Posted on 06/10/2010 4:59:47 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Why, yes. Yes I would warmly welcome a box of Haddon Hall Cigars for Fathers Day.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f10jun40.htm
Italy declares war on Britain, France
Monday, June 10, 1940 www.onwar.com
From Rome... Mussolini issues declarations of war to Britain and France. Neither the Italian economy nor the Italian people are particularly well prepared for war. Their fleet is, however, of considerable strength and strategic significance. They have two battleships immediately available, with four more modern ships nearly completed. They also have a powerful force of cruisers and destroyers and the largest submarine force in the world, 116 strong. These forces, when all the battleships are available, will be comfortably stronger than the British and French forces in the Mediterranean, the more so when Britain is fighting alone. The only class of ship which the Italians do not have is the aircraft carrier. Two British ships of this type are in the Mediterranean at this time. The Italian army is not a formidable as the fleet. Although of considerable size its units are usually under strength and, as the coming battles will show, badly led and poorly equipped.
From Paris... French Prime Minister Reynaud appeals to President Roosevelt to intervene in the war in Europe. This appeal is repeated on June 13th but without success.
In Norway... The Allied campaign comes to an end. Strategically the campaign has been most significant for the naval losses on each side and the transformation it has helped to bring about in the potential of the available bases for the German fleets. The Allies have lost one carrier, two cruisers, nine destroyers and many smaller craft, also many ships were damaged. These losses do nothing to help the British ability to protect the trade routes. The Germans have lost three cruisers, 10 destroyers and several submarines. This forms a large proportion of the Kriegsmarine fleet and this loss cannot be replaced at all quickly. It limits ability German navy capability to help protect, for example, an invasion of Britain. Manpower losses in the Norwegian campaign are about 5600 for the Germans and 6100 military deaths for the Allies as well as many civilian casualties.
On the Western Front... The Germans are across the Seine west of Paris. Elements of the French 10th Army are still fighting around St. Valery along with some British forces. Some of these units are evacuated from the town. East of Paris the German advance is also very rapid. Evacuations also begin at Le Havre. In the next three days 11,059 British and some French will be taken off, some to go to Cherbourg but the bulk is bound for Britain. East of Paris the German forces begin to gain ground south of the Aisne.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/10.htm
June 10th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing road and rail communications in France.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Forges and Dumale. One returned early, five bombed.
77 Sqn. Three aircraft to Fleury and Gournay. All bombed.
102 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Abbeville. All bombed.
Greenock, Scotland: HMS DEVONSHIRE arrives in port with King Haakon and Crown Prince Olaf of Norway, and the Norwegian government aboard after a 64 hour journey from Tromsø. They then board a train to arrive in London at 2300. (Alex Gordon)
FRANCE:
French Prime Minister Reynaud appeals to US President Roosevelt to intervene in the war.
RN begins operation ‘Cycle’ the evacuation of 11,000 British and Allied troops from Le Havre.
Joinville: After fighting for two hours, French reserves fail to stop the Germans crossing the Aisne.
Chateau-Porcien: After a brief artillery preparation, the 1st Panzers together with infantry break out and advance towards the Retourne river, which they manage to cross by 4pm.
At 5 pm a French armoured group of two divisions counter-attacks along both banks of the Retourne. While the 1st Panzers were held up, and even repelled, the 2nd Panzers advanced towards Reims.
HMCS St Laurent and Restigouche exchanged fire with a German artillery battery at St Valery-en-Caux during the evacuation of the British 51st Highland Division. These were the first shots fired in anger by the RCN during World War II. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:
The Allied operations in Norway end. This has cost the British and French 1 carrier; 2 cruisers; and 9 destroyers plus other smaller craft. There were 6100 KIA.
The cost for the Germans was 3 cruisers; 10 destroyers, and several U-Boats. There were 5600 KIA.
There were also many Norwegian casualties.
(Mark Horan) Continuing to shepherd the troop convoy’s home to England, Ark made her first true effort to both cover the convoy and to look for what must be out there somewhere, survivors from the missing ships, which at this point included HMS Glorious, HMS Acasta, HMS Ardent, SS Orama, ST Oilpioneer, and HMS Jupiter. At 0245 she put up a 360 degree search, out to 120 miles, using 10 Swordfish. One Swordfish failed top return, signalling it was making a deferred forced landing at sea. While continuing to maintain a fighter patrol over the convoy, she next sent off three Walrus amphibians to search for the crew of the missing Swordfish, but found nothing ( Fortunately, the missing trio, S-Lt.(A) R. C. Eborn, RN, Mid.(A) G. T. Shaddick, RN, and LA P. W. Clitheroe, RN had been rescued by the fishing vessel Syrian and would make it safely home on her.)
At 1100, her service escorting the convoy was deemed complete and the ship separated, steaming for a rendezvous with C-in-C Home Fleet, joining at 1440. Thus ended Operation “Alphabet”, the evacuation of Norway. Ark’s next job would close out the campaign on a very negative note - but that lies in the future. for now ...
