Posted on 06/09/2010 4:59:01 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 9
Factors Which Count in ‘Battle of France’ – 10
Editorials – 11-12
A World Explodes
Army Manoeuvres
To Defend Democracy
First Things First
“Nobler Than Ourselves”
Answers to Twenty News Questions - 13
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f09jun40.htm
Germans cross the Seine
Sunday, June 9, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The German forces reach the Seine at Rouen and take the city. Dieppe and Compiegne are both captured. Guderian’s forces are now in full attack against the French positions around Reims. They have been joined by Kleist’s Panzer Group who have been switched east after being held between Amiens and Peronne. In the fighting the French defenders manage to hold most of their positions but take heavy losses.
From London... The king and his prime minister order the loyal Norwegian forces to cease fighting at midnight.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm
June 9th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road and rail communications in France.
10 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Libremont, Sedan and Neufchateau. All bombed.
51 Sqn. Eleven aircraft. All bombed. One damaged by Flak, tail-gunner wounded.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Amiens. All bombed.
77 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Somme bridges. Six bombed. One hit by Flak and crashed at Abingdon on return.
102 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Abbeville and St. Valery. All bombed.
FRANCE: Paris: The Germans reach the Seine River. Dieppe and Compiegne fall. France is taking heavy losses in the fighting.
With the Germans just 50 miles away, the government leaves Paris and heads west for Tours. Paris is left in the hands of a military governor, General Hering.
Rommel crosses the Seine at Elbeuf. The cut off part of the French Tenth Army concentrates around Saint-Valery-en-Caux in an attempt to evacuate. They are prevented from doing this by tank fire from 7 Panzer.
Aisne: At 4.30 am a violent artillery barrage falls along the French positions along the Aisne, while the Luftwaffe attack the batteries and rear areas.
At 5 am the German infantry attacks between Neufchatel and Attigny. The French 14th Infantry Division on the right repulsed the Germans capturing 800 prisoners. The French 2nd Infantry Division, where the main attack was made, held firm everywhere except on its left flank, at Chateau-Porcien, where the Germans establish a bridgehead.
During the night Guderian pushes the 1st Panzers across the river at Chateau-Porcien.
NORWAY: Narvik: Germany formally reoccupies the port, and King Haakon and Norway’s High Command orders General Ruge and his army and all other loyal Norwegians to stop fighting at midnight. So strong is Dietl’s admiration of their courage that he is allowing them to return to their homes.
Mark Horan adds: By dawn it is obvious to all interested parties, from the Admiralty on down, that some form of disaster has befallen HMS Glorious and company, from which no word has been heard since departing the Narvik area, and requests for position reports have gone unanswered...
Meanwhile, Ark endeavours to keep and A.D.A. patrol of two Swordfish and a fighter patrol of three Skuas over the troop convoy throughout the day. Also, commencing at 0405, she begins launching a series of more and more extensive air searches in front of and beyond the convoy.
At 0405, four Swordfish search the sector from 130 to 225 degrees, ahead of the convoy. The aircraft report a small convoy and several independents, but no enemy warships. At 0718 two Swordfish are sent to the rearward sector to search for a missing ship, SS Vandyck (13,241 BRT), but she is not found (bombed and sunk by a FW-200C of 1/KG 40). At 1000 four more Swordfish are sent out between 130 and 210 degrees, then at 1110 another three go out between 275 to 090 degrees (a fairly skimpy number for such a wide sector). At 1300, a large coordinated effort is sent off, and for the first time 701 Squadrons Walrus amphibians are to take part as well. First 6 Swordfish and two Walrus’ depart to search between 110 southward to 285 degrees. A further three Skuas are sent off to search between 315 Northward to 035 degrees. The former went out to 100 miles, the later only 20 miles past the convoy. The whole is repeated at 1545 when by a like number of aircraft in exactly the same sectors. At 1830 six Swordfish and three Walrus’ went out between 175 Southward to 340 degrees to 120 miles, while three Skuas went out on the arc 015 to 140 degrees to 20 miles astern of the convoy. All of the efforts availed nothing, as the two German battleships were well on their way to Trondheim.
Meanwhile, word had come in that HMS Valiant, escorting the convoy, had spotted a snooper. Thus, immediately after the search went up, a section of 800 Squadron Skuas under Lt. G. R. Callingham went up to intercept and then patrol over the convoy. On arrival, they found, chased, and brought down He-115 S4+EH of KuFlGr 506. Interestingly, the wreck of this aircraft was found on the sea floor several years ago. Turns out the FAA pilot (Acting S-Lt. R. W. Kearsley, RN) and the German pilot (the crew was rescued by another He-115) have been good friends since the war!)
