August

1941 Mussolini’s son Bruno killed in test-flight crash of P-108 bomber near Pisa. The United States Senate extends National Service to 18 months. Joseph Stalin appoints himself Generalissimo of the Red Army. Konoye asks FDR for summit meeting. He also proposes a Chinese police corps with Japanese officers and a timetable for a withdrawal of […]

1940 Goering sets the 10th August 1940 as ‘Eagle day’, the start of the Luftwaffe major offensive against the RAF and its Airfields. Italian forces reach Odweina in British Somaliland. Battles at Tug Argan and at Hargeisa. 1941 The Japanese foreign minister, Admiral Nomura, proposes to the USA a meeting between Roosevelt and Prime Minister Konoye. 1942

1940 U.S. and Vichy France reach Green-Slade-Robert Agreement, an understanding on the status of French warships and aircraft in the French West Indies. Montreal mayor Camillien Houde is arrested, and charged under the Defence of Canada Regulations. He is imprisoned at Camp Petawawa in Ontario until the end of the war. Anglo-Polish military agreement signed.

1940 The Italians begin their invasion of British Somaliland, East Africa. Using some 25,000 troops, they push the small British garrison back towards the port of Berbera. 1941 Stimson shows Hull the Magic intercept of Toyoda’s “encirclement” message to Berlin, that Japan and Germany will encircle their enemies, Russia and India. The US Far East

1940 Churchill warns nation against believing rumours that invasion threat is over. Italian troops under General Guglielmo Nasi invade British Somaliland from Italian Ethiopia. 1941 The Archbishop of Munster gives a sermon in which he calls the Nazi euthanasia program murder. The archbishop is imprisoned in a German concentration camp until the end of the

1940 Montreal mayor Camillien Houde publicly urges Quebecers to not sign up for national registration for war duty. Lord Beaverbrook appointed to War Cabinet. French military court sentences de Gaulle to death in absentia. Italy reported to be massing troops on Libya-Egypt border. British Royal Navy bombards Italian naval base on Sardinia. 1941 US and

1940 RAF bomb Krupp works at Essen. British Order in Council declares the start of the grouse shooting season to be August 5 instead of the 12th. Hitler signs Directive No.17, requiring the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to increase their attacks against Britain and her shipping, in preparation for ‘Operation Sealion’. Russian Foreign Minister Molotov reaffirms

1939 The British fleet is put on full alert. 1940 RAF’s worst day in Battle of Britain: most bases out of action, 41 planes lost. RAF 303 Squadron (Polish) flies first patrol and makes first kill. Weekly rations in Vichy France now 4oz of sugar, 6oz spaghetti, 1.5oz rice and 3oz margarine per person. 1941

1940 The British Battleship Valiant, the Aircraft Carrier Illustrious and two Cruisers leave Gibraltar bound for Alexandria to reinforce Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean fleet. In an effort to avert war between her allies Romania and Hungary and to secure his southern flank prior to attacking the Soviet Union, Germany and Italy under the second Vienna Award

1940 Germany apologizes to Eire for Wexford bombing. Intense dogfights over London and Home Counties. Britain refuses German proposal to use 64 Red Cross ships to rescue airmen from the English Channel. Vichy France agree to Japanese demands that they be allowed to station forces in northern Indochina. First mass jump by US paratroopers, at