Wednesday 9 October 1940

Start of the workday, 9 October 1940.

Battle of Britain: Weather is poor on 9 October 1940, preventing major operations. As on the 8th, there are mostly small raids that don't accomplish much, with one major raid in the afternoon. There is a lot of damage, but by this time, bad as it is, the bombing is becoming almost routine.

Early in the morning, a bomber scores a strike on St. Paul's Cathedral. It damages the High Altar. Later in the morning, around 11:00, a moderate-sized raid of 20-30 planes reaches south London. The fighter-bombers (Jabos) fly high, as usual, and elude interception. Another raid of around 35 aircraft around the same time targets Gravesend, Hornchurch, and Canewdon. Other raids of about the same size hit Maidstone and Dover.

After lunch, at 13:00, some Heinkel He 111s attack a convoy of Land's End, but RAF No. 601 Squadron intercepts and shoots two of the bombers down. At 14:30, the day's main raid of about 175 aircraft crosses to hit East London. This formation includes Junkers Ju 88s and causes appreciable damage. Major dogfights break out over the Thames Estuary and points east. Damage is scattered, with many private residences taking damage.

Right before sunset, at 18:53, a Jabo attack on Solent Naval Air Station causes little damage. About half an hour later, the Luftwaffe attacks Yeovilton Naval Air Station, but the damage is slight. A little later, attacks are made on St Merryn Naval Air Station, which damages a Swordfish and a Proctor aircraft.

After dark, London is the main bomber target. The attacks begin around 19:00 and are of moderate intensity. Aside from London, the usual targets of Liverpool, Manchester, and Derby are hit. The Luftwaffe drops 386 tons of High Explosive bombs on London and 70,000 one kg bombs. The Luftwaffe also drops mines all along the English Channel shoreline.

Losses for the day are light, with the RAF losing only three planes and the Luftwaffe 9.

Oblt. Hans-Ekkehard Bob from 7./JG 54  makes two claims, both Spitfires.

Hawker Hurricanes, RAF No. 85 Squadron, October 1940.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks oil installations at Hamburg and various targets in Holland (Texel Airfield, Helder) and France (Le Havre) during the day. After dark, it launches an oil installation at Cologne, a Krupp factory in Essen, and various Channel ports.

A Whitley of RAF No. 77 Squadron returning from a raid over Germany during the night flies into high ground west of Snape while returning. Midshipman D. A. C. Hadingham perishes.

RAF Coastal Command chips in with an attack on the port of Brest, causing minor damage to destroyers Eckholdt, Lody, and Riedel. The RAF loses one Albacore biplane, the crew becoming POWs.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-103 (KrvKpt. Viktor Schütze), on her first patrol and having entered the Atlantic between the Faroe and the Shetland Islands, has a big day. During the morning, the lookout spots Convoy SC 6 about 37 miles north-northwest of Rockall and Schütze goes to work. After stalking the convoy all day, he shoots three torpedoes at 22:11 and makes three hits.

U-103 torpedoes and sinks 3816 ton Greek freighter Delphin. Everybody survives.

U-103 torpedoes and sinks 4407 ton Greek freighter Zannes Gounaris, which is carrying a cargo of phosphate rock. One crewman perishes.

U-103 also torpedoes and badly damages 3697-ton British freighter Graigwen (Master Daniel Wright Fowle). After putting a torpedo into it at 22:11, the crew abandoned the ship. U-123 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle) sees the drifting hulk on 10 October at 21:33 and finishes it off with a torpedo. There are 27 survivors and 7 crew perish. The survivors are picked up by HMS Enchantress.

After this engagement, the convoy escorts depth-charge U-103, but it escapes.

Royal Navy 321 ton minesweeper (former fishing trawler) HMT Sea King (Acting Temporary Skipper T. Sleeth RNR) hits a mine and sinks in the Humber Estuary about 28 nautical miles off Bull Sand Fort, Grimsby. All 14 crew perish.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 633-ton British collier Alderney Queen off Grassholm Island in the Bristol Channel. Everybody aboard survives.

