World war II timeline - April 1940

3 April 1940	Winston Churchill becomes director of Britain's armed forces.
4 April 1940	The Danish envoy in Berlin passes on to the Danish government information about a German plan for a surprise attack on Denmark. The government considers the report a rumor, or a test of Danish reactions.
6 April 1940	German armed merchant raider Orion leaves Germany.
7 April 1940	Night reconnaissance reports major naval activity in four north German ports and transport convoys headed toward Lübeck. British Naval Attaché Henry Denham sends a telegram to the British Admiralty from Copenhagen, Denmark, reporting sightings of German warships with likely destinations on Norway. British bombers attack a German flotilla including battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as it heads north between Great Britain and Norway. All bombs miss the ships, and every plane is damaged. The British Home Fleet sails from north Scotland, to meet the approaching German fleet. Included are battleships Rodney and Valiant, and battlecruiser Repulse. The British 2nd Cruiser Squadron leaves Rosyth.
8 April 1940	The British government informs Norway that they are mining the leads along the coastal waters off Norway. Operation Wilfred begins, as British forces lay mines off the Norwegian coast. British destroyer HMS Glowworm sinks German destroyer Bernd von Arnim off the Norwegian coast. British destroyer Glowworm rams German heavy cruiser Hipper off the Norwegian coast, putting Hipper out of commission for several weeks for repairs. Glowworm sinks, with 31 survivors of a crew of 149. (Lieutenant-Commander G. Roope is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his action.) The Argentine government issues a decree for the remaining crew of the Graf Spee to be interned on Martin Garcia Island, eight miles off the coast, due to recent disappearances of the men. Two German ships are torpedoed off the Norwegian coast. Norwegian coastal forts open fire on German warships, as a German invasion begins.
9 April 1940	Germany launches Operation Weserubung, invading Denmark. Motorized troops cross the border into Denmark, as amphibious landings are made on Danish islands and on the waterfront of Copenhagen. The German envoy informs the Danish government that Denmark would be protected for the duration of the war, and no interference by German military authorities would be made in the country's internal affairs. Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning orders cessation of hostilities, twelve hours after the start German forces land on Norway with six different forces at widely separated points on the coast. The German government claim the invasion is made to forestall a British invasion. Norwegian coastal gun batteries and mines sink German heavy cruiser Blücher and light cruiser Karlsruhe near Oslo. German aircraft fly over Copenhagen dropping leaflets announcing that Germany had taken Denmark under its protection due to British plans of aggression. Danish King Christian X broadcasts to the nation that the government has surrendered to Germany. In Norway, Vidkun Quisling speaks on Oslo Radio, urging Norwegians to cease further resistance. He deposes the legal government, and appoints himself Prime Minister. In Norway, the national authorities leave Oslo by train. Another train carries the country's gold reserves north. In Norway, German forces control Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger. The Norwegian coast defences at Kristiansand surrender. German troops begin arriving in Oslo, Norway, by transport aircraft. British destroyer Gurkha is bombed and sunk by German aircraft near Bergen, Norway. Britain calls off the attack on German forces at Bergen, Norway. British destroyer Zulu sinks a German submarine off the Orkneys. Ten German destroyers assist German troops occupying the Norwegian harbor of Narvik. Off Narvik, Norway, British battlecruiser Renown and others engage the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The Scharnhorst is badly hit, but escapes. Quote by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop "The German forces will see to it that no Englishman or Frenchman shows his nose in Norway or Denmark for the rest of the war."
