~January to October 1940: The year of the Rabbit
January 1940: The war in Europe has split the radicalised US population. There is widespread admiration and support for Germany on the right, with President Lindbergh believed to be sympathetic, though his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish III is highly critical of Nazi racial policies. While the radicalised left, lead by possible Democrat Presidential candidate Henry Wallace, call for a repeal of the Neutrality Laws and support for the Allies. Lindbergh has elected to follow a course of strict neutrality, vigorously enforcing the Laws, leading to a halt in virtually all exports except raw materials from the US to Europe or the Commonwealth.
January 1940: The German battleship Scheer, raiding South Atlantic shipping, is caught by the Cambria and Anson off the coast of Africa. The Scheer will be overwhelmed and sunk by the vastly superior Commonwealth ships. The Battle of St Helena is the first major surface clash since the Great War.
January 1940: With new ships now being commissioned in increasing numbers, it is decided to scrap the four Revenge class battleships in reserve and utilize their main armament to speed the construction of a new class of battleships. These ships are to replace the two battleships ordered under the 1939 program. The orders for the fleet carriers of the 1939 are also reinstated, with another pair and four improved mobilisation carriers ordered as well.
February 1940: Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard convince President Lindbergh that nuclear weapons are impractical due to inaccurate calculations of the critical mass required. Lindbergh orders all US nuclear research to focus on its use for power generation.
February 1940: The German command draw up plans for an attack on Denmark and Norway. The plan calls for an invasion of both countries. However Hitler having served in the German occupation of Denmark during the First Great War and developed sympathies for the country rejects any invasion of Denmark. He sets forth a plan to gain control of Danish airfields through diplomatic means instead.
February 1940: With the Balkans now secure, Hitler orders plans made for an attack on France.
February 1940: The US volunteer 1st Eagle Brigade joins the Commonwealth forces in France. With now some 15,000 volunteers in Canada and Eagle Legion continuing to grow, it is intended to increase its strength to a full division by July.
March 1940: Stalin begins making demands on Finland similar to those made on the Baltic Federation. The Finns categorically refuse.
March 1940: Hitler meets with Balbo in Salzburg. Balbo refuses to commit Italy to the war.
March 1940: In response to the Commonwealth Eagle Legion, despite US volunteers to the Wehrmacht only numbering in the low hundreds, the Germans organise the Amerikanisch Freiwilligen Legion. Propaganda film of this features prominently in US newsreels and results in a shift in support towards Wallace as President.
March 1940: Two new fleet carriers, designed to maximise the navy's new massed strike doctrine are ordered to be laid down next year.
March 1940: President Lindbergh authorises prototype super heavy bombers from Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed and Consolidated as the XB-29, XB-30, XB-31 and XB-32 respectively.
March 1940: Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls, working at the University of Birmingham correctly calculate the critical mass required for a nuclear weapon. The Commonwealth form the MAUD Committee to investigate their practicality.
March 1940: The Soviets invade Finland, staging a frontier incident as a pretext. The Soviet army has been greatly weakened by Stalin's purges in the 1930s and the initial offensive is a disaster, with the Finns decimating the Soviet forces. The clearly unprovoked nature of the attack generates massive international sympathy for the Finns.
March 1940: With the failure of diplomatic moves to gain access to Danish airfields, the invasion of Scandinavia is cancelled. The attack on France is advanced instead.
April 1940: Germany launches a mechanised attack on France through the Low Countries. The initial assault makes extensive use of airborne forces to secure the advance and eliminate the strong Belgium fortifications. As with the offensive on Poland, the assault achieves rapid success and the Netherlands Army surrenders within days as the Germans devastate Rotterdam in a terror bombing attack. The Netherlands fleet however, evacuates to Britain, taking considerable Dutch troops with them.
