Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

May 27th, 1942

Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Early in the morning, a formation of fifteen P-38F-15LOs, twelve from the USAAF (27th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group) and three from the Armee de l'Air leaves Fort Lauderdale for Fort-de-France, guided by a specially equipped B-17. This is the first leg of a four-day trip that will take them to Meknes, Morocco, via Recife (Brazil) and Freetown (Gold Coast). This trip is the starting point of the transatlantic crossing operation intended to bring as quickly as possible a large number of aircraft from the United States to the Mediterranean theater of operations.

Oran - The heavy cruiser Tourville, damaged by Japanese bombers off the Anambas Islands, reacheds Mers-El-Kebir. Repaired in the United States, the ship received 8 x 40 mm Bofors and 20 x 20 mm Œrlikon (on single mounts) in place of its 37 mm and 13.2 mm.
At the same time as the Tourville, the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, repaired after the damage inflicted at Alexandria by an Italian "slow torpedo", and the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, repaired after the damage suffered in the South China Sea, pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Both ships are scheduled to reach Alexandria. With these ships added to the fleet, supported by the aircraft carriers HMS Furious and USS Ranger, Admiral Cunningham can easily control the central and eastern Mediterranean.
In the opposite direction, the battleship Valiant will reach Gibraltar to compensate for the recent departure to the American shipyards of the Dunkerque and Strasbourg.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Alger - Admiral Ramsay arrives in Algiers with his staff to discuss the planning of a "major raid" on the French coast at the end of August, in conjunction with the operations now decided against Sicily. Ramsay is received by General De Gaulle and by the Chief of Special Operations of the French Army.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Washington, London, Alger - In a joint statement (soon to be followed by a similar statement from from Moscow), the Western Allies "welcome with great satisfaction Mexico's fraternal participation in the world struggle for freedom against oppression."
The integration of the Mexican armed forces into the operations is to be carried out under American command, and most of their equipment must (of course) come from American industry. The allied governments have taken note of the willingness already officially expressed by the Mexican government to participate in operations in the Pacific, particularly in the defense of the Philippines.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Dundee - The three upgraded 1,500-ton submarines, Acheron, Archimede and Vengeur are back at work at the 9th Flotilla base. After their return from the United States they spent a few weeks training in Holy Loch.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

London - Admiral E. King, head of the U.S. Navy, is in London to discuss the world situation, which has changed very rapidly in a few days. He points out to his British interlocutors that the strategic situation in the Pacific is difficult, to say the least, especially since the United States is devoting most of its war effort to the European theater of operations. In these conditions, Operation Pedestal towards Singapore can play an important role, by preventing the Japanese Navy from concentrating all its forces in the Pacific. After the battle of the Coral Sea and while the Allied forces in the Pacific are about to launch an offensive in the Solomons, the value of Pedestal as a diversion increased again.
On the other side of the world, the beginning of the German-Soviet War upset the picture. The Soviet government wants to transfer as many forces as possible from the Siberian districts to the west. Under these conditions, the longer the defenders of Singapore can fight forthe more Japanese Army forces will be drawn into Malaya, making a Japanese attack from Manchuria to Siberia or Vladivostok all the more unlikely.
In the light of these upheavals, Pedestal acquires a very different meaning. This is no longer a symbolic (and highly political) gesture in favor of Lord Gort's braves, but a strategic (and very highly political) operation of great importance, supported by both the United States and the USSR. And this is in a way a justification of Churchill's political intuition (and the more discreet pressures of the administration of the British Empire).
Already, the Japanese Imperial General Staff had authorized the dispatch to Malaya of two more infantry divisions of the Kwantung Army, accompanied by armor and heavy artillery. There, it is now clear that General Yamashita is once again in command, conducting a complete reorganization of his forces, and plans to operate in cooperation with the Imperial Navy. These developments are quickly detected by Soviet Intelligence, which informs the British War Cabinet that Japan is preparing a new large-scale offensive against Singapore by mid-July.
Learning this information, the Royal Navy decides to set the arrival date of the Pedestal convoy to July 8th at the latest. This means that the convoy will have to leave Plymouth on June 10th.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

