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General Review.
NAVAL SITUATION.
ITALY entered the war against us at midnight 10th-11th June. The evacuation of Narvik has been completed and the bulk of the forces have now reached the United Kingdom.
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The German advance along the French coast made further evacuation of troops necessary.
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II.M.S. Glorious and other units have been sunk.
There has been increased U-boat activity, and magnetic mining by enemy aircraft.
Northern Waters.
2. The forces detached to search for the two unknown ships reported on the 5th June (paragraph 11 of Résumé No. 40) searched the area east and south of Iceland assisted by Sunderland aircraft. Two ships were again reported off the south of Iceland on the 7th June, but nothing was sighted by our forces, and the operation was discontinued on the 9th June.
3. The evacuation of the Narvik force was completed and all forces were on their way to the United Kingdom by the evening of the 8th June. The maximum possible quantity of material was removed, and all fighters, including the Hurricanes, were successfully flown on to the carriers by R.A.F. personnel. The two main groups of transports have now reached the United Kingdom. H.M.S. Devonshire brought His Majesty the King of Norway and the Crown Prince to this country.
4. A German naval force, which, according to the German wireless, included the battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, on the 8th June encountered and sank H.M. Ships Glorious, Acasta and Ardent, the empty troop transport Orama and the tanker Oil Pioneer. There is no definite information regarding casualties, but the German wireless reported that there were several hundred survivors. The hospital ship Atlantis, which met H.M.S. Valiant on the 9th June reported that she had seen a large warship open fire on a transport on the previous morning about 300 miles to westward of Narvik; it would appear that this was probably the end of the Orama.
5. On the 10th June the presence at Trondhjem of one German battle- cruiser, at least two cruisers (including one 8-inch) and some destroyers was established by air reconnaissance. These forces were attacked by R.A.F. air- craft on the 11th June, when direct hits were observed on each of the cruisers, and a supply ship was also thought to be hit. A further attack was made in the early morning of the 13th June by 15 Skuas from H.M.S. Ark Royal, escorted by five R.A.F. Blenheim fighters. A hit with a 500-lb. bomb was obtained on the battlecruiser. The weather was foggy, Ark Royal ran into fog when landing on, and eight Skuas failed to return. The enemy claimed to have shot down four.
·RANSPORT.H.M.S. Vandyck was sunk off Harstad on the 10th June, it is believed by
a torpedo; five of her crew are missing and six slightly wounded.
Home Waters.
French Coast.
6. On the 7th and 8th June H.M. Destroyers Wanderer and Vesper carried out an indirect bombardment of the main road from Abbeville to Treport, but after noon on the 8th June failure of communications made further firing dangerous.
French ships evacuated base personnel from Havre on the night of the 9th-10th June. The evacuation of 11,000 troops was completed without opposition during the night of the 12th-13th June, the main body of the troops were sent to Cherbourg and the beach parties returned to Portsmouth.
Havre was without light or water from noon the 11th June, and was reported
in flames in the early morning of the 13th June.
Blocking and demolition operations were carried out at Dieppe on the 10th June. One of the three block ships was sunk by mine in the approach and the blockage is not complete.
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