United Kingdom
Tag
(515)1940
January
February
March
April
May
- 10
- Key eventChurchill becomes Prime MinisterOn 10 May 1940, the day of the German offensive in the West, Chamberlain resigned and the King asked Churchill to form a coalition government.
- The British occupy IcelandOn 10 May 1940 some 750 Royal Marines occupied Reykjavík without a fight. An army brigade arrived on 17 May, and the marines soon sailed home.
- 13
- Queen Wilhelmina in LondonOn 13 May 1940 Queen Wilhelmina left the Netherlands aboard HMS Hereward and reached England. The de Geer government followed her the same day.
- “Blood, toil, tears and sweat”On 13 May 1940, in his first speech as prime minister, Churchill offered the Commons “blood, toil, tears and sweat”. The House backed him by 381 votes.
- 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
- 04
- “We shall fight on the beaches”On 4 June 1940 Churchill reported to the House of Commons on Dunkirk and declared that the British would fight on the beaches and never surrender.
- The end of the Dunkirk evacuationOn 4 June 1940 the last ships left Dunkirk and the Germans entered the town. Between 30,000 and 40,000 French troops of the rearguard were taken prisoner.
July
- 01
- Graziani takes command in LibyaOn 1 July 1940 Marshal Rodolfo Graziani arrived in Tripoli as Balbo's successor. Mussolini demanded a swift attack on Egypt; Graziani held back.
- Italian air raids on PalestineIn July 1940 Italian bombers from Rhodes began attacking Haifa. The first raid, on 15 July, set oil tanks ablaze; the second, on 24 July, killed over forty.
- 04
- The Duke of Windsor becomes Governor of the BahamasOn 4 July 1940 the Duke of Windsor, stranded in Lisbon after the fall of France, learned he was to govern the Bahamas. Germany wanted to keep him in Europe.
- Germany reveals Operation PikeOn 4 July 1940 the German news agency published extracts from captured French files on an Allied plan to bomb the Soviet oilfields in the Caucasus.
- The Italians take KassalaOn 4 July 1940 Italian troops from Eritrea took Kassala and Fort Gallabat in the Sudan. A handful of Sudan Defence Force men withdrew after hours of fighting.
August
- 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
- 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
- 12
- The invasion of Britain postponed until springOn 12 October 1940 the OKW announced Hitler's decision to postpone the landing in England until spring 1941. Preparations were now merely a means of pressure.
- The Battle of Cape PasseroOn the night of 11–12 October 1940 the cruiser HMS Ajax beat off an attack by Italian torpedo boats and destroyers east of Malta. The Italians lost three ships.
November
- 05
- Roosevelt elected to a third termOn 5 November 1940 Roosevelt became the first US president to win a third term, beating Willkie by 449 electoral votes to 82. London hoped for more help.
- The sinking of HMS Jervis BayOn 5 November 1940 the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay took on the Admiral Scheer to shield convoy HX 84. She sank, but most of the ships escaped.
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.