Saturday 14 June 1941

Residents being deported from Latvia in cattle cars during the June Deportations, 14 June 1941.

Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: Operation Exporter continues on 14 June 1941, but the Commonwealth forces run into fierce Vichy French opposition. The Australian 21st Brigade continues attacking Sidon on the coast road but still fails to completely secure the city. The French forces use Renault R35 tanks to good effect, and other Australian troops have to be called up from the southeast to outflank the defenders. The defending French pull out during the night after a hard-fought defense.

The 25th Brigade of the Australian 7th Division consolidates its hold on Jezzine, a key stop on the road to Beirut. To the east, the French force in Ktriese tries to block the British advance.

The Vichy French Navy sends two destroyers out of Beirut at 16:20 to shell the advancing Australians, but New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander and British destroyers send them back to port. British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Griffin bombard Sidon.

Fierce air battles develop offshore, where the Axis forces attack the Royal Navy ships off Tyre. Curtiss Tomahawks of RAAF No. 3 Squadron shoot down three bombers.

Residents being deported from Latvia in cattle cars, 14 June 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe sends eight He 111s of KGr 100 to attack the aircraft factory at Filton. The Luftwaffe loses one plane and the attack causes little damage.

RAF Fighter Command begins a month-long practice of daily fighter sweeps over the English Channel and Northern France.

RAF 11 Group attacks St. Omer airfields with 12 fighter squadrons escorting 12 Blenheim IVs of 2 Group. One Blenheim IV from RAF No.110 Sqn is lost.

During these attacks, Luftwaffe Ofw. Robert Menge of 3./JG 26 is shot down and killed near Marquise, France by Squadron Leader James E. Rankin of No. 92 Squadron RAF. Menge has 18 kills to his credit. RAF Bomber Command also sends 30 aircraft on anti-shipping missions.

During the night, RAF Bomber Command raids Cologne with 29 bombers. The Royal Canadian Air Force conducts its first mission when three No. 405 Squadron Wellingtons attack the Schwerte railway marshaling yards.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert becomes AOCinC (commander) of RAF Coastal Command.

Residents being deported from Latvia in cattle cars, 14 June 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: Having been torpedoed off Norway by an RAF Beaufighter, Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser Lutzow returns to Kiel under its own power. It will be out of commission for about a year.

U-751 (Kptlt. Gerhard Bigalk), on its first patrol out of Kiel, torpedoes, and sinks 5370-ton British freighter St. Lindsay. All 43 men on board perish, including a group of Navy officers traveling as passengers.

The Newfoundland Escort Force continues beefing up its support infrastructure with the arrival at St. John's of depot ship HMS Forth.

Convoy LC-1 departs from Londonderry for Halifax, Convoy OG-65 departs from Liverpool bound for Gibraltar, Convoy HG-65 departs from Gibraltar bound for Liverpool.

Canadian minesweeper HMCS Lachine is launched at Levis, Quebec.

Australian minesweeper HMAS Lithgow (Commander Alfred V. Knight) is commissioned.

United States destroyers USS Fitch and Forrest are launched and Doran and Earle are laid down.

U-333 is launched, U-303 and U-414 are laid down.

Residents being deported from Latvia in cattle cars, 14 June 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: British troops move forward to jump-off points for Operation Battleaxe. This is an offensive on the Libyan border designed to relieve Tobruk. British Middle East Commander General Bernard Wavell anticipates that German General Erwin Rommel has his tanks tied down around Tobruk and that his armor will cut through the defending German infantry easily.

Due to careless wireless signals on the British side, Rommel learns eight hours before the British offensive begins that it is coming. He immediately orders reinforcements to the border. The main German force that will bear the brunt of the British offensive is the 15th Panzer Division. The German 5th Light Division also is available on the Tobruk perimeter.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Clyde torpedoes and sinks 331-ton Italian freighter Giovanini Bottigliere south of Sardinia.

In Operation Tracer, Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and Victorious successfully fly off 47 Hawker Hurricane fighters to Malta. The carriers and their accompanying escorts, Force H, then return to Gibraltar. All of the planes reach Malta.

Italian planes based on Rhodes bomb Suez Bay.

Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille is forced to crashland in Libya. He quickly returns to base, takes off in another fighter, but is shot down again. This fighter he also crashlands in Libya without injury and behind German lines.

Battle of the Pacific: Swedish 6079-ton freighter Ningpo hits a mine in Singapore Harbor. The explosion disables the freighter, which must be towed to Hong Kong for repairs.

HMAS Hobart preparest to tow freighter HMS Glenearn in Suez Bay, 14 June 1941.

Spy Stuff: The Japanese Vice-Consul in Hawaii, a Japanese intelligence officer posing as a diplomat, reports to Tokyo that a light cruiser has entered Pearl Harbor for repairs. The Japanese are keeping a very close eye on US Navy fleet movements across the Pacific.

