Sunday 15 December 1940

"Flying Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron being decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross by Air Marshall Sholto Douglas, 15 December 1940. The first four Polish recipients of the DFC received their awards for their participation in the Battle of Britain during a presentation ceremony at RAF Leconfield. Mirosław Ferić was one of them." © IWM (CH 1838).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The British 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades continue their whirlwind advance across the desert into Italian Libya on 15 December 1940 as Operation Compass morphs from a planned five-day tank raid into a stunningly effective strategic offensive. The Italians, for their part, want no part of the Tommies and scoot further back along the coast road every day. Today, the British take Sollum and easily defensible Halfaya Pass on the fly, bypassing isolated Italian garrisons in the desert to the south (the actual date when the British take these points varies from source to source, but there is no question they are up for grabs by now). Next up for the British are Sidi Omar and nearby Fort Capuzzo, which the Italians show no sign of wanting to defend either. The unlikelihood of the Italians making a stand at Fort Capuzzo is underlined by the fact that they basically abandoned it earlier in the year when they weren't even under much pressure there.

The Italians, meanwhile, bet all their chips on their stronghold of Bardia, commanded by General Annibale Bergonzoli (known as "Electric Whiskers" due to his once-flaming red beard). The Tenth Army retreat there and reinforce Tobruk, which, aside from being a well-defended fortress, also constitutes a key port which would be much handier for the British than the much smaller one at Sollum. The Italians also bring up three divisions from the interior of Libya and station them on a line between El Mekili and Derna. Since the Italians now have ample warning of an attack and the British are outrunning their supplies, this line has a reasonable chance of holding - but it well inside Libya and 168 km northwest of Tobruk along the most direct route. The British already have Bardia surrounded, trapping the 40,000 Italians inside.

Royal Navy monitor HMS Terror continues giving the Italians headaches. While the British surround the port on land, it stands brazenly off Bardia and bombards the Italians there for the entire afternoon.

Not all goes well for the Royal Navy, however. Free French submarine Narval hits a mine off Sfax/Kerkenah, Tunisia and is lost. As is usually the case with such incidents involving submarines, the exact date of this loss is an educated guess because nobody lives to tell the tale in such incidents (54 lost). The loss is only realized when the submarine fails to return to its port of Malta on the 16th.

"The first four Polish recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron wearing their awards after a presentation ceremony by Air Marshal Sholto Douglas at RAF Leconfield, 15 December 1940. Left to right: Squadron Leader Witold Urbanowicz, Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg, Pilot Officer Jan "Donald Duck" Zumbach and Pilot Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić." © IWM (CH 1839).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command raids Berlin, Frankfurt, and Kiel with 72 aircraft. They also attack Naples. For Naples, it is the second night in a row. As if in a pointed statement to the Italians that "you can run, but you can't hide," the British damage another Italian cruiser in the port of Naples. The raids are notable because the British mistakenly bomb the Basel, Switzerland railway station in an epic navigational error.

The Luftwaffe, after a quiet day, revisits Sheffield, which it originally bombed on 12 December. This raid continues its recent practice of repeatedly bombing medium-sized British towns with full-scale attacks. While only a small group of 16 German Heinkel He 111 bombers arrives soon after darkness, they drop thousands of incendiaries that start massive fires. This creates a target visible to the main force, which arrives overhead a couple of hours later. The Luftwaffe pounds the eastern half of the city for three hours, but most of the bombs miss the city's important factories. The two aerial attacks together kill 750 people and destroy 3000 homes and small businesses. During the night, the Luftwaffe loses five aircraft.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe attacks Portsmouth, "sinking" destroyer HMS Cameron. The Cameron, in dry dock, is blasted onto its side and utterly destroyed in a rare case of a ship being lost for reasons other than actually sinking or grounding. One of the destroyers acquired from the US in the destroyers-for-bases deal, the destruction of the Cameron continues a pattern of hard luck for the newly acquired destroyers.

German E-boats are active along the Great Yarmouth coast, and the come across Convoy FS 360. Two of them, S 25 and S 58, sink 2301 ton British freighter NC Monberg. There are nine deaths.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Britomart collides with fellow minesweeper Seagull, sending the former to the repair yard at Aberdeen for almost a month.

Deep in the Atlantic, German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer transfers its prisoner to supply vessel Nordmark. The British continue fruitlessly to search for heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer around the Canary Islands.

Convoy EN 41 departs from Methil, Convoy SC 16 departs from Halifax, Convoy MW 58 departs from Port Said (Operation Hide), Convoy SL 59 departs from Freetown.

Destroyer HMS Ithuriel and submarine HMS P-32 are launched.

"The first four Polish recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron wearing their awards after a presentation ceremony by Air Marshal Sholto Douglas at RAF Leconfield, 15 December 1940. Left to right - Squadron Leader Witold Urbanowicz, Pilot Officer Jan "Donald Duck" Zumbach, Pilot Officer Mirosław "Ox" Ferić and Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg." © IWM (CH 1840).

Battle of the Italian Ocean: German raider Atlantis, in the uninhabited Kerguelen Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, remains stuck on a rock which has torn a chunk from its outer hull (but, fortunately for the German crew, not the more important inner hull).

