June 1941

[June 1], 1941 (Sunday)

• The Battle of Crete ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the Axis.
• The light cruiser HMS Calcutta was sunk by the Luftwaffe off Alexandria, Egypt.
• In the power vacuum in Baghdad following the collapse of the Rashid Ali regime, two days of violence known as the Farhud broke out against the local Jewish population.
• Clothes rationing began in the United Kingdom.
• 110 German aircraft bombed Manchester.
• Catholic journals in Nazi Germany no longer receive printing paper.
• Born: Alexander V. Zakharov, astronomer, in Moscow, USSR
• Died: Hans Berger, 68, German psychiatrist ; Jenny Dolly, 48, American dancer and actress, one-half of The Dolly Sisters identical twin performers; Hugh Walpole, 57, English novelist

  [June 2], 1941 (Monday)

• Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass once again. During the five-hour conference Hitler ranted about Rudolf Hess and other recent events, but kept Mussolini in the dark about the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. However, major Italian troop movements in the Balkans around this time suggest that the Italian government was likely aware of Hitler's intentions anyway. Mussolini reportedly told Count Ciano after the meeting, "I wouldn't be at all sorry if Germany in her war with Russia got her feathers plucked."
• Manchester Blitz: German bombers attacked Manchester and neighbouring Salford, killing 70 and severely injuring 86.
• German submarine U-147 was sunk off Ireland by depth charges from British warships.
• The Massacre of Kondomari and the first Alikianos executions were carried by German paratroopers in reprisal for the active participation of Cretan civilians during the Battle of Crete.
• The British cargo ship Michael E was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by the German submarine U-108.
• 79-year old Chief Justice of the United States Charles Evans Hughes informed President Roosevelt that he was retiring effective July 1.
• Born: Stacy Keach, actor, in Savannah, Georgia; Charlie Watts, drummer for The Rolling Stones, in Kingsbury, London, England
• Died: Lou Gehrig, 37, American baseball player

  [June 3], 1941 (Tuesday)

• Razing of Kandanos: German occupying forces in Crete completely destroyed the village of Kandanos in retaliation for the resistance of the local population during the Battle of Crete.
• The Finnish High Command granted the German General Staff permission to use northern Finland as a staging area for the planned attack on the Soviet Union.
• Hitler received Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Ōshima at the Berghof and informed him of the plan to attack the Soviet Union.
• 48-year-old Mrs. Simon Olson of Moorhead, Minnesota, drowned in Avalanche Creek in Glacier National Park, Montana, after falling in while posing for a photograph on a log beside the creek.

  [June 4], 1941 (Wednesday)

• British forces seized control of Mosul and set up a pro-British government.
• The Luftwaffe bombed Alexandria.
• British intelligence intercepted Ambassador Ōshima's coded message which included considerable details of Germany's plan to attack the USSR. However, due to a lack of either translators or interest, the report was not delivered to the Joint Intelligence Committee for eight days.
• The British ocean liner Zealandic struck a sunken wreck off Cromer while trying to evade a Luftwaffe attack and ran aground. Zealandic was then torpedoed by German E-boats before she could be salvaged.
• Died: Morris Michael Edelstein, 53, Polish-born American Congressional Representative; Wilhelm II, 82, Emperor of Germany from 1888 to 1918

  [June 5], 1941 (Thursday)

• About 4,000 Chinese residents who hid in a tunnel during the Bombing of Chongqing died of asphyxiation.
• United States landed 4,000 marines in Iceland to replace the British garrison.
• Vichy French planes bombed the Transjordanian capital of Amman.
• From Alexandria the Greek Prime Minister-in-exile Emmanouil Tsouderos made a broadcast to the people of occupied Greece. "Unite as one man more closely than ever around our national symbols, around our flag and our heroic King," Tsouderos said. "Keep your heads high as men who have been victorious. Do not trust the enemy; and have confidence in the final victory. Help each one of you, with every means at your disposal in order that we may achieve the final victory. Help our country to overcome the present misfortunes until the glorious day of liberation of a Greece great and new."
• An explosion of stored ammunition at Smederevo Fortress in Yugoslavia killed about 2,500 people.
• Sandor Szabo won the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship over Bronko Nagurski in St. Louis by disqualification.
• German submarine U-573 was commissioned.
• Born: Martha Argerich, Argentinian-born Swiss pianist, in Buenos Aires; Spalding Gray, actor and writer, in Providence, Rhode Island

