Battle Reports
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DUNKIRK
10 May 1940 to 4 June 1940
| May
1940
10th Low Countries invaded by Von Bock's Army Group B. 11th German troops reach Albert Canal. 12th Guderian's XIX Panzerkorps reaches Meuse. 13th Rommel's 7th Panzer Division crosses Meuse. 14th The Dutch cease all resistance. 15th In the following 72 hours the RAF loses half its bomber force based in France. 16th Maginot Line is penetrated by German troops. 17th De Gaulle counter attacks at Montcornet. 18th In Belgium German forces break towards coast. 19th Weygand is made Allied Commander in Chief. 20th Von Kleist's Panzers reach the English Channel. 21st BEF counter attack is stopped by Rommel's 7th Division south of Arras. 22nd Guderian's Panzerkorps strikes towards Dunkirk. |
23rd
Boulogne,
Amiens and Arras fall to the Germans.
24th Panzers ordered to halt at Gravelines. 26th Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk, gets underway. 27th Over the next three days RAF fighters claim 179 Luftwaffe aircraft for only 29 loses. 28th Their is an unconditional surrender by the Belgian Army. 29th Ypres, Ostend and Lille are occupied by the Germans. 31st BEF withdraw from Belgian sector of Dunkirk. June 1940 1st Day time evacuation is abandoned at Dunkirk. 2nd German bomber raids on Rhone Valley. 3rd The last ships leave Dunkirk at night. 4th 40,000 French troops are captured as the Germans take Dunkirk. 22nd France signs Armistice with Germany. |
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Report on Dunkirk The German invasion of France and the Low Countries in the summer of 1940 caught the Anglo-French armies completely by surprise. The German Blitzkrieg overwhelmed Holland and Belgium and the French were ravaged by the new lightning war tactics that were used by the Germans. The allied lines of defense that had appeared to be solid were soon overrun by the new Blitzkrieg tactics. Allied troops had been expecting to face the enemy across their lines but instead they found German tanks coming up behind them. Confusion reigned amongst the BEF and French troops with the Germans closing fast around Dunkirk. The Allies found themselves surrounded and it took a lot of courage and ingenuity to evacuate the 338,000 men that found themselves trapped. |
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
1 July to 31 October 1940
| July
1940
10th Day one of bombing raids. 11th Portsmouth is attacked. 24th The RAF lose five aircraft, Luftwaffe lose fifteen. 25th The Luftwaffe lose nineteen aircraft. August 1940 8th Weymouth convoy attacked. 11th Eagle day is set. 13th Eagle day. 30th The RAF lose thirty-five aircraft and the Luftwaffe lose seventy six aircraft. |
31st
The RAF lose forty one aircraft and the Luftwaffe lose thirty nine
aircraft.
September 1940 15th Battle of Britain Day. 27th Day planned to smash the RAF. October 1940 7th The RAF lose seventeen aircraft and the Luftwaffe lose nineteen aircraft. 15th The RAF lose fifteen aircraft and the Luftwaffe lose sixteen aircraft. 31st The Battle ends with total loses as follows: RAF lose 1023 aircraft and the Luftwaffe lose 1887 aircraft.
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Report on the Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain was a true turning point in the Second World War with the RAF victory over the Luftwaffe. If they had failed in their task Operation Sealion the invasion of Britain would have gone ahead and the outlook for the rest of the war would have been very different. The battle began on the 10th of July 1940. The Luftwaffe set out to smash the RAF and gain air superiority over Britain to allow German troops to cross the channel. It was the RAF pilots determination to control the sky's over Britain that stopped the Nazi invasion and win the Battle. |
NORTH AFRICA
June 1940 to February 1941
| June
1940
10th Italy declares war on France, Britain and commonwealth. 11th Italian frontier in cyrenaica raided by British armored cars. 22nd Armistice signed between France and Germany. July 1940 3rd British Force H bombards French Naval squadron at Mers-el-Kebir. It was called Operation Catapult. 4th In the Sudan Italian forces occupy frontier outposts at Kassala and Galabat. August 1940 3rd British Somaliland invaded by Italians. 19th Berbera, the capital of British Somaliland is occupied by the Italians. September 1940 13th Egypt is invaded by the Italians and the tenth army occupies Sollum. 16th Sidi Barrani is captured by the Italian army. 18th The Italians halt attack and construct dessert forts. December 1940 9th Western dessert force under O'Connor captures Italian dessert forts in Operation Compass. |
10th
Retreating
Italians get cut off at Buq Buq as the British capture Sidi Barrani.
