The ‘British Air Ministry’ announced:

‘During June 1 the RAF supported the retreat operations of the British Expeditionary Force, by attacking bridges, canals, troop columns and rail junctions. Forty German aircraft have been shot down in the Dunkirk area. Thirteen British planes are missing. For the past week our coastal wings have carried on uninterrupted patrol flights to secure the evacuation of Allied troops. Large numbers of German aircraft were shot down in the numerous aerial combats fought during supervision of the transport ships on their journey to England.

London: Lieutenant General Alan Brooke is summoned to the War Office by the C.I.G.S., Sir John Dill who tells him that he is to return to the Cherbourg peninsula in France in order to form a new B.E.F. and so support the French Army. After a long discussion with Dill he is told that Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for War, wants to speak with him. Eden is very charming and expresses sympathy for all the difficulties that lay ahead of Brooke. He finishes by asking Brooke if he is satisfied that he is being sent on a mission that has no chance of military success and every chance for disaster. If there was a political element in the mission, such as keeping France in the war, that is not for him to judge. He is told that when he arrives in France he will take command of all British forces there. (W. Jay Stone) 

FRANCE: Dunkirk: A further 26,256 men are taken off. The last of the British 2 Corps. Leaving 60,000 Frenchmen defending the perimeter. During the night another 20,000 British and French are taken off.

Sergeant Leonard Howard left Dunkirk yesterday. He describes the hours he lay waiting to be rescued: "I lay in the sand, in the dunes at Dunkirk, and I slept because I was really completely exhausted. And the next morning I went into the water in the hope of getting a boat, being picked up. And there was no hope. They tried to organise queues but it was very difficult; there was a great deal of panic. I saw British troops shoot British troops ... a small boat came in, and they piled aboard it to such a degree that it was in danger of capsizing. And the chap in charge of this boat decided that unless he took some action ... and he shot a hanger-on. I saw chaps run into the water screaming because mentally it had got too much for them."

Yesterday morning, Howard and another man found a canoe in which they paddled out towards the rescue boats. "As the rope from this ship finally hit the canoe, it literally sank the canoe and we held onto the rope and were pulled onto the ship."

Hitler visits a number of locations around Ypres and Vimy where his regiment, the 16. Bavarian Reserve Inf. Rgt. (List), had fought during the Great War.

The itinerary for the day of the visit to the Vimy memorial is described:

Sunday, June 2. Having been woken at 7:30am, and taken breakfast at eight, the party left the chateau half an hour later. They crossed the urban area of Lille to reach Pont-a-Marck where Hitler had a brief meeting with Generaloberst Günther von Kluge commanding 4.Armee. They then drove on to Avelin where they conferred with General der Infanterie Adolf Strauss, the commander of II.Armeekorps. Motoring via Ceclin, Carvin and Lens, the party arrived at Vimy where they visited the Canadian Memorial Park. At the base of the twin pillars of the memorial, General der Infanterie Hermann Hoth of the V.Armeekorps had set up maps detailing the crossing of the Meuse river at Dinant and the tank battle near Cambrai. Hitler then said to Generalmajor Erwin Rommel, the commander of the 7.Panzer Division: "Rommel, we were very worried about you during the attack." Behind the audience, covered with wooden shuttering put up by the French to protect it from being damaged in the fighting, stood the figure of  "Canada in Mourning."

(p.10 - After the Battle No.117, "Hitler on the Western Front")

The ATB article also relates that before leaving the Canadian Memorial Park, Hitler stopped to walk over the part of the old front line which had been preserved just as it had been left in 1918, complete with trenches and craters. (Russell Folsom)

VICHY FRANCE: The government grants the use of Bizerta port facilities in Tunis to the Axis.

ITALY/AUSTRIA: Brenner Pass: The Führer called Mussolini">Mussolini to a summit meeting at the Brenner Pass today, supposedly to review the war situation. For two hours the two dictators were alone, and Hitler did most of the talking, dropping hints about German plans for action "if the shipping losses do not suffice" to knock Britain out of the war. At the end Mussolini">Mussolini departed for Rome no wiser than when he had arrived. Not so the Japanese ambassador in Berlin, Hiroshi Oshima who was given the same "hint hint" treatment by Hitler. Oshima told his foreign ministry in Tokyo that Hitler was about to attack Russia.

GREECE: CRETE: The Wehrmacht High Command announced:-

The battle for Crete is over. The whole island has been freed from the enemy. Yesterday German troops occupied the last base of the beaten British, the port of Sfakion, capturing 3,000 more prisoners in the process.

