Tuesday 29 July 1941

German soldiers with an MG 34 (Maschinengewehr 34) recoil-operated machine gun. They are taking cover on the side of a house in Rahachow, July 1941.

Eastern Front: SS Battalion Kurt "Panzer" Meyer greets the dawn of 29 July 1941 in an unnamed battlefield that has been "hot" all night long. Reflecting an increasingly gloomy outlook by ordinary soldiers, he later recalls:

I wanted to scream, to curse the whole insanity of war, but I tumbled into the next hole and returned the fire of a Russian who was lying behind a bush not fifty meters away on the other side of the road. Glancing at the prostrate, clawing humanity around me, the bloody fields of Verdun appeared before me in my thoughts.

Meyer notes that the Soviets have left, but there are dead bodies from both sides strewn all about.

In the Far North sector, the German 36 Corps (General Hans Feige) once again attempts to break Soviet resistance east of Salla to continue the advance on the vital Murmansk railway. As did the attempt on the 27, this one completely fails. The fruitless attacks have been extremely costly in terms of lives lost on both sides, with the Germans taking 5000 casualties in the last month in this sector alone. After this, General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst in Army Group Norway accepts the inevitable and calls off further attacks until the situation changes.

In the Army Group North sector, the German 16th Army attacks in the direction of Velikiye Luki while the 18th Army continues clearing out Estonia.

In the Army Group Center sector, German forces encircling parts of three trapped armies in the Smolensk area withstand strong Soviet attempts to open the pocket. Soviet 30th Army counterattacks in the northern part of the pocket, but is stopped by General Hoth's 3rd Panzer Group. Soviet 4th Army attacks General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 in the Yelnya area. At 19:00, General Timoshenko at Western Front orders 20th Army (General Kurochkin) to retake Smolensk. Kurochkin dutifully complies, but the attack fails and the Soviet troops withdraw with heavy casualties. A local counterattack by General Rokossovsky's 101st Tank Division using KV tanks does recapture Iartsevo temporarily.

In the Army Group South sector, General Ewald von Kleist sends XVIII Motorized Corps of his Panzer Group I toward Pervomaisk. Meanwhile, the German 6th Army attacks directly toward Kyiv, but, facing heavy resistance, sidestep to the south of the city to envelop the defenders. The Soviets have 1.5 million men in the vicinity of Uman, but they are slowly being compressed into a smaller and smaller area.

"Stirling N3663/MG-H of No 7 Squadron, on display at Newmarket Heath, Suffolk, during a visit by King Peter of Yugoslavia, 29 July 1941. A typical bomb load is on view beneath the aircraft for the King's inspection." © IWM (CH 3175).

European Air Operations: The weather continues to be poor over northwest Europe, with heavy cloud cover. It begins clearing up during the night, but there are no operations today.

RAF No. 81 Squadron reforms as a Hurricane-equipped fighter squadron. It is designated for transfer to the Soviet Union aboard an aircraft carrier in September 1941.

Battle of the Baltic: German 338-ton freighter Leontes hits a mine and sinks near Ventspils (Windau), Latvia.
Soviet auxiliary minelayer Syzran and minesweeper Zaryad are both sunk near the Ristna Lighthouse, Estonia of unknown causes.

U-331.

Battle of the Atlantic: The German U-boat fleet is still shadowing British Convoy OG-69. However, U-331 (Kptlt. Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen), on its first patrol out of Kiel, is spotted by the British escorts and subjected to a depth charge attack, preventing an attack. There are no other attacks today.

Operation EF, the British raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo, continues steaming toward its destination. Since there is daylight 24 hours a day at the higher latitudes, the Royal Navy armada steaming from Iceland is easy to spot, and indeed the Germans do spot it today far from the coast. A Kriegsmarine destroyer force (Richard Beitzen, Friedrich Eckholdt, Karl Galster and Hermann Schoemann) is conducting a sweep near the Kara Straits when it receives word that a massive British fleet including aircraft carriers is nearby. The destroyers quickly hurry back to port. The British plan their raid for the early hours of 30 July and complete their refueling today.

Force A of British Operation FB, a raid on Spitsbergen, Norway, departs from Seidlsfjord, Iceland.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 2816-ton British freighter Adam's Beck in the Tyne. The Adam's Beck is so badly damaged that it sinks on the 30th. There is one death.

German 1890-ton freighter Bernhard is sunk when it collides with 1535-ton Swedish freighter Frode near Nordeney, northwestern Germany.

