December 1940

December

• 03

  • First Government Delegate for PolandOn 3 December 1940 Gen. Sikorski appointed Cyryl Ratajski Government Delegate. A secret civil state administration began to take shape in occupied Poland.
• 08

  • Franco refuses to enter the warOn 7 December 1940 Franco told Canaris that Spain could not enter the war on 10 January. Hitler called off Operation Felix, the attack on Gibraltar.
  • The Greeks take GjirokastërOn 8 December 1940 the Greeks entered Gjirokastër, the main town of southern Albania, having taken Delvinë and the port of Sarandë as the Italians fell back.
• 09

  • Key eventOperation Compass beginsOn 9 December 1940 General O’Connor’s British and Indian troops struck the Italian camps around Sidi Barrani. In three days they took over 38,000 prisoners.
• 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.
• 18

  • Key eventDirective No. 21: Operation BarbarossaOn 18 December 1940 Hitler signed Directive No. 21, Barbarossa: by 15 May 1941 the Wehrmacht was to be ready to crush the USSR in a rapid campaign.
• 22

  • The Manchester BlitzOn the nights of 22/23 and 23/24 December 1940 the Luftwaffe bombed Manchester. The city centre burned, and some 680 people were killed in the city itself.
• 28

  • Italy asks Germany for helpBy late December 1940 the Greeks held about a quarter of Albania, and the Italians, beaten in Egypt too, pressed Germany ever harder for military help.
• 29

  • Key eventThe Second Great Fire of LondonOn the night of 29/30 December 1940 Luftwaffe incendiaries started some 1,500 fires in the City of London. About 160 people died; St Paul's Cathedral was saved.