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• The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters officially decided to pursue a southern advance, abandoning the previous ambitions against Russia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The United Kingdom nationalized railroads for the duration of the war. ww2dbase [TH]
• Douglas MacArthur was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]
• German leader Adolf Hitler requested Romanian leader Ion Antonescu to conquer and occupy the Ukrainian territory between Dniester and Bug Rivers. ww2dbase [Siege of Odessa | CPC]
• Wilhelm Keitel ordered all copies of the 13 May 1941 order, which effectively allowed German military personnel to murder Soviet civilians, destroyed. Several copies would remain, however, and surface during the Nuremberg Trials. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Keitel | CPC]

• Five British motor torpedo boats (MTB) sailed from Dover, England, United Kingdom to attack a German destroyer in the English Channel. Two of the boats narrowly escaped collision when crossing each other's bows at top speed by only ten feet. When the attack took place the torpedoes were fired at too great a range scoring no hits, in fact one torpedo actually just missed one of the friendly MTBs. On the way home one of the MTBs opened fire on a British aircraft which came down to investigate them. ww2dbase [English Channel | AC]
• Germans attacked Allied Convoy OG 69. During the morning, two ships were torpedoed and sunk, both British, the Kellwyn and the Hawkinge. The rest of the day was uneventful but as night fell the master of Norwegian merchant steamer Inga I gave orders for the men to rest fully clothed and wearing lifebelts. Their position at noon that day hd been 200 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain. Around midnight, the Captain was on the port side of the bridge, the 2nd mate on the starboard side, when an explosion was heard. The Commodore ship, which was sailing 4-5 cable lengths in front of them had been hit and two minutes later a torpedo was seen coming towards Inga I from the starboard side. They had been launched by German submarine U-126, and the vessel could not alter course due to there being ships on each side of them, so everyone was told to quickly get across to the port side before the torpedo detonated. It struck at the coal bunkers on the starboard side between the engine and boiler rooms. Both lifeboats on that side were heavily damaged and debris flew everywhere, the motorboat on #3 Hatch was also damaged, and the port boat could not be launched in time because Inga I immediately took on a heavy starboard list. The captain found that the wooden box in which the ship's papers were kept had been destroyed and the contents destroyed (all the ship's logs and papers were lost with the ship). As he reached the boat deck, he found himself wading in water, and was pulled under as the ship sank. When he surfaced, he was able to grab hold of a broken wooden hatch cover which kept him afloat while he drifted towards a raft. All around he saw the red lights of the lifevests of other survivors. He then managed to paddle over to another raft where he found one of the stokers. Meanwhile, the 2nd mate Olaf Ringsø and the 2nd engineer Emanuel Høiland had jumped overboard from the starboard side of the midships deck, and had kept themselves afloat with the help of a wooden hatch cover. The British mess boy, Norman Fitzpatrick found the wooden top of the wheelhouse which he used as a raft, until picked up by a boat from the escort. They were the first survivors from Inga I to be taken to the warship, where they were given clothes, first aid and food. ww2dbase [HM]
• Alessandro Malaspina sighted an illuminated ship in the Atlantic Ocean; the Italan submarine closed, could not positively identify the ship, and commanding officer Giuliano Prini chose to abandon the chase due to the target probably being from a neutral nation. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• German troops captured Tallinn, Estonia. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | Tallinn | TH]

• Italian manned torpedoes and motor torpedo boats attacked Grand Harbour, Malta, causing minor damage to British vessels and installations but nearly all Italian vessels were lost in the attack. Commander Vittorio Moccagatta was among the Italian fatalities. ww2dbase [Scirè | Grand Harbour | CPC]

• Four teenagers, son and nephews of Nestor Lakoba, political enemy of Lavrentiy Beria (already killed in Dec 1936), were executed in Moscow, Russia as sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Soviet NKVD. ww2dbase [Moscow | CPC]

27 Jul 1941 Interactive Map