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greek 3rd Infantry Division, which took Porto Palermo on the 13th, resumes its advance north toward the key port of Himara. The Italians have regrouped, though, and now are fighting hard. The weather now is the Italians' ally. The Regia Aeronautica also is active against the advancing Greek troops.

German/Vichy French Relations: Hitler, with his deep fascination regarding obscure European social history, realizes that very few things stir the French soul like repatriating Napoleon to France. The transfer of the dead Emperor's exhumed body from his place of exile on remote St. Helena back to Paris on 15 December 1840 was one of the great celebrations in 19th Century French history. So, realizing that bringing up memories of Bonaparte's royal line might also remind the French who sent him to St. Helena in the first place, and realizing that it is 100 years to the day later, Hitler craftily arranges to bring back another dead Napoleon: Napoleon II, also known as the Duke of Reichstadt and "The Eaglet." While never holding real power and still an infant upon his father's capture, Napoleon II did technically hold the title Emperor of France for a week before his own abdication. Napoleon II has been interred in deep obscurity in Vienna, Austria since even before the return of his father's remains.

However, things don't quite go as Hitler intends. For one thing, the whole affair elicits barely a yawn from the French public, for whom Napoleon II is just a name drawn from aged history books. Napoleon II never ruled France and was barely a blip along the Napoleonic line - which itself is rapidly fading from importance, particularly since Napoleon III proved such a monumental disaster - given his defeat by the Germans at Sedan, the memory of which is a lot fresher than that of Napoleon II. In fact, one thing that Hitler probably didn't consider is that bringing up the Napoleonic dynasty at this sensitive moment in French history might remind the French that, just as the Germans in 1870 broke through a vastly overrated French Army at Sedan, so too did such an army succumb in an eerily similar way at the same place in 1940. However, Hitler is never known for being particularly empathetic about what other nations might think about his obviously manipulative decisions.

More importantly from the perspective of present relations, however, French Premier Marshal Petain doesn't even bother attending the ceremony in Paris, which is under German occupation. While Petain has his own issues to deal with at the moment, including the situation with the recently dismissed Pierre Laval, his blasé attitude merely reflects the complete indifference within France by just about everyone. This puts the final verdict to this obvious attempt at emotional manipulation. Hitler, informed that Petain won't attend, does not attend the ceremony either, and professes outrage that his grand gesture would be dismissed when he "meant so well." Hitler probably did mean this as a kind gesture, but it does nothing at all to soften relations between the countries. This leaves Hitler's brief June visit to Paris as the only time that he ever visited Paris, his most significant conquest.

Parisians make light of the whole affair - while the Germans aren't looking - and the joke is that they would have preferred coal to ashes during a hard winter. The French government as a whole also takes a dim view of the entire affair for decades, and it is not until 1969 that it sets aside a small chamber opposite the entrance of the Dome des Invalides for the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte's only legitimate child. The whole affair also rankles Mussolini, who remains extremely jealous of Hitler's overtures to the French.

The remains of Napoleon II brought back to Paris, Note the absence of crowds along the streets. 15 December 1940.

German/Japanese Relations: It is widely noted among historians that the Japanese learned vital lessons from the British aerial attack on Taranto which sank three battleships in November 1940. They learn these lessons because two German officers, Baron von Gronau (former German air attaché at the embassy in Tokyo) and Colonel Johann Jebsen (a member of Admiral Canaris’s intelligence staff (Abwehr)), today proceed down to Taranto and write up a report about the attack which they send to Tokyo.

British Military: General Harold Alexander is appointed to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command (southwest England, a sensitive area of defense). His temporary rank of lieutenant-general, achieved as a result of his successful withdrawal of I Corps at Dunkirk, becomes permanent. Alexander achieved renown among the troops by being on the last destroyer leaving Dunkirk on 3 June 1940 - they appreciate little touches like that.

US Military: Headquarter, Eighth Naval District transfers from Charleston, South Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. It is under Acting Commandant Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson, Jr.

French Government: Relations between Germany and Vichy France, currently under great strain, are not helped when the German ambassador, Abetz, formally requests that Laval be released and reinstated. Petain indeed releases Pierre Laval from house confinement but does not restore him to his former positions. However, Laval accrues additional prestige due to being seen as the Germans' "man in France." Even though he now is out of office, he is by no means forgotten.

American Homefront: "Pride of the Bowery," starring "The East Side Kids," is released.

Future History: Ursula Ledersteger is born in Vienna, Austria. She becomes the "German Jayne Mansfield" and appears in several films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder under the stage name Barbara Valentin. Among other things, Valentin is married to US actor John Ashton ("Beverly Hills Cop") during the peak years of that franchise's popularity, and also was close with Freddie Mercury. She perishes in 2002 and is buried at the Ostfriedhof in Munich.

PTT Telephone engineers go about their business in Amsterdam, 15 December 1940 (ANPFOTO/Anp).

