Monday 5 May 1941

Emperor Haile Selassie during World War II.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe on 5 May 1941 raids Belfast again, the fourth and final raid of the Belfast Blitz. The German bombers cause widespread damage and lightly damage aircraft carrier HMS Furious and seaplane tender Pegasus. In addition, destroyer Volunteer and corvette La Malouine also are damaged, the latter fairly seriously (three months to repair). British 1719-ton freighter Fair Head and 6044-ton freighter Cape Breton are sunk (the latter refloated and repaired), while 2839-ton freighter Shepperton Ferry and 4283-ton blockship Frederika Lensen are damaged.

Other Luftwaffe targets during the night include Glasgow, Newcastle, North Shields and Cullercoats in Northumberland, Cleadon, Annfield Plain and Blaydon in Co Durham and Hull in Yorkshire.

The Luftwaffe "May Blitz" raids continue against Liverpool. Several more ships are damaged, some for the second time, including 6770-ton freighter Silversandal and 4672-ton freighter Clan Macinnes. In addition, 155-ton barge Traffic is sunk, and 231-ton whaler Sumba suffers a near miss and has to be beached before proceeding to Barry for repairs.

The Luftwaffe attacks several British ports and shipping in the English Channel during the day, causing widespread damage. In the Channel, they sink Royal Netherlands Navy trawler HNLMS Jean Frederic. There are 25 deaths.

The Luftwaffe also raids Lowestoft, sinking 147-ton Royal Navy boom defense vessel Fidelia.

In an attack on Greenock, the Luftwaffe heavily damages destroyer HMS Marksman as well as submarines Traveller and Trooper, which are under construction.

RAF Bomber Command sends 141 planes against Mannheim after dark.

A map of the situation in Iraq contained on page 6 of the 5 May 1941 New York Times.

Anglo-Iraq War: British troops are holding their own at Habbaniyah Airfield despite being badly outnumbered. They do have complete control of the air. The Iraqis are slowly giving ground near the airport.

The British Defence Committee gives Middle East Commander General Archibald Wavell control over operations in Iraq. The Germans also have their eyes on Iraq and plan to supply it via their allies in Vichy Syria.

Emperor Haile Selassie during an address to the League of Nations.

East African Campaign: Haile Selassie, exiled from his kingdom of Abyssinia by the Italians, makes a triumphant return to his capital of Addis Ababa. The return is timed to mark the 5th anniversary of the Italian occupation of the city. Accompanying him is Orde Wingate. The Emperor is welcomed by streets lined with African troops and a 21-gun salute. Selassie gives thanks "to Almighty God that I stand in my palace from which the Fascist forces have fled." May 5 thereafter is celebrated in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as Arbegnoch Qen or Patriot's Day.

At Amba Alagi, the Indian troops (3/2nd Punjab Battalion) mount a pre-dawn raid across the exposed rock - the "Middle Position" - against entrenched Italian positions. In previous such situations, the Italians have proven adept at defending such positions with well-positioned machine guns, and this battle continues that pattern. The Indian troops are pinned down at barbed wire throughout the day and suffer 8 dead and 28 wounded, finally retreating after dark.

Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, 5 May 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), on her fourth patrol out of Wilhelmshaven, sends two torpedoes into 4976-ton British freighter Queen Maud 200 miles west of Sierra Leone. When the freighter takes its time sinking, Liebe pumps another one into her, and Queen Maud sinks with the loss of one crewman. There are 43 survivors

British 436-ton freighter St. Eunan hits a mine five miles southwest of St. Ann's Head and is damaged. The St. Eunan makes it to port.

U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler), the first Type VIIC U-boat, departs from Lorient for its first mission.

Two ships of the Royal Navy 1st Minelaying Squadron departs Loch Aish to lay minefield SN 9A, accompanied by four destroyers.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Begonia rescues 17 survivors of an unidentified merchant ship.

Convoy OG-61 departs from Liverpool bound for Gibraltar.

Royal Navy corvette HMS Mayflower is commissioned at Tyne, and corvettes HMCS Kamsack, Morden and Sherbrooke are commissioned in Canada.

Time magazine, 5 May 1941. Ramon S. Castillo, acting President of Argentina from 3 July 1940 to 27 June 1942 and President thereafter, is the cover story (Ernest Hamlin Baker). Castillo's overthrow in 1943 will begin the rise to power of Juan Peron.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Fighting has died down on the Tobruk perimeter. The Axis forces hold a small wedge in the perimeter defenses on a 3-mile (4.8 km) front with a maximum depth of 2 miles (3.2 km). However, they have been ordered by visiting General Paulus to cease offensive operations unless the British begin evacuating the port - which they are not doing.

