Air Operations, Mediterranean

Hurricanes disperse a formation of Italian Macchi fighters off Malta shooting down 6.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-69 sinks the British steamer Empire Ability (7603t) from Convoy SL-78 200 miles southeast of the Azores with the loss of 2 crewmen. 107 survivors are picked up by the British steamer Amerika. U-69 next sinks the British steamer River Lugar (5423) from the same convoy in the same area with the loss of 38 of her crew. 6 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Burdick.
• In attacks on Convoy HX-133 U-564 sinks the Dutch steamer Maasdam (8812t) and the British steamer Malaya II (8651t) about 300 miles south of Iceland. 2 are lost from the Maasdam, 78 survivors are picked up by the Norwegian steamer Havprins. 41 crewmen are lost from the Malaya II, 6 survivors are picked up by the Canadian corvette Collingwood.
• U-556 is sunk by the British corvettes Nasturtium, Celandine and Gladiolus southwest of Iceland with the loss of 5 of her crew. 40 survivors are rescued.
• U-123 attacks Convoy SL-78 and sinks the British steamer P.L.M. 22 (5646t) and the Dutch steamer Oberon (1996t) west-southwest of the Canary Islands. 32 are lost on the British ship, 12 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Armeria. The Dutch ship loses 6 of its crew, 28 are picked up by a British corvette.
• The Dutch steamer Montferland (6790t) is sunk by German bombing off Hartlepool. The entire crew is rescued.
• The British destroyer Wishart, which had just left Convoy HG-66, sinks the Italian submarine Glauco west of Gibraltar. 51 of the crew are rescued.

Diplomatic Relations

Hungary declares war on the USSR. A British military mission arrives in Moscow.

Eastern Front

- Von Bock's Army Group Center, pressing on far beyond Brest-Litovsk, traps huge enemy forces in a pincer movement in the sector between Bialystok and Novgorod (now Novogrudok).

Von Rundstedt's Army Group South, with von Kleist's I Panzergruppe, breaks through between the Carpathians and the Pripet marshes in the direction of Kiev and Vinnitsa, southeast of Kiev. Russian resistance is dogged and sometimes brilliant.

Gen Mannerheim, Finland's national hero, issues a proclamation to the Finnish people calling on them to play their part in the 'holy war' against the Russians.

As the tanks of XXXXI and LVI Panzer Corps near the Dvina, Timoshenko orders Red Army units to muster on the river line. The German 18th Army encounters heavy resistance as it pushes into the Baltic states, and the 16th Army is mopping up in the wake of the 4th Panzer Group.

The 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups link up at Minsk, trapping the Soviet 3rd, 4th, 10th and 13th Armies.

The twisted steel vault of a huge synagogue in Bialystok where the Nazis burned alive about 1,000 Jews on this date

Remains of a Synagogue in Bialystok

Counterattacks by the Soviet XIX, IX and VIII Mechanized Corps and XXXVI Rifle Corps are disrupted by Luftwaffe attacks. The 16th Army continues to defend Shepetovka as the 17th Army forces the Red Army to abandon Lvov.[MORE]

German Raiders

The blockade runner Regensburg reaches Bordeaux after a hazardous voyage from Dairen (Port Arthur), Manchuria.

Malta

There are fierce air duels above the island between Axis air formations and British fighters. Raids on the port installations in Valletta are growing more and more frequent.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Triumph sinks the Italian submarine Salpa off Mersa Matruh.