Notable Historical Events - 1939
1939 Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
Jan 1 |
Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city. |
Jan 2 |
Bradman scores 107 SA v Victoria, his 4th consecutive century |
Jan 3 |
Gene Cox becomes 1st girl page in US House of Representatives |
Jan 4 |
Frieda Wunderlich elected 1st woman dean of a US graduate school |
Jan 4 |
Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration |
Jan 6 |
Daily newspaper comic strip "Superman" debuts |
Jan 7 |
US worker's union leader Tom Mooney freed (jailed since 1916) |
Jan 10 |
Bradman hits 186 SA v Qld before Christ catches him at short-leg |
Jan 13 |
Belgian premier signs Burgos-treaty for trade relations with Franco |
Jan 13 |
The Black Friday bush fires burn 20,000 square kilometres of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people. |
Jan 14 |
All commercial ferry service to East Bay ends |
Jan 14 |
Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica |
Jan 15 |
1st NFL pro bowl, NY Giants beat All Stars 13-10 in Wrigley Field |
Jan 15 |
Municipal Railway & Market St RR begin service to Transbay Terminal |
Jan 17 |
Ed Barrow is elected Yankee president succeeding deceased J Ruppert |
Jan 18 |
SA wicketkeeper Bradman gets his 6th straight ton, 135* v NSW |
Jan 19 |
Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets chicken-plucking record-4.4 sec |
Jan 20 |
Charles Ives' 1st Sonate "Concord," premieres |
Jan 21 |
George Kaufman & Moss Hart's "American Way," premieres in NYC |
Jan 21 |
US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan Tozzer |
Jan 21 |
US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee |
Jan 22 |
Aquatic Park, near Fisherman's Wharf, SF, is dedicated |
Jan 24 |
30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile |
Jan 24 |
Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler & George Sisler elected to Hall of Fame |
Jan 24 |
Spanish government moves to Figueras |
Jan 25 |
Earthquake hits Chillan Chile, 10,000 killed |
Jan 25 |
Joe Louis KOs John Henry Lewis in 1 for heavyweight boxing title |
Jan 26 |
Federal Hall National Monument established |
Jan 26 |
Filming begins on "Gone With the Wind" |
Jan 26 |
Franco conquers Barcelona |
Jan 27 |
First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. |
Jan 30 |
Hitler threatens the Jews during his speech to the German Reichstag (parliament) |
Jan 30 |
Heavy after shocks destroy some of Chile |
Feb 4 |
Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-min mile beyond human effort |
Feb 6 |
Spanish government flees to France |
Feb 9 |
Belgian Spaak government falls |
Feb 14 |
Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of Gone With the Wind |
Feb 15 |
German battleship Bismarck was launched |
Feb 15 |
Lillian Hellman's "Little Foxes," premieres in NYC |
Feb 17 |
Katwijk soccer team forms |
Feb 18 |
Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island |
Feb 21 |
Belgian government of Pierlot forms |
Feb 22 |
Netherlands recognizes Franco regime in Spain |
Feb 23 |
Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champ |
Feb 23 |
11th Academy Awards - "You Can't Take It With You," Spencer Tracy & Bette Davis wins |
Feb 24 |
Roy Harris' 3rd Symphony, premieres in Boston |
Feb 25 |
1st Anderson bomb shelter in Britain erected in an Islington garden |
Feb 27 |
Belgian government of Pierlot falls |
Feb 27 |
English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire |
Feb 27 |
France recognizes Franco's regime in Spain |
Feb 27 |
Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes |
Feb 28 |
Great-Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain |
Feb 28 |
The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin zabavnik is published. |
Feb 28 |
The erroneous word "Dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation. |
Mar 1 |
