Wednesday 27 August 1941

U-570 is captured by a Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare trawler on 27 August 1941. This picture was shot by an Allied plane circling the U-boat.

Iran Invasion: The invasion of Iran by British and Soviet forces continues without too much hindrance from the defenders on 27 August 1941, but there are some isolated situations where the Iranian Army shows its mettle. British forces reach Ahvaz, where Iranian troops under General Mohammad Shahbakhti has prepared a fortified position on the far side of the Karun River. Ahvaz controls the entrance to the Zagros Mountains, through which the British hope to drive north toward Tehran. However, British probing attacks show that Ahvaz would require a costly battle, so the British Indian troops come to a halt and wait for the campaign to be decided elsewhere.

In central Iran, the 10th Indian Infantry Division is hindered more by the rough terrain than by the defenders. Defenders in the town of Gilan-e-Gharb put up a spirited resistance, but it is soon overcome. This opens the Pai Tak Pass, which leads toward Tehran. The retreating Iranians cut down some trees across the road and dynamite it in places, slowing the British down but not stopping them.

In the northwest, the Soviets face stiffer opposition, but overcome it with the aid of Red Air Force bombers and utter ruthlessness (along with taking a lot of casualties of their own). The Iranians retreat on Ramsar and hope to make a stand there. In the northeast, the Soviets invading from Turkmenistan SSR have a real battle against Iran's 9th Infantry Division at Mashhad and Khorasan province. The Soviets have been stopped for three days at the frontier, but the Iranians have taken heavy casualties and their hold on Mashhad is becoming tenuous.

Australian sloop HMAS Yarra captures 4901-ton Italian freighter Hilda at Banda Addas. The Iranian crew sets Hilda on fire, but the British put them out. Royal Navy tug Sydney Thubron tows Hilda to Karachi, where it is converted into a Royal Navy repair ship.

In Tehran, everyone can see how things will turn out. The Prime Minister resigns and German nationals look for escape routes. Mohammad Ali Foroughi becomes the new Prime Minister, but everyone knows that it won't be for long.

Members of the ground crew paint victory bar number 44 on the rudder of Erich Schmidt`s "Yellow 11," Surash, Bf 109F, 27 August 1941.

Eastern Front: OKH Chief of Staff General Franz Halder's war diary for the 27th is full of notations that the Soviet positions are "weak" and "beaten." He notes that the Soviets in the Valdai Hills are trying to regroup their "beaten" forces, that that the Soviet position southeast of Bryansk is "still very weak," that the Soviet troops on the Dneipr between Kyiv and Zaporozhe  are "weak forces," that the Soviets on the lower Dneipr are building up a defensive line "though only with weak forces." These are not the only times he points out how "weak" the Soviets are. What is missing from Halder's diary, however, are any indications that the Germans are strong enough to take advantage of all this Soviet weakness.

The Germans are beginning to formulate a plan for taking Kyiv. General von Sodenstern, Chief of Staff at Army Group South, cautions that Sixth Army must not become "locked" with the Soviet defenders, but instead should circle around the city to the east and cut off its supplies and escape route. This is extremely wise counsel that the same Sixth Army would have been well to heed exactly a year later at Stalingrad.

In the Far North sector, the Finns mount major attacks on the Soviet-held port of Hango in southwest Finland by both land and sea. The heavily fortified Soviets, though, are well-provisioned and the small beachhead is heavily armed. The Soviets resist the assaults.

The Finnish Light Brigade T, 12th Division, and 18th Division continue pursuing the Soviet 43rd, 115th, and 123rd Rifle Divisions near the Vuoksi River. Finnish troops are spreading out all across the Karelian Isthmus, cutting off Viipuri tightening their grip on the shore of Lake Ladoga. However, despite being experts at forest warfare, they are having difficulty drawing tight lines to hem in the retreating Soviets because the terrain offers too many chances to escape unseen.

Northeast of Nurmi Lake, a bloody battle develops between Finnish XXXVI Corps and fleeing Soviet troops. A German SS battalion fails to close a pincer at the narrows at Kayrala in the morning, allowing Soviets to escape on foot without any equipment. The Axis troops quickly regroup, and XXXVI Corps sends some Finnish troops to the Wehrmacht's 169th Division while attaching three SS battalions to the Finnish 6th Division. The Axis troops hurry toward the town of Allakurtti along a road and a railway line, but the Soviets get there ahead of them and prepare fortified positions. The Soviets fight for their lives and manage to hold their line sufficiently for most of their troops to escape.

Finnish soldiers examine a disabled Soviet tank, 27 August 1941 (SA-Kuva).

In the Army Group North sector, German troops of 18th Army advance on Tallinn (Reval), the capital of Estonia as the Soviet 10th Rifle Corps and affiliated troops and civilians begin a massive evacuation. Once Tallinn is taken, it will free up German soldiers for the all-important advance on Leningrad. So, no matter how the evacuation turns out, it is a strategic victory for the Wehrmacht.

In the Army Group Center sector, Panzer Group 3 recaptures Velikie Luki after Soviet counterattacks. Group Stumme at Velikie Luki prepares for a drive on Toropets. General Stumme reports to headquarters that his troops have captured 34,000 Soviet soldiers and 300 guns of 22nd Army. German 250th Infantry Division, the Spanish Blue Division, begins marching on foot from the Polish border to Smolensk. General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 expands its bridgehead south of the Desna River at Novgorod-Seversk, but the going is slow both for the Panzer Group and Second Army which is also moving toward Kyiv.

