World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Monday, July 21, 1941
Day 690

July 21, 1941: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
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Note the report in columns 4-5: "Attempt on Duce's Life - Says Moscow"
(Radio Moscow, branching out to include Italy as part of the propaganda campaign. While there had been several attempts to kill Mussolini in the past, to the best of my knowledge, no such attempt was made on Mussolini's life at this time.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of the Evening Despatch, Birmingham, England.
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Note the report in columns 5-6: " "V.C. for Digger: planned Bremen day raid"
(Australian native, Acting Wing Commander Hughie Idwal Edwards, DFC, RAF, awarded the Victoria Cross. Edwards would retire as Air Commodore having also been awarded the KCMG, CB, DSO and OBE. He briefly served as Governor of Western Australia [Jan. 1974 to Apr. 1975.] He died in 1982.)
Also note the report in column 2: "Black Sea U-boat Sunk"
(Russia announces that a German U-boat had been sunk after being rammed by a Bulgarian destroyer. If this was just made up for propaganda purposes or if there was an incident that they believed caused the loss of a U-boat is not known to me. Whichever it was, it was not true. No U-boats were lost in July of 1941.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of The Evening News And Southern Daily Mail, Portsmouth and Southsea, England.
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Note the report in column 3: "Goerings disgrace"
(In the latest iteration of the Hermann Göring story, Radio Moscow claims that not only has Göring been stripped of his command, but Generals List, Stupnagel and Falkenhorst are under Gestapo surveillance. On top of that, a "number of high ranking German officers had committed suicide." They may have been right about the Gestapo surveillance, but in Nazi Germany, just like in Soviet Russia, everyone is under surveillance by the state secret police, whether it was the Gestapo or the KGB. It will be interesting to see, in future newspapers, how big the Russian lies grow.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
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Note the report in columns 6-7: "12 Nazi Ships Sunk in Baltic Action Claims Moscow"
(The first paragraph states; Stalin has been appointed People's Commissar for Defence under a decree issued by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the body of the report they claim sinking eleven transports and an oil tanker. The cost to the Russians, one plane and one torpedo boat, but the crew was saved. This is a complete fabrication, but If you are going to lie, tell the big lie.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Note the report in columns 6-7: "42 Nazi Ships Go Down In A Week"
(The Air Ministry besting the Russians by 30 ships. I can find no German ships sunk by the RAF between July 14 and 20, but there was one sunk, Wandsbk, sunk on July 21, but I doubt that the Air Ministry knew about this when they released their statement. Should we doubt the Air Ministry?)
 
Also note the report in column 3: "2 Drifters Sunk"
(HM drifter Devon County was sunk by a mine on July 1, three men were lost. HM Drifter St. Vincent was sunk by a mine on July 7th with the loss of two men.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
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Note the report in column 4: "Panzer Genius Dead In Russia?"
(The Stockholm correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, reports the rumor [referred to as "persistent reports"] that Generaloberst Heinz Guderian had been killed in Russia. Another false report based on a rumor. Unknown to the press, Guderian had just been awarded the Eichenlaub (Oak Leaves) to his Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross.) The announcement is in the Völkischer Beobachter below. He was not dead, injured or even inconvenienced. But the press at that time would print anything that they thought the public might like to hear and a dead Nazi General was good news to the public. Whether it was true or not.)


July 21, 1941: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The News, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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Note the report in columns 2-4: "Doctors Outline Polio Symptoms - 12 New Cases In Manitoba"


July 21, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The San Antonio Light, San Antonio, Texas.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
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July 21, 1941: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
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1. Das sowjetische Schreckensregiment in Lettland.
(The Soviet Terror Regiment in Latvia.)
Note the photos at bottom. Sixteen officers awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes [Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross] for action in Crete.


July 21, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
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1. Verfolgung ostwärts des Dnjestr.
(Pursuit east of the Dniester.)
2. Sowjetische Ausbruchsversuche bluttig zurückgewiesen.
(Bloody Soviet attempts to break out rejected.)
3. Die Stunde machvoller Maßnahmen.
(The hour of powerful action.)
 
Note the photo at top right: Die Reichsmarschall empfing Kretakämpfer.
(The Reich Marshal received Crete fighters.)



   
Page published July 21, 2022