German raider Orion (Schiff 36, FKpt. Weyher), operating midway between Africa and South America due east of Puerto Rico, captures 5792-ton British freighter Chaucer. The crew survives and become prisoners of war. The sinking is a miserable affair for the German crew because they have to fire the extraordinary number of ten torpedoes, but five miss (perhaps with internal guidance issues) and five fail to detonate. Frustrated, Weyher finally has the men man the deck gun and sink the Chaucer with gunfire. Faulty torpedoes have plagued the U-boat since the start of the war.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Ultimatum (Lt. Peter R. H. Harrison) is commissioned and anti-submarine warfare trawler Buster is launched.

The Lviv pogroms at the city of Lwów, the occupied Republic of Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), which took place from 30 June to 2 July and 25–29 July 1941, end today. An estimated 6000 people perish.

Battle of the Mediterranean: There are still small groups of British soldiers on Crete despite the complete success of Operation Mercury. They have been supported by Greek villagers and evade capture by hiding out in caves which were prepared as air raid shelters prior to the invasion. Today, 78 of these troops (67 British and 11 Greek) are picked up by submarine HMS Thrasher and taken to Alexandria, two months after the island fell to the Germans.

British Middle East Commander Claude Auchinleck and his RAF commander, Air Marshal Tedder, arrive in London by air for consultations about future operations.

An Italian bomber spots Royal Navy submarine HMS Olympus a few miles from Cavoli Light, southeastern Sardinia. A near miss damages the Olympus. The submarine is leaking and cannot submerge, but it makes it back to Gibraltar after a harrowing journey of several days.

Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 Stukas of I,/STG 1 and accompanying Italian Stukas of No 239 Squadron bomb and sink 372-ton British landing craft LCT-8 and Lighter A-8 east of Bardia. Some sources place this incident on the 28th.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Hotspur and Australian destroyer HMAS Vendetta load weary Australian troops at Tobruk before dawn and take them to Mersa Matruh for rest and recuperation.

An Axis convoy of three large troopships (Neptunia, Oceania, and Marco Polo) departs from Tripoli bound for Naples. It is escorted by five destroyers and a torpedo boat. Another return of four freighters also departs with a four-destroyer escort. Another, third, convoy of only one freighter, 6343-ton Francesco Barbaro, also departs from Tripoli. Generally, transports can steam faster than ordinary freighters, and not all freighters can proceed at the same speed, thus the desirability of having small convoys of different speeds rather than one large (and slow for all) convoy. Faster convoys are usually considered safer than slower ones, so faster ship masters greatly prefer traveling with other fast ships rather than slowing down for slower freighters.

An Axis supply convoy of three Italian ships and one German freighter departs from Naples bound for Tripoli.

At Malta, the garrison receives a personal note of congratulations from the Chief of the Imperial General Staff in London for frustrating the Italian motorboat attack on the 26th. The War Office asks for further details of the action, perhaps because Italian radio in Rome is touting it as an excellent feat of arms by the Regia Marina despite the absolute failure of its mission.

General der Gebirgstruppe Eduard Dietl (Kommandierender General Gebirgskorps Norwegen) with German and Finnish officers in the northern Russian tundra, July 1941.

Ecuadorian/Peruvian Relations: Although both sides are under intense pressure from the United States and neighbors to end their border war, ceasefire negotiations remain incomplete. Thus, Peru orders its military to continue advancing into Ecuador.

US/Japanese Relations: The US State Department issues a stinging denunciation of the Japanese occupation of southern French Indochina, noting that it obviously is "for the purpose of further and more obvious movements of conquest in adjacent areas." It goes on to note that these actions "jeopardize the procurement by the United States of essential materials ... for the normal economy of this country...." Of course, the Japanese at this point aren not too concerned about what the Americans want, considering that the Roosevelt Administration has slapped extremely tough sanctions on Japan that are virtually forcing it to seek out new sources of supply in the south.

German/Norwegian Relations: The first 300 Norwegian volunteers for the "Legion Norwegen" arrive in Kiel, Germany and are sent to Fallingbostel Training Camp.

German Luftpost propaganda leaflet, 29 July 1941 (psywar.org).

German Military: General der Flakartillerie Ludwig Karl Hermann von Schröder perishes in an air crash near Hohenlychen (north of Berlin). At the time of his death, he is the military commander of Serbia and section commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS). Previously, Schröder served in the German navy as a Vice-Admiral, then transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1937 when it was rapidly expanding and drawing officers from the other branches of the Wehrmacht. General von Schröder is perhaps most notorious for instituting the practice of forcing Jews and Gypsies in Serbia to identify themselves by wearing a yellow armband, along with various other repressive measures against them such as the registration of Jewish assets. These practices rapidly spread throughout the Reich and lead to the infamous Yellow Star of David badge.

