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History > UK, British empire, England Early 21st century, 20th century
Timeline in articles, pictures, podcasts
UK > World War 2 > Main timeline
War in Wax, Oxford Street, London 1945
Photograph: Wolf Suschitzky
His status as a recent immigrant shows in his fascination with London’s particularities – he was adept at both studio portraiture and street shots
London, Paris, New York: a tale of three mid-century cities – in pictures G Monday 23 May 2016 09.09 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/may/23/
how family mementoes keep the second world war alive
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
28 February 2014
Secret files reveal successful MI5 plot to identify Nazi sympathisers in Britain
'Probably hundreds' of rightwing extremists joined network during World War II unaware it was run by British intelligence
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/
Vera Lynn 1917-2000
Entertaining the troops in 1940.
Photograph: Alamy
Vera Lynn: a life in pictures Dame Vera Lynn has died at the age of 103. The singer became known as the ‘forces’ sweetheart’ because of her popularity during the second world war, and went on to become one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers G Thu 18 Jun 2020 10.17 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2020/jun/18/
Lynn was best known for her 1939 hit We’ll Meet Again. Other hits were The White Cliffs of Dover and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.
Photograph: Corbis
Vera Lynn: a life in pictures Dame Vera Lynn has died at the age of 103. The singer became known as the ‘forces’ sweetheart’ because of her popularity during the second world war, and went on to become one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers G Thu 18 Jun 2020 10.17 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2020/jun/18/
(her) song We’ll Meet Again became an anthem of hope and resilience during the second world war
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/18/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/18/
Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton 1909-2013 (born Natalie Latham)
Nearly two years before the United States entered World War II, Mrs. Latham started Bundles for Britain, an organization that initially consisted of a few New York women knitting socks and caps for British sailors.
It would grow to embrace 1.5 million volunteers in 1,900 branches in every state in the union and begin shipping to Britain not only hundreds of thousands of knitted items but also ambulances, X-ray machines and children’s cots — all labeled “From your American friends.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/world/europe/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/world/europe/
the search for peace after the second world war
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
The Second World War: six years that changed Britain for ever
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/23/
Britain after the second world war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/
Ida Cook - pseudonym Mary Burchell (1904-1986) and Louise Cook
Ida and Louise Cook were two unassuming civil service secretaries whose passion for opera became their pretext for travelling repeatedly to Germany in the 1930s.
While they toured the country’s opera houses, they also secured a safe passage for dozens of people who would otherwise have perished in the Holocaust.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/27/
WWII casualties
Civilian and Military Deaths in the Second World War
National Death Tolls for the Second World War
https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A2854730
15 August 1945
VJ day / Victory over Japan
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2015/aug/15/
Victory in Europe Day / VE Day 8 May 1945
May 8, 1945
Capitulation on Montgomery's front
German forces in North-west Germany, Holland, and Denmark surrender to the 21st Army Group
http://www.theguardian.com/world/1945/may/08/
Paul Joseph Goebbels October 29, 1897 - May 1, 1945
http://www.leninimports.com/daily_mail_may_3rd_1945.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/goebbels-speaks.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/eichmann_03.shtml
February 13-15, 1945
Bombing of Dresden, led by Royal Air Force and followed by the United States Army Air Force
Arthur 'Bomber' Harris 1892-1984
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4257253.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/harris_arthur_bomber.shtml
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/10/allied-bombing-germany-dresden
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/dec/23/germany.secondworldwar
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/13/secondworldwar.germany
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/31/germany.secondworldwar
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/07/featuresreviews.guardianreview2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/apr/19/iraq.arts
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/mar/03/military.germany
http://www.theguardian.com/world/1945/feb/15/secondworldwar.fromthearchive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2719939.stm
UK, British Empire > 20th century > WW2 > 1944
Holland
17-25/26 September 1944
Battle of Arnhem Operation Market Garden
US Airborne Divisions take objectives in Holland to open a corridor for the advancing British Army.
British 1st Airborne 10 Division lands at Arnhem but meets strong resistance.
The Allies fail to gain a bridgehead across the lower River Rhine.
