Saturday 15 June 1940

Soviet troops enter Lithuania, 15 June 1940.

Western Front: General Weygand on 15 June 1940 follows the French government to the south, evacuating Briare for Bordeaux. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud and the rest of his government engage in heated debate about surrender, with Reynaud wanting to fight on. Admiral Darlan suggests that he can move 30,000 troops to North Africa, but not the entire 800,000 that are still fighting.

At dawn, German 7th Army (Friedrich Dollmann) crosses the Rhine near Neuf Brisach between Strasbourg and the Swiss border, taking Strasbourg from French 8th Army and approaching Colmar. They break out into the Alsace Plain and have little between them and Panzer Group Guderian advancing from the north.

Elsewhere, the Germans capture the town, citadel and two forts at Verdun.

German 1st Panzer Division approaches Besancon, isolating the French 2d Army.

German 1st Army attacks French 3rd Army at Sarreguemines.

The Italian forces in the Alps still have not attacked the French. Mussolini orders Marshal Badoglio to attack by the 18th regardless of all other factors.

Operation Ariel, the withdrawal of the BEF, begins. 20-30,000 British and Canadian troops begin evacuating northwest France via Cherbourg and St Malo. This operation is often confused with Operation Cycle, which was a previous evacuation from Le Havre which concluded on 13 June. Today, the 52nd Lowland Division and survivors of the 1st Armoured Division begin embarking.

Commander of German XVIII Armeekorps Hermann Ritter von Speck perishes on the battlefield at Pont-sur-Yonne, France. His daughter later claims (in 2010) that he deliberately sought death on the battlefield, somewhat in the manner of General von Fritsch in Poland. This was due to an inner struggle between what he knew was right and his oath to the army and Hitler.

European Air Operations: Italian aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica raid Propriano, Corsica and southern France.

The RAF raids Bergen, destroying ammunition stored on the quays.

RAF Bomber Command sends strategic raids against the Ruhr and southern Germany. It also sends eight aircraft against Genoa.

The British drop leaflets over Rome.

No. 151 Squadron Hurricane I's equipped with Rotol Constant Speed Propellers fly off from North Weald, June 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) spots convoy HX-47 at 01:00 and goes to work. First, U-38 torpedoes and sinks 9,973-ton Norwegian tanker Italia. There are 16 survivors, while 19 perish.

Then, it torpedoes and sinks 2,238-ton Canadian freighter Erik Boye 60 miles west of the Scilly Isles. All 22 aboard survive.

US passenger liner Washington, having embarked an additional 852 American passengers in Galway, departs from Ireland for New York. It is transporting 1,872 US passengers who have been evacuated from North Africa, France, and the UK.

U-137 (Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Wohlfahrt) is commissioned.

Convoy 168 GF departs from Southend, Convoy OB 168 departs from Liverpool, Convoy SL 36 departs from Freetown.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Italian submarine Macalle runs aground and sinks off Port Sudan in the Red Sea.

North Africa: The RAF sends raids against Italian forces at Sidi Areiz, Assab and Jarabub.

The Italians send an airstrike against British positions at Sollum.

The French send 6 bombers against Tripoli.

German Military: Adolf Hitler sets forth plans to demobilize portions of the Wehrmacht once the campaign in France concludes, which appears to be in the offing.

British Military: The UK War Cabinet decides that the Channel Islands, British territory within sight of France, "are of no strategic importance and they won't be defended."

Anglo/US Relations: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sends a telegram to President Roosevelt asking for destroyers. He states that his country will carry on the struggle "whatever the odds," but the destroyers are a matter of "life and death." Churchill, as former First Lord of the Admiralty, notes that England's survival "may well be beyond our resources unless we receive every reinforcement and particularly do we need this reinforcement on the sea."

Char B1 bis Fantasque destroyed in June 1940.

US/French Relations: President Roosevelt promises French Prime Minister Reynaud that he will continue to provide France with material support (by illegally evading the US neutrality laws), but he states that he cannot commit troops.

German/Swedish Relations: Stockholm grants a German request for railroad transport of non-military supplies to Narvik.

Norway: German 3rd Mountain Division occupies Harstad.

