WWII History

1940 Hitler issues Directive No.16, orders for the planning of ‘Operation Sealion‘, the invasion of Britain. Twenty divisions are earmarked for the invasion, but the Luftwaffe must gain air superiority first. All plans are to be ready by mid-August. Destroyer Imogen sinks in Pentland Firth after collision in fog by the British light cruiser HMS […]

1940 Unemployment in Britain up 60,431 in June to 827,266, but still down half a million on June 1939. Home Office bans fireworks, kite and balloon flying. RAF reduces pilot training from three months to one month. The rector of Old Bolingbroke, England, is sentenced to 4 weeks prison for ringing a church bell. Britain

1940 Bastille Day in France declared ‘day of meditation’, de Gaulle and Free French lay wreaths at Cenotaph in London. Churchill broadcasts that Hitler must recast his invasion plans. British commandos launch a raid against Guernsey in the Channel Islands, with negligible results. A force of German bombers attacks Suez, Egypt, from bases in Crete.

1940 Hitler issues Directive No. 15 outlining the details of ‘Operation Sea Lion’, the German invasion of the British Isles. In advance of the landings, the Luftwaffe is to begin operations against British defensive positions, airfields and radar installations along the southern coast of England on the 15th August 15 with 2.600 aircraft having been

1940 The Luftwaffe carries out raids on Aberdeen in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales. Britain and Russia sign mutual assistance agreement in Moscow, pledging ‘no separate peace’. Britain launches “Pots into Planes” campaign to collect aluminum for military use. The last Vichy French troops in Syria surrender to British and Free French forces. 1941 Britain

1940 Lord Beaverbrook, Minister for Aircraft Production, says ‘the sky is the limit’ for plane purchases from US, with spending running at £2.5 million per day on aircraft. Marshal Henri Pétain assumes position as Chief of State of Vichy France, with Pierre Laval as Prime Minister Admiral Raeder, C-in-C of the German Navy expresses his

1940 Birthday Honors list includes only service recipients. British Union Party (Fascists) banned. Preliminary phase of Battle of Britain begins with German air attacks on Channel convoys with the aim of tempting the RAF in to battle. The Luftwaffe launches its first large scale attack on Britain as 70 aircraft attack the dock facilities at

1940 Commons passed War Credits of £1,000,000,000. Tea rationing of 2oz per head per week introduced in Britain. RAF begins night bombing of Germany. The British submarine Salmon is lost south-west of Stavanger, Norway. The German raider Komet leaves Bergen in Norway for operations in the Pacific via the Northwest Passage in the Arctic Ocean

1940 British Metropolitan Police to be armed when guarding vulnerable positions. The Swedish government agrees to transport German war material across Sweden to Norway. Swordfish aircraft damage the French battleship Richelieu at Dakar after the French reject demilitarization proposals. 1941 Soviet military mission arrives in London. Twenty B-17s fly in their first mission with the

1940 A French naval squadron that has sought refuge at Alexandria is disarmed and interned by the British Navy. Italy allows French Mediterranean bases to remain armed. At Dakar, French West Africa, British torpedo bombers damage French battleship Richelieu when she refuses to surrender. 1941 Under the pretext of defending the western hemisphere against Axis incursions, the