April 1940: With the pressing need to provide air cover for convoys to counter German maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the design of a new type of ship is begun. It is intended to convert merchant vessels into auxiliary aircraft carriers. Two designs are proposed. One an austere conversion, simply placing a flight deck on a bulk carrier or tanker. This would provide a small air group and allow the ship to continue as a merchant. These will be known as merchant carriers. The second type, to be called escort carriers, will be a dedicated carrier, with more extensive facilities and air group but unable to function as a merchant. Prototypes of both types are ordered.
April 1940: The formation of the AFL in German service prompts President Lindbergh to freeze all German assets in the US and expel German diplomatic staff.
April 1940: The Belgium army breaks after three weeks of fighting. The Belgium collapse exposes the Allied flank leaving their position untenable. The Commonwealth and French forces begin a withdrawal with the remains of the Belgium army.
April 1940: The Ministry of Supply contact North American regarding them undertaking licence production of existing fighters in their recently completed Madras factory. They convince the ministry to allow them to design a new fighter, using Merlin engines that have just entered production in Bangalore. This fighter will develop to become the Madras Mustang.
May 1940: The Germans breakthrough the French lines on the Meuse and advance to the coast taking Boulogne, isolating the Allied forces in Belgium.
May 1940: The Canadian Vought Comanche makes its first flight. A number of modification to the original design have been made. The wingspan has been shortened due to the lower RN hangers, the canopy has been replaced by a bubble hood patterned after the Gloster Guillemot, it has been adapted to the Bristol Centaurus engine and it is armed with four 20mm canon. The Comanche quickly shows itself to be a very promising design.
May 1940: The Allied forces in Belgium withdraw and establish a defensive position around Calais. The position is reinforced by reserves from Britain, including the newly formed 2nd and 3rd Eagle Brigades. Home defence units from the RAF allow the Allies to regain local air superiority over the pocket.
May 1940: French Premier Reynaud suffers a nervous breakdown but refuses to resign. He orders the evacuation of the government to Marseilles, declaring Paris an open city.
May 1940: The Soviets have recovered from their initial disastrous defeats and are now making headway, deploying overwhelming force against the Finns.
May 1940: The French gold reserves are evacuated to French West Africa.
May 1940: With French resistance collapsing and Paris under German occupation, Marshall Phillipe Pétain stages a coup deposing Reynaud and is installed as Premier of a new government in Vichy. Pétain sues for an immediate armistice. Former Premier Leon Blum and a minority of French deputies refuses to accept the legitimacy of the Pétain government, forming a rival Free French government in Marseilles.
June 1940: Hoare loses a vote of no confidence. The cabinet meeting in emergency session appoint Lord Halifax as Prime Minister. Halifax, at Winston Churchill's urging, orders First Sea Lord Dudley Pound to ensure the French fleet does not fall into German hands in the event of a French surrender.
June 1940: Pétain signs an armistice allowing the Germans to occupy France north of the Loire. The French are to demobilise the majority of their forces, though the fleet will remain in French hands. The Blum government however continues resistance, evacuating to Britain with 20,000 French troops, a cruiser and light ships. Another 85,000 troops escape to be interned in Italy. The French forces still fighting are placed under the command of little known General Charles de Gaulle as the Forces Francaises Libres or FFL.
June 1940: In response to Halifax's order, the RN executes Operation Catapult. French ships in Commonwealth harbours are seized and the main French fleet which has fled to Algeria is given the option of internment or destruction. After negotiations, the French commander, Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul elects to demilitarise the fleet in Martinique.
June 1940: Hitler orders planning begun for an invasion of Austria in August. Troops begin redeploying immediately.
June 1940: Vichy France breaks of diplomatic relations with the Commonwealth in response to Operation Catapult. Sentiment in the Colonies is particularly outraged by the Commonwealth action and the majority recognise the Pétain government in Vichy, with only Djibouti, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and French Polynesia going over to the Free French.
July 1940: Hitler orders a halt to operations against the Calais Pocket and makes peace overtures toward the Commonwealth via neutral Italy, offering very lenient terms. The Commonwealth war cabinet decide to reject the offer, but engage in negotiations to allow the evacuation of the Calais Pocket.
