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• German submarine U-103 sank Norwegian ship Polyana 200 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands at 0038 hours, killing the entire crew of 25. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied rearguard forces from Thermopylae, Greece traveled 100 miles within 12 hours and reached the Greek capital of Athens around noon time; while crowds welcomed their arrival, diplomats of various countries burned papers as Axis capture was imminent. Just to the south, British troopship Pennland was damaged by German aircraft while attempting to evacuate troops, resulting in 4 deaths; other ships were able to evacuate 5,500 Allied personnel on this day. Out at sea, German aircraft sank 6 merchant ships and 1 yacht; 6 Greek destroyers and 5 submarines were able to escape toward Alexandria, Egypt. Finally, on this date, Hitler issued Führer Directive 28 for the attack on Crete, Greece, which was to be codenamed Operation Merkur. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• The Axis offensive on the Libyan-Egyptian border resumed despite the lack of progress at Tobruk, Libya; German troops engaged British patrols near Fort Capuzzo. The 2 remaining Hurricane fighters in Tobruk were withdrawn to Egypt to join the mere 13 Hurricane fighters there, leaving Tobruk with only Lysander aircraft to perform artillery spotting duties and no aircraft capable of air defense. Out at sea, British submarine HMS Upholder sank Italian ship Antonietta Lauro off the Tunisian island of Kerkenah. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin attacked British ship Empire Light, stopping the ship. After the 70 crew members were taken off, Pinguin scuttled Empire Light. ww2dbase [Pinguin | CPC]
• The German 8th Panzer Regiment departed Italy in three convoys for North Africa. ww2dbase [Operation Sonnenblume | CPC]
• Franklin Roosevelt called Charles Lindbergh an appeaser in response to Lindbergh's 23 Apr 1941 calls for the United States to stay out of the war. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• James Lacey, flying a Spitfire fighter, damaged a German Fw 190 aircraft. ww2dbase [James Lacey | AC]
• Konteradmiral Karl Dönitz, the head of the German submarine branch, reiterated Adolf Hitler's orders that incidents with United States vessels must be avoided at all cost. ww2dbase [Karl Dönitz | AC]

• Maggiore Baracca was informed that Allied convoy HG 60 had set sail from Gibraltar. She moved to intercept, but would ultimately fail to locate it. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina lost sight of the merchant ship in the Atlantic Ocean at 0732 hours; she had been pursuing this target since 2207 hours on the previous date. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• Morosini departed Bordeaux, France at 0636 hours, arriving at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France at 1155 hours. At 1307, she set sail to the sea for gyro compass trials, returning at 1508 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Tanikaze was commissioned into service with Commander Motoi Katsumi in command. ww2dbase [Tanikaze | CPC]

• An indication that the Germans were considering Crete, Greece as a target for major parachute assault was discovered by the code-breakers at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in Britain through an interception of the German Luftwaffe's lax cypher discipline. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Bletchley Park | Milton Keynes, England | AC]

25 Apr 1941 Interactive Map