Monday 21 July 1941

A German Sd.Kfz-250 half-track in front of panzer units as they prepare for an attack, 21 July 1941.

Eastern Front: Hitler, apparently bored at the Wolfschanze in East Prussia, decides to visit the headquarters of Army Group North on 21 July 1941. After completing some diplomatic tasks, he boards his transport and flies to a small airport at Malnava in eastern Latvia. He then drives in his open Mercedes car to visit with Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, whose headquarters is in the manor house Malnava.

Hitler expresses his complete disinterest in capturing Moscow. As recorded in the OKW war diary:

In this regard it could then happen that 2. Panzergruppe turns to the south so that for the thrust on Moscow only infantry armies of Heeresgruppe Mitte remain. This eventuality does not worry the Führer because Moscow is for him only a geographical term.

Needless to say, an infantry advance on Moscow without the customary panzer spearhead would at best be extremely slow and at worst be impossible.

To mark the one-month anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe begins a "Moscow Blitz." After dark, Heinkel He 111 pathfinders of KGr.100 and KGr.26 take off from an airfield near Smolensk to form the vanguard of a 127-plane force that drops 104 metric tons of bombs. The bombers come in successive waves that last a total of six hours. Anti-aircraft fire is heavy under the control of Soviet commander of Moscow air defense Major General M.S. Gromadin, so the bombs are scattered across the city. Some incendiaries land on the roof of the British Embassy but are put out quickly by embassy staff and the Moscow fire brigade. The Soviets apparently have been forewarned about the raid and thus are well-prepared. However, the Red Air Force barely makes an appearance, revealing the weakness of Soviet night-fighter defenses. Six Luftwaffe bombers fail to return.

In the Far North sector, Finnish VI Corps captures Salmi on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga from Soviet 452nd Motorized Infantry Regiment. While not a particularly large town, it is an important landmark in the endless Karelian forests. The 1939 border is just beyond Salmi, and the Finns continue advancing forward toward the Svir River far to the southeast - but nobody knows what Mannerheim will do once the Finns reach the old border.

In the Army Group North sector, Hitler visits the army group headquarters and prepares to tour the front.

In the Army Group Center sector, General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 has trapped a large force of Soviet soldiers at Mogilev. The 4th Panzer Division (Major General W. von Langermann) takes about 2,000 prisoners, but he doesn't have enough infantry to capture the remaining 8-10,000 men, who escape.

In the Army Group South sector, the Germans take Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia) as several armies near forming a pocket around a huge Soviet troop concentration near Uman. Some 17,000 of the original Jewish population of Vinnitsa of 34,000 remain and persecutions begin virtually immediately. General von Kleist's panzers bear in on Uman and Tarashche. XLVIII Panzer Corps (General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf) takes Monastyrishche.

Soviet soldiers defending Moscow are preparing anti-aircraft guns in Gorky Culture Park, July 1941.

European Air Operations: During the day, 13 Blenheim bombers engage in coastal sweeps and short incursions into France.

After dark, RAF Bomber Command sends 37 Wellington and 23 Hampden bombers on the first large raid against Frankfurt. The bombers apparently get lost, with most of the damage occurring in Darmstadt, which is about 15 miles from the target city. In the latter city, there are 16 deaths and 15 buildings destroyed or damaged. All of the planes return.

RAF Bomber Command also raids Mannheim. The 36 Wellington and 8 Halifax bombers cause only light damage in the target city and nearby Ludwigshafen. One Wellington is lost.

The RAF also sends 6 Wellingtons to bomb Cherbourg and two Hampdens to lay mines in the Frisian Islands off the Dutch coast.

Oblt. Johannes Seifert of 3./JG 26 shoots down a Spitfire fighter southwest of Ypres and a Stirling bomber of RAF No. 15 Squadron over the English Channel.

Hitler with Field Marshal von Leeb at Malnava, Latvia, 21 July 1941.

Battle of the Baltic: U-140 (Oblt. Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel), a training boat, suddenly finds itself within sight of 206-ton Soviet submarine M-94. Off Ristna Lighthouse at Dago Island, U-140 sinks the submarine. There are 8 deaths and 11 survivors, who are picked up by Soviet submarine M-98. The incident is not purely by accident, as the U-boat command has ordered the U-boat far out into the Baltic in order to use the training mission as a quasi-patrol. This is U-140's final victory of the war; it has sunk three ships totaling 13,204 tons and one submarine of 206 tons. It now returns to its training duties.

