Wednesday 22 May 1940

Isle of Man ferry Mona Queen steams toward Boulogne on 22 May 1940, carrying Welsh and Irish Guards to reinforce the port defenses. It returned to England carrying 2,000 women and children (photo by Lt. Peter Kershaw RNVR).

Western Front: From the grand occupation of all of Holland and Belgium beginning on 10 May, the French and British in the Low Countries have now, on 22 May 1940, been pushed back into a shrinking perimeter north of Amiens and south of Antwerp. The main changes now are the steady compression of the eastern face of this "box," which is well west of Brussels, toward the sea.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies to Paris (Vincennes) to hash out a strategy with the Anglo-French Supreme War Council. General Weygand advances the idea of cutting off the German spearhead at the Channel by launching concentric attacks from north and south. Everyone agrees that it is a good idea, but the mass of French forces remain behind the Maginot Line in the south. Deposed Commander-in-chief General Gamelin not only had proposed this plan but tried to implement it - and now more precious days have passed.

In the morning, the OKW orders Guderian's XIX Corps to head north, toward the isolated BEF and associated French forces. Reorienting the Axis of a major offensive is extremely difficult, and the Wehrmacht has to do it on the fly at the end of a long, tenuous supply network for its advanced troops.

The initial objectives are Boulogne (2nd Panzer Division) and Calais (1st Panzer Division), but this soon changes. The 10th Panzer Division is retained to guard the southern flank. Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk collectively are referred to as the "Channel Ports."

British troops at Calais are under the protection of RAF fighters based in England, and the air battle begins at first light. Both sides take losses, but the RAF is able to attack the advancing panzers. The 1st Panzer (Generallautnant Friedrich Kirchner) and other formations get across the Authie River at 08:00. They meet only scattered resistance at Desvres, Samer, and near Boulogne. Guderian quickly tinkers with the plan and sends the 10th Panzer Division (Generalleutnant Ferdinand Schaal) toward Samer/Calais, and the 1st toward Dunkirk. The 10th Panzer has to stop to garrison Amiens until infantry units arrive.

The British at Boulogne have been reinforced by the 20th Guards Brigade and have had time to dig in. The 2nd Panzer Division (Generalleutnant Rudolf Veiel) is advancing in two columns makes steady progress toward Boulogne after brushing aside French 48th Infantry Regiment troops at Nesles. A panzer attack on the Boulogne perimeter at 17:00 is repulsed, and another at 19:00. Fighting continues into the night, with the Germans isolating some Irish Guards at 22:00. As the day concludes, 2d Panzer is attacking Welsh Guards positions along the coast.

General Rommel still stands before Arras, waiting for the infantry to aid his assault on the key town. He also is recuperating from the large British tank attack of the 21st, which gave him quite a fright.

The German 18th Army attacks the retreating Belgians near Eeklo. German 6th Army presses forward near Courtrai against the British 4th Infantry Division and 44th Infantry Division.

With the German spearheading turning north, the main front on the Somme/Oise/Aisne starts to solidify. The Belgian army retreats to the Lys River.

View of Rotterdam in May 1940 (Instytut Pamieci Narodowej).

European Air Operations: All the action is over the besieged Allied troops congregating near the Channel Ports. The action starts at 06:00, with 151 Squadron sending up Hawker Hurricanes, shooting down a Junkers Ju 88. No. 74 Squadron Spitfires also get a Junkers Ju 88 - both of the Junkers are from Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1). One Spitfire is lost. There also are some major dogfights over the area, with 54 Squadron and 92 Squadron mixing it up with JG 27 - both sides lose a couple of planes. The numbers become difficult to track, but both sides are taking roughly even losses.

RAF Bomber Command sends 59 planes to attack the advancing Wehrmacht spearhead.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-37 (Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn) sends four torpedoes at 9,494-ton British freighter Dunster Grange south of Ireland. When they all miss, it surfaces to use the deck gun. The Dunster Grange is armed, and when the U-boat surfaces, the British ship returns fire. The U-boat departs, and the Dunster Grange continues toward Liverpool.

Convoy OA 153 GF departs from Southend, Convoy OB 153 departs from Liverpool.

