This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The British announced a five-day U-boat attack on the Atlantic convoys and claimed that 97% of the ships survived.
.....A US Navy PBY-5A of Patrol Squadron Eighty Four (VP-84) based at Fleet Air Base Reykjavik, Iceland sank the German submarine 'U-388' (Type VIIC) south south-west of Iceland and south-east of Cape Farewell, Greenland. This was the first use of the Navy's homing torpedo (FIDO).

MEDITERRANEAN: Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed Messina, Sicily during the night. The following morning B-26s bombed the airfields at Milo, Castelvetrano, and Bo Rizzo, Sicily.
....The 'Santa Maria' (Master Robert John Twaddell) struck a mine laid on 7 June by 'U-214' five miles west of Dakar. The explosion occurred in the vicinity of the #1 hatch and caused the forward magazine to explode that completely destroyed the bow forward of the bulkhead between #1 and #2 holds. Two armed guards manning the gun on the bow were blown overboard, one of them was never found and the other was rescued and hospitalized in Dakar. The most of the nine officers, 48 crewmen and 30 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) on board abandoned ship in two lifeboats and stayed near the ship for two hours until two French Naval tugs arrived. 46 survivors were taken ashore, the rest reboarded the vessel and helped the tugs to tow the ship into the harbour of Dakar, where the ship was dry docked and repaired. On 14 December, she left for New York and arrived after a voyage of 13 days.
....Lt. Karl-Freidrich Liedtke of 4./JG 77 (5 victories) went missing in action after combat with a P-38 and a B-26 over Castrel Vetrano and Sciacca.

GERMANY: Operation Bellicose: First shuttle-bombing raid by Bomber Command, Sixty Avro Lancasters of the RAF's 57 and 97 Squadrons, No. 5 Group attacked the old German Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen. Aircraft landed at Algiers and attacked Spezia on the return journey to UK. In early June 1943, a Central Interpretation Unit photo interpreter (Claude Wavell) at RAF Medmenham identified a stack of ribbed baskets (Würzburg radar reflectors) at the Zeppelin Works. After Winston Churchill viewed the photos at RAF Medmenham on 14 June, No. 5 Group RAF received the surprise orders on 16 June to attack Friedrichshafen during the next full moon. Strangely enough, the German night-fighters did not put in an appearance, despite a brilliant moon.
....The intended target for the attack was the radar facilities and fabrication plants. However, unknown to the Allies, a production line for making V-2 rockets was being built. Damage to this facility forced the line to be abandoned. Hence, although Operation 'Bellicose' was effectively the first Operation 'Crossbow' mission that attacked a long-range weapon facility, Operation 'Bellicose' was not planned for that objective and countermeasures against long-range missiles would not start until Operation Hydra in August 1943, after which Germany centralized V-2 production at the Mittelwerk.
....Hptm. Erwin Clausen took over duties of Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 11 from Major Walter Spies.

UNITED STATES: Howard Hughes pilots the Hughes XA-37. Constructed by the Duramold process, developed and patented by Co. Virginius E Clark, the Army's chief aeronautical engineer during WWI; it involved moulding resin--impregnated plywood into desired shapes and contours under high heat and pressure. It is 43 feet long, wing span of 60 feet 5 inches gross weight of 28,110 pounds Two Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 2000 hp engines. Est. top speed of 433 mph, but Hughes was the only test pilot.

[Hugh Spencer]

21st June 1943
262 Lancasters, 209 Halifaxes, 117 Stirlings, 105 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Krefeld, 44 aircraft lost.
This raid was carried out before the moon period was over and the heavy casualties were mostly caused by night fighters. 12 of the aircraft lost were from the Pathfinders. 35 Squadron lost 6 out of its 19 Halifaxes taking part in the raid.
The raid took place in good visibility and the Pathfinders produced an almost perfect marking effort and ground-markers dropped by Oboe Mosquitoes being well backed up by the Pathfinder heavies. 619 aircraft bombed these markers, more than three quarters of them achieving bombing photographs within 3 miles of the centre of Krefeld. 2,306 tons of bombs were dropped. A large area of fire became established and this raged, out of control, for several hours. The whole centre of the city - approximately 47% of the built up area - was burnt out. The total of 5,517 houses destroyed, quoted in Krefeld's records, was the largest figure so far in the war. 1,056 people were killed and 4,550 were injured. 72,000 people lost their homes; 20,000 of these were billeted upon families in suburbs, 30,000 moved in with relatives or friends and 20,000 were evacuated to other towns.

