Posted on 06/14/2010 4:51:45 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
* Equally salient was the fact that the French armies remain in liaison and homogeneous.
Is that the French for “S.O.L.”?
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f14jun40.htm
Germans capture Paris
Friday, June 14, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... Paris falls to the Germans. New instructions are issued to the German armies. While most of the armored forces are to continue their advance into the center of the country, Guderian’s two corps are to swing east to cut off any attempt by the Maginot garrisons to retreat. Army Group C, General Leeb, attacks and breaks through the Maginot defenses in some places.
In the Mediterranean... A force of French cruisers and destroyers shells the Italian ports of Genoa and Vado.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm
June 14th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road and rail communications in France - marshalling yards in Germany - mining River Rhine with the new ‘W’ bomb.
10 Sqn. Seven aircraft, ‘W’ bombs in Rhine. Five got off, two bombed. Five aircraft road/rail communications. Three recalled. Three recalled, two bombed.
51 Sqn. Five aircraft, ‘W’ bombs in Rhine. None bombed. One aircraft road/rail communications. Successful.
58 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Laon, Vernon and Soissons. Seven recalled, two bombed.
77 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Euskirchen, Fagiers and Hirson. All bombed. One damaged by Flak.
102 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Oberhausen and Cologne. All bombed, one damaged.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Myrtle mined and sunk in the Thames Estuary. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE:
Paris:10 a.m. The Germans enter the city. The Minister of the Interior orders the police to hand over their arms to their superiors. The air of gloom and silence that has descended over the city is only broken by the occasional distant explosion as the French blow up munitions factories. The only resistance has come from some workers near the Porte d’Aubervilliers, who punched passing soldiers, who ignored them. The Germans posted machine-gunners in key positions as they marched through near-empty streets, and a senior officer drove to M Laingeron, the chief of the Paris police to tell him to remain in office until further notice and to be responsible for keeping public order. The swastika now flies from the Eiffel Tower and from German HQ, established in one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, Hôtel Majestic, 29, rue Dumont d’Urville. The French Army is still fighting south of the city.
Guderian swings east to cut off a retreat from the Maginot Line.
This morning, Weygand tells Brooke that the Inter-Allied Council had ordered that a line be held at the base of the Brittany peninsula. (Brooke would learn that the British government had not agreed to this.) He estimates that this would require at least 15 divisions and there were not five divisions available.
On returning to Le Mans Brooke called Dill and told him that the situation was hopeless and that troops coming to France be held in Britain. Later in the evening Dill called from 10 Downing Street. He put Churchill on the line. The PM told Brooke that it was important for the British to make the French feel that they were supporting him. Brooke’s reply was that it was impossible to make a corpse feel and that the French Army was dead. Brooke told Churchill that the British should be evacuated and after 30 minutes of talk Churchill agreed and told him to bring all the British troops back to the U.K. This, less than 48 hours after Brooke had arrived in France. (Jay Stone)
GERMANY: OKW issues Führer Directive #15. The enemy’s front has collapsed. The Paris area and the fortified triangle behind the Maginot Line are being evacuated, the French Army may retreat as far as the Loire. Our relative strength and the condition of the French Army now make it possible to pursue two objectives at the same time.
(i) To prevent enemy forces near Paris and the Lower Seine withdrawing to form a new line, and pursue vigorously towards Orleans and the Loire estuary. Important naval bases along the coast will be occupied.
(ii) To destroy enemy forces facing Army Groups A and C, bringing about the collapse of the Maginot Line. The directions of the main lines of advance should pass through Troyes and Langres, preparations should be made for further moves into the central Loire area.
(iii) The Luftwaffe will continue to support operations as previously defined, emphasis should be placed on preventing enemy forces withdrawing to the south-west by rail, and the destruction of ports and shipping on the northern and southern coasts will make any attempted retreat by sea impossible. Anti-aircraft artillery will support advancing troops, in particular the penetration of French fortifications. (Marc Roberts)
POLAND: Auschwitz: The concentration camp open officially with the arrival of 728 Poles from Tarnow.
