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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 12:19:17 GMT 8
June 25, 1940 French govt announcing Paris, now occupied by Germans, will cease to be capital. "The military phase of the war of 1939-1940 is over." ----------------------- Overnight UK commandos, newly-formed to create a "reign of terror" in occupied Europe, conducted 1st raid- killing 2 German sentries. ------------------------ French Lt. George Friedman: “Today I detect no pain amongst many at their country’s misfortunes- only complacent relief- ‘For us, it’s over” ----------------------- After 6 weeks of combat, fighting in France ended this morning. The conquest has cost 27,000-49,000 Germans killed. --------------------- German soldier Wilhelm Pruller: "1st day of peace in the West. No further advance today. I’ve still only one wish: to get to England." ----------------------- Pruller: "Parcel arrived today for dead Corporal Vraz, from his wife; perhaps a cake. I sent it back, marked: 'Fallen for Greater Germany" --------------------- 85,310 French soldiers are dead; 1.5 million taken prisoner, to be released when Britain is finished off. ------------------------ Gazing out over blacked-out London, Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding says: "Well, the French are out of it. Thank God we're now alone." ----------------------- UK trying to talk Irish Premier de Valera into joining war: "A Nazi invasion of Ireland would embarrass us, but it'd be disastrous for you."
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 14:55:07 GMT 8
June 26, 1940 Hitler speaking to German troops in occupied France: "Do you like this beautiful country?" "Yes, mein Führer!" "Then we'll keep it forever!" ---------------------- With Nazi U-boats sinking more UK shipping, meat ration to be cut; vegetarian author George Bernard Shaw: "A whole nation of Bernard-Shaws!" -------------------- Today is the 1st of 10 days ordered for national jubilation in Germany, to celebrate Nazi victory over Europe. ------------------------ By order of propaganda minister Goebbels, free beer & roast meat available on street corners in Berlin- hung with celebratory swastika flags -------------------------- Goebbels has vetoed celebration fantasies of Nazi labour minister Ley: "Whores! Lots of them! A whole house full!" ------------------------------ New law announced in USSR: Soviet citizens must now work 7 days/week, 8 hours/day. "In capitalist countries, workers labour 12+ hours/day!" --------------------------- Stalin also ordering 25% pay cut for 20 mins lateness to work, imprisonment for quitting a job- to "protect against capitalist aggression". ------------------------- Overheard in an Amsterdam jewel merchant's: a German Captain, haggling for gems, walked out: "I'll get them cheaper in London soon enough." ------------------------- King Carol- self-declared head of Romania's new totalitarian Party of the Nation- has been ordered by USSR to surrender 17,000m2 of country. ----------------------- Newly dictatorial King Carol is appealing to Nazis to save Bessarabia, east Romania, from Red Army occupation. No reply yet from Hitler. ---------------------- Japan has ordered UK colonial govt. to close Burma road- which supplies Chinese nationalists with precious weapons to fight Japanese invader ----------------------- Japan: We'll seize Hong Kong if UK disobeys. US Ambassador in Tokyo Joe Grew: "German victories have gone to Japan's head like strong wine." ------------------------- 1 of last UK troops left behind in France: "Germans surrounding us, shouting 'For you, Tommy, the war is over.' Only English they all know" ------------------------- London Times: "refined cruelty to UK prisoners at Malines. All helmets replaced by top hats, bowlers, bonnets, berets to make POWs clownish"
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 15:01:18 GMT 8
June 27, 1940 Noon. UK War Cabinet now hearing of intensifying German bombing: up to 40 planes a night, but little damage so far. ww2today.com/27th-june-1940-bombing-of-britain-of-britain-intensifies-------------------- UK War Cabinet have ordered Royal Navy to seize French warships in African & British ports; they fear Nazis gaining control of French Navy. --------------------- Ron Bates, British POW: "We've marched for days, through France, Belgium & Holland. Kind Dutch put out water for us- Germans kicked it over" ---------------------- Ron: "We're in river barges to be taken to Germany, packed like sardines. Toilet buckets overflowing. We're like rats in a floating cage." ----------------------- German Jews who fled from Nazis to France, Belgium, Holland now interned by German occupiers: "We've got them at last!" ------------------------- Frantic defence preparations in ill-equipped Britain; Germany claims to be massing boats along Channel coast for invasion. ------------------------ With UK short of guns, barbed wire, & mines, beaches being fortified with sawn logs, tar barrels, &, in 1 seaside town, old iron bedsteads. ---------------------- After enthralling a crowd with "Fight on the beaches" speech, Churchill says to aide: "We'll fight with broken bottles, it's all we've got!" ---------------------- Hitler has replied to plea for help from erstwhile ally, King Carol: surrender Bessarabia (17,000 miles sq of east Romania) to USSR. -------------------- Canadian government announcing it will host at least 10,000 refugee children, ages 5-15, evacuated from Britain, for duration of the war.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 15:03:36 GMT 8
June 28, 1940
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Red Army is now marching in to occupy Bessarabia, east Romania; they claim to be "liberating ancestral Russians from Romanian tyranny".
