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Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
May 15 Thursday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-105 sank British ship "Benvenue" 400 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2029 hours; 2 were killed, 55 survived and rescued by British liner "Empire Trader". To the north, 430 miles west of Brest, France, German submarine U-43 sank French sail "Notre Dame du Châtelet"; 28 were killed, 10 survived.
EASTERN EUROPE: In Russia a document from military planners was issued recommending a short strike against any assembling forces threatening Soviet territory.
Stalin informed by Richard Sorge in Tokyo that Hitler will invade the Soviet Union on 21 or 22 June.
GERMANY: Dr. Sigmund Rascher requested Heinrich Himmler via a letter requesting concentration camp prisoners to be placed in his disposal to conduct experiments in decompression chambers which simulated high altitude environments.
RAF aircraft conducted raids on Berlin, Cuxhaven, and Hannover in Germany. RAF Bomber Command sends 101 aircraft to attack Hannover and 14 aircraft to attack Berlin.
The Dame of Sark Sibyl Mary Hathaway was reported to be transferred to a German concentration camp as reprisal for civil disobedience.
Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, Germany. Part of his address states;
MEDITERRANEAN: There were powerful German air attacks on the island of Crete. These are in preparation for the coming landing and designed to subdue the garrison, hopefully to compel the RAF to withdraw its few aircraft from Crete. This will continue until the launch of the Operation. German Luftwaffe aircraft attacked Salamis Navy Yard at Suda Bay, Crete, sinking Greek destroyer "Leon".
At midnight, British cruisers HMS "Gloucester" and HMS "Fiji" completed the transfer of the 2nd Battalion Leicester Regiment from Alexandria, Egypt to Heraklion.
MIDDLE EAST: An Iraqi Bristol Blenheim bombs and strafes Kingcol, British column advancing from Rutbah to Habbaniya (no damage or casualties). British Fairey Swordfish, from aircraft carrier HMS "Hermes" in the Indian Ocean, bomb the Al Qushla (Ottoman Barracks) in the Iraqi city of Samawah. 1 Swordfish is shot down but Lieutenant James Dundas (Fleet Air Arm air-sea rescue) wins the DSC for rescuing the crew. The RAF has bombed Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground at three airfields in Vichy-French Syria: Damascus, Rayak, east of Beirut, and Palmyra. General Dentz, Petain's High Commissioner in Syria, protested last night at the raids, which were a response to German efforts to ship aircraft, tanks, and other arms to Iraq to bolster Rashid Ali, the anti-British politician who seized power in Iraq last month.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Brevity: General Archibald Wavell—the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command—conceived Operation Brevity as a rapid blow in the Sollum area. The key to holding the border between Libya and Egypt is Halfaya Pass, where the coastal road cuts up the steep escarpment onto the desert plateau, which is currently held by Italian and German troops under German Colonel Maximillian von Herff. Operation Brevity would be carried out by the 22nd Guards Brigade and elements of the 7th Armoured Division. Its armoured component consisted of 29 cruiser tanks of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) and 24 infantry tanks of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4RTR). The Royal Air Force (RAF) allocated all available fighters and a small force of bombers to the operation. The main Axis opposition was Kampfgruppe von Herff, positioned on the desert plateau. It included 30–50 tanks of the 2nd Battalion 5.Panzerregiment, an Italian motorized infantry battalion of the Trento Division, and supporting arms. At 0600 hours, the three columns began their advance, supported overhead by a standing patrol of Hawker Hurricane fighters. The British forces advanced and captured Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo before noon, capturing 347 Axis prisoners (mostly Italians). Concealed in hull down positions behind a ridge near the fort were 20–30 German tanks, supported by anti tank guns. These engaged A Squadron, disabling five tanks, but were forced to withdraw as the squadron pressed its attack. In the afternoon, one company of the 2nd Scots Guards probed toward Bardia, the infantry coming under heavy machine gun fire from three positions as they neared Sollum barracks. A group of Universal Carriers—commanded by Sergeant F. Riley—charged the gun positions and quickly neutralized them. On the desert flank, 2RTR advanced with the 7th Armoured Brigade group. Most of the German force had pulled back, but three tanks were located and brought under fire. One Panzer IV was disabled and the other two driven off, for the loss of one British tank. A second force of 15 German tanks was engaged by two tanks of No 2 Troop, destroying a Panzer III and forcing the remainder to withdraw. By midday on 15 May, Axis command was showing signs of confusion. It erroneously believed that the offensive involved more than 100 tanks and repeated requests were made to both the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica for a concerted effort to defeat it. Axis forces around Tobruk were redeployed east of the besieged city, to block any attempt at relief and to prevent the garrison from breaking out to meet the British advance. The Germans concentrated their riposte against the central column. Von Herff—who had been prepared to fall back—instead launched a local counter-attack toward Fort Capuzzo during the afternoon with the 2nd Battalion 5.Panzerregiment. By 1445 hours 5.Panzerregiment was reporting that it had recaptured Capuzzo, inflicting heavy casualties on the British and taking 70 prisoners. Colonel von Herff—believing the British had two divisions operating in the area—had then grown uneasy. He broke contact with the British, expecting to join up with Cramer's 8.Panzerregiment to mount a concentrated counter-attack the following morning. Colonel von Herff later praised the Bersaglieri anti-tank gunners and protecting riflemen, saying they defended Halfaya Pass;
South African and Indian troops linked up at Triangle Hill near Amba Alagi, Abyssinia; they were also joined by Abyssinia guerrilla forces. Meanwhile, Allied shelling of the Italian fortress damaged an oil tank, causing a major oil leak into the garrison's only source of drinking water.