The weather in the North Sea is poor, and Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Furious is forced to abandon a planned strike on Bodo after leaving Scapa Flow.

Convoy OB 226 departs Liverpool, Convoy FN 304 departs from Southend, Convoy HG 45 (49 ships and carrying 1093 civilians on troopship Neuralgia) departs from Gibraltar.

German raider (AMC) Kormoran is commissioned.

Hermann Goering on an inspection tour in France, September/October 1940 (Dreesen, Federal Archives).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Free French under General Charles de Gaulle invade and capture Duala in Cameroon. This establishes Free French control over the colony, from which de Gaulle hopes to launch air raids against Italian positions to the north and east. De Gaulle himself arrives aboard Free French minesweeper Commandant Duboc.

Both the Royal Navy fleet based at Alexandria and elements of the Italian fleet based at Taranto are at sea, but they don't spot each other. Aerial reconnaissance from Malta, though, spots Italian ships at sea near Taranto. The reconnaissance establishes that the Italians have five battleships there.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Regent torpedoes the 6968-ton Italian transport Antonietta Costa off Durrës, Albania.  The freighter manages to make it close enough to shore - about 10 miles - to run aground, but it is a total loss.

The RAF attacks Tobruk Harbor. There is some skirmishing south of Buna in East Africa that results in some Italian casualties.

Italian destroyers Vivaldi, Da Noli, and Tarigo lay mines south of Malta.

At Malta, Governor Dobbie requests permission to implement a bonus system for the fast construction of shelters.

German/Romanian Relations: German troops continue entering Romania with that government's permission in order to secure the Ploesti oil fields and other key points. The oil fields are a major preoccupation of Adolf Hitler and are the real reason for this "invasion," which ostensibly is to train the Romanian Army (which doesn't really need any training). While the Soviet Union looms nearby, Hitler is more worried at this point by British sabotage.

The New York Times reports the end of the World Series.

Anglo/Canadian Relations: Continuing the cozy relationship between Great Britain and North America, the British purchasing mission places initial orders for 20 10,000 ton freighters. This order eventually expands to 26 ships.

British Government: In a quirk of British politics, Prime Minister Winston Churchill has not been the leader of the Conservative Party - that honor has belonged to Neville Chamberlain. Today, with the "retirement" of Chamberlain recently due to illness, that is rectified and Churchill formally becomes the leader of the party. While not well-liked within the party, for better or worse he has become the face of the Conservatives and of the war effort in general.

Holland: The Germans ban Jews and half-Jews from public employment.

Future History: John Winston Lennon is born at Liverpool Maternity Hospital to Julia and Alfred Lennon. Alfred is a merchant seaman and is not present. John Lennon becomes a happy-go-lucky schoolboy in the 1950s, gets a guitar from his mother in 1956 and goes to art school. He forms a skiffle/rock and roll group called the Quarrymen in 1956 and meets younger student Paul McCartney on 6 July 1957. They team up with McCartney's even younger friend George Harrison and Lennon's old pal Stuart Sutcliffe from art school (from which Lennon flunks out). In early 1960, they rename the group "The Beatles," and in August/September perform in Hamburg. They continue these German gigs into 1962, when Brian Epstein, the son of a local record store owner, becomes their manager and starts them on a path to recording their music. Ringo Starr, a local but well-known Liverpool drummer, now joins the group to replace the first drummer, Pete Best. Sutcliffe passes away around this time, leaving the lineup of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr.

The Beatles release their first single, "Love Me Do," in October 1962, and finds middling success (on its initial release). After recording their first album, Please Please Me, in February 1963, which contains 8 songs written by Lennon and McCartney, the group begins to get mainstream success. The movie "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964 causes the group to explode in popularity, and an appearance in New York on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964 cements their international fame. The group, always led by Lennon and McCartney, goes on to become the most successful act in pop music history, with songs reaching the charts decades after the Beatles' breakup in early 1970. John Lennon goes on to solo success as a singer and songwriter but is assassinated by a crazed fan on 8 December 1980.

John Winston Lennon.