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Soviet occupiers have 'black lists' of people to be arrested: doctors, civil servants, lawyers & "capitalists", eg. restaurant owners.
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Gheorge Popa, ex-colonel in Russian Imperial Army, greeted Red Army in full dress uniform: "Be welcome in God's name!" They've arrested him.
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Red Army invading eastern Romania are performing first acts of Soviet occupation: blowing up churches & arresting priests to deliver to NKVD
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Boris Vasilev, Romanian child: "Russians descend like locusts- but mother will not leave: 'We'd better die with our parents than Flee!"
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Luftwaffe have bombed Guernsey harbour, wrecking port & injuring 17: they mistook tomato trucks for troop transports.
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US Congress just passed Alien Registration Act: all non-citizens resident in USA must register with FBI, to catch spies & "5th columnists".
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Italian Commander in North Africa, Italo Balbo, killed by friendly fire while landing: Italian gunners mistook his plane for a UK bomber.
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Churchill declinging to make American radio speech: "We shouldn't pay much attention to eddies of US opinion. Only events will move them."
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Pope has offered to negotiate "just & honourable peace"; Churchill's stinging rebuff: "We desire no inquires as to peace term with Hitler."
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 15:11:02 GMT 8
July 29, 1940 Over 100,000 refugees (like this young girl) have fled from eastern Romania, even as occupying Red Army tanks roll in. --------------------- Romanian Army is mobilising- not to fight Russians, but to deter neighbours Hungary & Yugoslavia, now greedily eyeing border territories. -------------------- In Nazi paper Das Reich, British Lion to French Chicken: "Your leaving grieves me! Give me your colonies as a souvenir" ---------------------- US Republican nomination for President announced: Wendell Wilkie- who many think is too liberal to appeal to GOP voters ---------------------- Wilkie is not a rabid isolationist- like 75% of Americans, he wants USA to support UK as much as possible without actually declaring war. -------------------- Berlin travel agents now offering tours of the Maginot Line: from a French fortress to a German holiday destination. --------------------- Japan's Foreign Minister, Hachiro Arita, on radio: "new order in Asia- unity into a single sphere revolving harmoniously around Japan." --------------------- Troops of the Japanese Imperial Army now surrounding Hong Kong, blocking food from entering European-controlled city. -------------------- To block landings by German gliders, open spaces in southern UK (incl. parks, cricket pitches & gold courses) being strewn with old cars. -------------------- German planes have spotted obstacles on cricket pitches; intelligence conclusion: "UK working class are sabotaging the sport of plutocrats!"