The Battle of Singapore - III
Straits of Johor - On a sea finally calmed and under the cover of a violent afternoon storm, Rear Admiral Spooner's amphibious force sets sail for the west coast of Malaya.
Compared to the late Admiral Phillips' Eastern Fleet, this force is pathetic dust, but, under their White, Blue or Red Ensigns, the crews of the Royal Navy, the Reserve or the Merchant Navy are nonetheless valiantly leading their ships towards the enemy.
.........
Malaya Front
- The Main Force probes the Japanese positions all day long, provoking multiple patrol clashes. Both sides bring forward fresh troops, as their units engaged the day before need rest. It appears that the Japanese are concentrating the remaining units of their 56th Division on the main road, while the 27th, supported by support units from the 25th Army, deploys on the railroad. Much more numerous the Indians spread their front more than the Japanese and begin a turning movement to the right, advancing very slowly through the jungle on the Japanese side of the Sungei Johore.
...
- The Western Force (17th Indian ID) reaches the Senggarang River and, despite continuous air attacks, begins to deploy, pushing patrols across the river to locate the enemy. The village itself appears to be occupied by well-entrenched units of unknown strength. The transport of crossing equipment, supplies and equipment to the river is delayed for fourteen hours, because the bomb craters hadve to be filled in and the road cleared of the wrecks of trucks destroyed by the attacks of the Japanese aviation, which continue in spite of a dense cover of flak.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Nouméa - Task Force 16 (around the CV Enterprise) arrives from Pearl Harbor. It is then that, for a very unusual reason, the Task Force has to change its leader.
"It was shortly after his arrival in Nouméa (French New Caledonia) that the famous Admiral Halsey (then Vice Admiral) developed a skin condition of generalized atopic eczema causing a very painful pruritus, resistant to the usual treatments of the time. He had to be hospitalized. Some authors have since claimed that it was scabies! One can only go against this assertion which scorns both the memory of a national hero and the clinical sense of the US Navy doctors of 1942 and the recent knowledge on dermatological affections of psychosomatic origin. It is now clear that Admiral Halsey, who had been under painful psychological pressures for six months such as those caused by the responsibility of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, was victim of a form of psychogenic dermatitis." (Inouye A.S., Mortimer L.: Current concepts: Psycho-somatic dermatitis, New England Journal of Medicine, 1995; 342: 1157-65).
Following Halsey's own advice, Admiral Nimitz appoints Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance to head Task Force 16.
Thus, somewhat ironic comments have made Admiral Halsey the latest casualty of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Kokoda Track - The 39th Battalion takes up a defensive position between the Ambogo River and the Popondetta River, on a 6 to 7 km front. Its intention is to hold the enemy for two days before withdrawing to the excellent defensive position of Wairopi, 50 km inland.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

