Sign with American flag “We want white tenants in our white community,” directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African American tenants from moving in. Wikipedia. For more details click here.
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.
Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell becomes Viceroy of India on June 18, 1943. Gen. Sir Claude Auchinleck succeeds him as commander-in-chief of military forces in India, although a new East Asia Command will reduce his importance. Churchill makes these appointments because he has lost confidence in the capabilities of Wavell and Auchinleck and wishes to limit their military roles.
In a secret meeting at the Berghof, his retreat in Obersalzberg, Bavaria, on June 19, Adolf Hitler orders Reichsführer–SS Heinrich Himmler to eradicate Jewish resistance in Eastern Europe within four months by means of the mass evacuation of Jews.
On June 20, “Operation Cartwheel” opens. The U.S. 4th Marines Raider Division lands on Segi Point, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands, beginning the Central Solomons Campaign. RAF planes bomb the Zeppelin Works at Friedrichshafen, Germany, targeting what is thought to be a radar-production unit. Unbeknownst to the British, they destroy a V-2 rocket-assembly plant there. In Amsterdam, Occupied Netherlands, over 1, 500 Jews are rounded up for deportation to camps in the east. In Detroit, Michigan, a brawl between black and white youths escalates into a full-blown race riot in which mobs of blacks and whites attack each other in various neighborhoods over the next days.
The RAF on June 21 launches a heavy raid on Krefeld, in the Ruhr, but loses 44 aircraft. In the U.S., the National Football League, to accommodate wartime manpower shortages, approves the temporary, one-year merger of two of its franchises. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers will play out of Pittsburgh as the Phil-Pitt Eagles (referred to by fans and some sports writers as the “Steagles”). Oddly, the league refuses permission for its two Chicago-based teams, the Bears and the Cardinals, to do the same thing.
On June 22, President Roosevelt, at the request of Detroit’s mayor and Michigan’s governor, orders 6,000 federal troops into Detroit to end the rioting there. After three days, 34 people are dead, over 430 injured, and 1,800 arrested. Over $2 million worth of property is damaged.
U.S. bombers begin major daytime attacks on Germany’s Ruhr region on June 23. The Battle of Lababia Ridge on Papua-New Guinea ends after three days of fighting when the Japanese withdraw. The victorious Australians suffer 11 killed and 12 wounded, while the Japanese casualties number 41 killed and 131 wounded. U.S. troops land on Kiriwina Island in the Trobriand Group, in Milne Bay off Papua-New Guinea.
The Royal Air Force on June 24 discovers Wernher von Braun’s V-2 research facility at Peenemünde, Germany, on the Baltic Sea.
