World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Saturday July 6, 1940
Day 310

July 6, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
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Note the headline: "British Sink French Warship After Mediterranean Battle"
(The report, which comes from the Germans, claims that the French destroyer Frondeur was in action with HM cruisers. I can find no information of a battle between any British warships and this destroyer. Frondeur was sunk on Nov. 8, 1942 by the U.S. Navy warships off Casablanca, Morocco. I can only assume that this report was German propaganda designed to stoke the flames between the French and British after what had happened at Mers-el-Kebir. The other ship mentioned, Rigault de Genouilly, A French patrol boat, was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine HMS Pandora on July 4th.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
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Note the report in column 3: "Nazis Outraged The Sinking Of The Arandora Star"
(The Germans outraged that the British would transport internees in a ship which could be sunk by a U-boat. Not that a U-boat would torpedo an unarmed passenger ship, which, presumably, would be carrying hundreds of people, who would probably die. Sadly this would not be the only instance of fratricide [a.k.a. friendly fire] in World War II. There were many examples on all sides of submarines, aircraft and warships sinking vessels of their own nation or vessels carrying prisoners of their own nation.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Note the report in column3: "Attacks On 5 U-boats"
(While the Royal Air Force may have believed they sank five U-boats, in fact, none were sunk within the time frame given by the report. Only one U-boat was lost in the whole of June 1940, and it is still unknown exactly what caused the loss of this boat. Two U-boats were sunk on July 1st and the RAAF was involved in the sinking of one of them. However, for the rest of the month of July, no more U-boats would be lost to enemy action or any other cause.)
Also note the report in column 4: "U.S.A. Will Take 15,000 Sea 'Vacs"
(And they will all be sent by ship and exposed to the threat of German U-boats, just like the German and Italian internees in the Arandora Star.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
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Note the headline: "Invasion Of Britain Due In 10 Days"
(This headline may have been written on the strength of a report from July 4th.)
 
Also note the report in column 3: "New Threat Spurs Search For Bomber"
(A phone threat made to the British Pavilion at the New York World's Fair. A bomb had been planted their a few days before, when it detonated, two New York detective were killed.)
[See "New York Radicals Rounded Up In Bomb Investigation" in the Biddeford Daily Journal of July 5, 1940.]
 
Also note the report in column 2-3: "Strange Noises"
(An unemployed electrician in Melrose Park, Illinois crushed his wife's head with a hammer and slashed her throat, shot his 7-year-old son to death and then shot himself. A 19-year-old son and two daughters were spared.)
Also note the report in column 3: "Boy, 19, Kills His Brother And Sister"
(The 19-year-old had killed before. In 1937 he killed another brother with an axe, he was out on parole for that crime when he committed this crime. This time he chose a hammer as his murder weapon. This and the report above are more examples of hammer violence, which seemed to be quite pervasive at the time.)
Also note the report in column 2: "Friends Abet Youth's Suicide"
(Maybe the headline should have been, "With Friends Like This...")


July 6, 1940: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline and report in column 8: "Baton Rouge Bombing Plot Is Foiled"
(Another bomb plot that has been forgotten by history.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of the Syracuse Herald-Journal, Syracuse, New York.
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July 6, 1940: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
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Note the report in column 2: "Gandhi Calls for Freedom for India"


July 6, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
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1. Der Führer wieder in Berlin.
(The Führer back in Berlin.)
2. Mehrtägiger Deutschland-Besuch des Grafen Ciano.
(Multi day visit to Germany by Count Ciano.)
3. Der siegreiche Feldherr kehrt zurück.
(The victorious General returns.)


July 6, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Das Ende der "Entente Cordiale"
(The end of he "Entende Cordiale.")
2. Frankreich bricht diplomatische Beziehungen zu England ab.
(France breaks diplomatic relations with England.)
3. Die Antwort auf das Verbrechen von Oran.
(The answer to the Oran crime.)



   
Page published July 6, 2021