Japanese Imperial Army ammunition dump exploded at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94. |
Mar 2 |
Eugenio Pacelli chosen as Pope Pius XII |
Mar 2 |
Massachusetts Legislature votes to ratify the US Bill of Rights - 147 years late |
Mar 3 |
In Mumbai (Bombay), Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest against autocratic rule in India. |
Mar 7 |
Glamour magazine begins publishing |
Mar 7 |
Guy Lombardo & Royal Canadians 1st record "Auld Lang Syne" |
Mar 8 |
Lenore Coffee & William Joyce Cowan's "Family Portrait" premieres |
Mar 10 |
17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India |
Mar 12 |
Pope Pius XII crowned in Vatican ceremonies |
Mar 14 |
England draw with South Africa at Durban on the 10th day |
Mar 14 |
Nazi Germany dissolves Republic of Czechoslovakia |
Mar 15 |
Hitler occupies Bohemia & Moravia (Czechoslovakia); Slovakia independent |
Mar 16 |
Germany occupies Czechoslovakia |
Mar 16 |
Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine |
Mar 16 |
NHL record 10 goals in 1 period-NY Rangers (7), NY Americans (3) & a record 26 points in the 3rd period |
Mar 17 |
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out. |
Mar 20 |
7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania |
Mar 21 |
Nazi-Germany demands Gdansk (Danzig) from Poland |
Mar 22 |
Lithuania state, forced to give Memel territory to Germany |
Mar 25 |
Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart |
Mar 27 |
1st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: U of Oregon beats OH State 46-33 |
Mar 28 |
Dutch hunter shoots down British bombers |
Mar 28 |
Philip Barry's "Philadelphia Story" premieres in NYC |
Mar 28 |
Renaissance Big 5 win 1st pro basketball championship |
Mar 28 |
Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to Francisco Franco |
Mar 30 |
The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets the world airspeed record of 463 mph. |
Mar 30 |
First flight of the Australian C.A.C. CA-16 Wirraway. |
Mar 31 |
Britain & France agree to support Poland if invaded by Germany |
Mar 31 |
"The Hound of Baskervilles", starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson for the first time, is released |
Apr 1 |
US recognizes Franco government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war. Pope Pius XII congratulates Generalissimo Franco's victory in Spain |
Apr 2 |
6th Golf Masters Championship: Ralph Guldahl wins, shooting a 279 |
Apr 4 |
Faisal II ascends to throne of Iraq |
Apr 5 |
Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory |
Apr 6 |
Great Britain & Poland sign military pact |
Apr 6 |
US & UK agree on joint control of Canton & Enderbury Is (Pacific) |
Apr 7 |
Italy invades Albania |
Apr 8 |
ACV soccer team forms in Axes |
Apr 8 |
King Zog I of Albania flees |
Apr 9 |
Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 at Lincoln Memorial |
Apr 10 |
Colijn's Dutch government opens camp Westerbork for German Jews |
Apr 10 |
Grens mobilization due to Italian invasion in Albania |
Apr 11 |
Hungary leaves League of Nations |
Apr 13 |
W Saroyan's "My Heart's in the Highlands" premieres in NYC |
Apr 13 |
In India, the Hindustani Lal Sena (Indian Red Army) is formed and vows to engage in armed struggle against the British. |
Apr 14 |
John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" published |
Apr 15 |
Albert Lebrun elected president of France |
Apr 16 |
Stalin requests British, French & Russian anti-nazi pact |
Apr 16 |
Stanley Cup: Boston Bruins beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 1 |
Apr 17 |
Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title |
Apr 17 |
SN Behrman's "No Time for Comedy" premieres in NYC |
Apr 17 |
Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-Nazi pact |
Apr 18 |
Franz von Papen becomes German ambassador in Turkey |
Apr 18 |
Hubert Pierlot forms Belgian government |