Finnish ships conduct minelaying operations.

Crowds saluting Hitler as he arrives in his open Mercedes at Malnava, Latvia, 21 July 1941.

Battle of the Atlantic: Italian submarine Torelli torpedoes and sinks 8913-ton Norwegian tanker Ida Knudsen a few hundred miles west of Rabat. There are five deaths and 33 survivors, 15 of whom are picked up by 341-ton Portuguese trawler Altair.

U-109 (Kptlt. Heinrich Bleichrodt), on its second patrol, refuels from German supply ship "Thalia," which is "interned" in the Spanish port of Cadiz. The Kriegsmarine actually has such tankers at three Spanish ports, which extend the range of U-boat missions and thus effectively increase the number of boats that can be kept on patrol.

The RAF bombs and sinks German transport Wandsbeck at Narvik, Norway.

German 1599-ton freighter Hans Christopherson hits a mine and sinks off Terschelling.

British freighters Bangalore and Richmond Castle collide in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. The Bangalore is badly damaged and ultimately is sunk by the Royal Navy for being a hazard to navigation.

Canadian troop convoy TC-12 departs from Halifax. It includes transports 20,021-ton Duchess of York, 21,517-ton Empress of Canada, 23,371-ton Orion, 23,428-ton Strathmore, and 22,283-ton Strathnaver. Among its escorts is battleship HMS Malaya, recently repaired in New York.

German raider Orion rounds Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean.

Convoy OB-349 departs from Liverpool. There will be no more OB convoys, from now on they will be designated ON.

Royal Navy destroyer Ashanti is recommissioned on the Tyne after extensive repairs.

Royal Navy minesweepers HMS Cadmus and Circe are laid down.

Canadian minesweeper HMCS Guysborough is launched at North Vancouver, British Columbia.

US destroyer USS Evans and John D. Henley, minesweepers Token, Tumult, and Velocity, and submarine Gunnel are laid down.

Original caption: "Ingrian Paavo Susi, who escaped to the Finnish side. He was shot in the arm by a politruk, while escaping. Kaalamo, 1941.07.21." A politruk was a commissar responsible for the political education of Soviet troops - it means "political leader." Axis soldiers considered them among the most fanatical of Soviet troops, almost equivalent to slavemasters - they were known to beat Soviet soldiers to get them to fight.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Substance, a well-defended convoy (Convoy GM-1), gets in high gear when a seven-ship convoy escorted by Force H and a large force borrowed from the British Home Fleet proceeds past Gibraltar directly towards Malta. The ships in the convoy do not know their (extremely dangerous) destination until destroyers shoot lines onto them bearing messages to their masters. The convoy gets off to a rocky start when troopship HMT Leinster runs aground while departing Gibraltar and must be left behind.

The Italian navy learns of Royal Navy activity in the western Mediterranean. However, the Regia Marina concludes that this is nothing but another case of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier launching planes to Malta and decides to keep its ships in port.

Greek submarine Glaukos (Lt. Commander Zepos) uses its deck gun to sink 21-ton Italian freighter San Nicola four miles northwest of Rhodes.

The men of Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku engage in some derring-do by landing a small party in Benghazi Harbor. The commandos attach timed explosive charges to a ship and then escape safely.

Operation Guillotine, a British troop movement from Egypt to Cyprus, continues. Royal Navy corvette HMS Peony departs Port Said with 1712-ton Dutch freighter Trajanus heading for Famagusta. Royal Navy sloop Flamingo departs Alexandria for Port Said in order to escort another transport, HMT Kevinbank, from there to Famagusta.

An Axis convoy departs Naples bound for Tripoli. It includes 5479-ton freighter Maddalena Odero, 6003-ton freighter Nicolo Odero, 6476-ton freighter Caffaro, and 8203-ton freighter Preussen. Royal Navy submarine Olympus spots the ships and attacks but misses.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Ilex, having undergone emergency repairs, departs from Port Said through the Suez Canal in order to make final repairs at Durban.

At Malta, the Inspector General of the Royal Air Force, Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt, visit the base at Kalafrana.

Battle of the Pacific: Australian troops (Robin Force) arrive at New Caledonia with 3rd Independent Company and two six-inch guns.

A Finnish soldier on a captured Soviet BT-7 tank, 21 July 1941. The tank is being used to fell trees, perhaps to build a road (SA-Kuva).