Soviet Military: General Georgy Zhukov abruptly is removed from his post of Chief of the General Staff. Stalin apparently (even Zhukov isn't completely certain as to the reason, as indicated in his memoirs) is upset that Zhukov suggested a retreat by the 1.5 million Soviet troops defending Kiev. Zhukov rightly sees a danger of encirclement at Kiev, but Stalin is determined to make a stand there. On the 30th, Stalin, after cooling down, finds a new job for Zhukov as head of the newly formed Reserve Front which is tasked with counteroffensive operations in the direction of Yelnya. As Zhukov later comments, the difference in power between Stalin and any general is similar to that between a Field Marshal and the lowliest private.

The new Soviet Chief of the General Staff is Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov.

German Luftpost propaganda leaflet, 29 July 1941 (psywar.org).

US Military: Heretofore, US aircraft carriers have defended themselves by maintaining standing air patrols. Today, US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox orders the installation of radar plots to serve as "the brains of the organization." The navy plans the first installation aboard USS Wasp (CV-7).

USAF General Lewis H. Brereton takes command of the Third Air Force at MacDill Field, Florida.

Admiral Husband Kimmel, CINCPAC, is informed by Joseph Rochefort that the danger of immediate war with Japan due to the imposition of sanctions has passed. This is because there are signs that the Japanese Fleet is heading in the direction of Japan, not the United States. In fact, the Japanese Fleet is not even at sea.

Steel, four-masted barque "Pamir" approaches Wellington, New Zealand, 29 July 1941. A Finnish ship, the government seizes Pamir soon after its arrival due to the outbreak of hostilities between Finland and (now) British ally the USSR.

British Government: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes a speech before the House of Commons. The majority of his speech concerns munitions production, which he assures the House is in good order despite rumors to the contrary. He emphasizes that war production has been dispersed, noting, "I can give instances of dispersion of twenty, thirty or forty sub-centers." He winds up with a reassuring summary of the war situation, noting that "German air superiority has been broken" and that the Battle of the Atlantic is "moving progressively in our favor."

US Government: The State Department issues a list of blocked foreign nationals. They are barred from entry to the United States for engaging in activities deemed subversive and anti-American.

French Indochina: Japanese troops pour into southern French Indochina with the permission of the Vichy French regime. The French have given the Japanese permission to defend the colony in the event of foreign attack. The parties are operating under a "Common Defense" agreement signed by Deputy-Premier Admiral Darlan and Japanese Ambassador Kato in Paris. The vast majority of Japanese troops at this time are in Saigon, but they soon fan out to other strategic sites in Indochina and neighboring Cambodia.

The Common Defense agreement states, in typical Japanese diplomatic language:

Recognizing in consequence that should the security of French Indochina be menaced, Japan would have reason to consider the general tranquility in East Asia and its own security endangered.

Of course, Japan at this point is the one threatening the "general tranquility" of the region.

Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe.

Holocaust: Axis occupation troops in the Belgrade vicinity execute 122 men purportedly for being in the Resistance - they just so happen also to be Communists and Jews.

Germans at a mental hospital at Lodz, Poland take 40 patients out to a forest and execute them.

At Auschwitz, ten prisoners disappear from the camp. SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, decides to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to discourage further escape attempts. Fellow inmate Catholic priest Maximilian Maria Kolbe, is not selected. However, noticing that one of the men so selected is in despair, Kolbe steps forward to take the man's place and ultimately perishes on 14 August 1941. Kolbe will be canonized for this act by Pope John Paul II on 10 October 1982.

Einsatzcommando 3 executes 257 men, 254 of them Jewish, in Raseiniai (according to the Jäger Report).

The second wave of massacres of Jews in Lwow (Lviv), Ukraine ends. An estimated 6,000 Jews are thought to have perished in June/July 1941 from these pogroms.

A "Baby Parade" held in Scranton, Pennsylvania on 29 July 1941. This event is part of the Scranton Diamond Jubilee and Centennial Celebration. Awards are given in several categories, including Prettiest Girl and Handsomest Boy. (Times-Tribune Archives).

Canadian Homefront: The controversial Arvida strike ends when Munitions and Supply Minister C.D. Howe is permitted by a change in the Defence of Canada Regulations to call out the troops. The strike is later found to have been illegal and caused by routine worker concerns about pay and working conditions.

Italian Homefront: Retired opera singer Erminia Borghi-Mamo passes away in Bologna, Italy.

American Homefront: British actor James Stephenson passes away from a heart attack in Pacific Palisades, California. His career began in 1937 at age 48, an unusual age at which to become a film star, and especially so because he had little previous acting experience. Stephenson's roles included parts in "Beau Geste" (1939), "The Sea Hawk" (1940), and "Shining Victory" (1940). Stephenson earns one Academy Award nomination for "The Letter" (1940). He is interred in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Silent film actor Charles Murray, who appeared in 283 films between 1912 and 1938, passes away in Los Angeles at the age of 69. Murray appeared in the first 'The Wizard of Oz" in 1925. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1725 Vine Street.

