The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945
Page 46
BAGHDAD AIRPORT DAMAGED
Moascar Rashid, the airport of Baghdad, was bombed again. One hangar was completely destroyed by fire, a twin-engined aircraft standing on the apron was blown up and others were damaged.
Basra, where the British troops landed from the Persian Gulf, remained quiet throughout the day. Action was reported at Rutbah Wells, a desert air station on the pipeline to Haifa, where the hostile Iraqis surrendered when an R.A.F. patrol appeared at the same time as a small group of British soldiers. The communiqué said “the gate was opened and the troops were allowed to enter. A number of families were rescued and removed to safety.”
The Prime Minister left the door open for news of German intervention in Iraq, saying it might happen before the revolt was crushed—“in which case our task will become more difficult.” He explained that Britain was not at war with Iraq, being intent rather on speeding the restoration of a “constitutional government and assisting the Iraqis to get rid of their military dictatorship at the earliest possible moment.”
MAY 13, 1941
HESS ACTED SANELY, PSYCHIATRIST NOTES
Flight Called for Calm Plan, Dr. Overholser Remarks
WASHINGTON, May 12 (AP)—One of the country’s leading psychiatrists said today that Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s second lieutenant who landed from a Messerschmitt plane in Scotland on Saturday, was probably “much more sane than crazy.”
Dr. Winfred Overholser, head of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the Federal Government’s principal institution for the insane, said that while it was possible that Herr Hess “got the jitters and thought the world was coming to an end,” he probably did a cool, sane job of calculation and estimated his chances were better in being interned in Britain than they were in staying in Germany.
Even if the man were insane he still could pilot an airplane, the psychiatrist said, “but it is much more reasonable to think that he was in full possession to his faculties and merely wished to escape” from some situation that he considered no longer tenable for him.
Such an escape by a man who had been discouraged from flying by Herr Hitler himself would indicate calm deliberation and planning well in advance, which a man with a very unbalanced mind would be hardly capable of carrying out, Dr. Overholser said.
MAY 16, 1941
5,000 PARIS JEWS GO TO LABOR CAMPS
Refugees Routed from Beds And Interned—Vichy Denies Order Originated There
Wireless to The New York Times.
VICHY, France, May 15—Reports from Paris tell of the rounding up there of 5,000 Jews between the ages of 18 and 40, mostly from Central and Southeastern Europe, and their transfer to labor camps near Orleans.
The reports indicate that this action has been taken “under the law of Oct. 4, 1940,” which must be an error. The law affecting Jews is dated Oct. 3 and contains no reference to their conscription for labor. However, there is a law that enables the authorities to enroll destitute and unemployed aliens in labor companies without distinction as to race or origin.
In government circles here it was declared that the measures of internment in the occupied zone were not ordered by this government.
[The British radio quoted German controlled sources as saying that Vichy authorities had arrested 20,000 foreign Jews in unoccupied France. The British report, attributed to the Hilversum radio in the Netherlands, was heard here by the Columbia Broadcasting System.]
FURTHER LAWS EXPECTED
Further measures relative to the status of Jews in France are expected in the near future. If it had not been for the importance of the present phase of French-German relations, it is probable that the Cabinet would already have approved a draft that came under the consideration of several Ministers last week when both Marshal Henri Phillipe Pétain and the Vice Premier, Admiral François Darlan, were absent from Vichy.
It is understood the new measures are intended to complete the law of Oct. 3, which excluded Jews from high government posts, including the armed forces, as well as from journalism and the cinema.
It is declared in authorized circles that the intention now is to complete, enlarge and codify all the steps already taken concerning Jews, not because of ideological or religious considerations but because of “necessities of national protection.” Present indications are that most of the Jews in France will be subjected to the laws regulating the presence of aliens on national soil.
Several exemptions are likely to be included in the new law in favor of Jews who fought for France in the last two wars, those converted to a Christian faith before June 20, 1940, and those who have rendered signal service to the country or whose forebears have long lived here.
It may be recalled that at present the treatment of Jews differs in the occupied and unoccupied zones. In the former the German authority has issued ordinances on the lines of the Nuremberg “ghetto laws.” The latest of these comes into application on May 20; in brief, it excludes Jews from all commercial activities without compensation.
Jews at the Austerlitz station in Paris departing for an internment camp in Orleans, France, May 1941.
MAY 20, 1941
BRITISH PUSH RAIDS ON NAZIS IN SYRIA
Report German Planes Ruined—Iraqis Claim Gains in Clashes with Foe
Special Cable to The New York Times.
CAIRO, Egypt, May 19—While General Henri Fernand Dentz, French High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon, talked belligerently over the radio last night about British intervention in Syria, Royal Air Force planes again were bombing German aircraft on Syrian airdromes.
[French chaser planes shot down their first British bomber over Syria yesterday, according to a German broadcast heard here by the Columbia Broadcasting System.]
A Heinkel-111 and another large plane were burned out as a result of a new raid on the airfield at Tadmur [Palmyra] and German machines at both Damascus and Rayak were damaged by bombing and strafing, according to a British communiqué issued here today. The Iraqi airdrome at Rashid, near Baghdad, also was bombed again.
