Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

July 5th, 1942

Kokoda Track - Battle of Templeton's Crossing
"In one of those ironies of which history is wont to be aware, Captain Sam Templeton, 39th Battalion, Australian Militia Force, did not die at the place that immortalizes his memory. Born in Belfast before 1901, Templeton was rejected by the AIF in 1941 on the grounds that he was flat-footed and joined the AMF, almost certainly making himself several years younger to do so. Nicknamed in the Battalion "the Old Man" or "Uncle", he was everywhere, always the first to recognize the enemy positions, at the forefront of every attack, the last to withdraw. He never left a single one of his men behind, dead or alive. His exact fate is unknown, but he fell between Eora and the Crossing, in one of the countless rearguard actions against the Japanese pursuers. When the 39th and 49th Battalions reached the Crossing, his comrades named their next and last battle after him and Lt. Colonel Owen issued his famous "Order to the 39th Queensland Battalion": "The 39th will form up as a hedgehog on the forward entrenchments at Templeton's Crossing. The Battalion will remain in these positions, for as long as they are held, Myola cannot be taken and Port Moresby cannot be threatened. It is here that the 39th will resist. The Battalion will hold this position. Whether its men are alive or dead is of no matter." (B. Marcus, The Australian Armed Forces in World War II)
The battalion's strength rises to nearly 200 men when the (relatively) lightly wounded awaiting evacuation to Myola spontaneously join up to help hold the position, along with most of Myola's stock of grenades - about 6,000 rounds.
The 49th is ordered to hold a position about 1,500 yards away, with the mortars, the 25-pounder and the rest of the supplies, at the point from which the Kagi trail ran, i.e., at Templeton's Crossing itself. This is the last line of defense. The 49th has to detach 80 men to block a side trail that the 39th's forward position only partially covers.
This track bypassed Templeton's Crossing and joins the main track less than 3 km from Myola 1.
In practice, the 39th guards the point that would allow it to overrun and take Templeton's Crossing, while the 49th guarded the point that would allow it to overrun and take the Myola sector and its airfield.
There are no reserves. Atrocious (but typical) weather makes Myola impassable, and this is to be the case for almost two weeks, in spite of the superhuman efforts of the Dutchmen who are piloting the Lodestar transports.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1942

