The following is the news headlines as reported in the German "Rheinische Landeszeitung" newspaper June 1941........
1st/2nd June 1941. The Crete battle is almost at an end. A breakout attempt from Tobruk in North Africa has been foiled. U-boats sink 44 000 tons of shipping.
Captain Lindemann, the Commander of the Bismarck
One of the many forts near Tobruk
New flag for smaller Kriegsmarine vessels that do not fly the Reichskriegsflagge
3rd June 1941. Führer meets with Duce on the Brenner Pass. Third British air raid on Sfax in Vichy Tunisia.
Map showing the importance of Crete to the war effort
Mountain troops land on Crete in Ju52 transport aircraft
4th June 1941. Harbours at Tyne and Humber bombed. 21.000 tons of shipping sunk from a British convoy.
5th June 1941. RAF bomb Beirut. Kaiser Wilhelm II dies. 7 British ships sunk in Atlantic.
6th June 1941. Knights Cross for Korvettenkapitän Schneider, the gunnery officer on the Bismarck who controlled the guns that sank HMS Hood. The news had been telegraphed to Schneider before the Bismarck sank.
The Führer meets the Duce
7th June 1941. Luftwaffe sink 15.800 tons of shipping.
Dr. Ante Pavelic, the Croat leader, meets with the Führer
Mountain troops on Crete
8th June 1941. King Boris of Bulgaria meets with the Führer. 30.000 tons of shipping sunk. Italian air raid on Gibraltar. Heavy fighting in Italian East Africa.
Supplies being unloaded in Crete
German troops near Tobruk
9th June 1941. U-boats sink 42.641 tons of shipping. English advances in Syria, Beirut bombarded.
The Goethe Medal for Art and Science is awarded to Professor Junghanns
Professor Junghanns, the Düsseldorf artist, on his 65th birthday with Gauleiter Florian
10th June 1941. HMS Calcutta sunk. English advance further into Syria.
Feldmarschall von Brauchitsch visits a Luftwaffe unit, on the right is Oberstleutnant Mölders
11th June 1941. More heavy fighting in Syria. Luftwaffe sink 10.000 tons of British shipping.
Damascus
12th June 1941. General Antonescu (Rumania) meets with Ribbentrop. Luftwaffe bomb Haifa.
13th June 1941. General Antonescu visits the Führer. U-boats sink 22.700 tons.
14th June 1941. Luftwaffe sink 28.000 tons of shipping. Gibraltar bombed again.
General Antonescu and the Führer last Thursday
Admiral Lütjens, who died a heroes death when the Bismarck went down, is to be replaced by Admiral Schniewind
15th June 1941. Roosevelt puts Ireland and Portugal under pressure. Heavy fighting in Syria.
16th June 1941. Luftwaffe sink five ships bound for Gibraltar, 21.000 tons. Croatia joins the Axis powers. German-Japanese friendship Pact announced.
17th June 1941. 15 RAF fighter aircraft shot down over the Channel. A Royal Navy ship sunk. General Leeb 60 years old.
Himmler five years as Police Chief
Helmut Möckel takes over the Hitler Youth during the time that HJ Chief Axmann is serving with the Wehrmacht
18th June 1941. U-boats sink 32.000 tons of British shipping.
These Fallschirmjäger on Crete are using this canister as a cook pot
19th June 1941. Friendship Pact signed with Turkey. Afrikakorps victory at Sollum.
A look back to this time last year, the French surrender June 1940
20th June 1941. The British are angry at the German-Turk Friendship Pact. The Afrikakorps victory at Sollum, 200 British tanks destroyed!
21st June 1941. British Atlantic convoy attacked. Luftwaffe bomb Great Yarmouth.
A look back at last year, the Führer at Compiègne
Von Papen (who signed the Friendship Pact with Turkey) talking to Feldmarschall Keitel at the FHQ
General der Flakartillerie Schroeder, the military commander in Serbia
The Italian minister Pavolini visits Dr. Goebbels
22nd June 1941. 26 RAF aircraft shot down. 53.000 tons of shipping sunk by U-boats.
Mine clearing
23rd June 1941. German troops, along with troops from Rumania and Finland, cross the border into the Soviet Union. First battles. Cheering crowds in Rumania. Slovakia and Italy declare war on the Soviet Union. Swords and Oakleaves for Galland and Mölders.
24th June 1941. The battle in Russia rolls forward. British tanks destroyed at Sollum now stands at 237. At sea, 37.500 tons of shipping sunk.
25th June 1941. Heavy attacks on air bases in southern Russia. Soviets had crossed into our air space with spying missions 27 times over the last month. With Germanys pre-emptive attack on the Soviet Union, Churchills plans will come to nothing.
Soviets on their way to the POW camps
Border barracades are crossed
26th June 1941. We have broken through on the eastern front everywhere. Finland does not recognize Poland as a state anymore. 41 RAF aircraft destroyed.
With rubber boats, the soldiers cross the rivers
A crowd of refugees in the east gather at a railway bridge
27th June 1941. 50.000 tons of british shipping sunk. On the eastern front a corporal destroys 6 soviet tanks.
Soviet soldiers and commissars tried to escape capture by dressing as civilians
House clearing
Oakleaves and Swords, a new level to the Knights Cross, has already been awarded to Galland and Mölders
28th June 1941. The European Crusade, Rumania, Finland, Italy and Slovakia are already at war with the Soviet Union, now Hungary joins the Axis Pact.
Finish troops being issued with identity discs
29th June 1941. Spain to send volunteers to fight on the eastern front. 36 RAF aircraft shot down. 6 ships sunk.
Soviet bunker after it had been stormed
Oakleaves to the Knights Cross for Hauptmann Ihlefeld
30th June 1941. Two Soviet armies surrounded at Bialystok. in 7 days 4.100 aircraft destroyed, 40.000 POWs taken, tank battle at Kovno, 2.233 tanks destroyed. We have captured Grodno, Brest-Litovsk, Wilna, Kovno and Dünaburg. Advancing on Lemburg and Minsk.
