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September 1, 1939: Germany Invades Poland, WWII Begins |
| September 3: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces British declaration of war against Germany. France, Australia, and New Zealand also declare war on Germany.
September 5: The U.S. proclaims neutrality.
September 14: Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.
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September 17, 1939: The Soviet Union invades Poland. |
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September 28, 1939: Warsaw, Poland, surrenders to German forces.
October 1939: Hitler orders "Aktion T 4," the euthanasia of the sick and disabled ("life unworthy of life").
October 4, 1939: Radio News: Awaiting Hitler's speech to the Reichstag.
October 6, 1939: German and Soviet forces gain full control over Poland & begin to divide the country between them.
October 8, 1939: Germany annexes Western Poland and Danzig. Russia begins Sovietization of newly acquired area. |
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October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh gives a speech urging U.S. Neutrality. |
October 14, 1939: Radio News: German troops are
on the French border. There is
a rumor that Gemany might make
one more peace offer to France
before attacking. In the Far East,
American Ambassador to Japan Joseph
Grew chastises the Japanese armed
forces for their conduct in China. Domestic news includes the New York World's Fair, and reaction to Lindbergh's speech.
November 8, 1939: An assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler fails.
November 30, 1939: The Soviet Union attacks Finland.
December 2, 1939: Radio News: Russians make slow progress in war in Finland. Roosevelt urges American weapons manufacturers to not sell to nations that bombard civilians. |
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December 14, 1939: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations.
December 30, 1939: Radio News: Hitler told his people that 1940 will be the most decisive year in German history. |
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1940 |
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February 11, 1940: Radio News: President
Roosevelt has sent Sumner Welles to Europe on a
mission to meet with the leaders of the great
powers. there is strong sentiment against imposing
economic sanctions on Japan.
March 12, 1940: Finland signs a peace treaty with the Soviet Union.
April 9, 1940: Radio News: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
May 1, 1940: Radio News: Update on the war in Norway. The first civilian casualties in England. |
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May 10, 1940: Germany invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes the British Prime Minister.
May 15, 1940: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany. There is a growing
realization that America
is not properly prepared
to defend this hemisphere.
May 26, 1940: During the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force is cut off from the French army by the German advance. Some 340,000 British and French soldiers retreat to the port city of Dunkirk, six miles from the Belgian border. The Allies begin a withdrawal from Dunkirk by sea, leaving behind their heavy equipment. |
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May 28, 1940: Belgium surrenders to Germany.
May 29-June 2, 1940: The Dunkirk evacuation continues. The German army could easily destroy the retreating forces, but the German offensive is limited to attacks by the Luftwaffe, Germany's air forces. It is not clear why the army was not ordered to attack. Some believe Hitler still wanted to negotiate a peace with England, while others believe he was saving his resources for the pending invasion of Russia. Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the Allied forces. |
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June 3, 1940: The Dunkirk evacuation ends; German forces bomb Paris.
June 4, 1940: Speech: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses the House of Commons on the Dunkirk disaster.
June 10, 1940: Norway surrenders to Germany. Italy declares war on England and France.
Speech: President Roosevelt Address at the University of Virginia.
June 14, 1940: German forces enter Paris.
June 16, 1940: French WWI hero Marshal Philippe P??tain is legally voted in as French Head of State by the French Parliament.
June 18, 1940: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet in Munich. The Soviet Union begins their occupation of the Baltic states. |
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Speech: Winston Churchill's "This Was Their Finest Hour" speech before the House of Commons. |
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June 21, 1940: Radio News: Adolf Hitler meets with French representatives in the Forest de Compi??gne to deliver the armistice terms. The meeting takes place in the same rail car in which Germany had surrendered to France in 1918. The ceremony lasts only twenty minutes. Rather than reading the terms of the armistice, the Germans are read a text prepared by Hitler which says that Germany had never been military defeated during the Great War. Rather, she had been duped by President Wilson and the Allies into ceasing hostilities. Following this reading, Hitler orders that the French be given the armistice terms and then leaves the rail car. He takes no further role in the armistice discussions.
June 22, 1940: France signs an armistice with Germany. General Charles Huntziger signs for |
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France. Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel signs for Germany. The Germans occupy the north and west of the country, including Paris and all of the Atlantic coastline. The remaining two-fifths of France's prewar territory will be administered by its administrative centre in the resort town of Vichy (thereby creating the pro-German Vichy government).
June 23, 1940: Hitler tours Paris.
June 24-June 28, 1940: The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia is held. New York businessman Wendell Willkie is nominated.
June 28, 1940: England recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the leader of the Free French. |
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July 1, 1940: German submarines begin attacking Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean.
