http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/08.htm
June 8th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Royal Navy: At the end of the evacuation from Norway, fleet carrier HMS Glorious and escorting destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent sail for Britain independently of the other forces. West of Lofoten Islands they meet the 11in battlecruisers ‘Scharnhorst’ and ‘Gneisenau’ steaming at 17 knots on their way to attack expected allied shipping off Harstad. Glorious has no aircraft on patrol. Despite the destroyers laying down a smokescreen Glorious is hit in the forward upper hangar, suffers a massive hole in her flight deck and is set on fire. The casualty count is heavy: 76 officers, 1086 naval ratings, and 41 RAF personnel. There are 43 survivors picked up by the Norwegian Borgrund and landed in the Faroes, and a further 5 picked up by Norwegian trawler Svalbard II who become POW’s. Location of the sinking is to the southwest of Narvik at 68 45N 04 30E.
Destroyer HMS ARDENT fires 8 torpedoes at the German ships but is hit and sinks. Casualties: 10 officers and 142 ratings. A German seaplane picks up survivors on 11 June.
Destroyer HMS ACASTA manage a torpedo hit on Scharnhorst but is herself hit hard and sinks with 8 officers and 152 ratings as casualties. Just one able seaman (C. Carter) survives the sinking. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Polish submarine ‘Orzel’ is lost presumably mined.
RN Trawler HMS Juniper was allocated to escort the tanker Oil Pioneer to the UK from Tromsö when the two ships were sighted by the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau accompanied by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four destroyers. (Pause to consider remarks likely to have been uttered by Juniper’s bridge crew at this time) The trawler and tanker were sunk by gunfire in the Norwegian Sea at 67 26N 04 23E. There are 4 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - arms dumps and communications in France - marshalling yards in Germany. 10 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Rheydt, Wedan and Essen marshalling yards. One crashed on take-off (two injured), one returned early, eight bombed. 51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to arms dumps in France. All bombed. 58 Sqn. Six aircraft to road/rail comms Avesnes and Aulnoye. All bombed. 77 Sqn. Nine aircraft to road/rail comms Hirson and Charleville. All bombed. 102 Sqn. Nine aircraft to road/rail comms Sedan. One returned early, eight bombed, one damaged by Flak.
P/O Edward Donald J Parker (1910-43), RAFVR, carried his wireless operator clear after their bomber crash-landed and caught fire. (Empire Gallantry Medal).
FRANCE: Rommel breaks through the British defences on the Bethune and Andelle rivers, and heads for Elbeuf.
French 10 Army is now cut in two. The left part withdraws towards Le Havre and the right to Pontoise, southwards. This means that the whole of the Seine, between Vernon and its mouth is uncovered.
Weygand now orders General Duffour, commanding Third Region at Rouen, to organise some sort of local defence. At the same time he turns the Military Government of Paris into the “Army of Paris” which under General Hering, is to hold the Seine from Vernon to Pontoise, and the Oise as far as Boran.
The Germans push the French 7 Army south of Amiens back as far as Saint-Just-en-Chaussee. The 7th Army is then ordered to cover the eastern approaches to Paris as far as the river Ourcq.
GERMANY: OKW issues Führer Directive #14.
(i) The enemy is offering stiff resistance on the Somme front.
Accordingly the main attack is to begin on 9th June near Rheims as laid out in Directive #13, however stronger forces will be employed towards the lower Seine and Paris than had been originally contemplated. XIV Corps will reinforce the left flank of 4th Army and the 9th Army will thrust towards the Marne with XVI Corps.
(ii) The Luftwaffe will continue operations as laid out in Directive #13, in addition it will keep the coast on the right flank of Army Group B under observation and strong fighter cover, and assist Army Group A at the focal point of the attack. (Marc Roberts)
NORWAY: Tromsø : The last of the 24,500 Allied troops have been evacuated from Harstad. The evacuations started on 4 June.
German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operate off the Norwegian coast against the British evacuation convoys. The carrier HMS Glorious and destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent are sunk. This in spite of a gallant defence by the destroyers.
Mark Horan adds: At 0045, with the Royal Navy carriers in position 70.05N, 15.52E, the RAF fighters began taking off Bardufoss landing ground: 10 Gladiator IIs of 263 Squadron and 7 Hurricane Is of 46 Squadron.
At 0100, Ark launched a relief fighter patrol for Narvik, two 803 Squadron Skuas (OC-Lt.Cdr. J. Casson, RN). Fifteen minutes later, the RAF fighters were sighted. With little ado, Glorious again worked up to full speed and the 17 RAF fighters landed aboard as if the entire effort was simply routine. Following behind the Swordfish guides and a 701 Squadron Walrus which landed aboard with several important communications. Its mission accomplished, it took off for Ark Royal at 0207, the last aircraft to takeoff the ill-fated Glorious.