NORTH AMERICA: Roosevelt broadcast criticizes Vichy France for collaborating with Germany as US government seizes eleven French vessels in American ports. Roosevelt tells Vichy France to 'choose between Germany and US'.
At the chemical warfare research facility in Suffield, Alberta, Canada, metallic cadmium mixed with explosive RDX is test-fired in shells. If used against humans they would create harmless-looking smoke which would cause fibrosis of the lungs.
During a parachute training flight in a Douglas R2D-1 over Kearny Mesa in San Diego, California, United States Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Walter S. Osipoff is pulled out of the aircraft by a cargo pack being dropped overboard and is left dangling in the plane's slipstream by a tangle of static lines. Seeing Ossipoff's plight, United States Navy Lieutenant John Lowery and Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate John McCants take off from North Island in a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull and rendezvous with the R2D. McCants grabs Ossipoff at an altitude of 3,000 feet (914 meters), but finds it impossible to untangle him and lower him into the SOC's rear cockpit until the SOC accidentally bucks upward and its propeller saws off a small part of the R2D's tail cone and cuts the static lines. Both planes return safely, and the badly injured Ossipoff eventually fully recovers. Lowery and McCants receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.
USN Patrol Squadron Fifty Two (VP-52) deploys to Naval Air Station (NAS) Argentia, Newfoundland from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island with ten PBY-5A Catalinas. Support is provided by the seaplane tender USS "Albemarle" (AV-5). These aircraft will fly antisubmarine warfare (ASW) patrols over the North Atlantic.
WESTERN FRONT: British losses in France and Norway were publicly announced to be 13,250 killed and 41,000 captured out of 437,000 deployed.
RAF Fighter Command conducted Rhubarb operations. RAF Bomber Command sent 20 aircraft on anti-shipping missions along coast of occupied Europe.
Admiral Darlan returned from meeting with Hitler and Ribbentrop. Vichy-French cabinet approved German concessions as well as French counter-concessions.
Near Saint-Omer on the French channel coast, a Junkers Ju 52 7U+OM was shot down by F/Lt Jerzy Jankiewicz, flying a Supermarine Spitfire II P8130, and Sgt Wacław Giermer, flying a Spitfire II P7786, from the No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. Onboard was Generaloberst Ulrich Grauert who was killed. Generaloberst Grauert was Commander of I. Fliegerkorps and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
UNITED KINGDOM: The British attempted to keep the Nazis guessing as to what Rudolf Hess had told them by having Labour Minister Ernest Bevin say in the government's first official statement on the matter:
Luftwaffe night operations by thirty-nine bombers and fourteen night fighters. They took part in minor scattered attacks which included Newcastle, Scarborough and Middlesbrough's dock installations.
Gloster's E.28/39 prototype jet fighter took its first flight at RAF Cranwell. The test pilot was Lieutenant Gerry Sayer who flew the aircraft for 17 minutes. This was not the first jet-powered aircraft to fly, however; that honor fell to the German-built Heinkel He 178 in August 1939. The Gloster is powered by a single 860-lb thrust Whittle W. 1 turbojet engine. Afterwards Wing-Cdr frank Whittle, Britain's jet engine pioneer, said:
.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-105 sank British ship "Benvenue" 400 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2029 hours; 2 were killed, 55 survived and rescued by British liner "Empire Trader". To the north, 430 miles west of Brest, France, German submarine U-43 sank French sail "Notre Dame du Châtelet"; 28 were killed, 10 survived.
