World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 17 Jul 1940

• The keel of British destroyer Beaufort was laid down. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German Luftwaffe placed Colonel Josef Kammhuber in charge of organizing nightfighter units to counter British bombings. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer USS Plunkett was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German OKW assigned forces for the invasion of Britain, planning to put 90,000 men on British shores on the first attack wave. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lieutenant Colonel Dunford-Slater, Second Lieutenant Peter Young and Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Beesley landed on the German-occupied island of Guernsey in the first Commando raid of the war. ww2dbase [AC]

• 135 miles northwest of Bloody Foreland, Ireland at 1040 hours, U-43 sank British ship Fellside (12 were killed and 21 were rescued). ww2dbase [First Happy Time | U-43 | CPC]
• German submarine U-34 sank 3,531-ton Greek cargo ship Naftilos (built in 1904 and owned by D. J. Goulandris; en route from San Nicolas for Dublin, Ireland with 5,801 tons of grain) with gunfire south of Ireland at 0110 hours. All 28 abandoned the ship, but 1 of them would later die of wounds suffered during this attack. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | U-34 | HM]
• U-57 sank Swedish ship O. A. Brodin (at 0455 hours; 3 were killed and 21 were rescued) and British ship Manipur (at 2222 hours; 14 were killed and 65 were rescued) in the Atlantic Ocean north of Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [U-57 | First Happy Time | CPC]
• 120 miles south of Ireland, German bombers sank Estonian ship Leola, killing 2. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

• The United Kingdom announced that the Burma Road would be closed as it diverted resources to deal with the war at home. ww2dbase [Burma Road and the Hump | CPC]

• After sundown, British bombers attacked Caen, France. ww2dbase [Caen, Basse-Normandie | CPC]

• Italian bombers sank Finnish ship Wiiri 30 miles off of Malta; the entire crew of 26 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• British submarine H31 sank German anti-submarine trawler Steiermark 5 miles off the Netherlands; other anti-submarine trawlers attacked with depth charges in response, but failed to destroy H31. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

• German bombers attacked Bristol in western England and Scottish industrial towns on the east coast of Britain. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• Admiral of the Fleet Roger Keyes became the first Director of Headquarters, Combined Operations, a War Office department tasked with organising raids against enemy occupied Europe. ww2dbase [AC]
• British mooring vessel HMS Steady struck a mine and sank off Newhaven in southern England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Newhaven, England | CPC]

• Admiral James O. Richardson concluded the conferences in Washington DC, United States regarding the rentention of the US Fleet in Hawaiian waters. ww2dbase [Washington | CPC]

17 Jul 1940 Interactive Map