Italian troops marched in three columns toward Berbera, British Somaliland. The main column marched along the main road through Hargeisa, while two smaller columns flanked to the east and west. The Italian troops continue advancing into British Somaliland. Berbera is the main port and capital, which is 125 miles away from the Italian start point in Ethiopia. However, that is as the crow flies, as there are rugged mountains in betwixt. A much easier route, and more dangerous for the British, is the main road to Hargeisa through Karim Pass. To the northwest, a third Italian column presses forward using the border with French Somaliland as flank cover.
Karl Ulmanis, Nebraska-educated former president and premier of Latvia, is dead of injuries suffered in an assault, Exchange ‘Telegraph,’ British news agency, reported tonight, quoting the Stockholm newspaper Afton-bladet. The 62-year-old Ulmanis was reported to have been wounded July 22 and to have been taken to a Riga hospital. Circumstances of his injury were not disclosed. Exchange Telegraph also said that Dr. Vilhelm Munters, former foreign minister of Latvia, had disappeared and that his death at the hands of political antagonists was feared probable. Ulmanis, who was graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1909 and who helped write the Latvian declaration of independence in 1918, was ousted from his position as virtual dictator of the little Baltic nation July 20 when the country’s new Communist leaders petitioned for admission into the Soviet Union.
In an odd policy change that runs against major strains in the German character, the government decides that beer has been degrading the German will to fight. An ersatz, non-alcoholic replacement is sought.
It is the 26th anniversary of the declaration of war against the Kaiser’s Germany that began World War I. The day is noted on the BBC but otherwise given little attention.
Operation HURRY ended in British success.
Churchill approves Operation MENACE, the Anglo-Free French expedition against Dakar. This will be the first operation with participation by Free French forces.
General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief of British forces in Egypt, departs Alexandria for London by airplane for consultations. The flight is extremely hazardous, crossing close to or over enemy territory and most definitely within the range of enemy fighters practically the entire way. The plane is attacked twice by the Luftwaffe but not brought down. The first stop is Malta on the morrow.
Spain’s war debt to Italy has been funded at 5,000,000,000 pesetas, it was disclosed today in an official summary of the national financial position. Under an agreement reached yesterday, Spain is to repay the debt over a twenty-five-year period beginning December 31, 1942.
The Battle of Britain: Even though the weather was fine early and the cloud was higher with sunny breaks, there were no recorded incidents. It was a very quiet day for both sides.
The Luftwaffe, preparing for the Adler Tag operation, is noticeably quiet during the day, performing reconnaissance along the south coast of England.
During the day Luftwaffe activity was slight during the day, possibly because of the bad weather conditions in various areas. A number of enemy reconnaissance missions were made over the sea, mainly along the south coast and in the Bristol Channel area. During the night widespread fog was reported. Less than half a dozen Luftwaffe raids were plotted.
Some action occurs around 11:00 when a Dornier Do 17 escorted by 10 Bf 109s attacks a convoy off Manston. The RAF takes the obvious bait (though Fighter Command can’t know what kinds of planes they are) and intervenes, downing a Bf 109.
At 13:25, the day’s major Luftwaffe operation begins when approximately 120 aircraft form up over Calais and attack a convoy off Dover. The Germans lose numerous planes in this attack, including at least half a dozen Bf 110s, a Bf 109, a Dornier Do 17 bomber, and a Dornier Do 215 seaplane. The Bf 110s are proving to be a liability on the Channel front.
Luftwaffe night raids on Mildenhall, Ely, Newark and near Debden, bombs fall for the first time on Cwmbran in Wales.
RAF Statistics for the day: 90 patrols were flown involving 275 aircraft. Luftwaffe casualties: None. RAF casualties: None.
RAF Casualties:
Time N/A. Kirton-on-Lindsay. Spitfire N3271. 616 Squadron Leconfield. (Aircraft destroyed)
Sgt J.P.Walsh. Killed. (Spun out of control from 5,000ft during combat practice)
Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was transferred to the Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 wing based in Gütersloh, Germany.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 11 aircraft overnight to attack Sterkrade/Holten and Krefeld in the Ruhr, no losses.
Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Swordfish aircraft attack barges and oil tanks at Rotterdam
The RAF bombs the Italian airfield at Bir el Gobi in Libya, engaging in dogfights with the Regia Aeronautica in the process.
The Italians, for their part, raid their favorite targets Sidi Barrani and Mersa Matruh.
Malta has a quiet day again, with an air raid alert at 15:15 which appears intended by the Italians to bait a response by the new defending Hurricane fighters. Nothing comes of it, however. 17 enemy CR42 aircraft which approach Malta from the north and cross over the east of Gozo, then over Marfa Ridge, turning south east and then south before passing over Hal Far. They circle round the east of the Island at 21000 feet, evidently trying to lure Malta’s fighters into battle. Two Hurricane fighters are scrambled but do not engage and the raiders turn away. Spinola, Delimara, San Pietru and San Giacomo batteries engage the raiders but they are too high for accurate hits. No bombs are dropped.
Governor Dobbie, meanwhile, creates a new organization called the Malta Volunteer Defence Force designed to combat enemy parachutists. Everyone is issued a helmet and armband; guns are optional and provided by the civilian. The volunteers will not be enlisted or enrolled men, so will not be subject to military law, nor receive any pay. However, the Governor and C in C has asked the War Office in London to fully recognise the new force to ensure their treatment as bona fide combatants in the event of their capture by the enemy.
On attacks on convoy HX.60, U-52, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Salman, sank British steamers King Alfred (5272grt) and Gogovale (4586grt) in 56-59N, 17-38W and Geraldine Mary (7244grt) in 56-46N, 15-48W.
At 0335 and 0338 hours, U-52 fired torpedoes at the convoy HX.60 about 300 miles west-northwest of Bloody Foreland and sank the King Alfred and Gogovale. The King Alfred (Master Richard Storm) broke in two, the bow sank and the stern was sunk by HMS Vanoc (H 33) (LtCdr J.G.W. Deneys), which also picked up the master and 33 crew members and landed them at Liverpool. Seven crew members were lost. The 5,272-ton King Alfred was carrying pit props and was headed for Methil, Scotland.
All men from Gogovale (Master Frank S. Passmore) were also picked up by the HMS Vanoc and landed at Liverpool. The 4,586-ton Gogovale was carrying 6,386 tons of flour and was headed for London, England.
At 0922 hours the Geraldine Mary (Master George McCartney Sime) in convoy HX.60 was hit amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-52 and sank after 2 hours about 270 miles west-northwest of Bloody Foreland. The master and 27 survivors were picked up by a British escort vessel and landed at Methil on 8 August. Six survivors were rescued and landed at Liverpool and 14 others landed at Uig, Isle of Lewis. Among the survivors were four passengers. One passenger and two crew members were lost. The 7,244-ton Geraldine Mary was carrying newsprint and sulphite pulp and was headed for Manchester, England.
U-52 undergoes a vicious depth charge attack by the convoy’s destroyer escort. It barely survives, but is badly damaged and limps back to port for major repairs.
That evening U-58, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Schonder, sank Greek steamer Pindos (4360grt) in 55-22N, 08-50. At 2120 hours the unescorted Pindos (Master Dionisios Panas), a straggler from convoy SL.40 since 20 July, was hit by two torpedoes from U-58 and capsized to port side before sinking about 21 miles west-northwest of Tory Island. The U-boat misidentified her as British motor merchant Limerick (8724 GRT). The survivors abandoned ship in the lifeboats and made landfall with the help of a local fishing boat at Downings, Co. Donegal. They were lodged with local people for two days before moving on to Lononderry, where two injured men were treated for injuries at a hospital, including one man who had his nose blown off. The 4,360-ton Pindos was carrying grain and was headed for Avonmouth, England.
