WHAT ALL HAPPENED JUNE TO SEPTEMBER 1940
Find out what all happened June to September 1940

A Communist government is installed in Lithuania. (16. June 1940)

Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. (26. August 1940)

World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Major General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. (12. June 1940)

World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France. (20. June 1940)

In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day. (20. August 1940)

World War II: Battle of Britain – The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though). (10. July 1940)

Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta. (2. July 1940)

An explosion at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey kills 51 people and injures over 200. (12. September 1940)

"Finest Hour" speech by Winston Churchill. (18. June 1940)

World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces. (10. June 1940)

An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October. (15. August 1940)

World War II: the United Kingdom and the Vichy France government break off diplomatic relations. (5. July 1940)

Denmark leaves the League of Nations. (20. July 1940)

World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français). (16. June 1940)

Appeal of June 18 by Charles de Gaulle. (18. June 1940)

California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. (20. July 1940)

World War II: In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers El Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish. (3. July 1940)

World War II: the Vichy government is established in France. (10. July 1940)

Cave paintings are discovered in Lascaux, France. (12. September 1940)

Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl. (3. June 1940)