Panzers Enter Belgrade; Rommel Reaches Egypt

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Globalization41
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Panzers Enter Belgrade; Rommel Reaches Egypt

#1

Post by Globalization41 » 03 Nov 2004, 22:50

Berlin, Associated Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The German
High Command issued this communique today:
In Yugoslavia the mass of enemy forces that
oppose German troops is destroyed. Remnants
of the Serbian Army are retreating in the face
of German and Italian troops into the mountain
country along the Adriatic. There is
resistance only at scattered spots. The Sava
[River] was crossed in pursuit of the defeated
enemy. ... Regarding the capture of Belgrade,
it is supplementally reported that units of a
Panzer division as early as the night of April 13
already had reached the center of the city
from the west. ... Operations in Northern
Greece are developing according to plan. The
Air Force on April 13 supported the army's
operations in the southeastern region by
destructive attacks of pursuit, bomber, and
Stuka units on enemy columns in the region
around Belgrade as well as troop
concentrations near Banjaluka. ... Further
successful raids were directed against airports
in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. ... Attacks
on military objectives caused heavy
destruction and extensive fires in a large troop
camp and on rail facilities. ... In a further
advance in North Africa, the fortress of
Capuzzo was taken after a fight and Solum,
which is situated on Egyptian soil, also was
taken. ... German Stuka planes, in an attack
on airports of Malta the night of April 12,
destroyed two enemy pursuiters of the
Hurricane type on the ground and scored a
direct hit on the stern of a British destroyer.
... Yesterday the airport at Luca and the port
of Valletta on Malta were again bombed.
German pursuiters downed a British Hurricane
chaser in an air fight over Malta. ... In the
region around England the Air Force sank three
ships totaling 28,000 tons from armed convoys
in St. George's Channel and heavily damaged
two more large merchantmen. Combat planes
last night sank a 5,000-ton merchantman and
bombed port facilities on the British southeast
coast. ... A submarine sent to the bottom a
British auxiliary cruiser of approximately 10,000
tons near Iceland. ... Two patrol boats
downed two of six attacking British planes on
the North Sea Coast and badly damaged
another. Pursuiters shot four barrage balloons
near Dover. ... The enemy did not enter the
Reich's territory by day or night. ... In fights
in southern Serbia, Major Stiefvater,
commander of armored units, especially
distinguished himself as the leader of a
vanguard detachment.

Berlin, By Telephone to The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The combined
German-Italian advance under Lieut. Gen.
Erwin Rommel in North Africa has crossed the
Egyptian border, it was announced here today.
After the capture of Fort Capuzzo, the
communique declares, the Axis forces fought
their way forward and took Solum in Egypt. ...
Yesterday, German and Italian dive-bombers,
protected by Italian pursuit planes are
reported by the official news agency to have
attacked beleaguered Tobruk with success.
The British, the D.N.B. report continues, are
trying to evacuate the remnants of their
defeated Libyan army from that port.

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... Globalization41.]

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British Freighter Ena de Larrinaga Torpedoed near Brazil

#2

Post by Globalization41 » 04 Nov 2004, 22:06

Pernambuco, Brazil, United Press, The New
York Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: A
German submarine torpedoed and sank the
British freighter Ena de Larrinaga about 325
miles off the Brazilian coast, northeast of
Natal, on April 10, survivors reported today.
The Brazilian freighter Almirante Alexandinro
picked up 19 members of the crew of the
sunken ship near Fernando Noronha, northeast
of Natal, last night. They were in a lifeboat
and said their ship had been attacked near the
reefs of St. Peter and St. Paul. (St. Paul's
rocks are 325 miles off Brazil, on the shortest
line between Africa and South America.) ...
The Almirante Alexandinro returned to search
for 19 other members of the crew.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]


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Encircled British Defenders at Tobruk Turn Back Axis Assault