10 April 1940	A British destroyer flotilla is launched against German forces in Narvik, Norway. British destroyers Hardy, Havock, and Hunter attack German ships at Narvik harbor, in Vest Fjord, achieving complete surprise. They sink destroyers Anton Schmidt and Wilhelm Heidkamp, and sink or destroy eight supply ships. (about 0545 hours) At Narvik harbor, five strong German destroyers approach British destroyers from two directions. Hardy is severely damaged, and run aground to get the crew out. Hunter is hit and sinks in under a minute. Hotspur and Hostile are damaged, and with Havock escape to return to England. All five German destroyers are damaged, delaying their departure from Narvik. (Captain B.A.W. Warburton-Lee of the Hardy is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.) aEn route from Narvik to England, destroyers Hotspur, Hostile, and Havock sink German ammunition ship Rauenfels. Norwegian mine-layer Olav Tryggvason hits German cruiser Emden in Oslo fjord. British Coastal Command Wellington bombers make their first air raid on the airfield at Stavanger, Norway. Quote by British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, describing the German attack on Norway as "really that of a homicidal lunatic or of a mad dog."
11 April 1940	British submarine HMS Spearfish attacks pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. An Allied Expeditionary Force leaves Clyde en route to Narvik, Norway. British Bomber Command planes over Norway make their first attack on a mainland target, the airfield at Stavanger.
12 April 1940	23 Blenheim bombers, 36 Wellington bombers, and 24 Hampden bombers take off from airfields in Britain to attack German ships off Kristiansand. Only one finds a target, and is unsuccessful in bombing it. Nine planes are lost, at a cost to Germany of five planes.
13 April 1940	British battleship Warspite and nine destroyers including HMS Cossack sink seven German destroyers in the Narvik fjord, including Diether von Roeder, Erich Koellner, and Hermann Kunne. Aircraft from carrier Furious support the ships, with one plane sinking German submarine U64. Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyer Cossack and German destroyer Bruno Heineman battle, with British destroyer Foxhound firing the shot that sinks Bruno Heineman. Cossack runs aground, but remains in working order.   Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyers Eskimo, Forester, and Hero, force German destroyer Georg Thiele to run aground, and sink. Off Narvik, Norway, British destroyers corner and sink German destroyers Hans Ludemann, Wolfgang Zenker, and Bernd von Arnim. British Hampden planes begin minelaying in Danish and German waters. Code name of this operation is Gardening.
14 April 1940	British troops land in Norway near Trondheim and Narvik. Soviet Foreign Minister Vyadieslav Molotov informs the German government that Russia is vitally interested in Sweden remaining neutral. Allies land at Namsos, Norway. Belgians report to French intelligence that Germans have turned their attention to the Ardennes area.
15 April 1940	In Norway, the six day old Quisling Government comes to an end. On Oslo radio, Vidkun Quisling announces his resignation as head of the government. The USSR issues five postage stamps marking the liberation of western Ukraine and western Byelorussia. British General Pierse Mackesy lands troops at Bergvik, Norway, for an assault on German-held Narvik.
18 April 1940	Allies land off Andalsnes, Norway.
19 April 1940	Quote by Norwegian King Haakon to the President of the Norwegian Supreme Court in Oslo: "the Norwegian Government can negotiate on no basis but the removal of the German troops from the country".
20 April 1940	British steamship City of Simla unloads war material in Antwerp, Belgium, for use by British troops.
24 April 1940	German General Nickolaus von Falkenhorst is appointed Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces Norway.
26 April 1940	The British government decides to evacuate central Norway.
28 April 1940	German planes begin five days of intense bombing of Kristiansund, Norway, almost completely destroying the city.
29 April 1940	Forty tons of gold of fifty total are loaded on HMS Glasgow at Åndalsnes, Norway, along with the Norwegian royal party, headed initially to Tromso.
30 April 1940	In a letter to the New York Times, Samuel Harden Church, president of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offers a US$1 million cash reward for the safe capture of Adolf Hitler. A German Heinkel plane crashes in Clacton-on-Sea, England, killing two on the ground, England's first civilian casualties of the war. A French military attaché in Berne, Switzerland, reports to French intelligence that a German attack on the West is set for May 8-10, focusing on Sedan. Total value of United States shipments of war material during the past four months: US$43.4 million to France, US$11 million to Great Britain.   Total value of United States shipments of war material during the month: US$12.7 million to France, US$2.7 million to Great Britain. Canadian air training facilities begin operations.