Airborne troops retreat from Arnhem - 26 September 1944 http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/4/dday/pdfs/DDayAftermath.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/26/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_arnhem_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_arnhem.shtml
1943
Bombing of Hamburg
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview4
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/04/historybooks.features1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/dec/23/germany.secondworldwar
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/22/worlddispatch.germany
Timeline, stories, interactive guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/dday_audio.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dday_audio.shtml https://www.theguardian.com/world/secondworldwar
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/0,6050,128358,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/06/secondworldwar.focus https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/wc-unity.html https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/dday/
1943
Operation Chastise / Dambusters raid
second world war mission to destroy German dams in the Ruhr Valley
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/16/
The raids were successful in devastating the Möhne and Edersee dams.
The effects of the so-called bouncing bombs caused catastrophic flooding in the Ruhr valley, destroying hydroelectric power stations and factories.
More than 1,600 people on the ground are thought to have been killed.
Of the 133 crew members who took part in the raids, 53 were killed.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/09/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/16/
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2003/may/16/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3036193.stm
Channel island > Alderney
Himmler, a key architect of the Holocaust, instructed commanders on Alderney to murder all their prisoners and labourers “without a moment’s delay” if they caused trouble.
During the Nazi occupation, the Channel island, a British crown dependency, housed four labour sites, including a concentration camp, with their occupants forced to build the huge defences of Hitler’s so-called Atlantic wall.
Other documents, from SS headquarters and dated 1943, suggest that significantly more prisoners are likely to have died on Alderney than the official death toll of nearly 400.
(...)
Among these documents is a letter from Himmler to SS Hauptsturmführer Maximilian List, commander of the SS construction brigade on Alderney.
Dated 19 August 1943 and marked top secret, Himmler’s letter states: “Should there be – in the event of an attack – even the slightest sign, on the part of the prisoners, that they intend to cause trouble, you must act immediately and without ceremony, and shoot the culprits.
“If order is then still not restored, you must shoot all prisoners, without a moment’s delay.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/04/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/04/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/13/
February 1943
Norway
By 1942, the British knew that Germany had chosen heavy water, or deuterium oxide, to moderate atom-splitting chain reactions to produce bomb-grade plutonium, and that the Norsk Hydro plant in Norway, which had been extracting heavy water since 1934 for making fertilizer, had been taken over by Nazi invaders as the world’s best source of the isotope for Berlin’s atomic weapons program.
A 35-man British commando team had been lost on a 1942 mission to sabotage the plant.
Britain then enlisted the Norwegian volunteers under Mr. Ronneberg for Operation Gunnerside, endorsed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/
a team of SOE-trained Norwegian commandos succeeded in destroying the production facility with a second attempt, Operation Gunnerside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/
British Bombing Strategy in World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/area_bombing_01.shtml
The Arctic convoys
Second World War mission to supply the Russians for their battle on the Eastern Front
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/apr/11/
1942
The Beveridge "Plan for Social Security"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/15/
http://www.theguardian.com/news/1942/dec/02/
Egypt
Second Battle of El Alamein 23 October-4 November 1942
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery 1887-1976
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_el_alamein_01.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/montgomery_bernard.shtml
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/
90,000 Africans fought the Japanese in Myanmar on behalf of Britain in the second world war.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2020/aug/17/
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2020/aug/17/
15 February 1942
Singapore forced to surrender
British forces in Singapore surrender unconditionally to the Japanese seven days after enemy troops first stormed the island.
(...)
The British capitulation comes one week after Japanese forces invaded Singapore and only two weeks since their onslaught on the Malay Peninsula forced the British troops' withdrawal to the island. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/newsid_3529000/3529447.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
2 September 1941
RAF night raid on Berlin
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/sep/02/
1941-1945
Burma Campaign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/burma_campaign_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_burma_campaign.shtml
December 8, 1941
Japan declares war on United States and Britain
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania on 5 December 1941, following Finland's alliance with Germany and the signing
[ on September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance ]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/
Allies Middle East Persia (now Iran)
Anglo-Soviet invasion / Operation Countenance
25 August-17 September 1941
Persia's strategic importance increased as the war progressed.
In 1940 it produced over eight million tons of oil, essential for the Allied war effort.
Furthermore, Germany's invasion of Russia in June 1941 made Persia critically important for sending American Lend-Lease supplies to the Eastern Front.
While officially neutral, Persia had friendly ties with German and was home to many German nationals.
Reza Shah Pahlavi's refusal to expel the German nationals, coupled with their more strategic concerns, prompted an Anglo-Soviet invasion in August 1941.