December 1940

December 1, 1940: Wiking Division Forms
December 2, 1940: Convoy HX 90 Destruction
December 3, 1940: Greeks Advancing
December 4, 1940: Italian Command Shakeup
December 5, 1940: Thor Strikes Hard
December 6, 1940: Hitler's Cousin Gassed
December 7, 1940: Storms At Sea
December 8, 1940: Freighter Idarwald Seized
December 9, 1940: Operation Compass Begins
December 10, 1940: Operation Attila Planned
December 11, 1940: Rhein Wrecked
December 12, 1940: Operation Fritz
December 13, 1940: Operation Marita Planned
December 14, 1940: Plutonium Discovered
December 15, 1940: Napoleon II Returns
December 16, 1940: Operation Abigail Rachel
December 17, 1940: Garden Hoses and War
December 18, 1940: Barbarossa Directive
December 19, 1940: Risto Ryti Takes Over
December 20, 1940: Liverpool Blitz, Captain America
December 21, 1940: Moral Aggression
December 22, 1940: Manchester Blitz
December 23, 1940: Hitler at Cap Gris Nez
December 24, 1940: Hitler at Abbeville
December 25, 1940: Hipper's Great Escape
December 26, 1940: Scheer's Happy Rendezvous
December 27, 1940: Komet Shells Nauru
December 28, 1940: Sorge Spills
December 29, 1940: Arsenal of Democracy
December 30, 1940: London Devastated
December 31 1940: Roosevelt's Decent Proposal

2020

Tuesday 4 June 1940

Winston Churchill.

Western Front: The Dunkirk bridgehead collapses on 4 June 1940 and the Germans occupy the port at 10:20. There are still 40,000 French soldiers and stragglers from all of the Allied armies who go into captivity. There also are piles of British and French equipment which the Germans will put to use.

The Germans immediately re-deploy their forces for an operation south towards Paris. The new attack will be Operation Fall Rot ("Case Red").

The French try attacking at Abbeville again at 03:00 pursuant to General Georges' plan. Little reconnaissance is performed beforehand, and communication - especially between French and British formations - is inadequate. The French tanks and British infantry attack at different times, and some of the attacking formation arrive only at the last moment.

French tanks of 2nd Armoured Division, part of the 4th Army Group under General Huntziger, advance at Abbeville but run into a minefield in a sector they mistakenly believe still to be held by the 51st Highland Division. Instead, the highlanders have pulled back during the night, and the Germans planted mines in the evacuated territory. The Allies lose at least fifty tanks, numerous other armored vehicles and take 1000 casualties. The Germans retain the high ground northwest of Caubert and the attack is a complete fiasco.

Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo ends at 03:40. The Allied navies have rescued 338,226 men, of which 112,000 are French. The evacuation greatly exceeded expectations of perhaps 50,000 evacuees and thus is considered a great victory. Destroyer HMS Ivanhoe is one of the last ships out and is hit with a bomb on its deck crowded with French soldiers.

Besides the tens of thousands of Allied troops who now are POWs, left behind in Dunkirk are

• 880 field guns, 
• 310 guns of large calibre, 
• some 500 anti-aircraft guns, 
• about 850 anti-tank guns, 
• 11,000 machine guns, 
• nearly 700 tanks, 
• 20,000 motorcycles, and 
• 45,000 motor cars and lorries.

Altogether, the Allies leave behind 2,472 artillery pieces, 84, 427 vehicles and 657,566 tons of supplies. In addition, the Allies have lost at least 89 merchant ships (126,518 tons), with 9 destroyers sunk and 20 damaged. In addition, the RAF has lost 80 scarce pilots killed.

Air losses by both sides are a subject of great controversy. The RAF lost 106-135 planes, while losses for the Luftwaffe vary from 100-240.

Dunkirk after the battle.

European Air Operations: In retaliation for the Luftwaffe's Operation Paula of 3 June, the French air force bombs Munich and Frankfurt, while the RAF sends 57 bombers to attack the Ruhr and Rhineland munitions factories.

The Luftwaffe bombs the port of Le Havre.

General Weygand asks the British for 20 RAF fighter squadrons, and the request is refused.

Battle of the Atlantic: Kriegsmarine pocket battleships Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Admiral Hipper, along with a squadron of destroyers (destroyers Karl Galster, Hans Lody, Erich Steinbrinck & Hermann Schoemann), depart for Norwegian waters under Admiral Wilhelm Marschall.

British Government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives a stirring speech in the House of Commons. He states that Operation Dynamo, which brought 350,000 troops back to England, had turned a defeat into a victory:

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the Old.

The speech, Churchill's most famous, receives a mixed reception. The British love it, and it is considered the height of jingoistic rhetoric. On the other hand, the French find little to cheer about in the idea that England now envisions itself fighting alone despite the fact that its troops are still fighting and dying.

The Dunkirk docks are now quiet.

Norway: The evacuation of Narvik and Harstad begins pursuant to Operation Alphabet. The evacuation takes time because considerable military infrastructure has been created by the British. There are about 4900 Allied troops on the first ships out of Narvik, which is composed of 6 fast transport ships escorted by Royal Navy training cruiser Vindictive. The transports, actually passenger liners, hide in the fjords and small craft bring them the soldiers.

The Norwegians continue attacking General Dietl's mountain troops near the Swedish border.

Ireland: The government sets the size of the army at 40,000 troops.

Italy: The Italian high command sends its submarine fleet to sea.

China: The seesawing Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang continues. The Chinese 5th War Area counterattacks and recovers Nanchang and Yicheng.

Chiang Kai-shek sends representatives to Macau to discuss peace terms with Japanese representatives. There is no progress.

Soviet Military: General Andrei Eremenko becomes the leader of the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps, while Konstantin Rokossovsky takes over the Soviet 5th Cavalry Corps.