US/Axis Relations: The sinking of US freighter Robin Moore off the African coast by U-69 (Kptlt. Jost Metzler) on 21 May 1941 results in sanctions against the Axis powers. It now is accepted even by isolationist United States Senator Gerald Nye (R-ND) that the Germans sank the freighter. Nye states:

The evidence that the Robin Moor was sunk by a German submarine is too complete to permit my declaration of yesterday noon, to the effect that the boat might have been sunk by Britain, to stand."

President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8785, entitled "Freezing the Assets of Certain European Countries." By this order, the United States immediately freezes assets of Andorra, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Finland, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Monaco, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia (which technically no longer exists), Greece, and Albania.

The order applies to the nations themselves and individuals of those nations. No reason is given in the text of the order, but it clearly is directed at the Axis powers (including the Soviet Union and its satellites). Notable from its absence on the list is Japan, which is subject to other sanctions.

In addition, the US State Department tells Germany and Italy to close all consulates in the United States except for their embassies. The United States demands damages and reparations from Germany, but the Reich ignores this demand. Germany quickly responds by telling the United States to close its consulates in the Reich, and Germany and Italy both begin considering freezing United States assets in Europe.

German/Vichy French Relations: Given Vichy French unwillingness to ratify the Paris Protocols, they essentially become a nullity aside from the Luftwaffe use of airfields in the Levant - which at this point is a fairly useless concession given the fall of Iraq to the British.

Troopship MV Georgic on fire after an air attack in Suez Bay, 14 June 1941.

Soviet/German Relations: Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov tells German Ambassador Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg  that "only a fool would attack Russia." Schulenburg secretly basically agrees but has an inkling of what is to come.
German Military: Hitler holds meetings throughout the day with his generals at the Reich Chancellery. All of the generals and Field Marshals are given separate entrances and staggered times to attend the meeting in order to preserve secrecy.

Hitler, who already has absolved in advance Wehrmacht troops of all crimes they may commit during Operation Barbarossa, expands upon previous orders such as the Commissar Order of 6 June 1941. He reiterates that Soviet prisoners of war do not have to be treated according to the Articles of the Hague Convention and Geneva Convention. He reasons that the USSR is not covered by the treaties because it has not signed them. This means that they do not have to be fed or housed properly and so forth. In addition, as previously ordered, he emphasizes that Soviet Commissars are "not to be considered POWs" and are to be shot upon capture. It is certain that these orders are illegal and contrary both to treaties and the rules of warfare.

According to notes taken by a Luftwaffe general, at one point Hitler says:

The main enemy is still Britain.  Britain will fight on as long as the fight has any purpose; this is typical of the British, as we have seen from their individual soldier’s conduct in Flanders, and it was demonstrated again by Dunkirk, by Greece, and by Crete.  But Britain’s fight only makes sense as long as they can hope that American aid will take effect and that they may find support on the continent.  This explains why they have high hopes that the Russians will intervene and tie down the Germans, wearing down our war economy while the balance of power is tilted by American aid.  At present this is very meager; it will not become effective until the summer of 1942, assuming they have enough shipping tonnage to bring it over here; and the shipping losses are increasing. 

The proof of [Britain’s] advances to Russia is the complete uniformity in their press treatment of Cripps’s journey.(1)  Russia’s attitude is perpetually obscure; she exploited every moment of political or military preoccupation elsewhere to raise immediate political demands.  We can see this happening in Russia’s intervention in the Polish campaign, and again against the Baltic states and Finland, and now in the Balkans (Bessarabia, and the treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia). 

Our attempt to “clarify the position” met with the following objections from Molotov.  First question, What does our guarantee to Romania mean and would we object to a Russian military mission?  The second question concerning the Dardanelles, and the third about Finland.  In other words continual efforts to push in somewhere.  Since these efforts coincided chronologically with various temporary weaknesses in the German position, we would have to expect them to use every chance they can in the future to act against Germany’s interests.  The Russian armed forces are strong enough to prevent us from demobilizing soldiers and feeding them into the arms and consumer-goods industries so long as this latent Russian threat persists.  Even if we made peace with Britain this would still be so.  We want this conflict to come early, however ;  indeed it is absolutely vital if we are not to forfeit the favorable conditions that prevail.  The bulk of the Russian forces are standing on the frontier, so we have a good chance of defeating them right there.

Hitler admits during his typical monologue that Soviet troops outnumber the Wehrmacht. He reasons that this problem is surmountable because of the higher quality of German troops.

There is an awkward moment when Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, attempting to be positive (he has expressed his doubts about Operation Barbarossa in private), stands up and yells that the victory over the Soviet Union will rival those of Hitler's previous victories. Hitler, however, does not take the bait. Instead, he darkly warns that Operation Barbarossa will be the "toughest" fight yet because Germany "shall be fighting an ideological enemy and an ideological enemy of fanatical persistence at that."

Word of the Commissar Order, which authorizes immediate execution of Soviet political troops, filters down to the ranks. For instance, Theodore Eicke, commander of the SS Death's Head (Totenkopf) Division, tells his men of the order. Some commanders later claim, however, not to have informed their men of the order.

