11 February 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

February 11th, 1939 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Fifth round of the FA Cup. Birmingham City play Everton before a record crowd of 66,844.

GERMANY: U-40 commissioned.

11 February 1940

February 11th, 1940 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
Immingham, Lincolnshire. Flt-Lt John Noel Dowland (1914-42) and Leonard Henry Harrison (1906-89) defused a bomb aboard the grain ship SS Kildare in Immingham. For that they will both receive the George Cross but not until 1941.
UNITED KINGDOM: NORTHERN IRELAND: The IRA carries out a successful raid on a company store of the I.T.C of the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Ballykinlar.

GERMANY: The Germans and Soviets sign further trade and economic agreements in Berlin. The Soviets will supply raw materials, especially oil and food, in return for manufactured products of all kinds, including arms.

SWEDEN: Intense Cold still grips Europe, with 58 degrees of frost in Stockholm.

FINLAND: The Red Army breaches the Mannerheim Line at Summa.

(Mikko Härmeinen adds):

After more than a week of fighting, the Red Army finally breaches the Mannerheim line. So far the Finnish troops had been able to stop the Soviet advances and conquer back the lost territory, but this brutal trench warfare has badly worn the Finnish Army units. Outside Finland, the best known battles of the Winter War are usually those of Suomussalmi, and people often think of Finnish troops skiing through snow-covered forests, hitting the enemy and then disappearing back to the woods. But at the Karelian Isthmus, which is the most important front of the war, there's no room for such manoeuvres. The troops had to stand or die. The Finnish tactics reveal there one bad flaw: the lost territory is always tried to win back with immediate counter-attacks, when in fact a more flexible defence could perhaps save men and be more successful in the longer run. But the war is fought in Finnish territory, and the men and officers alike think in similar terms: not an inch backwards. Many of the men in the front are hastily trained replenishment troops (contrary to what is commonly believed, the Finnish Army did not run out of men in the Winter War, but of *trained* men - there were about two divisions worth of untrained manpower when the war started), and there are more and more instances of panic at the front when the men are faced by the reality of Soviet superiority of firepower.

In Summa, at the Lähde sector defended by the battered 3rd Division (Col. Paavo Paalu), the Soviet 123rd (sic; Col. Filipp Aljabushev) Division breaks through the Mannerheim line. It is defended by the newly arrived and badly understrength IInd battalion (Capt. Arthur Lindman) of the Infantry Regiment 9, now subordinated to the war-worn IR 8 (Maj. Sulo Laaksonen; such switching of battalions between regiments was common in the Finnish Army, esp. during the Winter War). Lindman's battalion has less than 400 men and only one AT-gun, and the Finnish artillery, as usual, is badly short of ammunition. The Soviet attack is planned well, and the defender is literally buried under the strength of the assault. The desperate Finnish counter-attacks fail to push the Soviets back, but the breakthrough is contained for the time being. This day is the beginning of the end.

CANADA: The Governor-General of Canada, Sir John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, (well-known as the author John Buchan) dies in Montreal, Quebec, after surgery for head injuries suffered during a stroke five days ago. He was 64. His suspense novel “Thirty-Nine Steps” later became famous when Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie released in 1935. New versions of the film were made in 1959 and 1978.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

Steam trawler Togimo sunk by U-37 at 50.40N, 11.02W.

At 2354, the Orania was hit by one torpedo from U-50 and sank within three minutes 65 miles NNE of Flugga lightvessel, Shetlands. The U-boat had spotted the vessel at 2240, but was not able to identify her as neutral. The wife of the master was also aboard.

The unescorted Imperial Transport was torpedoed and damaged by U-53 (Grosse) in 59°N/12°W (grid AM 1490). Two crewmembers were lost.

At 1820, the Linda was hit by one torpedo from U-9 and broke in two. The forepart sank immediately and the stern followed four minutes later.

At 1100, the neutral Snestad was torpedoed and sunk by U-53 about 100 miles west of the Hebrides. The survivors were picked up after 22 hours by Albert L. Ellsworth and landed at Bergen.

11 February 1941

February 11th, 1941 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: The Stirling bomber made its operational debut last night when three of No. 7 Squadron's Stirlings, led by Sqn. Ldr. Griffith-Jones, DFC, dropped 56 500lb bombs on oil-storage tanks in Rotterdam.