Barbarossa
- Northern sector
Early in the morning, Voroshilov orders the transfer of his HQ from Pskov to Novgorod. This order, hastily executed, begins to cause some panic in the Soviet rear echelons, although Popov, Voroshilov's deputy, gives very firm ordersto defend the city. At the end of the day, Manstein's forces approach the city.
However, the German advance is slowed down by two factors. The first one is a desperate attempt of the VVS to stop the tide of the panzers. The Il-2 ground attack aircraft and the I-153 to cover them harass the German mobile groups and their logistical elements. The Soviets lose 64 planes between Ostrov and the Dvina, half of them shot down by the flak, but their successive attacks end up taking a significant toll on German vehicles. The second factor that slows them down is the scarcity of roads. In the north, the XXIII Corps has to advance along the railroad tracks, because the terrain is often too soft for vehicles. The situation is similar for von Manstein, who can only deploy his forces on the right side of the road, and only on a small width. The Shturmovik and the marshes thus give to Vatutin and Sobennikov a little time to adapt their tactics.
The Luftwaffe, whose Gruppen are seriously weakened, is too busy protecting von Manstein to hinder the Soviet maneuvers. Vatutin hurries to establish solid positions along the Riga-Pskov railroad. Sobennikov withdraws as quickly as possible to the north-east, on a road roughly parallel to Manstein's, with a part of his forces; the rest of his forces move towards Pushkinskye Gory and try to re-establish contact with Tymoshenko's 1st Belorussian Front, in full retreat towards Velikiye Luki. The 34th Army, arriving as reinforcements, begins to deploy around this city, between Voroshilov and Tymoshenko's Fronts.
At the end of the day, the IInd German Corps reaches Polotsk shortly after PzG 3, thus making its junction with Army Group Center. Then, it was ready to move towards Vitebsk.
In the Curonian Spit, Berzarin receives permission to evacuate the Soviet troops east of the German breakthrough, near Mersrags, to the island of Saaremaa, which commands the entrance to the entrance to the Gulf of Riga. But he had to hold firmly to the west, around Ventspils. Indeed, it is clear that as long as the Soviet forces hold both Saaremaa and the northwestern part of Curonian Spit, the Gulf of Riga will be off limits to the Germans and they will not be able to use it to support their troops by sea.
At about 22:00, a meeting of the Stavka confirms these decisions. At the same meeting, Stalin agrees to recall General G.K. Zhukov. This one is immediately summoned to Moscow to receive new orders; he must replace Voroshilov as soon as possible.
...
- Central sector
North of Minsk, Polotsk falls in the afternoon to Hoth's forces, shortly before the arrival of II Corps, Army Group North. But the losses are heavy on both sides and Kuroshkin is able to rally the survivors of his 20th Army to withdraw in good order along the Polotsk-Velikiye Luki railroad. Hoth, who hopes to see the forces from Pskov rush to Novgorod and completely disorganize the Soviet defenses in the whole north of the front, orders his PanzerGruppe to prepare to pivot south, towards Vitebsk, to complete the encirclement and join Guderian's forces.
Around Orsha, the battle continues all day. The city is in ruins when, at nightfall, the German troops finally reach the railway station and the Minsk-Smolensk road, pushing back the remains of the 24th Army. The 43rd Army, coming from the reserves, begins to deploy around Smolensk.
In the south, the XLVI. PanzerKorps continues to move and approaches Gomel. General Boldin, commander of the Central Front, orders a part of Lt-Gen. Efremov's 21st Army to defend Gomel and to stop the southward push of the German armor.
At the end of the day, Stalin reluctantly accepts the Chapochnikov-Vasilevsky plan. The Stavka orders Tymoshenko to let the 22nd Army defend Minsk and to withdraw his other forces towards Vitebsk. Unfortunately, the road is crowded with refugees and the troops cannot move quickly.
...
- Southern sector
During the night, von Kleist perceives that the Soviet forces are weakening in his sector. He orders the XLVIII. PanzerKorps (General Kempf), just reinforced by the 16. Panzer and the Leibstandarte SS Adolf-Hitler, to push towards Zhitomir without worrying about losses. The XIV. PanzerKorps must seize Chepetovka and continue to Starokonstantinov to cut the retreat of the Soviet forces still facing von Reichenau's 6th Army. Finally, the III. PanzerKorps must complete the encirclement of Novograd-Volynskiy.
To support PanzerGruppe 1, Luftflotte 4 commits most of its resources.
However, if Major-General Löhr had 738 aircraft under his command at the beginning of Barbarossa, he only commands 337 aircraft, despite a continuous flow of reinforcements, and only 199 ae operational (including 48 Ju 52). Of these 199, 151 (including 31 Ju 52) are engaged in support of the PzG-1, which leaves only 48 aircraft (including 17 Ju 52) to cover the three other armies of Army Group South, with the meager support of the Hungarian, Slovakian and Romanian air forces. On the other side, thanks to the massive commitment of the 5th Air Army, the Soviets benefit at this time on the Ukrainian front of a numerical superiority of about 3.5 to 1 in terms of combat aircraft (excluding transport and reconnaissance aircraft).
The air battle continues throughout the day over the advancing PzG-1 units.
The VVS lose 89 aircraft in this sector alone (22% of operational aircraft deployed) and the Luftwaffe 37 (but that makes 31% of its operational combat aircraft). The Luftwaffe cannot sustain such losses for long. Moreover, it is unable to prevent the Soviet ground support aircraft from significantly delaying the advance of Kleist's armor. On the road to Chepetovka, the Germans are stopped at Grishev, and eastward, they are 50 km from Zhitomir. This city is desperately preparing to defend itself; the entire population, including women and teenagers, is mobilized to dig trenches and anti-tank ditches. Vinnitsa is preparing in the same way. Under the cover of the night, a plane picks up General Rokossovsky and drops him off in Zhitomir, where he is to organize what is called the "second line of operational defense" of the Ukrainian Front.
Further south, Stülpnagel's forces reach the upper reaches of the Yuzhniy Bug (South Bug) but cannot cut the Khmitel'skiy-Vinnitsa road.
...
- Black Sea
The Black Sea Fleet commissions in Sevastopol the first squadron (8 ships) of ROFS-82 (G-5 launches equipped with rocket launchers). These ships are in charge of taking
commandos to disembark on the enemy's rear and to execute night after night a continuous harassment of the enemy forces operating near the coast.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1942

Ionian Sea - The situation is very calm, although the French and Yugoslav aircraft continue to search for the two Italian destroyers that survived the Battle of the Zakynthos Strait. The two survivors of the battle, the Gioberti and Camicia Nera, reach the port of Patras. A few days later, they can return to Bari without worries.
As a consolation, some French DB-73 fall on the small escort Zirona (ex Yugoslav Jastreb), which they send to the bottom.
The 2nd EAFC is assigned to support operation Ajax to compensate for the loss of the monitors sunk or disabled during this battle, but it does not have much to do.

Rome - Supermarina, the Italian naval staff, decides to cancel the convoy to Piraeus planned for the following night. After the losses suffered by the Regia Marina, it seems impossible to effectively protect slow transports in the Gulf of Patras against allied naval forces that could rely on the forces controlling Zanthe. Equipment and supplies will have to be landed in Dubrovnik, and transported from there to Greece by train...

