World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Monday July 15, 1940
Day 319

July 15, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Pocket Submarine is Lost"
(The Admiralty announcing that HMS Shark is presumed lost. The boat had been attacked by German aircraft on July 6th, with more attacks on July 7th. The sub was captured and taken in tow by several German minesweepers, but sank en route to port. Only one man, Petty Officer James S. Gibson, from the crew was lost.
Also note the report in column 2: "Palestine Is Bombed: Raid On Haifa Area"
(This was the first air raid on the "Holy Land" during the war.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "Destroyer Sunk: Two Lives Lost"
(HMS Escort was sunk by the Italian submarine Guglielmo Marconi, under the command of Capitano di corvetta Giulio Chialaberto. The two men lost were: Stoker 1st Class James Dunsmore and Stoker Petty Officer Hector J. MacKenzie.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline and report in columns 7-8: "Britain To Receive Axis Ultimatum - Predict Order To Surrender Or Be Destroyed"
(So says Virginio Gayda, an Italian Fascist journalist and editor of Il Giornale d'Italia in Rome. He was a propagandist for Benito Mussolini. He was killed in an Allied air raid on Mar. 14, 1944.)
Also note the report in columns 5-6: "Italy Reports Sea Successes"
(It was true that a destroyer, HMS Escort, had been sunk [see the Press and Journal above] it was not true that two submarines had been sunk. Only one had been sunk, HMS Shark, [see the Manchester Evening News above] however the Italians had nothing to do with the sinking.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 5: "Mother Who Took LIves Of Her 6 Children Dies"
(The death of Louise Nicosia, who murdered her six children using gas from her oven, died the day after the funeral for the children.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the photo and report in column 3: "World's Tallest Man Dies - Robert Wadlow Was Normal Size at Birth; Won World Fame as Tallest in History"
[The report is concluded below.]
(According to Wikipedia, Wadlow was 8 feet 11.1 inches tall when he died at the age of 22. He is still considered the tallest human being known to have lived.)
 
Also note the report in column 1: "Robert Wadlow Funeral Rites Likely Friday"
Page 3 from the Alton Evening Telegraph.
 
Robert Pershing Wadlow seen with his father Harold Franklin Wadlow.


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tennessee.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at bottom right: "Boys Believed Drowned, Just Caught Pantless"
(Two young boys, 10-year-old Billy Carden and 11-year-old James Smith, decided to go skinny dipping, as young boys will do in the hot summertime, in a pond. In the evening they thought they saw someone, so they ran home in the buff. When they came back to collect their clothing, they found that an ambulance had been called and the pond was being dragged for their bodies. It seems a neighbor found the clothes, but no boys in the water. So, they called for help. My question is, how did they explain coming home totally nude to their parents?)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at bottom left: "Cuba's Strong Man, Col. Fulgencio Batista, Gains Big Lead Over Grau San Martin In President's Race"
(Batista would be elected and Cuba would not be rid of him until 1959 when Fidel Castro deposed him. He died in exile in Spain on Aug. 6, 1973.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 2: "Japan Expels 6 Americans"
(All six were in one way or another connected with publishing newspapers or periodicals.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Tag für tag Bomben auf England.
(Day after day bombs fall on England.)
2. Die feindlichen Inseln im Mittelmeer.
(The enemy island in the Mediterranean.)
[Photo of British battleships at the Grand Harbour, Malta.]


July 15, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Drei siegreiche Luftkämpfe über dem Kanal.
(Three victorious dogfights over the Channel.)



   
Page published July 15, 2021