Apr 19 |
43rd Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown of RI in 2:28:51.8 |
Apr 19 |
Connecticut finally approves Bill of Rights (148 years late) |
Apr 20 |
Ted Williams' 1st hit (off of Yankee Red Ruffing) a double |
Apr 23 |
1st performance of Béla Bartok's 2nd Concerto for violin |
Apr 23 |
Boston Red Sox Ted Williams hits his 1st HR |
Apr 28 |
Hitler claims German-Polish non-attack treaty still in effect |
Apr 29 |
Whitestone Bridge connecting Bronx & Queens opens |
Apr 30 |
New York World's Fair opens |
Apr 30 |
NBC/RCA 1st public TV demo with FDR at opening of NY World's Fair |
Apr 30 |
Tropicana ballet of Havana, Cuba, forms |
May 1 |
Batman comics hit street |
May 1 |
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling) |
May 2 |
Lou Gehrig ends 2,130 consecutive game streak, Yanks beat Tigers 22-2 |
May 3 |
The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. |
May 5 |
Flash floods kill 75 in Northeast Kentucky |
May 6 |
1st performance of Honegger/Claudel's "Jeanne d'Arc Ouch B-cher" |
May 6 |
65th Kentucky Derby: James Stout aboard Johnstown wins in 2:03.4 |
May 7 |
Germany & Italy announced an alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis |
May 9 |
Catholic church beatified the 1st Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha |
May 13 |
65th Preakness: George Seabo aboard Challedon wins in 1:59.8 |
May 13 |
SS St Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jews fugitives |
May 14 |
Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five. |
May 16 |
1st AL night game, Phila Shribe Park (Indians 8, Athletics 3 in 10) |
May 16 |
Food stamps are 1st issued |
May 17 |
1st sports telecast-Columbia vs Princeton-college baseball |
May 19 |
Churchill signs British-Russian anti-Nazi pact |
May 20 |
"3 Little Fishies" by Kay Kyser swam to #1 |
May 20 |
1st regular transatlantic airmail (Pan Am: NY to Marsseille France) |
May 22 |
Hitler & Benito Mussolini sign "Pact of Steel" |
May 23 |
British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949 |
May 23 |
Dmitri Shostakovitch appointed professor at conservatory of Leningrad |
May 23 |
Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland |
May 23 |
Submarine Squalis sank off Portsmouth NH, 26 die |
May 23 |
Submarine USS Squalus sinks in the Gulf of Maine, drowning 26 men immediately. The 33 remaining crew are rescued from a depth of 243 ft (74 m) by divers using newly developed heliox air systems to prevent the cognitive impairment usually associated with deep dives. The rescue divers are later awarded the Medal of Honor for their bravery. |
May 25 |
Carl Storck becomes 2nd NFL president |
May 30 |
Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw wins in 4:20:47.412 (185.131 km/h) |
Jun 1 |
1st boxing match to be televised, Lon Nova defeats Max Baer |
Jun 1 |
1st night game at Phil's Shribe Park (Pirates 5, Phillies 2) |
Jun 1 |
British submarine "Thetis" sinks in Liverpool Bay with all 99 aboard |
Jun 1 |
Retired German Col-gen Gerd von Runstedt returns to service |
Jun 3 |
71st Belmont: James Stout riding Johnstown wins in 2:29.6 |
Jun 3 |
Beer Barrel Polka hits #1 on the pop singles chart by Will Glahe |
Jun 6 |
NY Giants beat Reds 17-3, with 5 HRs in 4th inning |
Jun 6 |
NY supreme court justice J F Crater legally declared dead |
Jun 7 |
George VI & Elizabeth become the 1st king & queen of Britain to visit USA |
Jun 7 |
Cleve Indians sets AL record of 16 inning game without striking out, however lose game 5-4 to NY Yankees |
Jun 10 |
MGM cartoon character Barney Bear debuts |
Jun 11 |
King & Queen of England taste 1st "hot dogs" at FDR's party |
Jun 12 |
43rd US Golf Open: Byron Nelson shoots a 284 at Phila CC in Phila |
Jun 12 |
Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown NY |
Jun 12 |
Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor. |
Jun 17 |
