RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - aluminium works.

RAF Training Command. Two Blackburn B-2’s lost with four crew in a mid-air collision over the River Humber.

77 Sqn. Eight aircraft to aluminium works Ludwigshaven. Weather filthy. Seven bombed.

102 Sqn. Eight aircraft to aluminium works Ludwigshaven. Two returned early, six bombed.

London: The Allies discuss how to stop the French navy falling to the Germans.

Corvette HMS Geranium commissioned.

FRANCE: 22,000 soldiers who had been holding out in the Vosges mountains, surrender.

11 Leo45s of 6th Bomber Group attack German pontoon bridges between Moirans and Grenoble. Only 4 machines found their target and the attack was unsuccessful. This is the last French bombing raid of the campaign.

Corvette FS Alysse laid down.

GERMANY: The OKW orders Hauptmann v. Menges of the Operationsabteilung of the General Staff to prepare a short study concerning the invasion and conquest of Switzerland. This is done without Hitler's explicit order as a contingency plan. (Russ Folsom)

ITALY: Rome: France faced its final humiliation today when the terms of the armistice with Italy were published. Although Italian troops made little headway against fierce French resistance during the few weeks of campaigning, demilitarised zones are to be established in France, Tunisia and Algeria - with Italian troops remaining on their advanced lines. The French are required to clear the battlefields of mines. France will allow Italy "full and constant right" to the port of Djibouti in Somaliland.

JAPAN: Tokyo: Pu Yi, the puppet emperor of Manchukuo and last emperor of China, arrives on an official visit.

EUROPE: Recruitment of volunteers willing to fight with Germany on the eastern front begins in Spain and Denmark.

GERMANY: Berlin: The German News Bureau announced:

An attempt by the Soviet air force on Tuesday morning to fly weak forces into East Prussia, has been frustrated by the German air defence. The enemy aircraft encountered such accurate flak fire that they were forced to turn around at once and to jettison their bombs over open country.

The German News Office announced:

Since early Monday morning the Luftwaffe has continued its successful attacks on Soviet military airfields. Large numbers of Russian aircraft were destroyed on the first day of battle, and we can now report that a great many more aircraft have been shot down on the same day.

U.S.S.R.: Vilna and Kaunas fall to the Germans on the Eastern Front while another assault is begun on the citidel of Brest Litovsk.

Vilnius and Kaunas had already been liberated by Lithuanian freedom fighters on June 23, a declaration of the restoration of the independence of Lithuania being broadcast over the radio the same day. A national government operated from June 24 to August 5 without German recognition. (Henrik Krog)

Moscow: the Headquarters of the Red Air Force reported concerning the previous days operations:

Our aerial forces have fought successfully to protect our towns and military installations. They have fought in the air and supported the counterattacks of the ground troops. In the course of the day 51 enemy aircraft were destroyed by our fighter planes and ground defenses. One enemy plane was forced to land at an airfield near Minsk.

Moscow is bombed by 100 aircraft this night.

The German embassy staff are taken to Kostroma-on-Volga where they are billeted in a workers' rest home for five days. Before being taken across Russia to Leninakan, near the Armenian-Turkish border, and kept their while the exact procedure for the exchange of exchange of personnel is being worked out by the protecting powers and Turkey, the country of transit. (Greg Kelley, 274, pp. 337 - 338)

Soviet submarine S-3 of the Baltic Fleet is sunk by German MTBs off Steinort or mined near the Uzhava lighthouse. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

NORTH AFRICA: A heavy price has to be paid for the supply of besieged Tobruk by the Royal and Australian Navy ships involved. Sloop HMS Auckland escorting the petrol carrier Pass of Balmaha to Tobruk is overwhelmed by three formations of 16 Ju. 87 and is sunk 20 ENE of Tobruk at 32 15N, 24 30E. There are 162 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

SYRIA: 2/14 Bn attacks hills dominating road north of Jezzine but fail with heavy losses – the Senegalese defenders are well-prepared and courageous and artillery fire misses the mountain-top positions. North of Merdjayoun, Lt A. R. Cutler RAA (later VC) emplaces a field gun forward of 2/Kings Own to shell French posts at point-blank range. 16 Brit Bde is halted on advance from Damascus to Beirut by Jebel Mazar, towering 1600 feet above the road. French observers on the Jebel call in accurate CBF. At Palmyra, the Arab Nationalist leader Fawzi el Kawakji reinforced by French armoured cars captures a British supply convoy and attacks Warwickshire Yeomanry. (Michael Alexander)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 3^rd and 20^th  Pursuit Squadrons shifted to Clark due to flooding at Nichols airfield, 17^th to Iba for gunnery qualification. SS President Pierce arrives with 96 more pilots. (Marc Small)

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt">Roosevelt announces his intention to send aid to the USSR.

