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 27 July 1941

"Home Guard troops 'fighting' Valentine tanks of 6th Armoured Division during large-scale manoeuvres at Yelden in Bedfordshire, 27 July 1941." © IWM (H 12081).

Eastern Front: Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, holds a conference on 27 July 1941 at his headquarters at Novy Borisov. Commander-in-Chief Walther von Brauchitsch, the head of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht, attends. The gist of the meeting is simple: follow the Fuhrer's orders. While the assembled generals sit silently, one of Brauchitsch's aides reads a memorandum. It states that the generals are to follow Hitler Directive 33, which specifies that there is to be a pause in the offensive while bypassed Soviet units are subdued, the line is straightened, and repair and maintenance take place.

It is an odd event, made necessary in the eyes of OKW and Hitler due to the strong opposition by many generals and Field Marshals to this strategy. The main targets are Generals Guderian and Hoth, whose Panzer Groups 2 and 3, respectively, have outpaced their colleagues. Both generals disagree, with Guderian writing in his journal that Hitler:

preferred a plan by which small enemy forces were to be encircled and destroyed piecemeal and the enemy thus bled to death. All the officers who took part in the conference were of the opinion that this was incorrect.

The importance of the meeting is not so much what is said, but the fact that Hitler and von Brauchitsch feel it is necessary at all. That it is held at the Army Group Center headquarters also is significant, given that von Bock, Hoth, and Guderian are intent on taking Moscow, which they feel is easily within their grasp.

When the meeting is over, Guderian hurriedly puts together a plan with Hoth and von Bock to honor Directive 33 in form, but not in substance. From here on, generals on the eastern front will often operate through "back channels" and conduct their operations with increasingly looser "interpretations" of OKW (and Hitler) orders.

There is something to be said for both the OKW position and that of von Bock, Hoth, and Guderian. On the one hand, the panzers have been fighting steadily for over a month and simply driving for that long puts a heavy strain on the equipment, let alone engaging in endless combat. On the other hand, however, the Red Army is reeling and it is imperative for the Wehrmacht to destroy the Soviet capacity to resist quickly during good campaigning weather.

In this July 1941 propaganda shot, Red Army soldiers are on a TIZ AM-600 motorcycle with a mounted DP-27 machine gun.

In the Far North sector, the German 36 Corps (General Hans Feige), under pressure from the Army of Norway (AOK Norwegen) headquarters (General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst), attacks the Soviet defenses east of Salla. The attack, the first in weeks, gains no ground at a heavy cost in lives. Feige regroups for another try in a couple of days.

In the Army Group North sector, the Germans approach the Estonian capital Tallinn and capture it late in the day. There is heavy fighting near Velikiye Luki.

In the Army Group Center sector, German forces, after many days of trying, finally link up to the east of Smolensk. This happens when XXXIX Korps (General R. Schmidt) of Panzer Group 3 meets XLVII Korps (General J. Lemelsen) of Panzer Group 2. There is little question that at this stage of the war the panzers of Generals Hoth and Guderian have formed a powerful combination that is clearing the way east.

In the Mogilev area, Soviet resistance ends due to a lack of supplies. About 35,000 Soviet troops go into captivity. A small number of trapped soldiers manage to escape to the east.

This closes a massive pocket that traps large portions of Soviet 16th, 19th, and 20th Armies. The Soviets immediately begin planning a breakout, to be led by the 20th Army. The German line is weak because the infantry is still struggling to catch up with the panzers on the eastern side of the pocket.

In the Army Group South sector, Soviet 26th Army counterattacks Panzer Group 1. The panzers are greatly in need of repair and maintenance, as noted in the war diary of LVII Korps (General Kuntzen):

It must be understood that without a rapid and plentiful supply of track rollers, track links and bolts for the Mark IV and track bolts for the Kpfw 38(t) the number of available panzers will sink further so that the combat strength of the panzer regiments will be greatly weakened. Still especially urgent is the delivery of fully operational motors, gearboxes, oil and specialized panzer grease.

The Bf 109E7 "White 12" of Luftwaffe ace Lt. Joachim Müncheberg in Libya, 7,/JG 27, July 1941.

European Air Operations: Weather is poor over northwest Europe today. This causes problems for the RAF, but not for the Germans.

RAF Bomber Command sends six Blenheim bombers on a raid to the Yainville power station. However, the heavy clouds cause the bombers to turn back without completing their mission. A Circus raid over Le Trait accomplishes little.