East coast of Australia, 11:30 - About 50 nautical miles from Sydney, the I-59 sees, 10 nautical miles off the coast, two aircraft circling and masts. The submarine's commander thinks that they are ships heading for the harbour. He decides to try to intercept them.
12:20 - The I-59 observes a large warship escorted by two destroyers. It is the cruiser USS New Orleans, escorted by the DD Anderson and Russell, which is on its way to Sydney to repair its damaged hangar. The damage is indeed perfectly repairable with the means of Vickers Cockatoo. The New Orleans took the opportunity to transport from Brisbane to Sydney, three hundred men of the 7th Airfield Construction Sqn of the RAAF, who were evacuated from Guadalcanal. The formation zigzags at 18 knots, with an average speed of 15 knots. It is overflown by two ASM Anson patrols, which are flown every four hours. But they do not spot the I-59, which approaches at 5 knots, in the trajectory of the formation. On two occasions, the latter changes course at the moment when the submarine is about to fire, then a new zigzag makes it pass less than half a nautical mile in front of the submarine. Not having any more time to calculate a precise solution of shooting, the commander orders the judge to fire a complete salvo of the eight bow tubes on the lead ship.
12:42 - The New Orleans is hit on the port side by two torpedoes. The first one hits her forward of the A turret. The bow gives way, folds to port and tears off while capsizing before violently hitting the rear of the hull and sinking rapidly. Nearly two hundred RAAF men, housed in this part of the ship, are killed. The second torpedo also hits deep in the foremast. The forward boiler room and several other compartments are immediately drowned.
12:50 - The cruiser sinks by the bow and tilts 20 degrees to port, with the starboard propellers partially emerged. Captain Howard H. Good orders all wounded and surviving passengers to abandon ship, which the crew is attempting to save. Meanwhile, the Russell pursues the I-59 energetically, but without success.
The situation of the New Orleans is rapidly worsening, especially since the impacts with the detached bow cause several leaks in the stern, and despite the efforts of the crew, repairing the damage is very difficult in the tilted vessel.
13:15 - The list reaches 27 degrees. All work is impossible at this angle of inclination; the lead engineer concludes that the ship is lost and that it has to be abandoned urgently.
13:17 - Captain Good gives the order to evacuate and has the DD Anderson to come alongside. But before the destroyer can do so, the large cruiser capsizes.
13:29 - The New Orleans sinks slowly by the bow. The evacuation order is given just in time for only 200 sailors to be lost, in addition to the 200 men killed at the moment of the torpedoing. Seeing the cruiser sink, the Russell comes to help the Anderson collect survivors.
"Her torpedoes exhausted, the I-59 left the same day for Kwajalein. It had sunk a transport, an auxiliary cruiser and a heavy cruiser (whose type he had correctly identified)." Operation Oni, Phase 3b - Research notes by Mr. Norman, 1950.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Barbarossa - The Battle of the Frontiers
1 - The Northwest Front and the Baltic
North-west of Siaulai, Ivanov tries to obey Voroshilov's orders, but his 2nd Army is too exhausted after eleven days of continuous fighting to be able to do more than contain the Germans for a few hours. In the afternoon, having taken Telsiai, the XXVI Corps resumes its advance towards Mazeikiai. In the late evening, Voroshilov has to admit his failure. The troops of the 11th Army, who are still fighting in and around Siaulai, are now in a very difficult position.
On the road to Riga, German forces try to storm Jelgava at night, but the western part of the city is still in Soviet hands at daybreak.
Leaving his infantry in contact with the defenders, Reinhardt charges towards the sea, and the tanks of the 1.PanzerDivision reach the beaches west of Riga at the end of the day.
In the east, the 8.Panzer tries to resume its progression towards Daugavpils. But, trying to advance on simple tracks or on narrow roads whose sides are so unstable that the tanks get stuck as soon as they try to maneuver, the panzers are an easy prey for the guns and even for the Soviet anti-tank guns. General Brandenberger has torecall the attack after having lost nearly thirty of his Pz-38(t) and a dozen of Pz-IV.
...
2 - The Central Front and Belarus
In the early hours of the morning, the Germans enter Vilnius. However, their first reconnaissance towards the east is met by powerful artillery fire. Towards the southeast, the German troops approaching Molodechno are also stopped in front of the city by Soviet artillery and tanks.
The same scenario takes place in the south, on the German right wing. After taking Slutsk, the 2. PanzerGruppe moves towards Osipovichi, when its vanguards encounter what they describe as "a real deluge of shells" (this is the effect produced by the fire of two artillery regiments). Two attempts to outflank the Soviet defenses fail. The second one is rejected by an energetic but costly counter-attack of the 52nd Mechanized Corps. The latter half of its tanks (mostly BT-7s, even old BT-5s), but it succeeds in blocking the German armored units, already considerably weakened.
...
3 - The Ukrainian Front and the Black Sea
From dawn to dusk, the 1. PanzerGruppe of Kleist clashes with Lukin's 16th Army.
The battle for Tarnopol rages on. Most of the Soviet units suffer terrible losses, but the German armored units are in no condition to take advantage of it. They are short of ammunition, short of gasoline, and have lost a large part of their infantry.
Faced with the risk of encirclement, Kirponos asks Moscow for permission to evacuate Lvov.
Without openly accepting this evacuation, the Stavka orders him to hold a Dubno-Tarnopol-Ivano-Frankovsk line, which amounts to the same thing...
In the south, the Romanian Royal Air Force fights a hard battle with the VVS without being able to ensure control of the sky. On the ground, the fighting continues around Chernovtsy, where the Romanian Mountain Corps (3rd Army) reaches the outskirts of the Fortified Region.
Further south-east, several bridgeheads on the Prut are eliminated by the Soviets between 28 and 29 September, between the 28th and 30th, but the two most important ones remain: around Briceni, the 76. ID, joined by elements of the 5th ID and the Romanian Cavalry Corps, repels several counter-attacks. In front of Fălciu, the 1st Guards Division is reinforced by the 13th ID and other elements of the XXX German-Romanian Corps.

