In the Army Group North sector, German 16th Army (Colonel General Ernst Busch) continues attacking Staray Russa below Lake Ilmen.
In the Army Group Center sector, General Guderian’s Panzer Group 2 attacks toward Roslavl as it heads south on Hitler’s express orders to help with the conquest of Kiev. The Soviet, meanwhile, ramp up their attacks on the advanced German “lightning rod” position at Yelnya.
In the Army Group South sector, after many days of very hard fighting, Panzer Group 1 (General Ewald von Kleist) completes the encirclement at Uman. This happens when German XLVIII Corps (General Kempf) hooks up with German 17th Field Army (General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel). The closure southwest of Uman is all the more dangerous to the trapped Soviet forces because 16th Panzer Division and Hungarian Mechanized Corps (Gyorshadtest) also are close to forming a second, separate closure at Pervomaisk. The Soviets have parts of 20 divisions of their 6th, 12th, and 18th armies inside the pocket, including four corps commanders and 11 division commanders. Resistance does continue until about 8 August. However, except for small parties, the Soviets trapped today are unable to break out, and 103,000 Soviet soldiers go into captivity.
In the early morning hours, after the midnight conference, Hitler sits around with his cronies expostulating on random topics as he often likes to do. Today, his topic is bureaucracy:
“It’s certain that we have a clean, incorruptible administration, but it’s also too punctilious. It’s over-organized, and, at least in certain sectors, it’s overloaded. Its principal fault is that nobody in it is seeking for success and that it includes too many people without responsibility. Our functionaries fear initiative worse than anything else — and what a way they have of behaving as if they were nailed to their office chairs! We have much more elasticity in the army, with the exception of one sector of the Wehrmacht than in these civilian sectors. And that although the salaries are often inadequate!”
Some neutral observers would likely agree that the World War II German bureaucracy is over-organized. However, that also, in the view of some, is one source of the efficiency of Wehrmacht divisions, which are very good at logistics and planning.
Soviet submarine S-11 hits a mine and sinks in the Soela Väin Strait, Estonia (between Saaremaa and Hiiumaa). There are 44 deaths and three survivors. The submarine is raised after the war and scrapped. Soviet submarine M-99 also sinks around this time due to mines.
German 2nd S-Boat Flotilla lays 36 TMB mines off Cape Rista in the Gulf of Finland.
The Luftwaffe (KG4) drops 22 aerial mines north of Moon Sound, 15 east of Moon Sound, and 18 LMB mines west of Worms Island.
Finnish submarine Veshiisi (Lt. Cdr. Kijanen) lays eighteen mines in Minefield F.17 east of Odensholm.
The Royal Navy finally concedes that Operation EF, the Force K attack on Kirkenes and Petsamo, has turned into a liability when it spots German reconnaissance shadowing the fleet. The Admiralty calls off a planned attack on Hammerfest, Norway due to inability to maintain surprise and heads for home.
Soviet submarine L-5 (Lt Cdr Zhdanov) lays 14 mines off Mangalia, Romania.
The Italian Pasubio Infantry Division and Torino Infantry Division move to the Eastern Front in the Army Group South region. However, they do not see combat at this time.
Croatia established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo.
Soviet NKVD operatives were ordered to arrest those who injure themselves on the front lines just as they would arrest deserters. This is a pet suspicion of Joseph Stalin, who also suspects cowardly troops of sabotaging their own equipment. Deserters, meaning anyone walking away from the battlefield, already are subject to summary execution.
The United States extended Lend-Lease to apply to the Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union exchanged of notes on economic assistance.
Japanese Ambassador to Germany Oshima cables Tokyo with news about the Eastern Front. He reports that an unnamed Swedish reporter who claims to have visited the front in the Baranovichi area has related that, while Germany must inevitably triumph over the Soviet Union, not everything is going well for the Wehrmacht. The Red Air Force remains powerful, and the Red Army has substantial reserves that it is throwing into the front around Leningrad. The reporter also relates to Oshima that German officers he has talked with already have noticed US tanks and planes being used in the Volga and Siberia areas.
Oshima’s report also notes that:
“Germany’s greatest ordeals have been the result of guerrilla tactics used by the Soviet soldiers and civilian inhabitants. There is a thickly wooded area in the Pripet swamps. There are many, many remaining troops taking refuge in it. A German force endeavored to rout them, but knowing nothing of the area, failed completely.”