Athens - Drawing without delay the lesson of the fall of Zanthe, general Geloso orders general Mazzini, through his direct superior, general Gamaleri, chief of the XXVI CA, to slide towards the south part of the forces of his Acqui division stationed in Corfu. In the following days, Mazzini moves his own headquarters from Corfu to Cephalonia, with the Blackshirt battalion that had been added to his division, the 33rd mortar battalion of 81 mm, the 33rd gun company of 47/32 anti-tank guns, a company of machine gunners and finally the I/33rd RA (12 howitzers of 100/17).

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1942

Rhodes - Brief stopover of the first Lend-Lease convoy for the USSR. The Aegean Squadron welcomes the transports it has to escort to Turkish waters. The command of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet warns the Allies that Odessa is no longer safe from enemy air attacks, and that the convoy would have to go to the Sea of Azov.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1942

Alger - General J. Doolittle (USAAF) and Air Vice-Marshal Tedder (RAF) come to discuss with the the Commander in Chief of the Allied Air Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, General Bouscat, of the new offensive in preparation against Ploesti (operation Blowlamp).

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Liverpool - A French liner disembarks the pilots of the 1st EC. This unit will be reform in Great Britain under the command of Major Paoli (assisted by Commanders Dupérier, Soviche and Robillon), to take part in offensive operations in occupied northern France and was symbolically equipped with the brand new Spitfire Mk.IX. Its three groups have to operate from Biggin Hill after transformation on the Supermarine fighter, which has just entered service.
Among the 66 pilots who land in Liverpool, most are very experienced, but some of them had just graduated from the Meknes fighter school and owed their assignment to their excellent grades. In the pages of the Group I/1 Marching Log, we read that
"The sergeant-pilot P. Clostermann, always confident in his good star, made the trip with three impressive fishing rods, which he managed to conceal from the inspection during the embarkation in Casablanca. When Captain Mouchotte and Captain Martell [his real name was Pierre Montet] asked him if he really hoped to catch German planes on the hook, the Clostermann replied that British trout would save the Group from having to choose between starving and eating porridge." The I/1 Marching Log is decorated with numerous drawings in Clostermann's hand, including one in which he is seen fishing from the deck of the liner and asking the ship's captain, who is distraught: "Are you sure you sure you can't slow down? I have a bite!"

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

England - The 9th AF takes possession of Polebrook and Grafton Underwood bases, built for the USAAF under the reverse Lend-Lease.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Washington, Alger - President Roosevelt wishes to have a senior military officer as his personal advisor and to serve as a contact with the leaders of the three services,
Admiral Ernest King (US Navy), General George Marshall (US Army) and General Henry Arnold (US Army Air Force). The President chooses an old acquaintance: Admiral Leahy,
then US ambassador to Algiers. Leahy is therefore appointed "Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy" (i.e. the President of the United States).
He is replaced in Algiers by Anthony Biddle, who had accompanied the French leaders to Toulouse in the dark days of the summer of 1940. As US ambassador in Warsaw, he had already followed the Polish leaders in exile in Paris and had resumed his functions with them in Algiers after the Grand Déménagement, while continuing to cultivate his relations with the reinstalled "Quai d'Orsay" reinstalled in Rue Michelet.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Bihac (Bosnia) - First session of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), the provisional assembly of the Yugoslav Republic of Labor, chaired by the Croatian jurist Ivan Ibar. This enlightened liberal, president of the first Yugoslav National Assembly from 1920 to 1922, had then adopted a moderate opposition to the royal dictatorship. He served as a democratic guarantor for the "Republic of Tito". His first speech underlines the success of the Partisans: a liberated area of 50,000 km² and 2 million inhabitants, with its post office, its telephone, its railroad, its schools, its aviation! The Orthodox churches, closed by the Ustasha, are reopened. The first elections have representatives from all over the country, even if some representations are rather symbolic. And among the elected, we notice several women, which is not commonplace at this date and in this part of Europe (or even elsewhere...).
The applause is overwhelming. The happiest is perhaps Ivo Lola Ibar, who stands next to Captain Laurent Ravix, officer of the French military mission. "Dad was great, wasn't he?" Ivo Lola, leader of the Jeunesses Travaillistes and liaison officer with the mission, is always happy to speak the language of Paris. And he is even happier that this war has allowed him to reconcile with his father.
A detail that Ivo Lola avoids mentioning, because it would put a shadow on this festive day, is that the first session of the AVNOJ was delayed for a week. Tito did not want the French to be present in the city when the Partisans entered and were purging the "traitors to the Yugoslav Fatherland".

