WWII History

1938 Twelve Chinese fighter planes drop bombs on Japan. 1940 Sweden announces that she will not permit British or French troops to cross through her territory on their way to Finland. The Soviet Union announces its final conditions for peace. Finland must hand over the Karelia Isthmus and the shores of Lake Ladoga. It must […]

1940 Two IRA bombs explode in London; 12 people injured. n North Sea, Luftwaffe accidentally sinks German destroyer Leberecht Maass; during rescue,German destroyer Max Schultz is sunk by mine. 1941 The first mass round-up of Jews in Amsterdam; 430 deported in reprisal for murder of Dutch Nazi party member. Bread ration in Jewish ghetto in Warsaw reduced to

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

1938 Hitler demands self-determination for Germans in Austria and Czechoslovakia. 1940 General von Falkenhorst is appointed to command the German invasion of Norway. 1941 The Australian Prime Minister, R.G. Menzies arrives in Britain for talks with Churchill. The United States sends war planes to the Pacific. 1942 Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare of USS Lexington shoots

1940 Destroyer HMS Daring torpedoed, 157 are killed. 1941 Luftwaffe switches focus from attacking London to attacking shipping centers, such as Portsmouth, Plymouth, Bristol, and Cardiff. US Coast Guard Auxiliary (non-military) and Reserve (military) is established. 1942 Under increasing threat of being outflanked by the advancing Japanese, the 17th Indian Division is finally given permission

1940 Chinese forces drive Japanese out of Nanning, China. 1941 Parts of the Australian 8th Division arrive in Singapore. 1943 In the wake of the Stalingrad disaster, Dr. Goebbels, speaking before an enthusiastic audience of soldiers and civilians in Berlin, announces the implementation of “total war” which, for the first time, mandates the employment of

1940 Norway protests to Britain over violation of neutrality. 1941 Off Ireland, U-101 sinks British freighter Gairsoppa (85 killed) carrying 2800 bars of silver to fund war (110 tons  of silver were recovered in 2011). 1942 German vessel disguised as a British merchantman is reported sunk by a U-boat off Azores. First Seabees arrive in

1940 The British destroyer Cossack, enters a Norwegian fjord, captures the German freighter Altmark, former supply ship of the Graf Spee and frees 300 British merchant seamen who were captured from vessels sunk by the Graf Spee in the South Atlantic. 1942 Dönitz orders all available U-boats in the Atlantic to attack British and American

1940 Hitler orders that all British merchant ships will be considered warships. 1941 Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Romania as it is now clear that the Romanians are firmly allied to the Germans. Norwegian Lutheran bishops denounce Nazi brutality. 1942 Churchill broadcasts to the nation and says the Mediterranean will close to all

1939 Germany launches the battleship Bismarck. 1940 Britain announces that all merchant ships will be armed. 1941 Hitler starts to apply pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite pact. Kurmuk near the Ethiopian border in Sudan is recaptured by British forces. Leading elements of the German 5th Light Division arrive at Tripoli and are immediately