On This Day ... in 1666 & Others
The last day of the Four Days battle saw Prince Rupert's squadron, delayed by contrary winds, finally returning to the fleet, and took over the fight. Led by Rupert's Vice-Admiral, Christopher Myngs,
who was killed during the battle, the fleet stood on against those of de Ruyter's ships still fit to fight. De Ruyter attempted to close for a boarding action, but this gave Prince Rupert the chance to break the line and gain the advantage of the wind Fierce fighting ensued, and Rupert's flagship Royal James suffered severe mast damage.
Fog put an end to the fight, which overall proved a Dutch victory: they lost only four ships over the four days, whilst the English lost four destroyed and six captured. However, the Comte de Guiche, a French observer with the Royal Navy, commended the discipline and firepower of the English ships in unfavourable conditions.
1673: The Second Battle of Schooneveld. De Ruyter attacked the Anglo-French fleet off the Dutch coast. Spragge, commanding the lead allied squadron was at the time in a small boat en route to Prince Rupert's flagship for a conference, and took over two hours to return to his own vessel, delaying the fleet's deployment for action. When it did deploy, it did so in great confusion. However, de Ruyter was unable to take advantage of the situation, and he only had 51 ships against 75. The battle proved indecisive, with no ships lost on either side.
1760: Twenty-two ships carrying New England planters arrived in Nova Scotia to take land forcibly vacated by the Acadians
1792: Capt. George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Great Britain
1812: The US Congress voted for war against Great Britain; the War of 1812 actually began on June 18, when US President James Madison officially proclaimed the US to be at war
1857: At Benares, as the Indian Mutiny spread, Sergeant Majors Rosamund and Gill, with Private Kirk, went out to rescue an officer and his family trapped by rebels in a house some distance from the barracks. All three received the Victoria Cross.
1916: Private Procter of The King's Regiment was on duty in a trench on the Western Front, when he noticed movement on the part of two bodies lying in No Man's Land. Realising that they were still alive, he ventured into No Man's Land under very heavy fire. He managed to pull the two wounded men into some cover, dressed their wounds, and covered them with coats to keep them warm. He then braved the enemy fire to return to the trenches to organise a rescue party, which managed to bring the casualties safely in after dark. Procter received the Victoria Cross.
1917: On the Western Front, 124 Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery was providing invaluable heavy artillery support when a German shell broke the telephone line running back from the front lines. Second Lieutenant Maufe went forward, located the break and repaired it, all the time surrounded by shell blasts from the German barrage. He returned to the battery just as a German shell started a fire in a ammunition dump. Despite the danger of explosion, and the presence of a very large number of British poison gas shells in the dump, Maufe went in alone and extinguished the blaze. He received the Victoria Cross.
1939: The SS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, was turned away from the Florida coast
1940: The evacuation from Dunkirk was completed, Royal Navy destroyers bringing out the last remnants of the rearguard who had held off the Germans whilst Operation Dynamo was under way. In nine days, 338,226 men had been evacuated, including many thousands of French, Belgian and Dutch personnel.
Of the some thousand vessels used, 249 were sunk, and casualties totalled 68,000. The RAF and Fleet Air Arm lost 177 aircraft providing air cover, including 106 fighters, while the Luftwaffe lost 132 aircraft.
Some forty thousand Allied troops, mainly from the French 1st Army, who had been holding the perimeter, were captured. Summing up the situation, Winston Churchill delivered perhaps his most famous speech in the Commons: "We shall go on to the end... we shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."
As the evacuation of France finished, the Allied evacuation of Norway started which saw 24,500 men rescued over the next 4 days.
1941: Kaiser Wilhelm II died in exile in Holland
1942: The first wave of Japanese Naval aircraft (108) flying from Admiral Nagumo's carriers were launched at Midway Island. USAAF and Marine aircraft based on Midway attack the Japanese carriers. After the limited success of the first wave, a second wave attack, on Midway, is ordered.
Meanwhile the US carrier forces off Midway spotted the Japanese carriers. They get their attack underway. The Japanese scouts then found the US carriers.
Nagumo ordered a change in armament for the strike as his first wave of aircraft returned. The appearance of the US carriers is not something that Nagumo had expected and while the Japanese carriers are re-arming their strike, the US attack force found them.
This strike has been somewhat unorganized. The range has forced a separation of the torpedo planes from the dive-bombers. The TBDs arrived first with their torpedoes, at low level. Their attack is ineffective with most planes of the force lost.
The dive-bombers then arrived overhead and attacked. The Japanese fighters have been caught at low level and are ineffective against the dive-bombers. Between 1025 and 1028 hits were made on the carriers Kaga, Akagi and Soryu. These 3 carriers are all fatally damaged and sink soon thereafter. The US attack had caught them with planes in various stages of refueling and rearming. The fumes and armaments contribute to the rapid demise of these ships. Also a factor is the level of Japanese damage control.
The Hiryu launched a strike that hits the USS Yorktown. Despite effective damage control, I-168 launched fatal torpedoes.
The Enterprise and Hornet then launched a further strike, with 4 direct hits, which fatally wounded the Hiryu.
This battle ended and the balance of power had changed hands in the Pacific.
During the days fighting the three American carriers had lost seventy-eight aircraft in action, with nine others out of action and a further twenty trapped aboard the abandoned Yorktown.
In addition, the Midway based squadrons had lost thirty-six planes, with fifteen others out of action. Overall, the battle cost 158 aircraft.
1944: Allied troops under the command of US Lieutenant-General Clark liberated Rome.
As the preparations for D-Day drew to a close, Bomber Command attacked four coastal batteries in France One, at Maisy, was vitally important since it covered the US landing beaches at Omaha and Utah The other three batteries were all in the Pas de Calais region, and were deliberately targeted to mislead the Germans as to where the landings would occur.
