Diary WW2

Diary for Saturday, February 17, 1940: Politics US President Roosevelt sends Sumner Welles, Under-Secretary of State, on ‘fact-finding’ tour of Europe and appoints Myron C. Taylor as his ‘personal representative’ […]

Diary for Saturday, February 17, 1945: Home Front Britain: World Trades Union Conference in London.

Diary for Friday, February 16, 1940: Sea War Atlantic: RESCUE FROM THE ALTMARK. Boarding party from destroyer HMS Cossack rescue 299 British merchant navy personnel from German supply ship Altmark

Diary for Friday, February 16, 1945: Air War Pacific: US PARATROOPS TAKE CORREGIDOR (Philippines). Germany: 263 USAAF bombers attacking Kiel and dropping 559 t of bombs. Sea War Pacific: 1,000

Diary for Thursday, February 15, 1940: Finland Winter War: Finnish forces withdraw to second line of defenses in Mannerheim Line (operation completed February 17).

Diary for Thursday, February 15, 1945: Air War Germany: Dresden, Magdeburg and Cottbus attacked by 1,000 bombers of 8th USAAF. Western Front Canadians now hold 16-km front along West Bank

Diary for Wednesday, February 14, 1940: Politics Finnish Note (circularize to many foreign governments) accuses Russia of adopting ‘illegal’ methods of warfare, inc. indiscriminate bombing of unprotected towns, hospitals and

Diary for Wednesday, February 14, 1945: Russian Front Pomerania: Zhukov captures Schneidemühl. Western Front Canadians repel four counter-attacks in Reichswald sector. Air War Europe: 8th USAAF completes Allied ‘triple blow’

Diary for Tuesday, February 13, 1940: Sea War Atlantic: British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire intercepts German blockade-runner Wakama (scuttled) near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil makes vigorous protest.

Diary for Tuesday, February 13, 1945: Air War Germany: DESTRUCTION OF DRESDEN. 773 Lancaster bombers (5 lost) and 311 B-17 Fortress deliver ‘triple blow’ against this virtually undefended city near

Diary for Monday, February 12, 1940: North Africa Australian Imperial Force and detachment of NZ troops arrive at Suez. Sea War Atlantic: U-boat U-33 sunk in the Clyde by minesweeper

Diary for Monday, February 12, 1945: Politics Peru declares war on Germany and Japan.

Diary for Sunday, February 11, 1940: Finland Winter War: Russians break through Mannerheim Line in Summa sector. 123rd Division overwhelms defending Finnish battalion. Finns launch desperate counter-attacks. Politics Russian-German Trade

Diary for Sunday, February 11, 1945: Western Front British enter Kleve. Home Fronts Germany: Entire gold reserves (c. 100 t.) transported from Berlin to salt mine near Eisenach. Americans capture

Diary for Saturday, February 10, 1940: Western Front French communiqué reads: Rien a signaler (‘Nothing to report’). Sea War Atlantic: Six German merchant ships leave Vigo, Spain to run the

Diary for Saturday, February 10, 1945: Russian Front East Prussia: Rokossovsky captures Elbing and Preussisch-Eylau. Western Front Germans open flood gates of Schwammenauel Dam on river Roer, in attempt to

Diary for Friday, February 9, 1940: Sea War North Sea: German destroyers lay mines in ‘The Wash‘, on British East coast (night February 9-10). Finland Winter War: Finns hold Russian

Diary for Friday, February 9, 1945: Russian Front East Prussia: Königsberg now virtually encircled by 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts. Western Front BRITISH AND CANADIANS REACH THE RHINE in strength.

Diary for Thursday, February 8, 1940: Western Front Two French soldiers capture German patrol in Forbach Woods. Secret War USA: ‘Harry Sawyer’ (Sebold) arrives in New York to head German

Diary for Thursday, February 8, 1945: Western Front Canadians advance into Reichswald southeast of Nijmegen, between Maas and Rhine (Operation Veritable).