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Post by Pumba on Aug 6, 2012 15:18:13 GMT 8
June 30, 1940 German bombers are flying over the British-controlled (but undefended) Channel Islands, dropping leaflets demanding surrender. ------------- "All buildings must fly white flag- anywhere that doesn't will be heavily bombed." 2 days ago, Germans bombed Guernsey, killing 44 civilians --------------- 3 German officers have landed at Guernsey airport. They've informed authorities- in form of a local policeman- that island is now occupied. ------------------ 5 German "radio criminals" in Berlin each sentenced to 5 years in concentration camps for listening to Allied propaganda on wireless. ------------------ 1 Belgian woman today attends her husband's funeral (missing presumed dead); last night she learned he's safe in UK- via banned Allied radio -------------------- Woman couldn't cancel funeral & risk arrest for listening to "Allied propaganda". She & priest are only mourners- others all heard radio too ----------------- German occupiers report Channel Islanders- especially Police "polite & compliant; it is nearly a model occupation." ----------------- All European women & children are being evacuated from Hong Kong, fearing Japanese threats towards Britain & France will lead to war. -------------------- First- so far only- resistance to German occupation of the Channel Islands: an Irish dock-worker has punched a German soldier in a bar. ------------------- JB Priestley now on BBC; criticizing "officialdom" who fined drunk UK man for singing "Rule Britannia" during air raid: specialcollectionsbradford.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/postscript-sunday-30-june-1940/---------------- Royal Navy have been ordered to launch Operation Catapult: confiscate French warships to "secure" them from Germans, or sink French fleet. --------------------- SS Arandora Star sails: onboard, 1200 Germans/Italians (most civilians, many refugees) bound for Canadian prison camps.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 9:52:10 GMT 8
July 1, 1940 German General Staff are now drawing up plans for an invasion of Britain; the operation has the codename Seelöwe (Sealion). --------------------- Göring (6th from right, the fat one) & his Luftwaffe officers now gazing out from Channel coast towards England: ----------------------- French Premier Pétain, who governs 1/3 of France that remains unoccupied, has declared a new French capital: small spa town of Vichy. ---------------------- US press: "Vichy is crowded beyond capacity with well-to-do refugees & immaculately dressed French officers, all fishing for political jobs" ---------------------- Meanwhile, in Occupied France: "North of Paris is a desert, inhabitants fled & land plundered by German army. Crops rot on the ground." --------------------- "Northern France is a land of the dead, metaphorically & literally- corpses of men & animals still litter the ground." ------------------------- Romania has renounced its treaties with Britain & sent "important ambassadors" to Germany: "Reich is now the dominant power of Europe." ------------------------ Phone cables cut & British troops massing on Syrian borders; French troops in Syria have declared loyalty to collaborationist Vichy regime.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 9:58:14 GMT 8
July 2, 1940 SS Arandora Star- taking 1,200 German and Italian internees to Canada (but not marked with Red Crosses)- has been torpedoed by a German U-boat ----------------------------- Prisoners are flooding the deck of the sinking Arandora Star- there are only lifeboats for 400 people on board, "secured" behind wire mesh. ------------------------ Sgt Norman Price, from a lifeboat: "100s of men clinging to the ship like ants went down with her. Many broke their necks diving into water" -------------------------- Arandora Star has sunk- over 600 men, mostly prisoners, are dead. Many, covered in a slick of oil from torpedoed ship, were unable to swim. ---------------------- New orders from German occupiers to civilians of Jersey (only UK land conquered so far); private car or boat use banned www.jeron.je/thatwasjersey/occorders01.html----------------------- China's capital, Chongqing, is being bombed by Japanese planes, for 20th time in 2 weeks- Chinese Nationalists, Kuomintang, meeting there. ----------------------- Subhas Chandra Bose (R), Indian Independence leader, jailed for advocating active civil disobedience against British.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 10:11:21 GMT 8
July 3, 1940 British sailors seizing all French warships docked at UK ports, fearing crew will sail back to Nazi-controlled France. 4 men killed in raids ------------------------- British warships now blockading port of Mers el Kébir, Algeria; they're giving French fleet in harbour an ultimatum. ------------------------ Ultimatum to French fleet: 1) Join Royal Navy to fight Germans. 2) Be interned in UK. 3) Or in America. 4) Scuttle ships. 8 hours to decide. ----------------------- French Navy in Mers-el-Kébir requesting negotiation with British; meanwhile, UK planes are mining mouth of the port. ------------------------ French Admiral Gensoul to UK Captain Holland, sent to negotiate: "The 1st shot fired will be a declaration of war." ------------------------- Gensoul has orders from France to scuttle his ships rather than let Germans get them: "But I won't do it under the threat of British guns!" ------------------------ French Naval command, not told of options other than sinking ships, sending all French forces in Mediterranean to fight off British fleet. --------------------- 5.30PM UK Admiralty signaling Royal Navy ships at Mers-el-Kébir: "Settle matters quickly or you'll have reinforcements to deal with." --------------------- 5.54PM Royal Navy are opening fire on French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir- 1st Anglo-French naval battle in over 100 years. --------------------- Trapped at anchor, French ships can't evade brutal shelling; only 2 in range to fire back. They can do nothing but die. ------------------------- 6.05PM British ships have stopped firing. 1,297 French sailors are dead. 4th largest Navy in the world is decimated. ---------------------------- After negotiation, French ships at Alexandria have peacefully surrendered to Royal Navy- they've yet to hear of attack at Mers-el-Kébir. ------------------------ As part of peace treaty, France must give Madagascar to Germany, so that all European Jews can be deported there: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Madagascar.html
