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 continues its withdrawal toward Tripoli.
U.S. Navy battles Tokyo Express off Guadalcanal.
US Ninth AF formed in Egypt under Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton.
Morocco and Algeria are in Allied hands (770 Americans and 240 British were killed in Torch landings).
Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA launches Liberty Ship Robert E. Peary four days after the keel is laid, a wartime record.
1943
US President Roosevelt embarks on USS Iowa to go to the Allied conferences at Teheran and Cairo.
German troops invade Leros by sea and drop 500 paratroops.
The Russians take Zhitomir in Ukraine. The Kiev bridgehead is now 95 miles deep and 150 miles wide.
Japanese bomb Parap, Adelaide River, and Batchelor Airfield in last air attack on Australia.
French proclaim martial law in Lebanon after Lebanese amend constitution to end French mandate (on Nov. 8).
1944
Heavy bombers of the RAF, after several previous attempts, succeed in sinking the battleship Tirpitz, the sister ship of the Bismarck, which is lying at anchor in a fjord near Tromso in Norway. Over 1,000 men of her crew trapped in her capsized hull are lost.
1945
The institute of France awards Churchill a gold medal.