FINLAND: Two Soviet bombers shoot down the Finnish commercial Ju-52 passenger airliner “Kaleva” which is on its normal route from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki. After the aircraft crashes into sea, killing all on board (a Finnish crew of two, two French diplomatic couriers, an American diplomatic courier, two German businessmen, one Finn and a Swede), Soviet submarine Shstsha-301 picks up the diplomatic mail Kaleva is carrying. (Note: the incident takes place when Finland and the Soviet Union are at peace).
This incident is connected to the Soviet takeover of the Baltic states that takes place few days later. The Soviet Union has placed the Baltic States under a secret blockade, and all in- and outgoing traffic has to be stopped at all costs. Captain Pyotr Hohlov, the pilot of the bomber to shoot “Kaleva” down, later becomes a Hero of the Soviet Union.
ITALY: Genoa and Vado, Italy are shelled by French Naval Units.
The 3rd Cruiser Squadron, under the command of Admiral Emile Duplat, shelled Italian petroleum storage tanks and military installations of the seaport of Genoa in northwestern Italy.
The operation, codenamed “Vado” saw four cruisers —ALGERIE, FOCH, DUPLEIX, and COLBERT — together with eleven destroyers as escorts, resulted in brief bombardments of Italian coastal installations at both Genoa and Savona that produced questionable damage. In defence, Italian coastal artillery batteries scored one 152mm hit on the French destroyer ALBATROS, killing ten crewmen. The Italian escort vessel CALATAFIMI (actually a “Curtatone” class torpedo boat) engaged the French warships, as did four or five motor torpedo boats of the 13th MAS Squadrilla; one of these boats was reported sunk by the French, but Italian sources do not mention this loss. The Regia Aeronautica failed to make an appearance during this action, but then French aerial units were also absent. (Greg Kelley)(249 & 250)
O class submarine HMS Odin whilst patrolling off the Italian Naval base at Taranto is sighted and attacked with a torpedo by A/S escort Strale. The torpedo is seen to hit. Italian destroyer Baleno also takes part. (Alex Gordon)(108)
FRENCH MOROCCO: Tangiers: Spanish troops occupy the international zone.
EGYPT: Cairo: The British Middle East Air Force in Egypt announced:
‘A single aircraft flew several times over Malta releasing bombs. A number of buildings were damaged, two British soldiers were killed and one wounded. In addition the Italians have made aerial raids on two small towns in the Sudan, inflicting little damage.’
BRITISH SOMALILAND:
Berbera: Reuters News Agency reports:
‘On Friday afternoon the seaport town of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden was bombed by Italian aircraft. Little damage occurred.
U.S.A.: President Roosevelt signs the “Eleven Percent Naval Expansion Act” which authorizes the increase of USN warship tonnage by 167,000 tons, auxiliary ship tonnage by 75,000 tons and the total number of USN aircraft to 4,500 planes. (Jack McKillop)
The motion picture “The Mortal Storm” is released in the U.S. This drama, directed by Frank Borzage and starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville, Dan Dailey and Ward Bond, is about a university professor and his family who live in the south German Alps in 1933 when the Nazis come to power and the subsequent upheaval in the family and friends. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Gleaves commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0820, the Antonis Georgandis was shelled and sunk by U-101 NW off Cape Finisterre.
At 1911, the Mount Myrto was missed by two stern torpedoes from U-38, which had followed her for five hours. The U-boat then surfaced and shelled the ship with 53 rounds. After the shelling, the U-boat accidentally dived, leaving six men of the gun crew in the water, which were picked up after 10 minutes. At 1958 the ship was hit by a coup de grâce near the bridge, but the ship did not sink due her load of timber and Liebe decided to leave the wrecked vessel because Convoy HX-47 came in sight some minutes later.
