on arrival had been normal practice when the Italian workshops in Cyrenaica had been available, but apparently no-one in the supply services seemed to have realised these were now were now being used by the Allies. Rommel sends off a blistering telegram to Berlin, as a result of which the equipment will be modified in Naples so as to be ready to operate as soon as it lands.
At the moment, the contact between the Afrika Korps and the Allies is in a series of small units dug in around the western border of Tunisia. It is the aggressive patrolling of the German units that makes Rommel eager to attack immediately, as he sees the Free French as the weak link in the Allied forces.
26th March
The heavy cruiser HMS York was hit by Italian explosive motor boats launched from the destroyers Crispi and Sella while she was lying in Suda Bay, Crete. Badly damaged, the ship was beached in shallow water, with both boiler rooms and an engine room out of action.
Although the shipment of Hurricanes via Malta has helped, the RAF in the Eastern Mediterranean is still short of planes, and more are requested from Britain. There is currently a good supply of fighters available in the UK, as only limited operations are being undertaken against France, and it is hoped another delivery run can be made as soon as the carriers are ready again. This delivery run will become a steady process; a carrier loaded with aircraft will escort a Gibraltar convoy, then the fighters will be delivered to Malta where some will remain and others will fly on to North Africa. Priority will be given to planes other than the Hurricane, which is still being delivered via the cross-Africa route.
Given the build-up of Rommel's forces in Algeria, plans are being made for a fast convoy to be escorted through the Mediterranean direct to Alexandria carrying equipment and tanks. The base workshops have repaired most of the vehicles that were repairable, but shortages in certain classes remain.
27th March
At 2.30 this morning in Belgrade the Yugoslav regency council, headed by Prince Paul resigned; his nephew, King Peter, who is 17, took over and appointed as his Prime Minister General Dusan Simovich, the chief of the air staff. Simovich had organized the coup after two days of anti-Nazi demonstrations. Soon after a radio announcement of the successful coup, King Peter was cheered as he drove through Belgrade. Hitler does not take the news well.
In Washington, the secret Anglo-US staff talks (ABC1) which began in January ended today with broad agreement on plans for strategic co-operation in the event of US entry into the war against Germany or Japan or both.
In fourteen meetings since 29 January the two sides have discussed the American plan, put forward by Captain Turner of the US Navy and Colonel McNarney of the US Army. The result is plan ABC1. Its main argument is that Germany must be defeated first. The US would therefore give strategic priority to the Atlantic and to Europe, although the US navy would be used offensively in the Pacific as British staff officers have drawn attention to the vulnerability of Singapore.
Britain leases defence bases in Trinidad in the West Indies to the U.S. for 99-years, in exchange for another 30 Frigates to be built in the USA.
In a US research laboratory, a team of physicists reports the discovery of a new isotope of uranium which it calls plutonium-239.
30th March
In Belgrade the new Foreign Minister makes efforts to remain on good terms with Germany. He assures the German Minister that they would respect international treaties concluded by their predecessors, including accession to the Tripartite Pact. However the Yugoslav Army takes up positions on the frontier anticipating a German invasion. Meanwhile Hitler has approved the plan to invade Yugoslavia on the 6th April.
HMS Implacable arrives in the United Stated for her full repair work. She will also get a refit and some new equipment, and is expected to be operation again in July. The USN personnel and naval designers who board her to start arranging the work are amazed at how well the ships structure has stood up to so much damage; indeed, the hangar deck armour had not been seriously penetrated. Although the damage above this was severe, it was mainly to the easily-repaired hangars, and the report sent to the USN points out that similar damage would have sent any US carrier to the bottom. Although the Essex class carriers are too far along to redesign, consideration is given to modifying the follow on class according to the lessons of the Implacable's survival.
The Richelieu makes her first raid on Algiers; accompanied by destroyers, a night bombardment of the port area causes considerable damage and disruption. Unfortunately it doesn't catch any ships in port, but the damage done to the facilities will slow loading and unloading of the next convoy. The battleship retired west after the bombardment, covered by FAA fighters. The mission itself is pushed by the Allied propaganda machine as a sign of how the Free French are still in the fight against Germany (with the obvious comparison that the Vichy regime is not).
