GERMANS GAIN AT ENDS OF ALLIED FRONT (6/7/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 6/7/40 | G.H. Archambault, Percival Knauth, Robert P. Post, P.J. Philip, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST, 1940, Situation 12 June, and Operations Since 4 June
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

[Homer_J_Simpson]

French Admit Loss – 2-3
Windsor Quits Post With Allied Armies; Reported on Riviera for ‘Indefinite’ Stay – 3
Britain Will Aid Civilians Who Lose Clothes in War – 3
Australia Orders Many New Planes – 3
The International Situation – 4
Berlin is Reticent – 5
Planes for Allies – 6-7
Interned Nazis Treated With Care in East Indies – 7
1937 Hitler Decoration Is Returned by Watson – 7
Britons Bomb Foe in Four Countries – 8
Front Lines Swirl in New Kind of War – 9
Congress Stirred by Help to Allies – 9
Anti-Tank Defense Used in World War – 10-11
The Texts of the Day’s War Communiques - 12

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Norwegian government goes to Britain

Friday, June 7, 1940 www.onwar.com

In Norway... The British cruiser Devonshire carries the king of Norway and his government from Tromso to Britain.

On the Western Front... In their advance on the coastal region the Germans take Montdidier, Noyon and Fores-les-Eaux. They are now only 20 miles from the Seine at Rouen.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm

June 7th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - railway communications at Hirson.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft. One returned early, five bombed.

London: The first Victoria Cross of the war has been awarded posthumously to Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee of the destroyer HMS Hardy in the raid on Narvik in April.

HMS Devonshire brings the King of Norway from Tromsø to Britain. The are destined for the river Clyde and sail without any escorts. (Alex Gordon)

Auxiliary Merchant Cruiser HMS Carinthia operating the Northern Patrol blockade duty is torpedoed by U-46 in the Atlantic NW of Ireland at 53 13N 10 40W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

FRANCE: Paris: A dull rumble can be heard north and east of Paris, the rumble of heavy guns. The broken glass from Paris’s first air raid four days ago still tinkles under the feet of the refugees moving east along the boulevards. The restaurants are empty, the Ritz deserted. For the third time in a lifetime, Paris prepares for a siege.

The air raid on 3 June came at lunchtime. Leaflets giving warnings, dropped by German planes the night before, caused near hysteria, but when the raid came it was an anti-climax - though 254 are reported dead. Paris’s anti-aircraft guns were ‘well-nourished’ as the French say, and the 200 planes kept too high to be accurate. There was no panic; the city seemed to accept its fate.

Somme: Learning from his experience of the previous days, Rommel avoids the “hedgehogs” and pushes south-west. In one day he covers 28 miles and reaches Forges-les-Eaux, only 25 miles from Rouen.

By the evening part of the French 10th Army was cut off on the Bresle and the Germans had made gap in the line, but the French still held the Avre at Moreuil, their second line at Montdidier to Noyon and both the Oise and the Aisne.

GERMANY: At 3:00 pm one of the French Navy’s three Farman 223.4 long-range naval reconnaissance aircraft, the Jules Verne, left Bordeaux-Merignac airfield carrying 2 tonnes of bombs, target - Berlin. This was the first bomb assault of the war against Berlin. The mission was successful.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious are still located at sea WNW of Narvik, the former providing air cover for the Allied evacuation of Norway and the later preparing to embark the surviving aircraft of 263 Squadron, RAF (Gladiator) and 71 Squadron, FAA (Walrus).

For the carriers, the moment of truth had arrived. With the Allied ground forces steadily being pulled out, the time was finally at hand when the RAF landing ground at Bardufoss had to be evacuated prior to its demolition. Since May 21 the Gladiators of 263 Squadron had provided the first semblance of air cover over the Allied troops. Then, on 26 May, 46 Squadrons Hurricanes had arrived with the providing the first modern Allied fighter planes in the theatre. For the prior 12 days the two Squadrons had done Yeoman service, basically winning control of the air. But now, the end of their gallant effort was in sight. As it stood, 46 Squadron was to destroy their aircraft before being evacuated, while 263 Squadron was to destroy the lame ducks and then fly their serviceable Gladiators (10) out to HMS Glorious.

