1939 Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov boasts: “One swift blow to Poland, first by the German Army and then by the Red Army, and nothing was left of this ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty!”. He also accuses the British of aggression. 1940 The Battle of Britain is now considered as over by the British Air

1939 German U boat U-56 fails in attack on battleship HMS Nelson with Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound, and Charles Forbes aboard. 1940 RAF Bomber Command is given its first directive sanctioning area-bombing. Lt. Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold named as US Acting Deputy Chief of Staff for air (combat). 1941 The worsening weather and seas

1940 A blindfolded secretary of war draws the first number – 158 – in the Selective Service draft. (Not all men are willing to register. In one case, a man goes to his draft board posing as his own widow to announce his death.) British troops set sail for Crete. Italians claim to have made

1939 On the 21st anniversary of Czech independence, celebrations become mass protests. A young medical student, Jan Opletal, is fatally wounded. 1940 Ministry of Health announces evacuation of 489,000 more children from London area. Laval becomes Foreign Minister of Vichy government. Italy attacks Greece after Greek rejection of three-hour ultimatum; Churchill promises ‘all the help

1941 In a broadcast to the nation on Navy Day, President Franklin Roosevelt declares: “America has been attacked, the shooting has started.” He does not ask for full-scale war yet, realizing that many Americans are not yet ready for such a step. The Russians launch numerous counter-attacks around Moscow in an attempt to halt the

1939 Germany annexes former Polish areas of Upper Silesia, West Prussia, Pomerania, Poznan, Ciechanow, Danzig, and part of Lodz; all the rest of German-occupied Poland to come under the “General Government.” Forced labor decree issued for Polish Jews aged 14 to 60. 1940 London has longest air raid to date as a Catholic orphanage is

1939 U-boats sink four more British ships. 1940 While bombing Chungking, China, Japanese bombs accidentally almost hit US embassy and US gunboat Tutuila, causing an international incident. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes the first black general in the US Army. 1941 US condemns Nazi practice of killing innocent civilians in reprisal for partisan activities. 1942