#3

Post by Globalization41 » 07 Nov 2004, 19:54

Cairo, Egypt, United Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: Encircled
British defenders of the Libyan port of Tobruk,
80 miles behind the spearhead of an Axis
desert offensive that has swept into Egyptian
territory, today beat off a heavy German tank
assault and inflicted "severe losses" on the
Nazis, it was said officially. ... A fierce tank
battle appeared to have been fought before
the outer defenses of Tobruk, the Germans
first succeeding in driving 20 tanks through a
breach in the British lines at one point and
then being driven off in a counter-charge of
British tanks, all smaller and less powerful. ...
"The situation has been completely restored"
at Tobruk after the shattering of the German
tank attack, a communique said. ... In an
effort to halt the push of the German and
Italian forces into Egypt, British bombers are
furiously bombing Axis columns moving across
the desert toward Solum. ... Making no
attempt to minimize the seriousness of the
situation, British quarters estimated that
100,000 to 120,000 armored German and
Italian troops were engaged in the attack.
There were said to be two to four crack
German Panzer divisions numbering 40,000 to
50,000 men and about four Italian divisions,
including some mechanized units and totaling
about 80,000 men. ... The Germans, it was
said, were using huge tanks, far larger and
more powerful than anything the British Army
of the Nile possesses. ... Aiding the British
land forces, British planes were said officially
to have pounded the Italian harbor of Tripoli
[Libya] Sunday, setting a large cargo ship afire
in the chief port of reinforcement for both
German and Italian mechanized armies. ... In
Libya the R.A.F. used bombers and fighters to
disperse enemy concentrations "at various
points," it was said, and successful bombing
and machine-gunning attacks on convoys
along the road westward to Solum were
described. In the attack on Tripoli, bombs
"straddled the customs house, a power
station, and shipping," the R.A.F. reported.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]

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Yugoslavia Switches War Capital to Sarajevo

#4

Post by Globalization41 » 12 Nov 2004, 23:00

Vichy, France, United Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: An official
manifesto from the Yugoslavia Government's
new war capital at Sarajevo asserted today
that the bulk of Yugoslav Army had fought its
way out of a German steel ring of entrapment
and "once again astonish the world as it did in
1914 and 1918." ... The manifesto released by
the Yugoslav legation in Vichy, revealed that
Yugoslavia was invaded by the German war
machine because "we would not be
accomplices to a German attack through
Hungary against Greek Salonika, which was
promised us as the price of our complicity in a
war of imperialistic rapine [plunder]." ...
Germany also was said to have secretly
promised the former pro-Axis Yugoslav
Government that, if Yugoslavia would become
the Reich's military ally, she would receive not
only Salonika but "the whole of Bulgaria for
eventual treason against the independence of
the Balkans States. ... The manifesto said
that the new capital had been set up in
heavily bombed Sarajevo, "birthplace" of the
World War, because of the impossibility of
defending the flat lands of Northern Yugoslavia
and Belgrade itself. ... The German radio
reported today that Sarajevo was "in flames"
after merciless aerial bombardment because it
is a military objective. ... The Sarajevo
manifesto, as announced here, said that the
Yugoslav armed forces numbered only 32
divisions, or perhaps 475,000 to 500,000
troops against "the entire German army, to
which must be added the Italian and Hungarian
Armies and the collaboration of Bulgaria." ...
"Despite the quick attack by Germany," it was
stated, "which permitted the concentration of
troops at pre-selected strategic points, the
bulk of the Yugoslav Army has not been
seriously dented and has succeded in escaping
the steel trap that Germany vainly attempted
to throw around it." ... "With no armored
divisions and a small air force, the Yugoslav
Army is stubbornly defending the nation's soil
and Premier General [Dusan] Simovich's
National Union Government assures the the
maintenance of political and moral unity of the
nation, which the insidious efforts of Yugoslav
'Quislings' [British propaganda term for those
willing to subvert the strategic interest of their
own country due to ideological duel loyalties]

never will weaken." ... "Yugoslavia, fighting for
her honor and independence against unjustified
aggression, will by her heroic resistance once
again astonish the world as it did in 1914 and
1918." ... Asserting that Germany started the
war on Yugoslavia because the latter refused
to join in an attack on Greece, the manifesto
continued: "In accordance with the sacred
tradition of our ancestors [Hitler was not a big
fan of Serb nationalism],
we prefered to
expose ourselves in attack rather than
collaborate in the burial of Balkan
independence." [Although the military defeat
of Yugoslavia turned out to be a mere training
excercise for the German Army, tuning up for
the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Serbs
later put up such an effective guerrllia
insurgency against the occupying Germans
that even Stalin, one of the most efficient
dictators at liquidating nationalism, backed off
subjegating the Serbs after Hitler's defeat,
despite the fact that Yugoslavia fell within
the U.S.S.R.'s geographical sphere of
influence/interest.]
... "The Bulgarians, on the
other hand, prefered to become Germany's
vassals and to lend their territory to the
armies of the foreign invader. The majority of
the Bulgarian people disapprove most certaintly
of this betrayal." It is therefore a war of
defense and honor that Yugoslavia is obliged
to wage at present as the standardbearer of
the independence of all Balkans peoples." ...
"Our government did not want this war.
Nobody in Yugoslavia had any illusions as to
the result of the eventual war with Germany.
With a 3,000 kilometer [1,860-mile] frontier
line and with the whole northern part of our
country open in the region of the immense
plains, Yugoslavia, despite her heroism, did not
for a moment imagine that she would be able
to hold out for a long time with her 32 divisions
against the entire German Army, to which must
be added the Italian and Hungarian Armies and
the colaboration of Bulgaria." ... "All that
Yugoslavia wants at this moment is to offer
honorable resistance and mark before history
her position of honor and independence and to
lighten by her resistance the position of her
Greek and British allies in Greece who find
themselves in a more faverable position. In
Albania they have only an 80-mile front to
defend and on the Macedonian front about 60
kilometer [27 miles]." ... The Yugoslav
statement said that "the precious British aid to
the Greeks" in men, material, and planes was
entirely lacking in so far as Yugoslavia's Army
is concerned" because the Yugoslavs are cut
off from Salonika and must face the Axis
forces alone. ... The statement explained
that the Yugoslav Government and General
Staff had not entered into conseltations with
the British and Greek General Staffs on
cooridnated planes of defense against the Axis
because of its "desire for peace and neutrality"
and also because of the surprise swiftness of
the Blitzkrieg attack.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]
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Globalization41
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Who's Next on Hitler's Blitz List, Turkey or Russia?

