Replies

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/17.htm

July 17th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMS Narcissus commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: Hitler appoints Alfred Rosenberg to the post of Reich minister of the occupied territories following a conference at Angersburg; he will be responsible for the exploitation of subject Soviet peoples and the elimination of Jews and Communists.

Guderian receives the Oak Leaves to the Iron Cross. (Peter Kilduff)(140)

U-487, U-488, U-489, and U-490 ordered

U-449 laid down

U-579 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ITALY: The Regia Marina introduced a new cipher, so the Royal Navy had no preventive information about the planned cruise of Colleoni and Bande Nere. (Andrea Galliano)

MALTA: Axis aircraft bomb Allied bases.
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army and Navy restore the position of Political Commissars to stiffen resistance.

Field Marshal Keitel’s son Hans-Georg dies from battle wounds.

Reinhardt Heydrich today issued his orders for the four SS Einsatzgruppen which are attached to the regular German army. They are to exterminate all Jewish and gypsy communities and terrorize the populace. Heydrich has given them the authority to slaughter other “politically intolerable elements,” such as Communist Party and Soviet state officials, and “inferior Asiatic peoples.”

CANADA: HMCS Grizzly assigned to Prince Rupert, British Columbia as a stationary guard ship and examination vessel. Built by Consolidated S.B. Corp., New York NY. 195/09 140x19x10ft, 12kts, crew 5/35, 1-6pdr, converted to p/v, HMC Dkyd Esquimalt, #172337, Post WW.II broken up 1945, Victoria, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The 56-game hitting streak of the New York Yankees’ star center fielder Joe DiMaggio ended today. In a night game before 67,468 fans at Cleveland’s Memorial Stadium, he was held hitless by two Cleveland Indian pitchers, Al Smith and Jim Bagby. DiMaggio faced Smith 3 times; twice he hit the ball down the third base line but the Indians’ third baseman, Ken Keltner, snagged the ball and threw DiMaggio out at first base. DiMaggio was also walked by Smith. In the eighth inning, with bases loaded and 1 out, DiMaggio faced Bagby and hit into a double play. DiMaggio’s streak began on 15 May when he hit a single against the Chicago White Sox; during the 56-game streak, he batted .408 and hit 16 doubles, 4 triples and 15 home runs. (A little known fact is that DiMaggio had a 61-game hitting streak when he played for the San Francisco Seals in the Triple A Pacific Coast League.) (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Ingraham commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

Washington: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull hold talks with Japanese Ambassador Nomura Kichasaburo in an attempt to resume discussions or hold a Pacific conference. (Jack McKillop)

Marshall approves Gerow’s recommendations and forwards them to Stimson. (Marc Small)