To celebrate victory in World War II, King George VI (1936 – 1952) of Great Britain issued on the 8th June 1946 to all boys and girls at school their very own Family’s War Record. This Family War Record highlighted key points during World War II from 1939 through to 1945.
Show below is a scanned copy of my Aunties Family War Record that she received during her school years.
These are the type of documents that can be discovered when you start to research your Family Tree.
War Year – 1939
Sep 1 – Germany invaded Poland
Sep 3 – Great Britain and France declard war on Germany; the B.E.F. began to leave for France
Dec 13 – Battle of the River Plate
War Year 1940
Apr 9 – Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
May 10 – Germany invaded the Low Countries
June 3 – Evacuation from Dunkirk completed
June 8 – British troops evacuated from Norway
June 11 – Italy declared war on Great Britain
June 22 – France capitulated
June 29 – Germans occupied the Channel Isles
Aug 8 to Oct 31 – German air offensive against Great Britain (Battle of Britain)
Oct 28 – Italy invaded Greece
Nov 11 to 12 – Successful attack on the Italian Fleet in Taranto Harbour
Dec 9 to 11 – Italian invasion of Egypt defeated at the battle of Sidi Barrani
War Year 1941
Mar 11 – Lease-Lend Bill passed in U.S.A.
Mar 28 – Battle of Cape Matapan
Apr 6 – Germany invaded Greece
Apr 12 to Dec 9 – The Siege of Tobruk
May 20 – Formal surrender of remnants of Italian Army in Abyssinia
May 20 to 31 – Battle of Crete
May 27 – German battleship Bismark sunk
June 22 – Germany invaded Russia
Aug 12 – Terms of the Atlantic Charter agreed
Nov 18 – British offensive launched in the Western Desert
Dec 7 – Japanese attached Pearl Harbour
Dec 8 – Great Britain and United States of America declard war on Japan
War Year 1942
Feb 15 – Fall of Singapoer
Apr 16 – George Cross awarded to Malta
Oct 23 to Nov 4 – German-Italian army defeated at El Alamein
Nov 8 – British and American forces landed in North Africa
War Year 1943
Jan 31 – The remnants of the 6th German Army surrendered at Stalingrad
May – Final victory over the U-Boats in the Atlantic
May 13 – Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered
July 10 – Allies invaded Sicily
Sep 3 – Allies invaded Italy
Spet 8 – Italy Capitulated
Dec 26 – Scharnhorst sunk of North Cape
War Year 1944
Jan 22 – Allied troops landed at Anzio
June 4 – Rome captured
June 6 – Allies landed in Normandy
June 13 – Flying-bomb (V1) attack on Britain started
June – Defeat of Japanese invasion of India
Aug 25 – Paris Liberated
Sep 3 – Brussels Liberated
Sep 8 – The first rocket-bomb (V2) fell on England
Sep 17 to 26 – The Battle of Arnhem
Oct 20 – The Americans re-landed in the Philippines
War Year 1945
Jan 17 – Warsaw Liberated
Mar 20 – British recaptured Mandalay
Mar 23 – British crossed the Rhine
Apr 25 – Opening of Conference of United Nations at San Francisco
May 2 – German forces in Italy surrendered
May 3 – Rangoon recaptured
May 5 – All the German forces in Holland, N.W Germany and Denmark surrendered unconditionally
May 9 – Unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies ratified in Berlin
June 10 – Australian troops landed in Borneo
Aug 6 – First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Aug 8 – Russia declared war on Japan
Aug 9 – Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Aug 14 – The Emperor of Japan broadcast the unconditional surrender of his country
Sep 5 – British forces re-entered Singapore