1941 33 Italian Fascist Party leaders are dispatched to bolster morale on the Albanian front. Hitler reviews the plans for Operation ‘Barbarossa’, as German intelligence estimates that 155 Red Army divisions are deployed in western Russia against just 116 German and Axis divisions. The starting date is again confirmed as the 15th May 1941. The […]
World War II Today: February 3 Read More »
1939 Hungary breaks relations with the Soviet Union. 1940 Big Russian offensive continues on the Karelia front. Italian Jews banned from serving as engineers, professors, or journalists, and from serving Gentiles as doctors or lawyers. 1941 5th Indian Division captures Barentu, forcing the Italians to withdraw towards the mountain fortress at Keren. Indian & British
World War II Today: February 2 Read More »
1940 Britain reduces passenger train service due to coal shortage. 1941 Third and final day of Swansea Blitz (Luftwaffe bombing of Swansea, Wales): 230 killed, but docks and facilities are undamaged. 1942 Convoy ON-166 (60 ships) sailing from Britain to North America, is attacked in the North Atlantic by 19 U-boats from wolfpacks Ritter and
World War II Today: February 21 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
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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 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 »
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
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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 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 General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces in Finland and begins to build up his forces for a decisive offensive. Battle of Raate Road ends in Finnish victory; over 10,000 Soviets killed. 1941 Tobruk is surrounded, but the British are unable to assault it immediately as supplies and reinforcements need to be
World War II Today: January 7 Read More »
