1940 Timeline

1940

· 1940 Germany Invades Norway - German forces invaded Norway and Denmark. Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and Naravik were rapidly taken. Navarik was retaken by a British force, but the British were soon forced to withdraw from the town.

By the end of the month, the Germans had broken the stiff Norwegian opposition, and the Norwegians were forced to surrender.

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1941

· 1941 Penicillin Used To Treat a Human -(2/12/41) For the first time, penicillin was used to treat a human patient. Penicillin treated infections, and was widely used during World War II

· Pearl Harbor - The American decision to impose sanctions on Japan, in response to the Japanese invasion of Indo-China, convinced Japanese leaders that war with the United States was inevitable.

While the Japanese continued to negotiate in Washington, plans went ahead for military action. The Japanese were convinced that they could not win a war of attrition with the United States, so they planned a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, hoping that a decisive victory would be achieved, which would force the United States to negotiate. The Japanese attack was executed with precision and, despite having broken the Japanese code, the Americans at Pearl Harbor were caught unprepared, and the attack was successful.

· German Battleship "Bismark" Sunk - The German battleship "Bismark" was sunk by the British Navy. In the first round of the fight, the British lost the battleship "Hood" and suffered the crippling of the battleship "Prince of Wales." A second British task force caught up with the "Bismark." On May 26, a plane from the "Ark Royal" attacked the "Bismark." A torpedo hit its rudder and disabled the steering. That night, battleships "Rodney" and "King George" attacked the "Bismark" with their big guns. Together with torpedos from the "Dorsetshire," they sank the "Bismark."

· 1941 Lend-Lease Passed- With the war going badly for the British, it was clear that Great Britain would require assistance from the United States. The British were running out of money to pay for the arms they were buying. President Roosevelt, therefore, went before the country in a "Fireside Chat," in which he called for America to become an "arsenal of Democracy."

Roosevelt then introduced a bill to Congress on January 8, 1941, providing the President with the power to lend military equipment to countries that the President believed were in need.

The bill passed the House 260 to 165, and the Senate 60 to 31, with votes split primarily on party lines.