Winston Churchill writes to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal that "I am most deeply concerned" at how the air war is developing in the Middle East:

If at the present time... we have a superiority [but] can only just hold our own, what will be our position in June, when... the enemy will have, or may have, nearly double our strength?

He adds as an aside that "personally I never expected the Greek venture to succeed unless Turkey and Yugoslavia both came in."

Luftwaffe III Gruppe of JG 27 relocates to Sicily in order to prepare for the upcoming Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete.

Part of Convoy WS 8A reaches Gibraltar from England. This is the Tiger Convoy which carries badly needed tanks for General Wavell in North Africa. The plan - a pet project of Winston Churchill - is to send this convoy directly through the Mediterranean, past German, Italian and Vichy French possessions.

The Royal Navy sends destroyers HMAS Voyager and Waterhen from Alexandria to Tobruk on a transport mission during the night. They immediately unload and head back within hours. This is the first supply mission to the port since the Germans invested it. This is the first of planned nightly supply missions.

The RAF (830 Squadron) lays mines in Tripoli Harbor. The pilots observe an Axis ship mysteriously blow up in the harbor while they are at work.

There is some trepidation in London (principally by Churchill) that the Germans may invade Cyprus instead of Crete. The Australian 7th Infantry Division (cavalry regiment) arrives there today.

Convoy WS 7X arrives in Bombay, India loaded with troops.

Bread rationing begins in Malta, but the price is reduced. It is a quiet day, with only one air raid alert that concerns planes that don't cross over the island. Convoy MW 7B departs Alexandria for Malta.

Spy Stuff: Tokyo suspects that its communications with the embassy in Washington, D.C. are being broken and read. It sends a message to this effect today to the embassy. An investigation is begun.

14th Street and Ninth Avenue (northeast corner) on 5 May 1941 (Museum of the City of New York). Parts of this building survive unaltered near the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

US/French Relations: Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton tells the War Cabinet that the US is poised (by early July) to deliver 14,000 tons of flour in two merchant ships to Vichy France on humanitarian grounds. Winston Churchill permits this and other shipments to pass through the Royal Navy blockade under the overarching theory that this may give the US some leverage with the Vichy government which at some point could become useful to the war effort. The War Cabinet minutes suggest that Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to Washington, had agreed to this shipment without explicit permission to void previous British policy on the matter, which did not allow such shipments. At this point, it basically is a fait accompli.

Churchill does require that, as a condition of this continuing US aid, the French permit no further Germans entry into French possessions in North Africa - a demand that will not be met and is more an attempt to save face than anything else. This agreement appears to be motivated as much to ingratiate Churchill with President Roosevelt as to help the French. Churchill rationalizes that the blockade has been ineffective anyway.

US/Australian Relations: After his meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal on the 4th, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies departs from Lisbon aboard flying boat "Dixie Clipper" bound for Horta, the Azores. Menzies arrives safely. He is en route to Bermuda, and then New York.

Anglo/Irish Relations: Churchill writes in a memo to Herbert Morrison that "Northern Ireland does not appear to be making its utmost contribution to the war effort... one-eighth of the insured population is out of work." He requests that steps be considered to have Northern Ireland "display some initiative."

German/Romanian Relations: Marshal Ion Antonescu, who keeps a very close eye on Soviet troop movements, warns Hitler that the Soviets are massing troops around Kyiv and Odessa in what may be springboards for offensive action. In addition, Antonescu states:

The thing worth noting is that factories around Moscow have been ordered to transfer their equipment into the country’s interior.

Hitler, of course, already is planning to invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Hitler inspects the Kriegsmarine in Gotenhafen (Gdynia), apparently aboard the Bismarck, 5 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler makes an inspection tour of the Kriegsmarine base at Gotenhafen (Gdynia). While there, Hitler visits his two new battleships, Tirpitz and Bismarck. He has a meeting with Admiral Günther Lütjens, who is in command of an upcoming sortie aboard the Bismarck to the Atlantic, and Captain Lindemann of the Bismarck. Many believe that, during this meeting, Hitler creates overly optimistic expectations within Lütjens that informs some of his questionable aggressive decisions later in the month. Hitler also inspects U-57, a U-boat sunk near Brünbuttel but later repaired and returned to service.

