Monday, November 7, 2011

Day 801 November 9, 1941

At 1 AM, British cruisers HMS Aurora & HMS Penelope and destroyers HMS Lance & HMS Lively intercept and destroy the Italian/German Beta convoy from Italy to Libya. Using radar, they sink all 5 freighters and both tankers plus Italian destroyer Fulmine and badly damage destroyers Grecale and Maestrale. Without radar, the escorting Italian cruisers and destroyers are unable to find the British ships (which return to Malta with all haste). 704 survivors from the convoy are rescued. At 6.40 AM, British submarine HMS Upholder torpedoes Italian destroyer Libeccio involved in the rescue operation (Libeccio is taken in tow by destroyer Euro but sinks). HMS Upholder also unsuccessfully attacks Italian cruisers Trento and Trieste.

Soviet Separate Coastal Army under General Petrov is shipped into Sevastopol after resting in the Caucacus following the defense and evacuation from Odessa. They arrive with 19,894 troops, 10 T-26 tanks and 152 artillery pieces, bringing the total defense of the city to 52,000 troops, 170 guns and 100 aircraft.

In the Black Sea, Hungarian freighter Ungvar is destroyed by a mine laid by Soviet submarine L-4. Romanian torpedo boats Viforul and Vijelia are sunk by the explosion.

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