Air Operations, Europe

• Blenheims, under heavy fighter escort, bomb the Hazebrouck marshaling yards in northern France. A munitions train and a bridge are destroyed.
• Russian bombers hit Helsinki and 5 other Finnish towns.
• The Luftwaffe has established air superiority over the whole of the Eastern Front. It can now focus on providing air support for the army.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-75 sinks the Dutch steamer Schie,a straggler from Convoy OB-336, south of Greenland with the loss of all 29 of her crew.

The Above Ground Blast from Parachute Mines Caused Extensive Damage, as here in Southampton

The Blitz had not ended in Britain, even if there had been very little activity over London since 10th May: Bombing throughout the week was on a minor scale except on the nights of the 21st/22nd and 25th/26th June, when slightly heavier bombing occurred at Southampton and the surrounding district. The feature of these two nights was the greater number of parachute mines dropped. On other nights, slight bombing occurred over widely scattered places, amongst which were Merseyside, Gorleston near Yarmouth, Margate and in the London Region. Damage. Southampton, 21st/22nd June. In the Dock area there was serious damage to a shed and a leak was caused in King George V Dry Dock. At the Southern Railway’s Central Station the down-line platform was practically demolished and the main lines were blocked by debris. Normal traffic was resumed on the 23rd June. The damage to house property was heavy. Elsewhere. At Gorleston damage received by the gas works has temporarily stopped supplies, and at Birkenhead the entrance to the Mersey tunnel was damaged. At other places only minor damage occurred. Casualties. Casualties for the week ending 0600 hours, the 25th June, are estimated at 39 killed, 116 seriously injured. There were no casualties in London.

Italian East Africa

British bombers raid the Italian garrison of Debra Tabor, southwest of Amba Alagi.

Mediterranean

The French submarine Souffleur is torpedoed and sunk by its British equivalent HMS Parthian and a French tanker en route to the Middle East is immobilized by British torpedo-bombers.

Sweden, Politics

The government announces that it will allow the Germans to move forces up to 1-division strong through Sweden from Norway to Finland.

Eastern Front

Already the Germans are threatening to complete the first of their great encircling operations. The Soviet salient around Bialystok, containing forces of 3rd, 4th and 10th Armies, is menaced by an envelopment southwest of Grodno while a far deeper cordon is to be drawn closed at Minsk in a few days.

In the north Daugavpils is taken in the German advance and Hoeppner's forces begin working to take bridgeheads over the Dvina. The Russians attack Finnish defense positions and counterattack in the area of Murmansk.

In the advance of Army Group Center the first encirclement is closed by Hoth's and Guderian's forces near Baranovichi. In addition they reach Lida and Borodechno, more thatn 125 miles east of Bialysto, the headquarters of Pavlov, commander of the Russian western front.

In the southern sector the Germans occupy Dubno, and important town northeast of Lvov.

The Germans bomb Odessa, Kiev, Nikolayev, Minsk and other towns.

500 Soviet bombers strike Finnish cities and airfields. Finnish Prime Minister Rangell announces that as a result Finland is at war with the Soviet Union as war is declared by an emergency session of the Finnish parliament. The immediate aim of the Finns is the recovery of the territory lost during the Winter War.

4 Junkers Ju-88 bombers, operating from Malmi airfield, bomb the Soviet heavy cruiser Kirov at Kronstadt but fail to hit the target.

The XXI Mechanized Corps tries to hold the LVI Panzer Corps west of the Dvina as the XII Mechanized Corps employs KV-1 and T-34 tanks against the XLI Panzer Corps around Rasainiai, causing the Germans some disquiet. The German advance toward Riga prompts the building of siege lines around the port. The Soviet 8th and 27th Armies are ordered to establish a defensive line from Riga to Kraslava.

The speed of the Blitzkrieg has resulted in the Soviet 10th and 3rd Armies being isolated around Bialystok and Volkovsky. The XXXIX Panzer Corps captures Molodechno and Lida while XXIV Panzer Corps races toward the Dnieper. Seeing the Western Front under threat of collapse. Timoshenko orders the 22nt Army to deploy on the front's northern wing.

As Kirponos prepares his armored counterattack, the 11th Panzer Division enters Dubno and Lutsk falls to the Germans. There is heavy fighting around Lvov between the 17th Army and the Soviet 26th Army.[MORE]

Members of the Lithuanian Militia Leading Jews to the Seventh Fort in Kovno, Lithuania

Antisemitic Lithuanians in Kovno went on wild killing sprees directed against the Jews during the first days of the Nazi invasion. Thousands of Jews were transferred to locations outside the city, including the Seventh Fort, which was one of a chain of forts built around Kovno during the nineteenth century. The Jews brought there were brutally abused and then shot by local Lithuanian guards. In all, some 10,000 Jews were murdered within the first six weeks of the German invasion.

Turku Castle after the Soviet Bombing Attack on June 25, 1941.

On June 25 Soviet bombers attacked Finnish cities, including Helsinki and Turku, seaports and airfields. The medieval castle in Turku was damaged. The Finns now had to acknowledge they were at war with the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Rangell announced this to the Parliament. The next day President Ryti spoke to the people on the radio and noted that Finland was again at war with their old enemy.

Smoke from German shelling Billows over the City of Kovno, June 22-25, 1941