31st March
The new night fighters and the first of the centimetric AI radar sets are taking an increasing toll of Luftwaffe bombers. Night fighters and AA guns destroyed over 70 planes this month, and more are damaged. The losses are starting to be a problem for the Luftwaffe, who in addition to mounting heavy raids on England are committing increasing number of planes to the Mediterranean and are trying to prepare for Barbarossa. It is suggested that the raids on England are paused now summer is approaching to allow the planes and men to be rested and made ready for deployment in the east.
The cruiser HMS Bonaventure with a Mediterranean Fleet cruiser force is escorting a convoy from Greece to Egypt when she is torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Ambra some 90 miles south of Crete. The need to protect the troop convoys to Crete is occupying Cunningham's fleet, and only occasional forays can be made against the convoys from Italy to Algeria, which are being left to Force H and the strike force at Malta.
The Vichy governments in Syria and the Lebanon publicly declare for Free France. To those familiar with the region, there is an interesting lack of the politicians who used to be in charge in the current regimes. The British 6th Infantry Division will move into the area (one Brigade to the Lebanon, two to Syria) until Free French forces can take over. In the meantime the Free French will take over the running of the two colonies. While the declaration is as recently agreed, Middle East command is worried that the deteriorating situation in Greece might make some of the Vichy representatives reconsider, and they want to make sure they have forces on the ground in case.
The acquisition of Syria is particularly important to the Free French, as there are some 35,000 troops in the country which are now under their command. This will allow them to form a full Corps within the next few months. Heavy equipment will still be a problem, but it is hoped that orders from the USA will fill much of this shortage. They hope to move a Brigade to Tunisia to strengthen its defences once transport and support is available - this will give them a full division and an armoured brigade in the colony, backed up by British forces in Tripoli, which it is hoped will be sufficient to deter a German attack at least in the near term.
2nd April.
The New Zealand division under Major-General Sir Bernard Freyberg finish their concentration on Crete. It had been intended to then transport them onto Greece to join the force there, but the Australians in Greece have still not taken up the originally agreed positions, and so they are to wait on Crete until the situation is clear. In the meantime, they are busy improving the defences and facilities of Crete, which are in poor condition, and making an airbase ready for staging Sparrowhawk fighters to help guard the convoys between Greece and Alexandria
The Italian navy extends the time it expects to take to fully build up the German 5th light and Italian Ariete divisions in Algeria to the end of the month. The convoys have been taking significant losses from the British; air strikes from Malta and Tripoli, attacks at sea by destroyers and cruisers, carrier strikes from Force H, submarine attacks and mines in the harbour at Algiers have sunk over 40% of the ships sent. In addition to having to make these losses good, the amount of material needed was underestimated. Unlike the earlier convoys to Tripoli, there are no Italian stockpiles in Algeria, so as well as the German equipment all the Italian supplies need to be built up as well. The Vichy government in Algeria is supplying water and food, but they have no petrol spare for the Afrika Korps to use. This is all having to be brought from Italy, and the Royal Navy is singling out tankers for specific attention.
3rd April
A coup d'état in Iraq is led by the nationalist politician General Rashid Ali el Gailani and a group of officers calling themselves the "Golden Square". The group is opposed to the British presence in the country. The Regent Emir Abdul Illah escapes to Transjordan and by 3 April, a new government has been installed. The Soviet Union recognises the new government at once. It was the first to do so, and the Luftwaffe makes plans to set up an airlift to Iraq, although at the moment the distance to Iraq means that any substantial airlift will be impossible. A 1930 agreement between Iraq and Britain had granted the British two bases there: Shuaiba, south of Basra, and Habbaniya, an important RAF base and training camp in the Euphrates Valley about 48 miles west of Baghdad. As a result of the coup, the British send troops from India and the Middle East to ensure access to the vital oil supplies.