Baltic States: Soviet troops enter Lithuania with no opposition. This is pursuant to the secret Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact of 23 August 1939, and a last-minute agreement by the Lithuanian government to their ultimatum of 14 June. They occupy Kaunas and Vilna. President Antanas Smetona flees to Germany, barely escaping an attempt to capture him by Prime Minister Antanas Merkys. However, the Soviets do capture a minesweeper named... President Smetona.

Vladimir Dekanozov arrives in Kaunas as the new governor.

Soviet troops also take the Latvian border posts of Masļenkos and Smaiļi.

Albania: The Italian-controlled government declares war on France and the UK.

Applied Science: Dr. Vannevar Bush, pursuant to his 12 June 1940 discussion with President Roosevelt, becomes the head of the National Defense Research Committee.

The University of California's Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence begins supervising the construction of a giant cyclotron. This is a key step in the development of plutonium, the essential ingredient of an atomic bomb.

US Government: A new Navy bill becomes law that provides for 10,000 planes and 16,000 aircrews. The numbers are increasing every day now, as this new figure is more than twice the figure from the bill of 14 June.

China: At the Battle of Tsaoyang-Ichang, the Chinese 2nd Army Group and 31st Army group arrive to support the Ichang sector against the Japanese 11th Army.

Italian Homefront: A Roman man becomes the first civilian casualty of the war in that city when he is struck down by falling anti-aircraft shrapnel during an RAF leaflet drop.

French Homefront: The Swastika is raised over the Palace of Versailles, which saw the birth of the so-called Second Reich of Wilhelmine Germany.

Crowds, which were absent during the German victory parades, assemble to watch French POWs being transported through town.

Southern France is packed with refugees, and supplies of everything are tight.

British Homefront: George Orwell suddenly realizes that his French publisher now can't publish his next book, and notes "If so, I am £30 to the bad...  The sensible thing to do now would be to borrow money right and left and buy solid goods."

The Cahuenga Freeway opens in California. This is a view of Cahuenga Freeway with 8 traffic lanes divided by Pacific Electric tracks, looking north from Cahuenga-Highland intersection showing Pilgrimage Play Bridge in background and subway underpass to Cahuenga Avenue. Note entrances to service roads on right and left with intersectional islands. July 1940 issue of California Highways & Public Works.

June 1940

June 1, 1940: Devastation at Dunkirk
June 2, 1940: Hitler Visits France
June 3, 1940: Operation Paula
June 4, 1940: We Shall Fight
June 5, 1940: Fall Rot
June 6, 1940: Weygand Line Crumbling
June 7, 1940: British Evacuating Narvik
June 8, 1940: Operation Juno
June 9, 1940: Norway Capitulates
June 10, 1940: Mussolini Throws Down
June 11, 1940: Paris an Open City
June 12, 1940: Rommel at St. Valery
June 13, 1940: France Goes Alone
June 14, 1940: Paris Falls
June 15, 1940: Soviets Scoop Up Lithuania
June 16, 1940: Enter Pétain
June 17, 1940: The Lancastria Sinks
June 18, 1940: A Day of Leaders
June 19, 1940: U-boats Run Wild
June 20, 1940: Pétain Wilts
June 21, 1940: Hitler's Happiest Day
June 22, 1940: France Is Done
June 23, 1940: Hitler in Paris
June 24, 1940: Six Million Jews
June 25, 1940: German Celebrations
June 26, 1940: USSR Being Belligerent
June 27, 1940: Malta in Peril
June 28, 1940: Channel Islands Bombed
June 29, 1940: Gandhi Insists on Independence
June 30, 1940: Channel Islands Occupied

2020

Saturday 8 June 1940

Scharnhorst opening fire on HMS Glorious on 8 June 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: Operation Juno is one of the least-publicized naval encounters of World War II in relation to the damage inflicted. This most definitely is because the damage inflicted was almost entirely upon the Royal Navy. Compared to Operation Juno, the Bismarck battle a year later was almost a sideshow; but, anyone with the slightest interest in World War II knows every detail about the sinking of the Bismarck. The lack of attention to Operation Juno must be ascribed to the fact that the battle's winner was the war's loser. This is not at all unusual, and perfectly understandable given how "history" works; but the battle stands for that point as much as anything else at this point.

There is the added element that the Admiralty's papers on the incident remain locked up under the infamous "100-year rule," which could be waived - but, for so embarrassing, nay humiliating an incident, will not be. The papers will remain secret until 2040, by which time pretty much everyone but people like us will have long forgotten the incident - as they largely have already.