Comments
Re your recent posts on Dunkirk. You may find the following stimulating by way of providing a different contextual understanding of why that episode unfolded in the way it did.
-START-
THE NAMELESS WAR by Captain A.H.M. Ramsay
CHAPTER EIGHT - DUNKIRK AND AFTER
Captain Liddell Hart, the eminent military critic, wrote a book on the military events of 1939-45,
which was published in 1948, and entitled The Other Side of the Hill. Chapter 10 - which deals with
the German invasion of France down to and including Dunkirk - bears the somewhat startling title,
"How Hitler beat France and saved Britain." The reading of the chapter itself will astound all
propaganda-blinded people, even more than the title: for the author therein proves that not only did
Hitler save this country; but that this was not the result of some unforeseen factor, or indecision, or
folly, but was of set purpose, based on his long enunciated and faithfully maintained principle.
Having given details of how Hitler peremptorily halted the Panzer Corps on the 22nd May, and
kept them inactive for the vital few days, till, in fact, the British troops had got away from Dunkirk,
Captain Liddell Hart quotes Hitler's telegram to Von Kleist:
"The armoured divisions are to remain at medium artillery range from Dunkirk.
Permission is only granted for reconnaissance and protective movements."
Von Kleist decided to ignore the order, the author tells us. To quote him again:
"Then came a more emphatic order, that I was to withdraw behind the canal. My
tanks were kept halted there for three days."
In the following words the author reports a conversation which took place on May 24th (i.e. two
days later) between Herr Hitler and Marshal Von Runstedt, and two key men of his staff:
"He then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the
necessity for its existence, and of the civilisation that Britain had brought into the
world.... He compared the British Empire with the Catholic Church - saying they
were both essential elements of stability in the world. He said that all he wanted
from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany's position on the continent.
The return of Germany's lost colonies would be desirable, but not essential, and he
would even offer to support Britain with troops, if she should be involved in any
difficulties anywhere. He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with
Britain, on a basis that she would regard compatible with her honour to accept."
Captain Liddell Hart comments on the above as follows:
"If the British Army had been captured at Dunkirk, the British people might have
felt that their honour had suffered a stain, which they must wipe out. By letting it
escape, Hitler hoped to conciliate them."
"This conviction of Hitler's deeper motive," he continues,
"was confirmed by his strangely dilatory attitude over the subsequent plans for the
invasion of England."
"He showed little interest in the plans," Blumentritt said, "and made no effort to
speed up the preparation. That was utterly different to his usual behaviour. Before
the invasion of Poland, of France, and later of Russia, he repeatedly spurred them
on; but on this occasion he sat back."
The author continues:
"Since the account of his conversation at Charleville, and subsequent holding back,
comes from a section of the Generals, who had long distrusted Hitler's policy, that
makes their testimony all the more notable."
And later he goes on to say:-
"Significantly their account of Hitler's thoughts about England at the decisive hour
before Dunkirk, fits in with much that he himself wrote earlier in Mein Kampf; and it
is remarkable how closely he followed his own Bible in other respects.
Anyone who has read Mein Kampf will immediately appreciate the accuracy of the above
statement. It is indeed if anything an understatement. Throughout that remarkable book runs two
main themes, as I have shown in an earlier chapter - the one, a detailed delineation and
denunciation of the Jewish Capitalist-Revolutionary machine; the other, admiration for and
eagerness for friendship with Britain and the Empire.
It is a pity, indeed, that so few persons in this island have read this book for themselves; and it is a
tragedy that they have instead swallowed wholesale, the unscrupulous distortions and untrue
propaganda on the subject, served up to them by Jewish publicity machinery, operating through our
press and radio. Let these people but try and obtain a copy of that book; and when they find they
cannot, let them reflect, that if indeed its contents confirmed the lies that they have been told
concerning it and its author, the powers behind our publicity would ensure that everyone should be
able to secure a copy at the cheapest possible rate.
In any event, I would urge my countrymen to ponder most earnestly the following facts.
The Jew Karl Marx laid it down, that Bolshevism could never really succeed till the British Empire
had been utterly destroyed.
Hitler laid it down, that the British Empire was an essential element of stability in the world; and
even declared himself ready to defend it with troops, if it should be involved in difficulties
anywhere.
By unscrupulous propaganda on an unprecedented scale this country was led into destroying those
who wished to be her friends, and offered their lives to defend her; and exalting those, who
proclaimed that her destruction was a necessary preliminary to the success of their ideology,
forfeiting her Empire and her economic independence in the process.
-END-
Posted by: Paul | June 4, 2008 4:17 PM
Paul
"The Other Side of the Hill" was a good read; I don't think your Capt Ramsey adds anything useful to BLH's prosings. You also neglect to note whether Engels was a good Lutheran, or not. Now scoot off and talk to Ali Hakim.
M. FM- Some one misspelt "Menzies"?
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | June 4, 2009 5:29 AM
Paul,
Your view is one that is often repeated but for the sake of balance, the alternate position is that Hitler ordered his panzers to hold back because their logistics were massively overstretched following their charge across the low countries. The vast majority of the Wehrmacht was still horsedrawn at this point in the war and to have completely outpaced their supply lines would have left them vulnerable to encirclement and defeat.
Even though hte Frogs were on the verge of total collapse, Hitler was still consolidating his victories elsewhere and needed a highly mobile reserve in case things went wrong elsewhere.
That's the great thing about history - it's like tactics: The only way to know who is right is to go out and fight it all over again!
Posted by: john | June 4, 2009 8:31 AM