1940A torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy. 1941Churchill’s Mansion House Speech: Tells Japan that war on US means war on Britain. The Japanese Foreign Minister says their aim is to make the US and UK retreat from East Asia. US Army updates uniform regulations: the Parsons field jacket and M1 steel […]

1937 Japanese troops invade Shanghai, China. 1938 Nazis kill 35 Jews, arrest thousands and destroy Jewish synagogues, homes and stores throughout Germany. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, the night of the shattered glass. 1940 Start of a counter-offensive by the British Army against the Italian forces that have advanced into Egypt. Germany expels 180,000

1939 A bomb intended to kill Hitler explodes at the annual meeting of the veterans of the 1923 Nazi Putsch in Munich, but the Führer had already left the beer cellar. The German media accused Britain of orchestrating the assassination attempt on Hitler. Two British SIS agents, Major Richard Stevens and Captain S. Payne Best,

1939 The Belgium and Dutch Monarch’s emphasize their country’s neutrality, but offer to act as peace negotiators. Hitler rejects the proposal, as do both Britain and France. Paul Thummel, a double agent, passes details of the German plans for the western offensive to the Czech government-in-exile. 1940 The Royal Air Force attacks the Krupp munition

1939 The Gestapo rounds up 183 professors of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and sends them to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. In Soviet occupied Poland, Ukrainian peasants murder 200 Polish refugees after offering them food and accommodation. First big air battle on Western Front. 1940 Under-Secretary for War announces measures to give Home guard

1940 Roosevelt is elected as President of USA for an unprecedented third term with 54 percent of the popular vote. He defeats Republican Wendell L. Willke. Armed merchant-cruiser Jervis Bay sunk by pocket-battleship Admiral Scheer in attack on Atlantic convoy. 1941 Japanese war plans agreed at an imperial conference, with a deadline of December 1941.

1939 The United States modified its neutrality stance in World War II to allow ”cash and carry” purchases of arms by belligerents, a policy favoring Britain and France. Rear-Admiral Hugh Sinclair, head of British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), died of cancer. Succeeded by his deputy, Colonel Stewart Menzies. 1941 Finnish forces capture the Baltic naval

1940 U99 sinks armed merchant-cruiser Laurentic off Iceland. Greek troops trap the Italian 3rd Alpine Division taking 5,000 prisoners. British troops arrive in Greece. 1941 Germans troops capture Kursk. Off Greece, HMS Proteus makes first radar attack by a sub, damaging Italian tanker Tampico. General Auchinleck is forced to postpone ‘Operation Crusader‘ for 1 week so as to