23 Apr 1940 | World War II Database

23 Apr 1940

Budget Day in Britain saw the increase of tax on beer by 1 penny, whisky by 9 pence, and postage by 1 penny. ww2dbase [CPC]
Members of the Parliament in Britain criticized that the earlier estimate of 1940 war expenditure of £2,000,000,000 was too low. ww2dbase [CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

HMS Glasgow and HMS Sheffield transferred a few gallons of lubricating oil aboard HMS Glorious after the scheduled arrival of 25 tons of the lubricating oil failed to arrive. ww2dbase [Glorious | AC]
A brief action took place between the French 8th Destoyer Division under Captain E. G. M. Barthes. The heavy destroyers L'Imdomptable, Le Malin and Le Triomphant engaged the German 7th Patrol Boat Flotillacommanded by Lieutenant Commander G. Schultze. The German called in bombers but their attack scored no hits and the French forces returned to the North Sea. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Skagerrak | HM]

Norway

British 146th Brigade retreated to Namsos, Norway; the brigade had thus far suffered 19 dead, 42 wounded, and 96 missing. British 148th Brigade's defense line at Tretten Gorge in Norway suffered a heavy artillery barrage in the morning, an attack by light tanks in the early afternoon, and a surprise mountain troops attack from behind the lines; they began to retreat northward at 1900 hours, strafed by German aircraft in the process; the 148th Brigade had thus far suffered 705 killed, wounded, or missing. Near Oslo, British aircraft conducted a raid on German-controlled airfields. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | CPC]

Photo(s) dated 23 Apr 1940

German Colonel General Erhard Milch inspecting Luftwaffe pilots, Trondheim, Norway, 23 Apr 1940; note Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers in background

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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