The German Charge d'Affaires in Washington sends a note to the U.S. Undersecretary of State regarding the sinking of the U.S. merchant ship SS Robin Moor by a German submarine on 21 May 1941. He writes, "I have the honor to advise you that I do not find myself in a position to pass on...the text of a message to Congress from the President of the United States for the information of my government." The text of the message was the speech that President Roosevelt">Roosevelt delivered to Congress on 20 June 1941.

In baseball, the New York Yankees begin a three game series against the St. Louis Browns in Yankee Stadium, New York City. Joe DiMaggio is hitless until the 8th inning when he singles against Browns pitcher Bob Muncrief thus extending DiMaggio's hitting streak to 36-games. Browns' manager Luke Sewell asks Muncrief why he didn't walk DiMaggio in the eighth to end the streak. Said Muncrief: "That wouldn't have been fair, to him or to me. Hell, he's the greatest ballplayer I've ever seen." The Yankees won the game 9-1.

Minesweeper USS Sheldrake laid down.

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Lancasters of No. 5 Group Bomber Command have returned to base after a remarkable mission which took them to the shores of Lake Constance to bomb the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen on the night of 20-21 June, then to Bilda, in Algeria from whence, after a day's rest, almost all of the original force of 60 went on to attack the Italian naval base at La Spezia on the way home. Eight remained in Algeria awaiting repair.

The specially-picked crews carried out Operation Bellicose perfectly, doing great damage to the Zeppelin works which now build Wurzburg ground-based radars.

Stangely enough, the German fighters did not put in an appearance, despite a brilliant moon. It can only be assumed that they planned to ambush the bombers on their long flight home. But the Lancasters flew on to Bilda without loss.

Among the special tactics developed for the attack on Friedrichshafen is that of "offset" marking, which entails the Pathfinder aircraft putting down their guides at a set distance from the target so that they are not obscured by smoke.

This tactic worked well on the German target, but La Spezia had to be bombed blind as its defenders covered the harbour with a dense smokescreen. "Shuttle" bombing is an interesting development and certainly confuses the enemy's defences, but it is unlikely to be used regularly because of the difficulties of servicing Lancasters in North Africa.

Sloop HMS Redpole commissioned.

ITALY: 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 82nd FG, 95th FS shoots down an Italian Mc.202 over Golfo Aranci, Sardinia. (Stuart Kohn)

NORTH AFRICA: King George VI of Great Britain and Ireland has been touring North Africa for the past 12 days. The tour will end tomorrow. (Glenn Steinberg)

AUSTRALIA: Canberra: The Australian Federal parliament is to be dissolved and a general election will take place in August. The decision to go to the people follows a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives which was defeated by one vote yesterday. Having denounced the government for failing to reach a national agreement, the opposition now faces the task of defeating the government that will stand on its record in a national crisis. Before deciding on the election John Curtin, the prime minister, has said that the defensive phase of the war was over, and that Australia "could be held as a base from which to launch both limited and major offensives."

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 

U-119 (Type XB) is sunk in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, at position 44.59N, 12.24W by ramming and depth charges from the British sloop HMS Starling ( CO was the famous Commander Walker RN). 57 dead (all hands lost).

U-194 (Type IXC/40) is sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland at position 59.00N, 26.18W by a homing torpedo from an American Catalina aircraft (VP-84/G). 54 dead (all crew lost).

Previously it had been recorded that U-194 was sunk south of Iceland, by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 120/H). This attack, however, resulted in the sinking of U-200.

Nearly 750,000 Allied troops have landed in Normandy.