The Germans instruct their vessels in Soviet ports to leave.

Martin Baltimore Mk. I or II. on June 14, 1941. (U.S. Air Force photo)

British Military: Prime Minister Winston Churchill criticizes General Bernard Freyberg's conduct of operations on Crete in a letter to General Ismay. In particular, he is upset that Freyberg did not launch a counterattack at Maleme airfield while that was still possible.

Holocaust: The June Deportations begin in Estonia. The Soviet Union rounds up "suspect" individuals in Estonia. They are mostly political figures, clergymen, military officers, refugees and immigrants, and others the Soviets feel that they cannot control. About 10,000 people are rounded up and sent to Siberia in cattle cars, and whenever one individual is sent, his entire family is forced to go with him.

American Homefront: Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra have a No. 1 hit on the Billboard singles chart with "Maria Elena." It is a 1932 popular tune written originally in Spanish by Lorenzo Barcelata and released by Decca Records (3968). The flip side is "Green Eyes," which also will hit No. 1, making it a big double-sided hit recording.

This grave marker in Libya reads, “Here rests an unknown English lieutenant, fallen during air combat on June 14th, 1941" (photograph was taken by George Rodger, Colorized by Laiz Kuczynski).

June 1941

June 1, 1941: Farhud Pogrom
June 2, 1941: Massacres on Crete
June 3, 1941: Kandanos Massacre
June 4, 1941: Kaiser Wilhelm Passes Away
June 5, 1941: Death in Chungking
June 6, 1941: Hitler's Commissar Order
June 7, 1941: Commandos Strike at Pessac
June 8, 1941: British Invade Syria and Lebanon
June 9, 1941: Litani River Battle
June 10, 1941: British Take Assab
June 11, 1941: Hitler Thinking Beyond Russia
June 12, 1941: St. James Agreement
June 13, 1941: Lützow Damaged
June 14, 1941: Latvian June Deportations
June 15, 1941: Operation Battleaxe
June 16, 1941: The Old Lion
June 17, 1941: British Spanked in North Africa
June 18, 1941: Turkey Turns Its Back
June 19, 1941: Cheerios Introduced
June 20, 1941: Birth of US Army Air Force
June 21, 1941: Damascus Falls
June 22, 1941: Germany Invades Russia
June 23, 1941: A Soviet KV Tank Causes Havoc
June 24, 1941: Kaunas and Vilnius Fall
June 25, 1941: Finland Declares War
June 26, 1941: Bombing of Kassa
June 27, 1941: Encirclement At Minsk
June 28, 1941: Minsk Falls
June 29, 1941: Brest Fortress Falls
June 30, 1941: Mölders Becomes Top Ace

2020

Sunday 8 June 1941

U-123 and U-201 at Lorient, 8 June 1941 (Federal Archive, Bild 101II-MW-4260-37)

Syrian/Lebanon Campaign: After some initial covert operations late on the 7th, Operation Exporter, the British invasion of Syria and Lebanon, begins in earnest at 02:00 on 8 June 1941. The British, directed by General Henry Maitland Wilson in Jerusalem, believe that French morale in Syria is collapsing based on reports from defectors, so they plan on a very short campaign with little resistance. In fact, the British are so confident that they have scheduled an offensive on the Libyan frontier which now is scheduled to begin on 15 June. In a grand strategic sense, the British campaign is defensive in nature, designed to protect their flank in the eastern Mediterranean and prevent future Axis adventurism further east in oil-rich Iraq.

While the British are confident, in fact, the Vichy French under General Dentz greatly outnumber the attacking British (all figures here are given differently in different sources, but everyone agrees that the Vichy French have more men). Dentz commands 45,000 men organized in 18 regular battalions that have 120 guns, 90 tanks, and about 100 aircraft. The British force comprises about 35,000 troops (18,000 Australians, 2000 Indian troops, 9,000 British troops, and around 6,000 French). The RAF has a large collection of aircraft available in Cairo, but allocate only about 70 to Operation Exporter. Both sides have modern fighters, the RAF P-40 Kittyhawks and Hawker Hurricanes, the French Dewoitine D.520 fighters, but both sides also have a motley assortment of planes from earlier eras.

The RAF (Hurricanes of No. 80 Squadron) raids the French airbase at Rayak, with the goal of the destruction of recently arrived Martin Maryland 167F bombers of French 39 Squadron, 1st Bomber Group. Australian 3rd Fighter Wing also raids Rayak with their P-40s, which confuses the French defenses because they are unfamiliar with US fighters.

Things in the air do not particularly well for the British in the air. The cutting edge French D520 fighters shoot down three Fulmar fighters of No. 803 Squadron, while the RAF claims one Potez 63 fighter. French ace Sous-Lt Pierre Le Gloan claims a Hurricane of RAF No. 208 Squadron, his 12th wartime victory and first in Syria.