  [June 6], 1941 (Friday)

• President Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing the requisitioning of all foreign merchant ships idling in American ports. He then issued an executive order authorizing the Maritime Commission to operate or dispose of the ships in the interest of national defense. 84 vessels were affected by the order.
• German troops arrived in Finland.
• Commissar Order: Hitler ordered that commissars of the Red Army captured in battle or in resistance were "to be disposed of by gunshot immediately."
• President Roosevelt said during a press conference that many Americans were being duped by German propaganda into believing that Britain was on the verge of collapse and would soon be suing for peace.
• The 1941 Birthday Honours of King George VI were published.
• Died: Louis Chevrolet, 62, Swiss-born American race car driver and co-founder of the Chevrolet automobile company

  [June 7], 1941 (Saturday)

• Japan diplomatically recognized the Independent State of Croatia.
• Operation Josephine B ended in Allied success when a sabotage team blew up an electrical transformer station in Pessac.
• Soviet Armaments Commissar Boris Vannikov was arrested.
• Whirlaway won the Belmont Stakes and completed the U.S. Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
• Craig Wood won the U.S. Open.
• German submarines U-85, U-207 and U-332 were commissioned.
• "My Sister and I" by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard singles charts.
• Born: Tony Ray-Jones, photographer, in Wells, Somerset, England

  [June 8], 1941 (Sunday)

• The Syria–Lebanon Campaign began with the Allied invasion of Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon.
• The British cargo ship Kingston Hill was torpedoed and sunk southwest of Cape Verde by the German submarine U-38.
• Born: Robert Bradford, minister and politician, in Limavady, Northern Ireland ; Fuzzy Haskins, R&B and funk musician, in Elkins, West Virginia

  [June 9], 1941 (Monday)

• The Battle of the Litani River was fought in French Lebanon, resulting in Allied victory.
• President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8773, authorizing the Secretary of War to take over the striking North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California. The president explained in a statement that the work stoppage could not be allowed to continue because it had created a situation that was "seriously detrimental to the defense of the United States."
• Luftwaffe units began deploying near the Soviet border.
• Hitler issued Directive No. 31, German Military Organisation in the Balkans.
• The funeral of ex-kaiser Wilhelm II was held in Doorn. Although Hitler had wanted a state funeral in Berlin with himself in a prominent role, Wilhelm's family insisted on respecting instructions he'd given in 1933 that he was to be buried in Doorn if Germany was not a monarchy at the time of his death. However, a delegation of Nazi officials led by Arthur Seyss-Inquart was allowed to attend as well as a Wehrmacht guard of honour, and Wilhelm's wishes that Nazi regalia not be displayed at his funeral were ignored.
• Born: Jon Lord, composer and rock keyboardist for Deep Purple, in Leicester, England

  [June 10], 1941 (Tuesday)

• Vichy Vice-Premier François Darlan made a speech to the French people warning of those who were "trying to darken the nation's understanding." Darlan said that "de Gaullist and Communist propaganda" both had "the same goal - to create disorder in the country, to increase the misery of the population, to prevent the rebirth of the nation ... Frenchmen, beware and help the government in its heavy, very heavy task. This task of the government is triple: to ameliorate the French people's situation, to prepare for peace in that measure a conquered nation can, and to prepare France's future in a new Europe."
• On the first anniversary of Italy's entry into the war, Mussolini said in a speech to the Grand Council of Fascism that the United States was already in a de facto state of war with the Axis, but that "America's attitude does not bother us excessively ... American intervention would merely lengthen the war and would not save England."
• The British troops of 3rd battalion of 15th Punjab Regiment captured Assab in Ethiopia from Italian garrison by surprise.
• Born: Mickey Jones, musician and actor, in Houston, Texas ; James A. Paul, writer and executive, in New York City; Jürgen Prochnow, actor, in Berlin, Germany

  [June 11], 1941 (Wednesday)

• The Royal Air Force bombed the Ruhr and Rhineland for the first of 20 consecutive nights.
• The United States sent a note to Portugal reserving the right to act in self-defense should the Azores and Cape Verde Islands be threatened by belligerent powers.
• German submarine U-130 was commissioned.