Last public guillotining in France. Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre. |
Jun 20 |
Test flight of 1st rocket plane using liquid propellants |
Jun 21 |
NY Yankees announce Lou Gehrig's retirement after doctors reveal he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
Jun 22 |
Princes (future Queen) Elizabeth meets future husband Prince Philip of Greece (Midshipman Mountbatten, RN) |
Jun 23 |
Bronko Nagurski beats Lou Thesz in Houston, to become wrestling champ |
Jun 23 |
France turns over Sanjak of Alexandretta (Hatay) to Turkey |
Jun 23 |
US Congress establishes US Coast Guard Reserve (renamed US Coast Guard Auxiliary 1941) as uniformed volunteer units supporting the Coast Guard |
Jun 24 |
Pan Am's 1st US to England flight |
Jun 27 |
1st night game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium (Indians 5, Tigers 0) |
Jun 27 |
Brooklyn Dodgers tie Boston Braves, 2-2, in 23 innings |
Jun 27 |
Headley scores a cricket century in each innings v England at Lord's |
Jun 28 |
Joe Louis TKOs Tony Galent in 4 for heavyweight boxing title |
Jun 28 |
Pan Am opens southern route transatlantic air service (Dixie Clipper) |
Jun 28 |
Yanks hit 13 HRs, sweep A's 23-2 & 10-0 |
Jun 29 |
4th Dutch government of Colijn falls |
Jun 29 |
Dixie Clipper completes 1st commercial plane flight to Europe |
Jun 30 |
Heinkel He 176 rocket plane flies for 1st time, at Peenemunde |
Jul 3 |
Ernst Heinkel demonstrates 800 kph (500 mph) rocket plane to Hitler |
Jul 3 |
Lou Gehrig day; Gehrig makes "luckiest man" speech |
Jul 4 |
Red Sox Jim Tabor hits 2 grand slams in 1 game |
Jul 4 |
Yankees retire 1st uniform (Lou Gehrig #4), 1st Old Timers Day |
Jul 6 |
German Nazis close last Jewish enterprises |
Jul 7 |
52nd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Kay Stammers (62 60) |
Jul 7 |
74th British Golf Open: Dick Burton shoots a 290 at St Andrews |
Jul 8 |
59th Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Bobby Riggs beats E Cooke (2-6 8-6 3-6 6-3 6-2) |
Jul 9 |
A meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg South Africa, launch the Passive Resistance Campaign against apartheid and racial policy in South Africa |
Jul 11 |
7th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, New York NY Yankee/AL maanager Joe McCarthy starts 6 Yankees |
Jul 13 |
Frank Sinatra makes his recording debut |
Jul 15 |
Clara Adams (NYC) is 1st woman to complete round world flight |
Jul 17 |
22nd PGA Championship: Henry Picard at Pomonok CC Flushing NY |
Jul 19 |
Dr Roy P Scholz is 1st surgeon to use fiberglass sutures |
Jul 22 |
Jane Bolin becomes the 1st African American female judge (NY) |
Jul 25 |
5th & last Dutch government of Colijn, forms |
Jul 25 |
NY Yankee Atley Donald sets AL rookie record with 12 consecutive win |
Jul 26 |
Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs |
Jul 28 |
5th Dutch government of Colijn falls |
Jul 30 |
Belgium Sylvere Maes wins 33rd Tour de France |
Aug 2 |
Hatch Act prohibits political activity by federal workers |
Aug 3 |
Jean Genet's "Ondine" premieres in Paris |
Aug 6 |
1st broadcast of "Dinah Shore Show" on NBC-radio |
Aug 10 |
2nd Dutch De Geer government forms (1st with Social Democrats) |
Aug 11 |
Sergei Rachmaninovs last appearance in Europe |
Aug 13 |
Yankees set AL shutout margin with 21-0 victory over A's |
Aug 13 |
Sabotage suspected in crash of 'City of San Francisco' |
Aug 14 |
1st night games at Comiskey Park (White Sox 5, Browns 2) |
Aug 15 |
First night game at baseball's Comiskey Park, Sox beat Browns 5-2 |
Aug 15 |
13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors. |
Aug 15 |
"The Wizard of Oz", premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, stars Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion), Frank Morgan (Wizard), Billie Burke (Glinda), and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch). |
Aug 17 |
"Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY |
Aug 19 |
37.6 cm rainfall at Tuckerton, NJ (state record) |
Aug 20 |
1st black bowling league formed (National Bowling Assoc) |
Aug 20 |
Russian offensive under General Zjoekov against Japanese invasion in Mongolia |
Aug 22 |
Dutch border guards take positions for German invasion |
Aug 22 |
Premier De Geer recalls Dutch holidaymakers in Black Forest |
Aug 23 |
John Cobb (Britain) drives 365.85 MPH (593.48 KPH) at Bonneville Flats |
Aug 23 |
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: Eastern Europe divided between Hitler & Stalin |
Aug 23 |
USSR & Germany sign a non-agression pact |
Aug 24 |
Germany & USSR sign 10-year non-aggression pact |
Aug 26 |
1st major league baseball telecast-Reds beat Bkln Dodgers (W2XBS NY) |
Aug 26 |
Belgium mobilizes |
Aug 26 |
Croatia gets autonomous status |
Aug 27 |
Erich Warsitz makes first jet-propelled flight (in a Heinkel He-178) |
Aug 27 |
Heinkel He-178 makes first manned flight with rocket/jet propulsion |
Aug 27 |
Nazi Germany demands Danzig & Polish corridor |
Aug 27 |
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands receives German ambassador Grave Zech |
Aug 28 |
Gen Bernard Montgomery ("Monty") becomes commander of 3rd "Iron" Infantry division |
Aug 28 |
Netherland mobilizes |
Aug 28 |
Sammy Fain/Jack Yellen's musical "George White's Scandals" premieres |
Aug 29 |
Chaim Weizmann informs England that Palestine Jews will fight in WW II |
Aug 30 |
6th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: NY Giants 9, All-Stars 0 (81,456) |
Aug 30 |
General Reijnders appointed supreme commander of Dutch army |
Aug 30 |
Isoroku Yamamoto appointed supreme commander of Japanese fleet |
Aug 30 |
NY Yankee Atley Donald pitches a baseball a record 94.7 mph (152 kph) |
Aug 30 |
Poland mobilizes |
Aug 31 |
Japanese invasion army driven out of Mongolia |
Aug 31 |
Staged "Polish" assault on radio station in Gleiwitz |
Sep 1 |
Hitler orders extermination of mentally ill |
Sep 1 |
Last day of 1st-class cricket in England for 6 years |
Sep 1 |
Physical Review publishes 1st paper to deal with "black holes" |
Sep 1 |
Switzerland proclaims neutrality |
Sep 1 |
WW II starts, Germany invades Poland, takes Danzig |
Sep 1 |
Gen George Marshall sworn in as the United States Army Chief of Staff |
Sep 1 |
The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross was also instituted on this date. |
Sep 1 |
Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization). |
Sep 3 |
German submarine U-30, commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, sinks British passenger ship SS Athenia; 117 people die, among them 28 Americans |
Sep 3 |
Yanks beat Red Sox on a forfeit, their 4th forfeit win |
Sep 3 |
WWII: Britain declares war on Germany after invasion of Poland. France follows 6 hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & Canada |
Sep 4 |
Dutch 2nd Chamber affirms Neth's in a State of War |
Sep 4 |
German troops move into Danzig |
Sep 4 |
Netherlands & Belgium declare neutrality |
Sep 4 |
Mir, a Nazi ghetto in occupied Poland, is exterminated |
Sep 4 |
RAF bombs Wilhelmshafen |
Sep 5 |
34th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Haverford (3-2) |
Sep 5 |
FDR declares US neutrality at start of WW II in Europe |
Sep 5 |
New Zealand Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage declares New Zealand's support for Britain in the war with Germany; Savage famously told the nation 'where she goes, we go. Where she stands,we stand' |
Sep 6 |
1st German air attack on Great Britain in WW II |
Sep 6 |
South Africa declares war on Nazi-Germany |
Sep 6 |
World War II: The Battle of Barking Creek. |
Sep 7 |
Radio NY Worldwide-WRUL begins radio transmission |
Sep 8 |
FDR declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe |
Sep 8 |
Gen Von Reichenau's panzer division reaches suburbs of Warsaw |
