Showing posts with label Lyttelton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lyttelton. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2020

March 12, 1942: Japan Takes Java

Thursday 12 March 1942

RAF Westland Lysander 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
"Three Westland Lysander Mark IIIAs of No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the RAF Army Cooperation Command), based at Dunino, Fife, taking part in a low-level bombing exercise on a range in Scotland." 12 March 1942. © IWM (H 17776).
Battle of the Pacific: On 12 March 1942, the Battle of Java officially ends when the senior British, Australian, and American commanders are brought to Bandoeng to sign a formal instrument of surrender. The Japanese commander, Lieutenant-General Masao Maruyama, promises them their prisoner-of-war rights of the Geneva Convention. This marks the end of the ABDA Defense of the Netherlands East Indies. Java is garrisoned from this point forward by the 16th Army (the 2nd and 48th Divisions) while the Imperial Navy guards the eastern territory (the Lesser Sunda Islands, Celebes, Ambon, and Netherlands New Guinea).

In Sumatra, the Japanese advance inland and take the airfield at Medan. The Imperial Guard Division is ordered to complete mopping-up operations on the island.

In Burma, the fighting is nearing an end. The badly mauled 17th Indian Division receives orders to evacuate to India. The British and Gurkha garrison of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal evacuates to India, depriving the Allies of the seaplane base there. The Burma Army establishes its headquarters at the resort town of Maymyo (Pyin Ol Lwin), which has a large European population. The Japanese eventually incarcerate many of them due to suspected sympathies for the Allies.

Captain America 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Captain America Comics No.12 - March 1942, featuring The Weird Case of the Pygmies of Terror.
While the front remains quiet on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, all is not well on the Allied side. Malaria and dysentery are rampant due to contaminated water. About 500-700 men a day are reporting themselves sick, while others are not feeling well. The Japanese are building up for a major offensive to drive the Allies out of the Philippines but are not ready yet. Their fresh troops do not suffer the ailments facing the Allies.

General Douglas MacArthur and his party are en route from Luzon to Tagauayan Island in the Cuyo Group aboard fast motor torpedo (PT) boats. During the night, the four PT boats become separated and two of the boats develop mechanical issues. MacArthur's PT boat, however, proceeds without issue, and all four boats eventually arrive safely.

The British know that the next area of naval warfare is likely to be the Indian Ocean. Accordingly, aircraft carrier Formidable and destroyers Paladin and Panther depart today from Capetown bound for Colombo.

US freighter Olga, lost on 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
US freighter Olga, sunk near Cuba on 12 March 1942.
Eastern Front: Ten Soviet parachute troops land behind German lines near Birza, Lithuania. Their mission is to commit sabotage. However, the Germans spot them and eliminate them quickly.

The Soviets under General Kozlov on the Crimea are preparing for another attempt to break through the German lines to relieve Sevastopol. Kozlov is under strict orders by Stalin issued on 3 March to resume the offensive within ten days. The Germans have laid down 2000 Teller mines in front of the key defensive area and concentrated their assault guns in a defensive posture. Due to the usual spring thawing (Rasputitsa), the ground is muddy and not suitable for an attack, but Kozlov has his orders. The attack will begin as ordered at 09:00 on 13 March 1942.

RAF Westland Lysander 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
"Ground crew removes a Type F.24 camera from Westland Lysander Mark IIIA, V9437 'AR-V', of No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the RAF Army Cooperation Command), at Dunino, Fife, following a photo-reconnaissance sortie." 12 March 1942. © IWM (H 17778).
European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks Emden and Kiel. Twenty Wellingtons and 20 Whitleys are sent to Emden but only 22 of the 40 planes actually claim to reach the target (three lost). Subsequent aerial reconnaissance shows that the nearest bombs were dropped 5 miles (8 km) from the target. At Kiel, 68 Wellingtons attack the Deutsche Works U-boat shipyard, and 53 bomber crews report successful attacks. The RAF loses five Wellingtons over Kiel. Sixteen other bombers lay mines off of German ports, while one Hampden drops leaflets over France.

Norwegian freighter Ingerto, lost on 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Norwegian freighter Ingerto, sunk with no survivors on 12 March 1942.
Battle of the Atlantic: At 02:34 and 06:11, respectively, U-126 (Kptlt. Ernst Bauer) torpedoes and sinks two ships north of Cuba (about 40 miles east of Nuevitas):
7005-ton US freighter Texan (ten dead, 37 survivors)
2496-ton US freighter Olga (one dead, 32 survivors)
Both ships are unarmed. The survivors of the Olga are all taken to Guantanamo Bay. The suction from the Texan causes its lifeboats to capsize and leads to many men drowning.

