Diary January 31, 1940
Diary for Wednesday, January 31, 1940 Secret War Italy: Secret British military mission to Italy orders 300 Caproni Re 2000 fighters. Germany vetoes deal in April. British attempts to obtain …
01-1940
Diary January 30, 1940
Diary for Tuesday, January 30, 1940 Sea War Heinkel He 111 bombers again attack shipping off British coast. German U-boat U-55 attacks convoy off Land’s End, sinking 2 ships; but …
Diary January 29, 1940
Monday, January 29, 1940 Finland Winter War: Battle of Kuhmo begins. Finns encircle Russian 54th Division at Kuhmo, in the ‘Waist’. Heavy Russian air raids on Finnish ports. Politics Russia …
Diary January 28, 1940
Sunday, January 28, 1940 Home Fronts Britain: Director of Censorship permits newspapers belatedly to reveal details of Britain’s (MAIN EVENT) the coldest winter since 1894: River Thames and Southampton Docks …
Diary January 27, 1940
Saturday, January 27, 1940 Home Fronts Britain: Winston Churchill (uneasy at slow increase in war production) speaks at Free Trade Hall, Manchester: ‘each to our station … there is not …
Diary January 26, 1940
Friday, January 26, 1940 Home Fronts France: Paul Ferdonnet, the ‘Radio Traitor’ – notorious for his pro-Nazi broadcasts in French language from Stuttgart – is tried in absentia by a …
Diary January 25, 1940
Thursday, January 25, 1940 Occupied countries Poland – ‘Goring-Frank Circular’: all material resources and manpower to be ruthlessly exploited for the immediate benefit of the Reich (copies of this top-secret …
Diary January 24, 1940
Wednesday, January 24, 1940 Finland Winter War: Fierce fighting northeast of Lake Ladoga. Finns repel all attacks.
Diary January 23, 1940
Tuesday, January 23, 1940 Home Fronts Britain: Large number of road accidents in the ‘black-out’ necessitates reduction in speed limit from 30 mph (ca. 48 km/h) to 20 mph (ca. …
Diary January 22, 1940
Monday, January 22, 1940 Finland Winter War: Finnish authorities announce the formation of a Foreign Legion, including British volunteers.
Diary January 21, 1940
Sunday, January 21, 1904 Air War Finland: Finnish Blenheim bombers raid Kronstadt naval base, near Leningrad (today St Petersburg). Russians bomb Oulu, northwest Finland. Sea War North Sea: RN destroyer …
Diary January 20, 1940
Saturday, January 20, 1940 Politics Britain: Churchill broadcasts appeal to neutral States to join Britain and France in resisting Nazi aggression. He compares their timid conduct with the crocodile’s victims …
Diary January 19, 1940
Friday, January 19, 1940 Finland Winter War: Heavy fighting continues on three fronts. 45 °C (81 °F) of frost recorded. Sea War Destroyer HMS Grenville mined and sunk off Thames Estuary. Neutrals …
Diary January 18, 1940
Thursday, January 18, 1940 Home Fronts Britain: Five workmen killed in series of explosions at Waltham Abbey explosives factory.
Diary January 17, 1940
Wednesday, January 17, 1940 Secret War Polish cryptographers in France break Luftwaffe Enigma key of October 28, 1939. Regular decoding now possible. Finland Winter War: Finns recapture Kursu, southwest of …
