Neville Chamberlain Archives

Neville Chamberlain

Sitzkrieg on the Western Front

By Michael Hull

Within hours of the entry of Great Britain and France into World War II on September 3, 1939, the British liner SS Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat off the northwestern coast of Ireland, with the loss of 112 dead, including 28 American citizens. Read more

This aerial photo of the Altmark hiding in Norway’s Jossing Fjord led to the raid by Captain Philip Vian and the destroyer HMS Cossack.

Neville Chamberlain

Locating the Altmark: An RAF Rescue Mission Beyond Compare

By Eric Niderost

On the morning of February 16, 1940, two Royal Air Force Lockheed Hudson aircraft lifted off from Thornaby Airfield in northern England. Read more

Restricted by Naval Treaties, Britain Turned in the 1920s and 1930s to Cruisers, of Which the HMS Cornwall was the First.

Neville Chamberlain

HMS Cornwall: a Symbol of British Naval Power

by William R. Hawkins

Following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 (and roughly four years prior to the construction of the HMS Cornwall), cruisers became a focus of the interwar naval arms race, no less keenly felt by the British, whose survival depended on the sea-lane. Read more

Japanese troops advance through the rubble of a destroyed building in Shanghai on October 29, 1937. Young Marine Captain Evans Carlson witnessed the onslaught.

Neville Chamberlain

Creating the OSS: FDR’s Network of Personal Spies

By Peter Kross

One of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s longtime interests was the hidden world of espionage. In the months before the United States entered World War II, the commander-in-chief was dabbling in the covert world of intelligence-gathering, using a number of trusted personal friends as his own private eyes and ears around the globe. Read more

On September 6, 1940, the destroyer USS Buchanan exits Boston Harbor en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and new Lend-Lease duties with the British Royal Navy. Buchanan was renamed HMS Campbeltown and gained everlasting fame during the commando raid on St. Nazaire in 1942.

Neville Chamberlain

Trade of 50 American Destroyers for British Bases in World War II

By William H. Langenberg

In early September 1940, the world was in turmoil. The battle of Britain was nearing its climax, and elsewhere global tensions ran high. Read more

In the early years of World War II, Allied leadership was in a desperate struggle to match Nazi Germany's political and military command.

Neville Chamberlain

May 1940: Allied Leadership Was On the Brink

By Blaine Taylor

In May and June of 1940 the attacking Germans had a supreme authority, Hitler, and an army that—if skeptical, even in places traitorous—was subdued and followed orders with astonishing competence. Read more