Partisans: To take advantage of the new "V for Victory" campaign launched over the BBC on the 19th, British Minister for Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton proposes instigating widespread revolts on the Continent. It is time, he writes, to "set in motion... schemes for full-scale revolution in Europe." Dalton proposes using the Special Operations Executive for the task.

In fact, one area of occupied Europe already is in revolt. In Montenegro, partisan rebels have occupied a wide swathe of territory. General Cavallero, the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army Group in Albania, has ordered General Alessandro Pirzio Biroli to suppress the uprising "at whatever cost."

Japanese/Vichy French Relations: Vice-Premier Darlan accepts the Japanese request for basing rights in French Indochina. He comments that France has no choice in the matter, and plaintively asks the Japanese to recognize French sovereignty and to not molest French troops or evict them from their posts.

This confirms Japanese military dominance in Southeast Asia, with only the British bases in Singapore and Hong Kong, the Dutch in the East Indies, and the Americans in the Philippines and Guam to dispute it. The tentative protocol as drafted by the French provides that the use of facilities by the Japanese could not, under any circumstances, have the character of military occupation. Japanese forces are not to exceed 25,000 men.

Harlu, 21 July 1941. Someone has very skillfully thrown an ax into Stalin's head (SA-Kuva).

Anglo/Free French Relations: Free French leader Charles de Gaulle travels from his headquarters in western Africa to Cairo in order to meet with British Secretary of State for the Middle East Oliver Lyttelton. De Gaulle is completely out of sorts, sleep-deprived and furious at what he considers to be calculated slights against him personally and the Free French war effort. He hands Lyttelton a peremptory note:

Free France, that is to say France, is no longer willing to entrust to the British military command the duty of exercising command over the French troops in the Middle East. General de Gaulle and the French Empire Defence Council are resuming full and entire disposal of all the French forces of the Levant as from 24 July 1941, at midday.

Lyttelton rightly objects that this demand is an ultimatum that breaks the Anglo/Free French alliance. De Gaulle responds that the British can take it any way that they like. However, at dinner, after he has gotten some rest, de Gaulle settles for various concessions that salve his injured pride. These include recognition of France's historic position within the Levant, use of Vichy French equipment (much of which is quite good), and the right to recruit Vichy French soldiers. General Dentz, who retains control over his Vichy troops, however, is not fond of de Gaulle and keeps defections to de Gaulle down to 6,000 men.

21 July 1941, Harlu. Two Finnish soldiers pose next to a decapitated statue of Lenin and Stalin.

Anglo/Soviet Relations: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin receives British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's reply to his request for an immediate western front in Northwest Europe. Churchill promises to do "Anything sensible and effective that we can do to help." However, he says that Great Britain is unable to invade at this time. Churchill says the RAF is "studying" sending some fighter squadrons to Murmansk.

German/Croatian Relations: Hitler meets with Slavko Kvaternik, Ustasha co-founder and leader of the NDH military, at the Wolfshanze Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia. Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop and OKW head Wilhelm Keitel also attend the meeting. The Propaganda Ministry films the welcoming ceremony for the newsreels.

German/Ukranian Relations: The Germans imprison Ukrainian nationalist leader Stefan Bandera.

Joseph Stalin, July 1941.

Soviet Military: The Stavka appoints Shaposhnikov as chief of staff of Western Front, under Semyon Timoshenko.

Australian Military: The Royal Australian Navy establishes the Naval Auxiliary Patrol. It uses peacetime pleasure cruisers that become known as "nappies."

US Military: The Selective Service Act which drafts young men into the military is about to expire, so President Roosevelt asks Congress to declare a full or limited national emergency in order to extend it. Drafted soldiers now serve for only a year, and Roosevelt wishes to retain them for an additional 30 months.

German Government: As he often does, Hitler sits at his dinner table with his cronies late into the night expounding on his various theories and philosophies. He says of Benito Mussolini:

I must say, I always enjoy meeting the Duce. He's a great personality... The march on Rome, in 1922, was one of the turning-points of history... If Mussolini had been outdistanced by Marxism, I don't know whether we could have succeeded in holding out. At that period National Socialism was a very fragile growth.

After further rambling about the glories of Italian architecture, he concludes, "My dearest wish would be to be able to wander about in Italy as an unknown painter."

Three key commanders of the failed Crete campaign confer at Helwan, Egypt, on 21 July 1941. Left to right: Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew, 22nd Battalion; Brigadier Hargest, 5th (NZ) Brigade; Major-General Freyberg, 2nd New Zealand Division and Creforce (New Zealand History).

