Posted on 06/21/2010 5:24:44 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f21jun40.htm
French defeat Italian attacks in Alps
Friday, June 21, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... There are Italian attacks in some of the Alpine passes which are easily beaten off despite the weakness of the French forces which are left in these areas.
In Occupied France... The German armistice terms are given to the French delegation. The Germans will permit no discussion. In addition to the provisions for establishing a vestigial French state and for demobilizing the French armed forces there are stringent financial clauses. The French representatives are allowed to consult briefly with their government.
In London... RV Jones, who heads British Scientific Intelligence, gives evidence to an important investigating committee concerning a German radio navigation aid code named Knickebein. Churchill gives orders for countermeasures to be developed. Vital progress in this field is soon made and plays a large part in mitigated the effects of the German Blitz in the coming months. Henry Tizard, who, more than any other, has been responsible for organizing the British use of radar, resigns because his advice is disregarded. His resignation confirms the position of the less reliable Frederick Lindmann (Lord Cherwell) as Churchill’s principal scientific advisor.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/21.htm
June 21st, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil plants - marshalling yards.
10 Sqn. Seven aircraft to oil plant Salzbergen. One returned early, six bombed. One attacked by fighter but not damaged.
51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to oil plant Salzbergen. All bombed. Two aircraft to oil plant Bochum. Both bombed. Opposition severe.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft to marshalling yards Hamm. All bombed. Three enemy aircraft sighted but these did not attack.
Impressed with German paratroop tactics, Churchill orders a corps of at least 5,000 soldiers to be trained in parachuting.
Evidence about “Knickebein” , a German radio navigation aid, is given to a British cabinet level committee, by R.V. Jones. The actions taken after this meeting result in progress and plays a large part in lessening the effects of the German Blitz. Because his advice was ignored, Henry Tizard resigns. Tizard had been in the forefront of the British use of radar. This results in Frederick Lindemann, (Lord Cherwell), becoming one more of Churchill’s scientific advisor.
Destroyer HMS Hurricane commissioned.
Corvette HMS Myosotis laid down.
Corvette HMS Fleur de Lys launched.
Minesweeper HMS Rhyl launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Italian soldiers push into France on a wide front. The attacks occur through various Alpine passes and are defeated.
The French receive the terms for Armistice by the Germans in a railroad carriage at Compiègne, France. There will be no discussion of the terms allowed by the Germans. This is the same location and the same railroad carriage used to present the Allied terms to the Germans in 1918.
The terms allow the government known to history as Vichy France; they provide for the demobilization of the French Armed Forces and reparations.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan): Throughout the bulk of the NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN, the Swordfish squadrons from HMS Glorious had been operating from various FAA and RAF airfields, engaging primarily in minelaying operations. Mid-June saw both 821 and the surviving elements of 823 Squadrons based at HMS Sparrowhawk (RNAS Hatston) when word came in that the damaged German battleship Scharnhorst had sortied south from Trondheim under heavy escort, intent on returning to Germany.
At 1150 ACOS Hatston (Acting Captain C. L. Howe, RN) instructed the combined squadrons to prepare a striking force. The short notice, combined with the need for the aircraft to be fitted with both long range tanks and torpedo couplings limited the available effort to a paltry six Swordfish, one sub-flight of three from each squadron. Lt. J. H. Stenning, RN of 821 was the strike commander, Lt. J. C. Reed, RN led the 823 sub-flight. There would be no escort.
At 1245 the six aircraft departed Hatston with orders to fly to a designated point 40 miles off the Norwegian coast, turn northwards to search for the enemy fleet, and to return to RAF Sumburgh in the Shetlands. The intended point was reached at 1445, and a short search begun which resulted in the enemy force being sighted ahead at 1458, Scharnhorst in the center of a circular screen with one escort ahead, one astern, and two on either beam. The attacks approached from the port bow. The attack commenced at 1508 with a diving attack from 8,000 feet. The long-range AA fire, opened at as the Swordfish descended through 4,000 feet was considered inaccurate, but the close range AA fire from Scharnhorst was both heavy and effective, shooting down two from 823: 4M shot down in flames (S-Lt.(A) Maurice Phillip White, RN (P), NA1 Charles Herbert Arthur G. Hull (TAG)) while 4R was seen to make a controlled force-landing nearby (S-Lt.(A) Leonard Beale Cater, RN (P), LA Frederick Walter Davis (TAG)), but in the event, neither crew was recovered from the cold North Sea waters. During the withdrawal S-Lt.(A) O. A. G. Oxleys of 821 sighted four approaching Bf-109s. He continued climbing and escaped after dragging his Stringbag into the cloudbank at 13,000 feet!