In the Red Sea the eight Italian destroyers and torpedoes boats remaining at Massawa, Eritrea, sortie from the port. The destroyers are sighted north of Massawa and are attacked by SeaLance aircraft of No 813 and Swordfish of No 824 Squadron assigned to the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious but operating from Port Sudan to cover local troop activities. The destroyers Daniel Manin and Nazario Sauro and the MAS-213 are sunk and the destroyers Pantera, Tigre and Cesare Battisti are scuttled near Massawa.
4th April
In Berlin Hitler meets the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke again, and promises to join Japan in fighting the USA if it should declare war. The Foreign Minister has been on an official visit to Rome and Berlin.
The first two squadrons of Beaufighters arrive in the Mediterranean theatre. The original intention had been to base one at Malta and the other in Cyrenaica, but in view of the current heavy air attacks on Malta both squadrons are sent to North Africa. One squadron is the first RAAF unit to be involved in the Mediterranean; it will be used to give the Australians familiarity with the plane in preparation for their own version currently in production. The Beaufighters will initially be used as long range fighters and torpedo planes to attack the Italian convoys to Algeria and force them further west (and into easier range of Force H).
6th April
German, Italian and Hungarian forces move on Yugoslavia and Greece, supported by a heavy concentration of Luftwaffe aircraft. Although the Allied expeditionary force is not complete (it consists of the 9th Australian Division, the 7th Australian division and the 1st Armoured Brigade), units have moved forward to man the Aliakmon Line along with three Greek divisions. The Imperial and Greek forces are supported by seven RAF squadrons.
8th April
In Eritrea, the Italians in the seaport of Massawa, the main Italian naval base in East Africa, surrender to British and Free French troops. Of the 13,000 men defending the town, 3,000 have been killed and 5,000 wounded. The Allies capture 17 large Axis merchant ships in the port along with many smaller military and civilian vessels. The 5th Indian Division, which has played a large part in the Allied campaign in Eritrea, starts to prepare to be shipped to Egypt to form the basis of a new Army Corps. The priority in the East African campaign is now to clear the road between Asmara and Addis Ababa and troops are being sent to this task from both ends of the road.
In Greece the German armour is pushing the Greeks back through the Dorian Gap, and the British 1st Armoured Brigade is moved forward to help. Meanwhile the infantry formations make ready to defend the Aliakmon line.
9th April.
The Metaxas Line in Greece collapses. Within three days of crossing into Greece from Bulgaria, German forces have captured the key port of Salonika, and forced the surrender of the whole eastern wing of the Greek army between Salonika and the Turkish border. This brings them close to the defence line manned by British and Australian troops.
The danger to the Olympus-Aliakmon line is also an outflanking move from Yugoslavia through the Monastir Gap. The 1st Armoured Brigade and the 19th Australian Brigade are detached from the 1st Australian Corps and placed under command of General Mackay, to form a blocking force in the Florina valley.
An additional four destroyers led by HMS Jervis are detached to Malta to help interdict Rommel's supply convoys. While Admiral Cunningham is short of destroyers, Middle East command needs to slow the build-up in Algeria while the situation in Greece is deteriorating so quickly.
11th April
With the destruction of all Italian war vessels in the Red Sea announced by the British, President Roosevelt declares the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are no longer "combat zones" and therefore open to American shipping. The President also cables Churchill to tell him that he proposes to extend the US Security Zone to 26 degrees west. He asks for details of British convoys to be relayed to the US Navy so that patrol units may meet them. In return the Americans will pass on intelligence of U-boats operating within the Security Zone.
12th April
The Imperial forces deployed along the rugged terrain from the Gulf of Salonika to Edhessa in the Vermion Mountains, have been pulled back to Mount Olympus, the next defensible line some hundred kilometres to the south. The Germans were pouring into Greece through the Monastir Gap, and with the Yugoslav resistance was crumbling, General Blamey was left with no choice.
The 45,000 strong Imperial forces have had little or no time to prepare their defences, and their strength is insufficient to organize a defence in depth. If the Germans are not stopped at Monastir they will soon be turning the British left flank, at which point the Corps will have no choice but to withdraw.