July 2, 1940: The Export Control Act is created by Presidential proclomation. The President may, whenever he deems "necessary in the interest of national defense," prohibit or curtail the exporting of military equipment, munitions, tools, and materials. The Act is designed to curtail Japan's imperial notions.
July 3, 1940: British attack and damage naval vessels at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir, and seize French men-of-war in British ports.
Radio News: German planes launch the worst air raids yet on England. German police authorities in Amsterdam have ordered all Jews there to register within a few days. Japanese army leaders have presented to the cabinet a formal statement disagreeing with Japan's new foreign policy. The cabinet statement was criticized as being too mild and too conciliatory toward the Democratic nations.
Radio News: Fulton Lewis on President Roosevelt's press conference.
July 5, 1940:
President Roosevelt invokes the Export Control Act against Japan, prohibiting the exportation of strategic minerals and chemicals, aircraft engines, parts, and equipment. Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
July 9, 1940: Radio News: The French Parliament will dissolve and France will become a totalitarian state. Henry Stimson in confirmed by the Senate to be Secretary of War.
Radio News: Fulton Lewis on Wendell Willkie's press conference. |
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July 10, 1940: Germany launches an air offensive against England. The battle takes place over the English Channel, as German planes attack British shipping. The Battle of Britain has begun. Major resources will have to be committed by the RAF to protecting English shipping convoys.
July 15-July 18, 1940: The Democratic National Convention is held in Chicago. Franklin D. Roosevelt wins the nomination for a third term on the first ballot. 7/16: Radio News: Elmer Davis.
July 19, 1940: President Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act providing for 1,325,000 tons of combatant shipping, 100,000 tons of auxiliary shipping, and 15,000 aircraft. The act will expand the U.S. Fleet by 70 percent.
July 21, 1940: Following the Soviet invasion in June, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had rigged elections in which only Soviet candidates were allowed to run. The new pro-Soviet governments join the Soviet Union.
July 26, 1940: President Roosevelt invokes the Export Control Act against Japan, prohibiting the exportation of aviation gasoline and certain classes of scrap iron steel.
August 2, 1940: Media reports indicate that Japan is growing bolder. The Japanese press is turning sharply against America. Yet no one believes Japan's policies will lead to war with America.
August 3-19, 1940: The Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.
August 16, 1940: US Marines take control of some parts of Shanghai; Japan makes demands to U.S. regarding Shanghai.
August 17, 1940: Germany declares a blockade of the British Isles.
August 23-24, 1940: First German air raids on Central London.
August 27, 1940: President Roosevelt signs a joint resolution authorizing him to call Army Reserve components and National Guard into Federal service for 1 year.
August 30, 1940: Vichy France consents to Japanese military occupation of ports, airfields, and railroads in northern Indochina.
August 31, 1940: President Roosevelt calls 60,000 National Guardsmen into Federal service.
September 3, 1940: President Roosevelt announces the "Destroyers for Bases" executive agreement with Great Britain. The U.S. will give Great Britain 50 destroyers in return for 99-year leases on bases in the Bahamas, Antigua, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Jamaica, and British Guiana.
September 4, 1940: Secretary of State Cordell Hull warns the Japanese to respect the territorial integrity of French Indochina. News reports say that the Japanese will occupy French
Indochina next Friday, and will eventually
threaten Philippines. |
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September 7, 1940: A massive series of German raids involving nearly four hundred bombers and more than six hundred fighters target docks in the East End of London. Civilian casualties are 300 dead, 1300 wounded. Repeated waves of attacks continue until 0500 the next day. The codeword "Cromwell" was passed nation-wide, and church bells rung out in warning that a German invasion might be underway.
September 9, 1940: The U.S. Navy awards contracts for 210 ships including 12 aircraft carriers and 7 battleships. Germany warns that all ships in war zones prescribed by the Axis are subject to attack, |
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"regardless of nationality." |
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Phase I: Channel Battles: July 10-August 11 |
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Phase II: Early Assault Against Costal Airfields: August 12-23 |
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Phase III: The Luftwaffe targets the airfields: August 24-September 6 |
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Phase IV: Day attacks on British towns & cities: September 7-onward |
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September 16, 1940: The
Burke-Wadsworth Bill establishes the
selective service and authorizes the
first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
The first draftees are selected in December.
September 24, 1940: U.S. House committee considers an economic boycott of Japan.
September 27, 1940: Japan signs the
Tripartite Pact with Germany
and Italy, making them allies. Radio News: Japan takes bold anti-American attitude.
October 7, 1940: German troops enter Romania. |
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October 16, 1940: Sixteen million men register for the draft under Selective Training and Service Act.
October 23, 1940: Speech: After touring the Camden shipbuilding facility in New Jersey, President Roosevelt delivers a major campaign address in Philadelphia.