Norway: The British retreat from Mo i Rana north toward the British base at Bodø continues apace, and local commander Colonel Gubbins has difficulty trying to stop it. His plan is to man a defensive line at Storjord, 20 miles (32 km) south of the ferry stop at Rognan. His Scots Guards troops, though, under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Byrnand Trappes-Lomax, are in motion toward the north and showing no signs of stopping. In fact, Trappes-Lomax is putting his men on requisitioned buses to make the trip faster and easier. The German 2d Mountain Division is hot on their heels. The bottom line is that the intended line at Storjord becomes a nullity and some other solution must be found.

The Luftwaffe continues its gradual reinforcement of General Dietl at Narvik, dropping off an additional 63 men there from seaplanes.

The Luftwaffe sinks Royal Navy anti-submarine trawler Melbourne near Narvik.

More RAF units depart from the Continent for England as their bases come closer to the front lines.

British Government: Parliament passes the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940. While not quite martial law, it gives the government extensive new powers of citizens and property (banks, munitions production, wages, profits, work conditions).

Military Intelligence: Bletchley Park crack some Luftwaffe Enigma settings. Luftwaffe signals officers are notoriously lax about following even the simplest security protocols, whereas, say, Kriegsmarine signallers are much more rigorous.

War Crimes: The Soviet men who liquidated the Polish officers at Katyn Forest - 21,000 without a single escape! - are being given medals and cash awards. The Soviets are also busy deporting relatives to Siberia based on the "last letters" the deceased men were allowed to write,

Belgium: King Leopold has told General Weygand that the area still controlled by Allied troops only has enough food left for two weeks.

Romania: The government mobilizes the reserves.

Albania: Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano arrives in Durres aboard the Italian Cruiser Garibaldi for an inspection tour.

Finland: In an early sign of Finlandization, the pro-Moscow Finland - Soviet Peace and Friendship Society forms.

Gibraltar: Non-essential personnel are being transported to French Morocco.

Australia: The government authorizes the formation of the 8th Infantry Division.

China: The Japanese aerial attacks on Chungking continue.

After returning late from a strafing run near Arras on 22 May 1940, F/O Roderick MS "Roddie" Rayner (pictured) and F/O Richard Lindsay "Dick" Glyde of No 87 Squadron RAF found their base at Merville in disarray. Carrying only what could be put in the plane, they evacuated to RAF Debden.

May 1940

May 1, 1940: British Leave Åndalsnes
May 2, 1940: British Depart Namsos
May 3, 1940: Many Norwegians Surrendering
May 4, 1940: Bader Returns
May 5, 1940: HMS Seal Survives
May 6, 1940: Allies Focus on Narvik
May 7, 1940: In The Name of God, Go!
May 8, 1940: Exit Chamberlain
May 9, 1940: Enter Churchill
May 10, 1940: Fall Gelb
May 11, 1940: Eben Emael Surrenders
May 12, 1940: Germans at Sedan
May 13, 1940: Rommel at Work
May 14, 1940: German Breakout in France
May 15, 1940: Holland Surrenders
May 16, 1940: Dash to the Channel
May 17, 1940: Germans Take Brussels
May 18, 1940: Germans Take Antwerp
May 19, 1940: Failed French Counterattack
May 20, 1940: Panzers on the Coast
May 21, 1940: Battle of Arras
May 22, 1940: Attacking Channel Ports
May 23, 1940: British Evacuate Boulogne
May 24, 1940: Hitler's Stop Order
May 25, 1940: Belgian Defenses Creaking
May 26, 1940: Operation Dynamo
May 27, 1940: King Leopold Surrenders 
May 28, 1940: The Allies Take Narvik
May 29, 1940: Lille Falls
May 30, 1940: Operation Fish
May 31, 1940: Peak Day for Dynamo

2020

Monday 29 April 1940

King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav take cover in Molde during a Luftwaffe raid.

Norway: King Haakon catches a ride on HMS Glasgow from Molde to Tromso on 29 April 1940. It also takes Crown Prince Olav, Prime Minister Nygaardsvold, and much of the rest of the Norwegian government. The government issues a statement condemning German "terrorism" which they claim to have witnessed first-hand against civilians. The portion of the Norwegian gold reserves that have not been transported to England goes with them.

Like other British-held ports, Molde is in flames due to Luftwaffe attacks. The royals and other Norwegians have to board the ship by running across a burning pier.

