On September 1 , 1939 , just before Adolf Hitler ’s invasion of Poland that mark the beginning of World War II , Zygmunt Klukowski , a unseasoned Polish doctor , confided in his journal that everyone was talking about war . " Everybody , " he keep , " is indisputable that we will deliver the goods . " The realness was startlingly different .
Nazi Germany ’s warfare with Poland , begun on September 1 , was an mismatched contest . Five German armies with 1.5 million man , 2,000 armored combat vehicle , and 1,900 modernaircraftfaced fewer than a million Polish troops with less than 500 aircraft and a minuscule number of armored fomite . In gain , German preparation and proficient documentation – and German understanding of the importance of advanced tactical airpower – leave the aggressor great advantage .
Within five day , German forces occupied all of the frontier zones . By September 7 , forward units were only 25 mi from Warsaw , the Polish Washington . Polish air force were eliminated , and the Polish ground forces was split up and encircled . By September 17 , the war was virtually over . Ten years later , after a withering aura violation , Warsaw surrendered . " We were not yet ready , " write Dr. Klukowski two weeks afterwards , " to discuss the causes of our defeat … This is a fact , but we just ca n’t conceive it . "
This was the war Adolf Hitler had hoped for in 1939 . But in gain to the localise engagement with Poland , the German invasion harass a orbicular battle . Britain and France adjudge war on Nazi Germany on September 3 when it became vindicated that negotiating a German secession was hopeless . In Britain and France , the populations had braced themselves for war in the closing weeks of the summer . There was small democratic exuberance for warfare , but a strong wave of anti - German and anti - fascistic sentiment acquire a step down recognition that Adolf Hitler would only stop if he was faced by force .
Almost immediately , the British and French empire ( except for Ireland ) joined the contest , bend it into a worldwide war , struggle not only in Europe but across the oceans . German encroachment also triggered Soviet Union intervention . The terms of the German - Soviet pact , signed in August 1939 , have Joseph Stalin a sphere of influence of influence in eastern Poland . On September 17 , once it was clear that Poland was close to defeat , Red Army units move into Poland and met up with winning German military personnel along a prearrange frontier . On September 28 , the two dictatorships signed another treaty , which divided Poland between them .
For the Western powers , this provoke fear of a totalistic alliance against them . For Poland , dismemberment and harsh totalitarian rule was the reality . Britain and France did nothing to avail their smaller ally . Their military staffs had drawn up a " state of war plan " during the summer of 1939 in which the loss of Poland was accepted as inevitable . The core of the plan was to block off and hold Nazi Germany until the warfare of attrition drive the Germans to empty the contest as they had done in 1918 . Britain and France carry a war of at least three years . This explain why for the first six months of the war the Western country did very little . The letup was nicknamed the " Phony War " – a war with no fighting .
A small amount of naval activity did occur , which gave citizens on both sides something to urge on about . In December 1939 , Britain ’s Royal Navy so damaged the German sac battleshipGraf Speethat it was scuttle in the South Atlantic . Conversely , Germansubmarinesbegan to go down confederative merchant ship . On October 14 , 1939 , a German hoagy managed to riddle the defensive measure of the principal British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands , and there sank the battleshipRoyal Oak . The Germans bombed Polish citizens pitilessly , but for a while refrained frombombingcities in the West . The British only dropped folder on German cities .
The master beneficiary of the warfare in Poland was the Soviet Union . Suffering almost no casualties , the Red Army took portion of Poland that had been take over by Russia and Austria back in the 18th 100 but returned to Poland after World War I. The region was integrated at once into the Soviet system .
More than one million Poles , those regarded as a scourge to the Communist order , were deported to labor camps in the Soviet Union . The three Baltic States – Latvia , Lithuania , and Estonia – had been specify to the Soviet Union firmament by the August and September accord . They were compelled by Soviet imperativeness to go for Soviet military fort and political advisers on their stain .
In the dip of 1939 , the USSR demanded that the Finnish authorities cede some territory and provide Qaeda on Finnish soil . Joseph Stalin had , in fact , already drawn up plans for a Communist Finland , and he expected the same response as the Baltic States had given .
Instead , Finland rejected the Soviet demands , and on November 30 Soviet force invaded along the entire Finnish frontier . Finland ’s army of 200,000 mount a spirited refutation . Only after the mobilization of further Soviet forces in February 1940 did Finnish resistance fatigue down . Finland sought an armistice on March 6 , and a workweek later it conceded all the territory and a base that had been originally demanded .
For Adolf Hitler , the Soviet forward motion in Eastern Europe and the spread of Communist influence were price he had to make up for securing the German tooshie while Nazi Germany aggress Britain and France . But it was a dangerous situation . In October 1939 , he hinted to his military staff that he would settle with the USSR as soon as he could . He hoped the West might seek terms , but when it became clear they were serious about warfare , he plan to snipe the Gallic front in November 1939 . Poor weather prevented it , and Hitler reluctantly accept a delay until spring .
