UNITED KINGDOM: The war has dramatically changed the lives of children as well as adults on the home front. After the turmoil and tears of evacuation - often more than once, as the threat of aerial bombardment came and went - a major problem has been how to keep an education system alive.
Hundreds of schools have been hit by bombs, forcing children to have lessons in churches or even pubs. Many private schools have been moved lock, stock and blackboard to the country. But after the first wave of evacuation many school buildings which escaped unscathed were used as Civil Defence depots. By January 1940 it was estimated that one third of all city children were receiving no schooling at all. Large numbers of evacuees also swamped village schools, so many were taught in people's homes
There has also been a desperate shortage of teachers, as many were called up for war duties. Classes have therefore become quite large, often with as many as 50 or 60 children in a single classroom. And when the children can get to school, what they learn is also affected by the war. Pencils are shared and margins have been abolished because of the paper shortage. Geography is taught by following troop movements and gardening has replaced games in many schools, where it is taught as part of the "dig for victory" campaign.
General de Gaulle’s French government-in-exile sets up Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française.
Light cruiser HMS Tiger laid down. Corvette HMS Acanthus commissioned.
GERMANY: U-234, U-340, U-469, U-731 laid down. U-177, U-597 launched.
POLAND: In the Archdiocese of Posen, 74 Catholic priests have been shot or have died in the concentration camps, and 451 are being held in prisons or camps. Of the 441 churches in this diocese only 30 are still open for Poles.
U.S.S.R.: Petrozavodsk falls to Finnish forces as they attack west of Lake Onega.
The German Panzergruppe 2 under General Heinz Guderian scores a clean breakthrough of the Soviet lines around Bryansk, driving 50 miles (80 kilometers) closer to Orel. The Soviet 13th Army is nearly surrounded After driving east toward Kharkov and paving the way for the infantry units, the Panzergruppe 1 turns south toward Rostov.
Early in morning, troops of Battlegroup Paalu (formed from 1st Division) and Detachment Lagus enter Petrozavodsk in eastern Karelia. It's the largest population center outside the pre-1939 borders conquered by Finnish Army. The city is renamed Äänislinna.
In the ravaged city the Finnish troops find, to their immense delight, the liquor distillery's tank intact and full. An AT-rifle is used to make hole in the tank, and soon the soldiers are boozing happily. As night is falling, streets are filled with drunken soldiers singing loudly and firing their weapons in air. One group takes over the city sports stadium and organises an armed guard to ensure that nobody disturbs their peace. Several detachments of military police are needed to clean up the mess.
Odessa: German forces use gliders to land behind Russian lines.
Vilna: 3,000 Jews are rounded up and shot dead in Ponary woods.
Moscow: An Anglo-American mission, led by Lord Beaverbrook to has agreed to boost military aid to Stalin next year. The USA will allocate 1,200 tanks a month to Britain and the USSR between July 1942 and January 1943, and a further 2,000 tanks a month for the following six months. This will mean initial US consignments of 400 tanks a month for the Soviets from 1 July.
In addition the USA will send 3,600 aircraft to Russia between 1 July 1942 and 1 July 1943, over and above the planes already being sent by Britain. The Soviets will supply Britain and the USA with urgently needed raw materials.
This conference between Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union concludes. W. Averell Harriman, the U.S. representative to the conference, writes, "The delegates to the conference were sent here in order to examine the question of the needs of the Soviet Union, which is fighting against the Axis powers, for supplies which the United States and Great Britain must deliver. The conference, which has taken place under the chairmanship of Mr. Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, carried on its work since Monday without interruption. The conference examined the question of the resources of the Soviet Government in connection with the production possibilities of the United States and Great Britain. The conference decided to place at the disposal of the Soviet Government practically everything which was requested by the Soviet military and civil authorities. The Soviet Government is supplying Great Britain and the United States with large quantities of raw materials which are urgently needed by those countries. The question of transport possibilities has been examined in detail, and plans have been worked out for increasing the flow of freight in all directions."
CHINA: Changsha: Japanese troops were today on the run in Hunan after the collapse of their two-month-long offensive aimed at seizing the provincial capital, Changsha. First estimates put the Japanese losses for the campaign as high as 40,000.
The failure to take this vital town on the Manchuria-Canton railway is a setback for the Japanese. Control of Changsha would have made possible the opening of a new route for moving troops and materials to the Malayan and Burmese fronts.
The turning-point came four days ago as the Japanese main force, supported by 100 planes, launched an all-out attack on Changsha. By late afternoon a Japanese detachment in civilian clothes had got inside the city. But its backup, an airborne unit which it should have linked up with to destroy the cities defences, was dropped too far close to the Chinese front line and wiped out.
The Chinese troops, under General Hsueh Yueh, encircled the retreating Japanese between the Lao-tao and Liu-yang rivers, inflicting heavy casualties. A simultaneous offensive was launched in Yichang, tying down the only Japanese force available to relieve the fleeing 11th Corps.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: MacArthur "> MacArthur vehemently protests Rainbow-5 to War Department. (Marc Small)
AUSTRALIA: There are now 113,887 soldiers on full-time duty in Australia; 61,396 are Militia and 36,357 are Australian Imperial Force.
The NEW ZEALAND Division of the Royal Navy becomes the Royal New Zealand Navy and all ships' names prefixed by HMNZS instead of HMS. The ships effected included the cruisers HMS ACHILLES and LEANDER. (Peter Beeston)
U.S.A.: US Navy Secretary Knox speaks on behalf of Freedom of the Seas.The USN assigns popular names to their aircraft, e.g., Catalina, Devastator, Dauntless, etc.
The 122d Observation Squadron, Louisiana National Guard based New Orleans, is inducted into Federal Service.
Submarine USS Haddo laid down.
Escort carrier USS Bogue laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-552 was attacked by a Hudson aircraft which dropped one bomb and damaged the U-boat slightly.