U-578 (KrvKpt. Ernst-August Rehwinkel), on its third patrol out of St. Nazaire, torpedoes and sinks 3089-ton Norwegian freighter Ingerto about 370 miles southeast of Cape Race. The ship is a straggler of Convoy ON-70. Ingerto sinks quickly and takes all 32 men on board with her.

British 2291-ton passenger ship St. Briac hits a mine and sinks off Aberdeen. There are about 45 deaths of the 123 men on board. Many of the men aboard the St. Briac are Royal Naval sailors because it is classified as an air target vessel.

Two Royal Navy armed trawlers, HMS Wastwater (FY 239) and Le Tigre (Fy 243) begin patrols off the coast of New Jersey in the Third Naval District area.

Repairing a signal flag on HMS Alcantara on 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
"A sailor onboard HMS ALCANTARA uses a portable sewing machine to repair a signal flag during a voyage to Sierra Leone." March 1942. © IWM (CBM 1049).
Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent (Cdr. J.W. Linton) uses its deck gun to sink Greek caique Agia Paraskevi north of the Zea Channel. Two crewmen are wounded. The Germans are known to use such caiques for troop movements between the islands.

In Malta, the RAF has lost many planes on the ground in recent days from Luftwaffe bombing. Infantry battalions now are being used to build blast walls to shield parked planes from the explosions. The Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica continue their attacks today, dropping bombs on the Ta Qali airfield area and near St. Andrews, Kalafrana, Safi, and near St. Agata Church. These attacks slightly damage seven Hurricane fighters at Ta Qali. A bomb hits a shelter there, killing one soldier (eventually) and wounding several others.

Japanese/Australian Relations: Japanese Prime Minister General Tojo Hideki issues a surrender demand to Australia that is ignored.

RAF Westland Lysander 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
"Three Westland Lysander Mark IIIAs of No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron RAF (part of the RAF Army Cooperation Command), based at Dunino, Fife, on a photographic-reconnaissance training sortie over snow-covered Scottish hills." 12 March 1942. © IWM (H 17770).
US Military: Admiral Ernest J King, Commander-in-Chief U.S. Fleet (CINCUS), is designated to replace Admiral Harold R Stark as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) effective 26 March. The title of CNO is combined with CINCUS for the duration. Admiral Stark is heading to Europe to become Commander of United States Naval Forces Europe, where he will oversee the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings. In essence, Stark has been "kicked upstairs." Stark remains under a cloud due to the Pearl Harbor attack and eventually will face a Court of Inquiry over his actions leading up to it.

Three transport ships carrying USAAF ground personnel arrive at Karachi from Australia. Many of the men no longer have aircraft to service, however, due to their loss in the sinking of USS Langley on 27 February 1942.

US Army troops under Brigadier General Alexander M. Patch land on New Caledonia Island to establish a base at Noumea. This is Task Force 6814 consisting of 17,500 men. New Caledonia is of uncertain loyalty to the Allied cause due to the strong Vichy French presence on the island.

British housewives receiving Lend-Lease goods on 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
British mothers at a Tottenham Welfare Center celebrate the arrival of scarce American lend-lease products such as orange juice and cod liver oil. 12 March 1942 (© Daily Herald Archive / National Science & Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library 10313768).
British Government: Oliver Lyttelton takes over the Ministry of War Production, which is the old Ministry of Production.

American Homefront: The Esposito brothers, Anthony and Esposito, are executed in the electric chair in Sing Sing prison. They were convicted of the "thrill kill" murders of a police officer and a holdup victim on 14 January 1941. While their defense of insanity failed, it did accelerate a long history of such defenses in the court system.

Bing Crosby appears on the Kraft Music Hall and sings ten songs. These are later released as an album, including patriotic song "We're the Gang that Feeds the Army."

In Omaha, Nebraska, 11-year-old Warren Buffett buys his first shares of stock (Buffett himself gives the date as 12 March 1942, though other sources say it is 11 March 1942). They are three shares of Cities Service preferred stock. Being underage, he must use his father's brokerage account. The purchase consumes all of the money Buffett has saved since age 6. "I went all in," Buffett reminisced in February 2019. "I had become a capitalist, and it felt good."

Future History: James Sherman Wynn is born in Hamilton, Ohio. He earns the nickname "The Toy Cannon" while playing for several Major League Baseball teams primarily as a center fielder in the 1960s and 1970s. He winds up his career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1977.