Despite this cooperation, Anglo/Norwegians are strained at all levels. The Norwegians feel that the British are acting in high-handed fashion, such as by not telling them about the decision to evacuate. There are tales of British soldiers acting imperiously: "British officers behave with the arrogance of Prussians, demanding food at gunpoint."

Winston Churchill, "Britain's Warlord," on the cover of Life magazine on 29 April 1940.

Norway Army Operations: While the British have decided to evacuate, they are still tinkering with their strategy. They land troops at Bodo in the north. It is convenient to have if the objective is Narvik.

The British 15th Infantry Brigade holds Dombås through the day. The German troops pursuing them are delayed by British demolitions. Oberst Fischer’s Kampfgruppe, composed mainly of the 196th Division, completes its bypass of the British blocking action. It moves from the Østerdal valley to link up with German troops from Trondheim. This effectively hems the British in on the east.

The Germans at Steinkjer launch probing attacks against the British concentrated at Namsos.

The Germans at Hegra bring in fresh troops. They now ramp up the artillery assault, using captured Norwegian 12 cm (4.7 in) howitzers from the armory in Trondheim.

East of Lillehammer, 3,700 troops of the Norwegian 2nd Infantry Division surrender.

Norway Naval Operations: A British destroyer force (HMS Kelly, Maori, and Imperial, plus French destroyer Bison which is under Commander Lord Louis Mountbatten) departs from Scapa Flow. Its mission is to evacuate Namsos.

Norwegian Air Operations: The Luftwaffe launches attacks at Andalsnes, the site of a large British base, and Molde, where King Haakon and the Norwegian government have been recently camped.

The Luftwaffe attacks Norwegian hospital ship Brand IV off Aalesund.

The Luftwaffe sinks Royal Navy anti-submarine trawlers Cape Chelyuskin and Cape Shiretoko off Norway.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-50 is sunk by British destroyers HMS Amazon and HMS Witherington off the Shetlands.

British submarine HMS Unity is lost when SS Atle Jarl runs into it at Blyth Harbour in a heavy fog. There are four lives lost. Lieutenant John Low and Able Seaman Henry Miller help other men to get out and are given posthumous medals.

The Kriegsmarine lays mines in the North Sea.

Convoy HG 28 departs from Gibraltar.
RAF: The Empire Air Training Program gets underway at training schools in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Anglo/US Relations: The US government has not received a satisfactory response from the British about the seizure of German engineers from the Panamanian ship Don Juan at Port Said on 5 September 1940. However, it closes the incident “on the assumption that similar incidents will not be permitted to occur in the future."

France: Prime Minister Paul Reynaud offers old war hero Henri Petain a cabinet post as Minister of State.

War Crimes: Over 20,000 Poles have been shot during the purge known as the Katyn Forest Massacre, led by Vasily Blokhin, who personally has shot over 7,000, or 250/night.

British Homefront: All sorts of basic commodities, such as toilet paper, are now rationed and highly sought after on the black market.

Vasily Blokhin's tomb at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

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

Friday 5 April 1940

The Mig-1.

Operation Weserubung: Operation Wilfred, the British mining of Norwegian territorial waters, gets underway on 5 April 1940 when British minelayers set out at 06:30. British battlecruiser HMS Renown, destroyers HMS Inglefield, Ilex, Imogen, Isis, Greyhound, Glowworm, Hyperion, Hero & minelayer HMS Teviotbank depart Scapa Flow to mine the Norwegian coast.

German warships are on their way to Norway, many carrying armed troops. They are disguised as UK vessels, including actual false flags and manning their radio sets with English speakers who identify themselves as "British ship."

Numerous persons sympathetic to the Allies have learned of Operation Weserubung and try to warn the Norwegian/Danish governments and/or the Allies. The Norwegian ambassador in Berlin warns both his own government and Copenhagen. The British also receive quite specific warnings, including the key information that Narvik is on the docket.

Danish Ambassador in Berlin Herluf Zahle sends a memorandum to his Foreign Minister dated 5 April 1940 and marked "strictly confidential" which notes that there is "disturbing circumstantial evidence" of German war preparations aimed at the neutral Danish and Norwegian states.