Urged forward by the German navy , Hitler decided to appropriate Norway and Denmark for the naval warfare against British trade supplies from America . What had begin as a war to extend German power in Eastern Europe had become an open and unpredictable conflict with the interference of Britain and France . Only in Poland was the war really over . Dr. Klukowski watched in dismay as German troop despoil shops and church and forced Jews to give up their valuables and houseclean the streets . As he compose late in 1939 , " It is really hard to experience in slavery . "
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World War II Timeline: 30 March 2025-1 December 2024
World War II officially began on September 1 , 1939 , when Nazi Germany invaded Poland . Below is a timeline trace some of the authoritative result of the first week of September , 1939 .
World War II Timeline: September 1-September 6
September 1 : World War II start as the Germans occupy Poland with a three - frontBlitzkrieg . They attack the Polish army with an overpowering military force of 1.5 million military personnel backed by tacticalaircraftin the sky and mobile armor on the earth .
September 2 : Polska plead for assistance from pledged allies Britain and France . They answer the following day by demanding Nazi Germany ’s withdrawal and hold war against the Nazi regime . India , Canada , Australia , and New Zealand ( and soon South Africa ) supply their own declarations of war .
September 3 : Conservative parliamentarian Winston Churchill is name first lord of the admiralty .
Britain ’s Royal Air Force ( RAF ) carries out the first propaganda atmosphere raid of the warfare , salting northern Germany with six million tract .
Without warn , a GermanU - boattorpedoes theAthenia , a British passenger ship impart 1,400 civilians from England to Canada , killing 118 .
September 4 : The first RAF gentle wind ravishment is a catastrophe , with only eight of 29bombersstriking German naval nucleotide . Ten of the RAF bombers get lost , seven are shot down , three flack one of Britain ’s own ship , and one attacks impersonal Denmark .
Spain ’s General Francisco Franco put up his support to the Axis while publically declaring neutrality .
September 5 : The Nazis occupy the medieval Polish urban center of Kraków .
The United States officially declares its neutrality .
September 6 : RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires that scramble during a false air raid alert end up shooting at each other , with the Spitfires downing the Hurricanes .
World War II Headlines
Below are more paradigm and newspaper headline from World War II that examine the item of Nazi Germany ’s aggression in other September , 1939 .
Junkers Ju-87 ( Stukas ) vital to success ofBlitzkrieg : Close air documentation was a prerequisite for the success of theWehrmacht’sBlitzkriegoperations . In 1939 and early 1940 , the fool - fly , exclusive - engine Junkers Ju-87 ( Stuka ) – with three simple machine guns and a maximum bomb load of 1,540 pounds – was critical to such operations . The terror enchantress of these diving aircraft strickle veneration into those on the terra firma below , while their bombs and guns amplified this threat with death and destruction . However , once oppose by more New paladin aircraft – such as the British RAF ’s Spitfires and Hurricanes start in 1940 – the Ju-87s turn up vulnerable . They were subsquently utilized only on occasion in support of front - line offensive operations .
German cosmopolitan Fedor von Bock tops in the field : German cosmopolitan Fedor von Bock was a imposing old - trend Prussian officer who control the GermanAnschlussforces in 1938 . In 1939 he commanded Army Group North during the Polish campaign and , in 1940 , Army Group B during theBlitzkriegthat speedily overran the Low Countries and defeated France . afterwards , Bock was twice relieved of command in Russia : first in 1941 following a fail offence against Moscow , and later on in 1942 after disagreements with Adolf Hitler over operational conclusion . Having survived both those campaigns and Hitler ’s displeasure , he was killed in an Allied air foray on May 4 , 1945 .
Poland succumbs to German encroachment : The event that in the end destroyed any residual hopes in London or Paris that calming might yet succeed was Adolf Hitler ’s invasion of Poland . At dawn on September 1 , 1939 , sequential wave of hoagie and fighter - torpedo raided late into Poland . Simultaneously , the tank , artillery , and foot of two German army groups , comprised of five disjoined ground forces , launched annihilative attacks against the sizable but outdated and poorly deployed Polish forces . Warsaw lastly fell on September 27 , the effectiveness of Nazi Germany’sWehrmachthad been validated , and theBlitzkriegconcept of warfare was born .
cover read to see more about the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 , which mark the commencement of World War II .
World War II Timeline: 19 May 2025-1 January 2025
World War II Timeline: September 7-September 20
September 7 : Wary of inflame public sentiment and pulling the United States into the warfare , Adolf Hitler warn his military leaders against attacking rider vessels .
September 8 : President Franklin Roosevelt call off for a strengthening of the U.S.militaryand begins to use his constitutional top executive to call up the reserves , as the state of war in Europe has created a state of " limited internal hand brake . "
September 13 : claim that Polish civilians are attacking their troops , German military leadership vows to target Polish noncombatants , of whom yard have already been murder .
September 14 : Germany loses its first ship of the war when aU - boatis deepness - charge and sunk by British destroyers .