Future History: David Hattersley Warner is born in Manchester, Lancashire, England. He becomes a leading stage actor beginning in January 1962 and makes his feature film debut in "Tom Jones" (1963). He goes on to a distinguished acting career and is perhaps best known for his appearances in several films concerning RMS Titanic (including "Titanic" (1997) and the "Star Trek" franchise, but his credits are numerous and stellar. David Warner remains a working actor as of this writing in 2018.

A German-Ukrainian parade in Ivano-Frankivsk in July 1941. Many Ukrainians at this time see the Germans as liberators from Russian domination.

July 1941

July 1, 1941: US TV Broadcasting Starts
July 2, 1941: MAUD Report
July 3, 1941: Stalin Speaks
July 4, 1941: Pogroms in Eastern Europe
July 5, 1941: Germans on Schedule
July 6, 1941: Australians Attack Damour
July 7, 1941: US Marines in Iceland
July 8, 1941: Flying Fortresses In Action
July 9, 1941: British Take Damour
July 10, 1941: Sword and Scabbard Order
July 11, 1941: Cease-fire in Syria and Lebanon
July 12, 1941: Anglo/Russian Assistance Pact
July 13, 1941: Uprising in Montenegro
July 14, 1941: Katyusha Rocket Launchers in Action
July 15, 1941: Smolensk Falls
July 16, 1941: Stalin's Son Captured
July 17, 1941: Heydrich Orders Mass Executions
July 18, 1941: Twin Pimples Raid
July 19, 1941: V for Victory
July 20, 1941: The Man Who Wouldn't Shoot
July 21, 1941: Moscow in Flames
July 22, 1941: Soviet Generals Executed
July 23, 1941: Secret Plan JB 355
July 24, 1941: Operation Sunrise
July 25, 1941: US Naval Alert
July 26, 1941: Italian E-Boat Attack on Malta
July 27, 1941: MacArthur Returns
July 28, 1941: Auschwitz Exterminations
July 29, 1941: Rescue From Crete
July 30, 1941: Raid on Petsamo and Kirkenes
July 31, 1941: Final Solution Order

2020

Monday 28 July 1941

"'Rip' the dog and an ARP Warden survey the scene of devastation following an air raid in Latham Street, Poplar. The bomb crater is full of water. In the background, the remains of the local surface shelter can be seen, which, although slightly damaged, is still largely intact. Piles of rubble and timber can also be seen." 28 July 1941. © IWM (D 5950).

Eastern Front: The German forces make only minimal advances today because Hitler has ordered the consolidation of the massive gains already made. While not welcomed by the commanders at the front, this pause provides a chance for the mechanics to work on vehicles and the infantry to catch up to the leading panzers.

In the Army Group North sector, advance Wehrmacht units of Panzer Group 4 take Kingisepp, 138 kilometers (86 miles) southwest of Leningrad and 40 km (25 miles) south of the Gulf of Finland. The Soviets are preparing to make a stand on the Luga River.

In the Army Group Center sector, the Germans have closed a large pocket around Soviet troops in the vicinity of Smolensk and now are attempting to subdue it. A large group of trapped Soviet forces, led by the 20th Army, prepares to attempt a breakout.

In the Army Group South sector, the Stavka orders Marshal Budenny (Budyonny), in command of 1.5 million men of Southern and Southwestern Fronts, to focus on preventing the Germans from establishing any bridgeheads across the Dneiper. In effect, the Stavka tries to freeze the front and further orders that retreats are only permissible in an easterly direction. The Soviet troops still have an open road to retreat to the southeast, but now they cannot do that.

The Germans, meanwhile, continue compressing the huge concentration of Soviet troops in the Uman area into a smaller and smaller area. The two Soviet Fronts have their headquarters in the town of Podvisokoye (Подвысокое). The Germans continue struggling to close the pocket, with Panzer Group 1 (von Kleist) pushing toward advance units of 17th Field Army (Karl-Heinrich von Stulpnagel) and 16th Panzer Division heading toward the Hungarian Mechanized Corps.

Hauptmann (Captain) Walter Oesau leaves III./JG 3 to take the position of Kommodore of JG 2. Hptm. Werner Andres replaces Oesau as Gruppenkommandeur of III Gruppe JG 3. Lt. Max-Hellmuth Ostermann of 7./JG 54 downs a Russian I-18.

Finnish soldiers, 28 July 1941 (SA-Kuva).

European Air Operations: Weather continues to be poor over northwest Europe. The cloudy conditions make it difficult for bombers to find a particular city, let alone targets of value within them. There is a minelaying operation by 42 RAF bombers during the night in the Baltic.