Operation Juno is one in a succession of German naval sorties that sail up the Norwegian coast. With many of the other operations, the objective was to break out into the Atlantic by circling around Great Britain; however, the objective of Operation Juno is to aid General Dietl's mountain troops trapped against the Swedish border east of Narvik. Adolf Hitler is obsessed with Dietl's predicament, and the idea is to pound the Allied base at Harstad to prevent further Allied reinforcements.

Since battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz are not ready, the Kriegsmarine sends its most reliable pocket battleships (really heavy cruisers): Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They are accompanied by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and the destroyers Z20 Karl Galster, Z10 Hans Lody, Z15 Erich Steinbrinck, and Z7 Hermann Schoemann. Any surface sortie is dangerous, but the Germans have gotten away with it previously and this is a rare chance to use the surface ships to achieve a strategic purpose, as opposed to mere commerce raiding as with the Admiral Graf Spee.

Early on, Luftwaffe reconnaissance reports that the Allies are evacuating from Harstad. This robs Operation Juno of its strategic impact. Admiral Wilhelm Marschall aboard the Gneisenau, however, decides on his own initiative not to waste the opportunity - Kriegsmarine surface sorties are rare opportunities for aggressive commanders and not to be wasted. He turns the mission into a pure naval raid, disregarding his orders to avoid enemy action.

He has plenty of opportunities. With the Allies pulling out of Narvik, the sea lanes between there and Scapa Flow are crowded with Royal Navy vessels. First, heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper comes upon largely empty troopship HMS Orama, tanker Oil Pioneer and minesweeping trawler Juniper - and dispatches all three. The Orama is a modern (1924) Orient Line passenger liner which had been impressed into Royal Navy service. She goes to the bottom about 300 miles west of Narvik, but thankfully she is not full of troops and only 19 men lose their lives. The Admiral Hipper takes aboard 280 prisoners. To the Admiral Hipper's credit, there is an accompanying hospital ship, the Atlantis, which has obeyed the rules of war by not radioing its position - and the Admiral Hipper lets her go. After this, Admiral Marschall detaches the Admiral Hipper with a couple of destroyers to make port in Trondheim.

The sinking of the Orama and the others, however, is just the appetizer. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Glorious ((77) Captain Guy D’Oyly-Hughes) leaves Harstad at 03:00 bound for Scapa Flow, accompanied by destroyers HMS Arden and Acasta. Glorious is serving as a transport vessel and has onboard all of the Gladiators and Hawker Hurricanes from Bardufoss and a smaller-than-usual complement of its own planes. The Hurricanes are not equipped for naval landings and their pilots are not trained in operating from carriers, so the planes just get in the way. In fact, D'Oyly-Hughes all stowed all of the planes below decks for some reason despite being in a war zone. This makes aircraft carrier Glorious vulnerable, and D'Oyly-Hughes requests, and receives, permission, to return to Scapa Flow independently at full speed. Much is made of this decision in the critical commentaries on the incident, but during World War II it is a well-regarded theory that the best protection for any ship is speed.

Accompanied by the destroyers, Glorious heads south. D'Oyly-Hughes made some critical mistakes: he failed to keep any aircraft in the air as a constant Combat Air Patrol, and he failed to post any lookouts in his crow's nest. The former error is somewhat understandable because he only had nine Sea Gladiators and five Swordfish on board (in addition to the land planes); failure to post lookouts, though, smacks of incompetence.

The Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau spot HMS Glorious and her escorts about 180-200 miles west of Norway at around 16:30. Admiral Marschall opens fire at maximum range and incredibly scores a hit on his third salvo with his 11-inch shells at 24 km. Hits at such a range ar devastating because the shells come down almost vertically and plunge through the decks, "plunging fire" is the favorite tactic of the "Battleship Admirals." This damage, only 6 minutes into the encounter, prevents the Glorious from launching any aircraft and essentially seals her fate.

The two Royal Navy destroyers, Ardent and Acasta, lay smoke and closed on the two pocket battleships. This is a desperate maneuver, and everyone in the Royal Navy has the memory of HMS Glowworm in the back of their minds. The suicide mission pays off in part when one of Acasta's torpedoes (it launches four) hits the Scharnhorst, causing serious damage and killing 50 German sailors. The destroyers' 120 mm guns, however, cause little damage on the larger German ships, and both Ardent (151 dead, 2 survivors) and Acasta (161 dead, 1 survivor) soon are on the bottom (the former at 17:50, the latter at 19:20).

