Diary August 12, 1941

08-1941, War Diary, Year 1941 / 2 minutes of reading

Roosevelt and Churchill on board of HMS Prince of Wales in Placentia Bay, where they signed the Atlantic Charter.

Diary for Tuesday, August 12, 1941:

Politics

ATLANTIC CHARTER SIGNED after series of meetings aboard HMS Prince of Wales and USS Augusta, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Churchill and Roosevelt issue joint statement of their war and peace aims.

Eastern Front

Operation Barbarossa: HITLER POSTPONES DIRECT ADVANCE ON MOSCOW in favour of massive onslaught against Kiev. Guderian pushes south towards Gomel. Germans resume advance on Leningrad. Nikolayev Bridge destroyed by Hungarian bombers, trapping 60,000 Russian troops.

Sea War

Mediterranean: British fast minelayers Abdiel and Latona bring 6,000 fresh Polish troops to Tobruk and evacuate 5,000 Australian sodliers (August 12-13 to 18-19). Similar operations in September and October.

Neutrals

USA: Bill extending period of military service from 12 to 30 months passed by House of Representatives by 203 votes to 202.
Vichy France: Admiral Darlan appointed Vichy Minister of National Defence, with wide powers. Petain bans all political activities and declares, in a broadcast: ‘In 1917 I put an end to the (French Army) mutinies. In 1940 I put an end to the rout. Today I wish to save you from yourselves.’

Air War

Western Europe: RAF daylight raid on Cologne. 54 Blenheims (12 lost) bomb Knapsack and Quadrath power stations; fighter escort over east England-Antwerp sections of flight path. Night raids on Berlin, Cologne and 9 other German cities, airfields and shipping (13 bombers lost).

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.

1 thought on “Diary August 12, 1941”

Michael
August 12, 2021 at 5:40 pm

Note the date of the “Atlantic Charter”! This was legally an act of War by the USA vs Germany in August 1941, four months before Pearl Harbor and the German Declaration of War on the USA! (PS: I’m glad it was done)!

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