Day: June 21, 2020

Historical

French and German delegates met to negotiate peace at the 1918 armistice site at Compiègne, France. Hitler had the railway carriage in which the WWI armistice was signed removed from a French museum and placed exactly where it had been located in 1918.  He attended the opening stages but soon left the meeting.  Germany’s armistice terms were harsh and allowed no negotiation, only questions for clarification.  A point of contention was the size of the zone that the Germans were to occupy, so the war dragged on for another day.  In the evening General Huntzinger, leading the French delegation, called his government in Bordeaux to obtain further instructions and was told to accept the German terms.

Italian troops launched an attack through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps but were stopped by a snow storm.  Thirty-two Italian divisions under the overall command of Crown Prince Umberto attacked three French divisions commanded by René Olry, but failed to make much progress.  They also attacked along the French Riviera towards Nice, but were held up by a French NCO and seven men only five miles inside France at Menton.

German U-boat attacks on allied and neutral shipping intensified.  Twenty U-boats were now at sea.  Six allied and neutral vessels were sunk.  U-99 was returning to Bergen with a sick crewman when an Arado 196 scout aircraft from the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst mistook her for a British submarine and attacked.  U-99 continued to Wilhelmshaven for repairs.

Winston Churchill, impressed by the German use of parachute infantry, ordered the creation of a force of 5,000 infantry to be trained in parachuting.

Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone became the 16th Governor General of Canada.  Canada passed the National Resources Mobilization Act.

King Carol of Roumania assumed new dictatorial powers as leader of the “National Party.”

Game day 295.  Italy

Contrary to their historical lack of success, twelve Italian units, half of them armoured, attacked six French units at AU35.  At the same time six fighter units attacked the last remaining French fighter unit at AT35.   The Italians lost a total of three infantry, one armour and one fighter units, while the French lost two infantry units and the last of their air force.  The French retreated, pursued by the Italian armoured units.

In Libya six infantry units continued to move eastwards towards the British who had crossed the border from Eqypt and eighteen new units were deployed around Tripoli.  Eighteen infantry units were also deployed in Italian East Africa, threatening Egypt from the south.

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.   Other maps and photographs Odhams Press Limited.