#5

Post by Globalization41 » 22 Nov 2004, 08:38

Vichy, France, United Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The Turkish
radio predicted today that the most likely
route for a German march to the Suez Canal
would be through Russian territory. ...
Speculating as to whether Turkey or Russia
would suit Reichsfuehrer Hitler better as a
corridor, the commentator pointed out that
the German High Command needs an Eastern
Mediterranean base for an attack on Palestine
and Suez in conjunction with the present Axis
drive into Egypt from Libya. He recalled that
German agents recently had been active in
Iraq and Syria. ... "As Hitler needs Ukrainian
wheat and Caucasian oil and as he would
want to avoid fighting a powerful Turkish
Army, he will choose to follow the route
through Russia with his base of departure in
Rumania," the commentator said.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]
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German Forces Advancing Across Yugoslav Frontier into Greece

#6

Post by Globalization41 » 24 Nov 2004, 08:37

Athens, United Press, The New York Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: British reinforcements
streamed into Greece's "solid-wall" defense
line tonight while the Germans, under a hail of
Royal Air Force and Greek bombs, sought to
concentrate an attacking army in the Bitolj
[Monastir] gap sector. ... The contact of the
armies was still in the stage of surprise
skirmishes and tentative brushes. Informed
sources believed the "Battle of Greece" might
be several days away. ... Allied authorities
said the German forces lining up for the
assault on the Greek line still were inferior to
those of Britain and Greece. They expected
some time to elapse before the Germans felt
strong enough to undertake the big drive,
which the Allies awaited with increasing
confidence. ... Royal Air Force and Greek
bombers were said to be hovering constantly
over the Bitolj gap region, where the Germans
were advancing across the Yugoslav frontier
to strengthen their attacking force. ... Athens
had a brief air-raid alarm this morning.
Arrangements were being made for the
evacuation of foreign women and children. ...
A Briton living in Greece said after his arrival
from the Bitolj region that "nothing could break
through the defense lines behind Florina." ...
Wounded Greek soldiers from the short-lived
front north of Salonika said the legend of
"German invincibility" had been shattered.
"We thought the Germans were supermen," one
said. "Now we know that is untrue. I fought
the Italians in Pindus Mountains. The Germans
act the same way [the Italians] did after a
bayonet thrust." ... The Ministry of Public
Security said tonight that German planes had
bombed the Piraeus region with "slight success"
during the day. There were no casualties, but
some houses were damaged. ... Other German
raiders were said to have machine-gunned
workers in the fields and several villages. One
German plane was reported shot down. Nazi
bombers also made an unsuccessful attack on
Yanine, the communique said. Magnetic mines
were dropped by German planes during the
night, but were removed quickly, it added.

Budapest, Hungary, By Telephone to The
New York Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941:
The Zagreb radio has notified the Yugoslav
Government that any reprisals taken against
Croat nationals or property by the Serbs will
be avenged. It further called on that
government to release all Croats at present
held and allow them to return to their home.