Sep 8 |
Indians Bob Feller, 20, is youngest pitcher to win 20 games |
Sep 8 |
Yanks beat Red Sox 4-1 in 7, game called because of lightning |
Sep 9 |
Nazi army reaches Warsaw |
Sep 10 |
Canada declares war on Germany |
Sep 10 |
Canada, under the leadership of Mackenzie King, declares war on Germany |
Sep 11 |
Battle of Kutno-pocket: Germans advance to Warsaw |
Sep 11 |
British submarine Triton torpedoes British submarine Oxley |
Sep 11 |
Iraq & Saudi Arabia declare war on nazi-Germany |
Sep 13 |
First (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, one of the first viable American helicopters, flown by Igor Sikorsky |
Sep 14 |
British fleet attacks German U-39 boat |
Sep 14 |
First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill visits Scapa Flow, Orkney |
Sep 16 |
53rd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (6-0 8-10 6-4) |
Sep 16 |
59th US Mens Tennis: Robert L Riggs beats S Welby van Horn (64 62 64) |
Sep 16 |
NY Yankees clinch their 11th & 4th successive pennant |
Sep 17 |
German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die |
Sep 17 |
Poland's president Moscicki & PM Slawoj-Skladkowski flee to Romania |
Sep 17 |
Russia invades Eastern Poland, takes 217,000 Poles prisoner |
Sep 17 |
Soviet Union invades Poland during WW II |
Sep 17 |
Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6 |
Sep 18 |
Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania |
Sep 18 |
William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast. |
Sep 19 |
British Expeditionary Force reaches France |
Sep 19 |
Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) becomes radio host of Reichsrundfunk Berlin |
Sep 19 |
Wehrmacht (German regular army) murders 100 Jews in Lukov Poland |
Sep 20 |
British navy captures German U-27 boat |
Sep 20 |
Joe Louis KOs Bob Pastor in 11 for heavyweight boxing title |
Sep 21 |
Reinhard Heydrich meets in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews |
Sep 23 |
Cookie Lavagetto goes 6 for 6-Dodgers get 27 hits & beat Phillies 22-4 |
Sep 25 |
German Luftwaffe strikes Warsaw with (fire)bombs |
Sep 25 |
Versailles Peace Treaty forgot to include Andorra, so Andorra & Germany finally sign an official treaty ending WW I |
Sep 26 |
German seaplane shoots KLM-aircraft (1 killed) |
Sep 27 |
Warsaw Poland, surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance |
Sep 27 |
White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5 |
Sep 28 |
Estonia accepts Soviet military bases |
Sep 28 |
Final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on radio |
Sep 28 |
Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW II) & gives Lithuania to USSR, last Polish troops surrender |
Sep 30 |
1st televised college football game (Fordham vs Waynesburg at NYC) |
Sep 30 |
41 U-boats sunk this month (153,000 ton) |
Sep 30 |
Germany & Russia agree to partition Poland |
Sep 30 |
White Sox reliever Clint Brown sets record of 61st relief appearance |
Sep 30 |
Britain first evacuates citizens in anticipation of war. |
Oct 1 |
Churchill calls Soviets "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" |
Oct 1 |
After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile forces entered the city. |
Oct 2 |
Birdbaths installed in Union Square, SF |
Oct 3 |
Lemmer-Urk Dike closes |
Oct 4 |
Last Polish troops surrender |
Oct 6 |
Adolf Hitler denies he intends to go to war against France & Britain |
Oct 6 |
Hitler announces plans to regulate Jewish problem |
Oct 6 |
Last Polish army is defeated in World War II. |
Oct 8 |
Germany annexes Western Poland |
Oct 8 |
NY Yankees sweep Reds in 36th World Series, 4th straight WS win |
Oct 11 |
Albert Einstein informs FDR of possibilities of atomic bomb |
Oct 11 |
Bucky Harris signs to manage Washington again |
Oct 11 |
Gertrude Lawrence's "Skylark" premieres in NYC |
Oct 11 |
