Soviet tankmen of the 6th Armoured Division drive through the streets of Tabriz on their T-26 light tank. Wikipedia. Click to enlarge.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
In Occupied France, the German occupation authorities announce on August 22, 1941, that anyone working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death. In addition, anyone detained by the occupying authorities will be considered a hostage and hostages will be shot if attacks on German troops continue. About 20,000 German troops are engaged in searches for suspects. In central Ukraine, German forces capture Cherkasy, on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
On the Eastern Front, German Panzer Group 2 and troops of the 2nd Army from Army Group Center on August 23 begin attacks southward in order to link up east of Kiev with the forces of Army Group South. Most of the German generals on the scene are opposed to this move and would prefer to maintain the drive toward Moscow but Hitler insists on this change in strategy.
On August 24 there is much activity. A Luftwaffe bomb hits an Estonian steamer transporting 3,500 Soviet-mobilized Estonian men, killing 598 of them. The Soviets launch a new counterattack in the Gomel area; it makes little progress. In the north, Finnish attacks continue to press forward and Viipuri is surrounded. In the Mediterranean, aircraft from HMS Ark Royal attack the Italian airfield at Tempio, in northern Sardinia. Mines are also laid off Leghorn. The Italian cruiser Bolzano is torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Triumph. In Germany, Hitler — pressured by public protests and condemnation from churches — formally shuts down the Nazi program of forced euthanization of medical and institutional adult patients judged to be “incurable.” By this date, over 70,000 persons have been killed in hospitals and psychiatric institutions in Germany and Austria.
On August 25, the British and the Soviets invade Iran. The two countries have been worried by reports of large numbers of German “tourists” being in the country and have decided to demand that Iran accept their “protection” of its oil supplies. There is little Iranian opposition to either the British or the Soviet forces. British and Indian troops capture the Abadan oil refinery, and the cities of Khorramshahr and Ahwaz. The Soviets bomb Tabriz. British, Canadian and Norwegian commandos raid Spitsbergen, an island off northern Norway, and find no German troops present. They destroy coal mines, equipment and supplies. Then they evacuate the residents of the island (some 2,000 captive Soviet citizens, who are repatriated to the U.S.S.R, and several hundred Norwegians, who are sent to Great Britain) and free 50 French prisoners of war.
In Iran, British forces take complete control of the Abadan area on August 26, while the Soviets, moving down from the north, enter Tabriz. The Soviets bomb Tehran. In Ukraine, German forces capture Dnipropetrovsk, the country’s third-largest city. Chernobyl also falls, to the German 6th Army.
On August 27, former Vichy cabinet member Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles, France. The incident is used as a reason by the Vichy government to round up its opponents, labeling them as “communists.” On the Eastern Front, the Germans begin an all-out assault against the Baltic port of Tallinn, Estonia; the Soviets begin the evacuation of 23,000 troops from the city. In Iran, British advances continue toward Kermanshah, with British and Indian forces taking Shahabad and Islamabad. Meanwhile in the south, British troops are preparing for an attack on Ahwaz. The Iranian government resigns.
The Soviet Union announces on August 28 that it had blown up (on August 18) the massive Dnieper hydroelectric station and dam at Zaporizhia, Ukraine, to prevent its capture by the Germans. It is believed that the resulting flood wave killed between 20,000 and 100,000 civilians and soldiers (of both sides). In the Baltics, the Soviets withdraw their garrison, the 10th Rifle Corps, from Tallinn, Estonia, by sea. The city is taken over by the German Army’s 42nd Corps. Several convoys of vessels attempt to get through to the Soviet naval base at Kronstadt, but incur heavy losses to mines and air attacks. Almost all the transports and many of the escort vessels from the Soviet Baltic fleet are sunk. In Iran, a new government, headed by former prime minister Mohammad-Ali Foroughi, an opponent of the Shah, takes office, declares a ceasefire and begins negotiating with British and
