The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a World War II naval conflict between ships of the British Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine.

The British battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to destroy Allied merchant shipping.
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The Battle of Britain

Luftwaffe attacks on Britain began with raids on naval targets, with bombers being shot down over the Firth of Forth on 16 October 1939 and over Scapa Flow on the following day, but there were no major attacks during the Phony War period, a lull in fighting that Hitler ended on 10 May 1940.
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This will be the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don’t think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us — wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think theyve all come back bar one from ‘E’ Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir. In spite of our fires etc. it was terribly cold and a job to sleep between look out duties, which are two hours in every six.
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Hot over African ground, the sun is glowing.
Our panzer engines sing their song!
German panzers in the blazing sun,
As they stand in battle against England.
The tracks rattle, the engine roars,
Panzers roll in Africa.

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The actual Memphis Belle, a Boeing-built B-17F-10-BO, serial 41-24485, was delivered in September 1942 to the 91st Bomb Group at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine. It deployed to Prestwick, Scotland, on September 30, 1942, and then to its permanent base at Bassingbourn, England, on October 14. Captain Robert Morgan’s crew flew 25 combat missions with the 324th Bomb Squadron, all but four in the Memphis Belle:
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A CHANT OF LOVE FOR ENGLAND

A song of hate is a song of Hell;
Some there be that sing it well.
Let them sing it loud and long,
We lift our hearts in a loftier song:
We lift our hearts to Heaven above,
Singing the glory of her we love,–
_England!_
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In 1914, Lettow-Vorbeck was appointed the commander of the small German garrison of 3000 soldiers and twelve Askari companies in German East Africa, modern-day Tanzania.
With the beginning of the war in August, knowing the need to seize initiative, he ignored orders from Berlin and the colony’s governor Dr. Heinrich von Schnee.
He promptly prepared to repel an amphibious assault on the city of Tanga, where between November 2 and 5 of 1914, he fought one of his greatest battles.
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In the summer of 1941, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands began an oil embargo against Japan, threatening its ability to fight a major war at sea or in the air.

However, Japanese forces continued to advance into China.
Japan planned an attack on Pearl Harbor to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet, then seize oil fields in the Dutch East Indies.
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THE MINE-SWEEPERS

Dawn off the Foreland–the young flood making
Jumbled and short and steep–
Black in the hollows and bright where it’s breaking–
Awkward water to sweep.
“Mines reported in the fairway,
Warn all traffic and detain.
Sent up _Unity_, _Claribel_, _Assyrian_, _Stormcock_, and _Golden
Gain_.”

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Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
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