Romanian Royal Air Force (IAR) SM.79B Support Bomber, Operation Munchen, May 1942.

 

[Wings]

May 28th, 1942

Peloponnese - During the night, as the BCP-42 convoy starts to unload material in Kalamata, it is attacked by a squadron of Italian assault boats (five explosive boats MTM and as many torpedo boats MTSM). Three freighters are sunk, including a ship still loaded with ammunition which receives a 450 mm torpedo and explodes, lighting up the night. It is perhaps the glow of the fire that is fatal to two of the MTSMs, hit by fire from the escort. Three MTMs are also destroyed, but this is their normal fate! The other two cannot adjust a target and return to their base, with the last three MTSMs.
After that of May 2nd, this is the second successful operation of the latest creation of the Xa autocolonna Moccagatta (named after the Xa MAS leader killed in the operation against Malta in November 1941). This "mobile column", commanded by Lt. Salvatore Todaro, includes many vessels capable of carrying five MTMs and five MTSMs at the same time and to serve as a logistic and operational base. It left La Spezia on April 16th, 1942, the autocolonna moved to the northwest of the Peloponnese in April.
The losses it suffered leads to its return to Italy.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

London - Through the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Belgian government confirms to the BBC that it adheres to the policy of unconditional support for the USSR announced by the Allies. It also warns Belgians in occupied countries against the Nazi propaganda triggered on this occasion: "It is not a question of being for or against communism. It is a question of winning the war!" This speech is followed a week later by an address by an address by Prime Minister Pierlot, along the same lines.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

Belgium - A new ordinance requires Jews to spend the night in the house where they are registered.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

