Notable Historical Events - 1940
1940 Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
Jan 3 |
WPG-AM in Atlantic City NJ consolidates with WBIL & WOV as "new" WOV |
Jan 5 |
FCC hears 1st transmission of FM radio with clear, static-free signal |
Jan 5 |
Finnish offensive at Suomossalmi against Russia |
Jan 6 |
Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the city of Poznań, Warthegau. |
Jan 8 |
Britain's 1st WW II rationing (bacon, butter & sugar) |
Jan 8 |
World War II: Britain introduces food rationing. |
Jan 9 |
2 German officers make emergency landing in Belgium |
Jan 9 |
J Thurber & E Nugent's "Male Animal," premieres in NYC |
Jan 11 |
Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo & Juliet premieres in Leningrad |
Jan 12 |
World War II: Soviets bombs cities in Finland. |
Jan 14 |
Commissioner Kenesaw Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers |
Jan 14 |
NFL Pro Bowl: Green Bay beats NFL All-Stars 16-7 |
Jan 15 |
German U-Boot torpedoes Dutch trade ship Arendskerk (Eagle's Church) |
Jan 21 |
Foreign correspondents in Netherlands subjected to censorship |
Jan 22 |
1st radio broadcast of "Road to Happiness" on CBS |
Jan 23 |
Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes premier of Polish government in exile |
Jan 25 |
Nazi decrees establishment of Jewish ghetto in Lodz Poland |
Jan 26 |
Nazis forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains |
Jan 27 |
-17°F (-27°C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia (state record) |
Jan 30 |
Benjamin Britten's "Lesson Illuminations" premieres in London |
Jan 30 |
Cor Jongert wins 6th Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race |
Jan 30 |
Hassett's second 122 of the game for Vic can't stop a NSW win |
Jan 31 |
40 U boats sunk this month (111,000 ton) |
Jan 31 |
C Turney & J Horwin's "My Dear Children," premieres in NYC |
Feb 1 |
Russia begins new offensive against Finland |
Feb 1 |
NBC performs the first inter-city television broadcast from its station in New York City to another in Schenectady, New York by General Electric relay antennas. |
Feb 2 |
Frank Sinatra's singing debut in Indianapolis (Tommy Dorsey Orch) |
Feb 5 |
Gen Winckelman replaces Gen Reijnders as Dutch supreme commander |
Feb 5 |
Glenn Miller & his Orchestra record "Tuxedo Junction" |
Feb 7 |
British railroads nationalized |
Feb 7 |
Walt Disney's 2nd feature-length movie, "Pinocchio," premieres (NYC) |
Feb 8 |
Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the Show," premieres in NYC |
Feb 8 |
Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland |
Feb 9 |
Joe Louis beats Arturo Godoy in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
Feb 10 |
"In The Mood" by Glenn Miller hits #1 |
Feb 10 |
Tom & Jerry created by Hanna & Barbera debut by MGM |
Feb 10 |
US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan Tozzer |
Feb 10 |
US male Figure Skating championship won by Eugene Turner |
Feb 13 |
Bradman scores 209* in 161 minutes for South Aust at the WACA |
Feb 14 |
British merchant vessel fleet is armed |
Feb 16 |
British search plane finds German Altmark off Norway |
Feb 17 |
Bradman scores 135 in a non-Shield match for SA v West Australia |
Feb 17 |
Crew of the British destroyer Cossack board German Altmark in Jøssingfjord, Norway, and realised 299 British prisoners after hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and the last recorded Royal Naval action with cutlass. |
Feb 20 |
Larry Clinton & his Orchestra record "Limehouse Blues" |
Feb 22 |
Finnish troops vacate Koivisto island |
Feb 22 |
German air force sinks 2 German destroyers, killing 578 |
Feb 23 |
Russian troops conquer Lasi Island |
Feb 23 |
Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio," released |
Feb 24 |
Frances Langford records "When You Wish Upon a Star" |
Feb 25 |
1st televised (W2XBS, NYC) hockey game (Rangers vs Canadians) |
Feb 26 |
US Air Defense Command forms at Mitchel Field, LI, NY |
Feb 27 |
Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 |
Feb 28 |
1st televised basketball game (U of Pitts beats Fordham U, 50-37) |
Feb 28 |
Richard Wright's "Native Son" published |
Feb 28 |
US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)) |
Feb 29 |
45 U boats sunk this month (170,000 ton) |
Feb 29 |
Frederic from G & S "Pirates of Penzance" finally released by pirate |
Feb 29 |
"Gone with the Wind," wins 8 Oscars |
Feb 29 |
Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st black woman to win an Oscar |
Feb 29 |
12th Academy Awards - "Gone with the Wind," Robert Donat & Vivien Leigh win |
Feb 29 |
Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations |
Mar 1 |
Richard Wright's novel "Native Son" is published |
Mar 2 |
1st intercollegiate track meet telecast, Madison Square Garden, NYC |
