Air Operations, Europe

21 LeO-451 bombers attack the German spearheads at Chaulnes, west of St Quentin, and engage Me-109s and Me-110s. 11 of the bombers are lost.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The armed merchant cruiser Carinthia (20,300 t) is sunk by U-46 west of Ireland.

  SS Carinthia

• The British steamer Harcalo (5081t) sinks on a mine near Goodwin Knoll Buoy with the loss of 3 crewmen.
• The British trawler Lapwing (217t) sinks on a mine in a defensive minefield in the North Sea. The entire crew is rescued.

China

In Hupeh province Japanese troops take Chingmen.

Diplomatic Relations

Sir Stafford Cripps is appointed the British Ambassador in Moscow, a post vacant since January.

Western Front

The French line in the 10th Army sector along the lower Somme between Amiens and the coast is broken by the attacks of Gen Hermann Hoth's XV Panzer Corps after a vigorous struggle. Rommel's 7th Pzr Div makes the largest gains advancing another 32 km. The French 7th Army Between Amiens and Peronne puts up a resolute resistance to von Kleist's XIV and XVI Pzr Corps.

Further east, infantry of the German 9th Army succeed in breaking through the lines of the French 6th Army, but are driven back before Chemin-des-Dames; but the French are forced to withdraw to the south bank of the Aisne. Guderian's Pzr Group (made up of 2 Pzr Corps, the XXXIX and XLI) advances southeast towards Chàlons and Langres, to reach the flank of the Maginot Line and the French armies facing east, the 3rd, 5th and 8th.[MORE]