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Post by Pumba on Jun 11, 2012 14:30:03 GMT 8
June 10, 1940 Last Norwegian troops still fighting in Norway just ordered to surrender at midnight tonight; further resistance against the Germans futile. ----------------------- Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris is on fire. Not German bombs- fleeing Minister set his chimney alight trying to burn secret documents. -------------------------- 1 month ago today, Germany invaded France, Belgium, Holland & Luxembourg. Only France remains unconquered. ------------------------- "The idea that neutrality brings safety is gone. There can be no security, no peace, while Hitler is in the saddle" - today's New York Times ---------------------------- The Germans have captured Dieppe & Rouen: 2 Channel ports that British troops still in France were relying on to escape back to the UK. ---------------------------- JB Priestley now on BBC with a 2nd "Postscript", on the English summer & the mediocrity of Nazism: specialcollectionsbradford.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/postscript-sunday-9-june-1940/ |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 11, 2012 14:37:44 GMT 8
June 11, 1940 Allied troops blowing bridges & flooding rivers to try & slow down German advance into France  ----------------------- Mussolini, voice shaking, is phoning his mistress, Clara Petacci: "In 1 hour I declare war on France. I'm forced to."  --------------------------- Clara: "But the war will be short, Duce." Mussolini: "No- 5 years or more. Hitler's tree grows as tall as the sky- but only towards ruin." ------------------------- 6PM Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, now declaring war on Allies from balcony of his Palazzo Venezia, Rome.  ------------------------- Roman crowd cheers as Mussolini proclaims: "We go to battle against plutocratic west"; watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYp_vN84p_U--------------------------- In Genoa, Turin, Milan, crowds are silent, some in tears, hearing Mussolini on radio: "People of Italy! Rush to arms!" historicalresources.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/mussolini-speech-of-the-10-june-1940-declaration-of-war-on-france-and-england/--------------------------- Mussolini to his generals: "The war will end by September, & I will need only a few 1000 dead to sit at the conference table as a victor." ------------------------- Churchill just heard Italy's declaration of war: “People who go to Italy to look at ruins won’t have to go as far as Naples & Pompeii.” -------------------------- An endless line of cars & trucks, headlights dimmed for fear of Luftwaffe, is leaving Paris: the French government is fleeing the capital. --------------------------- With Paris declared an "open city" to save it from destruction by Germans, & the govt. moved 145 miles away, to Tours, civilians are fleeing ------------------------- Jewish refugee in Paris, Irène Némirovsky: "Silently, cars keep coming, bursting with furniture & baggage, each with a mattress on the roof" ------------------------------- Fleeing French PM Paul Reynaud has cabled Roosevelt begging for American aid. He claims he's "heading for the front": www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/reynaud.htm------------------------------ US President, speaking at University of Virginia, just called Italy's attack on France a "dagger in a neighbor's back". millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3317 |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 13, 2012 9:43:52 GMT 8
June 12, 1940 Rommel's tanks have captured the Channel port of Le Havre- trapping British & French troops between the Germans & the sea. ---------------------- Trapped British- 51st Highland Regiment- trying to escape from tiny port of Saint Valéry- with Germans raining fire from cliffs above them. ---------------------- Churchill has flown to France for last-ditch conference with French commanders, in an isolated châteaux far from Paris.  ------------------------- British Gen. Spears is with Churchill: "I was suddenly aware that the battle of France was over & that no one believed in miracles". --------------------------- French Marshal Pétain (84), just interrupted conference: "We don't seem to be making much use of carrier pigeons."  -------------------------- French PM Reynaud whispers to Churchill: "Pétain has already written his armistice appeal to the Germans- but is ashamed to show it to me." -------------------------- US Congress votes $1.5 billion more for Navy; told US plan, Hitler scoffs: "What is America but beauty queens, stupid records & Hollywood?" -------------------------- UK: All male Italians, 16+, who've lived here less than 20 years to be interned without trial- incl. political refugees who fled Mussolini. -------------------------- Pierpaolo Pacitti, an Italian boy living in Scotland: "A mob smashed dad's shop, shouting 'Tally!' Then the police came- to take dad away." ------------------------- USA has vetoed evacuation of all UK royals to Canada. Roosevelt: "I'd be accused of allowing a monarchy set up on the American continent." -------------------------- UK troops of 51st Highland division have spent the night huddling on beach & in cliff caves at Saint Valery, with Germans firing from above. ---------------------------- Arthur Webster is a Highlander at Saint Valery: "As dawn broke, the mist lifted, & I saw a small flotilla of ships coming in very slowly." --------------------------- "I scrambled along a ridge of rocks to a sea-going barge. 