Posted on 07/04/2011 6:28:02 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jul41/f04jul41.htm
Germans advance into northern Russia
Friday, July 4, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... In the north, Ostrov (southeast of Lake Peipus in Russia) falls to forces of the German 41st Panzer Corps (Panzer Group 4).
In the United States... In an Independence Day broadcast Roosevelt says that the United States “will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship.”
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/04.htm
July 4th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: From today only one ton a month of coal, coke or any other type of solid fuel can be supplied for domestic use. Even that amount is not guaranteed to be available. Coal production has fallen because of the call-up of young miners. Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, has appealed for 50,000 ex-miners to return to the pits, without success; he is now ordering ex-miners to register for recall. The new restriction of supply affects all households, hotels, flats, clubs and offices, and is intended to save fuel for industry.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Akranes bombed and sunk off Bridlington Bay, Yorkshire. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Bremen: Wing-Cdr Hughie Idwal Edwards (1914-82) led a daylight raid on the port at just 50 feet, despite wires and fierce fire. Four planes were lost, but the rest, all hit, returned. (VC)
Hugie Edwards was an Australian serving in the RAF (having taken a Regular (Short Service) Commission pre WWI). He was a native of Western Australia and eventually became Governor there before his death. (Daniel Ross)
U.S.S.R.: Kovno: Lithuanian militiamen kill 463 Jews.
ETHIOPIA:
Addis Ababa: With the Italian surrender at Amba Alagi, all that remains for the Allies in East Africa is clearing up. Yeserday General Gazzera surrendered his divisions at Sidamo to a Free Belgian force. The alternative to the Belgians was the Ethiopian “Patriots”, led by Major Orde Wingate, who reputedly wears a purse made from the scrotum of a dead Italian.
A few Italian divisions remain around Gondar in the north-west, and in the far west, and the rains - which make all roads impassable - will give them a few months life, but they present no strategic threat to anyone.
U.S.A.: Roosevelt urges Americans to pledge their lives as well as their work to the defence of human freedom.
Roosevelt broadcasts on Independence Day that the US will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship.
Two motion pictures are released in the U.S. today.
“Manpower” a drama directed by Raoul Walsh, stars Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Eve Arden, Barton MacLane and Ward Bond; Diana Barrymore and Faye Emerson have uncredited bit parts. Robinson and Raft are members of a power company road gang who meet Dietrich in a clip joint and then she comes between them.
“Moon Over Miami,” a musical directed by Walter Lang, stars Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Robert Cummings, Jack Haley, Carole Landis, Charlotte Greenwood and Jack Haley. Grable and Landis are gold diggers from Texas who arrive in Miami looking for rich husbands. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA:
Corvettes HMCS Prescott, Lethbridge and Kenogami arrive Halifax from builders in Montreal.
Corvette HMCS Lachine arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City.
Minesweeper HMCS Cowichan commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ICELAND: PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Seventy Two (VP-72) operating from Reykjavik, Iceland, begin flying protective patrols to cover the arrival of US Marine Corps garrison units from the U.S. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-69 whilst on her way back to Lorient (61st day of cruise) and, out of torpedoes, sighted the Robert L Holt. Metzler decided to take her on, and by keeping Robert L Holt’s gun crew away from their gun by firing his 2cm machine gun at them if they tried to approach, bought enough time to ready and fire his 8.8cm main armament. U-69 thus sank the Robert L Holt.
At 0355, the Auditor, dispersed on 28 June in 48°17N/20°40W from Convoy OB-337, was hit by one torpedo from U-123 and sank about 600 miles NW of the Cape Verde Islands. One gunner was lost. The master and 50 crewmembers landed at St Michael Island, Azores and 20 crewmembers and four gunners landed at Taffalal Bay, San Antonio Island, Cape Verde Islands and were brought to Bathurst by sloop HMS Gorleston. (Dave Shirlaw)
Another recommendation by General Marshall was the adoption by Congress of a pending joint resolution to permit the Army to weed out regular officers who cannot keep pace with modern training.
He pointed out that means exist to remove inefficient members of the National Guard and Reserve commissioned personnel, but said that in the case of regular officers, “the law governing their removal from the active list requires a procedure so cumbersome as to make it totally ineffective during a national emergency.”
btt
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