French Homefront: The refugee crisis is increasing, and it becomes known as L'Éxode ("The Exodus"). Tens of thousands of French citizens inhabiting northern French cities such as Chartres and Lille are heading south, while southern French cities such as Marseilles and Bordeaux are swelling in size.


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

Monday 3 June 1940

An RAF photograph of the Dunkirk beach taken on 3 June 1940, showing the beach littered with British equipment.

Western Front: The shrinking bridgehead at Dunkirk as of 3 June 1940 has been the focus of most land operations for the past week, but that is rapidly changing. The obvious next move is for the Wehrmacht to head south toward Paris, as the Maginot Line is holding up well - buttressed by the overwhelming majority of French troops sitting idly behind it. French General Georges readies a spoiling attack against the most advanced German positions along the Somme, but his preparations are disorganized and, despite having had several days to prepare, not all of the troops are near their launch points yet.

Dunkirk: General Harold Alexander visits Dunkirk port to personally assure that the British are all evacuated. At 10:50, Royal Navy "Beachmaster" Captain William “Dunkirk Joe” Tennant signals "Operation completed; returning to Dover.”

With all the British troops out, the Admiralty decides to spend another day evacuating French and Belgian troops. All Royal Navy evacuations continue taking place at night - except for small boats. There 26,175 men taken off during the night of 3/4 June, which is about what the Admiralty has been led to believe is the total number of men remaining - but in fact, there are tens of thousands of Allied men more than that. Stragglers appear from basements and under the quays, from every which way, as the front-line troops approach the harbor. Many of the stragglers are in very poor shape, suffering from battle fatigue and PTSD.

The French defenders continue giving ground. The perimeter shrinks to about a square with each side 2 miles.

The RAF carries out 171 reconnaissance missions during the day over the beachhead, 651 bombing sorties and 2,739 fighter sorties.

The RAF also sends 142 aircraft against targets in Germany during the night.

German Stuka dive bombers attacking Allied attempt to evacuate Dunkirk, France, June 1940; still from Frank Capra's 1943 documentary film Why We Fight #3.

Battle of the Atlantic: The British Admiralty issues a summary communiqué on Operation Dynamo, which is winding down rapidly. It states that the Royal Navy committed 222 naval vessels and 665 smaller boats. The Royal Navy admits to 24 losses of warships.

U-37 (Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn) sinks 2,317-ton Finnish freighter Snabb about 300 miles off Cape Finisterre at 04:56. There are 20 survivors and 1 crew perishes.

Convoy OA 161G departs from Southend, Convoy OB 161 departs from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe launches Operation Paula. This is the planned destruction of the Armée de l'Air (ALA), or French Air Force. The objectives include eliminating French airfields and aircraft factories. The operation has been postponed since 30 May due to poor flying weather. The Germans use both Luftflotte (Air Fleet) 2 and Luftflotte 3. The French have some warning of this operation from intercepted Enigma transmissions.

The Germans use 640 bombers and 460 fighters in three waves. They attack 28 railways and marshaling yards, 22 train stations, and 15 factories, causing slight damage. The Luftwaffe loses 4 bombers and a total of 10 aircraft, while the French Air Force loses 20 aircraft on the ground and 15 in combat. Josef Kammhuber, Geschwaderkommodore of KG 51, is shot down and taken prisoner and replaced by Johann-Volkmar Fisser, Geschwaderkommodore (Wing Commander) of KG 77. The Luftwaffe generally has air superiority despite causing little lasting damage on the ground. There are 54 French killed in the Paris suburbs.

Norway: The Allies know that their position at Narvik is untenable in the long run. They now prepare to evacuate their troops there pursuant to Operation Alphabet. French, Polish and Norwegian troops continue to harass General Dietl's mountain troops near the Swedish border - he has no idea how close he is to relief and is seriously considering crossing the Swedish border to be interned.

Anglo/US Relations: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill requests war supplies from President Roosevelt to replace the vast equipment stocks lost at Dunkirk. Roosevelt immediately sets in motion plans to send rifles, machine guns, field guns, and ammunition.

French/US Relations: French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud requests that the US sends aircraft to help with the defense of France.

British Military: Air Marshal Dowding calculates that the RAF will run out of Hurricane fighters - the backbone of British air defense - within two weeks if the rate of losses continues. Of course, that high loss rate covers the Dunkirk evacuation, when the RAF has suffered huge losses (and inflicted the same or worse, of course).

Applied Science: German physical chemist Dr. Paul Harteck conducts experiments with a uranium oxide-dry ice reactor in Hamburg. These experiments are unsuccessful due to insufficient uranium.

France: Pierre Fournier, President of the Bank of France, oversees the continued evacuation of French gold in cooperation with US Ambassador William Bullitt. French armed merchant cruiser Ville D'Oran is loaded with 212 tons of French gold from the reserves at Pauillac and sets off for Casablanca.

China: The Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang continues, with the Japanese 11th Army capturing Nanchang and Yicheng.

American Homefront: The US Supreme Court hands down its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940). It holds that students could be compelled to salute the American Flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance despite religious objections (Jehovah's Witnesses).

Burning oil tanks at Dunkirk, taken by the RAF on or around 3 June 1940.

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

Sunday 2 June 1940

A Coastal Command Hudson with a blazing Dunkirk oil storage tank behind it, early June 1940.

