WWII History

1939 British Expeditionary Force on continent reaches strength of 158,000 in five weeks. The Soviet Union and Finland begin negotiations concerning the establishment of Soviet air bases on Finnish soil. The Soviet Union also requires Finland to cede territory around lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, plus the Petsamo area in northern Finland. In […]

1938 The Hungarian army, with the sanction of its German allies, retakes territory in Czechoslovakia that was stripped from the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI. 1939 The Soviet Union signs and agreement with Lithuania that allows the Soviets to establish military bases in the country. Hitler forms Winter Relief, forced charitable contributions from German civilians. Chinese

1939 Chamberlain announces committee of ministers to co-ordinate the economy. Hitler issues orders for the invasion of France and the Low Countries. This first plan called for the German Army to wheel through Belgium as they had done during World War One, although this time they were to invade Holland as well. Only the start

1939 RAF reconnaissance planes shoots down a German flying boat over the North Sea. The American cargo ship “City of Flint” and its crew are captured by a German warship, despite the fact that the United States and Germany are not at war. The American sailors are eventually freed when the Germans are forced to

1939 Heinrich Himmler made Commissioner for Consolidation of the German Race—to eliminate “inferior” people from the German Reich. 1940 German troops enter Romania, at the request of Fascist Gen. Ion Antonescu, to ‘help restrain the Army’. Beaverbrook announces gifts received for aircraft purchases now total £6,098,826. Finland rejects a British demand to cease fighting the

1939 After a 2 day battle against Soviet tanks and planes and then a 5-day fight against the Germans. The last remaining Polish troops (17,000 men) surrender to German forces at Kock and Lublin. Hitler in a speech to the Reichstag announces the victorious conclusion of the Polish campaign and calls upon Britain and France

1938 The German government orders all German Jews to have red J’s printed on their passports, in order to more easily identify and track them in the future. 1939 Hitler enters Warsaw in triumph. The Soviet Union forces a treaty on Latvia that allows the Red Navy to establish bases in her Baltic harbors The

1939 Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany. 1940 Mussolini and Hitler meet at the Brenner Pass. Admiralty announces recent sinking of seven German and two Italian submarines. 1942 A Commando raid on Occupied Sark, in Channel Islands capture’s one German soldier. The fourth German offensive begins in Stalingrad as the XIV Panzer

1940 U.S. Army adopts airborne, or parachute, soldiers. Airborne troops were later used in World War II for landing troops in combat and infiltrating agents into enemy territory. Chamberlain resigns as Lord President of the Council through ill health, and cabinet is reshuffled with Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor, and Ernie Bevin, Minister of Labour

1938 Winston Churchill comments to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain about the Munich Agreement; “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor and you will have war.” 1939 The first Poles are imprisoned in Pawiak Prison in Warsaw. Some 100,000 people will undergo Nazi interrogations here, of whom 37,000 will be