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| DATE |
EVENT |
| January | |
| February | |
| March |
15th - German troops enter Prague 23rd - Germany annexes Memel in Lithuania 30th - Chamberlain drafts the British guarantee of Poland's Independence |
| April | 26th - British reintroduce conscription following Italy's seizure of Albania |
| May | 22nd - Mussolini and Hitler sign the Pact of Steel |
| June | |
| July | |
| August |
23rd - Soviet Russia and Germany sign the Non-Aggression Pact 25th - Anglo-Polish alliance signed in London 28th - Britain formally rejects Hitler's offer of "protection" in return for non-intervention if Poland is attacked |
| September |
1st - Germany invades Poland 3rd (9am) Britain delivers an ultimatum requiring satisfactory assurance that the attack on Poland is called off by 11am 3rd (11.15am) Neville Chamberlain tells a hushed nation and an appalled world that Britain is at war with Germany 3rd - Winston Churchill appointed First Lord of the Admiralty 4th - RAF Blenheim and Wellington aircraft bomb the German fleet at Wilhelmshaven and the Kiel Canal 5th - America announces its neutrality 6th - South Africa declares war on Germany 10th - Canada declares war on Germany 14th - U-39 attacks HMS Ark Royal and is depth-charged by escort destroyers 17th - Russia invades Poland from the East, U-29 sinks the British Aircraft carrier HMS Courageous 19th - Luftwaffe Ju-88s dive-bomb Royal Navy ships at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth 20th - HMS Iron Duke crippled by another attack on Rosyth |
| October | 14th - U-47 penetrates Britain's "impregnable" anchorage at Scapa Flow and sinks the battleship HMS Royal Oak |
| November | The USSR renounces its 1932 Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact and invades Finland |
| December |
12th - The Finns completely destroy two Soviet divisions at Tolvajarvi 17th - The pocket battleship Graf Spee is scuttled by her Captain |
