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• After sunset, an unidentified submarine fired two torpedoes at Yamato about 100 miles north-northeast of Minami-Torishima (Marcus Island). Yamato and the other ships in the Main Body turn to port and both torpedoes miss. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• A massive German 33-division offensive was launched from the Kharkov region of Ukraine. ww2dbase [TH]
• US patrol aircraft discovered the presence of Japanese troops on Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. In Japan, the Information Bureau announced that during the Battle of Midway, one Japanese carrier and two US carriers were sunk; one Japanese carrier returned to Japan with some damage. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• German Stuka dive bombers preceded another assault on the French-held fort at Bir Hakeim, Libya, but the defense repulsed another infantry attack. By the end of the day, the French troops had practically run out of ammunition; at 2300 hours, KÅ“nig began the process to evacuate from the fort. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | CPC]
• The US Army attached the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment to the 101st Airborne Division. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-107 sank US ship Merrimack 60 miles south of Cozumel, Mexico at about 0520 hours; 43 were killed, 10 survived. In the Caribbean Sea, U-68 sank British ship Ardenvohr at 0520 hours (1 was killed, 70 survived), British ship Surrey also at about 0520 hours (12 were killed, 55 survived), and British ship port Montreal shortly before 2359 hours (all 88 aboard survived, but 2 would die before being rescued). ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• German submarine U-81 attacked Allied convoy AT-49 7 miles off the Egyptian coast 50 miles west of Alexandria, sinking British ship Havre at 0218 hours; 20 were killed, 30 survived). At 0456 hours, U-559 also attacked the same convoy, damaging Norwegian tanker Athene (detonating her store of aviation fuel which would lead to her sinking on 12 Jun 1942; 14 were killed, 17 survived) and damaging Royal Fleet Auxiliary oiler Brambleleaf (7 were killed, 53 survived). ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet submarine D-3 became missing in the Barents Sea, probably lost in the Bantos-A minefield off Rybachy Peninsula near Murmansk, Russia or the Schpeer III minefield off Berlevog, Norway. ww2dbase [CPC]
• HMS Dianthus rescued 32 survivors of British merchant ship Empire Clough in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [Dianthus | CPC]
• Lieutenant Charles Conway Hartigan Jr. stepped down as the commanding officer of the suvivors of sunken USS Hammann. ww2dbase [Hammann | CPC]

• German submarine U-157 sank US tanker Hagan just off the northern coast of Cuba, killing 6 of 44 aboard. German submarine U-94 attacked Allied convoy ONS-100 880 miles east of Newfoundland, at 0340 hours, sinking British ship Empire Clough (5 were killed, 44 survived) and British ship Ramsay (40 were killed, 7 survived). At the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River several kilometers off Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, U-553 sank British freighter Nicoya and then several hours later Dutch freighter Leto. In the evening, U-129 sank Norwegian ship LA Christensen 340 miles south of Bermuda at 2006 hours; all 31 aboard survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Leonardo da Vinci sighted Dutch freighter Alioth, en route from Liverpool, United Kingdom to Cape Town, South Africa in the Atlantic Ocean at 2024 hours. She fired two torpedoes at 2333 hours, both of which missed. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Second Happy Time | CPC]

• USS S-43 arrived at Brisbane, Austalia, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [S-43 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Truk | CPC]

• Czechoslovakian towns of Lidice and Lezáky, incorrectedly linked to the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, were wiped out per personal orders of Adolf Hitler; all males were murdered; all females were deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, and all buildings were leveled to the ground. ww2dbase [Lidice Massacre | TH, CPC]

• U-132 departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France for her third war patrol. ww2dbase [U-132 | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• The Italian Air Force formed the "Loreto" combat engineers battalion at Cameri airfield near Novara, Italy. ww2dbase [Cameri, Piemonte | CPC]

• Over Mteifel Chebir, Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down three P-40 fighters at 0735 hours, 0741 hours, and 0745 hours. At 0750 hours, at the far range of 500 feet, he shot down the Hurricane II fighter piloted by Pilot Officer A. J. Hancock. His score now stood at 81. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Mteifel Chebir | CPC]

• Kamoi arrived at Jaluit, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Jaluit | CPC]

• US Navy Task Force 18 was formed with carrier Wasp, battleship North Carolina, cruisers Quincy and San Juan, and 6 destroyers near the Panama Canal Zone. ww2dbase [CPC]

• At Auschwitz Concentration Camp, about 50 Polish prisoners in the penal company attempted to escape while working at a drainage ditch in Birkenau; it was the first mass escape in the history of the camp. 9 were able to escape successfully. In response, the SS guards executed 20 prisoners by firing squad and sent 300 prisoners from the penal company in the gas chamber. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• German dive bombers sank Soviet destroyer Svobodnyy and transport Abkhaziya in port at Sevastopol, Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Sevastopol | Sevastopol | CPC]
• Soviet 2nd Shock Army, largely surrounded by German forces on the Volkhov River near Leningrad, Russia since mid-Jan 1942, began to extract itself from its disadvantageous position by using using grounds that were firming up due to the warmer weather. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | Leningrad | CPC]

• The keel of submarine Escolar was laid down by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Escolar | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]
• Under the War Powers Act the US Army took possession of Arlington Hall, a former girls' school, in Virginia, United States as its base for the Signals Intelligence Service. During the war Arlington Hall would concentrate its efforts mainly on decrypting Japanese codes. ww2dbase [Arlington Hall | Arlington, Virginia | AC]
• Alamogordo Army Air Field near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States was established. ww2dbase [Alamogordo Army Air Field | Alamogordo, New Mexico | CPC]

10 Jun 1942 Interactive Map