FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: The French Government announced in a communiqué:

The British Fleet has bombed our coastal positions in the Middle East. We have evacuated several of our bases in the mountains of southern Lebanon under cover of artillery fire which inflicted heavy losses on our assailants. Out aerial forces, supported by naval aircraft, repeatedly intervened in the ground fighting, especially around Palmyra (Syria). A British colonel and 40 men were captured.

FINLAND: This day sees the first fighting in Karelia. Col. Pajari's 18. Div. is given the assignment to recapture Enso, an industrial town that was just barely left on the Soviet side of the border after the peace-making of the Winter War in 1940.

The Karelian Army (Karjalan Armeija) is formed to operate in northern Karelia.

ROMANIA: Jassy: Local police and militiamen kill 260 Jews in their homes, rounding up 5,000 for deportation in sealed cattle trucks.

U.S.S.R.: Stalin, recovering from the shock of being attacked by his former ally, has put himself at the head of a committee of defence in which the whole power of the state will be concentrated to fight the Nazis. The Red Army, too, is recovering from its initial unpreparedness and its well-armoured, fast T34 tank has given the Germans a nasty surprise. What has really surprised the Germans, however, is the resistance being put up by the ordinary Russian soldiers fighting in the defence of their homeland.

The new Committee of Defence, takes complete control of the country.

The German forces commanded by Hoth and Guderian complete the encirclement near Minsk. The pocket captured includes Gorodische.

EASTERN FRONT: The fortress of Brest-Litovsk falls after a week long seige when it is bombed by Squadrons of Ju88s. Guderian's Panzer Group links up near Minsk with the Panzers of General Hermann Hoth, creating a huge Soviet pocket.

SYRIA: At Palmyra, French Foreign Legion defenders drive Wiltshire Yeomanry from ridge overlooking the town. Next day it is partly recaptured by 1/Essex. On the coast, Brig Stevens' policy of holding the main forces of 21 Aust Bde back from the Damour Valley limits the casualties inflicted by French artillery. He maintains pressure on the defenders by vigorous patrolling.  (Michael Alexander)

LEBANON: In an effort to kill Gen Dentz, four Blenheims bomb the residency in Beirut. (Michael Alexander)

Beirut: The French Havas News Agency reported:

This afternoon British aircraft bombed and destroyed the residence of the French High Commissioner in Beirut. There were large numbers of dead and wounded.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Destroyer HMS Waterhen is attacked by an Italian Ju 87 aircraft  in the Mediterranean 100 miles east of Tobruk. She is brought to a standstill; so much of her equipment is taken off in readiness for a tow. However, as flooding had spread from the engine room through to the boiler room it became impossible to effect the tow, and she rolled over and sank. (Alex Gordon and Mike Yaklich)(108)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Another U-boat has been sunk by the escort of convoy HX-133, which has been harried by German submarines for most of the past week. The "wolfpack", originally consisted of ten U-boats, has sunk five ships of the convoy despite a strong destroyer escort including the Canadian destroyer "Ottawa". The pack struck first on 23 June, sinking one merchantman. Four more ships have been lost since, although the Canadians with their Asdic equipment and depth charges have so far replied by sinking three U-boats. Today, destroyers Scimitar and Malcolm, corvettes Arabis and Violet and minesweeper Speedwell sink U-651 (Type VIIC) with depth charges south of Iceland at 59.52N, 18.36W. All 45 U-boat crew survive. The escort had been reinforced to a total of 13 ships as a result of 'Ultra' intercepts. This is the first of the big convoy battles and leads to the development of additional support groups.

U-69 departed Las Palmas de Gran Canaria harbour in the early hours of the morning having secretly refuelled from the interned German supply ship Charlotte Schliemann.

At 0051, U-103 hit a steamer of 6600 tons with its last torpedo in the engine room that sank by the stern after 21 minutes about 450 miles west of Las Palmas. The ship had been spotted at 1642 the day before and was missed by a stern torpedo at 2328. After the sinking, Schütze questioned some survivors but he did not believe them when they told him that they were from the Italian steamer Ernani en route from Las Palmas to Horta, because the course of the ship did not correspond with the mentioned route. In fact, the U-boat had sunk the Italian blockade-runner Ernani, disguised as the Dutch steam merchant Enggano. Schütze was not blamed for his mistake because he was not informed about the presence of an own vessel in the area.

At 1936, the Rio Azul in Convoy SL-78 was hit near the bridge by one stern torpedo from U-123 about 200 miles SE of the Azores. Hardegen assumed that the ship was a Q-ship but this was not the case. She broke in two and sank in a short time. The master, 31 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. Six crewmembers and three gunners were picked up by HMS Esperance Bay and landed at Scapa Flow, Orkneys.

At 1958, the unescorted Hekla was torpedoed by U-564 and sank within two minutes. Seven men survived the sinking and spent 10 days on a life raft before they were picked up by HMS Candytuft that was being employed as a scout before a westbound convoy. One man died the next night onboard the corvette. The surviving 6 men were taken to St John's, Newfoundland. One of the men spent over 6 months in a hospital before going back to Iceland.

At 0030, U-651 attacked the convoy HX-133 south of Iceland and sank the Grayburn. Later that day, the U-boat was sunk by the escort vessels from this convoy. The master John William Sygrove and 16 survivors from the Grayburn were picked up by corvette HMS Violet and transferred to the British rescue ship Zaafaran. Later they were transferred to the British armed trawler HMS Northern Wave and landed at Gourock. Another survivor was rescued by corvette HMS Arabis and landed at Londonderry. 27 crewmembers and 8 gunners were lost.