The British and French hand Norway and Sweden diplomatic notes containing "admonitions" that the Allies will take the steps necessary to deprive the Germans of Norwegian resources regardless of whether Oslo approves. This obviously is related to Operation Wilfred, but the Norwegians misinterpret this to imply that the Allies - not the Germans - are about to invade.

Battle of the Atlantic: It is another quiet day on the Atlantic as the U-boat fleet has been re-oriented to protect Kriegsmarine transports around Norway.

British submarine HMS Spearfish departs from Blyth to join the ring of British and allied submarines around Norway.

Convoy HG 25 departs from Gibraltar.

Soviet Military: First flight of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 at the Khodynka Aerodrome in Moscow with chief test pilot Arkadij Ekatov at the controls.

British Military: General Ironside, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, echoes Prime Minister Chamberlain's "missed the bus" speech of 4 April at a press conference: "Thank goodness Germany didn't attack in the first 7 months of the war - we've now made a fine army." He also gives some unsolicited advice: "German army must do something, or its morale will crack. I believe the great silence is worse to the Germans than anything else."

Swedish Military: The Swedish Anti-Profanity League donates 1500 signs for barracks, which state: "Don't curse. Cursing proves a lack of culture."

Anglo/French Relations: Georges Monnet, the French Minister of Blockade, arrives in London for talks with the British Minister of Economic Warfare, Ronald Cross.

War Crimes: The Katyn Forest Massacre by Soviet troops against Polish officers is under way. Polish officers leaving prisons believe that they are being taken home to Poland. Instead they are taken by train and bus to the Katyn Forest at bayonet point. Some prisoners are killed in their cells and then their corpses are taken to the forest. The corpses are stacked like wood, feet to head, until they fill each van. About 1,000 are killed on the first day, over 20,000 left. Pits are dug, and the corpses are thrown into them.

Turkey: All high school girls are required to obtain military training before graduation, with 11-16 year olds to study sharpshooting, tactics and first aid.

British Homefront: Captured German merchant ship Uhenfels, renamed renamed Empire Ability, is brought up the river Thames. It was captured in November 1939.

April 5, 1940. Washington, D.C. "Informal photo of J. Edgar Hoover, Director of FBI, Department of Justice."

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

Thursday 4 April 1940

Queen Wilhelmina reviews a military parade of the 3rd Division troops stationed at Noordwijk and Katwijk. Here, she is reviewing bicycle troops of the 1st Squadron stationed at Katwijk.

Operation Weserubung: German transports have set sail for the far reaches of Norway as Operation Weserubung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, begins. The date of the invasion is set for 9 April 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: Operations remain relatively quiet - too quiet - on 4 April 1940 because the U-boats are aiding Operation Weserubung instead of attacking merchant ships.

The Norwegian passenger liner "Mira" reaches Norway after its 107 passengers and crew have suffered numerous (failed) Luftwaffe attacks during its 6-day crossing.

Convoy OA 123GF departs from Southend, Convoy OB 123 departs from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: The RAF sends up bombers to attack German destroyers at the Jade estuary at Wilhelmshaven.

RAF Sunderland flying boats encounter six Stukas (Ju 87) over the North Sea. They shoot one down and force another to crash-land in Norway.

Western Front: It is raining heavily all along the front, so little action.

Royal Navy: Admiral Horton continues sending his submarines to patrol on the likeliest routes from Germany to Norway. HMS Snapper departs today from Harwich to the Skagerrak. Horner also commands allied submarines, so he sends French subs Amazone and Antelope from Harwich to patrol the Frisian Islands and Heligoland.

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill is flummoxed by the French intransigence about cooperating with mining activities in the Rhine (Operation Royal Marine). He flies to Paris and makes a decision: "[Operation] Wilfred should go forward notwithstanding the French refusal of Royal Marine (mining of the Rhine)." The British War Cabinet concurs.

US Military: Curtiss-Wright’s Chief Test Pilot H. Lloyd Child flies the first production P-40 Warhawk, c/n13033, Air Corps serial number 39-156, at Buffalo, New York. The cruising speed of the P-40 is 272 miles per hour (438 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed is 357 miles per hour (575 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The Warhawk has a service ceiling of 30,600 feet (9,327 meters) and the absolute ceiling is 31,600 feet (9,632 meters). The range is 950 miles (1,529 kilometers) at 250 miles per hour (402 kilometers per hour). These are all good figures for 1940, and the Air Corps designates the fighter as "pursuit."