At 0130, two further two-plane patrols from 803 departed for Risoy and Bardufoss (Lt. C. H. Filmer, RN and S-Lt. J. R. Callander, RN) as well as a relief A.D.A. patrol. At 0300 two three-plane patrols were sent over the transports at Reisen and Risoy (803, Lt. C. W. Peever, RN, and 800, Lt. G. R. Callingham, RN). These were followed at 0515 by another six 800 Squadron Skuas (Lts. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes, RN and K. V. V. Spurway, RN) and another A.D.A patrol. This later patrol reported the embarkation at Reisen complete.
Meanwhile, at 0253, having requested and received permission for his ship to return forthwith to Scapa Flow to for the purpose of making preparations for impending courts martial, Capt, Guy D’Oyly-Hughes DSO+bar, DSC, RN ordered Glorious and her two attendant destroyers, HMS Acasta (Cdr. Charles Galsfurd, RN) and HMS Ardent (Lt.Cdr. J. F. Barker, RN) to set a course westward towards home. More of this later.
Meanwhile, back on Ark, the next fighter patrol (three Skuas, Lt. D. C. E. F. Gibson, RN, 803) left for Risoy at 0805. This was the first patrol to actually sight an enemy aircraft, chasing off an He-111”>He-111 that escaped into the low clouds. This was followed by an A.D.A. patrol at 0815. At 1000, in response to the sighting of a snooper from the bridge, a pair of 803 Squadron Skuas was led aloft by Lt. C. H. Filmer, RN, but they were unable to locate it.
Word having been received that the embarkation was complete, Ark now shifted her air cover to the retiring transports. Three-plane Fighter patrols were sent aloft at 1050, 1330, 1515, 1715, and 1915. By that point, Ark Royal had closed with the convoy such that her A.D.A. patrols could cover both forces. The days flying ended at 2205 with a two Swordfish A.D.A. patrol.
Operation Juno
The Loss of Glorious.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Brother Orchid” is released in the U.S. This crime drama, directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sothern, Humphrey Bogart, Ralph Bellamy, Donald Crisp and Allen Jenkins, has gang boss Robinson returning from Europe, where he tried to acquire “class,” to find his gang has been taken over by Bogart. He forms another gang and is wounded in a gunfight and takes refuge in a monastery where he plots his next move. (Jack McKillop)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 282 June 8, 1940
Operation Juno. German cruiser Admiral Hipper sinks British tanker Oil Pioneer and escorting armed trawler HMS Juniper (20 lives lost, Hipper picks up 29 survivors). Later, Hipper sinks empty British troopship Orama (19 lives lost, 280 rescued by German destroyers) but spares hospital ship Atlantis. Atlantis obeys the rules of war and does not attempt to radio any signals; Hipper does not sink her. http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/ships/orama.html
Evacuation of Narvik. French and Polish troops, pursuing General Dietl’s forces towards Sweden, pull out overnight and return to Narvik leaving dummies to fool the Germans. Group II troopships embark the final 4600 Allied troops (British, French and Polish) and depart Narvik, escorted by aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruisers HMS Southampton and HMS Coventry and 11 destroyers. The convoy is spotted by German reconnaissance planes and bombed continuously until out of range but without damage. Germans quickly assess the withdrawal and retake Narvik.
Operation Juno meets Evacuation of Narvik. At 3 AM, aircraft carrier HMS Glorious sails for Scapa Flow with destroyers HMS Ardent & HMS Acasta (these vessels are not needed to escort troop transports). Captain Guy D’Oyly Hughes does not post top look-outs or fly patrol aircraft and runs into German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 170 miles off the Norwegian coast. At 4.30 PM, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau open fire from 24km, one of the longest hits ever recorded. Glorious is hit with several 11 inch shells, preventing aircraft taking off. Ardent & Acasta lay smoke and close on the German battleships firing 120 mm guns and torpedoes but both are hit. Acasta hits Scharnhorst with 1 torpedo (50 dead). Ardent sinks at 5.20 PM (151 lives lost, 2 survivors). Glorious sinks at 7.10 PM (1162 sailors and 59 RAF personnel killed, 42 survivors). Acasta sinks at 7.20 PM (161 dead, 2 survivors). Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, aboard his flagship Gneisenau orders his flag lowered to half mast to honor the crews of the British destroyers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Juno
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/gladiator_glorious.htm
France. 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions cross River Seine. 5th Panzer captures Rouen. Further East, Kleist’s 14th Panzer Corp breaks through at Amiens but 16th Panzer Corp is still held at Péronne by French 7th Army, showing the true fighting character of the French troops and the effectiveness of the hedgehogs.