10 Jun 1940
  • Norway surrendered to Germany. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | TH]
  • Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom, to be effective on the following day. ww2dbase [TH]
  • American cruiser USS Vincennes and destroyers USS Truxton and USS Simpson departed Casablanca, French Morocco for the United States with 200 tons of gold from the French reserves. ww2dbase [Vincennes | CPC]
  • German aircraft attacked and sank British armed boarding vessel HMS Vandyck off Andenes, Norway, killing 7. 161 survivors were taken prisoner after reaching shore. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • British transport ships of Group I reached Clyde, Scotland at 0600 hours with troops evacuated from Narvik, Norway. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech at the graduation ceremony of the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, declaring that the Italian declaration of war on France was like "the hand that held the dagger has struck it in the back of its neighbor". His son, Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., was among those who received degrees that day. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
  • Destroyer USS O'Brien arrived at Bahia, Brazil during her shakedown cruise. ww2dbase [O'Brien | CPC]
  • Winston Churchill dismissed Major General Vernon Kell and appointed his deputy, Brigadier Oswald Harker, as Director-General of the Security Service (MI5). ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | AC]
  • HMS Cumberland's log noted that HMS Hermes was detached. ww2dbase [Cumberland | Hermes | DS]
Canada
  • Canada declared war on Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
China Czechoslovakia France
  • Erwin Rommel's troops continued to march down the French coast, now west of Paris, France. To the east, 1st Panzer Division, under the overall command of Heinz Guderian, was attacked belatedly in its flanks by 86 Char B and Hotchkiss 35/39 tanks of French 3rd Division Cuirasse de Reserve (DCR) at Juniville; the French armor advanced two miles destroying about 100 German armored fighting vehicles and rescuing an encircled infantry regiment before numbers told. Guderian himself, serving at a captured anti-tank gun, found the Char B tank impervious to repeated 47mm shell hits. The small French success at Juniville did not remove the threat that Guderian's forces posed on Chalons-sur-Marne and Paris beyond, however, thus the French government was relocated to Tours, declaring Paris an open city. In Operation Cycle, 3,321 Allied troops embarked aboard ships at St-Valery-en-Caux for evacuation, and 11,059 embarked ships at Le Havre to be transferred to Cherbourg for continued fighting. Off of Le Havre, British destroyers HMS Bulldog and HMS Boadicea were damaged by aircraft, killing 6. HMS Bulldog would have to be towed back and remained out of commission until Feb 1941. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC, AC]
Germany Malta
  • British submarine HMS Grampus departed Malta to mine the port of Augusta, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [HM]
Portugal
  • Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton relieved Rear Admiral Charles E. Courtney as Commander of US Navy Squadron 40-T on board light cruiser USS Trenton at Lisbon, Portugal. ww2dbase [Lisbon | CPC]
  • US passenger liner Washington arrived at Lisbon, Portugal to embark Americans desiring passage to the United States via Ireland. Destroyer USS Dickerson arrived from French Morocco with Americans who wished to board the passenger liner. ww2dbase [Lisbon | CPC]

10 Jun 1940 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Famous WW2 Quote
"I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil."

General Douglas MacArthur at Leyte, 17 Oct 1944


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