Admiral Cunningham has put the Mediterranean fleet at notice to sail, and supplies which were due to have been delivered to Greece have instead been diverted for the time being to Crete. The situation in Greece is deteriorating much faster than anticipated. In a private meeting with Wavell, Cunningham assures him there are sufficient ships to evacuate the expeditionary force, and probably a considerable number of the Greek army as well, but enemy air power will cause him losses, which he is prepared to accept. There is a limit to how long the carriers can give air support, but he feels this will suffice for the main evacuation effort.
13th April
In a treaty designed to safeguard both parties' borders, the Soviet Union and Japan today signed a neutrality pact for the next five years. The pact acknowledges existing borders, giving Russian recognition to Japanese Manchuria (now known as Manchukuo) for the first time. Under the pact, should either the Soviet Union or Japan become the object of military action, then the other party will observe neutrality.
In Greece the Imperial forces retreat to the Thermopylae line. This is only 50 miles long, and should be much easier to hold that the Olympus-Vermion line. However Blamey warns Middle East command that if the Greek army continues to give way, he will soon either be forced into an untenable defensive position or withdraw from Greece. Meanwhile the Luftwaffe continues its heavy bombing of Malta in an attempt to reduce the interference with the Algerian-bound convoys.
In London, the Australian Prime Minister Menzies criticises the way he sees Australian troops carrying an unfairly heavy part of the fighting in the Middle East. It is agreed that General Blamey will be given authority to withdraw from Greece if he thinks it necessary to preserve his force. To placate Menzies, it is promised that more British troops will be sent out to the Middle East as soon as possible, and commitments made for further support of Australian concerns in the Far East.
In secret talks between Iceland and the US government, Iceland agrees not to resist US forces replacing the British forces on Iceland.
15th April
Wavell and other senior British Middle East commanders meet and decide that the evacuation of all forces from the Greek mainland is unavoidable. General Blamey is informed of their decision, and the RN and RAF units in Alexandria and Crete put on alert. The New Zealand division on Crete is told to speed up preparations to defend the island from possible attack.
The first of a new class of convoy escorts, HMS Exe, is launched. A large building program of this class the twin-screw corvette (later to be called the frigate) has been started, and more of this type are being built in the USA as part of the bases deal. It is hoped to have her in commission by January 1942. Due to the severe convoy losses, the escort program is currently the highest priority naval building program, but due to the larger size and more complex nature of the ship, they will take 12-15 months to build rather than the 6-9 for the current, simpler corvettes.
There has been much discussion as to the ships armament; in the end two versions are under construction. The first, intended as a specialised A/S ship for the North Atlantic, carries a single 4" gun plus up to eight 20mm cannon. The second class, intended for use where there is a larger air threat, carries four 40mm cannon as well as twelve 20mm. Both types will carry a large number of depth charges and the new hedgehog AS spigot mortar. Faster than the single-screw corvettes, and with a longer range (allowing them to cross the Atlantic without refuelling), as well as modern refinements in sonar and radar, it is hoped that once they arrive they, and the new escort carriers which will then be available in numbers, will reduce the current merchant ship losses to U-boats.
16th April
Off Algeria, Capt P. J. Mack with destroyers HMS Janus, HMS Jervis, HMS Mohawk and HMS Nubian operation out of Malta intercept a German Afrika Korps convoy of five transports escorted by three Italian destroyers. All Axis ships are sunk including the destroyers Baleno (foundered next day), Lampo (later salvaged) and Tarigo. In the fighting HMS Mohawk is torpedoed twice by Tarigo and capsizes. She is eventually sunk by gunfire from HMS Janus.
The race to build up forces and supplies in North Africa by both sides continues, although as one British General pointed out, it was not so much a horse race as two tortoises straining to get ahead of each other in search of a particularly tasty lettuce leaf. While the Axis had ample forces available to ship to the theatre, they were severely limited by shipping (not helped by the fact the British were sending up to 40% of the equipment to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea), poor port facilities and the need to build up all the supplies they would need almost from scratch. On the British side, the supplies had to come the best part of 12,000 miles, and each time a convoy arrived much of its contents seemed to get diverted to other demands such as Greece.
