March 9th, 1941 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Portsmouth is heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe tonight.In a joint report on the role of Coastal Command and the Royal Navy it is decided that "the predominance of the naval element in the existing operational partnership for the production of a sea-borne trade, but preserving the right of direct command of Coastal Groups to their own officers and the C-in-C."
An officer who took part in the fighting from Sidi Barrani to Benghazi stressed the fact that the Italians fought well and chivalrously ... "The regulars often held out unexpectedly until they knew it was hopeless. Then amazing scenes occurred as our cavalrymen stepped out of their tanks. Fraternisation between the two forces was instantaneous, cigarettes were exchanged, and the greatest good humour prevailed."
Instances of Italian chivalry were many. On one occasion when a British colonel was captured he as allowed to write a letter which was at once taken back to our line and dropped by an Italian aeroplane.
Another instance occurred when a British airman crashed and got killed behind the Italian lines. They sent over another aeroplane with a message that he had been buried with full military honours, stating place.
Newcastle: In a speech today, Ernest Bevin asked for 100,000 women to sign up for munitions work within the next fortnight. He said the women were needed desperately - primarily in shellfilling factories - and he asked them not to wait for instructions or registrations but simply to come forward. "I cannot offer them a delightful life," he said. "I want them to come forward in the spirit that they are going to suffer some inconvenience, but with a determination to help us through."
"We are anxious that the children shall be looked after properly
and to assist them we are subsidising the cost of minding. We have left the woman to pay
only what she would have paid before the war, which is about sixpence a day, and we are
paying the additional sixpence."
Instructions for management in companies which are not used to employing women are to be
issued, and new terms of employment and wages for women employed in war work will also be
announced soon.
Both the British and German war economies are both becoming more reliant on women workers. In Germany, the Nazis have been forced by circumstances to relax their ideological standpoint that women are good only for housework and maternity.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Gulfoss is mined and sunk in the English Channel.
NETHERLANDS: The government
breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
ALBANIA: Greek forces hold firm against a strong Italian offensive, led by
Mussolini himself, around Bubesh on the Albanian front, between the Devoli and Vijose
rivers.
Mike Yaklich adds: The Italian spring offensive in Albania begins. The goal
is to gain a victory against the Greeks before the Germans intervene, and
Mussolini has personally come to Albania to watch. The Italians will employ
nine divisions (including one armoured and two alpini), plus many smaller
units of up to regimental size, against about 20 miles of front straddling
the Vojussa river. The Greeks defend with the 1st and 15th Divisions in the
line, and the 6th Div and half the 17th Div in reserve. The Italian
preparations have long been detected, and the Greeks are established in
well-hidden hilltop positions with interlocking fields of fire for
their machineguns, mortars, and highly effective mountain artillery. The
Italian attack is preceded by a two-hour barrage in which 300 guns fire off
100,000 shells, but these are mostly light field pieces (100mm or smaller)
and their effect on the deeply dug-in Greeks is minimal. There are also air
attacks by Italian Stukas. The main push will be north of the Vojussa in the
6.5-mile sector of Gastone Gambarra's 8th Corps.
On Gambarra's left wing the Cagliari Division is to break through the pass over Mt. Trebessina at Bubesi. But with its commander General Gianni sick in bed the Cagliari makes no progress. On the 8th Corps right De Stefanis with the Pinerolo Division twice reaches his objective, the Qafa Lusit pass, but is driven back both times by Greek counterattacks. In Gambarra's centre, the Puglie Division advances half a mile over uncontested ground, but then meets a bloody repulse at Monastery Hill, which will become a focal point of the battle.
Cavallero tells Mussolini"> Mussolini, "Our troops are not suitable for making a break in the front of the enemy, who has used the time that we used in forming the front to build up a very effective defense system. Facing a well consolidated defense system with centres of fire, troops are necessary who are capable of using infiltration tactics, and are well-supplied with officers. We do not have those conditions, and therefore, instead of using infiltration tactics, we apply weight and wear the enemy down... If success is not in sight, we must not continue to feed the struggle, but break it off..." (Mike Yaklich)
LIBYA: General Erwin Rommel, commanding the Afrika Korps, sends a message to the German High Command suggesting that it might be possible to go on the offensive before the hot weather begins. He suggests three objective, (1) the re-occupation of Cyrenaica, (2) the occupation of northern Egypt, and (3) the capture of the Suez Canal. He proposes 8 May to begin the campaign.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British destroyers HMS Southdown and HMS Worcester repel a German
attack on convoy FS-429A.
Scharnhorst sinks the Greek merchantman Marathon (6,350 tons) (Navy News)