Banco de dados da Segunda Guerra Mundial (WW2DB)

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 14 Jan 1941

• British Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Wavell met Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and Greek Commander-in-Chief General Alexandros Papagos in Athens, Greece. Papagos asked Wavell for 9 divisions of British troops plus air support, but Wavell only offered 2 or 3 divisions. Papagos, who thought 2 to 3 divisions was too few to effectively deter a German invasion while still putting Greece in an indebted position, rejected the offer. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin captured almost an entire Norwegian whaling fleet (whale oil tanker Solglimt, factory ships Ole Wegger and Pelagos, and 11 of their attendant whalers) without firing a shot in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica; three whalers escaped and provided warning to another whaling fleet nearby. Pinguin captured 20,000 tons of whale oil and 10,000 tons of fuel oil with this success. ww2dbase [Pinguin | CPC]
• Italian submarine Cappellini and British auxiliary cruiser Eumaeus engaged in a gun fight for three hours 100 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa. Cappellini suffered three casualties and was badly damaged, but was able to sink Eumaeus, killing 27. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci was ordered to attack an Allied convoy in the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles from her position. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini sighted British cargo ship Eumaeus in the Atlantic Ocean at 0830 hours. At 0900 hours, she fired two bow torpedoes at the range of 700 meters; one of them might had hit, but did not detonate. The British ship returned fire with her deck guns. The Italians maintained a distance of 2,500 meters while firing her deck guns. At 0940 hours, her aft gun broke down, but the forward gun continued to fire. At 0950 and 0955 hours, the Italian submarine was hit by two shells, one of which fatally wounded Danilo Stiepovich, who would die of his wounds at 1600 hours. After being hit at least 44 times, she was stopped. At 1009 hours, the Italian submarine fired a bow torpedo, hitting the target under the forward mast, sinking her. Of the 91 crew members and 265 passengers (100 of whom were military servicemen destined for Shanghai, China), 33 were killed during the attack. Comandante Cappellini suffered one killed and eight wounded in this attack. Detecting British warships nearby, the Italian submarine turned away. At 1122 hours, as she was in the process of diving, a British Walrus aircraft of No. 710 Squadron FAA from seaplane tender HMS Albatross attacked with three 100-pound bombs, causing serious damage; the Italian commanding officer would soon decide to end the war patrol early due to the damage suffered. Meanwhile, 63 survivors were picked up by trawlers HMT Bengali and HMT Spaniard which arrived at the site of the sinking at 1315 hours. Destroyer HMS Isis, destroyer HMS Encounter, and trawler HMT Pict arrived at 2000 hours and picked up an additional 242 survivors. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Kirill Meretskov briefly retired from military service. ww2dbase [Kirill Meretskov | CPC]

• A memorial service for Amy Johnson was held at the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Amy Johnson | London, England | CPC]

14 Jan 1941 Interactive Map