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Post by emron on May 2, 2020 21:48:25 GMT 12
2 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Under heavy Luftwaffe bombardment, Allied forces started to evacuate Namsos; 5,400 soldiers embarked today. At Andalsnes after midnight the last available cruiser edged in, expecting to retrieve a 240 man rear guard and instead found almost 1,000 soldiers waiting on the dock. All of them crammed aboard, and by 2 a.m. the last of Sickleforce’s survivors were away.
2 May 1945
Germany: Berlin: Goebbels's death removed the last impediment which prevented General Weidling from accepting the terms of unconditional surrender of his garrison, but he chose to delay the surrender until this morning to allow the planned breakout to take place last night under the cover of darkness. Most of the remnants of the Berlin garrison attempted to break out of the city centre in three different directions. Only those that went west through the Tiergarten and crossed the Charlottenbrucke (a bridge over the Havel) into Spandau succeeded in breaching Soviet lines. Only a handful of those who survived the initial breakout made it to the lines of the Western Allies—most were either killed or captured by the Red Army's outer encirclement forces west of the city. Early this morning, the Soviets captured the Reich Chancellery. General Weidling surrendered with his staff at 06:00 hours. He was taken to see General Vasily Chuikov at 08:23, where Weidling ordered the city's defenders to surrender to the Soviets. The 350-strong garrison of the Zoo flak tower left the building. There was sporadic fighting in a few isolated buildings where some SS troops still refused to surrender, but the Soviets reduced such buildings to rubble. Last night Grand Admiral Donitz in separate radio broadcasts to the German people and armed forces announced Hitler’s death and his appointment as successor. Today he met with Hitler's former Finance Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk and asked him to constitute a new Reich Government. The cabinet decided to urgently relocate to the Murwik Naval Academy in Flensburg in the far north of Shleswig-Holstein near the Danish border. 16 RAF Mosquitos of No. 608 Squadron, No. 8 Group joined Halifaxes of No.100 Group (Nos. 177 and 199 Squadrons) to make the last Bomber Command raid of the Second World War, an attack on Kiel, after fears that German forces were gathering to try to escape by sea to Norway for a last stand. Two of the Halifaxes crashed at Meimersdorf, just south of Kiel, and it is probable that they collided while on their bomb runs. They were the last Bomber Command aircraft to be lost in the war. 21 Army Group: British Second Army sealed off Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark as elements reached the Baltic. In 8 Corps area, Luebeck fell to 11th Armoured Div. British 6th A/B Div drove to the Baltic coast against negligible resistance, taking Gadebusch, Labow, and Wismar. 6th Army Group: In U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area elements of 103rd Div. moved to forward assembly areas and began negotiations for surrender of Innsbruck.
Italy: 15th Army Group: Hostilities come to an end as surrender terms became effective. In British Eighth Army's 13 Corps area, NZ 2nd Div received surrender of Trieste. Burma: In ALFSEA's 15 Corps area, Group Capt. Grandy landed his plane on Mingaladon airfield and entered Rangoon, where he confirmed that the Japanese had gone. Aerial bombardment of Rangoon area, which had been intensive since 26 April, halted. Indian 26th Div troops landed astride Rangoon River from small craft and moved toward Rangoon unopposed.
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Post by emron on May 3, 2020 21:42:39 GMT 12
3 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Tribal class destroyer HMS Afridi was deployed with Fleet units off Namsen Fjord pending the evacuation of the last 5,400 of the 12,000 Allied (British and French) troops in Central Norway, ending the doomed campaign to capture Trondheim. She was the last ship to leave the port after waiting behind to pick up the 36-man rearguard of the York and Lancashire Regiment. After she joined the Shetland bound convoy, the troopships and their escorts came under a series of air attacks. At 1000 hours the French destroyer Bison received a direct hit through the bridge; her forward magazine exploded and she began to sink by the bow. Afridi and fellow destroyers HMS Imperial and Grenade went to her aid and fought off two more air attacks while rescuing survivors. Afterwards Afridi sank the hulk of the Bison by gunfire. When she rejoined the convoy at 1400, another dive bombing attack developed. Afridi was targeted by Ju 87 Stukas diving from each side, making evasive manoeuvres ineffectual. She was hit by two bombs, one passing through the wireless telegraphy office and exploding beside No. 1 Boiler Room, the second also hitting the port side just forward of the bridge and starting a severe fire at the after end of the mess decks. Imperial came alongside to port and Griffin to starboard to take aboard survivors, including Captain Philip Vian. At 1445 hours, Afridi capsized and sank bow-first. Today was the second anniversary of her commissioning. 53 of her ship's company perished including one officer. 13 soldiers were also lost (the only casualties among the whole force of 12,000 troops evacuated from Andalsnes and Namsos) together with 35 of the 69 Frenchmen she had picked up from Bison.
