World war II timeline - July 1940

1 July 1940	Winston Churchill writes to Josef Stalin, warning him of Adolf Hitler's intentions for an invasion of the USSR. British Bomber Command planes drop their for 2,000-pound bombs, against the German warship Scharnhorst at Kiel.
2 July 1940	Passenger liner Arandora Star is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland, carrying 1500 German and Italian aliens from Great Britain to camps in Canada. 175 Germans and 486 Italians are killed. Royal Canadian Navy destroyer St. Laurent rescues 857 survivors. Adolf Hitler decides that a landing in England is possible, provided air superiority is attained, among other conditions. He orders the armed forces to prepare for an invasion. In Montreal, Canada, a train with sealed cars delivers to the Bank of Canada 30 million Pounds Sterling of gold bars and 200 million Pounds Sterling in marketable securities. This had been transferred from the Bank of England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, via the HMS Emerald battleship, for safekeeping during the war. This is the largest single transfer of wealth in world history to date.
3 July 1940	British troops seize French ships in British harbors. A British naval group arrives at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria, requesting the surrender of the French fleet. The French refuse, and the British ships open fire. Battleship Bretagne blows up, Dunquerque is run aground, battleship Provence is beached, and torpedo cruiser Magador explodes. 1300 French sailors die.
4 July 1940	The British Air Ministry directs Bomber Command to focus attacks on German shipping and warships. A French Court Martial sentences Charles de Gaulle in absentia to four years in prison for treason.
5 July 1940	Near the south-west coast of Ireland, a submarine torpedoes and shells Canadian merchant ship Magog. The crew abandons ship.
8 July 1940	In convoy HX-53 in the North Atlantic, a submarine torpedoes Newfoundland merchant ship Humber Arm. The Swedish government agrees to transport German war material across Sweden to Norway.
9 July 1940	12 British Blenheim bombers attack aircraft at Stavanger. Some 30 Me 109 and 110 fighters attack them. Only four British planes survive, badly damaged. In Canada, at a meeting of the Cabinet War Committee, the prime minister and ministers approve a project to study the spread of diseases from planes and shells. This is the beginning of germ warfare in Canada.
10 July 1940	64 German airplanes fly for Britain. Five squadrons of RAF Fighter Command are launched to intercept them. Twelve German planes are shot down, at a cost of three British planes. This is considered the start of the Battle of Britain. US President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress for US$4.8 billion for military spending. In the North Sea, off Great Yarmouth, England, German aircraft bomb and sink Canadian merchant ship Waterloo.
12 July 1940	Units of the 1st Canadian Division land at Brest, France, and head toward Laval and Le Mans. Newly arrived Canadian troops hastily retreat to the coast of France. All but a few make it back to England.
14 July 1940	British commandos make a raid on occupied Guernsey. The raid is a failure.
15 July 1940	Convoy HX-58 departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In Canada, several individuals of large corporations donate $1.3 million for war research. The War Technical and Scientific Development Committee is formed to administer the money. The Royal Canadian Navy awards a contract to the Canadian division of the British Power Boat Company to build twelve Motor Torpedo Boats. They are to be equipped with two 18 inch torpedo tubes, two twin 0.5 calibre machine guns, and have a top speed of 38 knots. Canadian forces in Britain become part of the 7th British Army Corps. Hermann Göring orders the Luftwaffe to expand the night-fighter unit to a Division strength. Five warships leave England headed for Halifax, Canada, with 192 million Pounds Sterling in gold bullion and several hundred million Pounds Sterling in securities, for safekeeping in Canada.
16 July 1940	Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 16: On preparations for a landing operation against England. The landing would be on a wide front from Ramsgate to west of the Isle of Wight. Preparations are to be completed by mid-August. First, the English Air Force must be reduced to pose no threat to a German crossing, mined channels must be cleared, Straits of Dover are to be sealed off with minefields on both flanks, and the English Navy must be held down in the North Sea and Mediterranean. Invasion will bear name Seelöwe (Sea Lion).
17 July 1940	Britain agrees to close the Burma Road to China for three months.
18 July 1940	British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes his "This was their finest hour" speech in Parliament.
19 July 1940	In the Gulf of Athens, several British ships sink Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni. In the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler makes a peace offer to Britain.
21 July 1940	The People's Assembly of Lithuania declares entry of country into the USSR. Latvia and Estonia request incorporation into the USSR.
22 July 1940	The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan begins operations in Ontario, Canada. Prince Fumimaro Konoye becomes Prime Minister of Japan. The British Foreign Secretary dismisses Adolf Hitler's peace offer as "a mere summons to capitulate".
26 July 1940	New Japanese prime minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye unveils his plan to take advantage of the European powers' weakness in Asia. Spain and Germany begin planning a joint invasion of Gibraltar. Code name of the operation is Felix.
28 July 1940	British armed merchant cruiser Alcantara battles German armed merchant cruiser Thor in the West Indies off Trinidad. Both ships are damaged.
31 July 1940	Adolf Hitler meets with Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Walther von Brauchitsch, and Franz Halder. Hitler announces his intention to launch an attack on Russia in the spring of 1941. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division begins arriving in England. British Captain C. Caslon, with four destroyers, compels Swedish naval crews to hand over four destroyers en route from Italy to Sweden. (This act of piracy infuriates the Swedish Admiralty, but the ships are later returned, and the British government pays for damage to the ships.)