[Njaco]

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, B-24s attacked the ferry terminal and surrounding areas at Villa San Giovanni, and the harbor area and railroad yards at Reggio di Calabria. Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers follow up with raids on the same targets. Wellingtons bombed Naples during the night. The following day, B-17s hit the Naples railroad yards, Salerno marshalling yard and trestle, Battipaglia marshalling yard, and Cancello Arnone air depot. Fighters flew patrol, reconnaissance, and convoy escort.
....Thirty six B-25s (12 of the 445th) took off to bomb the marshalling yards and power plant at Battipaglia in Italy, about 40 miles south of Naples. This was the first time that medium bombers had ever hit Europe proper in the Mediterranean area. Thirty eight P-38s were escort. The marshalling yards, a transformer and repair sheds were hit. The hits rendered all approaches useless. Some bombs fell short and some fell over into the town. Twenty five units of rolling stock were destroyed and seventy-five percent of the power plant, which was the 445th target, was destroyed. There was no flak and one JU-290 was probably destroyed by the escort.

EASTERN FRONT: Adolf Hitler ordered Unternehmen 'Zitadel' was to commence 3 July.
....Himmler ordered Jewish ghettoes in occupied Russia to be liquidated. In Lvov, 20,000 Jews would be murdered over the course of the next week.

WESTERN FRONT: Gestapo policemen raid a doctor's surgery at Caluire near Lyons, France. They captured Resistance leaders including the president of National Resistance Council Jean Moulin. He was tortured and died, probably around 8 July. Moulin, who escaped to England in 1941 in order to meet the Free French leader de Gaulle, agreed to be parachuted back into his native country on 1 January last year, charged with the mission of co-ordinating the many rival resistance groups operating there.
....Milk-cow 'U-462' suffered one dead and 4 wounded during an attack from RAF 151 and 456 Sqn Mosquitoes. The boat had to abort patrol and return to port.
....An FW 190A-5 belonging to 1./ JG 11 crashed at Fliegerhorst Aalborg West and was 60% damaged. Pilot Uffz. Franz Keller was injured.

ENGLAND: The first production Hawker Tempest fighter, a MK V (JN 729) made its maiden flight with Bill Humble at the controls. During flight trials the first Tempest prototype had exceeded 477 mph in level flight, and the first production model was essentially similar to the first prototype with the chin-type radiator. This was designated Tempest V, and the initial production batch, the Series I, had Mk. II cannon which projected slightly ahead of the wing leading edge, but the Series II had the short-barrelled Mk. V cannon which did not project, and also featured a detachable rear fuselage, small-diameter wheels, and a rudder spring tab.

NORTH AFRICA: The USAAF 480th Antisubmarine Group was activated at Port Lyautey, it was equipped with four squadrons of B-24s.

[Hugh Spencer]

22nd June 1943
242 Lancasters, 155 Halifaxes, 93 Stirlings, 55 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Mulheim, 35 aircraft lost.
The Pathfinders had to mark this target through a thin layer of stratus cloud but Mulheim's records contain reference to the accuracy of the markers over this medium sized town and to the ferocity of the ensuing bombing. The now familiar area of fire and temporary breakdown of the fire and rescue services followed. In later stages of the raid the Pathfinder markers and the bombing moved slightly into the northern part of the town. This had the effect of cutting all road and telephone communications with the neighbouring town of Oberhausen with which Mulheim was linked for air raid purposes. Not even cyclists or motor cyclists were able to get out of Mulheim, only messengers on foot coul;d get through. The centre and north of Mulheim and the eastern parts of Oberhausen were severely damaged. 578 people were killed and 1,174 were injured in the two towns. 1,135 houses were destroyed and 12,637 damaged. Other buildings hit were 41 public buildings, 27 schools, 17 churches and 6 hospitals. The only reference to industry is a general note - 'a large proportion of industries were severely affected'. The post-war British Bombing Survey Unit estimated that this single raid destroyed 64% of the town of Mulheim.
4 Mosquitoes each to Berlin and Cologne, no losses.

