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  • Kraków, Poland
    Thursday Aug 1, 1940
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    Decree Issuance

    Kraków, Poland
    Thursday Aug 1, 1940

    On 1 August 1940, Governor-General Hans Frank issued a decree requiring all Kraków Jews to leave the city within two weeks. Only those who had jobs directly related to the German war effort would be allowed to stay. Of the 60,000 to 80,000 Jews then living in the city, only 15,000 remained by March 1941. These Jews were then forced to leave their traditional neighborhood of Kazimierz and relocate to the walled Kraków Ghetto, established in the industrial Podgórze district. Schindler's workers traveled on foot to and from the ghetto each day to their jobs at the factory. Enlargements to the facility in the four years Schindler was in charge included the addition of an outpatient clinic, co-op, kitchen, and dining room for the workers, in addition to the expansion of the factory and its related office space.




  • Lisbon, Portugal
    Thursday Aug 1, 1940
    Edward VIII

    Left Lisbon

    Lisbon, Portugal
    Thursday Aug 1, 1940

    The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur, which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on the 9th.




  • France
    Friday Aug 2, 1940
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle was condemned to death

    France
    Friday Aug 2, 1940

    The Vichy regime had already sentenced de Gaulle to four years' imprisonment; on 2 August 1940, he was condemned to death by court-martial in absentia, although Pétain commented that he would ensure that the sentence was never carried out.




  • British Somaliland (Present Day Somaliland)
    Saturday Aug 3, 1940
    World War II

    Italian conquest of British Somaliland

    British Somaliland (Present Day Somaliland)
    Saturday Aug 3, 1940

    In late summer through early autumn Italy conquered British Somaliland from 3 to 19 August 1940.




  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Wednesday Aug 7, 1940
    Charles de Gaulle

    Britain would fund the Free French, with the bill to be settled after the war

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Wednesday Aug 7, 1940

    De Gaulle and Churchill reached an agreement on 7 August 1940, that Britain would fund the Free French, with the bill to be settled after the war (the financial agreement was finalized in March 1941). A separate letter guaranteed the territorial integrity of the French Empire.




  • Petsamo, Finland (Now Russia)
    Saturday Aug 17, 1940
    Harald V

    Lefting For The United States

    Petsamo, Finland (Now Russia)
    Saturday Aug 17, 1940

    On 17 August the Crown Princess and her children left for the United States from Petsamo, Finland, aboard the United States Army transport ship American Legion.




  • Nassau, Bahamas
    Saturday Aug 17, 1940
    Edward VIII

    Arrived Nassau

    Nassau, Bahamas
    Saturday Aug 17, 1940

    They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian steamship Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later.


  • North China
    Tuesday Aug 20, 1940
    Mao Zedong

    The Hundred Regiments Campaign

    North China
    Tuesday Aug 20, 1940

    In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the Hundred Regiments Campaign, in which 400,000 troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in the death of 20,000 Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Tuesday Aug 20, 1940
    Winston Churchill

    Churchill made a statement that created a famous nickname

    England, United Kingdom
    Tuesday Aug 20, 1940

    On 20 August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Churchill addressed the Commons to outline the war situation. In the middle of this speech, he made a statement that created a famous nickname for the RAF fighter pilots involved in the battle: The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.


  • Central China
    Wednesday Aug 21, 1940
    World War II

    Hundred Regiments Offensive

    Central China
    Wednesday Aug 21, 1940

    In August, Chinese communists launched an offensive in Central China. The Hundred Regiments Offensive took place between 20 August to 5 December 1941, was a major campaign of the Communist Party of China's National Revolutionary Army divisions commanded by Peng Dehuai against the Imperial Japanese Army in Central China. The battle had long been the focus of propaganda in the history of Chinese Communist Party but had become Peng Dehuai's "crime" during the Cultural Revolution. Certain issues regarding its launching and consequences are still controversial.


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