Today in World War II History—June 8, 1940 & 1945
Scharnhorst firing her forward guns against HMS Glorious, 8 Jun 1940 (US Naval History and Heritage Command)
80 Years Ago—June 8, 1940: Off Norway, German battlecruisers Gneisenau & Scharnhorst sink British carrier Glorious and British destroyers Ardent and Acasta (1537 killed on 3 ships).
Neptunium (Np), element 93, is discovered by Edwin McMillan & Philip Adelson at the University of California in Berkeley.
US passes Bald Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits taking, possession, and commerce of bald and golden eagles.
60-inch cyclotron at the University of California Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, in August 1939, used in the discovery of neptunium (US National Archives: 558594)
75 Years Ago—June 8, 1945: US & Australian Naval Task Group 74.3 bombards Brunei Bay on Borneo.
Jozef Tiso, former president of Slovak Republic, is arrested by US forces; he will be extradited to Czechoslovakia and executed in 1947 for collaborating with Germans and for war crimes.
I appreciate your multiple references for what happened in various years. I knew the sinking of the HMS Glorious was another embarrassing loss as part of the hasty Norway expedition that the English tried when the Germans had already occupied a large part of the country. In reading the quick reference, the Glorious had no spotters in her upper mast and none of her planes were flying as scouts which is negates her speed and the two German battleships hit her and her escorting destroyers from about 4 to 5 miles. It was a tragedy that was somewhat repeated in the next year when the English tried to stop the Germans in Greece and I think Cyprus. Thank you again for your daily information.