Mar 2 |
Soviet armies conquer Tuppura Island Finland |
Mar 3 |
Artie Shaw records "Frenesi" on RCA Victor label |
Mar 6 |
1st US telecast from an airplane, NYC |
Mar 7 |
Mont Canadiens lose record tying NHL 15th straight game at home |
Mar 7 |
Ray Steele beats B Nagurski in St Louis, to become wrestling champ |
Mar 10 |
1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci |
Mar 12 |
Finland surrenders to Russia during WW II, gives Karelische Isthmus |
Mar 13 |
Finland-Russian cease fire signed, the Winter War ends. Finland gives up Karelische |
Mar 14 |
27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen, Texas |
Mar 15 |
Hermann Goering says 100-200 church bells enough for Germany, smelt the rest |
Mar 16 |
German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow |
Mar 18 |
Benito Mussolini joins Hitler in Germany's war against France & Britain |
Mar 19 |
Failed British air raid on German base at Sylt |
Mar 19 |
French government of Daladier falls |
Mar 20 |
Paul Reynoud becomes French premier |
Mar 23 |
1st radio broadcast of "Truth or Consequences" on CBS |
Mar 23 |
All-India-Moslem League calls for a Moslem homeland |
Mar 23 |
The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League. |
Mar 26 |
Ernest Hemingway & Benjamin Glazer premiere in NYC |
Mar 28 |
Construction begins of the exhibition center to host the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair. |
Mar 29 |
Joe Louis KOs Johnny Paycheck in 2 to retain heavyweight boxing title |
Mar 30 |
2nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana U beats Kansas 60-42 |
Mar 31 |
Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes 12th Soviet republic (until 1956) |
Apr 1 |
Filippino President Quezon officially authorizes the printing and publication of the grammar and dictionary prepared by the Institute of the National Language. |
Apr 4 |
R Rodgers/Lorenz Hart's "Higher & Higher" premieres in NYC |
Apr 7 |
1st black to appear on US stamp (Booker T. Washington) |
Apr 7 |
7th Golf Masters Championship: Jimmy Demaret wins, shooting a 280 |
Apr 8 |
German battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious |
Apr 9 |
German cruiser Blucher torpedoed and capsizes in Oslofjord, 1,000 die |
Apr 9 |
Germany invades Norway & Denmark during WW II (Denmark surrenders) |
Apr 10 |
Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian "national government" |
Apr 12 |
Italy annexes Albania |
Apr 12 |
NFL cuts clipping penalty from 25 yards to 15 yards |
Apr 13 |
2nd battle of Narvik-8 German destroyers, destroyed |
Apr 13 |
Cornelious Warmerdam became 1st man to pole vault 15 ft |
Apr 13 |
Stanley Cup: NY Rangers beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 2 |
Apr 14 |
Allied troops land in Norway |
Apr 14 |
RCA demonstrated its new electron microscope in Philadelphia |
Apr 15 |
British troops land at Narvik, Norway |
Apr 16 |
1st televised baseball game, WGN-TV, (White Sox vs Cubs exhibition) |
Apr 16 |
Cleve Indian Bob Feller hurls an opening day no-hitter vs Chic, 1-0 |
Apr 16 |
Heitor Villa-Lobos' opera "Izaht" premieres in Rio de Janeiro |
Apr 19 |
"Lake Shore Ltd" derails speed killing 34 near Little Falls NY |
Apr 19 |
44th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Cote of Canada in 2:28:28.6 |
Apr 19 |
Dutch prime minister De Geer declares state of siege |
Apr 20 |
1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa |
Apr 21 |
1st $64 Question, "Take It or Leave It," on CBS Radio |
Apr 21 |
Netherlands beats Belgium 4-2 in soccer |
Apr 22 |
Rear Adm Joseph Taussig testifies before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable |
Apr 23 |
Dance hall fires kills 198 (Natchez Miss) |
Apr 23 |
NY Yankees dedicate a plaque to Jacob Rupert |
Apr 27 |
Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp |
Apr 28 |
Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000" |
Apr 28 |
Rudolf Hess becomes commandant of concentration camp Auschwitz |
Apr 29 |
1st radio broadcast of "Young Dr Malone" on CBS |
Apr 29 |
Norwegian King Haakon & government flee to Britain |
Apr 29 |
Robert Sherwood's "There Shall be No Night" premieres in NYC |
Apr 30 |
Bkln Dodger Tex Carleton no-hits Cin Reds, 3-0 |
May 1 |
140 Palestinian Jews die as German planes bomb their ship |
May 1 |
The 1940 Olympics are cancelled |
May 4 |
21 "not neutral" nazis & communists arrested in Netherlands |
May 4 |
66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05 |
May 5 |
Norwegian government in exile forms in London |
May 6 |
Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath) |
May 10 |
British Local Defence Volunteers forms (later renamed the Home Guard) |
May 10 |
Dutch torpedo boat Johan van Galen sinks |
May 10 |
Dutch-Indies Gov Van Starkenborch proclaims end to state of siege |