Holocaust: Majdanek Concentration Camp becomes operational.

Romanian soldiers force all of the Jews in Ozarintsy into the town synagogue. After a few hours, they take 43 Jewish men into the Polish cemetery and execute them.

At the village of Felitsianovka near Vinnytsia, the Germans execute 21 Jews.

The Germans take 12 Jews in Chernevtsy near Vinnytsia to the machine and tractor station and execute them.

An SS unit enters Sudilkov and takes all of the town's Jews from their homes to the ghetto of Shepetovka. From there, the Germans take some to the forest on the road to Klementovichi and execute them.

At Minsk, the Germans order 45 Jews to dig a pit and then get in it. They then order Russian prisoners to bury them alive. After the 30 Russians refuse, they are forced into the pit also and everyone in the pit is shot, then buried.

A jury including Cab Calloway, Canada Lee, Bill Robinson, Joe Bostic, and Erskine Hawkins selects "Miss New York City" at the Sonia Ballroom, July 21, 1941. Lillian O'Donnell wins and eventually becomes 3rd Runner-up at the Miss America competition. The pageant is a key stepping-stone to fame and fortune for some ladies - for instance, in 1945, Bess Myerson wins and uses it to eventually become Miss America and begin a long career in show business.

American Homefront: The United States begins a national aluminum salvage drive.

Eleanore Roosevelt writes in her "My Day" column about National Youth Administration leader Aubrey Wills Williams and the dedication of a new National Youth Administration training center that she attended a few days ago. Williams champions civil rights for African-Americans and uses his NYA position to provide vocational training and educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

After beginning the year slowly, the New York Yankees now lead second-place Cleveland by seven games and Boston by 14 in the American League. In the National League, the Brooklyn Dodgers lead St. Louis by only one game.

A 21 July 1941 photograph of Singapore showing Rimau Offices and Accommodation (View Road Hospital) in the early stages of construction. This later becomes the Naval Base Police Asian Quarters (National Archives UK via National Archives of Singapore online).

July 1941

July 1, 1941: US TV Broadcasting Starts
July 2, 1941: MAUD Report
July 3, 1941: Stalin Speaks
July 4, 1941: Pogroms in Eastern Europe
July 5, 1941: Germans on Schedule
July 6, 1941: Australians Attack Damour
July 7, 1941: US Marines in Iceland
July 8, 1941: Flying Fortresses In Action
July 9, 1941: British Take Damour
July 10, 1941: Sword and Scabbard Order
July 11, 1941: Cease-fire in Syria and Lebanon
July 12, 1941: Anglo/Russian Assistance Pact
July 13, 1941: Uprising in Montenegro
July 14, 1941: Katyusha Rocket Launchers in Action
July 15, 1941: Smolensk Falls
July 16, 1941: Stalin's Son Captured
July 17, 1941: Heydrich Orders Mass Executions
July 18, 1941: Twin Pimples Raid
July 19, 1941: V for Victory
July 20, 1941: The Man Who Wouldn't Shoot
July 21, 1941: Moscow in Flames
July 22, 1941: Soviet Generals Executed
July 23, 1941: Secret Plan JB 355
July 24, 1941: Operation Sunrise
July 25, 1941: US Naval Alert
July 26, 1941: Italian E-Boat Attack on Malta
July 27, 1941: MacArthur Returns
July 28, 1941: Auschwitz Exterminations
July 29, 1941: Rescue From Crete
July 30, 1941: Raid on Petsamo and Kirkenes
July 31, 1941: Final Solution Order

2020

Friday 14 June 1940

Western Front: With the French retreating in disarray and many Parisians heading south, the Wehrmacht on 14 June 1940 walks into a quiet Paris. There are only 700,000 inhabitants left in a city of 5 million.

French General Aubert Frere follows orders and pulls his French 7th Army out of Paris. Since the city is not defended, all of its businesses - such as the Renault tank factory at Billancourt and Schneider-Creusot armament works - are intact and ready to churn out weapons for the German conquerors. General Henri Dentz surrenders Paris at the Hotel Crillon.

The Germans stage victory parades with Major General Bogislav von Studnitz's 87th Infantry Division of the 18th Army at the Place de la Concorde and at the Arc de Triomphe. General von Bock of Army Group B reviews the parades, which glide through silent streets. As a fine point, the Wehrmacht men do not march under the arch, but around it.

