Anglonautes > History > 20th century > UK > Second World War - World War 2

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

Monday 23 May 2016 09.09 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/may/23/
unseen-london-paris-new-york-in-pictures

how family mementoes

keep the second world war alive

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
family-keepsakes-and-memories-second-world-war

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/
secret-files-mi5-plot-nazi-britain-world-war-ii

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

Thu 18 Jun 2020 10.17 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2020/jun/18/
dame-vera-lynn-a-life-in-pictures

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

Thu 18 Jun 2020 10.17 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2020/jun/18/
dame-vera-lynn-a-life-in-pictures

(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/
dame-vera-lynn-dies-aged-103

https://www.theguardian.com/music/
vera-lynn

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/18/
dame-vera-lynn-dies-aged-103

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 volunteersin 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/
lady-malcolm-douglas-hamilton-dies-at-103-aided-britain-in-war.html

the search for peace

after the second world war

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
second-world-war-united-nations-nato

The Second World War:

six years that changed Britain for ever

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/23/
second-world-war-mccrum

Britain after the second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/
second-world-war-britain-churchill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/
churchill-europe-second-world-war

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/
ida-louise-cook-sisters-helped-jewish-refugees-flee-nazis-spy-mystery-film

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/
ida-louise-cook-sisters-
helped-jewish-refugees-flee-nazis-spy-mystery-film

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/27/
fiction.features

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/
vj-day-in-south-east-suburban-london-1945

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/
secondworldwar.germany

Paul Joseph Goebbels 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/
newsid_3549000/3549905.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/harris_arthur_bomber.shtml

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/
home-news/exhibition-marks-blitz-and-dresden-bombings-2071949.html

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

V1 / V2 bombings

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/
newsid_3523000/3523972.stm

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/
hamburg-bombing-raid-anglo-american

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

6 June 1944

D-Day Operation Overlord

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/
this-britain/the-final-battle-remembering-ddays-veterans-841378.html

https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/0,6050,128358,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/06/secondworldwar.focus

https://war-experience.org/

https://www.iwm.org.uk/

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/
dambusters-70th-anniversary-johnny-johnson-video

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/
last-surviving-dambusters-pilot-les-munro-dies-96

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
a-mighty-man-tributes-to-last-surviving-dambusters-pilot-les-munro

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
last-surviving-dambusters-pilot-les-munro-dies-96

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/09/
military-veterans-respond-funeral-appeal-war-hero

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/16/
dambusters-70th-anniversary-johnny-johnson-video

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2003/may/16/
fromthearchive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/
newsid_3623000/3623223.stm

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/
himmler-execution-prisoners-britain-nazi-concentration-camp

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/22/
more-than-1000-slave-labourers-may-have-died-in-nazi-camps-on-alderney-
review-finds

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/04/
himmler-execution-prisoners-britain-nazi-concentration-camp

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/13/
the-holocaust-happened-on-british-soil-
inquiry-into-nazi-camps-creates-bitter-divide-on-alderney

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/
obituaries/joachim-ronneberg-dead.html

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/
obituaries/joachim-ronneberg-dead.html

British Bombing Strategy

in World War Two

https://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/
leaders.secondworldwar

1942

The Beveridge "Plan for Social Security"

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/apr/15/
ten-of-the-best-political-documents

http://www.theguardian.com/news/1942/dec/02/
mainsection.fromthearchive

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/
poet-keith-douglas-el-alamein-ww2

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/
erwin-rommel-papers-el-alamein-ww2

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/
we-put-our-lives-in-danger-for-the-british-the-forgotten-african-soldiers-in-pictures

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2020/aug/17/
we-put-our-lives-in-danger-for-the-british-
the-forgotten-african-soldiers-in-pictures

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/
newsid_3529000/3529447.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
ascherson-into-the-storm-second-world-war-outbreak

2 September 1941

RAF night raid on Berlin

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/sep/02/
raf-night-raid-berlin-1941-photograph

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/
Story/0,6051,127505,00.html

Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary

and Romania on 5 December 1941,

following Finland's alliance with Germany

and the signing of the Tri-partite Pact

[ 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/
factfiles/nonflash/a1138501.shtml

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/
factfiles/nonflash/a1130121.shtml

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/
atlantic-conference-churchill-roosevelt-alliance

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/
newsid_3536000/3536533.stm

7 May 1941

Rudolf Hess (1894-1987),

Hitler's deputy,

escapes to Britain

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/17/
newsid_2496000/2496643.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/16/
historybooks.features

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/
Story/0,,127470,00.html

Rationing during the second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/mar/04/
imperial-war-museum-rationing-food

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/08/
rationing-second-world-war1

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/
worlds-biggest-grave-robbery-asias-disappearing-ww2-shipwrecks

https://www.bbc.com/news/
science-environment-41503664 - 5 October 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/
british-second-world-war-ships-illegal-scavenging-java-sea

https://www.bbc.com/news/
uk-wales-35252604 - 17 February 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/jan/02/
alan-bleasdale-uboat-sinking-laconia
- Sinking of the Laconia - South Atlantic - September 1942.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
mainsection.fromthearchive

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/
benares-sunk-war-81-children-dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
SS_City_of_Benares

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/
mainsection.fromthearchive

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/
benares-sunk-war-81-children-dead

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/
henry-lafont-french-pilot-in-battle-of-britain-dies-at-91.html

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/
newsid_3521000/3521611.stm

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/
Story/0,,128255,00.html - 21 August 1940

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/
433515258/in-wwii-millions-of-indians-fought-for-a-britain-they-abhored

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/
revisited-the-secret-deportations-of-chinese-merchant-sailors-podcast

MI6 spent $200m bribing Spaniards

in second world war

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/23/
mi6-spain-200m-bribes-ww2

