On this day during WW2

Discussion in 'All Anniversaries' started by spidge, May 31, 2006.

  1. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 17th,

    1945 Day of Unity in West Germany, National Day

    1944 French troops under Lattre de Tssigny conquer Elba

    1944 Hitler secretly meets with von Rundstedt in Marjival Soissons

    1944 Iceland declares independence from Denmark at Thingvallir, Iceland

    1944 Resistance fighter/poet Col Blake arrives in London

    1942 1st WW II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast)

    1940 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II

    1940 General De Gaulle departs Bordeaux for London

    1940 Germany occupiers ration bread in Holland

    1940 U.S.S.R. occupies Estonia

    1938 Japan declares war on China
     
  2. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 18th

    1945 William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) British radio traitor charged with treason

    1944 - U-767 sinks

    1943 SS Police in Amsterdam sentence 12 resistance fighters to death (Jewish, communists, homosexuality) at the census bureau

    1942 - Bernard W Robinson, becomes 1st black ensign in US Navy

    1942 Eric Nessler of France stays aloft in a glider for 38h21m

    1941 Turkey signs peace treaty with nazi-Germany

    1940 Gen Charles de Gaulle on BBC tells French to defy nazi occupiers

    1940 German occupiers slaughter cattle, pigs and chickens

    1940 Winston Churchill urges perseverance so that future generations would remember that "this was their finest hour"
     
  3. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day18 June.

    The war at sea.

    1940 Off Whangerai the passenger liner Niagara 13,415 tons with a cargo that included £2m in gold and silver was sunk by mine.

    1941 In the Straits of Gibraltar the destroyers Faulkner, Fearless, Forester, Foresight and Foxhound sank U 138.

    1942 East of Port Limon the tanker Motorex 1,958 tons was sunk by U 172.

    1943 _ _ _ _

    1944 Off the Dorset coast the cargo ship Albert C. Field 1,764 tons was sunk by German aircraft. Off Britanny an RAF Wellington sank U 441 and south-west of Guernsey the destroyers Fame, Inconstant and Havelock sank U767.
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    June 18th 1944.
    The 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards engaged in close fighting south of Perugia and are the first troops to enter the city.

    The 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards embarks at Tilbury and after being delayed off Southend pier by Channel gales lands near Courcelles, in the Normandy bridgehaed a week later.

    The morning of Sunday 18th June 1944 was hot and sunny as the (4th & 5th) Wiltshires boarded the slim white infantery landing ships in Newhaven Harbour. That morning the cliffs of Sussex disappeared behind the convoy and a gale sprang up as they sailed down-Channel. After sixteen hours of buffeting they arrived off Arromanches.

    After arriving back from Dunkirk about 270 strong the 2nd Bn Wiltshire Regt were sent to Aberdeenshire. On 18th June 1940 the Battalion moved North to Lossiemouth.
     
  5. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 19 June 1940.

    Off the Faroes RN warships intercepted the destroyers Puke and Psilander the torpedo boats Remus and Romulus, the depot ship Patricia and the tanker Castor which had been sold by Italy to Sweden and were on their way to Gothenburg. They were taken to Scapa Flow but were allowed to proceed after the sale had been confirmed.
     
  6. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 19th

    1940 - German 7th Armour division under gen-maj Rommel occupies Cherbourg
    1940 - Goering orders seizure of Dutch horses, car, buses and ships
    1940 - French ships seek refuge in British ports
    1941 - Romania orders Jews to evacuate Darabani
    1941 - US President Roosevelt signs Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act
    1944 - Battle of Philippines Sea (and 20th)
    1944 - 300 Japanese aircraft shot down (Marianas Turkey Shoot) some figures are as high as 429.
    1944 - French troops free Elba
    1944 - Japanese troops conquer Changsha China
    1945 - The Australians are now in control of both sides of the Brunei Bay entrance

    19/06/1940
     
  7. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 20th

    1944 Congress charters Central Intelligence Agency

    1944 Heavy storm hits the Channel (19th?) Mulberry's Smashed

    1944 Nazi begin mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz

    1944 Soviet forces conquer Wiborg

    1944 U.S. attacks Japanese fleet in Philippines Sea

    1944 U.S. troops occupy Biak

    1944 In the East, the Red Army captures Viipuri on the Soviet-Finnish border.

    1943 60 RAF bombers launch the first British shuttle raid: after bombing the radar works at Friedrichshafen, they fly on to Algiers to refuel and then return to England.

