WWII History

1940 German forces advancing South from the Somme capture Rouen on the Seine. The British 51st Highland Division and part of the French 10th Army withdraw towards St-Valery-en-Caux, hoping to be evacuated to England. The French government evacuates from Paris to Tours. Norway officially surrenders to Germany. 1941 Fire Service Council established in Britain, with 1,400

1940 The British aircraft carrier Glorious is sunk by the German heavy battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Southwest of Narvik. The evacuation of British and French troops (24,000 men) from Narvik and Harstad is completed. A Norwegian delegation negotiates with the Germans for a peace treaty. Off Norway, German battlecruisers Gneisenau & Scharnhorst sink British carrier HMS Glorious and British destroyers Ardent and Acasta (1537

1940 Allied troops fall back on Bresles front, 60 miles north of Paris. French bomb Berlin. King Haakon of Norway, his family and government, evacuate from Norway to Britain as Germans advance. 1941 The first of five heavy night raids by the RAF begins on Brest as Prinz Eugen shelters there. First US Lend-Lease planes

1940 Home Defense commander Ironside announces the creation of the lronsides, small groups of highly mobile, armed men for defense against parachutists. The Germans begin ‘Operation Red’, the Battle of France with 119 divisions, including 10 Panzer division’s. Army Group B, with 50 divisions, opens the offensive against the French left wing which is anchored

1940 Churchill tells Commons ‘We shall fight on the beaches, in the fields, in the streets and in the hills. We shall never surrender.’ Holiday camps are banned within 10 miles of east and south-east coasts of England and Isle of Wight. German troops enter Dunkirk, taking 40,000 French prisoners and huge quantities of abandoned

1940 All aliens and stateless persons living in Britain are forbidden to leave home between 10:30 pm and 6 am. Churchill orders the setting up of commando forces to be used for raiding occupied Europe. The last night of the Dunkirk evacuation sees 26,700 French soldiers lifted from the beaches. This brings the total rescued

1940 26,200 British and French troops are evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk. Virtually all British soldiers have now been evacuated and so the remaining French troops have taken over the defense of the perimeter. 1941 US statement of policy respecting French possessions in the Western Hemisphere. Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass

1940 All signposts which might be helpful to parachutists landing in Britain taken down. Unemployment in Britain falls 92,000 in May to 881,000, giving a total fall of 611,000 in a year. German onslaught continues at Dunkirk. General Lord Gort, C-in-C BEF, returns from Flander’s with another 64,400 troops who were evacuated off the beaches this day.