This Day in WWII 25 June 1940 - 1945

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The Pullman Company Ad - June 1944

 

1940: First early morning air-raid alarm is heard in London.

 

1940: At 1:35am, all acts of war between the French and German armed forces officially cease. Churchill says France is not freed of her obligations. The German army has moved thru France even faster than expected. As Field Marshal Erwin Rommel puts it, "The war has become practically a lightning Tour de France."

 

 *K.T. Stevens Pin-up Photo - June 25, 1944 Issue of Yank, the Army Weekly

 

1941: Major Russian forces are close to being surrounded in the Bialystok area by Panzer units of Army Group Centre. Panzer Group 1 captures Lutsk and Dubno, in what was before September 1939 eastern Poland.

 

1941: The Red Air force launches an a number of air attacks against Finland's airfields, in the hope of destroying German aircraft which were believed to be stationed in Finland.

 

 K.T. Stevens

 

1942: The RAF launches its third 1,000-bomber raid, with 1,006 aircraft against Bremen. This time Coastal Command provided 102 Hudson bombers, after Churchill's insistence that they take part. As with the previous 1,000 bomber raids, a full moon had been selected to aid in finding the target. The raid caused heavy damage to the Focke-Wulf plant and devastated 27 acres of the inner city. The RAF lost 49 aircraft, a high proportion of them being manned by trainee crews.

 

1942: German troops drive a wedge into Sevastopol's defenses. The Russians are running out of men, space and time. Surviving fighter aircraft are sent to the Caucasus, conceding the skies to the Luftwaffe. Soon the Russian AA guns are out of ammunition and the defenders face Stukas with rifles and machine guns. Artillery shells are running low too.

 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Ad - June 1944

 

1942: The Germans capture Sidi Barrani, Sollum and the Halfaya Pass in Libya as the Eighth Army retreats to Mersa Matruh in Egypt. General Auchinleck relieves Lieutenant General Ritchie and takes personal command of the Eighth Army, with plans to hold Rommel if he could at Mersa Matruh, but more definitely at the El Alamein line, or if that failed the Suez Canal.

 

1942: Eisenhower arrives in London.

 

 K.T. Stevens

 

1943: Newly built gas chamber/crematory III opens at Auschwitz. With its completion, the four new crematories at Auschwitz have a daily capacity of 4,756 bodies.

 

1944: The British Second Army begins a major offensive in the area of Caen 'Operation Epsom'. After a naval bombardment, street fighting is reported in Cherbourg. General Koenig is appointed C-in-C of the Free French forces.

 

 K.T. Stevens

 

1945: The allies announce the division of Austria into four administrative zones. British Second Army in Germany is to be disbanded and sent back to Britain.

 

1945: The UN Charter is signed by representatives at San Francisco.

 

 K.T. Stevens

 

*K. T. Stevens was born Gloria Wood on July 20, 1919 in Los Angeles, California. She certainly had the requisite genes for an acting career as her father was the legendary director Sam Wood and her mother a stage performer. K.T. Stevens wasted no time either. By the time she was 2 years old, she had made her film debut in her father's silent classic Peck's "Bad Boy" (1921), which starred Jackie Coogan. Christened Gloria Wood, she was billed "Baby Gloria Wood" as a toddler. Following high school she decided to pursue acting full time, taking drama lessons and apprenticing in summer stock. In 1938 she toured in two productions: "You Can't Take It with You" and "My Sister Eileen." The following year she made her Broadway debut in a walk-on role in "Summer Light" which was directed by Lee Strasberg. At this point she was calling herself "Katharine Stevens" (after her favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn), as she did not want to ride on her famous father's coattails. Eventually, she settled on the initials "K.T." which she felt added mystery and flair. Although her film career subsided, she flourished on radio ("Junior Miss") and on the Broadway stage where "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1940), "Yankee Point" (1942) and "Nine Girls" 1943) helped boost her reputation. K.T. met actor Hugh Marlowe after they appeared together on Broadway in "The Land Is Bright" (1941). Co-starring in a 1944 Chicago production of "The Voice of the Turtle," they married in 1946. The couple went on to grace more than 20 stage shows together, including a Broadway production of the classic film "Laura" in which she played the mysterious title role and he the obsessed detective. In the 1950s K.T. moved to TV episodics with "Perry Mason," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Big Valley" just a few of her guest appearances. She possessed an open-faced prettiness and seemed ideal for film noir, but her chance to break through never materialized despite decent roles in "Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman" (1940), which was directed by her father, "The Great Man's Lady" (1942) starring Barbara Stanwyck, "Port of New York" (1949) with Yul Brynner, "Vice Squad" (1953) featuring Paulette Goddard and the sci-fi film "Missile to the Moon" (1958). Following her 1967 divorce from Marlowe, K.T. abandoned acting for a time in favor of teaching nursery school. She eventually returned to TV and made some strides in daytime soaps, most notably "The Young and the Restless" (1973). She also served three terms as President of the L.A. local branch of AFTRA. K.T. had two sons, Jeffrey, born in 1948 and Christian, born in 1951, the latter best known these days as sportscaster Chris Marlowe. She died of lung cancer on June 13, 1994.

 

 The Pullman Company Ad - June 1944