Monday 9 September 1940

Near London Bridge in London, 9 September 1940 (AP).

German Military: The Luftwaffe has bombed London for several days now as of 9 September 1940, and basically gotten whatever benefit there is to be gotten - assuming there is any real benefit to the German war effort, which is highly debatable (the effect on British morale is the opposite of what the German leaders expect). It might be a good time, strategically, to go back to suppressing the RAF instead of continuing the pointless attacks on London.

Instead, the Luftwaffe doubles down. The command staff at the Luftwaffe high command (OKL) organizes the attacks, suggesting they are not going to stop any time soon. Night raids will be carried out by Luftflotte 3 and day raids by Luftflotte 2. London is divided into different sectors for bombing priority, Area A being the East End and dock, Area B being the power stations and other priority installations in West London:

The maintaining of the attack against London is intended to take place by day through Luftflotte 2 with strong fighter and destroyer units; by night Luftflotte 3 will carry out attacks with the object of destroying harbor areas, the supply and power sources of the city. The city is divided into two target areas, the eastern part of London is target A with its widely stretched out harbor installations. Target area B is the west of London, which contains the power supplies and the provision installations of the city. Along with this major attack on London the destruction raids will be carried on as much as possible against many sectors of the armament industry and harbor areas in England in their previous scope.

This order confirms and codifies the new change in objectives. The armaments industry is mentioned only in passing, and RAF airfields and radar stations not at all.

In addition, the OKL begins to recognize that the RAF is far from defeated. It issues orders that any formation facing strong opposition is allowed to break off contact and head home.

Meanwhile, Wehrmacht Army Commander-in-chief Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, looking ahead, drafts a plan for the occupation of Great Britain. It is an extremely harsh plan which foresees deporting all males 17-35 years of age to the continent for forced labor and basically robbing the British of their goods and industry.

Germany announces an unrestricted war zone around the British Isles.

Around this time, a German crew spends two days filming practice landings by the Kriegsmarine of troops and tanks near Antwerp. The objective is to have footage of the invasion available for the newsreels, the theory being that a landing at night can't be filmed.

British infant, Margaret Curtis. Published in the 9 September 1940 Life Magazine.

Battle of Britain: It is another good day of flying weather, but the Luftwaffe takes little advantage of it. The RAF is enjoying its respite from attacks on its airfields and has everything pretty much back into operation - which is bad news for the Luftwaffe.

Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park in command of No. 11 Group covering southeast England decides that the Luftwaffe has shifted to a new pattern of attacking London beginning in mid-afternoon and long into the night. He shifts his squadrons to forward airfields along the expected line of attack and has two dozen fighter squadrons ready for action.

Around 17:00, the Luftwaffe finally sends over its main attack for the day. A fleet of about 300 aircraft approaches near Foreland. It appears to be a repeat of the attack on the 7th. The RAF fighters skip the Luftwaffe fighters leading the advance and rise to meet the bombers coming after them.

RAF No. 607 Squadron from RAF Tangmere just east of Chichester is the first to attack, and it is the squadron's first combat. It turns out badly, as it loses half a dozen Hurricanes, with the Germans losing only one bomber to it.

RAF No. 303 Squadron has better luck. The Polish squadron shoots down a couple of Bf 109s and a Bf 110. Sergeant Josef František shoots down one of the Bf 109s.

The bombers make it over London, and massive dogfights break out over the Houses of Parliament and the docks nearby. Squadron Leader Douglas Bader of No. 12 Group with his "Big Wing," ordered to protect the airfields at Hornchurch and North Weald, defies orders and instead heads down to the action, where his planes do a lot of good.

Some of the bombers make it over London to drop their bombs. However, many more bombers heed the OKL orders and drop their bombs at random to no purpose and head for home.

Two Bf 109s from JG 27 (Gruppe-Adjutant Oblt. Günther Bode of Stab I,/JG 27 and Oblt. Erwin Daig, the Staffelkapitän of 5,/JG 27) are forced down after their radiators are hit and the engines overheat. This gives the British two virtually intact German fighters. These are put on display, then join the RAF "Ratwaffe."

