July 10th, 1941 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Two low-flying formations of 12 Blenheims raid Cherbourg and Le Havre docks. One crew shot their bomb-load into a railway tunnel. This was direct disobedience since they had been ordered to avoid essentially civilian targets - the pilot was later court-martialled.The pilots were also ordered to avoid flying so low that the wake made by the aircraft on the sea was visible to fighters.
London:
The first British citizen to die under the 1940 Treachery Act was hanged today at Wandsworth jail. he was sentenced to death at the old Bailey on 8 May. George Johnson Armstrong, a ship's engineer, was arrested on his return to Britain from America. While in the US he had met a German consul and offered his services as a spy for the Nazis. But when he was caught spying it was for the Soviet Union. (Adrian Weale)
Three foreigners have been executed for treachery, having landed on a wild piece of the British coast with radio sets. The other Briton to be sentenced to death, Dorothy O'Grady, has had her sentence commuted to 14 years in jail.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Fetlar is launched.
Submarine HMS UMPIRE is commissioned.
GERMANY: The Blohm and Voss, BV-222 flying boat (the largest to attain operational status during the war), completes its first freight mission for the Luftwaffe, flying from the Finkenwerder factory, near Hamburg to Kirkenes, in the far north of Norway.
U-503 and U-578 are commissioned.
SYRIA: General Dentz asks for a cease-fire.
Pte James Heather Gordon (1909-86), 2/31 Bn Australian Military Forces, knocked out a machine-gun post at Greenhill, north of Jezzine, which was holding up his company. He bayoneted four French machine-gunners. Later he would say, "We had kidded ourselves that the Legionaires, being mercenaries, wouldn't risk their lives. But they really believed in their 'fight and die' creed. It was a pity we had to fight them. They would have made good mates." (VC) (Mike Mitchell)
LEBANON: Australian units occupy Damur, leaving Beirut as the only Vichy stronghold.
FINLAND: Lt. Gen. Heinrichs' Karelian Army begins its main
attack. Maj. Gen. Talvela's VI Corps began its attack already late yesterday evening, and
Maj. Gen. Hegglund's VII Corps (7th and 19th Divs) initiates its assault today at 3:20 pm.
Field Marshal Mannerheim gives his so-called "Sword Scabbard" daily order.
"I won't put my sword back into its scabbard before Finland and East Karelia are
free." The order, which is mainly meant to inspire the troops, starts public
discussion on what Finland's war aims should be - not everybody is comfortable with the
idea of capturing territory east of the 1939 border ('East Karelia' is a name commonly
used in Finland of the Soviet territory immediately east of Finnish border where there
lived peoples related to Finns). The cabinet had no foreknowledge of the order, and is
completely taken by surprise. Social Democrat members of cabinet demand explanation and
threaten with resignation.
This is a contentious matter, as Finns generally feel the war is fought to take back the territories lost after the Winter War in 1940. Going beyond that raises all kinds of uncomfortable questions -- especially abroad -- about why Finland is in this war. Particularly the Social Democrats, the largest party, are not happy with fighting on the same side as the totalitarian Nazi Germany, but are ready to go along because they, like the great majority of the nation, consider the USSR a far greater evil.
U.S.S.R.: The Red Air Force announces that it has flown 47,000 missions since the start of the
war, dropping a total of 10,000 tonnes of bombs.
Units of the Soviet 5th Army counterattack south-west of Korosten.
Kleist's Panzer Group hold the attack. 4 Italian divisions leave Italy bound for the
Eastern Front.
Smolensk: General Guderian has crossed the Beresina and tonight he is preparing to cross the Dnieper in sight of Smolensk, the gateway to Moscow.
XXIV Pz.K.'s 3rd Pz. Div. (GL Walter Model) makes an assault crossing of the Dnepr a Starye Bykhov, about 110 miles down river from Smolensk. (Jeff Chrisman)
General Hoth is sweeping north to by-pass Smolensk and cut the road to Moscow.
On Stalin's orders Pavlov, the failed commander of the Bialystock sector, has been shot, and a new line of defence has been established under the command of the defence minister, Marshal Timoshenko.
POLAND: Poles drive the entire Jewish population of Jedwabne (1,600 people) into the market place, torture them for several hours, and finally burn them alive in a barn. (Tom Hickox)
U.S.A.: Washington: The progress of the defence program is announced to the Congress. Only $3.6 billion out of $20 billion voted was actually spent on the army. During June 1,476 aircraft were produced out of a planned 3,000 a month. Last August the army has 300 modern combat planes, today it has 250. There are also fewer anti-tank guns than there were a year ago, but the number of rifles has increased by 200,000 and the number of motor vehicles rose from 745 to 125,000.
The Second Marine Aircraft Wing (2d MAW) is established at NAS San Diego, California.
The New York Yankees baseball team begins a three-game series against the St. Louis Browns in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Yankee center fielder Joe DiMaggio goes 1-for-2 today against Browns pitcher Johnny Niggeling thus stretching his hitting streak to 49 consecutive games.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Lunenburg launched Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
PANAMA: Howard Field airfield is
renamed Howard Air Base.