Historical
Pro-armistice elements in the French cabinet agitated for peace. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was unwilling to negotiate a separate peace with Germany. He was asked to resign by French President Albert Lebrun and was replaced with the 84 year-old Philippe Pétain, the hero of Verdun, who was determined to end hostilities with Germany. Pétain asked his Foreign Minister Paul Baudouin to pass a note to the Spanish ambassador asking Spain to request “the conditions Chancellor Hitler would require to put a halt to military operations and sign an armistice.”
In the Mediterranean the French sloop La Curieuse forced the Italian submarine Provana to the surface south of Cabo de Palos, Spain. La Curieuse rammed Provana, sinking her. The British submarine HMS Grampus was sunk by depth charges from Italian torpedo boats Polluce and Circe east of Sicily.
A dozen Breda Ba.88s of the Regia Aeronautica raided Corsica, but three were shot down by ground fire.
Operation Ariel continued evacuating Allied troops from Cherbourg and began at the ports of St Malo, Brest and St. Nazaire.
After tracking the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Andania for 3 days, UA (Hans Cohausz) finally sank her just after midnight, west-north-west of the Faroe Islands. All 347 crew were rescued by the Icelandic trawler Skallagrímur and transferred to the British destroyer. U-101 sank the British MV Wellington Star with torpedoes and her deck gun, west of Cape Finisterre.
The Soviets already had bases in Estonia and Latvia, following agreements made in 1939. The Soviet army invaded Estonia and Latvia, assisted by Soviet troops breaking out from these bases.
The U.S. Congress authorised the sale of munitions to any republic in the Americas.
In Dublin, the premier, Eamonn de Valera, mobilised the Irish Republic’s armed forces.
Game day 290. Japan
The convoy sent to pick up troops arrived in Okinawa.
On the China/Kwangtung border four attacks were carried out.
At DK38, west of Peking, nine infantry battalions attacked two Chinese battalions. The Chinese were wiped out, but two Japanese battalions were also lost.
Six infantry battalions at DI40 were bombed by four Japanese squadrons. Four battalions were lost but the Japanese also lost one squadron.
At DK44 three infantry battalions attacked a single armoured battalion. No casualties were inflicted on either side.
At DJ47 one infantry and three armoured battalions made a desperate attack against four infantry battalions to clear Kwangtung of Chinese forces. The attack failed, leaving the Japanese with only one armoured battalion while the Chinese still had two battalions remaining. The Japanese retreated southwards and the Chinese advanced further into Kwangtung.
Six fighter squadrons were transferred from the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula in Manchkuo to the north of Peking, where they would be in striking distance of Chinese troops.
Credits: Historical information: http://www.worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com, Wikipedia, Chronicle of the Second World War (JL International Publications, 1994). Background image to game maps: Hasbro Ltd.
General Whiskers' semi-historical wanderings 