After dark, Sperrle's Luftflotte 3 sends bombers across the coast near the Isle of Wight, heading toward London. They cause the major damage of the day in several neighborhoods, including near the Bank of England and Cheapside. A bomb hits a school being used as a shelter for homeless people near the historic Somerset House, just east of Waterloo Bridge in central London, killing 370 and injuring 1400. A women's hospital is bombed, and the East End docks area suffers tremendous damage. The raids last all night, the source moving from France north to the Dutch islands, finally ending around 05:00 on the 10th.

The score for the day is slightly in favor of the RAF, but it is fairly close. Most estimates put the Luftwaffe losses around 25 planes and RAF losses around 20. The Luftwaffe bombers, however, accomplish little, particularly to prepare for an invasion.

There is an exchange of gunfire by the big coastal guns at Hellfire Corner (Dover/Cap Gris Nez) during the evening.

Commander of No. 242 Squadron Douglas Bader downs a Dornier Do 17. Afterward, spotting a Heinkel He 111, he tries to shoot it down but realizes he is out of ammunition. He then rams the plane, slicing off its rudder, before turning away.

Kommodore Major Werner Mölders of Stab,/JG 51 shoots down a Spitfire over London for his 35th victory. Oblt. Gerhard Schöpfel of 9,/JG 26 shoots down three Spitfires of No. 92 Squadron over the Thames estuary. Oberleutnant Helmut Wick is promoted to Hauptmann and now is the Gruppenkommandeur of I,/JG 2, while Hptm Franz-Heinz Lange becomes Gruppenkommandeur of II,/JG 77

Fähnrich (officer candidate) Hans-Joachim Marseille receives the Iron Cross Second Class for his second air victory.

London, 9 September 1940. All of the passengers and the driver heard the air raid sirens and sought shelter before the bombs hit.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command No. 51 Squadron raids Berlin, specifically targeting the Neuköln gasworks. Other targets during the night include the docks and shipyards at northern German ports Hamburg, Kiel, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven and Wismar, warehouses in Krefeld, Brussels, and the usual airfields in northwest Europe. Particular attention is paid to the ports where invasion barges are thought to be gathering, including Ostend, Calais, Flushing, and Boulogne. The big coastal guns at Cap Gris Nez also are attacked, without effect.

Battle of the Atlantic: It is a busy day at sea. U-boats have been gathering in a wolfpack around Convoy SC 2 northwest of County Donegal, Ireland/southwest of Barra, Outer Hebrides. U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) already has several victories against the convoy, and today he strikes again.

U-47 torpedoes and sinks 3840 ton Greek sulfur phosphate freighter Poseidon at 00:24. There are ten survivors and 7 crew perish (some accounts say all were lost).

U-28 (Kptlt. Günter Kuhnke) also is shadowing Convoy SC-2. At 04:47, it torpedoes and sinks 2434 ton British pitch freighter Mardinian (Master Joseph Every). The ship takes 30 minutes to sink, giving most of the crew time to get off. There are 32 survivors and six crew perish.

Some ships in London become victims of the Luftwaffe raids there.

British 5046 ton freighter Minnie de Larrinaga is bombed and sunk in London. Destroyed by fires, she is a total loss, but since she is sunk in such shallow water, her hulk can (and must, for the continued operation of the dock) be salvaged (some accounts say this sinking happened during the first big London raid on 7 September). Ultimately, it is dragged out and used as a blockship at Dover.

The Luftwaffe also sinks 8,663-ton British freighter Baronesa at its dock in London. It already was damaged by E-boat attacks in the North Sea while with Convoy FS 271. The damage is not too great, and the ship can be salvaged.

The Luftwaffe also damages the 695-ton Belgian freighter Anna at Russia Dock, Surrey Docks in London.

The Luftwaffe damages British 367-ton freighter Ryal at its London dock.

Destroyers HMS Vanoc and Viscount collide at Plymouth, causing minor damage.

Italian submarine Comandante Faà di Bruno damages 8030 ton British Shell tanker Auris off the Azores 750 miles west of Gibraltar. Large tankers are very difficult to sink by torpedo due to their construction, and the Auris makes it to port.

The Royal Navy, concerned about a prospective invasion, resorts to sinking old and damaged ships at harbor entrances as blockships.

Small 56 ton British cargo ship Alfred Colebrooke is sunk as a blockship at Richborough (Dover), Kent. In addition, British trawler Harvest Moon also is sunk there as a blockship.