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Operation Pedestal
00:50 - The airfield of Alor Setar is bombed by 17 Wellingtons of Sqn 14 and 104. The results are limited and two bombers are damaged by the flak.
01:40 - Five Blenheim IV of Sqn 60, temporarily based at Sabang, bomb the airfield of Medan. Here again, the results are negligible, except for the fact that these attacks considerably annoy the Japanese command.
03:15 - The minesweepers take position around the six transports. The six "S" class DDs, the four Emergency class DDs and the two French form two columns of six, on each side of the column of transports. The Lynx precedes the group and the 24 Fairmiles follow. The sea is not very rough, the wind is light, and the cloud cover is 3/10.
08:25 - The clouds, which begin to thicken after sunrise, do not prevent a J1N1-C fast reconnaissance aircraft from Kanoya Kokutai from flying over Port Blair at high altitude. Neither the Supermarine-Folland 355 ("Floatfire") nor the Spitfire IIs are able to intercept it and the crew, back in Ipoh, reports that several large ships are anchored in Port Blair. The photos show at least two heavy cruisers and two large transports - these are the "Green Tea" ships. These observations, transmitted to Rear Admiral Kurita, are consistent with the increase in Allied radio traffic. "It appears," says the Imperial Navy intelligence report, "that a new supply operation of the Andaman and probably a forthcoming attempt by a fast ship destined for Singapore are causing intense enemy activity."
16:00 - The weather is getting worse by the hour. Kurita orders the 1st Torpedo Boat Division to patrol the Straits, in the faint hope of hooking one of the fast blockade runners that the Royal Navy is sending to supply Singapore. Shortly afterwards, in front of the flood of radio messages from Penang and Sabang, he decides to send the four Siamese torpedo boats operating from Telok Anson to patrol north of the 1st Torpedo Boat Division.
17:00 - The weather deteriorates more and more. Over the convoy, heading southeast, the cloud cover is 8/10 and the Colombo and Port Blair weather stations warn Somerville that the worsening will continue overnight, while a very active low-pressure system will cross the region from southwest to northeast. However, the weather is expected to improve gradually during the day on the 7th, allowing for possible enemy air operations.
19:30 - Kurita gives Kondo the report of his intelligence services. At that moment, Kondo's squadron is 200 nautical miles south of Mako. There is no indication that anything other than another run by a fast blockade runner is happening, and Kondo continues to make way at 15 knots towards Kuching Bay with his two battleships and two light aircraft carriers.
Kurita decides to warn Yamashita's HQ as well, and to put his squadron on thirty minute alert. The Army has observed a high level of enemy air activity in the previous days,
and Yamashita considers the possibility of a larger operation than a simple run to Singapore, perhaps a convoy of reinforcements to Sabang. He then orders the 10th Hikodan, in Sumatra, to conduct neutralization raids on Sabang the following day.
22:00 - As the convoy approaches the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the cloud cover reaches 10/10, with gales up to 80 km/h. The Command in Burma warns Somerville that the operation Cuckoo has to be cancelled, as the weather prohibits any glider flight over Malaysia.
23:00 - The Japanese Army radar at Taiping detects the usual Allied seaplane heading for Singapore, then the one that arrived the day before, which follow the opposite route. For the technicians of Taiping, it is routine. As they have no night fighters, the Japanese can do nothing against these round trips, and the radar operators are content to use these echoes to calibrate their equipment.
23:30 - The weather is terrible. Severe thunderstorms are drowning the western part of Malaysia, from the west coast to Kuala Lumpur. On the Andaman Sea, the weather is just as bad.
Three Fairmile launches are damaged and the ML-138 even has to be scuttled. The B flotilla is dispersed and cannot join the convoy until the morning of the 7th.
00:00 - The Siamese torpedo boats also suffer in the storm. They remain at their posts, but they can see absolutely nothing. Kurita begins to wonder if the hypothetical blockade-runner ever existed, or if he had already passed. He orders the 21st Koku Sentai (Air Flotilla) to prepare reconnaissance for the next day, when the weather calms down and then he goes to bed.
At this same time, the convoy passes the Phuket - Banda-Aceh line.