Cambridge man wins his appeal on 12 March 1942 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Reflecting on the importance of the essentials during wartime, the 12 March 1942 Boston Globe reports that a man previously convicted of stealing one pound of sugar from a Cambridge, Massachusetts, store has won his appeal.

March 1942

March 1, 1942: Second Battle of Java Sea
March 2, 1942: Huge Allied Shipping Losses at Java
March 3, 1942: Japan Raids Western Australia
March 4, 1942: Second Raid On Hawaii
March 5, 1942: Japan Takes Batavia
March 6, 1942: Churchill Assaults Free Speech
March 7, 1942: British Defeat in Burma
March 8, 1942: Rangoon Falls to Japan
March 9, 1942: Japanese Conquest of Dutch East Indies
March 10, 1942:US Navy attacks Japanese Landings at Lae
March 11, 1942: Warren Buffett's First Stock Trade
March 12, 1942: Japan Takes Java
March 13, 1942: Soviets Attack In Crimea Again 
March 14, 1942: The US Leans Toward Europe
March 15, 1942: Operation Raubtier Begins
March 16, 1942: General MacArthur Gets His Ride
March 17, 1942: MacArthur Arrives in Australia
March 18, 1942: Japan Attacks In Burma
March 19, 1942: Soviets Encircled on the Volkhov
March 20, 1942: "I Shall Return," Says MacArthur
March 21, 1942: Germans Attack Toward Demyansk
March 22, 1942: Second Battle of Sirte
March 23, 1942: Hitler's Insecurity Builds
March 24, 1942: Bataan Bombarded
March 25, 1942: Chinese Under Pressure in Burma
March 26, 1942: Win Or Die, Vows MacArthur
March 27, 1942: The Battle of Suusari
March 28, 1942: The St. Nazaire Commando Raid
March 29, 1942: The Free Republic of Nias
March 30, 1942: Japanese-Americans Off Bainbridge Island
March 31, 1942: Japanese Seize Christmas Island

2020

Saturday, May 5, 2018

July 21, 1941: Moscow in Flames

Monday 21 July 1941

German Sd.Kfz-250 half-track, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A German Sd.Kfz-250 half-track in front of panzer units as they prepare for an attack, 21 July 1941.
Eastern Front: Hitler, apparently bored at the Wolfschanze in East Prussia, decides to visit the headquarters of Army Group North on 21 July 1941. After completing some diplomatic tasks, he boards his transport and flies to a small airport at Malnava in eastern Latvia. He then drives in his open Mercedes car to visit with Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, whose headquarters is in the manor house Malnava.

Hitler expresses his complete disinterest in capturing Moscow. As recorded in the OKW war diary:
In this regard it could then happen that 2. Panzergruppe turns to the south so that for the thrust on Moscow only infantry armies of Heeresgruppe Mitte remain. This eventuality does not worry the Führer because Moscow is for him only a geographical term.
Needless to say, an infantry advance on Moscow without the customary panzer spearhead would at best be extremely slow and at worst be impossible.

To mark the one-month anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe begins a "Moscow Blitz." After dark, Heinkel He 111 pathfinders of KGr.100 and KGr.26 take off from an airfield near Smolensk to form the vanguard of a 127-plane force that drops 104 metric tons of bombs. The bombers come in successive waves that last a total of six hours. Anti-aircraft fire is heavy under the control of Soviet commander of Moscow air defense Major General M.S. Gromadin, so the bombs are scattered across the city. Some incendiaries land on the roof of the British Embassy but are put out quickly by embassy staff and the Moscow fire brigade. The Soviets apparently have been forewarned about the raid and thus are well-prepared. However, the Red Air Force barely makes an appearance, revealing the weakness of Soviet night-fighter defenses. Six Luftwaffe bombers fail to return.

In the Far North sector, Finnish VI Corps captures Salmi on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga from Soviet 452nd Motorized Infantry Regiment. While not a particularly large town, it is an important landmark in the endless Karelian forests. The 1939 border is just beyond Salmi, and the Finns continue advancing forward toward the Svir River far to the southeast - but nobody knows what Mannerheim will do once the Finns reach the old border.

In the Army Group North sector, Hitler visits the army group headquarters and prepares to tour the front.

In the Army Group Center sector, General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 has trapped a large force of Soviet soldiers at Mogilev. The 4th Panzer Division (Major General W. von Langermann) takes about 2,000 prisoners, but he doesn't have enough infantry to capture the remaining 8-10,000 men, who escape.