Battle of the Baltic: Soviet submarine ShCh-307 torpedoes and sinks U-144 (Gert von Mittelstaedt) in the Gulf of Finland north of Hiiumaa. All 28 men onboard perish. Most sources place this sinking on 10 August 1941, and that is the generally accepted date for the sinking, but either date is possible. U-144 is in 22. Flotilla and sank one Soviet submarine, M-78, of 206 tons on 23 June 1941.

The Red Air Force bombs and sinks 315-ton German freighter Elbing III near Liepāja, Latvia.

The Red Air Force bombs and sinks German minesweeper R-169 near Libau.

German 3rd S-boat Flotilla is operating off Osel when it sinks 253-ton Latvian icebreaker Lashplesis near Saaremaa (Oesel/Ösel), Estonia.

German patrol boat  V.309/Martin Donandt hits a mine and sinks off Libau. The mine was laid by Soviet minesweeper T-204/Fugas.

A British motorcycle dispatch rider hands off a message to an occupant of a 1/2 ton, 4x4 Dodge Command Reconnaissance Car, 28 July 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: A U-boat wolf pack continues to stalk Convoy OG-69 northwest of Cape Finisterre. Attacks continue throughout the day, and it is a confusing affair, with different U-boat captains claiming the same kills.

U-68 (K.Kapt. Karl-Freidrich Merten) starts things off with Convoy OG-69 in the early morning hours when Merten claims to make an attack. However, the attack fails and U-68 has no success with the convoy now or later.

U-561 (Kptlt. Robert Bartels), on its first patrol out of Hamburg, later in the pre-dawn hours then gets its first-ever victory by torpedoing and sinking 1884-ton British freighter Wrotham in Convoy OG-69. All 26 crew survive. Bartels, like Mertens, claims to make additional attacks, but there is no record of them succeeding.

After dark at 21:27, U-203 (Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg), on its second patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks two ships of Convoy OG-69 in quick succession (with the same spread of torpedoes):

• 1330-ton British freighter Lapland
• 1516-ton Swedish freighter Norita

There are 26-28 survivors of Lapland (everyone survives) and 18 from Noria (two deaths), all rescued by corvette Rhododendron.

The Luftwaffe bombs 212-ton British fishing trawler Strathlochy about 180 miles northwest of Rora Head, Orkneys.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Tamarisk is launched and destroyer Wensleydale and minesweeping trawler Foula are laid down.

Norwegian 4785-ton freighter Highlander, which escaped from internment at Dakar and was being chased by Vichy French patrol boat Edith Germaine, is taken under protection by Royal Navy destroyer HMS Highlander. They proceed to Freetown along with destroyer Boreas.

The ships of Operation EF, the projected raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo, continue steaming toward their destination in northern Norway. The operation's destroyers refuel from fleet oiler Black Ranger near the Russian Kola coast.

Convoy HG-69 departs from Gibraltar bound for Liverpool.

US Navy destroyer USS Corry is launched.

U-625 and U-626 are laid down.

"Women from the Winnica, Ukraine region come to a detention center to learn the fates of their husbands," 28 July 1941 (Hubner, Federal Archive, Bild 146-1979-113-05).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Utmost torpedoes and sinks 1466-ton Italian freighter Federico C. off Intavolata, western Calabria.

Dutch submarine O-21 torpedoes and sinks 747-ton Italian freighter Monteponi ten miles north of Cape Comino, Sardinia. This becomes a favored scuba-diving site

Royal Navy submarine HMS Upholder spots an Axis convoy heading from Tripoli to Naples off Cape St. Vito. It torpedoes and sinks Italian light cruiser Garibaldi. The cruiser makes it to Palermo, Sicily at daybreak on the 29th and is under repair until November 1941.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Royal Navy lighter A-8 off Bardia. There are 8 deaths. Another lighter, A-14, is nearby but escapes.

The Regia Aeronautica bombs and damages Royal Navy submarine HMS Olympus off Cavoli Light in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The submarine manages to make it back to Gibraltar.

The RAF launches raids from Malta on Sicily that destroy 36 Axis aircraft. The commanding officer of the Regia Aeronautica, General Federigi, perishes in aerial combat over Malta.

The Luftwaffe attacks the Suez Canal during the night.

The nightly run to Tobruk is made by destroyers HMS Hotspur and HMAS Vendetta. Early on the 29th, the ships take off some Australian troops - many of whom are exhausted from spending months isolated in the port with inadequate supplies and Axis shelling - and take them to Mersa Matruh.

Operation Guillotine, the Royal Navy reinforcement of Cyprus, continues as corvette HMS Hyacinth escorts transport Kevinbank to Famagusta.

An RAF night fighter unit begins operation at Malta. It is led by Group Captain George Powell-Shedden and based at Ta Qali.

