Timeline of World War II (1940) - November 1940

November 1940

1: Turkey declared neutrality in the Italo-Greek war.

2: The Italian advance into Greece continues. Vovousa is captured and Italian aircraft bomb Salonika.

5: President Roosevelt wins a third term. The British see the event as promising of more help from the US.

5: The HMS Jervis Bay, a merchant cruiser, is sunk on convoy duty, but much of the convoy escapes. The loss becomes a media event.

7: It becomes clear that Ireland will refuse to allow the United Kingdom to use its ports as naval bases.

8: The Battle of Elaia-Kalamas ends and the Italians end their futile offensive in Greece.

9: Neville Chamberlain dies.

11: British naval forces launch attack against Italian navy at Taranto. Swordfish bombers from HMS Illustrious damage three battleships, two cruisers and multiple auxiliary craft. The event secures British supply lines in the Mediterranean. The British success will be studied by Japanese military already preparing for an attack on Pearl Harbor.

12: Molotov meets Hitler and Ribbentrop in Berlin. New World order is under discussion. Molotov expresses Soviet interest in Finland, Bulgaria, Romania, Dardanelles and Bosporus, but Hitler talks along broad lines about worldwide spheres of influence between Russia, Germany, Italy and Japan.

12: In the Battle of Gabon, British forces finish wrestling central Africa from the Vichy French.

13: Molotov meets Hitler again asking acceptance to liquidate Finland. Hitler now resists every attempt to expand Soviet influence in Europe. He sees Britain as defeated and offers India to the Soviet Union.
: The Battle of Pindus ends in a Greek victory.

14: A heavy night raid on Coventry. Coventry Cathedral is destroyed and the medieval centre of the city is levelled.
: The Greek counter-offensive against the Italians begins.

15: The Soviet Union is invited to join Tripartite Pact and to share in the spoils of British Empire. Warsaw's Jewish ghetto is cordoned off from the rest of the city.

16: Churchill orders some British troops in North Africa to be sent to Greece, despite concerns by his military leaders that they are needed in the current campaign against the Italians in North Africa.

19: The Greeks continue to advance, and evict Italian troops from Greek soil.

20: Hungary signs the Tripartite Pact.

21: The Belgian government, in exile in Britain, declares war on Italy.

22: Fall of Korytsa to the Greeks.

23: Romania signs the Tripartite Pact.

24: The Slovak Republic signs the Tripartite Pact.

25: The Soviet Union gives her terms to join the Tripartite Pact including substantial new territorial gains for Russia.

29: A massive overnight bombing raid on Liverpool.

30: A large bombing raid on Southampton in southern England; the city is hit again the next night, followed by Bristol on 2 December, and Birmingham on the 3rd.