The invasion and occupation of Persia was swift and undemanding.
The British units invaded Persia from their bases in Iraq, to the south of Iran.
The Russians invaded from the north.
Persian resistance was rapidly overwhelmed and neutralised by Soviet and British tanks and infantry.
Before long, the Shah was exiled to South Africa.
The British and Soviet troops met in Tehran on 17 September and effectively divided the country between them for the rest of the war.
A Tri-Partite Treaty of Alliance between Britain, Russia and Persia, signed in January 1942, committed the Allies to leaving Persia at the end of the war. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1130121.shtml
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran
24 August 1941
Pact with America:
Churchill's speech after the Atlantic conference
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/08/
August 1941
Secret meetings seal US-Britain alliance
Top-secret meetings between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D Roosevelt
(...)
Details of the meetings only emerged after the announcement of a joint declaration by Britain and America on the basic principles for a post-war world, sealing the alliance between the two countries for the downfall of Hitler.
(...)
The document, known as the Atlantic Charter, consists of a list
of eight (?) undertakings. 1 - Britain and the United States seek no territorial gains from the war
2 - any changes to a country's territory should only happen with the agreement of the people living there
3 - it is the right of everyone to choose the government under which they will live
4 - self-government should be restored to those who have lost it
5 - there should be free trade between all nations
6 - improvements in the economy and in living standards should be available to all
7 - there should be peace following what the Charter calls "the end of Nazi tyranny"
8 - peace should enable freedom of movement around the world
9 - a belief that aggressive nations must be disarmed if the world is to live at peace http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3536000/3536533.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/
7 May 1941
Rudolf Hess (1894-1987), Hitler's deputy, escapes to Britain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/17/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/16/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/83/a4408283.shtml http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1326958.stm
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Rationing during the second world war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/mar/04/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/08/
British ships torpedoed by U-boats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Royal_Navy_losses_in_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters_in_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_sunk_by_submarines_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ships_sunk_by_German_submarines_in_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hospital_ships_sunk_in_World_War_II
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/
https://www.bbc.com/news/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/
https://www.bbc.com/news/
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/jan/02/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7924.shtml
December 1940
Western Prince - ship torpedoed by a U-boat
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
17 September 1940
A German U-boat sinks the City of Benares
Eighty-one child evacuees die
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/
Battle of Britain
Winston Churchill's speech August 20, 1940
World War II poster "Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Lowe & Brydon Printers, Ltd". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/world/europe/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_of_britain_01.shtml http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2000/battle_of_britain/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c55221/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4257084.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/battle-of-britain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1940/aug/21/secondworldwar.germany
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
3-6 July 1940
Coast of Algeria Mers-el-Kébir
British warships destroy the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/index.shtml?day=03&month=07
Players:
Force H, British Admiral Somerville and Cunningham and French Admirals Darlan and Gensoul.
Outcome:
Over 1,000 lives lost, the French fleet immobilised, Britain's determination to succeed in the Mediterranean asserted.
Britain didn't waste any time taking action after the French Vichy government signed a treaty with the Germans on 25 June 1940.
The French had a powerful fleet which was a threat to British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean.
Only eight days after the treaty was signed, on 3 July, the British seized all French ships in British ports.
Then, under the command of Admiral Somerville, Force H was dispatched to deal with the French in North Africa. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144973.shtml - broken link
More than 2 million Indian men fought for Britain
http://www.npr.org/2015/08/22/
During the second world war, Chinese men served alongside their British comrades in merchant vessels that kept supply lines of food and other essentials flowing into the UK.
It was incredibly dangerous work as the enormous cargo ships were ready targets for German U-boats and many of the seamen perished.
After the war, many of the Chinese sailors settled in Liverpool, with some starting families.
But from 1946 onwards many started to go missing from the city.
(...)