Soviet Government: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin delivers two secret speeches to a Kremlin banquet held to honor a thousand graduating officers. All of the top Soviet brass, including Foreign Minister Molotov, Mikoyan, Voroshilov, Kalinin, and Lavrenti Beria, are there. The Germans later capture two attendees who independently recall that Stalin stated that the pact with the Third Reich was simply a temporary expedient. He states in his first speech:

New tank models, the Mark 1 and 3, are on their way;  these are excellent tanks, whose armor can withstand 76-millimeter shells. In the near future there will also be a new tank graced with my own name. This tank will be a veritable fortress. Today we have up to a hundred armored and mechanized divisions which still need to be organized into an entity. Our war plan is ready, we have built the airfields and landing grounds, and the frontline aircraft are already there. Everything has been done by way of clearing out the rear areas: all the foreign elements have been removed. It follows that over the next two months we can begin the fight with Germany. Perhaps it surprises you that I tell you of our war plans. But we have to take our revenge for Bulgaria and Finland.

Later, after much drinking by all, Stalin delivers a second speech. In this one, he states:

The slogan of peaceful policies is now obsolete—it has been overtaken by events. During the years of the capitalist encirclement of the Soviet Union we were able to make good use of the slogan while we expanded the Soviet Union’s frontiers to the north and west. But now we must discard this slogan for the reactionary and narrow-minded slogan that it is, as it will not serve to win us one more square inch of territory. It is time to stop chewing that particular cud, Comrade Chosin:  stop being a simpleton! The era of forcible expansion has begun for the Soviet Union. The people must be schooled to accept that a war of aggression is inevitable;  they must be in permanent mobilization.

This aggressive stance will be hidden from the West, of course. It certainly does not justify in any way Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. However, in hindsight, it serves as a countervailing argument to those who point to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa as an epic mistake.

British Government: First meeting of the Tank Parliament, a Cabinet Committee devoted to armored forces. Churchill has formed to "make a general examination of the present position and prospects of armored formations." The Tank Parliament will engage in long-range planning of equipment and strategy, and will, as today's minutes indicate, take into account that "we might have to reckon with a break eastwards by the Germans."

Venezuela: General Isaias Medina Angarita becomes president.

French Homefront: Coco Chanel comes up with a new strategy in her long-running campaign to gain control over perfumes issued in her name in the 1920s. She writes to the occupying German government - she lives in the Ritz with many top German officers - claiming proprietary ownership over company Parfums Chanel, and in particular its leading brand Chanel No. 5. It is another step in a long, complicated struggle by Coco to recover what she views as her rightful ownership over the perfumes.

Channel claims sole ownership of the company over Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who are Jewish directors of perfume house Bourjois and control Parfums Chanel. Coco Chanel herself only has ten percent of the stock in their company, and basically just licenses her name to the Wertheimer brothers, but she long has felt that she deserves all of it for various murky reasons. Her past attempts have failed, but she decides to try again. The argument that Chanel makes (this time) is that the Wertheimer brothers, being Jewish, have abandoned the property (they sailed to New York in 1940). Coco writes:

I have, an indisputable right of priority ...the profits that I have received from my creations since the foundation of this business ...are disproportionate ...[and] you can help to repair in part the prejudices I have suffered in the course of these seventeen years.

The Germans, of course, are not averse to helping out a fellow "Aryan" against some Jews who have fled (for very good reason). They discover, however, that the Wertheimer brothers have assigned their controlling rights in Parfums Chanel to a "front," Christian businessman and industrialist Felix Amiot. This tactic, fairly common during the Occupation, foils Coco's plan.

Coco Chanel with Adolf Hitler.

Future History: The legal battle over Chanel No. 5 continues for years, and the Wertheimer brother will manage to operate the company from New York throughout the war using agents. The Germans and French government ultimately reject Coco Chanel's petition to obtain sole ownership. The controversy, in fact, outlasts the war, as if it never happened. At the end of the war, Amiot returns control over the perfume company - including Chanel No. 5 - to the Wertheimer brothers, but the legal proceedings and attempts to regain control by Coco Chanel continue and intensify.

Ultimately, the parties reach a settlement which makes Coco a very rich woman for a very unlikely reason: the brand depends in part on her image. The Wertheimer brothers reason that if it is revealed that Coco consorted with German officers during the Occupation, the entire business could be ruined. Basically, she extorts them by threatening to ruin herself. So, while they are on solid legal grounds in retaining ownership, they give Coco a generous portion of their profits essentially to keep her quiet and remain a positive image for the brand.

Thus, Coco Chanel's wartime "collaboration" (if it can be called that, and this is a very contentious issue) actually inures to her benefit in the long run. While there are scandalous rumors for the rest of her life, Coco Chanel's image remains intact until after her death in 1971 - at the Ritz.