Elsewhere, the war continues. Hitler, chafing at his Wolfsschlucht headquarters, issues Fuhrer Directive No. 15. Noting the "collapse" of the Allied front, he sets two objectives:

1. Prevent the formation of a new Allied front in the south; and
2. Destroy the Maginot Line.

To accomplish these objectives, Hitler orders quick seizure of the naval bases on the Atlantic coast (to avoid another Dunkirk) and attacks by the Saarbrucken Shock Group against the Maginot Line. Basically, he is implicitly revoking his previous Directive which anticipated a strong French defense of Paris - the shock at the absence of which the text of the Directive conveys between each line.

The Wehrmacht's Army Group C (von Leeb) sends its 24 divisions against the Maginot Line. The attack is led by the 7th Army against the French 8th Army and has mixed success, scoring some advances in some areas. German 1st Army (Erwin von Witzleben) breaks through at Saarbrücken. To support those attacks, Panzer Group Guderian and other troops swing east to encircle the French positions.

The German spearheads approach Romilly and St. Dizier to the east of Paris.

The 1st Panzer Division reaches Chaumont. German 12th Army is in a position to surround the French 2nd Army Group.

British Prime Minister Churchill, still reeling from the French decision to go it alone on 13 June 1940, telephones Sir Alan Brooke, commander of the BEF, and orders the evacuation of all British personnel from France. Brooke, who has only just arrived, heartily endorses the decision. For its part, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud's government leaves General Weygand's headquarters at Briare for Bordeaux.

Contrary to virtually every other source you will find, this extremely famous photo was not taken in Paris on 14 June 1940. In fact, it was taken in Marseilles in September 1940 during a French military parade prior to sending the French battle flags to North Africa. I include it here just to make note of that - and also because the photo aptly summarizes French feelings of 14 June, even if it wasn't actually taken then. Incidentally, his name was Monsieur Jerôme Barzetti, and it appeared in Life Magazine in its 3 March 1941 issue. The photographer was W. Eugene Smith, a Life Magazine staff photographer who used a 35 mm camera, which was somewhat unusual in those days for professional photographers.

European Air Operations: The RAF attacks German ammunition dumps in the St. Michel area, the Boulogne docks, and Dunkirk Flushing and Ostend. It also sends 29 aircraft against the Ruhr during the night.

The French air force attacks oil storage facilities in the Venice region. They are scrupulously careful not to bomb the historic islands of Venice.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) spots 3,557-ton Greek freighter Antonis Georgandis northwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain. The U-boat surfaces and forces the crew to disembark, and then sinks the Greek ship by gunfire using its deck gun.

U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) spots 5,403 ton Greek freighter Mount Myrto south of Ireland. It also surfaces and attacks the Greek ship with gunfire, but when that proves ineffective, sinks it with a torpedo. There are 24 survivors and 4 crew perish.

U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) torpedoes and sinks 5,834-ton British freighter Balmoralwood about 70 miles southwest of Cape Clear. All 41 aboard survive and are picked up by British freighter Germanic. The Balmoralwood is a straggler from convoy HX-47 and, among other things, was transporting four aircraft to England.

German raider Widder sinks British tanker British Petrol in the north Atlantic.

US destroyer USS Gleaves (DD 423, Lt. Commander Edward H. Pierce) is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Three fast Italian destroyers (Turbine, Nembo, and Aquilone) shell Sollum, Egypt.

French warships of the 3rd Squadron (cruisers Foch, Algerie, Dupleix, Colbert and 11 destroyers) bombard oil storage tanks on the Italian Coast in the Genoa/Vado region. Nine civilians perish. French light cruiser Albatross is damaged by Italian coastal fire, with 12 crew perishing.

North Africa: The British 7th Hussars, a company of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and the Royal Engineers, all led by Lt. Colonel G. Fielden of the 7th Hussars, attack and capture Italian Fort Capruzzo and Maddalena on the Libyan border. The Italians put up little resistance, and 16 Italian officers and 200 other soldiers become POWs.

About 3000 Spanish Moroccan troops occupy Tangiers, heretofore an "International Zone" condominium under joint Spanish, French and British administration. Franco is counting on his "partners" being distracted by larger events, such as the fall of Paris, and he is correct. True to his nature, however, Franco does not actually annex the territory as many in his government urge but instead announces that this is only a temporary wartime measure.

The Regia Aeronautica attacks Sollum in Egypt and Berbera in British Somaliland.

The first dogfight between Italian and RAF fighters takes place over North Africa.

