http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jun40/f13jun40.htm
Britain abandons France
Thursday, June 13, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The French forces west of Paris are now retreating to the Loire. The British decide to abandon attempts to rebuild a BEF in France and begin to evacuate the British and Canadian troops which still remain in the country.
In Washington... Roosevelt signs a new $1,300,000,000 Navy bill providing for much extra construction. Meanwhile, in response to Churchill’s pleas in his telegrams to President Roosevelt, surplus stocks of artillery weapons and rifles have been assembled from US government stores. The first shipment now leaves the USA on the SS Eastern Prince for the voyage to Britain. The US Neutrality Laws have been subverted by first “selling” the arms to a steel company and then reselling them to the British government.
Imho, this is an extraordinarily important article, must reading.
Until "now," the Pope's response to the war has been above reproach.
He has spoken out against Nazi ideology, against Nazi and Soviet atrocities in Poland and elsewhere, and has done what he could to help the victims.
He even mediated negotiations between German military representatives and British diplomats about a possible overthrow of Hitler to end the war.
In this the Pope exposed himself to the risk of kidnapping or murder by forces at Hitler's command.
But "today's" report may mark the shift to both silence and "even handedness" that has brought much criticism from some historians.
I have long wondered when and how this occurred.
"Today's" article suggests it was related to Italy's declaration of war in alliance with Nazi Germany.
It will be interesting to learn if the Vatican's reported silence "today" is strictly temporary, or does it mark a more-or-less permanent change for the war's duration?