May 10 |
French marines stationed on Aruba |
May 10 |
French troops arrive in Zealand/Brabant Netherlands |
May 10 |
Nazi armies attack Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg |
May 10 |
Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister |
May 10 |
World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent. |
May 11 |
66th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6 |
May 11 |
NY World's Fair reopens |
May 12 |
French mariners occupy St Maarten |
May 12 |
German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug |
May 12 |
Nazi blitzkrieg conquest of France began by crossing Muese River |
May 13 |
British bomb factory at Breda |
May 13 |
Winston Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat |
May 13 |
Dutch Queen Wilhelmina flees to England |
May 13 |
German breakthrough at Grebbelinie |
May 14 |
Admiral Johannes Furstner, Royal Dutch Navy, departs to England |
May 14 |
Boston's Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Park's left field roof |
May 14 |
German breakthrough at Sedan |
May 14 |
Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production |
May 14 |
Nazis bomb Rotterdam (600-900 dead), Netherlands surrenders to Germany |
May 15 |
German armoured division moves into Northern France |
May 15 |
German troops occupy Amsterdam, Gen Winkelman surrenders |
May 15 |
Nazis capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP) |
May 15 |
USS Sailfish (SS-192) recomisioned, origionaly the Squalus. |
May 15 |
McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. |
May 16 |
Nazis forbid non-professional auto workers |
May 16 |
British Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris |
May 17 |
Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium & begins invasion of France |
May 17 |
Nazis bombs Middelburg/B IJzerdrat begins illegal defiance |
May 18 |
German troops conquer Brussels |
May 19 |
Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time) |
May 19 |
French counter attack at Pronne under Gen De Gaulle |
May 20 |
German General Guderian's tanks reach the English Channel (British expeditionary army) |
May 20 |
Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen |
May 20 |
Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7 |
May 21 |
AVRO-chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees |
May 21 |
Allied counter attack at Atrecht, northern France |
May 21 |
Reynaud forms French government |
May 22 |
Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with nazis |
May 22 |
UK Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to decide with General Maxime Weygand a strategy to save the city |
May 23 |
1st great dogfight between Spitfires and Luftwaffe |
May 24 |
1st night game at NY's Polo Grounds (Giants 8, Braves 1) |
May 24 |
1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2) |
May 24 |
Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio |
May 24 |
Dutch army demobilizes |
May 24 |
German tanks reach Atrecht France |
May 24 |
Hitler affirms Gen von Rundstedts "Stopbevel" |
May 24 |
NY Giants rip Boston Bees 8-1 in 1st night game at Polo Grounds |
May 25 |
German troops conquer Boulogne |
May 25 |
Golden Gate International Exposition reopens |
May 26 |
1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky |
May 27 |
British & French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII |
May 27 |
World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops. |
May 28 |
Belgium surrenders to Germany, King Leopold III gives himself up |
May 28 |
British-French troops capture Narvik, Norway |
May 28 |
Irving Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase" premieres in NYC |
May 29 |
Adolf Kiefer swims world record 100 yards backstroke (58.8 sec) |
May 29 |
Arthur Seyss-Inquart installed as Reich commissar of The Hague, Netherlands |
May 29 |
In WW II, Germans capture Ostend & Ypres in Belgium & Lille in France |
May 30 |
Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw wins in 4:22:31.201 (183.911 km/h) |
May 31 |
Major General Bernard Montgomery leaves Dunkirk |
May 31 |
Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a seperate peace with Germany |
Jun 1 |
Coffee & tea rationed in Holland |
Jun 1 |
Major General Bernard Montgomery returns to London |
Jun 1 |
Nazi occupiers kick Jews out of Dutch air guard |
Jun 2 |
Heavy German bombing on Dunkirk beach |
Jun 3 |
Last British/French troop leave Dunkirk |
Jun 4 |
1st NL night game at Sportsman's Park (Dodgers 10, Cardinals 1) |
Jun 4 |
1st night game at Forbes Field (Pirates 14, Braves 2) |
Jun 4 |
British complete the "miracle of Dunkirk" by evacuating 300,000 allies troops from France |
Jun 4 |
German forces enter Paris during WWII |
Jun 4 |
Winston Churchill says "We shall fight on the seas & oceans" |
