23 Nov 1939
  • RAF claimed seven Luftwaffe aircraft over France. ww2dbase [TH]
  • Rawalpindi stumbled upon German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. When asked to abandon ship, Captain Edward Kennedy turned toward the German ships in an attempt to get into range of her 6-inch guns. She was to be sunk by the German 11-inch guns before she could get close enough. ww2dbase [Rawalpindi | AC]
  • Adolf Hitler gathered the top German leaders and lectured them on his vision for the future of Germany, which involved an invasion of France. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC]
  • In an aerial battle over the French border, Leutnant Werner Methfessel became the Luftwaffe's first Bf 110 fighter pilot ace (although the veracity of his claim remained in some doubt). ww2dbase [Bf 110 | AC]
Germany Poland United Kingdom

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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USS Gilmore at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States, 3 Mar 1945; note USS Engstrom at background (left edge of photograph)

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Famous WW2 Quote
"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."

James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, 23 Feb 1945


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