June 1st, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The number of illegitimate births in the United Kingdom has risen from 32,000 a year at the beginning of the war to 53,000. They now represent 6.5% of the total and, the trend is still upwards. This was one of the factors discussed at the Convocation of Canterbury which debated present morals.
The bishop of Birmingham, Dr. Barnes, said that a widespread decline in truthfulness has coincided with an increase in theft and a growth in sexual licence. Signs of "degeneration" among large sections of the population included "lower standards of personal hygiene and self-discipline".
The war was disrupting families on a scale unparalleled in our history but, he added: "You cannot expect cleanliness, truth and honesty from people brought up in houses which are damp, verminous and without sanitary decency." The bishop of Rochester, Dr. Chavasse, said: "Decent young women say it is unsafe to go out with 11 or 12 young men, who tend to look upon young women as potential prostitutes."
No. 2 (Light Bomber) Group RAF is detached to the 2nd Tactical Air Force in readiness for D-Day. (22)
HMCS Huntsville (ex HMS Woolvesey Castle) laid down at Troon, Scotland.
BAY OF BISCAY: Britain loses an outstanding actor-director when Leslie Howard is lost presumed dead after the plane he is travelling in disappears over the Bay of Biscay. The British airliner, a Douglas DC-3-194, msn 1590, owned by KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV) but leased to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as G-AGBB, left Lisbon for Eire, and its last radio message was: "Enemy aircraft attacking us." He was shot down by a flight of Ju-88s. (Russ Folsom)
Leslie Howard had been lecturing in Portugal and Spain on his films Pimpernel Smith and The First of the Few. As a result, 900 cinemas there are to show British films. He was 50 and universally popular. After playing Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind he returned to Britain, where he was the definitive Professor Higgins in the film of Pygmalion. His other films include 'Of Human Bondage' and 'The Petrefied Forest')
U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet and Ladoga
Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine
loss. "Sch-406" - by aviation and surface ships
gunfire, close to Porkallan-Kallboda lighthouse.
Baltic Fleet and Ladoga
Flotilla: GB
"KL-12" (ex-"Kalyaev") - by field artillery, close to
Vasilisin Is., on Onega Lake (Sergey Anisimov)(69).
NORTH AFRICA: Churchill speaks to British troops gathered in the dusty heat of the Roman ampitheatre at Carthage.
CHINA: Chinese and American airmen flying B-24s claimed a record 20 Japanese fighters yesterday in a 15-minute dogfight as they bombed Japanese forces at Ichang for the second time in 72 hours. In another raid to halt the Japanese advance in Hunan, 24 US fighters and bombers attacked a supply base at Yochow, on the north-east side of Tungting Lake, destroying a train and killing 200 people.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Runner determined to be missing during June between Midway and Japan-possibly lost to mines. All hands are lost.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands, two P-40s, one B-24 Liberator, and an F-5A Lightning fly weather reconnaissance and photo runs and eight B-25 Mitchells, 18 P-38 Lightnings, and 20 P-40s, fly seven attack missions; targets include parked aircraft and installations, runway, gun positions, radar, and tents on South Head, North Head, Gertrude Cove and Main Camp.
U.S.A.: Half a million miners go on strike in support of a wage claim.
The motion picture "Step Lively" is released in the
U.S. This musical, directed by Tim Whelan, stars Frank Sinatra, George Murphy,
Adolphe Menjou, Gloria DeHaven and Walter Slezak with Dorothy Malone appearing
in a bit part. The plot involves a novelist who sells his story to a Broadway
producer only to learn that it is being presented as a musical comedy. The film
is nominated for one technical Academy Award.
The 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) is first activated at MacDill Field, Tampa, Florida, assigned to the Third Air Force and trained with B-26 Marauders. The four squadrons assigned were the 616th, 617th, 618th and 619th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium).
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The sloop HMS STARLING and an RAF Liberator E/120 each sink a U-boat in separate actions.
U-202 (Type VIIC) Sunk at 0030hrs southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 56.12N, 39.52W, by depth charges and gunfire from the British sloop HMS Starling. 18 dead, 30 survivors.
U-418 (Type VIIC) Sunk in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in postion 47.05N, 08.55W, by rockets from a British Beaufighter aircraft (Sqdn. 236/B). 48 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)