October 1940

October 1, 1940: Wait Daddy October 2, 1940: Hitler's Polish Plans
October 3, 1940: British Cabinet Shakeup
October 4, 1940: Brenner Pass Meeting
October 5, 1940: Mussolini Alters Strategy
October 6, 1940: Iron Guard Marches
October 7, 1940: McCollum Memo
October 8, 1940: Germans in Romania
October 9, 1940: John Lennon Arrives
October 10, 1940: Führer-Sofortprogramm
October 11, 1940: E-Boats Attack!
October 12, 1940: Sealion Cancelled
October 13, 1940: New World Order
October 14, 1940: Balham Tragedy
October 15, 1940: Mussolini Targets Greece
October 16, 1940: Japanese Seek Oil
October 17, 1940: RAF Shakeup
October 18, 1940: Convoy SC-7 Catastrophe
October 19, 1940: Convoy HX-79 Catastrophe
October 20, 1940: Convoy OB-229 Disaster
October 21, 1940: This Evil Man Hitler
October 22, 1940: Aktion Wagner-Burckel
October 23, 1940: Hitler at Hendaye
October 24, 1940: Hitler and Petain
October 25, 1940: Petain Woos Churchill
October 26, 1940: Empress of Britain Attack
October 27, 1940: Greece Rejects Italian Demands
October 28, 1940: Oxi Day
October 29, 1940: US Draft Begins
October 30, 1940: RAF Area Bombing Authorized
October 31, 1940: End of Battle of Britain

2020

Sunday 23 June 1940

Speer, Hitler, and Brekker.

German Government: Adolf Hitler on 23 June 1940 takes a typical victory tour after his conquest of France, flying to Le Bourget airport in Paris on short notice at first light. He tells nobody in advance, and the visit is a complete surprise to everyone around him and the German authorities in Paris. He visits the Paris Opera House - where he impresses the elderly guide with his knowledge of the building - and Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides. Just like other tourists, he walks up Montmartre and stands to observe the city as bemused Parisians going to church walk by in astonishment. Imagine just walking by and seeing Hitler standing there! But that's what happened. Hitler has little protection, but his best security, as always, is his planned spontaneity which prevents possible assassins from planning an attack. That spontaneity and frequently changing his schedule on the fly saves Hitler's life several times.

After a few hours, he flies back to his headquarters, never to visit Paris again. "That was the greatest and finest moment of my life,” he says, ""It was my life's dream to be allowed to see Paris." His companions, architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker, professor of visual arts in Berlin, are there to get ideas about how to remake Berlin. Speer later notes that he hears Hitler say, "Compared to France, an invasion of Russia would be child's play in a sandbox."


French Government: Charles de Gaulle forms the French National Committee. French officials are forced to choose sides between the "legitimate" Vichy government and the "continuation" de Gaulle organization - which has no legitimacy at all beyond the sheer force of his personality.

The "official" government of France, which remains very much in power, is not impressed by de Gaulle's freelance act. General Weygand is still the Commander-in-chief. He dismisses de Gaulle, who remains in London and technically is AWOL, in absentia. De Gaulle continues to call himself General de Gaulle as a self-described leader of the Free French.

Prime Minister Marshal Philippe Pétain appoints former Premier Pierre Laval - currently Minister of Foreign Affairs - as Vice-Premier and Minister of State. Laval is a firm believer that German total victory is inevitable, and this is often viewed as being pro-German, or, at the very least, "the agent of collaboration." This view is solidified by the fact that Pétain is more or less a figurehead figure in terms of day-to-day governance, while Laval handles the hard work of making arrangements with the Germans.

British Government: The British are shifting to a "battle of the periphery," where they confront the Wehrmacht in commando raids and secondary theaters (such as North Africa) rather than head-on. A Commando force is established which comes under the jurisdiction of the Combined Operations Headquarters. Admiral Sir Roger Keyes takes command, and he begins working up operations to start quickly. The nucleus of the new Commando force is composed of the men of the disbanded Independent Companies.