The Front page of the 5 May 1941 NY Times.

May 1941

May 1, 1941: British Hold Tobruk
May 2, 1941: Anglo-Iraq War
May 3, 1941: Liverpool Hammered
May 4, 1941: Hitler Victory Speech
May 5, 1941: Patriots Day
May 6, 1941: Stalin In Command
May 7, 1941: May Blitz
May 8, 1941: Pinguin Sunk
May 9, 1941: U-110 Captured
May 10, 1941: Hess Flies Into History
May 11, 1941: The Hess Peace Plan
May 12, 1941: Tiger Arrives Safely
May 13, 1941: Keitel's Illegal Order
May 14, 1941: Holocaust in Paris
May 15, 1941: Operation Brevity
May 16, 1941: Blitz Ends
May 17, 1941: Habbaniya Relieved
May 18, 1941: Croatia Partitioned
May 19, 1941: Bismarck at Sea
May 20, 1941: Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1941: Robin Moore Sinking
May 22, 1941: Royal Navy Destruction Off Crete
May 23, 1941: Crete Must Be Won
May 24, 1941: Bismarck Sinks Hood
May 25, 1941: Lütjens' Brilliant Maneuver
May 26, 1941: Bismarck Stopped
May 27, 1941: Bismarck Sunk
May 28, 1941: Crete Lost
May 29, 1941: Royal Navy Mauled Off Crete
May 30, 1941: Sorge Warns, Stalin Ignores
May 31, 1941: British Take Baghdad

2020

Thursday 11 July 1940

Ju 87 B Stuka of 9/StG 77, Flers, France, July 1940.

Battle of Britain: The weather on 11 July 1940 is iffy, quite overcast in the morning. The Luftwaffe begins its raids at first light, sending lone raiders across the coast between Yarmouth and Flamborough at 06:00. These appear to be probing attacks to stretch out the defense and find any weakness. There are dogfights throughout the day.

At 11:00, the Luftwaffe begins its main attacks. It sends 50 planes - Stukas and Bf 109Es -  against the naval base at Portland and ships offshore near there. The RAF sends up five squadrons. Losses are about equal at 1 Hurricane, 2 Spitfires, 2 Bf 109s, and 2 Stukas.

At 17:00, the Luftwaffe sends in another raid against Portsmouth, causing fires.

At 21:00, yet another raid occurs in South Wales, Somerset, Bristol, Portland, Dorchester, and Plymouth sector.

RAF Bomber Command attacks French airfields.

The RAF chalks up its losses for the day as 3 Hurricanes and 2 Spitfires. Luftwaffe losses are much higher, estimated at 10-12 fighters and 13-25 bombers. Actual numbers of victories and losses is never clear-cut, almost always disputed, and virtually impossible to establish with precision, so estimates vary.


Battle of the Atlantic: U-34 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann) continues its successful patrol, torpedoing and sinking independent 2,197-ton Norwegian freighter Janna about 115 southwest of Cape Clear at 07:00. All 25 aboard survive after they sail almost all the way to Ireland when they are spotted by British decoy ship HMS Beauty. The Jannai is a straggler from Convoy HX-54 and was trying to rejoin another convoy but was unable to in deep fog.

Kriegsmarine torpedo boat S.26 sinks 332-ton freighter Mallard off of St. Catherine's Point. Three crew survive and become POWs, six perish.

The Luftwaffe sins 139-ton ship Providentia and damages freighter Kylemount about 10 miles west of Dartmouth and damages British freighters Peru, Eleanor Brooke, and City of Melbourne in Portland Harbor. The German planes also damage Dutch freighter Mies about 7 miles off of Portland.

The British lay a minefield in the North Sea by minelayer Teviotbank assisted by destroyers HMS Express and Esk.

Convoy SL 39F departs Freetown, Convoy HX 57 departs from Halifax.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian submarine Tarantini torpedoes and sinks Panamanian freighter Janna about 60 miles south of Cyprus. The submarine rescues the entire crew.

At Malta, churchgoers spot a "miraculous" result of a recent air raid. A famous statue that is known as "Behold the Man" has its head blown off, sending it to a spot peering out from a hole in the road. It is a rare day without any air raid alerts.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: About 400 miles south of Ceylon, German raider Atlantis sinks 7506-ton British freighter City of Baghdad with gunfire. All but two of the 83 men on board survive and are made prisoners. There is a bit of payback in this sinking because the City of Baghdad was a German ship taken as reparations after World War I.

