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• Franklin Roosevelt addressed the US Congress in regards to the sinking of American freighter Robin Moor by German submarine on 21 May 1941. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• Alfred Rosenberg delivered a speech in which he stated that the job of feeding Germans was the top German priority, while feeding the conquered peoples in Eastern Europe was not of Germany's concern. ww2dbase [Alfred Rosenberg | CPC]
• The German troops amassing on the border with the Soviet Union were told that they were undergoing a large scale exercise. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | CPC]
• 2 Indian and 2 Free French companies attempted to relieve the surrounded Indian 5th Infantry Brigade at Mezze, French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, but the attack on Vichy French would result in failure. After sundown, Free French, British, and Australian troops captured Qadim. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | CPC]
• German submarine U-123 sank Portuguese ship Ganda off Casablanca, French Morocco at 2030 hours; 5 were killed, 61 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-203 sighted USS Texas in the North Atlantic 750 miles west of Ireland and took no action. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Light cruiser Voroshilov completed a week-long exercise. ww2dbase [Voroshilov | CPC]

• In the early hours, lookouts on German submarine U-202, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Walter Kell, spotted the lifeboat containing the survivors of British motor merchant Cathrine, which was sunk by U-43 west of Cape Clear, Ireland three days earlier. The survivors asked for water but were told that they would not give water to Britishers. Seven of the ten men would soon die from starvation and exposure. In the subsequent days, a convoy passed close by, but the last three men were too weak to get any attention. ww2dbase [U-202 | HM]
• Maggiore Baracca sighted two minesweepers in the Atlantic Ocean at 2030 hours. She turned away to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]

• Philippe Pétain visited Valmatte, France and was met by more than 10,000 civilians. The Vichy French radio program reporting this event included a brass band playing La Marseillaise, which officially was not allowed by the Germans. A young girl presented Pétain 60,000 francs, donated by primary and secondary schools of the region. ww2dbase [Philippe Pétain | Valmatte | CPC]

• Hellmuth Felmy was stepped down as the commanding officer of Sonderstab F, the cover for the German mission in Iraq. ww2dbase [Hellmuth Felmy | CPC]

• USS St. Louis arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii after an overhaul at Mare Island, California. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | St. Louis | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was renamed the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) under the command of Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. The USAAF was to be autonomous from the US Army. ww2dbase [Henry Arnold | AC]
• US Navy placed a contract with the Douglas Aircraft Company for two prototype aircraft of a new carrier torpedo/dive bomber design. ww2dbase [BTD Destroyer | CPC]
• USS New Mexico departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States to patrol the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Hampton Roads, Virginia | CPC]

20 Jun 1941 Interactive Map