08-1941

Diary for Thursday, August 7, 1941: Air War France: RAF carries out repeated sweeps over north France: 10 fighters lost, 7 Me 109Fs shot down. Douglas Bader‘s aircraft collides with […]

Diary for Wednesday, August 6, 1941: Russian Front Operation Barbarossa: Special communique issued by German High Command claims that Wehrmacht has inflicted ‘annihilating blows unique in history’; 895,000 prisoners taken;

Diary for Tuesday, August 5, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Guderian liquidate Smolensk–Orsha ‘pocket’. SIEGE OF ODESSA by Rumanian-German forces begins (ends October 16). Rumanians suffer heavy casualties.

Diary for Monday, August 4, 1941: Air War South African Air Force bombs Gondar – last Italian stronghold in East Africa (and also on August 4, 5 and 6).

Diary for Sunday, August 3, 1941: Sea War Atlantic: Focke-Wulf Condor shot down in mid-ocean by Hawker Hurricane catapulted from converted CAM ship SS Maplin (‘Catafighters’ destroy 4 more Fw

Diary for Saturday, August 2, 1941: Neutrals USA: Rayon rationed (imported mainly from Japan).

Diary for Friday, August 1, 1941: Politics Britain: Government breaks off diplomatic relations with Finland.

Diary for Wednesday, September 3, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Russians counter-attack in Smolensk sector.

Diary for Sunday, August 31, 1941: Middle East Iran: British and Russian forces meet at Kazvin. Sea War Merchant shipping losses in August 1941: 36 Allied ships with 103,452 tons

Diary for Saturday, August 30, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Russians launch unsuccessful counter-offensive against Guderian‘s Panzers north of Kiev (ends September 2). Occupied Territories Yugoslavia: Serbian puppet government formed,

Diary for Friday, August 29, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Finns recapture Viipuri (lost in Winter War 1939-40). Middle East Iran: Cease fire with Allies.

Diary for Thursday, August 28, 1941: Home Fronts Australia: Prime Minister Menzies resigns; Fadden takes over.

Diary for Wednesday, August 27, 1941: Russian Front Operation Barbarossa: Retreating Russian forces sabotage great Zaporozhe Dam (Dnepropetrovsk Dam) over river Dnieper. Germans capture Tallinn, capital of Estonia. Besieged Russian

Diary for Tuesday, August 26, 1941: Politics Japan: Government protests to Russia about passage of American war supplies through Vladivostok.

Diary for Monday, August 25, 1941: Middle East ANGLO-RUSSIAN INVASION OF IRAN begins (with 2 British and 3 Russian divisions). Russian Front Operation Barbarossa: Germans capture Dnepropetrovsk, south of Kiev;

Diary for Sunday, August 24, 1941: Sea War Mediterranean – Operation Mincemeat I: HMS Manxman (disguised as large French destroyer) lays 140 mines off Livorno (Italy), while Swordfish torpedo-bombers from

Diary for Saturday, August 23, 1941: Neutrals Vichy France: Petain empowers Vichy courts to impose death penalty for terrorist offences (3 men guillotined, August 28).

Diary for Friday, August 22, 1941: Occupied Territories France: German authorities in Paris threaten to shoot hostages if attacks on German troops continue (20,000 troops comb city for suspects).

Diary for Thursday, August 21, 1941: Sea War Atlantic: FIRST TRIAL ARCTIC CONVOY TO NORTH RUSSIA (code name ‘Dervish’) leaves Reykjavik, with 7 ships and arrives Archangel, August 31.

Diary for Wednesday, August 20, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Marshal Voroshilov calls on citizens of Leningrad to defend their city to the death.