This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of September

1939
Assassination attempt on Hitler-General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in1939. Canada declares War on Germany.
1940
Long the isolationist with the view that Germany should negotiate with Hitler, Kennedy is quoted in the Boston Globe as, “Democracy is finished in England. It may be here.” Italy invades Egypt.
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This Week in WWII: 1st Week of September

1939
Great Britain, France, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia declare war on Germany. Prime Minister Chamberlain was reluctant but capitulated to the necessity for the war declaration.

U.S.A. proclaims neutrality in the war in Europe.
1943
British troops land on mainland Italy, beginning the Allied campaign in Italy.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of August

1940
Luftwaffe hammers airfields in Britain. Major night-time attack on Liverpool…Heavy raids on London, Midlands and North East Coast. Heavy raids on targets in the Midlands.
1941
Another U-boat is forced to surface off Ireland and its Enigma machine is captured.
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This Week in WWII – 3rd Week of August

1939
Nazis (Hitler) and Soviets (Stalin) sign a pact.
1940
Britain’s heavies losses to date = 83 fighters and bombers lost. First German air raids on Central London. Luftwaffe accidentally bombs London. Brits retaliate. Churchill retaliates bombing of London by instituting the first British air raid on Berlin.
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This Week in WWII: 2nd Week in August

1940
Bismark is commissioned. Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine.
1945
Bockscar B-29 piloted by Charles W. Sweeney drops Atomic Bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of July

1935
First flight of the B-17.
1940
Hitler tours Paris. Nazi attacks on Dover lead to the near destruction of the entire Defiant Squadron. Assassination attempt on Hitler: Count Fritz-Dietlof von def Schulenberg planned to shoot Hitler from a reviewing stand at a parade honoring Hitler.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of July

1940
Churchill tells Beaverbrook that, “we have no continental army that can defeat the German military machine.” The Battle of Britain begins as Luftwaffe begins attacking shipping in the English Channel.
1942
Barbarossa: Nazis move toward Stalingrad USSR. Germans move toward Stalingrad.
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This Week in WWII – 3rd Week of June

1940
About 2,500 British troops perish when five Luftwaffe bombers attack the Lancastria, a Cunard luxury liner being used to transport troops. Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich. Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech.
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