RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road/rail communications in France.
10 Sqn. Five aircraft. One returned early, four bombed.
51 Sqn. Five aircraft, all bombed.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Laon. All bombed.
77 Sqn. Eight aircraft, all bombed.
102 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Charleville/Dormans. Nine bombed.

Corvette HMS Burdock laid down.

FRANCE: Paris: 7 pm. "The German Army are inside the gates of Paris!" These were the dramatic words with which the US ambassador to France, William Bullitt, announced to another US diplomat in Tours that the French capital was on the verge of falling to Hitler’s armies.

All day the Germans have been closing in on the great city. To the west spearheads of motorised and Panzer columns have crossed the Seine at various points between Paris and Rouen. North of the capital, at least 12 divisions have begun a fierce attack along the river Oise. To the east, Panzer divisions have crossed the Marne and are in Meaux.

By the evening von Kleist’s Panzers have reached Romilly on the Seine and Guderian has reached Saint-Dizier on the Marne.

French forces retreat to the River Loire. The British decide to evacuate their remaining troops from France.

On June 2nd Brooke had been ordered to return to France and form another B.E.F. He began reforming his corps headquarters On June 11th he was summoned to Buckingham Palace by the King and awarded the K.C.B. for his services in France. Today Brooke lands at Cherbourg. Chaos reigned and things went from bad to worse - much worse. He leaves for Le Mans, met with the senior British officers there, and learned that there were 100,000 men from the original B.E.F. Lines of Communications troops along with much equipment and supplies in western France. He instructed their commander to keep evacuating these soldiers to Britain. He also learned the situation with respect to 51st and 52nd Divisions. He then left for Weygand's headquarters, another 170 miles over refugee crowded roads. He arrived at 8 :00 PM and was told that it was too late to see Weygand, that he would have to wait until the morning. In his diary that evening he wrote that he could see no hope of the French holding out any longer than a few days. (Jay Stone)

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan): 

"Black" Thursday - The attack on Trondheim:
At precisely 0002, but still in bright daylight at position 64.58N, 04.38E, the first Skua of 803 rolled down the flight deck and lumbered into the air. Rapidly forming into their sections, they orbited the carrier briefly looking for the promised Blenheim escort (six aircraft), then took their departure towards Trondheim, climbing slowly but steadily towards 11,000 feet.

The Force was still in sight when the expected fighters, somewhat amazingly, arrived over Ark Royal. The Blenheim crews sighted the departing aircraft but, unfamiliar with carrier operations, were unsure if, in fact, those were the aircraft they were supposed to escort.

Unable to converse by radio with the Fleet Air Arm aircraft Ark she carried (different radios and frequencies you know), they finally set out for Trondheim on their own, well behind the strike planes, for all intents out of the battle.

Meanwhile, the seven Beauforts of 22 Squadron's diversionary bombing force intending to hit Vaernes airfield at the same time the Skuas attacked, at 0200, ran into the same rough weather Ark had been fighting hours earlier, which broke up the formation and caused three to abort. The remaining four hit the airfield at 0150, strung up a hornet's nest of angry enemy fighters that were unable to catch the fleet Beauforts, but were no circling over the field wondering what might be up. This was, of course, exactly the opposite of the intended goal of the Coastal Command effort, and would have tragic consequences for the lumbering Skuas, now only minutes away.

At 0123 the striking force made landfall at the North of Halten light at 11,000 feet. Continuing inland for 10 minutes, the force then turned South, circling around to attack from the Southeast. As they approached they descended to 10,000 feet, then the two formations strung out into line ahead formation and began the high-speed run into the target area. Flak was intense throughout, but the real problems were the Luftwaffe fighters which hastened over from the Vaenes area and hit them several miles from the push over point. Several of the Skuas never reached the push over point. Those that did did so in a rush, pursued by Bf-109s, Bf-110s, Ju88 C-2s and angry flak bursts. On pull out, the scattered Skuas had a hard choice to make. Stay low and hope to remain hidden in the backdrop of the Norwegian landscape, but without any altitude to fight or, if worst came to worst, to jump, or to climb for altitude, giving themselves some fighting altitude, and hope to join up with the others.