Germany: Hitler put off the date for Fall Gelb until May 6 on account of the weather.
3 May 1945
Germany: Dönitz sent Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, his successor as naval commander in chief, to the headquarters of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Luneberg Heath, outside Hamburg, with an offer to surrender the German forces in north-west Germany, together with the remaining elements of Army Group Vistula. Montgomery informed Admiral von Friedeburg that he could not accept the surrender of forces fighting on the Eastern Front, and that consequently Army Group Vistula would have to surrender to the Soviets, although British forces would accept the surrender of any German soldiers fleeing westwards. He proposed instead, following discussions between Eisenhower and the British government, that he would accept the surrender of all German military forces in north-western Germany, Schleswig-Holstein. Von Friedeburg asked for 48 hours to consider this; Montgomery allowed him 24. The proposed inclusion of Denmark, and the German warships operating there, initially alarmed Dönitz, who wished at all costs to maintain Operation Hannibal evacuating German troops across the Baltic to Danish ports; but on consideration, he reckoned he might secretly evade the obligation to surrender these ships if they were at sea on the date the surrender came into effect. Hamburg was declared an open city and surrendered to British Second Army. In the harbour, the Germans scuttled 59 merchant ships and 600 smaller craft to prevent capture. The Red Army made contact with American troops on the Elbe, to the west of Berlin, and with British troops to the north. In the city itself it mopped up the last pockets of resistance. US forces were advancing swiftly on Salzburg and Linz while British troops pursued the Germans along the Kiel Canal. Believing that ships were being prepared in the Bay of Lubeck to accommodate leading SS personnel fleeing to German controlled Norway, the RAF commanders ordered a strike on naval vessels in the area by Hawker Typhoons of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. Unknown to the Allies, the SS had instead assembled a prison flotilla of decommissioned ships in the bay, consisting of the liners Cap Arcona and Deutschland with the freighter Thielbek. They were holding almost 10,000 prisoners aboard who had been recently transferred from the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. None of the prison flotilla were Red Cross marked and all prisoners were concealed below deck, so the pilots in the attacking force were unaware that they were laden with concentration camp survivors. Most of the SS guards managed to jump overboard from Cap Arcona. German trawlers sent to rescue Cap Arcona's crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors, 400 SS men, and 20 SS women. Only 350 of the 5,000 former concentration camp inmates aboard Cap Arcona survived. From 2,800 prisoners on board the Thielbek only 50 were saved; whereas all 2,000 prisoners on the Deutschland were safely taken off onto the Athen before the Deutscland capsized. Severely damaged and set on fire, Cap Arcona also eventually capsized. As well as the numerous U-Boats sunk or forced to scuttle at sea by the Typhoons and other RAF fighters in the region, the Kriegsmarine had commenced to scuttle their fleets laid up in ports. Yesterday 32 U-Boats were scuttled at Travemunde near Lubeck; today another 39 boats were wrecked, 32 at Kiel and 7 at Hamburg, on the North Sea coast; While beached on the shore of Heikendorfer Bucht near Kiel, light cruiser Emden was also scuttled by her own crew, with demolition charges, to prevent capture.
Burma: In ALFSEA's 15 Corps area, 36th Brigade of Indian 26th Div entered Rangoon facing light resistance while 71st Brigade moved into Syriam, across the river from the capital.
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Post by emron on May 5, 2020 21:48:35 GMT 12
4 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign; As preparations continue in the north for the attack on Narvik, Polish destroyer ORP Grom was bombed and sunk with the loss of 56 lives. HMS Ark Royal departed Scapa Flow at 1620, escorted by the AA cruiser HMS Curlew, and six destroyers. Her mission will be to provide air support for the besieged Allied Group Forces in the area of Narvik and Trondheim. En-route she flew aboard the replacement aircraft. Meanwhile HMS Glorious arrived at Greenock at 1630, for reprovisioning, rearming, and to prepare for her new mission; ferrying 18 Hurricanes to Norway. HMS Furious completing the repairs on her battered turbines, was preparing to re-embark the reconstituted 263 Squadron.
Germany: Hitler once more postpones the attack in the west until May 7.
