Axis Diplomacy

Recruitment of volunteers for service against the Soviet Union starts in Spain and Denmark.

Battle of the Atlantic

• Convoy HX-133, which has had 4 escort vessels, is to be given another 9 from other missions.
• U-203 sinks the Norwegian steamer Soloy (4402t) from Convoy HX-133 south of Greenland. All 32 of her crew are picked up by the British steamer Traveller. The u-boat next sinks the British steamer Kinross (4956t) southeast of Cape Farewell. Her entire crew of 37 are picke up by the Canadian corvette Orillia.
• U-371 sinks the Norwegian steamer Vigrid (4765t), a straggler from Convoy HX-133, 400 miles southeast of Cape Farewell with the loss of 26 of her crew. 21 survivors are picked up in separate lifeboats by the British destroyer Keppel and the American destroyer Charles F. Hughes (DD-428).
• U-651 sinks the British steamer Brockley Hill (5297t), also straggling from Convoy HX-133, southeast of Cape Farewell. All 42 of her crew are picked up by the British steamer Saugor.

Diplomatic Relations

Slovakie declares war on the Soviet Union. Hungary breaks of diplomatic relations with the USSR. An Anglo-Soviet mutual aid agreement is announced.

Mediterranean

The British sloop Aukland is sunk in an air attack on the British Tobruk convoy. 34 of the crew are lost. 162 survivors are picked up by the British sloop Parramatta.

United States, Politics

At a press conference Pres Roosevelt announces that he intends to extend Lend-Lease aid to the USSR. $39 million of Soviet frozen assets are released.

Eastern Front

The German attacks continue to make rapid gains. Vilna and Kaunas have been taken and Brest-Litovsk, which is now far behind the front line, is also assaulted. In the northern sector thr Russians launch a violent counter-attack.

Finnish forces land on Aaland and take control from the Soviet garrison. In the Arctic north, on the Russo-Norwegian border, Dietl's mountain corps begins to advance from the Petsamo mining region toward Murmansk.

Despite fierce, although fragmented, resistance by the Red Army, the LVI Panzer Corps continues its advance toward the Dvina, cutting the road to Daugavpils. The German X Corps takes Kaunas and then holds it in the face of a Soviet counterattack by the 23rd Rifle Division.

The German LVII Panzer Corps captures Vilnius, and the XXXIX Panzer Corps advances east toward Minsk. The Soviet 3rd Army has been bypassed and is being reduced by ground and air attacks. The 2nd Panzer Group captures Slonim.

The German XIV Panzer Corps reaches Lutsk, but on this front Soviet resistance is intensifying as the XXII Mechanized Corps attacks the 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions east of Vlidimir Volynsky and the XV Mechanized Corps tries unsuccessfully to halt the 11th Panzer Division. To the south, the 17th Army captures Nemirov. As elsewhere, Luftwaffe activity is severely hampering Soviet movements. However, Kirponos is attempting to gather a large armored force to strike the flanks of the 1st Panzer Group and 6th Army.

Slovakia joins the axis coalition and begins sending troops into Russia to fight alongside Army Group South.[MORE]

Damaged T-28 and BT-7 tanks of the 5th Tank Division/3rd Mechanized Corps in the Alitus area, June 24, 1941

Damaged Soviet Tanks

Personnel of the German army Corps of Engineers building a pontoon bridge over the Nemunas (Niemen) River in Lithuania. Photographed on June 24, 1941, by a German army photographer.

German Engineers Buiilding a Bridge

Street Fighting in Nemirov, Ukraine

German troops in street fighting, Nemirov, Ukraine, June 24, 1941. Note the wrecked guns and Soviet tank in the background. The German anti-tank gun belongs to 211.Infantry Regiment of 71.Infantry Division. The division was pushing through the front defended by General Vlasov's 4th Mechanized Corps.

Destroyed Soviet T-26 Tanks

Destroyed T-26 tanks, various modifications of the composition of the 19th Armored Division of the XXII Mechanized Corps on the Voinitsa-Lutsk highway. In this tank battle was lost, the corps commander Maj. Gen. S. M. Kondrusev; wounded were the commander of the division and all the regimental commanders.