July 24th, 1941 (THURSDAY)
FRANCE: The Japanese government presented an ultimatum to the Vichy government, on the 19th, demanding bases in southern Indochina. Vichy has conceded today. The Japanese will begin to occupy these bases on the 28th. The ultimatum was decided in the Japanese Imperial Conference on July 2.La Pallice: RAF Bomber Command sends 15 Halifaxes which score 5 hits and badly damage the Scharnhorst , 3,000 tons of water get on the ship. Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen is also damaged. (Navy News)
POLAND: An Einsatzgruppe [action squad] commander reports back to Berlin that 4,435 Jews have been liquidated in the town of Lachowicze.
U.S.S.R.: After a long siege, the Soviet defenders of Brest-Litovsk are forced to surrender.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: (Andrew Galliano) Following Operation Substance a group of empty merchantmen leave Malta for Gibraltar. South of Sardinia they are attacked by SM79s torpedo bombers (280 Sqd), the tanker Hoegh Hood is sunk.
PORTUGAL: The transport USS West Point (AP-23) arrives at Lisbon, Portugal and disembarks German and Italian consular officials who left the U.S. because their offices were closed.
CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Andamara assigned to Vancouver, British Columbia.
U.S.A.: The government denounces the Japanese actions in Indochina.
FDR publicly questions the political logic of exporting to Japan while a gasoline shortage is expected on the US east coast following the loan of 50 US tankers to take Lend-Lease oil to New York for transfer to British ships. The 50 tankers comprise 20% of the Texas-to-east-coast fleet which deliver 96% of the east coast's oil. (Edward S. Miller)
30 P-40Cs and three Stearman PT-13 Kaydets of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) are loaded on the aircraft carrier USS Wasp at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, Virginia. The ship will sail for Iceland on 28 July and the aircraft are launched on the morning of 6 August 1941.