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, Guderian’s Panzers advance towards Chalons-sur-Marne. Demonstrating the value of German flexibility & mobility, 16th Panzer Corps are withdrawn from Péronne & sent East to support Guderian’s 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 won’t 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.
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.