Zurich, Switzerland, United Press, The New
York Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The
Sofia radio said today that Arab students in
Damascus, Syria, had demonstrated in favor of
King Feisal and the new Iraqi Premier [Rashid
Ali Beg Gailani],
"who is considered one of the
leaders of the Arabian movement." The pro-
British Government of Iraq was overthrown
recently by a faction understood to be pro-
Axis in its leanings.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]

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Pravda Defends Neutrality Pact with Japan

#7

Post by Globalization41 » 02 Dec 2004, 22:23

Moscow, Associated Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The neutrality
pact by which Soviet Russia and Japan
recognized each other's frontiers in Northeast
Asia is to be followed by a general settlement
of outstanding economic and political issues in
the interests of peace, the Soviet press
indicated today. ... The pact, signed
yesterday in the Kremlin by Premier and
Foreign Commissar Vyacheslaff M. Molotoff
and Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke
Matsuoka was hailed by Pravda, the
Communist party organ, as a far-reaching step
to make good neighbors out of the two
traditional rivals. ... The new pledges "are
going to be filled of course," said Pravda.
The paper added that the two countries were
going to "get rid of everything that aroused
hatred between them." ... Pravda said the
accord cleared the way "for regulation of other
unsolved questions between the U.S.S.R. and
Japan" and would help found an era of political
and economic cooperation between the two
powers. ... Such outstanding questions were
listed as follows: 1. A trade agreement which
has been in negotiation for months, but
without concrete results as yet. ... 2. A
permanent fisheries agreement respecting the
rights Japan is to receive in waters adjoining
the Siberian coasts, one of the most
troublesome questions in Soviet-Japanese
relations. This too has been the subject of
long negotiation. ... 3. Demarcation of the
frontiers of Japan's puppet State of
Manchukuo and Russia's protege, the Outer
Mongolian People's Republic. A joint
commission has been at this task, too, for
many months. ... The dispute over where
frontiers lie has been a cloud on Far Eastern
peace ever since Japan occupied Manchukuo
in 1933, and broke into undeclared warfare at
least twice, in 1938 and 1939. By Sunday's
pact, however, each country agreed to
respect the frontiers of these territories. ...
"All those unsolved questions," said Pravda,
"despite their importance, have been delayed
frequently because there was no political
agreement which appears as the necessary
basis of a solution of economic questions
between the U.S.S.R. and Japan. Now this
basis has been established." ... The paper
said some Japanese statesmen in the past had
made the mistake of thinking they could
infringe upon the Soviet Union. Reviewing
relations with Japan since the Russo-Japanese
war in 1905 the paper declared, "The U.S.S.R.
never allowed and never will allow anybody to
dictate to it a policy against its interests." ...
In general, the agreement was said by the
organ to correspond "entirely to the policy of
peaceful relations with neighbors [a hint to
Hitler]
and other countries carried on by the
Soviet Union." ... The importance was all the
greater since it was signed at a time when
"the second imperialistic war" was spreading
and involving ever more countries, Pravda
said.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]
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U.S. Protests Oil Seizure by Japanese

#8

Post by Globalization41 » 22 Dec 2004, 01:12

Shanghai, Associated Press, The New York
Times,
Monday, April 14, 1941: The United
States Consulate General made
representations today to Japanese authorities
over the seizure by Japanese river police of
5,000 drums of American-owned gasoline from
the British freighter Shanghai. ... The gasoline
was loaded by the Texas Company for
shipment to Rangoon, Burma, but was
unloaded by the Japanese under the recent
"embargo order" issued by Japanese-sponsored
Nanking regime. ... The order prohibits
shipment of 23 important commodities, mostly
American products, to South China, Hong
Kong, Macao, Burma, or French Indo-China.
... The consulate was understood to have
notified the Japanese that the United States
did not recognize the Nanking regime's right to
issue such an order or the Japanese right to
enforce it.

