Posts Categorized: Today WWII History

75 Years Ago—Apr. 13, 1941: USSR and Japan sign five-year nonaggression pact.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 12, 1941: Germans take Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Hitler divides Yugoslavia between Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, leaving Croatia as puppet state. Germans take Bardia, Libya.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 11, 1941: First military action by US warship in WWII—destroyer USS Niblack drops depth charges on supposed U-boat (false contact). German forces under Rommel surround Australian forces in Tobruk, Libya—siege will last until November 1941. US forms Office of Price Administration to plan wage & price controls. Movie premiere of Road to… Read more »

75 Years Ago—Apr. 10, 1941: Germans take Zagreb, capital of Croatia, Yugoslavia. Germans establish puppet state in Croatia under Ante Pavelic, whose Ustase government will persecute and massacre Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 9, 1941: Germans take Salonika, Greece. US signs agreement with Danish ambassador making Greenland a US protectorate, allowing US to build facilities. Battleship USS North Carolina commissioned, New York Navy Yard NY, first US battleship since 1923. PGA establishes Golf Hall of Fame.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 8, 1941: British take port of Massawa, Eritrea, securing Eritrea and driving Italians from last of Red Sea ports, opening sea to Allied ships.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 7, 1941: Germans take Derna, Libya, and capture British generals Richard O’Connor and Philip Neame. At Piraeus, Greece British ammunition ship Clan Fraser explodes due to damage from Luftwaffe raid on April 6, sinking 95 other ships and boats.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 6, 1941: Germans invade Yugoslavia and Greece. Luftwaffe bombing destroys Belgrade, Yugoslavia, killing 17,000. British and South African troops take Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 5, 1941: Anti-German Yugoslavian government signs treaty of friendship with USSR. US Army authorizes herringbone twill fatigue uniforms (HBTs). In San Francisco, Castro and Fillmore cable cars are replaced by buses.

75 Years Ago—Apr. 4, 1941: German forces under Gen. Erwin Rommel take Benghazi, Libya. US allows Royal Navy ships to be repaired in US ports.