As seen from the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau firing her main guns.

HMS Glorious herself is never a factor after the initial hits. Both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau make hits, the Gneisenau striking the bridge and almost certainly killing D’Oyly-Hughes early in the encounter. Marschall orders Scharnhorst to cease firing against the sinking ship. HMS Glorious goes under at 19:10, taking with it about 1531 men, including 63 RAF pilots from No. 46 and 263 Squadrons.

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau then head for Trondheim themselves. They have proven once and for all that, under the right circumstances, the Kriegsmarine surface fleet can be absolutely devastating. The Scharnhorst is in bad shape, with flooding of 2,500 long tons and her after-turret out of action. She will require a trip back to Germany for repair. Meanwhile, with the German pocket battleships retiring, the final Royal Navy troop convoy from Narvik gets through to Scapa Flow un-noticed.

HMS Glorious sinking.

Western Front: Hitler, at his forward Wolfsschlucht headquarters, issues Fuhrer Directive No. 14, Continuation of the Offensive in France. It deals with tactics more than strategy and really is quite unnecessary. However, it reinforces the image that Hitler wishes to project of being in charge of a successful campaign. He notes "extremely strong resistance... north of Paris," which is debatable, and otherwise just confirms orders already given. Army Group A is to attack on 9 June southwards towards the Marne. Hitler also specifically singles out "attached SS units and the SS Death's Head Division" as key elements of the offensive. There is a slight reorientation of the offensive away from the encirclement of the Maginot Line and toward Paris.

General Rommel and his 7th Panzer Ghost Division, along with the accompanying 5th Panzer Division, reach the Seine at Rouen. The 5th Panzer sends troops into the city. French 10th Army is in tatters. British 51st (Highland) Division on the coast is bypassed and its lines of communication cut.

Back on the Somme, XIV Panzer Corps breaks through the French artillery block at Amiens. French 7th Army at Péronne continues to hold 16th Panzer Division to a standstill, which must be extremely frustrating as they watch the breakthrough to Rouen. It is a typical hedgehog campaign, with some strong points holding, but others failing and allowing strong breakthroughs.

European Air Operations: The air over the front is full of swirling planes. Captain Wuillame of Groupe de Chasse (Fighter Group) I/2 is flying a Morane-Saulnier MS406. He claims three Bf 109E fighters in only 15 seconds over the Somme sector. Despite this victory, the lack of adequate French air cover is becoming a major problem for the Allied ground forces.

French bombers attack factories near Berlin before dawn.

Battle of the Atlantic: British freighter Hardingham hits a mine and sinks in the English Channel.

Italian warships lay more mines in the Mediterranean.

Convoy HG 33 departs from Gibraltar, Convoy SL 35 departs from Freetown.

German Military: German casualties are hitting 5,000/day., much higher than in previous campaigns - but France is the Big Enchilada.

Norway: The Allies conclude their evacuation of troops from Narvik and Harstad, taking off a final tranche of 24, 000 men. Before departing, they render the port facilities useless to the Germans until repaired - which they soon are.

The Norwegian troops opposing General Dietl near the border pull out and disguise their departure by leaving dummies along the line. The German mountain troops soon realize what is happening, and occupy Narvik again. There are still Norwegian troops in the area, but they have no Allied support whatsoever and are out-matched by the Wehrmacht troops.

Anglo/French Relations: Prime Minister Reynaud sends his deputy General Charles de Gaulle to England to confer with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Australian Government: Sir Keith Murdoch, a newspaper magnate, becomes the Australian Minister of Information.

Science: Edwin M. McMillan and Philip H. Abelson at the University of California at Berkeley reveal the discovery of element 93, neptunium (symbol Np), a decay product of uranium-239.

League of Nations: Increasingly irrelevant in a world at war, the League of Nations lays off 75% of its staff.

French Homefront: The rumble of distant gunfire becomes noticeable in Paris, though the government reassures the populace that is is just nearby anti-aircraft artillery.

British Homefront: The US State Department issues an advisory for US citizens in England and Ireland to depart next week on the liner Washington in order to avoid a possible German invasion.