In the months following the war, the Home Office carried out thousands of secret deportations of Chinese seamen, leaving their wives and children to believe they had been abandoned.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/31/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/31/
MI6 spent $200m bribing Spaniards in second world war
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/23/
Evacuation Operation Pied Piper (September 1939), The Battle of Britain / The Blitz (1940-1941)
July 1940
Formation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Wartime agency known informally as “Churchill’s secret army,” which recruited more than 14,000 agents to conduct espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/europe/22nearne.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/obituaries/joachim-ronneberg-dead.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/europe/22nearne.html
We shall fight on the beaches
Winston Churchill's speech was delivered to House of Commons on June 4 1940
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/apr/20/
26 May - 4 June 1940
France
Dunkerque / Dunkirk
Operation Dynamo
Evacuation of around 350,000 British, French and Belgian troops from Dunkirk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff2_dunkirk.shtml
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/16/
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/jun/03/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/europe/17freeborn.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/7771919/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/27/operation-dynamo-dunkirk-little-ships
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/may/27/operation-dynamo-70th-anniversary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/may/27/british-pathe-dunkirk-evacuation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/jb-priestley-dunkirk-second-world-war
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
22 June 1940
Franco-German Armistice
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France
Général Charles de Gaulle
Appel du 18 juin 1940
Speeches delivered by Charles de Gaulle and broadcast by the BBC on June 18, 19 and 22 1940
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/great-speeches-
May-June 1940
The Fall of France
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/fall_france_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/45/a2598645.shtml
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france
How the Bank of England 'helped Nazis sell gold stolen from Czechs'
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/31/
UK, British Empire > 20th century > WW2
Neville Chamberlain 1869-1940
https://www.theguardian.com/world/neville-chamberlain
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/20/
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24300094 - 30 September 2013
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/
Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) resigns
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) forms a government - May 10, 1940
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24300094 - 30 September 2013
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/may/11/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/10/newsid
Picture Post
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jun/09/
1939-1945
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/cen_ww_two.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/ear20_wwtwo.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/war_adverts_gallery.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/blitz_01.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/evacuees_01.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/churchill_audio.shtml http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/topstories3.secondworldwar http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/secondworldwar.world http://www.theguardian.com/politics/1941/jan/22/past.secondworldwar http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/chamberlain_arthur_neville.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/cen_munich.shtml
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/1945/sep/03/
https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/0,6050,128341,00.html
https://www.theguardian.com/secondworldwar/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/may/08/
Viscount Halifax 1881-1959
Portrait of Viscount Lord Halifax, British Secy. of State for Foreign Affairs.
Location: United Kingdom Date taken: 1939
Photograph: Margaret Bourke-White
Life Images http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=7312b106579bfe71 - broken link
The Foreign Secretary speaks after two months of war
recorded circa November 1939
Seen by many as one of the architects of appeasement prior to the declaration of hostilities, Viscount Halifax here speaks to the nation on the purposes of the war and the likelihood of victory for the Allies.
During his lengthy, considered speech, he notes that the British 'right to grumble' is a mark of freedom compared with the situation in Nazi Germany, where complaining can lead to a concentration camp. http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7933.shtml
https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/
UK, British empire > 20th century > WW2
September 3, 1939
Britain and France declare war on Germany
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7957.shtml?page=txt http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/08/99/world_war_11/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/3/
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/may/25/
https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/0,6050,128338,00.html - 1939 http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1939/sep/04/fromthearchive http://www.theguardian.com/world/1939/sep/04/secondworldwar.fromthearchive http://www.theguardian.com/world/1939/sep/04/secondworldwar.fromthearchive1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7970.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7909.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7918.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7917.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7916.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7957.shtml
3 September 1939
The SS Athenia, en route from Glasgow to Montreal, became the first victim of the Battle of the Atlantic when she was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7924.shtml
Conscientious objectors
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/07/
Final steps to the second world war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/05/
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/1/
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7913.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7914.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7940.shtml
Munich Agreement / Appeasement 1938-1939
Monday 28 August 1939
Countdown to World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/countdown
Alan Turing 1912-1954
Alan Turing was born on 23 June, 1912, in London.
His father was in the Indian Civil Service and Turing's parents lived in India until his father's retirement in 1926.
Turing and his brother stayed with friends and relatives in England.
Turing studied mathematics at Cambridge University, and subsequently taught there, working in the burgeoning world of quantum mechanics.
It was at Cambridge that he developed the proof which states that automatic computation cannot solve all mathematical problems.
This concept, also known as the Turing machine, is considered the basis for the modern theory of computation.
In 1936, Turing went to Princeton University in America, returning to England in 1938.
He began to work secretly part-time for the British cryptanalytic department, the Government Code and Cypher School.
On the outbreak of war he took up full-time work at its headquarters, Bletchley Park.
Here he played a vital role in deciphering the messages encrypted by the German Enigma machine, which provided vital intelligence for the Allies.
