September 14th, 1941 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The British Government invites the dominions to send a cabinet minister to Britain for discussions. The Australian representative, former Prime Minister Si Earl Page, is instructed to seek reinforcements for Singapore, Malaysia.
GERMANY: Hitler's order of 1 September, that all Jews under German rule must wear a yellow star of David, comes into effect.
FINLAND: Finnish Foreign Minister Vaino Tanner in a speech at Vaasa:
"Although we happen to be brothers-in-arms of Germany, there is no difference of opinion among us that our war concerns Finland alone. We have no part in the World War, and we do not want to become involved in its battles." (Russell Folsom)(219)
U.S.S.R.: Archangel: British forces are operating from Russian soil for the first time since Lord Ironside's expedition to help the White Russians in 1919. In a changed world, the "Reds" are now Britain's allies against Germans, so RAF pilots are flying Hurricanes from Vaenga. Two squadrons - 81 and 134 - began operations three days ago after arriving at Archangel on 7 September on the carrier HMS ARGUS. Their chief target is a force of Stuka dive-bombers, the main German tool against Soviet defences, whether tanks or cities. The RAF will not stay here for the rest of the war. It will teach Soviet pilots to fly Hurricanes and hand them over.
Heeresgruppe Mitte completes the encirclement of two Soviet armies at Kiev. General Georgii K. Zhukov is named Commander in Chief, Leningrad Front and takes command of the defence of the city. He orders the harshest of punishments for dereliction of duty and orders immediate counterattacks. His actions, in large part, save the city from the Germans.
3 Pz. Div. (GL Walter Model) contacts 1st Panzer Army's 16 Pz. Div. (GL Hans Hube) near Lubny, Ukraine. (Jeff Chrisman)
LIBYA: A poorly executed raid by Rommel, forces his 21st Panzer Division to run out of fuel. The RAF commences bombing the exposed German units and Rommel again places his German units out of fire and orders the Italians to guard the flanks. Meanwhile, British naval forces fail in their attempt to achieve a landing at Tobruk.
U.S.A.: Army General Headquarters
(GHQ) manoeuvres commence in Louisiana. The Army's neglect of aviation support
for its ground troops during the interwar period compels it to ask the Navy to
provide planes to take part. Five Navy squadrons [Bombing Squadron Two (VB-2),
Fighting Squadrons Forty One and Seventy Two (VF-41 and -72) and Scouting
Squadrons Five and Forty Two (VS-5 and -42)] and four Marine Corps squadrons
[Marine Fighting Squadron One Hundred Eleven (VMF-111), Marine Observation
Squadron One Hundred Fifty One (VMO-151), and Marine Scout Bombing Squadrons One
Hundred Thirty One and One Hundred Thirty Two (VMSB-131 and -132)] take part in
the large-scale war games.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: As the USN's Task Force 15 (TF 15) proceeds toward Iceland, destroyer USS Truxtun (DD-229) reports a submarine emerging from the fog 300 yards (274 meters) away, but low visibility and uncertainty as to the position of USS MacLeish (DD-220), also in the screen of TF 15, prevents USS Truxtun from opening fire. After the submarine submerges, USS Truxtun, USS MacLeish and Sampson (DD-394) make depth charge attacks with no verifiable result.