2 Jul 1941 | World War II Database

2 Jul 1941

While in the dock at Brest, France, Prinz Eugen was hit by a bomb during an Allied air raid. ww2dbase [Prinz Eugen | CPC]
Romanian Third Army, Romanian Fourth Army, and German Eleventh Armies attacked out of Moldavia towards Vinnitsa and Odessa, Ukraine. To the north, 4.Panzergruppe breaks through near Ostrov, Russia. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH]
The Japanese Army ordered a conscription of one million men. ww2dbase [CPC]
RAF bombed the German cities of Bremen and Köln overnight. ww2dbase [TH]
The British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee assigned the responsibility of writing its final draft of the report of its findings on the development of atomic weapons to James Chadwick. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
While flying against a formation of British Blenheim bombers, Adolf Galland's fighter was damaged by 20-millimeter shells fired by an escorting British Spitfire fighter. Though injured, his life was saved by a recently-installed armor plating in the cockpit. ww2dbase [Adolf Galland | CPC]
Douglas Bader was awarded the Bar to his Distinguished Service Order. Later on the same day, he claimed one Bf 109 fighter destroyed and another damaged. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

Maggiore Baracca arrived at her assigned patrol position in the Atlantic Ocean at 1700 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]
Alessandro Malaspina sighted Argentinian freighter Rio Grand, sailing from Lisbon in Portugal to Buenos Aires in Argentina, in the Atlantic Ocean at 1525 hours. At 1800 hours, the Italian submarine submerged during her approach. At 1845 hours, she surfaced and fired a warning shot, stopping the target. The target was allowed to leave after her crew presented papers proving her identity. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

Germany

French Lieutenant Pierre Mairesse Lebrun, a prisoner of war at Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, escaped the camp by leaping the wire fence and scaling outer brick wall. He would eventually successfully make it to Switzerland. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]
In Germany, Ambassador Chen Jie received orders from China, noting that should Germany recognize Wang Jingwei's Japanese-sponsored puppet state, China would cut diplomatic ties with Germany. ww2dbase [Chen Jie | Berlin | CPC]

Latvia

The local police in Riga, Latvia was organized by a German commander to murder 400 Jews and burn down all Riga's synagogues. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Riga | AC]

Ukraine