Wavell orders that no more troops are to sail to Greece (the Polish Brigade was about to leave, but instead will be held in reserve in Egypt), ships with unloaded cargo should return with it immediately and ships loading in Egypt will stop loading and unload. While the airfields are not yet in a satisfactory state, fighters are dispatched to Crete in order to help cover an evacuation from Greece.
In Tokyo, an Associated Press dispatch quotes Ko Ishii (the spokesman for the cabinet board of information) as denying absolutely that "Japan intended to send an army or navy force against Singapore." He added that Premier Prince Konoye already stated that "Japan's southward intentions are clearly and entirely peaceful and economic. This report (about Singapore) is entirely groundless and the propaganda of war mongers"
17th April
Churchill agrees to a secret appeal from General Papagos, the Greek C-in-C for British and Empire forces to evacuate mainland Greece in order to save it from further destruction, but insists that Crete must be held with force. He also offers to evacuate as many Greek troops as possible to Crete in order to allow it to continue as a centre of Greek resistance. In Athens the British staff begin detailed plans to evacuate the Imperial troops to Crete and Egypt.
Although recent night attacks have caused considerable damage over Britain, in view of the need for additional aircraft in the Mediterranean and to prepare for Barbarossa (and also due to the steadily increasing toll the British night fighters are taking), the Luftwaffe suspends major operations over Britain. The Luftwaffe bomber force is in need of the temporary rest; it is actually weaker now in planes (and even weaker in experienced pilots) than it was before the start of the French campaign last year, while the RAF and Allied forces are considerably stronger.
19th April
The Yugoslavs surrender after twelve days fighting. Many troops will stay in the hills after the surrender, continuing the struggle as partisans.
The first Imperial troops arrive in Iraq when the British 20th Indian Brigade lands at Basra. Although Rashid Ali's new government objects, these movements are covered by a 1930 treaty and with no German support available, the objections are ignored by the British.
General Student, leader of the new XI. Fliegerkorps which now controls all air transport units, suggests to Goering that an attempt be made to invade Crete from the air once Greece is taken. The idea catches Goering's interest, and he agrees to put it before Hitler.
21st April
Evacuation starts of Imperial troops and equipment in Greece. The troops will be evacuated to Egypt (or to Crete if sailing on local vessels). At the same time it is suggested that the Greek army starts to use small craft and fishing vessels to evacuate trapped troops to Crete. The British have a fair number of landing craft available to them as well as the usual shipping, and it is hoped to recover at least a part of the expeditionary forces equipment to Crete using these.
In Australia, there are political moves against Menzies, blaming him for high Australian casualties in Greece. The movement is opposed by those pointing out that the forces there are under Australian command, and the additional commitments Britain has made to Australian concerns about Japan. The arguments will go on for some time
22nd April
British tank regiments are to be re-organized as more effective fighting units. In future they will have their own support arms in the front-line, including motorised infantry, combat engineers, artillery, anti-aircraft and anti-tank units. This change has been worked on for some time, after the reports of the success of such a mix in the desert, and reports of the effectiveness of it when used by the German Panzer units. The regiments in North Africa are already following this pattern where equipment allows, and it will be replicated with the forces held at home.
The formal evacuation of Greece begins; The Royal Navy will cover convoys to bring out the troops, as much equipment as feasible and also Greek troops (who will be landed in Crete). Air cover will be from the Navy's carriers and from fighters based on Crete. The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean means little can be done for the time against Rommel's supply convoys; Force H will undertake further operations against them and the ships in Algiers. The Greek King and his government will be evacuated to Crete tomorrow - it is hoped Crete will serve as a part of Greece not under occupation and allow the Greek government to continue to play a part in the war against Germany
25th April
Hitler issues Directive No. 28 - Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete. Planning will begin immediately so the operation can be launched after Greece falls.
Germany and Italy undertake to give financial and military aid to Rashid Ali's government in Baghdad. However the Basra: Reuters News Agency reports that "strong British and Imperial troops have arrived in the area of the Mosul airfields and, with the consent of Iraqi military authorities, have occupied positions of strategic importance". British troop movements are still continuing.
At 2100 on the 25th April, the rattle of heavy anchor chains echoed around the peace of Bergen fjord. Operation Rheinübung was finally starting.