He took the lead in a team that designed a machine known as a bombe that successfully decoded German messages.
He became a well-known and rather eccentric figure at Bletchley. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing https://www.theguardian.com/science/alan-turing
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/24/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/27/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2011/mar/01/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/25/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16061279 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2011/dec/19/1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/
Refugee internment camps in Britain
An internment camp on the Isle of Man in 1941.
Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images
‘I remember the feeling of insult’: when Britain imprisoned its wartime refugees After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up. For many, it was a betrayal on the part of their supposed liberators G Tue 1 Feb 2022 06.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 1 Feb 2022 09.17 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/01/
An internment camp fo 'enemy aliens" in Huyton, Liverpool, in 1940.
Photograph: Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images
‘I remember the feeling of insult’: when Britain imprisoned its wartime refugees After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up. For many, it was a betrayal on the part of their supposed liberators G Tue 1 Feb 2022 06.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 1 Feb 2022 09.17 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/01/
group of people designated as ‘enemy aliens’ on their way to an internment camp in Britain in 1940.
Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images‘
I remember the feeling of insult’: when Britain imprisoned its wartime refugees After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up. For many, it was a betrayal on the part of their supposed liberators G Tue 1 Feb 2022 06.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 1 Feb 2022 09.17 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/01/
Young Jewish refugees (including Peter Fleischmann, carrying large art folder) arriving in England in December 1938.
Photograph: AP/Shutterstock
I remember the feeling of insult’: when Britain imprisoned its wartime refugees After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up. For many, it was a betrayal on the part of their supposed liberators G Tue 1 Feb 2022 06.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 1 Feb 2022 09.17 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/01/
After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/01/
Jewish children, fleeing Nazism in Vienna, arrive in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in 1938 – the same year that Edmund de Waal’s father, then aged 10, arrived with his family as a refugee.
Photograph: Imagno/Getty
Edmund de Waal: ‘The Nazis banished my family from Vienna. Now we are returning’ G Sat 28 Sep 2019 13.00 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/28/
1938
refugees from Austria
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/28/
Jewish refugees on wartime life in England
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/09/
March 12, 1938
Anschluss
Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/austria
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/sceptred_isle/
October 1937
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor visit Nazi Germany
They meet Hitler, dine with his deputy, Rudolf Hess, and even visit a concentration camp
The Duke [ formerly King Edward VIII of the British Empire, Emperor of India - Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Duke of Windsor; 1894-1972 ] and Duchess of Windsor [ Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer, then Simpson; 1896-1986 ] meet Adolf Hitler in 1937 Caption from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nazi_Windsors.jpg
Photo from The Daily Mail
Last updated at 1:18 AM on 07th June 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1024798/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2701965.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/661966.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/jan/16/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/25/
Spyclists: how Hitler Youth's cycling tours caused panic in prewar Britain
Nazis' bid to forge ties with Lord Baden-Powell and boy scouts rang government alarm bells
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/
1936
Germany begins rearming and invades the Rhineland up to the French border
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain
June 18, 1935
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-German_Naval_Agreement
The second world war: a timeline
Significant events before, during and resulting from the second world war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/sep/09/
The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive (Tara)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/nov/23/
Nazi Germany 1933-1945
Flag of Germany 1933 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg
https://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/section.cfm?section_id=13
1933
Germany
Adolf Hitler comes to power on a programme to reverse the Versailles Treaty
He withdraws from the disarmament conference and leaves the League of Nations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_03.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/
Rags make uniforms, metal makes tanks, paper makes bullets. Save waste for war weapons 1939-46
Unknown is from the collections of The National Archives (United Kingdom), catalogued under document record INF3/208 Wikimedia commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ War art in The National Archives (United Kingdom) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:War_art_in_The_National_Archives_%28United_Kingdom%29
Related > Anglonautes > History > 20th century
Timeline in articles, pictures, podcasts
World War 2 > Germany, Europe > Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Nazi era,
Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia
Related > Anglonautes > Science > Scientists > Computing
Alan Mathison Turing UK 1912-1954
Related
Germany: National Socialism and World War II
https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/
A lost heritage: Nazi pictures reveal full devastation wreaked by allied bombers
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/10/
https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/fotomarburg
National Archives publish wartime propaganda in online gallery 13 June 2012
Hundreds of images of war art including posters and a portrait of the future queen are released online
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/13/
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