There is a media blackout in the UK. George Orwell writes, "In the midst of a fearful battle, one has the impression there's no news." There is indeed news, but none of it is good for the Allies.

Future History: Nancy Sinatra is born in Jersey City, New Jersey. She becomes famous in the 1960s for such hits as "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and "You Only Live Twice," along with the No. 1 duet with her dad Frank, "Something Stupid."

Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s.

June 1940

June 1, 1940: Devastation at Dunkirk
June 2, 1940: Hitler Visits France
June 3, 1940: Operation Paula
June 4, 1940: We Shall Fight
June 5, 1940: Fall Rot
June 6, 1940: Weygand Line Crumbling
June 7, 1940: British Evacuating Narvik
June 8, 1940: Operation Juno
June 9, 1940: Norway Capitulates
June 10, 1940: Mussolini Throws Down
June 11, 1940: Paris an Open City
June 12, 1940: Rommel at St. Valery
June 13, 1940: France Goes Alone
June 14, 1940: Paris Falls
June 15, 1940: Soviets Scoop Up Lithuania
June 16, 1940: Enter Pétain
June 17, 1940: The Lancastria Sinks
June 18, 1940: A Day of Leaders
June 19, 1940: U-boats Run Wild
June 20, 1940: Pétain Wilts
June 21, 1940: Hitler's Happiest Day
June 22, 1940: France Is Done
June 23, 1940: Hitler in Paris
June 24, 1940: Six Million Jews
June 25, 1940: German Celebrations
June 26, 1940: USSR Being Belligerent
June 27, 1940: Malta in Peril
June 28, 1940: Channel Islands Bombed
June 29, 1940: Gandhi Insists on Independence
June 30, 1940: Channel Islands Occupied

2020

Sunday 14 April 1940

One of the Junkers Ju 52 transport planes shot down during the Dombås paratrooper operation, 14 April 1940.

Norway: The military commandant, General von Falkenhorst, on 14 April 1940 threatens all civilians resisting the German occupation with harsh measures. He takes 20 prominent citizens of Oslo hostage, including the Bishop. The entire situation is completely fluid: US journalist James Aldridge comments that it is the "Most nonsensical war ever seen: no-one knows where 'front' is, every time I look for fighting, I just miss it."

The British and French are unsure how to proceed. However, they are agreed that they have to do... something. The decision comes down to getting some troops ashore and then figuring out what to do with them later. So, troops land in Norway, but far away from any opposition.

Norway Army Operations: The Germans are advancing north from Oslo through the Glomma Valley, and the Norwegians are delaying them wherever possible. The German 196 Infantry Division pushes northward from Oslo, and about 3000 Norwegian troops in the sector head across the border into Sweden and are interned.
The Battle of Dombås begins when the Germans drop elite paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) of the 7th Flieger Division near the railroad junction at Dombås at about 18:00. Unknown to the Germans, the drop is into the middle of a temporary encampment of the 2nd Battalion of the Norwegian Army′s Infantry Regiment 11 (II/IR 11). The Junkers Ju 52 planes flying at treetop level come under fire from all directions, and the planes return fire as best they can. The Junkers Ju 52s carrying them lose 8 of their 15 number, and the remainder are shot up.

A different German parachute drop in Norway, probably up at Narvik.

It thus is an extremely hazardous drop in poor weather, completed only because it is a Hitler order which must be obeyed. The paratroopers are spread out over a wide area and suffer heavy casualties during the drop. Out of a force of 185 men, only 63 wind up with the commander, Oberleutnant Herbert Schmidt, and in a position to do anything. The men on the ground barely have any maps. It is a "wing it" type of operation - but sometimes that works.

The initial objective at Dombås is the destruction of the railroad which runs through the town, as well as blocking any Allied advance inland, particularly south through the Gudbrandsdal valley. Schmidt blocks the main road in the area, cuts the rail line and cuts the phone wires, then captures a passing taxicab. Piling as many men into it as possible, Schmidt and the men head north to Dombås.

Along the way, Schmidt's taxi runs into two truckloads of Norwegian soldiers coming the other way. A firefight breaks out, and Schmidt's advance is stopped. He takes up a defensive position near the main road - thus blocking it - and waits for his other men coming along behind (walking) to catch up. The attack is a fiasco for the men involved, and Schmidt is badly wounded while retaining command - but there is more to the story.