In the Army Group South sector, the Germans take Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia) as several armies near forming a pocket around a huge Soviet troop concentration near Uman. Some 17,000 of the original Jewish population of Vinnitsa of 34,000 remain and persecutions begin virtually immediately. General von Kleist's panzers bear in on Uman and Tarashche. XLVIII Panzer Corps (General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf) takes Monastyrishche.

Soviet anti-aircraft gun soldiers defending Moscow, July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Soviet soldiers defending Moscow are preparing anti-aircraft guns in Gorky Culture Park, July 1941.
European Air Operations: During the day, 13 Blenheim bombers engage in coastal sweeps and short incursions into France.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 37 Wellington and 23 Hampden bombers on the first large raid against Frankfurt. The bombers apparently get lost, with most of the damage occurring in Darmstadt, which is about 15 miles from the target city. In the latter city, there are 16 deaths and 15 buildings destroyed or damaged. All of the planes return.

RAF Bomber Command also raids Mannheim. The 36 Wellington and 8 Halifax bombers cause only light damage in the target city and nearby Ludwigshafen. One Wellington is lost.

The RAF also sends 6 Wellingtons to bomb Cherbourg and two Hampdens to lay mines in the Frisian Islands off the Dutch coast.

Oblt. Johannes Seifert of 3./JG 26 shoots down a Spitfire fighter southwest of Ypres and a Stirling bomber of RAF No. 15 Squadron over the English Channel.

Hitler and Field Marshal von Leeb, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Hitler with Field Marshal von Leeb at Malnava, Latvia, 21 July 1941.
Battle of the Baltic: U-140 (Oblt. Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel), a training boat, suddenly finds itself within sight of 206-ton Soviet submarine M-94. Off Ristna Lighthouse at Dago Island, U-140 sinks the submarine. There are 8 deaths and 11 survivors, who are picked up by Soviet submarine M-98. The incident is not purely by accident, as the U-boat command has ordered the U-boat far out into the Baltic in order to use the training mission as a quasi-patrol. This is U-140's final victory of the war; it has sunk three ships totaling 13,204 tons and one submarine of 206 tons. It now returns to its training duties.

Finnish ships conduct minelaying operations.

Hitler in Latvia, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Crowds saluting Hitler as he arrives in his open Mercedes at Malnava, Latvia, 21 July 1941.
Battle of the Atlantic: Italian submarine Torelli torpedoes and sinks 8913-ton Norwegian tanker Ida Knudsen a few hundred miles west of Rabat. There are five deaths and 33 survivors, 15 of whom are picked up by 341-ton Portuguese trawler Altair.

U-109 (Kptlt. Heinrich Bleichrodt), on its second patrol, refuels from German supply ship "Thalia," which is "interned" in the Spanish port of Cadiz. The Kriegsmarine actually has such tankers at three Spanish ports, which extend the range of U-boat missions and thus effectively increase the number of boats that can be kept on patrol.

The RAF bombs and sinks German transport Wandsbeck at Narvik, Norway.

German 1599-ton freighter Hans Christopherson hits a mine and sinks off Terschelling.

British freighters Bangalore and Richmond Castle collide in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. The Bangalore is badly damaged and ultimately is sunk by the Royal Navy for being a hazard to navigation.

Canadian troop convoy TC-12 departs from Halifax. It includes transports 20,021-ton Duchess of York, 21,517-ton Empress of Canada, 23,371-ton Orion, 23,428-ton Strathmore, and 22,283-ton Strathnaver. Among its escorts is battleship HMS Malaya, recently repaired in New York.

German raider Orion rounds Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean.

Convoy OB-349 departs from Liverpool. There will be no more OB convoys, from now on they will be designated ON.

Royal Navy destroyer Ashanti is recommissioned on the Tyne after extensive repairs.

Royal Navy minesweepers HMS Cadmus and Circe are laid down.

Canadian minesweeper HMCS Guysborough is launched at North Vancouver, British Columbia.

US destroyer USS Evans and John D. Henley, minesweepers Token, Tumult, and Velocity, and submarine Gunnel are laid down.

