April 1941

April

• 01

  • The Iraqi coup d’étatOn 1 April 1941 the colonels of the “Golden Square” overthrew the pro-British government and regent Abd al-Ilah in Baghdad. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani took power.
• 03

  • Rommel takes BenghaziOn the night of 3–4 April 1941 the Germans entered abandoned Benghazi. Defying Gariboldi, Rommel pushed on and by 8 April had taken Derna and Mechili.
  • The suicide of Pál TelekiOn the night of 2–3 April 1941 Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki shot himself in Budapest as his country joined Germany against friendly Yugoslavia.
• 04

  • The attack on convoy SC 26From 2 to 5 April 1941 a wolf pack south of Iceland sank 10 of the 22–23 ships of convoy SC 26 and torpedoed its sole escort. Some 150 men were killed.
• 06

  • Key eventGermany attacks YugoslaviaOn 6 April 1941 Germany invaded Yugoslavia without declaring war and the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade. The partly mobilised army quickly fell apart.
  • Key eventGermany attacks GreeceOn 6 April 1941 the 12th Army struck Greece from Bulgaria. The Metaxas Line forts beat off the first attacks; at night an ammunition ship blast wrecked Piraeus.
  • The British enter Addis AbabaOn 6 April 1941 Cunningham’s troops entered Addis Ababa, given up by the Italians without a fight. Asmara, capital of Eritrea, had fallen five days earlier.
• 10

  • The United States takes Greenland under its protectionOn 10 April 1941 the US announced an agreement with Denmark's envoy Kauffmann, signed without Copenhagen's consent. Greenland joined US Atlantic defences.
  • The Independent State of Croatia proclaimedOn 10 April 1941 Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia in Zagreb for Ante Pavelić. Power passed to the Ustaše, allies of the Axis.
  • The siege of Tobruk beginsOn 10–11 April 1941 Rommel’s forces encircled Tobruk. Morshead’s Australians repelled assaults on 14, 16–17 and 30 April, and a long siege began.
• 12

  • The Battle of VeviOn 12 April 1941 men of the SS Leibstandarte took the Klidi Pass near Vevi, held by Mackay Force. Three days earlier the Germans had entered Thessaloniki.
• 13

  • Key eventThe Soviet–Japanese Neutrality PactOn 13 April 1941 Molotov and Matsuoka signed a five-year neutrality pact in the Kremlin. The USSR secured its east; Japan its rear before the drive south.
• 14

  • The Antwerp pogromOn 14 April 1941, after a screening of The Eternal Jew, Flemish collaborators attacked Antwerp's Jewish quarter and burned two synagogues and a rabbi's house.
• 16

  • The Belfast BlitzOn the night of 15–16 April 1941 Luftwaffe bombers devastated north Belfast. Several hundred died, the highest toll of any single raid outside London.
  • The Battle of the Tarigo convoyOn the night of 15–16 April 1941 four British destroyers from Malta wiped out a convoy bound for Tripoli and its three Italian escorts off Kerkennah.
• 17

  • Yugoslavia capitulatesOn 17 April 1941 the unconditional surrender of the Yugoslav army was signed in Belgrade. The King and government had fled to Greece to fight on in exile.
• 18

  • The suicide of Alexandros KoryzisOn 18 April 1941, as the Greek front collapsed, Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis took his own life. The British were already preparing to evacuate.
  • The British land at BasraOn 18 April 1941 the 20th Indian Infantry Brigade landed at Basra; the day before, aircraft had begun flying a British infantry battalion into Shaibah.
• 19

  • The London raid of 19 AprilOn the night of 19–20 April 1941 over 700 Luftwaffe bombers attacked London. With the raid of 16 April, it was the heaviest attack on the capital so far.
• 21

  • The Army of Epirus capitulatesOn 20–23 April 1941 the Greek army of the Albanian front, cut off by the Germans, capitulated. Tsolakoglou surrendered it without government consent.
• 24

  • The evacuation from GreeceOn the night of 24–25 April 1941 the Royal Navy began lifting the British corps off Greek beaches. By 1 May some 50,000 men had left, without heavy equipment.
• 25

  • Rommel takes the Halfaya PassOn 25–26 April 1941 Colonel von Herff's group drove the British from Sollum and the Halfaya Pass. Axis forces stood in Egypt but went no further.
  • The Battle of Thermopylae (1941)On 24 April 1941 New Zealanders at Molos and Australians on the Brallos Pass held the Germans all day, then withdrew at night to the evacuation ports.
• 27

  • Key eventThe Germans enter AthensOn 27 April 1941 the Germans entered Athens and raised their flag on the Acropolis. The Greek army had capitulated, but the King fought on from Crete.
  • New Hurricanes for MaltaOn 27 April 1941, 23 Hurricanes flew to Malta from the carrier Ark Royal. The island was enduring its heaviest month of German bombing.
• 30

  • The Iraqi siege of HabbaniyaOn 30 April 1941 Iraqi troops occupied the plateau above the British air base at Habbaniya and demanded that flying stop. The base was under siege.