Latvian freighter Ciltvaira after being torpedoed by German U-boat U-123 off Cape Hatteras, NC, 19 January 1942.
Battle of the Pacific: The battles on the Malay Peninsula in the Muar/Yong Peng area continue on 19 January 1942, but it is developing into a Japanese rout. The British order 45th Brigade and two attached Australian battalions, which together have been operating as Muar Force, to withdraw south, but this is easier said than done. Japanese planes bomb the headquarters of Indian 45th Brigade and kill its senior officers, leading to massive confusion and the brigade being taken over by an Australian officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Anderson. Anderson orders the retreat, and the defeated and dispirited Commonwealth troops embark on a desperate trek south toward Johore.
"Studio portrait of NX60119 Corporal (Cpl) Ernest Brown, 2/19th Battalion of Molong, NSW. The husband of Eleanor Mary Brown, Cpl Brown was killed in action in Malaya on 19 January 1942, aged 38. His son and namesake, NX60115 Ernest Godfrey Brown enlisted in July 1940 and served with the 2/19 Australian Infantry Battalion. Another son, NX178149 Lance Corporal Leslie Arthur Brown, enlisted March 1944 and served in both the Second World War and with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan." Australian War Memorial P07939.001.
The 45th Brigade's line of retreat further south, though, is under attack by the Japanese 4th Guards Regiment, further scrambling the British plans. The 45th Brigade must pass through Parit Sulong about 5 miles (8 km) west of Yong Peng, but the Japanese are there already. The Indian 11th Division and British 18th Division (the 6th Norfolk Battalion of the 53rd British Brigade) are trying to hold open the line of retreat but are forced out of a key defensive position on the north ridge of the valley near Parit Sulong during the afternoon. The defending troops struggle through the thick jungle in the valley, cross the only bridge in the area, and set up their next position on the southern ridge of the valley. This, unfortunately, leaves the bridge the 45th Brigade must also cross in Japanese hands. Without any communications equipment, the British troops are operating independently and headquarters has no idea of their situation. Thus, the retreating 45th Brigade continues heading blindly toward the bridge and assumes that its line of retreat remains open. During the night, the local British commanders make plans to recapture the bridge and reopen the line of retreat before the 45th Brigade arrives, but the Allied position is rife with confusion and cases of mistaken identity and nobody has a complete picture of the situation.
At Batu Pahat, the 2nd Battalion of the Malay Regiment retreats under pressure from its river line south to Senggarang airstrip, an area of coconut plantations and mangrove swamps. The 2000 troops fight hard but take too many casualties to hold. They gradually move toward Ponggor for a seaborne evacuation on 28 January.
A soldier explains the workings of a Bren gun on an anti-aircraft mounting to two factory workers at a weapons demonstration at Bellevue, Manchester, 19 January 1942.
The Commonwealth troops have fought well but throughout the campaign are hobbled by numerical inferiority, insufficient equipment, and ineffective leadership. The Allies only extricate about 850 out of 4500 troops to defend Johore Province directly to the north of Singapore. The British form East Force, composed of the Australian 22nd Brigade, 2/17th Dogra Battalion, and the Jat Battalion. The Japanese are now only 30 miles (48 km) from Singapore Island itself.
"Threat to Singapore Growing" is the main headline in the 19 January 1942 Winnipeg Free Press.
Winston Churchill is following the developments in Singapore quite closely. He cables General Archibald Lord Wavell, General Officer Commanding Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, Southwest Pacific, to find out what is going to happen when the Japanese reach Singapore itself. Wavell, who is far from being one of Churchill's favorite generals, responds:
There are neither plans nor fortifications to defend the north side of this impregnable fortress.
It is impossible to know for certain whether Wavell is being outright sarcastic, but it sure seems like it.
On the same day, Churchill meets with and sends a memo to General Hastings Ismay, his military adviser and link with the Chiefs of Staff Committee, about Singapore. Ismay recalls that Churchill was in a "towering rage" about the matter. The memo reads:
I must confess to being staggered by Wavell’s telegram of the 16th and other telegrams on the same subject. It never occurred to me for a moment…that the gorge of the fortress of Singapore, with its splendid moat half a mile to a mile wide, was not entirely fortified against an attack from the northward.
Taking no chances, Churchill sends orders to create defenses, stating, "no question of surrender be entertained until after protracted fighting among the ruins of Singapore city." Wavell already has instructed local commander Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, to do on 7 January 1942.