2 French soldiers were fighting to reach the ladder; I launched myself at it." ----------------------- "I hit the ladder with a crash as boat moved into deeper water. To my horror, the ladder came away..." Arthur's story: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a8158638.shtml------------------------- After fighting viciously to let 3000 men evacuate, French & British defenders of St. Valery now surrendering to Rommel.  ------------------------- Victor Klemperer, a Jewish German: "We live in a vanished world. We still believe in England's strength; it is just a very small island." -------------------------- Victor: "Today a woman who saw her husband mutilated by war began screaming: 'It's the Jew's fault!' They'll put us up against the wall yet" ---------------------------- German troops being diverted from front to guard captured French wine cellars; these SS men got there first:  --------------------------- In revenge for Italy's declaration of war, British planes now bombing Turin, Genoa, Milan & Venice- but sparing the historic island itself. -------------------------- Exiled Dutch Princess Juliana & her daughters Beatrix & Irene have arrived in Canada, fleeing expected invasion of UK.  |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 13, 2012 9:54:13 GMT 8
June 13, 1940 Last French troops evacuated from Norway arriving in UK- only to head straight for last few French ports not yet captured, to fight on. -------------------------- With the world distracted by Nazi invasions, Soviet Russian Army & Navy now secretly prepare to attack Estonia & Latvia  ------------------------ UK MP's death forced a London by-election today. British Union of Fascist's candidate was unable to run- he's in prison as potential traitor ------------------------- German troops are in the suburbs of Paris & have crossed Rivers Seine & Marne. All Northern France lies open to them. ----------------------- Due to imminent threat of invasion, all children are being evacuated from south coast of England- Dover kids 1st to go:  ----------------------- Most children in major UK cities must now be re-evacuated to countryside- parents brought them home during "Phoney War"  ------------------------ UK children now being evacuated must by law take gas masks- specially designed in bright colours to be less frightening  -------------------------- A Swiss journalist has discovered a herd of cattle mooing in a fashionable Parisian boulevard, after slaughterhouse staff fled the city. ------------------------ Arthur Koestler, Jewish refugee in Paris, arrested by Gendarmes as he tries to flee city: "I will certainly be shot if the Germans catch me" ------------------------- Koestler: "To a bored policeman who holds my fate in his hands, I casually pull out my old, disused "Press" card. 'Forgot my ID card' I lie" ----------------------- Koestler: "The worst of it is, I'm due at a press conference soon." Policeman frowns, then: "Next time, do not be so careless. Let him go." --------------------------- Rumours of German atrocities are driving a panicked exodus of civilians; women are coating themselves in mustard to deter "Boche rapists". ------------------------- The next time people in Britain hear church bells ring, it will signal a German invasion; new law bans campanology except in emergencies. ------------------------- Dutch government-in-exile announcing new "Netherlands Legion" of Dutch exiles & colonial troops to fight on against German occupiers. ------------------------ Backbench MPs, hearing of German assassination lists for conquered countries, ask to be issued pistols- govt. says no: hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1940/jun/13/members-of-parliament-protection------------------------ Let's try to briefly forget this ghastly war & relax to some music. Glenn Miller now live on the wireless from the USA: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxt7XoEe7II----------------------- Churchill flying back from a meeting of Supreme Allied War Council; he's advised French to fight on from North Africa & move Navy to UK. |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:15:33 GMT 8
June 14, 1940 Parisians woke today to German-accented voices announcing 8pm curfew over loudspeakers; the Germans have captured Paris  -------------------------- With Germans knocking at the door, Paris Radio is making a final broadcast: French National Anthem, La Marseillaise. www.youtube.com/watch?v=221UWotqwdo----------------------------- Germans sent to put swastika flags on the Eiffel Tower must climb 900+ steps; fleeing French troops cut the lift cables  --------------------------- 728 Poles being marched through city of Tarnow; they're first prisoners sent to a new concentration camp: Auschwitz.  ------------------------------ Prisoner Eugeniusz Niedojadło: "We march in a city stunned with terror. Someone threw a bunch of red flowers at us- a guard trampled it." --------------------------------- A German soldier reports: "We live like gods in France. Oranges, butter, wine. If we need meat, we slaughter a cow & eat only the best cuts" --------------------------- "With rifles in hand we break open a house & our hunger is sated. Terrible, isn’t it? Thank God that these conditions don’t prevail at home" ------------------------- French are abandoning the vast & still unbroken fortress of the Maginot Line; with Germans deep in France, it's useless  ------------------------- German soldiers- used to lean army rations- are in Parisian bistros demanding steak, 12-egg omelettes, & chocolate bars smeared with butter. --------------------------- Hitler has announced he has "no territorial ambitions in the Western hemisphere". US Pres. Roosevelt replies: "You said that about Poland." ------------------------- In their requisitioned luxury hotel HQ in St. Germain, German officers have set up a "Parisian campaign map": best bistros & brothels marked ----------------------- Every German soldier in Paris wants to march past Arc de Triomphe (but not under it- over the Unknown Soldier's grave).  ------------------------ 1st Polish prisoners arriving at Auschwitz. SS Capt. Karl Fritzsch says: "The healthy survive 3 months here. Priests 1 month, Jews 2 weeks." -------------------------- Churchill on phone to Gen. Brooke, who wants UK army to evacuate: "French Army must feel we support them." B: "You can't make a corpse feel" |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:24:16 GMT 8
June 15, 1940 German soldiers are enjoying the sunshine on the captured French beach of Boulogne. (Note the rifles).  ----------------------- George Orwell, on fall of Paris & of his French publishers, Albatross: "I'm £30 to the bad" Long-term contacts foolish: orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/15-6-40/----------------------- Lithuania has agreed to a Soviet ultimatum- delivered at midnight last night- demanding Red Army soldiers be allowed to occupy the country. --------------------- French PM Reynaud is trying- with little success- to persuade his Cabinet to carry on the fight against the Germans from North Africa. ---------------------- 1 strident French voice for peace is Reynaud's mistress, Hélène de Portes: "I don't propose to go sleep in some shabby Algerian shack!" ---------------------- 1st Roman casualty of war, after RAF raid dropping propaganda leaflets; 1 man, 79, hurt by falling shrapnel from Italian anti-aircraft guns. ---------------------- Nazis flying swastika flags over Palace of Versailles, scene of German humiliation after the World War. Newsreel: www.ushmm.org/wlc/fr/media_fi.php?ModuleId=8&MediaId=368------------------------- Demaree Best, US war correspondent: "Parisian crowds, some weeping watch the 1st French prisoners roll by in trucks."  -------------------------- German advance is relentless, filling southern France with panicked refugees. Bread, meat, even water growing scarce.  ------------------------- Panic has infected French refugees; 1 woman, her bridge bombed, tried to swim the Loire in a fur coat: "She looked like a drowning bear." ------------------------- French schoolboy, Pascal Jardin: "This week is dominated by a revolting noise: 40 million Frenchmen shitting their pants at the same time." --------------------------- "Peacekeeping occupation" of Lithuania by USSR has begun. 200 Red Army tanks on streets of Vilinus; NKVD (flown in) already making arrests. -------------------------- UK War Cabinet have decided that most threatened British territory, Channel Islands "are of no strategic importance- they won't be defended" |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:30:02 GMT 8
June 16, 1940 German Gen. Guderian: "Exhausted French soldiers fall from their truck to be crushed by the next. The Midde Ages were more humane than this" ------------------------ British have begun "Operation Ariel": a 2nd, inglorious evacuation of France, via Cherbourg & St. Nazaire- last ports still in UK's hands. ----------------------- What did he die for? For England! German propaganda posters starting to cover France as Nazis begin charm offensive: www.flickr.com/photos/72829536@N08/7372947612/in/photostream/lightbox/--------------------------- In a desperate bid to keep the Allies together, UK offering Franco-British Union: shared govt., armies & citizenship. ----------------------------- Franco-British Union appeals to Francophile Churchill, who wants French army evacuated to Britain, "to make the island stiff with soldiers." ------------------------------ French Marshal Petain, already planning armistice with Germany: "Franco-British Union would be fusion with a corpse. Britain is doomed." -------------------------- J.B. Priestley now on BBC with a broadcast on his 1st night of duty with new British Local Defence Volunteers. specialcollectionsbradford.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/postscript-sunday-16-june-1940/---------------------------- Local Defence Volunteers today rejected Jack White, Great War Victoria Cross winner- because he was born Jacob Weiss. www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/whitevc.htm----------------------------- Bill Pilkington, Local Defense Volunteer, ordered to learn to be a hangman: "Come the invasion, there will be many traitors to be executed." ---------------------------- 10PM French PM Reynaud has received final word: USA won't intervene to save France. He's resigning in favour of peace-seeking Marshal Pétain ------------------------------- George Beardmore, UK man: "How are the Americans going to help us? Come in at the end like last time & say they won the war?" |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:40:18 GMT 8
