Anthony Eden
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
On February 14, 1941, the first units of the German Afrika Korps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Erwin Rommel, begin landing at Tripoli, Libya. At Berchtesgaden, Germany, Adolf Hitler meets with Yugoslavia’s prime minister, Dragiša Cvetković, in an attempt to persuade him to join the Tripartite Pact (among the Axis nations: Germany, Italy and Japan). Cvetković declines to make a commitment, however, hoping to get assistance from the U.K. and the U.S. Great Britain announces that because of the presence of over 500,000 German troops in Romania, it considers that nation “territory under enemy occupation” and an “enemy destination.”
During the night of February 15, Royal Air Force planes, based in Great Britain, drop propaganda leaflets over Kraków and Katowice, in German-occupied Poland. In Italy, the government forces the U.S. to close its consulates in Naples and Palermo.
On February 16, the 1st South African Brigade begins an important battle to seize crossings over the lower reaches of the Jubba River in southern Italian Somaliland.
Erwin Rommel, commander of the German Africa Korps
Pressured by Germany, Turkey and Bulgaria sign a “friendship” agreement in Sofia on February 17 stating that Turkey acknowledges that passage of German troops through Bulgaria does not constitute an act of war. The British conclude that the agreement more or less confirms that there is little to no chance of persuading Turkey to join the Allies.
South African troops, advancing from Kenya on February 18, attack the town of Mega, in southern Ethiopia, which is taken quickly, along with over 1,000 Italian prisoners. In Asia, thousands of Australian troops arrive in Singapore to help prepare defenses against a possible attack by the Japanese.
The Luftwaffe begins the “Three Nights’ Blitz” of Swansea, Wales, on February 19. The central portion of the town is almost completely destroyed by 896 high-explosive bombs dropped over the nights of February 19, 20 and 21. 230 people are killed and 397 are injured. In Cairo, Egypt, on February 19, Anthony Eden, of the British Foreign Office (an assistant to Prime Minister Winston Churchill), Gen. John Dill, Chief of the (British) Imperial General Staff, and local commanders Gen. Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, and Lt. Gen. Alan Cunningham, Commander East Africa Force, meet to discuss whether they can send help to Greece, and, if so, how much. British political leaders strongly favor sending as much help to the Greeks as possible, and Gen. Wavell agrees that sending assistance can be done effectively. In Amsterdam, Occupied Netherlands, two German policemen enter an ice cream parlor where they are sprayed with ammonia by a protective device that had been installed by the establishment’s German-Jewish owners. The incident will have repercussions. In Washington, D.C., President Roosevelt signs legislation that converts the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from a civilian organization to a military one.
On February 20, British and German patrols make contact for the first time in North Africa, in the desert near Sirte, Libya.