4 May 1945
Germany: Authorized by Döenitz, von Friedeburg returned to Montgomery's HQ at Lüneburg Heath and signed an instrument of surrender for all German troops and ships in the Netherlands, Denmark and north-western Germany to arrange for the surrender of Holland, Denmark and north Germany. This surrender would be effective at 0800 on May 5. This was accepted by Montgomery on behalf of Eisenhower. Troops of the US First Army prepared to march into Czechoslovakia.
Austria: Salzburg was taken by US forces, who then move on towards Berchtesgaden.
Okinawa: Kamikazes sank the destroyers USS Luce and USS Morrison and two medium landing craft; the kamikazes also damaged the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable; light cruiser USS Birmingham; escort aircraft carrier USS Sangamon; destroyers USS Ingraham, Cowell and Lowry; light minelayer USS Gwin; high-speed minesweeper USS Hopkins; and a motor minesweeper.
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Post by emron on May 6, 2020 11:57:45 GMT 12
5 May 1945
Norway: Five German U-boats, including four of the powerful XXI types, were sunk today in an Allied air strike on the Kattegat, just 24 hours after Admiral Dönitz had ordered the U-boats to cease hostilities and return to base. The German airline Lufthansa suspended all operations due to the destruction of German airports by Allied aircraft. The last service was a courier flight between Oslo and Flensburg, Germany on 3 May.
Germany: German Army Group G, under General Hausser, surrendered unconditionally to US forces at Haar in Bavaria. The surrender was officially to take effect at noon on 6 May, but both sides ordered immediate cessation of fighting. All the premises at Obersalzberg mountain retreat, except for the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest) were heavily damaged by an Allied air raid on 25 April. Yesterday, four days after Hitler's suicide in Berlin, retreating SS troops set fire to his Berghof villa as Hitler had previously ordered. Only hours later, the US 3rd Infantry Division of Seventh Army’s XV Corps arrived at Berchtesgaden along with the French 2nd Armoured Division. Today the Obersalzberg was placed under U.S. administration. The Berghof still contained destroyed paintings, evening gowns, medical equipment, and a wine cellar. The house was stripped and looted by the Americans. Hermann Goering who had been under house arrest at Obersalzberg was moved to his castle at Mautendorf on April 26. He was freed today by a passing Luftwaffe unit, and he made his way to the US lines in hopes of surrendering to them rather than to the Soviets. Soldiers of the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front captured the Baltic seaport of Swinemunde and all of Usedom Island. They stormed the installations at Peenemünde and found "75 percent wreckage". All of the research buildings and rocket test stands had been demolished.
Austria: Third US Army's 11th Armoured Division liberated the main Mauthausen concentration camp, 12 miles east of Linz, the last camp to be freed bvy the Allies. Amongst it’s survivors was Simon Weisenthal.
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Post by emron on May 7, 2020 20:32:57 GMT 12
7 May 1945
France: Reims, At 2.40 this morning, Admiral von Friedeburg and General Alfred Jodl, of the German high command, signed the unconditional German Instrument of Surrender. The documents included the phrase “The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8 May and to remain in the positions occupied at that time." U.S. Army General Walter Beddell Smith (Eisenhower's chief of staff at SHAEF) signed on behalf of the Western Allies, and General Ivan Susloparov (the Soviet liaison officer at SHAEF) signed on behalf of the Soviets. French Major General Francois Sevez signed as the official witness. The cease-fire covered the Soviet front as well as western Europe.
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Post by emron on May 8, 2020 10:31:04 GMT 12
8 May 1945
New Zealand: Germany surrendered in the early afternoon of 7 May, New Zealand time. The news became known this morning, with huge headlines in the morning papers. But the acting prime minister, Walter Nash, insisted that celebrations should wait until British Prime Minister Winston Churchill officially announced the peace. This would not be heard in New Zealand until 1 a.m. on 9 May after which the public holiday and official VE Day ceremonies began.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 8, 2020 10:59:11 GMT 12
Where was Pete Fraser?