[Njaco]

GERMANY: VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 65: In the first US large-scale daylight raid on the Ruhr, 235 B-17s were dispatched to hit the chemical works and synthetic rubber plant at Huls. 183 bombed the target and claimed Luftwaffe aircraft but lost 16 and 75 others were damaged. This plant, representing a large percentage of the country's producing capacity, was severely damaged. 11 YB-40's accompanied the Huls raid and 1 was lost.
.....In a second raid, 42 B-17s were dispatched to bomb the former Ford and General Motors plants at Antwerp. They claimed 1-2-9 Luftwaffe aircraft but lost 4. An additional 21 B-17s flew an uneventful diversion.

MEDITERRANEAN: Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed Salerno, Italy during the night. Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF) Beaufighters sank a small vessel off Sardinia.
.... 'U-593' fired a spread of four torpedoes at Convoy 'Elastic' about eight miles northeast of Cape Corbelin, Algeria and hit the USS LST-333 and LST-387 with one torpedo each. The first was beached and declared a total loss, while the latter was towed to Dellys and later repaired. The torpedoing of these two ships hampered the training for the forthcoming invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky). The torpedo struck USS LST-333 on the starboard side in the stern. The explosion demolished the stern section, carried away the screws and rudder and stopped the engines. About 20 minutes after the hit, the landing crafts USS LCT-244 and LCT-19 took the landing ship in tow and proceeded slowly towards the beach. After one hour, the submarine chaser USS SC-503 came alongside and took off 32 injured crewmembers and 24 injured passengers and brought them to Algiers. After five hours of towing, the stern of the landing craft came aground near Dellys. The crew and passengers were taken off by the landing craft and brought to Dellys. The USS LST-333 later sank during a salvage attempt on 6 July.

WESTERN FRONT: Rocket projectiles were used for the first time against enemy surface shipping by Coastal Command with the rocket-firing version of the Bristol Beaufighter, the MK VIC.
.....'U-572' fired a spread of four torpedoes at Convoy UGS-10 and sank the Lot with two of them. The fleet oiler USS 'Merrimack' and an escorting corvette picked up the survivors.
....Obstlt. Walter Oesau was appointed Jagdfliegerfuhrer of Jagdfliegerfuhrer 4 in place of Oberst Karl Viek.

EASTERN FRONT: Koivisto islands in Finland were evacuated and troops transported to the west side of Bay of Vyborg.
....GB "Kama" of the Baltic Fleet and Ladoga Flotilla was sunk by aviation, close to Lavensari Is.
....On the second anniversary of the invasion, Radio Moscow claimed that 6.4 million Germans have been killed or taken prisoner.
....Lt. Walter Geisen of 7./JG 5 (7 victories) was killed in action against Hurricanes near Murmansk.

[Hugh Spencer]

23rd June 1943
52 Lancasters from the force which bombed Friedrichshafen 3 nights earlier flew from North Africa, bombed La Spezia and then flew on to England without loss. Bomber Command claimed damage to an armaments store and an oil depot at La Spezia.
3 Mosquitoes each went to Cologne and Duisburg and 30 aircraft went minelaying off Brittany and Biscay ports without loss.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The US 4th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), AAF Antisubmarine Command began a movement from Gander Lake, Newfoundland to England with B-24s.
....British aerial reconnaissance has now secured photographs of Peenemunde research base showing rockets available for firing.
....Submarine HMS 'Unshaken' sinks the Italian merchant Pomo (former Jug. Nico Matkovic, 1425 BRT).

MEDITERRANEAN: Royal Air Force (RAF) Liberators, under the operational control of the IX Bomber Command, hit the airfield at Comiso, Sicily. Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed the town of Olbia, Sardinia and laid mines in the harbor during the night.

ENGLAND: Winston Churchill ordered a military mission, led by a senior British officer to join Tito in his campaign against the Germans in Yugoslavia. After years of being unable to decide whether to back Tito's partisans or the rival Chetnik army led by General Mihailovich, the British now believe that the former have emerged as the only effective force against the Axis in Yugoslavia. But although the Chetniks were co-operating with the Italians against Tito's partisans, the British would continue to drop supplies to them, largely because of pressure from the Yugoslav government in exile.

GERMANY: Hitler tells an acquaintance who has questioned the deportation of Jews in occupied Europe: "Germany has lost half a million .... on the battlefield. Am I to preserve and minister to these others? .... You must learn how to hate."

