Year 1940

Diary for Wednesday, July 24, 1940: Sea War Repatriation steamer Meknes carrying 1,277 French sailors to Marseilles, sunk by German E-boat S-27 off Portland (383 dead). Neutrals Romania: Rumanian Government […]

Diary for Tuesday, July 23, 1940: Home Fronts Britain: Local Defense Volunteers renamed Home Guard. 1,300,000 men have volunteered since May 14; recruiting officially terminated. Third War Budget: income tax

Diary for Monday, July 22, 1940: Air War First ‘kill’ by RAF night fighter equipped with AI (Airborne Interception) radar: Do 17 shot down south of Brighton by Blenheim.

Diary for Sunday, July 21, 1940: Home Fronts Britain: Lt.-Gen. Sir Alan Brooke appointed C-in-C Home Forces. Politics Romania cedes Southern Dobrudja area to Bulgaria. National assemblies in Baltic States

Diary for Saturday, July 20, 1940: Air War Göring orders creation of first specialized night-fighter wing Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) – under Oberst Josef Kammhuber. Me 110 night fighter achieves

Diary for Friday, July 19, 1940: Politics Germany: HITLER‘S ‘LAST APPEAL TO REASON’ speech in Reichstag, Berlin, says Britain has no sensible alternative but to reach peace agreement; (Britain rejects,

Diary for Thursday, July 18, 1940: Air War Germans attack shipping off south England. RAF daylight raids on invasion barges at Rotterdam and St Orner airfield (3 aircraft lost). RAF

Diary for Wednesday, July 17, 1940: Politics Britain agrees (under severe Japanese diplomatic pressure) to close the Burma Road – a vital supply route for Chiang Kai-shek‘s armies – for

Diary for Tuesday, July 16, 1940: Sea War OPERATION SEA LION (Seelöwe): HITLER ORDERS PREPARATION FOR SEABORNE INVASION OF ENGLAND, to be completed by mid-August, inc. the reduction of the

Diary for Monday, July 15, 1940: Air War Hurricane fighters beat off 15 Dornier Do 17 s attacking convoy in English Channel. Hidden by low cloud, Ju 88s hit targets

Diary for Sunday, July 14, 1940: Occupied countries France: General de Gaulle attends Bastille Day ceremonies in London. Neutrals Vichy France: Day of National Mourning.

Diary for Saturday, July 13, 1940: Air War First Free Polish fighter squadron (No 302) formed in Britain, with Hurricane fighters.

Diary for Friday, July 12, 1940: Air War Hurricane fighters destroy four bombers attacking convoy off Suffolk coast. Night raids on Aberdeen (60 casualties) and Cardiff. Neutrals Russia: Kuusinen, former

Diary for Thursday, July 11, 1940: Neutrals Vichy France: President Lebrun resigns; Petain proclaims himself ‘Head of the French State’, abolishes Republican Constitution of 1875, and dismisses Senate and Chamber

Diary for Wednesday, July 10, 1940: Air War BATTLE OF BRITAIN (for Britain DAY 1; but in fact the real German operation was starting more than one month later, on

Diary for Tuesday, July 9, 1940: Sea War Mediterranean: Naval action off Calabria (Battle of Punta Stilo). British Mediterranean Fleet attempts to cut off Italian Fleet from its Taranto base,

Diary for Monday, July 8, 1940: Home Fronts Britain: 9 BEF divisions, rescued from Dunkirk, have now been reorganized. Tea rationing begins (2 oz (ca. 76 g) per person per

Diary for Sunday, July 7, 1940: Sea War Atlantic: British naval forces disable battleship Richelieu at Dakar, following French rejection of ultimatum: motor launch drops depth charges under battleship’s stern

Diary for Saturday, July 6, 1940: Home Fronts Germany: Hitler returns to Berlin in triumph after eight weeks ‘in the field’. Sea War French battlecruiser Dunkerque crippled at Mers-el-Kebir by

Diary for Friday, July 5, 1940: Sea War Atlantic: Destroyer Whirlwind sunk by U-boat U 34 southwest of Ireland. Vichy-French warships and submarines capture three British merchant ships in reprisal