Cotentin Peninsula: After capturing Carentan, American troops have raced across to Barneville to seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, and now the battle has begun for the key port of Cherbourg. Two days ago, after a heavy air bombardment, Major-General J. Lawton Collins launched his VII Corps into an attack on the Germans' outer defences - three ridges to the south of the port. These were soon reduced, the Germans surprising Collins by withdrawing almost at once to the inner forts. Hitler will not countenance the thought of giving up the port.

Destroyer HMS Swift is mined (possibly acoustic) off Ouistreham which breaks her back. She later broke in half and sank. Location: English Channel, Seine Bay, Sword Beach area. (Alex Gordon)(108)

The Canadian-owned, British-registered merchantman FORT NORFOLK (7,131 GRT), struck a mine and sank off of the Normandy beaches in the English Channel. Eight crewmembers were lost in this incident.

Minesweeper FS Magicienne launched.

FINLAND: In Olonets Isthmus the Red Army breaks through the defences of Finnish 15th Brigade this afternoon. The Finnish rear is also threatened by the Soviet invasion at Tuulos. Commander of the VI Corps Maj. Gen. Aarne Blick decides to leave the PSS-line and withdraw past the Tuulos bridgehead. He doesn't inform his superior, commander of the Olonets Group Lt. Gen. Paavo Talvela of his decision, and Gen. Talvela only finds out tomorrow.

In Maaselkä Isthmus the II Corps starts its withdrawal towards the Finnish border after the Soviet breakthrough at Karhumäki. The Red Army follows slowly, sticking to the few roads.

German 122nd Infantry Division arrives Helsinki and Hanko. It's transferred to western shore of the Bay of Viipuri. Commander of the German 122nd Infantry Division just arriving Finland was Generalmajor H. Breusing.

EASTERN FRONT: The strain on the German defenders is already evident on the second day of the Russian offensive.

The Soviet Union answers Finnish peace feelers by demanding unconditional surrender.

ITALY: The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 335 bombers to attack targets in Romania; B-17s attack the railroad bridge at Piatra; B-24s bomb the railroad repair depot at Craiova and oil refinery at Ploesti; 33 P-51s sweep the Ploesti-Bucharest area while other P-51s, P-38s, and P-47s fly 220+ sorties in support of the bombers; the bombers and fighters claim 20+ aircraft shot down; ten US aircraft are downed and several others are missing.

MARIANAS ISLANDS, SAIPAN: The 27th Division has completed clearing the southern part of the island. It is now ordered to join the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions in the fierce fighting in the northern part of the island. Elements of the 27th remain under Corps control.

BONIN ISLANDS: Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Group 58.1, the aircraft carriers USS Hornet (CV-12) and USS Yorktown (CV-10) and light aircraft carriers USS Bataan (CVL-29) and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), attack Japanese airfields, fuel supplies and barracks on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. Over 140 IJN aircraft rise to challenge the attackers but USN F6F Hellcat pilots claim 116 enemy aircraft destroyed; ship AA fire downs others. After sunset, TG 58.1 retires towards Eniwetok Atoll.

Task Group 58.4 (aircraft carriers Cowpens, Essex and Langley) remain off Guam supporting the Allied operations on Saipan. Meanwhile, Task Force 58 is retiring towards Eniwetok Atoll and Task Group 58.1 (aircraft carriers Bataan, Belleau Wood, Hornet and Yorktown) attack Pagan Island in the Mariana Islands as a diversion. From radio intercepts, the US Navy learns that the Japanese are concentrating about 100 aircraft on Iwo Jima and orders are issued for Task Group 58.1 to sail north and attack the Bonin and Volcano Islands.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 33 remaining P-47s are launched from USS MANILA BAY.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Merrittonia (ex HMCS Pointe Claire) commissioned.

LCdr Gordon Wilson Stead RCNR awarded Bar to DSC. Lt Cornelius Burke RCNVR, A/LCdr Digby Rex Bell Cosh RCNVR, LCdr Rein Boulten Wadsworth RCNVR awarded DSC. Lt Thomas Ellis Ladner RCNVR, A/LCdr Charles Anthony Law RCNVR, Lt Frederick John Boyer RCNVR, LCdr Jeffry "Jeff" Vanstone Brock RCNVR, A/LCdr Digby Rex Bell Cosh RCNVR, Lt James William Gladwell RCNVR, A/LCdr John Davis Maitland RCNVR, Lt Herbert Marquis Pickard RCNVR, Lt John Parmeter Robarts RCNVR, Lt Harry Parks Wilson RCNVR awarded Mention-in-Dispatches.

