Posted on 07/09/2011 5:00:57 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jul41/f09jul41.htm
Germans claim 300,000 Soviet POWs
Wednesday, July 9, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... The pockets earlier surrounded by Army Group Center have now all been cleared. At least 300,000 prisoners have been taken and more than 40 divisions have been eliminated from the Soviet Order of Battle. The panzer forces of Army Group Center are reorganized and have now crossed both the Dniepr and the Dvina, aiming to encircle Smolensk. Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, Zhitomir, less than 90 miles from Kiev, falls to forces of German Army Group South.
In Syria... The Australian troops advancing north along the coast take Damour. There is now no obstacle blocking their approach to Beirut. Homs also falls to the Allied advance. General Dentz, the Vichy French commander in chief in Syria, asks for an armistice on behalf of the Vichy forces.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm
July 9th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: High Wycombe:
RAF Bomber Command headquarters here has received a new directive instructing it to concentrate on German transport and to aim at breaking the morale of the German population. Recent attacks include two daylight bombing raids in northern France and night-time raids on Bremen, Cologne, Duisburg, Cherbourg and Rotterdam. Key transportation targets are the railways, and air war planners have faith in the crippling effect of such strikes. At the same time the RAF has carried out some raids on U-boat bases and warships in Brest harbour, France.
Westminster:
Lieutenant R. N. Brabner, just back from Crete, spoke in the House of Commons:
In Greece, Crete, Libya, and Syria there has been an almost chronic lack of the most important war materials. It sounds incredible, but when we were at Malemi (the aerodome at Canea, capital of Crete) we rarely were in a position to put more than two aircraft into the air for a continuous patrol during daylight hours.
He then told the House that “705 to 80% of our tanks broke down before they saw the enemy.”
Seven 8th Air Force P-38 Lightnings arrive in the UK via the North Atlantic route, this being the first time single-seat USAAF aircraft have flown this route. (Jack McKillop)
London Gazette - Medal commendations for SS FORTHBANK.
King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct Gunner Eric Vernon Smith. (Bernard de Neumann)
Boom defence vessels HMS Barstoke and Barclose launched.
ASW trawler HMS Birdlip launched.
Submarine HMS P-38 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-585 launched, U-522 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
FINLAND: The Finns re-occupy Morgonland, establishing an observation and artillery direction post with a party of five men under the command of Lt. Per-Erik Ahlblad. (Cris Wetton)
VI Corps (Maj. Gen. Talvela) starts its attack this evening, slightly before the rest of Karelian Army. The aim is to capture certain positions before the Army main attack next day. Because of stiff Russian resistance VI Corps (5th and 11th Divs) fail to capture these positions in time.
I would add that Finnish Army had many difficulties with its attack in summer and early autumn of 1941. While the men were generally experienced veterans of the Winter War and motivated to pay back for the injustices suffered, they were inexperienced in offensive warfare. There are some appalling examples of how officers handled infantry attacks: one battalion commander told his FO “I don’t give a damn where you fire with your guns” and then ordered a frontal assault on a heavily defended hill. One could all too well imagine the consequences. (Mikko Härmeinen)
U.S.S.R.: Vitebsk and Pskov fall to the Germans; 300,000 Soviet prisoners have now been taken.
40 Divisions and 300,000 Soviet soldiers have been eliminated from the Order of Battle. The 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups have encircled them at Vitebsk and Pskov forming the 4th Panzer Army. It has now crossed the Dnieper and Dvina Rivers advancing to encircle Smolensk. (Peter Beal)
BLACK SEA: Soviet submarine SC-206 sunk by Romanian ships Stihi, Naluka and three torpedo boats near Mangalia at 43°51.5’N, 28°45’E. Also possible version - mines near Konstanza. Sometimes this loss is connected with friendly fire from Soviet destroyer Soobrazitelny, but this attack took place in another point. (Dave Shirlaw)
LIBYA: Tobruk: British positions are bombarded by Axis aircraft and artillery.
SYRIA: Damour, Syria falls to Australian Troops. Homs also falls. General Dentz asks for an armistice on behalf of the Vichy forces.
The Vichy French destroyers GUEPARD, VALMY and VAQUELIN sail from Syria tonight bound for Salonika to embark a battalion of French troops to reinforce Beirut. These troops have crossed by land to Greece with the co-operation of the Axis. However, this attempt fails, the loaded destroyers turning back to Salonika after sighting British aircraft. (Peter Beeston)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: TF 5, under Purnell, sails to southern Philippine waters in preparation for war. (Marc Small)
CANADA: Port operations craft ordered for RCN: HC 26, HC 25, HC 24, HC 23, HC 22, HC 21, HC 20, HC 19, 18, 17, HC 16, HC 15, HC 14, HC 13, HC 8, HC 6, HC 5. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
Light cruiser USS Biloxi laid down.
Minesweeper USS Skylark launched.
Submarine USS Flying Fish launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0155, the Designer, dispersed on 6 July in 48°30N/26°30W from Convoy OB-341, was torpedoed and sunk by U-98 NNW of the Azores. The master and 66 crewmembers were lost. On 10 July, ten crewmembers (lascars) and one gunner in one lifeboat were picked up by the Portuguese sailing ship Souta Princesca and landed at Leixoes.