The Battle of Singapore - III
Malayan Front
- Like generations of sailors before them, the men of the Spooner Force had to wait two weeks for the right combination of cloud cover, wind direction and sea conditions. Finally, the "Spooner's Navy" can attempt to carry out its plan: to land far behind the Japanese line and cut off communications and the retreat of the enemy forces on the west coast of the peninsula.
Shortly after midnight, the two Canadian companies land silently and take over the Batu Pahat lighthouse after having eliminated its few defenders. This indiscreet observation post thus neutralized, it is an alleged convoy of Japanese landing ships, escorted by armed Japanese trawlers, which arrives at the port of Batu Pahat, at the mouth of the river, near the ferry crossing point, in full view of the sentries.
The convoy approaches the shore as the convoy commander and the Japanese Army men exchange confused, angry, and even insulting words through megaphones.
The Japanese Army officers are particularly angry at being dragged out of bed by sailors who are obviously ignorant of the customs: "Who do you think you are, to arrive without warning in the middle of the night? Our men could have shot you!" The small transports then launch their engines and throw three companies of Royal Marines, eight caterpillars and eight small Mk I infantry tanks (8-ton antiques, armed with machine guns) on the ground, while the gunboats open fire at close range.
Meanwhile, two other groups of small boats sail up the Sungei Batu Pahat as quickly as possible and enter two of its tributaries, the Sungei Simpang Kanan and the Sungei Simpang Kiri. The bridge on the Simpang Kanan, where the road which goes from Batu Pahat to Yong Pen through the Bukit Pelandok pass, is the target of two Australian and one New Zealand company. The bridge over the Simpang Kiri, in Parit Sulong, is located on the road that goes from the Bukit Pelandok pass to Muar via Bakri; it is attacked by two companies of volunteers from Singapore.
Everywhere, the fighting is fierce. The small groups of Japanese defending the objectives fight to the end. Several boats are sunk or damaged and in some companies, human losses are heavy. Nevertheless, the most valuable boats are already on their way back to take cover in the Straits of Johore.
...
- The Western Force attacks at daybreak. In spite of violent air attacks, the 17th ID crosses the river upstream, downstream and in front of Senggarang, then begins to deploy, patrolling the flanks in search of the enemy. The village itself is attacked, but it resists, and the Indians are content to encircle it and neutralize with cannon any attempt to hinder their advance to the northwest. Armored cars, trackers and a few Stuart light tanks are ordered to move as fast as possible towards Batu Pahat.
This improvised "armored column" follows the tracks of three motorcycle companies, created with the remains of the former "Malaya Motorised Force" and which leave before dawn. They have to bypass any enemy encountered and reach the Bukit Pelandok pass via Batu Pahat.
The inner column, on foot, cuts through the fields, or rather through the rubber plantations belonging before the war to some Japanese to reach the Batu Pahat-Ayer Hitam road which runs eastward. The fighting is not very intense, apart from small ambushes which take a bloody toll. The remnants of the Japanese 113th Infantry Regiment, in full retreat, leave behind them some small groups in charge of slowing down the pursuit while the others try to reach Batu Pahat by the interior. At the end of the day, the former RAF field near Batu Pahat is in British hands and some elements of the motorcycle battalion hold the Bukit Pelandok pass.
In the evening, despite the violent reactions of the Japanese Army Aviation, the Japanese western flank is in great danger of collapse. However, both Yamashita and Gort realize in front of their maps - with obviously opposite feelings - that due to the factors of time and distance, the Allied amphibious and ground offensive along the west coast, despite its spectacular appearance, comes too late. The Japanese could even temporarily abandon the west of Johor as long as they hold Kluang, the railroad and the road to the east coast, as well as well as the east coast and its ports.
...
- The Main Force sends out patrols that clash violently with Japanese elements east of the railroad, while the Allied artillery unleashes episodic bursts of fire on Japanese positions and communication lines on the other side of the Sungei Johore. The railroad and road columns are now separated only by a relatively narrow area of jungle where the British are slowly but stubbornly advancing. Trails are opened or widened and mortars or field guns are brought forward on the backs of men or animals. Such tactics would be impractical in normal jungle warfare, where no front can be drawn, but this area, which is well defined on both sides, this kind of step-by-step advance is possible, especially since, if the jungle is thick, it is not the steep and virtually impenetrable jungle of the northern mountains of Malaysia.
On the main road, local attacks are gaining some ground. Sappers and pioneers are more and more often called to blow up clumps of trees where snipers, because of their invisibility in the canopy, are almost invulnerable.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

Indian Ocean - As a prelude to the actions of the 8th Submarine Squadron against the allied merchant ships on the eastern coast of Africa, the flag submarine I-9 catapults its seaplane to reconnoiter Durban. The following days, the aircraft flies over East London, Port Elizabeth and Simonstown.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

Zheijang and Jiangxi Campaign - After their defeat in front of Lanhai, the NRA forces disperse. Many small units, however, begain guerrilla operations on the Japanese rear, attempting to slow down the enemy so that Ku-fang's defenders could retreat to the west. The Japanese react to these operations with "counter-guerrilla strikes", which consists mainly of massacres of civilians.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

