GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler's adjutant says that the murder of thousands of Russian Jews by SS Einsatzgruppen [action squads] or by local militia is part of a "necessary mopping-up operation."

U-197 is laid down. U-136, U-355, U-754 launched. U-133, U-208, U-654 commissioned. (DS)

AEGEAN SEA: The British submarine 'Torbay' sinks the Italian submarine 'Jantina'.

YUGOSLAVIA: Belgrade: A 49-year-old Communist who organized groups of his fellow Yugoslav's to fight Franco in the Spanish Civil War today issued a call to his country "to rise llike one man in this battle against the invaders and hirelings."

Josip Broz, alias "Tito", has recruited many partisans from the Yugoslavs who have fled to the mountains to escape forced labour under the Germans.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweepers HMAS Cairns and Wollongong launched. (DS)

U.S.A.: The New York Yankees begin a three-game baseball series against the Philadelphia Athletics in Yankee Stadium in New York City. Joe DiMaggio hits a home run going 1-for-4 against A's pitcher Phil Marchildon and extending his hitting streak to 46-games.

Destroyer USS Frazier laid down. (DS)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Drumheller launched Collingwood, Ontario. (DS)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: In the morning, U-96 was pursuing a convoy contact report from a Condor aircraft through  fog about 300 miles north of the Azores, when she came upon a curious formation of six vessels: survey vessel HMS Challenger, leading the troopship Anselm, the AMC HMS Cathay and three corvettes, HMS Petunia, Lavender and Starwort, which were deployed to port, starboard and astern of the troopship. At 0829, U-96 fired a salvo of four torpedoes and thought that she had scored hits on the AMC and a yacht (the survey ship). However, two torpedoes hit the Anselm, sinking her within 22 minutes, but that was time enough for the crew to launch all but one of the lifeboats. None the less, four crewmembers and 250 of the service personnel on board were lost. The three corvettes immediately started a counter-attack on the U-boat, but the ASDIC of Starwort was out of commission, so Petunia and Lavender, which had firm contacts, delivered the attack. The first corvette launched six depth charges and the latter twenty. Then the attack carried the corvettes close to the survivors in the water, so the depth charging had to be broken off, but they had damaged U-96 so badly, that she had to abort her patrol. In the meantime the master, 93 crewmembers, three gunners and 965 service personnel were picked up by the survey ship (including 60 men from the water) and the third corvette. The survivors were later transferred to the AMC and landed at Freetown. (DS)

Sqn-Ldr the rev Herbert Cecil Pugh (b. 1898) asked to be lowered to some trapped men aboard the torpedoed troopship Anselm; he prayed with them as they went down with the ship. (George Cross)

Italian submarine Michele Bianchi sunk near Bordeaux by submarine HMS Tigris.

CANARY ISLANDS: U-103 refuelled from the German supply ship Charlotte Schliemann in Las Palmas. (DS)