Royal Navy trawler HMT Dervish, requisitioned by the Admiralty in June (as it had been during World War I), hits a mine and sinks at the mouth of the Humber near Spurn Point. There are 11 survivors and 4 crew perish.

Royal Navy trawler HMS John Baptist also hits a mine and sinks, this one south of the Conningbeg Lightship off Wexford's Saltee Islands.

German raider Widder, having captured Greek collier Antonios Chandris in the mid-Atlantic on the 8th, plants demolition charges and scuttles it at dawn. The crew of the freighter, set adrift on lifeboats hundreds of miles from land, is adrift until 8 October.

British Fleet Air Arm Skuas are sent from their base at Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, Orkney, Scotland to attack shipping at Bergen, Norway. One of the Skuas is lost, with two dead.

The first eight former US Navy destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy pursuant to the destroyers-for-bases deal become Her Majesty's Ships:

• Caldwell,
• Cameron,
• Campbeltown,
• Castletown,
• Chelsea,
• Chesterfield,
• Churchill, and'
• Clare.

Convoys OA 212 and MT 164 depart from Methil, Convoys FN 277A and FN 277B departs from Southend, Convoy FS 276 departs from the Tyne, Convoy HX 72 departs from Halifax,

German minelayers continue laying a minefield in the southwest portion of the North Sea as part of Operation Hannelore.

A new floating dock, the Admiralty Floating Dock, goes into operation at Scapa Flow. Its first ship is destroyer HMS Bedouin.

The Daily Mail, 9 September 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Marshal Rodolfo Graziani complies with Mussolini's order and sends troops led by the 10th Italian Army (General Mario Berti) toward British positions in Egypt at Bardia, Sidi Azeiz, Gabr Saleh and Sidi Omar. The Italians have no offensive deployments or plans and heretofore have been in a purely defensive orientation. The advance by five divisions and seven tank battalions (with two in reserve at Tobruk) is almost entirely limited to the vulnerable coast road, open to both air and naval assault.

The Italian equipment is inferior, most noticeably in the lack of adequate transport to support the advance. The Regia Marina only has about 300 combat airplanes total in the theater, though more planes can be dispatched from Italy across the Sicilian Narrows.

There is no ground combat today (apparently the Italians don't even cross the border yet), but the RAF swings into action. RAF Nos. 55, 113 and 211 Squadrons raid both the advancing troops and airfields in Italian Libya. Italian aircraft bomb British defensive positions ahead of the advance and make a fighter sweep by 27 CR. 42s over Buq Buq. There are unusual dogfights over the desert involving biplanes on both sides, Regia Aeronautica Fiat CR.42 Falco fighters and RAF Gladiators.

HMS Illustrious and Eagle send aircraft against the Italian bases on Rhodes. The latter carrier loses four aircraft.

At Malta, there are no air raids. The Royal Navy only has one minesweeper, HMS Fermoy, in operation, and the local government requests two more from the Admiralty.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: German raider Atlantis, disguised as Dutch freighter MV Tarifa, tries to stop empty 9557-ton British tanker Athelking about 1200 miles east of Madagascar. When the tanker refuses to stop and opens fire, the Atlantis disables it with its own vastly superior gunfire. There are six deaths. After taking whatever supplies and documents it can from the tanker and making the remaining crew POWs (40), the Atlantis uses the tanker as target practice and sinks it.

The Athelking manages to send a distress call that is received at the Royal Navy East Indies station at Colombo. The Admiralty sends cruisers HMS Neptune and Capetown and several smaller ships to track down the raider.

Anglo/US Relations: The US transfers eight submarines to the British Royal Navy at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Anglo/Vichy French Relations: Vichy French military intelligence gets wind of the coming attack on Dakar (Operation Menace) by the British. To reinforce the forces there, the French send cruisers Montcalm, Gloire, and George Leygues, escorted by torpedo boats Fantasque, Malin and Audacieux, from Toulon. They head toward the straits of Gibraltar en route to Dakar. Given that the British and Vichy French already have engaged in combat in the Mediterranean, this sets the stage for a tense situation, as the French ships literally will be sailing within sight of the British base at Gibraltar.


