Day 739 September 8, 1941

Siege of Leningrad Day 1. Germans reached Lake Ladoga at Orekhovets severing the last land connection to Leningrad, in Northwest USSR, trapping 2,950,000 civilians and 450,000 soldiers and sailors. Hitler has decided “to wipe the city of Petersburg (Leningrad) from the face of the earth" by artillery bombardment and aerial bombing. German Generals are instructed not to accept the capitulation of the city. Luftwaffe incendiary bombs destroy food storage warehouses with 3000 tons of flour and 2500 tons of sugar.

In the Atlantic, 275 miles Northeast of the Azores, British destroyers HMS Croome brings Italian submarine Maggiore Baracca to the surface with depth charges, then rams and sinks her (23 killed, 34 survivors picked up). HMS Croome suffers damage to her stern (under repair at Gibraltar until October 4).

British Flying Fortress bombers again unsuccessfully attack German cruiser Admiral Scheer in Oslofjord, Norway.

British sloop HMS Rosemary and Polish destroyer Burza collide at Milford Haven, Wales (both ships suffer minor damage, repaired in 12 days).

British destroyers HMS Kipling, Kimberley & Decoy are damaged by German bombing carrying supplies from Alexandria, Egypt, to the besieged garrison at Tobruk, Libya.