The main British advantage lies in their control of the Mediterranean and the ability to blockade the Levant. The British also have a very handy jump-off point in Palestine and a massive infrastructure built up just behind the front in Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria. The recent British occupation of Iraq allows them to attack from the east as well, though that does not happen right away.

Three British columns and a Free French General Paul Legentilhomme) commands 6000 men) columns set out. Things begin to go wrong early when 420 men of the Scottish No. 11 Commando unit from Cyprus is unable to land due to rough seas at the mouth of the Litani River to capture key bridges and block reinforcements. The troopship, HMT Glengyle, returns to Port Said along with its escorts, with orders to try again on the 9th.

The Royal Navy assembles light cruisers HMS Ajax and Phoebe, and destroyers Jackal, Janus, Kandahar, and Kimberley, off the Syrian coast. Kandahar is assigned to bombard a French shore battery. Late in the day, Vichy French destroyers Guépard and Valmy sail from Beirut to bombard the Australians advancing along the coast on the 9th.

However, the war on land is unaffected by the weather. There are four lines of advance. The 5th Indian Brigade (Brigadier Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd) has the most success on the first day, advancing on the eastern front toward Quneitra and Deraa.

A British truck pulls an anti-aircraft gun across a duty track into Syria, June 1941.

On the vital coast road, which offers the greatest potential tactical profit and the shortest and quickest way to isolate the French, the 7th Australian Division under Major-General John Lavarack advances from Palestine from Haifa toward Beirut. The division notices how little notice the world is taking of its fighting and takes to calling itself the "silent seventh."

In the center of the front, the Australian 25th Brigade attacks toward the large Vichy French airbase at Rayak.

The fourth axis of advance is planned from the east, comprised of British forces in Iraq (Iraq Command). The 10th Indian Infantry Division is to advance northwest along the Euphrates River from Haditha in Iraq toward Deir ez Zor. The plan is for it to advance toward the French airfield at Aleppo and also Raqqa. This would open the road to Beirut. Habforce, which recently advanced east from Palestine to occupy Baghdad, is to advance toward Palmyra and secure the oil pipeline from Haditha to Tripoli.

Moshe Dayan, who led his company of the Palmach of the Haganah across the border late on the 7th, is looking through his binoculars early in the morning when they are hit by a bullet. He suffers an injury to his left eye. Dayan loses his eye and almost his life, and for the rest of his life must wear an eye patch that becomes his trademark.

The Free French under Charles De Gaulle attempt to turn the people of Syria and Lebanon against the Vichy colonial government by promising full independence.

Ack-Ack girls in London working on a predictor, 8 June 1941.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends 360 planes to attack targets in Germany during the day. After dark, it sends 37 bombers against Dortmund. This is the largest British bomber effort of the war to date and a bad omen for the Reich.

East African Campaign: The British at Aden are preparing for a landing at Assab, the last Italian-held port on the Red Sea. This will be Operation Chronometer. It is scheduled for 10 June.

At 04.42 hours on 8 June 1941, the Adda (Master John Tate Marshall), the ship of the convoy commodore from the dispersed convoy OB-323, was hit aft by a G7a torpedo from U-107 and sank slowly 82 miles west-southwest of Freetown. The commodore (W.H. Kelly, CBE DSO RNR RD), seven crew members and two passengers were lost. The master, 141 crew members, four gunners, five naval staff members, and 264 passengers were picked up by HMS Cyclamen.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-107 (Kptlt. Günther Hessler), on its lengthy second patrol and operating about 82 nautical miles west of Freetown, is shadowing Convoy OB-323. It torpedoes and sinks 7816-ton British liner Adda. There are 10 deaths. The 415 survivors are picked up by corvette HMS Cyclamen.

U-108 (Kptlt. Klaus Scholtz), on its third patrol out of Lorient, is operating about 600 nautical miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland as part of Wolfpack West. It torpedoes and sinks:

• 7628-ton British freighter Baron Nairn
• 4240-ton Greek freighter Dirphys

There is one death on Baron Nairn (18 survivors) and six deaths on the Dirphys (19 survivors).

U-103 (Viktor Schütze), on its extended 4th patrol and operating in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands, torpedoes and sinks 4853-ton British freighter Elmdene. All 36 onboard survive, picked up by US freighter Carlton.

U-46 (Kptlt. Engelbert Endrass), operating with Wolfpack West in the mid-Atlantic, fires two torpedoes at 6207-ton British tanker Ensis, which is traveling as an independent. Both hit, but one fails to explode, merely denting the hull. The Ensis turns and rams U-46, damaging its conning tower and periscope. This causes Endrass to abort its patrol and head back to port. Ensis, due to its compartmentalized construction, remains afloat and under power. It proceeds slowly to St. John's, arriving on 15 June, and then proceeds to Halifax for permanent repairs.

Tanker Ensis, damaged on 8 June 1941 by U-46 (Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart).