Jun 5 |
A synthetic rubber tire exhibited Akron, Ohio by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. |
Jun 5 |
American Negro Theater organizes |
Jun 5 |
Battle of France begins in WW II |
Jun 5 |
Gen Von Bock starts German offensive in Somme |
Jun 5 |
General Charles de Gaulle becomes French junior minister of Defense |
Jun 5 |
Gov of Suriname & Neth Antilles refuse entry to Jewish refugees |
Jun 5 |
Netherlands rations petroleum |
Jun 7 |
British/French troops evacuate Narvik |
Jun 8 |
72nd Belmont: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 2:29.6 |
Jun 8 |
Discovery of element 93, neptunium, announced |
Jun 8 |
Last British troops leave Narvik Norway |
Jun 9 |
44th US Golf Open: Lawson Little shoots a 287 at Canterbury GC OH |
Jun 9 |
General Charles de Gaulle's 1st meeting with Winston Churchill |
Jun 9 |
Norway surrenders to Germany during WW II |
Jun 10 |
French government moves to Bordeaux |
Jun 10 |
German "Dutch" Q-ship Atlantis sinks Norwegian tanker |
Jun 10 |
German 5th Armoured division occupies Rouen |
Jun 10 |
Italy declares war on France & Britain during WW II |
Jun 10 |
Norway surrenders to Nazis |
Jun 10 |
Canada declares war on Italy. |
Jun 11 |
Italy declares war on allies/raids Malta |
Jun 11 |
British Premier Winston Churchill flies to Orleans |
Jun 11 |
World War II: British forces bomb Genoa and Turin in Italy. |
Jun 11 |
World War II: First attack of the Italian Air force on the island of Malta. |
Jun 13 |
Paris evacuates before German advance |
Jun 14 |
Auschwitz concentration camp opens in Nazi controlled Poland with Polish POWs (approx. 3 million would eventually be killed ) |
Jun 14 |
German U-47 sinks airship Balmoral |
Jun 14 |
German forces occupied Paris during WW II |
Jun 15 |
38 Italian Fiat bombers bomb Luc-en-Province |
Jun 15 |
Bread & flour rationed in Holland |
Jun 15 |
France surrenders to Hitler, German troops occupy Paris during WWII |
Jun 15 |
Soviet Army occupies Lithuania |
Jun 16 |
Communist government installed in Lithuania |
Jun 16 |
General De Gaulle arrives in Bordeaux |
Jun 17 |
France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II |
Jun 17 |
General De Gaulle departs Bordeaux for London |
Jun 17 |
Germany occupiers ration bread in Holland |
Jun 17 |
USSR occupies Estonia |
Jun 17 |
World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. |
Jun 18 |
Gen Charles de Gaulle on BBC tells French to defy nazi occupiers |
Jun 18 |
German occupiers slaughter cattle, pigs & chickens |
Jun 18 |
Winston Churchill's "this was their finest hour" speech urging perseverance during Battle of Britain delivered to British House of Commons |
Jun 19 |
"Brenda Starr", 1st cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago |
Jun 19 |
German 7th Armoured division under command of Rommel occupies Cherbourg |
Jun 19 |
Hermann Goering orders seizure of Dutch horses, car, buses & ships |
Jun 20 |
Joe Louis TKOs Arturo Godoy in 8 for heavyweight boxing title |
Jun 21 |
German occupiers disband Dutch States-General/Council of State |
Jun 21 |
The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia. |
Jun 22 |
France falls to Nazi Germany; armistice signed, France disarms |
Jun 22 |
SS rounds up 31 German/Polish/Dutch Jews in Roermond, Netherlands |
Jun 22 |
About 10,000 Afrikaner women march to the union buildings in protest of South Africa's involvement in WWII |
Jun 23 |
Marcel Louette seeks opposition group "White Brigade" on Antwerp |
Jun 23 |
RAF bombs Schiphol, Netherlands |
Jun 24 |
France signs an armistice with Italy during WW II |
Jun 25 |
Adolf Hitler views Eiffel tower & grave of Napoleon in France |
Jun 26 |
End of USSR experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6/27 |
Jun 27 |
Soviet Army attacks Romania |
Jun 27 |
USSR returns to Gregorian calendar |
Jun 28 |
"Quiz Kids?" premieres on radio |
Jun 28 |
Romania cedes Bessarabia to Soviet Union |
Jun 29 |
Anjer (Carnation) Day-anniversary of Prince Bernhard |
Jun 29 |
US passes Alien Registration Act requiring Aliens to register |
Jun 29 |
Batman Comics, mobsters rubbed out a circus highwire team known as the Flying Graysons, leaving their son Dick (Robin) an orphan |
Jun 30 |
"Brenda Starr" cartoon strip, by Dale Messick, 1st appears |
Jun 30 |
58 U-boats (284,000 ton) sunk this month |
Jun 30 |
US Fish & Wildlife Service forms |
Jun 30 |
German troops begin the invasion of the undefended Channel Islands. |
Jul 1 |
Australia refuses entry to Dutch Jewish refugees |
Jul 2 |
Dutch PM Colijn publishes "Borders of 2 Worlds" (German victory) |
Jul 2 |
Hitler orders invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion) |
Jul 2 |
Lake Washington (Seattle) Floating bridge dedicated |
Jul 2 |
