References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2023 December 20.

1940

January 1

• The Finnish 9th Division begins attacks on the Soviet 44th Division, breaking it into small pieces. [81.16]

January 3

• (evening) German submarine U-25 secretly moors next to German merchant ship Thalia in the Spanish port of Cadiz, for refuelling and restocking. (This is the first time for a German submarine to do so at a Spanish port during the war.) [38.79]

January 6

• Finnish pilot Jorma Sarvanto shoots down six of seven attacking Russian DB-3F bombers. [143.49]
• Russian commander General Vinogradov of the 44th Division in Finland authorizes his troops to escape back to Soviet territory. [81.16]

January 8

• Food rationing starts in the UK: bacon, butter, sugar. [842.10]
• The Soviet 44th Division ends all attacks on Finnish forces. Since the fighting began, the two Soviet divisions lost about 22,000 men, compared to the Finns' loss of about 2,700. [81.16]

January 9

• Repeated warning from Italian Foreign Minister to Belgian Princess of imminent German attack on Belgium. [347.29]
• Finns destroy the remains of the Russian 44th Division at Lake Kianta, taking 1000 prisoners. [196.80] [197.125]
• Quote by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: "[Finland is] fighting against the forces of unscrupulous violence", referring to the Soviet Union. [196.81]
• Union Castle Line's MV Dunbar Castle hits a mine and sinks, w miles north-east of Godwin Sands in the English Channel. [842.10]

January 10

• Adolf Hitler decides to implement invasion plans on the West on January 17. [740.50]
• (1130 hours) In Mechelen-sur-Meuse, Belgium, a small German transport crash-lands. Two officers (Major Erich Hoenmanns and Major Helmuth Reinberger) of a German airborne division carry with them a large part of the operations plan for the attack on the West. King Léopold chooses to ignore the matter, hoping the Germans will change plans and attack France. [277.12] [347.29] [740.48]

January 12

• Japan notifies the Netherlands it is terminating their treaty in which each party agreed to settle disputes peacefully. [444.275]

January 13

• Based on captured german plans and other information, Belgian army commanders are told a German attack on January 14 is "quasi-certain". [740.53]
• (evening) Belgian radio current-affairs program announces a message from the Belgian chief of the general staff, telling all 80,000 Belgian soldiers on leave to return immediately to their units. [740.53]
• (evening) The Belgian chief of the general staff orders all barriers on the southwest border with France removed immediately to allow quicker entry of English and Frenh troops. [740.54]
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January 14

• Belgian troops at the southwest border and in the Ardennes area are forbidden to fire on French or English troops. [292.4]

January

• Due to weather, and due to the plans for an attack on the West accidentally falling into Belgian hands, Adolf Hitler delays the attack again. [166.290] [740.54]
• Charles de Gaulle sends a memorandum to about 80 people, foretelling a German attack on France through Holland and Belgium. He asks for the urgent formation of armored shock units. [508.1782]
• Finnish Commander-in-Chief Marshal Mannerheim makes an informal request for 30,000 volunteer troops of Britain and France to help resist an anticipated Soviet spring offensive. [363.30]
• US President Franklin Roosevelt requests US$1.8 billion of Congress for national defence. The request is granted. [503.1762]
• France's first two armored divisions are created. [83.212]
• In Canada, Sir Frederick Banting sends a 19-page memo to the National Research Council and the Canadian Military Headquarters. His document warns of bacterial warfare. (Some of his ideas are developed into weapons, and the ideas become the basis for research for decades to come.) [51.36]

January 21

• The Blue Funnel Line ship Protesilaus is damaged by a mine off Swansea, England. [798.35]

January 30

• Quote by Adolf Hitler in a speech: "For 300 years England pursued the aim of preventing a real consolidation of Europe, just as France sought for centuries to prevent a consolidation of Germany.". [293.E3]

February 5

• Canadian Pacific steamer Beaverburn is torpedoed and sunk of the south-west coast of England. 26 of 27 crew survive. [199.211]
• The Supreme Allied War Council meets in Paris, France, making a secret plan to send an Anglo-French force to Finland. The force would first secure a port on the coast of Norway, then seize control of the iron-ore fields around Kiruna and Gellivare in Northern Sweden. The plan is subject to Finland officially requesting assistance, and for Norway and Sweden to grant permission to cross their territories. [363.30]