At 1530 a snooper was sighted by the bridge personnel, and 10 minutes later a trio of Skuas from 800 Squadron, led by Lt. K. V. V. Spurway zoomed into the air to run it down. The patrol spotted and attacked the He-115, but unable to close the range sufficiently, the German pilot skilfully using the low cloud to escape destruction. At 1650, a further trio, Lt.Cdr. J. Casson’s section of 803 took off to run down the still elusive He-115. This time they were able to get in a few telling bursts, and the snooper left leaving a trail of smoke behind it.
After a relief fighter patrol was sent up, at 2000 nine Swordfish search was put up to cover the sector ahead of the Task Force, from 020 eastward to 210 degrees, still looking for the elusive German battleships which were, by now, safely in Trondheim harbour. That ended flying for the day.
ITALY:
Rome: After months of indecision, Benito Mussolini, today tagged his forces onto the victorious Germans and declared war on the Allies. Informed sources here believe that the Duces greatest fear is peace, which will prevent him from winning glory.
British and French ambassadors here were informed of the Italian decision here today by Count Ciano, the foreign minister. Asked why Italy should enter the war, he replied: “Mussolini is only carrying out the plans he has made with Hitler.”
Mussolini was not even able to choose his own date for the declaration. Five days ago he pleaded with Hitler to be allowed to join the fight against France. Hitler prevailed upon him to hold back until the French air force was destroyed. Hitler is insistent on a complete German victory. Nor, should France fall, will Mussolini be allowed to join Germany in armistice talks. More than 250,000 cheering and flag-waving people heard the Duce declare war from the balcony of his official residence the Palazzo Venezia. “We will conquer,” he roared. “People of Italy, to arms! Show your tenacity, your courage, your worth.”
PORTUGAL: The U.S. passenger liner SS Washington arrives at Lisbon to board any Americans wishing to return to the U.S. The destroyer USS Dickerson (DD-157) also arrives in Lisbon from Casablanca transporting Americans wishing to board the SS Washington. (Jack McKillop)
FRENCH MOROCCO: The USN’s heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44), escorted by two destroyers, gets underway from Casasblanca for New York City carrying 200 tons of gold, the Bank of France’s gold reserves. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Japanese forces attack Ichang on the Yangtze River.
CANADA declares war on Italy. (Jack McKillop)
Minesweeper (ex-fishing vessel) HMCS BC Lady commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Patrol vessel HMCS Brad D’Or intercepted and seized Italian freighter Capo Noli. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 284 June 10, 1940
France. Rommel continues his charge down the Channel coast, West of Paris. Northeast of Paris, Guderians Panzers advance towards Chalons-sur-Marne. Demonstrating the value of German flexibility & mobility, 16th Panzer Corps are withdrawn from Péronne & sent East to support Guderians breakthrough. With Paris threatened, the French government flees to Tours. They declare Paris an open city to avoid the destruction by bombing & street fighting seen in Warsaw & Amsterdam.
In a second Allied evacuation from the French coast (Operation Cycle), 3321 troops embark at St-Valery-en-Caux & 11,059 troops are evacuated from Le Havre. Overnight, 9000 men are taken from Le Havre to Cherbourg to continue fighting. Destroyers HMS Bulldog & Boadicea (6 lives lost) are badly damaged by German bombing off Le Havre. HMS Boadicea is towed back to Dover & will be out of commission until February 1941.
Italy declares war on France and Britain, effective June 11, expecting to make easy gains in Southern France. Benito Mussolini says cynically “I only need a few thousand dead to sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought.” Equally cynical, Churchill reacts to the news People who go to Italy to look at ruins wont have to go as far as Naples and Pompeii again.
Norway. British armed boarding vessel HMS Vandyck is sunk by German bombing off Andenes (7 lives lost, 161 men row ashore and are taken prisoner). The first convoy of troopships carrying men from Narvik (Group I) arrives unmolested in the Clyde at 6 AM.
Good thing this happened back then, when America had some stones.
Late in May, as German troops were smashing Allied defenses in France, Vincennes steamed to the Azores and visited Ponta Delgada from 4-6 June 1940 before she proceeded on for French Morocco to load a shipment of gold for transport to the United States. While at anchor at Casablanca, the ship received word of Italy's declaration of war upon France, the "stab in the back" condemned by President Franklin Roosevelt soon thereafter. Vincennes' commanding officer Captain J. R. Beardall (later to become Naval Aide to the President) noted subsequently in his official report of the cruise that "it was apparent that the French bitterly resented this [the declaration of war] and despised Italy for her actions." After departing North African waters on 10 June, the cruiser returned to the United States to offload her precious metallic cargo and return to the drudgery of Neutrality Patrols.