Percival thinks that building defensive fortifications is bad for morale and tells his subordinates to hire local laborers. He lacks authority to conscript civilian laborers for military work. The locals, affected by Japanese propaganda broadcasts from Penang (including by captured Indian soldiers formerly in British military service), refuse to work until their salary demands are met - which doesn't happen for five more days. Construction of defenses also is hampered by the fact that the water table is very near to the surface. The attitude of the local Chinese is turning all across the island - they eliminate the "chit" or credit system for Europeans, forcing them to pay with cash.
The Norfolk (Virginia) Ledger-Dispatch of 19 January 1942 is full of news about the recent spate of U-boat attacks just off the east coast of the United States.
In the Philippines, the battles along the neck of the Bataan Peninsula are going a little bit better for the Allies than in Malaya, but only by a little bit. The Japanese have mounted a major push in the center of the overall line which threatens the entire US position on the peninsula, and most of the day's events concern Allied attempts to stop this threat. In the II Corps sector on the eastern half of the front, the 45th Infantry Division of the Philippine Scouts advances along the Balantay River in the western half of the sector (the middle of the overall line). They fill a gap in the line between the Philippine Army 41st Division (of II Corps) and the US 31st Infantry Division (of I Corps). This Japanese attempt to sidestep the Allied defensive forces as in Malaya thus is blocked, but Japanese pressure continues everywhere. In the I Corps sector on the western half of the front, a Japanese column advances through the Abo-Abo River valley and runs into the 31st Division near the center of the overall line. Fierce fighting rages throughout the day, but ultimately the 31st Division is forced to withdraw after nightfall. The Japanese are attempting their infiltration techniques in this sector as well, and the Filipino 92nd Infantry Division sends troops to Mount Silanganan on the corps' eastern flank (also near the center of the overall line) to block them.
Captain J. Dodge, master of US tanker S.S. Malaya, attacked on 19 January 1942 off North Carolina by U-123. Dodge manages to get his damaged tanker to port. He is much luckier than some other ships' masters who perish in attacks today. (Naval History and Heritage Command NH 44608).
Singosari Airdrome on Java, Netherlands East Indies (East Java), has become a center for the Allied air effort. The RAAF forces based in Singapore have relocated there, and today the US Army Air Force sends from Australia the ground echelon to two B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons. Nine B-17s of the Far East Air Force already at Singosari attack Japanese shipping off Jolo Island in the Philippines. The bombers (less three that have to turn back for mechanical reasons) bomb the shipping and then land at Del Monte Field on Mindanao. This is an early example of "shuttle bombing." The war at sea off the Philippines is in full swing, and today PT-31 runs aground on a reef north of Mayagao Point, Bataan after its engines fail. This raises dark suspicions among the Allies of local sabotage.
"North Atlantic Patrol" is the cover story of Life magazine on 19 January 1942.
In Borneo, the Japanese at 07:00 land troops from ships in Sandakan Harbor. The local British authorities quickly surrender British North Borneo, leaving local European residents unprotected.
U-67 in port at Lorient, France on 19 January 1942 as it prepares to depart on its third war patrol. That may be Kptlt. Günther Müller-Stöckheim in the conning tower (Meisinger, Rudolf, Federal Archive Bild 101II-MW-4368-36).
Battle of the Atlantic: As part of Operation Drumbeat, U-123 (Kptlt. Reinhardt Hardegen) continues its reign of terror on U.S. shipping off the east coast of the United States. U-123 hits four ships today:
sinks 5269-ton US freighter City of Atlanta about 32.5 miles (52 km) northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (44 deaths, three survivors);
sinks 4497-ton US freighter Brazos
damages (it later sinks while under tow) 3779-ton Latvian freighter Ciltvaira (two dead, 29 survivors);
damages 8206-ton US tanker Malay (the tanker makes it to Hampton Roads).
So far, pickings are easy on the US side of the Atlantic because shipping has not been organized into convoys, blackout conditions are not in effect, and Allied patrols are few and far between.
A postcard dedicated to the "five ladies" of the British West Indies services: Lady Hawkins, Lady Nelson, Lady Drake, Lady Rodney, and Lady Somers. It becomes four ladies on 19 January 1942 when U-66 torpedoes and sinks Lady Hawkins.
These are not the only Kriegsmarine successes near North America today, however. In addition, U-66 (Kptlt. Richard Zapp), operating east of Wilmington, North Carolina, torpedoes and sinks 7988-ton Canadian freighter Lady Hawkins (250 dead including Captain H. Griffin, 71 survivors). Lady Hawkins was on its regular run to Bermuda. Far to the north, 6082-ton British freighter Empire Kingfisher hits a rock and sinks about 4 miles south of Clark's Harbor on Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (this sinking is sometimes credited to U-109 (Kptlt. Heinrich Bleichrodt), and the date of loss is sometimes given as 18 January 1942).