Corvette HMCS Bowmanville (ex HMS Nunney Castle) commissioned. Built by Wm. Pickersgill and Sons Ltd., Sunderland, UK. Corvette, Castle Class, 1,060 tons, 251.75x36.6x10ft, 16kts, crew 7/105, 1-4in, 6-20mm(2xII, 2xI) Squid. Gunshield art, a Naval crown over three maple leaves, over Two bows represent her Canadian heritage, over a castle tower and chevron reflecting her RN Heritage as the former HMS Nunney Castle. Post WW.II, sold mercantile 1947, renamed Ta Shun (Chinese flag) later renamed Yuan Pei, 1949 rearmed and renamed Kuang Chou (China Communist).

U.S.A.: Martha Tilton's record of "I'll Walk Alone" makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The song is from the motion picture "Follow The Boys" starring Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, Orson Welles, Dinah Shore, W.C. Fields, Jeanette MacDonald, The Andrew Sisters and Sophie Tucker. This is her first single to make the charts and it stays there for 24 weeks reaching Number 4.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 62,

1. Carrier aircraft of the fast carrier task force swept Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands on June 23 (West Longitude Date). Sixty or more enemy aircraft of a force which attempted to intercept our fighters were shot down. Twelve of the enemy planes found our carriers and all of these were shot down by our combat air patrols.

We lost four fighters. There was no damage to our surface ships.

2. Pagan Island in the northern Marianas was attacked by carrier aircraft on June 22. The following damage was inflicted on the enemy Four small cargo ships and one sampan, sunk. Two small cargo ships and 12 sampans, damaged. Four enemy aircraft destroyed and two probably destroyed on the ground. A flight consisting of one twin-engine bomber and five Zero fighters Intercepted some distance from our carrier force was shot down.

A wharf and fuel dumps at Pagan were destroyed and buildings and runways were damaged.

We lost one Hellcat fighter and one pilot.

3. United States Marines and Army troops are pushing ahead on Saipan Island and have made new gains along the northern shore of Magicienne Bay. Booby traps and land mines are being extensively employed by the enemy. Two enemy aircraft detected in the Saipan area were shot down by carrier aircraft of the fighter screen on June 21.

Coastal guns on Tinian Island have intermittently shelled our ships at anchor of Saipan, but have done little damage. On June 23 the airfields on Tinian Island were heavily bombed and shelled.

4. The airstrip and buildings at Rota Island were attacked by carrier aircraft on June 22. A medium cargo ship at Rota was sunk by an aerial torpedo. Our planes received no damage.

5. Shimushu Island in the Kuriles was attacked by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn on June 23. In the Central Pacific, Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft continued neutralization raids on June 23 against enemy positions in the Marshall and Caroline Islands. (Denis Peck)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A TBM Avenger of Composite Squadron Sixty Nine (VC-69) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9), sinks the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-52 in the Atlantic, 800 miles (1,287 km) southwest of the Azores.

HMCS HAIDA (G63), Cdr. Harry George DE WOLF, DSO, RCN, CO, and HMS ESKIMO (G75), both Tribal-class destroyers, with a Czechoslovakian ‘Liberator’ 'O'patrol aircraft from Czech 311 Squadron, sank U-971, OLtzS. Walter ZEPLIEN, CO, in the English Channel north of Brest, in position 49-01N 05-35W. There was only one casualty from U-971’s crew of 53 men.
U-971 was a medium-range Type VIIC submarine built by Blohm and Voss, at Hamburg. She was commissioned on 01 Apr 43. U-971 was on her first operational patrol when she was lost and had not sunk or damaged any ships. U-971 had been attacked several times by patrol aircraft and had already suffered heavy damage while she was enroute from Bergen to the English Channel, where she was to operate against the invasion fleet. OLtzS. Zeplien had decided to abandon the patrol and head to Brest for repairs when a Czech ‘Liberator’ aircraft attacked them again. HAIDA and ESKIMO were summoned by the patrol aircraft and they carried out a series of depth charge attacks. U-971 had exhausted her batteries and the water was knee–deep in the control room when the decision to emergency surface and scuttle the boat was taken. However, before the final order was given, the commander first ordered that the last of the boat’s beer be issued. Eventually, U-971 burst to the surface between HAIDA and ESKIMO who immediately opened an intense fire upon her. The crew abandoned the boat in good order suffering only one casualty. The destroyers recovered the survivors.
Walter Zeplien was born in 1918, at Greifswald. He joined the navy in 1937. His first recorded service is as the commander of the 7th R-boat flotilla (coastal mine countermeasures craft) from Jan 41 to Jul 42. He transferred to the U-boat force in Jul 42 and, after conversion training, was assigned in Dec 42 as the First Watch Officer in the successful Type VIIC boat U-575, KptLt. Günther Heydemann, Knight’s Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, CO (nine ships sunk). He was selected for command and after his U-boat commander’s course was assigned to commission U-971 on 01 Apr 43, at the age of 24. After U-971 was sunk, OLtzS. became a prisoner of war. There is no record of how long he was detained after the war or of his release date. (Dave Shirlaw and Alex Gordon)

