Diary WW2

Diary for Sunday, July 6, 1941: Neutrals Ecuador and Peru: Border War. Peru ousts Ecuadorian forces from two disputed areas and recaptures Matapalo Island (occupied by Ecuador in 1938); Peruvian […]

Diary for Saturday, July 5, 1941: Air War Germany: RAF night raids on Munster (railway targets) and Bielefeld (power station); heavy civilian casualties.

Diary for Friday, July 4, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: German troops capture Ostrov, south of Pskov. Air War Germany: 11 Blenheim bombers carry out daylight raid on Bremen factory

Diary for Thursday, July 3, 1941: Home Fronts Russia – STALIN BROADCASTS ‘SCORCHED EARTH’ POLICY: ‘We must not leave … a single kilogram of grain or a single litre of

Diary for Wednesday, July 2, 1941: Air War Western Europe: Bristol Blenheim bombers, with strong escort (includng American-volunteer ‘Eagle Squadron’), bomb airfield and rail junction near Lille.

Diary for Tuesday, July 1, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Guderian’s Panzers cross river Berezina. Panzers of Army Group North cross the Dvina and advance towards Pskov; Riga occupied.

Diary for Monday, June 30, 1941: Air War Eastern Front: Elite German fighter wing JG 51 shoots down 100 Russian bombers attacking Guderian’s Panzers east of Minsk. The commander, Moelders,

Diary for Sunday, June 29, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Silberfuchs (‘Silver Fox): German ski troops (Gebirgskorps) led by ‘Dietl of Narvik’, begin advance from north Finland towards Murmansk. Three successive

Diary for Saturday, June 28, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: German troops capture Minsk. Air War Mediterranean: Junkers Ju 88 bombers drop 3,970 lb (1,800 kg) ‘block-buster’ bombs on besieged

Diary for Friday, June 27, 1941: Politics Hungary: Government declares war on Russia. Russia: British military mission arrives in Moscow. Sea War Atlantic: German blockade runner Regensburg reaches Bordeaux after

Diary for Thursday, June 26, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: German Panzers reach river Dvina and Daugavpils. Siege of Hango: Russian garrison holds out in naval base, west of Helsinki,

Diary for Wednesday, June 25, 1941: Air War Eastern Front: Russians bomb Helsinki and five other Finnish towns. Western Europe: Blenheim bombers, under heavy fighter escort, bomb Hazebrouck marshalling yards,

Diary for Tuesday, June 24, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: German troops take Kaunas and Vilna in Lithuania. Politics Hungary: Government breaks off diplomatic relations with Russia.

Diary for Monday, June 23, 1941: Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa: Germans cross river Bug, Eastern Poland. Politics Slovakia declares war on USSR. see also: Slovak Armed Forces

Diary for Sunday, June 22, 1941: Politics GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON USSR. ITALY AND RUMANIA DECLARE WAR ON USSR. Churchill pledges British material and moral support for USSR. Eastern Front

Diary for Saturday, June 21, 1941: North Africa After the failing of Operation Battleaxe, Auchinleck succeeds Wavell as British CinC Middle East. Wavell appointed CinC India. Middle East Free French

Diary for Friday, June 20, 1941: Neutrals Finland: General mobilization. USA: Major-General H H ‘Hap’ Arnold appointed Chief of US Army Air Forces. Roosevelt describes torpedoing of SS Robin Moor

Diary for Thursday, June 19, 1941: Sea War Mediterranean – Tobruk Ferry: Australian and British destroyers and sloops (11 vessels) carry out frequent night supply and troop transport missions from

Diary for Wednesday, June 18, 1941: Secret War British radar development, under Watson-Watt, is revealed in the Press as ‘Detection of Enemy Aircraft by Ether Waves’. Politics German-Turkish non-aggression pact.

Diary for Tuesday, June 17, 1941: Middle East Fierce fighting at Kuneitra (Syria), which twice changes hands.