The report seems grounded in solid fact (though the presence of US equipment at this time is questionable). The German offensive has prospered by sticking to the roads and quickly heading east to capture cities and Soviet military bases. This strategy, however, has the inherent drawback of leaving many Soviet troops and even entire units in the rear areas, fully capable of resisting and even taking offensive action against nearby Wehrmacht units and bases. Perhaps most tellingly, the German officers are surprised and even worried because captured Soviet troops remain loyal to the Stalin regime and appear committed to continuing their guerrilla warfare even if Moscow falls.
Germans massacre a large number of Jews at Ponary, Lithuania, allegedly numbering in the thousands.
Germans kill approximately 200 Jews at Kovno, Lithuania. This massacre apparently includes an American Jewish woman.
There is a brief stir on the usually static Tobruk perimeter when two Australian companies attack Italian positions, supported by a heavy artillery barrage of over 60 guns. The Australians are attempting to recover some tactically useful territory lost during the May fighting but fails with heavy casualties. The Italian 7th Bersaglieri Regiment holds its ground against the Australian 2/43rd and 2/28th Battalions.
Operation Style, a convoy mission to Malta, continues. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal launches a load of Hurricanes to Malta. Light cruisers Arethusa and Hermione continue on to Malta with fast minelayer Manxman and destroyers Lightning and Sikh, unloading collectively 54 officers and 970 other ranks, along with 130 tons of supplies. All of the ships unload quickly and the entire force, including Ark Royal, returns to Gibraltar.
During the afternoon, Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Hermione, sailing with the Operation Style ships, spots a submarine shadowing the convoy. It rams and sinks Italian submarine Tembien off Tunis.
The Luftwaffe attacks Australian destroyer Vendetta and Royal Navy destroyer Havock off Tobruk during the night supply run. However, South African fighters drive the Germans off. Both sides lose about three planes.
All civilian radios in Norway were confiscated by the Nazi occupation authorities. The German occupation authorities confiscate all civilian radios that they can find. However, as in other occupied nations, many remain used with great secrecy to listen to the BBC, which is considered a much more accurate source of news than German or Norwegian radio broadcasts.
The British open a mosque in London for Muslim soldiers serving in the British armed forces.
Britain called on the governments of Iran and Afghanistan to expel all Germans immediately.
RAF Bomber Command, Day of 2 August 1941
24 Blenheims on “Rhubarb” coastal sweeps between Cherbourg and Texel. Ships and land targets were attacked. 1 aircraft lost. 3 Fortresses to Kiel and Bremen but only Kiel was bombed. Kiel reports light damage, 1 person killed, 9 injured.
RAF Bomber Command, Night of 2/3 August 1941
Hamburg
80 aircraft — 58 Wellingtons, 21 Whitleys, 1 Stirling — to bomb railway targets. 2 Wellingtons lost. Hamburg reports 5 people killed, 38 injured and 738 permanently or temporarily bombed out. There were 10 fires. 5 of them large ones. The most serious fire was caused by a concentration of incendiary bombs falling on a large dump of rolled cork stored in the open in the Billbrook area. This burned for 7 hours.
Berlin
53 aircraft — 40 Wellingtons, 8 Halifaxes, 5 Stirlings; haze hampered bombing. 3 Wellingtons and 1 Stirling lost.
Kiel
50 Hampdens reported accurate bombing of the shipyards and the town. 5 aircraft lost. Kiel reports only 1 house hit with 1 person injured, though naval and shipyard damage may have been omitted from this report. Minor Operations: 20 Wellingtons to Cherbourg, which was found to be cloud-covered, 5 Hampdens minelaying off Kiel. No losses. Total effort for the night: 208 sorties, 11 aircraft (5.3 percent) lost.
RAF No. 129 Squadron (Mysore), equipped with Supermarine Spitfires at RAF Leconfield, becomes operational and its pilots quickly shoot down a Junkers Ju-88 near Flamborough Head. No. 129 Squadron is named after an Indian province in recognition of the Indian government raising substantial sums of money for the war effort. However, it is not manned by Indian pilots.
Soviet submarine S-11 of the Baltic Fleet is mined off Soelavain Bay and sunk in the Soela Vain Channel.
Destroyer HMS Heythrop departed Scapa Flow for Greenock at 1300 on completion of working up exercises, and arrived at 1100/3rd.