Force H completes Operation HURRY by returning safely to Gibraltar. A large portion of Force H, though, including HMS Hood, Valiant, Ark Royal and Resolution, split off and head north to re-join the Home Fleet.
Heavy cruiser HMS Berwick departed Liverpool after refitting on the 3rd. In a fog at 0034 on the 4th, heavy cruiser Berwick was in a collision in 55-32N, 6-27W with an unknown ship. There was no damage to the cruiser below the water line. Heavy cruiser Berwick was repaired at Glasgow from to 7 to 22 August. The cruiser arrived in the Clyde on the 25th.
Destroyers HMS Achates and HMS Firedrake departed Scapa Flow at 0730 to search for a German submarine bombed by aircraft at 0510 in 59-48N, 5-30W. This may have been the submarine Destroyers HMS Maori and HMS Mashona were searching for on the 3rd north of the Shetlands. Destroyers Maori and Mashona arrived at Scapa Flow at 2200/4th. After an unsuccessful search, destroyers Achates and Firedrake swept towards Fair Island Channel to reach 59-10N, 5-00W by 0600/5th.
Destroyers HMS Bedouin and HMS Punjabi departed convoy OA.193 on its arrival at Cape Wrath at 2200. The destroyers arrived at Scapa Flow at 0400/5th.
Submarine HMS Sealion sank Norwegian steamer Torun (3318grt) in Homborsund southwest of Stavanger in 58-17N, 8-38E.
Destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Fury departed Scapa Flow at 1050 for escort duty in the Clyde.
Anti-submarine trawler HMS Kingston Chrysoberyl (448grt) engaged a German motor torpedo boat off St Catherine.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Drummer (297grt, Temporary Skipper H. C. Hall RNR) was sunk on a mine off Brightlingsea, Essex. Two ratings were lost in the trawler.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Marsona (276grt, Chief Skipper A. W. Ellis RNR) of Minesweeper Group 43 was sunk on a mine off Cromarty. Ellis, Temporary S/Lt I. S. I. Trehearne RNVR, and ten ratings were lost in the trawler.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Oswaldian (260grt, Temporary Skipper J. Darkins RNR) was sunk on a mine off Breaksea Light Vessel in Bristol Channel. Twelve ratings were lost in the trawler. Seven survivors from the trawler were landed at Barry.
In a British raid on oil tanks and barges at Rotterdam, S/Lt R. C. Eborn and Lt T. A. Johnston RM, were killed when their Swordfish of 812 Squadron was shot down off Noorwijk.
British steamer White Crest (4365grt) was damaged by German bombing off Cape Wrath.
German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ.175 (trawler Perseus, 428grt) was sunk on a mine north of Ameland.
Destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Hereward, and HMS Imperial departed Alexandria for an anti-submarine sweep along the Nile Delta, up the Palestine coast and Syrian coast, along the north coast of Cyprus to the west before returning to Haifa. Destroyer Hereward returned to Alexandria on the 5th with defects. Destroyer HMS Hasty was sent to replace Hereward in the sweep.
Light cruisers HMS Liverpool and HMS Gloucester with destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Hostile departed Alexandria during the afternoon of 4 August to sweep in the Aegean. They were also to cover the movement of Danube barges from Athens to Alexandria.
Destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Hasty, and HMS Imperial arrived at Haifa on the 7th.
The light cruiser force arrived back at Alexandria on the 8th. Destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Hostile arrived at Alexandria on the 10th with four Danube barges and a tug.
Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra departed Simonstown for Freemantle to effect repairs to A brackets and propeller shaft.
After sundown, German armed merchant cruiser Widder stopped Norwegian tanker Beaulieu (6114grt) with one shot from her gun in the Central Atlantic about 1,700 miles east of Florida at 25-46N, 48-44W. Three crewmen were killed on the Norwegian tanker. 28 survivors were taken to lifeboats and abandoned; they would be rescued by British tanker Cymbeline on 13 August 1940. Beaulieu was sunk by scuttling charges. The incident almost sinks the Widder as well because one of its torpedoes becomes a circular runner and almost hits it.
