April 3rd, 1941 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Bristol suffers a heavy night raid.The British government severs diplomatic relations with Hungary.
FRANCE: Paris: The Jewish affairs commissioner, Xavier Vallat, meets the German ambassador, Otto Abetz, to agree measures to speed Jewish "emigration."
HUNGARY: Budapest: Prime Minister Count Teleki Pál, the Hungarian Prime Minister, who committed suicide yesterday is succeeded by the notoriously pro-German Foreign Minister, Laszlo Bardossy who retains his foreign affairs portfolio.
Pál left a letter addressed to Admiral Horthy, the regent, "You will understand that I am unable to carry on in the face of the spectre of war."
YUGOSLAVIA: German diplomats leave Belgrade.
EGYPT: After receiving a brisk cable from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, decides to replace Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame, General Officer Commanding Western Desert Force, with Lieutenant General Richard O’Connor.
LIBYA: The British 2nd Armoured Division is authorized to withdraw from Benghazi through El Regima. On learning that the British have evacuated Benghazi, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, commander of the Afrika Korps, orders his troops to advance on to the city during the night.
IRAQ: A coup d'état 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 (now Jordan) 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. 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 (77 kilometres) west of Baghdad. It was from Habbaniya that the British had flown their March 1940 espionage flights over Baku and Batum in the Soviet Union. As a result of the coup, the British send troops from India and the Middle East to ensure access to the vital oil supplies.
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 Swordfish Mk. I aircraft of Nos 813 and 824 Squadrons assigned to the aircraft HMS Eagle but operating from Port Sudan, Sudan, to cover local troop activities. The destroyers Daniel Manin and Nazario Sauro are sunk and the destroyers Pantera, Tigre and Cesare Battisti are scuttled near Massawa.
Only one of the antiquated Italian motor torpedo boats at Massawa, MAS-213, was still seaworthy in April 1941. It sorties against the British fleet offshore and managed to close within 300 yards (274 meters) and put a torpedo into the light cruiser HMS Capetown, which was damaged so badly it had to be towed back to Port Sudan. After the attack MAS-213 is scuttled. (Mike Yaklich and Jack McKillop)
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-boats sink four ships on the 29th meridian, one day before their escort reaches them.
PACIFIC: The USN's heavy cruisers USS Chicago (CA-29) and USS Portland (CA-33) and destroyers USS Clark (DD-361), USS Conyngham (DD-371), USS Reid DD-369), USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Downes (DD-375) depart Suva, Fiji Islands, for Pearl Harbor.