Griffith Stadium, Washington, Special to
The New York Times
, By John Drebinger,
Monday, April 14, 1941: Midsummer weather
prevailed, a capacity crowd of 33.000 packed
Griffith Stadium, President Roosevelt, in
excellent health and humor, celebrated his
ninth straight season "in the majors" by making
an elegant toss to inaugurate the 1941
championship baseball season, but Clark
Griffith, 71-year old impresario of this annual
diamond display on the Potomac, was a sad
old gentleman tonight. ... The Yankees from
New York and not his own Senators won the
American League's inaugural game this
afternoon by a score of 3-0. ... A brilliant
three-hit mound performance by Marius Russo,
southpaw wizard of Ozone Park, enabled the
Yanks to beat their old foeman, Emil (Dutch)
Leonard, and thus take the first stride in their
determined march to a new string of American
League pennants. ... A three-base smash by
Jolting Joe DiMaggio blasted home the first
Yankee run. Russo propelled the second
across with a double, while a fly by Charlie
Keller drove the third across after DiMaggio's
second hit of the day, a single, had set this
up. The three tallies, coming in separate
rounds, proved more than enough for Russo,
as well as most every one else. ... Events
leading to the inaugural ceremonies began
shortly before 2:30 when, by way of letting
the sweltering crowd know something was
about to happen, a huge floral horseshoe was
wheeled out to the center of the diamond. It
was a gift to Gerald Priddy and Phil Rizzuto,
the Yanks' newly welded secondbase
combination, from the fans of Norfolk, Va.,
where this pair of youngsters performed in
1938. ... The matter properly attended to
amid considerable cheering, sharp military
notes began to crackle through the
midsummer-like air as the United States Army
Band paraded briskly into the arena and
squared itself off in the infield. With this the
fans, who already packed the park to
capacity, began to take real notice. It was
the signal for only one thing. The time was
drawing near for the nation's No. 1 fan to
arrive. ... To Washingtonians the Presidential
entry at the opening of a baseball season is
more or less a familiar sight, but somehow the
spectacle never seems to lose its flavor or
color. In addition to the band, the players
also draped themselves on the field, the
Senators lining the firstbase stripe and the
Yankees the thirdbase foul line. ... Presently
all eyes were focused on the runway down the
right wing of the grandstand, along which
came scurrying the advance guard. In its
wake, amid hustle and bustle, popped a
slender figure, a pearl-gray hat covering his
white hair. It was Griffith, veteran owner of
the Senators, who had inaugurated this
Presidential sideshow to a baseball opening
back in the days of William Howard Taft in
1912 and who now meant to make certain
nothing would mar a spotless record at this
late date in his career. ... Soon came a final
group of special police and secret service men
and then, in full view, rolled the big, open
touring car, from the rear of which beamed the
famous Rooseveltian smile, while the most
famous fedora in the nation waved gaily to the
cheering crowd. ... As the President entered
his box alongside the Senator dugout the band
struck up the "The Star-Spangled Banner,"
more cheers followed, and the remainder of
the program moved with amazing swiftness.
... Headed by Vice President Wallace and
Griffith and with Managers Joe McCarthy and
Bucky Harris following, the band paraded to
the centerfield flagpole, where Mr. Wallace
presided over the flag raising ceremonies. ...
Back to home plate marched this band, while
the players, who either by accident or design
had never moved off their respective foul lines,
broke ranks and grouped in front of the
Presidential box for the time-honored first pitch
of the season. ... After an undeterminable
number of faints for the benefit of news
photographers Mr. Roosevelt finally sent the
ball flying into the scrambling mass of ball
players. This contest, at least, went to the
Senators. Out of the melee, Arnold Anderson,
rookie pitcher, bobbed up as proud possessor
of the ball that officially launched the 1941
campaign. [Prior to 1961, the American and
National League schedules called for a
154-game playoff with each ballclub meeting
the other seven teams in its league 22 times,
11 home and 11 away. The winners in each
league at the end of September then
advanced to the World Series, requiring four
wins for the championship. ... The other 14
teams were scheduled to open Tuesday.]
...
Once all this had been swept away, a
handsome dark-haired athlete of 23 took full
charge of the show, and Griffith, who had
beamed so happily on all the previous acts,
began to lose his smile. ... It soon became
evident the Senators were not going to make
much headway, if any, against Russo's
southpaw slants. In addition to the three hits,
all singles, Russo yielded three passes, but
only once did Washington advance a man as
far as third. That was in the 7th, when Red
Rolfe let a sharp grounder go through him for
an error [the only Yankee miscue], after two
had been retired, and Buddy Myer followed
with a single to left. But George Archie, rookie
first-sacker, grounded out to end the inning
and the Senators threatened no more. [Buddy
Lewis and Dutch Leonard contributed the
other two Washington safeties.]
... Behind
Russo, a seemingly revitalized team of Yanks,
even with an infield that at the last moment
had to be slightly changed, moved with a
smoothness and sureness that contrasted
sharply with the faltering start made by the
Bronx Bombers a year ago. With Priddy still
nursing a lame ankle, Joe Gordon [two fielding
assists]
was back at secondbase instead of at
first, while Johnny Sturm held down the latter
post. But Rolfe was on third and the
diminutive Rizzuto [four assists, one putout]
was making his major league debut at short,
and the combination clicked for three snappy
doubleplays that made the going for Russo
easier. [Rolfe, with three assists and one
putout, did not figure in the twin killings which
went 1-6-3, 1-4-3, and 6-4-3. ... Russo
turned five of the Yankee 14 total fielding
assists. ... Yankee outfielders hauled in six
flyballs, four by DiMaggio in center and one
each by Henrich in right and Keller in left.]
...
Leonard [eight innings, six hits, no walks],
famed knuckleballer, went down for a run in
the opening round when, after Rizzuto had
been snuffed out on an infield grounder, Rolfe
lined a single to right. Luck rode with the
Yanks when Tommy Henrich slapped a
doubleplay ball to Myer, who was playing
secondbase in place of Jimmy Bloodworth.
Though Rolfe was forced, Cecil Travis threw
wild to first [Washington's only error], giving
Henrich a chance to gain second on the
misplay. ... A moment later DiMaggio's triple
thundered to deep center and the Yanks were
in front, to remain there for the rest of the
day. ... In the 5th they bagged their second
run when Bill Dickey and Russo laid a pair of
surprising doubles end to end, and in the 6th
came the final tally off Leonard when Henrich
and DiMaggio unfurled a pair of singles and
Keller followed with a long fly to right that
sent Tommy scampering home from third.  [A
run scoring after a flyball counted as a time
at bat in 1941.]
... ... DiMaggio's triple not
only gave him the distinction of driving in the
first run of the championship season, but
extended Jolting Joe's hitting streak, carried
over from his exhibition appearances, to 20
games in a row. The one-time Frisco
fisherman has connected safely in ever game
he has played this Spring. ... New York fans,
who got only a faint idea of the real Rizzuto
during the Brooklyn exhibition series, inasmuch
as Phil is just recovering from a charley horse,
still have something coming to them. Today
he scampered out to left to collar a single
before Keller could come in for it. The play
didn't accomplish anything, but it should give
you an idea how the Flea, as Lefty Gomez
calls him, moves. ... Immediately after the
game, the Yanks dashed back to New York
for their opener at the Stadium. [Shortstop
Cecil Travis accounted for seven of 11
Washington fielding assists. ... Yankee hitters
lifted ten outfield flyball outs, four each to
George Case in right and Doc Cramer in center
and two to Ben Chapman in left. ... Russo
fanned one Senator, the only strikeout in
Monday's opener. ... The efficient Yanks left
just three runners on base while Washington
stranded four. ... Ken Chase tossed a perfect
9th for Washington after Johnny Welaj hit for
Leonard in the 8th. ... Time of game was
1:47. ... Russo issued free passes to Case,
Myer, and Rick Ferrell. ... The umpires were
Emmett Ormsby behind the plate, Bill McGowan
at first, Bill Summers at second, and John A.
Quinn at third.]


