This Week in WWII – 4th Week of April

1939
Conscription Day in Great Britain.
1941
Greek King and ministers evacuate to Cyprus. British Expeditionary Forces begin evacuation of troops to Egypt and Crete. German Troops enter Athens, Greece. Greece surrenders to Nazis. Heinrich Himmler ordered construction of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of October

1938
German troops occupy the Sudetanland.
1940
Night-time raids throughout London and Manchester and fifteen airfields attacked. Germans postpone Operation Sea Lion until Spring of 1941. Jews are formally banned from public service, industry, the media and positions of authority in Vichy, France.
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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 – 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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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of May

1935
First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109.
1940
Evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk begins. The 27th is the worst day at Dunkirk. Churchill reprimands King Leopold of Belgium for seeking a separate peace with Germany. Conflict between Halifax and Churchill over Italy and the overall conduct of the war effort.
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U.S. Aircraft Carrier History

The first ever heavier-than-air, fixed-wing aircraft came into existence in the year 1903 and was run for its first experimental take off in 1910. This took place on the deck of USS Birmingham, a United States Navy Vessel. The first-ever naval experimental landing took place in the succeeding year.

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