Related to this same strategic shift, Major Ralph A. Bagnold meets with General Archibald P. Wavell, the commander of the Middle East Command in Alexandria, Egypt. Bagnold sets forth a strategy whereby small, mobile groups of men will conduct long-range reconnaissance patrols behind the Italian lines in Libya. Wavell approves, allowing Bagnold six weeks to organize such a force, and gives Bagnold letters providing that his supply/personnel needs “should be met instantly and without question.” The Long Range Desert Group, popularly known as the "Desert Rats," is born.

Hitler at Les Invalides.

Western Front: Some French holdouts in the Maginot Line refuse to surrender, but they are bottled up in fortresses and cannot do any harm. The only troops still "fighting" are Italian troops. A massive Italian force occupies the beach resort town of Menton - or, in Italian news summaries, the "strongly fortified town of Menton." In addition, the Italian troops in the Alps make some perfunctory attacks on the French dug in behind mountain passes.

Some evacuations continue at St. Jean de Luz pursuant to Operation Ariel. The Germans are not yet in possession of this region, which is under their administration pursuant to the Armistice. Today, they reach Rochefort and Royan.

French/Italian Relations: French and Italian representatives meet at Villa Incisa in the Roman suburbs. The French, which is the same group led by General Huntziger that just completed the armistice with Germany, are not as anxious to resolve the war with Italy as they had been with Germany. However, Mussolini is stage-managing the entire event (including the war itself) for propaganda purposes. His representatives Count Ciano and General Badoglio do not ask for very much in the actual armistice.

Soviet/Norwegian Relations: The Soviets demand access to the nickel mines at Petsamo.

Battle of the Atlantic: French destroyer Lansquenet is taken out of the Gironde Estuary under German artillery fire. The crew heads for North Africa on its own initiative.

French battleship Richelieu, operating on half-power, arrives in Dakar.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian cruisers sortie near Sardinia, but they meet no French shipping. French aircraft sent to intercept them don't spot them.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: Italian submarine Galvani sinks Indian Navy sloop Pathan near Bombay.

In the Persian Gulf, three British destroyers and a sloop find Italian submarine Evangelista Torricelli off Perim. The destroyers blow the submarine up, but destroyer HMS Khartoum also goes down when one of its own torpedoes explodes on deck. The interception was possible due to papers captured on the submarine Galileo Galilei on 19 June.

European Air Operations: French bombers raid Palermo, Sicily.

The RAF bombs targets in Holland (Osnabruck and Hamm) and the Bremen/Hamburg area in northern Germany.

North Africa: French bombers attack Italian bases in Zuara, Libya.

Egypt: The pro-British government of Aly Pasha Maher loses its support, but it is unclear what will replace it. In any event, the absolute British dominion over the country is not in doubt..

China: At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese 22nd Army captures Panli and Leishihhsu.

US Navy: Destroyer USS Herbert (DD-160) leaves Casablanca, French Morocco for Lisbon with more American refugees for transport to New York.

British Homefront: Three downed Luftwaffe airmen who perished in their Heinkel (shot down by ‘Sailor’ Malan) on 21 June are buried with full military honors (paid for by local RAF officers) at Chelmsford. The Bishop of Chelmsford officiates, and the RAF sends a wreath. In 1966, their graves are removed to the newly formed German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.

Stuart Sutcliffe.

Future History: Adam Faith is born Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright in Acton, London. He forms a skiffle group in the late 1950s and turns this into a long-lasting pop career. Faith has the first number one hit for Parlophone, a classical music label that later - perhaps partly due to its success with Faith - signs The Beatles after they have been rejected by other labels.

Wilma Rudolph is born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee. She becomes known as the fastest woman in the world in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

And, speaking of the Beatles, Stuart Sutcliffe is born on 23 June 1940 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sutcliffe is the original bassist for the group. While extremely creative and a key figure (along with the friends that he brings into the Beatles' orbit) in the fabrication of the Beatles' memorable visual style, Sutcliffe's musical skills are lacking. He leaves the band before it becomes famous just like Pete Best. Stu Sutcliffe perishes in 1962 from a brain aneurysm and is remembered by many fans as the "Fifth Beatle."