Later, the RAF attempts a raid by 14 Wellingtons and Whitleys to Dunkirk. However, these bombers also have to turn back due to the weather. Minor operations by 36 Hampdens laying mines off of Lorient and St. Nazaire, however, are successful. The British lose one bomber.

After dark, the Luftwaffe makes its largest raid on London in 10 weeks, putting 50 aircraft over the capital. The Germans lose four planes.

Battle of the Baltic: The German 3rd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla (S-54, S-55, S-57, and S-58) attacks Soviet shipping in the Gulf of Riga. S-54 and S-55 sink 1690-ton Soviet destroyer Smelyi, while S-57 and S-58 attack other ships without success at Oesel. The motor torpedo boats also sink Latvian coaster Lashplesis off Saaremaa, Estonia.

The Red Air Force bombs and sinks 338-ton German trawler Elbing III near Libau.

HMS Whitehall armed with experimental depth charge throwers in the bows. These are tested on 27 July 1941 (Beadell, SJ (Lt), © IWM (A 4671)).

Battle of the Atlantic: Luftwaffe reconnaissance spotted Convoy OG-69 off Cape Finisterre, Spain on the 26th. U-boat command (BdU) assembled a picket line in its path. Today, the first attacks occur in the early morning hours. There is some disagreement about which U-boats sunk what freighters, which is not unusual for convoy battles involving wolfpacks.

U-79 (Kptlt. Wolfgang Kaufmann), on its second patrol out of Lorient, fires four torpedoes at 02:54 and sinks the 2475-ton British freighter Hawkinge. There are 15 deaths. U-79 also claims to sink two other freighters today, but those are usually attributed to other U-boats.

U-203 (Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg), on its second patrol out of St. Nazaire, torpedos and sinks 2475-ton British freighter Hawkinge. There are 14 deaths.

U-126 (Kptlt. Ernst Bauer), on its first patrol out of Bremen, torpedoes and sinks two ships:

5102-ton British freighter Erato
1304-ton Norwegian freighter Inga I

There are nine deaths on Erato (27 survivors, including the master) and three on Inga I (16 survivors, including the master). U-126 also claims to sink two other ships today, but those are usually allocated to U-79 and U-203.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 198-ton British fishing trawler Ben Strome about fifteen miles southeast of Fuglo Island in the Faroes. Everybody on board, ten men, perishes.

The RAF drops an aerial mine on 1582-ton Danish freighter Knud Vellemoes north of Heligoland, sinking it.

SS Hawkinge, sunk by U-79 on 27 July 1941.

Royal Navy torpedo boats attack German destroyer Friedrich Ihn during a routine voyage north to Calais but do not cause any damage.

Norwegian 4785-ton freighter Lidvard escapes from internment at Dakar into the Atlantic. A chase ensues as Vichy French light cruisers Georges Leygues and Gloire, aircraft, and submarine Acteon attempt to stop Lidvard. However, the Norwegian ship is spotted by Royal Navy destroyer Highlander, which takes it to Freetown.

Royal Navy corvettes HMS Gardenia and Amaranthus intercept 130-ton Vichy French auxiliary patrol ship Edith Germaine off the African coast. However, reflecting the complicated politics involved, the Royal Navy ships allow the Vichy French ship to proceed.

Operation FB, the attack on Kirkenes (in conjunction with Operation EF), proceeds as Force A departs from Scapa Flow bound for Seidisfjord, Norway.

U-371 (Kptlt. Heinrich Driver) spots Convoy OS-1 west of Portugal and shadows it.

Convoy ON-2 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX-141 departs from Halifax bound for Liverpool.

"A view of 5 throwers in line. Depth charges can be seen ready, loaded into the muzzle of the thrower. Ratings can be seen preparing the depth charges." The sailors on HMS Whitehall call the experimental Fairlie mortars, which are tested on 27 July 1941, the "Five Wide Virgins." © IWM (A 4664).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Substance, a successful Royal Navy supply run to Malta, ends when Force H arrives back at Gibraltar.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Tetrarch uses its deck gun to sink Italian caique Nicita about five miles south of the Greek island of Kos.

Operation Guillotine, the reinforcement by the Royal Navy of Cyprus, continues as 6676-ton transport Salamalia departs Port Said for Famagusta.

The Luftwaffe attacks the Suez Canal during the night.

An Axis convoy departs from Naples bound for Tripoli. It has a heavy escort which includes the Italian 8th Cruiser Division. A return convoy from Tripoli also puts to sea.

