U.S. Occupation of Iceland Gets Negative Reaction from Axis

[Globalization41]

The International Situation, The New York
Times, Through Tuesday, July 8, 1941:
Russian resistance to the German assault has
exceeded expectations. Berlin's reticence
helped to bolster the belief that all was not
going well with the Nazis. The High
Command said merely that the attack was
proceeding "according to plan," while stubborn
Russian resistance and the ability of the Soviet
forces to construct effective defense works
were noted. The daily elucidation of
communiques for foreign correspondents has
been discontinued. ... The Russians declared
that furious counter-attacks had turned the tide
of battle along most of the long line. ...
Maxim Litvinoff, former Soviet Commissar, in
a broadcast, urged Britain to use this chance to
strike heavier blows and possibly to invade the
Continent, while Soviet sympathizers in
London gave a tumultuous welcome to a
Russian military mission. ... In Syria there
was a forward movement by British forces
against Beirut and three columns were
converging on Homs. ... In the air war against
the Continent the British day and night
assault was carried forward with a sweep
of the Channel ports and a day raid on
Wilhelmshaven, following a heavy night attack
on Western Germany. ... President Roosevelt
indicated that U.S. moves [in the Atlantic]
would be determined by defense requirements.
... The President gave general support to revise
the Selective Service Act to permit longer
training [and extension of active duty for
those already drafted] but left action to
Congress. ... Others in Washington believed
that the Iceland occupation [by the U.S.] would
have a most important bearing on aid to
Britain. ... The President's Secretary, Stephen
Early, rebuked Senator Wheeler by charging
the Senator had endangered the lives of
American troops by his premature revelation of
the Iceland move. ... Berlin called the Iceland
occupation a "stab in the back." Rome said it
was genuine intervention in the war. Tokyo
held the U.S. had entered German's "zone of
hostilities," and therefore felt a clash was
imminent.

Briggs Stadium, Detroit, Special to The New
York Times, By John Drebinger, Tuesday,
July 8, 1941: Coming up with a last-minute
electrifying charge that floored a foe at the
very moment he appeared to have a signal
triumph within his grasp, the American League
snatched victory from defeat today. Scoring
four runs in the last half of the 9th inning, the
Harridge forces overcame the National League,
7-5, in the ninth annual All-Star game. ... A
blistering home-run smash by Ted Williams,
lanky outfielder of the Red Sox, with two
colleagues on base, sent the final three tallies
hurtling over the plate, while a crowd of
54,674, predominantly American League in its
sympathies, acclaimed the shot with a
thunderous roar. ... Only a few moments
before, the N.L. cohorts, led by Deacon Bill
McKechnie, Reds' manager, appeared to have
the battle tucked away. ... They had entered
the final round leading by two runs, thanks to
a pair of circuit blows by Arky Vaughan.
When, with one out and two on, Claude
Passeau, Chicago Cubs' pitcher, appeared to
have induced the mighty Joe DiMaggio into
slamming vigorously into a double play, the
contest, played for the benefit of the United
Service Organizations, looked to be over. ...
But a rather hurried peg to first base by Billy
Herman, Dodger second sacker, went a trifle
wide of its mark and Jolting Joe escaped by a
stride. It left Passeau still striving for one
more out, but Claude never caught up with it.
For a few seconds later Williams, leading
batsman of the American League, bashed the
ball almost on a line against the upper parapet
of the right-field stands of Briggs Stadium. ...
Thus the squad directed by Del Baker, Tiger
pilot, brought to the American League its sixth
triumph in the nine All-Star games played since
1933. ... Bobby Feller, youthful Cleveland
ace and ranked as the foremost pitcher of his
time, blazed through the first three rounds for
the American Leaguers, fanning four and
facing only nine men. He allowed one single
and that was all. Lonny Frey opened the 3rd
with a single, but almost immediately got
himself trapped off first base because
somebody had failed to tell Lonny that Rapid
Robert no longer is the easy mark for base
runners that he used to be. ... [Whit] Wyatt's
pitching in the first two innings was nearly as
flawless. The slim Brooklyn righthander faced
only six batters, and though he gave a pass to
Williams, he immediately snuffed him off base
by inducing Jeff Heath to slap into a double
play. ... Then came the left-handed Thornton
Lee of the White Sox to hurl the next three
rounds and it was not until the 6th that the
National Leaguers managed to break through
with their first tally. ... [Bucky] Walters
sparked this one by banging a double to left,
advancing on Stanley Hack's sacrifice,
and skipping home on Terry Moore's long fly
to Williams. ... That matched the run which
the A.L. had marked up in the 4th off Paul
Derringer. [Cecil] Travis, crack third sacker of
the Senators, had doubled and moved to third
on Joe DiMaggio's fly to deep right. Williams
then followed with a sharp liner toward right
that seemed to be moving straight for where
Bob Elliot, Pirate outfielder, was standing for
the third out. But Elliot momentarily
misjudged the ball, rushed in a few steps,
caught his spikes on the turf as he tried to
back-track, and wound up rather inelegantly
sprawled on the grass. The ball shot over his
head against the stand for a double and Travis
scored. ... After Walters managed to erase
this run in the 6th, the American Leaguers
went ahead again in the same inning by
clipping Bucky for a tally. The Cincinnati ace
righthander paved the way for his own
difficulties here by walking Joe DiMaggio and
Jeff Heath. Lou Boudreau then smacked a
single to center, scoring DiMaggio. ... In the
7th the tide veered sharply toward the N.L. as
Sid Hudson, youthful righthander of the
Senators, came on to pitch for the American
Leaguers. Enos Slaughter, who had replaced
Elliot in the outfield, singled to left and
grabbed an extra base when Williams stumbled
over the ball for an error. The misplay had no
bearing on what followed, for Arky Vaughan
arched his first homer into the upper right tier
of the grandstand. Herman followed with a
double and it promised another tally when Al
Lopez deftly sacrificed Billy to third and Joe
Medwick came up to bat for Walters. Just to
show that seven long years scarcely tax the
memory of a baseball fan, there was again a
fine round of boos for Muscles Joe, who as a
Cardinal on this same field in the 1934 World
Series, had seen himself shelled from the arena
with a barrage of vegetables. But Medwick
grounded to the infield and Hudson luckily
escaped. ... The southpaw Edgar Smith had
supplanted Hudson on the mound in the 8th
when Johnny Mize rifled a two-bagger to right
and Vaughan again belted a home run into the
inviting target offered by the upper right stand.
The N.L. lead was now 5-2. It marked the
first time a player ever had managed to belt
two homers in an All-Star game. ... Passeau,
who had entered the fray in the 7th, saw one
run shot away when Joe DiMaggio, though his
48-game hitting streak was not at stake, lashed
a double for his first and only hit. Joe scored
when brother Dominic DiMaggio whistled a
single to right. ... This still left Passeau with
a two-run margin. When Claude concluded the
8th by fanning Jimmie Foxx with two aboard,
McKechnie apparently saw no reason why the
Chicago righthander could not safely navigate
through the 9th as well. ... As the last of the
9th opened with Frank Hayes popping out,
there still seemed to be no danger lurking in
the last few strides to the wire. ... But Ken
Keltner, batting for Edgar Smith, bounced a
single off Eddie Miller, the Braves' shortstop
who had just replaced Vaughan. Joe Gordon
of the Yankees singled to right, and when
Cecil Travis drew a pass filling the bases, a
feeling that something dramatic was about to
come to pass gripped the crowd. ... Joe
DiMaggio stepped to the plate. His grounder
to Eddie Miller just missed ending the struggle,
but Herman's wide peg, though not an error,
let in one tally and missed DiMaggio at first
for what would have been the final out, and
Williams did the rest. [Time of game was
2:23.]