February 7

• (0600 hours) Irish steamship Munster strikes a mine in the Irish Sea and sinks. All 300 passengers and crew survive. [199.211]
• At General Gerd von Rundstedt's headquarters in Koblenz, Germany, a war game is held to consider a German armored assault through the Ardennes Forest of Belgium toward France. (This plan becomes the accepted approach.) [78.266]

February 10

• The German Government warns Sweden and Norway that while sending aid to Finland was acceptable, the presense of English or French troops in transit to Finland would not be. [363.30]

February 11

• Russian forces breach the main Finnish defensive line. [277.6]

February 12

• The Australian 2nd Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force arrive at Suez, Egypt. [199.211]

February 13

• German General Alfred Jodl records in his diary that due to the loss of plans, Adolf Hitler changed the main invasion point farther south, in the direction of Sedan, to capture a large group of Allies in Belgium. [740.55]

February 14

• A German submarine torpedoes and sinks Blue Star liner Sultan Star 200 miles west-south-west of Land's End. British destroyers then sink the submarine. [200.246]
• Winston Churchill announces an Admiralty policy of arming trawlers, to protect them from enemy attacks. [201.264]

February

• Sweden rejects a Finnish appeal for intervention in their war with the Soviet Union. [110.446]
• Finland requests peace with the Soviet Union. [29.75]

February 15

• Germany announces that all British merchant ships will be treated as warships. [173.13]

February 16

• (2300-2400 hours) In Norwegian territorial waters off Jössing Fjord, British destroyer Cossack pulls alongside and boards the German supply ship Altmark, freeing 303 British prisoners. Two Norwegian torpedo boat captains protest, but do nothing. (This incident convinces German planners that urgent action in Norway is required.) [38.15] [162.338] [200.225] [404.238]

February 17

• Erich von Manstein meets with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, and convinces him to change the attack on the West to be a main thrust through the Ardennes. [277.12]
• Blue Funnel Line ship Pyrrhus in Gibraltar convoy OG-18 is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-37, 100 miles off Cape Finisterre. 8 crew are killed. [798.35]

February 18

• Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 10. For the attack on the West, the forces will be divided by the line Liège to Charleroi across Belgium and Luxembourg. Forces north of this line will break through Belgian defences, counter any threats to the Ruhr, and take on the strongest Anglo-French forces. Forces south of the line will cross the Meuse river between Dinant and Sedan, and advance towards the Somme estuary. [83.202] [149.60] [277.13]

February 19

• Finns defeat and disperse the Soviet 18th Division northeast of Lake Ladoga. [200.239]

February 22

• Australian Prime Minister Menzies writes to High Commissioner Stanley Bruce in London, England, suggesting it is vital that a German defeat include "soft" peace terms, foreseeing a possible new alignment of nations including Britain, France, Germany, and Italy against Russia. [439.42]

February 25

• The first squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force lands in England. [201.272]

March 1

• Adolf Hitler issues a Directive for "Case Weser exercise". He orders preparations be made for the occupation of Denmark and Norway, to secure iron ore from Sweden, and provide naval and air bases for operations against England. The objective is to occupy by peaceful means, designed to protect the arms of the neutrality of the Northern countries. General Nickolaus von Falkenhorst is to be Commander of Group XXI in charge of the operation. The crossings into Denmark and Norway are to be simultaneous. [149.61]

March 2

• A German plane drops bombs on liner Domala in the English Channel. Three hits are scored, killing 100 of 300 passengers. [202.305]

March 3

• The Italian government directly protests to the British government about the Allied blockade. [293.1]

March 5

• Soviet Politburo accepts recommendation of NKVD to execute without charge about 11,000 Polish prisoners, due to being anti-Soviet with little chance of successful re-education. [808.51]
• The Finland Government decides to accept peace terms of the Soviet Union. [363.22]

March 6

• A British patrol ship captures the German Woermann Line ship Wahehe. [204.404]
• German Hamburg-America Line ship Troja is scutled off the Dutch West Indies. [204.404]

March

• Sweden refuses to allow Allied troops to Finland through Sweden. [110.446]

March 11

• A British Bomber Command Blenheim bomber sinks a German submarine. [84.29]

