Sunday, July 12, 1942. The deaths of Powell and Yeryomenko, The turning of Vlasov, The reinforcement of Stalingrad, The fatal commitement of the German 104th Infantry Regiment, The blindness of Hirsacker, The end of the Himaya Maru.

One of the most famous photographs of World War Two, and one of the best featuring the Red Army, was likely taken on this day in 1942.  The photo, entitled "Kombat", is commonly assserted to have featured political officer Aleksei Yeryomenko (likely a Ukrainian given the last name).  He is asserted to have been killed mere minutes after this photograph was taken.  While this is commonly accepted, there is doubt on these claims.  By RIA Novosti archive, image #543 / Alpert / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579366

Today in World War II History—July 12, 1942: Australians reach Kokoda, New Guinea, having marched from Port Moresby over Owen Stanley Mountains. First 49 civilian Coastal Picket Patrol craft go on patrol.

Soviet General Andrey Vlasov is turned over to the Germans by a Russian farmer after having hid behind German lines for ten days outside of Leningrad.  He had been the commander of the Red Army's 2nd Shock Army.  He'd defect to the Germans and become the commander of the Axis Russian Liberation Army.

Vlasov's command would be in large part titular, as the Russian Liberation Army would not really be committed by the Germans until late in the war.  Having said that, a huge number of Russians and other Soviet citizens volunteered to serve the Germans in varying ways, not all armed, and not all for the same reasons.  Vlasov's efforts would result in his execution in 1946 by the Soviet government, which logically enough tried him for treason or something akin to it. Perhaps more surprisingly, a monument to him exists in a Russian Orthodox convent in Nanuet, New York, and a memorial service is said for him and his men twice annually.

The Soviets began to move massive numbers of troops to Stalingrad.

The newly arrived German 104th Infantry Regiments assaults Australian lines at El Alamein and suffers 50% casualties.

A German wolfpack attacks the unescorted convoy OS-33 in the Atlantic.  U-752, part of the wolfpack, reports not finding any vessels which would result in its commander, Heinz Hirsacker, later being convicted of cowardice in the presence of the enemy.

The USS Seadragon sank the Japanese transport ship Himaya Maru off of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina.

Pioneering polymath African American aviator William J. Powell, who was an engineer by training and a veteran of the First World War, died from the lingering effects of poison gas exposure from World War One.  He was 44 years old.

Powell in 1917.