In the Army Group South sector, the Germans complete their movement of an assault battalion and ten heavy artillery battalions to assist the Romanians in a resumption of the attack on Odessa. The Soviets have little chance of prevailing but have been ordered to fight to the end. Hitler and Mussolini tour areas behind the front lines and meet with army leaders. In what may be a related incident, the leader of Panzer Group 2, General Paul von Kleist, is mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, one of the Reich's highest honors.

Soviet bombers hit Koenigsberg during the night.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Stępina during their inspection tour, 27 August 1941.

European Air Operations: During the day, the RAF sends 13 Blenheim bombers on Circus operations to Lille and St. Omer. However, the missions are recalled.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 91 bombers (35 Hampdens, 41 Wellingtons, and 15 Whitleys) against favorite target Mannheim. The bombers must overcome ground haze and cause only moderate damage, damaging 13 buildings and injuring 13 people at a hotel. The RAF loses 7 Wellingtons and a Whitley when the planes return to England, apparently due to bad weather.

In addition, the RAF sends 2 Wellingtons to bomb Boulogne, 2 Wellingtons to bomb Dunkirk, and 17 Hampdens on minelaying operations in the Frisians. There are no losses.

Pilot Officer William R. Dunn, an American pilot flying a Spitfire Mk II with RAF No. 71 "Eagle" Squadron, downs two Bf 109 Fs. Dunn, who also got the squadron's first confirmed victory on 21 July 1941, thereby becomes the first American ace of World War II. Dunn is wounded in the right leg in the action and, after recovery, becomes an instructor.

German troops manhandling an artillery piece. The arrow points to a German soldier using a captured SVT 38/40 rifle (screen capture from Die Deutsche Wochenschau, 27 August 1941).

Battle of the Baltic: There is a short, sharp action off Cape Domesnas, Latvia. Four Soviet TKA boats attack a German motorboat convoy. No boats are sunk, but two of the German boats (Adele and Diete Korner) are damaged and beached

The Soviet Baltic Fleet evacuates Tallinn, Estonia in a maximum effort of over 200 vessels. The ships head toward Kronstadt, Kotlin Island near Leningrad. There are four separate convoys and a Soviet main covering force commanded by Vice Admiral V.F. Tributs. Prior to leaving, the Soviets scuttle a number of vessels, including:

• sailing ship Juno
• sailing ship Kodu
• sailing ship Leidus
• sailing ship Minnalaid
• sailing ship Delphin
• sailing ship Kihelkonna
• 185-ton freighter Salmi
• 403-ton freighter Saturn.
• minelayer Amur (blocking ship)
• 696-ton freighter Gamma (blocking ship)
• 80-ton tugboat Virre (blocking ship)
• 160-ton freighter Alar (blocking ship)
• freighter Diana (blocking ship)

The Soviet evacuation proceeds without incident today (it runs into difficulties on the 28th). Shortly after the last ship leaves, the Germans occupy the port. It is an audacious gamble made in the teeth of German aerial and naval supremacy of the mine-infested Baltic even though the route only covers 150 miles.

An RAF Catalina takes a picture of U-570 surrendering to a British Royal Navy ship, 27 August 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-570 (Kptlt. Hans-Joachim Rahmlow), on its first patrol out of Trondheim, surfaces directly below a patroling RAF Hudson of RAF No. 269 Squadron due south of Reykjavik. The plane quickly drops depth charges on U-570 south of Iceland, forcing it to the surface and to surrender. There are 44 survivors. The Royal Navy captures the submarine and tows it to Thorlakshafn, Iceland. The Royal Navy ultimately recommissions it in the Royal Navy as HMS Graph and uses it operationally.

U-557 (KrvKpt. Ottokar Arnold Paulssen), on its third patrol operating out of Lorient, has a big day. It torpedoes and sinks several ships of Convoy OS-4 west of Ireland and south of Iceland:

• 4414-ton Norwegian freighter Segundo (seven deaths, 27 survivors)
• 6303-ton British freighter Saugor (59 deaths, 23 survivors)
• 4736-ton British freighter Tremoda (32-35 deaths, 18-21 survivors )
• 4954-ton British freighter Embassage (39 deaths, 3 survivors).

U-202 (Kptlt. Hans-Heinz Linder), on its second patrol out of Brest, torpedoes and sinks 230-ton British freighter Ladylove. Ladylove is part of Convoy OS-4 south of Iceland. All 14 men on board perish.

There is a tragedy on HMS Lulworth when Canadian seaman Lt. C.A. Keeler jumps off the ship to rescue a female survivor from 439-ton Norwegian freighter Ingria of Convoy OS-4. Both are lost at sea and their bodies are never found. Keeler receives the Albert Medal posthumously.

The German 6th Destroyer Division, based at Kirkenes, Norway, already is suffering from combat and the elements. After only six weeks in Northern Norway, destroyers Richard Beitzen and Hermann Schoemann must return to German for repairs. This leaves only two destroyers to patrol the northern convoy routes - right when activity is starting to ramp up with British supply missions to Murmansk and Archangel.

US Battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41) departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia on a neutrality patrol. American Task Group TG-2.5, led by aircraft carrier Yorktown, arrives at Bermuda to conclude a neutrality patrol. Royal Navy battleship Rodney departs from Bermuda and joins American Task Force TG2.6 to search for a reported Kriegsmarine cruiser in the North Atlantic (reported by Canadian AMC Prince David).