March 12

• In Finland, Soviet forces breach the Mannerheim Line. [166.354]
• Finland and the Soviet Union conclude a peace treaty, the Treaty of Moscow. Finland retains independence but gives up the Karelian Isthmus, Viipuri, and a small band of land north of Lake Ladoga. The Soviets are granted a 30-year lease of Hangö for a naval base, and a right-of-way to Sweden. [113.504] [137.19] [166.354] [203.378] [277.6] [363.22] [404.238] [517.1793] [766.34]
• (evening) The British War Cabinet approves a plan to send troops (destined for Finland) to Narvik, Norway, without advance permission, hoping the Scandinavians would cooperate once the operation is under way. (With the end to the conflict, the plan is scrapped.) [363.31]

March

• British Bomber Command moves to new headquarters at Walter's Ash, 20 miles from the temporary headquarters in Buckinghamshire. The location is henceforth know by its code-name, Southdown, with its postal address located five miles away. (The secrecy works, as the location is never bombed or threatened throughout the war.) [84.30]
• An American report on Navy Pacific bases declares Pearl Harbor of top importance, with Midway Islands second. [127.35]
• Britain's code-breaking headquarters in Bletchley Park installs the first prototype German Enigma code-breaking machine, code named Victory. [460.7]

March 16

• (at dusk) German bombers attack Scapa Flow. Some planes bomb the village of Bridge of Waith in Scotland, killing James Isbister, first British civilian killed in the war. [84.340] [204.415]
• The Argentine government issues a decree saying German men of the Graf Spee are to be divided into groups and moved away from Buenos Aires. [717.288]

March 18

• Daladier loses a vote of confidence in the French parliament. Paul Reynaud forms a new government. [277.14]

March 19

• In retaliation for the German air raid of Scapa Flow on March 16, British planes attack the German seaplane base at Hornum on Sylt island. Little damage is done. [204.415] [414.43]
• Adolf Hitler and Italian Premier Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner railway station for 2.5 hours. [204.422]

March 20

• French General Maurice-Gustave Gamelin orders that if Germany attacks, seven divisions should race through Belgium to the Dutch border. [83.202]

March 22

• In French counterintelligence, Colonel Paul Paillole reports that Germans had suddenly begun to study routes from Sedan to Abbeville. He concludes that an attack through Belgium toward the English Channel seemed imminent. [83.219]

March 26

• Adolf Hitler approves plans by German Navy to land and seize several Norwegian ports. [806.262]

March 28

• The Anglo-French Supreme War Council meets for 6th time in London. They decide to mine the inshore passages of the Norwegian coast. After the meeting they declare that both governments would negotiate peace only by mutual agreement. [62.14] [205.441] [806.262]

March

• Dutch military attaché Colonel Gijsbertus Sas informs Danish naval attaché Captain Frits Kjolsen that Germany is planning on invading Denmark and Norway. [38.17]

March 31

• German armed merchant raider Atlantis leaves Germany. [173.14]

April 3

• Winston Churchill becomes director of Britain's armed forces. [746.4]

April 4

• The Danish envoy in Berlin passes on to the Danish government information about a German plan for a surprise attack on Denmark. The government considers the report a rumor, or a test of Danish reactions. [401.224]

April 6

• German armed merchant raider Orion leaves Germany. [173.14]

April 7

• (early) Night reconnaissance reports major naval activity in four north German ports and transport convoys headed toward Lübeck. [84.33]
• (evening) British Naval Attaché Henry Denham sends a telegram to the British Admiralty from Copenhagen, Denmark, reporting sightings of German warships with likely destinations on Norway. [29.2]
• British bombers attack a German flotilla including battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as it heads north between Great Britain and Norway. All bombs miss the ships, and every plane is damaged. [84.33]
• (2015 hours) The British Home Fleet sails from north Scotland, to meet the approaching German fleet. Included are battleships Rodney and Valiant, and battlecruiser Repulse. [29.2] [377.20] (April 8 [84.34])
• (2200 hours) The British 2nd Cruiser Squadron leaves Rosyth. [377.20]