Convoy OB.193 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers HMS Vanquisher and HMS Viscount from 4 to 7 August. The escorts were detached to convoy HX.61.
Convoy MT.130 departed Methil. The convoy arrived in the Tyne on the 4th.
Convoy FS.242 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyers HMS Vimiera and HMS Wolfhound. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 6th.
Convoy HX.63 departed Halifax escorted by Canadian destroyers HMCS Assiniboine, HMCS Ottawa, and HMCS Saguenay at 0630. At 2100, the Canadian destroyers turned the convoy over to the ocean escort, armed merchant cruiser HMS Ascania, turned back towards Halifax. Destroyers Assiniboine and Saguenay were detached on the 5th and destroyer Ottawa on the 6th. The armed merchant cruiser was detached on the 16th.
Convoy BHX.63 departed Bermuda on the 3rd with an ocean escort of armed merchant cruiser HMS Alaunia. The convoy rendezvoused with convoy on the 8th when the armed merchant cruiser was detached. On 16 August, destroyer HMS Mackay, sloop HMS Leith, and corvettes HMS Heartsease and HMS Hibiscus joined the convoy and remained with the convoy until its arrived at Liverpool on the 19th.
Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh said today that in the future the United States “may have to deal with a Europe dominated by Germany” and advocated “cooperation” with Europe “in our relationships with the other peoples of the earth.” He told a mass meeting in Soldier Field, sponsored by the Citizens Keep America Out of War Committee, that: “There are still interests in this country and abroad who will do their utmost to draw us into the war. Against these interests we must be continuously on guard. But American opinion is now definitely and overwhelmingly against our involvement.” The other principal speaker at the rally was Senator Patrick A. McCarran, Nevada Democrat, introduced by James Van Zandt, three times commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and now a congressman from Pennsylvania.
General John J. Pershing urged tonight that the United States send a minimum of 50 destroyers to aid Great Britain, asserting “we shall be failing our duty to America if we do not do it.” The World War I American expeditionary force commander, now in his eightieth year, said in a broadcast address: “By sending help to the British, we can still hope with confidence to keep the war on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean where the enemies of liberty, if possible, should be defeated.” He declared: “I say to you solemnly that tomorrow may be forever too late to keep war from the Americas. Today may be the last time when by measures short of war we can still prevent war.” General Pershing again endorsed compulsory military training for the United States. Early this month he sent a letter to the Senate Military Committee approving the principle of the Burke-Wadsworth bill for selective service. Pershing said it was not “hysterical” to say that democracy and liberty were threatened.
Public opinion is split on this issue. The Roosevelt administration wants to help Great Britain, but public opinion as evidenced by Gallup polls is heavily against anything that might lead to war. This public debate becomes intertwined with Congressional debate over the draft, and there is strong grassroots opposition — especially among women — to conscription. Thus, Lindbergh’s stand is popular and Pershing’s less so. However, both have fervent supporters and strong bases of support.
The Senate embarks tomorrow on debates over bills that will largely determine the government’s method of carrying out the national defense training program. First, the Senate will take up the measure authorizing the President to mobilize the National Guard, and second, the Burke-Wadsworth Compulsory Military Training Bill providing for the registration for military service of all men between 21 and 31. Little opposition is expected to the National Guard bill, and House leaders plan to rush its consideration there so that authority will be given to President Roosevelt to immediately utilize four Guard divisions as well as several antiaircraft units which are to be called for intensive training. The Senate Military Affairs Committee has agreed to vote tomorrow on the Burke-Wadsworth bill, with the chairman, Senator Sheppard, predicting its overwhelming approval in committee. One of the co-authors, Senator Burke of Nebraska, asserted that opponents would not be able to muster more than twenty votes against it in the Senate.
