April 21st, 1940 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Upright launched.
NORWAY:
German troops push Norwegian and British forces out of Lillehammer.
The British had scarcely settled in at Lillehammer when General Pellengahr’s men hit them. The Germans quickly outflanked the British position, forcing Morgan’s entire line to fall back. That night a German motorized machine-gun battalion made a daring drive through the retreating British and Norwegians and seized Lillehammer.
A German column of mountain troops moves overland from Trondheim to Steinkjer by rail and road. Equipped and trained for snow fighting and supported by a battery of mountain guns, they moved forward carrying their machine-guns and mortars forward in motorcycle sidecars using the minor farm road to get into position over Carton de Wiarts Mauriceforce.
The RAF attacks Aalborg and Stavanger while 36 aircraft carry out reconnaissance over German waters. The Stavanger defences have been strengthened with a balloon barrage and extra searchlights.
RAF Fighter Command: RAF base party of No. 223 Sqn. with 6 officers and 60 men leaves for Norway aboard a warship. They arrive at Aandalsnes at midnight and immediately begin to clear their stores out of the danger area.
Three hours later the petrol is safely stored in a railway tunnel five miles outside the town and the billeting officer has found a hotel to accommodate the men. The hotel had been the Expeditionary Force HQ but had been evacuated because it stood in the zone of near misses of bombs aimed at the jetty.
U.S. Military Attaché Captain Robert E. Losey, USA, is killed in a German bombing raid on Dombas. The U.S. Minister to Sweden, Frederick A. Sterling, orders Naval Attaché Lieutenant Commander Ole E. Hagen, USN, to proceed to receive Captain Losey's remains.
(Mark Horan adds for today's' Fleet Air Arm activity): This date saw the arrival at Scapa Flow of the Royal Navy's two other operational fleet carriers, HMS Ark Royal arriving from Alexandria via Malta and Gibraltar, carrying 810, 820, and 821 Squadrons (all Swordfish), and HMS Glorious arriving from the Clyde with 825 Squadron (Swordfish) and 802 Squadron (Sea Gladiators). The day saw intense activity as HMS Ark Royal disembarked 821 Squadron and prepared for the return of her long absent fighter squadrons, while HMS Glorious disembarked 825 Squadron and her pilots began ferrying aboard the first RAF Squadron to be brought to Norway, 263 Squadron's 18 Gladiator IIs. One of these aircraft, N5624, crashed over the side during recovery. Meanwhile, HMS Furious continued to cruise off Northern Norway, though her two embarked Squadron had but 10 operational Swordfish remaining. Previously, 800, and 801 squadrons had each operated nine aircraft, six Skua IIs and three Rocs. Now each was expanded to twelve-planes by adding a third Skua section and ordered to prepare to embark on HMS Ark Royal.
Greenock: HMS Ark Royal remains at Greenock loading stores. At 1100, HMS Glorious departs Greenock in company with the destroyers HMS Hyperion, HMS Hereward, and HMS Hasty to fly on her air group consisting of 802 Squadron (Sea Gladiators), 812 Squadron (Swordfish), 823 Squadron (Swordfish), and 825 Squadron (Swordfish). That afternoon, as she rounds Northern Scotland, she commences flying aircraft off and on. First, the Swordfish of 812 and 825 Squadrons depart for Prestwick, carrying the pilots of 802 Squadron ashore so that they can ferry the RAF Gladiator IIs of 263 Squadron to Hatston in preparation for flying them out to the ship. In the flurry of aerial activity that follows, one of these aircraft, N5624, crashes killing the pilot, Petty Officer Cornelius Desmond Gordon-Wilson, RAFVR.
Off NORWAY: HMS Furious, with only ten Swordfish remaining, continued to cruise off Northern Norway, now in company with HMS Isis, HMS Ilex, and HMS Imogen. The days only activity occurs at 1340, when the German trawler Rhein (254 BRT) is sighted and, facing overwhelming force, surrenders to Imogen. (Mark Horan)
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-135 launched.
SINGAPORE: Conference between UK, US, and Dutch. (Air Vice-Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham chaired meeting, US naval representative was Captain 'Spec' Purnell, Chief of Staff to ADM Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet); "ADB" Plan was developed but both US War and Navy Departments recommended it be rejected as they felt it was defeatist and compromised US interests by insisting on defence of trade routes over offensive actions against Japanese. (Marc Small)
U.S.A.: The quiz show, "Take It or Leave It," debuts on CBS radio at 2200 hours Eastern time sponsored by Eversharp with Bob Hawk as the Quizmaster. Contestants, chosen from the studio audience, tried to answer seven questions valued at $1-$2-$4-$8-$16-$32-$64. The questions were asked and answered and if you got it wrong, you left without any consolation prize. The show remained on the radio until September 1950.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-51 was attacked by submarine FS Orphee with two torpedoes, but both missed.
At 0749, the unescorted Cedarbank was
torpedoed and sunk by U-26 NW
of Bergen. 14 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master and 29
crewmembers were picked up by HMS Javelin and landed at Aalesund.