September 17 : The Soviet Union invades Poland with 40 divisions , many waving clean flags at a perplexed Polish universe . Already beaten by the Nazis , Poland ’s army is unable to put up much of a fighting , and the keep an eye on day Russia will well claim the territory it was promised by Nazi Germany when the two country signalize the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact .
Five hundred die when the British Navy suffer its first ship , theCourageous , which is sunk by a U - gravy boat off Ireland .
September 18 : Armed with inside noesis of the German Enigma code , members of the Polish Cipher Bureau bunk from Poland with two of the Enigma machines . They will arrive in Paris on October 1 .
September 20 : TheLuftwaffeand Britain ’s Royal Air Force ( RAF ) clash for the first time , in the skies over the border between Germany and France , when German Me109s attack Fairey Battle bombers . The RAF fall back twoaircraft , while the Germans lose one .
Below are more highlight and images from September 1939 , when Nazi Germany invaded Poland .
Warsaw puts up a fight against Nazi invaders : The German capture of Warsaw , Poland , seen here with its building burning on the horizon , proved pricy for Germans and Poles likewise . On September 9 , the Fourth Panzer Division lose 57 of 120 tanks in former street fight for the city , and the panzer commanders learned many punishing lessons from this clash . However , after more than two weeks of intensive melodic phrase bombardment and ground combat , characterise by a succession of tight coordinated ground and air assaults and artillery bombardment , the city at last fall on September 27 .
execution of defenseless Poles by Nazi Germany : Kazimiera Mika , a 10 - year - old Polish missy , stoop over the body of her honest-to-god babe . The elder Mika girl and six other women , desperate for nutrient , had been dig for potato in a field in besieged Warsaw when theLuftwaffestruck . Nazi fliers swoop down to within 200 feet of the ground and attacked the group with machine - hired gun ardor . Two were killed . As the aircraft depart , Kazimiera draw to her fallen sib . This was Kazimiera ’s first experience with the finality of death , and she was unable to interpret why her sister could no longer utter to her .
Messerschmitt fighter bombers crucial toBlitzkrieg : Flying at 350 mph with a range of 565 miles , the German Messerschmitt Me 110 belligerent - bomber accommodate a two - man crew , carried 2,000 pound of bombs or four air - to - air rocket , and was armed with two 20 millimetre cannons and five simple machine guns . The first twin - engine battler to enrol operational service during the warfare , the Me 110 was highly successful during the 1939Blitzkriegagainst Poland . However , it was outclassed by the RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain in 1940 , proving to be both slower and less maneuverable . It after enjoy a renaissance as a night fighter .
Continue reading to learn more about the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 on the World War II timeline next .
World War II Timeline: 10 May 2025-25 January 2025
World War II Timeline: September 21-October 12
September 21 : Pro - Nazi Iron Guardsmen assassinate Romanian choice rector Armand Calinescu , ostensibly because he was cabal to blow up Romanian crude oil playing area to keep them out of German hand .
September 22 : Wartime shortages settle in as Britain begins rationinggas . Three Clarence Day by and by , Germany will begin rationing cabbage and flour .
September 25 : Warsaw is bomb into utter meekness by theLuftwaffe . The metropolis will surrender to the Nazis on September 27 .
October 5 : The last of the Polish army lays down itsguns . Of the more than half - million troops that faced the Nazis in the precede month , most were occupy prisoner while roughly 100,000 drop dead in the fight or flee the country .
October 6 : While direct theReichstagin Berlin , Adolf Hitler criminate Poland of broach hostilities . He insist that he has no territorial aspiration toward England , France , Belgium , Holland , and several other countries that he will attempt to occupy in the approaching months and years .
October 7 : Adolf Hitler move forrader with his plan to evict or kill Poles and annex their soil . He address for the " elimination of the harmful influence of nationally foreign populations , which appoint a danger to the Reich . "
October 9 : The U.S. Neutrality Act suffers a public relations setback when the German battleshipDeutschlandcaptures theCity of Flint , an American lading ship carry farming supply to England .
October 12 : turn away Hitler ’s insincere peace proposals , British prime minister Neville Chamberlain asserts that " no reliance can be placed upon the promises of the present German government . "
Below are more images and headlines from September and October of 1939 , when Poland fell to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler advanced his design for subjugation in Europe .
German flak depart Warsaw in ruination : When the first assaults against the Polish capital proved unsuccessful , the Germans besieged Warsaw . They systematically bombed and vanquish the metropolis , causing extensive destruction and loss of life . The city ’s own air defenses were whelm by the tempo of theLuftwaffeonslaught , while the outclassed Polish melody effect was effectively neutralized by September 17 . Much of Warsaw ’s industrial and commercial-grade ticker – let in its great building complex of flour mills
– was set on fire , and its system of weewee - pump station and filtration plants was extensively damaged .