At 0200, HMS Ark Royal in position 70.14 N, 16.14 W, she dispatched an A.D.A. patrol (one 810 Squadron Swordfish) as well as a fighter patrol to Risoy (two 800 Squadron Skuas led by Lt. K. V. V. Spurway, RN). This was followed, at 0435, by a weather flight (one Swordfish, 810 Squadron), another fighter patrol (three Skuas, Capt. R. T. Partridge, RM), and a three-plane bombing mission of 820 Squadron (with the usual 4 x 250 GP, 4 x 20 Cooper and 4 x 25 incendiary bombs each) led by CO Lt.Cdr. G. B. Hodgkinson, RN on the Flak positions at Hundallen. Weather forced the flight to seek an alternate target, and the trio opted to plaster the railway at Sildvik.

0540 saw the A.D.A. patrol relieved, this time with two Swordfish, one each ahead and astern of the task force. At 0800, another trio of Skuas set off for Risoy (800 Squadron, Lt. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes) At 0900 the A.D.A. patrol was relieved by a single 810 Squadron Swordfish, while another is dispatched to Bardufoss to communicate the Navys intentions for the evacuation. This is followed, at 0930, by another trio of fighters (800 Squadron, Lt. G. R. Callingham). They report the evacuation convoy is putting to sea.

At 1205, a relief A.D.A. patrol (single Swordfish, 820 Squadron) sets off. At 1350 this aircraft reports a snooper. Five minutes later, 803 Squadrons Lt. C. W. Peever, RN took a trio of Skuas aloft in pursuit, but by the time they got to altitude the German was gone.

Meanwhile, the earlier communication with the RAF at Bardufoss had, more or less, stunned the naval staff. SL Kenneth B. B. Cross, RAF [later KCB, CBE, DSO, DFC], 46 Squadrons CO had sent back a message proposing that, instead of destroying his ten serviceable Hurricanes, his pilots be allowed to fly them out to the task force and try to land them aboard Glorious. Considering that fact that, to date, no Hurricane had ever been landed on a carrier, the pilots involved had never landed any aircraft on a carrier, and that, even if it were possible to land a properly navalized Hurricane on a carrier (and the Naval experts said is wasn’t), his planes were not fitted with any arrestor gear!

At 1430, HMS Glorious dispatched 4 Swordfish to Bardufoss to lead the RAF planes back when the effort was made. Meanwhile, after due consideration was given to Cross request (and not to be out done by the junior service), the Navy agreed to let a section of Hurricanes fly out to Glorious and give it a go and, at 1615, Ark flew off another Swordfish to Bardufoss with the latest navigational dope, and permission for Cross to fly out.

At 1800, New Zealand FL Patric Geraint Jameson, RAF [later CB, DSO, DFC+bar] led his forlorn hope (FO Herbert Harold Knight, RAF, Sgt. Bernard Lester Taylor, RAF) aloft. Struggling to follow their slow Swordfish guide to the carrier, they arrived shortly before 1900. The three pilots was literally stunned at how small that floating matchbox looked on the sea. Not to be discredited in the attempt, Glorious worked up to 30 knots into the wind to give the maximum wind over the deck, her decks visibly pitching and rolling with the ship in the moderate sea. Signalling an in flight emergency, Sgt. Taylor cut off Jameson in the pattern and became the first Hurricane to successfully land on a carrier. Following right behind, the other two landed safely as well. That accomplished, the Swordfish was sent back to Bardufoss to pass the word and deliver the plans for the upcoming embarkation. At the same time, 701 Squadrons Walrus amphibians, having flown out from Harstad, landed aboard Ark Royal.

The plan called for Arks Skuas would fly top cover for the effort. Once on station, the Swordfish of 823 Squadron would lead RAF boys back to the carriers, at which point the Gladiators were to embark first, and then the Hurricanes. At 2305, Ark commenced launching the fighter patrols, three sections of 800 Squadron, nine Skuas led by Capt. R. T. Partridge, RM (Narvik), Lt. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes, RN (Skaanland), and Lt. K. V. V. Spurway, RN (Bardufoss), and an A.D. A. patrol of two 810 Squadron Swordfish.