[Hugh Spencer]

24th June 1943
251 Lancasters, 171 Halifaxes, 101 Wellingtons, 98 Stirlings and 9 Mosquitoes attacked Wuppertal, 34 aircraft lost.
This attack was aimed at the Eberfeld half of Wuppertal, the Barmen half of the town having been devastated at the end of May. The Pathfinder marking was accurate and the Main Force bombing started well but the creepback became more pronounced than usual. 30 aircraft bombed targets in more western parts of the Ruhr; Wuppertal was at the eastern end of the area. These bombing failures were probably a result of the recent run of intensive operations incurring casualties at a high level. However, much serious damage was again caused to this medium sized Ruhr town. The post-war British survey estimated that 94% of the Elberfeld part of Wuppertal was destroyed on this night and Wuppertal's own records show that more bombs fell in Elberfeld than had fallen in Barmen on the last raid. 171 industrial premises and approximately 3,000 houses were destroyed; 53 industrial premises and 2,500 were severely damaged. Approximately 1,800people were killed and 2,400 injured.
There was a dramatic incident in Gelsenkirchen, 20 miles north of Wuppertal when an RAF 4 engined bomber crashed into the hall of a building which had been taken over by the Wehrmacht. The bomber blew up 'with a terrific explosion'. A German officer, 13 soldiers, the caretaker of the building and 5 Dutch trainee postal workers were killed and 2 more soldiers died later.
4 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 4 Stirlings minelayng in the River Gironde without loss.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: 'U-200' (Type IXD2) was sunk southwest of Iceland by 2 depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 120/H). 67 dead (all crew lost). The dead included 7 members from the German special force "Brandenburg" unit.
....'U-119' (Type XB) was sunk in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain by ramming and depth charges from the British sloop HMS 'Starling' ( CO was the famous Commander Walker RN).
....'U-194' (Type IXC/40) was sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland by a homing torpedo from an American Catalina aircraft (VP-84/G). Previously it had been recorded that 'U-194' was sunk south of Iceland, by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 120/H). This attack, however, resulted in the sinking of 'U-200'.
....U-449 (Type VIIC) was sunk at 1600hrs on 24 June, 1943 in the North Atlantic, northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain by depth charges from the British sloops HMS 'Wren', 'Woodpecker', 'Kite' and 'Wild Goose'.
....Four German sail planes belonging to Fl.Pl.Kdo. A 7/XI were destroyed by fire near Lønstrup. The fire in the hangar, owned by “Dansk Svæveflyveunion”, was observed at 02:30 hours in the morning. Luftwaffe rented the hangar and used it to hangar three single seat and one double seat sail planes used for training. A team of Luftwaffe soldiers had been training on 23/6 and had just left for Frederikshavn in the evening.
The hangar was therefore unmanned as it was only used when the weather was fit for sail flying. When the Danish police searched the tomb it became clear that the fire had been started on purpose as the remains of a fire was found next to the Kranish. The Danish police investigated the matter but those responsible for the fire were never caught.

MEDITERRANEAN: 36 B-25s (10 of the 445th BS, 12 of the 446th BS ) took off to bomb the Olbia Venafiarita air drome in Northern Sardinia. 36 P-38s of the US 82nd FG were escort. The field, taxi strip and dispersal area were well covered. Five fires were seen as the formation left the target. One flak position was silenced in the northwest corner. Ten to twelve Bf 109’s and MA-202’s with yellow spinners were seen above the target. 4 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and one attacking aircraft was shot down by S/Sgt. Joseph C. Kovis. 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 82nd FG, 95th FS shot down an Italian Mc.202 over Golfo Aranci, Sardinia.
....The United States naval vessel Tug YT-211 was damaged by a storm in the North African area.
....1(F)./122 was relieved at Ottana by 3(F)./33 and transferred to Montpellier/South France for rest and refit. The last elements of 1.(F)/122 departed Sardinia about 10 days later. A Me 410A-1
belonging to 2(F)./122 was shot down by a Spitfire from RAF No. 111 Sqdn after a chase south of Cape Passero.
....Lancasters of No. 5 Group Bomber Command returned to base after a remarkable mission which took them to the shores of Lake Constance to bomb the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen on the night of 20-21 June, then to Bilda, in Algeria from whence, after a day's rest, almost all of the original force of 60 went on to attack the Italian naval base at La Spezia on the way home. Eight remained in Algeria awaiting repair. La Spezia had to be bombed blind as its defenders covered the harbour with a dense smokescreen. "Shuttle" bombing was an interesting development and certainly confused the enemy's defences, but it was unlikely to be used regularly because of the difficulties of servicing Lancasters in North Africa.

