Celebratory letter from King George

Celebratory letter from King George

Letter from King George to all school-children, celebrating and sharing the victory of the allied nations. It is headed with the Royal Standard, in colour. On the reverse a list of 60 important war dates.

1946-06-08

One printed letter

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MBakerWB1392752-161128-040001, MBakerWB1392752-161128-040002

[Royal crest]

8th June, 1946

TO-DAY, AS WE CELEBRATE VICTORY,
I send this personal message to you and all other boys and girls at school. For you have shared in the hardships and dangers of a total war and you have shared no less in the triumph of the Allied Nations.

I know you will always feel proud to belong to a country which was capable of such supreme effort; proud too, of parents and elder brothers and sisters who by their courage, endurance and enterprise brought victory. May these qualities be yours as you grow up and join in the common effort to establish among the nations of the world unity and peace.

George R.I.

[page break]

IMPORTANT WAR DATES

1939

Sep 1. Germany invaded Poland
Sep 3. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany; the B.E.F. began to leave for France
Dec 13. Battle of the River Plate

1940

Apr 9. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
May 10. Germany invaded the Low Countries
June 3. Evacuation from Dunkirk completed
June 8. British troops evacuated from Norway
June 11. Italy declared war on Great Britain
June 22. France capitulated
June 29. Germans occupied the Channel Isles
Aug 8 – Oct 31. German air offensive against Great Britain (Battle of Britain)
Oct 28. Italy invaded Greece
Nov 11 – 12. Successful attack on the Italian Fleet in Taranto Harbour.
Dec 9 – 11. Italian invasion of Egypt defeated at the battle of Sidi Barrani

1941

Mar 11. Lease-Lend Bill passed in U.S.A.
Mar 28. Battle of Cape Matapan
Apr 6. Germany invaded Greece
Apr 12 – Dec 9. The Siege of Tobruk
May 20. Formal surrender of remnants of Italian Army in Abyssinia
May 20 – 31. Battle of Crete
May 27. German battleship [italics] Bismarck [/italics] sunk
June 22. Germany invaded Russia
Aug 12. Terms of the Atlantic Charter agreed
Nov 18. British offensive launched in the Western Desert
Dec 7. Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour
Dec 8. Great Britain and United States of America declared war on Japan

1942

Feb 15. Fall of Singapore
Apr 16. George Cross awarded to Malta
Oct 23 – Nov 4. German-Italian army defeated at El Alamein
Nov 8. British and American forces landed in North Africa

1943

Jan 31. The remnants of the 6th German Army surrendered at Stalingrad
May Final victory over the U-Boats in the Atlantic
May 13. Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered
July 10. Allies invaded Sicily
Sep 3. Allies invaded Italy
Sep 8. Italy capitulated
Dec 26. [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] sunk off North Cape

1944

Jan 22. Allied troops landed at Anzio
June 4. Rome captured
June 6. Allies landed in Normandy
June 13. Flying-bomb (V.1) attack on Britain started
June Defeat of Japanese invasion of India
Aug 25. Paris liberated
Sep 3. Brussels liberated
Sep 8. The first rocket-bomb (V.2) fell on England.
Sep 17 – 26. The Battle of Arnhem
Oct 20. The Americans re-landed in the Philippines

1945

Jan 17. Warsaw liberated
Mar 20. British recaptured Mandalay
Mar 23. British crossed the Rhine
Apr 25. Opening of Conference of United Nations at San Francisco
May 2. German forces in Italy surrendered
May 3. Rangoon recaptured
May 5. All the German forces in Holland, N.W. Germany and Denmark surrendered unconditionally
May 9. Unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies ratified in Berlin
June 10. Australian troops landed in Borneo
Aug 6. First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Aug 8. Russia declared war on Japan
Aug 9. Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Aug 14. The Emperor of Japan broadcast the unconditional surrender of his country
Sep 5. British forces re-entered Singapore

MY FAMILY’S WAR RECORD