At 1944, the Balmoralwood, a straggler from Convoy HX-47, was torpedoed and damaged by U-47 about 70 miles SSW of Cape Clear. The vessel sank two hours later. The master, 40 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by the British merchantman Germanic and landed at Liverpool. (Dave Shirlaw)
Day 288 June 14, 1940
After the declaration of Paris as an “open city”, Germans enter the city unopposed. While French troops organize a fighting retreat further South, Parisian restaurants & shops do a brisk trade with the German troops who act more as tourists than a force of occupation. To the East, German 1st Army under General Erwin von Witzleben breaks through the Maginot Line near Saarbrücken. Stalin desires to restore pre-1918 Tsarist borders and plans to incorporate Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia into Soviet Union. Soviets begin by imposing a sea and air blockade of Estonia. 2 Soviet DB-3T torpedo bombers shoot down Finnish civilian Junkers Ju 52 plane “Kaleva” shortly after takeoff from Tallinin, Estonia. Kaleva crashes into sea (all 9 passengers & crew killed, including American & French diplomats). Soviet submarine Щ-301 surfaces and collects French diplomatic mail from the sea. At dawn, 4 French cruisers & 11 destroyers attack Italian port of Genoa, shelling oil storage tanks. French destroyer Albatros is hit once by Italian coastal artillery but does not sink (12 lives lost). Despite a series of errors, U-38 manages to sink Greek steamer Mount Myrto carrying a cargo of timber southwest of Ireland (4 killed). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/350.html In the same area, U-47 sinks British steamer Balmoralwood carrying 8730 tons of wheat and four aircraft (all 41 crew rescued by British steamer Germanic and landed at Liverpool). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/351.html 300 miles West of Cape Finisterre, Spain, U-101 stops Greek steamer Antonis Georgandis with two 20mm anti-aircraft rounds. The crew abandons ship then U-101 sinks her with the deck gun. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/349.html
It’s incredible to realize that it would be four years before the Allies liberated Paris.
More than once over the past fifty years I have wondered if it was worth liberating and was Europe worth the squillions of dollars we spent during the Cold War protecting them.
Um...How is that incredible?
The liberation of Europe was worth it because the Nazis would have remained a threat.
As far as the money spent during the Cold War, that protected us as much as it did them.
I suppose that's true. But it is distressing that most Europe went socialist despite our help.
There is a huge difference between being socialist and being a military threat to the United States.
Have you ever wondered just how many Jews Hitler would have killed if someone hadn't stopped him?
The mistake was made in helping Europe in WWI.
There are many reasons why it was worth the money and lives for WWII. (A divided Europe was not a military threat, concentration camps, etc)
Good point. For that, the liberation was worth it. But I suggest a large segment of the Eurotrash now in charge aren't worth a damn dime to protect.
Hitler fully intended to kill ALL of the Jews and then he was prepared to move on to the Slavs.
Assuming that he had only be contained in Europe, not as many more as one might think. Hitler was pretty successful in exterminating the Jews and in Eastern Europe in particular he almost eradicated them completely. Some Eastern European countries were actually declared judenfrei (Jew Free). The Jewish population in all of Europe went from around nine and a half million down to three and a half. Basically, the Nazi's either wiped out or chased out 2/3 of the Jewish population in Europe. But the mere fact that the Allies actions saved that remaining 3.5 million makes the effort worth it in my opinion.
I do have one criticism of the Allies at this point in time though. At this time the British are operating under the guidelines of the "White Paper of 1939" which established a limit on Jewish immigration to Palestine to 75,000 over the next 5 years. Over the years of war that number ended up being around 140,000(ballpark) when the illegal immigration is factored in. I sometimes wonder how many more could have been saved if they had loosened up their policy in Palestine. Would one of these Eastern European countries attempted to evacuate their Jews to Palestine like the Danes did to Sweden? Hard to say really.
First we have the German announcement the French resistance has collapsed and Paris is an Open City. It's in German with a translation about half way through.
CBS - Rebroadcasts Nazi Announcement
Next is the announcement by the Germans of the fall of Paris with no translation.
RRG - Nazi Radio Announces Fall of Paris
Finally, I have the last broadcast from Marseilles before Paris falls to the Germans. Fitting of a last act of defiance, their last broadcast is the French National Anthem.
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