German/Italian Relations: Hitler authorizes staff talks between the OKW (military high command) and Italian Commando Supremo.

French Government: The Minister of Marine reports that the French Navy has destroyed 23 U-boats during the conflict. In actual fact, the number is well below a dozen, and none of those were due to the French Navy.

The government sentences 34 French communists to five years in prison. Eighty others receive 4-year suspended sentences. The charge is illegally attempting to reorganize the banned Communist Party. It is now illegal, subject to the death penalty for treason, to read or spread communist or anti-war propaganda.

British Government: The Chancellor of the Exchequer announces that the government has set up a special trading corporation backed by the Treasury to foster economic penetration of the Balkans, which trade Germany dominates.

Soviet Government: The NKVD reports to Molotov: out of the 22,000 Polish officers, 395 are "of value" and thus should be spared. The rest should be liquidated per the Politburo's decision of 5 March 1940. The way to get on the "of value" is to be an informer in one of the camps, or to have some foreign connection that would make their sudden absence noticed abroad.

German Homefront: Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering broadcasts an appeal to the nation's young to behave with decency and morality "not only in the light of day but also in the blackout."

British Homefront: Prime Minister Chamberlain takes a little-used expression (first used in George Reid's "My Reminiscences" (1917)) and takes it to the next level. Before an audience of friends, he for once exceeds Winston Churchill's oratorical heights by stating that Hitler has "missed the bus" by running afoul of the British empire and not destroying it when he had the chance. He is now "ten times" as confident of final victory as he had been in September. He states that it is "extraordinary no such attempt was made" to invade during the fall.

By point of fact, of course, the bus, er, boats indeed had set sail - Nazi transports were at that moment on their way to Norway.

Rather oddly, the British newspapers comment upon large concentrations of German troops at Kriegsmarine bases. Nobody in the Allies' military services appears to find this of interest.

China: The Chinese 8th War Area, having recovered Wuyuan and other objectives, changes to the defensive. The Winter Offensive is now for all intents and purposes over. It was a huge success, bringing down the Japanese government and sending Japanese forces reeling.

Summary of the Chinese Winter Offensive:

• Japanese military casualties: 50,000;
• Chinese military casualties: 150,000;
• Chinese civilian casualties: unknown.

4 April 1940: Curtiss-Wright’s Chief Test Pilot H. Lloyd Child flies the first production P-40 Warhawk, c/n13033, Air Corps serial number 39-156, on its first flight at Buffalo, New York.

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


2016

Wednesday 3 April 1940

Homing pigeons being used by the RAF.

Operation Weserubung: Some of the Norwegian ports are several days' sail, so the first Kriegsmarine ships participating in the operation sail today, 3 April 1940. Almost nobody is told the destination, they could be invading England for all the grunts know.

There are 11 task forces for the invasion, each directed at a different major city such as Oslo, Copenhagen and Trondheim. Two pocket battleships, 3 heavy and 4 light cruisers, 14 destroyers and 31 U-boats provide cover at sea, with constant Luftwaffe protection.

Colonel Hans Oster of the Abwehr, a key figure in the resistance, informs contacts in the Vatican and Holland about Operation Weserubung.

On the Allied side, there remains much sentiment for an Allied invasion of Norway. However, the inefficiencies of war by committee surface, as the French and British cannot agree on details or, in fact, a plan at all. Leaks to the British press also have given the public the impression that it is only the British who are interested in invading Norway, whereas there is no hint that the Germans have the same idea and are actually acting on it.

The Times, in one of those later-awkward editorials, proclaims "All Scandinavia breathes easier today" because the threat of Allied or German military intervention "is largely over."

European Air Operations: Six Junkers Ju 88s attack a convoy in the North Sea without doing damage. Sunderland flying boats intercept them and shoot one Junkers down, and forces a second to make a crash-landing in Norway, where the crew is interned.

The first Supermarine Spitfire is lost on home defense duties when it goes down while attacking a Heinkel He 111 off the Yorkshire coast. The Heinkel also crashes.

There are battles along the border in France.