Destroyer HMS Oribi departed Scapa Flow at 1630 for Scrabster to convey Admiral Horton to Scapa Flow, and arrived back at 2030.
Minesweeper HMS Harrier departed Scapa Flow at 2330 for Seidisfjord, where she arrived at 0100/5th.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Curacoa departed Scapa Flow at 0615 to provide escort for convoy WN.60 from the Pentland Firth until joining convoy EC.53 at 2300. She parted company with convoy EC.53 in Pentland Firth at 2115/3rd and arrived at Scapa Flow.
Steamer Koolga (1110grt) was damaged by German bombing in 52-40-03N, 2-11E, near 54.D Buoy, Smiths Knoll, and arrived in tow at Great Yarmouth on the 3rd.
LL magnetic minesweeper HMS Soika was recalled from Port Said to aid in minesweeping at Tobruk. Corvette HMS Salvia departed Beirut to relieve her at Port Said. Soika proceeded to Alexandria and minesweeping whaler HMS Sotra departed Alexandria for Tobruk.
Australian destroyer HMAS Vendetta and destroyer HMS Havock, en route to Tobruk, were attacked by German bombers and fighters. South African air support was able to repulse the attack and the destroyers were undamaged.
Tanker Laurelwood and Panamanian tanker Norvinn departed Gibraltar for Curacoa and Trinidad, respectively, escorted until dark on the 4th by destroyer HMS Wishart and anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Hogarth.
Dutch submarine HNLMS O.23 departed Gibraltar for patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Motor launches ML.130, ML.129, and ML.168 departed Gibraltar to conduct an anti-submarine search north of Alboran Island.
In Washington, President Roosevelt spent the day clearing up routine matters in preparation for his departure tomorrow on a week’s vacation at sea.
The Senate was in recess. The Interstate Commerce Committee approved the bill authorizing the Justice Department to tap wires in investigation of some crimes.
The House was in recess. The Ways and Means Committee rejected the President’s suggested amendments to the tax bill.
President Roosevelt’s request for three changes in the $3,-529,200,000 tax bill were turned down today by the House Ways and Means Committee by “decisive majorities” and Chairman Doughton, North Carolina Democrat, told the executive he was “very greatly surprised” by his criticism of the measure. Mr. Roosevelt asked congress to lower income tax exemptions, impose stiffer excess profits levies on Wealthy corporations and modify the requirement of joint returns from married persons as contained in the measure. “Expressing belief some way should be found to cut present income tax exemptions for single persons from $800 to $750 and for married persons from $2,000 to $1,500, the president said “most Americans who are in the lowest income brackets are willing and proud to chip in directly” to the defense program “even if their individual contributions are very small in terms of dollars.”
The Congressional farm group, having succeeded in forcing a revision in the Administration’s price and rent control bill to forbid price ceilings on agricultural commodities below 110 percent of parity, gave notice today that it still was not satisfied and would seek an amendment to the bill putting a floor under agricultural prices.
Gasoline stations along the eastern seaboard pumped steadily tonight as motorists rushed up for a final filling before the regional gasoline sales 7 PM curfew becomes effective tomorrow night. In many cases week-end-bound motorists lugged big cans along to use for reserve supplies in case their machines ran dry during the dusk-to-dawn moratorium.
Commercial vehicles, including trucks and taxicabs, were exempted from the curfew on gasoline sales that becomes effective throughout the Eastern seaboard at 7 o’clock tonight. The ruling excluding such vehicles from the twelve-hour ban on sales was announced in a telegram received here from the office of Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, Federal Petroleum Coordinator.
The nation’s biggest Silk Run was under way yesterday as women stormed hosiery counters to lay in reserves before the government’s order freezing silk supplies led to rationing. From Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities across the continent came reports of tremendous increases in sales and limitations on purchases. Stores disclosed varying stocks on hand, with some areas having stock sufficient only for a few days and others prepared for months ahead.
J. Louis Reynolds, vice-president of the Reynolds Metal Co., said today negotiations far sale of approximately 2,000,000 pounds of aluminum to Russia had been completed except for approval by the office of production management and the state department. The metal, originally destined for France, has been stored In New Jersey since June, 1940.
With trade severed between the United States and Japan, rayon (some forms are called “artificial silk”) imported from Japan suddenly is in short supply. The US government thus decides to ration rayon.