The Atlantis sends a boarding party to the ship before sinking it which discovers valuable information, including a copy of the British codes and a report showing that the Admiralty knew about the Atlantis. This causes Captain Rogge to have his crew erect two new masts to the Atlantis to alter its appearance.

German/Spanish Relations: German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop asks Spanish leader Francisco Franco to detain the Duke of Windsor, who is heading for the Bahamas via Lisbon but may still be in Spanish territory. The Duke of Windsor is widely suspected of having fascist sympathies, and regardless would be a valuable hostage. It appears, though, that Ribbentrop is a day late and a reichsmark short.

British/Irish Relations: Lord Craigavon announces that Ireland has rejected British overtures for a joint defense arrangement.

British/Ethiopian Relations: British Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Rab Butler announces to the House of Commons that the government recognizes exiled Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie as the legitimate head of state and will restore him to his throne. This contrasts sharply with the government's treatment of exiled King Zog of Albania, recently denied recognition.

Romania: The government quits the League of Nations.

Soviet Union: General Golikov is named to the Head of the Intelligence Directorate of the Stavka (General Staff).

French Government: Prime Minister Philippe Pétain, using the plenary powers granted him by the legislature on the 10th, replaces President Albert François Lebrun with himself as head of state. Rather than appoint himself President, though, Pétain simply abrogates Article 2 of the French Constitutional Laws of 1875, removing the office of President completely.

Former President Lebrun is not formally dismissed, does not resign, and is simply discarded. President Lebrun, uncertain where all this will lead, flees to Vizille. Pierre Laval becomes the new Prime Minister. Pétain also formally abolishes the Republican Constitution of 1875, thereby eliminating the Third Republic, and dismisses the legislature sine die. He also appoints 12 ministers and 12 governors of French provinces.

Pétain begins his "reign" oddly, with a proclamation that begins "Nous, Philippe Pétain." This sort of styling is reminiscent of Louis XIV. This is only the beginning of Pétain's eccentric, autocratic regime. He retains deep affection with the populace, and in any event, they no longer have any say in their own government, as they are not Philippe Petain. One can speculate that in a time of great national distress, Pétain at least provides the appearance of rock of strength juxtaposed against the menacing Germans. In some respects, that is true, too, as Hitler wants to coerce and cajole the French leader into cooperate, not anger him into defiance and outright opposition.

German Government: Kriegsmarine Admiral Erich Raeder confers with Hitler at Berchtesgaden about Operation Sealion and Norwegian naval bases, such as the U-boat hub at Bergen. Raeder is of the opinion that the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine alone can defeat Great Britain, and Hitler views an invasion as only a "last resort."

British Government: Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, announces that purchases of US aircraft will be virtually unlimited, with costs coming to about £2 million per day.

Generals Bernard Montgomery and Richard O'Connor are knighted, becoming Companions of the Order of the Bath.

US Government: The government solicits prototypes for a new generic light motor vehicle - what we now call a jeep - from automotive manufacturers. Prototypes must be submitted within 45 days and a pre-production run completed in 75 days.

The USS Witchita continues its "show the flag" trip in Brazil, departing Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil for Santos, Brazil.

Republican William Frank Knox takes over as Secretary of the Navy.

War Crimes: RAF attacks on hospital craft continue. Six Spitfires shoot down a Heinkel seaplane bearing appropriate Red Cross markings off the coast of Kent.

German Homefront: Food flows into the Reich from the occupied territories, easing years of privation.

British Homefront: The government continues imposing the pettiest economy measures, underlining the extremely dire nature of the U-boat blockade. Already it has banned women's high heels and rationed tea; today, Lord Beaverbrook appeals for housewives to contribute aluminum pots and pans "to build spitfires." These measures are not always absolutely necessary given the current economic situation, and certainly not for fighter production, but they gradually impose a sense of wartime discipline on the populace.

British guidebooks and maps are banned, and all in possession of the same must turn them into their local constabularies. This is for fear of spies and parachutists using them.

Ju 87 B Stuka of 9/StG 77, Flers, France, July 1940.

July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020

Tuesday 11 June 1940

General Rommel's 7th Panzer Division on the move, 11 June 1940.

Western Front: With German troops approaching Paris on 11 June 1940 and little to stop them, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Foreign Minister Anthony Eden fly to France to confer with French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud and French Commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand at Briare (Weygand's headquarters in Chateau du Muguet). The French demand that the RAF send more fighter squadrons across the Channel; in fact, they ask for the entire Royal Air Force. The French believe this would give the French Army a chance to regain its balance, but the British remain cautious.