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 10:19:50 GMT 8
July 4, 1940 All French ships left in Mediterranean being ordered to attack UK warships on sight, thanks to yesterday's British attack at Mers-El-Kébir. ------------------------ Germany is partially demobilising army & small arms production- both to focus on Luftwaffe & Kriegsmarine, & to relieve overstrained economy ---------------------- Canada has banned the New York Post & Chicago Tribune for "subversive & anti-war articles"; total of censored US papers/magazines now 117. ----------------------- Dame of Sark, hereditary ruler (& owner) of last unoccupied Channel Island, now surrendering to German soldiers. ---------------------- Happy Independence Day, U.S. citizens! The United States is, as of today, one of the last 14 democracies in the world. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Independence_Day,_1940_Promotion.ogv --------------------- Other 14 democracies surviving worldwide: Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, (all surrounded by dictatorships), Iceland... ----------------------- ...Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Chile ----------------------- A bomb has exploded in the UK exhibit of the World's Fair in New York, killing 2 policemen. Nazi sympathisers suspected ------------------ World's Fair theme is The World of Tomorrow: 4 national pavilions have already closed, home countries fallen to Nazis. ---------------------- French bombers now attacking British ships at Gibraltar, in retaliation for their sinking of French fleet yesterday (to keep it from Nazis). ------------------------ Admiral Somerville, who led UK attack on French fleet: "This blunder will rouse the whole world against us- we all feel thoroughly ashamed.” -------------------- Churchill in Parliament, explaining sinking of French fleet as "painful but necessary"- he's receiving his 1st standing ovation from MPs. ---------------------- Gen. Charles de Gaulle, self-proclaimed leader of Free French still fighting Germany, court-martialled in absentia: 4 years imprisonment.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 10:26:18 GMT 8
July 5, 1940 Major Harris UK Timber Controller: no more wood for high heeled shoes. "If women wear low heels, we'll save 50,000 tons of cargo space/year" --------------------- French PM Pétain wants to declare war on UK, Foreign Minister Laval: "We just lost 1 war. Do you want us to start a 2nd lose that too?" ------------------ As anger grows at British sinking of French ships near Oran, Vichy France has broken off diplomatic relations with UK. --------------------- Sweden, officially still neutral, has bowed to Reich pressure: German troops now using Swedish trains for transport around occupied Norway. --------------------- Carl Einstein- nephew of Albert, Expressionist writer, & Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany- has killed himself in France ---------------------- Carl is just 1 of 10,000s of Jews, "degenerate" artists, Socialists, or other enemies of Nazi in France now being deported back to Germany. ---------------------- Nazi authorities in occupied France have banned "symbols of French national identity", including tricolore flag, national anthem, & berets. ------------------ German bombers now escalating to daylight raids on UK; Göring, head of Luftwaffe, commands Royal Air Force must be "wiped from the skies". -------------------- Pres. Roosevelt, to press: America must not compromise with the "corporate states"- more efficient, but less democratic --------------------- "Corporate- ie. totalitarian- states, Germany, Italy & USSR, lack 5 basic democratic freedoms: freedom of information; freedom of religion…" ------------------------ "Freedom of expression, freedom from fear, & freedom from want." President says US must oppose nations without these: www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15976#axzz1zn5uNv6P
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Post by Pumba on Aug 10, 2012 10:32:31 GMT 8
July 6, 1940 George Orwell: "It's a terrible thing to feel oneself useless & see halfwits & profascists filling important jobs." georgeorwellnovels.com/letters/letter-to-john-lehmann-6-july-1940/------------------- Today's a public holiday in Berlin- vast crowds strewing roses in front of Hitler, just returned from tour of France. --------------------- German newspaper editors today outdid themselves in praise of Hitler: 'Lord of battle; rouser out of stupor; shaper of the New Europe" ---------------------- UK planes bombing French battleship Dunkerque, already damaged by Royal Navy, in a bid to prevent Germans capturing her --------------------- Bombing of the Dunkerque brings total of French troops killed by British in last week to 1300+; 500 of them earlier evacuated by Royal Navy. ------------------ SS officer Walter Schellenberg, ordered to write handbook for occupation of UK, & list of Britons for arrest by Gestapo ------------------ Nazi "Black List" of 2820 Britons for immediate arrest includes Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Noël Coward & Sigmund Freud (who died last year) ------------------- Nazi occupation plan for UK will also close Oxford & Cambridge Unis, outlaw Freemasonry ("plutocratic") & Boy Scouts ("cultural propaganda") -------------------- RAF bombing raids on German military installations in Holland so accurate that occupiers suspect Dutch spies; any caught will be executed.