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Post by nuuumannn on May 8, 2020 11:56:51 GMT 12
Berlin: 8 May 1945: In the leafy suburb of Karlshorst in the city's south east, in this incongrouous building at the end of Zwieselerstrasse, World War Two in Europe officially came to an end. In this building, the Soviet Army signed away control of East Germany with the ratification of the DDR in the former RLM building in October 1949. Now, thanks to the Soviets, it is a museum, one of the best in the city, that tells the story of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, the capture of the city by the Soviet Army and the impact of all that on its hapless citizens. Europe 321 In this room, representatives of the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe - the OKW des Heeres HQ'd at the Bendlerblock, now a memorial to plots against the Nazi regime on Stauffenburgstrasse, signed the document that ended the war. It was a ratification of the existing agreement made the day before in Rheims, which is the official reason behind the scurrying of officials from France, to Flugplatz Tempelhof and through the devastated ruins of the city centre to this largely untouched corner of the Reich, but unofficially, the reason for the reconvening at Karlshorst was Stalin. After the signing of the official surrender document at Rheims on 7 May 1945, insisted on by General Eisenhower, who stated that if the Germans did not surrender unconditionally, then bombing of Germany would resume, Stalin was furious. How could the Allies force the Germans to sign a document of surrender with little Soviet participation, after what the Soviet people had been through? That night, everyone was packed into aircraft and flown to Berlin. The room is almost exactly as it was on 8th May 1945, save for the carpet allegedly pilfered from the ruins of the Reichskanzlei on Vossstrasse. Much of the furniture is not original however. Europe 322 Here is where the representatives of the Allied countries sat, indicated by their national flags. From left, representing General Eisenhower, the British delegate was Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, The Soviet delegate was Marshal Georgy Zhukov, formal representative of the Red Army Supreme High Command, the United States delegate was General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the United States Strategic Air Forces as a witness, and the French delegate was General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Commander of the First French Army, as a witness. Europe 323 Here is where the Germans sat. From Marshal Zhukov's diary, "The first to enter, slowly and feigning composure, was Generalfeldmarschall [Wilhelm] Keitel, Hitler's closest associate. Keitel was followed by Generaloberst [Hans-Jurgen] Stumpff. he was a short man whose eyes were full of impotent rage. With him entered Generaladmiral [Hans-Georg] von Friedeburg who looked prematurely old. The Germans were asked to take their seats at a separate table close to the door through which they had entered. The Generalfeldmarschall slowly sat down and pinned his eyes on us, sitting at the Presaedium table. Stumpff and von Friedeburg sat down beside Keitel. The officers accompanying them stood behind their chairs." Europe 324 The German Instrument of Surrender Document as signed by those present, in a display case in the room. Europe 325A T-34 tank on display outside the museum. Note the gray marble slabs surrounding the plinth the tank sits on and the ochre marble wall behind; this stone came originally from the damaged Reichskanzlei - Hitler's Chancellery on Vossstrasse and subsequently made its way around several Soviet war memorials dotted around Berlin, including the one in the Tiergarten atop the 2,200 Soviet graves left in the wake of the capture of the Reichstag, and the principal Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park. Around the back of the museum is a selection of Soviet armoured vehicles and artillery. Europe 333
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Post by emron on May 10, 2020 21:57:54 GMT 12
He was in San Francisco leading the NZ delegation at the UN Conference on International Organization and involved in drafting the UN charter.
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Post by emron on May 10, 2020 21:59:36 GMT 12
10 May 1940
Western Europe: Operation Fall Kelb (Case Yellow) German invasion of the Low Countries; Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. German forces occupied Luxembourg virtually unopposed. Army Group B launched its feint offensive during the night into the Netherlands and Belgium and this morning paratroopers from the 7th Flieger Division and 22nd Luftlande Division executed surprise landings at the Hague, on the road to Rotterdam and against the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael to facilitate Army Group B’s advance.
Iceland: Reykjavik: The 2nd Royal Marine Battalion (815 men) landed from two cruisers. The landing was unopposed. Iceland declared itself independent of Denmark last month. The occupation of this strategically important island, which has no defence force, pre-empted German hopes of using it as an airbase from which to attack Allied convoys.
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Post by emron on May 15, 2020 10:22:36 GMT 12
14 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign: The British and French advanced towards Narvik from Harstad. HMS Ark Royal spent the early hours of the day closing Narvik to ensure longer time over the target and to find clearer weather. United Kingdom: Newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the major posts in his war cabinet and the new coalition government. Having been evacuated by the Royal Navy, Queen Wilhelmina and her cabinet have proclaimed London to be the seat of the Netherlands government. Wilhelmina arrived at Liverpool Street station with officers of the Royal guard and was met by King George VI.
