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29 Mar 1908

United Kingdom
11 Mar 1940

United Kingdom
  • The 163-ton British fishing vessel Aberdeen (LT123), whilst heading to the Cardigan Bay fishing grounds from Milford Haven in Wales, United Kingdom, was attacked by German aircraft. The bombs, all near misses, caused enough damage for the trawler to take on water. Eight of the ten crew lost their lives as the vessel sunk. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | Wales | HM]
16 Jul 1940

United Kingdom
  • The 268-ton British merchant cargo ship Farfield (built in 1921 by Cook, Welton & Gemmell Ltd. and owned at the time of her loss by Coppack Brothers & Co.) was sunk by German aircraft seven miles off South Stack Light off the north-west coast of Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom whilst enroute to Gloucester from Penmenmawr. Eight people lost their lives. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | South Stack, Wales | HM]
22 Jul 1940

United Kingdom
  • HMT Campina, a newly converted anti-submarine armed trawler, sank after hitting a mine off Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom whilst on British Admiralty service. Eleven of the 22 crew wre killed in the explosion. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Holyhead, Wales | HM]
27 Jul 1940

United Kingdom
  • The 477-ton dredging ship Durdham sank after striking a mine off Lavernock Point, Wales, United Kingdom. She was owned by the Bristol Sand Company, and was clearing channels out of the port of Avonmouth in the Severn Estuary. Seven crew were killed in the explosion. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Lavernock, Wales | HM]
2 Jan 1941

United Kingdom
  • In Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, a rescue party dug for six hours to rescue a six-year-old child trapped under the staircase where he had taken shelter from German bombing. Throughout the rescue the child was heard singing "God Save the King". He later explained that his father, a coal miner, had told him that when men were buried underground they kept singing to guide the rescuers, and this was the only tune that he knew the words. ww2dbase [Cardiff, Wales | AC]
10 Feb 1941

Photo(s) dated 10 Feb 1941
Belgian 2-inch mortar team in training, Wales, United Kingdom, 10 Feb 1941
26 Feb 1941

United Kingdom
  • The 5,055-ton Norwegian motor steamer Teneriffa sank in the Bristol Channel, after having been machine gunned and bombed by German aircraft. At 1405 hours, two enemy aircraft machine gunned the ship's decks, coming in for four passes and the ship got three direct bomb hits on her starboard side, where deck plates and several plates in her side were blown out. The first explosion was in No. 2 hatch, the second in the engine room and the third in No. 3 hatch. She had left Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom, for Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, also in Wales, with a cargo of 2,400 tons of china clay and about 100 tons of general cargo that same morning in order to join a westbound Atlantic convoy for St. Johns, Newfoundland. All 36 crew survived the attack. ww2dbase [Wales | HM]
28 Feb 1941

United Kingdom
  • The 534-ton coaster Cabenda, en route to Briton Ferry near Neath, Wales, United Kingdom from Shoreham, England, United Kingdom with a cargo of scrap metal, hit a mine and sank in Swansea Bay. The Chief Engineer was killed in the blast. ww2dbase [Wales | HM]
13 Mar 1941

United Kingdom
  • The 1,307-ton Dutch steamship Perseus (Captain R. Gudde) was attacked by German aircraft and was sunk with an air torpedo, 12 miles north west of Bardsey Island at the tip of the Lynn Pennisula, Wales, United Kingdom. The requisitioned Perseus was on her way from Avonmouth, Bristol to Manchester. All crew were saved the next day by a British ship. ww2dbase [Bardsey Island, Wales | HM]
20 Mar 1941

United Kingdom
  • The 174-ton steam fishing trawler Bianca sank in the Irish Sea following an explosion after trawling up a mine or bomb whilst fishing approx 14 miles off Holyhead, Wales, United Kingdom. Five crewmen were lost, and four were rescued. ww2dbase [Holyhead, Wales | HM]
26 Mar 1941

United Kingdom
  • The 5,533-ton cable laying ship Faraday was to join a convoy of 25 ships out of Falmouth, England, United Kingdom for Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom; due to bad weather only five of the vessels, including the Faraday, set out. Due to fog banks the ships lost sight of each other. At 1945 hours after the cloud lifted, the Faraday came under attack from a single Heinkel 111 aircraft which dropped two bombs and strafed the ship in a low level attack. Eight of the crew were killed, and 25 were injured. One of the bombs exploded in the oil bunker causing a serious fire. The German plane was hit by the return fire and crashed into the sea, never having regained height. The crippled ship ran aground off St. Ann's Head on the Pembrokeshire coast, South Wales. ww2dbase [Dale, Wales | HM]
28 Apr 1941

United Kingdom
  • British minesweeping trawler HMT Caroline, manned by Dutch sailors, hit a mine and sank off Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom, killing the entire crew. ww2dbase [Milford Haven, Wales | CPC]
24 May 1941

United Kingdom
  • Cargo ship Matronna was bombed and sunk by German aircraft while in Dale Roads off Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom and on passage from Port Talbot, Wales for St. John's with cargo of anthracite. ww2dbase [Milford Haven, Wales | HM]
23 Jun 1942

Photo(s) dated 23 Jun 1942
Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-3 at rest at the RAF airfield at Pembrey, South Wales, United Kingdom after German pilot Oberleutnant Armin Faber landed there by mistake after a furious dogfight over Devon, 23 Jun 1942
17 Mar 1943

United Kingdom
26 Mar 1945

United Kingdom
  • Former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George who led the country during WW1 died of cancer in Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy, Caernarfonshire, Wales, United Kingdom at the age of 83. ww2dbase [Llanystumdwy, Wales | AC, CPC]
22 Jan 1978

United Kingdom

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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US Navy prize crew aboard the seized German blockade runner Odenwald in the South Atlantic, 6 Nov 1941. The Odenwald had been disguised as the US-flag ship Willmoto carrying rubber from Japan to Germany.


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"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You win the war by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country!"

George Patton, 31 May 1944


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