French Destroyer MN Tempete, Operation Pedestal, July 1942

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Corregidor - MacArthur hands over command of Allied forces in the Philippine archipelago by radio to Wainwright, who is in relative safety in Mindanao. Furious that they could not order a general surrender, the Japanese nevertheless try to capture him.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Kokoda Track - Battle of Templeton's Crossing
Japanese reconnaissance elements arrive in the area of the "Crossing".
As the battle is about to begin at Templeton's Crossing, the 18th Brigade of the AIF (7th Division) advances at a forced march along the Track. At first, Brigadier Wootten did not believe the stories of the AMF casualties evacuated to Port Moresby about the difficulties of marching through the jungles of the New Guinea mountains, but he is soon disabused of this notion. The men of the AMF were not exaggerating, it is almost the opposite...
While the three battalions of the 18th Brigade (2/9th, 2/10th and 2/12th) are stretching out on the trail, elements of the 3rd AMF Division arrive in Port Moresby, but gradually, due to the lack of transportation. Most of the troops of this large unit have to go and reinforce the Milne Bay garrison.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Off Brisbane (Coffs Harbour) - In calm seas, the Japanese submarine I-31 launches its E14Y1 "Glen" seaplane. This one spots a convoy heading south at 100 nautical miles, but nothing heading towards Brisbane. The seaplane manages to return to the submarine and even (a rare occurrence) be recovered intact. This is the beginning of phase 3c of Operation Oni.
The scout submarine I-31 and the 26th and 33rd Submarine Divisions were chosen to assess the value of German group attack tactics against Allied shipping on the east coast of Australia, as the older submarines seemed unfit for the intended task - to weaken the Allied surface fleet before the decisive battle.
- The 26th Division is commanded by the I-5. Three older submarines, Ro-61, Ro-62 and Ro-63, accompany it.
- The 33rd Division is commanded by the I-6. It is accompanied by the Ro-64, Ro-65 and Ro-67.
- The I-31 is a recent submarine that accompanies the two divisions to serve as a scout and to spot enemy ships - which is the role of the B1 class, to which this submarine belongs. As expected, it arrived a little ahead of schedule.
The general plan is to sweep the Australian coast southwards from Brisbane, the Type Ro preceded by the Type I.
(From Research for Australian Official Histories, 1949, Research notes by Mr Norman)