War Crimes: In Treznea, Sălaj, the handover of Northern Transylvania goes very badly. There are roughly 93 deaths during the Treznea massacre. There are varying versions of the incident, with the Hungarians claiming that an uprising was started by a local Romanian Orthodox priest, and the Romanians claiming that many of the local (minority) Hungarians participated in the incident and instigated the situation in hopes of taking sole possession of the region - and perhaps getting a little revenge for past perceived slights. Local Romanians are taken to a nearby cliff and machine-gunned, but the Hungarians stop when retreating Romanian army units are called. Needless to say, this inflames tensions between the two nations that already are red hot.

Hungarian troops entering Transylvania, September 1940 (Source: Fortepan).

Palestine: The Italians raid Tel Aviv for the first time with unusually devastating effect (for the Regia Marina). For the loss of four bombers, the Italians kill 50-137 people (accounts vary).

In addition, the Italians start trying something that will be a recurrent theme throughout the war: appealing to local ethnic/religious resentments as a motivating tool. Leaflets are dropped on Jaffa to promote the idea that Palestinian Arabs will become free if they join the Axis war effort. In fact, there is tremendous sympathy for the Axis throughout the Arab world for several different reasons, so these leaflets drop on fertile ground (so to speak). The British administer Mandatory Palestine, but the obvious subtext is an appeal to anti-Semitic/anti-British groups such as the Black Hand. They have been causing problems for the British for years, most significantly during the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939.

This fine fellow as "annoying children in Central Park" and the cops roughed him up a bit to teach him a lesson. Back when cops taught miscreants a thing or two personally.

Norway: The meaning of Adolf Hitler's recent meeting with Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling becomes clear. The Germans ban all political parties there save for Quisling's pro-German Nasjonal Samling Party.

Free France: French forces in India join the Free French movement.

US Military: With a new $5 million appropriation available, the US Navy places orders for seven battleships, 12 aircraft carriers, and 191 additional ships.

Colonel Carl Spaatz, having completed his tour as a special military observer in England, departs for the US via Lisbon to become an assistant to the head of the Army Air Corps, with a promotion to Brigadier General.

US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, on tour of naval operations in the Hawaiian Islands, visits the USS Enterprise.

German Homefront: Berliners are instructed to sleep dressed and to go to bed early so that they can get in some sleep and then run to the shelters should bombers appear overhead at midnight as usual.

Carol Bruce was a Broadway star who wound up her career as "Mama Carlson"on CBS tv comedy "WKRP in Cincinnati." She was singing with Ben Bernie's orchestra at the time of this cover. Carol Bruce passed away in October 2007.

September 1940

September 1, 1940: RAF's Horrible Weekend
September 2, 1940: German Troopship Sunk
September 3, 1940: Destroyers for Bases
September 4, 1940: Enter Antonescu
September 5, 1940: Stukas Over Malta
September 6, 1940: The Luftwaffe Peaks
September 7, 1940: The Blitz Begins
September 8, 1940: Codeword Cromwell
September 9, 1940: Italians Attack Egypt
September 10, 1940: Hitler Postpones Sealion
September 11, 1940: British Confusion at Gibraltar
September 12, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Approved
September 13, 1940: Zeros Attack!
September 14, 1940: The Draft Is Back
September 15, 1940: Battle of Britain Day
September 16, 1940: italians Take Sidi Barrani
September 17, 1940: Sealion Kaputt
September 18, 1940: City of Benares Incident
September 19, 1940: Disperse the Barges
September 20, 1940: A Wolfpack Gathers
September 21, 1940: Wolfpack Strikes Convoy HX-72
September 22, 1940: Vietnam War Begins
September 23, 1940: Operation Menace Begins
September 24, 1940: Dakar Fights Back
September 25, 1940: Filton Raid
September 26, 1940: Axis Time
September 27, 1940: Graveney Marsh Battle
September 28, 1940: Radio Belgique Begins
September 29, 1940: Brocklesby Collision
September 30, 1940: Operation Lena

2020

Friday 31 May 1940

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

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

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

The Germans round up the last French stragglers at Lille.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Atlantic:
100 Ships
 285,893 tons

 In Pacific: 
 1 Ship
 2,568 tons

The Kriegsmarine has lost 1 U-boat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lowell Sun, 31 May 1940.

May 1940

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

Tuesday 28 May 1940

German bomber He-111 H-5. It was shot down by ground fire on 28 May 1940 in the valley of Mount Korsbakken in the area of Narvik. The aircraft belonged to 2./Kampfgruppe 100. Of the crew,  two perish, two are captured.

