7 Apr 1941 | World War II Database

7 Apr 1941

US Navy transferred 3 battleships, 1 carrier, 4 light cruisers, 18 destroyers, and other ships from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet. ww2dbase [CPC]
The British government raised income tax again, by another 1 shilling and 6 pence to 10 shillings in the pound. ww2dbase [AC]
Yugoslavian troops were forced to withdraw to southern Macedonia when the Germans captured Skopje, exposing their flank. German 2nd Panzer Division had reached Strumica, Yugoslavia by the end of the day, which was only 10 miles from the Greek border, from which point it would be able to bypass the Metaxas Line defenses, where German troops conducted a failed frontal assault on this day. The United Kingdom promised aid to Yugoslavia and broke off relations with Hungary; meanwhile, RAF bombers conducted a raid on Sofia, Bulgaria. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
A US Navy base began operations in Bermuda, which was leased to the United States for 99 years in exchange for destroyers. ww2dbase [CPC]
Before dawn, a motor column containing British military governor of Cyrenaica, Libya Lieutenant General Philip Neame and British Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor got lost and became captured by a German patrol between Mechili and Derna. During the day, Axis troops captured Derna, Libya. 50 miles to the south, British, Australian, and Indian troops prepared their defenses at Mechili, which had been surrounded by Axis troops since the prior day. The Axis forces had not yet attacked Mechili due to sandstorms; Rommel ordered that an attack must be launched on the next day. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | Richard O'Connor | CPC]
229 RAF bombers conducted a raid on Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
British armed merchant cruiser HMS Comorin, damaged by a fire on the previous day, was scuttled by the guns of destroyers HMS Broke and HMS Lincoln 450 miles west of Ireland after all survivors were rescued. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarine U-124 sank Canadian ship Portadoc with 1 torpedo and 24 rounds from the deck gun 240 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1750 hours. The entire crew fo 20 survived in 2 lifeboats. ww2dbase [CPC]
British cruiser HMS Capetown bombarded Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Italian torpedo boat MAS.213 counterattacked and seriously damaged HMS Capetown with a torpedo at 2315 hours, but Capetown was able to escape despite the damage. She would be towed to Bombay, India for repairs. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | CPC]
The Gloster E.28/39 jet powered prototype piloted by Chief Test Pilot P.E.G.Sayer commenced taxiing trials at Gloster's Hucclecote airfield in Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Meteor | AC]

France

Maggiore Baracca departed Bordeaux, France at 1500 hours and arrived at Pauillac, France at 1813 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

United Kingdom

German bombers sank minesweeping trawler HMT Rochebonne off The Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, killing 11. ww2dbase [Helston, England | CPC]
Norwegians John Moe and Tor Glad, who had been recruited by the German Abwehr to conduct acts of sabotage in Great Britain, landed at Crovie on Scotland’s Moray Firth. They immediately approached the local authorities and were interrogated by MI5 and MI6. Both men (codenamed Mutt and Jeff) were turned under the MI5 double-cross programme as double agents. They would conduct staged acts of sabotage on worthless targets and fed false information by radio to the Abwehr before the Allied invasion of North Africa, prompting Germany to keep thousands of troops in Scandinavia. ww2dbase [Crovie, Scotland | AC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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