June 1940

June 1, 1940: Devastation at Dunkirk
June 2, 1940: Hitler Visits France
June 3, 1940: Operation Paula
June 4, 1940: We Shall Fight
June 5, 1940: Fall Rot
June 6, 1940: Weygand Line Crumbling
June 7, 1940: British Evacuating Narvik
June 8, 1940: Operation Juno
June 9, 1940: Norway Capitulates
June 10, 1940: Mussolini Throws Down
June 11, 1940: Paris an Open City
June 12, 1940: Rommel at St. Valery
June 13, 1940: France Goes Alone
June 14, 1940: Paris Falls
June 15, 1940: Soviets Scoop Up Lithuania
June 16, 1940: Enter Pétain
June 17, 1940: The Lancastria Sinks
June 18, 1940: A Day of Leaders
June 19, 1940: U-boats Run Wild
June 20, 1940: Pétain Wilts
June 21, 1940: Hitler's Happiest Day
June 22, 1940: France Is Done
June 23, 1940: Hitler in Paris
June 24, 1940: Six Million Jews
June 25, 1940: German Celebrations
June 26, 1940: USSR Being Belligerent
June 27, 1940: Malta in Peril
June 28, 1940: Channel Islands Bombed
June 29, 1940: Gandhi Insists on Independence
June 30, 1940: Channel Islands Occupied

2020

Tuesday 21 May 1940

A German patrol in the silent streets of Luxembourg, potato mashers, pistols and rifles at the ready. 21 May 1940.

Western Front: A small force of British and French tanks counterattacks Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division in front of Arras on 21 May 1940. It is one of the very few counterattacks by the Allies.

Major-General Harold Franklyn commands tank forces in the Arras area of the British 5th Infantry Division, the 50 Infantry Division and the French 3rd Light Mechanized Division. The Allied high commands have not formulated a coordinated plan to pinch off the German spearhead, so he essentially is acting on his own despite large nearby French armored forces, including some of the SOMUA S35 heavy tanks that had proven superior at the Battle of Hannut. Franklyn's mission is muddled: he is not told of a clear objective, just to attack. In the event, he assumes that his mission is to relieve Arras, not re-establish vital communications to the south with France.

Franklyn sends in 74 Matilda tanks and 14 light tanks, keeping the strong French tanks for flank protection. He achieves surprise. The British Matilda tanks stand up quite well to standard German antitank guns. Radio communication is poor, and the tanks are not adequately supported in a modern combined-arms fashion. The British make some early gains. Rommel's 7th Panzer Division is vulnerable because he has sent units ahead, bypassing Arras - and leaving his center weak. If there is one weakness of Rommel's style of leadership, this is it.

As is often the case with unexpectedly powerful enemy tanks, the Germans always have an ace in their pocket with their 88 mm (3.46 in) FlaK guns and 105 mm (4.1 in) field guns). While not particularly mobile, they are devastating when used over open sights against nearby ground targets - at great risk to the guns' crews, of course. In addition, Rommel's penchant for stringing out his forces - which so panics his tradition-minded superiors - pays massive dividends. Rommel is able to recall an advanced panzer regiment which returns and takes the advancing British in a devastating flank attack.

The British tanks falter, then retreat, harassed by the Luftwaffe all the way. The British lose 60 of their 88 tanks, while Rommel only loses 89 killed, 110 wounded and 173 missing. It is a huge tactical defensive victory for the Wehrmacht. However, the attack greatly impresses the German OKW high command - and particularly Hitler. It might have made some real impact if coordinated with de Gaulle's abortive attack from the south on 19 May.

The Battle of Arras has long-lasting effects. One theory of German tank development is that this encounter at Arras so impresses Hitler with the superiority of heavily armored British tanks that he puts in place the design program that ultimately leads to the Panzer VI Tiger Tank of 1942. The battle also is when the Allies begin to speak of "German 88s" with respect. The failure of the attack makes the senior British leadership - if not the French - even leerier about the BEF's prospects on the Continent. Finally, the ferocity of the attack is giving the top brass second thoughts about pressing home the attack against the quickly contracting First Army Group as it bellies up beside the sea.