Prime Minister to Minister of Shipping:

Is it true that the steamship 'New Toronto', which arrived at Liverpool, was ordered to proceed north-about to London, and is it true that this order was only cancelled as a result of the protest of the captain, who pointed out the enormous value of his cargo, which contained, inter alia, 19,677 sub-machine guns and 2,456,000 cartridges? The arrival of these ships with large consignments of invaluable munitions ought to receive your personal attention in every case.

Submarine HMS Ultimatum launched.

Light cruiser Jacob Van Heemskerck commissioned.

FRANCE: Admiral Darlan becomes Marshall Petain's successor and Deputy in the Vichy government. Darlan is also named Foreign Minister, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Information, and Commander in Chief of the French Navy.

THE NETHERLANDS: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Romania.

GERMANY:

U-80 launched.

U-68 commissioned.

LIBYA: Tripoli: The first troops of German 5th Light Infantry Division land.

ITALIAN SOMALILAND: South African and Gold Coast troops occupy the military centre of Afmadu.

U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Aaron Ward and Buchanan laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Submarine HMS Snapper is sunk in the Atlantic Southwest of Ushant. All 39 crew are lost. It is believed that she was attacked by German minesweepers M2, M13 and M25 which were conducting an A/S sweep in the area and dropped over 50 depth charges when Snapper broke surface after firing a torpedo. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Between 0133 and 0135, U-136 fired four torpedoes at Convoy SC-67 south of Iceland and reported hits on two steamers and on a corvette and later sighted debris and two lifeboats. In fact, the Heina and HMCS Spikenard were sunk. Heina in station #72 was hit below the #2 hatch, developed a heavy list and sank vertically three hours later. All men were picked up by HMCS Dauphin and landed at Londonderry, where the injured master was taken to a hospital. The remaining survivors left for Glasgow on 14 February.

Destroyer ORP Blyskawica escorted a convoy to Iceland. But on the 14th she was again damaged in a storm and returned to Greenock.

11 February 1942

February 11th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Destroyer HMS Ledbury commissioned.

ASW trawler HMS Duncton commissioned.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: Scharnhorst , Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen made their "Channel Dash" in Operation Cerberus.

Operation Cerberus. Leaves Brest with Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen escorted the destroyers Paul Jakobi, Richard Beitzen, Friedrich Ihn, Hermann Schoemann, Z-25, and Z-29 for a dash through the English Channel. Group commanded by Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax. Scharnhorst strikes two mines while passing through the English Channel but enters Wilhelmshaven on the 13th.

FRANCE: During the night of the 11-12, 25 Wellingtons and 6 Whitleys of RAF Bomber Command bomb Le Havre; one Wellington is lost. Other operations include 18 Wellingtons attacking Brest (one Wellington is lost) and five aircraft flying leaflet missions.

VICHY FRANCE: Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France, receives instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the U.S. government has learned that French ships are to be used to transport war materiel between France and Tunisia, and that unless the French government gives assurances that no military aid would go forward to any Axis power, and that French ships would not be used in the furtherance of Axis acts of aggression in any theater of war, the ambassador would be recalled to the United States "for consultation in a determination of American future policy with regard to the government of Vichy."

GERMANY: During the night of the 11-12th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 aircraft to bomb Mannheim while one Manchester drops mines in the Frisian Islands.

U-422 laid down.

U-518 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: ML "Doob" - mined in Kazachiya bay in Sevastopol (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

BURMA: Additional Japanese forces cross the Salween River in the Paan area and engulf a battalion of the Indian 46th Brigade.

SINGAPORE: At 0300 hours, a Japanese force advancing along the Jurong Road eastward towards the village of Bukit Timah, encounters and virtually annihilates an Australian battalion. The Japanese then pass through the village. The Allies make four counterattacks against the Japanese invaders but all fails with heavy losses and they must retreat to their final perimeter around the city itself. Lieutenant General YAMASHITA Tomoyuki, Commander of the 25th Army, now has 30,000 men on the island and calls on the British commander to surrender. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, who has 85,000 men, rejects the demand.

AUSTRALIA: American supply officers struggle to find charter boats and pilots who can sail supplies through the Japanese blockade to Bataan. They have no luck.
Eleven USAAF 5th Air Force A-24 Dauntlesses depart Darwin, Northern Territory, for a two-day flight to Java.

Vice Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich of the Netherlands Navy succeeded Admiral Hart as Commander of United Nations naval forces in the SW Pacific.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Nine USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s arrive at Blimbing Airdrome on Java after flying from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, via Timor Island.

Submarine USS Seal leaves Surabaya for Tjilatjap.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the I Corps makes substantial progress against Big Pocket, but the enemy succeeds in withdrawing through a gap on the north side. In the South Sector, the Japanese fall back to Silaiim Point, between the Silaiim and Anyasan Rivers, under pressure.