Battle of the Mediterranean: One of the oddities of World War II is that the war in the desert ebbs and flows based on events at sea. On 19 January 1942, an Axis supply convoy gets through to Tripoli bringing the Afrika Korps an abundance of supplies. These include 55 new panzers, 20 armored cars, and a large quantity of fuel, food, and ammunition. The British, meanwhile, have had to draw several large units from the Middle East due to the Japanese threats to Singapore and Burma. Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel has plenty of ideas for offensives as commander of Panzer Group Afrika, and he now has the tools to reverse the British gains during Operation Crusader and even dream of bigger victories at Cairo and toward Syria. Meanwhile, on the British side, General Claude E. Auchinleck, General Officer Commanding Middle East Command, issues orders reiterating the priority of continuing the recent advance to the German headquarters in Tripoli.
Eastern Front: The Soviet counteroffensive around Moscow continues unabated, with the Red Army capturing Mozhaisk about 100 km west of Moscow. This had been a key Red Army position during Operation Typhoon. In addition, Soviet paratroopers continue landing south of Smolensk in the Vyazam area. Their goal is to distract enough German troop strength from the front to help Red Army attacks further east and also to organize partisan forces.
In the Crimea, the German 30 Corps' attack toward the Parpach Narrows continues with growing confidence. The German troops pursue two divisions of Soviet 44th Army east along the Black Sea Coast in the Feodosia area, undermining the Red Army defensive line just to the north. The main Soviet advantage is that the Parpach Narrows offers a shortened defensive line where the Red Army may be able to stop the advancing Germans.
Arthur H. Compton on 19 January 1942. Compton is working at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, Illinois. (Photograph of Compton courtesy of the University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-01862, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, via Atomic Heritage Foundation).
Manhattan Project: President Roosevelt, who has been placing a high priority on atomic research ever since receiving Albert Einstein's famous letter of August 1939, approves the findings of the British MAUD Report. Those findings included the projection that an atomic bomb of devastating impact could be developed. FDR today sends Vannevar Bush, who basically is the Atomic Bomb Czar, a handwritten note after reviewing the report. The note reads:
V.B. OK - returned [his copy of the MAUD Report] - I think you had best keep this in your own safe. FDR.
Bush has not been waiting for Roosevelt's explicit approval because he knows the President's overall agreement with accelerated atomic research. Under the overall direction of Standard Oil Company engineer Eger V. Murphree, Bush has appointed as program chiefs Harold Urey (diffusion and centrifuge methods and heavy-water studies), Ernest Lawrence (electromagnetic and plutonium), and Arthur Compton (fission chain reaction and weapon theory programs). The entire effort is run by the Top Policy Group, composed of Bush, James Conant, Vice President of the United States Henry Wallace, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. The effort is not yet called the "Manhattan Project," that name comes about later in 1942. At this time, funding is still relatively small and confined to financing basic electromagnetic experiments being performed by Lawrence and J. Robert Oppenheimer at the University of California at Berkeley. The focus remains on the theoretical possibilities and determining what path the program should follow rather than actually building a weapon. FDR's note, though, essentially approves the general goal of turning the science into a bomb.
US Military: The Eighth Air Force was formed on 2 January 1942 at Savannah Army Air Base, Georgia. Today, it begins organizing its command by establishing VIII Bomber Command and VIII Fighter Command. The former is to be a strategic bombardment unit using 4-engined bombers, and the latter is to provide fighter escort for those bombers. These two units under VIII Air Service Command are still in the embryonic stages, but the overall plan is for them to operate against Axis targets as part of the U.S. Air Forces in the British Isles (USAFBI), which was announced on 8 January.
"Brazil's Aranha" is the cover story in the 19 January 1942 Time magazine. Osvaldo Aranha is Brazil's Minister of External Relations in 1942. He is instrumental in lining up Latin American support for the Allied war effort.
German Homefront: Robert Ley, the leader of the German Work Front, tells Reich munitions firms to increase their number of foreign workers and POWs and ramp up production. The workweek is increased from 47 to 49.2 hours. The German authorities are told to use a "carrot and stick" approach. Workers are to be offered bonuses in the form of scarce luxury goods such as tobacco and brandy, but "slackers" are to be disciplined and sent to concentration camps if necessary. The Security Service of the Ss is keeping close tabs on the homefront and acts quickly on reports of "idleness" and "insubordination." Hitler had hoped to be able to decrease production and shift it to other areas such as building planes and ships, but all notions of a quick and cheap victory over the Soviet Union are now gone. However, the continuing mirage of Final Victory still clouds everyone's judgment, and the factory owners are only told to increase production by 10%.