The German Luftwaffe effectively supported these final mopping-up actions. In the sea territory between Crete and Alexandria, German bombers demolished a British destroyer with three direct hits as it was travelling with a naval formation.

CYPRUS: Nicosia:

Under a top-secret order from Winston Churchill, Cyprus is being prepared for long-term guerrilla warfare. After a string of disasters in the Middle East, few believe that the island could hold out for more than a few weeks against the kind of assault that took Crete.

Engineers are building a series of "hides " in the Troodos mountains - filling them with weapons, ammunition and medical supplies - to acts as "mini-bases" for clandestine British hill fighters. Churchill believes that several German divisions could be pinned down by a "ghost army" should Cyprus be invaded.
 

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Grunert asks the US War Department to call up Philippine Army and to dedicate $52 million in the Sugar Excise Fund to Philippine defence.  This was rejected. (Marc Small)

CANADA:

U.S.A.: USS Long Island, Aircraft Escort Vessel Number 1 (AVG-1), the first escort aircraft carrier, is commissioned at Newport News, Virginia. Long Island was a flush-deck escort aircraft carrier converted from the cargo ship SS Mormacmail in 67 working days. She was redesignated Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier Number 1 (ACV-1) on 20 August 1942 and Escort Aircraft Carrier Number 1 (CVE-1) on 15 July 1943. During WWII, she served as an aircraft transport hauling airplanes to the Pacific and as a training ship for new pilots.

The new vessel begins operating out of Norfolk, Virginia, conducting experiments to prove the feasibility of aircraft operations from converted cargo ships. The data gathered by USS Long Island greatly improved the combat readiness of later "baby flattops." USS Long Island will see action August 19, 1942. US Marine SBD Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers and Grumman F-4F3 Wildcat fighters will launch from her deck headed for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. They become the first aircraft of the "Cactus Air Force"

Baseball superstar Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or "Lou Gehrig's disease," in New York City at age 37. Gehrig, the son of German immigrants, was signed by the New York Yankees and played in the minor leagues in 1923 and 1924; he was brought up to the Yankees at the end of both seasons and played in 23-games. In 1925, he became the regular first baseman, replacing Wally Pipp, and held the position until 1939 when he retired due to his illness. At the time of his death, he held the record for the number of consecutive games played, 2,130; this record held for 59-years until Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it in 1998. "The Iron Horse," as he was known, had a lifetime batting average of .340 with 493 home runs; he batted over .300 every season between 1926 and 1937. He also appeared in 34 World Series games batting .361 and hitting ten home runs. Gehrig was admitted to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1939.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The escorts Wanderer and Periwinkle sink U-147 northwest of Ireland during a convoy attack.

First escort of a convoy by the NEF (Newfoundland Escort Force) undertaken when HMCS Chambly, Collingwood and Orillia joined the 57-ship Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX129. The convoy, which left Halifax on 27 May, was the first to have continuous close escort all the way across the Atlantic. It arrived safely in Liverpool on 12 Jun 41.

U.S.S.R.: German forces renew the bombing and launch an artillery barrage to weaken the defences of Sevastopol.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-652 (Type VIIC) badly damaged by depth charges from a British Swordfish aircraft and scuttled on 2 June, 1942 in the Mediterranean in the Gulf of Solum, at position 31.55N, 25.113E, by torpedoes from U-81.

They killed one British soldier and wounded four others before they themselves were killed. The crew's documents were recovered and these included details of their mission in the harbour. The wreckage of their midget submarine was located some time later by a British air reconnaissance aircraft.

The crew of the miniature submarine from I-16 also failed to return from their mission and a search party on the beach outside the harbour found the body of another Japanese in Naval uniform the day after the attack. Their miniature submarine and the second crewmember were never found and the Japanese Navy will post both miniature submarines as missing tomorrow. (Denis Peck)

PACIFIC OCEAN: US Carrier Task Forces meet north-east of Midway Island.

Task Force 17 (TF-17) under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and Task Force 16 under Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, rendezvous about 350-miles (648 km) northeast of Midway Island. The joint force, under tactical command of Admiral Fletcher, is composed of three aircraft carriers, seven heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 16 destroyers and two oilers. Supporting are 25 submarines deployed around Midway.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA:

Japanese Admiral Kakuta's light carriers prepare to aid Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands as part of the deception for the Midway Operation.

U.S.A.: Washington: Chinese Foreign Minister Soong and US Secretary of State Hull sign Lend-Lease Agreement.