June 17, 1940 Now that French resistance all but over, Rommel has decided to dash for Cherbourg with his panzers- to smash British before they escape. --------------------------- Noon. France's new PM, Marshal Pétain (84) on radio. "With a broken heart I tell you fighting must cease." French govt. seeking armistice. --------------------------- 1 disgusted Frenchman listening to surrender announcement: "An old man with the voice of an old woman tells us he has asked for peace." -------------------------- With surrender imminent, French discipline has almost completely shattered. A regiment at Ligny have looted a train loaded with champagne. -------------------------- Platform's a sea of vomit & broken glass, with drunken soldiers lying bleeding in it. Officers play at skittles with champagne bottles. ----------------------------- RMS Lancastria, massive cruise liner evacuating UK civilians & troops from Channel port of St Nazaire, has been hit by Luftwaffe bombs. -------------------------- Walter Hirst is onboard Lancastria, now rolling over: "100s of men clinging to the upturned hull- some started to sing Roll out the Barrel" ---------------------------- Walter Hirst is onboard Lancastria, now rolling over: "100s of men clinging to the upturned hull- some started to sing Roll out the Barrel" www.lancastria.org.uk/_Vingt_Cinq__Morgan_s_Men/Walter_Hirst_s_Account/walter_hirst_s_account.html----------------------------- Luftwaffe now strafing & dropping incendiaries- Lancastria's wreck is gushing oil & they're trying to set it on fire. www.flickr.com/photos/12064036@N04/3517884628/---------------------------- RMS Lancastria has sunk. At last 5000 people are dead or drowning. It is Britain's worst naval disaster in history- more dead than Titanic. ----------------------------- Churchill, fearing civilian despair, issuing a 'D-notice' on Lancastria sinking: total censorship; not even bereaved relatives told details. ----------------------------- Soviet Union has now occupied Estonia & Lithuania; surrounded by Red Army, & cowed by brutal example of Poland, they did not resist. ------------------------- Stalin furious at French surrender; Nikita Khrushchev: "He's very nervous, pacing, cursing Allies: 'How come they let Hitler thrash them?" -------------------------- "Most of the world weighs German against Allied casualties to see who's winning; Stalin adds them together to see if he's winning." -------------------------- German troops have reached the Swiss border. French Maginot line is now completely surrounded by German armies  |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:56:36 GMT 8
June 18, 1940 Red Army have now occupied Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia- & USSR have secretly promised Germany $7.5 million in gold for not intervening. ----------------------- All French towns larger than 20,000 just been declared "open cities"- they will not be defended & may not, under laws of war, be bombed. ------------------------- Breton housewives are mobbing French troops, tearing rifles from their hands: "Why are you still fighting? Do you want us all massacred?" ---------------------- Nazis condemning French use of African troops: "In the name of civilization France pushed its black beasts on us!"  -------------------------- SS troops in France, driven by racist propaganda of "Negro atrocities", have murdered at least 1500 French colonial POWs in the last 6 weeks -------------------------- Mussolini, in Munich to agree details of French surrender, is disappointed Hitler won't let him annex southern France. www.flickr.com/photos/robertlz/3394588469/lightbox/--------------------------- Letter in today's Times from a dead RAF pilot to his mother: "I've handed my task to the capable hands of my comrades" battleofbritainblog.com/historical-documents/dear-mother-published-in-the-times-18-june-1940/-------------------------- 3.46PM Churchill now speaking to Parliament: "The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin." ------------------------ Churchill: "Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed." ---------------------- Churchill: "If the British Empire lasts 1000 years, men will still say, This was their finest hour." Read or listen: www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/1940-finest-hour/122-their-finest-hour------------------------ Rome preparing for more bombings, boxing up ancient monuments, like this statue of Marcus Aurelius: www.archivioluce.com/archivio/jsp/schede/fotoPlayer.jsp?doc=31677&db=fotograficoLuceCRONOLOGICO&index=1&id=undefined§ion=/-------------------- 7PM French defence minister Charles de Gaulle now on radio from London, urging not to surrender: "France is not alone!" fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Appel_du_18_juin?match=en----------------------- Instructors & young cadets of the French cavalry school at Saumur have decided not to surrender without a fight: school will go to war. ------------------------ Jean Labuze, cadet at Saumur: "I am ready to die, but not to die for nothing." His teacher: "No-one dies for nothing. We die for France." ------------------------ A French officer at Saumur has woken the local parish priest; they're going into battle & he does not want his young troops to die unshriven ------------------------- German panzers racing into outskirts of Cherbourg hearing explosions; last Allied troops are fleeing port, blowing up the docks behind them. |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 9, 2012 14:58:50 GMT 8