Radio News: New York welcomes Wendell Willkie.
October 27, 1940: Radio News: The New York World's Fair closes. |
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October 30, 1940: Speech: Roosevelt at Boston.
October 31, 1940: British forces occupy Crete.
October 28, 1940: Italy invades Greece.
November 2, 1940: Speech: Franklin D. Roosevelt campaign speech at Cleveland.
November 5, 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for an unprecedented third term over Wendell Willkie. Radio News: Election night interviews, Kansas City, MO. |
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November 6, 1940: Radio News: Fulton Lewis: The election is over at last.
November 8, 1940: Admiral Nomura is appointed Japanese Ambassador to the United States.
November 11-12, 1940: A British torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
November 20, 1940: Hungary joins the Axis.
November 22, 1940: Greece defeats the Italian 9th Army.
November 23, 1940: Romania joins the Axis.
December 9-10, 1940: The British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
December 29, 1940:
President Roosevelt announces
he will make America an "arsenal
of democracy". The Detroit
automobile industry retools for
war. Large factories, like the
one at Willow Run, begin turning
out thousands of bombers, fighters,
and other weapons of war. The
city of Detroit becomes known
as the "arsenal of democracy." |
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1941 |
January 6, 1941: President Roosevelt delivers the State of the Union Address. The speech becomes known as the "Four Freedoms" speech.
January 7, 1941: U.S. Ambassador
to Japan Joseph C. Grew in Tokyo warns
that "there is a lot of talk
around town to the effect that the
Japanese, in case of a break with
the U.S., are planning to go all out
in a surprise mass attack at Pearl
Harbor. I rather guess that the boys
in Hawaii are not precisely asleep."
The office of Naval Intelligence receives
the message, weighs its importance,
and ignores it.
January 20, 1941: Speech: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third inaugural address.
January 22, 1941: Tobruk in North Africa falls to the British and Australians. |
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January 30, 1941: Germany announces that ships of any nationality bringing aid to Great Britain will be torpedoed.
February 9, 1941: Speech: Winston Churchill says to America, "Give us the Tools."
February 11, 1941: British forces advance into Italian Somaliland in East Africa. Radio News: The Japanese
ambassador arrives in
Washington; FDR says that if there
is a war with Japan, it will not
affect deliveries to Britain,
but does not think there is danger
of such a war. |
| February 20, 1941: The Japanese proposes a "commercial understanding" with the U.S., providing for Japanese dominance of the Dutch East Indies. Since 97% of America's rubber supply is imported from the region, Roosevelt flatly rejects the proposal. He goes on to warn the Japanese that any movement south of China will mean trouble.
March 7, 1941: British forces arrive in Greece.
March 11, 1941:
The Lend-Lease
Act becomes law. The president may
"lend, lease, or otherwise dispose
of" to any country whose defense
was vital to the U.S., arms and other
equipment up to $7 billion. |
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April 1941: The U.S. establishes naval bases in Greenland and begins to patrol the Atlantic.
April 6, 1941: Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.
April 13, 1941: Japan signs non-aggression pact with Russia.
April 14, 1941: German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps attack British forces in Tobruk.
April 17, 1941: Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
April 27, 1941: Greece surrenders to Germany.
May 1, 1941: The German attack on Tobruk is repulsed.
May 10, 1941: Deputy F??hrer Rudolph Hess flies to Scotland.
May 15, 1941: The British counter-attack in Egypt, called Operation Brevity, begins. |
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May 23, 1941: Charles Lindbergh speaks at an America First rally at Madison Square Garden, New York.
May 24, 1941: The British ship Hood is sunk by the German ship Bismarck.
May 27, 1941: Radio Report: The British Navy sinks the Bismarck.
Radio Address: President Roosevelt issues "a proclamation that an unlimited national emergency exists and requires the strengthening of our defense to the extreme limit of our national power and authority." |
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June 4, 1941: A Pro-Allied government is installed in Iraq.
June 8, 1941: The Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
June 14, 1941: The U.S. freezes German and Italian assets. |
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June 22, 1941: Germany invades Russia. FDR extends Lend-Lease to Russia.
July 14, 1941: Radio News: Mutual reporter John B. Hughes makes an ominous prediction about Japan.
July 2, 1941: Japan recalls her merchant ships from the Atlantic Ocean, and calls more than 1 million army conscripts.
July 7, 1941: President announces to Congress that an executive agreement has been made with Iceland for United States troops to |
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occupy that country. FDR orders 4,000 Marines to Iceland. |
July 21, 1941: Radio Speech: President Roosevelt urges congress to extend the Selective Training and Act so that those nearing the end of their one-year call-up will remain at the ready.
