World war II timeline - November 1940

1 November 1940	British Royal Air Force lands air and army units on Crete. Australia imposes an embargo on scrap iron and other strategic war materials to Japan. Greek troops drive out Italian invaders.
5 November 1940	German pocket battleship Admiral von Scheer attacks Atlantic convoy HX-84, sinking British armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay. The ship defended the convoy for three hours, allowing 31 ships to escape.
6 November 1940	Royal Canadian Navy destroyer Ottawa and Royal Navy destroyer Harvester sink Italian submarine Faa di Bruno off Ireland.
7 November 1940	The British Royal Air Force attacks the Krupp munition works at Essen, Germany.
11 November 1940	British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious launches 21 Swordfish planes, attacking the Italian naval fleet at Taranto. Four major ships are sunk or put out of action. Two attacking aircraft are shot down.
12 November 1940	In Canada, Colonel Burns again proposes a parachute force to the Chief of General Staff. The idea is shelved, and no action is taken. Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 18. France is to be treated as a non-belligerent power, required to allow German war measures on French territory, and support these measures with her own forces. Gibraltar is to be captured. Possible actions in neighboring countries, both defensive (Spain, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria) and offensive (Egypt, Greece, Russia, England) are to be considered.
13 November 1940	Soviet premier and foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov concludes a meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin. Hitler proposes Russia join the Tripartite Pact. Molotov says it could be possible, with careful definition of the Pact. The Swiss government bans the Communist Party. The Swiss government bans the pro-Nazi National Movement of Switzerland.
14 November 1940	German air forces make a heavy air raid on Coventry, England.
15 November 1940	67 British Wellington, Whitley, and Hampden bombers attack Hamburg, Germany, doing extensive damage to the city and shipyards, with no loss of aircraft. German surface raider Atlantis captures British merchant ship MV Automedon en route to Singapore. A bag of sensitive documents on Britain's Far East policy is not destroyed before capture, and is later sent to Japan.
16 November 1940	131 British Bomber Command aircraft make raids on four Hamburg targets.
17 November 1940	The USSR demands control of Bulgaria and the withdrawal of German troops from Finland before it will join the Tripartite Pact.
19 November 1940	The Canadian government approves initiation of mass production of war bacteria.
20 November 1940	Hungary signs the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Japan, and Italy.
21 November 1940	Greek forces capture Koritsa, Albania, from Italian forces.
22 November 1940	British Prime Minister Winston Churchill informs the First Lord of the Admiralty nd the First Sea Lord that British policy in the Far East would be strictly defensive, accepting the consequences.
23 November 1940	Romania joins the Tripartite Pact.
26 November 1940	The German foreign minister receives the Soviet reply to Hitler's suggestion they join the Tripartite Pact. The Soviet Government will accept the Four Power Pact with certain modifications: German troops must be removed from Finland, a mutual assistance pact must be signed between the Soviet Union and Bulgaria including a lease for a Soviet naval and land base, an area toward the Persian Gulf must be recognized as a Soviet aspiration, and Japan must renounce oil and coal consessions in Northern Sakhalin island.
30 November 1940	German cruiser Admiral Hipper sails from Germany. Britain establishes the Special Operations Executive.