Battle of the Baltic: Soviet passenger ship Lenin hits a mine and sinks within 10 minutes between Sevastopol and Yalta. There are about 643 survivors and 1000+ deaths, including a large fraction of 1200 Soviet soldiers of the Red Army reserves. The best estimates place the total casualties at 2500-4600 people, but there is no passenger list. Apparently, the mine was in a "friendly" minefield in an area that the Lenin should have avoided. Navy pilot Lieutenant I.I. Svistun survives the sinking, but not for long - Svistun is blamed for the blunder. He will be shot for his error on 24 August.

"A bow view of HMS WHITEHALL, showing the depth charge throwers." 27 July 1941 (Beadell, SJ (Lt), © IWM (A 4672))

Special Operations: After dark, British Commandos of No. 12 Command (Second Lieutenant Philip Pinckney) undertake Operation Chess. This is a reconnaissance and training raid on Ambleteuse, Pas-de-Calais, France. The Commandos cross the English Channel in two motor launches and land at a random spot about two miles from the Slack River near Ambleteuse. The men remain ashore for a couple of hours, accomplish little aside from stand on French soil, and they are picked up by a landing craft. The British are encouraged at being able to complete the operation undetected and plan more such missions.

War Crimes: OKW Chief Wilhelm Keitel orders destroyed all copies of the OKW order of 13 May 1941 which provided, among other things, that Wehrmacht soldiers could commit crimes on the eastern front with impunity. The order, issued under Keitel's signature, also provided that civilians suspected of partisan activities could be shot. However, the order itself is not rescinded. In fact, Keitel basically supplemented the 13 +May order on 23 July 1941, when he issued an order stating that legal punishments are inadequate for quelling civil disturbances and the Wehrmacht is free to use whatever means it so chooses to subdue the Soviet population. Copies of the German orders survive in Soviet files and are used against Keitel at the Nuremberg trials.

Partisans: There is an uprising by several hundred Serb men in Srb, Croatia. It is motivated by the killings of local Serbs by Ustasa units led by Vjekoslav Maks Luburic. This is a very controversial incident, and the controversy centers around exactly what the uprising was about and who it was directed against. The official state description is that it was an uprising by local Serbs against the occupying German forces, while some others claim that it was a nationalist uprising by ethnic Serbs directed against Croat civilians.

Lieutenant-General Henry Alexander Seyffardt, commander of the Volunteer Legion Netherlands, hands a member of the Legion their flag before departing for the German-Soviet front (The Hague, 27 July 1941).

Propaganda: Rome Radio touts the failed motor-launch attack on Malta's Grand Harbour on the 26th as a resounding success. However, it does slightly hedge its bets:

It is not possible to say what damage was inflicted on the British Navy but knowing how our seamen delivered the attack one must rest assured that at least eight more British units have been rendered unseaworthy. With this exploit which may be compared with the greatest naval battles was concluded a three-day epic, opened on 23 July by the action of one of our submarines and so successfully carried out by our aviation and MAs.

Of course, the Italian attackers didn't disable any Royal Navy ships at all and only managed to destroy an old stone bridge.

US/Japanese Relations: The Japanese lodge a diplomatic protest with the United States over the delivery of war supplies to the Soviet port of Vladivostok. This technically violates neutrality laws, but the US at this point isn't too worried about those.

German/Spanish Relations: The Spanish add to their volunteer Blue Division on the eastern front by sending a small volunteer air group. The Escuadra Azul joins III,/JG 27 to become 15,/JG 27 of General Kesselring's Luftlotte 2. Captain Angel Salas Larrazabal leads the unit, which is equipped with Bf 109E fighters.

German motorized AT troops near Cholm, 27 July 1941.

German/Romanian Relations: Hitler is pleased with the Romanian army's performance to date. Now that Romanian troops have "recovered" their "lost" territories, however, they may act like the Finns have recently in Karelia and decide to curtail further offensive operations. To avoid this, Hitler sends a letter to his fellow dictator that specifically asks Ion Antonescu to clear the entire area between the Dniester and Bug Rivers and add it to the Romanian province of Transnistria. Antonescu, eager to add to Romanian territory, agrees.

Ecuadorian/Peruvian War: While a cease-fire is being negotiated, it has not yet taken effect. The Peruvian military has a paratrooper unit which it uses today to seize the port city of Puerto Bolivar. This is the first time in the Americas (and one of the very few times ever) that airborne troops are used to successfully seize a strategic objective from enemy control.

Soviet Military: The NKVD executes the son and nephews, four teens in total, of Lavrentiy Beria's old nemesis Nestor Lakoba in Moscow. In addition, the State Defense Committee condemns to death nine more Soviet officers whose crime is failing to stop the Germans.

