Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of Allied troops on June 25, 1942.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
In the U.S. on June 19, 1942, the Second Washington Conference begins. Led by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, U.S. and U.K. military staffs discuss how the Allies could best aid the Soviet Union. In Russia, a small German aircraft crash-lands behind Soviet lines. On one of the crash victims are found papers outlining German plans for the upcoming summer offensive, “Operation Case Blue.” The German High Command frantically debates how much the plans will need to be revised to accommodate this disastrous security breach. Unbeknownst to them, Stalin believes the papers have been planted by the Germans as a ruse, and he orders that they be ignored.
At the Second Washington Conference, the U.S. on June 20 proposes opening a second European fighting front, in France, to relieve the pressure on the Soviet Union. The British, however, feel that this is not feasible. Churchill instead suggests, with Roosevelt’s agreement, the development of a joint Mediterranean operation leading to an invasion of Italy — “the soft underbelly of the Axis.” The Allies agree to begin preparing for “Operation Torch” — an invasion of the North African colonies of Vichy France. In the U.S. the song “Sleepy Lagoon” by Harry James & His Orchestra hits #1 on Billboard Magazine’s singles chart.
With the assistance of Luftwaffe aerial attacks, Rommel’s Afrika Korps on June 21 captures the contested Libyan port of Tobruk, taking over 35,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers prisoner and bringing the Gazala Campaign to an end. The road to Egypt is now open to the Germans as the Allied forces retreat deep into the interior of that country. During the night, Japanese submarine I-25 surfaces at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon and fires 17 shells from her deck gun at the Fort Stevens army base, located there at Point Adams. The attack causes no damage to the fort itself, but destroys the backstop on the installation’s baseball field.
On June 22, Gen. Erwin Rommel is promoted to the rank of Field Marshal as a reward for winning the Battle of Gazala.
The Auschwitz concentration camp, operated by the Germans in Poland, on June 23 begins the systematic murder of Jews by use of the gas chamber. In Berlin, Albert Speer, Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions, informs Hitler that a nuclear “superbomb” cannot be developed in time to affect the outcome of the war. Based on this information, the German military decides to deprioritize further serious nuclear-weapons research.
German and Italian forces cross into Egypt from Libya on June 24.
Having arrived in London from the U.S. the day before, Maj. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 25 assumes responsibility as Commander, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army. In North Africa, Gen. Claude Auchinleck, losing confidence in his subordinate, sacks Gen. Neil Ritchie and takes direct command of the British Eighth Army. In Washington, Adm. Ernest King — Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations — deems Gen. MacArthur’s suggestion of June 8 to invade New Britain, New Ireland and New Guinea as “too ambitious.” King instead proposes that the Solomon Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands be taken first.
