by Japanese submarines. The eastern suburbs of both cities are damaged, and the east coast is blacked out. June 9 – WWII: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice, in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. June 10 – WWII: Free French forces (some 2,700 men) evacuate Bir Hakeim and escape through a minefield, where they are picked up by British patrols of the 7th Armoured Division. Lidice massacre: The Gestapo massacres 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. June 11 – WWII: German forces of the 15th Panzer Division together with the 90th Light Division reach El Adem. Panzer Army Africa captures the area around El Adem, and the 29th Indian Brigade, which has defended El Adem is almost wiped out by the Germans. June 12 – WWII: The Holocaust: On her 13th birthday, Anna Frank makes the first entry in her new diary. June 12–15 – WWII: Operation Harpoon: A Allied convoy under Admiral Alban Curteis leaves from Gibraltar with 6 merchant ships escorted by the British battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle, 4 cruisers and 17 destroyers to Malta. Two of the six merchant ships completes the journey, at the cost of several Allied warships. June 13 – WWII: German forces of the 21st Panzer Division advance from the west and attack the British tanks of the 22nd Armoured Brigade. Erwin Rommel demonstrates superiority in tactics, compressing the British armoured forces between two Panzer Divisions of the Panzer Army Africa and the Italian Ariete and Trieste Divisions. By the end of the day, the British tank strength is reduced from 300 tanks to about 70. Rommel establishes armour superiority and surrounds the "Knightsbridge" positions. Due to the many losses, this defeat becomes known as "Black Saturday" to the Eighth Army. German scientists under Ernst Steinhoff at Peenemünde Army Research Center tests a 12-ton rocket (known later as the V-2 rocket) with a one-ton warhead. The United States opens its Office of War Information, a propaganda center. June 14 – WWII: The British Eighth Army under General Neil Ritchie is forced with two divisions to withdraw from the Gazala Line. The defenders of El-Adem and two neighbouring boxes hold out against the Germans. The South African 1st Division retreats along the coast road, practically intact. General Claude Auchinleck orders Ritchie to hold the line south-east from