The U.S. War Department dedicated the Millville Army Air Field (MAAF) as “America’s First Defense Airport.” The Millville, New Jersey airport serves as a gunnery school for fighter pilots, with training first conducted in the Curtiss P-40F Warhawk, then for most of the war in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
The first Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, designated V-1650-1, rolls off the assembly line. It is a version of the Mark XX generating 1,390 hp (1,040 kW). It is intended for the Curtiss P-40F and XP-60 fighters. Packard Motor Car Company is producing the Merlin under license from Rolls Royce that was granted in September 1940. Rolls Royce made an order for $130 million worth of the engines. Packard will produce a total of 55,523 Rolls-Royce Merlin engines under license during World War II. Some remain in use well into the 21st Century.
Major League Baseball:
Lefty Grove got off to a shaky start today in bidding for his 301st major league pitching victory and the Tigers defeated the veteran Red Sox southpaw, 6–5. Grove gave seven hits in the first four innings and settled down to hold the Tigers to a scratch hit in the last five, but his Boston mates could not offset his early lapses.
Brooklyn’s Dodgers rallied to defeat the Chicago Cubs, 9–6, the victory enabling them to stay a game behind the pace-setting St. Louis Cardinals. Leo Durocher, Brooklyn manager, was banished from the game by the umpires after protesting a first-inning decision.
The Braves broke the Reds’ latest winning streak at four games today as young Tom Earley outpitched the veteran Paul Derringer for a 6–1 victory. Braves’ catcher Al Masi’s two-run double in the second was the deciding blow.
Marv Breuer shuts out the Browns on 3 hits to win, 2–0. It is the Yankees 3rd shutout in a row. Denny Galehouse gives up 8 hits, including a double to DiMaggio. This extends DiMaggio’s new hit streak to 16 games.
Successive hits, a triple by Jeff Heath and Hal Trosky’s winning single in the ninth inning enabled the Indians to beat the Athletics, 3–2, in the opener of their series today.
The Giants subdued the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2–0, in ten innings, ending a six-game losing streak. On the broad shoulders of Hal Schumacher the Giants rose to victory today, snapping a six-game losing streak as they whitewashed Frankie Frisch’s Pirates in ten tense innings.
In St. Louis, Johnny Mize hits a 2nd inning grand slam off Boom-Boom Beck to give the Cardinals a 7–0 lead over the Phillies. St. Louis holds on to win, 11–7, and keep their one-game lead in the National League over the Dodgers, winners in Chicago.
Southpaw Edgar Smith scattered seven hits and showed perfect control as the White Sox turned back the Senators, 3–1, today and evened the series ot one game each. It was Smith’s eleventh victory of the year.
Detroit Tigers 6, Boston Red Sox 5
Brooklyn Dodgers 9, Chicago Cubs 6
Boston Braves 6, Cincinnati Reds 1
St. Louis Browns 0, New York Yankees 2
Cleveland Indians 3, Philadelphia Athletics 2
New York Giants 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 0
Philadelphia Phillies 7, St. Louis Cardinals 11
Chicago White Sox 3, Washington Senators 1
The strategic war materials agreement concluded for two years between Brazil and the United States on last May 15 has proved to be a monkey wrench in the Axis war machine. It has both closed the door to Axis purchasing agents and enabled Brazil to get rid of export surplus materials, while also insuring the United States a steady source of supply for certain strategic materials.
The local Soviet army in Outer Mongolia orders the Chinese Communist forces under Liu Po-Chao to transfer to Suihoku, which the Chinese do. This is the beginning of cooperation between Soviet and Chinese forces. The Soviets also promise to provide supplies to the Chinese via Outer Mongolia, which the Chinese help to transport.
The subject of British aid to China is a sore spot for the Japanese. Tokyo receives a report from Shanghai today revealing that the British are cooperating closely with Chinese military authorities.
The Japanese reach an agreement with the Thai government in which the Thai authorities will extend a letter of credit worth 10 million bahta to finance Japanese purchases of Thai goods. This enables trade to continue between the two nations despite the recent economic sanctions imposed by the United States and Great Britain.
The Japanese Government, telling its people that the international situation had grown explosive, further stepped up its already war-geared domestic economy today to make the nation economically self-sufficient and independent of American supplies.
The Japanese continue to keep a close eye on U.S. activities across the Pacific. Interest is keen on U.S. intentions given the recent imposition of sanctions on Japan. The Japanese embassy in Manila reassures Tokyo that the number of planes flying over Manila has decreased considerably, and the U.S. planes flying over the Philippines have not been camouflaged or otherwise altered in a war-like fashion. This information helps to defuse tensions in Tokyo.
