26 May 1940 | World War II Database

26 May 1940

In Britain, Empire Day was declared as a national day of prayer. ww2dbase [CPC]
German Ju 88 aircraft attacked and sank British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew off Narvik, Norway, killing 9. HMS Curlew was equipped with the only early warning radar set. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | CPC]
German submarines U-13 departed Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarines U-48 departed Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
US Minister in Uruguay Edwin C. Wilson, in a telegram to US Secretary of State Cordell Hull, reported tension between the Uruguayan and German governments as the Germans were accusing the Uruguayan police in mistreating German citizens living in Uruguay. ww2dbase [CPC]
HMS Eagle arrived in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [Eagle | CPC]

China

36 Japanese G3M2 Model 21 bombers, plus bombers of other types, and accompanied by three C5M reconnaissance aircraft (Navy's version of Ki-15 aircraft) attacked Chongqing, China. Lieutenant Yuan Chin-han, flying a Hawk III fighter, damaged a G3M2 Model 21 bomber over western Chongqing. Captain Chen Sheng-hsing and Lieutenant Gao Youxin, flying I-15bis fighters, shared the credit for downing another bomber. ww2dbase [Gao Youxin | Chongqing | CPC]

France

At Dunkerque, France, British Expeditionary Force commanding general Lord Gort received the formal authorization for a withdraw; Operation Dynamo, the code name of the massive evacuation, was headed by British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler rescinded the order to halt the offensive near Dunkerque. At Calais, after a heavy aerial and field artillery bombardment, German troops crossed the canals and moved toward the Citadel; at 1600 hours, Brigadier Claude Nicholson surrendered. Elsewhere, the French 1st Army was nearly encircled by the Germans, while the Belgians was pushed back to the Leie/Lys River. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | CPC]
General Maxime Weygand issued his Ordre Général d'Operation No. 1184 3/FT: "The battle on which the fate of the country depends will be fought without any idea of retreat, on the line which we hold today." ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | Maxime Weygand | AC]
By this date, the French Army had taken delivery of 432 37L tracked carriers. ww2dbase [37L | CPC]

Italy

Benito Mussolini informed the Chief of Supreme Staff, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, and Governor of Libya, Marshal Italo Balbo, that he had told Adolf Hitler of his intentions to declare war on England and France after 5 June. Badoglio was horrified and protested vehemently that crippling shortages of equipment in the Italian Army made a such a military adventure a very risky business. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | Benito Mussolini | AC]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, General Sir John Dill became Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Sir Edmund Ironside became Commander-in-Chief of Home Defense. ww2dbase [John Dill | TH]
United Kingdom government declared the coastal regions from Folkestone to Great Yarmouth designated evacuation areas. ww2dbase [TH]

Photo(s) dated 26 May 1940