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, former Judge Robert P. Patterson, Assistant Secretary of War, and Colonel Julius Ochs Adler, civilian aide to the Secretary of War, went on the radio yesterday to reply to critics of the compulsory selective military training bill now before Congress. Declaring that it would be fatal to wait until a war was actually upon the nation before resorting to compulsory training, Colonel Knox said: “No one can honestly believe that these are days of peace.” In all three addresses the need for a trained personnel to man the huge additions to fighting equipment already authorized by Congress was pointed out, and the three speakers agreed that the compulsory training bill offered the only democratic way of raising the army, which Captain Patterson estimated should stand at 1,300,000 men.
Isolationism-vs.-interventionism also is becoming a major factor in the Presidential race. Republican nominee Wendell Willkie favors somewhat modified isolationism, while the President and now Democratic nominee Franklin Roosevelt is well-known as an interventionist. To the extent that the election becomes a referendum on the issue, Roosevelt may be in trouble, but he is extremely popular for other reasons.
Wendell L. Willkie arrived in Des Moines this evening at 6:50 PM after a 600-mile airplane flight from Colorado Springs. He will attend a farm conference tomorrow of agricultural leaders from ten Midwestern States. The Republican nominee, accompanied by his wife and Governors Carr of Colorado and Stassen of Minnesota, was greeted by a crowd of several thousand persons when he arrived at the airport aboard a chartered United Air Lines plane.
Industrialists believe that the manufacturing phase of the national defense program will take between a year and a half and two years to get into motion, William P. Kirk, vice president of Pratt & Whitney, West Hartford, manufacturers of aircraft engines, declared here tonight. Mr. Kirk said, however, that progress was being made. He reported the development of a new, simple type of turning lathe for shells that can be operated by women and men unfit for military service, as well as advances in the production of rifle barrels that will double the output.
Delegates to the C.I.O. United Automobile Workers convention, after a stormy debate, today endorsed President Roosevelt’s candidacy for a third term. Opponents asserted the resolution was a slap at John L. Lewis, C.I.O, president, and weakened attempts to obtain concessions of a political party in return for C.I.O. support.
The broad scope of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s drive against espionage and fifth-column activities was set forth today in the annual report of tha bureau on the eve of a conference tomorrow at which Federal and local enforcement officials will outline a coordinated drive against spies.
Eighty-two German Jews arrived in Seattle, Washington, on the N.Y.K. liner Hikawa Maru after an extended journey through Siberia and across the Pacific Ocean. The refugees were the second party from Europe to arrive here, thirteen disembarking in Seattle on July 14.
Vladimir Jabotinsky, author, lecturer and world leader of the New Zionist Organization, died on Saturday night in the youth camp of the Zionist group at Hunter, New York, of a heart attack. He was 59 years old.
Major League Baseball:
A ninth-inning home run by Peewee Reese and an eleventh-inning smash by Dolf Camilli in the second game saved the Dodgers from a rout and sent hundreds of the 29,928 Flatbush fans present romping on the Ebbets Field greensward in a victory dance. Camilli’s blow gave the Dodgers a 7–6 victory. The Cubs, behind Vern Olsen’s southpaw pitching, had taken the opener in nine innings, 11–3. Freddy Fitzsimmons, trying for his seventh straight, was knocked out of the box in the first frame of the opener, charged with three runs on five hits.
The Giants and the Cardinals split their doubleheader at the Polo Grounds today. The Giants overcame an early home run by Ernie Koy with a rally in the seventh inning, and on the opener, 3–2. Hal Schumacher got the win. But in the afternoon the Cards and pitcher Bill McGee came back to take the second game, 6–3.
The Boston Bees climbed out of the National League cellar today by splitting a doubleheader with the Reds, defeating Bucky Walters, 5–3, in the first and losing a 12–9 slugfest in the nightcap.
The Pirates defeated the Phillies in both ends of a double-header today, 6–1 and 6–4, to sweep a four-game series. Truett Sewell held the Phillies to four hits in the opener. Debs Garms homered in the nightcap for Pittsburgh.
Bob Feller spun a five-hitter and his Cleveland Indians downed the New York Yankees, 3–1. Feller also singled home the second run for Cleveland. The Yankees’ Charley Ruffing was touched for ten hits and took the loss.
