Start of World War II
1938-1940

1938 March 12,

Anschluss: Austria is annexed to the
"Greater German Reich
Groszdeutschland" ("Blumenkrieg"). On 15
March Hitler in Vienna.

1938 May 20,


1938 June,


Czechoslovakia mobilizes its military.
Chinese forces breach the dykes along the Yellow
River to slow the Japan advancing forces. Over
1.000.000 Chinese peasants dies in the floods and
fighting.
1938 July,

Soviet and Japanese forces battle near Lake Hassan
on the border of Manchukuo.

1938 September 30,


Munich Conference (Agreement): Britain
(British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain)
France (Daladier) and Italy (Mussoline) grant
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Hitler to
avoid war; Hitler gives Chamberlain his
personal word on future cooperation
1938 October 1,

Germany owns the Sudetenland of
Czechoslovakia.

1938 November,


Japan proclaims a "New Order in East Asia", with
Japan as the lead nation.
1938 November 9,

"Kristallnacht" (Night of Broken Glass): Nazi
authorities orchestrate a nationwide pogrom against
Germany's Jewish population. Nazi destroy the
homes, shops and synagogues of Jews in Germany
following the murder of German diplomat Ernst vom
Rath, a diplomatic assistant, by Herschel Grynszpan
a French Jew in the German Embassy in Paris.
191 synagogues burns, 76 destroyed, 20.000 Jews
arrested.
Ernst Vom Rath
Herschel Grynszpan

1938 November 10,


Adolf Hitler set to press the task, to
prepare the German people for a very long
war.
1938 November 28,

Limitation freedom of movement for Jews;
forbid drivers’ liscense, visiting theatres,
concerts and cinemas for the Jews.

January 1939,

Hitler predicts in a speech to the "Reichstag"
that a war in Europe would lead to "the
annihilation of the Jewish race in
Europe":"The destruction of the Jews
Reichstag Speech
1933-1940

18 March 1939,
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
28 March 1939,


Stalin ask for coalition against Hitler, Chamberlain
refused
The Spanish Civil War ended
April 1939,

Great Britain and France guarantee help to Greece
and Romania, should they be attacked by
Germany or Italy

7 April 1939,


Italian troops invade Albania,
14 April 1939,

Roosevelt ask Hitler and Mussolini to stop the
violence and make a proposal to hold a
conference.

May 1939,

From May to September 1939 Japan and the
Soviet Union fought a fierce, large-scale
undeclared war on the Mongolian plains that
ended with a decisive Soviet victory with two
important results: Japan reoriented its
strategic emphasis toward the south, leading
to war with the United States, Britain, and the
Netherlands; and Russia freed itself from the
fear of fighting on two fronts, thus vitally
affecting the course of the war with Germany.
22 May 1939,
Germany
and Italy
sign "The
Pact of
Steel," a
formal
alliance.
MP 38/40
MP-40 (Germany)
Caliber: 9x19mm Luger/Para
Weight: 4.7 kg loaded, 4.03 kg empty
Rate of fire: 500 rounds per minute
Magazine capacity: 32 rounds
Effective range: ca. 100 meters
Burned hands during extended fire
1.2 million manufactured prior to and during
WWII

15 August 1939,


Indian troops arrive in Egypt to reinforce
British forces around the Suez Canal.
19 August 1939,

Fourteen German U-boats are sent to patrol
the North Atlantic Ocean.
Relative Strength at Sea before WW II
Germany Great-Britain France
Aircraft carriers 7
1
Carriers
2
1
Battle-ships
2
15
7
Armoured ships 3
7
Coasters
3
Heavy cruisers 2
15
7
Light cruisers
Torpedo boats
/destroyers
Minelayers/cruisers
Mine sweepers
Escort vessels
Torpedo motor-boats
Submarine/U-boats
Germany
Great-Britain
France
6
38
49
230
11
81
72
10
25
57
7
46
55
44
62
4
16
8
50
79

23 August 1939,

Germany and the
Soviet Union
signed a nonaggression pact
in Moscow
September 1, 1939
"Operation Weiss": German troops
invade Poland. German tanks
thundered across the Polish border at
precisely 0445 hours

2 September 1939,

Italy declares neutrality in the German/Poland
conflict.
The ocean liner S.S. Athenia is torpedoed by
the German U-boat U30. Over 112 civilians
died at sea, 69 women, 16 children and 28
men. America and Canada were popular
destinations, trying to escape from War.

3 September 1939,


Begin of World War II. Iraq and Saudi Arabia
break diplomatic relations, Great Britain and
France, follow by India, Australia, South
Africa and New Zealand, declare war on
Germany
17 September 1939,

Russian troops invade eastern Poland.

24 September 1939,


25 September 1939,


Began of the bombing of Warsaw with 1150 bombers.
Warsaw is blitzed from the air as the German ground
forces prepare for an assault on the capital.
Warsaw again bombed by 400 German aircraft
dropping incendiary, highexplosive bombs. The water
pipes ruptured and its fire-fighters evacuated, the fires
cannot be quenched.
27 September 1939,

Warschau (Poland) surrenders to Nazi Germany

2 October 1939,

The Pan-American Conference sets up the
300 mile security and neutrality zone around
the American coast agreed on 23 September.
Within this zone all hostile actions by the
belligerent powers is forbidden.

14 October 1939,


The British Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal
Oak sunk by the German U-boat U47
8 November 1939,

The first murder attempt on Adolf Hitler is
made in a Bürgerbräukeller (a Munich beer
hall) in Munchen by carpenter George Elser
The wreckage caused by
the bomb explosion in the
Munich beer-hall. Hitler
left the hall 27 minutes
before the explosion took
place. Then the ceiling
collapsed and the
platform from which Hitler
had been speaking was
buried 10ft under debris.