July 1940: With the defeat of France and foreign intervention now impossible, the Finns sue for peace with the Soviets. Despite Stalin's demands being far more severe, Finland is able to retain its independence.
July 1940: In an exceptionally close contest, the moderate Henry Morgenthau wins the Democrat Presidential nomination in the US. His opponent, Henry Wallace, leaves the Democrat Party to establish his own Progressive Party.
July 1940: With it becoming clear that the Commonwealth will not accept terms and the over 250,000 troops already having been withdrawn from the Calais Pocket, Hitler orders the resumption of the attack on the Pocket. A further 250,000 French, Belgium and Commonwealth troops will be withdrawn before it falls, though much of their equipment will be lost. The Calais Pocket will fall two weeks later with 100,000 Belgium, Commonwealth and French troops captured. Hitler also orders a campaign of strategic bombing against British cities begun, attempting to break Commonwealth morale.
July 1940: The last US forces leave the Philippines.
August 1940: Blum begins to bring the disjointed civil resistance to the German occupation of France under his control as the Forces Francaises de l'Interieur.
August 1940: Germany launches an invasion of Austria. Italy declares war, joining the Allies as a result.
August 1940: French Equatorial Africa switches its allegiance from Pétain's Vichy regime to Blum's Free French. This will include the invasion of Gabon. This is the start of the French Civil War.
August 1940: Having had the devastating effectiveness of light automatic weapons demonstrated to them in France, the Commonwealth begin licensed production of the Beretta 38 submachine gun as the Lancaster Machine Carbine.
August 1940: With the fall of France and the Allied rout in Italy, the Japanese occupy French Indochina in order to cut off supplies to the Chinese.
August 1940: The Commonwealth turns over the French ships it seized, including three battleships, to the Free French.
August 1940: Despite strong defensive terrain, the Austrian army breaks under the German assault and Vienna falls within a week.
September 1940: Due to heavy losses from the RAF, the Luftwaffe switches to night bombing over Britain.
September 1940: With Austria secure, the Germans begin rapidly advancing through Slovenia and Croatia. In conjunction with this, Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary invade Serbia and Italian Albania.
September 1940: The Commonwealth forces, including the newly formed 2nd Eagle Division, are deployed to Italy.
September 1940: With the German victories in Europe, the Japanese government come to believe the Commonwealth will not be able to respond to an attack. The decision is made to strike against the East Indies.
September 1940: The FFI begin attacking Vichy targets in France, spreading the Civil War.
September 1940: With the Japanese occupation of Indochina, the Far East faction under Peter Fraser in the war cabinet begin to demand the reinforcement of Far East at the expense of the Italian Theatre. They are able to force the deployment of two additional divisions and the strengthening of the air force in Singapore
September 1940: Breaking of Japanese codes is assigned the highest priority with Commonwealth cryptoanalysts.
September 1940: The German raider Atlantis captures top secret papers detailing the defences of Singapore and hands them to the Japanese.
September 1940: The first merchant carrier, the Ancylus is completed. A converted grain carrier, she carries three Guillemot fighters for air defence and three Swordfish bombers for antisubmarine work, she will prove a great success and thirty further ships will be converted.
October 1940: German forces breakthrough onto the Venetian Plain as the poorly equiped Italian army routs.
October 1940: Impressed by the success of German airborne troops, the Commonwealth authorises the raising of its own airborne units.
October 1940: The city of Coventry is destroyed in a massive German air raid.
October 1940: In response to the levelling of Coventry, the RAF launches a major air raid against Hamburg.
October 1940: Japan begins force movements, deploying for the attack in the South.
October 1940: With the Germans advancing across Northernmost Italy, the Germans are now exhausted and their units desperately in need of refit. This allows the Allies to fallback and form a defensive line from Ravenna to Pisa.
October 1940: In an astonishing timeframe, the first prototype of the Madras Mustang flies. The design shows remarkable promise and its development is given high priority.