American Homefront: Loew's releases "Woman of the Year," starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. It features the two stars as reporters at the same newspaper who fall in love but face difficulties due to their careers.
Eastern Front: General Erich von Manstein has been given the task of conquering the Crimea with his 11th Army. So far, it has gone quickly and fairly routinely as these things go. On 10 November 1941, he launches his first planned attack on the Soviet naval base of Sevastopol in the southeastern section of the Crimea. It is well-defended and surrounded by natural obstacles but defended by isolated and presumably demoralized troops. Sevastopol does not seem like much of a problem. As OKH Chief of Staff Franz Halder confidently notes in his war diary on 10 November 1941:
Good progress has been made in the Crimea, but it will take a few more days before we have cleared out the last enemy.
So, everything thing is going as planned and Soviet resistance is collapsing as everyone knew it would. Manstein uses the 50th Infantry Division to begin the assault in the area southeast of Sevastopol. It is commanded by Lieutenant General Karl-Adolf Hollidt, a recipient of both classes of the Iron Cross during World War I who is considered a true fighting general. General Hollidt is just the man to roll into Sevastopol and accept the honor of the surrender.
Private Nancy Stewart Eglinton of Adelaide. She volunteered on 10 November 1941 to serve in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) and later served with the newly formed Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (Australian War Memorial P03947.001).
Hollidt's attack makes good ground in the direction of Balaklava. His men capture Uppa near the upper reaches of the Chorna (Chernaya) River, which flows into Sevastopol. As the day progresses, though, Manstein waits before expanding the attack with additional forces, which blunts the effort. Thus, Hollidt's offensive turns into more of a probing attack than a full-scale attempt to conquer the elaborate Soviet defenses, which include numerous bunkers and fortifications. The Sevastopol perimeter is 44 kilometers long, which poses problems for both armies but more so for the Germans, who have difficulty concentrating their forces for a determined attack. However, the Germans have heavy Luftwaffe support, though its effectiveness is somewhat lessened due to the hilly terrain. Manstein is confident that he can expand the gains in the morning.
USS Long Island (AVG-1, later ACV-1, Commander Donald B. Duncan), photographed in Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage, 10 November 1941. Planes on her flight deck include seven Curtiss SOC-3A scout observation types and one Brewster F2A fighter. The Long Island was the first ship of her class and the first escort carrier in the US Navy (US Navy).
On the Soviet side, Major General Ivan Efimovich Petrov commands the Coastal Army that had been evacuated in good order by sea from Odesa, which fell to the Romanians. Petrov first had led his forces north of Sevastopol after entering the Crimea at Sevastopol to try to defend the Perekop Isthmus. However, after discussing it with his divisional commanders, Petrov then had decided to retreat to Sevastopol rather than east to the safer Kerch Peninsula (because it would be easier to retreat further east from there). Petrov's decision rests on his belief that it is important to defend this main base of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet and that he has enough men to do it. Petrov commands about 52,000 Red Army soldiers, an impressive number. However, they have left much of their equipment and supplies behind in Odessa, and 21,000 of them are sailors untrained in land warfare. His best asset is 170 artillery pieces, some protected by massive concrete bunkers constructed in the 1930s that are impervious to all but the largest artillery shells or bombs. Petrov's troops only returned to Sevastopol one day ago, so the terrain is almost as new to them as to the Wehrmacht.
Hollidt's attack follows the coastal route from Yalta to Sevastopol along the old Vorontsov road which achieved fame during the Crimean War of the 1850s. This is the traditional attack route into Sevastopol by those coming by sea, as did the British 90 years earlier. The advantage of this route is that it avoids the hills in the central and northern sectors of the Sevastopol perimeter which serve almost as towering walls. However, Petrov is no fool and also realizes that the coastal road is easy to perceive as the "easy" road into the port and thus a likely avenue of attacks. He defends the area with crack troops of the first and second defensive sectors. Their objective is to give ground in the flatlands but hold the hills around Balaklava and at the village of Kamary (Oboronnoye), where the east-west valleys coming from the east end and the ground becomes flat again into the port itself. Hollidt today gets nowhere near these vital spots. Thus, while Hollidt does make some progress, he does not succeed in capturing anything vital to the Soviet defense. Manstein prepares to feed in another division on the 11th and see what happens. So far, everything still seems to be going according to plan on the German side.
Actress Rita Hayworth on the cover of Time magazine, 10 November 1941.
Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal completes its mission of ferrying aircraft to Malta and turns to head back to Gibraltar with the rest of Force H. The Germans have received word of this operation and have positioned U-81 (Friedrich Guggenberger) along the route.
Eastern Front: Some historians consider 20 August 1941 to be the day that the siege of Leningrad begins, and this is the day that most "900-day siege" references use. This is because 20 August 1941 is the day the Germans cut the railroad line from Moscow, effectively isolating Leningrad from the rest of Russia. However, it is an arbitrary date, as the Germans are still struggling on the 20h to reach Leningrad and are facing fierce opposition from Soviet troops guarding the approaches to Leningrad (see below. In Leningrad, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov orders the formation of Home Guard battalions in the city. These ad hoc units are formed mainly by women and teenagers armed with knives, ceremonial swords they have taken from above family fireplaces, hunting equipment, and whatever can be found in Leningrad museums.
German OKW Chief Wilhelm Keitel notifies the Finnish high command (General Waldemar Erfuth) that he will be sending a plan for Finnish military involvement in the capture of Leningrad. Marshall Mannerheim, however, confides to Erfuth that he has no plans to make anything more than a token attack on Leningrad. Mannerheim has both political and military reasons to avoid an attack on the Soviet Union regardless of what the Germans want. When the German plan arrives, he says that he intends to say "No." This is not a unique attitude: already some Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus have balked at marching past pre-war borders. Mannerheim's consistent position throughout his career is that he has no intention of ever trying to invade Russia, he simply wants to recover territory to which he believes that Finland has historical claims. The Soviets, of course, consider all territory currently occupied by Soviet troops to be theirs regardless of such historical claims.
In the Far North sector, the Finns prepare an attack by IV Corps to capture Viipuri. The Soviet 43rd and 123rd Rifle Divisions are withdrawing in that direction already. The Finnish 18th Division of the II Corps, with the 12 Division and Light Brigade T (Colonel Tiiainen) crosses the Vuoksi River, and the Soviet 115th Rifle Division moves to block them. While the Finns are advancing steadily in the Karelian Isthmus, the terrain increasingly favors the Soviet defenders as the Isthmus grows narrower as the fighting approaches Leningrad.
The Finnish attack toward the Murmansk railway line at Loukhi is bogged down after offering much promise only a week ago. The Finnish high command sends a battalion from the force that has bogged down near Ukhta (Kalevala) to help out. As seems always to be the case in the Far North, the Soviets have moved just enough troops into position at Loukhi at the last minute to avoid losing truly strategic positions.
"A Gypsy tribe on the way to Lviv." 20 August 1941 (Hans Joachim Paris, Federal Archive, Bild 146-2004-0026)
In the Army Group North Sector, the Wehrmacht approaches Voiskovitsy on the road to Leningrad in the afternoon. A small group of Soviet tanks armed with 76-mm guns and reinforced with additional armor is hidden along the road and allow the advance German units to pass unopposed. Soviet Senior Lieutenant Zinovy Kolobanov then gives his "Klim Voroshilov" KV-1E heavy tank the order to fire, and the Soviet tankers implement their usual tactic of destroying the first and last vehicles within sight. It is a bloodbath. The Soviets destroy 22 panzers and a total of 43 armored vehicles, plus artillery pieces and other equipment. Kolobanov's task force takes over 150 hits but remains in action. For firing the first shot, Kolobanov receives the Order of the Red Banner, his gun commander the Order of Lenin, his senior driver the Order of the Red Banner, and two others in his tank are given the Order of the Red Star.
Elsewhere, the German 32 Corps (General Walter Kuntze) begins attacking Tallinn, Estonia. The Soviet forces there are surrounded, and their only hope of escape is by sea. Remnants of Soviet Marshal G.I. Kulik's 54th Army tries to escape through German lines north of Luga and are destroyed. German 41 Corps of Panzer Group 4 (General Reinhardt) and elements of the 18th Army isolate about 30,000 Soviet troops of the Soviet Luga Operational Group.
German troops south of Leningrad stage daring assaults that succeed due to sheer surprise and audacity. A unit of German 16th Army led by Sergeant Fege of the 45th Infantry Regiment cuts the Moscow-Leningrad rail line southeast of Chudovo by taking a railway bridge in a surprise attack before the Soviet defenders can blow it up. Other German troops led by Lieutenant-Colonel Matussik of the 2nd Battalion, 45h Infantry Regiment proceed further east in a captured truck and take another important railway bridge over the Volkhov River after finding it unguarded. These successes sever the last Soviet railway line from Leningrad to Moscow and solidify the German line - for the moment.