NAACP organized Legal Defense & Education Fund |
Oct 14 |
BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) formed |
Oct 14 |
German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak, 833 killed |
Oct 14 |
Sugar rationed in Netherlands |
Oct 15 |
LaGuardia Airport opens in NYC |
Oct 15 |
Yeshiva of Mir closes after 124 years |
Oct 16 |
Sugar rationing begins in Netherlands |
Oct 17 |
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur, is released |
Oct 18 |
R Rodgers & Lorenz Harts "Too Many Girls," premieres in NYC |
Oct 19 |
Hermann Goering begins plunder through Nazi's occupied areas |
Oct 20 |
"All the Things You Are" recorded by Tommy Dorsey Orch |
Oct 20 |
Pope Pius XII publishes his 1st encyclical Summi pontificatus |
Oct 22 |
1st TV NFL game-Eagles vs Dodgers |
Oct 24 |
Benny Goodman records "Let's Dance" |
Oct 24 |
Joe DiMaggio wins AL MVP, Jimmie Foxx is runner-up |
Oct 24 |
Nazi require wearing of Star of David by Jews |
Oct 24 |
Nylon stockings go on sale for first time (Wilmington, Delaware) |
Oct 25 |
George Kaufman/Moss Hart's "Man Who Came to Dinner" premieres in NYC |
Oct 25 |
William Saroyan's "Time of Your Life" premieres in NYC |
Oct 26 |
Polish Jews forced into obligatory work service |
Oct 28 |
Anti-German demonstrations/strikes in Czechoslovakia |
Oct 28 |
Spitfire shoots German Heinkel-111 down above Scotland |
Oct 29 |
Golden Gate International Exposition closes (1st closure) |
Oct 29 |
NHL Babe Seibert Memorial Game: All-Stars beat Montreal 5-3 |
Oct 30 |
USSR & Germany agree on partitioning Poland, Hitler deports Jews |
Oct 30 |
German U boat fails on attack of English battleship Nelson with Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound & Charles Forbes aboard |
Oct 31 |
27 U boats sunk this month (135,000 ton) |
Nov 1 |
First animal conceived by artificial insemination (rabbit) displayed |
Nov 1 |
First jet plane, Heinkel He 178, demonstrated to German Air Ministry |
Nov 1 |
Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Sertum laetitiae |
Nov 3 |
Clare Booth's "Margin for Error" premieres in NYC |
Nov 4 |
1940 Olympics awarded to Helsinki, Finland |
Nov 4 |
First air conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago, Illinois |
Nov 4 |
US allows "cash & carry" arms sales during WW II |
Nov 6 |
WGY-TV (Schenectady, NY), 1st coml TV station, begins service |
Nov 6 |
WRGB TV channel 6 in Schenectady-Alby-Troy, NY (CBS) 1st broadcast |
Nov 6 |
World War II: 'Sonderaktion Krakau' - a Nazi operation against academics in Kraków, Poland |
Nov 8 |
Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich |
Nov 8 |
H Lindsay & R Crouse' "Life with Father" premieres in NYC |
Nov 9 |
"Ninotchka," with Greta Garbo premieres |
Nov 9 |
Nobel for physics awarded to Ernest O Lawrence (cyclotron) |
Nov 9 |
Venlo-incident: German Abwehr kills 2 English agents |
Nov 11 |
Kate Smith first sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" |
Nov 12 |
Jews in Lodz Poland ordered to wear yellow star of David |
Nov 14 |
Oil refinery fire kills 500 & destroys Lagunillas, Venezuela |
Nov 15 |
Anti-German demonstrations in Czechoslovakia |
Nov 15 |
FDR lays cornerstone of Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC |
Nov 15 |
Nazis begin mass murder of Warsaw Jews |
Nov 15 |
US Social Security Administration approves 1st unemployment check |
Nov 16 |
Al Capone freed from Alcatraz jail |
Nov 16 |
German U-boat torpedoes tanker Sliedrecht near Ireland |
Nov 17 |
German U-boat torpedoes passenger ship |
Nov 17 |
Jerome Kern/Hammerstein II's "Very Warm for May" premieres in NYC |
Nov 17 |
The Rome-Rio de Janeiro air connection is created. |
Nov 18 |
Neth KNSM passenger ship Simon Bolivar hits German mine, 86 die |
Nov 19 |
Don Lash wins 6th straight AAU cross-country 10K championship |
Nov 22 |
