April 23rd, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Churchill to the Secretary of State for War:All the lessons of this war emphasise the necessity of good anti-tank weapons and plenty of them. The number of anti-tank guns that can be produced is necessarily limited; all the more need therefore to press forward with whatever substitutes can do the trick.
There are persistent rumours that the Germans are constructing tanks with very thick armour - figures of four to six inches are mentioned. Such armour would be impervious to any existing anti-tank gun, or indeed and mobile gun; the tracks and other vulnerable parts are very small targets.
Tests have shown that plastic explosive applied to armour plate, as, for instance, in the bombard developed by Colonel Blacker and Colonel Jefferies, has very great cutting power, and this may be a solution to the problem. In any event, we must not be caught napping.
YUGOSLAVIA: The Italians occupy the island of Vis. (Perry Stewart)
GREECE: Greece severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
King George and his government flees to Crete.
The northern Greek army surrenders to the Germans and Italians at Epirus and Macedonia.
The Wehrmacht High Command announced:
The movements of the German army in Greece are unfolding as scheduled. German forces have advanced through Lamia toward the south and have joined battle with British rearguard forces in the historic pass of Thermopylae.
CANADA:
MV Kipawo departed Sydney , Nova Scotia. for refit Montreal to become HMCS Kipawa.
U.S.A.: Charles Lindbergh addresses 30,000 people at the first mass meeting of the America First Committee in New York City. 'The British government,' he said, 'has one desperate plan: ... to persuade us to send another American Expeditionary Force to Europe and to share with England militarily, as well as financially, the fiasco of this war.' He condemned England for having 'encouraged the smaller nations of Europe to fight against hopeless odds.'
The Truman Committee, of the US Senate, holds a hearing at Camp Meade in Maryland. They are investigating waste and fraud in the military build-up of the US Armed Forces. This is the first of 9 camps that will be visited by the committee in the coming weeks. "Cost Plus" contracts, "fantastically poor judgment" by the Army in selecting camp sites (Camp Meade is a primary example) and the rental of equipment instead of outright purchase are cited as wasteful.
Senator Truman's intent is to find the waste before it can continue, rather than to investigate and make headlines "after the fact". (David McCullough -- "Truman")
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-101 encountered a British submarine in the North Atlantic, which fired two torpedoes, but both missed.