Air Operations, Europe

Italian aircraft raid targets in southern France and Corsica.

Baltic States

Kaunas and Vilna, Lithuania are occupied by Soviet troops on the pretext of anti-Soviet activity by the Lithuanians.

Soviet Troops Marching into Lithuania

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-A torpedoes the British armed merchant cruiser Andania (13,950t) northwest of Ireland. The Icelandic trawler Skallagrimur rescues the entire crew of 347 men before she sinks.
• U-38 sinks the Norwegian tanker Italia (9973t) and the Danish steamer Erik Boye (2238t) from convoy HX-48 about 60 miles west of the Scilly Isles. 19 crewmen from the Italia are lost. 16 survivors are picket up by the British sloop Fowey. All 22 of the crew of the Erik Boye are rescued by the Fowey.

Diplomatic Relations

Roosevelt replies to Paul Reynaud's message of June 13 to the effect that the United States will continue to give France and Britain all possible material help and moral support, but will not make any direct military commitment.

United States, Politics

Another Navy bill passes into law. This provides for a much-expanded air corps, with 10,000 planes and 16,000 more aircrew.

Western Front

Strasbourg and Verdun are taken in the converging German advance on the Maginot defenses. The German 7th Army of Army Group C crosses the Rhine opposite Colmar. The French Army GHQ moves south from Briare, on the Loire, to Vichy. Reynaud decides to sue for peace, but he is opposed by Gen Weygand, who until now has supported an armistice.

On the Channel coast evacuations begin from Cherbourg. In the next 3 days 30,630 British and Canadian troops are taken off without loss.[MORE]

British and French soldiers leave Cherbourg, France, on British ships bound for Southampton, England. After the successful evacuation at Dunkirk, the British rescued an additional 220,000 Allied troops that had been stranded in France. On June 10, Operation Cycle picked up evacuees at Le Havre. Beginning on June 15 at Cherbourg, in Operation Ariel, Allies spirited soldiers away from Saint-Malo, Brest, Saint-Nazaire, and other ports all the way down the French coast to the border with Spain. When the evacuations were complete on June 25, a total of 558,000 Allied troops had escaped the German invasion.

Allies Evacuate 220,000 from Cherbourg, France