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Libya, North Africa. At 7.45 AM, Rommel’s 5th Light Division attacks British 2nd Armoured Division at Mersa Brega, closely supported by Luftwaffe dive bombers. They are held by British anti-tank guns throughout the day. At 5.30 PM, German tanks and infantry advance through sand dunes by the seashore and enter Mersa Brega at 7 PM, but British tanks do not counterattack in the fading light. Under orders not to become heavily engaged with German tanks, the British withdraw 30 miles Northeast toward Agedabia overnight. British lose 60 men killed plus 8 armoured carriers and 1 anti-aircraft gun destroyed.
At 7.34 AM 300 miles Southwest of Iceland, U-69 sinks British SS Coultarn (3 killed, 35 crew and 4 gunners picked up by British armed merchant cruiser HMS California).
Battle of Cape Matapan. British destroyers HMS Jervis & Nubian sink wrecked Italian cruiser Pola with torpedoes at 4 AM (after taking off the crew & removing several Breda anti-aircraft machine guns). Fearing Luftwaffe air strikes, Allied ships depart at daybreak after picking up 905 survivors (16 Stukas attack later, unsuccessfully). Royal Navy signals the location of the survivors still in the water allowing Italian hospital ship Gradisca to rescue 160 more.
Battle of Cape Matapan 150 miles West of Crete. At 6.35 AM, Italian Ro43 seaplane spots Allied cruisers HMS Ajax, Gloucester, Orion & HMAS Perth. Italian cruisers Trieste, Trento & Bolzano close in and open fire at 8.12 AM from 22km without success, then battleship Veneto joins in at 10.55 from 23km (shell splinters cause slight damage to all 4 Allied cruisers). Torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable attack Veneto at noon and again at 3.09 PM, hitting a propeller & causing flooding which stops her for 90 minutes (1 Albacore is shot down, all 3 crew killed). Admiral Cunningham immediately orders Mediterranean fleet to close on the damaged Italian battleship. Torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable and from Crete (815 Squadron) attack at 7.36 PM, crippling Italian cruiser Pola. Cruisers Zara and Fiume remain to help Pola while Vittorio Veneto and the other ships run for cover at Taranto. After dark, battleships HMS Barham, Valiant & Warspite close to 3.5km unnoticed by the Italian ships (which have no radar). They open fire at 11.30 PM, sinking 2 Italian cruisers Fiume & Zara and 2 destroyers Alfieri & Carducci while destroyer Oriani escapes with heavy damage (2,303 Italian sailors killed).
Battle of Keren, Eritrea. At 4.30 AM, tanks and infantry push through the Dongolaas Gorge along the newly repaired road and capture the heights beyond, which dominate the Gorge and the town of Keren. 3,000 Italian troops in the hills around the Gorge gradually surrender. Keren is taken without a fight at 10 AM and Italian troops are pursued as they retreat towards the capital Asmara. Allied casualties are 536 killed & 3,229 wounded, while Italy loses 6,500 killed, missing & wounded.
At 4.46 AM, 6 Italian motor assault boats (Motoscafo da Turismo Modificato or MTM) enter Suda Bay, Crete. The pilots line up selected targets and jump off. 2 MTMs hit British cruiser HMS York causing flooding (2 killed) and she is beached to prevent capsizing. Norwegian tanker Pericles is sunk. All 6 MTM pilots survive and are captured.
Battle of Keren, Eritrea. At 3 AM, British and Indian troops advance along the road through the Dongolaas Gorge, under cover of an artillery barrage on Italian positions in the heights above. By 5.30, they capture 2 small hills (the “Railway Bumps”) overlooking the roadblock, taking 500 Italian prisoners. They achieve complete surprise and work starts at 6.30 on clearing the road which is not guarded by the Italians.
The reports of German heavy cruisers in the Atlantic somehow have the appearance of being a false rumour to draw British capital ships away. [1] That might conceivably be a prelude to invasion. Expectation of invasion has much faded away, because it is generally felt that Hitler could not now conquer England with any force he would be able to bring here, unless British sea and air power had been greatly worn down beforehand. I think this is probably so and that Hitler will not attempt invasion until he has had a spectacular success elsewhere, because the invasion itself would appear as a failure and would need something to offset it. But I think that an unsuccessful invasion meaning the loss of, say, 100,000 or even 500,000 men, might well do his job for him, because of the utter paralysis of industry and internal food-supply it might cause. If a few hundred thousand men could be landed and could hold out for even three weeks they would have done more damage than thousands of air-raids could do. But the effects of this would not be apparent immediately, and therefore Hitler is only likely to try it when things are going conspicuously well for him.
Libya, North Africa. At 6 AM, German 5th Light Division attacks Allied position at El Agheila. Immediately, Australian anti-tank gunners destroy a German armoured car but the British armour (Bren gun carriers and captured Italian M13 medium tanks) is no match for the Panzers. Rommel uses dummy tanks mounted on Volkswagen chassis, obscured by dust raised by the Panzers, to deceive the defenders about the size of his force. Under orders to retreat if attacked, 2nd Armoured Division falls back 30 miles to Marsa Brega. Additional German losses are only 2 tanks damaged by mines.
