WWII poster

80 Years Ago—July 13, 1940: In Britain, the first Free Polish fighter squadron is formed in the RAF.

Japanese-Americans returning to Sacramento, CA after being released from Rohwer Center internment camp in McGehee, Arkansas, 30 Jul 1945 (US Library of Congress)

75 Years Ago—July 13, 1945: Japanese ambassador Sato meets with Soviet foreign minister Molotov to discuss peace with the Allies without unconditional surrender.

Ben Chifley becomes Prime Minister of Australia.

US War Relocation Authority announces all but one internment camp for Japanese-Americans (Tule Lake) to close by December 15.

British poster in “Pots and Pans into Planes” scrap collection campaign, WWII

80 Years Ago—July 12, 1940: Britain launches “Pots and Pans into Planes” campaign to collect aluminum for military use.

Head of State Marshal Philippe Pétain appoints Pierre Laval as vice president of Vichy France.

75 Years Ago—July 12, 1945: On Mindanao in the Philippines, US Eighth Army lands at Sarangani Bay to crush final resistance.

Marshal Philippe Pétain, Head of the French State, 1941 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—July 11, 1940: Vichy France ratifies new totalitarian constitution; Marshal Philippe Pétain assumes position as Head of the French State (État français).

75 Years Ago—July 11, 1945: At Waw, Burma, British repel attack by remnant of Japanese army.

US Post Office issues 3¢ stamp featuring the Iwo Jima flag raising.

British poster, WWII (Imperial War Museum)

80 Years Ago—July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain begins with German Luftwaffe attacks on British shipping and on southern England.

National Assembly of the Third Republic of France votes to ban the Third Republic, granting Marshal Philippe Pétain dictatorial powers and the ability to alter the constitution.

French motto “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” is replaced with “Travail, Famille, Patrie” (work, family, fatherland).

Japanese deploy new A6M Zero fighters against Chinese forces.

B-29 Superfortress bombers near Mount Fuji, Japan, July 1945 (US National Parks Service)

75 Years Ago—July 10, 1945: US Navy Task Force 38 begins raids on Japan coordinated with B-29s; 1000 aircraft strike airfields near Tokyo.

Australian Army Lieutenant MG Searles, 2/25 infantry battalion, inspecting a Japanese vehicle found abandoned near Balikpapan, Borneo, 22 Jul 1945. (Australian War Memorial 112057)

80 Years Ago—July 9, 1940: The Battle of Punta Stilo occurs between British and Italian convoys, the first naval engagement in the Mediterranean; battleship HMS Warspite hits Italian battleship Guilio Cesare from 24 km, one of the longest naval gun hits of the war.

The Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) is named British Governor of the Bahamas.

75 Years Ago—July 9, 1945: Australian and Dutch troops complete encirclement of Balikpapan Bay, Borneo.

US conducts last area bombing of Formosa (Taiwan); 6100 have been killed in the campaign.

Grounded Dutch submarine O-19, 8 July 1945 (US Navy photo)

80 Years Ago—July 8, 1940: Britain begins tea rationing (two ounces per person per week), which lasts until 1952.

75 Years Ago—July 8, 1945: Only international sub-to-sub rescue in history: USS Cod rescues crew of Dutch O-19 in the South China Sea.

US guard Clarence Bertucci machine-guns a tent of sleeping German POWs in Salina, Utah; 8 are killed; Bertucci is admitted to a mental institution.

French battleship Richelieu at Dakar, 1941 (US Navy photo)

80 Years Ago—July 7, 1940: At Dakar, French West Africa, Swordfish torpedo bombers from carrier HMS Hermes damage French battleship Richelieu when she refuses to surrender.

British disarm all French ships in port at Alexandria, Egypt.

British actors in America are ordered to come home and report for the draft.

75 Years Ago—July 7, 1945: Soviet Capt. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is sentenced to 8 years of labor for his private criticism of Stalin.

German U-boat U-37 at Lorient, France, 1940 (German Federal Archive: Bild 101II-MW-1032-11A)

80 Years Ago—July 6, 1940: First German U-boat base opens in France, at Lorient.

75 Years Ago—July 6, 1945: Nicaragua becomes the first nation to ratify the United Nations Charter.

US President Harry Truman establishes the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor for US civilians.

US launches Operation Overcast to bring German scientists to America.

US Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Australian Prime Minister John Curtin meet at Australian Parliament House, 26 March 1942 (Australian government photo NAA A1200, L36449, public domain)

80 Years Ago—July 5, 1940: Vichy France breaks relations with the United Kingdom.

In occupied France, Germans ban signs of national identity: the Tricolor flag, the “Marseillaise,” and berets.

Due to Japanese pressure on French Indochina, US President Franklin Roosevelt bans export to Japan of strategic minerals and chemicals, aircraft engines and parts, and machine tools.

Labour Party election poster, 1945

75 Years Ago—July 5, 1945: Gen. Douglas MacArthur proclaims the end of the campaign in the Philippines.

Australian Prime Minister John Curtin dies at age 60 of heart disease.

British parliamentary elections held, won by the Labour Party.