    1943 German round up Jews in Amsterdam

    1942 Adolf Eichmann proclaims deportation of Dutch Jews

    1942 German troops conquer Tobruk, North Africa

    1941 German U-203 fails on torpedo attack on U.S. battleship Texas

    the U.S. is not in the war yet, but is escorting convoys half way across the Atlantic to where England takes over the escort duty ( Neutrality Patrol ). The following is from a book "Hitler's U-Boat War" page 308. I can't reprint it here, but in brief the story goes as follows:
    While the new VIIC, U-203 commanded by Rolf Mutzelburg, was on patrol she came across the USS Texas at about midnight on June 20th 1941. The Texas was about 800 miles south southwest of Iceland and 10 miles inside a zone that Hitler had declared as authorized for attacks on Neutral Warships. The Captain ordered U-203 to battle stations and for the next sixteen hours pursued the zigzagging Texas to no avail. The Texas was going to fast for U-203 to reach. When the chase was over the Texas according to U-203 was 148 miles inside the "German Zone".



    1941 President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, denounces the sinking of the American merchant ship Robin Moor by U-69 (Kptlt. Metzler) as 'an act of piracy'.

    1940 German troops capture Lyons. The German heavy cruiser Gneisenau is damaged by a torpedo from the British submarine Clyde.

    1939 Test flight of 1st rocket plane using liquid propellants
     
  8. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day June 21.

    21 June 1940.
    South of Iceland the former cargo ship Cape Howe that was being operated by the RN as a decoy, or Q-ship for submarines with the cover name Prunella was sunk by U 28.

    21 June 1941.
    British troops occupied Damascus.

    21 June 1942.
    In the western Atlantic the submarine P-514 was rammed and sunk in error by the minesweeper Georgian (RCN)

    21 June 1944.
    RN chariots - human torpedoes attacked shipping at La Spezia, sinking the heavy cruiser Bolzano.

    21 June 1945.
    All organised Japanese resistance on Okinawa ended after an 82-day campaign by US troops.
     
  9. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 22 June 1941.

    The German submarine U 48 returns to Kiel after making her twelfth and last mission into enemy waters. On these missions under the command of Herbert Schultze (eight missions) Hans Rosing (two missions) and Heinrich Bleichrodt (two missions) she has in all, sunk one sloop and 54 ships of 322378 tons and damaged two ships of 11024 tons. She is therefore the most successful submarine of the Second World War.
     
  10. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 23 June 1944.

    Six aircraft of No.248 Squadron were on patrol between Ushant and Lorient when Mosquito 'P' F/S. LC. Doughty (pilot) and F/S. R. Grime (Navigator) became seperated from the others in bad light. P/248 comtinued on along along the French coast and between Ile de Groix and the mainland he spotted a convoy of ships about to enter Lorient. Turning to take a look, having failed to contack the other aircraft by radio, Doughty flew along the starboard beam of the convoy, keeping claoe to the Garve Peninsula, which gave them cover. He made out one large and two smaller escort vessels and a U-boat. Flak was now coming up from the batteries north-east of the Ile de Groix and Doughty decided to attack the submarine, but now flak was also coming from the escort ships. He made his attack in a shallow dive and made a short sighting burst followed by a long burst of cannon and machine guns. Strikes were seen aii around the conning tower of the U-boat. Levelling out at 50ft he dropped two depth-charges in a salvo and commenced violent evasive action. He quickly flew out of the flak, so was unable to see any results, and in fact his Mosquito did receive slight damage fron two 20mm hits.
    U 155 a type IXC submarine was just returning from its ninth patrol, having left Lorient on 11 March for West Africa. It was damaged in this attack and was out of action until September.
     
  11. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 24 June 1940.

    In the early hours British troops carried out a reconnaissance raid south of Boulogne. The first commando raid.
     