EASTERN EUROPE: In Russia a document from military planners was issued recommending a short strike against any assembling forces threatening Soviet territory.
Stalin informed by Richard Sorge in Tokyo that Hitler will invade the Soviet Union on 21 or 22 June.
GERMANY: Dr. Sigmund Rascher requested Heinrich Himmler via a letter requesting concentration camp prisoners to be placed in his disposal to conduct experiments in decompression chambers which simulated high altitude environments.
RAF aircraft conducted raids on Berlin, Cuxhaven, and Hannover in Germany. RAF Bomber Command sends 101 aircraft to attack Hannover and 14 aircraft to attack Berlin.
The Dame of Sark Sibyl Mary Hathaway was reported to be transferred to a German concentration camp as reprisal for civil disobedience.
Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, Germany. Part of his address states;
MEDITERRANEAN: There were powerful German air attacks on the island of Crete. These are in preparation for the coming landing and designed to subdue the garrison, hopefully to compel the RAF to withdraw its few aircraft from Crete. This will continue until the launch of the Operation. German Luftwaffe aircraft attacked Salamis Navy Yard at Suda Bay, Crete, sinking Greek destroyer "Leon".
At midnight, British cruisers HMS "Gloucester" and HMS "Fiji" completed the transfer of the 2nd Battalion Leicester Regiment from Alexandria, Egypt to Heraklion.
MIDDLE EAST: An Iraqi Bristol Blenheim bombs and strafes Kingcol, British column advancing from Rutbah to Habbaniya (no damage or casualties). British Fairey Swordfish, from aircraft carrier HMS "Hermes" in the Indian Ocean, bomb the Al Qushla (Ottoman Barracks) in the Iraqi city of Samawah. 1 Swordfish is shot down but Lieutenant James Dundas (Fleet Air Arm air-sea rescue) wins the DSC for rescuing the crew. The RAF has bombed Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground at three airfields in Vichy-French Syria: Damascus, Rayak, east of Beirut, and Palmyra. General Dentz, Petain's High Commissioner in Syria, protested last night at the raids, which were a response to German efforts to ship aircraft, tanks, and other arms to Iraq to bolster Rashid Ali, the anti-British politician who seized power in Iraq last month.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Brevity: General Archibald Wavell—the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command—conceived Operation Brevity as a rapid blow in the Sollum area. The key to holding the border between Libya and Egypt is Halfaya Pass, where the coastal road cuts up the steep escarpment onto the desert plateau, which is currently held by Italian and German troops under German Colonel Maximillian von Herff. Operation Brevity would be carried out by the 22nd Guards Brigade and elements of the 7th Armoured Division. Its armoured component consisted of 29 cruiser tanks of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) and 24 infantry tanks of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4RTR). The Royal Air Force (RAF) allocated all available fighters and a small force of bombers to the operation. The main Axis opposition was Kampfgruppe von Herff, positioned on the desert plateau. It included 30–50 tanks of the 2nd Battalion 5.Panzerregiment, an Italian motorized infantry battalion of the Trento Division, and supporting arms. At 0600 hours, the three columns began their advance, supported overhead by a standing patrol of Hawker Hurricane fighters. The British forces advanced and captured Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo before noon, capturing 347 Axis prisoners (mostly Italians). Concealed in hull down positions behind a ridge near the fort were 20–30 German tanks, supported by anti tank guns. These engaged A Squadron, disabling five tanks, but were forced to withdraw as the squadron pressed its attack. In the afternoon, one company of the 2nd Scots Guards probed toward Bardia, the infantry coming under heavy machine gun fire from three positions as they neared Sollum barracks. A group of Universal Carriers—commanded by Sergeant F. Riley—charged the gun positions and quickly neutralized them. On the desert flank, 2RTR advanced with the 7th Armoured Brigade group. Most of the German force had pulled back, but three tanks were located and brought under fire. One Panzer IV was disabled and the other two driven off, for the loss of one British tank. A second force of 15 German tanks was engaged by two tanks of No 2 Troop, destroying a Panzer III and forcing the remainder to withdraw. By midday on 15 May, Axis command was showing signs of confusion. It erroneously believed that the offensive involved more than 100 tanks and repeated requests were made to both the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica for a concerted effort to defeat it. Axis forces around Tobruk were redeployed east of the besieged city, to block any attempt at relief and to prevent the garrison from breaking out to meet the British advance. The Germans concentrated their riposte against the central column. Von Herff—who had been prepared to fall back—instead launched a local counter-attack toward Fort Capuzzo during the afternoon with the 2nd Battalion 5.Panzerregiment. By 1445 hours 5.Panzerregiment was reporting that it had recaptured Capuzzo, inflicting heavy casualties on the British and taking 70 prisoners. Colonel von Herff—believing the British had two divisions operating in the area—had then grown uneasy. He broke contact with the British, expecting to join up with Cramer's 8.Panzerregiment to mount a concentrated counter-attack the following morning. Colonel von Herff later praised the Bersaglieri anti-tank gunners and protecting riflemen, saying they defended Halfaya Pass;
South African and Indian troops linked up at Triangle Hill near Amba Alagi, Abyssinia; they were also joined by Abyssinia guerrilla forces. Meanwhile, Allied shelling of the Italian fortress damaged an oil tank, causing a major oil leak into the garrison's only source of drinking water.