April 8

• (morning) The British government informs Norway that they are mining the leads along the coastal waters off Norway. [38.15] [806.262]
• Operation Wilfred begins, as British forces lay mines off the Norwegian coast. [29.4] [62.14] [149.64] [207.508] [293.E4] [377.19] [384.16] [404.239]
• (about 0800 hours) British destroyer HMS Glowworm sinks German destroyer Bernd von Arnim off the Norwegian coast. [377.21]
• British destroyer Glowworm rams German heavy cruiser Hipper off the Norwegian coast, putting Hipper out of commission for several weeks for repairs. Glowworm sinks, with 31 survivors of a crew of 149. (Lieutenant-Commander G. Roope is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his action.) [207.508,525] [377.21]
• The Argentine government issues a decree for the remaining crew of the Graf Spee to be interned on Martin Garcia Island, eight miles off the coast, due to recent disappearances of the men. [717.288]
• (afternoon) Two German ships are torpedoed off the Norwegian coast. [38.15]
• (evening) Norwegian coastal forts open fire on German warships, as a German invasion begins. [38.16]

April 9

• (0410 hours) Germany launches Operation Weserubung, invading Denmark. Motorized troops cross the border into Denmark, as amphibious landings are made on Danish islands and on the waterfront of Copenhagen. The German envoy informs the Danish government that Denmark would be protected for the duration of the war, and no interference by German military authorities would be made in the country's internal affairs. Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning orders cessation of hostilities, twelve hours after the start. [1.3] [38.18] [62.14] [110.446] [137] [149.64] [206.487] [293.E4] [401.224]
• German forces land on Norway with six different forces at widely separated points on the coast. The German government claim the invasion is made to forestall a British invasion. [62.14] [75.32] [84.34] [110.446] [137] [206.487] [293.E4] [404.239]
• (about 0500 hours) Norwegian coastal gun batteries and mines sink German heavy cruiser Blücher and light cruiser Karlsruhe near Oslo. [29.30b] [206.487] [207.509] [726.51]
• (about 0600 hours) German aircraft fly over Copenhagen dropping leaflets announcing that Germany had taken Denmark under its protection due to British plans of aggression. [29.5]
• (0620 hours) Danish King Christian X broadcasts to the nation that the government has surrendered to Germany. [38.18]
• (0630 hours) In Norway, Vidkun Quisling speaks on Oslo Radio, urging Norwegians to cease further resistance. He deposes the legal government, and appoints himself Prime Minister. [162.339]
• (0700-0730 hours) In Norway, the national authorities leave Oslo by train. Another train carries the country's gold reserves north. [404.240]
• In Norway, German forces control Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger. [404.240]
• (about 1100 hours) The Norwegian coast defences at Kristiansand surrender. [404.240]
• (about 1100 hours) German troops begin arriving in Oslo, Norway, by transport aircraft. [404.240]
• British destroyer Gurkha is bombed and sunk by German aircraft near Bergen, Norway. [207.508,524] [377.22]
• (early afternoon) Britain calls off the attack on German forces at Bergen, Norway. [404.242]
• British destroyer Zulu sinks a German submarine off the Orkneys. [207.508]
• Ten German destroyers assist German troops occupying the Norwegian harbor of Narvik. [377.23]
• Off Narvik, Norway, British battlecruiser Renown and others engage the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The Scharnhorst is badly hit, but escapes. [207.508] (\iGneisenau\i is badly hit [377.22])
• Quote by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop "The German forces will see to it that no Englishman or Frenchman shows his nose in Norway or Denmark for the rest of the war.". [208.562]

April 10

• A British destroyer flotilla is launched against German forces in Narvik, Norway. [62.14]
• (dawn) British destroyers Hardy, Havock, and Hunter attack German ships at Narvik harbor, in Vest Fjord, achieving complete surprise. They sink destroyers Anton Schmidt and Wilhelm Heidkamp, and sink or destroy eight supply ships. [377.24]
• (about 0545 hours) At Narvik harbor, five strong German destroyers approach British destroyers from two directions. Hardy is severely damaged, and run aground to get the crew out. Hunter is hit and sinks in under a minute. Hotspur and Hostile are damaged, and with Havock escape to return to England. All five German destroyers are damaged, delaying their departure from Narvik. (Captain B.A.W. Warburton-Lee of the Hardy is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.) [207.508,525] [377.26]
• aEn route from Narvik to England, destroyers Hotspur, Hostile, and Havock sink German ammunition ship Rauenfels. [207.508]
• Norwegian mine-layer Olav Tryggvason hits German cruiser Emden in Oslo fjord. [207.525]
• (1600 hours) British Coastal Command Wellington bombers make their first air raid on the airfield at Stavanger, Norway. [208.561]
• Quote by British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, describing the German attack on Norway as "really that of a homicidal lunatic or of a mad dog.". [207.528]