Convoy ON-10 departs from Liverpool.

Royal Navy destroys Rotherham and corvettes Eglantine and Soroy are commissioned, destroyer Aldenham and submarine Traveler are launched.

"A soldier of the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifles Brigade with his monkey mascot onboard one of the Royal Navy destroyers on the way from Alexandria to Tobruk, 27 August 1941." © IWM (E 5050).

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Treacle, the replacement of Australian soldiers at Tobruk with Polish soldiers of the Carpathian Brigade, continues. Royal Navy minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers Hotspur, Kingston, and Kipling are escorted to Tobruk after dark from Alexandria. Unlike previous Treacle missions, however, the Italian Regia Aeronautica makes a successful attack on the convoy. An Italian S.79 of 279 Squadron hits escorting light cruiser Phoebe with an aerial torpedo about 100 miles northeast of Tobruk. The attack kills eight sailors. Phoebe makes it back to Tobruk under its own power, and the rest of the ships make it to Tobruk and back without suffering further attacks. Phoebe later proceeds to New York Navy Yard for repairs that last until 15 April 1942.

While en route from Naples to Tripoli, an Italian convoy is attacked. Royal Navy submarine Urge (Lt Cdr Tomkinson) torpedoes 497-ton Italian freighter Aquitania, but Aquitania is able to return to Trapani, Sicily at reduced speed. Italian torpedo boat Clio counterattacks Urge and damages the British submarine. Two other Royal Navy submarines, Unbeaten and Utmost, also attack ships in the area but miss.

Royal Navy submarine Triumph (Cdr Woods) captures and then sinks an Italian fishing boat off the Furano River, Sicily.

Operation Guillotine, the British reinforcement of Cyprus, continues today with the departure from Port Said of Australian sloop HMAS Parramatta and transport Salamaua. The ships proceed to Famagusta, arriving on the 29th, and then return to Alexandria to conclude the operation.

The Luftwaffe attacks Tobruk, and a Junkers Ju-87 Stuka sinks 245-ton whaler Skudd III. There are three deaths immediately, another man dies later of wounds, and two sailors are missing. An additional six men are wounded.

Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille shoots down a Hurricane fighter near Gambut, Libya.

There is an invasion alert on Gozo beach at Malta due to reports of Italian torpedo boats in the area. However, there is no invasion.

USS North Carolina firing her forward 16" guns during trials, 26-27 Aug 1941.

Partisans: Pierre Laval attends a review of the Legion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolshevisme (LVF), a collaborationist militia unit on its way to the Eastern Front. Laval is shot by 21-year-old Paul Collette, a disaffected former member of the nationalist Croix-de-Feu and then French Social Party (PSF). The bullet just misses Laval's heart and, for a bullet shot, causes minimal injury. Marcel Déat, another collaborationist, also is shot and injured.

The incident hardens the Vichy government's resolve to eliminate dissent within its zone. It arrests political opponents and simply calls them "communists" to justify the arrests regardless of their true political affiliations.

Laval, shortly after being shot, prevents the Germans from immediately shooting Collette. He tells the German officer who has apprehended the shooter, "Don't do that. You do not know how the French will react like I do." Laval is not particularly popular in France despite being a long-time politician and former head of the government, so he has no illusions that the public will support his ordering instant executions by the occupying army. However, Collette is not let go - he will go on trial, be sentenced to death, have his sentence commuted by Petain, and then be sent to a succession of French prisons and ultimately Mauthausen concentration camp.

Collette, despite his own arduous path for the duration of the war and murky motives, becomes something of a symbol for the French Resistance. He survives the war, publishes a book, "I Shot Laval," in 1946, and dies in 1995.

U-570 is captured by the Royal Navy, 27 August 1941.

Spy Stuff: U-570, captured by the Royal Navy today, has its cipher gear intact. The scientists at Bletchley Park know all about German cipher equipment already, though extra and current copies are always welcome. Contrary to myth, this capture does prove of war-winning benefit to the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. The German crew has plenty of time (actually, all day long, as the British take that long to get ships in the area) to destroy its current codes and anything else of value before being taken as prisoners. Thus, the capture is worth less than it might seem from a codebreaking standpoint, though of course it is a daring feat and does deprive the Kriegsmarine of a submarine. Many Kriegsmarine codes remain unbreakable throughout the war because German sailors are the best-trained and most disciplined ciphers in the Wehrmacht. Lapses in coding are the main source of codebreaking - not having copies of the equipment used - and the Kriegsmarine makes relatively few errors that give codebreakers an opening.

In Washington, D.C., Dusko Popov meets with FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover. Popov is a putative spy for the Germans who is a double agent for the Allies. Popov has in his possession a list of questions given to him to ask about which prominently features Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - the main base of the US Pacific Fleet. Hoover, however, sees no significance in these questions.

Special Operations: Operation Gauntlet continues in Spitzbergen without any interference from the Germans. The Norwegians are sending the Germans in mainland Norway false weather reports of fog which keep away Luftwaffe reconnaissance flights by Wettererkundungsstaffel (Wekusta 5). The Canadians settle in and continue destroying mining equipment and coal dumps in the midnight sun. The Germans don't know anything is amiss, so they continue sending colliers to pick up loads of coal - which the Canadians gladly seize.

Applied Science: Winston Churchill approves the MAUD Committee's suggestion that an atomic bomb should be developed:

Although personally, I am quite content with the existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement, and I therefore think that action should be taken in the sense proposed by Lord Cherwell.

