14 Jun 1941 | World War II Database

14 Jun 1941

British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Griffin bombardeded Sidon, French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon. Two French destroyers based in Beirut counterattacked at 1620 hours, but was chased off by New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander and British destroyers; 8 German Ju 88 aircraft also attempted to attack, but were driven off by P-40 Tomahawk fighters of No. 3 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force based in the British Mandate of Palestine, shooting down 3 Ju 88 aircraft. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | CPC]
The British RAF began daylight fighter sweeps across northern France. ww2dbase [TH]
Croatia became the newest member of the Tripartite Pact. ww2dbase [The Tripartite Pact | TH]
Adolf Hitler met with his High Command regarding Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, including a planned start date; the "Lucy" spy ring in Germany promptly passed along this information. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russia, Vyacheslav Molotov informed Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg that the Soviet Union was to publish, on the next day, that the rumors of a German attack on the Soviet Union were all fabricated by the British. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH]
Assets of German and Italian nationals in the United States were frozen. ww2dbase [TH]
The June Deportation, which was the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, began. ww2dbase [CPC]
British tanks gathered on the Egyptian-Libyan border to prepare for a major offensive; Germans reinforced the front lines and strengthened the siege on Tobruk, Libya as they detected the British movement. After sundown, German artillery bombarded Tobruk. ww2dbase [Operation Battleaxe | CPC]
German submarine U-751 sank British ship St. Lindsay 700 miles west of Ireland at 0346 hours, killing all 44 aboard. ww2dbase [CPC]
British submarine HMS Clyde sank Italian ship Giovanni Bottigliere south of Sardinia, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
Molotov was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Molotov | CPC]
In a letter to General Hastings Ismay, Winston Churchill critised Bernard Freyberg's tactical handling of the defence of Crete, Greece, in particular the fact that no counter-attack had been mounted in the western sector (e.g. around Maleme airfield) for 36 hours after the initial German assault. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Bernard Freyberg | AC]

France

German Luftwaffe ace Oberfeldwebel Robert Menge was shot down and killed near Marquise, France by Squadron Leader James E. Rankin of No. 92 Squadron RAF. At the time of his death Menge had 18 kills to his credit. ww2dbase [Marquise, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | AC]
Maggiore Baracca departed Bordeaux, France at 0943 hours and arrived at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France mid-day; she then returned to Bordeaux at 1800 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

Gibraltar

British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious, escorted by cruiser HMS Renown and 7 destroyers, set sail from Gibraltar for Operation Tracer and launched 47 Hurricane fighters for Malta; 43 of them would reach their destination safely. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

Libya

Hans-Joachim Marseille suffered damage in the engine of his fighter and was forced to crash land in friendly territory in Libya. He returned to based, took off in another fighter, and later was shot down once again, and again was able to crash land and escape unharmed. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

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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