Posts Categorized: Today WWII History

80 Years Ago—July 28, 1941: Soviets advance into Smolensk pocket. Japan freezes American assets. Japanese troops land in southern French Indochina.

80 Years Ago—July 27, 1941: Peru takes Puerto Bolivar, Ecuador in first paratrooper combat in the Western Hemisphere.

80 Years Ago—July 26, 1941: In response to Japanese occupation of French Indochina, President Roosevelt requires approval of all sales to Japan (including oil; US supplies 80% of Japan’s oil) and closes Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. US & Britain freeze Japanese assets. Gen. Douglas MacArthur is recalled to service and placed in charge of… Read more »

80 Years Ago—July 25, 1941: In the Ukraine, the largest tank battle of the war so far begins; the Germans will prevail after a four-day battle. Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox earns his 300th career win, which is also his last win before retirement.

80 Years Ago—July 24, 1941: Japan begins to occupy northern French Indochina with permission of Vichy France, entering Hanoi and Saigon.

80 Years Ago—July 23, 1941: Germans take Brest-Litovsk, Byelorussia after a month-long siege. Vichy France allows Japan to occupy French Indochina. Tuskegee Army Airfield is officially established to train Black pilots. Movie premiere of comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan, starring Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, and Claude Rains.

80 Years Ago—July 22, 1941: Vichy France requires Jews to register their businesses, excluding them from commerce and industry. Germans halt just south of Leningrad to rest and gain supplies; Soviets reinforce the line. Last Japanese ship departs the Panama Canal.

80 Years Ago—July 21, 1941: The German Luftwaffe begins aerial assault on Moscow at night. Nazis open Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin in occupied Poland. US starts a national aluminum salvage drive. (Read more “Make It Do – Metal Shortages in World War II” and “Make It Do – Scrap Drives in World War II.”)

  80 Years Ago—July 20, 1941: Stalin declares himself Soviet Defense Commissar. Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, formerly considered an enemy of the state by the USSR, makes a radio broadcast urging resistance to the Nazi invasion.

80 Years Ago—July 19, 1941: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives a speech about BBC’s “V for Victory” campaign promoting resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe (Beethoven’s Fifth (V) Symphony as theme music—opening chords sound like dot-dot-dot-dash, the Morse code for the letter V); after this, Churchill begins flashing the V for Victory. Capt. Benjamin O. Davis… Read more »