The US submarine Shark I (SS-174), commanded by Louis Shane Jr., is believed sunk by Japanese surface craft (the destroyer Yamakaze - Mountain Wind ) 120 miles off Menado, Celebes in position 01.45N, 127.15E. The destroyer spotted a submarine and opened fire with its 5" guns noting the sub soon started to sink. Voices were heard in the water but no attempt was made to rescue survivors. All 58 hands are lost. (Joe Sauder, Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: In Montreal, Quebecois riot against conscription plans that may call for Canadian draftees to be sent overseas to fight, in violation of government policy. Canadian troops who cannot be sent overseas are called "Zombies."

HMCS Standard Coaster commissioned for coil skid towing duties.

U.S.A.: Washington: Secretary of War Henry Stimson calls President Roosevelt and recommends the mass evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the Pacific Coast area. Roosevelt tells Stimson to do whatever he believes is necessary. (Scott Peterson) More...

Submarine USS Tradewind laid down.

USS PC-474 commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Radiant commissioned.

WEST INDIES: U.S. Army troops arrive at Curacao and Aruba to assume occupation duty (with the cooperation of the British and Dutch governments) at this naval operating base whose primary mission will be port security, convoy routing, and protection of tankers transporting oil to U.S. ports.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Whilst escorting convoy SC.67, Flower class corvette RCN HMCS Spikenard is torpedoed and sunk by U-136. There are 8 survivors. Prior to 7 Dec 41 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, USN had been "unofficially" escorting convoys along the Eastern Seaboard of the US to ensure the safety of "Neutral" American merchant vessels. US efforts went a long way in assisting the RN and RCN with convoy duties freeing up many ships for convoy escort across the Atlantic. However, most don't realize that the Japanese attack with the official US entry into the war brought an immediate decrease in USN support in the Atlantic as the US diverted ships to the Pacific. As indicated in the official history of the Canadian Navy in WW.II - "The Far Distant Ships", - "...the blow which fell on Dec 7 was of such stunning magnitude that for the moment all plans relating to the western war had to be altered to stem a tide of absolute disaster. Before US strength had ever reached the size envisaged in the plan for the Atlantic, it had to be diverted to the Pacific. US ships had to be withdrawn from the western Atlantic in such numbers that by Feb 42 only 2 USCG cutters remained on escort duty." This US withdrawal from the Atlantic, coupled with the RN ships now needed in the Pacific and for Russian support on the Murmansk run, left Atlantic convoys stripped of escorts. Early in 1942 (a "happy time" for the German U-boats), the real backbone of the Atlantic convoys were the tiny, short-ranged and under-armed Canadian corvettes. Into the winter storms, Convoy SC.67 sailed early in Feb 42 from Newfoundland - bound for Londonderry. The Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard was the senior ship of the escort for SC.67. Other escorts included HMCS Chilliwack, Shediac, Louisburg, Lethbridge and Dauphin. All went well until just before 2300, on 10 Feb. The convoy was due south of Iceland, when Chilliwack attacked a submerged contact on the port bow of the formation. Almost immediately thereafter, Louisburg at the rear of the convoy spotted the wake of a torpedo running down her port side. Spikenard had been zigzagging on the starboard wing of the convoy when another torpedo struck the nearby tanker, Heina. A few seconds later, Spikenard was struck by a torpedo that ripped out her forepeak and destroyed the bridge and radio. Spikenard may have become aware of U-136 in the few minutes before - as action stations had been sounded and the speed increased just before she was hit. We'll never know, because not a man on Spikenard's bridge survived that night. In a few minutes, Spikenard sunk by the fore and headed for the bottom. Only eight men survived - to be found by a westbound British ship the next day. Spikenard had been torpedoed at about the same time as the tanker, and sank so quickly, that the other escorts didn't realize she was gone until morning. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)(108).

11 February 1943

February 11th, 1943 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Churchill announced in Commons that when the British, Eighth Army passed into the American sphere it would be subject to General Eisenhower, that General Alexander would be Deputy Commander in Chief. Air Chief Marshall Tedder was to command Mediterranean air operations as well as the air forces in the Middle East, responsible to General Eisenhower. Admiral Cunningham's command was extended to comprise all cognate operations in the Mediterranean and the Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean would become Commander in Chief of the Levant and the Red Sea. Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson would succeed General Alexander in the Middle East.

Boom defence vessel HMS Barberry launched.

