June 6: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 6, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “BERLIN (AP) — The German high command announced today its troops, on the offensive and pushing toward the heart of France, had gained ground ‘everywhere’ in a sweep toward the southwest. This, however, was the only indication of the course of the Somme offensive to be given in the high command’s daily communique. The communique related ‘successful’ German raids last night and early today on Cherbourg, big French Channel port; on airdromes in central France and on the east and southeast coast of England. It reported total enemy airplane losses during the last 24 hours as 143. The high command’s terse statement of the southwesterly direction of the drive supported previous German indications that the important French Channel ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg may be the first objectives of the offensive. By such an operation the German armies might turn the Somme flank, block off Paris from the west and cut off France and England from effective communication or contact.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “GANNAT, FRANCE (U.P.) — A high court-martial condemned to death in absentia today two officers who are followers of Gen. Charles De Gaulle, leader of the Free France movement. Another officer and a Colonial businessman, also absent, were sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor for sympathy with the De Gaulle movement. The properties and fortunes of all four were confiscated.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “LONDON, JUNE 5 (U.P.) — Pierre Laval, chief of the Vichy Government, today announced formation of the first regiment of a new French army, the first regular armed forces permitted in France since the signing of the Armistice with Germany in 1940. Laval’s disclosure came at a time when indications were increasing that Allied armies might invade the continent, perhaps spearheading their attack against France.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, LONDON (U.P.) — Allied armies today stormed northern France with history’s greatest invasion armada — 11,000 planes, 4,000 ships and thousands of smaller craft — and in the first few hours seized beachheads that threated to isolate the Normandy peninsula and win a railroad pointed straight at Paris. The British radio said at least two beachheads had been secured and that ‘Allied formations are advancing inland.’ The German DNB news agency acknowledged the Allies had put tanks ashore in at least one sector. Some six hours after the first wave of American, British and Canadian assault forces landed by sea and air on the Normandy peninsula, Prime Minister Churchill told Commons the invasion was proceeding ‘according to plan.’ One German broadcast reported fighting as much as ten miles inland. ‘Obstacles which were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended,’ Churchill said. ‘The fire of shore batteries has been largely quelled. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind enemy lines and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “All week long they have been landing, thousands upon thousands of soldiers, tense, excited, uncertain, many of them, as to what lies ahead. But these transports are depositing men on American beaches, and instead of traps in the water there are flags and bands on the piers. Instead of being greeted with mortar fire and torpedoes they are bombarded with doughnuts and milk. One short bitter year has made the difference.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “CAEN, FRANCE (U.P.) — Thousands of persons lined the coast from Cherbourg to Deauville today to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Allied invasion. Ceremonies similar to those held yesterday on the two American beaches — Omaha and Utah — were scheduled at St. Aubin and Bernieres along the Anglo-Canadian invasion beaches. Allied flags flew under a cloudless sky from one end of the peninsula to the other.”

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Natalie Morales
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Apollo 15 commander David Scott, who was born in 1932; “Quarter to Three” singer Gary U.S. Bonds, who was born in 1939; National Track and Field Hall of Famer Tommie Smith, who was born in 1944; “Nightmare on Elm Street” star Robert Englund, who was born in 1947; actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein, who was born in 1954; International Tennis Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg, who was born in 1956; “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Quinn, who was born in Park Slope in 1959; guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, who was born in 1960; “John Adams” star Paul Giamatti, who was born in 1967; “The Talk” moderator Natalie Morales, who was born in 1972; “Lost” actress Sonya Walger, who was born in 1974; Olympic gold medal-winning soccer player Becky Sauerbrunn, who was born in 1985; and five-time NFL Pro Bowler DeAndre Hopkins, who was born in 1992.

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PATRIOT’S DAY: Nathan Hale was born in Connecticut on this day in 1755. During the battles for New York in the American Revolution, he volunteered to spy behind enemy lines. The British captured him near Flushing Bay on Sept. 21, 1776 and hanged him in Manhattan the next day. His last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” have become a symbol of American patriotism.

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THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., opened America’s first drive-in movie theater in Camden, N.J., on this day in 1933. At the height of their popularity in the late 1950s, there were more than 4,000 drive-ins across the country. Today there are about 300.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.”

— American soldier Nathan Hale, who was born on this day in 1755