Soviet POWs at Winnica, Ukraine, 28 July 1941 (Hubner, Federal Archives, Bild 146-1979-113-04).

Special Operations: Operation Chess, which began on 27 July, concludes. Second Lieutenant Philip Pinckney leads 17 men of No. 12 Commando to a landing from two landing craft. Much about this operation is obscure. Even the landing area is uncertain. According to some sources it occurs about two miles from the River Slack near Ambleteuse, Pas-de-Calais, France, while other sources claim it is further south at Fécamp. The landing force arrives at about 01:30 and occupies empty ground for an hour or two, then departs the way it arrived. There are one or two deaths from unknown causes - sources vary - but, apparently, they are not due to enemy action. Cdr. Sir Geoffrey Congreve Bt DSO, the Commando's Senior Landing Officer, is said to have perished during this raid, and perhaps a Lt. J. Templeton RNR and an unidentified rating, but details on the rather uneventful Operation Chess are hard to come by.

A Finnish soldier fires a Lahti L-39 20mm anti-tank rifle, 28 July 1941. The L-39 weighed 50kg and was one of Finland's main anti-tank weapons. Over 1900 were built in Finland during the war.

Anglo/Finnish Relations: Finnish Foreign Minister Witting meets with British Ambassador Sir Gordon Vereker and rather sheepishly informs him that Finland has to 'interrupt' her diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. Relations with the United States, however, remain fully intact.

Dutch/Japanese Relations: The authorities in the Dutch East Indies ban all oil exports, an obvious slap at the Japanese. This piles on to US sanctions recently imposed.

US/Japanese Relations: The Japanese retaliate for the freezing of Japanese assets in the United States by doing the same to US assets in Japan. This is more of a symbolic move than anything else, as there aren't many US assets in Japan.

Imperial Japanese Navy oiler Otowasan arrives at San Pedro, California to take on a load of oil. However, due to the embargo placed on oil exports to Japan begun on the 26th, it is refused service and must return to Japan only with ballast.

"A Matilda tank and a Valentine of 40th Royal Tank Regiment, 23rd Armoured Brigade, 8th Armoured Division being 'bulled up' at Crowborough in Sussex for a 'Speed the Tanks' parade in London, 28 July 1941." © IWM (H 12185).

German/Vichy French Relations: The Petain government agrees to manufacture Luftwaffe aircraft in France.

Anglo/Soviet Relations: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin receives a message from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This continues a pattern in their correspondence in which Churchill sends a stream of messages and Stalin rarely responds (he is said to be "too busy running the war," but this does not seem to hinder Churchill). Churchill comments that President Roosevelt's crony, Harry Hopkins, has left to visit the Soviet Union (by air, though that is not mentioned) and "You will be advised of his arrival through the proper channels." Hopkins is heading for Archangel. As usual, Stalin does not respond.

A Soviet T-28 medium tank lies abandoned in Ukraine, July 1941.

Soviet Military: The Stavka issues Stavka Directive No. 00549, "Concerning Measures to Regulate the Employment of Artillery in the Defense." The general thrust of this directive is to employ massed artillery to weaken sections of the German line prior to counterattacks. While this is eminently reasonable and a staple of tactical doctrine, it is symptomatic of the state of the Red Army that the leadership thinks it necessary to issue such basic instruction.

US Military: The 1st Joint Training Force is formed, with commander Major General Holland M. Smith. This is just a redesignation of the joint US Army and US Marine Corps unit Task Force 18, attached to the US Atlantic Fleet.

German Government: Hitler recently has been clarifying in his own mind the ultimate objectives for Operation Barbarossa (incredibly, he seems not to have done this in any sort of detail before the invasion). According to the diary of his army adjutant, Major Gerhard Engel, today he somewhat randomly comments after the noon situation conference that he considers the southern lands of the USSR more important than Moscow or Leningrad. Engel writes that the Fuhrer reasoned:

Whereas Moscow was a big industrial center, the south was more important, where oil, wheat, more or less everything was located necessary to keep the country going. A land where milk and honey flowed.

Engel concludes his entry by noting that Hitler commented:

One thing at least was absolutely required, and that was a proper concentration of forces. To use Panzers in fighting to demolish cities, that was a sin against the spirit. They had to operate in the open areas of the south. He had already started to hear the cries of those from whom they had been stripped; but that was neither here nor there.

Hitler's generals, however, do not all agree with his economic reasoning. At least some think that taking Moscow would deliver a devastating psychological blow to the Soviet state, regardless of any economic considerations. In fact, some don't just think that but are covertly acting upon their own - and not Hitler's - priorities. Of course, they also would achieve renown by being the conquerors of Moscow.