June 19, 1940 Ocean liner RMS Niagara, leaving Auckland, New Zealand, has hit a German mine. Secretly oboard: a load of British gold, heading for USA. ----------------------- 800 French cadets & cavalry instructors, defending the Loire river at Saumur, have held off a night attack by 10,000 German troops. ------------------------ BBC cancelling most music & light entertainment to feed public thirst for news; Guardian newspaper has a review: www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/jun/19/archive-1940-bbc-news-war?newsfeed=true------------------------ 11 men from fascist Canadian National Unity Party now in court; they planned to "take over Canada some time this year" www.flickr.com/photos/72829536@N08/7390730676/in/photostream------------------------- Polish & Belgian governments-in-exile have fled to London; Nazis have conquered their original state of refuge, France. |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 10, 2012 11:44:40 GMT 8
June 20, 1940 32 Italian divisions are now crossing French border; Mussolini is determined to conquer some territory & cement his victory with blood. -------------------------- Rommel has captured Cherbourg. His panzers- nicknamed "Ghost Division" as they appear from nowhere- have taken 100,000+ prisoners in 6 weeks ------------------------ Rommel has captured Cherbourg. His panzers- nicknamed "Ghost Division" as they appear from nowhere- have taken 100,000+ prisoners in 6 weeks --------------------------- UK War Cabinet now hearing military situation: "Outstanding event of the week has been collapse of French resistance" ww2today.com/20th-june-1940-war-cabinet-resume-bombing-of-britain-begins---------------------------- Taking advantage of France's prostration, Japan is threatening French Indochina: "cease arming Chinese rebels" by closing colonial border. ----------------------------- Hitler's adjutant, Georg Engel: "Führer says UK so weak that, after bombing, a major invasion will be unnecessary. Army will just move in." ---------------------------- Churchill & Roosevelt are both urging French fleet to sail to colonies- before armistice forces them to surrender to Germans. -------------------------- Hitler has announced location for French surrender: Compiègne Forest, same spot where Germany surrendered the First World War, 22 years ago. ------------------------- German engineers are demolishing local museum to extract the same train carriage in which that surrender was signed; positions now reversed. ---------------------- UK forces in Egypt are raiding Italian Ethiopia; Italian commander Italo Balbo: "We have no trucks, no anti-tank guns; it's steel vs flesh" |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 10, 2012 11:49:07 GMT 8
June 21, 1940 Italian advance into France via Alps has ground to a halt due to a snowstorm; on the Côte d'Azur Italians are being held up by 8 soldiers. ------------------------------ Flood of French refugees (incl. desperate Jews & Communists) has reached Spanish border; no-one is being let through ----------------------------- Know friend from foe with this handy chart in today's Times: tell a German paratrooper from a downed RAF pilot.  ----------------------------- UK in grip of "spy fever". A Winchester woman has reported a local officer for "suspicious & un-English behaviour": not flushing lavatory. -------------------------- French capitulation has led to virulent British xenophobia: "There ought to be an earthquake in France, to swallow the whole bloody lot up" ---------------------------- German diplomat Erich Tuch spots Hitler in woods at Compiègne, rehearsing for tomorrow's French surrender: "pirouetting, saluting & smiling" ----------------------------- American CBS radio news reporting on France's surrender & de Gaulle's appeal to French to fight on; listen now: ia600208.us.archive.org/11/items/WWII_News_1940/1940-06-20_CBS_Elmer_Davis_And_The_News.mp3 |
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Post by Pumba on Jul 10, 2012 12:11:33 GMT 8
June 22, 1940 3 German airmen shot down over Chelmsford being buried in town cemetery with full honours, incl. Nazi flags on coffins. RAF sent a wreath. ------------------------- On way to receive French surrender, Hitler stops by a monument to French victory in the World War, face suffused with triumph, anger, hatred ------------------------- 3.30PM Hitler, German generals & high-ranking Nazis now meeting French delegation to sign the armistice- in effect, surrender of France. ----------------------- 3.42PM In a gesture of contempt, Hitler & his entourage have walked out- "French left like figures of stone." More:  ww2today.com/the-french-sign-the-armistice------------------------- Armistice terms are brutal: 3/5 of country under German occupation, which French must pay for at cost of 400 million francs/day. ------------------------- Minimal French army; France must surrender all German nationals living in France (ie. Jews, Communists, etc. who fled Nazis.) -------------------------- French complaining armistice terms too harsh: "worse than Versailles!" General Keitel: No negotiation. "You must accept them as they are." ------------------------ 6.50PM General Huntzinger just signed the armistice. France has surrendered.  ------------------------ US reporter William Shirer, recording surrender, has been accidentally put on air live in New York- scooping the Nazis. delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/06/william-shirer-liveblogs-world-war-ii-june-22-1940.html------------------------------ 1.5 million captured French soldiers will stay in prison camps until end of the war- which both French & Germans believe is only weeks away ------------------------------ Europe is now Fascist: France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Italy, Spain, & Czechoslovakia are ruled by or allied with Nazis. ---------------------------- Armistice says French fighters captured from now on will be summarily shot; people like Charles de Gaulle, now on BBC: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Appel_du_22_juin.ogg#section_2 |
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 11:07:23 GMT 8
June 23, 1940 Hitler is now touring Paris- he's currently at Les Invalides, sight of Napoleon's tomb- which he thinks is too small.  ----------------------------- Hitler now at the Eiffel Tower: "Take 1 photo here, 1 in front of Buckingham Palace, then in front of the skyscrapers."  ----------------------------- Hitler has brought to Paris not Generals, but Speer & Brekker, his favorite architect & artist. He wants them to make Berlin outshine Paris. --------------------------- Hitler has brought to Paris not Generals, but Speer & Brekker, his favorite architect & artist. He wants them to make Berlin outshine Paris.  ------------------------ "It was my life's dream to be allowed to see Paris." Hitler is now leaving the city he has conquered. Watch video here: www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_fi.php?MediaId=2049&ModuleId=10005453------------------------- UK will evacuate to Canada 2 groups: some young children, & Germans & Italians interned in British prison camps as potential saboteurs. -------------------------- Hitler to his architect, Speer: "I often wondered if we'd have to destroy Paris. But when we've finished Berlin, Paris wll be only a shadow" --------------------------- Leaving, Speer just heard Hitler say to his generals: "Compared to France, an invasion of Russia would be child's play in a sandbox." -------------------------- Hitler has cancelled plans for a triumphal procession through Paris: "We're not finished yet." Official reason is risk of British bombing. -------------------------- Germans have ordered French fleet- stationed in North Africa- to be surrendered to them, but promise it will not be used against Britain. ---------------------------- J.B. Priestley now on BBC, discussing "Nazism, the pathetic mentality of overgrown bullying schoolboys." More: specialcollectionsbradford.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/postscript-sunday-23rd-june-1940/------------------------------ Happy Birthday to Alan Turing, 28 years old today. He's 1 of Britain's top codebreakers at top-secret Bletchley Park.  ------------------------------ Puyi, ex-Emperor of China, now Emperor of Japan's puppet state of Manchuko, is meeting Emperor Hirohito (L) in Tokyo.  |
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 12:09:19 GMT 8
June 24, 1940 German govt. discussing a "final territorial solution to the Jewish question"; Gestapo chief Heydrich wants all Jews deported to Madagascar. ------------------------- Foreign Minister Ribbentrop suggests keeping "procreative, Talmud-tainted Jewish intelligentsia" as hostages "to cripple the American Jews". ------------------------ Footage of French surrender on show in Canada- but propaganda minister John Grierson has edited it to make Hitler "jig"  ---------------------------- French in German-occupied 3/5 of country (see map) banned from owning radios or telephones without license; 7PM curfew.  -------------------------- US Republicans announce new platform for their Presidential candidate: resolute opposition to joining war against Nazis www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29640#axzz1yinrvwp5------------------------- Armistice between Italy & France now being signed; from tomorrow, all fighting in France will end. France must demilitarise Italian frontier ------------------------- Italian forces, facing a depleted & demoralised French army, have advanced a maximum of 5 miles into France, at cost of over 5000 casualties ----------------------- Italy's Foreign Minister Ciano: "We sent men to useless deaths 2 days before armistice. If we go on like this, bitter disappointments await" ---------------------- Announcing final French surrender, 1 UK newsagent's billboard parodies a football headline: "French sign peace treaty. We're in the finals!" ------------------------- French govt announcing Paris, now occupied by Germans, will cease to be capital. "The military phase of the war of 1939-1940 is over." |
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