11 Mar 1941 | World War II Database

11 Mar 1941

German submarine U-74 attacked Icelandic trawler Frodi with her deck gun 192 miles southeast of Iceland at 0800 hours. 5 were killed in the attack. Frodi would be able to escape to Vestmannaeyjar Island on the next day. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarine U-106 sank British ship Memnon 200 miles west of Senegal, French West Africa, killing 5. Of the 69 survivors, 4 were captured by German battlecruiser Gneisenau, 22 made land in Senegal on 21 Mar, and 43 made land in Sierra Leone on 24 Mar. ww2dbase [CPC]
The Panzer Regiment of German 5th Light Division completed disembarking from freighters at Tripoli, Libya. A parade was staged with the newly arrived tanks, with some of the tanks going around the town multiple times to make their numbers seem greater. The tanks headed east toward Sirte after the parade. ww2dbase [Operation Sonnenblume | CPC]
135 German aircraft dropped 122 tons of high explosive bombs and 830 incendiary bombs on Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]

France

During the night of 11 to 12 Mar, six British Handley Page Halifax bombers of No. 35 Squadron of No. 4 Group from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom attacked Le Havre, France. It was the operational debut of the four-engine heavy bomber. It was marred by the accidental shoot-down of one of them by an RAF nightfighter. ww2dbase [Halifax | Le Havre, Haute-Normandie | TH]

French Indochina

Japan dictated that France would return parts of Cambodia and Laos, which the French had gained from Thailand about 40 years prior, to Thailand. ww2dbase [Franco-Thai War | CPC]

Turkey

As English diplomats arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, a bomb smuggled into their luggage exploded, killing 2. ww2dbase [Istanbul | TH]

United States

US President Roosevelt signed the Lend Lease Act into law, which allowed Allied nations to purchase weapons and other supplies from the United States on credit. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Washington | TH]

Photo(s) dated 11 Mar 1941