June 18th, 1940 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil plants - industrial works - marshalling yards - communications.
10 Sqn. Four aircraft to Soest marshalling yards. All bombed.
51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to oil plant Frankfurt. All bombed.
58 Sqn. Five aircraft to Dusseldorf. All bombed. Five aircraft to Castrop-Rauxel. Four bombed, one FTR.
77 Sqn. Seven aircraft to oil plants at Hanover and Sterkrade. All bombed.
102 Sqn. Seven aircraft to oil plants Sterkrade and Bottrop. Five bombed, one FTR.
London: General Charles de Gaulle, little known even in France outside military circles until he became under-secretary for national defence in the last days of the Reynaud government, has flown to England and broadcast this appeal:
"Speaking in full knowledge of the facts," he said, "I ask you to believe me when I say that the cause of France is not lost." He called on French officers and men, including civilians, to get in touch with him. "Whatever happens," declared the general, "the flames of French resistance must not and shall not die."
Churchill broadcasts that the Battle of France is over and the Battle of Britain is about to begin. "Let us bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for 1,000 years, men will say, "This was their finest hour." and ends with "Our professional advisers of the three services unitedly advise that we should continue the war and that there are good and reasonable hope of final victory."
Destroyer HMS Southwold laid down.
Submarine HMS P-33 laid down.
Corvette HMS Erica launched.
Corvette HMS Camellia commissioned.
FRANCE: The 7th Panzer Division takes Cherbourg. The 5th Panzer Division reaches Brest.
Rennes: General Altmayer and HQ 10 French Army surrender. Thus ending any hope of a "Brittany Stronghold".
Gunboat FS Vauquois sunk off Brest by magnetic mine.
GERMANY: Munich: In the Führerhaus, where Neville Chamberlain">Chamberlain signed away Czechoslovakia two years ago, Mussolini">Mussolini and Hitler met today to discuss the armistice terms to be imposed on France. Mussolini">Mussolini has been surprised at the German insistence on moderate terms for the defeated enemy.
The Fuhrer’s aim is to encourage the French to break with the English and to discourage them from continuing the war in North Africa. Petain and the peace lobby must be encouraged, Hitler said. So Mussolini">Mussolini has been told he will not be allowed to seize huge areas of southern France.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet occupation is completed in the Baltics. For the Soviet intrusion into the German sphere of influence, Stalin compensated Germany with a payment of 7.5 million gold dollars.
BULGARIA: Bulgaria demands Dobruja and outlet to Aegean Sea.
SPAIN: U-43 refuelled from the German supply ship Bessel in Vigo.
PACIFIC OCEAN: SS Niagara (13,415 GRT) Canadian Pacific Steamships Line passenger liner sunk when she struck a German mine laid by the disguised merchant raider ORION, in the Hauraki Gulf off, New Zealand, in position 35.53S, 174.53E. She was carrying a secret cargo of gold bullion to purchase military supplies. The gold was recovered a year later after a dangerous diving operation. There was no loss of life in this incident.
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Algoma and Rosthern laid down Port Arthur, Ontario.
French cruiser Emile Bertin arrives in Halifax with $305 million in gold from the Bank of France; gold released after the war.
U.S.A.: The U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull directs the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to France to advise the French government that if the French fleet falls into German hands, France would "permanently lose the friendship and goodwill of the Government of the U.S." The French reiterate their statement that the French fleet "would not be surrendered to the Germans."
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1200, the Sarmatia was stopped by a shot across her bow by U-28 and the crew immediately abandoned ship. The U-boat had missed with one torpedo at 1100 and then surfaced to stop the ship. She sank vertical by the stern three minutes after being hit in the engine room by a coup de grâce at 1210. The Germans questioned the survivors and gave them cigarettes, a bottle of rum and the course for land before leaving the area. The survivors were picked up by the Spanish trawlers Felix and Pastor Montenegro and landed at Vigo on 21 June.
U-32 stopped the two Spanish trawlers Sálvora and Faro-Ons because they were outside of the allowed area of fishing and sank both by gunfire after the crew abandoned ship. Two lifeboats picked up 19 fishermen from both ships from Altair, which had been sunk by the same U-boat a few hours before. All survivors were later rescued by two other Spanish trawlers and taken to Pasages, Spain arriving there on 21 June.