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• Soviet Air Force attacked several Finnish airfields, hoping to destroy Luftwaffe aircraft believed to be stationed there. ww2dbase [Operation Silver Fox | TH]
• Lithuanian militiamen in Kovno were encouraged by German security officers to stage a pogrom, and that night 1,500 Jews were murdered with particular savagery. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | AC]
• Douglas Bader shot down two German Bf 109F aircraft. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]

• In the North Atlantic Ocean at 0620 hours, German submarine U-108 (Kapitänleutnant Klaus Scholtz) sank 4,362-ton Greek merchant steamer Ellinico, dispersed from Allied convoys OG-65 and sailing in ballast, with a torpedo amidships; she sank within three minutes with no survivors. At 1614 hours, U-108 struck again, sinking Greek merchant steamer Nicolas Pateras, dispersed from Allied convoy OB-336, with a torpedo amidships followed by gunfire between 1713 hours and 1755 hours, in heavy seas and strong wind. ww2dbase [U-108 | HM]
• German submarine U-77 (Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Schonder) sank 4,603-ton Greek merchant steamer Anna Bulgaris in the North Atlantic Ocean at 2136 hours, hitting her in the aft with one torpedo. The Germans reported that the crew of 35 abandoned ship before the Anna Bulgaris sank but they were never seen again. ww2dbase [U-77 | CPC]
• The 1,967-ton Dutch merchant steamer Schie was hit at the stern by a torpedo from German submarine U-75 whilst in the North Atlantic Ocean on her way to Curaçao. The ship sank within four minutes. None of the crew survived. ww2dbase [U-75 | HM]
• Leonardo da Vinci received report of an Allied convoy of 16 ships escorted by two destroyers, two gunboats, and a Dutch submarine which had departed Gibraltar at 1900 hours on the previous day. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]
• Maggiore Baracca was informed at 0102 hours that an Allied convoy had departed Gibraltar. She moved to intercept in the Atlantic Ocean, but would fail to make contact. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]

• British Submarine HMS Rorqual (N 74), commanded by Lieutenant L. W. Napier, RN, departed Alexandria, Egypt for Malta for her second storage trip. The Rorqual had on board three army officers, 18 army and RAF other ranks, 50 tons of aviation spirit in cans, 14 tons of aviation spirit in bulk, 11,700 gallons of kerosene in bulk, and seven tons of stores (90 bags of mail, foamite fire extinguishing refills, hoses, army clothing and two 2U-class submarine propellers). ww2dbase [Alexandria | HM]

• The British submarine HMS Parthian (N 75) under Commander M. G. Rimington, DSO, RN torpedoed and sank the Vichy French submarine Souffleur (built 1927) just off the coast southwest of Beirut, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. The submarine was hit by a single torpedo near the deck gun. Of the six men on the bridge, one was mortally wounded but the others managed to swim away. Four reached the shore but the fifth drowned. In all fifty men perished. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | Beirut, Lebanon | CPC, HM]

• French Lieutenant E. Boulé, a prisoner of war at Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, was nearly successful at his escape. Dressed as a young German woman and readily walking away from the castle, he accidentally dropped his watch and was caught when a German guard returned the watch to him. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• The Soviet destroyer Lenin was blown up and sunk by the retreating Soviet forces at Liepaja, Lithuania. ww2dbase [Liepaja | HM]

• Having just learned the sinking of steam merchant Refah after one of its lifeboats (carrying 28 survivors) came ashore on the Turkish coast, Turkish military aircraft and motorboats were dispatched to search for more survivors. Refah had been carrying a 171-man Turkish military mission accompanied by a British liaison officer, originally bound for Britain. The search and rescue efforts would ultimately save only 4 additional survivors. All told, 168 were lost in the sinking. It is not known whether it was an Italian or a Vichy French submarine that had sunk Refah. ww2dbase [HM]

• Colonel General Vasily Kuznetsov was ordered by Semyon Timoshenko to organize a defense along the Daugava River (Western Dvina). ww2dbase [Vasily Kuznetsov | CPC]

• In Stockholm, Sweden the Riksdag sanctioned the passage of the German Wehrmacht's Engelbrecht Division from Norway across Swedish soil to the front in Finland. ww2dbase [Operation Silver Fox | Stockholm | AC]

• German Army 1.Panzergruppe captured Dubno and Lutsk in Ukraine. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH]

• During the day, a report was released that, for the week ending at 0600 hours on 25 Jun 1941, about 39 people were killed and 116 were seriously injured in Britain due to German bombing; none of the casualties were from London, England, United Kingdom. After dark, German bombers bombed Southampton, England, United Kingdom and dropped many naval mines in surrounding waters. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
• The 2,154-ton British cargo steamer Dashwood was making for Sunderland, northeast England, United Kingdom in ballast when she was bombed and sunk by German aircraft off Cromer on the Norfolk coast. ww2dbase [Cromer, England | HM]

• James Byrnes was made an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ww2dbase [James Byrnes | Washington | CPC]

25 Jun 1941 Interactive Map