The Americans already are working toward an atomic bomb, and also have reached the same conclusions as Churchill based on their reading of the same MAUD Report.

"Soldiers of the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifles Brigade getting their mascot pets, a monkey and a dog, used to each others company, 27 August 1941. Photograph was taken on board of one of the Royal Navy destroyers on the way from Alexandria to Tobruk." (© IWM (E 5051))

US/Japanese Relations: Ambassador Nomura hand-delivers a note from Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye to Secretary of State Cordell Hull. It states in part that he wants:

to discuss from a broad standpoint all important problems between Japan and America covering the entire Pacific area, and to explore the possibility of saving the situation.

In a sign of things to come, the Japanese embassy staff has difficulty completing the translation of Prince Konoye's message in time for Nomura's meeting with the Secretary of State - even though they have the message a full day in advance. Thus, Nomura must deliver the message only partly in writing and partly orally. Hull denies Nomura's request to see President Roosevelt immediately but says he will try to set up a meeting in the morning.

The Director of the American Bureau for Japanese Foreign Affairs, Mr. Terasaki, delivers a statement intended for US Ambassador Joseph Grew. It demands that the US tankers bound for Vladivostok be recalled or, if that is impossible, be rerouted to avoid passing through the Straits of Saya and Tsugaru. The Japanese note says that Imperial Japan resents supplies being sent through Japanese waters to the USSR, which may later use those supplies against Japan.

A Finnish soldier receives his cigarette ration, 27 August 1941 (SA-Kuva).

Japanese military: The Imperial Japanese Navy requisitions 6667-ton freighter Onoe Maru.

British Government: Giving in to its usually latent socialistic impulses, the British Government nationalizes the railways for the duration of the conflict. The owners are given £43,000,000 per year as compensation.

China: At Macau, the Japanese issue an ultimatum to the Portuguese administrators of the city: either the city takes a pro-Japanese stance, or the Japanese will block all food imports.

Hungarian Jews being led to their executions at Kaments-Podolski, 27 or 28 August 1941.

Holocaust: SS units under the command of the Higher SS and Police Leader for the southern region, SS General Friedrich Jeckeln, murder 23,600 Hungarian Jews at Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukrainian SSR. This figure is taken from Jeckeln's own report, and some estimates place the number closer to 25,000. As usual in such incidents, the victims are marched to pits outside of town and shot so that they fall into them (in this case, bomb craters). This incident is the largest mass execution to date and a precursor of much larger ones to come in September 1941 and thereafter.

Soviet Homefront: An Aeroflot Tupolev ANT-6-G2 (TB-3) (CCCP-L1996) crashes into a hill near Kyzyl-Arviat, Turkmenistan. It is carrying cargo on the Tashkent-Ashgabat route, apparently in support of the Soviet invasion of Iran. The pilot apparently cannot find the airport and tries to land in the countryside, but the plane is destroyed and all six crew are killed.

American Homefront: Charlie Root gets his 200th win, the first to do so in Chicago Cubs history, in a 6-4 win over the Boston Braves. Root gave up the famous "called homerun" to Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series. Root will retire at the end of the season with 201 career victories.

Paramount's "Aloma of the South Seas" premieres. It stars Dorothy Lamour as Aloma and is directed by Alfred Santell. The film, in Technicolor, is later nominated for two Academy Awards for cinematography and visual effects.

Future History: Cesària Évora is born in Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde. She becomes a popular singer and earns the nickname "The Barefoot Diva" due to her penchant for singing without shoes. She passes away on 17 December 2011 in her hometown.


August 1941
August 1, 1941: More Executions on Crete
August 2, 1941: Uman Encirclement Closes
August 3, 1941: Bishop von Galen Denounces Euthanasia
August 4, 1941: Hitler at the Front
August 5, 1941: Soviets Surrender at Smolensk 
August 6, 1941: U-Boats in the Arctic
August 7, 1941: Soviets Bomb Berlin
August 8, 1941: Uman Pocket Captured
August 9, 1941: Atlantic Conference at Placentia Bay
August 10, 1941: Soviet Bombers Mauled Over Berlin
August 11, 1941: Rita Hayworth in Life
August 12, 1941: Atlantic Charter Announced
August 13, 1941: The Soybean Car
August 14, 1941: The Anders Army Formed
August 15, 1941: Himmler at Minsk
August 16, 1941: Stalin's Order No. 270
August 17, 1941: Germans in Novgorod
August 18, 1941: Lili Marleen
August 19, 1941: Convoy OG-71 Destruction
August 20, 1941: Siege of Leningrad Begins
August 21, 1941: Stalin Enraged
August 22, 1941: Germans Take Cherkassy
August 23, 1941: Go to Kiev
August 24, 1941: Finns Surround Viipuri
August 25, 1941: Iran Invaded
August 26, 1941: The Bridge Over the Desna
August 27, 1941: Soviets Evacuate Tallinn
August 28, 1941: Evacuating Soviets Savaged
August 29, 1941: Finns take Viipuri
August 30, 1941: Operation Acid
August 31, 1941: Mannerheim Says No

2020

Thursday 21 August 1941

Jews being processed after arrest in Paris. "After the occupation of France by the fascist German Wehrmacht, the German racial laws are also introduced in France." August 1941 (Federal Archive, Bild 183-B10922).

