Thursday August 7, 1941. Bombers and Japanese intentions.

The Soviet Navy bombed Berlin.

Yes, the Navy.

The reason was that the Ilyushin DB-3 used by both the Soviet Air Forces and the Soviet Navy was capable of being both a torpedo bomber and a tactical bomber, although its small 1000 lbs bomb load made it a poor strategic bomber.  The Soviet Air Forces also the aircraft, but the aircraft used in this raid were launched from a Soviet Navy base off of Estonia.

DB-3 in captured Finnish use.

The Germans at first thought that the RAF had conducted the raid, given as the RAF, which was the only combatant then in the war with heavy strategic bombers, had been raiding Berlin for a year. The small payload of the DB-3 meant that the raid was unlikely to be anything other than a propaganda victory, which was all that it was.

In other news of the air, Bruno Mussolini, the son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was killed test flying an Italian attempt at a heavy bomber, that being the Piaggio P.108.

P.108 in flight.

Australia declared that it would not allow Japanese expansion in the Pacific to go unchecked, should it occur.

On the same day, Imperial Japan, which had recently mediated a dispute between Thailand and the French in Indochina, declared that it had no aggressive intentions in regard to Thailand.

In the US, people went about their regular chores, including outdoor ones.

May 21, 1941. SS Robin Moor Sunk, O'ooham Resist

The SS Robin Moor was sunk by the German submarine U-69 even though German U-boats at the time had been instructed not to sink ships in certain areas in order not to provoke the United States into entering the war prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union.  The Robin Moor was flying U.S. colors and was identified as a neutral ship prior to being sunk.  The Germans allowed the crew of the unescorted ship, on its way to Mozambique, to evacuate before it was sunk.  The ships departure had been apparently revealed to the Germans by a U.S. spy in the United States.  The motivation of the U-boat's commander has been questioned, given as he was operating contrary to orders.

The sinking resulted in some controversy, but the materials it was carrying could have been regarded as war materials even though the ship itself was not engaged in supplying the British forces.

The German government ordered the United States to remove its diplomats from Paris by June 10.  The French government at the time was of course headquartered in Vichy.

On the same day the Royal Navy prevented seaborne German forces from landing on Crete, but the destroyer HMS Juno was sunk by the Italian air force.

The Soviet Union's Central Committee War Section met, resulting in an argument between Stalin and the head of Soviet intelligence, the latter who maintained the Germans were about to invade the USSR.  The argument resulted in that latter figure being arrested and shot.  Amazingly Stalin didn't suffer the same fate when it was soon learned how wrong he was.

A theater strike commenced in Norway over the revocation of working permits for six actors who refused to perform in German controlled radio.  The strike was not a success and ultimately ended with the Germans taking full control of Norwegian theaters.

A dispute with Native American O'ooham leader Pia Machita ended in Arizona with his arrest for inciting his people to avoid conscription.  He and his followers had been on the run since the prior October for resisting the draft, at which time they had been raided by Federal authorities.

The O'ooham band that Pia Machita was part of was very small but was uniquely active in its views on the authority of  the United States.  He did not recognize the Gadsen Purchase and his band refused to assimilate.  While they were small in numbers, the US government feared that their resistance to conscription would spread to other tribes.