Lineups

National League
1. Stan Hack ChC 3b
Cookie Lavagetto BkD ph-3b
2. Terry Moore SLC lf
3. Pete Reiser BkD cf
4. Johnny Mize SLC 1b
Frank McCormick Cin 1b
5. Bill Nicholson ChC rf
Bob Elliot Pit rf
Enos Slaughter SLC rf
6. Arky Vaughan Pit ss
Eddie Miller BBv ss
7. Lonny Frey Cin 2b
Billy Herman BkD ph-2b
8. Mickey Owen BkD c
Al Lopez Pit c
Harry Danning NYG c
9. Whit Wyatt BkD p
Mel Ott NYG ph
Paul Derringer Cin p
Bucky Walters Cin p
Joe Medwick BkD ph
Claude Passeau ChC p

American League
1. Bobby Doerr BRS 2b
Joe Gordon NYY 2b
2. Cecil Travis Was 3b
3. Joe DiMaggio NYY cf
4. Ted Williams BRS lf
5. Jeff Heath Cle rf
Dom DiMaggio BRS rf
6. Joe Cronin BRS ss
Lou Boudreau Cle ss
7. Rudy York Det 1b
Jimmie Foxx BRS 1b
8. Bill Dickey NYY c
Frankie Hayes PhA c
9. Bob Feller Cle p
Roy Cullenbine SLB ph
Thornton Lee CWS p
Sid Hudson Was p
Charlie Keller NYY ph
Edgar Smith CWS p
Ken Keltner Cle ph

The International Situation, The New York
Times, Through Wednesday, July 9, 1941:
The Russians said Wednesday that the
Germans had been turned back in their drives
toward their three major objectives --
Leningrad, Moscow, and the Ukraine.
Counter-offensive tactics were stressed and
were said to have been particularly effective
against the Rumanians in the South. The
[German] central thrust was said to have
been broken at Lepel, but a powerful Nazi
offensive in the north was acknowledged. ...
The German High Command's report was
again reticent, stating merely that operations
"on the entire front" were "progressing
successfully." Other German sources
reported the capture of two Estonian towns
and of Ostrov near the Stalin Line. Chiefly,
however, they talked about the destruction of
Russian troops rather than about the
occupation of territory and noted that there
were still Russian airplanes in action and a
Soviet attempt to use them offensively. ... On
the Finnish front, Salla and five other towns
were captured by Finnish-German forces and
Helsinki endured a heavy Russian bombing.
... In Syria military action was drawing to a
close. Vichy's commander and High
Commissioner was instructed to ask for an
armistice and immediate suspension of
hostilities. ... Prime Minister Churchill, in the
House of Commons, said he hoped for a
speedy conclusion to the hostilities [in Syria],
indicating that the British terms would be
generous, but made it plain that fighting must
go on until a peace was reached. ... The
British air attack on the Continent was
unrelenting. The chief target in what is now a
24-hour offensive was Leuna, in Western
Germany, a principle source of synthetic
gasoline. A daylight sweep took in the
Channel ports and Northern France. After
two nights of German raiding there was a
comparative lull in Britain Wednesday night.
... Mr. Churchill was cheered in the Commons
when he spoke of American occupation of
Iceland. He predicted that there would be
British-American military and naval
collaboration, both in Iceland and the North
Atlantic. ... U.S. Secretary of the Navy Knox,
in his press conference, implied, short of direct
statement, that the United States Navy would
guard the sea lanes as required.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]