17th Sollum and Fort Capuzzo captured by the British. Wavell orders 4th Indian Division to Sudan and Australians to Western Desert Force. January 1941 1st Western Desert Force renamed XIII Corps. 5th Bardia captured by British, 30,000 POW's taken. 17th Tobruk is under siege. 22nd 27,000 POW's taken as Tobruk falls. 30th Derna is captured by the Australian Infantry. O'Conner splits his force and sends the 7th Armored Division Jebel Akdar. February 1941 4th The 7th Armored Division captured Msus. The Italian retreat at Beda Fomm is cut off by Coombe Force. 5th At Beda Fomm, Coombe Force is in position. The Italians attempt to break through. 6th While the Italian tanks try to break through at Beda Fomm, the Australians capture Benghazi. 7th 25,000 POW's taken as the Italians surrender. 10th Mussolini accepts Hilter's offer for troops for North Africa. 12th Rommel arrives at Tripoli. XIII Corps goes on the defensive at EL Agheila. |
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Report on North Africa The Italian defeat by the British in North Africa has since been over shadowed by the arrival of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his Africa Corps. Tobruk was captured and the Italians were on the run, the British seemed to be unstoppable. With scorching heat during the day and freezing nights, North Africa was difficult terrain to fight in. It was a race against time for the British, if they were defeated the Italians would've taken control of northern Africa. At Beda Fomm their was an exciting climax to the campaign against the Italians but the battle for North Africa was far from over with the arrival of Rommels Africa Corps on the 12th of February 1941. |
THE BLITZ
7 Sept 1940 to 10 May 1941
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September 1940 7th Massive daylight raid on London. 11th Buckingham Palace is hit by bomb. 23rd King George Cross and George Medal for civil bravery instituted. October 1940 10th St. Paul's Cathedral is hit by bomb and high altar is destroyed. November 1940 3rd Bad weather gives Britain a break from raids. 9th German operation 'Moonlight Sonata' revealed. 14th Major raid on Coventry. 19th Major raid on Birmingham. 24th Major raid on Bristol. 29th Major raid on Liverpool. 30th Major raid on Southampton. December 1940 8th House of Commons damaged by heavy raid on London. 12th Major raid Sheffield. 18th Preparations for invasion of Russia ordered by Hitler. |
22nd
Major raid
on Manchester.
29th Devastating fire-bomb attack on London. January 1941 2nd Major raid on Cardiff. 10th Major raid on Portsmouth. February 1941 10th Biggest British raid so far in the war as the RAF bombs Hanover. 19th Major raid on Swansea. March 1941 8th London's Cafe de Paris bombed. 13th Major raids on Glasgow and Clydeside. April 1941 8th Second Major raid on Coventry. 9th State Opera House in Berlin destroyed by RAF raid. 15th Major raid on Belfast. 21st Start of five night raid on Plymouth. May 1941 1st Week long attack on Liverpool begins. 7th Major raid on Hull. 10th Blitz ends with major raid on London.
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Report on the Blitz From the seventh of September 1940 to the tenth of May 1941 Britain was hit with the full might of the Blitz. The Blitz was designed to destroy British industry and demoralize the population. But in reality it only succeeded in bringing the people closer together in a common cause. Coping with devastating raids by night and picking up the pieces in the morning became a day to day fight for survival for the population during the Blitz. Over thirty thousand people died yet the population fought on with slogans like 'Business as usual' and 'We never closed'. This showed the determination of the British people during the Second World War. |
ATLANTIC WAR
September 1939 to May 1941
| September
1939
30th The British steamship Clement is sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. The Royal Navy starts search for German pocket battleships. October 1939 14th U-47 sneaks into British Naval base at Scapa Flow and sinks the battleship Royal Oak. 31st Four battleships, fourteen cruisers and five aircraft carriers are engaged in the Royal Navy search for the Admiral Graf Spee. November 1939 21st Magnetic mine severely damages the British cruiser Belfast. 23rd German battle cruiser Scharnhorst sinks the British armed cruiser Rawalpindi between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. December 1939 2nd Graf Spee sinks the British steamer Doric Star. 7th Graf Spee sinks ninth and final victim, Streoushalh. |
13th
Battle of
the River Plate. Graf Spee damaged and heads for Montevideo.
17th The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled. March 1941 7th U-47 is sunk by the British destroyer Wolverine. May 1941 18th Bismarck leaves the port of Gdynia for her first and last voyage. 21st The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen are sighted off the Norwegian coast. 22nd The HMS Hood, Prince of Wales and six destroyers set sail from Scapa Flow. 23rd HMS Norfolk escapes from the Bismarck's broadsides. 24th Hood is sunk by Bismarck, Prince of Wales withdraws and Force H takes up the hunt. 26th Bismarck is hit by Swordfish aircraft from the Ark Royal her steering is damaged. 27th The Bismarck, reduced to a silent wreck, is finished off by the British Cruiser Dorsetshire. |
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Report on the Atlantic War Britain being an Island needed to use the sea lanes for supplies and during the war this became vital for supplying their industry and overseas forces. Hitler unleashed the might of the German Navy and Air force against British shipping in an attempt to stop the flow of supplies. The German Navy used its U-boats to assert their power in the North Atlantic. Their aim was to break the back of Britains supply lines and send thousands of tons of shipping to the bottom. The sinking of the Bismarck was a great victory for the Royal Navy even though they lost HMS Hood to her guns. Britain managed to survive by protecting her convoys and by constantly refining submarine warfare. |
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