Churchill defers to Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, who refuses to send more squadrons. Churchill renews his vow to defend France, but also strongly hints at his true view of the situation by encouraging the French to begin guerrilla warfare. He pointedly reminds the French of their 28 March 1940 agreement not to make a separate peace.

Churchill's true concern is the French navy, the fourth largest in the world. He wants assurances that it will not fall into German hands. Reynaud is exasperated and refuses to discuss the matter. At some point, French Navy Admiral François Darlan assures Churchill that the fleet will not be surrendered.

There is an air of unreality to the proceedings, almost as if everyone is just going through the motions and disconnected from the awful reality. French Marshal Pétain (84) interrupts the conference with his own take on strategy: "We don't seem to be making much use of carrier pigeons." According to Reynaud, Pétain has been busy drafting an appeal for an Armistice. The conference continues on the 12th. General Spears, along with Churchill, notes: "I was suddenly aware that the battle of France was over and that no one believed in miracles."

General Erwin Rommel and his 7th "Ghost" Panzer Division take Le Havre, then advance 30 miles further up the coast. This advance bottles up the 51st (Highland) Division and many French troops, a total of 46,000 men, at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. It is a mini-Dunkirk situation, but the foggy weather makes a British evacuation difficult. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Broke and corvette HMS Gardenia take off some wounded. Rommel takes positions on the cliffs overlooking the port, making Royal Navy visits extremely hazardous. The Allied troops hide in some caves, but many are on the beach under the night sky.

Wehrmacht troops of the 4th Army enter the distant Paris suburbs at Pontoise, northwest of the city. In addition, Panzer Group Kleist crosses the Marne at Château-Thierry. The German 18th Army is approaching Paris. Faced with an unstoppable pincer attack, the French government declares Paris an open city.

Panzer Group Guderian takes Reims.

Italian troops make begin tentative movements across the Alps toward France.

German pocket battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in Trondheim Harbor on the left, Admiral Hipper on the right, 11 June 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: With the Italians in the war, the British and French take quick steps to neutralize its navy. The Royal Navy (Admiral Andrew Cunningham) and a French cruiser squadron patrol the eastern Mediterranean from Alexandria and the Levant, respectively. In addition, Royal Navy cruisers bombard the Italian stronghold of Libya.

While the British and French are the most aggressive, the Italians draw first blood. An Italian submarine sinks cruiser HMS Calypso south of Crete.

U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) torpedoes 5,280 ton Greek freighter Mount Hymettus in the eastern Atlantic. When it does not sink quickly, it surfaces and finishes it off with gunfire. All 24 aboard survive.

U-48 (Korvettenkapitän Hans Rudolf Rösing) torpedoes and sinks 3,598 ton Greek freighter Violando N. Goulandris off Cape Finisterre, Spain. There are six deaths, 22 survivors.

U-46 (Kapitänleutnant Engelbert Endrass) torpedoes 8,782-ton British tanker Athelprince west of Cape Finisterre at 23:04. When the first torpedo does not sink it, U-46 fires a second torpedo that hits amidships and appears to doom the ship. After U-46 departs believing it has the kill, the Athelprince is salvaged, repaired and returned to service. All 59 crew survive. This is another example of large tankers being particularly difficult to sink.

British freighter St. Ronaig hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea.

Troopship Bruges (a Belgian transport attached to the Royal Navy) is sunk by Luftwaffe attack off Le Havre; all 72 crew survive, and the ship is empty of troops.

The US passenger liner Washington is en route from Lisbon to Galway, Ireland. It is packed with 1,020 US citizens collected from France and North Africa at the urging of the US State Department. U-101 sees it, surfaces, and orders it to stop for inspection. Kapitänleutnant Frauenheim at first thinks that the ship is Greek and prepares to disembark it and sink it. However, hurried blinker signal exchanges establish that it is American, and he permits the ship to proceed. It is one of the great unknown (except by people like us) instances of a U-boat captain avoiding huge loss of innocent life by strictly and correctly following the rules of international law.

Norwegian trawler Borglund picks up 37 survivors from HMS Glorious and 2 from HMS Acasta.

Convoy OA 166G departs from Southend, Convoy OB 166 departs from Liverpool.

U-124 (Kptlt. Georg-Whilhelm Schulz) is commissioned.


European Air Operations: The RAF in Egypt bombs Italian airfields in El Adem, Libya, while the South African Air Force bombs Moyale, an outpost in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The British lose three planes, but destroy all 18 Italian planes on the ground.