Norway: The German 2nd Mountain Division has been dutifully marching north to relieve General Dietl's 3rd Mountain Division at Narvik. Today, they link up. The event, of course, is of little consequence due to the Allied evacuation. The two divisions now form Mountain Korps Norway under the command of Dietl, who has become one of Hitler's favorite Generals due to his deft handling of his troops when the outlook was very dark.

The German troops marched around the Arc de Triomphe, not under it (Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-126-0347-09A).

Soviet/Lithuanian Relations: Stalin, like Franco, sees a golden opportunity to clean out his inventory of invasions while the western powers are otherwise occupied. His overall objective is to restore the pre-1918 Tsarist borders, which included both Estonia and Lithuania.

Accordingly, the Soviets decide to issue an ultimatum to Lithuania. It demands unrestricted access to the country by the Red Army, with the proviso that these troops would form a pro-Soviet government. This is done pursuant to the "secret protocols" of the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact of 23 August 1939.

The president of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, proposes to stand and fight. However, the rest of the government has a somewhat more realistic view of the situation and decides to capitulate, so Smetona goes into exile rather than be used to legitimate the takeover.

As part of its emphasis that "Stalin means business," two Soviet DB-3T torpedo bombers shoot down a French-owned Junkers Ju 52 "Kaleva" being used on a Finnish route from Tallinn to Helsinki. All 9 onboard perish. The French government does not lodge any diplomatic protest due to its tenuous military situation. Soviet submarine Щ-301 surfaces and does not rescue anyone, but does fish French diplomatic mail out of the wreckage.

French/US Relations: French Prime Minister Reynaud sends another appeal to President Roosevelt for assistance, pleading that he "throw the weight of American strength into the scales." Roosevelt, however, has no authority or ability - while it would still count - to do any such thing.

French Military: General de Gaulle departs for London.

US Navy: President Roosevelt signs the 11% Naval Expansion Act. Once fully implemented, this will increase the naval tonnage of aircraft carriers, cruisers, and submarines by 187,000 and auxiliary shipping by 75,000 tons. It also will increase naval aircraft by 4,500 planes.

Spies: French and Polish codebreakers, who have been working on cracking the Wehrmacht's Enigma codes, flee south toward Toulouse with their Enigma machines.

Holocaust: Initial shipments of inmates (after those who actually built the camps) arrive at Auschwitz and Theresienstadt in occupied Poland: 728 Poles are marched through Tarnow to Auschwitz.

Cyprus: The company begins forming its Cyprus Volunteer Force.

China: The Japanese are continuing their aerial assault on Chiang Kai-shek's capital of Chungking. They advise the British, American, Russian and German diplomatic communities to seek safer quarters.

The Wehrmacht turned a blind eye to fraternization in Paris, as evidenced by this photograph outside of a prehistoric ancestor of Starbucks. The Germans found that it was a good stop for a first date.

French Homefront: The final broadcast of French radio before the occupation is a recording of French National Anthem, La Marseillaise.

The French operators of the Eiffel Tower cut the elevator cables. Wehrmacht troops climb 900+ steps to hang the Swastika flag.

The German occupation forces settle comfortably into Paris immediately. Overall, the Wehrmacht does not discourage fraternization with the locals, many of whom reciprocate.

The Wehrmacht sets up headquarters at the finest hotels in St. Germain and elsewhere, including most notoriously the Hotel Ritz. The draw up a "Parisian campaign map" that shows the best cafes, restaurants and other assorted amusements.

On the whole, the occupation troops act with restraint. However, inevitably there are instances of troops acting with cruelty, taking without paying, and the like. Troops accustomed to rough life in the field are somewhat over-awed with the varied decadent opportunities in Paris and often lose the edge off their military discipline.

The Wehrmacht imposes a 20:00 curfew in Paris using loudspeakers on trucks.

American Homefront: MGM releases "The Mortal Storm," a James Stewart/ Margaret Sullavan drama that is distinguished by being overtly anti-German (though in an abstract fashion that does not name any actual German politicians and so forth). This film directly leads to a ban of MGM films in Germany - though Adolf Hitler continued to snag copies for his own private viewing pleasure. As such, the release of "The Mortal Storm" is a very rare pre-war instance of an American company willingly abandoning the lucrative German market.

The flow of refugees continues. Here, a tandem bicycle carries a whole Belgian family of four with their possessions strapped to their backs. June 14, 1940 (AP).

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