Nazis pull Jews to jab their own Robert Ranke Graves : Soon after the German victory , the SS end squads in Poland began their body of work of dealing with what the Nazis term the " Judaic question . " These two Polish Jews are about to be off once they have fill in digging their own Stephanie Graf . Such belittling give directly to a victim ’s dehumanization , and accordingly to a perverse legitimization by the Nazis of such atrocities . Of the approximately six million European Jews murdered during the Holocaust , 2.9 million were Polish .
Threat of tone-beginning lead to voiding of British small fry : In Great Britain ’s " Pied Piper " elimination , nearly three million people moved from London and other metropolis to rural location that were considered safe from German air attacks . Most were schoolchildren – often from inadequate region – who had never met the families they would live with during the war . Pictured are some of the youthful evacuees . Some parents , include the Royal Family , kept their children in town with them as a patriotic motion .
General Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt carries out Adolf Hitler ’s wishes : General Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt mounted the coup that destroyed the last effectual authorities of Prussia in 1932 . Despite being removed ( together with other fourth-year US Army officers ) by Adolf Hitler in 1938 during the Blomberg - Fritsch crisis , Rundstedt was recalled to duty in August 1939 to lead the Polish invasion . He commanded Army Group South throughout that campaign . His undoubted talent as a field commander and staff officer were employed against France in 1940 , and subsequently elsewhere . Rundstedt always process within or close to the in high spirits bidding . He was enthusiastic about the batch killing of Jews , and accept huge bribes from Hitler .
The follow page is a timeline of the authoritative World War II effect of October 1939 , when Nazi Germany conquer Poland .
World War II Timeline: 19 December 2024-29 March 2025
October 1939 saw Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany begin to reveal their solution to the " Judaic query . " The World War II timeline below highlighting some of the important events of October 1939 .
World War II Timeline: October 12-November 4
October 12 : The Nazis set about to consolidate the Jewish population in Germany ’s engross territories . They post Austrian and Czechoslovakian Jews to Poland .
The Soviet Union sends Finland a list of territorial demands , which include a landed estate exchange and the rightfield to establishmilitarybases . Finland will reply with its own satisfactory terms on October 14 , but Russia will fend by its initial demands .
October 14 : More than 800 sailors die when a Germansubmarinetorpedoes theRoyal Oak , a British battleship .
October 26 : Nazi Hans Frank is appointed governor general of a portion of German - reside Poland , with his headquarters in Kraków .
October 28 : A motion to remediate the U.S. Neutrality Act to allow the sales event of arm to besiege allies passes the Senate . It will pull in the House and be signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on November 4 . The change is contingent on the requirement that arms are not channel by American ships .
October 31 : The SS imposes a series of arbitrary and extremely restrictive legal philosophy on the Poles , admit prohibitions against using telephone booths and wearing felt hats . Violators can be given the death penalisation .
November : In just one week , some 60,000 tons of supplies destined for the Allied grounds are lose to German magnetic mines .
November 1 : Western Poland formally becomes part of the Reich . Eastern Poland will become part of the Soviet Union two days later .
November 4 : An anonymous person who signed himself " German scientist who wishes you well " leaves German weapons research enigma and a mine fuse on the windowsill of the British attaché in Oslo , Norway .
Warsaw ’s Jews are all herded into a ghetto .
See more headline and picture from World War II below , tracing event following Nazi Germany ’s conquest of Poland .
Nazi soldier assail up Polish Jews : The Germans make it at Plonsk , Poland – with its 6,000 - inviolable Jewish community – on September 5 , 1939 , then established aJudenrat(Jewish council ) the espouse July and a ghetto that September . Here , German troop gather the Jews shortly after the town ’s seizure . During the next two years , as many as 12,000 Jews from Plonsk and the surrounding area passed through the ghetto . It was eventually emptied in November 1942 when its stay on indweller were consigned to Auschwitz for extermination .
Polish campaign results in massive casualties : By the terminal of the four - week campaign in Poland , 50,000 German soldiers were dead , wound , or neglect . Polish losings amounted to some 70,000 soldiers killed and 130,000 wounded . Another 90,000 Polish soldiers lam to Hungary , Lithuania , Romania , and Latvia ; many of them later made their style to Allied line . ab initio , theWehrmacht ’s treatment of its 694,000 Polish prisoners was broadly speaking appropriate , although many civilian , a with child proportion of them Jewish , were polish off . The SS andSicherheitsdienst(German secret servicing , or SD ) presently established themselves in Nazi German - occupied Poland , which was now view as a " nonexistent " res publica . Thereafter , the civilian population , specially Jews , suffer increase subjugation and persecution .
On the next page you ’ll find a World War II timeline highlighting the important events of November and December 1939 , when the Soviet Union invaded Finland .
World War II Timeline: 21 January 2025-27 February 2025
In November and December of 1939 the Soviet Union overrun Finland and Nazi Germany accelerate its persecution of the Jews . The World War II timeline below details these and other authoritative events of November and December of 1939 .
World War II Timeline: November 8-December 20
November 8 : Nine die when a concealedbombdetonates in a Munichbeerhall 20 minutes after the departure of Adolf Hitler , the bomb ’s intended target .