The Netherlands: The Dutch Army, still largely intact, surrendered this evening but not before a raid on Rotterdam could be cancelled during negotiations. A formation of 57 bombers dropped 97 tons of high explosives on the city, killing 980 and making 80,000 homeless. General Henri G Winkelman, the Dutch C-in-C, decided further resistance would lead only to the complete destruction of the country.
France: Battle of Sedan; Yesterday the Luftwaffe executed the heaviest air bombardment the world had yet witnessed and the most intense by the Germans during the war. Two dive bomber wings attacked, flying 300 sorties against French positions. A total of 3,940 sorties were flown by nine bomber wings. This allowed the Panzergruppe Kleist to force three crossings of the Meuse River near Sedan, executed by the 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions. By midnight they had penetrated up to 5 miles into the French defensive zone. Today, every available Allied light bomber was employed in an attempt to destroy the three bridges but lost about 44 percent of the bomber strength for no result. By the evening the RAF had only 206 aircraft fit to fly in France, out of its initial force of 474.
14 May 1945
Japan: USAAF Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands flew Mission 174. This was the XXI Bomber Command's first four-wing raid. 472 B-29’s dropped about 2,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the urban area of Nagoya. Aircraft of the 58th, 73rd, 313th and 314th Bombardment Wings (Very Heavy) participated.
Okinawa: A kamikaze damaged the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). The suicide plane destroyed the ship's forward elevator, killing 14 and wounding 34 men, forcing Enterprise to retire to the U.S. for repairs. Admiral Marc Mitscher, Flag, Task Force 58, after having moved his flag from USS Bunker Hill, three days ago, to the Enterprise, was now moving his flag to carrier USS Randolph.
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Post by emron on May 17, 2020 9:47:34 GMT 12
16 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign: While HMS Furious and Glorious were still enroute carrying reinforcement aircraft, HMS Ark Royal continued her support of the forces ashore near Narvik.
United Kingdom: The War Cabinet met in London and decided to send four more squadrons of Hurricane fighters to France immediately. This stripped the defence of Britain to a mere 22 modern single seater fighter squadrons (about 250 aircraft) plus 9 squadrons with obsolete fighter aircraft. Air Chief Marshall Dowding had prescribed a minimum requirement of 52 squadrons necessary for the defence of Britain.
France: Winston Churchill had flown to Paris, to meet with his French counterpart. This evening, after meeting with French Premier Reynaud, Minister of Defence Deladier and Generalissime Gamelin and alarmed to hear that they had no military reserves left, he ordered that a further six squadrons of fighters be sent to France on the following day.
German 6th Army broke through the Dyle Line; British troops withdrew west of Brussels and the Belgian government evacuated to Ostend. From its Meuse River bridgeheads, German Army Group A tanks broke through the French lines, capturing thousands of surrendering French troops. Guderian's units reached Montcornet, while Rommel's units reached Avesnes-sur-Helpe.
16 May 1945
Battle of Malacca Strait: Operation Dukedom; While evacuating the Japanese garrison in the Andaman Islands back to Singapore, the Japanese cruiser Haguro was ambushed by destroyers of the British Eastern Fleet during this search-and-destroy operation. The 26th Destroyer Flotilla found her with the destroyer Kamikaze just after midnight and began the attack. During the battle Kamikaze was lightly damaged but Haguro was hit by gunfire and three Mark IX torpedoes from the British destroyers. She soon began to slow down and took a 30-degree list to port. At 02.32 Haguro began to go down stern first in the Malacca Strait, 55 miles off Penang. Kamikaze rescued 320 survivors, but 900 men, including Vice Admiral Hashimoto and Rear Admiral Sagura perished with her. Haguro was the last major Japanese warship to be sunk in a surface action during the war.
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Post by emron on May 20, 2020 21:39:18 GMT 12
20 May 1940
United Kingdom: President Roosevelt had replied to Churchill’s 15 May request for 40 or 50 "older destroyers" for use by the Royal Navy until new construction was available, by saying that the loan or gift of destroyers would have to be approved by Congress and the time was not opportune. Today by telegram Churchill acknowledged FDR's problems in providing them but stated that, "If they were here in six weeks they would play an invaluable part.”
Westerrn Europe: Battle of France; In the South Guderian’s Panzers set off from the line of Cambrai-Peronne before dawn. At about 9am, the 1st Panzers, on the left, easily captured Amiens, Then it established a bridgehead about 4 miles deep on the south bank of the Somme. On the right, the 2 Panzers made a thrust from Albert towards Abbeville, through Doullens, Bernaville, and Beaumetz. At 7pm it seized Abbeville without much difficulty. From there it sent out one tank battalion, which reached the sea at Noyelles-sur-Mer at dusk. From Noyelles, they were able to see the Somme estuary and the English Channel. A huge pocket containing the Allied 1st Army Group (the Belgian, British, and French First, Seventh and Ninth armies), was thus created.