French Indochina: The Japanese 25th Army begins landing its first of 30-40,000 troops at Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay and other strategic points in southern French Indochina. There are to be naval and air bases designed to project Japanese to the south - where the Japanese military covets sources of oil. The Japanese now have airfields within 300 miles of northern Malaya and naval bases within 750 miles of the British port of Singapore. Some Japanese army troops also arrive in Cambodia, the first of 8000 troops the Japanese will place there.

TIME Magazine, Sir Charles Portal, July 28, 1941.

Burma (Myanmar): The first advance party of General Clare Chennault's American Volunteer Group (AVG, or Flying Tigers) arrive by ship at Rangoon.

China: The Japanese Imperial Air Force attacks Sichuan Province with 108 aircraft. The Chinese put up only seven fighters in opposition, and lose three planes. Chinese Lieutenant Gao Chunchou (I-153 no. P-7237) is shot down.

Holocaust: A "Euthanasia Program" begins at Auschwitz Concentration Camp when a select team of SS men arrives on Heinrich Himmler's orders. The first group of 573 sick Polish prisoners is taken from Block 15, along with two German criminals, to Sonnenstein Castle. There, under the supervision of  Franz Hössler, the 575 men are exterminated in a shower room converted into a gas chamber. This apparently is the first use of such shower rooms, which quickly become stained blue due to the residue from the gas used.

At Drogobych, Ukraine, locals riot and kill an unknown number of Jews with their bare hands and whatever weapons are handy. Bodies of the dead and dying are thrown in the street.

Captured Soviet T-28 tank with Finnish crew, July 1941.

American Homefront: Judy Garland marries songwriter David Rose. Rose, a native of London, England, leads an orchestra and has his own twice-weekly show on the Mutual Broadcasting System. It is a troubled marriage without issue (and rumors that Rose and Garland's studio, MGM, pressured her into an abortion). They will divorce in 1944.

Future History: Peter Claver Cullen is born in Montreal, Canada. He becomes a noted voice actor, perhaps best known for his role of Optimus Prime in the original 1980s "Transformers" animated series, Eeyore in the "Winnie the Pooh" canon, and the voice of the title character in King Kong (1976). As of this writing in 2018, Peter Cullen remains active, particularly voicing Optimus Prime in new projects.

Life Magazine, "Circus Family," 28 July 1941.

July 1941

July 1, 1941: US TV Broadcasting Starts
July 2, 1941: MAUD Report
July 3, 1941: Stalin Speaks
July 4, 1941: Pogroms in Eastern Europe
July 5, 1941: Germans on Schedule
July 6, 1941: Australians Attack Damour
July 7, 1941: US Marines in Iceland
July 8, 1941: Flying Fortresses In Action
July 9, 1941: British Take Damour
July 10, 1941: Sword and Scabbard Order
July 11, 1941: Cease-fire in Syria and Lebanon
July 12, 1941: Anglo/Russian Assistance Pact
July 13, 1941: Uprising in Montenegro
July 14, 1941: Katyusha Rocket Launchers in Action
July 15, 1941: Smolensk Falls
July 16, 1941: Stalin's Son Captured
July 17, 1941: Heydrich Orders Mass Executions
July 18, 1941: Twin Pimples Raid
July 19, 1941: V for Victory
July 20, 1941: The Man Who Wouldn't Shoot
July 21, 1941: Moscow in Flames
July 22, 1941: Soviet Generals Executed
July 23, 1941: Secret Plan JB 355
July 24, 1941: Operation Sunrise
July 25, 1941: US Naval Alert
July 26, 1941: Italian E-Boat Attack on Malta
July 27, 1941: MacArthur Returns
July 28, 1941: Auschwitz Exterminations
July 29, 1941: Rescue From Crete
July 30, 1941: Raid on Petsamo and Kirkenes
July 31, 1941: Final Solution Order

2020

Sunday 7 July 1940

View of French battleship, Richelieu, with buoys in the foreground marking the top of the anti-submarine net in the port of Dakar, Senegal, 1940. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7293.

Battle of the Atlantic: The French in Dakar, Senegal, on 7 July 1940 refuse to surrender to the British or choose an acceptable alternative, so the British send half a dozen Swordfish from the small aircraft carrier HMS Hermes to attack. They score a torpedo hit on the Richelieu, sinking it in shallow water, and a torpedo boat also drops off commandos who damage the Richelieu with mines. The damage, however, is not serious and is quickly repaired. This is all a continuation of Operation Catapult.

U-34 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann) torpedoes and sinks freighter 2,584-ton Dutch freighter Lucrecia at 07:14 about 70 miles west of the Isles of Scilly in the western approaches. There are 30 survivors, and two crew perish. The ship takes some time to sink. Portuguese freighter Alferrarede arrives soon and picks up the survivors.