UNITED STATES: From a Boeing B-17 flying at 40,200 feet, Lt. Col. W.R. Lovelace, M.D., made the highest parachute jump ever made in the United States.

ENGLAND: The Luftwaffe attacked the North-East of England during the night. Eight IB clusters and seventeen HEs including four of 1000kg fell over widespread areas encompassing Brunswick Avenue, Holderness Road and Mytongate. Residential, industrial and railway property damage also widespread. 51 fires were started and 23 people were killed. The first anti-personnel, or butterfly bombs were dropped, insignificant looking weapons with great destructive power if handled or disturbed. They were so small that they could get into any crevice. although there were about 100 casualties, including 23 dead, there was not a serious incident created through inquisitive people handling anti-personnel missiles. The casualties came from high explosive bombs and other causes. Central Hull was one target, Bond Street, Jarratt Street, Albion Street, Savile Street were also hit. The Royal Institution, long the centre of much of Hull's cultural life, was destroyed. The main fire station also suffered. 1,000 houses were damaged, 400 seriously.

EASTERN FRONT: The Russians retreated from Kupyansk on the Oskol River east of Kharkov. Lt. Walter Nowotny of 9./JG 54 destroyed 10 Russian aircraft during the day.

[Hugh Spencer]

25th June 1943
214 Lancasters, 134 Halifaxes, 73 Stirlings, 40 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Gelsenkirchen, 30 aircraft lost.
This was the first raid to Gelsenkirchen since 1941 when it had been one of Bomber Command's regular oil targets, although, being in the middle of the Ruhr, this town had often been hit when other targets were attacked.
The target was obscured by cloud and the Oboe Mosquitoes, for once, failed to produce regular and accurate marking since 5 of the 12 Oboe aircraft found that their equipment was unserviceable. The raid was not a success. Dusseldorf reported 24 buildings destroyed and 3,285 damaged but 2,937 of these suffered only superficial blast damage. 20 industrial premises were hit and 4 of them suffered total producton loss but no large fires were involved and the loss in production lasted for no longer than 2 weeks. 16 people were killed.
Bombs probably fell on many other Ruhr towns. Solingen, nearly 30 miles from Gelsenkirchen, recorded 21 people killed and 58 injured on his night.
33 aircraft were sent minelaying in the Frisians and off French ports. 1 Lancaster was lost.

[Njaco]

MEDITERRANEAN: Allied air attacks on Sicily increased as raids concentrated on airfields around Messina. North-west African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed docks and marshalling yard at Olbia, Sardinia during the night. On the following day B-17s dropped over 300 tons of bombs on Messina, Sicily, bombing the marshalling yard, the W and N part of town, warehouse area and part of commercial quay.

GERMANY: US VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 67: 275 B-17s made scattered attacks on targets of opportunity in NW Germany when primary targets at Bremen and Hamburg were obscured by clouds. 167 aircraft bombed targets and claimed 62-11-40 Luftwaffe aircraft but lost 18 B-17s. Of 7 YB-40 escort bombers dispatched only 4 were able to accompany the formations to the target area.
....The Ruhr and Rhineland areas of western German were declared war zones and Dr. Robert Ley, a senior German government official, ordered the evacuation of over a million women, children, invalids and old people. The action followed the stepping-up of the Allied air offensive against Germany, with the RAF unloading about a thousand bombs a night on the Ruhr alone. The raids were said to have demoralized soldiers whose families were in the bombed areas.
....This week's "shuttle" bombing of the Friedrichshafen radar factory in southern Germany added a new dimension to Allied air power, soon to be further intensified by the US Eighth Army Air Force now based in Britain. But what the Goebbels-controlled newspapers referred to as "the Battle of the Ruhr" still pre-occupied the German authorities, who said that the Rhineland and the Ruhr were "in the front line". A German radio broadcast said that the damage caused by the RAF "simply goes beyond human imagination". In his diary, Goebbels recorded his view that the British aircraft industry and the RAF have wrested air supremacy from the Luftwaffe.

