1940 

Jan

Feb 17 - British destroyer HMS Cossack board the German ship Altmark in Norway and free 400 British prisoners.

Feb 21, 1940 - Soviet Union bombs Pajala, Sweden.

March 13, 1940 - Finland signs peace treaty with Soviet Union.

April 9, 1940 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

May 10, 1940 - Germany invades Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Netherlands.  Neville Chamberlain resigns and is replaced by Winston Churchill.

May 11, 1940 - Belgian fortress Eben Emael captured by German troops.

May 14, 1940 - French government flees to Bordeaux. 

May 15, 1940 - Holland surrenders.

May 17, 1940 - French counter-attack Germans but fail to hold.

May 20, 1940 - Germans reach the English  Channel at Noyelles, France.  Splits Allied forces in half.

May 25, 1940 - Boulogne, France falls.

May 26, 1940 - Operation Dynamo, rescue of British troops at Dunkirk begins.  Calais falls.

May 28, 1940 - Belgium surrenders.

June 5, 1940 - Operation Dynamo ends at Dunkirk with 338,000 Allied troops evacuated.

June 8, 1940 - British carrier HMS Glorious sunk.

June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders.  Italy declares war on Britain and France.  Italy invades France and bombs Malta.

June 13, 1940 - Paris falls to Germans.

June 15, 1940 - A TWX from Hoover (J. Edgar) to all SACs, except Juneau, Alaska; Honolulu, -- "PERSONAL ATTENTION. FURNISH BUREAU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BY AIR MAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY LETTER A LIST OF THE NAMES AND PRESENT ADDRESSES OF THOSE PERSONS IN YOUR DISTRICT, WHO SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR CUSTODIAL DETENTION PENDING INVESTIGATION IN THE EVENT OF A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. INDICATE IN FURNISHING INFORMATION WHETHER THE INDIVIDUAL ACCORDING TO BEST AVAILABLE DATA IS OR IS NOT A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES [emphasis added]...

June 18, 1940 - Germany begins transporting troops through neutral Sweden with the permission of the Swedish government.

June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with Germany.

June 24, 1940 - France signs an armistice with Italy.

June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.

July 3, 1940 - French fleet in Oran, Algeria, sunk by the British fleet.

July 10, 1940 - German planes bomb London.  Battle of Britain begins.

July 11, 1940 - Philippe Pétain is made leader of Vichy France.

Aug 8, 1940 - German Luftwaffe begin bombing the British radar-installations.

Aug 25, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins.  Germany tries to bomb Britain into submission but the Luftwaffe is defeated in the air in the Battle of Britain. By September 15, Royal Air Force Hurricanes and Spitfires have destroyed 1733 German aircraft for 915 British losses. The Spitfire was able to out maneuver Luftwaffe fighters at high speed. Churchill describes the RAF pilots' victory:

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
~ Winston Churchill, speech August 1940

Sept 3, 1940 - US trades Britain 50 destroyers for Atlantic bases.

Sept 9, 1940 - President Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act, which sets up the first peace-time military draft in US history.

Sept 13, 1940 - Italy invades Egypt.  North Africa campaign begins.

Sept 16, 1940 - 30th Division activated at Fort Jackson, North Carolina.

Sept 27, 1940 - Tripartite Pact (Axis) signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.

Oct 23, 1940 - Adolph Hitler meets with the Spanish dictator Franco to persuade him to join the war, but fails.

Oct 28, 1940 - Italy attacks Greece

Nov 11, 1940 - British raid on Taranto, Italy harbor.  Three Italian battleships and two cruisers crippled.

Nov 20, 1940 - Hungary, led by Miklos Horthy, joins the axis powers.

Nov 22, 1940 - Greeks defeat Italians at Korista and begin advance into Albania.

Nov 23, 1940 - Romania, led by Marshall Ion Antonescu, joins the axis powers. 

Slovakia, led by Premier Tuka, joins the axis powers.

Dec 15, 1940 - British troops begins an offensive in North Africa.