British PM Churchill meets Major General Bernard Montgomery |
Jul 2 |
Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta. |
Jul 3 |
ARP-leader/ex-premier Colijn argues cooperation with Germany |
Jul 3 |
British Royal Navy sinks French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it. |
Jul 3 |
German occupiers forbid using Dutch royal names |
Jul 4 |
British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die |
Jul 4 |
German occupiers forbids anti-Nazi speeches |
Jul 5 |
Diplomatic relations broken between Britain & Vichy government in France |
Jul 9 |
8th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-0 at Sportsman's Park, St Louis |
Jul 9 |
German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms |
Jul 9 |
RAF bombs Germany |
Jul 10 |
Battle of Britain begins as Nazi forces attacked shipping convoys in English Channel |
Jul 11 |
British & German dogfight above Lyme Bay |
Jul 11 |
Marshall Henri Petain, French hero of World War One, becomes head of the collaborative Vichy government of France. |
Jul 14 |
Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmet with earflaps |
Jul 14 |
Lithuania becomes Lithuanian SSR |
Jul 15 |
1st betatron placed in operation, Urbana, Il |
Jul 15 |
Nazi occupiers seize library of IISG Amsterdam |
Jul 15 |
Physicist Donald Kerst becomes the first person to accelerate electrons using electromagnetic induction, reaching energies of 2.3 MeV, when his betatron device (for particle acceleration) becomes operational |
Jul 16 |
NSB'er Woudenberg appointed as NVV-trustee |
Jul 18 |
1st successful helicopter flight, Stratford, Ct |
Jul 18 |
Democratic Convention nominates FDR for a 3rd term |
Jul 19 |
Hitler orders Great Britain to surrender |
Jul 19 |
Nazi occupiers imprison 231 prominent Dutch citizens in Buchenwald |
Jul 19 |
Nazi occupiers in Netherlands forbid anti-nazi films |
Jul 20 |
Germany occupiers forbid Dutch Communist Party (CPN) in Netherlands |
Jul 20 |
Nazi collaborator Rost of Tonningen appointed director of Marxist |
Jul 20 |
Billboard publishes its 1st singles record chart (#1 is "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey) |
Jul 21 |
Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania |
Jul 21 |
VARA-management accepts Rost of Tonningens demands |
Jul 22 |
Dutch prime minister De Geer meets Hitler seeking peace talks |
Jul 23 |
"Blitz" all-night air raid by German bombers on London begins |
Jul 24 |
1st illegal "Newsletter of Pieter It Hen" publishes in Netherlands |
Jul 24 |
Linthorst Homan, de Quay & Einthoven forms Dutch Union |
Jul 25 |
John Sigmund begins swimming for 89 hrs 46 mins in the Mississippi River |
Jul 27 |
Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts |
Jul 27 |
Bugs Bunny debuts in "Wild Hare" |
Jul 28 |
Radio Orange, London begins broadcasting |
Jul 28 |
Yankee Charlie Keller hits 3 HRs to beat White Sox 10-9 |
Jul 29 |
Urk soccer team forms |
Jul 31 |
38 U boats sinks this month (196,000 ton) |
Jul 31 |
Riechskommissar Seyss-Inquart bans homosexuals |
Aug 2 |
Clermont-Ferrand sentences Gen Charles de Gaulle to death |
Aug 2 |
KL-House of saxon & commandos focus on Gross Rosen, Silesia |
Aug 3 |
German occupiers forbid ritual slaughters & English & French movies |
Aug 3 |
Italian troops invade British Somalia |
Aug 3 |
Lithuanian SSR is accepted into USSR |
Aug 3 |
Seaplane Clare makes 1st British passenger flight to the US |
Aug 5 |
"Acquaintance" blows-up Zandvoortse synagouge |
Aug 5 |
St Louis Brown John Whitehead no-hits Detroit Tigers, 4-0 in 6 innings |
Aug 6 |
Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire |
Aug 7 |
Churchill recognizes De Gaulle government in exile |
Aug 7 |
Largest amount paid for a stamp ($45,000 for 1 1856 British Guiana) |
Aug 7 |
Alsace Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich (Germany) during World War II |
Aug 8 |
31 German aircraft shot down over England |
Aug 8 |
The "Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel. |
Aug 10 |
Prince Bernhard Fund forms |
Aug 11 |
38 German aircrafts shot down above England |
Aug 11 |
German air raid on British harbors Portland/Weymouth |
Aug 12 |
Luftwaffe bombs British radar stations, loses 31 aircraft |
Aug 12 |
Netherlands starts rationing textiles |
Aug 13 |
Hermann Goering's "Adler Tag" (Eagle day); 45-48 German aircraft shot down over Southern England (Battle of Britain) |
Aug 14 |
Dutch Premier De Geer vacations in Switzerland |
Aug 15 |
1st edition of Jewish Weekly newspaper in Amsterdam (under Nazis) |
Aug 15 |
Heavy dogfights above England: 75 German aircraft damaged |
Aug 16 |
45 German aircrafts shot down over England |
Aug 17 |
FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission |
Aug 17 |
Greece mobilizes |
Aug 17 |
Hitler orders total blockade of Great Britain |
Aug 18 |