Western Front: The Belgian Army lays down its weapons at 04:00 on 28 May 1940, pursuant to the agreement reached on the 27th by King Leopold, who announces:

Exhausted by an uninterrupted struggle against an enemy very much superior in numbers and material, we have been forced to surrender. History will relate that the Army did its duty to the full. Our Honour is safe.

The Belgians had fought hard, losing 7,550 men killed and 15,850 men wounded. A few scattered units continue fighting for a while, at least until they receive news of the surrender at 18:00. This decision comes as a surprise both to the Allies and to Leopold's own government.

The Belgian capitulation raises an immediate problem for the BEF. The Belgian Army had been holding a 20-mile section of the front on the left flank of the Dunkirk beachhead, from Ypres to Dixmude. Fortunately for the British, though, they literally have hundreds of thousands of fully equipped men in the pocket. Everybody knows the stakes, and ad hoc British formations (including some armored cars of the 12th Lancers) waiting for evacuation establish a new line in the Nieuport area against the German 256th Division of the German 18th Army. The Wehrmacht occupies Bruges, Zeebrugge, and Ostend.

A corps of French 1st Army (40,000 men) left in the lurch by the British retreat to the Dunkirk perimeter is surrounded by seven German Divisions (3 armored) of the Sixth Army at Lille. General Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division is one of the besieging formations. The French position may be hopeless, but it is drawing off elite Wehrmacht forces that could be better employed at the beachhead.

The French 4th Armoured Division under Brigadier General De Gaulle attacks Abbeville, capturing some German outposts and reaching the Somme. However, they fail to take Abbeville or St. Valery. The French armour makes some initial progress, then falls back. The French infantry occupies about half the distance into the bridgehead,  but there is massive confusion on both sides as to what is going on. The French take 200 prisoners and appear to be breaking through, but De Gaulle breaks off the attack so that he can regroup his panzers and try another full-scale assault on the 29th.

The French tanks are proving very sturdy. One, French Char B1 Bis tank "Jeanne d'Arc," receives almost 100 hits but remains in action. This also is a commentary on the underperformance of German anti-tank weapons.

Dunkirk: The evacuation has another slow day, with 17,804 men taken off. The Luftwaffe (Stukas) and Kriegsmarine (E-boats) attack the British ships arriving at the beachhead, sinking a small steamer and damaging Royal Navy destroyer HMS Windsor. Men are being taken off both from the port and from the surrounding beaches, with the troops wading out to the ships.

The famous "Miracle of Dunkirk" begins, as numerous small British private vessels begin arriving to rescue as many of the trapped soldiers as they can.

Within Dunkirk, things are getting desperate. One arriving Naval captain sent ashore reports that there are drunken mobs of men pillaging the port. Ammunition is running short in some sectors. However, despite all the problems - the perimeter holds.

The panzers press forward at Cassel and Poperinge, compressing the beachhead toward the sea.
European Air Operations: There is intense aerial activity over Dunkirk. The British claim to have shot down 79 Luftwaffe aircraft on the 27th. RAF bomber command puts 48 aircraft over the beachhead during the day, and sens 47 to attack the Germans there during the night.

The French send LeO-451 bombers, escorted by Hawker Hurricanes, against Germans lines of communication in the Aubigny sector.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-37 (Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn) continues its successful patrol about 100 miles west of Oporto, Portugal. First, it torpedoes and sinks 10,387 ton French liner Brazza. There are 197 survivors (53 crew, 144 passengers), and 379 perish.

Then, U-37 surfaces and shells 177-ton French trawler Julien, sinking it. All 10 crew survive.

Swedish freighter Torsten hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea. It had been laid by British submarine HMS Seal.

Norwegian freighter Blamannen hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea. It had been laid by French submarine Rubis.

British freighter Carare hits a mine and sinks in the Southwest Approaches to England.

Convoy OA 157 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 157 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HG 32F departs from Gibraltar, Convoy OG 31 forms at Gibraltar, and Convoy HX 46 departs from Halifax.

U-121 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Ernst Schroeter) is commissioned.

HMS Lady Rosemary (FY 253) (Skipper Robert J. McCullogh) is commissioned.

Norway: The Allies, faced with utter defeat in the south, have an unexpected success in the far north to bolster morale back home.

