WWII History

1940 Soviet bombers raid cities in Finland. 1941 Recruiting of Norwegians for the ‘Nordland’ Regiment of the 5th SS Motorized Division ‘Wiking’ begins. 1942 Hitler orders Admiral Otto Ciliax, who commands the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen at Brest, to prepare to return to Germany. The new German battleship Tirpitz, sister […]

1941 Hitler confirms in Directive No.22, his intentions to send military support to the Italians in Albania. The operation is to be named ‘Alpine Violets’. The Cruisers HMS Southampton and HMS Gloucester are attacked by German aircraft in the Sicilian channel. HMS Gloucester receives damage, while HMS Southampton is sunk. British submarines begin to make

1940 German planes attack 12 ships off the British coast; sinking 3 ships and killing 35 people. Hitler informs his commanders that the attack in the west will begin on the 17th January. On this same day a German light aircraft makes a forced landing at Malines in Belgium, near the German border. The planes

1940 German bombers sink three merchantmen in North Sea. Australian Comforts Fund reestablished, for women to send care packages to soldiers. The British submarine Starfish was sunk in the Heligoland Bight by German minesweeper trawlers. 1941 The Avro Manchester III makes its first flight equipped with four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in place of the two

1940 In Britain, ration books are introduced as program expands—each person to receive 4 oz of bacon or ham, 8 oz of butter, and 12 oz of sugar weekly. Finnish troops capture 1,000 Russian soldiers near Suomussalmi. 1941 96,000 people now are sleeping in the Underground and Tube stations, 40,000 less than in October. President

1940 General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces in Finland and begins to build up his forces for a decisive offensive. Battle of Raate Road ends in Finnish victory; over 10,000 Soviets killed. 1941 Tobruk is surrounded, but the British are unable to assault it immediately as supplies and reinforcements need to be

1940 British declare Germans may not use Norwegian waters. Norway & Sweden forbid Allied troops from crossing their territory to aid Finland. 1941 President Roosevelt makes his “Four Freedoms” speech in his State of the Union address to Congress and repeats his proposal for Lend-Lease program to send supplies to Britain. The Luftwaffe launches its

1940 Hore-Belisha resigns as Secretary of State for War and is replaced by Oliver Stanley. In the Battle of Suomussalmi, Finns encircle 18,000 Russians north of Lake Ladoga, Finland. 1941 General Bergonzoli surrenders the Italian XXIII Corps at Bardia to the Australians. 45,000 Italian prisoners and 130 tanks are captured by the Australians for just

1940 The 16th Australian Brigade marches through the streets of Sydney. Britain requisitions all merchant ships for war effort. 1941 Free French lead Tuareg and Tibesti tribesmen from Chad to destroy Italian air base at Murzuk, Libya, having crossed 468km of desert. German-born singer-actress Marlene Dietrich becomes US citizen. 1942 The Red Army captures Kaluga

1940 President Roosevelt calls for $1.8 billion in defense appropriations. 1941 The Luftwaffe’s X Fliegerkorps arrives in Italy. In their first major action in WWII the Australian 6th Division breaks through the Italian defences around Bardia, After suffering heavy losses, the Italian Air Force withdraws its aircraft from supporting the German Luftwaffe in the Battle