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Post by Pumba on Aug 23, 2012 10:51:10 GMT 8
July 7, 1940 Mothers are waving evacuated children good-bye across UK; big cities, although not bombed yet, being cleared of young. -------------------- Italian troops have crossed the Ethiopian border & invaded British Somaliland; outnumbered Allied troops falling back, abandoning frontier. ------------------ Adolf Hitler & Count Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister, now meeting to discuss "new order in Europe". ---------------------- In a "softening-up" raid, German planes are bombing the whole length of Britain, from Scotland to Cornwall- where 22 people have been killed ------------------- Cornish girl May Jenkins: "I saw a plane; it seemed to drop turfs of earth- the next minute, boom. Birds flew up, & I knew men were dead." ------------------- The League of Nations has sacked all British staff- Secretary-General hopes to convince Germans to let League organise "new European order". --------------------- British actors in America, including Laurence Olivier, have been ordered to return home for draft & stop "valiantly facing the footlights". --------------------- Lt. Hubert Nicolle, Guernsey-born Briton, just landed on Channel Islands by UK submarine to spy on German occupiers; he'll be shot if caught
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Post by Pumba on Aug 23, 2012 11:00:24 GMT 8
July 8, 1940 Switzerland- now surrounded by Fascist armies- is mobilising its armed forces & moving them to 3 alpine fortresses in case of invasion. --------------------- German High Command have begun planning Operation Tannenbaum (Fir Tree): possible invasion of Switzerland. ------------------ German General Franz Halder: "I hear constant outbursts of Hitler’s fury against Switzerland; he might order military action at any moment." ----------------- From today, tea is rationed in Britain: only 2 ounces per person per week. UK politician Barbara Castle: "This is the cruelest blow of all." --------------- US military experts are blaming French defeat on infiltration by a "fifth column" of Nazi spies, & warning USA must watch out for espionage. ------------------- Canadian opinion polls say "Thumbs Up" to Nazi Blitzkrieg against Britain- confident UK will repel invaders & give Germans bloody losses. ----------------- German submarine U-99, hunting British shipping convoys in the Atlantic, has sunk freighter Humber Arm- but been spotted by a UK destroyer. ------------------- U-99's commander Otto Kretschmer: "Propeller noises to starboard. I believe my crew are going to get their baptism of depth charging." ------------------- British depth charges are exploding around U-99, making hull ring "like the grating of 1000 chisels on steel"; she's diving to try & escape. -------------------- German U-boat now at max depth, 350ft. All electrics off, sub crawling away on low power. Crew must hope UK warship loses them & gives up. ------------------- Rocked by British depth charges for 2 hours, U-99's oxygen supply has cut off. Crew lying on floor to try & save energy & air. ------------------ If they use submarine's toilets, floating discharge might alert UK ship remorselessly hunting them. Germans soil themselves where they lie. -------------------- German crewman Jupp Kassel: "We pant like dogs in stale, shit-stinking air. I lie sweating in the dark boat; hull shudders with explosions."
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Post by Pumba on Aug 23, 2012 11:11:24 GMT 8
July 9, 1940 German submarine U-99 has now been submerged for 14 hours, while UK warships have dropped over 100 depth charges trying to find & wreck her. -------------------- To steady his crew, Captain Otto Kretschmer ignores British bombing, apparently engrossed in a book. Only 1 crewman notices it's upside-down ----------------- U-99 just felt shuddering impact of 129th depth charge, then silence. Crew wait, breathless, for next explosion. British have given up. ----------------------- It's now illegal to repeat "alarming rumours" in UK, after reports of Nazi parachutists in Kent & car-disabling "ray guns" spread panic. ---------------------- British & Italian fleets in the Mediterranean are exchanging fire- over 50 warships, biggest naval battle of war so far -------------------- UK & Italian ships duelling at extreme range. Battleship Giulio Cesare just hit by shell from HMS Warspite, 26km away. -------------------- Italian fleet, fearing an uncertain battle in the dark, are pulling away before dusk falls. Despite minimal damage, both sides claim victory ------------------- Pierre Laval, French vice-PM, says Republic will be replaced with "a Fascist form of govt. which I have long admired" ----------- With assistance from Soviet navy, German warship Komet is heading into Arctic Ocean, planning to sail to Pacific to raid British shipping.
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