At 0528, the Inverness, dispersed on 6 July in 48°30N/26°30W from Convoy OB-341, was torpedoed by U-98 NNW of the Azores. The ship broke in two and sank after a coup de grâce was fired at 05.44 hours. Six crewmembers were lost. The master, 31 crewmembers and five gunners landed at Corvo Island, Azores. (Dave Shirlaw)
Note the Hotel Chesterfield advertising private rooms with bath and radio for $2.50. That is equivalent to about $38 today. It is amazing how much hotel rooms have gone up.
This is one of the best editions yet.
Wow.
It’s funny how, thinking back to the 1960s sitcom, ‘Hogan’s Heroes’, I always wondered what Major Hochstetter and General Burkhalter meant when they routinely frightened Colonel Klink by threatening to send him to the “Russian front”. I am now getting the idea. It’s also amazing now to think that I grew up watching ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ a mere 25 years after the reality of death camps and POW camps.
Lots of news, that's for sure. Events are beginning to develop as the snowball runs downhill faster and faster.
But I think my favorite piece of the day is John Kienan's description of the All-Star game over on the baseball thread.
Terry Moore “got a piece” of one of the Feller pitches and hit it about a hundred yards – fifty yard up and fifty down. J. Cronin of Boston was waiting for it. He didn’t mind waiting. It was a nice day and he had nothing more important to do.
Is is possible to be nostalgic for a time before you were born?
Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have my share of nostalgia, but yeah, it's possible. I was always a pitcher growing up, and I once asked my Dad who threw the fastest fastball ever and he told me, "Bob Feller". My Dad told me that he had seen a "Newsreel Short" at the movies when he was a kid that showed Bob Feller throwing a baseball faster than a motorcycle that was traveling at 110 MPH. (There were no "radar guns" back then.) After that, Feller was my baseball hero.
When ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ debuted I was at first filled with youthful indignation, seeing the show as trivializing the experience of POWs like my uncle, who spent over a year in a camp in northern Germany. It turned out that my uncle loved the show, so I got an early lesson on MYOB.
An excellent shot of a KV-1 tank abandoned on a damaged bridge.
A souvenir photo from a "trip" to Lvov in July 1941 taken by Luftwaffe personnel, showing two of them and a knocked-out T-34 Model 1940 from 4th Mechanized Corps. Clearly visible in this photo is the ventilation on the turret hatch and an extra transmission lashed to the engine deck. Also abandoned on another street was at least one T-34 from the same unit with a similar transmission on the rear deck
This was a typical sight in the Soviet western frontiers in the early phase of Operation "Barbarossa" - hundreds of destroyed and abandoned Soviet vehicles littering the field. This is what remained of a Soviet support and artillery unit after a Luftwaffe air strike
A rifleman pauses for a drink from his M31 canteen. The O.8-liter canteen was issued with a small kidney-shaped drinking cup that was carried upside-down over the canteen's cap and secured by a leather or web strap fastened to the canteen's felt cover. The battered cup can be seen still attached to the securing strap on the canteen's opposite side. Wheat stalks garnish his helmet as camouflage.
A rifleman is set to throw a Stg24 (Stielgranate 1924) stick hand grenade, commonly known as the "potato masher". This was the standard hand grenade used throughout the war, although there were other models. The TNT explosive charge weighed six ounces. This was a blast grenade with only limited fragmentation effect, although there was a little used slipon fragmentation collar available. It was armed by unscrewing a cap on the end of the handle, pulling a cord that activated a friction igniter, and thrown to detonate after a 4.5-second delay. Although motion pictures have portrayed German soldiers activating grenades by banging them on their boot heel, helmet, or another solid object, the Germans have never possessed a grenade armed in this manner. This soldier wears a war economy uniform lacking the dark blue-green collar, with the shoulder straps being replaced by field grey types.
A 7.92mm machine-gun belt for the MG34. They were issued in 50 and 250-round lengths and any number could be fastened together. The same belt was used with the later MG42. Unlike the US disintegrating metalliclinked belt, the German metallic belt did not break up in individual links when fired. German belts were reusable so crews recovered them, as they sometimes were in short supply. Every fifth round is an armor-piercing-tracer identified by a black bullet tip (faint in this photograph) and a red ring around the primer. German tracers burned red or white.
An NCO armed with an MP40 machine-pistol displays his equipment. A tent pole section can be seen beneath his shelter cape. Four soldiers could button their shelter capes together; with each providing a tent pole section, they could erect a somewhat cramped pyramid-shaped shelter. A binocular carrying case is seen between his mess kit and gas mask canister. The ovalshaped item on the back of his collar is a leather eyepiece cover for his binoculars, which was used when it is slung around his neck outside of the protective case.
Abandoned Soviet tank outside Borisov July 41
Dead German killed by sniper-mid-July 41
Crew of burned out panzer being buried-no date
Capture of Soviet sniper. July 41
Abandoned Soviet T-35?
Wounded in forest clearing
Communist party or NKVD headquarters near Minsk.
German medic administers first aid to wounded boy-Late June 41
Soviets who have just surrendered watch nervously as their packs are searched. Among things considered contraband would be personal items of German soldiers and explosive bullets. More and more the Germans were finding Soviet soldiers using explosive rounds that inflicted horrific wounds. Anyone in possession of this prohibited ammunition was immediately shot.
That is a T-35. It is really hard to get a feel for how big these things are until you see these pictures with people standing beside it. It’s gigantic.
And to consider that most of the German characters on the show were played by Jewish actors.
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