WWII Today in History. On these pages you will find of some of the most important events that shaped World War 2.
1939 The RAF scores a number of direct hits on German warships at the Heligoland Bight naval base. Finnish troops withdraw in good order towards the Mannerheim line defensive position. 1940 Britain allots each person an extra 4 oz of sugar and 2 oz of tea for Christmas. 1941 Hitler issues Rationalization Decree, urging modern […]
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1939 Russian troops capture Petsamo in the extreme north of the Finland. The German liner Watussi is scuttled after her interception by South African Defence Force bombers. 1941 Churchill introduces a new National Service Bill, including compulsory service for women. Germans patrols are just five miles from the Kremlin. Soviet troops evacuate the last territory
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1939 The Soviet Union creates a puppet Finnish government in Moscow under the leadership of a Finnish communist, Otto Kuusinen, who immediately accedes to the Soviets territorial demands. Finnish coastal guns at Russar engage the Russian cruiser Kirov and its screen of destroyers. The Kirov and one destroyer damaged. 1940 The Italian submarine Argo torpedoes
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1939 The first transport of Polish women arrives at Ravensbruck concentration camp. 1942 Bitter street fighting continues in Stalingrad with neither side making much progress. Kleist’s final Caucasus advance ends as the 13th Panzer Division of III Panzer Corps approaches the outskirts of Ordshonikidse, the southeastern-most point in Russia to be reached by the Wehrmacht.
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1936 In a speech in Milan, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin. 1940 British mine Bay of Biscay. Turkey declares itself neutral in Greco-Italian war. RAF and Fleet Air Arm aircraft attack targets in Naples and Brindisi on the Italian mainland and Albanian
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1939 American aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh makes his first anti-intervention radio speech. The U.S. non-intervention movement is supported not just by Lindbergh, but by former president Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Henry Ford and a number of senators and congressmen as well. The Aircraft Carrier HMS Courageous is torpedoed by U29 (Kapitanleutnant Schuhart) south-west
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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