In the Army Group Center sector, both Panzer Group 2 (General Guderian) and the 2nd Army continue moving toward Bryansk. Soviet 24th Army continues the Soviet attacks against the German "lightning rod" position at Yelnya. The German defenders at Yelnya are holding their position but report that they have lost about 1000 men in the last six days.
Royal Castle in Warsaw in 1941. The Germans have removed the roof to hasten the process of destruction by the elements (Zamek Królewski w Warszawie, red. A. Gieysztor, 1972).
In the Army Group South sector, the German 11th Army moves close to the capture of Kherson (Cherson) on the Black Sea. The Germans already have their eyes on the Crimea further to the south. Hitler, in particular, is worried about the Soviets using Crimea as a launching point for Red Air Force raids on the Romanian oil fields. The Romanian Air Force, assisting the troops attacking Odesa, destroy a Soviet armored train. German 17th Army establishes a bridgehead across the Dneipr River at Kremenchuk, Ukraine.
In a top-secret mission, Soviet NKVD troops under Boris Epov and Aleksandr Petrovsky, sent specially from Moscow on personal orders from Stalin, blow up the Lenin-Dnieproges Dam at Zaporizhzhia (Zaporizhzhya). The resulting water surge kills an estimated 20,000-100,000 Ukrainians. The dam had the largest statue of Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine. The flow of water temporarily cuts off part of the city of Zaporizhzhya from the advancing Wehrmacht. The dam's destruction is filmed, perhaps to prove to Stalin that it had been done as ordered.
The Red Air Force sends nine bombers to attack Berlin.
The Dnieper hydroelectric station on October 10, 1932, when it was put into service. After its destruction on 20 August 1941, the dam was later repaired and remains in service today.
European Air Operations: It is a quiet day on the Channel Front. RAF Bomber Command sends 18 Blenheim bombers on coastal sweeps without loss. The bombers attack some shipping without success and also bomb Texel airfield.
Battle of the Baltic: Soviet minesweeper Buy hits two mines and sinks in the Baltic Sea off Hogland.
German torpedo boat S-58 torpedoes and sinks Soviet minesweeper Pirmunas in the Väinameri Sea (Gulf of Riga).
Soviet reefer Sibir is lost today of unknown causes.
Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent (H83) (originally HMS Cygnet), 20 August 1941 (Canadian Navy Heritage website. Image Negative Number IKMD-04199, Ken Macpherson / Naval Museum of Alberta).
Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 173-ton British fishing trawler Juliet about 30 miles south of Old Head of Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. Everyone survives.
Faroes 236-ton auxiliary trawler Solarris hits a mine and sinks off Seydisfjordur (Seidisfjord), Iceland. There are four survivors.
Royal Navy 348-ton minesweeping trawler HMT Lorinda sinks due to a fire caused by engine trouble off Freetown. Everyone survives, picked up by accompanying trawler Balta.
The German 4th S-Boat Flotilla (Kptlt. Bätge) attacks a routine British convoy off Cromer. S-48 (ObltzS v. Mirbach) torpedoes and sinks 1971-ton Polish freighter Czestochowa (one dead). S-48 also badly damages 2774-ton British freighter Dalewood. There are four deaths. A tug tows Dalewood into the Humber with major damage aft.
German 200-ton trawler Charlotte is stranded and lost in the North Sea.
Mexican Navy patrol boat Halcon sinks of unknown causes.
Royal Navy battleship HMS Duke of York (Captain C.H.J. Harcourt) receives its final touches and is fully ready for battle.
Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet Admiral Sir John Tovey visits Scapa Flow on an inspection tour.
Convoy ON-9 departs from Liverpool.
Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Ilfracombe (J-95, Lt. Commander Harry L. D. Hoare) is commissioned.
U-591 and U-592 are launched.
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79. The SM-79 generally is considered the best Italian bomber of World War II. It served in a variety of roles such as transport, torpedo-bomber, and reconnaissance. Due to its distinctive hump, it acquired the nickname "Gobbo Maleditto" (Damned Hunchback).
Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Unique torpedoes and sinks Italian troopship Esperiea about 11 miles north of Tripoli. There are 31 deaths and 1139 survivors. The rest of the Italian convoy reaches Tripoli safely.
Royal Navy submarine Upholder torpedoes and sinks 852-ton Italian freighter Enotria six miles northwest of Cape St Vito, northwest Sicily.
Royal Navy submarine Thrasher uses its deck guns to sink a small Greek freighter, the San Stefano, off Cape Malea.
Italian S-79 torpedo bombers under the command of Captain Buscaglia hit and damage 4782-ton British tanker Turbo north of Damietta, Egypt. The tanker is taken under tow to Port Said. Everyone survives, but Turbo is in very bad shape. On 4 April 1942, when an attempt is made to tow the Turbo to Aden for repairs, the tanker breaks in half and sinks.