Jazz/swing trumpeter Bunny Berigan dies in New York City from the effects of alcoholism. He was 33-years-old. Born in 1908, he began playing professionally in 1921 and continued playing in Wisconsin throughout the 1920s. He played briefly in New York and Philadelphia in 1926 and returned to New York again in 1929 where he joined Hal Kemp's band in the spring of 1930 and went to Europe with the Kemp Band. Returning to New York, he freelanced and did extensive studio work with various bands. In 1932, he worked in the Dorsey Brothers' Band for the Broadway show "Everybody Welcome" and then joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from late 1932 to late 1933. Until 1937, he did studio work and worked with various bands, e.g., the Dorseys, Benny Goodman, Red Norvo, Ray Noble, etc. In the spring of 1937, he formed his own big band and he led it until going bankrupt in the spring of 1940. Between March and August 1940, he played with Tommy Dorsey's Band and then formed his own small band for residency at the 47 Club in New York until forming another big band in 1941; this latter band recorded part of the soundtrack for the RKO film "Syncopation" but Berigan was so drunk most of the time that someone else had to complete the soundtrack. Berigan returned to New York City with his band until hospitalized with pneumonia in April 1942. He left the hospital on 8 May and continued playing until 30 May when he suffered a severe hemorrhage and died at New York Polyclinic Hospital. His best-known records, are "I Can't Get Started;" "King Porter Stomp " with Benny Goodman; and "Marie," "Who" and "Song of India," recorded with Tommy Dorsey. (Thanks to Matt Clark for providing the above mini bio.)

UNITED KINGDOM: Soham, Cambridgeshire: Driver Benjamin Gimbert (1903-76) and Fireman James William Nightall (b.1922), LNER, were moving a burning, bomb-laden wagon to a safe spot when it exploded, destroying the station and damaging 600 buildings. Nightall was killed and a signalman later died, but Gimbert, amazingly, survived. (George Crosses)

The French Committee of National Liberation changes its name to: The Provisional Government of the French Republic.

FRANCE: Rocket-armed Hawker Typhoon's of Nos. 198 and 609 Squadrons RAF blast radar installations at Dieppe/Caudecote. (22)

The Western Front
Friday, 2 June, 1944

It is another lovely day in France.  There is a slight, cool
breeze in the air.  Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, '
commander, Army Group B, at the express request of
the Fuehrer himself, puts out a directive granting the
fortress commanders along the French coast greater
powers of authority regarding the defence of their
assigned areas.

Again, no real signs of Allied activity regarding any landing
operations are reported.

That afternoon,  Rommel, some staff members, and a
few local hunters go on a "battue"* with the Marquis de
Choisy. They trample around in his woods for a few hours,
scaring up only a few squirrels.  The hunt though, does give
them some splendid views of the placid Seine River valley
on that nice day, so the afternoon time is not completely
wasted-- except of course, by the scene far off in the
distance of the enemy bombing bridge crossings.

-------

Today, Alfred Jodl, Operations Chief, OKW,  talks to Hitler
about the upcoming invasion. His staff has been checking
moon phases, with an eye towards the port of Cherbourg.  
Hitler is told that a favorable time period between the 5th
and the 13th of June exists.

-----------

Late afternoon.  General Marcks, commanding officer of the
LXXXIV Corps,  is standing on a long, sandy bluff overlooking
the English Channel.  Leaning on his good leg, he gazes out
over the water, lost in thought.

His gut feeling that has served him so well in the past now
tells him that Rommel is wrong about the Somme Estuary
being the target for the invasion.  And the skies have been
clear.  This would make a good time for a landing.  Besides,
the timing seems right, evidenced by the recent air raids,
targeting all those bridges along the main rivers.  Clearly,
the Allies are trying to isolate western France for some
reason.

Though there has been intensive enemy air reconnaissance
through the area last month, the air activity along his coastal
sector is now relatively quiet.  Yes, something is up. He can
sense it.

Marcks turns to look at his aide.  "If I know the British," he
says,  "they'll go to church again next Sunday, and then
come on Monday.  After Tuesday, they won't have another
chance for the tides until the 28th." *

He pauses.  "Army Group B says they're not going to come
yet, and that when they do come, it'll be at Calais.  So I think
we'll be welcoming them on Monday, right HERE," he
concludes, poking his cane in the sand.  He turns back to
look out again silently over the water.