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Zhejiang and Jiangxi Campaign - After a crazy race of 80 km, the Chinese forces of General Xue arrive at Chaheje, 10 km south of Juzhang. There, Japanese troops are entrenched between the Lu Mountains to the east and a hilly area to the west.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Barbarossa
- Northern sector
In the early morning, German troops enter Pskov, but part of the city has been transformed into a fortress and violent fights break out. In the confusion caused by Voroshilov's orders, the bridges over the Velikaya are only damaged and not destroyed; one of them is even still strong enough to let tanks and motorized infantry pass.
Von Manstein, leaving his infantry to take care of the last Soviet defenders, decides to continue towards Luga to open the door of Leningrad. However, the attacks of the VVS continue without respite. If, most of the time, the tanks are invulnerable to the weapons used at that time by the Soviet air force, the non-armored vehicles suffer a lot.
At noon, Zhukov's plane lands in Novgorod. Zhukov immediately goes to the headquarters of Voroshilov and hands him a brief handwritten note from Stalin himself: "Pass the command of the Northern Front to Comrade Zhukov and return immediately to Moscow by plane". At 14:25, the plane that had brought Zhukov takes Voroshilov.
Zhukov does not waste a moment. At 16:00, he radioes all the Soviet units on the Pskov-Lugov axis the order "not to take a step backwards". At 18:10, he reaches
Chernyakovsky, whose armored units are assembled north of Pskov, and orders him to attack the next morning against the enemy vanguards. Shortly thereafter, he contacts Sobennikov: "Carry out a decisive move from Pushkinskye Gory to Ostrov, against the southeast flank of the German attack." Zhukov would have wanted Vatutin to join the operation by attacking the northwestern flank of Manstein's breakthrough; however, learning that the German forces are advancing on the Riga-Pskov road to Ape, he approves Vatutin's decision to withdraw to a Parnu-Tartu line. He even decides to send to Tartu the 42nd Army, just formed in Narva. Finally, he calls General Novikov, commander of the VVS: "Give me one day of air superiority in the Pskov region, comrade! One day is all I ask, but it must be tomorrow!"
Zhukov then takes the road to Luga, rallying along the way units in retreat, or even in flight.
The words he uses, brutal but cordial for the simple lost soldiers, are all the more harsh as the men are ranked. And when he discovers a lieutenant-colonel far to the rear of his unit and without any order to explain his behavior, words are no longer enough. Georgi Konstantinovich accuses the officer of desertion before the enemy and immediately applies the planned sanction: taking out his service weapon, he executes the fugitive on the spot. This episode is quickly spread throughout the Red Army...
In Courland, von Küchler's 18th Army now turns towards Ventspils. It leaves the Soviet light naval forces the possibility to start evacuating to Saaremaa the troops isolated in the east of the peninsula, including those of the Jürmala bridgehead. As Berzarin asks the Baltic Fleet for maximum support, Admiral Tributs promises him a major operation for the following night.
...
- Central Sector
In the north, Hoth let General Ruoff's V Corps pushes the survivors of the defenders of Polotsk towards Velikiye Luki and pivots towards Vitebsk with Von Sponeck and Schmidt's XXXIX Corps. But all these units have suffered a lot since the beginning of Tymoshenko's offensive, which they had to repel. The 20. Panzer is reduced to 54 operational tanks and the 19. to 48; the very experienced but very stressed 2. Panzer suffered only slightly less. The German officers have to form several KampfGruppen to advance. These improvised formations are supported all day long by the Luftwaffe, which attacks Vitebsk and the Minsk-Vitebsk road, creating considerable confusion. The VVS, very weakened, are unable to protect Tymoshenko's forces in full retreat. However, the sky over Vitebsk is vigorously contested.
At 10:20, Guderian triumphantly reports to von Sodenstern, at the GA Center HQ: "Orsha fallen, let's advance rapidly towards Smolensk". While the first part of the message is undoubtedly accurate, the second part is not. After seven days of continuous fighting, the armored and mechanized units are severely short of fuel and ammunition. Moreover, the units that went up the Dnieper towards Smolensk are constantly counter-attacked by Soviet units.
While the XLVI. PanzerKorps approaches Gomel from the north, General von Vietinghoff-Scheel's forces encounter the 21st Army, supported by the gunboats of the Dnieper Flotilla. For the first time since Moghilev, the German advance is stopped.
...
- South sector
The reinforced XLVIII. PanzerKorps resumes its advance towards Zhitomir, but it is constantly harassed by Soviet aircraft. The unarmored vehicles are very vulnerable and a part of the fuel reserves of the 16. Panzerdivision is destroyed on the road. The German forces also have to face small counter-attacks launched from Novograd- Volynskiy by the Soviets, almost but not quite surrounded. During the night, the 1st Airborne Corps launches a counter-attack against the 44.ID and manages to keep the road to Korosten open. Further south, what is now called the "Vlassov Group" fights all day against the 9. Panzer, the SS Wiking Division and the Hermann-Göring Motorized Parachute Regiment (XIV. PanzerKorps) after Grishev. Well supported by the VVS, the Soviets prevent the XIV. PzK from advancing towards Starokonstantinov. However, the road to Kazatin passes under German control.
In the area of operations of PzG 1, 41 Soviet and 20 German aircraft are shot down during the day.
Respecting Stalin's decision, Konev's men attack shortly before dawn. In the uncensored version of his memoirs, published at the end of the 1980s, Konev was to frankly admit that he had no hope of cutting off Stülpnagel's forces, but that he hoped to force the 17th Army to protect its left flank, thus delaying the moment when it would reach the Khmel'nitskiy-Vinnitsa road. Once again, the Soviets fall on the Hungarian Corps, whose units have already been weakened by the previous fighting. Von Stülpnagel has no choice: he must commit his reserves, the 86. and 98. ID, to prevent Konev's forces from advancing to Dunaevtsy. Konev is stopped, but he has achieved his personal goal, as the 17th Army is unable to reach the main road to Vinnitsa.
At the beginning of the night, the Stavka meets to hear Kirponos report on the day's events. Not without reluctance, Stalin agrees to let the forces still facing the German 6th Army wthdraw. The dictator is angry: "We would not be obliged to do so if the counter-attack of Konev to Dunaevtsy had not failed!" It is necessary that Shaposhnikov and Vasilevsky have to explain that this failure is not due to the lack of courage of his men nor to any "defeatist" spirit of their leader, but to the sad state of the Soviet units engaged.
...
- Black Sea
A large Soviet squadron leaves Sevastopol to escort the first Lend-Lease convoy, which is to arrive in the Black Sea via the Bosporus. The squadron includes the cruisers Voroshilov and Molotov and the destroyers Bditelnyi, Besposhchadnyi, Bezuprechnyi, Bodryi, Boikyi, Bystryi, Smyshlonnyi and Soobrazitelnyi.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Lesbos - French Mustang I aircraft begin taking off before dawn from Lesbos for a communications operation in mainland Greece. Flying in groups of eight, the planes of the 2nd Fighter Squadron spread their attacks over the whole day, not only to disorganize as much as possible the enemy transports, but to prevent the Luftwaffe from attacking the Lend-Lease convoy which is heading towards the USSR.
By sunset, 88 combat missions had been accomplished: six locomotives were destroyed (and six trains stopped), about sixty trucks and other vehicles eliminated and eleven aircraft shot down (4) or destroyed on the ground (7). The French lose seven Mustangs - four in aerial combat, two under the blows of the always dangerous flak and one that hit the ground south of Larissa for no apparent reason.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Alger - Doolittle, Tedder and Bouscat have three topics on the agenda for their interviews on Blowlamp.
- The RAF forces, tasked with the night attack, are numerous. Tedder confirms the arrival at Bomber Command Middle-East of a second Wing from Stirling trained especially for this operation (251st Wing: Sqn 196, 622 and 623, that is to say 70 Stirlings) and a wing of Manchesters. This one is the last one still equipped with the big "Medium-Heavy", but it has the advantage over its predecessors (including those shipped to Malaysia) to be powered by a new Vulture engine, the Mk X, deeply modified. This wing (203rd Wing: Sqn 9, 12 and 57, i.e. 72 Manchester Ic) was temporarily ordered by the WingCo. Guy Gibson, temporarily detached from Sqn 106. In addition to their Vulture X. engines the Manchester Ic's distinguishing feature is the fairing that replaces their front turret (not very useful for night bombers) to reduce weight and drag.
RAF experts calculated that by taking off from the very long runways at Heraklion, the Stirlings could carry 8,000 pounds of bombs to Ploesti. The Manchesters and Wellingtons of the 202nd Wing will be able to remove respectively 9,000 and 4,500 pounds by taking off from Heraklion, provided that they landed at Chios or Mytilene (Lesbos). The RAF plans to engage twelve squadrons in the operation (six Stirlings, three Manchesters and three Wellingtons), that is to say nearly two hundred and eighty aircraft*.
All these squadrons form Group 205. Its command is entrusted to Air Commodore Alan Ritchie (until then head of Group 204, composed of medium bomber squadrons
bombers in the Mediterranean).
- The daylight strike force is less impressive. The USAAF could only engage only two Bomber Groups (the 98th and 376th), or 96 aircraft. The Armée de l'Air committed the entire 60th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, i.e. 80 aircraft (including 12 in operational reserve). The daytime strike force is thus made up of 176 B-24Ds, covered by two Fighter Groups of the USAAF: the 1st FG (27th, 71st and 94th FS) and the 14th FG (48th, 49th and 50th FS), both equipped with 54 P-38Fs, and by the 60 P-38Es of the French 13th EC (164 fighters total). The Liberators will also be based in Heraklion, from where they will be able to carry 8,000 pounds of bombs to Ploesti. The fighters will be based in Mytilene, with Limnos playing the role of rescue ground. The daytime strikes will be mainly in charge of starting fires important enough to allow the night bombers to attack with reasonable accuracy.
- Third, camouflage measures to prevent the enemy from taking countermeasures by noticing the concentration in Crete of so many heavy bombers are necessary. AVM Tedder announced that the Spitfire VI flight operating from Heraklion to stop intrusions of the Ju 86P reconnaissance aircraft will be reinforced by brand new Spitfire VII from mid-July onwards.