Battle of Britain - 'The hardest day": Luftwaffe attacks the RAF in largest ever air battle |
Aug 18 |
71 German aircraft shot down above England |
Aug 20 |
1st Polish squadrons fight along allies in the Battle of Britain |
Aug 20 |
British PM Churchill says of Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" |
Aug 20 |
Louis Buchalter is indicted on murder charges in Los Angeles for the killing of Harry Greenberg, a mob associate of casino owner Meyer Lansky and mobster Bugsy Siegel |
Aug 23 |
German Luftwaffe begins night bombing on London |
Aug 23 |
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands dismisses premier De Geer |
Aug 24 |
Luftwaffe bombs London |
Aug 24 |
Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams pitches the last 2 innings in a 12-1 loss to Detroit Tigers, Williams allows 3 hits & 1 run |
Aug 25 |
First British night bombing of Germany (Berlin) |
Aug 25 |
Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia incorporated into Soviet Union |
Aug 26 |
RKC soccer team forms in Waalwijk |
Aug 26 |
Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. |
Aug 27 |
Caproni-Campini CC-2, experimental jet plane, maiden flight (Milan) |
Aug 28 |
French colonies Cameroon/Congo-Brazzaville support Gen De Gaulle |
Aug 29 |
7th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Green Bay 45, All-Stars 28 (84,567) |
Aug 31 |
1st edition pf illegal opposition newspaper Free Netherlands |
Aug 31 |
56 U-boats sunk this month (268,000 ton) |
Aug 31 |
RAF Fighter Command loses 39 aircraft against Luftwaffe 41 |
Aug 31 |
German occupiers in Netherlands begin soap rationing |
Aug 31 |
US National Guard assembles |
Sep 2 |
23rd PGA Championship: Byron Nelson at Hershey CC Hershey Pa |
Sep 2 |
Great Smoky Mountains National Park dedicated |
Sep 3 |
First showing of high definition color TV |
Sep 3 |
39.4 cm rainfall at Sapulpa, Oklahoma (state record) |
Sep 3 |
Hitler orders invasion in England on Sept 21 (Operation Seelöwe/Sealion) |
Sep 3 |
Dutch government in exile of Gerbrandy forms in London |
Sep 3 |
Sicherheits police bans Free masons, Rotary & Red Cross |
Sep 3 |
US gives Britain 50 destroyers in exchange for Newfoundland base lease |
Sep 4 |
CBS begins broadcasting TV as station W2XAB |
Sep 4 |
Gerbrandy becomes premier of Dutch government in exile |
Sep 4 |
Nazi collaborator Mussert puts the fate of Netherlands in Hitler's hands |
Sep 6 |
Crown prince Michael succeeds Carol II as king of Romania |
Sep 6 |
Generalissimo Gamelin arrested in France |
Sep 7 |
54th US Women's Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (6-2 6-3) |
Sep 7 |
60th US Men's Tennis: W D McNeill beats Robert Riggs (4-6 6-8 6-3 6-3 7-5) |
Sep 7 |
German Luftwaffe blitz London for 1st of 57 consecutive nights |
Sep 7 |
Luftwaffe loses 41 bombers above England |
Sep 7 |
Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria. |
Sep 9 |
28 German aircraft shot down above England |
Sep 10 |
Buckingham Palace hit by German bomb |
Sep 11 |
-12] Buckingham Palace damaged by German bombs |
Sep 11 |
54th US Postmaster General: Frank C Walker of Pa takes office |
Sep 11 |
Anton Mussert establishes Dutch SS |
Sep 11 |
Hitler begins operation Seelöwe (Sealion - aborted invasion England) |
Sep 11 |
George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer. |
Sep 12 |
49 die & 200 injured when Hercules Powder Co plant explodes (NJ) |
Sep 12 |
Italian troops enter Egypt |
Sep 12 |
4 teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux France discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as Lascaux Cave Paintings |
Sep 13 |
Buckingham Palace damaged by German bombs |
Sep 13 |
Italian troops under Marshal Graziani attack Egypt |
Sep 14 |
Congress passes 1st peace-time conscription bill (draft law) |
Sep 14 |
German bomb hits shelter in Chelsea; hundreds die |
Sep 15 |
3rd American Football League plays 1st game (Milw 14, Columbus 2) |
Sep 15 |
Chicago Tribune sponsors Ted Lyons Day (White Sox pitcher) |
Sep 15 |
Luftwaffe bombs Bristol Aeroplane Company |
Sep 15 |
PM Winston Churchill visits 11 Fighter Group |
Sep 15 |
Tide turns in Battle of Britain in WW II, RAF beats Luftwaffe |
Sep 16 |
Dutch SS forms |
Sep 16 |
FDR signs Selective Training & Service Act (1st peacetime draft) |
Sep 16 |
Leo Durocher suspended from Ebbetts Field for "inciting a riot" |
Sep 16 |
Luftwaffe attacks center of London |
Sep 16 |
Samuel T Rayburn of Tx elected speaker of House |
Sep 16 |
St Louis Browns Johnny Lucadello is 2nd to HR from each side of plate |
Sep 17 |
Nazis deprive Jews of possessions |
Sep 18 |
19 German aircraft shot down above England |
Sep 18 |
Elmer Harris' "Johnny Belinda," premieres in NYC |
Sep 18 |
Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani |
Sep 19 |