November 13 : Joseph Stalin regularize the drafting of war plan against Finland following a breakdown in negotiation .
November 16 : In Prague , Czechoslovakia , Nazi German line of work forces violently inhibit an uprising by students and dissidents .
November 23 : effectual today , all Jews over age 10 living in Nazi - occupied Poland must wear the Star of David .
November 30 : The Winter War start with a Soviet invasion of Finland . In December , the Soviet Union will be throw out from the League of Nations for its aggression .
December : The upper age limit of British conscription is expanded doubly this calendar month . Initially , allmenages 19 to 41 are register , and ultimately men as onetime as 60 andwomenages 20 to 30 will be pressed into some horizontal surface of overhaul .
December 13 - 17 : The Royal Navy mesh theGraf Spee , a German warship , off the coast of Uruguay . After a extended battle , theGraf Speecaptain skitter the ship near Montevideo .
December 17 : Canada sends more than 7,000 troops to Britain to attend the Allies .
December 19 : British scientists get a technique , hump as " degaussing , " to suppress the trigger that trips Nazi Germany ’s magneticmines .
December 20 : The United States unveils a fresh policy in which it embargoes supplies to nations that target civilians and violate other rules of involution in what will become jazz as a " moral embargo . "
Below are more World War II high spot and images from the German and Soviet aggression of November and December of 1939 .
Unity Mitford a jock of fascism : Adolf Hitler called tall , trounce British socialite Unity Mitford " a perfect specimen of Indo-European woman . " An ardent admirer of fascism , Mitford visited Hitler in Germany . aghast when Britain declare warfare on Germany , Mitford made a flunk try at felo-de-se . Other well - born British were appeal to fascism as the good way of life to solve societal problems . In fact , Unity ’s sis , Diana , married Oswald Mosley , loss leader of the British Union of Fascists .
The next pageboy hold in a detailed timeline of important World War II events of former January 1940 .
World War II Timeline: 4 May 2025-3 April 2025
World War II growth of the early new year , 1940 , was anything but promising for the Allies , as Adolf Hitler ’s power increased and Soviet military unit attacked Finland . Below is a World War II timeline that resume the important events from the first workweek of January 1940 .
World War II Timeline: January 2-January 9
January : temperature douse throughout Europe during one of the coldest winters on book .
As many as 70 Jews succumb to starvation and other ills each day in the Warsaw Ghetto .
A work reveals that , in the four months since Britain instituted its insurance policy of nighttimeblackouts , traffic deaths have increased nearly sevenfold , with footer comprising the bulk of the fatalities .
China mine the Yangtze and Whangpoo rivers in a pretty successful effort to impede transport by the occupying Japanese forces .
January 2 : The Soviet US Army launches a major offence against Finland on the Karelian Isthmus .
January 3 : Despite the U.S. policy of neutrality , President Franklin Roosevelt ’s yearly budget request to Congress includes $ 1.8 billion in defense spending .
January 4 : Nazi Germany ’s loss leader , Adolf Hitler , hands control of all German means of state of war material output to his trust aide-de-camp , Hermann Göring .
January 5 : Unable to fit withmilitarygenerals on Britain ’s warfare scheme , Leslie Hore - Belisha renounce from government activity follow his remotion as war secretary by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain .
January 8 : In a striking reversion , Finnish forces extinguish the Russian ground forces ’s 44th Division .
Rationing is imposed in Britain on such dietetical staples as bacon , sugar , and butter .
January 9 : Richard Hildebrandt , the SS chief of Danzig and West Prussia , tells SSReichsführerHeinrich Himmler that he had instructed his scout group to execute more than 4,000 mentally ominous Polish citizen .
More than 150 pass when the massive British linerDunbar Castlefounders off the English sea-coast after hitting a German mine .
Here are more headlines and images detail significant World War II events from the first week of January 1940 .
Nazi Germany defines " degenerate music":In 1938 the Third Reich ’s respected " civilization , graphics , and dramatic art specialist , " Hans Severus Ziegler , engineer an exhibition calledEntartete Musik(Degenerate Music ) . The poster seen here – with its stereotypical Negro playact jazz while fag a Star of David on his lapel – crams as many symbolisation of suppose cultural decay as potential into a unmarried image . The avant - garde music of mod composer , such as Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith , was regarded as especially pernicious and un - Germanic by Nazi ethnic authorities . Of of course , if a composer had so much as one Judaic grandparent , any music he choose to write was pronounce " degenerate . "
Keep read to get word more about national socialist military mathematical process in Europe at the beginning of World War II . The next Thomas Nelson Page details more of import World War II events from January 1940 .
World War II Timeline: 18 January 2025-21 April 2025
January 1940 obtain GermanU - boatactivity increasing in the Atlantic and Winston Churchill rising in prominence in the British war cause . Below is a World War II timeline tracing these and other important World War II events from January 1940 .
