13 Nov 1940 | World War II Database

13 Nov 1940

Hitler, Ribbentrop, and Molotov continued their meeting in Berlin, Germany. Hitler attempted to divert Soviet aggression out of the Balkan Peninsula and Finland, and instead focus, together with Germany, to defeat the United Kingdom, with the ultimate prize being the partition of the British Empire among Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy, and Japan. Molotov, who was not moved, asked Hitler whether Germany would feel comfortable with a Soviet guarantee of Bulgarian borders much like how Germany had recently guaranteed Romanian borders; unable to answer that question, Hitler again broke off the discussion on the excuse of potential British bombings as the hours were getting late. Indeed, having known that Molotov was visiting Berlin, the British RAF launched bombers to attack Berlin as a show of force to convince Molotov that Britain was still in the fight. Ribbentrop and Molotov continued the meeting in a underground bunker amidst the bombing where Ribbentrop failed to entice Molotov with a four-power (Germany, Italy, Japan, and Soviet Union) military alliance proposal. ww2dbase [Vyacheslav Molotov | CPC]
By the end of the day, Greek troops had pushed most Italian troops in northern Greece back to the Albanian border. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | CPC]
German submarine U-137 torpedoed and sank British ship Cape St. Andrew, which was under tow by tug HMS Salvonia, 100 miles northwest of Ireland at 2108 hours. 14 crew and 1 gunner were killed. 53 survivors were picked up by Salvonia. ww2dbase [CPC]
British submarine HMS Tigris sank French trawler Charles Edmonde 100 miles west of Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [CPC]
Italian bombers damaged British destroyer HMS Decoy at Alexandria, Egypt, killing 8 and wounding 3. ww2dbase [CPC]
Air Chief-Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham was appointed Commander-in Chief, Far East, with his headquarters in Singapore. This post was a new creation. ww2dbase [AC]
British convoy M. E. 3 arrived at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | HM]

Atlantic Ocean

Garland was seriously damaged by a storm while escorting battleship HMS Revenge in the Atlantic Ocean. Two men were killed. ww2dbase [Garland | CPC]

United States

Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | San Francisco, California | 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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