Oxley, separated from the remainder of the striking force, and without an observer on board, managed to navigate his way back to Hatston. The other three survivors managed a safe return to RAF Sumburgh as planned.
Unfortunately for the British cause, none of the six torpedoes dropped hit home in this, the last act of the NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN.
ROMANIA: King Carol tries to unite the country by assuming dictatorial powers at the head of a new “National Party”.
LIBYA: Italo Balbo is flying his SM79 to the Italian post at Bir el Gobi— and with a mixed entourage in his plane, including not only the crew but his nephew Lino, a German war correspondent, and an Italian Army photographer— he decided to take a look over an area often traversed by the enemy armored cars in their sorties. Sure enough, Balbo spotted a British armored car, stationary and rather poorly camouflaged, with materials apparently brought along for that purpose, not matching the sparse local vegetation (nonetheless, his co-pilot was unable to detect the vehicle until Balbo pointed it out). It turned out that the armored car, a British Morris, was stranded due to a flat tire. Balbo landed at the Italian camp and got out, the plane immediately taking off again, returning to circle the British vehicle until the ground forces (including some L3 tanks) he hastily dispatched arrived to take the crew prisoner. The “capture” was more of a rescue, as the latter were out of water (Balbo showing his chivalrous nature by personally “lending” the officer commanding the vehicle 1,000 lire for spending money while in captivity). Balbo afterwards ensured that the car itself was displayed to Italian troops at Bardia, Tobruk, and Derna, not only to boost morale by showing off a trophy, but also so that it could be studied and its vulnerable points— the tires, the open top— could be observed and studied in person by as many soldiers as possible. (Mike Yaklich)
CANADA: Henry Asbjorn Larsen 1899-1964 sets sail from Vancouver on RCMP patrol vessel St. Roch intending to reach Halifax via Arctic. Makes first successful west to east navigation of NW Passage. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: John Thompson, inventor of the “Tommy Gun” dies at age 79 in Whiteneck, New York, USA.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 295 June 21, 1940
French and German delegates meet to negotiate peace at the 1918 Armistice site at Compiègne, France. To humiliate the French and make amends for Germany’s WWI defeat, Hitler has the railway carriage in which the WWI Armistice was signed removed from a French museum and placed exactly where it had been located in 1918. Hitler attends the opening stages, at 3.30 PM, but soon leaves to disrespect the French. Germany’s armistice terms are harsh and they allow no negotiation, only questions for clarification. At 8.30 PM, General Huntzinger, leading the French delegation, calls his government in Bordeaux to obtain further instructions. He is told to accept the German terms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Armistice_at_Compi%C3%A8gne
After 10 days, Italy invades France. Italian troops launch an attack through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps but are stopped by a massive snow storm. They also attack along the French Riviera towards Nice, but are held up by a French NCO and 7 men only 5 miles inside France at Menton.
German U-boast attacks on Allied and neutral shipping intensify. 20 U-boats are at sea. 6 Allied and neutral vessels are sunk, including British decoy ship HMS Prunella (X 02) sunk by U-28 South of Ireland (2 killed). 94 crew take to 2 lifeboats, 2 Carley floats, a jolly boat and a raft. 1 lifeboat and the raft are found with 40 survivors but the other 54 men are never found. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/373.html
U-99 suffers a series of friendly fire incidents. U-99 is returning to Bergen with a sick crewman when an Arado 196 scout aircraft from German battlecruiser Scharnhorst mistakes her for a British submarine and attacks. U-99 will now also require repairs at Wilhelmshaven.
Interesting that the duration of the registration law would be in effect was through May 15, 1945—or almost to the date (within a week) of VE day.
Seems like someone did some pretty decent projections.
Ya know, this isn’t very PC, and I know we spent an enormous amount of blood and treasure bailing the frogs out BUT... It’s hard to not savor, just a leeeeeeetle tiny bit, the humiliation that the so-called froggie elite had to endure that day, bowing and groveling before Chancellor Hitler.
I had no idea that they had to break down the walls of a museum to drag the darn thing out to the exact space... Sort of surprised there were rails, but if there weren’t I have no doubt that the industrious nazi engineers would have laid some to get it out.
The French lost 1.7 million killed defending against German invasion in the First World War, plus another 4.3 million military wounded.
France's quick surrender in the Second World War reduced its total deaths by more than a million -- to 568,000.
Naturally, those Germans who invaded France during the Great War (including especially a certain Austrian Corporal) felt vindicated in 1940.
But that anyone else could feel any sympathy whatever for those Germans is, well, incomprehensible.
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