World War II Timeline: January 10-January 23
January 10 : A German officer crashes hisplanein Belgium , and proceeds to intentionally ignite a set of state of war plans in full view of Allied soldiers . The salve , partly charred newspaper publisher disclose Adolf Hitler ’s program for a January 14 invasion of Holland and Belgium .
January 13 : As Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler continue their aggressive posturing against the lowland land , Holland and Belgium begin the process of moving their several U. S. Army to a war ground .
January 15 : France and Britain are rebuffed in their efforts to gain permission to cross Belgian territory in their defense mechanism against German hostility .
January 16 : Reports of Nazi crimes entrust against the civilian population of occupied Poland make France , where the Polish government - in - exile is demonstrate .
January 20 : In a speech admonishing impersonal nations to support the Allied cause , Winston Churchill , Britain ’s first Creator of the admiralty , title , " Each one hopes that if he feed the crocodile enough , the crocodile will eat him last . " Churchill also denounces the Soviet Union ’s intrusion of Finland .
January 21 : Torpedoed by a German uracil - boat , the British destroyerExmouthgoes down with its 175 - humankind bunch .
January 22 : The British governance imposes a level of censoring on the medium . It requires Ministry of Information favourable reception of newsreels before spill .
January 23 : Allies France and Britain announce that they will no longer greet the neutrality of the water system off the Americas , and that German ship operating in the area are subject to attack .
Below are more World War II images and newspaper headline about Nazi Germany’smilitaryaggression in Europe and confederative reply in January 1940 .
Nazis " euthanize " the handicap : In October 1939 , Hitler signed this letter ( backdate to September 1 ) authorizingReichsleiterPhilipp Bouhler and Dr. Karl Brandt to begin " euthanizing " physically and mentally handicapped the great unwashed . Under the programAktion T4 , doctors could identify individuals as mentally ill and incurable , then put them to death . Neither patient nor family consent was take . Based on Nazi construct of " racial hygiene " and suffer by a desire to limit the toll of patient care , T4 systematically destroy as many as 100,000 human beings . It was another monstrance of Nazi policies designed to eliminate those they considered unworthy of life .
U.S. stop arms embargo : President Franklin Roosevelt addresses the American people via radio in the fall of 1939 . Beginning in 1935 , a series of American neutrality acts and extensions banned weapon system shipments , loans , and other care to belligerent countries , admit Great Britain . Roosevelt came to regret signing the 1935 enactment . On September 21 , 1939 , he urged an end to the arms embargo . In November , Congress rescind the embargo and go by a " cash and carry " policy for confederate leverage , though other proscription rest in effect .
Nazi Germany destroys the HMSRoyal Oak : The HMSRoyal Oakwas one of five BritishRevenge - class WWI ship that were refitted for WWII . These relatively humble battleships featured a " hero gibbousness " of protective armour . Even so , on October 14 , 1939 , the anchored battlewagon sank when the German submarineU-47slipped through British naval base defence force at Scapa Flow and struck with four torpedoes . TheRoyal Oakbecame the first major British ship to be destruct in World War II . More than 800 crew phallus perished .
Click next for a World War II timeline detailing the event of January and February , 1940 .
World War II Timeline: 17 May 2025-5 January 2025
As January 1940 ended , Nazi Germany increased its onset on Britain and the Soviet Union marched toward victory in Finland . Meanwhile , the United States and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt find it more and more hard to stay neutral . The World War II timeline below traces important events from January and February of 1940 .
World War II Timeline: January 24-February 11
January 24 : Reinhard Heydrich , the foreman of the Nazi Gestapo , is charged with overseeing the voidance of all Jews from the Reich .
February 3 : For the first time since WWI , a Germanplaneis shot down over England .
February 4 : The Soviet Union lash out Finland from the sky , down 14 in the cap metropolis of Helsinki .
February 5 : France and England give to providing the Finns withmilitaryaid to help them fend off the Soviets .
February 6 : Britain launch a newfangled poster military campaign admonish citizen not to talk over sore warfare information in public . The posters have mirthful persona of an eavesdropping Adolf Hitler and the slogan " Careless public lecture cost hold out . "
February 9 : U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles leaves Washington on a futile mission to examine the possibility of a peace liquidation in Europe .
February 10 : The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany fit in to beef up their alliance through increase trading of war stuff .
President Franklin Roosevelt expresses American bread and butter for Finland in the face of Russian aggression .
Two British ship , SalveandServitor , successfully cross a Germanmagneticmine for the first time .
The reside Nazis in Czechoslovakia place restraints on Jewish - owned businesses . They prohibit Jews from deal prowess , gem , and cherished metal , and force the closure of Judaic - have textile and leather shops .
February 11 : Some 140,000 Soviet Union troop attack Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus in a bid to break Finnish resistance . This rape will shew successful for the Soviets , who will overwhelm the Finns with their sheer routine .
Below is a World War II image and newspaper headline about Adolf Hitler , Nazi Germany , and Russia ’s war with Finland .
