Within minutes the Colleoni is hit by a torpedo and sinks. The Italian ships realize they are outnumbered 3-1 and decide to outrun them, but a shell from the Sydney hits the Colleoni, leaving her dead in the water. After two hours of naval engagement, HMS Sydney and destroyer Havock appear off the horizon. Aegean Seaġ9 July -Italian light cruisers Giovanni delle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni cruising near Crete give fight to four British destroyers. Marconi sinks British destroyer HMS Escort off Gibraltar. British battleship HMS Warspite damages Italian battleship Giulio Cesare.ġ1 July –Italian submarine smg. Gloucester survives, but with crippled steering gear.Ġ9 July – Battle of Punto Stilo ends indecisively. Scoring a direct hit and killing her captain and 17 crewmen. Image: Aotearoa.Ġ5 July – British bombers sink Italian destroyer Zeffiro near Tobruk.Ġ8 July – Reggia Aeronautica bombers bomb the British cruiser HMS Gloucester. Map of the Italian invasion of British Somaliland. Within 6 weeks, Nasi conquered British Somaliland, causing the British to evacuate from the Sea at Berbera. They capture several border towns and arrive within 300 miles of Khartoum. Gen Guglielmo Nasi struck westward from Ethiopia into Sudan.
July 1940Ġ4 July – The start of a series of first moves by Italy that led to humiliating defeats of the British. MediterraneanĢ8 June –Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney sinks Italian destroyer Espero off Bengasi. The Regia Aeronautica conducts 715 bomber sorties, drops 276 tons of bombs, and flies 1,337 fighter sorties in 14 days. Although the Italian Esercito made little progress in the two-week war with France, the Regia Aeronautica was very productive. This is a fruitless victory, and the only thing Mussolini truly receives is the knowledge that Germany can win wars without Italy’s assistance. Mussolini insists France must also surrender to Italy or the fighting will continue. EritreaĢ3 June –Italian submarine Torricelli sinks British destroyer HMS Khartoum off Eritrea. See also: Life in Italy During World War IIġ2 June – Italian Submarine Bagnolini sinks British Light Cruiser Calypso in the Mediterranean.ġ3 June – Italian destroyer Strale sinks British submarine HMS Odin off Taranto.ġ4 June – French naval forces bombard Genoa and Vado.ġ6 June – Italian destroyers sink British submarine HMS Grampus. By this time France is ready for an armistice with Germany. Another assault continues through the French Riviera towards Nice, but that too is stopped in Menton, only five miles inside France. The Italians launch their initial attack through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps but stop due to a massive snowstorm. These divisions are severely under-equipped with outdated artillery and not enough pots and pans to feed their troops. Italy masses 32 divisions on the French border and commences an attack. Mussolini had an interest in obtaining Nice, Corsica, French Somaliland, and Tunisia. In order to do this, he needed to absorb as much French land as possible. Mussolini saw France’s imminent surrender and decided to reap some of the spoils of France. June – Italy declares war on France and England. Bernard Pass on the French border in June 1940.
September 1942: Japanese plane bombs forests in Oregon.August 1942: United States forces defeat Japanese forces in Guadalcanal.July 1942: In Poland, German forces deport all Jews from Warsaw to concentration camps.
In Germany, The government begins gassing Jews in the concentration camps. This was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
January 1942: Germany begins patrolling the east coast of the United States with U-Boats.