U-99 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer) torpedoes and sinks 1,514-ton Swedish freighter Bissen at 23:12 about 80 miles southwest of Cape Clear in the southwest approaches. All 20 aboard survive.

U-99 then spots the freighter Sea Glory at 00:53 and torpedoes and sinks it in the same area. All 29 aboard perish.

German raider Thor captures British freighter Delambre in the South Atlantic.

 U-30 arrives at the new U-boat base at Lorient, France, the first U-boat to use it.

Norwegian ship Krossfonn, captured by German raider Widder, arrives in Lorient with its prize crew.

Convoy OB 180 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HG 37 departs from Gibraltar, Convoy HX 56 departs from Halifax.

The British ship Teviotbank lays a minefield in the North Sea.

Battle of the Mediterranean: French Admiral Godefroy in Alexandria agrees to complete demobilization of his force, including the battleship Lorraine, three heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, and three destroyers. The ships technically remain under French command but are under British control. Most of the French crews are sent back to France on transports.

Operation MA5 begins. This is a British fleet operation to cover convoys from Malta to Alexandria. The Med Flt sortied from Alexandria and Port Said to cover convoys MS.1 and MF.1 coming from Malta. The fleet divides into three sections:

1. Force A, which includes cruisers Neptune, Orion, Gloucester, and Liverpool;
2. Force B with battleship/flagship Warspite and destroyers Nubian, Mohawk, Hero, Hereward and Decoy;
3. Force C with battleships Royal Sovereign and Malaya, aircraft carrier Eagle and destroyers Hasty, Hyperion, Ilex, Voyager, and other ships;
4. Force D from Malta, which has destroyers Diamond and Jervis and other ships.

The Regia Aeronautica catches British submarine HMS Olympus in port at Malta and bombs it, severely damaging it.

The Italians also attack Alexandria with 11 S-81 bombers during the night.

An Italian battalion crosses into Sudan and occupies Kurmuk.

At Malta, there is an air raid at 09:17 which drops bombs on Benghalsa and the dockyards. Eight civilians perish (seven from one family, a mother with her six young children), and eight civilians and an officer are wounded. The RAF responds and a Hurricane shoots down one of the bombers. Another attempted raid in the afternoon is chased off by the RAF before it reaches the island.

Italy grants permission for the French Navy to keep its Mediterranean bases armed.

Ground crewmen of No 152 Squadron at RAF Warmwell in 1940. The men moved in from RAF Acklington on 7 July, defending the No 11 Group sector, which included Portland naval base. This area is becoming the focus of the Luftwaffe's attention.

European Air Operations: It is a bad day for the RAF Fighter Command. The Luftwaffe stages numerous small raids along the coast, which draws out the defenders and causes several losses.

During the afternoon, II/JG51 and II/JG51 engage with Spitfires over England. The Bf 109s shoot down three Spitfires of RAF No. 54 Squadron over Manston. Another dogfight over Folkestone sends four RAF fighters down, three Spitfires and a Hurricane.

In the evening, some fighters of JG27 shoot down three Spitfires of RAF No. 64 Squadron.

Dornier Do 17s raid the West Country, killing five people.

A night right by He 11 bombers of 4/KG55 is intercepted by British fighters over Portland, Dorset. The bombers sustain damage but make it back to base.

RAF Bomber Command raids the Ruhr industrial valley (Ludwigshafen and Frankfurt) and loses a Blenheim bomber to a pilot from III/JG26. In other raids, the damage is done to barracks at Wilhelmshaven and the canal at Duisberg-Ruhrort. The Fleet Air Arm raids Bergen, setting alight oil storage tanks.

German/Italian Relations: Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano meets with Hitler, who tells him that he is not ready to attack Yugoslavia. Their general topic is the "new order in Europe."

Soviet Military: General Dmitrii Pavlov becomes commander-in-chief of the Western Special Military District, which controls the direct route between Germany and Moscow.

US Government: President Roosevelt tells Congress that he is sending a US Marine Corps brigade to Iceland, which currently is occupied by British troops

League of Nations: The Secretary-General fires all British staff, hoping to curry favor with Hitler.

A Dewoitine D.338.

French Indochina: Japanese fighters shoot down a Dewoitine D.338, F-AQBA, in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Mexico: Mexico holds elections. In the race for President, Manuel Ávila Camacho is elected president with 93.9% of the vote.

Holocaust: The Vichy French government orders the arrest of Jewish refugees.

British Homefront: Evacuations of children from large cities continues.

Future History: Richard Starkey is born in Dingle, Liverpool. He becomes famous as a drummer in the early 1960s and joins The Beatles as Ringo Starr. The oldest Beatle, Ringo eventually enters the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ringo Starr during his Beatles days.

July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020