  12. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 24th

    1945 Schermerhorn government forms in the Netherlands

    1943 Allies begin 10-day bombing on Hamburg

    1943 The RAF launches a heavy raid on Elberfeld in the Ruhr.

    1942 Admiral Ernest King orders Tulagi (Solomon Island) reconquered

    1942 Africa Corps occupy Egypt

    1942 First of a series of Luftwaffe night raids on Birmingham. In Yugoslavia, beginning of an offensive by German

    1942 Italian and Croatian forces against Tito;s partisan army.

    1941 Entire Jewish male population of Gorzhdy Lithuania, exterminated

    1941 Germans advanced into Russia and took Vilna, Brest-Litovsk and Kaunas

    1941 In the East, German troops of Heeresgruppe Nord capture Kaunas and Vilna in Lithuania.

    1941 Hungary breaks off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

    1940 France signs an armistice with Italy during WW II

    1940 An armistice is signed between France and Italy at Villa Indusa near Rome.
     
  13. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    On the night of the 23rd of June the assault on the Chateau de la londe took place. The battle was murderous in the extreme. We took it, but before we could get the anti tank guns in, the enemy counter attacked. And their tanks overran the foxholes, hand to hand fighting, out numbered and with no armour, we were driven out. Later to retake it. This battle was described at the time as:
    "The bloodiest square mile in Normandy"
    Those that took part were the all Eighth brigade, South Lancs with 246 Flfd Co RE up.
    Sapper
     
  14. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 25 June 1940.

    The evacuation of Allied troops from French Channel and Biscay ports ended officially with the sailing of ships from Bayonne and St. Jean de Luz.
     
  15. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 25th

    1945 Allied landing at Ternate Molukkas (Indonesia)

    1945 Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo announce fall of Okinawa

    1944 British assault at Caen Normandy

    1943 Crematory III at Birkenau is finished

    1943 Arthur Seyss-Inquart orders mass arrests of Dutch physicians

    1942 British RAF staged a 1,000 bomb raid on Bremen Germany (WW II)

    1942 British PM Winston Churchill travels from U.S. to London

    1942 Gen Dwight Eisenhower appointed commander of U.S. forces in Europe

    1941 Russian counter attack at Rovno

    1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 forbidding discrimination

    1941 Finland declares war on Soviet Union

    1941 Germans invade Dubno Poland, giving permission to Ukrainians to do whatever they want to 12,000 Jews living there

    1940 Adolf Hitler views Eiffel tower and grave of Napoleon in France
     
  16. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    The Assault and the taking of Caen srarted on the night of the 7th of July with the Lancasters bombing Caen.

    We moved up by the right hand route that overlooked the Colombelles industrial estate. It was a joint 3rd div with the Canadians operation. I was one of the first 6 to enter the City. Let me rephrase that: I was one of the first half dozen to enter what was left of the City of Caen.

    Never had a chance to do much, we were immediately withdrawn to prepare for the Goodwood Operation, the left hook round Caen.
    Sapper
     
  17. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 26th

    1945 U.N. Charter signed by 50 nations
    1944 2nd British army reaches Grainville-Mouen line
    1942 German assault on British at Mersa Matruh
    1942 Generaloberst Rommel, C-in-C of the Afrikakorps is promoted to Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal).
    1941 Finland enters WW II against Russia
    1941 Lithuanian fascists massacre 2,300 Jews in Kovno
    1941 In the East, German forces of Heeresgruppe Nord capture Dünaburg in Latvia.
    1941 The Luftwaffe carries out raids on Leningrad.
    1941 Finland declares war on the oviet Union.
    1940 End of U.S.S.R. experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6/27
     
  18. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

  19. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    June 28th

    1945 Polish Provisional Government of National Unity set up by Soviets

    1944 In Normandy, Operation Epsom designed to break through the German defenses near Caen is halted by the fierce resistance of the I. and II. SS-Panzerkorps.

    1942 Col-gen Von Hoth' 6th Pantser enters Voronezj

    1942 Beginning of the first stage of Fall Blau (Operation Blue), the new German summer offensive on the southern front in Russia.

    1942 From the area of Kursk, the German 2. Armee and 4. Panzerarmee, with 50 divisions, advance toward Voronesh on the upper Don.

    1941 German and Romanian soldiers kill 11,000 Jews in Kishinev

    1941 German troops occupy Galicia Poland

    1941 German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte capture Minsk.

    1940 Romania cedes Bessarabia to Soviet Union

    1940 Following an ultimatum to the Rumanian government, the Red Army occupies Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.
     
  20. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    On this day 2 July.

    1940 Hitler ordered the planning of the invasion of Britian (Operation Sealion)

    1941 The first battle of El Alamein began, with heavy damage being inflicted on German-Italian troops.

    1944 Off the Normandy beach-head, the infantry landing ship Empire Broardsword was sunk by mine.
    Members of the French Resistance destroyed an ammunition dump at Jonzac; the ammunition was for the German ships at Brest.
     

Share This Page