Chronology

1939	September	Hitler invades Poland on 1 September; Britain and France declare war two days later
1940	January	Rationing starts in the UK
	March	Bombing of Scapa Flow naval base in Scotland
	April	Germany invades Denmark and Norway
	May	Germany invades Belgium, Holland and France
		Churchill becomes Prime Minister
		Holland surrenders
		Belgium surrenders
	June	Evacuation from Dunkirk
		Italy declares war on Britain and France
		Norway surrenders
		France signs armistice with Germany
	July	German U-boats attack Atlantic convoys
		Battle of Britain begins
	August	First German air raids on London
	September	Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Britain) planned by Germany with Blitzkrieg bombing of British cities
		Italy invades Egypt
		British victory in Battle of Britain
		Germany, Italy and Japan sign pact
		Sheila joins up and goes to Dunfermline for training
	October	Sheila moves to Dundee
		Germany invades Romania
		Italy invades Greece and Albania
		Hungary and Romania join the Axis
	December	Britain begins desert offensive against the Axis
1941	January	Tobruk falls to the British
	February	Afrika Korps arrives in Tripoli, led by Rommel
		Benghazi falls to the British
	March	Benghazi falls to Rommel
		Tripoli falls to Rommel
		Rommel besieges Tobruk, the only part of Cyrenaica to remain in British hands
		Stalemate in the desert
		British forces land in Greece
		Sheila goes to Greenwich Naval College for Officers’ Training Course
		Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia
		Greece and Yugoslavia surrender
	May	British counterattack in Egypt
		Fall of Greece and Crete
		Sheila goes to Methil, Lundin Links, Fife
		Sinking of the Hood by the Bismarck, and then the Bismarck is sunk
	June	General Auchinleck takes over as Commander-in-Chief from General Wavell
		Allies invade Syria and Lebanon
		Germany attacks Russia
	July	Britain and Russia agree pact of mutual assistance
	August	Fall of Persia to British forces
		Battle for Western Desert begins
		Russia joins the war
		Siege of Leningrad begins
	September	First use of gas chambers at Auschwitz
	October	Germans advance on Moscow
	November	Aircraft carrier Ark Royal sunk off Malta by U-boat
	December	Bad period for the navy: loss of Repulse and Prince of Wales in Far east; Ark Royal and Barham hit by U-boats in the Mediterranean; Valiant and Queen Elizabeth sunk by human torpedoes in Alexandria harbour
Mid-1941 – mid-1942		Eighth Army in retreat in Western Desert
		Japan attacks Pearl Harbour
		US joins the war after Pearl Harbour
		Britain surrenders Hong Kong
1942	January	Sheila receives order that she is to report to Overseas Service Office in London
	Early February	Sheila sets sail from England, destination Egypt via the Cape
	End February	Sheila meets Robin Chater on board ship
		Fall of Singapore
		Tobruk taken by Rommel
	May	Sheila arrives in Alexandria and is attached to Office of the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean
		Sheila meets John Pritty
	June	US Navy wins Battle of the Midway – turning point in the Pacific
		Sinking of the Medway at Port Said
		Germans advance on Alamein Line and two hours from Alexandria
		‘The Flap’ in Cairo and Alexandria, accompanied by mass evacuations of civilians and staff
	July	1st Battle of El Alamein begins
		British Army in the Western Desert in retreat: General Auchinleck replaced by General Montgomery
		Low point of war: Japanese sweeping through Malaya, Java, Burma, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Borneo (1941–2)
	October	2nd Battle of El Alamein begins
	November	Eighth Army wins Battle of El Alamein; turning point of the war
		Operation Torch, combined landing of US First Army and Eighth Army begins offensive in North Africa with the aim of meeting in Tunis
		Axis forces defeated at Stalingrad – Germany’s first major defeat
1943	January	Tripoli recaptured; Tunis falls to First (US) and Eighth Armies and Battle for Africa is won
		Casablanca Conference: Roosevelt and Churchill call for ‘unconditional surrender’
	March	Sheila moves to Cairo to join Admiral Ramsay’s planning team for Operation Husky, Royal Navy General Headquarters
	May	Sheila meets Major Bruce Booth-Mason
		German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa
	June	Sheila is promoted to 2nd Officer
		Sheila moves back to Alexandria now that Operation Husky planning is completed
	July	Allies invade Sicily, Operation Husky, the beginning of the Second Front agreed by Churchill and Roosevelt at Casablanca Conference in Jan 1943
		Sheila goes on leave to Beirut
	September	Eighth Army lands in Italy
		Italy surrenders but Germans rescue Mussolini
	October	Sheila moves back to Cairo to work for Admiral Waller, director of Combined Operations
		Rome falls to the Allies and Italy declares war on Germany
	November	Allied leaders meet in Tehran
1944	January	Allied landings in Anzio
		End of the Siege of Leningrad
	March	Sheila is transferred to Suez as Principal Cypher Officer
		Hungary occupied by Germany
	May	Germans surrender in Crimea
		Germans retreat from Anzio
	June	Allies enter Rome
		Operation Overlord: D-Day landings in Normandy
	July	Operation Cobra: Allies break out from Normandy
		Sheila goes on leave in Palestine with John Pritty
	August	Sheila on leave in Beirut, Baalbek and Damascus with Aenid Brothers
		Allies liberate Paris
		Germans abandon Bulgaria
	September	Sheila returns to England by sea; she remains in England for the rest of the war, stationed at Harwich
		Athens liberated; Rommel commits suicide
	October	Soviet army enters Prussia
	November	Surrender of Axis forces in Greece
	December	Germans attack Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge begins
1945	January	Germans withdraw from Ardennes
		Soviets capture Warsaw
		Auschwitz liberated by Soviets
		Japanese retreat to Chinese coast
	February	Yalta conference: the Big Three leaders meet
		US lands at Iwo Jima
	April	US army encircles Germans in the Ruhr
		Allies liberate Belsen, Buchenwald and Ravensbrück
		Roosevelt dies and Truman becomes US President
	May	Germany surrenders in Europe on 7 May
		Sheila is posted to Kiel to help with supervising the peace
	June	Sheila meets my father, Sub. Lieut. Tom Unwin, RNVR based in Kiel
		Leave in England
	July	Back to England for a three-week course at Petersfield Signal School
	September	Sheila is back in Germany: Hamburg, not clear what the job is
	October	Sheila moves to Plön; Bruce Booth-Mason awarded MBE
	November	New relationship with Captain Ken Millar of the Tanks
1946	Feb–March	Sheila is on leave in England
	April	Sheila is on leave in Brussels with Ken Millar
		Sheila moves to Kiel to do secretarial work
	June	Sheila celebrates the anniversary of V-Day sailing with Tom Unwin
	July	Sheila is on leave in England
	August	Japan surrenders after the US drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
	September	Tom Unwin drives Sheila into a tree in Kiel
	October	The Nuremburg Trials
		Sheila announces her engagement to Tom Unwin
		Sheila goes on a three-week domestic science course to prepare for being demobbed
		Tom returns to London, having been demobbed
	November	Sheila is still in Germany but preparing to depart for England
	December	Sheila marries Tom Unwin in Durham on 23 December