26 Jul 1940
  • Joseph Avenol, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, resigned from his post. ww2dbase [TH]
  • British submarine HMS Thames detected the convoy centered around German battleship Gneisenau 50 miles southwest of Stavanger, Norway; it was bound for Kiel, Germany. A torpedo was fired at Gneisenau, but it hit torpedo boat Luchs instead, sinking her immediately. Thames was never heard from again; it was not certain whether she was lost during this action or hit a naval mine shortly after. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • German submarine U-34 attacked convoy OB-188 with three torpedoes 320 miles west of Ireland at 1447 hours, sinking British passenger ship Accra (which was also carrying 1,700 tons of cargo on this trip), killing 24; 465 survivors were rescued by British ship Hollinside, Norwegian ship Loke, British sloop HMS Enchantress, and British corvette HMS Clarkia. British merchant ship Vinemoor was also hit but without any fatalities; she would remain afloat until the following day after her crew of 32 were rescued by HMS Clarkia. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
  • US President Roosevelt, using powers granted to his office by the Export Control Act, restricted the export of aviation gasoline and certain classes of iron and steel scrap to Japan without special license. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
  • USS Phoenix departed Callao, Peru. ww2dbase [Phoenix | CPC]
  • Joachim von Ribbentrop was updated by German agents in Spain and Portugal regarding the attempt to dissuade the Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, from leaving for the Bahamas. ww2dbase [Joachim von Ribbentrop | CPC]
Italy United Kingdom
  • Several German raids launched against Britain were turned away by a combination of bad weather and timely RAF fighter arrivals. On this day, 3 German Bf 109 fighters and 1 British Hurricane fighter were shot down. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | 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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Georgi Zhukov signing the German surrender document, Karlshorst, Berlin, Germany, 8 May 1945, photo 2 of 2

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