Starting Lineups

New York Yankees

Phil Rizzuto ss
Red Rolfe 3b
Tommy Henrich rf
Joe DiMaggio cf
Charlie Keller lf
Joe Gordon 2b
Bill Dickey c
Johnny Sturm 1b
Marius Russo p

Washington Senators
George Case rf
Doc Cramer cf
Ben Chapman lf
Buddy Lewis 3b
Cecil Travis ss
Buddy Myer 2b
George Archie 1b
Rick Ferrell c
Dutch Leonard p

London, Wireless to The New York Times,
By Craig Thompson, Tuesday, April 15, 1941:
[Late Monday. U.S. time.] British Royal Air
Force attacks on German shipping off the
Netherlands and another raid on Merignac
Airport near Bordeaux, used by the Germans as
a base for the bombing of Atlantic shipping,
were followed [Monday] by a series of Nazi air
attacks over many parts of Britain. ...
[Monday] night the R.A.F. bombers blasted
again the docks at Brest where Nazi sea
raiders Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are tied up,
a brief official statement early today said. It
was the seventh raid on Brest since March 31.
... German bombers during the night struck at
two towns on the coast of Northwest England.
Many incendiary bombs were dropped on one
of the towns. Reports early today said that at
neither town was the damage heavy. ...
British anti-aircraft fire was said to have driven
off one Nazi raiding force and to have kept all
of the enemy planes high. ... The daylight
raids over Britain were apparently single
planes. They machine-gunned some towns,
but these attacks were "entirely ineffective,"
British officials said. ... The R.A.F. attack on
the Merignac airdrome was the third in four
nights. The size of the British force that
struck there Sunday night was not believed to
have been large. ... The R.A.F. pilots reported
that buildings and hangers at Merignac had
been left burning and that the docks at
Bordeaux were also attacked. The
communique said no British aircraft were
missing from the operations. ... During
daylight Sunday British bombers attacked
shipping off the German North Sea coast.
Pilots reported a Nazi supply ship of 1,500 tons
twice hit by bombs and then machine-gunned.
A German naval patrol vessel and a supply ship
of 2,000 tons were also attacked by bombs
and machine-gun fire, but no claims of sinkings
were made. ... A Nazi bomber was destroyed
in North Wales early [Monday] by crashing into
a mountain near Aber, Carnarvonshire. Of the
five-man crew, one was killed, two badly hurt,
another slightly hurt, and the other uninjured.
The uninjured German walked to Aber, gave
himself up, and led a party to the scene of the
crash. ... At a town in Northwest England
during the afternoon [Sunday] a Nazi plane
skimmed the rooftops and machine-gunned
holiday makers. People in the streets ducked
for cover and some of them saw small bombs
leave the plane. The plane had apparently
approached by shutting off its motors and
gliding. The bombs were said to have done
little harm and anti-aircraft fire was believed
to have damaged the departing plane. ... A
town in Eastern England was raided by a single
German. Its bombs killed one person and
damaged the village Postoffice. ... Similar
attacks were made on two towns in East
Anglia, on the south coast, and in Southwest
England. ... The British Admiralty reported
that the trawler Kingston Amber shot down a
Heinkel 111 Sunday, presumably on North Sea
patrol. A Junkers 88 was shot down Saturday
by a "Free French" subchaser.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]
Last edited by Globalization41 on 21 May 2005, 07:17, edited 4 times in total.