Battle of the Atlantic: With U-boats pulled off normal patrols to support Operation Weserubung, there is little activity in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Polish submarine Orzeł, now part of Royal Navy's 2nd Submarine Flotilla, under the command of Vice-Admiral Max Horton, leaves Rosyth to take up station off Kristiansand.

Convoy  OG 24 forms at Gibraltar.

RAF: The RAF turns to an age-old solution to inform base of information from reconnaissance planes without breaking radio silence: homing pigeons. The RAF has a fleet of 500,000 homing pigeons to carry messages back to the UK. The homing pigeons are amazingly reliable and can fly through all sorts of whether and deliver the mail, though at times it takes a few days.

British Government: Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield, who is Minister for Co-ordination of Defense, resigns. A new committee headed by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill will be composed of Service Ministers. This Military Coordinating Committee will replace Chatfield's role. General Sir Hugh Elles is appointed National ARP (civil defense) Controller, while Lord Woolton officially becomes the first Minister of Food. In all, there are 11 ministerial changes.

The principal result of this re-shuffling is that Churchill's power expands to include control over some Army and Royal Air Force operations as well as just the Royal Navy - of which he retains complete control.

War Crimes: Pursuant to the Politburo order of 5 March 1940, the Soviet NKVD begins executing captured Polish officers in the Katyn Forest and other places such as the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons.

Canada: Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone, replaces the deceased Lord Tweedsmuir (John Buchan) to become the 16th Governor-General of Canada.

Luxembourg: The government provides all 300,000 residents with an evacuation plan in case of "emergency."

China: The Chinese capture Xishanzui (Hsishantzu) as they pursue the Japanese retreating from Wuyuan, thus ending the Second Battle of Wuyuan.

German Homefront: The Nazis discontinue old-age pensions first established by Bismarck, rationalizing that after final victory, the "plutocrats in Paris and London" will take care of that.

Future History: Some 22,000 victims of the Katyn Forest Massacre will be liquidated by the Soviets. Stalin retaliates against all who question that denial. This remains the status quo until 1990, when the USSR, in its last days, acknowledges the incident and the subsequent cover-up. In 2010, the Russian State Duma approved a declaration stating that Staling and the other members of the Politburo personally ordered the massacre. During the war and for decades afterward, however, it will remain a murky, confused issue full of denials and the assumption by many that only the Nazis committed mass murders during World War II.

A pit where the executed Polish officers were buried, as shown in 1943 after being discovered by the Germans.

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



2016

Friday 8 March 1940

A repair worker being pulled out of the barrage balloon she is fixing as part of her duties with the Women's Royal Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), 8 March 1940.

Winter War: The French government states on 8 March 1940 that they are sending large quantities of arms (including French Renault FT-17 tanks), ammunition and 175 airplanes to Finland even without any requests for aid. The British offer to send 50 planes and also an expeditionary force, but Norway and Sweden must agree - and they don't. The Finns promise that they will not accept a "peace of defeat."

Finnish Marshal Carl Mannerheim, who was against the war, sees the military situation deteriorating presses for the government to accept the offer of assistance from the Allies. Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner feels this will sabotage the negotiations proceeding in Moscow.

The Soviets reject a Finnish request for an immediate cease-fire while negotiations proceed.
Winter War Army Operations: The Soviets edge further into Viipuri. There is fighting in the suburb of Tali. The weakest spot in the Finnish line, aside from the foothold the Soviets have established on the western shore of Viipuri Bay, is to the northeast of the city.

The Finns in the bay capture more islands in Viipurinlahti Bay.

The T-Line is holding, but barely. The Soviet 7th and 13 Armies continue assaulting it.

Further north, at Kuhmo, some remaining elements of the Soviet 54th Rifle Division of the 9th Army that has been trapped in a dwindling pocket are eliminated by the Finns.

Winter War Peace Talks: Finnish Prime Minister Risto Ryti and his team meet with the Soviet negotiators at 16:00. Molotov heads the Soviet delegation, and other members are Chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet Andrei Zhdanov and General A. M. Vasilevski. Stalin himself does not get involved.

Battle of the Atlantic: British 5,068-ton freighter Counsellor (Master Harold Coates) hits a mine and sinks near Liverpool. The mine was laid by U-30 on 6 January 1940. All 78 onboard survive. The ship is the command ship of the convoy's commodore, Rear Admiral H.G.C. Franklin, RN. A destroyer tried to take it in tow, but it ultimately sank.