Eastern Front: The newly formed defense council of Leningrad, or aktiv, issues an Appeal to the People of Leningrad on 21 August 1941. It is posted on city walls throughout the city. Signed by Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, local defense leader and governor Andrei Zhdanov, and chairman of the Leningrad Soviet Pyotr Popkov, the statement concluded:

Let us, like one man, rise to the defense of our city, of our homes and families, our freedom and honor. Let us do our sacred duty as Soviet patriots in our relentless struggle against a hated and ruthless enemy, let us be vigilant and merciless in dealing with cowards, panic-mongers, and deserters, let us establish the strictest revolutionary discipline in our city. Armed with such iron discipline and Bolshevik organization, let us meet the enemy and throw him back.

Among other things, the Appeal is notable for its references to "Soviet patriotism" - a concept that the Soviets will quickly replace with calls to protect "Mother Russia," a much more compelling concept. Soviet citizens see phrases like "iron discipline" and shudder.

In the evening, Stalin calls Zhdanov and Voroshilov and berates them. He asks why they had set up the aktiv without first asking his permission, and why Zhdanov and Voroshilov themselves were not actually members of it (presumably so that they could control it). They replied lamely that the council would help with the defense of the city, which did not mollify Stalin at all.

Stalin immediately orders a "review" of the Council for the Defense of Leningrad and that its membership should be "revised" to include Voroshilov and Zhdanov. He also officially rebukes the two men for forming worker "battalions" with inadequate weapons and orders that new leaders of these battalions - selected by the Kremlin - be installed.

Stalin's reaction seems excessive until you remember that the previous Russian revolution - the one that installed him as its dictator - began in Leningrad. Having the city cut off by the Germans means it cannot be supplied and thus is at risk, but it also means that Stalin himself has no direct control over it. This raises all sorts of unpleasant possibilities for the Kremlin in general and Stalin in particular. Stalin's chief of police, Lavrentiy Beria, has his ear at this time and is feeding Stalin's innate paranoia about disloyalty and insurrections that stem from Stalin's own rise to power.

"A Valentine Mark III tank (T 1290288) of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (1st Polish Corps) on exercise in Scotland, 21 August 1941. Photograph taken during General Alan Brooke's visit to the Scottish Command." (© IWM (H 12987)).

At the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Adolf Hitler also is unhappy, but because of an old and lingering problem. He resents the continued efforts by his generals, particularly those in Army Group Center, to direct the Operation Barbarossa offensive toward Moscow. He orders:

The proposal by the army for the continuation of the operations in the east, dated 18.8, do not meet with my approval. I order the following: The principal objective that must be achieved before the onset of winter is not the capture of Moscow, but rather in the south the occupation of the Crimea and the industrial and coal region of the Donets, together with the isolation of the Russian oil regions in the Caucasus. In the north, the encirclement of Leningrad and the union with the Finns.

General Franz Halder, who also sees Moscow as the best objective, writes in his diary, "It [this Hitler directive] is decisive for the outcome of the campaign." General Alfred Jodl, chief of operations at OKW, quickly instructions Commander of the Army Field Marshal von Brauchitsch to focus on seizing the Crimea and the materials-rich areas in the south. The only important objective in the north is Leningrad, and Moscow is a secondary objective.

In the Far North sector, the Finnish General Headquarters orders IV Corps (Lt. Gen. Lennart Oesch) to begin pursuing the retreating Soviets toward Viipuri. This is a day earlier than planned, and the change is due to the Finns noticing that the Soviets have left. The overall intent is to take Viipuri and all of western Karelian Isthmus.

The defending Soviet troops of 43rd, 115th, and 123rd Rifle Divisions by now have escaped from their exposed positions further north and have fallen back on the city. This has improved the overall Soviet chances of holding a line north of Leningrad at the narrow part of the Karelian Isthmus. The Finnish II Corps and 18th Division, assisted by other units, continue consolidating their bridgehead over the Vuoksi River. The Soviets plan to swing the 115th and 123rd Rifle Divisions over to counterattack them in order to establish a solid line on the Vuoksi. The Finns take Kexholm (Käkisalmi, Priozersk) on the northeast shore of Lake Ladoga.

"Valentine Mark III tanks of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (1st Polish Corps) on exercise in Scotland. Photograph was taken during General Alan Brooke's visit to the Scottish Command." 21 August 1941 (© IWM (H 12994)).

In the Army Group North sector, the Germans capture Chudovo. This solidifies the Germans' control over the approaches to Leningrad by expanding control over the railway line from Moscow which they cut on the 20th. There is still one remaining railway link from Leningrad to the east at Mga, but it is not a direct connection to the main Soviet railway net centered on Moscow. Further west, the Wehrmacht also is pushing north towards the Gulf of Finland. The effect of these advances is that the Soviet defenders of the Luga Line are being outflanked on either side, forming a perilous Soviet salient extending 130 miles south from Leningrad, but only thirteen miles wide. German troops take Gatchina, 25 miles from Leningrad.

In the Army Group Center sector, the Soviets retreat from Gomel after a fierce defense and several unsuccessful counterattacks. German Panzer Group 2 (General Guderian) continues advancing south between Bryansk and Gomel toward Kyiv. Soviet 24th Army continues attacking the German "lightning rod" position at Yelnya throughout the day, but Red Army General Rakutin finally receives Stavka permission to stop his attacks until he gets reinforcements and replacements.