ENGLAND: At Chequers, Churchill had been watching films taken during RAF raids on Germany. Suddenly, he sat up and said to his guest, the Australian cabinet minister Richard Casey: "Are we beasts? Are we taking this too far?" Casey answered: "We didn't start it. And it was them or us."
....General Dwight David Eisenhower was appointed to command US Land Forces in Europe.
....Black American troops ran rioting through the streets of Bamber Bridge, Lancashire last night, firing back at American military police who had fired on them. One man was killed and four wounded, including a white American officer. The trouble began in the Old Hob Inn, when American military police attempted to arrest a group of black GIs as it closed. A fight broke out as they walked back to the US Eighth Army Air Force camp. The MPs drew their guns and fired, hitting one man, and later returned in two trucks. The GIs armed themselves and there was a gun battle into the small hours. Local people ran for cover.
....A Hurricane fighter crash-landed in a field known as Quarry Field, on Milfield Desmesne Farm, 1 mile W of Milfield Village at about 10.18. The plane had developed engine trouble. The pilot was uninjured.

EASTERN FRONT: The Russians retreated from Kupyansk on the Oskol River east of Kharkov. The Soviets attacked east of Kharkov and below Soblüsselburg (Leningrad front), and claimed that the Luftwaffe had started big petrol fires in a raid on Astrakhan.
....The Jewish ghetto at Czestochowa, Poland was annihilated and its inhabitants sent to Auschwitz after an abortive attempt at resistance.

WESTERN FRONT: A JU 88A-4 belonging to 10./KG 30 touched down in a barley field belonging to “Nykro” farm, southwest of Hjallerup. It skidded along and ended up lying across Lyngdrup bæk brook. The emergency landing was due to engine failure, and the Ju 88 was 20% damaged and the crew was unharmed.

[Hugh Spencer]

26th June 1943
4 Mosquitoes went to Hamburg and 3 to Duisburg. 16 Wellingtons went minelaying off Lorient and Brest, 1 aircraft lost.

[Njaco]

MEDITERRANEAN: During the night Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers, under IX Bomber Command control, bombed Messina, Sicily. Wellingtons bombed the Bari, Italy oil refinery during the night.
....A detachment of the 68th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) based at Shipdham, England began operating from Benina, Libya with B-24s.
....At 0955, the 'Toufic Allah' was sunk by 'U-81' with 48 rounds from the deck gun 40 miles WSW of Beirut. At 1410, the 'Nelly' (approx. 80 tons) was sunk by 'U-81' with 30 rounds from the deck gun.

WESTERN FRONT: US Eighth Air Force Mission Number 68: 165 B-17s were dispatched against the Vilacoublay, France air depot. 12 hit the target while 6 hit the secondary target, Poissy Airfield, and 39 bombed Tricqueville Airfield. The bombers claimed 17-5-10 Luftwaffe aircraft and lost 5 B-17s and 14 others were damaged. 5 YB-40 escort bombers took off to accompany the heavy bombers but none were able to complete the attack.
....At 17:45 hours, the Fw 190s of JG 2 led by Major Egon Mayer met the B-17s over Liseaux and destroyed 5 of them in a few minutes with head-on attacks. An hour later, the Fw 190s of II./JG 26 were caught by surprise by the P-47s of the US 56th FG and within minutes, II./JG 26's Gruppenkommandeur Major Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland, Oblt. Heinz Hoppe and Fw. Gunther Scholz had bagged one Thunderbolt each. 12 minutes later Major Galland had tacked another P-47 of the 56th onto his scoreboard for his 46th victory. By the end of the day, 7 Thunderbolts and 5 B-17s had been downed, the lone JG 26 loss being a III./JG 26 aircraft downed by the US 4th FG near Dieppe.
....Operating from West Malling, RAF No. 315 (Polish) Sqdrn took part in another Ramrod as escort to 12 Bostons on Abbeville airfield along with 10 aircraft from RAF No. 308 Sqrdn. The whole operation went according to plan with no incidents. 12 aircraft of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn led by S/LDR. KORNICKI took off for IBSLEY to take part in Ramrod 108 as part of the withdrawal cover wing. Other pilots did photo-attacks and air-to-air firing during the day.
,,,, 12 aircraft of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn led by S/LDR. KORNICKI took off at 0850 hours to take part in Circus 39. They were over Lizard at 0901 hours and saw Typhoons for ahead. They crossed coast at Landeda at when the wing turned left to the target. Bombing was not seen. No enemy aircraft were seen on the ground or in the air.
....Resistance fighters led by a British agent, Michael Trotobas, blow up a German locomotive plant.
....Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring gave up his duries as commander of Luftflotte 2 in order to concentrate on gis uties as Commander-In-Chief South.