Bugsy Siegel, Whitey Krakower, Frankie Carbo and Albert Tannenbaum kill Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg outside his apartment after Greenberg had threatened to become a police informant |
Nov 23 |
Nazi Gov of Poland Hans Frank requires Jews to wear a blue star |
Nov 26 |
4 soviet soldiers killed on Finnish-Russian border |
Nov 27 |
Maxwell Anderson's "Key Largo" premieres in NYC |
Nov 28 |
Hans Frank, Nazi Governor-General of Poland, organizes Judenrat |
Nov 28 |
Soviet government revokes Russian-Finnish non-aggression treaty |
Nov 29 |
Cor Klint swims world record 200 m backstroke (2:38.8) |
Nov 29 |
USSR drops diplomatic relations with Finland |
Nov 30 |
21 U boats sunk this month (52,000 ton) |
Nov 30 |
Paul Osborn's "Mornings at 7" premieres in NYC |
Nov 30 |
USSR invades Finland, bombs Helsinki |
Dec 1 |
SS-Fuhrer Himmler begins deportation of Polish Jews |
Dec 2 |
British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC |
Dec 2 |
NY's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands, 1 minute after midnight |
Dec 3 |
Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Symphony premieres |
Dec 6 |
5th Heisman Trophy Award: Nile Kinnick, Iowa (HB) |
Dec 6 |
Cole Porter's musical "Du Barry was a Lady" premieres in NYC |
Dec 7 |
Lou Gehrig, 36, is elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame |
Dec 7 |
William Walton's violinist concert premieres in Cleveland |
Dec 9 |
27th Grey Cup: Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeats Ottawa Rough Riders, 8-7 |
Dec 9 |
Russian air raid on Helsinki |
Dec 10 |
Green Bay Packers win NFL championship, beat NY Giants 27-0 |
Dec 10 |
KNVB celebrates 50th anniversary |
Dec 11 |
New anti Jewish measurements in Poland, proclaimed |
Dec 12 |
Russ Indigirka capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 750 die |
Dec 13 |
Battle of the River Plate - 3 British cruisers vs German pocket battleship Graf Spee |
Dec 14 |
Soviet Union attacks Finland-League of Nations drops Soviet Union |
Dec 15 |
"Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta |
Dec 15 |
1st commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware |
Dec 15 |
Snip departs for 1st flight to Paramaribo/Curacao |
Dec 16 |
Bradman scores 251* SA v NSW, 271 minutes, 38 fours 2 sixes |
Dec 17 |
German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay |
Dec 18 |
Finnish army recaptures Agläjärvi |
Dec 19 |
Russian air & ground attack against Finnish positions near Summa |
Dec 20 |
Radio Australia begins overseas shortwave service |
Dec 21 |
Hitler named Adolf Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B" |
Dec 22 |
125 die in train wreck at Magdeburg Germany |
Dec 22 |
Bradman scores 138 in South Australia's 7-821 v Queensland |
Dec 22 |
Finnish counter offensive at Petsamo |
Dec 22 |
99 die in 2nd wreck at Friedrichshafen Germany |
Dec 23 |
Finnish counter offensive at Summa |
Dec 23 |
South Australia score 7-821 against Queensland |
Dec 24 |
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. |
Dec 25 |
Grimmett & Ward rip through Qld except Bill Brown (156) |
Dec 25 |
Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer |
Dec 26 |
Earthquake in East Anatolia Turkey |
Dec 26 |
Mine strikes in Borinage Brussels |
Dec 27 |
1st American skimobiles (North Conway, NH) |
Dec 27 |
Between 20,000 & 40,000 die in magnitude 8 quake in Erzincam Turkey |
Dec 29 |
First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber prototype |
Dec 30 |
Bradman scores 267 SA v Vic, world record 34th double cricket century |
Dec 30 |
O'Reilly takes 14-45 (8-23 & 6-22) as NSW crush Qld in 2 days |
Dec 30 |
"Of Mice and Men", starring Burgess Meredith as George Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie, is released |
Dec 31 |
25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton) |
Dec 31 |
Dutch national debt hits ƒ4,218,553,180.99 |
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