Nazi decree forbids gentile woman to work in Jewish homes |
Sep 19 |
Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance. |
Sep 23 |
-27] French/British assault on French fleet in Dakar, flees |
Sep 23 |
Dutch nazi collaborator Mussert's 1st meeting with Hitler |
Sep 24 |
Jimmy Foxx hits his 500th career HR |
Sep 24 |
Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire factory in Southampton |
Sep 25 |
German High Commissioner in Norway sets up Vidkun Quisling government |
Sep 25 |
Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire factory in Southampton |
Sep 26 |
Airplane manufacturer in Woolston bombed, 30 killed |
Sep 26 |
Japanese troops attack French Indo-China |
Sep 27 |
55 German aircrafts shot down above England |
Sep 27 |
Black leaders protest discrimination in US armed forces |
Sep 27 |
Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller |
Sep 27 |
Nazi Germany, Italy & Japan sign 10 year formal alliance (Axis) |
Sep 27 |
Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935 |
Sep 28 |
Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns |
Sep 28 |
Nazi occupiers present "New Dutch Culture" in German |
Sep 28 |
Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of stands & attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades Brennan |
Sep 29 |
"Double or Nothing", a radio quiz show, 1st heard on Mutual Radio Net |
Sep 29 |
"Strike Up the Band" opens |
Sep 29 |
1st US merchant ship "Booker T. Washington" commanded by a black captain (Hugh Mulzac), launched at Wilmington Delaware |
Sep 30 |
47 German aircraft shot down above England |
Sep 30 |
59 U-boats sunk this month (295,000 tons) |
Oct 1 |
Pennsylvania Turnpike, pioneer toll thruway, opens |
Oct 2 |
17 German aircrafts shot down above England |
Oct 2 |
British Council receives Royal Charter |
Oct 2 |
British liner Empress loaded with refugees for Canada, sunk |
Oct 3 |
France Vichy government proclaims end to Jewish status |
Oct 3 |
Reds beat Tigers ending NL's 10-game World Series losing streak |
Oct 3 |
US forms parachute troops |
Oct 4 |
12 German aircrafts shot down above England |
Oct 4 |
Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini confer at Brenner Pass in Alps |
Oct 4 |
French Vichy-regime proclaims end of "Statut of the Juifs" |
Oct 4 |
Wrestling returns to Madison Sq Garden after 12 year lay off |
Oct 6 |
Zoological Gardens opens on Sloat & Skyline in SF |
Oct 7 |
Reds Bucky Walters is 1st pitcher in 14 years to homer in World Series |
Oct 7 |
World War II: the McCollum memo proposes bringing the U.S. into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States. |
Oct 8 |
Cin Reds beat Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3, in 37th World Series |
Oct 8 |
German troops occupies Romania |
Oct 14 |
Balham tube disaster during the Blitz. |
Oct 15 |
-16] Heavy German air raid on London, 400 killed |
Oct 15 |
London's Waterloo Station bombed by Germans |
Oct 15 |
"The Great Dictator", a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is released. |
Oct 16 |
Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr named 1st black general in regular army |
Oct 16 |
Lottery for 1st US WW II draftees held; #158 drawn 1st |
Oct 16 |
Warsaw Ghetto forms |
Oct 17 |
German occupiers issue identity cards |
Oct 18 |
Kaufman & Harts "George Washington Slept Here," premieres in NYC |
Oct 20 |
Cheese rationed in Netherlands |
Oct 20 |
Greenhouse rationing begins in Netherlands |
Oct 21 |
RAF drops 1st anti-nazi pamphlets on Netherlands |
Oct 24 |
US Fair Labor Standards of 1938 comes into effect - minimum wage, 44 hr week |
Oct 24 |
Hitler meets Marshal Pétain |
Oct 24 |
Japan eliminates US terms (strike, play ball) from baseball |
Oct 24 |
Protestant churches protest against dismissal of Jew civil servants |
Oct 25 |
Benjamin O Davis Sr. becomes 1st African American general in US Army |
Oct 25 |
Col Bo Davis attains rank of Brigadier General |
Oct 25 |
Duke, Latouche & Felter's musical premieres in NYC |
Oct 26 |
The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight. |
Oct 28 |
Greece successfully resists Italy's attack |
Oct 28 |
|
Oct 29 |
Secretary of War Henry L Stimson drew 1st number-258-in 1st peacetime military draft in US history |
Oct 30 |
Cole Porters musical "Panama Hattie" premieres in New York City |
Oct 30 |
Film premiere of "One Night in the Tropics" first film for Abbott and Costello Paterson New Jersey. |
Oct 31 |
63 U boats sunk this month (325,000 ton) |
Oct 31 |
Battle of Britain, fought between the RAF and Luftwaffe over the English Channel and southern England, ends |
Oct 31 |
Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into Warsaw Ghetto |
Nov 1 |
1st US air raid shelter, Fleetwood, Pa |
Nov 1 |
Dutch "Curfew" forms (12 AM - 4 AM) |