ENGLAND: Air Marshall Trafford L Leigh-Mallory was given responsibility for drafting air plans for the invasion of the Continent. His deputy was Brigadier General Haywood S Hansell, Jr.

EASTERN FRONT: 'U-20' was attacked by an escort with depth charges. The boat unsuccessfully tried to attack a Soviet submarine hunter off Tuapse, but was attacked itself with 8 depth charges and then kept submerged by aircraft for 4 hours. Afterwards the boat had to return to base due to mechanical failures.
....An uprising of Jews in the Czestochowa ghetto was crushed as Germans brought overwhelming force against the town. The Germans captured thirty grenades, eighteen pistols and two rifles.
....Soviets attacked east of Kharkov and below Soblüsselburg (Leningrad front), and the Luftwaffe started big petrol fires in a raid on Astrakhan the previous night. The Finnish High Command stated that after heavy artillery preparation Red Army units had penetrated Finnish positions near Rukajaervi, but claimed that the ground had been regained in counter-attacks. Russian aircraft, without loss, made heavy night attacks on the rail junction of Orsha (E. of Smolensk) and the port of Taman, on the Kerch peninsula loading to the Crimea. It was announced in Moscow that in the week June 19-26 hundreds of Soviet aircraft had been in action almost every night against enemy aerodromes and rail communications, some 600 enemy planes being believed destroyed or damaged on the ground.

GERMANY: Two bomber pilots, Major Werner Baumbach and Major Hajo Herrmann of III./KG 30 and currently operating NJVK over Berlin, finally gained an audience with Reichsmarschall Goering to advance a new idea. They discussed the RAF's night bombing raids and how they could defend against the bombers. Major Herrmann's proposal was to illuminate the German cities so that they could be seen from the air and to equip special night-fighter aircraft for their interception. These aircraft would be fast single-engined Bf 109s and Fw 190s equipped with 85 gal. fuel tanks for extra endurance. The tactic called for the bombers to be silhouetted against the glowing cities by searchights or 'Mattscheibe' (ground glass screen) - searchlights playing their beams on the bases of clouds - and have the fighters attack without ground support or communications. This was so the RAF could not listen in and the Luftwafffe pilots could actually see their targets without radar. Goering agreed to this proposal and ordered an experimental commando unit be formed. The bomber pilots quickly rounded up 3 Bf 109s and 9 Fw 190s and their pilots - mostly from Herrmann's experimental unit NJVK - and volunteers that were former bomber pilots and teachers from flying schools. The unit was given the code-name Stab./Nachtjagdversuchskommando Herrmann.
.....The jet fighter He 280 V-2 suffered an engine failure and was destroyed in a crash landing.

[Hugh Spencer]

27th June 1943
15 Lancasters and 15 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians, off Pallice and in the River Gironde. 1 Lancaster lost.

[Hugh Spencer]

28th June 1943
267 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes, 85 Wellingtons, 75 Stirlings and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Cologne, 24 aircraft lost.
The circumstances of this raid did not seem promising. The weather forecast said that Cologne would probably be cloud-covered although there might be a break. The Pathfinders had to prepare a dual plan. The target was cloud-covered and the less reliable sky-marking system had to be employed. Only 7 of tyhe 12 Oboe Mosquitoes reached the target and only 6 of these were able to drop their markers. The marking was 7 minutes late in starting and proceeded only intermittently. Despite all these setbacks the Main Force delivered its most powerful blow of the Battle of the Ruhr. The result was Cologne's worst raid of the war. 43 industrial, 6 military and 6,368 other buildings were destroyed; nearly 15,000 other buildings were damaged. Listed as ' completely destroyed' were : 24 schools, 16 churches, 15 major administrative buildings, 11 hotels, 8 cinemas, 7 post offices, 6 large banks, 2hospitals and 2 theatres. The cathedral was seriously damaged by high explosive bombs.
The casualties in Cologne were 4,377 people killed, approximately 10,000 injured and 230,000 forced to leave their damaged homes. The number of dead was greater than in any previous Bomber Command raid of the war on any target. The 'number of dead' record had thus increased nearly tenfold since the opening of the Battle of the Ruhr over 3 months earlier.
4 Mosquitoes went to Hamburg and 6 Stirlings went minelaying in the River Gironde without loss.