April 11

• (early) British submarine HMS Spearfish attacks pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. [207.525]
• An Allied Expeditionary Force leaves Clyde en route to Narvik, Norway. [29.14]
• (night) British Bomber Command planes over Norway make their first attack on a mainland target, the airfield at Stavanger. [84.340] [208.558]

April 12

• 23 Blenheim bombers, 36 Wellington bombers, and 24 Hampden bombers take off from airfields in Britain to attack German ships off Kristiansand. Only one finds a target, and is unsuccessful in bombing it. Nine planes are lost, at a cost to Germany of five planes. [84.35]

April 13

• (mid-day) British battleship Warspite and nine destroyers including HMS Cossack sink seven German destroyers in the Narvik fjord, including Diether von Roeder, Erich Koellner, and Hermann Kunne. Aircraft from carrier Furious support the ships, with one plane sinking German submarine U64. [207.509,525] [377.26] [384.15]
• (1415 hours) Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyer Cossack and German destroyer Bruno Heineman battle, with British destroyer Foxhound firing the shot that sinks Bruno Heineman. Cossack runs aground, but remains in working order. [377.31]
• Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyers Eskimo, Forester, and Hero, force German destroyer Georg Thiele to run aground, and sink. [377.33]
• Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyers corner and sink German destroyers Hans Ludemann, Wolfgang Zenker, and Bernd von Arnim. [377.33]
• (evening) British Hampden planes begin minelaying in Danish and German waters. Code name of this operation is Gardening. [84.36,340] [207.509]

April 14

• British troops land in Norway near Trondheim and Narvik. [84.36] [166.354]
• Soviet Foreign Minister Vyadieslav Molotov informs the German government that Russia is vitally interested in Sweden remaining neutral. [38.128] [293.20]
• Allies land at Namsos, Norway. [62.14] [210.624]
• Belgians report to French intelligence that Germans have turned their attention to the Ardennes area. [83.219]

April 15

• (1200 hours) In Norway, the six day old Quisling Government comes to an end. On Oslo radio, Vidkun Quisling announces his resignation as head of the government. [162.339] [208.570]

April

• The USSR issues five postage stamps marking the liberation of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia. [343.520]
• British General Pierse Mackesy lands troops at Bergvik, Norway, for an assault on German-held Narvik. [29.16]

April 18

• Allies land off Andalsnes, Norway. [62.15]

April 19

• Quote by Norwegian King Haakon to the President of the Norwegian Supreme Court in Oslo: "the Norwegian Government can negotiate on no basis but the removal of the German troops from the country". [209.577]

April 20

• British steamship City of Simla unloads war material in Antwerp, Belgium, for use by British troops. [292.4]

April 24

• German General Nickolaus von Falkenhorst is appointed Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces Norway. [149.308]

April 26

• The British government decides to evacuate central Norway. [404.243]

April 28

• German planes begin five days of intense bombing of Kristiansund, Norway, almost completely destroying the city. [293.20]

April 29

• Forty tons of gold of fifty total are loaded on HMS Glasgow at Åndalsnes, Norway, along with the Norwegian royal party, headed initially to Tromso. [726.52]

April 30

• In a letter to the New York Times, Samuel Harden Church, president of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offers a US$1 million cash reward for the safe capture of Adolf Hitler. [75.32]
• A German Heinkel plane crashes in Clacton-on-Sea, England, killing two on the ground, England's first civilian casualties of the war. [210.635]
• A French military attaché in Berne, Switzerland, reports to French intelligence that a German attack on the West is set for May 8-10, focusing on Sedan. [83.219]
• Total value of United States shipments of war material during the past four months: US$43.4 million to France, US$11 million to Great Britain. [356.19]

April (month)

• Total value of United States shipments of war material during the month: US$12.7 million to France, US$2.7 million to Great Britain. [356.19]

(month unknown)

• Canadian air training facilities begin operations. [1.39]

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