U-46 also torpedoes and sinks 5270-ton British freighter Trevarrack in the same engagement. There are no survivors.

U-48 (Kptlt. Herbert Schultze), operating in the mid-Atlantic with Wolfpack West on its 12th patrol, torpedoes and sinks 10,746-ton Dutch tanker Pendrecht. Everyone survives on the Pendrecht, which has been dispersed from Convoy OB-329.

U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Lieb), on its extended 8th patrol out of Lorient and operating midway between Brazil and Africa just north of the Equator, torpedoes and sinks 7628-ton British freighter Kingston Hill. Some sources state this happens on the 7th. There are 14 deaths and 48 survivors.

U-69 (Kapitän-Leutnant Jost Metzler) arrives back at its base at St. Nazaire, successfully dodging an attacking RAF Short Sunderland. The U-boat has spent 65 days at sea, twice the normal patrol time, a feat entirely due to the Kriegsmarine's overseas supply network. The patrol is significant because it proves that a Type VIIC U-boat can operate at great distances (U-69 covered 7680 nautical miles) and engage in multiple missions (U-69 successfully laid mines along the African coast and sank at least seven vessels). Other U-boats on even lengthier patrols remain at sea.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 97-ton Royal Navy drifter Cor Jesu off Almouth. Everyone survives.

The Luftwaffe bombs and damages 174-ton British trawler Remagio just north of Bamburgh. The master beaches the Remagio, and the crew abandons it. The Remagio later is refloated and repaired at Holy Island.

British 202-ton trawler Hopton hits a British mine and sinks off Iceland. There are 11 deaths. The incident apparently results from the port guide, the master of local trawler Hondo, mistakenly navigating through a prohibited area. He is suspended.

Convoy OB.331 departs from Liverpool, Convoy OB.332 also departs from Liverpool.

Baron Nairn (Master John Kerr), sunk by U-108 on 8 June 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: General Walter Neumann-Silkow is appointed commander of the 15th Panzer Division. He has primary responsibility for the Egyptian frontier, though General Erwin Rommel keeps a very close eye on things there.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Clyde fires on an Italian destroyer off Naples but misses. Later in the day, though, the Clyde surfaces and uses its deck gun to sink 1196 ton Italian freighter Sturla about five miles (8 km) off Policastro.

In a daring operation, Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku lands some men at Benghazi Harbor. They manage to damage a freighter in the harbor, then return safely for pickup.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Parthian enters Mitylene Harbor and sinks two schooners and a lighter, apparently with its deck gun.

Invasion fears continue on Malta. Governor Dobbie issues an alert to the island's inhabitants over the island's Rediffusion radio service, saying in part:

Malta is better able to resist attack than Crete.... circumstances justify quiet confidence.... [T]he Government and fighting services are doing their utmost to see that Malta gives a good account of itself.

British troops have been laying defensive mines on Malta, and today they claim two victims - both island locals. One (14 years old) is killed, and the other (56) is badly wounded in her legs.

Convoy SL-77 departs from Freetown, bound for Liverpool.

German  Military: OKW clarifies that its Commissar Order of 6 June means that Soviet political commissars are to be shot - which really is obvious from the text of the original order, but the High Command wants to be certain that everyone "gets the message."

The Wehrmacht sends troops to Finland for contemplated operations in the far North aimed at Murmansk.

Freighter Kingston Hill, sunk by U-38 on 8 June 1941.

US Military: Mickey Rooney, Red Skelton, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Phil Silver, Chico Marx, Jane Withers, and others put on the very first Hollywood Camp Show for soldiers at the "Soldier Bowl" held at Camp Roberts in California.

A US Army Air Corps plane, a Douglas OA-46A observation plane, crashes in Panama on a training flight. Three US servicemen perish.

Egyptian Homefront: The government begins evacuating 40,000 civilians from Alexandria following a heavy Luftwaffe raid on the 7th.

American Homefront: Virginia Senator Harry Flood Byrd Sr. reports that there are currently 67 strikes in the defense industry. The most prominent is at North American in Los Angeles.

Joe DiMaggio hits safely in his 24th game in a row at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri. He plays a doubleheader and hits safely in both ends. He is 4-8 in the doubleheader (2-4 in each game), including a home run, raising his season average to .340.

In Chicago, meanwhile, Boston Red Sox player Ted Williams gets four walks in a doubleheader but fails to get any hits. This ends his own hitting streak at 23 games, which, it turns out, is the longest of his entire legendary career.

"The bows of HMS SUFFOLK cut a parallel path to the edge of the ice." June 1941 in the Denmark Strait (Lt. RGG Coote, © IWM (A 4191)).