General Douglas MacArthur.

US Military: General MacArthur, promoted officially to Lieutenant General as he returns to active duty in the US Army today, establishes his headquarters at No. 1 Calle Victoria in Manila. MacArthur makes his quarters in the building's penthouse. He controls the newly created United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). USAFFE has roughly 20,000 troops in the Philippines, many of whom are Philippine auxiliaries. MacArthur is uniquely positioned to supervise operations in the Philippines because he has been a Philippine Field Marshal for several years despite having retired from the US Army in the late 1930s.

General Lemelsen receives the Knight's Cross at the hand of Adolf Hitler on or about 27 July 1941 (Heinrich Hoffmann).

German Military: The German commander in chief of the Order Police in occupied Kraków issues an order that brings into existence the local municipal police force (UP) in the occupied Ukrainian SSR. In the newly formed Reichskommissariat Ukraine the auxiliary police forces are named Schutzmannschaft. The units are used primarily to keep order and carry out constabulary duties, but also participate in various war crimes relating to the Holocaust.

General der Panzertruppe Joachim Hermann August Lemelsen receives the Knights Cross today for his performance in command of the 47 Panzerkorps at Smolensk.

Luftwaffe ace (27 victories) Hans Kolbow, KIA 17 July 1941 south of Stara Bychow by Soviet flak, is posthumously awarded the Ritterkreuz.

Japanese Government: Japan Finance Minister Masatsune Ogura announces that the proper plan for Japan is to "forge ahead towards the establishment of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity sphere." The Imperial General Headquarters is reaching the same conclusion and making plans to strike to the south, not north toward the Soviet Union in order to help its ally Germany.

A Peruvian Navy Almirante Grau class cruiser in Ecuadorian waters during the Peruvian/Ecuadorian conflict, July 1941.

British Government: The government nationalizes the railroads for the duration.

German Government: During his evening rambles with cronies, Hitler gives his vision of a successful campaign in the USSR:

We must take care to prevent a military power from ever again establishing itself on this side of the Urals, for our neighbors to the West would always be allied with our neighbors to the East. That's how the French once made common cause with the Turks, and now the English are behaving in the same fashion with the Soviets. When I say, on this side of the Urals, I mean a line running two or three hundred kilometers east of the Urals.

Heretofore, there has been virtually no discussion within the German government as to what a successful conclusion to Operation Barbarossa would look like. At least now Hitler indicates that the limit of the Wehrmacht's advance would be slightly beyond the Ural mountain range. Presumably, a decapitated Soviet state would remain on the far side of the Urals, with the Wehrmacht watching it sort of like Roman soldiers manning the Danube.

Iceland: Advance units of the US 45th Infantry Division arrive at Reykjavik. US transport American Legion sets sail for Iceland from Norfolk, Virginia carrying part of the USAAF 33rd Pursuit Squadron. Its planes travel aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7). US Task Force TF.16, led by battleship Mississippi, escorts the Wasp to the north.

Jews at Kovno, Lithuania being assembled before being led to the Seventh Fort to be executed by the Lithuanian militia, 27 July 1941 (Yad Vashem Photo Archives 76BO2).

Holocaust: At Vilna, A German shakedown effort of the Jewish community gets deadly when the Germans execute two Judenrat members due to the inability of the Jewish community to meet a ransom demand.

Germans in Belgrade take 1200 Jews from Belgrade to the Tasmajdan concentration camp, where about 120 are shot.

Clothing taken from Jews in Ponas, Ukraine is sold.

Dutch Homefront: The Freiwillingen Legion Niederlander (Dutch Volunteer Legion), an auxiliary force for the SS, is established under the command of Lieutenant-General Henry Alexander Seyffardt.

American Homefront: David Ross Brower becomes the first to climb the Lost Brother peak in the Sierra Nevada, one of 33 peaks in the mountain range that he is the first to ascend. This apparently is Brower's last "first" in the range. He later recounts his experiences in "A Climber's Guide to the High Sierra" (Sierra Club, 1954). Brower will serve as a lieutenant in the US 10th Mountain Division and earn a Bronze Star in action in Italy.

Future History: Andrew McMaster is born in Carlton, Glasgow, Scotland. He becomes a very successful songwriter during the 1970s, writing or co-writing hits for the UK charts such as "Airport," "Forget About You," and "Dancing the Night Away." Andy McMaster continues to release material as of 2018.

The German forces arriving in Mogilev tell the Jewish women that they have to 'register' with the authorities. On or about 28 July 1941 (Kessler, Rudolf, Federal Archive).

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