The Japanese also are spying on U.S. fleet movements in the Atlantic. Tokyo receives a report today from its spies in Cuba stating the composition of U.S. naval forces in Guantanamo Bay from 16-24 July 1941: two battleships, four light cruisers, four destroyers, two Coast Guard cutters, and two bombers.
The economic sanctions imposed by President Roosevelt on Japan recently have caught some ships at sea without instructions as to how to proceed. Tatsuta Maru sits off San Francisco Bay with a load of $2.5 million of raw silk, but the captain refuses to make port without assurances that the U.S. government will not seize his cargo. A Japanese liner, 16,975-ton Asama Maru, is sailing about 980 miles north of Honolulu but also is unsure how to proceed.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry scrambles to come up with a solution. Finally, it instructs Tatsuta Maru to stop at Honolulu. It also orders freighter Heian Maru at Seattle to proceed to Vancouver and unload there.
Japanese Ambassador Nomura has a conversation with an unidentified U.S. Cabinet member. As Nomura informs Tokyo after the meeting:
“The United States is trying to restrain Japan, first of all, by waging an economic war… [T]he United States is at the same time making military preparations against the possible eventuality of a clash of arms… That the Russo-German war is lasting longer than expected has proved to be an advantage to the United States… The cabinet member believes firmly in the necessity of this war lasting for several years for the reason that due to destruction of her men and materials, and due to the shortage of oil, Germany would not be able to do anything on a great scale even after the fighting on the Eastern Front has come to an end.”
This, of course, proves prophetic, but not exactly in the manner intended.
The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Musashi returns to Nagasaki. After 1000 hours, the Musashi moored at Mukojima wharf.
The Nakajima Ki-43-I Hayabusa (“Peregrine Falcon,” or “Oscar” in U.S. military nomenclature) begins arriving at the Japanese 59th Flight Regiment (FR) at Hankow Airfield. The pilots begin training with the new plane, which will see operational use beginning on 29 October 1941.
U.S. Army Air Force General Henry Clagett arrives in Java to coordinate future air operations with the local Dutch authorities and to survey airfields and base sites.
Due to heightened tensions and the Dutch impositions of sanctions, Japanese nationals in the Dutch East Indies are fleeing the territory, swarming shipping agencies for passage back to Japan. The Netherlands Indies do relent just a bit on the sanctions recently imposed on Japan in conjunction with the United States and Great Britain. The Dutch allow one shipment of rubber, tin, and Ilmenite. The Japanese, meanwhile, are putting pressure on the Dutch by restricting food shipments from French Indo-China.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 128.21 (-0.01)
Born:
Doris Coley, American singer (The Shirelles), in Goldsboro, California (d. 2000).
Homer Banks, American singer and songwriter (“Be What You Are”), in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2003).
Sara Leland, American ballerina and principal dancer with the New York City Ballet (1972-1983), in Melrose, Massachusetts (d. 2020).
Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter, in Warffum, Netherlands (d. 1986).
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy YMS-1-class auxiliary motor minesweeper HMS BYMS 2020 (J 820) is laid down by the Bellingham Iron Works, Inc. (Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.)
The U.S. Navy 77-foot Elco patrol motor torpedo boat USS PT-61 is laid down by the Electric Launch Company Ltd. (Elco), (Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy “U”-class (Third Group) submarine HMS P 48 is laid down by Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.).
The U.S. Navy Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Miami (CL-89) is laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Co. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.).
The U.S. Navy Chicopee-class oiler USS Housatonic (AO-35) is launched by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy Bangor-class (Reciprocating-engined) minesweepers HMS Wedgeport (J 139) and HMS Tadoussac (J 220) are launched by the Dufferin Shipbuilding Co. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada); completed by Montreal-Loco.
The Royal Canadian Navy Bangor-class (Reciprocating-engined) minesweeper HMCS Courtenay (J 262) is launched by the Prince Rupert Dry Dock and Shipyards Co. (Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada).
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 182 is commissioned.
The Royal Canadian Navy Bangor-class (VTE Reciprocating-engined) minesweeper HMCS Minas (J 165) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant John Charles Barbour, RCNR.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IXC U-boat U-154 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Korvettenkapitän Walther Kölle.
History Diaries 