Operation Treacle, the replacement of Australian troops at Tobruk, continues with a small convoy departing from Alexandria. It consists of minelaying cruiser Latona and destroyers Kipling, Nizam, and Kingston carrying Polish troops of the Carpathian Brigade while escorted by light cruisers Ajax and Neptune. During the withdrawal from Tobruk, destroyer Nizam is damaged by a near miss from a Luftwaffe attack off Bardia but makes it back to Alexandria, partially in tow.
Royal Navy submarine Otus arrives at Malta carrying supplies from Alexandria. Its cargo includes 18 passengers.
The British military command at Malta warns homeowners to remove inflammable items from roofs. It is a quiet day with no air attacks. RAF bombers attack Augusta, Sicily.
War Crimes: At Bila Tserkva in Ukraine, the German 295th Infantry Division is ordered to assist with the killing of schoolchildren locked in a school for days without food or water. The unit's two army chaplains protest. Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant) Helmuth Groscurth, who privately agrees with the chaplains, calls the Sixth Army headquarters for instructions, and they tell him to put it in writing. Groscurth duly forwards a written report to headquarters written by the chaplains - a daring act since merely submitting such a report implies disagreement with previously issued orders. The report concludes:
In the case in question, measures against women and children were undertaken which in no way differ from atrocities carried out by the enemy about which the troops are continually being informed
The commander of the Sixth Army, Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau reads the report and characterizes it as:
incorrect, inappropriate and impertinent in the extreme.
Reichenau personally orders the children killed and sends a representative, SS-Obersturmfuhrer August Hafner, to the division to make sure that the order is carried out - which it is on 21 August. Hafner writes that, when he arrives, the German troops already have dug a grave in the woods. Following normal procedure, the children are lined up along the edge of the pit and shot so that they fall into it. Local Ukrainians, no doubt including some relatives of the children, are made to watch.
Incidents like these belie later claims that ordinary German Army units did not participate in exterminations on the Eastern Front and that only SS units carried them out. Evidence shows that this and similar incidents badly affected the morale of ordinary German soldiers such as Groscurth. Naturally, the Soviets also learned of such incidents, with predictable consequences.
On the Yugoslavian island of Pag, Italian troops that arrive to occupy the island find evidence of mass murders of Serbians and Jews by local Ustachi fascists. A total of 293 women, 91 children, and 791 bodies overall are found.
A German train in Serbia destroyed by Serbian partisans, 1941.
Partisans: Pro-German Serbs propose collaborationist Serbian Volunteer Detachments to aid in suppressing Yugoslavian partisans. In general, Serbs support the British while Croats support the Germans, so this is a welcome development for the Germans and Italians.
Propaganda: Italian radio claims "a particularly daring attack was carried out on Malta" on 19 August. The attacking aircraft "machine-gunned the highly equipped airbase of Hal Far" and "Two large twin-engined bombers were set on fire and destroyed, while another two bombers and two single-engine planes were hit and rendered unserviceable."
US/Japanese Relations: Ambassador Nomura reports to Tokyo that President Roosevelt is not "anti-Japanese." However, Postmaster-General Walker has indicated that any talk of a summit between the leaders of Japan and the US would encounter very strong opposition from both Congress and the public. Walker, Nomura writes, feels there is a good possibility of peace if talks continue.
"Astounding Science-Fiction," Volume 27 #6, August 1941, John W. Campbell, Jr. Editor, cover painting by Hubert Rogers.
German Military: Luftwaffe General Walter Dornberger, Werner von Braun, and pilot Johannes "Macki" Steinhoff make a presentation to Adolf Hitler at the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) headquarters in East Prussia. They show Hitler a film demonstrating the progress being made in rocketry, particularly the large A-4 rocket (which becomes better known as the V-2). Hitler, impressed, lauds “this development is of revolutionary importance for the conduct of warfare in the whole world." Hitler orders the men to develop the A-4 into a "vengeance weapon" (Vergeltungswaffe) for use against London. The three men return to Peenemunde with new access to the resources necessary to develop the rocket.
The Spanish "Blue" Division (250th Division) begins moving to the Front south of Leningrad.
Japanese Military: The Imperial Japanese Navy requisitions 9997-ton tanker Toho Maru and assigns it to the Yokosuka Naval District.
Battleship Haruna joins the Japanese First Fleet (Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro), joining Battleship Division 3 (Vice Admiral Mikawa Gunichi). This powerful force already includes battleships Hiei, Kirishima, and Kongo.