The (labour) government of Johan Nygaardsvold and the Norwegian Royals (King Haakon VII, Queen Maud) left Norway on the British cruiser HMS Devonshire. The exile government, which had not surrendered to the Germans, was given authorization by the national assembly of the country, [the ‘StortIng’], to continue the fight from abroad if exile was the only choice. (Russ Fulsom)

ITALY: Italian ships are ordered to neutral ports. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 281 June 7, 1940

France. Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division and 5th Panzer Division continue their drive down the Channel coast towards Rouen. Further East, General Kleist’s Panzers meet stiff resistance and make no progress between Amiens and Péronne.

Evacuation of Narvik. More British troopships (Group II) arrive and embark 5200 troops overnight. Slow container ships with supplies and equipment leave Narvik. Group I troopships (that departed yesterday with 15,000 troops on board) are spotted by German reconnaissance planes but mistaken for empty supply ships returning to England, probably due to the single escort vessel HMS Vindictive. Admiral Marschall’s German flotilla does not attack the convoy, instead refueling the destroyers and cruiser Admiral Hipper.

Off Narvik, RAF pilots, untrained in aircraft carrier landings, safely land 10 Gloster Gladiators and 8 Hawker Hurricanes on aircraft carrier HMS Glorious (the remaining fighters of 46 and 263 Squadrons).

At 8 PM, Norwegian King Haakon VII, his son Crown Prince Olav and members of the Norwegian government leave Tromsø (in the far North of Norway) for exile in England on British cruiser HMS Devonshire.

Between midnight and 3.30 AM, U-48 sinks British steamer Francis Massey carrying 7500 tons of iron ore (33 dead, Captain rescued by destroyer HMS Volunteer) and damages British steamer Eros (all 62 crew survive) 10 miles North of Ireland. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/340.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Here’s the full link to #5:

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f07jun40.htm

[texanyankee]

Thanks!

[texanyankee]

Interesting little tidbit on page 2 of the news -— an army deserter, Bergdoll - I presume from WWI - is stripped of his citizenship.

I didnt realize that was done.

[Mikey_1962]

Also interesting that the Duke of Windsor resigned his commission.

There were rumors that he thought Germany would defeat Britain and he would then regain the throne as puppet King.

He was after all half German.

[C19fan]

Ping

[PzLdr]

I don’t believe he resigned his commision. He deserted his post.

[texanyankee]

Yeah, I noticed that little news item as well. I knew he was sympathetic to the Nazis. I just never knew he had a military rank & resigned during the dark days of the war.

[CougarGA7]

What I found interesting is the little story on the German spy who was shot by the French on Page 2.

Fritz Erler who was convicted and executed isn’t what caught my eye though, it was the reference to his co-conspirator Carmen Mory because the name was familiar. She will have a separate roll to play in this war which will not come out until after it is over and I don’t want to give it away at this point.

As of right now, Carmen is more than just Fritz’s co-conspirator, she was his fiancee. She was also sentenced to death last April for espionage along with Fritz, but she has gotten that sentence commuted and will be back on the streets after agreeing to become a double agent for the French. All well and good, but in the process of becoming turn-coat she was more than willing to let her husband-to-be to make his date with the firing squad.

[CougarGA7]

I particularly like how the British get rid of him by making him the governor of the Bahamas. Rough deal for him, eh?

[dfwgator]

Interned Nazis Treated With Care in East Indies – 7

Now why couldn't the Nazis have forced the Dutch to hand over their colonies as part of the terms of surrender? Of course a year later, the Japs would attack and take over the East Indies.

[PzLdr]

Tried to put him further awat from the Germans. He [and the bride] were in Lisobon before that, and Schellenberg was there on Himmler’s orders to get him to Germany.

[PzLdr]

Hand the colonies over to who? Unlike Indochina, Japan had no direct overland, or seaborne access to the East Indies. The Germans had no fleet capable of reaching, taking and holding them. And, the East Indies were rich in oil, something the Brits would want to get for themselves, and keep from the Germans. And which was the reason for Japan's entry into WW II. The fact that, unlike Denmark and Belgium, the Royal family and government of the Netherlands went into exile in Britain kind of put the kibosh on it, too.

[henkster]

There was so much inbreeding in the European Royal families that it’s hard to say just how much “German” blood was in the Duke of Windsor’s veins. Probably at least 75%, as Queen Victoria was German and so was her husband, Prince Albert. Most of the British Royal family between Victoria and George VI was either marrying cousins or German princes/princesses who were related to cousins.

I don’t know why there is such a hue and cry over the ethics of human cloning. They Royals have been doing it for generations. Just like the people of Appalachia.