Western Front: French forces on 2 June 1940 man the perimeter at Dunkirk. The Germans push the Allied defenses back, but they do not break. The pocket is now only two miles long and a little deeper. Almost all British troops - aside from stragglers - are now gone, with the vast majority of troops remaining in the pocket being French soldiers. The day ends with the French holding a perimeter on the edges of town.

Adolf Hitler makes his first visit to French soil during the war. He stages a photo op at the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial. This is partly to refute Allied propaganda that the Wehrmacht has destroyed it. He orders the SS to guard the monument.

General Georges continues to make plans for an offensive against the German line along the Somme. Much of the Allied line is held by British troops, with the mass of the French Army remaining behind the Maginot Line in the south.

Chief of the General Staff Dill sends Sir Alan Brooke back to France to organize a new BEF south of the Somme.

Mussolini postpones the Italian attack on French positions in the Alps to 10 June.

Dunkirk: There are 26,256 troops evacuated today (9,561 Allied troops embark from Dunkirk harbor and 6,695 from the beaches). Due to the decision to evacuate only during the night, British naval losses go down significantly; the Royal Navy has only two destroyers damaged. The final British unit leaves today and French soldiers are being evacuated as well. The French are disorganized - partly due to decisions taken by the British without their knowledge - and this hampers their evacuation. Some French troops do not see a realistic possibility of evacuating to England and desert, hoping to get back to their homes by slipping through the lines.

Royal Navy hospital ship HMS Worthing is damaged by the Luftwaffe attack, along with numerous smaller vessels.

Baron Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, a Luftwaffe General and also a cousin of the famous "Red Baron," is disgusted at the outcome fo the battle. He writes in his diary: "A victory over England has been thrown away."
European Air Operations: The Germans continue attacks in the Rhône Valley region between Lyons and Marseilles, causing many civilian casualties.

The RAF is still primarily engaged in supporting the French defenders at Dunkirk, sending 24 aircraft to attack the advancing Germans during the day and 16 at night.

The British send 24 aircraft to hit targets in Germany during the night.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) torpedoes and sinks 3,577-ton British freighter Polycarp about 41 miles south of Land's End at 03:00. All 43 crew survive.

US passenger liner President Roosevelt, with 720 Americans aboard, and liner Manhattan, with 1,905 passengers, depart for America from Galway and Genoa, respectively. As a general matter, it is believed that fast liners are safer by sprinting across the ocean on their own that by participating in a slow-moving convoy.

Convoy OA 160 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 160 departs from Liverpool, Convoy OG 32F departs from Gibraltar, and Convoy HX 47 departs from Halifax.

Princess Elizabeth - the future Elizabeth II - and sister Margaret with their corgi named Jane, 2 June 1940 (Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa / Getty).

Norway: German 2nd Mountain Division continues pushing north towards Narvik to relieve General Dietl's forces trapped near the border. They depart from Sorfold (to the east of Bodo) and remain over 100 miles south of Narvik as the crow flies, over rough terrain. The roads are not continuous, and the Wehrmacht troops must either take ferries or go overland in mountainous terrain riven with lakes and fjords. This exposes them to both aerial and naval attacks.

The Luftwaffe attacks Harstad, losing nine bombers. RAF Pilot Officer Louis R. Jacobsen of No. 263 Squadron, flying out of Bardufoss, has a big day near Narvik. He shoots down four Heinkel He 111 and two Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers for a total of 6 bombers in one day.

Luftwaffe transports drop another 45 men of the 1st Fallschirmjaeger Regiment to reinforce General Dietl. The Norwegian, Polish and French troops pursue the Germans toward Sweden, while the 26,000 British troops remain in port to prepare for the evacuation.

Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Glorious and Ark Royal arrive off Narvik to provide air cover and to take off the RAF fighters at Bardufoss.

British Government: War Secretary Anthony Eden gives a frank radio speech update on Operation Dynamo. He states that 80% of the BEF has been evacuated intact, minus battle losses and the few still remaining to be picked up:

The British Expeditionary Force still exists, not as a handful of fugitives, but as a body of seasoned veterans. We have had great losses in equipment. But our men have gained immeasurably in experience of warfare and in self-confidence. The vital weapon of any army is its spirit. Ours has been tried and tempered in the furnace. It has not been found wanting. It is this refusal to accept defeat, that is the guarantee of final victory.

US Government: Weighing in on the issue of German influence in South America, Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations. President Roosevelt takes up one of his options and decides that the right course is to send an 8-inch cruiser to South America (along with the cruiser he already has sent), along with occasional destroyer visits from the Atlantic Squadron.

Italian Government: Italo Balbo confers with Foreign Minister Count Ciano before returning to his position in command of Italian forces in Libya. Both men are quite leery about new Italian military adventures.

Spain: Sir Samuel, the new British Ambassador to Spain, arrives in Madrid. There are crowds of anti-British demonstrators demanding the return of Gibraltar to Spain.

Greece: Constantine II, the heir to the Greek throne, is born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece.

British Homefront: The government evacuates 50,000 children from urban areas in southeastern England.

American Homefront: "The Spirit" makes his debut in the Sunday comics section.

Hitler at Vimy Ridge. This picture was widely circulated in German publications to show Hitler at the front and to prove that the memorial had not been destroyed.