Submarine chasers CH-20 and CH-21 are completed and join the Kure Naval District.
US Government: The Department of Agriculture announces that it is negotiating with the governments of Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Britain to create an "international granary" in the United States. Surplus food from participating countries is to be accumulated in the United States for distribution wherever needed when the war is over - though, of course, the US is not at war. Yet. In the meantime, the United States already has a stockpile of 400 million bushels of wheat that is increasing with each harvest.
German Government: Erich Koch officially is appointed Reichskommissar for Ukraine.
Iraq: The new pro-British government announces that it is reopening the military academy in Baghdad.
Costa Rica: The French Charge d'Affaires and the Secretary of the French Legation switch sides, submitting their resignations to the Vichy government and accepting identical positions in the Free French movement.
"Jewish refugee children wait to board SS Mouzinho in Lisbon.” August 20, 1941. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a gift of Milton Koch.
Holocaust: The Vichy government begins arresting the first of 4232 foreign-born Jews in Paris at the request of the Gestapo's Jewish Affairs Department. Over the next five days, the French send them to a new transit camp at Drancy (opens today) for eventual deportation.
German Homefront: Adolf Hitler asks his personal architect, Albert Speer, who at this time has no formal role in the war, to use captured Soviet booty to decorate Berlin buildings to build morale.
French Homefront: Due to recent attacks on the French railway system, the Vichy government arrests 50,000 people for questioning.
British Homefront: Former Governor-General of Australia (1925-1930) John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven dies peacefully at his home in Ury House, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, UK.
Marshals Stalin and Voroshilov (right) at the 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow.
Soviet Homefront: Stalin continues his purge against field commanders who have failed against the Germans, and, in typical Stalinesque style, this extends to their families. The NKVD arrests the wife, E.N. Khanchin-Kachalova, and her mother, E.I. Khanhchina, of the deceased and disgraced (by Soviet standards) commander of the Soviet 28th Army, General V.Ia. Kachalov. The entire Kachalov incident is murky, with some evidence that Kachalov actually survived for a time after his supposed death and that he perished while fighting as a partisan. However, there is little question that Kachalov died a hero by most normal standards. The two women ultimately are sentenced to 8 years in Siberian camps, where the older woman perishes in 1944. Mrs. Kachalov is finally released in 1949 and returns to Moscow. This incident turns into a long-lasting campaign by Kachalov's wife to clear his name which proved successful only after Stalin had died in 1953. Mrs. Kachalov in 1957.
With the situation on the Leningrad front grim, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov attends the first meeting of the Leningrad "aktiv" (Council for the Defense of Leningrad). He and Andrei Zhdanov, the local Communist leader, craft an appeal for release to the press, the famous "Appeal to the People of Leningrad." It is also signed by Pyotr Popkov, chairman of the Leningrad Soviet. It calls for the citizens of Leningrad to stand up and fight the approaching Wehrmacht. The Appeal is released on the 21st.
American Homefront: A strike in the Federal Shipbuilding Company's yards in Jersey City, New Jersey which began on 7 August continues. President Roosevelt asks the 18,000 striking men who are working on $493 million worth of war and merchant ship orders to return to work within a fortnight. Roosevelt asks the strikers to put "the importance of national defense before their points of difference."
A transportation strike in Detroit is hindering defense industries there.
Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd circa 1930.
Rear Admiral Richard S. Byrd delivers a speech at Madison Square Garden in New York. Byrd urges his listeners to support President Roosevelt. He states:
The President has been accused of trying to get this nation into war. I can give you my personal word that Roosevelt, the man, has a deep hatred for war—deeper perhaps than many who have made this criticism. Roosevelt, the President, has the task of carrying American democracy forward under God against any resistance, and it is his duty to do that above all things. If he can do it without war he will do it. But there are things infinitely worse than war, and the worst of these is slavery.
Byrd concludes by asking, "are we going to stand united behind the President as if at war with unconquerable morale? Americans, what is your answer?"
Future History: Slobodan Milošević is born in Požarevac village in Podgorica (Požarevac), Yugoslavia. He becomes President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He is arrested by Yugoslav federal authorities on 31 March 2001 on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement. Milošević dies in prison of a heart attack on 8 May 1989.
Samuel Goldwyn Company gives "The Little Foxes," starring Bette Davis, its world premiere today at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The film earns 9 Academy Award nominations but does not win any because among other competitors it is up against "Sergeant York," "How Green Was My Valley," "Citizen Kane," "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," and other renowned films. This sets a new mark for futility which stands for decades, until "The Turning Point" (1977) with 11 nominations and no wins.
