even more authority to control persons and property for the duration of the war. 10 June 1940 Italy declares war on Britain. Italian men aged 17 to 60 are arrested and interned. Large mobs attack Italian businesses and families in London, Liverpool, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow. 19 – 28 June 1940 25,000 Channel Island refugees arrive in England. 30 June 1940 German occupation of the Channel Islands begins. July 1940 A further 60,000 schoolchildren evacuated from London and the Home Counties in the following 12 months. 3 July 1940 Cardiff is bombed for the first time. 6 July 1940 Plymouth is bombed for the first time. 9 July 1940 Official start date of the Battle of Britain. 10 July 1940 Introduction of Defence Regulation 58AA allowing the Minister of Labour to ban strike action and force compulsory arbitration. No strikes are called by any trade union during the war; there are unofficial short local strikes in coal, shipbuilding and machinery. 21 July 1940 leaves Liverpool for Halifax, Nova Scotia with the first group of 82 children being evacuated under the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) scheme. 25 August 1940 First major air raid on central Birmingham. 28 August 1940 First major air raid on Liverpool. August–October 1940 The German Blitz hits London and other major cities causing death and damage. Official histories concluded that the mental health of a nation may have improved, while panic was a rarity. Prewar dire predictions of mass air-raid neurosis were not borne out. Predictions had underestimated the adaptability and resourcefulness; in addition there were many new civil defense roles that gave a sense of fighting back rather than despair. The highly visible dangerous role gave firemen some of the ideal attributes more commonly associated with the venerated image of the military hero. 7 September 1940 German bombing raid on South London; formal beginning of London Blitz. 18 September 1940 bound for Canada is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic; 77 of the 90 evacuee children on board died, resulting in the abandonment of the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) evacuation scheme. 31 October 1940 Official end date of the Battle of Britain. 14 November 1940 Massive German bombing raid on Coventry. 12 December 1940 Major raid on Sheffield. 24 November 1940 First major air raid on Bristol. 20 December 1940 Major raid on Liverpool. 22 December 1940 First major raid on Manchester. 1941