1940 British declare Germans may not use Norwegian waters. Norway & Sweden forbid Allied troops from crossing their territory to aid Finland. 1941 President Roosevelt makes his “Four Freedoms” speech in his State of the Union address to Congress and repeats his proposal for Lend-Lease program to send supplies to Britain. The Luftwaffe launches its […]
World War II Today: January 6 Read More »
1940 Hore-Belisha resigns as Secretary of State for War and is replaced by Oliver Stanley. In the Battle of Suomussalmi, Finns encircle 18,000 Russians north of Lake Ladoga, Finland. 1941 General Bergonzoli surrenders the Italian XXIII Corps at Bardia to the Australians. 45,000 Italian prisoners and 130 tanks are captured by the Australians for just
World War II Today: January 5 Read More »
1940 The 16th Australian Brigade marches through the streets of Sydney. Britain requisitions all merchant ships for war effort. 1941 Free French lead Tuareg and Tibesti tribesmen from Chad to destroy Italian air base at Murzuk, Libya, having crossed 468km of desert. German-born singer-actress Marlene Dietrich becomes US citizen. 1942 The Red Army captures Kaluga
World War II Today: January 4 Read More »
1940 President Roosevelt calls for $1.8 billion in defense appropriations. 1941 The Luftwaffe’s X Fliegerkorps arrives in Italy. In their first major action in WWII the Australian 6th Division breaks through the Italian defences around Bardia, After suffering heavy losses, the Italian Air Force withdraws its aircraft from supporting the German Luftwaffe in the Battle
World War II Today: January 3 Read More »
1932 Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo. 1936 In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations. 1940 Charles Edison (son of Thomas) becomes US Secretary of the Navy. 1941 Royal Navy bombards Bardia in North Africa day and
World War II Today: January 2 Read More »
1940 Conscription extended to 20 – 27 in Britain. 1941 Hitler, in his New Year’s order of the day to the German armed forces, promises “…completion, on the Western Front, of the greatest victory in our history…” The Western Desert Force is renamed as the XIII Corps. 1942 British forces take Bardia, along with 8,000
World War II Today: January 1 Read More »
1939 Allied merchant shipping sunk by U-boats, world-wide from the out break of war to year’s end 1939 is 165 ships, equaling 693,557 gross tons. 9 U-boats were lost worldwide in the same period. Finnish troops destroy yet another Russian division. New Year’s Eve observances in Britain, France and Germany are very subdued due to blackout and
World War II Today: December 31 Read More »
1939 Finnish troops at Suomussalmi, completely destroy the Russian 163rd Infantry Division. 1940 California’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, opens between Los Angeles and Pasadena. U.S. Vice Admiral Claude C. Bloch writes a letter to the Navy Department complaining of inadequate defenses at Pearl Harbor 1941 The Russian success in the Crimea continues as
World War II Today: December 30 Read More »
1939 Finnish forces launch a successful counter attack to the North of Lake Ladoga. Finnish ski troops tear up the Leningrad-Murmansk rail line. 1940 The worst Luftwaffe raid on London causes 1500 fires in the “Second Great Fire of London,” but St. Paul’s Cathedral survives. President Roosevelt makes “Arsenal of Democracy” radio address in a
World War II Today: December 29 Read More »
1939 First flight of the XB-24 Liberator, at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, the prototype for what will be America’s most-produced four-engine bomber of the war. The German submarine U-30 spotted the British battleship HMS Barnham west of the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and hit it with a torpedo. Four crew members were
World War II Today: December 28 Read More »