The attack has some important results: it causes the Norwegians to evacuate the national gold reserves to Britain immediately by fishing boats and British cruisers. Schmidt also, despite everything, has blocked a key road, disrupted Norwegian communications and delayed Norwegian mobilization plans. Perhaps most importantly, he has sowed terror and confusion throughout the Norwegian government and military - everyone throughout the country soon is talking about "German paratroopers" and looking over his or her shoulder.

Dombås paratroopers, 14 April 1940.

Norway Naval Operations: The light cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Glasgow put ashore a preliminary force of 350 Royal Marines at Namsos, the first Allied troops in Norway.

British infantry troops then land at Harstad, near Narvik, and at Namsos, just north of Trondheim. The Namsos troops of the 146th Territorial Brigade, which have been embarked since 11 April, intend to consolidate in the Namsos and Andalsnes sectors. Execution of the operation is confused, as the 146 Territorial Brigade first is sent toward Narvik, but then is diverted south to attack Trondheim due to Vice Admiral Whitworth's (HMS Warspite) belief that Trondheim will be easy to take. The landing force's artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and commanding officer don't get the message and continue north to Narvik.

The troops at Harstad also are pointed at Narvik, the one true strategic objective in northern Norway.

The Admiralty announces that it is mining the entire Kattegat and parts of the Baltic, with the exception of a 3-mile territorial belt around Sweden.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Tarpon torpedoes and sinks Kriegsmarine minesweeper M-6.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Snapper torpedoes and sinks German cargo ship Florida.

Royal Navy Ship HMS Sunfish torpedoes and sinks Kriegsmarine ship Schiff-35.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Sterlet torpedoes and sinks Kriegsmarine training ship Brummer (sinks on 15 April).

Convoy OA 129 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 129 departs from Liverpool, Convoy OG 26F forms at Gibraltar, and Convoy HX 35 departs from Halifax.

Norway Air Operations: At dawn, the RAF bombs Stavanger-Sola airfield and the seaplanes in Hafrs Fjord. Some damage is done to the hangars.

The Norwegian air force, which has old Fokker biplanes, bombs the Junkers Ju 52 transport planes landing on Lake Hartvigvann to supply the Mountain troops holding Narvik.

RAF Bomber command sends 28 aircraft to lay mines off the Danish coast during the night.

Holland: The military extends the areas covered by the state of siege in the northern part of the country.

Future History: It is easy to make fun of the Battle of Dombås and call it a failure and so forth. However, the men of the 7th Flieger Division accomplished exactly what the paratroopers of 6 June 1944 did in Normandy - they dropped at random in the enemy rear, disrupted enemy operations, and sowed confusion and terror behind the lines despite not accomplishing all of their formal objectives. Nobody ever says that the paratroopers of D-Day were a failure.

The image is taken from a newspaper article about the bombing of Namsos (Havnegata) that was published in Namdal. People are running down to the harbor to see a British seaplane that has landed on the fjord.

April 1940

April 1, 1940: Weserubung is a Go
April 2, 1940: British Subs On Alert
April 3, 1940: Churchill Consolidates Power
April 4, 1940: Missed the Bus
April 5, 1940: Mig-1 First Flight
April 6, 1940: Troops Sailing to Norway
April 7, 1940: Fleets At Sea
April 8, 1940: HMS Glowworm and Admiral Hipper
April 9, 1940: Invasion of Norway
April 10, 1940: First Battle of Narvik
April 11, 1940: Britain Takes the Faroes
April 12, 1940: Germans Consolidate in Norway
April 13, 1940: 2d Battle of Narvik
April 14, 1940: Battle of Dombås
April 15, 1940: British in Norway
April 16, 1940: Germans Cut Norway in Half
April 17, 1940: Trondheim the Target
April 18, 1940: Norway Declares War
April 19, 1940: Dombås Battle Ends
April 20, 1940: Germans Advancing in Norway
April 21, 1940: First US Military Casualty
April 22, 1940: First British Military Contact with Germans
April 23, 1940: British Retreating in Norway
April 24, 1940: British Bombard Narvik
April 25, 1940: Norwegian Air Battles
April 26, 1940: Norwegian Gold
April 27, 1940: Allies to Evacuate Norway
April 28, 1940: Prepared Piano
April 29, 1940: British at Bodo
April 30, 1940: Clacton-on-Sea Heinkel

2019