Finnish soldiers, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
 Original caption: "Ingrian Paavo Susi, who escaped to the Finnish side. He was shot in the arm by a politruk, while escaping. Kaalamo, 1941.07.21." A politruk was a commissar responsible for the political education of Soviet troops - it means "political leader." Axis soldiers considered them among the most fanatical of Soviet troops, almost equivalent to slavemasters - they were known to beat Soviet soldiers to get them to fight.
Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Substance, a well-defended convoy (Convoy GM-1), gets in high gear when a seven-ship convoy escorted by Force H and a large force borrowed from the British Home Fleet proceeds past Gibraltar directly towards Malta. The ships in the convoy do not know their (extremely dangerous) destination until destroyers shoot lines onto them bearing messages to their masters. The convoy gets off to a rocky start when troopship HMT Leinster runs aground while departing Gibraltar and must be left behind.

The Italian navy learns of Royal Navy activity in the western Mediterranean. However, the Regia Marina concludes that this is nothing but another case of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier launching planes to Malta and decides to keep its ships in port.

Greek submarine Glaukos (Lt. Commander Zepos) uses its deck gun to sink 21-ton Italian freighter San Nicola four miles northwest of Rhodes.

The men of Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku engage in some derring-do by landing a small party in Benghazi Harbor. The commandos attach timed explosive charges to a ship and then escape safely.

Operation Guillotine, a British troop movement from Egypt to Cyprus, continues. Royal Navy corvette HMS Peony departs Port Said with 1712-ton Dutch freighter Trajanus heading for Famagusta. Royal Navy sloop Flamingo departs Alexandria for Port Said in order to escort another transport, HMT Kevinbank, from there to Famagusta.

An Axis convoy departs Naples bound for Tripoli. It includes 5479-ton freighter Maddalena Odero, 6003-ton freighter Nicolo Odero, 6476-ton freighter Caffaro, and 8203-ton freighter Preussen. Royal Navy submarine Olympus spots the ships and attacks but misses.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Ilex, having undergone emergency repairs, departs from Port Said through the Suez Canal in order to make final repairs at Durban.

At Malta, the Inspector General of the Royal Air Force, Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt, visit the base at Kalafrana.

Battle of the Pacific: Australian troops (Robin Force) arrive at New Caledonia with 3rd Independent Company and two six-inch guns.

A Finnish soldier on a captured Soviet BT-7 tank, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A Finnish soldier on a captured Soviet BT-7 tank, 21 July 1941. The tank is being used to fell trees, perhaps to build a road (SA-Kuva).
Partisans: To take advantage of the new "V for Victory" campaign launched over the BBC on the 19th, British Minister for Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton proposes instigating widespread revolts on the Continent. It is time, he writes, to "set in motion... schemes for full-scale revolution in Europe." Dalton proposes using the Special Operations Executive for the task.

In fact, one area of occupied Europe already is in revolt. In Montenegro, partisan rebels have occupied a wide swathe of territory. General Cavallero, the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army Group in Albania, has ordered General Alessandro Pirzio Biroli to suppress the uprising "at whatever cost."

Japanese/Vichy French Relations: Vice-Premier Darlan accepts the Japanese request for basing rights in French Indochina. He comments that France has no choice in the matter, and plaintively asks the Japanese to recognize French sovereignty and to not molest French troops or evict them from their posts.

This confirms Japanese military dominance in Southeast Asia, with only the British bases in Singapore and Hong Kong, the Dutch in the East Indies, and the Americans in the Philippines and Guam to dispute it. The tentative protocol as drafted by the French provides that the use of facilities by the Japanese could not, under any circumstances, have the character of military occupation. Japanese forces are not to exceed 25,000 men.

Statue of Stalin with hatchet in his head, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Harlu, 21 July 1941. Someone has very skillfully thrown an ax into Stalin's head (SA-Kuva).
Anglo/Free French Relations: Free French leader Charles de Gaulle travels from his headquarters in western Africa to Cairo in order to meet with British Secretary of State for the Middle East Oliver Lyttelton. De Gaulle is completely out of sorts, sleep-deprived and furious at what he considers to be calculated slights against him personally and the Free French war effort. He hands Lyttelton a peremptory note:
Free France, that is to say France, is no longer willing to entrust to the British military command the duty of exercising command over the French troops in the Middle East. General de Gaulle and the French Empire Defence Council are resuming full and entire disposal of all the French forces of the Levant as from 24 July 1941, at midday.
Lyttelton rightly objects that this demand is an ultimatum that breaks the Anglo/Free French alliance. De Gaulle responds that the British can take it any way that they like. However, at dinner, after he has gotten some rest, de Gaulle settles for various concessions that salve his injured pride. These include recognition of France's historic position within the Levant, use of Vichy French equipment (much of which is quite good), and the right to recruit Vichy French soldiers. General Dentz, who retains control over his Vichy troops, however, is not fond of de Gaulle and keeps defections to de Gaulle down to 6,000 men.