F-32 Armed KV-1 Model 1940 knocked out in Korkino in the Tosnensky District, Leningrad Oblast in August 1941. Note the AP penetration possibly from an 88mm shell at the top of the turret, with the mark from what was presumably another hit from a high explosive shell beside it. Generally, only an 88mm Flak gun could penetrate KV-1 armor. Their vulnerability was that they were very slow.

In the Army Group South sector, the Romanians continue pressing in around Odessa. However, they are encountering fierce resistance and making little progress. The Stavka has ordered no evacuation - the men are to stay and fight regardless of the outcome. The Soviet Black Sea Fleet, led by cruiser Krasny Krym, bombards Romanian positions at Sverdlovka and Chebanka near Odesa.

German 1.SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.) Leibstandarte der SS Adolf Hitler (Obergruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich) captures Kherson (Cherson). Sixth Army continues pursuing the retreating Soviet 5th Army, and LI Corps establishes a crossing of the Dneipr at Okuminovo, north of Kyiv.

General Hoth completes a refit of Panzer Group 3. He notes the following strengths:

• Panzer Division 7: 45%
• Panzer Division 12: 45%
• Panzer Division 19: 60%
• Panzer Division 20: 49%

By current standards in the Wehrmacht, this is about average. By later standards, this is very well equipped. The war is taking a serious toll on men and their equipment.

"Airacobra Mark I, AH577, of No. 601 Squadron RAF based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, in flight. This aircraft was coded UF-M and was for a time the personal aircraft of the Squadron's Commanding Officer." 21 August 1941 (© IWM (CH 3711)).

European Air Operations: It is another fairly quiet day on the Channel front. RAF Bomber Command sends 24 Blenheim bombers on Circus and Roadstead operations against the Ijmuiden steel factories and Chocques chemical factory. The Ijmuiden target is bombed, but the bombers turn back before reaching Chocques. Another three Flying Fortresses sent to Dusseldorf also turn back. There are no losses.

An RAF Hurricane Mk. IIB on a delivery flight, S/n Z5070, crash-lands at Athboy, County Meath. The Irish Army Air Corps repairs the damaged plane and puts it into service as the Corps' sixth fighter (the others are three Gloster Gladiator Mk. Is, another Hurricane Mk. IIB, and a Hurricane Mk. X).

"Airacobra Mark I, AH576 ‘UF’, of No. 601 Squadron RAF, on the ground at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. The aircraft was detached to Reid & Sigrist Ltd for trials on 7 September, following which it was to have been returned to the Squadron (hence the proprietary application of the unit code letters and squadron badge on the fin), but was written off on 5 October 1941." 21 August 1941 (© IWM (CH 3723)).

Battle of the Baltic: Stalin rejects a proposal by Admiral Vladimir Tributs, in charge of the evacuation of Tallinn and technically in charge of the overall defense of Leningrad, to organize a naval offensive from Tallinn toward Narva to blunt the German advance. This would use the fleet marines, the 25,000 men of 10th Corps defending Tallinn, and the garrisons of the Baltic Islands in a desperate bid to restore land communications with Leningrad.

Admiral Tributs' plan is based on aerial reconnaissance showing that the Germans have all of their troops in the front lines and none in reserve. He believes that any quick thrust to the east into the rear of their lines approaching Leningrad might catch them off guard. The plan is imaginative and daring and is better than anything else being considered. However, Stalin apparently is worried about a new, growing power block centered around Leningrad that is outside of his control due to the intervening presence of the Wehrmacht. The official reason given for turning it down is that it would be too difficult to assemble sufficient forces.

Soviet planes attack the German 3rd Ferry Battalion which is ferrying troops in Riga Bay in company with two Soviet destroyers. Some small Soviet ships, including freighter Leeni, hit mines and sink in German Minefield Juminda between Hogland Island (Suursaari) to Reval, Estonia.

Soviet destroyers Artem and Surovyi hit and damage German gunboat SAT-1 Ost in the Baltic. The gunboat's skipper manages to beach the boat, and it is later salvaged. There is one death.

"Six Hurricane Mk IIBs of 'B' Flight, No. 601 Squadron RAF based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, flying in starboard echelon formation near Thaxted, Essex." 21 August 1941 (© IWM (CH 3517)).

Battle of the Atlantic: Operation Dervish, the first Allied convoy to northern Russia which left Liverpool on 12 August, continues. The convoy leaves Reykjavik. It includes six freighters and an oiler escorted by three destroyers, three minesweepers, and three minesweeper trawlers. They are covered by the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, heavy cruisers Devonshire and Suffolk, and destroyers Eclipse, Escapade, and Inglefield. The ships will stop first at Spitzbergen to refuel.

In a companion operation to Operation Dervish, today at 22:00 Force K leaves Hvalfjord bound for operations against coal fields in Bergensburg, Norway, with part of the force proceeding on to Archangel. The voyage to Archangel is planned to take ten days.

The Royal Navy is conducting submarine patrols along the Arctic sea route. Submarine HMS Trident launches an attack on a Norwegian tanker and an accompanying Kriegsmarine artillery training ship off the northern coast of Norway but misses.

The Soviets also are active along the northern sea routes. Soviet submarine M-172 (Lt Cdr Israel Fisanovich) makes a daring entrance into the Liinakhamari fjord but misses when it attacks German freighter Monsun docked at the Pechenga pier (some accounts state that he sinks a ship).