Globalization41
Member
Posts: 1453
Joined: 13 Mar 2002, 03:52
Location: California

Japanese Press Comments on Neutrality Pact with Russia

#9

Post by Globalization41 » 19 Jan 2005, 19:00

Tokyo, Wireless to The New York Times, By
Otto D. Tolishus, Monday, April 14, 1941:
Following up the conclusion of a pact of
friendship and neutrality between Russia and
Japan and their mutual recognition of each
other's spheres of influence in former Chinese
territory, the Japanese press today began to
prepare for an expected Japanese diplomatic
offensive. ... The newspapers put the most
far-reaching interpretations on the
agreements. Some of these interpretations
are so sweeping, in the view of neutral
quarters here, that they hold the danger of
stirring up public opinion to a point where it
may begin to force the government's hand and
may tempt some of the more "dynamic"
elements into perceptible action. ... According
to unanimous opinions expressed by the
Japanese press, these Moscow agreements
represent far more than a dramatic victory of
the diplomacy of the Axis over that of the
United States and Britain because they have
completely change the whole world situation.
The newspaper Nichi Nichi puts that point of
view in this fashion: "The secret of the world
historic significance of these pacts lies in the
fact that they make the Soviet Union a quasi-
member of the Axis camp and one that not
only recognizes Japan's leadership in Greater
East Asia and therewith frees Japan's hands to
proceed with her program, but one also that is
preparing to join the Axis in the new partition
of the world by staking out its own spheres of
influence in Central Asia and the Near East."
... "Of course," Nichi Nichi continues, "no such
agreement has been reached between Japan
and the Soviet Union, but it must be regarded
as most probable that in the German-Soviet
talks in Berlin last Fall and in the recent
Matsuoka-Stalin talks a tacit understanding
was reached regarding new fields of influence
in the world. The diplomatic offensive of the
German-Italo-Japanese Axis has been fully
demonstrated." ... This is in line with the
German suggestions to Russia, even before
the outbreak of the war, that Russia alone
was in a position to emulate the conquest of
Alexander the Great by going to the
Southeast. Scenes of Soviet-Axis
fraternization at the Moscow railway station,
where for the first time in his career Joseph
Stalin himself appeared to bid a visitor good-
bye, are believed here to support such
assumptions. ... Under these circumstances,
says Nichi Nichi -- and other papers agree --
"Japan is now ready for the establishment of a
Greater East Asia common prosperity sphere
and it is also ready to start the realization of
the empire's aspirations for the construction of
a new world order." ... Then this newspaper
continues, "The conclusion of a new neutrality
pact allows Japan to avoid two-front
operations, that is, fighting both the United
States and the Soviet Union, in case of a
positive advance of her southward policy and
a crisis in the Pacific. Moreover, it completely
prevents a possible rapprochement between
the United States and the Soviet Union, a
possibility that the United States has
desperately attempted to bring about." [Both
Roosevelt and his vice president, Wallace,
opposed violent Axis expansionism (and British
colonialism as well) while sympathizing with
Soviet progressive ideology.]
... To this
interpretation the conservative newspaper
Asahi adds: The blow to the United States,
which has been making overtures to the
Soviet Union in order to restrain Japan, must
be great. To Britain, which is losing the battle
of the Balkans and Africa, the pact must give
a fatal blow politically, and its effects on the
future of the Balkans and the Far East should
not be small." ... Moreover, all the
newspapers profess the certainty that the
pact is applicable to the China "emergency"
and therefore is a great blow to Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek. ... In fact, a part of the
press offensive is directed toward the Soviet
itself, and Asahi states: "In the light of the
spirit of the treaty it is clear that the Soviet
Union's aid to Chiang Kai-shek tramples under
foot the friendly relations between Japan and
the Soviet Union. The step next in order for
the Soviet Union would be to effect a change
in the policy toward Chungking with the treaty
as the turning point." ... All newspapers agree
that the end of General Chiang is in sight. ...
The Cabinet spokesman, Koh Ishii, stated in
regard to this question: "The Japanese
Government hopes that the attitude of Soviet
Russia will be favorable toward Japan." He
observed that while the treaty did not mention
China directly the question "must be
discussed." ... Another point emphasized is