The French Foreign Legion under French General Bethouart, supported by the light tanks landed at Bjerkvik, cross the Rombaks fjord at 00:15 with five French light tanks. It advances toward Narvik along the railway line. In addition, the Polish Brigade advances on Narvik from the west. They attack the German 3rd Mountain Division troops holding the city. The time of the attack is chosen because it is twilight at Narvik, but dark further south where the German airfields are located.

Bad weather grounds the Allied Hurricanes at Bardufoss airfield to the north of Narvik, but the skies to the south are clear enough to fly in. The Luftwaffe arrives by 04:30. The Stukas have free reign over Narvik for a while, forcing the Allied fleet to withdraw, but the Allied fighters eventually arrive. There are not enough planes on either side to make a major difference, but the Luftwaffe scores two hits on the command ship Cairo.

General Dietl mounts a spirited defense of the city, but it is hopeless. He is aided by the addition of 46 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment troops dropped during the day. Dietl and his men are forced out by noontime. He and his men head up into the mountains while the Allies occupy Narvik.

Hitler is concerned about the Narvik situation and following it closely, as he does not want to hand the Allies a propaganda victory in Norway while he is achieving his crowning success in France. Dietl thus is determined to do anything necessary to avoid surrendering, including marching his troops across the border to Sweden to be interned if necessary. That, however, is not necessary at this point, though the German troops are badly outnumbered and out-gunned.

With Narvik safely in their hands, the French (13th Demi-Brigade Legion Etrangere), Polish (Podhale Brigade) and a Norwegian battalion consolidate their position. There are attacks by both the small RAF and Luftwaffe forces in the vicinity. The Luftwaffe damages HMS Cairo, an anti-aircraft cruiser.

General Dietl, forced out of Narvik, retreats along the rail line to Sweden.

The British at Bodø prepare to be evacuated by the Royal Navy.

German Gebirgsjägers in the mountains after losing Narvik.

German/Romanian Relations: King Carol tells his cabinet that neutrality can be dispensed with as the country draws closer to Germany.

French Government: Prime Minister Paul Reynaud broadcasts in a radio address that the surrender was done precipitously, without consultation, and that "France can no longer count on the Belgian Army."

Belgian Government: Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot has moved from London to Paris. He delivers a broadcast from Paris in which he expresses shock at the Belgian Army's capitulation. Pierlot announces that the King acted on his own, against the wishes of the rest of the government and outside of his constitutional authority, and "henceforth he has no power to govern." The Belgian cabinet - in exile - now assumes all governmental functions, and it places all resources at the service of the Allies. The Belgian King, for all intents and purposes, is deposed - but he remains in Belgium and retains loyalty there, though with growing resentment from the populace.

US Military: US Army Air Force Colonel Carl Spaatz arrives in Genoa aboard the liner Manhattan on his way to London.

US Government: Ambassador to France William Bullitt sends a telegram to Secretary of State Cordell Hull. He has a very specific request: that the US sends a cruiser loaded with arms and ammunition to Bordeaux France:

"If you cannot send a cruiser of the San Francisco [CA 38] class to Bordeaux, please order the Trenton (CL-11) at Lisbon [Squadron 40-T flagship] to take on fuel and supplies at once for a trip to America and order her today to Bordeaux."

The reason for this odd request is two-fold:

1. French fears of a "Communist uprising"; and
2. The French and Belgian gold reserves.

The Norwegian gold reserves previously were sent to England, but this time the gold is to be sent across the Atlantic.

President Roosevelt approves the ambassador's request, and the US Navy sends heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA 44) from Hampton Roads, accompanied by destroyers USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Simpson (DD 221). They will take the gold first to the Azores, then to New York. As to the expected Communist uprising, that is deemed a French concern.

Bullitt also suggests sending the Atlantic Fleet to the Mediterranean as "one of the surest ways" to keep the French and British fighting the Germans so that the United States will not have to. This suggestion is not taken up.

President Roosevelt also establishes the National Defense Advisory Committee. Its purpose is to advise the President on defense matters. Its members include former automobile manufacturer William S. Knudsen, corporate executive Edward R. Stettinius, labor leader Sidney Hillman, and economist Leon Henderson.

The (temporary) victors of Narvik. On the left are two French officers of the alpine troops. The man with the glasses is a French Captain of the Foreign Legion. On the right is a British Navy Officer.

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