DRIVE ON LENINGRAD CHECKED, BARRICADES RISE IN STREETS (8/23/41)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 8/23/41 | Daniel T. Brigham, Cyrus L. Sulzberger, C. Brooks Peters, Henry N. Dorris, Charles Hurd

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
German Invasion of Russia – Operations, 22 June-25 August 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The West Point Military History Series, Thomas E. Griess, Editor, The Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Billboard Top Ten for the Week of August 23, 1941

#1 - “Daddy” - Sammy Kaye, with the Kaye Choir
#2 – “Green Eyes” - Jimmy Dorsey, with Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell
#3 - “Maria Elena” - Jimmy Dorsey, with Bob Eberly
#4 – “Yours” – Jimmy Dorsey, with Bob Eberly
#5 - “Yes Indeed!” - Tommy Dorsey, with Jo Stafford and Sy Oliver
#6 - “Til Reveille” – Bing Crosby
#7 - “Blue Champagne” – Jimmy Dorsey, with Bob Eberly
#8 - “’Til Reveille” - Kay Kyser, with Harry, Ginny, Jack, & Max
#9 - “Piano Concerto in B Flat” (“Tonight we Love”) - Freddy Martin, with Jack Fina
#10 - “I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time” – The Andrews Sisters

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Nikopol is Yielded – 2-3
2,000,000 in Old Czarist Capital Vow to Defend City to the Last – 3
‘Orange’ Protest Annoys Nazis in the Netherlands – 3
Leningrad Line Dented by Finns – 4
German is Held Here as a Spy for Nazis – 4
Nazis Say Crisis Looms in Russia – 5-6
Nazis Will Hold French Hostages; Officer is Slain – 6-7
Board to Guard New Thai Border – 7
The International Situation – 7
Norwegian Boats Vanish; Thought Going to Britain – 7
For Flat 10% Tax at Income Source – 8
President Extends Army Service to 18 Months of Amended Law – 8
Vichy will Reform Price Control Plan – 9
Germany Orders Sleighs for Winter War on Reds – 9
Stauning Denounces Occupying of Iceland – 9
Petain Rule Praised by French Pretender – 9
Our Fleet Alert in Perilous Night – 10
Hitler Vitamin Plan is Nazi War Factor – 10
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 11-13
R.A.F. Again Raids Syracuse Harbor – 13
R.A.F. Raids Shipping in English Channel – 13

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/aug41/f23aug41.htm

Germans strike south from Smolensk

Saturday, August 23, 1941 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... German Panzer Group 2 and 2nd Army from Army Group Center begin attacks south to link up east of Kiev with the forces of Army Group South. Most of the German generals are opposed to this move and would prefer to maintain the drive toward Moscow but Hitler insists on this change in strategy.

In the North Atlantic... The German merchant cruiser Orion returns from its cruise and arrives in the Gironde Estuary. The cruise has lasted 510 days and six ships of 39,000 tons have been sunk, as well as seven more in company with the raider Komet.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm

The site has a couple items from 1942 mixed in with the 1941 events. I skipped the obvious ones but a couple may have slipped in here - Homer

August 23rd, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS P39 is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: General Schaumburg as Kommandant von Gross-Paris announces: “...all Frenchmen taken into custody, either by the German authorities in France or on orders originating with them, will be regarded as hostages. Should any further criminal action occur, hostages will be shot in a number corresponding to the seriousness of that action.”

“Orion”, a German merchant cruiser, arrives in the Gironde Estuary. After 510 days, 6 ships for 39,000 tons have been sunk. Seven other ships were sunk with the raider “Komet”.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler is unimpressed by the argument of the Panzer commander General Heinz Guderian, that Moscow should be the next target for attack.

U-755, U-629 and U-630 are laid down. U-155 is commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: The German 2nd Panzer Group and 2nd Army of Army Group Centre begin advancing south to link up east of Kiev with Army Group South. Hitler has insisted on this change in strategy, which stops the German advance on Moscow.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Calgary is launched from Sorel, Province of Quebec.

HMC S-09 arrives at Montreal, Province of Quebec, under tow. Built by British Power Boat Co., Hythe, for the ELCO Boat Corp., New Jersey. Arrived without engines, fitted with two 500 H.P., 45 tons, 70x20x4.5ft, 22kts, 4-.5in mg (2xII), 4-18in TT. Post WW.II, Jun 45 returned to RN by way of British Naval Liaison Officer New York

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Emmons is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Whilst escorting convoy OG.71, Flower class corvette HMS Zinnia is torpedoed by U-564 West of Portugal at 40 43N 11 39E. The corvette exploded after the torpedo struck and caused 49 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

SS Spind damaged by U-564 in Convoy OG-71.

U-143 sank SS Inger.

U-201 sank SS Aldergrove and SS Stork in Convoy OG-71.

U-552 sank SS Spind in Convoy OG-71.

HMCS Trail, a Flower-class corvette, departed St. John’s to join with the 62-ship Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX-146, as part of the convoy’s close escort as far as Iceland. The relatively short endurance of most British escorts, but especially the corvettes, forced a complicated series of meeting points and escort handovers in order to provide continuous protection for convoys across the Atlantic. The corvettes, because of their short length and broad beam, suffered badly from plunging and rolling in heavy weather. This resulted in as much as a one-third reduction in their effective range. The sustained use of high speed in screening and reacting to emergencies also drove up their fuel consumption. The combined effect of weather, defensive screening, enemy action, poor mechanical condition and improper engineering operations all drove down endurance to the point where most small escorts could no longer traverse the Atlantic. British sloops were the only exception to this very debilitating endurance limitation. Like destroyers, early attrition reduced their numbers significantly. Convoy HX-146 arrived safely in Liverpool on 06 Sep 41 with all ships intact.

[PzLdr]

“Most of the German generals [?]...” Uh, no. Opposed to going south: Brauchitsch, Halder, Bock, Guderian. In favor: Rundstedt, Kluge, Strauss, Kleist and possibly Reichnau. And Kleist and Strauss served under Bock.

[CougarGA7]

• Ribbentrop concedes to the Japanese ambassador in Berlin that the war against the Soviet Union might last into 1942.

• Voroshilov assigns the 48th Army to the Northern Front and ordered it to defend the approaches to Leningrad.

[BroJoeK]

August 23

"MAJOR EINSATZGRUPPEN MASSACRES OF JEWS, 1941-1942

"The Nazi Einsatzgruppen followed the Germany Army into Soviet territory beginning in June 1941.
Before the year was out, the Einsatzgruppen had shot hundreds of thousands of Jews."

British Code Breakers

"Despite Nazi attempts to keep secret the Einsatzgruppen extermination of Jews, news of mass murders did filter back into Germany and Allied countries. Reports of the unimaginable Nazi atrocities were met with disbelief and skepticism, and were assumed to pertain to military actions involving Russian defense forces.

"The British government had detailed knowledge of the killings.
On August 24, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in a radio address, made public the scope of Einsatzgruppen activities in Eastern Europe.
He disclosed that "whole districts" were being exterminated, and that "scores of thousands of executions in cold blood" were being perpetrated by "German police-troops upon the Russian patriots who defend their native soil."

"Churchill didn't mention that Jews were being exterminated.
He could not reveal this since it would have warned the Germans that British intelligence forces had cracked their secret radio codes."