1939
French troops are pushed back in the Saar region.
President Roosevelt prepares to sign an executive order closing all U.S. ports to submarines from belligerent nations.
1941
Destroyer USS Kearny damaged by German torpedo off Iceland;11 Americans are killed.
US House of Representatives allow merchantmen to be armed.
Taganrog on the Sea of Azov is captured by Army Group South.
Kimmel improves naval reconnaissance at Pearl Harbor but not 360-degree nor 24-hour patrols.
In Convoy SC-48 off Iceland, U-568 torpedoes destroyer USS Kearny; first US casualties of the war—11 killed, 22 wounded. U-boats sink seven other ships in Convoy SC-48.
US Army Air Force establishes Air Service Command (supply and maintenance) under Brig. Gen. Henry Miller at Wright Field, OH.
1942
Luftwaffe abandons daylight raids against Malta.
Germans take Tractor Factory in Stalingrad.
Abel’s Field opens at Fasari, New Guinea, named after missionary Cecil Abel who constructed the airfield with native help.
1943
The US and Japan exchange 3,000 civilian prisoners in Goa.
Germans haul art from Monte Cassino Abbey to Rome as Allies approach; most of the monks, nuns, orphans, schoolchildren, and refugees go to Rome as well.
The last German auxiliary cruiser in Pacific, Michel, sunk by the US submarine Tarpon off Chi Chi Jima.
1944
German forces successfully repulse heavy Soviet attacks near Debrecen.
Eichmann returns to Hungary.
French halt offensive through Vosges Mountains toward Belfort Gap in France.