April 16th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: 685 aircraft raid London in the biggest raid yet.London: The last remaining tower of the Crystal Palace is demolished because it makes too clear a landmark.
London, Jermyn Street: Al Bowlly, a top dance-band singer, is killed in an air-raid.
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 107 Sqn straddle a submarine with bombs off Prestkjac in Norway.
110 Sqn bomb Heligoland, but lose one aircraft on take-off.
105 Sqn, attacked and hit a 5,000-ton vessel, but lost one aircraft to fighters.
All these crews are flying Bristol Blenheim Mk IVs.
YUGOSLAVIA: German forces enter Sarajevo and demolish the main synagogue.
The Wehrmacht High Command reports:
The remains of the Serbian army are disintegrating. German motorised troops have advanced to Sarajevo and occupied the city. Thousands of Serbians have laid down their arms. The toll of prisoners and captured material is growing by the hour.
ITALY: Rome: The Italian High Command reports:
In Yugoslavia, motorised columns of the Italian 2nd Army, after overcoming enemy resistance, have occupied Split 240 miles from their original positions.
On the Greek front our troops have advanced from the lake district to Vijosa. After violent fighting we occupied and overran Erseka (Albania).
In North Africa we are continuing operations at Sollum and the encirclement of the fortress of Tobruk, where the enemy, supported by naval forces, is resisting tenaciously.
GREECE: The New Zealand Anzacs battle the German 5th Panzer Division in a stopping action at the Platamon Ridge in Greece. The Germans have problems getting the panzers over the ridge. The cliffs jut out past the beach so that cliffs drop straight into the sea. The railway tunnel running through at the base of the cliffs in this area was sabotaged by the British but the explosion did not close the tunnel. The Germans sent a Panzer through the tunnel where on the other end it met the Anzacs who promptly disabled it at the tunnel exit They were forced to fight for the narrow elevated pass which at that time was the only way past this area. (Steve Stathros)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Action off Sfax, TUNISIA: Captain P. J. Mack with destroyers HMS Janus, HMS Jervis, HMS Mohawk and HMS Nubian from Malta intercept a German Afrika Korps convoy of five transports escorted by three Italian destroyers off Kerkenneh Islands, east of Tunisia. All Axis ships are sunk including the destroyers Baleno (foundered next day), Lampo (later salvaged) and Tarigo. In the fighting HMS Mohawk is torpedoed twice by Tarigo and capsizes. She is eventually sunk by gunfire from HMS Janus off Kerkenah Bank. There are 168 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)
EGYPT: Wavell stops the Polish Brigade and 7th Australian Division sailing for Greece.
He also orders those ships on the way to Greece to turn back, those in Greek ports not yet unloaded should return with their cargoes and those still loading to stop and unload.
JAPAN: Tokyo: An Associated Press dispatch quotes Ko Ishii (the spokesman for the cabinet board of information) as denying absolutely and flatly that "Japan intended to send an army or navy force against Singapore." Ishii added:
Premier Prince Konoye already stated that Japan's southward intentions are clearly and entirely peaceful and economic. This report (about Singapore) is entirely groundless and the propaganda of war mongers.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Elizalde writes MacArthur "> MacArthur that war is “60 to 90 days away”. (Marc Small)
U.S.A.: The heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) arrives in New York from Simonstown, South Africa. The ship had taken on a large shipment of gold bullion in South Africa to pay for arms purchased in the U.S. by the U.K.