Air Operations, East Africa

The RAF and the South African Air Force bomb Italian positions near Keren, Eritrea.

Atlantic

Vessels from Force H leave Gibraltar to intercept Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The German ships benefit from intelligence warnings and evade the British vessels.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Polish steamer Cieszyn (1386t) is sunk by German bombing 3 miles from Manacle Point. The entire crew are rescued.

The Blitz

During the night there are heavy and indiscriminate bombing raids on Plymouth. Led by He-111's of KG100, 125 bombers drop 160 tons of high explosives and 37,000 incendiaries. The main targets are the dock and harbor areas.

Firefighters spray water onto the newspaper building in Plymouth at the height of the Blitz.

Fire at Newspaper Building in Plymouth

The Fire Damaged Press Room

Balkans, Politics

In a meeting of the Royal Council in Belgrade it becomes clear that Regent Paul is ready to agree to Hitler's demand that Yugoslavia join the Tripartite Pact and allow free passage of German troops. 4 ministers resign rather than yield to German terms.

Diplomatic Relations

Under Secretary of State Welles tells Soviet Ambassador Constantine A. Oumansky that the US has confirmed information that Germany will attack the Soviet Union soon. The knowledge is acquired by methods which can not be revealed to the Russians. US Signal Intelligence Service analysts predict 'a German attack on the USSR within two months'. The estimate comes from the reading of top secret Japanese diplomatic messages, primarily the dispatches to Tokyo from Baron Oshima, the Japanese ambassador in Berlin.

German Raiders

The British tanker San Casimiro (8046t) and the Norwegian tanker Bianca (5688t), captured by the German battle cruiser Gneisenau on the 15th, are sighted by aircraft from the British carrier Ark Royal. The German prize crews scuttle both ships when approached by the British battlecruiser Renown.

Italian East Africa

In British Somaliland the British forces advancing from Berbera take Hargeisa.

North Africa

Jarabub is captured by the British.

Tripoli, Libya, Sunken ships in a harbor after a British bombing raid, March 20, 1941.

Aftermath of British Bombing Raid