21 Mar 1941
  • Yugoslavians protested Prince Paul's pact with Hitler. Many ministers resigned in protest. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • After laying siege to the Italian garrison at Giarabub in southeastern Libya for the past three months, Australian forces finally gathered enough strength to begin a large scale assault. ww2dbase [Battle of Giarabub | CPC]
  • German submarine U-105 attacked Allied convoy SL-68 500 miles west of Cap blanc, French West Africa at 0046 hours, sinking British ships Clan Ogilvy (61 killed, 24 survived) and Benwyvis (34 killed, 21 survived). At 2200 hours, U-105 attacked the same convoy again, sinking British ship Jhelum (8 killed, 49 survivors). ww2dbase [CPC]
  • German aircraft attacked Allied convoy AS-21 en route between Piraeus, Greece and Alexandria, Egypt, sinking Greek ship Embiricos Nicolaos (2 killed) and damaging Norwegian tanker Solheim (1 killed). ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Oberleutnant Ernst-Ulrich Brüller was named the commanding officer of U-23, relieving Kurt Reichenbach-Klinke. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
Atlantic Ocean
  • German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were detected by aircraft of the British Coastal Command. They were met by German aircraft at 1900 hours, escorting them as they headed for Brest, France. ww2dbase [Operation Berlin | Gneisenau | Scharnhorst | CPC]
Ethiopia
  • Nigerian Brigade of British 11th African Division attacked Italian defenses at Marda Pass east of Hadew in eastern Ethiopia at 1200 hours. Italian defenses held off the attacks for hours before falling back after sundown. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | Hadew | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • German aircraft attacked British shipping off various ports in England, United Kingdom; minesweeping trawler HMT Asama was sunk near Plymouth, ship Millisle was sunk off Bristol (10 killed), and ship London II was sunk off Swansea (4 killed). ww2dbase [England | CPC]
United States
  • Tatsuta Maru departed San Francisco, California, United States; among the passengers was German Army General Werner Thiel. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | San Francisco, California | CPC]
  • George Murray was named the commanding officer of USS Enterprise. ww2dbase [Enterprise | CPC]

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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Polish resistance courier Alina Nawrocka posing before a disabled Italian-made PzKpfw 736(i) tank in Warsaw, Poland, 22 Aug 1944

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