R.A.F. raids Saturday night started several fires on the Axis airdrome at Calato, on the Island of Rhodes, believed to be used as a stopping place in the transport of planes, men and materiel to Syria and Iraq.
The German battleship Bismarck firing on the Royal Navy ship HMS Hood which sank almost immediately.
MAY 25, 1941
HOOD IS BLOWN UP
World’s Biggest Warship Sunk Between Iceland And Greenland
1,300 FEARED KILLED
By ROBERT P. POST
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, May 24—The 42,100-ton battle cruiser Hood, pride of the British Fleet and the world’s biggest fighting vessel, was blown up today by an “unlucky hit” scored on a munitions magazine by the new German battleship Bismarck in an engagement off Greenland, the Admiralty announced. The Bismarck was damaged.
Apparently the British had had word that the Bismarck, accompanied by other German naval units, was trying to slip into the North Atlantic by the Germans’ favorite route—the northern route via Norway, Iceland and Greenland. The British sent a strong force, including the Hood, to intercept the German ships. The two forces clashed and the Hood was sunk.
The Hood carried a normal complement of more than 1,300 men, and the Admiralty said it was feared that there would be few survivors.
“The pursuit of the enemy continues,” the Admiralty reported. This statement probably means that the British ships are attempting to intercept and finish off the Bismarck if she is really crippled. Undoubtedly they are maintaining wireless silence, and therefore it remains to be seen whether the Hood will be avenged.
[In Berlin it was reported that the Hood had been sunk off Iceland during a five-minute engagement between a German flotilla and “heavy English naval forces.” The German units suffered no damages “worthy of mention,” it was said, and continued their operations.]
SYMBOL OF BRITISH POWER
The news of the Hood’s sinking i
s bound to cast a spell of gloom over the British people, because she was a symbol of British naval power. She was the show ship of the Royal Navy, and the British liked to think that they had the biggest warship afloat.
The Hood was of the same general type as the battle cruisers Queen Mary, Indefatigable and Invincible, which were blown up in the Battle of Jutland, supposedly as a result of insufficient armor over their turret magazines. The Hood, laid down in 1916, was redesigned to meet the lessons of Jutland, but apparently this was not enough.
At any rate, the greatest naval victory of the war since British cruisers bottled up the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which was scuttled at Montevideo, Uruguay, must be chalked up for the German Navy.
This is the first time the world has known that the Bismarck, a ship of 35,000 or more tons, is loose on the seas. She was launched on Feb. 14, 1939, with Reichsfuehrer Hitler present. The Bismarck is supposed to have three sister ships, the Tirpitz, launched April 1, 1939, and two others believed to be still under construction.
MAY 28, 1941
THE HOOD AVENGED
U.S.-MADE PLANE AIDS
Sights Quarry and Puts Big Fleet on Trail—Reich Cruiser Flees
By ROBERT P. POST
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, May 27—The Bismarck, Germany’s newest and finest capital ship, was sunk at 11:01 o’clock this morning [5:01 A.M. New York time] about 400 miles due west of Brest after naval action that had lasted for three and a half days and covered 1,750 miles from Denmark Strait. The British battle cruiser Hood, blown up by an “unlucky” hit from the Bismarck, was thus avenged.
The full account of the action, released by the Admiralty tonight, is a tale not only of gallantry and courage at sea but also of excellent staff work and quick, effective action into which the British threw all the might of their sea and air power, even leaving convoys unprotected and pulling the Western Mediterranean Fleet away from Gibraltar.
The far-ranging British aircraft that worked with the navy really deserve most of the credit for the most successful naval search in history. The plane that found the Bismarck after the pursuing forces had lost contact with her was a United States-built Consolidated flying boat. In the British service this plane is known as a Catalina; it is known as a PBY-5 when it patrols for the United States Navy.
WARSHIPS SEEN AT BERGEN
The story begins with the little-sung Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force. Its patrols, endlessly winging over Norway, discovered the battleship Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen, a new 8-inch-gun cruiser, lying in Bergen harbor some time last week. The Admiralty began at once to throw its net around the North Sea.
The 8-inch-gun British cruisers, Norfolk and Suffolk, the former wearing the flag of Rear Admiral W. F. Wake-Walker, dug out for Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. The British apparently guessed that the two German ships might go north around Iceland and try to slip down into the Atlantic. Prime Minister Winston Churchill suggested today that their mission was commerce raiding, but another suggestion was that they might have been trying to slip into the Mediterranean to turn the balance of power there.
At any rate the guess as to their immediate move was a good one. Last Friday evening Admiral Wake-Walker flashed to the Admiralty the signal that he had sighted the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen steaming under forced draft to the southwest. The range was only six miles when the ships were first sighted, but storms, snow, sleet and patches of mist sometimes reduced the visibility to one mile. Nevertheless the two British cruisers swung around and began to shadow the enemy. They successfully kept touch throughout the night.