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/
soe_01.shtml

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/
greatspeeches3

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/
dunkirk-darkest-day-29-may-1940-evacuation-came-close-to-disaster

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/jun/03/
photography-secondworldwar

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/europe/17freeborn.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/
archive-photos-operation-dynamo-real-story-behind-christopher/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/7771919/
Dunkirk-evacuation-anniversary-second-world-war-veterans-reenact-Operation-Dynamo.html

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/
Story/0,,127406,00.html

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-
charles-de-gaulle

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

1939

How the Bank of England

'helped Nazis sell gold stolen from Czechs'

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/31/
bank-of-england-and-nazis-stolen-gold

UK, British Empire > 20th century > WW2

Kindertransport 1938-1940

Winston Churchill 1874-1965

Neville Chamberlain 1869-1940

https://www.theguardian.com/world/
neville-chamberlain

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/20/
chamberlain-hitler-appeasement-munich-agreement-archive-1938

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24300094 - 30 September 2013

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/
may/25/guardian-190-britain-at-war

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/
may/25/guardian-190-chamberlain-returns-from-munich

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/
mainsection.fromthearchive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/10/newsid
_3497000/3497115.stm

Picture Post

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jun/09/
never-had-it-so-good-bert-hardys-archive-of-mid-century-life-in-pictures

1939-1945

The Blitz

The Evacuation

Dig for Victory campaign

King George V

Chamberlain

Munich

Churchill

ligne Maginot

UK wartime torture camp

war posters

Japan

The Western Prince

Home Guard

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/
ascherson-into-the-storm-second-world-war-outbreak

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1945/sep/03/
japan.secondworldwar

https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/0,6050,128341,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/secondworldwar/
fromthearchive/0,15744,1398350,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
mainsection.fromthearchive

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/may/08/
mainsection.fromthearchive

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/
our-war-aims--now-and-after-viscount-halifax/zmwtd6f

UK, British empire > 20th century > WW2

Women at war

September 3, 1939

Britain and France declare war on Germany

Transcript of Neville Chamberlain's

Declaration of war

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/
newsid_3493000/3493279.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
ascherson-into-the-storm-second-world-war-outbreak

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/may/25/
guardian-190-britain-at-war

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/
british-conscientious-objectors-second-world-war

Final steps to the second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/05/
second-world-war-prelude

September 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/1/
newsid_3506000/3506335.stm

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
invasion-of-poland-fall-1939

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

Approach of war

Munich Agreement / Appeasement 1938-1939

Monday 28 August 1939

Countdown to World War Two

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/countdown
_390828_mon_01.shtml

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 knownas 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

https://www.theguardian.com/science/alan-turing

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/24/
enigma-codebreaker-alan-turing-royal-pardon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/27/
pass-notes-alan-turing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2011/mar/01/
pilot-ace-computer-alan-turing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/25/
turing-papers-auction-bid-bletchley

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/
pm-apology-to-alan-turing

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

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/
when-britain-imprisoned-refugees-second-world-war-internment-camps

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

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/
when-britain-imprisoned-refugees-second-world-war-internment-camps

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

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/
when-britain-imprisoned-refugees-second-world-war-internment-camps

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

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/
when-britain-imprisoned-refugees-second-world-war-internment-camps

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/
when-britain-imprisoned-refugees-second-world-war-internment-camps

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’

Sat 28 Sep 2019 13.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/28/
edmund-de-waal-nazis-banished-my-family-from-vienna-interview

1938

refugees from Austria

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/28/
edmund-de-waal-nazis-banished-my-family-from-vienna-interview

Jewish refugees

on wartime life in England

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/09/
jewish-refugees-england-kindertransport-holocaust

March 12, 1938

Anschluss

Annexation of Austriainto Greater Germany

by the Nazi regime

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/austria

https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/sceptred_isle/
page/201.shtml?question=201

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

IAN KERSHAW

Last updated at 1:18 AM on 07th June 2008

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1024798/
The-day-lost-Second-World-War--fictional-account-happened.html

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/
past.monarchy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/25/
freedomofinformation.monarchy

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/
mar/08/hitler-youth-prewar-cyclists-boy-scouts

1936

Germany begins rearming

and invades the Rhineland

up to the French border

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain
_1918_1945_03.shtml

June 18, 1935

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

https://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/
second-world-war-timeline

The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive (Tara)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/nov/23/
secondworldwar-secret-photographs-online

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/
overview_britain_1918_1945_03.shtml

Rags make uniforms, metal makes tanks, paper makes bullets.

Save waste for war weapons

1939-46

Unknown

This file

is from the collections of The National Archives (United Kingdom),

catalogued under document record INF3/208

Wikimedia commons

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:INF3-208_Salvage_Save_waste_for_war_weapons_%28scarecrow_with_scrap%29.jpg

War art in The National Archives (United Kingdom)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:
War_art_in_The_National_Archives_%28United_Kingdom%29

Related > Anglonautes > History > 20th century

1930s-1940s > WW2 > UK >

Timeline in articles, pictures, podcasts

1939-1945 > WW2 > USA, world

WW2 > Germany, Europe >

Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Nazi era,

Holocaust / Shoah,

Samudaripen

Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia

genocide, war,

weapons, arms sales,

espionage, torture

Related > Anglonautes > Science > Scientists > Computing

Alan Mathison Turing UK 1912-1954

Germany:

National Socialism and World War II

https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/
Germany:_National_Socialism_and_World_War_II

A lost heritage:

Nazi pictures reveal full devastation

wreaked by allied bombers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/10/
secondworldwar.germany

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/
Category:War_art_in_The_National_Archives_%28United_Kingdom%29

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/13/
national-archives-wartime-propaganda-gallery