June 1941

June 1, 1941: Farhud Pogrom
June 2, 1941: Massacres on Crete
June 3, 1941: Kandanos Massacre
June 4, 1941: Kaiser Wilhelm Passes Away
June 5, 1941: Death in Chungking
June 6, 1941: Hitler's Commissar Order
June 7, 1941: Commandos Strike at Pessac
June 8, 1941: British Invade Syria and Lebanon
June 9, 1941: Litani River Battle
June 10, 1941: British Take Assab
June 11, 1941: Hitler Thinking Beyond Russia
June 12, 1941: St. James Agreement
June 13, 1941: Lützow Damaged
June 14, 1941: Latvian June Deportations
June 15, 1941: Operation Battleaxe
June 16, 1941: The Old Lion
June 17, 1941: British Spanked in North Africa
June 18, 1941: Turkey Turns Its Back
June 19, 1941: Cheerios Introduced
June 20, 1941: Birth of US Army Air Force
June 21, 1941: Damascus Falls
June 22, 1941: Germany Invades Russia
June 23, 1941: A Soviet KV Tank Causes Havoc
June 24, 1941: Kaunas and Vilnius Fall
June 25, 1941: Finland Declares War
June 26, 1941: Bombing of Kassa
June 27, 1941: Encirclement At Minsk
June 28, 1941: Minsk Falls
June 29, 1941: Brest Fortress Falls
June 30, 1941: Mölders Becomes Top Ace

2020

Monday 22 July 1940

Spitfire Mk I GR-A after a landing accident at RAF Pembrey on 22 July 1940. The pilot was Sgt Ronald H "Ronnie" Fokes who was returning from a night sortie when the port undercarriage leg collapsed. At the time, No 92 Squadron RAF used the code GR when based at the airfield and QJ when stationed at RAF Biggin Hill.

Battle of Britain: As Reichsmarschall Goering has ordered, on 22 July 1940 the Luftwaffe's priority today remains shipping. The raids are fairly mundane, causing little damage.

No. 145 Squadron shoots down a Dornier Do 17 over the Channel.

One of the few attacks on England proper hits Duff House in Banff. it is housing German POWs, six of whom are killed with 18 other casualties.

Destroyer HMS Beagle is attacked by Stukas but manages to shoot one down.

After dark, the raids pick up. There is minelaying all along the southern and eastern coasts, particularly in the Thames estuary. This apparently is pursuant to Hitler's Fuhrer Directive of 16 July 1940 requiring that the English Channel be "sealed off" with mines. The ports targeted are Dover, Plymouth, Portland, and Portsmouth.

Junkers Ju 88s of KG51 bomb the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton and other bombers target Margate and Manson airfield shortly before midnight.

In an odd incident, a Junkers Ju 88 (Lt. Hajo Herrmann) wind up entangled in a barrage balloon. It somehow manages to extricate itself, taking off from the balloon and continues its mission.

Losses for the day are even at a plane apiece.

RAF No. 301 Squadron, composed of Polish airmen, is formally established at Bramcote.

Otto Streib gets his second victory as a night fighter pilot.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends Blenheim bombers of No.107 Squadron against Creil, France.

Whitley bombers are sent against German targets. RAF No. 10 Squadron and No. 58 Squadron each send 8 bombers against the aircraft factory at Bremen. No. 51 Squadron sends 7 bombers against the Ruhr industrial region.

Battle of the Atlantic: British submarine HMS Clyde mistakes HMS Truant for a U-boat and fires six torpedoes at it off Fejeosen, Norway. Fortunately, they all miss the destroyer, but that is quite an expenditure of torpedoes for no hits.

British Grampus Class submarine HMS Narwhal is lost around this date somewhere off Trondheim. This apparently is done by a Dornier Do 17 of 1/Kü.Fl.Gr. 606 (Lt. Karl Müller).

British trawler HMS Campina hits a mine and sinks off the Holyhead Breakwater Light, with ten crew lost.

Convoy OA 188 departs from Methil, Convoy FN 229 departs from Southend, Convoy MT117 departs from Methil, Convoy FS228 departs from the Tyne, Convoy FS229 departs from the Tyne.

Battle of the Mediterranean: At Malta, there are some air raid alerts during the night where the raider turns back without attacking. At 03:45, a few bombers attack Hal Far airfield and the Kalafrana area. A Short Sunderland Flying Boat attacks an Italian convoy, damaging some ships.

Applied Science: A Blenheim 1F at the Fighter Interception Unit at Tangmere is fitted with Airborne Intercept (AI) Mk IV radar. This radar has a range of between 20,000 feet and 400 feet. While not an ideal night fighter, the Blenheim shoots down a Dornier Do 17 south of Brighton. This is Britain's first night-fighter victory.

Matilda Mk I tank of the Royal Tank Regiment, 1st Armoured Division, being transported aboard a flatbed railway wagon, 22nd July 1940.

British Government: Lord Halifax gets on BBC and broadcasts a rejection of Hitler's 19 July 1940 "Last Appeal to Reason," saying:

No one here wants the war to go on for a day longer than is necessary. But we shall not stop fighting until freedom, for ourselves and others, is secure.

Having Halifax make the rejection is important internally because he has been the leader of the faction that wants to at least open a dialogue with Hitler.