* It is planned that after the end of the operation, the three Manchester squadrons will join Bomber Command Far East.

 

[Wings]

July 6th, 1942

Spitsbergen - The entire Gauntlet squadron set course for Scotland, after having destroyed the meteorological apparatus of the Cape Linné station. During the whole operation, this one has conscientiously sent false weather messages indicating a thick fog, to discourage the Luftwaffe reconnaissance flights.
The British ships leave behind a Norwegian garrison equivalent to a company: 95 men in Barentsburg, with two 100 mm guns, an anti-ship battery (three 40 mm Bofors and three heavy machine guns) and... 24 sled dogs, while Longyearbyen is occupied by 53 soldiers. This impressive force, with two small 32-foot patrol boats, is placed under the command of Lt-Colonel Einar Sverdrup.
(From J. Jonathan, Les convois de Murmansk et la guerre dans l'Arctique, Marabout Université, Brussels)

 

[Wings]

July 7th, 1942

London - Deciding to act quickly, Spaak meets Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to the British government, in the Foreign Office, where both were invited by Eden in the presence of the French High Commissioner in London (Joseph Paul-Boncour), in order to preserve appearances.
Spaak is aware that the balance of power did not really allow him to put the Soviet Union in position of requesting the restoration of the diplomatic relations with Belgium. After having briefly evoked the bitterness that the rupture of July 1941 had caused to the Belgians, he agrees with Maisky to consider that the diplomatic relations between the two countries had only been "interrupted" (not "broken") and that there is therefore no reason to establish new ones!
A terse press release concludes the meeting: "Mr. Paul-Henri Spaak, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Belgian Government, and His Excellency Ivan Maisky, ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the Government of His Britannic Majesty's Government, met today at the Foreign Office, in the presence of Sir Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary, and Mr. Joseph Paul-Boncour, High Commissioner of the French Republic, in order to arrange for the exchange of representatives between their respective countries."