GERMANY: RAF bombers start on a campaign of heavy night raids on Wilhelmshaven naval base tonight.

U-969, U-970 launched.

U-962 commissioned.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Between 1125 and 1145, U-81 shelled and sank three sailing vessels in a convoy, the Husni, Dolphin and Al Kasbanah, 40 miles west of Tripoli. At 1505 the same day, the U-boat sank the Sabah el Kheir with gunfire off Jaffa.

INDIAN OCEAN: At 0652, the unescorted Helmspey was torpedoed by U-516 and sunk at 0712 by coup de grâce 11 miles south of Cape St Francis, Cape Colony. Three crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 32 crewmembers, seven gunners and two passengers (naval ratings) were picked up by the SAAF crash launch R-4 and landed at Port Elizabeth.

AUSTRALIA: Submarine USS Grampus departs Brisbane for her 6th war patrol.

CANADA: Corvette HMS Rosebay (ex-USS Splendor) launched Kingston, Ontario.

U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS White Plains laid down.

USS PC-607 launched.

USS SC-1325 launched.

USS SC-1296 laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Bangust laid down.

Corvette HMCS Hepatica arrived New York for refit.

11 February 1944

February 11th, 1944 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, speaking as leader of the House of Commons, today denied allegations made yesterday by Aneurin Bevan, the fiery Welsh Labour MP, that the government is guilty of corruption in putting many MPs on the state payroll with jobs outside parliament. As a wartime measure the prime minister can exempt MPs from having to give up their Commons seats if they accept "offices of profit under the crown". Mr Bevan accused Mr Churchill of issuing such exemptions "like confetti" and thus buying parliamentary support. Many MPs have taken emergency jobs ranging from ambassadorships to posts on obscure public bodies. The government denied impropriety, but promised to review the system.

Destroyer HMCS Huron arrived Loch Ewe with convoy RA.56.

Minesweeper HMS Rifleman commissioned.

Rescue tug HMS Envoy launched.

GERMANY:

U-1301 commissioned.

U-775 launched.

ITALY: The Allied offensive south of Rome is stopped at Cassino.

ALBANIA: Brig. Arthur Frederick Crane Nicholls (b.1911), Coldstream Guards, died of injuries after enduring terrible pain - he ordered a man to cut off his frost-bitten legs - to deliver vital intelligence. (George Cross)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Gudgeon torpedoes and sinks Satsuma Maru (3091 BRT) off Wenchow, China, in position 27.38N, 121.15E.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Submarine USS Finback ends her 7th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escort FS Tunesian (ex-USS Crosley) commissioned.

USS PC-814 laid down.

Escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay commissioned.

Destroyer USS Stockham commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Lloyd commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-283 (ObLtzS Günther Ney, CO) VIIC is sunk south-west of the Faeroes, in position 60.45N, 12.50W, by depth charges from a Canadian Wellington aircraft (RCAF Sqdn. 407/D). 49 dead (all hands lost).
U-424 VIIC is sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland, in position 50.00N, 18.14W, by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Wild Goose and Woodpecker. 50 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

11 February 1945

February 11th, 1945 (SUNDAY)

BELGIUM: Brussels: Achille van Acker forms a government of national unity.

GERMANY: Cleve falls to British and Canadian troops.

U.S.S.R.: Yalta: President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and the British prime minister Winston Churchill, the leaders of the "Big Three" Allied powers, today spelt out the decisions reached in a week's conference here. They have decided to divide Germany into four zones of occupation, one for each of the Big Three and a fourth for France. A conference will be held in San Francisco in April to prepare the charter of a new United Nations organization.

Agreement was reached on new governments for Poland and Yugoslavia. The Soviet-backed Lublin government for Poland would include members from London, and the partisan leader, Marshal Tito, would join Ivan Subasich, the royalist prime minister, in the Yugoslav government. Other agreements are being kept a little quieter: Stalin is to declare war on Japan within two months of the end of the war in Europe, and changes to the Polish borders will in effect move the country westwards, enabling the Russians to annex areas in the east. The conference was held in a former czarist palace overlooking the Black Sea, beautiful but plagued with bedbugs.

BURMA: Whilst supporting army operations, destroyer HMS Pathfinder is attacked by JAAF aircraft. Although no bomb hits were scored, the effect of bombs dropped in shallow water was similar to the effects of mining, and Pathfinder suffered considerable shock damage and was immobilised. Towed to Chittagong, she was surveyed but not repaired. Location: Coast of Burma at Pakseik Taungmauw, S of Akyab. (Alex Gordon)(108)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine RO.112 is sunk by USS Batfish north of Luzon. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)

Submarine USS Drum departs Guam for her 13th war patrol. She was ordered to perform lifeguard duties off the Nansei Shoto.