Yesterday attended a more or less compulsory Home Guard church parade, to take part in the national day of prayer. There were also contingents of the A.F.S., Air Force cadets, W.A.A.F’s, etc., etc. Appalled by the jingoism and self-righteousness of the whole thing…. I am not shocked by the Church condoning the war, as many people profess to be – nearly always people who are not religious believers themselves, I notice. If you accept government you accept war, and if you accept war you must in most cases desire one side or the other to win. I can never work up any disgust over bishops blessing the colours of regiments, etc. All that kind of thing is founded on a sentimental idea that fighting is incompatible with loving your enemies. Actually you can only love your enemies if you are willing to kill them in certain circumstances. But what is disgusting about services like these is the absence of any kind of self-criticism. Apparently God is expected to help us on the ground that we are better than the Germans. In the set prayer composed for the occasion God is asked “to turn the hearts of our enemies, and to help us to forgive them; to give them repentance for their misdoings, and a readiness to make amends.” Nothing about our enemies forgiving us. It seems to me that Christian attitude would be that we are no better than our enemies, we are all miserable sinners, but that it so happens that it would be better if our cause prevailed and therefore that it is legitimate to pray for this……. I suppose the idea is that it would be bad for morale to let people realise that the enemy has a case, though even that is a psychological error, in my opinion. But perhaps they aren’t thinking primarily about the effect on the people taking part in the service but are simply looking for direct results from their nation-wide praying campaign, a sort of box barrage fired at the angels.
East Africa. British consolidate their hold on Berbera, Somaliland, landing South African 2nd Division by sea from Mombassa, Kenya. In Ethiopia, Nigerian Brigade of the 11th African Division advances another 36 miles along the road towards the capital Addis Ababa. They are held by Italian prepared defenses at Babile Pass where the road cuts through a steep defile in a line of hills. However, South African troops move through the hills and get behind the Italian positions, forcing a withdrawal.
Post-tweeting 1940
If you want just a little bit more, check out our new Storify piece remixing some key events of May 1940 http://t.co/alkpygoj7 months ago
I'm confident @ukwarcabinet will return. This after all is not even (quite) the end of the beginning. Thanks for reading.7 months ago
I've certainly developed a new appreciation for their work during the war and hopefully you have too.7 months ago
Before I go I'd like to take a second to pay tribute to all the ordinary people doing extraordinary things captured in these records.7 months ago
...and that's it from me. I'm starting a new research role here at the Archives. Wish me luck. It's been a fascinating few years.7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Considerable reinforcements have reached Australian forces in New Guinea. Japanese withdrawn 10 miles http://t.co/sG3eEdGX7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Road blocks "and now rain" holding up UK advance in Madagascar but civilians friendly and co-operating http://t.co/vytOZfVV7 months ago
Chiefs of Staff: Germans well established in Stalingrad city centre and may hold substantial part of southern suburbs http://t.co/ZS0Au7y57 months ago
Bomber Command: Karlsruhe and Bremen attacked with good results. More than half of Dusseldorf "effectively devastated" http://t.co/zpruoCro7 months ago
India Secretary supports dismissal of the Prime Minister of Sind after he publicly criticised "British Imperialism" http://t.co/IEf8sQc37 months ago
UK to admit only Jewish refugee children with parent "already in this country" from Unoccupied France. Over 60s refused http://t.co/ixfrn46O7 months ago
Cabinet approves celebration on 15th November of 2nd anniversary of Defence of Great Britain from "blitz" of 1940-41 http://t.co/ttl1WTW97 months ago
PM: Situation in a fortnight's time will "make it very much easier to reach a decision as to the proper line of action" http://t.co/idWX9al97 months ago
General Wilson asks permission to establish advanced bases in North Persia to meet a possible German advance http://t.co/XVIEkjtZ7 months ago
Cabinet rejects offer from General Chiang Kai-shek that 8,000 Chinese troops could be flown into India http://t.co/6dCHu9tb7 months ago
General Brooke: We have made successful attacks on Benghazi and Tobruk. UK forces have entered Tananarive in Madagascar http://t.co/HX1RfuZq7 months ago
Air Chief: Bad weather has restricted bomber operations but Gestapo HQ at Oslo has been bombed by 4 Mosquitoes http://t.co/6HJ3NpdQ7 months ago
UK continues to plan for evacuation of Soviet fleet from Black Sea. "Not an appropriate moment" to raise this with USSR http://t.co/VWcq0mcS7 months ago
Lord Cherwell: Agent has obtained German army casualty figures: 1m in first 6 months of 1942, 3.5m since start of war http://t.co/DdxuKxrd7 months ago
Eden: German morale "has risen only slightly this summer and remains spiritless" but morale of armed forces "high" http://t.co/FVBgg4Y57 months ago