NORTH AMERICA: Roosevelt broadcast criticizes Vichy France for collaborating with Germany as US government seizes eleven French vessels in American ports. Roosevelt tells Vichy France to 'choose between Germany and US'.
At the chemical warfare research facility in Suffield, Alberta, Canada, metallic cadmium mixed with explosive RDX is test-fired in shells. If used against humans they would create harmless-looking smoke which would cause fibrosis of the lungs.
During a parachute training flight in a Douglas R2D-1 over Kearny Mesa in San Diego, California, United States Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Walter S. Osipoff is pulled out of the aircraft by a cargo pack being dropped overboard and is left dangling in the plane's slipstream by a tangle of static lines. Seeing Ossipoff's plight, United States Navy Lieutenant John Lowery and Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate John McCants take off from North Island in a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull and rendezvous with the R2D. McCants grabs Ossipoff at an altitude of 3,000 feet (914 meters), but finds it impossible to untangle him and lower him into the SOC's rear cockpit until the SOC accidentally bucks upward and its propeller saws off a small part of the R2D's tail cone and cuts the static lines. Both planes return safely, and the badly injured Ossipoff eventually fully recovers. Lowery and McCants receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.
USN Patrol Squadron Fifty Two (VP-52) deploys to Naval Air Station (NAS) Argentia, Newfoundland from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island with ten PBY-5A Catalinas. Support is provided by the seaplane tender USS "Albemarle" (AV-5). These aircraft will fly antisubmarine warfare (ASW) patrols over the North Atlantic.
WESTERN FRONT: British losses in France and Norway were publicly announced to be 13,250 killed and 41,000 captured out of 437,000 deployed.
RAF Fighter Command conducted Rhubarb operations. RAF Bomber Command sent 20 aircraft on anti-shipping missions along coast of occupied Europe.
Admiral Darlan returned from meeting with Hitler and Ribbentrop. Vichy-French cabinet approved German concessions as well as French counter-concessions.
Near Saint-Omer on the French channel coast, a Junkers Ju 52 7U+OM was shot down by F/Lt Jerzy Jankiewicz, flying a Supermarine Spitfire II P8130, and Sgt Wacław Giermer, flying a Spitfire II P7786, from the No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. Onboard was Generaloberst Ulrich Grauert who was killed. Generaloberst Grauert was Commander of I. Fliegerkorps and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
UNITED KINGDOM: The British attempted to keep the Nazis guessing as to what Rudolf Hess had told them by having Labour Minister Ernest Bevin say in the government's first official statement on the matter:
Luftwaffe night operations by thirty-nine bombers and fourteen night fighters. They took part in minor scattered attacks which included Newcastle, Scarborough and Middlesbrough's dock installations.
Gloster's E.28/39 prototype jet fighter took its first flight at RAF Cranwell. The test pilot was Lieutenant Gerry Sayer who flew the aircraft for 17 minutes. This was not the first jet-powered aircraft to fly, however; that honor fell to the German-built Heinkel He 178 in August 1939. The Gloster is powered by a single 860-lb thrust Whittle W. 1 turbojet engine. Afterwards Wing-Cdr frank Whittle, Britain's jet engine pioneer, said:
Afterwards there was an impromptu celebration in the officers' mess. Further test flights will now be made.
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