The mines laid by U-30 have had a tremendous return, as they now have claimed 6 ships totaling 33,000 tons.

German 5,600 ton freighter Hannover is set on fire by its crew rather than allow its capture by Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine in the Mona Passage off the Dominican Republic. The crew then abandons the ship, which does not sink. Later, a boarding party from British light cruiser HMS Dunedin salvages the ship. Two other German freighters, Mimi Horn and the Seattle, slip by while the British are occupied and head north.

British submarine HMS Tarpon (Lt. Commander Herbert J. Caldwell) is commissioned.

Convoy OA 106 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 106 departs from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111s attack fishing trawlers and any other ships that they can spot. Along the British east coast. An RAF reconnaissance goes all the way to Poznan, (occupied) Poland, to drop leaflets, the farthest of the war to date. A Heinkel goes down in the north sea.

German/Italian Relations: One of the lesser-known features of the war is Hitler's correspondence with other leaders. Today, he corresponds with Mussolini, who he wants to join the German war effort, in a sort of chatty way.

German/Norwegian Relations: The Finnish government lodges a secret (or at least not publicized) diplomatic protest with the Germans over the sinking of Norwegian sinks.

British Government: Perhaps to allay public fears, the government releases information about the countermeasures it has developed to magnetic mines.

Soviet Military: It is "International Women's Day" in the Soviet Union. Female soldiers are decorated for valor, and there are dance performances and related events in army units arranged by the "sisters of struggle" women's groups attached to them.

Soviet Government: Following on from the 7 March 1940 Politburo decision to execute the Polish officers, their relatives now are condemned as "enemies of the state" and are slated to be sent to Siberia.

US Government: Sumner Welles continues his meetings in Paris. Today, he meets with Jules Jeanneney and Édouard Herriot, who are not interested in negotiating with Germany.

Holocaust: German police order all Jews in Lodz to move to the ghetto immediately. Anyone resisting such orders is shot. According to Irena Liebman, a Jewish resident of Lodz: "Starting this morning more & more people filled the streets with knapsacks, suitcases, bundles." It is a "caravan of poverty."

Future History: Susan Clark is born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. She becomes famous in the 1960s for such films as "Coogan's Bluff" with Clint Eastwood, and later for television shows such as "Webster."

The Counsellor sinks on 8 March 1940 (Photo from City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 447-2130).

March 1940

March 1, 1940: Soviet Breakthroughs Past Viipuri
March 2, 1940: Soviets Swarm West in Finland
March 3, 1940: Soviets Across Gulf of Viipuri
March 4, 1940: USSR Apologizes to Sweden
March 5, 1940: Katyn Forest Massacre Approved
March 6, 1940: Finns Head to Moscow
March 7, 1940: The Coal Ships Affair
March 8, 1940: Peace Talks Begin in Moscow
March 9, 1940: Soviets Harden Peace Terms
March 10, 1940: Germany Draws Closer to Italy
March 11, 1940: Winter War Peace Terms Finalized
March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)
March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends
March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia
March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe
March 16, 1940: First British Civilian Killed
March 17, 1940: Enter Dr. Todt
March 18, 1940: Mussolini To Join the War
March 19, 1940: Daladier Resigns
March 20, 1940: Soviets Occupy Hango Naval Base
March 21, 1940: Paul Reynaud Leads France
March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!
March 24, 1940: French Consider Alternatives
March 25, 1940: Reynaud Proposes Action
March 26, 1940: C-46 First Flight
March 27, 1940: Himmler Authorizes Auschwitz Construction
March 28, 1940: Allies Ponder Invading Norway
March 29, 1940: Soviets Prefer Neutrality
March 30, 1940: Allied Uncertainty
March 31, 1940: The Tiger Cage

2019

Tuesday 5 March 1940

Polish troops in captivity.

Winter War: Canada on 5 March 1940 promises to send 1000 volunteers to help the Finnish Army. The British government extends a 3% £300,000,000 war loan to aid Finland.

Winter War Army Operations: The Soviet 28th Corps consolidates the Soviets' hold on the western shore of the Bay of Viipuri. The Soviets capture more islands and push inland. They need to consolidate quickly because frozen Viipuri Bay typically melts in March.