Adolf Hitler survives assassination plots : Adolf Hitler spoke at a beer hall on November 8 , 1939 , to commemorate the Nazi Party ’s go wrong coup of 1923 . TheFührerended his speech earlier than wait . hour after he left the hall , an explosion inhume the speaking political platform under rubble . Johann Georg Elser , a carpenter , had place the timekeeper and planted the bomb . Elser was arrested and later executed . From 1939 to 1945 , at least 17 other attempts to assassinate Hitler were made . Most were planned by ship’s officer who disdain his military policies .
On the following Thomas Nelson Page you ’ll regain a World War II timeline detail the events of February , 1940 .
World War II Timeline: 31 December 2024-26 January 2025
The knockout wintertime of 1940 coupled with the attacks by Nazi Germany in Europe led to ration in Britain and across the continent . Below is a World War II timeline tracing major events from February 1940 .
World War II Timeline: February 12-February 29
February 12 : With newspaper publisher in short supply , Britain adds it to the growing inclination of commodities subject to rationing .
February 14 : Not immune to the trouble in the rest of Europe , the Vatican institutes a rationing program .
February 15 : One day after Britain declares it is outfit its merchant watercraft withguns , Nazi Germany announces that it will henceforth treat all British merchant ship as hostile fighter .
February 16 : After an thoroughgoing search , the British Navy settle , detains , and boards the German shipAltmarkin Norwegian waters . The Nazis had been usingAltmarkas a prison ship , and the embarkation party quick secures the release of 299 British prisoners taken by Germans from Allied ships .
February 17 : Despite the risk of a licking of Finland by the Soviet Union , the Finns ' asking for aid from their supposed ally Sweden is rebuffed .
February 18 : The " moral embargo , " America ’s refusal to apportion with imperialist belligerent in Europe , is stretch to the Soviet Union .
February 27 : In an seek to advance team spirit , Winston Churchill wildly overstates Britain ’s achiever on the seas , claim that one-half of Nazi Germany ’s fearedU - boatshave been sunk by the Allies .
February 28 : Parts of the Enigma zippo political machine are recovered from the wreckage of a German U - boat , add together to the Polish - append information on the Enigma puzzler in the hands of the Allies .
February 29 : Foodandgasrationing begins in France .
Below are more World War II highlight and images about the Allied answer to Nazi Germany ’s hostility in February of 1940 .
The War Illustratedchronicles the warfare : In September 1939 , British citizens learn the rebirth ofThe War Illustrated , a powder store that had been democratic during WWI . prognosticate to release a photographic record of the " Second Great War " as it happen , the magazine cover both the war and the menage front . Issue 5 featured photo showing U.S. reaction to the national socialist invasion of Poland . Issue 13 ( figure ) shows an hole-and-corner sentry from a Scottish regiment keeping watch through a periscope .
Canada commits to the war effort : Men of the First Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force look to disembark at a British port in February 1940 . Originally , Canada supported calming of the Nazi regime . However , soon after Nazi Germany invaded Poland , the Canadian Parliament O.K. entry into the war . Canada commence ship troops to Britain in December 1939 , although those men did not see military action for several years . Starting with a small military , Canada raised substantial armed force out and had one of the human beings ’s largest militaries by warfare ’s end .
Egypt lets Britain do the fighting : Although self-governing since 1922 , Egypt still depended upon Britain to fight down its land and the Suez Canal . In 1939 - 1940 , anti - British and pro - Axis sentiment were far-flung , so British power take Egypt in strength . Meanwhile , the embryonal Egyptian US Army of 11 infantry battalions ( envision ) and two other regiments was of little military import . Even when Italy invaded Egypt in September 1940 , its government declared nonbelligerent status , lead the British to eject the invaders .
Keep reading to see a World War II timeline detailing significant events from March 1940 .
World War II Timeline: 6 January 2025-13 March 2025
March 1940 bring in major evolution in World War II , including Adolf Hitler outlining his architectural plan to obtrude upon Norway and Denmark . Below is a World War II timeline tracing this and other significant event of March 1940 .
World War II Timeline: March 1-March 14
March : According to the BBC , two out of three British citizen heed to " Lord Haw - Haw , " the " omniscient , " treasonable announcer of the German propaganda wireless showGermany call .
March 1 : Facing shortages of dark dye for military personnel ’s uniforms , Britishwomenare asked to wear only light - colored clothing .
Adolf Hitler regularize his generals to make a architectural plan for the invasion of Norway and Denmark .
March 2 : The Allies ask Sweden and Norway for the right to cross their territory for the purpose of sending troops to reward a flagging Finnish force-out , but are refused .
March 6 : A relegation leaves Helsinki for Moscow to negotiate the terms of Finland ’s surrender to the Soviets .
March 7 : TheQueen Elizabeth , the new flagship of Cunard ’s luxury lining fleet , make it in New York at the end of a daring high-pitched - speed crossing of the GermanU - sauceboat - infested Atlantic .
March 9 : A belated fling of soldiery and material supporting from the Allies is relay to Helsinki .
March 11 : The United States has unwind its arms embargo for its once and succeeding allies , selling several P-40 fighter to Britain and France .
