7 Mar 1941 | World War II Database

7 Mar 1941

Battleship Bismarck entered the Kiel Canal. ww2dbase [Bismarck | CPC]
Günther Prien passed away. ww2dbase [Günther Prien | CPC]
German submarine U-37 sank Greek ship Mentor in the North Atlantic. ww2dbase [CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sighted an Allied convoy near Azores, but did not attack due to the presence of British battleship HMS Malaya. ww2dbase [Operation Berlin | Gneisenau | Scharnhorst | Malaya | CPC]
German submarines U-47, U-70, U-90, and U-A attacked Allied convoy OB-293 320 miles northwest of Scotland, United Kingdom. British whaling factory ship Terje Viken (largest in the world) and British tanker Athelbeach were sunk, while two others were damaged. U-47 was lost with all 48 on board to unknown causes on the same day. U-70 was rammed by Dutch tanker Mijdrecht, then suffered a four-hour depth charging by corvettes HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus, killing 20; the 25 survivors eventually surrendered. ww2dbase [U-47 | CPC]
12 motor torpedo boats of German 3rd Flotilla attacked British ships of convoys FN.426 and FS.429 off Cromer, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, sinking 6. The ships lost were 957-ton Norman Queen (by S-101, Christiansen; 14 killed), 2,345-ton Corduff (by S-28, Klug; 7 killed), 1,049-ton Rye (by S-27, Büchting; 24 killed), 1,047-ton Kenton (by S-31, Meyer), 4,805-ton Boulderpool (by S-61, Gernet), and 1,547-ton Togston (by S-102, Töniges; 19 killed). ww2dbase [North Sea | CPC, HM]
The 934-ton merchant steamer Flashlight, carrying 1,150 tons of coal, was attacked by German aircraft 40 miles east of the Humber Estuary on the east coast of England, United Kingdom. The damage of near misses floundered the vessel; the crew all survived. ww2dbase [North Sea | HM]

Egypt

Field Marshal Jan Smuts arrived in Cairo, Egypt where, at an evening conference, he gave his support to Anthony Eden's firm line to commit troops to the Greek mainland. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Jan Smuts | Cairo | AC]

Germany

German Jews began to be pressed into forced labor. ww2dbase [CPC]

Greece

British cruisers HMS York, HMS Bonaventure, and HMS Gloucester arrived at Piraeus, Greece, disembarking troops from North Africa. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | York | Piraeus, Attica | TH]