Winter War Naval Operations: Soviet minelayer Murman sows mines near Petsamo.

Winter War Air Operations: The Soviets bomb Helsinki and other towns in central and southern Finland.

The Finns engage in heavy attacks against Soviet troops in the Ristniemi-Tuppura sector. Two Soviet Tupolev SB-2 bombers collide near Kymi, three crew members killed. Two Polikarpov I-153 "Chaika" biplane fighters force-land behind Finnish lines.

Winter War Peace Talks: The Soviets announce that its terms are still on the table and it is willing to negotiate to end the Winter War. The Finns, meanwhile, come to the shocking realization that the British and, especially, French promises of immediate military aid are worthless. Thus, the Finns accept the Soviet offer to negotiate terms, with the understanding that they are going to have to cede valuable territory.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-17 (Kapitänleutnant Udo Behrens) torpedoes and sinks Dutch freighter Grutto of the Dutch coast. All 18 crewmen on board perish as the ship sinks in 6 minutes.

The Royal Navy seizes seven Italian ships carrying German coal in the English Channel.

Convoy OA 104 departs from Southend, OB 104 departs from Liverpool, SL 23 departs from Freetown, HX 25 departs from Halifax, and OG 21F forms at Gibraltar.

Western Front: A German patrol captures a Maginot Line outpost temporarily and takes 16 prisoners, with 2 killed. The British manning it recapture it, with both sides taking casualties.

German Military: Hitler holds a conference with commanders for Operation Weserubung.

General von Kleist, an old cavalry General and Iron Cross holder from the First World War, receives command of his own panzer group, Panzer Group Kleist.

German Resistance: Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, Hitler's former Economic Minister but now a member of the resistance, has a meeting with Sumner Welles. Schacht, swearing Welles to secrecy, tells him: "A movement is now underway, by leading generals, to depose Hitler. Hitler is the greatest of all liars, a criminal genius." He also tells Welles that atrocities in Poland are "worse than imagined."

War Crimes: Lavrentiy Beria, the NKVD chief, proposes in a submission to the Politburo that his service execute all captive members of the Polish Officers Corps currently in camps - such as the Kozelsk camp - and prisons in the occupied territories of Poland, which are new portions of Belarus and West Ukraine. The purpose is to deprive any future Poland of ever being a military threat:

All of them are implacable enemies of Soviet power and full of hatred for the Soviet system.

There is definite hatred involved, all right. If there is some of that on the Polish side, there definitely is some also on the Soviet side.

The Politburo, including Premier Joseph Stalin, approves the proposal, along with everyone else (Voroshilov, Molotov, Mikoyan, Kalinin, Kaganovich). Some 25,700 Polish men fit the description of the proposal. Executions are to be carried out soon.

Beria's proposal to execute the Polish officers, initialed by Stalin and the rest of the Politburo.

March 1940

March 1, 1940: Soviet Breakthroughs Past Viipuri
March 2, 1940: Soviets Swarm West in Finland
March 3, 1940: Soviets Across Gulf of Viipuri
March 4, 1940: USSR Apologizes to Sweden
March 5, 1940: Katyn Forest Massacre Approved
March 6, 1940: Finns Head to Moscow
March 7, 1940: The Coal Ships Affair
March 8, 1940: Peace Talks Begin in Moscow
March 9, 1940: Soviets Harden Peace Terms
March 10, 1940: Germany Draws Closer to Italy
March 11, 1940: Winter War Peace Terms Finalized
March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)
March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends
March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia
March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe
March 16, 1940: First British Civilian Killed
March 17, 1940: Enter Dr. Todt
March 18, 1940: Mussolini To Join the War
March 19, 1940: Daladier Resigns
March 20, 1940: Soviets Occupy Hango Naval Base
March 21, 1940: Paul Reynaud Leads France
March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!
March 24, 1940: French Consider Alternatives
March 25, 1940: Reynaud Proposes Action
March 26, 1940: C-46 First Flight
March 27, 1940: Himmler Authorizes Auschwitz Construction
March 28, 1940: Allies Ponder Invading Norway
March 29, 1940: Soviets Prefer Neutrality
March 30, 1940: Allied Uncertainty
March 31, 1940: The Tiger Cage

2019