September

1938 Under German threats of war, Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign an accord permitting Germany to take control of Sudetenland–a region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by a German-speaking minority. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boasts, “I believe it is peace in our time.” 1939 Graf Spee sinks the British steamship Clement off Pernambuco, Brazil. Polish government-in-exile […]

1938 Hitler and Mussolini sign a treaty creating the Rome-Berlin Axis. Mussolini agrees to let Hitler do what he pleases in Europe, while Hitler agrees to assist Italy if war breaks out. 1939 Poland formally surrenders, relieving the 35,000 besieged Polish troops who are defending the fortress of Modlin of their obligations thereby enabling them

1937 In a speech given during a visit to Berlin, Mussolini assures the world;”There are no secret intentions in my visit. Nothing is being plotted”. 1939 The last Polish resistance, the fortress of Modlin, falls after 18-day siege. German and Soviet troops meet at Brest-Litovsk and together stage a military review. An agreement is signed

1939 The German pocket Battleships, Graf Spee and Deutschland, which had sailed from Germany in August, are given orders to attack allied shipping in the Atlantic. Sir John Simon’s first war budget, income tax up to 7s 6d in the £. Polish government-in-exile set up in Paris. Warsaw, besieged for more than two weeks, surrenders

1938 Chancellor Adolf Hitler announces in a speech; “The Sudetenland is the last territorial claim I have to make in Europe.” 1939 Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa – AK) is formed in Warsaw. The British first use naval air warning radar, in Luftwaffe attack on carrier HMS Ark Royal. 1940 During the London Blitz, the underground

1938 President Franklin Roosevelt urges negotiations between Hitler and Czech President Benes over the Sudetenland. 1939 Heavy artillery duels flare on Western Front. Churchill claims the U-boat menace has been overcome, but U-48 sinks the steamer Royal Sceptre and casts its crew adrift 300 miles from land. The Luftwaffe bomb Warsaw with 420 planes. Casualties

1939 U-boats sink three UK-bound neutral merchant ships. Food rationing introduced in Germany on small scale. Warsaw, Poland surrenders to Germany; Polish government-in-exile established in Paris. German Special Task Force troops execute 800 Polish intellectuals and leaders in Bydgoszcz. 1940 18th successive night raid on London. Southampton and Brighton also attacked. Plans to evacuate mothers

1939 Germany and Russia agree on partition of Poland. 217,000 Polish troops who are fighting against the Red Army surrender at Lvov. The NKVD begins rounding up thousands of Polish officers and deporting them to Russia where they will be executed a year later in the forest of Katyn near Smolensk. A Polish regiment repels