Military operations
Category
(1014)1940
January
- 07
- The destruction of Soviet divisions on the Raate roadIn the first week of January 1940 Colonel Siilasvuo’s Finns cut the Soviet 44th Division into pockets on the Raate road and destroyed it, taking tanks and guns.
- Timoshenko takes command in FinlandOn 7 January 1940 Moscow formed the North-Western Front under Komandarm Timoshenko. After the defeats of December, he was to break the Mannerheim Line.
February
- 15
- Key eventThe Red Army breaks the Mannerheim LineOn 11 February 1940 the Red Army broke the Mannerheim Line at Lähde. On 15 February Mannerheim ordered a retreat and the Russians entered Summa.
- Germany widens the U-boat warContrary to popular chronologies, no new order came on 15 February 1940. The zones where U-boats sank even neutral ships unwarned had grown since January.
March
April
- 09
- Key eventGermany invades NorwayOn 9 April 1940 Germany landed troops in Norwegian ports and took Oslo from the air. The king, government and gold left the capital, and Norway fought on.
- Germany occupies DenmarkOn 9 April 1940 the Wehrmacht invaded neutral Denmark. After skirmishes in Jutland and at Amalienborg the king and government ended resistance within hours.
- The sinking of the Blücher in the Drøbak NarrowsOn 9 April 1940 the guns and torpedoes of Norway’s Oscarsborg fortress sank the cruiser Blücher. The delay let the king, government and gold leave Oslo.
- 10
- The sinking of the KönigsbergOn 10 April 1940 Skua dive bombers from the Orkneys sank the German cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, damaged the day before by a Norwegian coastal battery.
- The first Battle of NarvikAt dawn on 10 April 1940 five British destroyers surprised a German flotilla at Narvik. Each side lost two ships, and both commanders were killed.
May
- 10
- Key eventGermany attacks in the WestOn 10 May 1940 the Wehrmacht struck the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The Allies advanced into Belgium as Kleist's tanks entered the Ardennes.
- The capture of Fort Eben-EmaelOn 10 May 1940 gliders carrying German parachute sappers landed on the roof of the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael. The garrison surrendered the next day.
- The Battle for The HagueOn 10 May 1940 German airborne troops landed near The Hague to seize the Dutch Queen and government. By nightfall the Dutch had retaken three airfields.
- 13
- Key eventThe breakthrough at SedanOn 13 May 1940, after eight hours of bombing, Guderian’s infantry crossed the Meuse at Sedan and Rommel at Dinant. On 15 May they broke into open country.
- The battles of the Grebbeberg and the AfsluitdijkOn 13 May 1940 the Germans broke the Dutch Grebbe Line on the Grebbeberg. In the north the Kornwerderzand works on the Afsluitdijk held out to the end.
- 24
- The Allies decide to leave NorwayOn 24 May 1940 London decided, in secret from the Norwegians, to withdraw its troops from northern Norway. Defeat in France made the fight for Narvik pointless.
- The halt order before DunkirkOn 24 May 1940 Hitler approved halting the tanks before Dunkirk. By 26 May the Allies had strengthened their defence, and the Germans took Boulogne and Calais.
June
- 14
- Key eventThe Germans enter ParisOn 14 June 1940 German troops entered Paris, declared an open city, without a fight. A swastika flag was hoisted over the Eiffel Tower.
- The French Navy against ItalyOn 14 June 1940 French cruisers from Toulon shelled Vado, Savona and the outskirts of Genoa. Until 21 June the French fleet fought the Italians at sea.
- The shooting down of the KalevaOn 14 June 1940 Soviet bombers shot down the Finnish airliner Kaleva from Tallinn over the Gulf of Finland. Nine died, including an American courier.
July
August
- 01
- The Italian submarine base at BordeauxIn summer 1940 the Regia Marina set up the BETASOM base at Bordeaux. Italian submarines joined the Battle of the Atlantic under Dönitz’s operational control.
- Operation HurryOn 2 August 1940 the carrier HMS Argus flew off twelve Hurricanes to Malta, while aircraft from Ark Royal bombed the airfield near Cagliari in Sardinia.
- 15
- Black ThursdayOn 15 August 1940 the Luftwaffe struck England from France, Belgium and Norway. It lost some 75 aircraft, and the raid from Norway ended in disaster.
- The sinking of the cruiser ElliOn 15 August 1940 the Italian submarine Delfino sank the Greek cruiser Elli off Tinos. Athens knew the culprit but spoke of an “unknown” submarine.
- 31
- Attacks on RAF airfieldsOn 30 and 31 August 1940 the Luftwaffe struck No. 11 Group's sector airfields. On 31 August Fighter Command suffered its heaviest daily losses of the battle.
- Disaster off TexelOn the night of 31 August/1 September 1940 a British flotilla ran into a German minefield off Texel. The destroyers Esk and Ivanhoe sank; some 300 men died.
September
- 22
- The attack on convoy HX 72On 20–22 September 1940 the U-boats of Kretschmer, Prien and Schepke sank 11 ships of convoy HX 72 from Halifax without losing a single boat.
- Japan enters French IndochinaOn 22 September 1940 Vichy France agreed to Japanese troops in Tonkin. Hours later the Japanese 5th Division attacked across the border near Lạng Sơn.
- 24
- A major RAF raid on BerlinOn the night of 23/24 September 1940 over a hundred British bombers attacked Berlin for hours. It was the largest raid yet on the capital of the Reich.
- Vichy reprisal raids on GibraltarOn 24 and 25 September 1940 Vichy aircraft bombed Gibraltar twice in reprisal for Dakar. The trawler Stella Sirius was sunk and 14 sailors were killed.
October
- 19
- The Italian air raid on BahrainOn the night of 18–19 October 1940 four Italian SM.82s from Rhodes bombed the refinery in Bahrain and Saudi Dhahran, then landed in Eritrea.
- The slaughter of convoys SC 7 and HX 79On 16–20 October 1940 U-boats sank 20 of the 35 ships of slow convoy SC 7 and 12 of the 49 ships of convoy HX 79 without losing a single boat.
November
- 14
- Key eventThe Coventry BlitzOn the night of 14–15 November 1940 hundreds of German bombers razed the centre of Coventry and St Michael's Cathedral. Some 568 people were killed.
- The Greek counter-offensiveOn 14 November 1940 the Greek army launched a counter-offensive at Korçë and in Epirus. Within ten days it drove the Italians out of Greece and entered Albania.
December
- 16
- The raid on MannheimOn the night of 16/17 December 1940, 134 RAF bombers struck Mannheim in reprisal for Coventry. It was the first raid deliberately aimed at a city centre.
- The British enter LibyaOn 16 December 1940 the Italians gave up Sollum, Fort Capuzzo and Sidi Omar and shut themselves in Bardia. The British entered Libya and began to encircle it.