April 15th, 1941 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Ulster: In Belfast heavy air raid kills 758 people and seriously injures 454. Another 15 people were killed in Londonderry and 5 in Bangor. Among the targets hit were the Harland and Wolff shipyard and York Road railway station. Parachute mines devastated working-class areas of north and west Belfast. The government is being criticised for leaving the city defenceless; there were only 16 heavy anti-aircraft guns in Belfast. The Ulster security minister has called Dublin and requested help. In a violation of neutrality laws, (Irish Prime Minister Eamon) de Valera ordered that all but one of the Dublin fire engines plus fire equipment from Dun Laoghaire, Drogheda and Dundalk be sent to Belfast to fight the fires.RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Low-level intruder strikes are carried out on Borkum by Blenheims of 105 Sqn. During other anti-shipping strikes two vessels are sunk.
London:
The American United Press News Agency reports:
London officials categorically deny the rumours circulating in Berlin that the British are thinking of withdrawing their troops from Greece.
POLAND: A German reconnaissance plane makes an emergency landing at Rovno, in Soviet-held eastern Poland. It was on a mission in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, but the crew are allowed to return to Germany and the plane followed shortly. While waiting to return to Germany the crew are allowed free movement at the Soviet military airfield.
EGYPT: Cairo: de Gaulle presses Wavell to agree to a Free French plan for entering Syria from northern Palestine and asks for British assistance in the form of air cover, tanks and transport. Wavell refuses as he needs all his forces in other theatres. Wavell and other senior British Middle East commanders meet and decide that the evacuation of all forces from the Greek mainland is unavoidable.
Cairo: General Wavell's Headquarters' announced:
The Germans are carrying out an offensive in Cyrenaica using heavy and medium tanks supported by large numbers of mobile motorised batteries. The German troops bypassed Tobruk, and later Sollum, which was attacked from the east.
BULGARIA: Bulgaria severs diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia.
GREECE: The government of Yugoslavia moves
to Athens. They join King Peter.
Blamey is issued with the order to withdraw the ANZAC Corps to the Thermopylae/Corinth
line.
Blamey's orders for the withdrawal provided that the 6th NZ Brigade would occupy
a rearguard position astride the roads near Elasson through which the two
forward New Zealand Brigades would withdraw; the 16th Australian Brigade would
occupy a position west of Larisa through which the 17th Australian Brigade would
withdraw and the 19th Australian Brigade would form a final rearguard at Domokos.
Meanwhile German divisions were rushing south and west over muddy cratered
roads. Blamey ordered Brigadier Allen's 16th Brigade to the Pinios Gorge to halt
the German thrust towards the main road at Larisa, a bottle-neck which was the
only escape road for the Anzac Corps. (Anthony Staunton)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
Brigadier General Edwin “Pa” Watson writes to
MacArthur ">
MacArthur
that Roosevelt wishes him to remain in “a military capacity” in the
Philippines. (Marc Small)
U.S.A.: Harry Hopkins is appointed as President Roosevelt's personal representative over the Lend Lease Program.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order permitting members of the US Army Air Corps, US Marine Corps and US Navy to sign one-year contracts with the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) in China. After the one year term, these personnel will be permitted to rejoin their respective branch of the military without loss of rank. This is the first step in forming the American Volunteer Group (AVG), aka, "The Flying Tigers," in China.
The Truman Committee, of the US Senate, holds their first hearing. Appearances include Henry Stimson and General George Marshall. While discussing the problem of seniority in the Army, Marshall insists on the need for selective promotion. "You give a good leader very little and he will succeed, you give a mediocrity a great deal and he will fail." This marks the beginning of a long relationship between Harry Truman and George Marshall. (From David McCullough -- "Truman")