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1939.
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JANUARY
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5th.
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Hitler demands from Poland the Port of Danzig.
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10th.
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Chamberlain meets Mussolini in Rome, but fails to reduce
tensions in Europe.
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17th
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Jews forbidden to drive cars, practice as dentists, vets
or pharmacists.
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26th.
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Barcelona falls to Franco.
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30th.
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Hitler claims the return from England of old colonies.
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FEBRUARY 1939.
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14th.
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35,000 ton German battleship Bismark is launched.
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23rd.
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Jews ordered to hand over all precious stones and metals.
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MARCH 1939.
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14th.
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Germany annexes Bohemia and Moravia.
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15th.
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Hitler makes triumphal entry into Prague.
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21st.
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Berlin demands Memel (Lithuania) and Danzig from Poland.
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28th.
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Civil war ends in Spain when Franco takes Madrid
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31st.
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Britain and France confirm their pledge to defend Poland.
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APRIL 1939.
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7th.
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Italy invades Albania.
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13th.
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Britain and France guarantee Rumanian and Greek
independence.
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26th.
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Conscription is introduced in England.
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MAY 1939.
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31st.
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Germany signs a non-aggression pact with Denmark.
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JULY. 1939
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4th.
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Nazi thugs beat up Archbishop of Vienna.
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20th
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200 Nazi guards arrive from Germany - in Danzig.
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AUGUST 1939.
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Chamberlain returns from
his meeting with Hitler in Munich and declares
"There will be peace in our
time"
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22nd.
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Hitler secretly orders the destruction of Poland.
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31st.
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Royal Navy is mobilised.
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Anxiously listening to the
news.
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SEPTEMBER 1939.
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British Expeditionary Force in France.
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1st
3rd
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Britain and France give ultimatum to Germany.
The author was evacuated to
Bury St Edmunds at the age of eight years.
Britain and France give ultimatum to Germany.
BRITAIN DECLARES WAR ON
GERMANY
London evacuates its children.
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5th.
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United States neutrality announced by Roosevelt.
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6th.
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S.Africa declares war on Germany.
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Churchill flies back and
forth to France to bolster their resolve.
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10th. September 1939.
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Canada declares war on Germany.
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14th.
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HMS Royal Oak.
German U-boat (submarine)
penetrates Scapa Flow
- thought to have been an Orkney (North of Scotland) secure
deep water anchorage
and torpedoes HMS Royal Oak which is
sunk with the loss of 875 lives.
HMS Ark Royal
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22nd.
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Petrol rationing is introduced.
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23rd
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All Jews in Germany have their radios confiscated.
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24th.
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U-boats sink a Swedish steamer and a British cargo boat.
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27th
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Hitler secretly tells his commanders he intends to attack
France.
The once beautiful city of Warsaw now in total ruins
surrenders to the German Army.
Hitler tells his commanders he intends to attack France.
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Graf Spee sinks British Cargo ship off the coast of
Brazil.
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OCTOBER 1939.
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25,000 Polish citizens and 60,000 soldiers have died in
Poland. Germans do nothing to help the thousands of
seriously injured.
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1st
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THE RUSSIAN
ENIGMA
CHURCHILL
BROADCASTS
1st October
1939
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2nd.
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RAF makes a leaflet raid on Berlin.
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3rd.
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Chamberlain dismisses German peace proposals.
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12th.
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Eichmann deports Jews from Austria and Czechoslovakia to
Poland.
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16th
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German warships are ordered to torpedo merchant shipping
without warning.
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20th
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Australia orders conscription,
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21st OCTOBER 1939.
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Stalin continues to collaborate with Hitler - planning
secretly to invade eastern Poland, Finland, the Baltic
States. and seize provinces from both Rumania and
Czechoslovakia .
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Surrounded by Germany and Russia Poland held out for five
weeks - an astonishing achievement when one realises they
were without any modern military equipment. This was to be
longer than France.
France puts her faith in the Maginot Line
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30th
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British government exposes Nazi brutality towards Jews
and dissidents including the concentration camp system.
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Later starvation in Warsaw
- a horse is butchered on the street.
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NOVEMBER 1939
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20th
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Luftwaffe drop magnetic mines into the Thames. HMS
Mastiff is blown up by a mine.
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27th.
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"Aryans" are given 12 months to divorce Jewish spouses in
Germany.
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All children fitted with
gas masks.
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DECEMBER
1939
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Royal Navy is
mobilised.
Churchill signals the Fleet
-
"Winston is
back"
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17th.
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The embattled damaged German Battleship the Graf
Spee is scuttled in the River Plate.
Einstein alerts the President of the USA to the power of
an atomic bomb.
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Air Raids shelters built
all over London.
Luftwaffe drop magnetic mines into the Thames. HMS
Mastiff is blown up by a mine.
"Aryans" are given 12 months to divorce Jewish spouses in
Germany.
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The purpose of these pages is to tell the story of Churchill's
life - not to give a detailed account of the wars he was involved in,
for that is a vast subject.
To obtain an idea of the cause and magnitude of the war, examine the
monthly calendar for each year - they include many photographs.
It is important to remember that heavy censorship of news took
place throughout them, and therefore knowledge of many of these
events was not available until long after they happened - or until
after the wars had ended.