September 11th, 1941 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: No. 56 Squadron at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, becomes the first RAF squadron to receive the Hawker Typhoon Mk. IA.
Light cruiser HMS Bermuda launched.
FRANCE: Paris: The newspaper La Semaine states "We are not used to such a tempo of events in Paris," the reference is to the return from holidays in Nice of such stars as Maurice Chevalier, Vivienne Romance, Cécile Sorel, Tino Rossi and René Lefèvre.GERMANY:
U-658 launched.
U-587 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: The government warns Bulgaria against allowing its territory to be used as a basis of attack by Germany and Italy.
Soviet Submarine USSR P-1: End service: Sank during transport task on mine fields Uminda or Korbetta. All hands lost (53 men).
JAPAN: A United Press dispatch from Tokyo gives the following information: "Emperor Hirohito today took direct command of Japanese Army Headquarters and moved to assure close Army collaboration with Premier Fumimaro Konoye's Government, which appeared to be trying to keep Japan out of war even if that meant drifting away from her Axis ties."
Emperor Hirohito assumes personal command of the Japanese Army, a move misread by American intelligence analysts as indicating a personal commitment to peace by the Japanese sovereign. (Marc Small)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
George advises
MacArthur ">
MacArthur
that the total end strength of the FEAF ought to be 27 pursuit squadrons,
eighteen light or medium bomber squadrons, and thirty heavy bomber squadrons.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Summerside commissioned.
U.S.A.: In a broadcast to the nation at 9pm tonight, President Roosevelt issues the "Shoot on Sight" order to naval forces in the Atlantic in regard to German U-Boats. This action is partly in response to the Greer "incident" of September 4. It is, in fact, more or less what is going on at the present. He describes the attack last week on the Greer as "piracy, legally and morally." He said that the outposts the USA has established in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland would protect Atlantic shipping of all nations. He stressed that the US Navy only provides "invincible protection" if Britain's Royal Navy survived.
The president emphasized the difficulty of defending ships
from torpedoes fired from submarines; "When you see a rattlesnake poised to
strike, you do wait until he has struck before you crush him, ...., these Nazi
submarines and raiders are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic - they are a menace
to the free pathways of the high seas."
Stark advises Hart that Washington had declined to endorse Allied mobilization
plans proposed by the British for joint operations in the event of war. Hart
ordered to defer plans to move the Asiatic Fleet to Dutch or British ports when
hostilities began. Hart ordered to ensure his fleet operations were
"co-ordinated" with British and Dutch operations.
Washington: Ground breaking ceremonies for the Pentagon building take place.
President Roosevelt submitted report on lend-lease $7,000,000,000 appropriation to Congress.
Des Moines: Famed aviator Lindbergh makes a speech against further US involvement in the war.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German Wolfpack Gruppe Markgraf continues their attacks on Convoy SC-42 (Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, to the U.K.), consisting of 56 merchant ships escorted by a Canadian destroyer and the three. In the last two days, the Germans have sunk seven ships. Escort reinforcements arrive today in the form of five British destroyers, three corvettes and a trawler HMS Buttermere. The U-boats sink another five ships today totaling 18,747 tons between 0045 and 1232 hours GMT. A few hours after attacking convoy SC-42, German submarine U-207 is sunk in the Straits of Denmark southeast of Angmassalik, Greenland, in position 63.59N, 34.48W, by depth charges from the RN destroyers HMS Leamington and HMS Veteran. All 41 hands on the U-boat are lost. This is U-207s first patrol.
USS Twiggs (DD-127) was commissioned as HMS Leamington (G-19) on 23 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)
U-105 sank
SS Montana.
U-202 sank SS Scania in Convoy
SC-42.
U-207 sank SS Berury and SS
Stonepool in Convoy SC-42.
U-432 sank SS Garm in Convoy
SC-42.
U-433 sank SS Bestum in Convoy
SC-42.
U-82 sank SS Bulysses, SS
Empire Crossbill, SS Gypsum Queen and damaged SS Scania in Convoy SC-42.