Axis Diplomacy

Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass, their first meeting since Munich in 1938. Mussolini says that he is ready to join Germany and its allies in the war against France and Britain.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet on March 18, 1940 and agree to form an alliance against France and Britain. This alliance, which will come to be known as the Axis powers, fights against the Allied Powers in World War II on a platform of defending human civilization from adopting communist characteristics. Hitler and Mussolini Meet

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Italian steamer Tino Primo (4853t) hits a mine off North Foreland. This is also a result of a German minelaying operation on the night of the 9th. She is taken in tow by the tug Kenia from Ramsgate, but hits 2 more mines and sinks with the loss of 1 crewman.
• The Dutch trawler Protinus (202t) is sunk by German bombers of KG-26 off Ijmuiden near Middle Rough Bank with the loss of 4 crewmen. 7 other crewmen are rescued by the British submarine Unity on the 25th.

Finland

Carrying what they can, evacuees from Karelia assemble at the railway station in Elisenvaara. Finns Evacuate Karelia