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

Saturday 1 June 1940

Sundowner at Ramsgate.

Western Front: The main ground effort remains at Dunkirk on 1 June 1940. The BEF decides to take its men out of the line and leave the port defense to the French. The Wehrmacht breaks through at the canal at Bergues and elsewhere and is held from the beaches with difficulty. The ground defense is maintained by the French while the British board the ships.

There are still BEF forces in action to the south. The 51st Highland Division, the Composite Regiment and 1st Support Group assume the defense against the Germans' Abbeville–St. Valery bridgehead. The 153rd Infantry Brigade also is standing in reserve on the Bresle from Blangy to Senarpont. An improvised British formation, the Beauman Division, holds a 55-mile (89 km) section of the line from Pont St. Pierre, an 11-mile section southeast of Rouen to Dieppe, and 55 miles of the Andelle–Béthune line.

General Georges continues to plan a major effort on 4 June.

Dunkirk: The weather clears up by the morning, which is bad news for Operation Dynamo. While 64,429 troops are evacuated (47,081 Allied troops embark from Dunkirk harbour and 17,348 from the beaches), which is just under the peak total for 31 May, Allied shipping losses mount. The Allies lose four destroyers, a large transport ship, and have five other destroyers damaged.

British orders have been to allow only British troops on board. There is only about 25% or less of the BEF left in the beachhead. The French high command expects all these British soldiers to be routed back to Cherbourg. So far, that is not happening, but it is early. The British are leaving almost all their equipment behind, so they would have little to fight with anyway.

Numerous large vessels such as Channel ferries are damaged by air attack. Conditions are so bad that, after dark, the Admiralty takes the difficult decision to abandon evacuation during daylight hours. Soldiers are frustrated by the incessant Luftwaffe attacks and take potshots at the passing planes with their rifles.

Charles Lightoller's 61-foot yacht Sundowner, requisitioned by the Admiralty, leaves the Port of Ramsgate at 10:00 in the company of five other boats. They spot the motor cruiser Westerly, which has broken down and is on fire. When he arrives at Dunkirk, Lightoller realizes that the piers are too high, so he moves next to destroyer HMS Worcester and takes on passengers from it. He squeezes a total of 75 men below deck and 55 topside. Lightoller then returns to Ramsgate with his 130 men, dodging Luftwaffe attacks on the way. After depositing the soldiers, Sundowner is prevented from returning to Dunkirk because daylight operations from slower vessels have been banned. Sundowner is retained by the Admiralty for other operations as a coastal patrol boat.

European Air Operations: The RAF is occupied over Dunkirk. It launches 8 large aerial patrols that provide excellent cover, but the Luftwaffe has success in between them. It also sends 56 planes in ground attacks against the encroaching German ground forces during the day, and 16 against them during the night.

The Luftwaffe is not just active over the evacuation area, but also is implementing a strategic bombing effort against France. German planes bomb the Lyons-Marseilles railway line that is the main north-south route and also sink the 20,000-ton British passenger liner Orford in Marseilles. Cities all along the Rhône valley are raided, along with Marseilles and Lyon. Altogether, 46 people perish and over 100 are injured.

The RAF also launches raids against Dutch harbors being used by German surface raiders.

During the night, the RAF sends 65 bombers against targets in Germany.

Douglas Bader scores his first victory near Dunkirk.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-58 (Kapitänleutnant Herbert Kuppisch) torpedoes and sinks 8,401 boom defense vessel HMS Astronomer 30 miles southeast of Wick, Scotland. There are 101 survivors, picked up by nearby trawlers, and 4 crew perish.

U-37 (Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn) torpedoes and sinks 950 ton Greek freighter Ioanna 120 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain. Everybody survives, making land at Vigo, Spain.

At Dunkirk, the Allies lose French destroyer Foudroyant (19 killed) and British destroyers HMS Keith (36 killed), Basilisk (9 killed) and Havant (8 killed). British destroyers HMS Ivanhoe, Venomous, Vimy, Vivacious, and Whitehall and sloops Bideford and Kingfisher are damaged. Minesweeper HMS Skipjack (full of troops, most drown, nobody knows how many), gunboat HMS Mosquito, and transport Scotia (200-300 troops and all 32 crew killed) also are sunk, while smaller British ships (Brighton Queen) and various other smaller vessels go down, both from the Luftwaffe attacks and German S-boats (fast boats) operating out of Dutch harbors.

Convoy OA 159 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 159 departs from Liverpool.

U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Harro von Klot-Heydenfeldt) becomes operational.

General Dietl.

Norway: While the British and French have been planning Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of their forces from Norway, for some time, they only tell the remaining Norwegian troops today (British ambassador to Norway, Sir Cecil Dormer, informs King Haakon VII). The Allied evacuations are intended to be a gradual process but a complete operation, with no troops left anywhere in the country. The Norwegians have no real alternatives and continue attacking the German forces despite the ephemeral nature of any successes in the long run. The King and government consider whether to leave the country.

The Germans, of course, do not know any of this, and General Dietl continues his desperate defense near the Swedish border. He has a scattering of units, including elements of German 3rd Mountain Division, naval troops, and the reinforcements which he continues to receive by air and rail. The 2d Mountain Division, coming to Dietl's rescue, enters Bodo, just evacuated by the British.

Anglo/Italian Relations: The Italians break off negotiations for a new contraband agreement.