 

[Wings]

July 7th, 1942

Rastenburg (the "Wolf's Lair") - The management of the Heereswaffenamt meets to discuss the results of the mission sent to evaluate the deficiencies of the German armor
on the Russian front.
To the great dismay of all the general officers present, it is quickly evident, according to all the reports, that the armored vehicles of the Wehrmacht are seriously outclassed by the Russian T-34s and KV-1s (as the battle of Pskov will show it again the same day in a dramatic way).
Machines such as the Pz-II or even the Pz-38(t) became practically useless. The Pz-III, linchpin of the Panzerdivisions, is totally outdated in firepower as well as in armor by the new medium and heavy tanks of the Russians. The new breakthrough tank, the Pz-V, seriously lacks firepower. It will be relatively easy to give it a more powerful armament, but nothing can be done to modify the vertical armor of its flanks. The Pz-IV is easier to build in large numbers than the Pz-V, but its protection is even less satisfactory. The only solution is to develop new armor. A Committee (PanzerStaß) is then organized on Todt's order to write programs for a medium and a heavy tank. However, it is obvious that none of these vehicles would be able to equip the front line units before the end of 1943.
To temporarily remedy this very worrying situation, it was decided to use the very reliable chassis of the Pz-II and Pz-38(t) to develop tank fighters equipped with the 75 mm/L48 gun as soon as it will be available in quantity. The StuG-III will also see their armament reinforced, with a 75 mm/L43 gun (then L/48) or with a 105 mm howitzer capable of firing powerful HEAT shells.
As for the tanks, it is impossible to stop the production of the Pz-III, whatever its limitations, because in the absence of an efficient replacement, the very existence of the German armored forces would be threatened. The only solution is to rearm the tank with 50 mm/L60 or with the 75 mm/L24 used until then on the Pz-IV (the size of the Pz-III's turret prohibits the installation of a bigger gun). But this improvement competes with the with the tank hunter program for 50 mm/L60 AT guns.
On the other hand, the Pz-IV and Pz-V Leopard can be significantly upgraded. A new turret will allow the Pz-IV to be equipped with the 75 mm/L48. Engineers estimate that it will take five months for the first production tanks to be produced. The current turret of the Pz-V can immediately be equipped with the 75 mm/L48; with some modifications, it will be able to receive the new 75 mm/L70, for which tests have been completed. However, the armor cannot be tilted. In the end, the Pz-V is only a stopgap.
The development of the Panzer VI, then at the prototype stage (Henschel's tank was chosen against Porsche's), was accelerated and absolute priority was given to new projects.
MAN and Daimler-Benz are ready to compete for the future medium tank, which must have thick armor, a wide wheelbase, a maximum speed of 55 km/h and (at that time) a 75 mm/L70 gun. The result will be the famous Panzer VII Panther.
Porsche and Henschel, on their side, decide to compete for the program of a heavy tank which will be the monstrous Panzer VIII Löwe, whose fame will exceed by far the actual role.
Both programs had to be developed urgently and the Waffenprüfamt-6 (armored vehicle development section of the Heereswaffenamt) requested that the Pz-VII project be submitted before December 20th, 1942 and that of the Pz-VIII before March 1943. The first production example of the new medium tank was to be delivered on August 1st, 1943, and the first heavy tank in series at the beginning of 1944.
.........
Once these decisions were made, Hitler proposed to mount Flak-36 or 37 88 mm guns on open chassis, allowing to quickly obtain very powerful anti-tank vehicles (in fact, the Führer had already noted the anti-tank potential of the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun in 1938). The officers of the Heereswaffenamt have a difficult time. They have to explain to Hitler that his army lacks 88 mm guns because in the middle of the 30's, "they" predicted a violent but short-lived war. All the 88 mm guns received the R.A.9 tube, which includes a jacket, a sleeve and an inner tube, all three cut in three elements, the central section comprising the first part of the rifling and the forcing cone. It is possible, after 900 shots (the expected life of the tube), to dismantle the barrel to change only the central section. The R.A.9 tube thus makes it possible to put in reserve only central sections, and not complete tubes, which is very economic in peace time. However, the industrial tolerances in the manufacture of the tube are very reduced, in particular for the central section, and the number of working hours necessary to produce a complete tube exceeds by far the number of hours needed to produce a conventional tube of the same size. This would not have been a problem if the war had been short. But now, the Wehrmacht, which has a solid reserve of 88 mm center sections (which allows it to repair damaged tubes), lacks guns, and the technological trickery of their manufacture represents a serious bottleneck prohibiting the acceleration of their production, whether it is the old Flak-36 or 37 or the new Rheinmetall Flak-41. The assembly lines cannot be quickly reorganized, as almost all machine tools were designed to produce three-section gun tubes and are too small to produce one-piece tubes.
There is hardly any solution available.
Krupp then makes a proposal that seemed promising: to develop a specially adapted anti-tank/ tank gun from the Rheinmetall Flak-41. But if this proposal is accepted with joy, these guns could not be available before the end of 1943.
[According to Maurice Héninger's book "L'épreuve du feu - L'évolution des outils militaires durant la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale" (Plon Ed., Paris, 1985)