On this day.....

[Max Williams]

I suggest we start a thread that could be considered as a sticky entitled "On this day....." It ocurred to me that every day is an anniversary of some event from WW2 history and it might prove interesting to record the fact. Many of these historical events also resulted in loss of life, in many cases extensive, so it would also do well to take time and reflect.
I'll start the ball rolling with today's date....27th May 2006.
Today is the 65th anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck in the Atlantic Ocean, 27th May 1941.
It is also the 64th anniversary of the attack on Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, 27th May 1942.
Max.

[wright61]

27th May 1940
Allies take Narvik
Admiralty gives go ahead for operation Dynamo.

27th May 1941
Wavell agrees to evacuate Crete
Rommel retakes the Halfaya pass

27th May 1942
Reinhard Heydrich fatally wounded in an assasination attempt.

27th May 1943

Winston Churchill visits North Africa

27th May 1944
Americans land on Biak Island.

[Luftman129]

May 27th 1940
Courtrai battle still ongoing.

British front in Belgium still strong.

French retreated from Valenciennes after heavy attack.

Belgians advance toward Menin.

British troops attacked German motorized troops heading toward Calais in Aire.

Germans attacked the French east of the Aisne.

Night of 26-27, Royal Air Force bombers bomb enemy airports at Flushing, Antwerp, Brussels, and other areas.

Germans bombed American hospital in Ostend;all said to be killed.

Curfew instituted in British territories of Gibraltar and Malta.

Thanks,
Chris

[wright61]

28th May 1940

The steamer Mona's Isle is the first ship to arrive at Dunkirk and evacuate troops even though she comes under fire from coastal battteries which inflict heavy casualties on board.

28th May 1941
Britsh troops and the Heraklion garrison are evacuated by sea but vessels come under attack and several are sunk.

28th May 1942

Task force 16 of the US fleet sails from Oahu with the carriers Enterprise and Hornet,followed later on by task force 16 led by Yorktown.


28th May 1944

Us troops continue their advance on Biak heading for Mokmar airport,where they meet stiff resistance and take heavy losses.

[Jon G.]

A retro-active entry for May 27th for yesterday since there was no 1945 event listed:

May 27th 1945

Chinese troops occupy Nanning, thereby cutting off Japanese troops in Indochina from overland communications with China.

May 28th 1945

William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw Haw, is captured in Flensburg by British troops.

End of the convoy system in the Atlantic, Arctic and Indian oceans.

More than 100 Japanese planes shot down near Okinawa in Japan's last major air effort there.

[Max Williams]

Superb information. Keep it coming.
Max.

[Luftman129]

May 28th 1940

Belgian Army surrendered to Germans by orders of King Leopold.

Mr. Pierlot announced that the Belgian head of state's decision was unconstitutional and the Council of Ministers would take over his authority and place all services at the Allies' service.

Royal Air Force continue to do utmost to relieve pressure by bombing behind German lines and on military targets in Germany itself.

All 3 branchs of the British air service attacked German positions on French and Belgian coasts.

The Air Ministry announced on Monday that Royal Air Force fighters had the most success since the invasion of the Low Countries with 79 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed or damaged.

British forces captured Narvik, Fagernes, and Forsneset.

The Admiralty stated that H.M. trawlers 'Melbourne' and 'Cape Passaro' were sunk by enemy bombing.

Thanks,
Chris

[JonS]

http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/fox ... e/wardiary

[wright61]

29th May 1940

The destroyers HMSS Wakeful, Grafton and Grenade are lost on the the Dunkirk run.

29th May 1944
US bombers attack German synthetic fuel works and oil refineries at Polits

[Max Williams]

29 May 1942.
Himmler speaks on the telephone with Kurt Daluege in Prague regarding the situation in the Protectorate. He is also informed by Professor Karl Gebhardt that Heydrich has developed a fever of 39 degrees. In the evening Himmler makes a personal call to Lina Heydrich.

[Jon G.]

May 29th 1945

Admiral Ozawa takes command of the Combined Fleet after admiral Toyoda.

B-29s firebomb Yokohama.

[Benoit Douville]

This is really an excellent idea:

-May 29th 1940: In the West, the German 6.Armee occupies Lille, Ypres and Ostend. Off the beaches at Dunkirk, the British Navy loses 5 destroyers and 15 other vessels to Luftwaffe Stuka attacks.

-May 29th 1941: While evacuating British troops from Crete, the British destroyers Imperial and Hereward are sunk by the Luftwaffe.

-May 29th 1943: The RAF launches a major raid (719 bombers) against Wuppertal, dropping 1,900 tons of bombs and killing 2,450 civilians.

-May 29th 1944: In the Atlantic, the US escort carrier Block Island is sunk by U-549. Using its maximum range, the US 8th Air Force attacks aircraft production plants at Marienburg and Posen in eastern Germany.


Wright61,

Did you mean the oil rafineries at Ploesti in Romania? or something alse? What is your source?

Regards

[Luftman129]

May 29th 1940

Allied armies fight fierce rearguard action on the banks of the Yser in northern France while manouvreing towards the coast.

Allied naval forces strongly defending port of Dunkirk with air support.

Besides capturing Lille, Ostend, and Ypres, the Germans captured other Belgian hamlets.

It was announced that another British Army has joined the French on the Somme defense line in the south.

Allied air forces continued to attack enemy columns and concentrations en masse.

Thanks,
Chris

[Jon G.]

Seems that I have found my 1945 niche...

May 30th 1945

French planes bomb Damascus in a retributive raid against the rebellion which broke out on the 28th.

US Marines reach the SE part of Naha, capital of Okinawa.

[wright61]

30th May 1942

First 1000 bomber raid, the target Cologne.

The japanese have sent four submarines to patrol the waters outside Pearl Harbour to delay US intervention at Midway ,but the ships have already left.

30th May 1944
In Italy units of the 8th army take Arce