March 12 : Marched for some 18 hour in a snowstorm , 72 of 1,000 German Judaic deportees succumb to the element in Lublin , Poland .
The Soviet Union and Finland contract a peacefulness pact in which Finland surrenders substantial strategical territory , including the metropolis of Viipuri and the port of Hangö . The fresh order comes at a cost of some 25,000 Finnish lives and the death of almost 70,000 soviet .
March 14 : Some half - million Finns pour out of the Soviet - occupied territorial dominion in short after the cessation of hostilities .
Below are more images and headlines detailing events from World War II in March 1940 .
Britain and Australia ally to struggle Japan : This piece of Allied propaganda , which emphasizes a cooperative effort against Japan by Australian and British forces , is not entirely accurate . Australia record the warfare against Germany in 1939 , broadcast flock to the Middle East in accordance with British scheme . military volunteer Australian soldier prove to be top - notch , despite the impact of prewar pecuniary cuts on military preparedness . However , Australian strategy change with Japan ’s ledger entry into the war in 1941 and the possible intrusion of Australia itself . Preoccupied with the German threat , Britain was not capable to guarantee bread and butter , and Australia turned to the United States instead .
On March 18 , 1940 , Adolf Hitler met with BenitoMussolinito talk over Italy join the warfare . This and other event from March of 1940 are discussed on the World War II timeline next .
World War II Timeline: 14 March 2025-12 December 2024
March 1940 proved substantial in World War II as Adolf Hitler run across with BenitoMussolinion March 18 to talk over Italy ’s likely involvement in the state of war . This and other important upshot are detailed in the World War II timeline below .
World War II Timeline: March 14-March 30
March 14 : The Polish authorities , operating in exile in France , expose that Adolf Hitler attempted to sway Poland to get together him in an intrusion of the Ukraine .
NaziReichsmarschallHermann Göring Holy Order all German citizens to surrender any alloy that may be reprocess into war material .
Japan ’s new Zerofighter planesprove formidable when 12 tax return from an confrontation with Chinese scrapper over Chengtu , having destroyed 27 of 30 Chineseplaneswith no casualties of their own .
March 16 : James Isbister , of the Scots village Bridge of Waithe , becomes the first United Kingdom civilian defeat in an melodic phrase raid since the First World War .
March 18 : Adolf Hitler meet with Italian potentate Benito Mussolini to discuss Italy ’s entry into the war . It is compulsive that Mussolini ’s troops will attack France .
March 19 : Avenging Nazi Germany ’s March 16 attack on Scapa Flow , 50 British Royal Air Force hoagie assail a seaplane base at Sylt , a German island in the North Sea .
March 20 : Finance Minister Paul Reynaud succeeds Édouard Daladier as prime minister of France .
Having give way in his bid to convince Europe ’s belligerents to lay down their weapons , U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles deviate Genoa , Italy , for his return voyage to the United States .
March 27 : As diplomatical relations between the Allies and the Soviet Union become difficult because of Soviet help to Germany , Paris requests the remotion of the Soviet embassador .
March 28 : Britain and France agree to not move independently in found treaties with any third res publica .
March 30 : Japan establishes a Chinese puppet government in Nanking , which the United States refuses to recognize .
Below are more image and headlines about World War II , Nazi Germany , and the Allied forces .
Theodor Eicke appointed head of concentration camps : Theodor Eicke get together the NSDAP ( the Nazi political party ) in 1928 . As the Nazis rise to power , Eicke was appointed commandant of the Dachau camp in 1933 . His brute action there ingrain Heinrich Himmler so much that he was appointed inspector of engrossment camps and SS guard formations in 1934 . From 1939 until his destruction in combat in 1943 , Eicke commanded theWaffen - SS Totenkopf(“Death ’s Head " ) variance in the Polish , French , and Russian campaigns . TheTotenkopfdivision committed legion atrocities , such as car - gun 99 British soldier who had surrendered to them at Dunkirk .
Norwegian ship’s officer Vidkun Quisling collaborates with Nazis : Vidkun Quisling ( left ) , the man whose very name issue forth to imply " treasonable collaborator , " rides with SS head Heinrich Himmler , probably during Quisling ’s visit to see Adolf Hitler in December 1939 . Quisling was a Norwegian military officer who serve form a Fascist political party in 1933 , with himself asFører(leader , comparable toFührer ) . When Germany invaded Norway in April 1940 , Quisling made a radio news proclamation announce himself quality minister of religion on behalf of the Nazis . Five day by and by , the Nazis threw Quisling out of power . However , in motivation of a Norse puppet , they reinstated him in 1942 . After the war , Vidkun Quisling was convicted of treason and executed .
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
John S. D. Eisenhower , Senator Daniel K. Inouye , Richard Overy Ph.D. , David J. A. Stone , Wim Coleman , Martin F. Graham , James H. Hallas , Mark Johnston Ph.D. , Christy Nadalin M.A. , Pat Perrin , Peter Stanley Ph.D.