In retaliation for the RAF raids, the Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) sends a raid of 10 Italian Royal Air Force Cant Z.1007 Alcione bombers to attack Grand Harbour, Hal Far and Kalafrana in Malta. One civilian and 6 British soldiers (sources vary) perish, with 130 wounded. There are only 4 completely inadequate and obsolete Sea Gladiators to defend the island, and the Gladiators valiantly damage one of the attacking planes. This is considered the start of the "Siege of Malta." Three of the British biplanes are named Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Italy bombs the French naval base at Toulon. It also bombs French positions in Tunisia and a British base at Aden and one at Port Sudan.

The RAF bombs the German fleet at Trondheim, damaging two cruisers and a transport.

The RAF sends a night raid of 36 Whitely bombers against Fiat factories in Turin and Genoa, refueling in the Channel Islands. The raid shows typical poor aim for the period and instead hits the city center indiscriminately, killing 14 civilians. The Mussolini government widely publicizes this as an instance of terror bombing.

The French in Marseilles demonstrate seeming ambivalence, or perhaps outright despair, about the course of the war when they block runways to prevent their use by RAF Wellington bombers. Their apparent objective is to prevent Italian reprisal raids. Marseilles already has suffered damage in Luftwaffe raids, but Marseilles is a much easier target from northern Italy than from Germany.

The RAF drops incendiaries on the Black Forest during the night in an attempt to begin forest fires.

North Africa: Ground hostilities in North Africa commence when a British patrol raids Sidi Omar and the Italians also stage raids. The British 11th Hussars send armored cars into Libya and take some Italian troops as prisoners. The Italians do not even realize they are at war yet.

International Relations: Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, all part of the British Commonwealth, declare war on Italy. Italy severs relations with Norway.

Italian/German Relations: The Luftwaffe establishes liaison staff with the Italian air force.

Anglo/US Relations: As part of his continuing correspondence with President Roosevelt, Churchill sends a telegram noting the Italian entry into the war, its submarine fleet (largest in the world), and reiterates his request for destroyers:

To this, the only counter is destroyers. Nothing is so important as for us to have 30 or 40 old destroyers you have already had reconditioned.

Anglo/Polish Relations: The two governments (Polish Government-in-exile) sign an agreement for there to be both a Polish army and navy in Great Britain.

German Government: Adolf Hitler gives an interview to German-born UP reporter Carl von Wiegand which is published a couple of days from now. Wiegand had been the first US reporter to interview German crown prince Wilhelm, the first interview given by a German noble during World War I, and Hitler references almost everything back to the Great War. This interview is entitled "Europe for the Europeans: Adolf Hitler on the international situation during the war in France; An interview granted to Karl v. Wiegand, Führer's Headquarters, June 11, 1940." Hitler expresses his desire not to destroy the British Empire, but instead to "destroy those who are destroying that Empire." He believes that US aid to Britain will not affect the outcome of the war.

US Government: In accordance with his obligations under the Neutrality Act, President Roosevelt defines the Mediterranean and parts of the Red Sea as combat zones.

Roosevelt expresses serious reservations with permitting the UK royals to transfer to Canada, fearing the public relations effect of allowing the monarchy to set up shop in North America.

French Homefront: The refugee crisis hits Paris, as long lines of traffic snakes out of the city with headlights dimmed, packed with gear, and mattresses on the roofs.

British Homefront: Clement Attlee, Lord Privy Seal, addresses the House of Commons about (among other things) the Italian entry into the war. He uses quite colorful metaphors, comparing the Duce to a "jackal" and a "sneak-thief":

Signor Mussolini thinks that he sees a chance of securing some spoils at the expense of the Western democracies now that they are at grips with the brute forces of Germany. Signor Mussolini uses the argument of the jackal which scents the possibility of getting some scraps from another beast’s kill. He puts forward the argument of the petty sneak-thief to rob and rifle the pockets of the murderer’s victim.

He concludes that Mussolini's aim, like Hitler's, is to "destroy democracy."

The British government extends its internment policy to include all male Italians, 16 and over, who have lived in the country for fewer than 20 years. There is no trial, and some are political refugees who fled Mussolini's regime.

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

Thursday 30 May 1940

The Bourrasque, deck crowded with men, in its last moments.

Western Front: Operation Fish is implemented on 30 May 1940. This is the shipment of British gold and securities to the Bank of Canada in Ottawa. Battleship HMS Revenge carries £40 million in gold, while troopships Antonia and Duchess of Richmond carry £10 million in gold apiece.

General de Gaulle calls off his attack on Abbeville. The French have recovered about half the ground of the bridgehead, but lost 105 tanks in the process. One must chalk the victory up to the strength of the German artillery and the clever way in which it is handled.

Another view of the Bourrasque.