While laying a minefield about 50 km off Jæderens Point/Egerö, southeastern Norway, Free French submarine Rubis (Lt Cdr Rousselot) attacks two freighters but misses. It does sink 4360-ton Finnish freighter Hogland with one of the mines that it lays. Rubis itself is damaged when two torpedoes misfire and explode just after leaving the submarine. Rubis eventually makes it to Dundee for repairs. The Germans order the 11th Minesweeping Flotilla to the area to clear the minefield.

During a Luftwaffe attack on Southampton, the Germans bomb and sink French drifter Gloria in Excelsis Deo. The drifter later is raised and repaired.

A Luftwaffe Focke-Wulfe Fw-200 Condor spots Convoy OG-71 and radios its position.

Convoy HX-146 departs from Halifax bound for Liverpool.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Laforey (G-99, Captain Reginald M. J. Hutton) is commissioned.

Canadian minesweeper HMCS Grandmere is launched at Montreal.

US submarine USS Gato is launched.

U-376 (Oblt. Friedrich-Karl Marks), U-435 (Kptlt. Hans-Henrich Giessler), and U-584 (Kptlt. Joachim Deecke) are commissioned, U-174 is launched.

HMS Taku at Malta ca. August 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Mincemeat, an attack on Sardinia, begins when Force H leaves Gibraltar. It is led by battleship HMS Nelson and aircraft carrier Ark Royal. The Italians quickly receive word of its departure and prepare a response.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 311-ton Egyptian freighter El Fath at Famagusta. There are four deaths.

British 10,893-ton freighter Durham, which arrived at Malta during Operation Substance, departs from Malta toward Gibraltar without an escort. A fast ship, it perhaps is counting on the distraction caused by Force H. Durham hits a mine west of Pantelleria Island, but eventually makes it to Gibraltar for repairs.

Operation Treacle, the replacement of the Australian 18th Infantry Brigade at Tobruk with troops of the Polish Carpathian Brigade, continues. Destroyers Griffin, Jackal, and Kandahar carry the troops.

Early in the morning, around 06:30, the Luftwaffe (Junkers Ju-88 aircraft of III/LG.1) hits and damages destroyer Nizam returning from an Operation Treacle run. Nizam, which is hit north of Bardia, is taken under tow until it regains engine operation. Nizam makes it back to Alexandria under its own power.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku arrives at Malta with supplies from Alexandria.

Ten Wellington bombers based on Malta damage buildings and port infrastructure at Tripoli Harbor.

Three Italian aircraft make low-flying attacks on Hal Far and the Safi dispersal area. A dogfight with Hurricanes ensues. A Bofors crew guarding the area claims to make some hits on one of the attackers.

"Valentine Mark III tanks of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (1st Polish Corps) lined up during exercise in Scotland. Photograph was taken during General Alan Brooke's visit to the Scottish Command, 21 August 1941. A number of the tank in the foreground is T 1290295." (© IWM (H 13003))

Battle of the Black Sea: The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks Soviet freighter Briansk off Odesa.

Battle of the Pacific: German 5098-ton freighter Odenwald leaves Yokohama, Japan for Bordeaux, France. Japanese 5019-ton freighter Teisen Maru, formerly German Ursula Rickmers, arrives at Tokyo successfully after her first charter trip carrying coal and lumber from Kushiro, Hokkaido to Nagoya, Japan.

A warning notice posted by German occupation authorities in Paris after the shooting death of Alfons Moser. It begins, "On the morning of 21 August a member of the German Army was assassinated in Paris." It warns that there will be strict new occupation rules implemented beginning on 23 August, and anyone arrested for any will be taken as a hostage, with hostages shot if there are any more terrorist acts.

Partisans: Pierre Georges, a Paris Communist Party leader at this time going by the name of Frédo, and his accomplice Gilbert Brustlein and two other communists, shoot a German naval cadet, Alfons Moser, at the Barbès – Rochechouart metro station in Paris at eight in the morning. This is in revenge for the execution of Samuel Tyszelman on 19 August for taking part in an anti-German demonstration.

German/Spanish Relations: The Spanish Blue Division (250th Infantry Division) begins moving to the Eastern Front south of Leningrad.

US/Japanese Relations: Ambassador Nomura sends a message to Tokyo indicating that President Roosevelt is seriously interested in the resumption of negotiations. Nomura even provides a sample response to Tokyo for its consideration.

Demonstration of a New Zealand Mobile Surgical Unit’s portable X-ray machine. Taken in Egypt, 21 August 1941, by an official war photographer.

German Military: Oberst Herman Bernhard Ramcke and Dr. Heinrich Neumann, heroes of Operation Mercury, both receive the Knight's Cross.

Japanese Military: The Imperial Japanese Navy requisitions 5350-ton cargo ship Saigon Maru for use as an auxiliary cruiser and also requisitions 2681-ton freighter Senko Maru.

Arming a Bell Aircobra Mk I of 601 Squadron RAF based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire on 21 August 1941. This was the only RAF squadron equipped with the fighter, which the RAF did not find suitable, from August 1941 until March 1942 (colorized).

Soviet Government: Around this time, Stalin orders an increase in the powers of the Commissariat of Internal Affairs to maintain "social order." This greatly enhances the power of Lavrentiy Beria, head of the secret police. Using his new authority, Beria begins culling out civilian and military leaders by accusing them of "anti-Soviet activity" and "counterrevolutionary thoughts." In the Soviet Union, of course, thoughts alone can be a crime.