At 2145, a similar search (six Swordfish and two Walrus) went out between 155 westward to 355 degrees, distant 129 miles, with three Skuas again going astern.
Then, at 2300, six He-111s of II/KG 26, were sighted approaching Ark Royal from astern. Callingham’s trio, already in the air, shot down one Heinkel and damaged another. Likewise, Lt. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes section of three from 800 Squadron, sent off at 2315 to reinforce the CAP, damaged another in a long chase. At 2355, two more sections were sent aloft, Lt. C. W. Peever’s trio from 803, and Capt. R. T. Partridge’s from 800. They two became embroiled with the last of the Heinkel’s, forcing them to jettison their bombs and flee. No FAA aircraft were hit.
Apparently, several of the FAA search aircraft, one being a Walrus, were sighted by Glorious survivors in the water, but the nasty weather, and height above the water of the aircraft combined to hid the overburdened Carley floats still, at this point, overloaded with the weakened and frozen survivors.
In the afternoon German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau arrive in Trondheim.
FRENCH NORTH AFRICA: The heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) and destroyers USS Truxton (DD-229) and USS Simpson (DD-221) arrive at Casablanca, French Morocco from the U.S. The Bank of France’s gold reserves, 200 tons of gold brought to Casablanca by a French auxiliary cruiser, will be loaded in the U.S. cruiser and taken to New York City for deposit in U.S. banks. (Jack McKillop)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 283 June 9, 1940
Norway. With the King and Government gone to exile in England, General Ruge agrees to the surrender of Norwegian 6th Division (essentially all that remains of the Norwegian Army). The armistice comes into effect at midnight. Allied losses (dead, missing or severely wounded) are 2119 British, 1335 Norwegian, 530 French and Poles combined. Germans lose 5296 dead or missing. Critically, Luftwaffe has lost 160 fighters and bombers and 80 transport planes while Kriegsmarine has lost 3 cruisers, 10 destroyers and 6 submarines, with 4 more cruisers and 6 destroyers requiring repairs. The loss of warships and transport planes will hinder plans for an invasion of England.
France. Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division chases French 10th Army and British 51st Highland Division back to the sea at St-Valery-en-Caux. Kleist’s 14th Panzer Corp makes further progress past Amiens but 16th Panzer Corp remains stuck at Péronne. Further East, Rundstedt’s Army Group A launches its attack towards Reims led by Guderian’s Panzers. French CiC General Weygand declares the battle for the Somme River to be lost and suggests seeking an armistice with Germany. Instead, the French government decides to leave Paris.
American cruiser Vincennes and destroyers Truxton & Simpson arrive at Casablanca to transship 200 tons of French gold to USA for safekeeping. They will depart Casablanca June 10, arriving at New York June 20.
At 10.30 AM, hospital ship Atlantis meets battleship HMS Valiant and reports the sinking of Orama. This is the first the Admiralty knows about Admiral Marschall’s flotilla which has sunk 6 ships including an aircraft carrier. Damaged German battleship Scharnhorst and sister ship Gneisenau return to Trondheim for repairs.
At 1 PM, U-46 sinks Finnish steamer Margareta carrying 1434 tons of peanuts 350 miles West of Cape Finisterre, Spain (5 lives lost). 19 survivors drift in a lifeboat for 4 days but are rescued and taken to Vivero, Spain. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/341.html
good stuff. a few years back I bought a very large sized hardback book that was the NY Times front pages, (not all, but selected), from, I think, ‘39’45. had to use a mag glass to read the darn thing but it was real interesting, especially for an old WW2 buff. I read one page a day and it took quite a while to get thru the entire book. I have no idea where the book is now so it is good to see your posts each day. thanks
“The Bank of France’s gold reserves, 200 tons of gold brought to Casablanca by a French auxiliary cruiser, will be loaded in the U.S. cruiser and taken to New York City for deposit in U.S. banks.”
One of the list of “signs of things to come you don’t want to see.”
When a country ships out it’s gold reserves for “safe keeping” it’s leadership knows it has lost the war, and is now acting on that knowledge.
Another one:
When foreign embassies and consulates start burning their papers and get instructions to destroy their cipher machines, there will be war. We’ll see this later.
I like reading Hanson Baldwin’s articles on the conduct of the war. It’s interesting to see how he tries to spin things. All you have to read in his article is that the Germans excel at a the elastic fluid warfare while the French are more rigid and static. The astute reader, having seen what happened in Flanders, knows its over.
I also liked the editorial recapping how the world has changed in the past two months since the Germans attacked Norway.
Sounds like bad news for France.
/s
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