Dunkirk: The weather is poor, limiting air operations over Dunkirk. On balance, this helps the Allies. It is estimated that, to date, 134,000 men have been taken off.

The evacuation is picking up steam. An additional 53,823 men are taken off (24,311 Allied troops embark from Dunkirk harbor and 29,512 men from the beaches). For the first time, some French troops are picked up.

Smaller vessels are used primarily to transport men out to the larger transport ships standing offshore. General Sir Alan Brooke of British 2d Corps leaves today for Dover, where he will meet with General Dill and receive a new command. Bernard Montgomery, commander of the 3rd (Iron) Infantry Division, replaces him.

The Germans are close enough to start scoring artillery hits on the rescue ships. Despite a constant RAF presence, the Luftwaffe is getting through just enough to cause problems.

Conditions within the beachhead are orderly, but crude. Hospital Services for the wounded are sketchy at best. Many badly wounded men (lost arms or legs) are given morphine or heroin and allowed to drift off.

Men in a trench at Dunkirk, May 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: The main focus remains on the English Channel due to Operation Dynamo. Numerous smaller vessels are sunk or damaged from a variety of causes, including Luftwaffe and small-arms attacks. The Admiralty removes all modern destroyers from the vicinity (H, I, J class), leaving about 10 older destroyers to rescue the roughly 300,000 men left in the shrinking bridgehead. Ronald Cartland, a Member of Parliament, is killed in the fighting at Dunkirk.

French destroyer/torpedo ship Bourrasque is damaged by striking a mine off Nieuwpoort, and then sunk by artillery fire off Ostend. It is loaded with BEF troops, and 660 men either drown or swim ashore and are captured. There are about 300 survivors picked up by other ships.

Three large transport ships are sunk off of Dunkirk.

Three Royal Navy destroyers (HMS Anthony, Sabre, and Worcester) are damaged off of Dunkirk.

Numerous smaller vessels are damaged near Dunkirk, including minesweeper HMS Kellet, armed boarding vessel HMS King Orry and steamers St. Julien & Normannia.

U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) torpedoes and sinks 4,831 ton British freighter Stanhall about 35 miles northwest of Ile d'Ouessant, France. There are 36 survivors, one man perishes.

U-boats U-100 (Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke) and U-123 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Moehle) are commissioned.

Convoy OA 158GF departs from Southend, Convoy OB 158 departs from Liverpool.

30 May 1940: more men are being taken off from the beaches than from the docks.

European Air Operations: RAF sends 68 aircraft to attack the advancing Germans at Dunkirk during the day, and 28 more at night.

RAF Bomber Command attacks Hamburg and Bremen during the night with 18 bombers.

Norway: The British continue the evacuation of Bodø, taking another group of men off to Harstad. Colonel Gubbins remains in the port. The German 2d Mountain Division is still working its way up the lengthy road which the British were able to skip by using the ferry.

General Dietl and his mountain troops remain in the middle of nowhere in northern Norway. The Allies continue to press them, and the German mountain troops are retreating slowly toward the Swedish border at Bjørnfjell, which is only 18 miles away. During the day, Dietl receives another 57 men of the 1st Fallschirmjaeger Regiment. His main hope is the slow, painful advance of the 2nd Gebirgsjäger Division.

Once at the border, Dietl will have to make a decision whether to stand and fight to the end or cross the border and be interned - and cloud the entire campaign. Hitler is not giving him the option to be interned - the Fuhrer is focusing as much on Narvik as on the much more vital campaign in France. From the broadest possible perspective, Dietl's troops have served as a capital decoy to divert attention away from the main front in France - on both sides.

Ethiopia: The Duke of Aosta is in command of Italian forces in Addis Ababa. He is instructed to mobilize his forces.

German/Italian Relations: Mussolini tells Hitler that Italy will declare war on the side of the Axis on 5 June 1940.

US Government: President Roosevelt decides to keep the US fleet in the Pacific rather than bring it to the Mediterranean as has been suggested by US Ambassador to France William Bullitt, Jr. He has Secretary of State Cordell Hull tell Bullitt:

 The presence of the fleet in the Pacific at this time is a very practical contribution to the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

In Montevideo, US Minister Edwin C. Wilson notes in a telegram to Hull that the political situation is "deteriorating." He portrays a Uruguayan government that is "drifting," with ordinary people "climbing on the German bandwagon." He cautions that if things continue, an "armed movement is a possibility."

German Homefront: Food rationing is easing due to an influx of supplies from Denmark, Norway, and the Low Countries.

A destroyed Cruiser Mk IV tank after an engagement on 30 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

2020