WWII History

1939 Convoy OB-4, sailing from Liverpool to North America, is attacked by U-31 (Johannes Habekost), becoming the first “clear” convoy contact in British waters of the war. U-31 sinks 1 ship, the 4,060-ton British freighter Aviemore. Germans take Brest-Litovsk and surround Warsaw. 1940 President Roosevelt signs the Selective Service Training and Service Act: men aged […]

1935 In Berlin, the Reich under Adolf Hitler adopts the swastika as the national flag. 1937 Prime Minister of England Neville Chamberlain flies to Germany to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia with Adolf Hitler. 1939 The Polish submarine Orzel arrives in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the German invasion of Poland. Gdynia is captured by German forces.

1939 U39 attacks a battle group led by the Aircraft Carrier, HMS Ark Royal. She fires torpedo’s at the carrier, but these miss. 3 Destroyer’s of the Ark Royal’s escort, launch an immediate counter-attack against U39 and sink her with depth charges. U39 gains the dubious honour of becoming the first U-boat to be sunk

1939 HMAS Hobart and five RAN destroyers leave Australia, bound for Britain. 60,000 Polish troops who are trapped in the Radom pocket surrender. Germans resume offensive on Warsaw, Poland. Stained glass in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is removed for safekeeping. 1940 Buckingham Palace again bombed; Royal Chapel wrecked. 5 Italian divisions and 200 tanks

1939 First Anglo-French Supreme War Council convenes under Chamberlain and Daladier and  agrees to postpone military operations. In response to the invasion of Poland, the French Army advances into Germany. On this day they reach their furthest penetration-five miles. The battle of the Vistula bend flares up near Kutno, the last major engagement of the

1939 Arrival of first British troops in France officially announced. Polish submarines ordered to break through to Britain or to be interned in Sweden. 1940 Afternoon attacks on London: 110 killed and 260 injured; Dover suffers worst attack of war. Dutch SS formed under Dutch Nazi collaborationist Anton Mussert. 1941 Charles A. Lindbergh sparked charges

1939 After a formal parliamentary debate, Canada declares war on Germany. German troops achieve a breakthrough at Kutno and Sandomir and reach the Vistula. 1940 Another heavy night attack (September 10/11) on London, 18 killed; Buckingham Palace damaged. Hitler decides to postpone Operation Sealion until the 24th September. 1941 British convoy SC-42 (64 ships), sailing

1939 Chamberlain’s Cabinet plans for a 3 year war. Advance elements of the BEF begin to a arrive in France. Hermann Goering boasts that Berlin will never be bombed by the enemy. The 4th Army (von Kluge) captures Lodz and Radom, as the 4th Panzer Division reaches the outskirts of Warsaw. Further penetrations in to

1939 Polish defenders of the Westerplatte at Danzig surrender after a week of continuous bombardment. The Polish government leaves Warsaw for Lublin, while its forces surrounded at Radom face a hopeless situation. At Bedzin, 200 Jews are burned alive in a synagogue by the Germans who charge Poles with the crime, and then execute 30

1939 King George VI gives assent to National Registration Bill, providing government control over labour and introducing identity cards. Nine divisions of the French Army penetrate in to the Saarland, but their advance is very slow and no effort is made to attack the ‘Westwall’ itself. Polish forces trying to hold the line at the Narew River,