Posted on 06/06/2010 5:33:28 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
wow, about a year and a half before perl harbor. amazing how slow the thing really developed, kept building over a two year period.
As predicted yesterday by PzLdr:
Germans break French line
Thursday, June 6, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The French line along the Somme between Amiens and the coast is broken by the attacks of 15th Panzer Corps after a vigorous struggle. Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division makes the largest gains. Between Amiens and Peronne, Kleist’s Panzer Group is still being held, but farther inland Guderian’s divisions are seizing bridgeheads over the Aisne in preliminary attacks.
June 6th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - marshalling yards at Rheydt and Euskirchen - troops and transport at Doullens.
10 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Rheydt and Euskirchen. Eight bombed.
51 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Doullens. All bombed.
FRANCE: 14 Panzer Corps is held up south of Amiens and Peronne, but the French defence gives way on either flank. On the west Rommel manages, late in the day, to advance another 9 miles. Finding themselves outflanked, the two left divisions of the Tenth Army, the 51st British and 31st French Infantry Divisions, fell back to the Bresle.
To the east the French Sixth Army was hard pressed, and by the end of the day the Germans seized the Chemin des Dames forced Touchon to withdraw south of the Aisne.
Weygand was then compelled to rearrange the line by pulling back No. 3 Army Group to the Bresle, the Avre, and the Aisne line.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan): HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious continue to steam in company off Narvik.
At 0200, Ark dispatches a trio of 800 Squadron Skuas (OC-Capt. R. T. Partridge, RM) as relief fighter patrol over Risoy sound. Simultaneously, she dispatches a single Swordfish with 810 Squadrons lead crew (CO-Capt. N. R. M. Skene, RM) to lead 4 further Swordfish from Gloriouss 823 Squadron, each armed with 4 x 250 pound GP, 4 x 20 pound Cooper, and 4 x 25 pound incendiary bombs. The force was to be escorted by three additional Skuas from 800 Squadron, led by Lt. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes, RN), each armed with a single 250 pound GP and 4 x 20 pound Cooper bombs. The fighters were to escort the bombers and, if no aerial opposition was encountered, assist the attack on enemy positions around the village of Hunddalen. Unfortunately, the low clouds prevented the force from reaching the objective.
Meanwhile, word arrived at the task force that the Admiralty believed that a force of German warships, including the two battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had sortied from Germany and were heading for Northern waters, perhaps to breakout into the Atlantic, or perhaps to interfere with the evacuation. Unfortunately, while the forecast was entirely accurate, the source was not provided as the factual basis was Ultra intercepts, one of the first times the Royal Navy was to receive such information.
At 0515 Ark responded by launching a pre-emptive search from 220 to 270 degrees by theree 810 Squadron Swordfish, while the rest of the Swordfish were held as a striking force.
Meanwhile, patrols continued.
0130: Fighter patrol: three Skuas of 803 Squadron (Lt. D. C. E. F. Gibson, RN)
0530: A.D A. patrrol: two Swordfish of 820 Squadron
0645: Fighter patrol: Three Skuas from 803 Squadron (Lt. C. H. Filmer, RN) for Risoy
Fighter patrol: Two Skuas of 800 Squadron (Lt. K. V. V. Spurway, RN) for Sags Fjord
0900: Search 230 to 270: Three Swordfish of 810 Squadron
Fighter patrol: Three Skuas of 803 Squadron (Lt. C. W. Peever, RN)
A.D.A. patrol: one Swordfish of 820 Squadron
Weather patrol: one Swordfish of 820 Squadron
At 1200, with the ship in position 70.15 N, 6.53 E, weather was reported as poor over Rombaksfjord, but acceptable over Drag. Thus, two Skuas of 803 Squadron (CO-Lt.Cdr. J. Casson, RN), each armed with single bomb were dispatched on am armed recce flight over the area. One bombed the runway of the German landing ground at Bodo, the other bombed a hotel surrounded by several German vehicles.
At the same time, a relief weather, A.D.A., and fighter (three Skuas of 800 Squadron, Acting S-Lt. R. W. Kearsley, RN) patrols were dispatched.
Based on the report from the armed recce of a German troop concentration at Finneid, an bombing force was organized and, at 1710, six Skuas of 803 Squadron, each armed with one 250 pound GP and four 20 pound Cooper bombs, was led off by Lt. C. W. Peever, RN.. The cloud base had descended too low for a dive-bombing attack to be made, but the bombers made low level attacks in the face of intense AA fire. Several aircraft received minor damage, and the crews reported several fires started.
A the same time, 820 Squadron dispatched a single Swordfish on a further weather patrol. Based on its report of barely acceptable weather, but with a low cloud base, an attack force of 810 Squadron Swordfish was bombed up, departing at 2105. Each aircraft was armed with 4 x 250 pound GP, 2 x 20 pound Cooper, and 4 x 25 pound incendiary bombs. The sub-flights, led by Lt. D. F. Godfrey-Faussett, RN and Lt. N. R. Corbet-Milward, RN split up, one flight bombing Hunddalen, the other bombing Sildvik, concentrating on the railway line, which the crews reported was hit several times. AA fire was encountered, though no aircraft was badly hit.
The long day was closed with flurry of activity at 2330 when 803 Squadron contributed fighter patrols to both Reisen (three Skuas, CO-Lt-Cdr. J. Casson, RN) and Risoy (three Skuas, Lt. C. H. Filmer, RN) and armed recce by 820 Squadron (single Swordfish, 2 x 250 pound GP bombs) to Drag, and a final three plane search for those German battleships, from bearing 220 to 270 to a depth of 140 miles. No enemy forces were sighted by any of this lot, but the armed recce Swordfish elected to bomb a bridge in German held territory.