German Military: General Guderian, who has been leading XIX Corps with great success since the beginning of the war, receives the honor of his own Panzer Group - Panzer Group Guderian.

Soviet Military: General Zhukov, having returned from the Far East, where he led the successful defense at Khalkin Gol, takes command of the Kyiv Special Military District.

British Military: General Ironside, in charge of the Home Forces, considers a proposal by General Wingate to form "special night squads" for operations against German sabotage within England.

US Military: The Navy concludes a Minor Landing and Base Defense Exercise on San Clemente Island.

US Government: Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles responds to Ambassador Wilson in Uruguay that the government will see "if some way can be found by which at least three or four heavy cruisers and a reasonable number of destroyers can be kept on the East Coast [of South America] this summer." Heavy cruiser Quincy (CA 39) already is en route to Rio de Janeiro and then Montevideo, and Welles tells ambassador to Brazil Jefferson Caffery that this is "to furnish a reminder of the strength and the range of action of the armed forces of the United States."

British Government: Sir Samuel arrives in Madrid to take up his post as ambassador to Spain.

Kenya: Gold Coast 4th Infantry Brigade arrives by sea.

China: At the Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang, the Japanese 11th Army captures Hsiangyang.

Future History: René Auberjonois is born in New York City. He becomes famous in the '70s and '80s as an actor and singer.

Charles Lightoller's yacht Sundowner remained under Admiralty control throughout the war, serving on the River Blackwater and River Clyde, until being returned to the family in 1946. After additional use by the Lightollers and subsequent owners, Sundowner ultimately was purchased by the East Kent Maritime Trust in the late 1980s and restored. It remains operational and takes part in occasional celebrations of Operation Dynamo, including as recently as June 2012.

A heap of British motorcycles abandoned at Dunkirk, June 1940.

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

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

Friday 31 May 1940

An evacuated British soldier, wearing a French overcoat, changes his socks and boots at Dover. 31 May 1940.

Western Front: General John Vereker Lord Gort returns to England on 31 May 1940, handing over command of the BEF to Lt. General Harold Alexander. The Supreme Allied War Council meets in Paris. French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud remonstrates with British Prime Minister Churchill about the relatively few French troops being evacuated.

Another British Member of Parliament dies at Dunkirk, Arnold Wilson, in a plane crash.

The Germans round up the last French stragglers at Lille.

General Alphonse Joseph Georges (Commander North-Eastern Front [including the BEF, though that is largely out of his hands]) orders a pause in Seventh Army actions against the German positions along the Somme. So far, the attacks, such as those by General de Gaulle with 4th Armoured Division, have been piecemeal and in some ways promising. Georges intends to make a major effort against the German bridgeheads to the south of the river in a few days.

There is some repositioning of Wehrmacht forces for the conquest of the rest of France.

Spitfire Mk I ZD-G. P/O Graham GA "Dave" Davies landed it on Dunkirk beach on 31 May 1940, wheels down and taxiing to the dunes. French soldiers fired on him, thinking it was a Ju 87. The 21-year-old pilot got a lift into town, and was ordered to go back and burn his aircraft, which he did. He then returned to No 222 Squadron RAF at RAF Hornchurch via a paddle steamer.

Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo has its best day, with 68,014 more men taken off (45,072 from Dunkirk harbor, 22,942 off the beaches).

General von Kuechler assumes command of all Wehrmacht forces at Dunkirk. He plans to launch a major offensive on 1 June.

The Germans make progress against the British perimeter at Nieuport. There are many individual instances of heroism, such as two British battalion commanders personally manning a Bren gun to stop the penetration.

The 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards has to move in quickly at Fumes to stop British troops from retreating. In a manner reminiscent of NKVD blocking forces, they set up positions behind the British forces and fire on those retreating, shooting some. The British soldiers return to their positions and hold the line against the Germans.

During the afternoon, the Germans make a penetration at the canal near Bulskamp, but the Durham Light Infantry stops them.

The Germans are throwing everything into the effort to stop the evacuations, and having some effect. E-boats torpedo French destroyers Sirocco and Cyclone, and the Luftwaffe damages 6 British destroyers (RN destroyers Express, Harvester, Icarus, Impulsive, Malcolm, and Scimitar and minesweeper Hebe). Both sides lose dozens of planes.

Charles Lightoller, the 66-year-old retired officer from the Titanic, owns a large motor yacht named Sundowner. Lightoller has done some work before for the Royal Navy in surveying the coast of the Continent. The Admiralty requisitions the Sundowner on the 31st, and Lightoller volunteers to sail it with his eldest son Roger (his youngest son perished on an RAF bombing raid on the first night of the war) to Dunkirk on the 1st of June.

There are 39 Dutch ships in the Allied cause assisting the evacuation.

Operations are cool and orderly - but enforced with iron discipline. Any solder not obeying orders is shot as necessary and left on the beach or in the water.

Approaching one of the "little ships," 31 May 1940. This is only possible with effective air cover.

European Air Operations: The focus remains on the Dunkirk perimeter, where poor flying weather continues to aid the evacuation. German Gen. Halder notes that "Bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe - now we must watch countless thousands of enemy getting away to England under our noses."

Eighteen RAF bombers attack the German at Nieuport during the night, inflicting major damage and spoiling plans for an attack there in the morning. Overall, 93 RAF planes attack the Germans around the perimeter during the night.