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Post by emron on May 24, 2020 12:03:29 GMT 12
23 May 1940
France: Early yesterday the XIX Panzerkorps was ordered to press north from Abbeville to the Channel ports; the 1st Panzer Division to Calais, the 2nd Panzer Division to Boulogne and the 10th Panzer Division to Dunkirk. In the early hours this morning British Lord Gort ordered a retreat from Arras. By now, he had no faith in the Weygand plan, nor in Weygand's proposal at least to try to hold a pocket on the Flemish coast, a so-called Reduit-de-Flandres. Gort knew that the ports needed to supply such a foothold were already being threatened. Battle of Boulogne: At dawn the German attacks resumed, eventually pushing the defenders back into the town. About eighty light bombers of the RAF flew sorties in support of the defenders of the port. The Allies began to evacuate Boulogne. The British 20th Guards Brigade re-embarked on the destroyers which had brought it into port the day before, the British destroyers ran the gauntlet of German tanks and artillery to dock. The French and remaining British troops still held out. Siege of Calais: In advance of the German attack tomorrow, British reinforcements (the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, equipped with cruiser tanks and the 30th Motor Brigade) were hastily landed today. South of the German salient, limited French attacks occurred near Peronne and Amiens. French General Gaston Billotte, the only Allied commander in the north briefed on the Weygand plan, died today from injuries received in his staff car accident two days ago, leaving the 1st Army Group leaderless for three days.
23 May 1945
Germany: Flensburg; On 21 May the SHAEF acceded to Soviet proposals that the Flensburg Government be dissolved and its members arrested as POWs. The dissolution was carried out today, a British officer went to Dönitz's headquarters and asked to speak to the members of the government. Dönitz, von Friedeburg and Jodl were then taken to the Allies’ headquarters aboard the passenger ship Patria, where Maj. Gen. Rooks informed them of the dissolution of the government; placing them under arrest, and ordering that they be stripped and searched for concealed phials of poison. By the time Dönitz emerged from the ship, the town's main street was filled with British tanks and troops rounding up the Germans. Faced with the prospect of being strip-searched, von Friedeburg committed suicide, while Dönitz, Speer, Jodl and other members of the dissolved Flensburg Government were taken prisoner. Luneburg: On 21 May, Heinrich Himmler and two aides were stopped and detained at a checkpoint set up by former Soviet POWs. Over the following two days, he was moved around to several camps and today was brought to the British 31st Civilian Interrogation Camp near Luneburg, Lower Saxony. He had been carrying forged papers but under routine interrogation admitted who he was and was then taken to the headquarters of the Second British Army in Luneburg. Before a doctor could complete a medical exam on him, Himmler bit into a concealed cyanide pill and was dead within 15 minutes. Shortly afterward, his body was buried in an unmarked grave near Luneburg. It’s location remains unknown.
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Post by emron on May 25, 2020 20:17:36 GMT 12
24 May 1940
Western Front: During operations to support the BEF and French falling back to Dunkirk, French destroyers L’Adroit, Orage, Jaguar and Chacal were lost off the channel ports. RN destroyer HMS Wessex was bombed repeatedly and sunk off Calais. Evacuation of British troops continued overnight from Boulogne by destroyers HMS Windsor and Vimera.
Norwegian Campaign: The Allies decided to pull out of Norway, but not before the port installations of Narvik have been destroyed. The Norwegians were not informed.
United Kingdom: The newly completed carrier HMS Illustrious escorted by destroyers HMS Escort, HMS Vanoc, and HMS Witherington departed the Clyde at 0300 for acceptance trials. She returned this afternoon.
24 May 1945
Japan: The USAAF’s Twentieth Air Force based in the Mariana Islands flew Mission 181: During the night of 23/24 May, 520 out of 562 B-29 Superfortresses sent against Tokyo bomb an urban-industrial area south of the Imperial Palace along the western side of the harbour; this was the largest number of B-29’s participating in a single mission during World War II.
Australia: Aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious sailed from Sydney bound for Rosyth, UK for permanent repairs to kamikaze damage incurred 6 April during operations in the Sakishima Islands. She was still in the dockyard when war ended.
