Air Operations, Europe

LeO-451 bombers, escorted by Hurricanes, attack bridges in Aubigny area.

Atlantic

• The British steamer Abukir (694t) with a crew of 21 and 210 passengers is sunk after leaving Ostend by German motor torpedo boat S-34. 16 crewmen and 189 passengers are lost. British destroyers pick up the survivors.
• The British personnel ship Queen of the Channel (1162t) with 920 men on board is sunk by German bombing after leaving Dunkirk. There are no casualties. The survivors are picked up by the British steamer Dorrien Rose
• The British minesweeping trawler Thomas Bartlett (290t) sinks on a mine off Calais with the loss of 8 crewmen.
• The French auxiliary minesweeper Marguerite Rose (409t) is sunk by German bombing at Dunkirk.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Swedish steamer Torsten (1206t) is lost in the Kattegat 4 miles south of Vinga on a mine in the minefield laid by the British submarine Seal on the 4th. 16 of her crew are rescued.
• The Norwegian steamer Blammarren (174t) sinks on a mine near Haugesand. This is a result of the minefield laid by the French submarine Rubis on the 27th.
• The British anti-submarine trawler Thuringia (550t) sinks on a mine in the North Sea. There are only 4 survivors.
• The British steamer Carare (6878t) with a crew of 97 and 29 passengers sinks on a mine in the North Sea. 7 crewmen and 3 passengers are lost. The British armed yacht Rhodora and the anti-submarine trawler Cambridgeshire rescue the survivors.
• U-37 sinks the French steamer Brazza (10,387t) and the escorting trawler Julien (177t) 100 miles west of Oporto. 79 crewmen and 300 passengers are lost from the Brazza. 53 crewmen and 144 passenger are picked up by the French gunboat Enseigne Henry and the British armed merchant cruiser Cheshire. The entire crew of the trawler is rescued.

Belgium

Belgian Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot broadcasts from Paris: he declares that Belgians are 'dumbfounded' by King Leopold's capitulation and that, since the King acted against Government advice, 'henceforth he has no power to govern', and the Belgian Cabinet will take over all powers.

Belgian Prime Minister Pierlot

Italy

With the collapse of Belgium Mussolini decides Italy must enter the conflict as soon as possible.

Norway

Narvik is captured by French Foreign Legion forces and Norwegians under the command of French Gen Béthouart.

Headlines

The White Flag

Western Front, Dunkirk

King Leopold agrees to the surrender of the Belgian army without consulting the other Allies or his government. The Belgian Cabinet in Paris repudiates the king's action, but the fact is that the Belgian army no longer exists. The capitulation becomes effective at 1100 hours. Elimination of the Belgians opens a 32-km gap on the left flank of the BEF-French 'pocket' in the Nieuport area between ad hoc British forces (armored cars of the 12th Lancers, 'infantrymen' of Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery) and the German 256th Div. It is only by a desperately hurried redeployment of the British and French forces that the Germans are prevented from reaching Nieuport, and from there the Dunkirk beaches where there are some 350,000 troops waiting to be taken off by sea.

A corps of French 1st Army (6 divs) is holding out in Lille but they have been cut off from the main British and French forces in the evacuation area by 7 German divs. There is fierce fighting around Cassel and Poperinghe where von Rundstedt's men again press forward. The town and the docks of Dunkirk are heavily bombed, while those British craft that are able to leave harbor have to face the fire of German batteries at Calais and submarine attacks from the North Sea. The evacuation continues, with 17,804 men being brought off at a cost of 1 destroyer, the Windsor damaged by bombs, and several other less important vessels including a small steamer sunk by German MTB S-34.[MORE]