Baltic Sea

• The Soviet steamer Axel Carl (2170t) is sunk by German bombing in Leningrad harbor.
• The Soviet destroyer Statny sinks on a mine off Oesel, Estonia.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-38 sinks the Panamanian steamer Longtaker (1700t) southwest of Iceland with the loss of 24 of her crew. 3 survivors are picked up by the US destroyer Lansdale (DD-426).

Britain, Home Front

The National Fire Service is formed. 1,400 local fire brigades are amalgamated into 33 'fire forces'.

Eastern Front

Budenny, commanding the Soviet southern armies, begins to withdraw as many of his troops as possible behind the line of the Dniepr. In the north the Germans take Kingisepp, on the Luga west of Narva. In this sector there is also heavy fighting near Novgorod. In the central sector there are fierce engagements near Gomel. The Russians evacuate Nikolayev.

Finnish Troops Crossing the Vuoksi

Men of III/IR 27 are crossing river Vuoksi with boats and assault boats. Hopeasalmi, Vuoksi (18 Aug 1941). (© SA-kuva.fi)

Russian proposes a settlement with Finland in which the Finns will be granted territorial concessions after an armistice.

The 2nd Army and the 2nd Panzer Group capture Pochep. German forces push on to Gomel and Starodub, threateining to separate the junction of the 21sth and 13th Armies.

Soviet engineers blow the Dnepropetrovsk dams ahead of schedule. The rise in river level downstream destroy the crossing points of both the 9th and 18th Armies. At the far end of the line, the 1st SS Motorized Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler fights its way into Kherson. The battle for the town will continue for the next three days.

Mediterranean

The British submarine P-33 is sunk by a mine or in an Italian anti-submarine attack north of Tripoli. All 32 on board are lost.

United States, Policy

The US announces that Pan American Airlines is ferrying combat planes from the US to the Middle East by way of Brazil and West Africa. It is a means of speeding up delivery of aircraft to the British who are short of just about everything.

Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot John Gillespie Magee

Royal Canadian Air Force pilot John Gillespie Magee, 19, slips the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God in his sonnet High Flight, the official poem of the RCAF and Royal Air Force.[MORE]