With only a single exception, those that chose the later option did not return. Highlighted against the light sky, the Luftwaffe fighters picked them off one at a time. In the end, only seven of the Skuas, five from 803 and two from 800 made it back to the ship. While the strike group was out, the ship flew two further fighter patrols. With the eight missing Skuas were sixteen experienced aviators:

803 Squadron losses: [1 KiA, 1 DoW, 6 PoW]

7A:L???? Lieutenant-Commander John Casson, RN, Lieutenant Peter Evelyn Fanshawe, RN [PoWs]

7F:L2963 Lieutenant Cecil Howard Filmer MiD, RN, Midshipman(A) Thomas Anthony McKee DSC, RN [PoWs]

7L:L2992 Sub-Lieutenant(A) John Anthony Harris, RNVR [KiA], Naval Airman first class Stuart Rex Douglas Stevenson, RN [DoW as PoW]

7Q:L2955 Acting Sub-Lieutenant Richard Edward Bartlett, RN, Naval Airman L. G. Richards, RN [PoWs]

800 Squadron losses: [4 KiA, 4 PoW]

6A:L2995 Acting Major Richard Thomas Partridge DSO, MiD, RM [PoW], Lieutenant(A) Robert Southey Bostock MiD, RN [KiA]

6F:L3000 Lieutenant George Edward Desmond Finch-Noyes, RN, Petty Officer Airman Howard Gresley Cunningham DSM, MiD, RN [PoWs]

6G:L3028 Midshipman(A) Leonard Henry Gallagher, RN, Petty Officer Airman Wallace Crawford, RN [KiAs]

6H:L3047 Midshipman(A) Derek Thomas Revington Martin, RN [PoW], Leading Airman William James Tremeer, RN [KiA]

 The effect on the ship, particularly the Air Staff that had planned the misson, was staggering, the more so as all recalled Casson's prediction to the Admiral. While ten of those lost on the mission ultimately survived as prisoners of war, the total losses amounted to an entire squadron, effectively reducing the Fleet Air Arm's two premiere squadrons to cadre status pending future reorganization.

Throughout the morning the ship maintained an active fighter patrol with the stay at homes until the ship re-entered the weather front, at which point she elected to just keep Swordfish up ahead of the force to prevent another Glorious disaster. On exiting the front, an extensive search flown at 1930 clearing the forward 140 degree arc to 110 miles.

Thereafter, until the ship entered Scapa at 1600 on the 14th, air operations were limited to Air defence Area patrols.

Operation "Alphabet", and the subsequent attack on Trondheim, had seen Ark Royal's five squadrons (including the visiting 701 Squadron Walrus amphibians) fly 375 sorties, including 193 by the two Skua Squadrons. While actual combats had been limited, the group had executed its prime mission, covering the withdrawing troop transports, flawlessly. The ship would have little time to to dwell on the losses of the 13th however. Three days prior, the Italians had declared war on the Allies (soon to be just Britain). Within three days HMS Ark Royal, her squadrons refreshed, would leave Scapa Flow for the far away Mediterranean and a very different war.

While the last Royal Navy carrier had now called it quits as far as Norway was concerned, those tantalizing Germans battleships had not played their last card in the duel with the Fleet Air Arm.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: RN: HMS Odin (submarine) in the Gulf of Taranto is lost to the guns and torpedoes of Italian destroyer 'Strale'

Submarine HMS Grampus laid a minefield off Augusta, Sicily. She had left Malta on the 10th and sunk on the 16th.

ADEN: The first air-to-air kill of the East Africa campaign occurs when an Italian SM-81 is shot down by a Gladiator of 94 Squadron during an attack.

KENYA: In the early morning three CA-133s attack the airfield at Wajir. Braving heavy anti-aircraft fire, the Italians pressed their attack and according to British records damaged two Hawker Audaxes and destroyed 5,000 gallons of fuel. (Mike Yared)(284)

U.S.A.: Washington: Congress votes to give $1,800 million to the army and signs a 1.3 Billion Naval construction bill.
The first shipment of arms, requested in the Churchill-Roosevelt telegrams, leaves the US on SS Eastern Princess. These have been sold to a steel company and then to the British.

Rear Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. becomes Commander Aircraft Battle Force and is given the temporary rank of Vice Admiral.

The motion picture "Our Town" is released in the U.S. Based on Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, this drama, directed by Sam Wood, stars William Holden, Martha Scott (her film debut), Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Stu Erwin. The plot involves various family in a New Hampshire town in the early 20th Century. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress (Scott).

Battleship USS North Carolina launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The armed merchant cruiser HMS Scotstoun is en route from the Clyde to her Northern Patrol area between Ireland and Iceland when she is torpedoed and sunk at 57 00N, 09 57W by U-25. (Alex Gordon)(108)