Barbarossa - The Battle of the Frontiers
1 - The North-Western Front and the Baltic
All morning, Reinhardt's troops try to enter Riga. They are stopped by a fairly high density of anti-tank weapons and the lack of infantry. On the orders of Hoepner, the 6. Panzer makes another attempt, this time trying to pass between the city and the shoreline to find a bridge further north. After having lost a dozen tanks in this maneuver, Reinhardt recalls the attack.
In front of Daugavpils, Manstein's efforts are no more successful. He also lacks infantry, which is particularly noticeable on a terrain not very favorable to tanks. Moreover, the ammunition of his artillery does not follow. Finally, on his right, he has to beware of the remnants of the 8th Army of Sobennikov, which retreated along the railroad Vilnius-Daugavpils.
In the west, Siaulai is evacuated during the night by the 11th Soviet Army and the 12th Armored Army, cannot escape the encirclement. The German Army Group North had isolated these three Soviet armies in a pocket from Liepaja to the former Latvian-Lithuanian border, near Mazheiklai, and from there to Jelgava and the Gulf of Riga. After discussions with Hoepner, Field Marshal von Leeb orders his forces to consolidate their positions and dig in. The infantry is far too exhausted to immediately reduce the Soviet pocket and the armor is in urgent need of repair and supplies.
.........
In thirteen days, the German offensive effectively destroyed the Soviet border defense system of the North-Western Front and led to the encirclement of large forces in the Curonian Spit. However, the Soviets were able to reconstitute a defense line along the Dvina River and inflicted very heavy losses on the German armor. Most of the panzer officers, from Hoepner, Reinhardt and Manstein to the company commanders, are still in shock from the discovery of the modern Soviet tanks.
Like Guderian in Belarus, Hoepner and Manstein loudly criticize the technical services of the OKW and demand the sending of a special committee to study in the field which remedies could be brought to the material inferiority of the German armored units.
...
2 - The Central Front and Belarus
Hoth and Guderian try again to outflank the Soviets, but they have to recognize that their forces have become too weak and lack enough ammunition and fuel to be very effective against "unexpected enemy reserves". Von Bock must also admit this, especially since a large part of the German infantry is still trying to contain what remains of the 10th Army in the Bialystok pocket.
At the end of the day, von Bock explains to Halder by telephone that "it's like hitting a sponge. You destroy five divisions only to find out that they have just put ten more on the line." That evening, he orders Army Group Center to go on the defensive and to wait for supplies and reinforcements. At that moment, the front line goes from Daugavpils in the north to Minsk via Molodechno, then from Minsk to the outskirts of Bobruisk and to the approaches to Kalinkovichi in the south.
...
3 - The Ukrainian Front and the Black Sea
Faced with the evolution of the situation in Belarus, the troops of the Ukrainian Front have to adapt. Kirponos orders Rokossovsky to withdraw to Rovno, and the forces in the Pinsk region prepare defensive positions at the edge of the Pripyat marshes, to hold a Rovno-Kalinkovichi line. But a Soviet salient begins to form around Rovno, which must be defended to protect the Kiev region.
Further south, while the Soviet forces are trying to evacuate Lvov and retreat to Ivano-Frankovsk, the situation in front of Tarnopol continues to look threatening. Kirponos vehemently demands from the Stavka that part of the troops of the second strategic echelon be brought forward to prevent an enemy breakthrough.
However, at this moment, von Rundstedt has just asked the attackers to mark a pause. While Lukin's 16th Army was unable to destroy the German forward elements, it did convince the staff of Army Group South that the Soviet forces still have significant reserves. Von Rundstedt then orders von Kleist to suspend all offensive movement and to dig in until reinforcements and supplies reach the front line.
At Chernovtsy, the 12th Soviet Army launches a massive counter-attack (17th Infantry Corps, 16th Mechanized Corps and various units of the Chernovtsy Fortified Region), against the German-Romanian forces, but this movement is poorly coordinated with that of the 13th Infantry Corps which retreats from Bogyslav, at the Polish border, causing a traffic jam in the rear. The attacking units suffer from a supply shortage while they give battle to the Romanian Mountain Corps; casualties are high Ponedelin is forced to call off the operation before nightfall. His decision to engage the mechanized corps in front of Chernovtsy, where the mountainous terrain is highly unfavorable, probably facilitated the consolidation of the German-Romanian bridgehead at Briceni.
.........
Cernavodă (Romania) - A Soviet air attack destroys the large railway bridge over the Danube.
This operation is not a usual bombing: the attack is in fact carried out by Yak-1s armed with two bombs of 250 kg each, while the city (which the Russians call Chernovodsky) is outside the range of action of these aircraft, especially weighed down by bombs. In fact, the operation was carried out by a "duo" composed of the 18th Transport Wing (18 four-engine aircraft: 12 Pe-8 and 6 TB-3 "Aviamatki") and the 32nd Fighter Regiment (45 single-engine aircraft: 30 Yak-1 SPB and 15 Polikarpov I-16 SPB). These units belong to the Black Sea Fleet Aviation (VS-VMF ChF) and are based in Yevpatoria, in Crimea. They are the heirs of the formation named in the 30's the "Vakhmistrov Circus" and, in the 30's and, more recently, of the "Shubikov Patrol". The four-engined (Aviamatki) carry under their wings the fighter-bombers (SPB) up to 30 or 50 km from their objective, then drop them taking care to remain out of the zones protected by the enemy's fighters and flak. The single-engine planes then attack in a 30° dive before returning by their own means.
Four Pe-8 took off during the night and dropped their eight Yak-1 "parasites" at dawn, 30 km from the bridge over the Danube. In the absence of the Romanian air force, engaged on the fronts of Bukovina and Bessarabia, and in spite of a strong flak, the Yak-1 SPB carry out their attack, completely destroying the central arch of the bridge and damaging the western part. Their bombs also destroy the pipeline passing under the bridge and supplying the Axis forces in the area.

