1939 Germany launches the battleship Bismarck. 1940 Britain announces that all merchant ships will be armed. 1941 Hitler starts to apply pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite pact. Kurmuk near the Ethiopian border in Sudan is recaptured by British forces. Leading elements of the German 5th Light Division arrive at Tripoli and are immediately […]

1940 Soviets break through Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus. Britain cracks down on unauthorized slaughterhouses (“steakeasies”) trying to circumvent rationing. 1941 German authorities order all gentiles to leave Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter. The British minister to Sofia says in a statement that “If the Germans occupy Bulgaria and make it a base against our ally,

1938 Japan refuses to reveal naval data requested by the U.S. and Britain. 1940 First deportation of German Jews into occupied Poland. Germany and Russia agree new trade pact, that provides for the delivery of vital war materials (grains, oil, strategic minerals) by the Russians, in return for German manufactured goods. Anthony Eden greets the

1940 Soviet troops finally breach the Mannerheim line, forcing the Finns to withdraw to a secondary defense line. The Soviet Union and Germany sign a treaty to exchange Soviet raw materials for German manufactured goods. 1941 Former GOP presidential candidate Wendell Willkie testifies in favor of Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Bill in Congressional hearings. Hanover is bombed

1939 Japanese occupy island of Hainan in French Indochina. 1940 Over 4000 members of American Youth Congress march in Washington to protest US being drawn into imperialistic war; President Roosevelt angrily confronts them. 1941 London severs diplomatic relations with Romania. The RAF attacks the oil storage tanks at Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The raid sees

1941 Admiral Darlan becomes Vichy Vice-Premier. In a radio broadcast, Churchill warns Bulgaria against joining the Tripartite pact. U-boats and Fw 200 Condor bombers sink 5 of 16 ships in Allied Convoy HG-53 off the Azores (3 more will be lost in the coming days). British take El Agheila, Libya, but the advance halts. 1942

1941 Laval declines Petain’s offer of Cabinet seat in the Vichy Government. The first convoy of the newly formed Afrika Korps under the command of Lieutenant General Rommel leaves Naples for Tripoli in Libya. Force H from Malta bombards Genoa, without hindrance from the Italian Navy or Air force. The House of Representatives passes H.R.

1940 British railroads are nationalized. 1941 The Italian troops stay between Agedabia and El-Agheila. In Libya, the British are victorious at Beda Fomm; 20,000 troops of the Italian Tenth Army surrender. General Graziani ask Mussolini for substitution as a commander of the Italian forces at North Africa, and as Libyan Governor. 1942 After just over