World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Saturday January 4, 1941
Day 492

January 4, 1941: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "No New Year Broadcast by Stalin"


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Birmingham Gazette, Birmingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline report: "2 French Warships Torpedoed And Sunk"
(French submarine Sfax and French tanker Rhone were both sunk by U-37.)
Also note the report in columns 2-3: "Liner's Secret Out - Queen Elizabeth at the Cape"
(The press providing the enemy with the location of one of the targets ships in the world, which makes it one of the largest targets in the world.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "Russia Seen As Preparing To Fight Nazis"


January 4, 1941: Front page of The News, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 1: "German Freedom Radio Eludes Gestapo"


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
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January 4, 1941: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
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January 4, 1941: Front page of The Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at top left: "British Sub Scores Victory"
(True, HMS Thunderbolt sank the Italian submarine Capitano Raffaele Tarantini on Dec. 15, 1940. There were only 5 survivors. Thunderbolt is the Ex HMS Thetis which sank on June 1, 1939. HMS Thunderbolt was lost in March of 1943 for unknown reasons).
 
Also note the report in columns 4-5: "Count Felix von Luckner, Who Won the Name of Sea Devil During World War, Is reported on Prowl"
(On the word of a Norwegian survivor, the world's press reports that Count Felix von Luckner, the infamous commanding officer of SMS Seeadler, a German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] in the Great War, was at sea in one of the Hilfskreuzer currently operating in the Pacific. The truth was, that he was living in Sweden and had fallen out with the Nazi government.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Deutsches Kriegsschiff auf Jagd im Pazifik.
(German warship on the hunt in the Pacific.)
2. Japaner auf den Bermudas ausgeraubt.
(Japanese robbed in Bermuda.)
Note the report at center: "10 000 Tonner im Gefecht versenkt"
(10,000 tonner sunk in combat.)
[The Germans reporting the loss of the British freighter Turakina, which was sunk by the German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] Orion on Aug. 20, 1940.)
Also note the report in column 4: "Die Flucht der Queen Elizabeth - In Kapstadt eingetroffen"
(The escape of Queen Elizabeth - Arrived in Cape Town.)
[The Germans letting the Allies and the press know that they are watching and reading.]


January 4, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Antwort auf die britischen Angriffe gegen Bremen.
(Reply to the British attacks on Bremen.)
2. Vergeltungsschlag auf den Kohlenhafen Cardiff.
(Attack on the coal port Cardiff.)



   
Page published January 4, 2022