February 15th, 1941 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:RAF Bomber Command: 35 aircraft are sent to bomb the oil refinery at Homberg, 26 claim to attack.
London: Churchill telegrams to Roosevelt.
Many drifting straws seem to indicate Japanese intention to make war on us or do something that would force us to make war on them in the next few weeks or months.
...this is a war of nerves designed to cover Japanese encroachments in Siam and Indo-China. ... I do not think that the Japanese would send large military expedition necessary to lay siege to Singapore. The Japanese would no doubt occupy strategic points and oil fields in Dutch East Indies....They would also raid Australian and New Zealand ports and coasts."
Churchill wants American warships to be stationed at Singapore to stave off the Japanese threat.
Corvettes HMS Fritillary and Genista laid down.
Destroyer HMS Laforey launched.
Corvettes FS Lobelia (ex-HMS Lobelia) and Bergamont launched.
GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler meets the Yugoslav Premier Cvetkovic and his Foreign Minister Cinkar-Markvic at Berchtesgaden to urge them to join the Tripartite Pact. They still refuse to commit their country, in the hope that Hitler will soon be preoccupied with relations with the Soviet Union and that they can get aid from Britain and the USA.
AUSTRIA: The deportation of Jews to ghettoes in Lublin and Kielce, in Poland, begins at the rate of 1,000 a month.
ITALIAN SOMALILAND: Commonwealth troops capture the port of Kismayu.
The cruiser HMS Shropshire provide gunfire support to Lt. Gen. Alan Cunningham's troops while Hurricanes from 3 Squadron flew air cover and a U.S. built Martin Maryland reconnaissance bomber directing the cruiser's gunfire. (Mike Yared)(284)
U.S.A.:
Ickes
recommends to Roosevelt that the Interior Department be responsible for the
defense of the Philippines. (Marc Small)
Lieutenant-Colonel Bradley is ordered to Fort Benning to take up the post of commandant and promoted to Brigadier-General. (W. Jay Stone)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends James B. Conant,
President of Harvard University, to the U.K. to discuss military
technology.
Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, sends a message to
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet based in the
Territory of Hawaii, regarding anti-torpedo baffles for protection against
torpedo plane attacks on Pearl Harbor. The message states that
“consideration has been given to the installation of anti-torpedo baffles
within Pearl Harbor for protection against torpedo plane attacks. It is
considered that the relatively shallow depth of water limits the need for
anti-torpedo nets in Pearl Harbor. In addition the congestion and the
necessity for manoeuvring room limit the practicability of the present type
of baffles.”
Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra record “Take the ‘A’ Train” at
RCA Victor’s Hollywood, California, studio today. This is one of big band’s
all time classics and becomes the Duke’s theme song.
Net tenders USS Hazel and Ash launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0038, the Alnmoor, a straggler from convoy SC-21, was hit by one torpedo from U-123 and sank SSE of Rockall. The master and 54 crewmembers were lost.