February 12th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Anthony Eden and General Dill leave for a tour of Greece, Turkey and Egypt.London:
Free French Headquarters announced:
Our forces in Chad Province [French Equatorial Africa] have continued their operations in southern Libya with the support of our aircraft. A motorised column under the command of Colonel Leclerc has won ground and occupied bases around Kufra.
Almost 600 miles of desert separate Kufra from the border of Chad, and the Sahara poses many obstacles to military operations in the area.
The Belgium government-in-exile breaks diplomatic relations with Romania.
Destroyer HMS Penn launched.
Minesweeper HMS Bude commissioned.
GERMANY:
ITALY: The Italian government asks that U.S.
consulates at Palermo and Naples be moved to Rome rather than be located on
a sea coast.
Spanish Dictator General Francisco Franco and Italian Premier Benito
Mussolini confer in Rome “on all problems interesting the two governments at
the present historic moment."
ROMANIA: Bucharest: With at least 40 troop trains a day crossing Hungary to Romania, Hitler is set to build up a formidable 600,000-strong army on the border with the Ukraine. Much of the equipment carried by the German forces is of French make, having been seized after the French collapse last year.
The Germans' next move, now the ice has broken on the Danube, is to float pontoon bridges in the river to enable troops to enter Bulgaria, under a secret agreement reached with the Bulgarian government four days ago. The Germans have promised the Bulgarians a slice of Greek territory to give them access to the Aegean Sea - but only after the war.
The massive German move into the Balkans has set off a wave of speculation that Hitler may be about to go to the rescue of his Italian ally, who has been badly mauled by the Greeks. Some observers, however, believe that Hitler, despite his treaty of friendship with Stalin, is planning to invade the Soviet Union.
U.S.S.R.: General Georgii Zhukov is appointed Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Commissar for Defense. The former Chief of the General Staff, General Kirill Meretskov, is named Deputy Peoples Commissioner of Defense.
Soviet submarine M-122 launched.
LIBYA: Tripoli, LIBYA: General Erwin Rommel arrives to take command of the armoured section of the Deutsches Afrika Korps. This section will comprise a Panzer and a Motorised Infantry Division. He assumes command and receives assistance from the Fliegerkorps X and long range aircraft from Sicily to fight the exhausted British. The German 5th Light Division includes 9,300 Germans, 130 tanks, 111 guns and 2,000 vehicles (80 German aircraft are also included). The Italian "Ariete" and "Trento" Divisions arrive as well. The "Ariete" is composed of 6,949 men, 163 tanks, 36 field guns, 61 anti-tank guns and the Brescia Infantry Division. Rommel has 100,000 Italians, 7,000 Italian trucks supplying munitions to the front, 1,000 Italian guns and 151 Italian aircraft. Gariboldi is named Commander in Chief for Libya.
ERITREA: Keren: Subadar Richpal Ram (b. 1899), 6th Rajput Rifles, displayed great bravery leading an attack in which he died. He had shown similar courage in an assault five days earlier.
The town of Afmadu, about 100 miles north of Kismayu is taken by the King's African Rifles.
Italian alpine troops recapture positions at Keren, forcing British forces to retreat.
AUSTRALIA: Destroyer HMAS Nestor commissioned.
U.S.A.: It is reported that there are 858 corporations and 1,091 corporation executives in the US accused by the government of criminal violation of anti-trust laws. It is also shown that the government had indicted 84 unions and 336 union officials on similar charges.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: General Georgi Zhukov is appointed Soviet Chief of the General Staff and deputy commissar for defence. The former Chief of the General Staff, General Kirill Meretskov is named Deputy People's Commissioner for Defence.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Far to the west of Gibraltar Admiral Hipper sinks seven ships from unescorted convoy SLS64 bound for Britain from Sierra Leone. She then returns to Brest, and in March heads back to Germany via the Denmark Strait to take no further part in independent commerce raiding.
M/S Borgestad NS (3924 grt Built in Copenhagen, Denmark 1925.) Captain Lars Grotnęss, Commodore ship in Convoy SLS 64, with a cargo of cotton. Captain Grotnęss must have given the order to disperse, because ship after ship turned around and desperately tried to get away, but Borgestad and the other ships at the head of the convoy had no time for such manoeuvres, as Hipper was quickly advancing, and Grotnęss chose to fight, in spite of Borgestad's inferior armament. He headed directly towards Admiral Hipper, in an effort to get that ship as far away from the convoy as possible, with the gunners loading and firing, loading and firing. Borgestad sank, 30 men and 1 woman went down with her. Other ships lost were the Greek Perseus, 14 died, the British Derrynane, 36 died - Shrewsbury, 20 died, Oswestry Grange, 5 died - Warlaby, 36 lost and Westbury with 5 dead. The 1st mate on Borgestad, Harald Nergaard had his American wife Norma (born Hayes) with him on the ship. She was employed as a stewardess, was 21 years old and from Tacoma. The captain was posthumously awarded the highest ranked Norwegian decoration "Krigskorset" for his actions during this battle, which were officially acknowledged as having saved the convoy from total destruction by Hipper.
The submarine HMS Snapper after leaving her escort off Lands End for Bay of Biscay is not heard from again, she is believed lost on mines. However it is also possible that German warships sank her since a submarine attacked the German minesweepers M-2, M-13 and M-25 on the night of the 10/11th February in the area where Snapper might have been. The submarine was subjected to a counterattack in which 56 depth charges were dropped.
Polish destroyers Piorun, Garland and the British destroyer HMS Legion conduct an offensive patrol against enemy submarines. However, no U-boat was encountered.