Decapitated statue of Stalin and Lenin, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
21 July 1941, Harlu. Two Finnish soldiers pose next to a decapitated statue of Lenin and Stalin.
Anglo/Soviet Relations: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin receives British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's reply to his request for an immediate western front in Northwest Europe. Churchill promises to do "Anything sensible and effective that we can do to help." However, he says that Great Britain is unable to invade at this time. Churchill says the RAF is "studying" sending some fighter squadrons to Murmansk.

German/Croatian Relations: Hitler meets with Slavko Kvaternik, Ustasha co-founder and leader of the NDH military, at the Wolfshanze Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia. Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop and OKW head Wilhelm Keitel also attend the meeting. The Propaganda Ministry films the welcoming ceremony for the newsreels.

German/Ukranian Relations: The Germans imprison Ukrainian nationalist leader Stefan Bandera.

Joseph Stalin, July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Joseph Stalin, July 1941.
Soviet Military: The Stavka appoints Shaposhnikov as chief of staff of Western Front, under Semyon Timoshenko.

Australian Military: The Royal Australian Navy establishes the Naval Auxiliary Patrol. It uses peacetime pleasure cruisers that become known as "nappies."

US Military: The Selective Service Act which drafts young men into the military is about to expire, so President Roosevelt asks Congress to declare a full or limited national emergency in order to extend it. Drafted soldiers now serve for only a year, and Roosevelt wishes to retain them for an additional 30 months.

German Government: As he often does, Hitler sits at his dinner table with his cronies late into the night expounding on his various theories and philosophies. He says of Benito Mussolini:
I must say, I always enjoy meeting the Duce. He's a great personality... The march on Rome, in 1922, was one of the turning-points of history... If Mussolini had been outdistanced by Marxism, I don't know whether we could have succeeded in holding out. At that period National Socialism was a very fragile growth.
After further rambling about the glories of Italian architecture, he concludes, "My dearest wish would be to be able to wander about in Italy as an unknown painter."
Freyberg, Andrew, and Hargest, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Three key commanders of the failed Crete campaign confer at Helwan, Egypt, on 21 July 1941. Left to right: Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew, 22nd Battalion; Brigadier Hargest, 5th (NZ) Brigade; Major-General Freyberg, 2nd New Zealand Division and Creforce (New Zealand History).
Holocaust: Majdanek Concentration Camp becomes operational.

Romanian soldiers force all of the Jews in Ozarintsy into the town synagogue. After a few hours, they take 43 Jewish men into the Polish cemetery and execute them.

At the village of Felitsianovka near Vinnytsia, the Germans execute 21 Jews.

The Germans take 12 Jews in Chernevtsy near Vinnytsia to the machine and tractor station and execute them.

An SS unit enters Sudilkov and takes all of the town's Jews from their homes to the ghetto of Shepetovka. From there, the Germans take some to the forest on the road to Klementovichi and execute them.

At Minsk, the Germans order 45 Jews to dig a pit and then get in it. They then order Russian prisoners to bury them alive. After the 30 Russians refuse, they are forced into the pit also and everyone in the pit is shot, then buried.

Miss New York City, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A jury including Cab Calloway, Canada Lee, Bill Robinson, Joe Bostic, and Erskine Hawkins selects "Miss New York City" at the Sonia Ballroom, July 21, 1941. Lillian O'Donnell wins and eventually becomes 3rd Runner-up at the Miss America competition. The pageant is a key stepping-stone to fame and fortune for some ladies - for instance, in 1945, Bess Myerson wins and uses it to eventually become Miss America and begin a long career in show business.
American Homefront: The United States begins a national aluminum salvage drive.

Eleanore Roosevelt writes in her "My Day" column about National Youth Administration leader Aubrey Wills Williams and the dedication of a new National Youth Administration training center that she attended a few days ago. Williams champions civil rights for African-Americans and uses his NYA position to provide vocational training and educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

After beginning the year slowly, the New York Yankees now lead second-place Cleveland by seven games and Boston by 14 in the American League. In the National League, the Brooklyn Dodgers lead St. Louis by only one game.

Singapore, 21 July 1941 worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A 21 July 1941 photograph of Singapore showing Rimau Offices and Accommodation (View Road Hospital) in the early stages of construction. This later becomes the Naval Base Police Asian Quarters (National Archives UK via National Archives of Singapore online).

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