that the new pact opens up the route linking
Japan with Germany and Italy. The
importance of this, it is held, may be enhanced
when the expected Russo-Japanese trade pact
is signed. ... Last, but equally important, the
papers stress that the Moscow agreements
are of the greatest importance in domestic
politics because they will tend to put an end
to all discussion of the values of the Triple
Alliance and will enroll all the people behind the
positive policy of the government. ... On the
other hand, despite these jubilant surveys and
entrancing vistas, many Japanese are
decidedly skeptical about the protective value
of the pact and fearful of its effects at home
and abroad. They realize that it is likely to
increase the suspicions of the United States
and Britain and they fear some of the activist
elements at home. ... This skepticism is based
on the fact that for reasons of their own the
Russians have always made a great distinction
between a nonaggression and a neutrality
pact. While they have demanded a high price
for the former they have been willing to sign
the latter at any given time. [Russia's
neutrality pact with Japan and its
nonaggression pact with Germany both
promised nonintervention into the other
"Contracting Party's" sphere of influence.
According to Gabriel Gorodetsky's informative
and surprisingly neutral book, Grand Delusion
-- Stalin and the German Invasion of
Russia, the Soviets offered a neutrality pact
because they had agreed in the 1937 Russian-
Chinese pact not to sign a nonaggression
treaty with Japan. ... Eventually, in April
1945, Stalin renounced his neutrality pact
with Japan on the grounds that Japan was at
war with the Soviet Union's allies, the United
States and Britain, while Tokyo was allied with
Russia's enemy, Germany. In August 1945
Moscow broadcast a declaration of war on
Japan, the U.S.S.R. entering the conflict i.a.w.
requests from its allies and to "facilitate the
speedy restoration of universal peace." ...
Germany revoked its pact with Stalin on
June 22, 1941, shortly after Germany launched
its invasion. Hitler's proclamation justified the
war against the Soviet Union by claiming that
the rulers in Moscow had conspired to set
Germany and the European continent "aflame"
while dangerously large Red Army
concentrations opportunistically munched
away at Eastern Europe.]
In fact, in view of
the recent developments in German-Russian
relations it is held here that the Russians
themselves have the greatest interest in
securing their rear. ... In neutral quarters, it
is pointed out, as the Japanese press admits,
that the phraseology of the pact is somewhat
negative. In particular, while making the pact
applicable irrespective of the question of
aggression, it does not provide, as do other
Soviet nonaggression pacts, that both sides
shall refrain from any direct or indirect help to
the enemies of either party. [The pact called
for neutrality in future conflicts. Nevertheless,
Stalin soon began withdrawing material
support for China in its current war with
Japan.]
This fact, barring secret agreements,
would leave any cessation of Russian help to
Chungking, or any other Axis opponent, up to
Russia. ... The press gives expression to this
skepticism in the newspaper Chugai Shogo,
which makes a "cool examination of Soviet-
Japanese relations for the future" and comes
to the conclusion that the primary aim of the
Soviet Union is to "prolong and expand the
present hostilities as much as possible so that
various countries may become exhausted, with
the result that the Soviet may attain a
supreme position in a hegemony after the
restoration of peace." ... "In that light," says
this newspaper, "the conclusion of the present
treaty is the natural and usual diplomacy of
the Soviet and not an expression of special
goodwill toward Japan. Perhaps the Kremlin
may not hesitate to take a step toward the
United States, conditions permitting." ... In
any case the armed forces, through the Army
and Navy Ministers, speaking before the
conference of Prefectural Governors, today
pledged their readiness to meet any
emergency. ... War Minister General Eike Tojo
said: "In preparation for any critical situation
that may be anticipated in the future, the
army is increasing its strength day and night.
It is doing its utmost to complete its
preparations." ... Navy Minister Admiral
Koshire Oikawa said: "The international
situation surrounding Japan is getting worse
day by day. Today, it may be said, is the
turning point in world history. I am convinced
that no matter what situation our country may
face in the future the Japanese Navy will
never fail to meet the expectations of this
country."

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]

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