Separately, the War Cabinet ratifies Neville Chamberlain's proposal to create a Special Operations Executive (SOE) force. The SOE is part of the Ministry for Economic Warfare under Hugh Dalton. The intent is to support partisan uprisings against Hitler's rule in Europe.

General Bernard Montgomery takes over British V Corps.

The first US Jeep.

United States Government: Bantam submits its bid for the first military jeep, including blueprints. Much of it is assembled from existing off-the-shelf automotive parts, and the custom four-wheel drivetrain components are supplied by Spicer. The hand-built prototype was completed in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Canada: Great Britain is desperately in need of pilots, as its attrition rate in the Battle of Britain is becoming alarming. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan begins in Ontario, Canada.

General Harry Crerar is appointed Chief of General Staff.

Baltic States: People who refused to vote for the Soviet puppet government candidates are arrested.

Latin America: The Havana Conference convenes in Havana, Cuba. The member nations discuss joint security and neutrality issues. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull proposes a collective trusteeship of colonies to prevent them from becoming a battleground.

Light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL 46) reached Callao, Peru on its "Show the Flag" mission.

Japan: More Jewish refugees fleeing Europe take the "back door route" through Japan to America. The Hikawa Maru leaves Yokohama bound for Seattle, Washington with 82 aboard.

Fumimaro Konoe becomes Prime Minister again. Tojo is his War Minister and is a big advocate of an alliance with Germany.

Vichy France: Immigrant Jews lose their French citizenship.

The government releases Leon Degrelle from detention near Spain. He returns home to Belgium.

Future History: Alex Trebek is born in Sudbury, Ontario. He becomes famous as the host of Jeopardy in the 1980s.

Mary Good Road - b. 1835- d. July 22, 1940. Mary was part of the Bad Face Band of the Oglala Lakota.

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

Thursday 20 June 1940

Coldstream Guards running an assault course in full kit on 20 June 1940 (War Office Official Collection, Catalogue No.  H 1887, War Office Official photographer Lt. E.G. Malindine).

Western Front: French Prime Minister Pétain on 20 June 1940 broadcasts to the nation. He states that defeat is "inevitable" and references his own experience during World War I, when 185 Allied divisions faced the Germans as compared to 10 in May 1940.

The cadets at the Saumur military academy are forced to surrender when they run out of ammunition. 200 cadets perish.

There are continued German advances throughout the country. The Maginot Line remains a strong point for the French, despite numerous penetrations, but elsewhere the defense is "fluid." There is heavy fighting around Thionville. The Wehrmacht 12th Army captures Lyons and Vichy.

French XLV Corps crosses the border into Switzerland and is interned.

Italy masses 32 divisions divided into two armies on the French border in the Alps. The French see no reason to fight Italy when it already is trying to sue for peace with Germany and request an armistice. Mussolini, however, wants to occupy French territory to improve his bargaining position, not necessarily in France, but in North Africa. The Italians stand ready to launch their long-awaited offensive against French positions in the Riviera north to Mount Blanc.

Operation Ariel continues at a rapidly dwindling pace, picking up scattered troops in southern France. At La Pallice, a few more Polish troops and assorted embassy and consular staffs are taken off, and the ships proceed south to find more evacuees. At Bordeaux and the nearby ports on the Garonne River in the Gironde départment in Aquitaine, the Polish ships Batory, Sobieski and the Ettrick and Arandora Star complete their operations and head south as well. The main port for evacuation from this point forward is St Jean-de-Luz on the Spanish border.

As Bordeaux is no longer a focus of evacuation, the British destroyer HMS Beagle lands a demolition team to disable the port facilities.

French plenipotentiaries, led by General Huntziger, leave Bordeaux by car to meet with the Germans at Compiegne. Hitler has chosen that location due to its symbolism as the spot where Germany surrendered to the Allies in World War I. German engineers are sent to a French museum to prepare the same French railway coach for the proceeding.

Realizing that France is about to surrender, French fighter pilot James Denis loads an Armee de l'Air Farman F.222 at an airbase near Saint-Jean-d'Angély with 20 of his friends. They fly to Great Britain to carry on the fight.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-122 torpedoes (Korvettenkapitän Hans-Günther Looff) and sinks 5,911-ton British freighter Empire Conveyor about 50 miles south of Barra Head in the Hebrides. There are 38 survivors, while 3 perish.

U-30 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp) torpedoes and sinks 4,876-ton British freighter Otterpool 130 miles west of Ushant, France. There are 16 survivors and 23 perish. The ship is sailing with Convoy HG-34F.

U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) torpedoes and sinks 1,776-ton Swedish freighter Tilia Gorthon in the eastern Atlantic. There are 11 survivors, while 10 perish.

U-48 (Korvettenkapitän Hans Rudolf Rösing) torpedoes and sinks 7,493-ton Dutch tanker Moordrecht in the eastern Atlantic. There are 4 survivors, 25 perish.

