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June 18, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England. |
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Note the report in column 4: "Ship Torpedoed in Mozambique Channel" |
(The Yugoslavian freighter Supetar was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-16. The report claims seven crewmen were killed, which was incorrect. All thirty-three men survived.) |
June 18, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England. |
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Note the report in columns 3-4: "How Convoy Battled Through to Malta" |
(This headline was pure propaganda. There are only two words I can think of that describes what happened to the convoys, complete disaster. There were two convoys, Harpoon, from Gibraltar to Malta and Vigorous, from Alexandria to Malta. The British were desperate to resupply the island, which had been under German and Italian attack for some time. Without going to deeply into this, here are the raw numbers. Convoy Harpoon consisted of 6 merchantmen, an escort of 1 anti-aircraft cruiser, 10 destroyers, 4 minesweepers and 6 motor gunboats. There was also a covering force of 1 battleship, 2 aircraft carriers, 3 cruisers and 8 destroyers. Of this, 4 merchantmen were sunk, 1 was damaged and had to be towed to Malta, only 1 made it undamaged. The escort lost 3 destroyers and a further 2 destroyers and 1 minesweeper were damaged. Convoy Vigorous consisted of 11merchantmen with an escort of 8 cruisers, 22 destroyers, a dummy battleship for AA support, 2 rescue ships, 4 corvettes, 3 minesweepers and several towed motor torpedo boats. The British also had a screen of no less than 13 submarines hunting for enemy warships. Of this convoy, 2 merchantmen were sunk, 2 were damaged, none made it to Malta, the convoy was turned around due to heavy enemy attacks. Two merchantmen diverted to Tobruk. [The references to a Tobruk convoy in the press reports are incorrect, there was no Tobruk convoy, only the two ships that diverted from Vigorous went to Tobruk out of necessity. The escort and covering force lost 4 destroyers and one MTB. Two cruisers and one corvette were damaged. Of all the losses, only one was due to a U-boat, and one due to surface forces, the remaining losses were caused by Italian torpedo aircraft and German dive bombers. Italian losses were one cruiser sunk, Trento [damaged by an air attack, torpedoed and sunk by HM submarine Umbra] and one battleship, Littorio, slightly damaged. Two other ships, a cruiser and destroyer may have also received slight damage. The British public would not be made aware of the fate of these convoys for some time. While reports hinted at the fact that there were heavy losses, many statements from the Admiralty claimed that Malta had been resupplied, which was false.) |
June 18, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales. |
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Note the report in columns 4-5: "Slave Trains From France to Germany" |
June 18, 1942: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The News, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. |
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Note the report in column 4: "Grim Warning To Czechs" |
(The Nazis warn the Czech people to turn over the killers of Reinhard Heydrich, "Otherwise the heaviest penalties would be inflicted.") |
Also note the report in column 4 "Persecution In Poland" |
(In recent months
over 6,000 Poles have been forcibly deported.) |
June 18, 1942: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. |
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Note the report in column 1: "Ration Sugar July First" |
Also note the report in column 7: "Gordon Rules No Increase In Milk Price" |
June 18, 1942: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. |
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Note the headline report: "Retribution Demanded For Czech Killings" |
June 18, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California. |
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June 18, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany. |
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1. Einziges Bild der Zerstörung im Mittelmeer - England verlor 110 000 BRT. und sieben Kriegsschiffe. |
(The only picture of destruction in the Mediterranean - England lost 110,000 GRT. and seven warships.) |
June 18, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP. |
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1. England über den Rommel-Sieg - Britische Hauptstreitkräfte in einen Falle gelockt - Schwerer Schock in London und Neuyork. |
(England on Rommel victory - British main forces trapped - Severe shock in London and New York.) |
Page published June 18, 2023 |