July 23, 1941: Speech: Former presidential candidate Wendell Willkie urges unlimited aid to Britain.
July 25, 1941: Japan announces they
are going to "protect" French
Indo-China (what is today Vietnam).
From there they can easily menace
The Dutch East Indies (where there
are important oil wells) and the Philippines. |
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July 26, 1941: Army Forces, Far East is organized under the command of Lt. Geneneral Douglas MacArthur. The Philippine military forces are called into service with United States Army. FDR freezes all Japanese
assets in the U.S. This ends all trade,
even forces Japanese ships that are
in U.S. ports to depart without loading
or unloading their cargo. All oil
products are cut off to Japan.
July 28, 1941: Japan freezes United States assets.
July 29, 1941: The Japanese occupy southern Indochina.
July 30, 1941:
The American River gunboat Tutuila (PR-4) is bombed by Japanese planes at Chunking, China. The Japanese apologize for the incident the next day. |
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August
14, 1941: FDR and Winston Churchill
issue the Atlantic Charter from Argentia
Bay in Newfoundland. Roosevelt
had travelled to Argentia aboard
the heavy cruiser USS Augusta,
escorted by the battleship USS Arkansas, the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa and the destroyer
USS McDougal, while Churchill
made the journey across the Atlantic
aboard the battleship HMS Prince
of Wales.
The Atlantic Charter established
a vision for a post-World War
II world, despite the fact the
United States had yet to enter
the War. The participants hoped
in vain that the Soviet Union,
having been invaded in June her previous
ally Nazi Germany, would adhere
as well. In brief, the eight
points were: |
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1. no territorial gains sought
by the United States or the
United Kingdom;
2. territorial adjustments must
conform to the people involved;
3. the right to self-determination
of peoples;
4. trade barriers lowered;
5. postwar disarmament;
6. freedom from want and fear;
7. freedom of the seas;
8. an association of nations. |
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September 4, 1941: A German submarine
and the U.S.S. Greer exchange
fire off the coast of Iceland. The Greer had been tracking the
submarine and relaying its position
to a British plane, which had then
dropped 4 depth charges on the sub.
No damage done. FDR condemns the attack,
orders naval vessels to escort merchant
ships, and orders them to "shoot
on sight" any German submarines
they encounter. Radio Speech: President Roosevelt on the Greer incident, September 11. Radio News: following the president's speech. |
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October 14, 1941: Radio News: Navy Secretary Knox says that a collision with Japan is inevitable.
October 17, 1941: German submarine
attacks the U.S.S. Kearny, 11 killed.
October 19, 1941: US merchant ship Lehigh is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off West Africa.
October 30-31, 1941: German submarine
attacks and sinks the USS Salinas and the USS Reuben James, (a tanker
and a destroyer), killing 96. Congress
authorizes the arming of merchant
ships. All restrictions on commerce
are removed. The U.S. is essentially
now engaged in undeclared war at sea
with Germany. |
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November 5, 1941: Radio News: Special
envoy Saburo Kurusu is coming from Japan to
Washington; Japan's threats usually
don't amount to much; arrival
of Kurusu is of vital importance;
speculation as to what his arrival
means.
November 14, 1941: US Marines are ordered to leave Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin, China.
November 17, 1941: Radio News: President
conferenced with Hull and Japanese
special envoy Kurusu; Japanese
want to send an additional 50,000
troops to Indo-China; Japanese
Hawk in Tokyo wants all of Japan
on a war footing. |
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November 26, 1941: Document: Secretary of State Cordell Hull hands a document to Ambassador Nomura. It consists of two parts: an oral statement, and an outline of a proposed basis for agreement between the United States and Japan.
November 27, 1941: Adm. H. R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, sends "war warning" message to commanders of the Pacific and Asiatic Fleets.
November 30, 1941: Japanese Foreign Minister Tojo rejects United States proposals for settling the Far Eastern crisis. |
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December 4,
1941: The German army reaches the gates
of Moscow. Hitler makes a huge tactical
blunder and does not press the attack,
but darts off deeper into Russian territory
without having taken Moscow. The Russians
have time to regroup and launch their
own offensive. This, and the notoriously
bad Russian winter guarantees that the
German army will be retreating from
the eastern front for the rest of the
war. |
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December 5, 1941: Japan assures the United States that her troop movements in French Indochina are only precautionary. Radio Address: Senator Tom Connally (D-TX) reminds the Japanese that the US has
a mighty navy in the Pacific.
December 6, 1941: Document: President Roosevelt sends a personal message to the Emperor of Japan. Radio News: Crisis in
US-Japan Relations: Secretary
Hull awaits Japanese response
to commuication. Attention focuses
on Japanese troop movements in
Indo-China.
December 7, 1941: The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and many other targets in the Pacific. |
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