To the southwest, General Guderian's panzers consolidate their hold on the Somme. The 1st Panzer, 2nd Panzer, and 10th Panzer Divisions take bridgeheads across the river. These will be quite handy when the time comes to head south.

The Germans besiege Maubeuge, west of Dinant on the River Sambre. The French Ninth Army, having lost its commander General Giraud when captured by German troops, is in a state of collapse.

French Commander-in-chief Weygand is continuing to "assess the situation." He goes to Ypres to meet with King Leopold, General Gaston Billotte, commander of the 1st Army Group, and General John Vereker Lord Gort, commander of the BEF. Billotte is depressed and pessimistic, and Gort misses the meeting entirely. After the meeting, Billotte - who has Weygand's plan in his head for a coordinated attack against Rommel's panzers from north and south - gets in a major car accident, leaving him in a coma and near death. Gort's Chief of Staff, not one to mince words, observes caustically, "With all respect, he's no loss to us in this emergency" - which is a bit unfair because Billotte was the key to the counterattack, which now does not take place. General Blanchard, heretofore in charge of French 1st Army, takes over as Cinc of 1st Army Group.

The gun camera still from Spitfire Mk I ZP-A records the first victory of acting F/L Adolph G "Sailor" Malan of No 74 Squadron RAF over Dunkirk on the early evening of 21 May 1940. Breaking out of the cloud at 17,000 ft, the 30-year-old South African leader of A Flight nearly rams a Heinkel He 111 before firing from 150 yds whilst in a banking turn. With debris and smoke issuing from the starboard engine and a wheel dropped, the claim still was categorized as unconfirmed.

European Air Operations: The RAF is in full battle mode. It attacks the German ground troops during the day and sends 124 bombers total (sources vary) to take out road and rail targets at night in Namur, Dinant, and Aachen, as well as the German troops outside Arras.

The RAF completes its evacuation from Belgium. Air cover over the BEF henceforth will originate from either France or England. This is not optimal for the gun-carrying infantry still trying to hold tenuous lines that keep shifting back toward the coast.

First victory of "Sailor" Malan of RAF No. 74 Squadron.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe catches French destroyer L’Adroit off Dunkirk and bombs and sinks it. They also sink - perhaps inadvertently - British hospital ship Maid of Kent off Dieppe, along with British ship Hubbastone at Dieppe.

British ship Firth Fisher hits a mine and sinks off Boulogne.

The British commission corvette HMS Hibiscus (K 24) (Lt. Commander Reginald Phillips).

Battle of the Pacific: German raider Orion rounds Cape Horn into the Pacific.

Norway: The German 2nd Mountain Division continues advancing past Mo i Rana toward Bodo and takes up positions on the north shore of the Rombaksfiord. Colonel Gubbins plans to mount a defense at Storjord, 20 miles (32 km) south of Rognan - if he can get the Scots Guards under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Byrnand Trappes-Lomax to stop their retreat.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier Furious sends off 18 Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron and 18 Hurricanes of 46 Squadron to man a base at Bardufoss north of Narvik. Luftwaffe dominance of the northern Norway skies is becoming a problem, perhaps a decisive one. It is easy to question priorities since British fighters are being withdrawn from the decisive Western Front at the same time as they are being sent to the sideshow in northern Norway. This is just another indication of the tremendous strategic importance placed on the Swedish iron ores which flow through northern Norway at Narvik.

War Crimes: There are many anecdotal reports of Luftwaffe fighters and Stukas strafing refugees on the roads. Doing so would both block the roads and sow terror about the chilling new aerial weapons of the Luftwaffe - the Stukas have had air horns installed specifically to enhance the terror effect. These types of incidents are extremely difficult to prove, and they may not necessarily be intentional war crimes. However... intentionally targeting civilians in such a manner most definitely is a war crime.