The 7,638-ton French tanker Brumaire, torpedoed and damaged on 19 June 1940 by U-25, is sunk by a Luftwaffe attack.

Admiral Günther Lütjens sails heavy cruisers Gneisenau, Admiral Hipper, and four destroyers toward Iceland as part of an elaborate decoy mission as Scharnhorst, previously damaged by a torpedo, limps back to Germany. About 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) northwest of Halten, submarine HMS Clyde torpedoes Gneisenau. This causes extensive damage to the bow area, flooding two compartments, and the squadron returns to Trondheim for repairs.

Polish submarine Wilk accidentally rams Dutch submarine O-13, sinking it.

The Royal Navy intercepts two destroyers and two torpedo boats that were constructed in Italian shipyards and purchased by Sweden near the Faeroe Islands.

British submarine HMS Tigris (N 63, Lt. Commander Howard F. Bone) is commissioned.

British minesweeping trawler HMS Acacia (T 02, Commander Ralph Newman) is commissioned.

Armed yacht HMCS Elk (S 05, Lt. Commander Norman V. Clark) is commissioned.

The Gneisenau's torpedo damage as photographed on 20 June 1940.

European Air Operations: The RAF attacks Luftwaffe bases at Rouen, France and at Schiphol, Holland. It sends 56 bombers to attack western Germany.

The Regia Aeronautica bombs Calvi in Corsica.

North Africa: British mechanized troops in Sudan make raids across the Eritrean border.

The RAF raids Diredawa, Abyssinia. It also bombs Italian positions across the Libyan frontier.

The Regia Aeronautica sends 6 CANT Z.506 bombers against French positions at Bizerte, Tunisia.

Royal Navy submarine Parthian sinks Italian destroyer Diamante off Tobruk.

An Anglo/French squadron bombards Italian positions at Bardia during the night.

Mussolini asks Italian commander Italo Balbo to make more progress in the region. Balbo, the long-time commander in the region, responds, "We have no trucks, no anti-tank guns; it's steel versus flesh."

Latvia: A new Soviet puppet government is formed in Riga. The Soviets take the Latvian minesweeper Virsaitis.

Romania: King Carol pardons all imprisoned members of the Iron Guard in order to curry favor with Hitler.

Uruguay: Heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA 39) arrives in Montevideo from Rio de Janeiro as part of its "show the flag" journey.

British Military: The first Australian and New Zealand troops (Anzacs) arrive in Great Britain. General Blamey arrives in Palestine to organize Anzacs there.


Anglo/Spanish Relations: The Duke of Windsor, widely suspected of having pro-German sympathies, arrives in Barcelona after having fled Paris.

Anglo/French Relations: General Mittelhauser, commanding French forces in the Levant, informs General Wavell at British headquarters in Cairo that he will join the Free France movement and remain an ally.

Japanese/French Relations: Governor-General Catroux, acting independently because he has no support from the French government or anyone else, allows a Japanese control commission into French Indochina (Vietnam). He agrees to stop shipping arms to China through the country.

Von Brauchitsch, Keitel, Hitler and Raeder at the Fuhrer HQ at Brûly-de-Pesche, 5660 Couvin, Belgium. 20 June 1940.

German Government: Adolf Hitler is at his Wolfsschlucht headquarters. Admiral Raeder confers with him regarding the feasibility of an invasion of Great Britain. Admiral Raeder asks Hitler, “And now how about the British?” Hitler's adjutant, Georg Engel, notes in his diary that "Führer says the UK so weak that, after the bombing, a major invasion will be unnecessary. The army will just move in."
US Government: Henry L. Stimson becomes the new Secretary of War, Frank Knox the new Secretary of the Navy. They are both Republicans. Stimson is a strong proponent of helping the Allies in Europe, the former Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover, and a former Secretary of War in the Taft administration. Knox is the publisher of the Chicago Daily News and was the 1936 Vice Presidential candidate.

As part of this reshuffling, Roosevelt establishes the position of Undersecretary of the Navy.

The Bureau of Ships is established with Rear Admiral Samuel M. Robinson as its first head. It replaces the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering.

Light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL 46) departs from Pearl Harbor for the Panama Canal Zone, where it will begin a "show the flag" mission on the Pacific coast of South America.

French Government: A delegation from the two French legislative chambers approaches Pétain to complain about the desire of President Lebrun to leave for North Africa. There remain wide divisions within the government regarding the possibility of continuing the fight from Algeria and Tunisia.

Heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA 44), escorted by destroyers USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Simpson (DD 221), arrives at the Brooklyn Navy Yard with the gold reserves from the Bank of France.

American Homefront: Joe Louis has a rematch with Chilean boxer Arturo Godoy. Louis wins when the referee stops the fight in the 8th round.

Future History: Actor John Mahoney is born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. He begins his acting career as the body double for Steve McQueen in 1977 and becomes famous for playing Martin Crane on NBC sitcom "Frasier" from 1993 to 2004.

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