Baltic Sea

The Soviet destroyer Yakov Sverdlov sinks on a mine off Cape Juminda.

Eastern Front

The Finns recapture Viipuri, which they had to cede to the Soviet Union following the 'Winter War'. This brings them very close to Leningrad but, despite German insistence, they halt on their pre-war frontier - a decision taken on political grounds. Only a few of their units enter Russian territory, pressing on as far as the Svir River and Lake Oneg, thus cutting Russian communications between the White Sea and the Baltic.

Finnish armor moves toward Viipurii, encountering resistance from the hasitly erected Soviet defenses. After a brief battle, the Finnish Southeastern Army captures Viipurii. Later in the day Kivennapa also falls.

Liberation of Viipuri

The liberation of Viipuri in 1941. General Lennart Oesch with his chief-of-staff Colonel Valo Nihtilä. A lot of captured Soviet materiel is in the background.

After prolonged fighting, the XXXVI Corps reaches the old Russo-Finnish border in the Salla region. German and Finnish forces penetrate 25 miles along the road to Kandalaksha but are halted on the Verman River.

Tallinn falls to the XXVI Corps after a ferocious struggle. Of 23,000 Soviet soldiers taken out of the city, only 5,000 reach the safety of Kronstadt. 24 of 29 transport vessels are sunk by Keller's 1st Air Fleet and mines in the Gulf of Finland.

On the approaches to Leningrad there is heavy fighting at Kolpino and at Tosno and Mga where the 12th Panzer and 20th Motorized Divisions, supported by 3 infantry divisions, move closer to the Neva.

Leeb orders the encirclement of Leningrad and the capture of the Neva crossings, and the towns of Uritsk, Pulkovo, Pushkin, Kolpino and Ishora. To achieve their targets the German forces are organized into 2 groups, the Krasnogvardievsk Group and the Slutsk-Kolpino Group. The former has the XXXVIII Corps, which has the 1st, 58th, 291st and 254th Infantry Divisions, on the left and the XLI Panzer, which has the 1st and 6th Panzer and 36th Motorized Divisions, in the center, with L Corps, which has the SS Polizei and 269th Infantry Divisions, on the right. The Krasnogvardievsk Group aims to take Krasnogvardievsk, reach the Gulf of Finland and isolate the Soviet forces west of Leningrad.

The Slutsk-Kolpino Groups has the XXVIII Corps with the 121st, 96th and 122nd Divisions and part of the 12th Panzer Division. Its task is to push along the Ishora River and capture Slutsk and Kolpino. To the east, the XXXIX Panzer Corps with the 20th Motorized and the balance of the 12th Panzer Divisions, is to widen the corridor south of Lake Ladoga and then drive east from Sinyavino. The 8th Panzer Division is held in reserve behind the XLI Panzer Corps.

The 30th Army launches a ferocious counterattack east of Velizh aimed at relieving the 22nd Army near Velikiye Luki. Initial attacks penetrate the German lines, enabling Gen Dovator to lead his Cavalry Group on a week-long raid inside German lines.

The 16th, 19th and 20th Armies continue their attacks along the Dukhovschina-Yartsevo line.

Iran

The fighting comes to an end. Two days later the Soviet and British troops link up at Kazvin. The final terms are agreed by the Iranian government on September 9. The British and Soviets are to occupy certain key points but agree to keep out of Teheran.

Yugoslavia

Gen Milan Nedic is appointed to lead the puppet Serbian government backed by Germany.

Australian Pilot Clive Caldwell’s P-40 “Tomahawk”

In August 1941 Royal Australian Air Force pilot Clive Caldwell was still perfecting his combat technique: By mid-1941, Caldwell had flown about 40 operational sorties, but had only one confirmed kill – a Bf 109. He was perplexed by the fact that he had trouble scoring hits on enemy aircraft. Whilst returning to base one day, he noted his squadron’s aircraft casting shadows on the desert below. He fired a burst of his guns and noted the fall of shot relative to his shadow. He realised this method allowed for the assessment of required deflection to hit moving targets. Further experimentation lead him to acquire the knowledge to assess deflection needed for a range of speeds. Within a couple of weeks he had attained four further kills and a half share. Caldwell’s method of “shadow shooting” became a standard method of gunnery practice in the Middle East. On 29 August 1941 Clive Caldwell was attacked by two Bf 109s North-West of Sidi Barrani. One of his attackers was the Bf 109 E-7 “black 8? of 2./JG 27 piloted by one of Germany’s top aces, Leutnant Werner Schroer who was credited with 114 Allied planes in only 197 combat missions. Caldwell’s P-40 “Tomahawk” of 250 Squadron was riddled with more than 100 rounds of 7.9 mm slugs, plus five 20 mm cannon strikes which punctured a tyre and rendered the flaps inoperative. In the first attack Caldwell suffered bullet wounds to the back, left shoulder, and leg. In the next pass one shot slammed through the canopy, causing splinters which wounded him with perspex in the face and shrapnel in the neck. Two cannon shells also punched their way through the rear fuselage just behind him and the starboard wing was badly damaged. Despite damage to both himself and the aircraft, Caldwell, feeling, as he remembers, “quite hostile” turned on his attackers and sent down one of the Bf 109s in flames. The pilot of the second Messerschmitt, the renowned Leutnant Schroer, shocked by this turn of events, evidently made off in some haste. Caldwell’s engine had caught fire, however he managed to extinguish the flames with a violent slip. He then nursed his flying wreck back to base at Sidi Haneish.