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Post by emron on May 26, 2020 21:56:10 GMT 12
26 May 1940
France: Operation Dynamo; Evacuation from Dunkirk. Officially ordered this evening by Prime Minister Churchill the evacuation began today. Under planning and preparation since 20 May by a Royal Navy team led by Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, based at the naval headquarters below Dover Castle, the operation results were only 7,669 Allied troops evacuated on the first day. On 23 May Generaloberst Rundstedt had ordered the panzer units advancing on Dunkirk to halt, concerned about the vulnerability of his flanks and the question of supply to his forward troops. He was also concerned that the marshy ground around Dunkirk would prove unsuitable for tanks and he wished to conserve them for later operations. Hitler was also apprehensive, and on a visit to Army Group A headquarters on 24 May, he endorsed the order. Later that day, Hitler issued Directive 13, which called for the Luftwaffe to defeat the trapped Allied forces and stop their escape. Over the next two days the Luftwaffe focused their attention on Allied pockets holding out at Calais, Lille and Armiens and did not attack Dunkirk. At 15:30 today, Hitler ordered the panzer groups to resume their advance. This delay would give the Allies valuable time to prepare defences vital for the evacuation and prevented the Germans from stopping the Allied retreat from Lille.
Siege of Calais: Eventually today, the French and British ran out of ammunition and the Germans were able to break into the fortified citadel at around 13:30. Despite the French surrender of the main fortifications, the British held the docks until the following morning.
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Post by emron on Jun 1, 2020 21:07:49 GMT 12
31 May 1940
France: Evacuation of Dunkirk; Lord Gort handed over the command of British troops still in France to Major-General Harold Alexander and departed for Dover; 68,014 troops also left today, the highest daily number of evacuees during the nine-day operation. French destroyer Sirocco was sunk off Dunkirk by German MTBs S-23 and S-26. It added to a growing list of losses; HMS Grafton was sunk by U-62, HMS Grenade sunk by air attack at Dunkirk, HMS Wakeful sunk by torpedo from E-boat S-30, all on 29 May and French destroyer Bourrasque mined off Nieuport yesterday.
Norway: The British blocking force evacuated Bodo. Carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious departed Scapa Flow for the last trip to Norway, Admiral Wells’ mission was three-fold: First, to cooperate with the forces ashore to cover the evacuation of all ground forces in the Narvik area. Second, to cover the movement of all troop convoys to the British Isles. Finally, HMS Glorious was to re-embark the surviving Gladiators of 263 Squadron as well as the Walrus amphibians of 701 Squadron, FAA. At this point, the belief was that the surviving Hurricanes of 46 Squadron would have to be destroyed.
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Post by emron on Jun 4, 2020 21:13:09 GMT 12
4 June 1940
United Kingdom: Westminster; Churchill delivered his speech to the House of Commons “We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
France: Dunkirk; Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the BEF and some of the French troops trapped with them came to an end when the last ship, the destroyer HMS Shikari, left at 3.40 am. In the last four days and nights, 64,000, 26,000, 27,000 and 26,000 men were saved, giving a total of 340,000 since 26 May. 222 naval vessels and some 800 civilian craft joined in the operations; six destroyers and 243 other ships have been sunk. Little ships of Dunkirk: A wide variety of small vessels from all over the south of England were pressed into service to aid in the evacuation. Some of them were taken with the owners' permission – and with the owners insisting they would sail them – while others were requisitioned by the government with no time for the owners to be contacted. Agents of the Ministry of shipping accompanied by a naval officer, scoured the Thames for likely vessels, had them checked for seaworthiness, and took them downriver to Ramsgate, from where they began sailing to Dunkirk on 28 May. They were manned by Royal Navy officers, ratings and experienced volunteers. When they reached France, some of the boats acted as shuttles between the beaches and the destroyers, ferrying soldiers to the warships. Others carried hundreds of soldiers each back to Ramsgate.
Germany: Operation Juno; At 0800 battleships Scharnhorst and Gniesenau with heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and destroyers Z20 Karl Galster, Z10 Hans Lody, Z15 Erich Steinbrinck and Z7 Hermann Schoemann sortied from Kiel on a mission to the waters off Northern Norway.
Norway: The evacuation of Allied forces from Harstad began. Tasked with covering the fleet during the evacuation in the now perpetual daylight of the Arctic, the aircraft on HMS Ark Royal commenced around the clock operations.
