9 Dec 1939
  • German merchant freighter Kurmark, acquired by the German Navy in the fall of 1939, was commissioned into service as auxiliary cruiser Orion. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
  • 27-year-old Corporal Thomas Priday, while leading a patrol near Metz, France, became the first British soldier to be killed in the European War. He was killed by friendly fire. ww2dbase [AC]
  • German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee sailed toward the River Plate estuary on the border of Uruguay and Argentina to attack a reported convoy departing from Montevideo, Uruguay. Meanwhile, Royal Navy Force G (light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, soon to be joined by heavy cruiser HMS Exeter) was already en route toward the area in search of Admiral Graf Spee. ww2dbase [Battle of the River Plate | Admiral Graf Spee | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Crews move quickly to secure an F6F Hellcat as it hangs over the side of the training aircraft carrier USS Sable on Lake Michigan, United States, 1945.


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"All that silly talk about the advance of science and such leaves me cold. Give me peace and a retarded science."

Thomas Dodd, late 1945


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