Interesting history. The Vincennes was in South Africa when Pearl Harbor was attacked, escorted the Hornet on the Doolittle raid, fought at Midway and Guadalcanal and was lost at the Battle of Savo Island. The next ship to carry the Vincennes name earned six more battle stars in the Pacific, but was only in service two years.
What did America do to oppose these Nazi invasions?
Your point is taken; I suppose I was referring to my hunch that if Iran sent some homicide bombers to blow up a US military installation in the middle east (oh wait, they already do), Obama would respond by sending Hillary to discuss their feelings and frustrations.
But make no mistake, there is a big difference in the caliber of person America was raising then relative to now.
Thank you.
The sinking of aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two escorts remains something of a mystery. She had all her aircraft below deck, no combat air patrol, and was unable to launch aircraft when attacked. Only 45 survivors, 1500 lost.
http://www.warship.org/no11994.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glorious
“”In the night of 7/8 June, the Glorious, under the command of Captain Guy D’Oyly-Hughes (who was a submarine specialist and had only ten months experience in aircraft carrier operations), took on board ten Gloster Gladiators and eight Hawker Hurricanes from No. 46 Squadron RAF and No. 263 Squadron Royal Air Force, the first landing of modern aircraft without arrestor hooks on a carrier. These had been flown off from land bases to keep them from being destroyed in the evacuation after the pilots discovered that a 14lb sandbag carried in the rear of the aircraft allowed full brakes to be applied immediately on landing.
Glorious was part of a troop convoy headed for Scapa Flow, also including the carrier Ark Royal, but in the early hours of 8 June Glorious requested and was granted permission to proceed independently, and at a faster speed. It is believed this was because D’Oyly-Hughes was impatient to hold a court-martial of his Commander (Air), J. B. Heath, who had refused an order to carry out an attack on shore targets on the grounds that the targets were at best ill-defined and his aircraft were unsuited to the task, and had therefore been left behind in Scapa to await trial.[1] While sailing through the Norwegian Sea, the carrier and her two escorts, the destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent, were intercepted by the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau armed with 11-inch guns. The carrier and her escorts were sunk in two hours, roughly 280 nautical miles (510 km) west of Harstad.””
This is what they knew about it yesterday.
From the minutes of a Jun 9th, 7 p.m. meeting of the War Cabinet.
The Chief of Naval Staff said that the Germans claimed to have sunk H.M.S. Glorious and one destroyer, also the S.S. Orama (an empty transport on passage from the Narvik area). An enemy battleship, two destroyers and a seaplane have been reported to be attacking a transport at 9 a.m., the 8th June, but this report had not been received at the Admiralty until the morning of 9th June. (This delay was believed to be due to the fact that the report had come from a hospital ship which was not entitled to use its wireless to send messages of the description.) No confirmation of the German claim had yet been received, although a corrupt wireless signal from Glorious referring to two pocket battleships had been picked up at 5:20 p.m. the 8th June. This message had referred to an earlier message (not received, timed 4:15 p.m.).Extensive air reconnaissances of the whole area were being carried out that afternoon, and the Chief of Naval Staff described the operations now on foot to intercept the German units which he believed to be the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, and not the pocket battleships. He also outlined the dispositons in capital ships that had been made to escort the convoys returning from the Narvik area, to cover the coasts of Iceland and the British Isles, and to shadow the two ships reported off Iceland on the 5th June.
The Prime Minister said that if the German claim to have sunk the Glorious proved to be justified, it would be a grievous loss, which would involve a heavy loss of life; but it would not materially affect the balance of naval power.
Today, they are more certain that the carrier is likely sunk and the German report is true.
From the minutes of a Jun 10th, 12:30 p.m. meeting of the War Cabinet.
The Chief of the Naval Staff said that no further news had been received about the German claim to have sunk H.M.S. Glorious. He feared, however, that the report was almost certainly true. The Germans also claimed to have sunk one Destroyer and a "modern U-Boat Chaser." The reference to the latter was not understood. H.M.S. Glorious had been accompanied by two Destroyers, and it was possible the one of these had escaped. The uncertainty on this point was an argument in favour of awaiting confirmation before issuing any statement.In discussion it was pointed out that the Germans were broadcasting that they had sunk H.M.S. Glorious and that this claim was known throughout the Fleet. In these circumstances it was felt impossible to delay further the issue of the announcement, which should be on the lines that, in the absence of any further reports, it must be presumed that H.M.S. Glorious had been sunk. The announcement would also refer to the sinking of S.S. Orama, an empty transport.
I'll check the minutes again tomorrow to see if there is more information on the fate of the Glorious
EIAR Benito Mussolini declares war on France and England (English Translation)
Or for those who speak Italian, here's a more complete version of the speech without the English overlay.
It is exactly one month since the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. In six days Petain will become the Premier of France, effectively ending Allied resistance on the European continent. Churchill and the British would carry on alone, ‘Their finest hour’.
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