US Government: President Roosevelt gives Congress a "copy" of the Atlantic Charter agreement recently reached with Winston Churchill in Canada. As Roosevelt later notes:

There isn't any copy of the Atlantic Charter, so far as I know. I haven’t got one. The British haven’t got one. The nearest thing you will get is the [message of the] radio operator on Augusta and Prince of Wales. That's the nearest thing you will come to it. ... There was no formal document.

Roosevelt briefs Congress on the agreement, summarizing its points, stating in part:

Finally, the declaration of principles at this time presents a goal which is worth while for our type of civilization to seek. It is so clear cut that it is difficult to oppose in any major particular without automatically admitting a willingness to accept compromise with Germans; or to agree to a world peace which would give to Reich domination over large numbers of conquered nations. Inevitably such a peace would be a gift to Hitlerism to take breath--armed breath--for a second war to extend the control over Europe and Asia to the American Hemisphere itself.

The statement concludes:

It is also unnecessary for me to point out that the declaration of principles includes of necessity the world need for freedom of religion and freedom of information. No society of the world organized under the announced principles could survive without these freedoms which are a part of the whole freedom for which we strive.

"After the occupation of France by the fascist German Wehrmacht, the German racial laws are also enforced here. The arrest of Jews in Paris in August 1941." (Federal Archive, Bild 183-B10923).

Holocaust: Arrests by French police at the instigation of the Gestapo that began on the evening of the 20th continue today. Those arrested are sent to the new internment camp at Drancy in the suburbs. Conditions at Drancy are horrendous and there is a high death rate. Eventually, the victims will be put on cattle wagons for transport to concentration camps in the East. At this time, the arrests concentrate on "foreign" Jews who are in France only because they fled previous German invasions in Czechoslovakia, Poland and elsewhere.

After direct orders from Sixth Army Commanding General Walther von Reichenau, German 295th Division participates to some extent in the killing of about 90 Jewish children who have been abandoned and locked in a school at Bila Tserkva. The incident is notable for many reasons, including a direct protest to the army by two Wehrmacht chaplains about the killings which delayed it by a day. Oberst (Lieutenant-Colonel Helmuth Groscurth) has put his own career in jeopardy by forwarding the protest of the chaplains to the army headquarters. Technically, SS units are under army control, so the army has the final say on who is killed and who is not. Catholic Father Ernst Tewes, one of the two chaplains (the other being Lutheran Pastor Gerhard Wilczek), later comments:

All those we wanted to save were shot. Because of our initiative it just happened a few days later than planned.

Reichenau is put out by the entire affair. He writes in response to the request:

The conclusion of the report in question contains the following sentence: "In the case in question, measures against women and children were undertaken which in no way differ from atrocities carried out by the enemy about which the troops are continually being informed." I have to describe this assessment as incorrect, inappropriate and impertinent in the extreme. Moreover, this comment was written in an open communication which passes through many hands. It would have been far better if the report had not been written at all.

There is no question that the regular army participated to some extent in the killings aside from Reichenau's order. A witness, an SS soldier, recalled later that the regular army dug the trench into which the children fell after being shot. Exactly who shot the children is unclear. Ukrainians unhappily watch the executions.

A concentration camp at Jasenovac, Croatia becomes operational.

Repair ship USS Vulcan (Commander Leon S. Fiske, AR-5) near the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 21 August 1941 (Photo No. 19-N-25376 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM).

American Homefront: "Sun Valley Serenade" starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Milton Berle, Glenn Miller, and Lynn Bari is released. This film screens constantly at the Sun Valley Lodge and Inn in Idaho to this day. "Sun Valley Serenade" receives three Academy Award Nominations, including for Best Music, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and Best Music, Original Song (Chattanooga Choo Choo) by Harry Warren (music) and Mack Gordon (lyrics).

Paramount Pictures film "World Premiere" is released. It stars John Barrymore, Frances Farmer, Ricardo Cortez, and Sig Ruman. It is a comedy about the machinations behind releasing an anti-Hitler film.

A German sentry in France with his BMW R75 motorcycle (colorized).

August 1941
August 1, 1941: More Executions on Crete
August 2, 1941: Uman Encirclement Closes
August 3, 1941: Bishop von Galen Denounces Euthanasia
August 4, 1941: Hitler at the Front
August 5, 1941: Soviets Surrender at Smolensk 
August 6, 1941: U-Boats in the Arctic
August 7, 1941: Soviets Bomb Berlin
August 8, 1941: Uman Pocket Captured
August 9, 1941: Atlantic Conference at Placentia Bay
August 10, 1941: Soviet Bombers Mauled Over Berlin
August 11, 1941: Rita Hayworth in Life
August 12, 1941: Atlantic Charter Announced
August 13, 1941: The Soybean Car
August 14, 1941: The Anders Army Formed
August 15, 1941: Himmler at Minsk
August 16, 1941: Stalin's Order No. 270
August 17, 1941: Germans in Novgorod
August 18, 1941: Lili Marleen
August 19, 1941: Convoy OG-71 Destruction
August 20, 1941: Siege of Leningrad Begins
August 21, 1941: Stalin Enraged
August 22, 1941: Germans Take Cherkassy
August 23, 1941: Go to Kiev
August 24, 1941: Finns Surround Viipuri
August 25, 1941: Iran Invaded
August 26, 1941: The Bridge Over the Desna
August 27, 1941: Soviets Evacuate Tallinn
August 28, 1941: Evacuating Soviets Savaged
August 29, 1941: Finns take Viipuri
August 30, 1941: Operation Acid
August 31, 1941: Mannerheim Says No

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