======================

    * From the French word, "beaten.  A type of hunt
     where   herders beat the brush in front of (bird hunting)
     or towards   (ground hunting) the hunters.  Rommel's
     Treff (which means "hit" in German, as in "hit the
     mark") went with the field marshal for this hunt.  
     Elbow is gone, having been sent home for Lucie.

    ** Marcks was right on the money.  Monday would
     be June 5th.  And Marcks probably had not seen the
     weather reports yet predicting the storm that would
     hit the coast.


Pete Margaritis
 

EUROPE: Operation Frantic, in which 130 Flying Fortresses shuttle from North Africa to Russia, bombing targets in Hungary and Romania on the way, commences, as does Operation Cover, to convince the Germans that the invasion will take place at the Pas-de-Calais.

The role of the USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England from 2-5 June in preparation for the invasion of Normandy on 6 June includes continuation of attacks against transportation and airfield targets in northern France and the institution of a series of blows against coastal defenses, mainly located in the Pas de Calais coastal area, to deceive the enemy as to the sector to be invaded (Operation COVER). To accomplish their mission, the Eighth Air Force flies two missions:

Mission 384: In the morning, 521 of 633 B-17s and 284 of 293 B-24 Liberators hit V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais area without loss. 

Mission 385: In the afternoon, 242 B-17s are dispatched to railroad targets in the Paris area; 163 hit the primaries, 49 hit Conches Airfield, 12 hit Beaumont-sur-Oise Airfield and one hits Caen/Carpiquet Airfield; 77 B-24s are dispatched to Bretigny Airfield in France; 13 hit the primary target, 47 hit Creil Airfield and 14 hit Villeneuve Airfield; two B-17s and five B-24s are lost.

One of those B-17s is piloted by Dick Johnson. Today is my mother's 44th birthday and the first anniversary of my first ever airplane ride when I started learning to fly a PT 17 Kaydet. It's hard to believe that in one year I am going on my 8th mission as co-pilot of a B-17! And, we are to bomb Paris!  My diary reads:

Three of seven of P-38 Lightnings hit the Ostend Bridge, Belgium without loss.

Three B-17s fly weather reconnaissance over the Atlantic. 

During the evening, five B-17s drop leaflets on targets in Belgium and France; and 18 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER operations.

In support of tactical operations, a special conference for ground liaison officers is held by 21 Army Group officers who present a detailed exposition of the plan for the landings in Normandy.

The USAAF's Ninth Air Force dispatches about 350 B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs to bomb NOBALL (V-weapon) targets and coastal defence batteries along the English Channel coast in France; P-38s and P-47 Thunderbolts dive-bomb targets in the area, including V-weapon sites, fuel dump, railroad junctions and bridges.

GERMANY: The second flight of the Blohm und Voss Bv 40 V1 glider takes place today. This aircraft is an Ersatzjäger (substitute fighter). It is to be towed into combat behind a standard fighter and then make a head-on gliding attack on to fire a small  battery of rockets into an Allied bomber. It is cheap to construct and the pilot needs less training than for  a conventional aircraft. (21)

ITALY: The Allied forces make good progress towards Rome. 

The US 100th Infantry Battalion participates in the breakout to Rome by attacking and capturing Lanuvio. (Gene Hanson)

The 442nd RCT arrives at Naples harbour and on June 10th meets the 100th Infantry Battalion in Civitavecchia, northwest of Rome. (Gene Hanson)
Kobashigawa, Yeiki, Tech. Sgt., 100th Infantry Battalion, for actions at Lanuvio will later be awarded the MOH.
Nakamine, Shinyei, Pvt., 100th Infantry Battalion (Sep), for actions at La Torreto, will later be awarded the MOH. (Posthumous).

Heavily defended Hill K-9 south of Rome falls to the U.S. 179th Infantry Regiment. The histories differ as to whether this action was completed by companies F and G of the second battalion or the first battalion's B Company. (282)

The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy starts shuttle-bombing between Italy and the USSR (Operation FRANTIC). Under command of Major General Ira C Eaker, Commanding General of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF), 130 B-17s, escorted by 70 P-51 Mustangs, bomb the marshalling yard at Debreczen, Hungary and land in the Soviet Union, the B-17s at Poltava and Mirgorod and the P-51s at Piryatin. One B-17 is lost over the target; 27 other B-17s, forced off course en route to the Oradea, Romania marshalling yard, also hit Debreczen. Nearly 400 other B-24s attack marshalling yards at Szeged, Miskolc and Szolnok, Hungary and Simeria, Romania. P-51s and P-38s provide escort.