Operations slightly to the south continue as the French begin to worry more and more about a Wehrmacht breakthrough to the heart of France. The French send 20 LeO-451s against the German bridgeheads at Amiens and Abbeville. The attacks accomplish little - the panzers are at Dunkirk and Lille - and they lose 9 planes.

Douglas DB-7/A-20 Havocs strafe a German column near St. Quentin.

Battle of the Atlantic: For the month of May, shipping losses are:

In Atlantic:
100 Ships
 285,893 tons

 In Pacific: 
 1 Ship
 2,568 tons

The Kriegsmarine has lost 1 U-boat.

In fact, that one loss during May 1940 happens today. U-13 (Oberleutnant zur See Max-Martin Schulte) is sunk by depth charges in the North Sea, 11 miles southeast of Lowestoft by sloop HMS Weston (L 72).

U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) torpedoes and sinks 5,775-ton freighter Orangemoor southwest of Roches Doures in the English Channel. There are 22 survivors, while 18 crew perish. U-101 then survives an 8-hour depth charge attack with 41 depth charges.

French destroyer Sirocco is attacked by German S-boats (Schnellboote) and Luftwaffe planes and sinks. About 600 French troops and 59 crew perish.

Norwegian ship Jadarland hits a mine and sinks. The mine had been laid by French submarine Rubis.

Convoy HG 32 departs from Gibraltar, Convoy SL 34 departs from Freetown, and Australian/New Zealand convoy US 3 departs from Cape Town for the UK.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Blackthorn (T 100) (J. G. Hilliard) is commissioned.

This rare color photograph was taken by Generalmajor Erwin Rommel personally around 31 May 1940. Rommel took it from his Fieseler Fi 156 "Storch" observation plane. It shows the mechanized column of his 7th Panzer-Division, perhaps on the way to Lille. Allied air intervention obviously was not a major factor at this stage, especially with the main thrust of air operations along the coast at Dunkirk. Rommel was an amateur photographer who took many snapshots like a tourist, without using fancy lenses and so forth - this is one of his more interesting shots from a technical standpoint.

Norway: The British complete the successful evacuation from Bodo. Colonel Gubbins comes off on the last destroyer during the night. The Norwegian 1st battalion, 15th Regiment is taken off by small boats and sent to the Lofoten Islands in the north.

General Auchinleck ultimately awards Gubbins the DSO. Gubbins goes next to organize the Auxiliary Units, a Home Guard force to defend against a German invasion of Britain.

Lieutenant Colonel Stockwell, who successfully led the ground troops during the retreat, also is awarded a DSO. His next command is to run the Commando Training Center at Lochailort.

The British Army Independent Companies are disbanded. However, some of their troops become the embryo for the commandos.

The Allies are still pressing General Dietl's mountain troops near Narvik as he slowly retreats toward the border. He is patiently awaiting the arrival of 2d Mountain Division troops, which today reach Sorfold north of Bodo. Dietl is reinforced by 80 German troops who arrive on the train from Sweden.

War Crimes: There are reports of Luftwaffe aircraft machine-gunning hospital ships at Dunkirk, which are clearly marked. It is very difficult to prove such attacks, and some or all may be accidental.

US Government: President Roosevelt sends a message to Congress. He states that the changing nature of war, with expensive tanks and planes, requires a "billion-dollar defense program." He sends a supplementary $100 million defense bill to Congress as part of his $1.3 billion plan. He also states that he wants a law giving him authority:

call into active service such portion of the National Guard as may deemed necessary to maintain our position of neutrality and to safeguard the national defense, this to include authority to call into active service the necessary Reserve personnel.

In Montevideo, Uruguay, the US ambassadors to Uruguay (Norman Armour) and Argentina (Edwin C. Wilson) confer. They send a telegram to Secretary of State Cordell Hull. In it, they suggest that "if the situation in the Far East permits," that the US might send a "large U.S. naval force, 40 or 50 vessels...to the east coast of South America." The purpose would be to "strengthen the position of those who desire to combat Hitlerism, as well as restore the confidence of those who are now wavering." They state that a US presence  "more or less permanently in these waters would be an added assurance that we are prepared to give effective and immediate assistance if required."

The telegram is supported by the Chief of the Division of the American Republics (Laurence Duggan) in a conversation with the Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles. Duggan suggests that a higher profile be put on US interest in Latin American political developments. He says that a decision "to detach two or three cruisers to go down the east coast [of Latin America]" be made public "in order to put a little iron in the veins of our friends in those countries."

The telegram from the two ministers echoes one on 30 May from Wilson alone. To that one, Hull responds that the US is sending heavy cruiser Quincy (CA 39) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and then to Montevideo for "friendly visits of courtesy."

US Military: General Spaatz arrives in London to take up his position as Military Air Observer.

China: The Japanese announce plans to launch a terror bombing campaign against Chiang Kai-shek's capital Chungking "until the spirit of Chinese resistance is broken."

At the Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang, the Japanese 11th Army attacks across the Han River at Yicheng and Ouchiamiao.

Italian Homefront: Private cars are banned to conserve gasoline - for the coming offensive against France.

British Homefront: Among other things, all street signs at crossroads are removed as a precaution against paratroopers.

The Lowell Sun, 31 May 1940.

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