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Post by emron on Jun 5, 2020 21:19:43 GMT 12
5 June 1940
France: The Germans began the second phase of the invasion of France. Three German Panzer Corps launched ‘Fall Rot’ (Case Red), the attack on the Somme. At 4 a.m. a heavy artillery and air bombardment fell on the sector between the sea and the confluence of the Ailette and Aisne. German infantry attacked on the Ailette, while tanks, followed by infantry, were pushing out from the Peronne and Amiens bridgeheads across the undamaged bridges, west of Amiens. This time the French Army responded in strength, the Germans soon realised that things were different. It was no longer a rout as on the Meuse. French troops, now seasoned and organised into strongpoints, armed with 75mm anti-tank guns, held out stubbornly and took a heavy toll on the Panzers. 15 Panzer Corps crossed the Somme west of Hangest without much difficulty, by means of a railway bridge which had not been demolished. They were then held up by French colonial troops until 4 p.m. Rommel was then held up at Le Quesnoy. By nightfall the Germans had only established a relatively small bridgehead west of Amiens, and had been stopped in front of the French Tenth Army’s second position. At the Amiens bridgehead, 14 Panzer Corps ran into a spirited resistance by French 16 Infantry Division and only gained 6 miles. 16 Panzer Corps at the Peronne bridgehead only succeeded in gaining a small strip of land about 6 miles from its start-line.
Germany: The two torpedo boats, Falke and Jaguar, returned to Wilhelmshaven while the rest of the Operation Juno fleet continued North, Hipper and the destroyers refuelling off the Lofotens on the 6th. The initial plan had been to attack targets of opportunity in and around Narvik. However, the situation remained unclear, and finally, aware of several Allied convoys at sea travelling between Norway and England, Admiral Marschall opted to go for them.
Norway: HMS Ark Royal was still tasked with covering the troop convoys partaking in the withdrawal of all Allied forces from Norway. HMS Glorious continued to wait for the weather to clear in order to embark RAF 263 and FAA 701 Squadrons from Norway. However, at the request of the Army, she was ordered to prepare a bombing mission for the early hours of tomorrow.
5 June 1945
Pacific: Off Okinawa Task Groups 30.8 and 38.1 battle a typhoon which caused damage to four battleships, two aircraft carriers, two light aircraft carriers, four escort aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, eleven destroyers, three destroyer escorts, two oilers and an ammunition ship. Heavy cruiser USS Pittsburgh was worst damaged early today when conditions had increased to 70-knot winds and 100-foot waves. Shortly after her starboard scout plane had been lifted off its catapult and dashed onto the deck by the wind, Pittsburgh's second deck buckled, her bow structure thrust upward, and then wrenched free. Miraculously, not a man was lost. Now her crew's seamanship saved their own ship. Still fighting the storm, and manoeuvring to avoid being rammed by the drifting bow-structure, Pittsburgh was held quarter-on to the seas by engine manipulations while the forward bulkhead was shored. After a seven-hour battle, the storm subsided, and Pittsburgh proceeded at 6 knots to Guam arriving on 10 June. Her bow was later salvaged by the tug Munsee (AT-107) and brought into Guam. Kamikazes were again active damaging the battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41) and crippling the heavy cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28).
Japan: The USAAF’s Twentieth Air Force based in the Mariana Islands flew Mission 188: 473 B-29’s attacked the city of Kobe, with incendiaries which burned over 4 square miles and damaged over half of the city.
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Post by emron on Jun 7, 2020 22:46:23 GMT 12
7 June 1940
Norwegian Campaign: King Haakon together with Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian Government departed Tromso aboard heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire to exile in Britain. New Zealander F/L Patrick Geraint Jameson led the first section of three Hurricanes of 46 Squadron to be evacuated from Bardufoss. They all landed safely aboard HMS Glorious, the first time that the RAF pilots had ever landed on a carrier and the Hurricanes were not equipped with arrestor gear. The rest of the squadron’s ten serviceable aircraft successfully followed along with Gladiators of 263 Squadron and Walrus of FAA 701 Squadron.
7 June 1945
Norway: King Haakon returned from exile in UK aboard heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk.
Japan: USAAF Twentieth Air Force flew Mission 189: 409 B-29s escorted by 138 VII Fighter Command P-51s dropped incendiary and high explosive bombs on Osaka, hitting the east-central section of the city which contains industrial and transportation targets and the Osaka Army Arsenal (largest in Japan); despite being forced to bomb by radar because of heavy cloud cover they burned out over 2 square miles of the city, destroying 55,000+ buildings.
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