CHINA: Japanese troops take Chingmen, in Hupeh province.
CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Anna Mildred commences conversion in Quebec City. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The US Navy issued orders to various Naval Reserve Air Bases (NRABs) to ferry SBC-4’s to the Curtiss plant in Buffalo, New York where they to be modified to French standards. The 50 aircraft came from NRAB Washington, District of Columbia (8 aircraft), NRAB New York, New York (Floyd Bennett Field) (9 aircraft), NRAB Chicago, Illinois (7 aircraft), NRAB St. Louis, Missouri (3 aircraft), NRAB Kansas City, Missouri (7 aircraft), NRAB Minneapolis, Minnesota (6 aircraft), , NRAB Detroit, Michigan (7 aircraft) and NRAB Boston, Massachusetts (3 aircraft). Nineteen of the aircraft had less than 50 hours on the airframe, 27 had less than 100 hours and one had only 7.7 hours.
The aircraft were flown to Buffalo where the Browning machine guns were replaced by Darne 7.7mm guns and the aircraft were repainted in French markings and camouflage and given US civil registration. The next step was to ferry the aircraft to Halifax, Nova Scotia where they would be loaded on a French ship for delivery to France. Since the pilots who had flown the aircraft to Buffalo were naval reservists, they were offered US$250 plus return rail fare from Halifax to ferry the aircraft from Buffalo to Canada.
The flight would proceed from Buffalo to Burlington, Vermont; Augusta, Maine; Houlton, Maine; and finally to Halifax. The pilots would have to remove anything identifying them as US Naval personnel.
Well, that was the plan. Unfortunately, someone forgot the US Neutrality Laws and when the planes got to Houlton, Maine, the pilots were forbidden to fly the aircraft across the border to New Brunswick, Canada. A number of tractors and cars were rounded up and the aircraft were towed across the border to a pasture, the pilots walked across the border and the planes took off on the Canadian side and flew on to Halifax. One aircraft never made it to Halifax; the weather was so bad that the pilot got lost and never made it to Burlington, Vermont. The aircraft was returned to Buffalo and its fate is unknown.
The French aircraft carrier Bearn was docked at Halifax awaiting the aircraft. Unfortunately, there was only space for 44 aircraft on the ship and five were left at Halifax. These five eventually went to the RAF. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The armed merchant cruiser HMS Carinthia is lost on Northern Patrol between Ireland and Iceland to U-46. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 280 June 6, 1940
Rommel quickly learns to use his tanks to bypass Weygand‘s hedgehogs. The Panzers make rapid progress as there is no secondary defensive line and infantry contain & reduce the hedgehogs. 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions make an initial breakthrough between Abeville and Amiens. Elsewhere, camouflaged hedgehogs in wooded areas continue to confound the Germans, with fire coming suddenly from the side or rear. French 75mm field guns (1898 vintage), obsolete as artillery, turn out to be as effective as German 88mm Flak used in flat fire anti-tank role.
Evacuation of Narvik. Another 5100 men embark overnight. About 15,000 Allied troops leave aboard 6 fast liners (Monarch Of Bermuda, Batory, Sobieski, Franconia, Lancastria & Georgic) escorted by destroyer HMS Arrow & sloop HMS Stork. They rendezvous with WWI-era cruiser HMS Vindictive (Arrow & Stork turn back for Narvik). Only Vindictive will escort the troopships back to the Clyde.
At 1.13 PM, U-46 hits British armed merchant cruiser HMS Carinthia (a converted Cunard liner) with one torpedo, west of Galway Bay (4 lives lost). Carinthia stays afloat for another 30 hours, but sink while under tow by rescue tug HMS Marauder. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/338.html
Norwegian submarine B.3 departs Harstad for Tromso but is crippled by an explosion. Unable to reach England, B.3 will be scuttled on June 9 in Gavlfjord near Tromso.
Most WWII accounts really abandon any mention of the campaign in Norway after the big offensive into the low countries begins.
Good point. I knew someone whose parents came to the US after one of the smaller countries, Estonia, IIRC, was obliterated in WWII during the move North. Am trying to remember now if those who did this were the Nazis or the Russians. Either way, it was because of Nazis that so many were killed there.
I may be guilty of that myself. There is a time overlap in Churchill's books. The Gathering Storm extends through the final stage of the Norwegian campaign. Their Finest Hour Begins with the opening of Plan Yellow. I think my excerpts have been confined to the latter since May 10. There will be an exception shortly with a flare up in the naval part of the fight in Norway.
Eastern Europe during the second world war was about as close to hell on earth as one can come.
That’s what great about these day by day accounts in that attention is given to other theaters of the war that general histories tend to either ignore or give short shrift.
Wait a couple of days, and watch the way Guderian gets gets around the hedgehog problem by sliding accross the front of his Army Group from west to east.
And Norway will become the source of a great military trivia question.
Wait a couple of days, and watch the way Guderian gets gets around the hedgehog problem by sliding accross the front of his Army Group from west to east.
And Norway will become the source of a great military trivia question.
I'm betting it was the lederhosen matched with argyle socks that gave him away.
Charles Julien Masson, former captain in the French Air Corps, is sentenced to death by a military court, together with three associates, one of them a German “traveling salesman,” for operating a spy ring which provided the information that enabled the German Air Force to bombard French airports so accurately in the first phase of the war.Chronology of Failure - Hamilton Fish Armstrong
A different June 6th for France.
The Russians invaded the Baltics in 1940. The Nazis and Bolsheviks both did their fair share of killing there.
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