HOOD GOES TO INTERCEPT
Meanwhile a signal had gone out and the British Fleet began to move. The Hood, largest fighting ship in the world, went steaming to intercept. She was accompanied by the Prince of Wales, one of Britain’s newest battleships and a sister ship of the King George V, which took Ambassador Viscount Halifax to his post in the United States.
Early Saturday morning lookouts on the Hood sighted the German squadron. The action began across miles of wallowing water, with big guns blasting at each other. Then German gunnery found one of the Hood’s turret magazines and she blew up with heavy casualties. The Prince of Wales, in action for the first time, was damaged slightly. But the Bismarck did not go unscathed. She also was hit, and at one point was seen to be on fire.
But the first round went to the Germans. The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sped away, still steering to the southwest, and the two British cruisers continued to trail them. The Bismarck apparently had been damaged in the engines, for her speed was reduced. Coastal Command aircraft—they also formed a part of the net that was being flung around the Bismarck—reported that she was spewing oil.
Throughout Saturday the chase continued. By Saturday night the Prince of Wales had made good her damage and caught up with the fleeing Germans again. There was a short action, entirely inconclusive. The German ships turned westward, and the Prince of Wales and the British cruisers swung around to conform. Then the Germans turned southward again. Night fell and the pursued ships drew away.
NEW CARRIER IS SENT OUT
But British forces were converging on the scene, and Fleet Admiral Guenther Luetjens, aboard the Bismarck, must have known that he was trapped and could escape only with exceptional luck. Among the British ships speeding to the battle area was the new aircraft carrier Victorious. Miles away from the Germans she threw her torpedo bombers into the air. One of them hit the Bismarck with an aerial torpedo.
All through Saturday night and early Sunday morning the Norfolk, Suffolk and Prince of Wales continued the pursuit. Their lookouts strained their eyes, but the weather grew worse and the visibility poorer and at 3 o’clock Sunday morning contact was lost. The German ships were then about 350 miles south-southeast of the southern point of Greenland—not so very far from Canadian shores.
It was a bitter moment, both on the bridges of the pursuing ships and in the Admiralty operations room, when it was realized that contact had been lost and that from then on it would be a question of searching the wide seas. Naval officers knew that it might be a long and hard search, with the odds favoring the enemy. But it had to be faced, and the order to take up searching dispositions was flashed out to the fleet.
At the time contact was lost the Bismarck was heading southward. Already the Home Fleet had sailed from the north—probably Scapa Flow—with the commander’s flag of Admiral John C. Tovey on the King George V. The Western Mediterranean Fleet—or part of it—with Vice Admiral Sir James F. Somerville’s flag on the Renown, a battle cruiser of the Hood class, had weighed anchor and left Gibraltar, steaming northeastward to intercept. Both fleets doubtless were trying to keep between the probable course of the Bismarck and the French and Spanish coasts, where there might be ports to receive her.
BATTLESHIPS LEAVE CONVOYS
Out in the Atlantic the battleships Rodney and Ramillies, which were escorting convoys, turned and raced for the enemy from east and west. So from four directions British ships were closing in on the Bismarck.
British submarines were moving to cover German ports and ports on the French coast, especially Brest, where the damaged Bismarck might possibly take refuge.
But the most important search of all was the one in the air. At the Coastal Command airports rimming Britain’s shores all pilots were at action stations. Patrols were doubled and tripled and Sunderlands, Lockheeds and Catalinas thundered over the sea in a wide hunt.
Newfoundland, far away across the Atlantic, felt the excitement. From bases there the Royal Canadian Air Force flew away eastward and took up the patrol of its waters. To these patrols was added a ceaseless search by the Fleet Air Arm planes launched from carriers.
For a while these searches were in vain. Contact with the German ships had been lost at 3 A.M. Sunday, 350 miles south-southeast of Greenland. It was not established again until 10:30 A.M. yesterday, when a Catalina of the Coastal Command,
patrolling the waters off England, spotted the Bismarck 550 miles west of Lands End.
The Catalina was immediately attacked, probably by a plane launched by the Bismarck’s catapult. The Bismarck, by now, was alone. As a result of the attack, the Catalina, big and clumsy, lost contact again, but not before she had given tongue by wireless to the rest of the pack.
PLANES FROM ARK ROYAL
Luckily the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, apparently with Vice Admiral Somerville’s squadron, was somewhere near by. At 11:15 A.M. one of the Ark Royal’s flights sighted the Bismarck, which was still alone and steering eastward. It is interesting to note that this contact was made by planes from a carrier that the Germans have reported as sunk many times.
From then on contact was never lost. As soon as he had received the Ark Royal’s report, Vice Admiral Somerville threw the cruiser Sheffield out ahead to shadow the Bismarck. During that afternoon, while the chase continued, the Ark Royal launched an aerial-torpedo attack, but it was unsuccessful.
How the use of air power widens the extent of a modern naval battle is shown by the fact that, while the Ark Royal’s planes made contact at 11:15 A.M. yesterday and the Sheffield, which probably was steaming far ahead of the Ark Royal at the time, started her shadowing mission almost at once, it was not until 5:30 in the afternoon that she sighted the Bismarck.