The Red Sox checked the Tigers today, 7–3, with Old Lefty Grove the master of the Bengals, just as he has been for sixteen years. The Boston victory cut the Detroit lead to a half game. It was Grove’s fifty-ninth triumph over Detroit, which has beaten him only sixteen times. The big hits for the Red Sox were Jimmy Foxx’s 24th homer and Ted Williams’ three-run triple.
The march of the White Sox toward third place was halted abruptly today by the Senators, who swept both ends of a doubleheader. Washington won the opener, 4–3, in ten innings and the nightcap by 1–0 before 15,866 unhappy spectators in Chicago. Ken Chase held Chicago to three hits in the nightcap. Ted Lyons was the hard luck loser of the first game.
The St. Louis Browns swept a doubleheader today with the Philadelphia Athletics, 5–4 and 6–4. Dick Siebert’s wild throw on an attempted force play in the fifth inning of the nightcap dashed the Philadelphia hopes for an even break, letting in three runs, which gave the Browns a lead they never relinquished.
Chicago Cubs 11, Brooklyn Dodgers 3
Chicago Cubs 6, Brooklyn Dodgers 7
Cincinnati Reds 3, Boston Bees 5
Cincinnati Reds 12, Boston Bees 9
Washington Senators 4, Chicago White Sox 3
Washington Senators 1, Chicago White Sox 0
New York Yankees 1, Cleveland Indians 3
Boston Red Sox 7, Detroit Tigers 3
St. Louis Cardinals 2, New York Giants 3
St. Louis Cardinals 6, New York Giants 3
Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Philadelphia Phillies 1
Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Philadelphia Phillies 4
Philadelphia Athletics 4, St. Louis Browns 5
Philadelphia Athletics 4, St. Louis Browns 6
Anglo-Japanese relations failed to show any improvement over the week-end. For the second time in two days Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Japanese Ambassador, called on Viscount Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, to demand the release of two prominent Japanese held here under the Defense Act and to seek further information about the arrest of four more of his countrymen who have been taken into custody in Rangoon, Burma, and in Singapore in the last twenty-four hours. The whole matter of Anglo-Japanese relations and the unexpectedly bad turn they have taken since Britain extended an olive branch in the form of the Tientsin agreement and the closing of the Burma road is expected to be the subject of a government statement when the House of Commons reconvenes Tuesday. The spokesman at the Japanese Embassy here said that judging from the cables from Tokyo and the tone of his country’s press “strong action against Britain was unavoidable” despite the insistence by the British Foreign Office that the arrests of Japanese by the British authorities were not reprisals for the roundup of Britons in Japan on suspicion of espionage.
Japan has obtained almost de facto control of French Indo-China and is daily extending and tightening her grip upon this vast rich colonial empire. Japan has demanded the right to establish naval and military bases in French Indo-China and diplomatic negotiations on the question are proceeding in Tokyo between Ambassador Charles Arsene-Henry and the Japanese foreign office, French informants said tonight. The Japanese also demand a new trade agreement providing for greatly increased Japanese exports to Indo-China which would be paid for by Japanese imports of iron, coal, tin and other Indo-Chinese raw materials, according to the informants. The demand for military bases the informants said, was explained as necessary to enable the Japanese to obtain an early victory over Chinese nationalist armies headed by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
With the British having arrested some Japanese businessmen in London yesterday, the Japanese suddenly release three of the remaining British citizens it had arrested on espionage charges a week ago.
Born:
(Rosemary Timothy) “Timi” Yuro, American R&B and soul singer-songwriter (“Hurt”), in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2004).
Larry Knechtel, American session piano and bass player (Simon and Garfunkel; Johnny Rivers), in Bell, California (d. 2009).
Bill Hull, AFL defensive end (AFL Champions-Texans, 1962; Dallas Texans), in Fayetteville, North Carolina (d. 2020).
Died:
Vladimir Jabotinsky, 59, founder of Revisionist Zionism.
History Diaries 