May 30th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Winston Churchill is determined that the grim news from France, as the battered BEF retreats towards Dunkirk, should not deflect Britain from its absolute opposition to Germany whatever the cost. But he needed the support of the two Labour Party members of his five-man war cabinet to sustain his position.At a secret meeting in the Prime Minister’s room at the House of Commons last night the war cabinet is understood to have debated Italy’s offer to mediate towards a negotiated peace. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, believes that Britain might secure better terms now, before, as seems likely, France is forced to surrender.
Chamberlain, ousted as premier earlier this month, was sympathetic to the Halifax line; Churchill, predictably, was hostile. He turned to the Labour men, for so long his political opponents. Clement Attlee said that if negotiations ever began the morale of the people would suffer a disastrous blow. His deputy, Arthur Greenwood, agreed - and the two-hour meeting ended with Britain still defiantly at war.
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group. Attacks on the perimeter of the troops at Dunkirk, in the Dixemude, Furnes, Ypres, Thourout region, 67 sorties mounted by 6 squadrons.
Destroyer HMS Wheatland laid down.
WESTERN FRONT:
FRANCE:
Operation Dynamo: French destroyer Bourrasque is sunk.
53,820 men are taken off, amongst them Lt-Gen Alan Brooke whose 2 Corps
has played a large part in the successful withdrawal to the Channel.
Montgomery describes an emotional scene: "He
arrived at my headquarters to say goodbye and I saw at once that he was struggling to hold
himself in check, so I took him a little way into
Brooke arrives at Montgomery's headquarters at LaPanne to turn over command of 2 Corps to Monty before returning to the UK to reform the army as it returns from France. As Monty describes the scene the two walked into the sand hills where Brooke broke down and wept on Monty's shoulder. Probably putting on his psychologist hat Monty felt that Brooke's behavior was more than a momentary lapse of self-control. Monty wrote, "When the reserve of the English heart is broken through, most of us like to be alone. And so when Alanbrooke broke down and wept on my shoulder, I knew it meant his friendship was all mine - and I was glad to have it that way." (Far better than Monty breaking down on Brooke's shoulder.) "That scene on the sand-dunes on the Belgian coast is one that will remain with my all my life."
(Hamilton, Monty's biographer, doubts that Brooke's lowering of his impassive mask was the symbol of friendship that Monty took it to mean. In any case, there is no mention of this lowering of the mask in that portion or Brooke's diary that is in Bryant's work.) The scene was witnessed by Brian Horrocks, the commander of the machine gun battalion in Monty's 3rd Division, who had been called to the divisional headquarters to take over a brigade. (Jay Stone)
All the British troops are within the Mardick, Bergues, Colme Canal and Furnes perimeter.
General Alexander’s corps took up positions by the side of the French to defend the perimeter.
ASW trawler HMS St Ahilleus mined and sunk off Dunkirk.
The Wehrmacht High Command announced:-
‘On the afternoon and evening of May 29, strong formations from two air corps under the command of Generals Grauert and von Richtofen, attacked British war and transport vessels in the port and sea territory of Dunkirk and Ostend, as they were trying to evacuate the remains of the British Expeditionary Force.’
F.Y.I., the "General von Richthofen" mentioned here was Wolfram, a cousin of Manfred (the famed "red baron" of WW I). Indeed, Wolfram served under Manfred in Jagdsgeschwader I. Unlike Manfred, Wolfram survived WWI, went on to earn a doctoral degree in engineering and cap his career as a Generalfeldmarschal near the end of WW II.
He developed a brain tumor and was in a coma in a German hospital in Austria when U.S. forces took custody of him at war's end. GFM von Richthofen never regained consciousness and died in hospital. (Peter Kilduff)
GERMANY: U-100 and U-123 commissioned.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: HMS Ark Royal, fully stocked to return to the fight, departs Grennock at 0545, escorted by DDs HMS Acasta, HMS Ardent, and HMS Acheron. Meanwhile, HMS Glorious, escorted by DDs HMS Highlander and HMS Wren, finally enters Scapa at 1515 to refuel. (Mark Horan)
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-216 launched.
ITALY: Rome: Mussolini decides that Italy will enter the war on June 5, and forewarns Hitler.
U.S.A.: Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State, responds to William C. Bullitt, the U.S. Ambassador to France, regarding Bullitt's 28 May request to send the U.S. fleet to the Mediterranean. Hull says, "The presence of the fleet in the Pacific at this time is a very practical contribution to the maintenance of peace in the Pacific."
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Stanhall sunk by U-101 at 48.59N, 05.17W.