Nov 4 |
Eggs & cake rationed in Netherlands |
Nov 5 |
Dutch submarine departs Dundee |
Nov 5 |
Pres FDR (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R) |
Nov 5 |
Walter Johnson, won 416 games for Wash Senators, loses Maryland congressional race (R) |
Nov 6 |
Franklin Roosevelt re-elected US President |
Nov 7 |
Stravinsky's Symfonie in C premieres in Chicago |
Nov 7 |
Tacoma Narrows (Galloping Gertie) Bridge collapses, Wash |
Nov 8 |
RAF bombs Munich |
Nov 10 |
Pittsburgh & Philadelphia play a penalty free NFL game |
Nov 10 |
Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives. |
Nov 11 |
Thousands of Paris students lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier |
Nov 11 |
Blizzard strikes midwestern US killing over 100 |
Nov 11 |
British Fleet Air Arm attack destroys half of Italian fleet at Taranto |
Nov 11 |
Willys unveiled its General Purpose vehicle ("Jeep") |
Nov 12 |
Blizzard strikes midwest, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes) |
Nov 13 |
Walt Disney's "Fantasia" released |
Nov 14 |
During WW II, German planes destroy most of Coventry, England |
Nov 15 |
1st 75,000 men called to armed forces duty during peacetime |
Nov 15 |
1st black to sign hockey contract-Arthur Dorrington & AC Seagulls |
Nov 15 |
NY Midtown tunnel linking Manhattan and Queens opens to traffic |
Nov 16 |
World War II: In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg. |
Nov 17 |
Green Bay Packers become 1st NFL team to travel by plane |
Nov 18 |
George Matesky, New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison. |
Nov 19 |
Belgian King Leopold III visits Adolf Hitler |
Nov 19 |
German air raid on Birmingham fails |
Nov 20 |
German air raid on Birmingham fails |
Nov 20 |
Hungary joins 3 Power pact |
Nov 20 |
World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers. |
Nov 21 |
Nazi occupiers forbid building schools in Netherlands |
Nov 22 |
500 students in Delft demonstrate against nazis |
Nov 23 |
1st edition of illegal "The Truth" publishes |
Nov 23 |
Romania signs Driemogendheden pact |
Nov 23 |
SD arrested resistance fighter Bernard Iron wire |
Nov 25 |
SS Patria, carrying illegal immigrants, sinks in port of Haifa, 200 die |
Nov 25 |
U of Mich retires Tom Harmon's #98 |
Nov 25 |
Woody Woodpecker debuts with release of Walter Lantz's "Knock Knock" |
Nov 25 |
First flights of the de Havilland Mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder. |
Nov 26 |
Leidse students strike |
Nov 26 |
Nazi Germany began walling off the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw |
Nov 27 |
6th Heisman Trophy Award: Tom Harmon, Michigan (HB) |
Nov 28 |
Dutch law professor Rudolph Cleveringa arrested by nazis |
Nov 30 |
28th CFL Grey Cup (Game 1): Toronto Balmy Beach defeats Ottawa, 8-2 |
Nov 30 |
32 U boats sunk this month (147,000 ton) |
Dec 6 |
Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter/poster artist Helen Ernst |
Dec 6 |
Pietro Badoglio resigns as viceroy of Ethiopia |
Dec 7 |
28th CFL Grey Cup (Game 2): Toronto Balmy Beach defeats Ottawa, 12-5 |
Dec 7 |
North Africa: British counter offensive under general O'Connor |
Dec 7 |
The first prototype Fairey Barracuda flew |
Dec 8 |
1st NFL championship on national radio; Bears beat Redskins 73-0 |
Dec 9 |
British assault on Banghazi Libya: 1st major offensive in North Africa |
Dec 9 |
Illeagal Jewish immigrants to Haifa are deported to Mauritius |
Dec 9 |
South Australia all out for 47 v NSW, O'Reilly 5-11 |
Dec 10 |
British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani) |
Dec 11 |
Russian general Zhukov warns of German assault |
Dec 12 |
British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani |
Dec 16 |
British air raid on Mannheim |
Dec 16 |
Joe Louis KOs Al McCoy in 6 for heavyweight boxing title in Chicago |
Dec 17 |
British troops occupy Sollum, Egypt |
Dec 20 |
Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Athletics for $42,000 |
Dec 22 |
World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army. |
Dec 23 |
John Van Druten's "Old Acquaintance" premieres in NYC |
Dec 25 |
Bradman out 1st ball for SA v Victoria before 6213 |
Dec 25 |
Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Harts "Pal Joey" premieres in NYC |
Dec 26 |
1st-class debut of Arthur Morris, who scores 148 |
Dec 26 |
JA Fields/J Chodorov's "My Sister Eileen," premieres in NYC |
Dec 28 |
Arthur Morris scores 111 in 2nd innings of 1st game after 148 |
Dec 29 |
Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WW II) |
Dec 29 |
NFL Pro Bowl: Chi Bears beats NFL All-Stars 28-14 |
Dec 30 |
California's 1st freeway, (Arroyo Seco Parkway), opens |
Dec 31 |
37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton) |
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