1675 Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II.

1815 2nd abdication of Napoleon (after Waterloo).

1911 King George V crowned king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and all his realms and territories beyond the sea.

1940 France falls to Nazi Germany; armistice signed, France disarms.

1942 Japanese submarine in mouth of Columbia River, Oregon.

1942 World War II: Germany's latest fighter, a ****e-Wulf FW190 is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.

1943 RAF discovers Werner von Braun's V1/V2-base in Peenemunde.

1945 Last organized Japanese defiance broken (Tarakan).

1812 Napoleon Bonaparte's forces invade Russia crossing the Neman River.

1922 Adolf Hitler begins a month long prison sentence for paramilitary operations; he rails against the 'Jewish sell-out' of Germany to the Bolsheviks.

1941 Entire Jewish male population of Gorzhdy, Lithuania, exterminated.

2012 Female athletes will be allowed to compete for Saudi Arabia at the Olympics for the first time.

1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn: 7th Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel (sometime Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne, Custer killed.

1940 Adolf Hitler views Eiffel tower & grave of Napoleon in Paris, France.

1942 British RAF staged a 1,000 bomb raid on Bremen Germany (WW II).

1943 Crematorium 3 at Birkenau is finished.

1947 1st version of Anne Frank's diary "Het Achterhuis" published in The Netherlands.

1950 Korean conflict begins; North Korea invades South Korea.

Pay attention B-52's! Standoff vs swarming
 

1857 The first 62 recipients are awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in the Crimean war by Queen Victoria.

1917 1st US Expeditionary Force arrive in France during WW I.

1918 The Australian steamer Wimmera is sunk by a mine laid north of Cape Maria van Diemen in 1917 by the German raider Wolf; 26 of its 151 passengers and crew were killed.

1743 War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: in Bavaria, King George II of Britain personally leads troops into battle. The last time a British monarch would command troops in the field.

1942 FBI captures 8 Nazi saboteurs from a sub off NY's Long Island.

1942 PQ-17 convoy leaves Iceland for Archangelsk.

1950 North Korean troops reach Seoul, UN asks members to aid South Korea, Harry Truman orders US Air Force & Navy into Korean conflict.

1914 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip at 10.45, the casus belli of WWI.

1919 Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI and establishing the League of Nations, is signed in France.

1934 Hitler flies to Essen (Night of Long Knives).

1941 German & Romanian soldiers kill 11,000 Jews in Kishinev.

1948 US/British airlift to West Berlin begins.

1950 North Korean forces capture Seoul, South Korea in opening phase of the Korean War.

1967 George Harrison is fined £6 for speeding.

Any family members in that particular convoy?

I can't honestly answer that one without checking my fathers papers but I faintly recall he once mentioned being within hearing distance of gunfire exchange with Bismarck.

I used to think it he was a little confused and meant the gunfire exchange with Scharnhorst because he sailed in a few Russia-bound convoys.

HEy get out those papers! Some solid first-person primary source research here! Wear those new white gloves when handling documents!:yeah:

Quote:

While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union, and two such missions were attempted in 1942. Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship...In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen, the only time the ship used her main battery in an offensive role

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_convoys_of_World_War_II reflects no convoys from March to November 1943 (cycle suspended) however the QP route, just south of Svalbard or Spitzbergen, would have been within earshot of Tirpitz, probably during Operation Zitronella-the only time Tirpitz fired in anger; a kraut operation to destroy Allied coal and weather resources on the Island at Barentsburg. Certainly, if you're within earshot and hearing a 'Bismark Class' sister ship blasting away alongside the Scharnhorst for back-up! you might not be particular about which one (of 2) is making you deaf!:hmmm: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/images/convoy1.jpghttp://uboat.net/ops/convoys/routes.php

1905 In Russia, the "Potemkin" arrives at Odessa, where sailors take the bodies of dead crewman ashore; sailors join civilians in revolutionary actions of the '1905 Revolution'.

1939 Heinkel He 176 rocket plane flies for 1st time, at Peenemunde.

1940 58 U-boats (284,000 ton) sunk this month.

1941 61 U-boats (310,000 ton) sunk this month.

1942 144 U boats (700,000 ton) sunk this month.

1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI).

1916 Coca-Cola brings current coke formula to the market.

1937 Britain begins using 999 emergency phone number.

1944 Earl Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to colonel.

1944 Von Rundstedt against Keitel: "Signs peace, idiots!"

1816 French frigate "Medusa" runs aground off Cap Blanc. Gross incompetence kills 150 in calm seas.

1863 Battle of Gettysburg: the largest battle ever fought on the American continent, ends in a major victory for the Union during (US Civil War).

1939 Ernst Heinkel demonstrates 800 kph (500 mph) rocket plane to Hitler.

1940 British Royal Navy sinks French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it.

1943 Liberator bombers sinks U-628.

1940 British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die.

1942 US air offensive against nazi-Germany begins.

1944 1,100 US guns fire 4th of July salute at German lines in Normandy.

1944 1st Japanese kamikaze attack, US fleet near Iwo Jima.