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• Overnight, British troops pulled out of the defensive line around Durkirk, France and headed for the ships, leaving French troops to hold a reduced perimeter. After day break, German bombing sank French destroyer Le Foudroyant (killing 19), British destroyers HMS Basilisk (killing 9; scuttled by destroyer HMS Whitehall), HMS Havant (killing 8, scuttled by minesweeper HMS Saltash), and HMS Keith (killing 36). British minesweeper HMS Skipjack was bombed after embarking 275 soldiers from the beach, taking down 19 crew and most of the boarded soldiers. British steamer Scotia was bombed and sunk, killing 32 crew and 200 to 300 soldiers. 47,081 Allied troops were evacuated from the harbor and 17,348 from the beaches. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC]
• British unemployment figure decreased by 92,000 in May 1940 to 881,000. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The wreck of British trawler HMS Warwickshire, sunk by aircraft on 30 Apr 1940 off Trondheim, Norway, was raised and put into service. She would remain in German service until sunk by Soviet submarine S-56 on 19 Jul 1943. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-37 sank Greek ship Ioanna 120 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain at 2300 hours. The entire crew survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US freighter Charles R. McCormick departed Bergen, Norway for the United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lord Gort was made the aide-de-camp to King George VI. ww2dbase [John Vereker | CPC]
• Heinz Guderian was named the commander of Panzer Group Guderian. ww2dbase [Heinz Guderian | AC]
• Douglas Bader achieved his first kill, which was a German Bf 109 fighter. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | AC]
• Slovakia established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. ww2dbase [CPC]

• French industrial targets in the Rhône Valley were bombed by the German Luftwaffe. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | TH]
• Under a heavy German air raid at Dunkerque, France, Sergeant George Benton, RAMC, was carrying wounded men on stretchers to a ship at the East Mole when a bomb blew a hole in the walkway. Unflinching, he calmly placed a stretcher over the gap and carried on with the evacuation of the wounded. ww2dbase [Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | AC]

• Fleet tender Carl Peters was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Carl Peters | CPC]

• British troops at Narvik, Norway began evacuating to reinforce Britain itself from a potential invasion. British ambassador to Norway Sir Cecil Dormer informed Norwegian King Haakon VII of the news and recommended the royal family and the government to evacuate as well. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | TH]

• Signposts were taken down throughout Britain to prevent use by possible enemy parachutists. ww2dbase [TH]

• Battleship Washington was launched at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, United States. She was the first American battleship to be launched since the 1921 launching of battleship West Virginia. ww2dbase [Washington | Philadelphia Navy Yard | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]
• A unit of the newly formed US Marine Corps Defense Battalions completed the Minor Landing and Base Defense Exercise at San Clemente Island, California, United States. ww2dbase [San Francisco, California | CPC]

1 Jun 1940 Interactive Map