 

[Wings]

May 29th, 1942

Central Mediterranean - Under a solid fighter cover, the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth and the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, escorted by the DD HMS Nizam and HMAS Norman and the TB MN L'Alcyon, La Palme, Le Mars, Typhon and Ouragan, pass through the Strait of Sicily.

 

[Wings]

May 30th, 1942

Cologne (Köln) - First "Thousand Plane Raid" (Millennium Raid) against Germany.
Exactly 1,047 aircraft attack Cologne (73 Lancasters, 131 Halifaxes, 88 Stirlings, 602 Wellingtons, 92 Hampden and 61 Whitley). Forty are lost. The main targets are bombed by 868 aircraft, destroying 3,330 buildings and killing 486.

Alger - Admiral Ramsay and his staff have a long discussion with French officers.
The use of Canadian troops and Colonel Gambiez's Bataillon de Choc is quickly decided upon, but the French and British disagree on the best location for the planned operation.

 

[Wings]

May 30th, 1942

Near Gacko (Bosnia) - A Catalina seaplane comes to disturb the reflection of the moon on the water of the small lake. In the absence of a radio link and of marked out ground, it is the safest solution that the French services found to try to establish a relation with the Partisans of Tito. Four men go down in an inflatable boat and the seaplane takes off in a hurry, even before the dinghy has touched land.
The place is deserted and no gunfire greets the arrivals. "You see, Laurent, it is not yet for this time. As Benjamin Péret said: "Death to the cows and to the field of honor!" Heavily loaded, the men set off into the mountain. Koča Popović, Tito's lieutenant, Laurent Ravix, a French liaison officer (see Allied agents in Yugoslavia), and two Yugoslav radio operators trained in Algeria make their way north, hoping that the Partisans will not have moved too much in the last five months.