U-1225 (Type IXC/40) is sunk northwest of Bergen, at position 63.00N, 00.50W, by depth charges from a Canadian Canso (Catalina) aircraft (RCAF-Sqdn 162/P). 56 dead (all crew lost). U-1225 is commanded by OLtzS. Ernst Sauerberg. -1225 was a long-range Type IXC/40 submarine built by Deutsche Werft AG, at Hamburg. She was commissioned on 10 Nov 43. U-1225 was on her first patrol at the time of her loss and had not sunk or damaged any ships. OLtzS. Sauerberg was her only commanding officer. F/Lt. D.E. Hornell, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his conduct during the attack and afterwards while awaiting rescue in the dinghy, which did not occur until the afternoon of the next day. Three of the eight aircrew died of exposure. Although approximately thirty members of the U-1225’s crew were also seen in the water after the attack, they all died of exposure and drowning.
Ernst Sauerberg was born in 1914, at Heide, in Holstein. He joined the navy in 1934 and transferred to the U-boat force in Jul 41. After conversion training he was assigned for a time to the 26th U-Flotilla. In Feb 42, he was assigned at the Second Watch Officer in the successful Type IXC boat U-515, OLtzS. Werner Henke, Knight’s Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, CO, (25 ships sunk). He was promoted to Oberleutnant on 01 Dec 42 and was selected for command. He underwent his U-boat commander’s course from Jul to Aug 43. Sauerberg was assigned to commission U-1225 on 10 Nov 43, at the age of 29. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Swastika standard of the 1st SS Panzer Adolf Hitler Division - once Hitler's personal bodyguard - was thrown to the ground before Lenin's tomb in Red Square today. The Soviet leaders watched from the top of the tomb as 200 captured flags were carried into the rain-soaked square by soldiers who threw them down to the rumble of hundreds of drums. Marshal Georgi Zhukov led the parade, riding a white horse, the traditional Russian mount for a conquering hero. Speaking later to the huge crowd, Zhukov said that the Red Army was the most powerful in the world, but Russia must not become "conceited or complacent."

JAPAN: U.S. Twentieth Air Force Mission 221: During the night of 23/24 June, 26 B-29s mine the Japanese harbors of Fukuoka, Karatsu, Sakai, and Niigata; one B-29 is lost.

Mining operations by Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers of the U.S. Navy's Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Eighteen (VPB-118), based at Yonton Airfield, Okinawa, continue in waters off Korea.

RYUKYU ISLANDS: IE SHIMA: VII Fighter Command, United States' Seventh Air Force bases the 507th Fighter Group flying P-47Ns on this island.

BONIN ISLANDS: IWO JIMA: Two Bettys (Mitsubishi G4M Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) cause small damage before being destroyed by the islands' defences.

BORNEO: British and US aircraft drop a thousand tons of bombs on Japanese positions.

CANADA: Lt Cornelius Burke RCNVR awarded Bar to DSC. Lt Charles Roger PARKER RCNVR awarded DSC.

HMC ML 102 paid off.

1949:     USS Crowninshield (DD-134), commissioned as HMS Chelsea (I-35), as part of the destroyers-for-bases deal on 9 Sep. 1940. Chelsea had been transferred to Russia as Dzerki in 1944. She returns to the Royal Navy today. (Ron Babuka)