1939 The Dutch ship Simon Bolivar hits an ‘un-notified’ mine in the North Sea, killing 80. Several other neutral ships also sunk by mines. IRA detonate four small bombs in Piccadilly, London. 1941 At 6am ‘Operation Crusader’, the British Eighth Army’s offensive to relieve Tobruk begins. Rommel, who arrives back from Rome that day, is […]

1939 The Supreme Allied War Council agrees on the co-ordination of British and French war production. It is also decided that if the Germans should invade Belgium, then both British and French troops will move forward in to Belgium to defend the Albert Canal, River Meuse and the River Dyle, which were strong positions from

1940 131 RAF Bomber Command aircraft make raids on four Hamburg targets. 1941 The German 11th Army takes Kerch in the eastern Crimea, although Sevastopol still holds out. 1942 U.S. and Australian forces join up for the assault on the last Japanese stronghold in Northern Papua, the Buna-Gona bridgehead. German submarine U-173 was depth charged and sunk

1939 The German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee sinks the merchantman Africa Shell off Mozambique. 1940 67 RAF Wellington, Whitley, and Hampden bombers attack Hamburg, doing extensive damage to the city and shipyards, with no loss of aircraft. The prototype de Havilland Mosquito takes off for the first time; designed as a bomber fast enough to

1940 Coventry bombed.  The Luftwaffe launches 449 bombers in a heavy night attack against the major manufacturing city of Coventry, dropping around 400 tons of bombs causing severe damage to industrial and civilian installations. The city centre is badly damaged, with 21 factories being destroyed and the cathedral wrecked but for its spire. The raid

1939 HMS Blanche struck a mine and sank off the Thames Estuary. She was the first Royal Naval destroyer lost in the war. Two German supply ships are scuttled when cornered by the Royal Navy. German bombers attacked British territory for the first time, with a bombing raid on the Shetland Islands. No serious damage

1939 Negotiations between Russia and Finland over territorial dispute reach deadlock. 1940 Germany prepares to enter war in Greece. Colonel Burns again proposes a Canadian parachute force to the Chief of General Staff. The idea is shelved, and no action is taken. 1942 The British 8th Army retakes Sollum and Bardia, while Panzer Army Afrika