Submarine USS Pogy ends her 8th war patrol at Midway.

Submarine USS Pompon ends her 7th war patrol at Midway.

Submarine USS Puffer departs Guam for her 7th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Long Branch arrived Halifax for refit.

U.S.A.: Allied decisions sealing the doom of Nazi Germany and German militarism, coordinating military plans for Germany's occupation and control and maintaining order and establishing popular governments in liberated countries were signed yesterday by President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill near Yalta in the Crimea, the White House announced today.

The conference, held in the summer palace of former Czar Nicholas II on the black Sea shore, also called for a United Nations security conference in San Francisco on April 25.

The parleys, hitherto shrouded in secrecy except for a brief outline of the agenda issued Feb. 7, were held day and night from Feb. 4 until the final signatures were affixed. The announcement did not refer to President Roosevelt's future movements except that he had left the Crimea.

Main Points of Accord

Major decisions of the conference include:

(1) Plans for new blows at the heart of Germany from the east, west, north and south.

(2) Agreement for occupation by the three Allies, each of a separate zone, as Germany is invaded, and an invitation to France to take over a zone and participate as a fourth member of the Control Commission.

(3) Reparations in kind to be paid by Germany for damages, to be set by an Allied commission. The reparations commission, which will establish the type and amount of payments by Germany, will have its headquarters in Moscow.

[Secretary of State Stettinius and Ambassador Harriman arrived in Moscow Monday.]

(4) Settlement of questions left undecided at the conference at Dumbarton Oaks and decision to call a United Nations conference at San Francisco April 25 to prepare the charter for a general international organization to maintain peace and security.

(5) Specific agreements to widen the scope of the present Governments in Poland and Yugoslavia and an understanding to keep order and establish Governments in liberated countries conforming to the popular will and the principles of the Atlantic Charter.

(6) A general declaration of determination to maintain Allied unity for peace.

German People Apart

The statement announced common policies for enforcing unconditional surrender and imposing Nazi Germany's doom. The document draws a distinction between the Nazi system, laws and institutions, the German General Staff and its militarism, which will be relentlessly wiped out, and the German people.

"It is not our purpose," it declared," to destroy the people of Germany, but only when nazism and militarism have been extirpated will there be hope for a decent life for Germans, and a place for them in the community of nations."

Until this conference the Allies had laid down no iron-clad program for the control and complete reorganization of Germany. Military plans will be made known only "as we execute them," said the statement, and the surrender terms "not until the final defeat has been accomplished.U Coordinated administration and control has been provided in a central Control Commission, which will be established with headquarters in Berlin. Part of its work will be to insist on the destruction of all German military equipment, elimination or control of all German industry that could be used for military production, the punishment of war criminals and the wiping out of all Nazi institutions from the German economic and cultural life.

The document mentioned no discussion of plans in the Far eastern theatre of the war or any understanding with the Soviet Union for entry into the war against Japan, but the fact that the date for the United Nations conference, April 25, comes one day after the date determining of a renewal of the Russo-Japanese agreement was remarked as significant.

That San Francisco had been chosen as the site for the next security conference of the United Nations, along with the date, aroused considerable interest here because of the city's remoteness from the European theatre of war and its position nearer the Far Eastern theatre.

New Cabinet Indicated

Special dispositions with regard to Poland include the widening of the present Provisional Government to include other democratic leaders in Poland and abroad.

The agreement sets the Polish eastern boundary, with a few alterations in favor of Poland, along the Curzon Line and recognizes that Poland must acquire substantial territory in the north and west but leaves these decisions to the peace conference. This is the first official mention to confirm the Allies'

contemplation of a general peace conference.

With regard to the conflict for power in Yugoslavia the Allies have agreed that Marshal Tito and Dr. Ivan Subasitch shall set up the Government they have proposed but to include former members of the Parliament who did not collaborate with the enemy.

These Governments, it is provided, will be succeeded by those formed in conformity with desires expressed in popular elections and in the spirit of the Atlantic Charter. The statement does not deal specifically with the situation in Greece or other countries but declares that the conference also made a general review of other Balkan questions.