German Military: Hitler and Raeder hold a conference. Raeder has radical ideas about naval strategy - he was the architect of the invasion of Norway, Operation Weserubung - and now he has another idea: invade Great Britain. This is the first record of anyone even broaching this topic in a serious manner. Hitler agrees with the proposal but also tells Commander-in-chief Brauchitsch and his chief of staff Halder that he wants to do a deal with Great Britain.

Soviet Military: General Alexander Vasilevsky becomes 1st Deputy Head of Operations Directorate of the Stavka.

USS Military: The submarine USS Trout is launched.

Gibraltar: Non-essential personnel being evacuated to England. Nobody knows Francisco Franco's intentions, and Gibraltar would be indefensible if Spain joins the Axis.
French Government: While the Generals as a group are almost moribund with pessimism, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud is full of vigor despite the "disaster," telling the Senate:

France cannot die! …. if I were told tomorrow that only a miracle could save France, I should reply: I believe in miracles because I believe in France!

His ultimate conclusion is that the problem facing the nation stems from failure to understand the recent evolution of military doctrine - something that Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle has become known for.

United States Government: President Roosevelt sends a secret executive order to FBI Director Edgar Hoover: wiretap foreign agent suspects. This includes members of foreign embassies and consulates. This is a highly controversial decision that is of dubious legality - especially with the US not at war with anyone.

Dutch Homefront: The influence of the German occupation already is being felt. Radio broadcaster AVRO dismisses its Jewish employees.

American Homefront: While the Germans and the Allies are locked in their brutal beat-down in Belgium and France, US journalists are able to provide stateside readers with accounts from both sides. Journalist William Shirer, for instance, is one of several US newspapermen accompanying the Wehrmacht on its glory ride. He notes rather tonelessly that "Our Wehrmacht officer guide is very complimentary to the French." It is not safe to report from the front, as the journalists are as exposed as anyone to air attacks.

Future History: Tony Sheridan is born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He becomes famous as a singer after he collaborates with an unknown group known as The Beat Brothers in 1961. They release a single ("My Bonnie") that makes it to No. 5 on the German chart. This is not when he becomes famous as a result of the collaboration, but rather after The Beat Brothers change their name to The Beatles.

One of the RAF pilots evacuating from Belgium on 21 May 1940 is P/O Keith T Lofts (right). He had flown out with No 615 Squadron RAF from RAF Croydon to Merville on 15 November 1939, and today he returns with them from Moorsele to RAF Kenley. The 22-year-old pilot claimed 3 enemy aircraft damaged operating over France/Belgium, but the details have been lost. He later shares a He 111 with S/L Joseph R "Joe" Kayll on 22 June, the bomber coming down west of Rouen.

May 1940

May 1, 1940: British Leave Åndalsnes
May 2, 1940: British Depart Namsos
May 3, 1940: Many Norwegians Surrendering
May 4, 1940: Bader Returns
May 5, 1940: HMS Seal Survives
May 6, 1940: Allies Focus on Narvik
May 7, 1940: In The Name of God, Go!
May 8, 1940: Exit Chamberlain
May 9, 1940: Enter Churchill
May 10, 1940: Fall Gelb
May 11, 1940: Eben Emael Surrenders
May 12, 1940: Germans at Sedan
May 13, 1940: Rommel at Work
May 14, 1940: German Breakout in France
May 15, 1940: Holland Surrenders
May 16, 1940: Dash to the Channel
May 17, 1940: Germans Take Brussels
May 18, 1940: Germans Take Antwerp
May 19, 1940: Failed French Counterattack
May 20, 1940: Panzers on the Coast
May 21, 1940: Battle of Arras
May 22, 1940: Attacking Channel Ports
May 23, 1940: British Evacuate Boulogne
May 24, 1940: Hitler's Stop Order
May 25, 1940: Belgian Defenses Creaking
May 26, 1940: Operation Dynamo
May 27, 1940: King Leopold Surrenders 
May 28, 1940: The Allies Take Narvik
May 29, 1940: Lille Falls
May 30, 1940: Operation Fish
May 31, 1940: Peak Day for Dynamo

2020