Fascism to Be Uprooted

In a declaration on the liberated areas, the Allies announced the intention of consulting in the interests of the liberated peoples and to cooperate in rebuilding the national economic life in these countries. Vestiges of nazism and fascism are to be destroyed, and the Allies will cooperate to establish internal peace, carry relief and form interim governments broadly representative in the Axis satellite states as well as in liberated Allied countries.

An important feature of the international security discussions was contained in the announcements that the three powers had reached agreement on the disputed question of voting procedure, which prevented completion of the work at Dumbarton Oaks. No indication of the solution was given.

The three Chiefs of State were assisted by their Foreign Ministers, chiefs of military staffs and numerous other experts, as was the case in the previous three-power meetings. Besides Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius Jr., President Roosevelt was accompanied by Harry L. Hopkins, his special assistant, and Justice James F. Byrnes, Director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.

Other United States delegates included W. Averell Harriman, Ambassador to the Soviet Union; H. Freeman Matthews, the State Department's Director of European Affairs; Alger Hiss, Deputy Director of Special Political Affairs, and Charles E. Bohlen, assistant to the Secretary of State.

Throughout the Conference President Roosevelt occupied apartments in the former palace of the Czars. Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill were housed in separate establishments near by.

Three women were with the delegations. Though they did not participate in the discussions, they were received as conference guests. They were Mrs. Anna Boettiger, daughter of President and Mrs. Roosevelt; Mrs. Sarah Oliver, daughter of Prime Minister and Mrs. Churchill, and Kathleen Harriman, daughter of the Ambassador to Moscow.

President Roosevelt's party also included Edward J. Flynn of New York, who did not attend conference meetings but was invited as a personal friend when Mr. Roosevelt learned that he was planning a visit to Moscow.

Leahy Also in Party

Others in the President's personal party were Admiral William D. Leahy, chief of staff to the President; Mr. Byrnes, Vice Admirals Ross T. McIntyre and Wilson Brown, Maj. Gen. Edwin M. Watson and Stephen Early, the President's secretary.

President Roosevelt, whose movements have been obscured by censorship for more than three weeks, left Washington for the Crimea conference almost immediately after his inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 20. The details of the voyage were not made public, but it was revealed that the President met Prime Minister Churchill on the island of Malta, which the British and American delegations reached Feb. 2. President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill made a prolonged exchange of views and there were formal discussions between the British and United States Military chiefs of staff.

President Roosevelt left Malta the night of Feb. 2, going by air direct to Yalta, where he was met by Foreign Commissar Vyacheslaff M. Molotoff, who extended greetings for Marshal Stalin.

The Presidential party proceeded along the Black Sea shore two miles southwest to Livadia, where stands the magnificent Summer Palace.

Meetings began the next day on the arrival of Marshal Stalin, who flew from his headquarters on the Russian front, where the Silesian Offensive was just getting under way. The delegates met either in committees or as a group.

Besides daily meetings of the three heads of Governments and the Foreign Secretaries, separate meetings of the Foreign Secretaries and their advisers were held daily.

The Foreign Secretaries arranged for regular conferences every three of four months. The meetings will be held in rotation in the three capitals, the first to be called in London after the San Francisco meeting.

At the close of the conference President Roosevelt presented to Marshal Stalin a number of decorations awarded by the United States to military men in the Red Army. Those to be decorated will receive the rank of commander in the Legion of Merit. They include Marshal Alexander M. Vasilevsky, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army; Air Chief Marshal Alexander A. Novikoff, commanding general of the Red Air Forces; Gen. A. K. Repin, Chief of the Soviet Military Mission to the United States; Lieutenant General Brendal, Lieutenant Colonel Krolenko, Major General Levanovich, Major General Slavin, Deputy Chief of the Red Army Staff, and Colonel Byaz.

The decorations were given in recognition of distinguished services in connection with their cooperation in American Air Force shuttle-bombing operations in Germany.

The first news of the historic consultation at Yalta was issued at the White House by Jonathan Daniels, administrative assistant to the President, who opened his announcement to the impatient correspondents with the statement:

"This is it."

Announcement of the Allied report on the conference made in the Senate was greeted with cheers, which continued while the upper house adjourned.

Frigate USS Forsyth commissioned.

Seaplane tender USS Gardiners Bay commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Persier, the ship of the convoy commodore in BTC-65, was torpedoed by U-1018 four miles 340° from the Eddystone Lighthouse. The ship was taken in tow, but sank during the night in the Bigbury Bay in position 50°17N/03°58W. 20 men were lost and eleven wounded from the complement of 59 Belgian crewmembers, four naval staff members, four gunners and four stowaways.

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