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1940

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From top to bottom, left to right: TheBattle of France seesNazi Germany swiftly conquer much ofFrance; theBattle of Britain andThe Blitz test theUnited Kingdom’s resolve under relentless Luftwaffe bombing; theDunkirk evacuation rescues hundreds of thousands of trapped Allied troops;Operation Weserübung brings German occupation ofDenmark andNorway; theGreco-Italian War begins with Italy’s failed invasion ofGreece; theKatyn massacre sees thousands of Polish officers executed by the SovietNKVD; theTripartite Pact unites Nazi Germany,Italy, and theEmpire of Japan as Axis powers; the1940 Vrancea earthquake devastatesRomania; and theAssassination of Leon Trotsky inMexico City ends the exiled revolutionary’s life at the hands of NKVD agentRamón Mercader.

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1940 by topic
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By country
Afghanistan Argentina Australia Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Denmark France Germany India Ireland Italy Japan Malaya New Zealand Norway Palestine Mandate Philippines Portugal South Africa Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States
Lists of leaders
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Birth and death categories
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v t e

1940 in variouscalendars
Gregorian calendar	1940 MCMXL
Ab urbe condita	2693
Armenian calendar	1389 ԹՎ ՌՅՁԹ
Assyrian calendar	6690
Baháʼí calendar	96–97
Balinese saka calendar	1861–1862
Bengali calendar	1346–1347
Berber calendar	2890
British Regnal year	4 Geo. 6 – 5 Geo. 6
Buddhist calendar	2484
Burmese calendar	1302
Byzantine calendar	7448–7449
Chinese calendar	己卯年 (Earth Rabbit) 4637 or 4430 — to — 庚辰年 (Metal Dragon) 4638 or 4431
Coptic calendar	1656–1657
Discordian calendar	3106
Ethiopian calendar	1932–1933
Hebrew calendar	5700–5701
Hindu calendars
-Vikram Samvat	1996–1997
-Shaka Samvat	1861–1862
-Kali Yuga	5040–5041
Holocene calendar	11940
Igbo calendar	940–941
Iranian calendar	1318–1319
Islamic calendar	1358–1359
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 15 (昭和１５年)
Javanese calendar	1870–1871
Juche calendar	29
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4273
Minguo calendar	ROC 29 民國29年
Nanakshahi calendar	472
Thai solar calendar	2482–2483
Tibetan calendar	ས་མོ་ཡོས་ལོ་ (female Earth-Hare) 2066 or 1685 or 913 — to — ལྕགས་ཕོ་འབྲུག་ལོ་ (male Iron-Dragon) 2067 or 1686 or 914

Wikimedia Commons has media related to1940.

1940 (MCMXL) was aleap year starting on Monday of theGregorian calendar, the 1940th year of theCommon Era (CE) andAnno Domini (AD) designations, the 940th year of the2nd millennium, the 40th year of the20th century, and the 1st year of the1940s decade.

Calendar year

A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until 5280.^[1]

Events

[edit]

Below, events related toWorld War II have the "WWII" prefix.

January

[edit]

Main article:January 1940

January 4 – WWII:Luftwaffe Chief andGeneralfeldmarschall Hermann Göring assumes control of most war industries inGermany, in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan.
January 6 – WWII:Winter War – GeneralSemyon Timoshenko takes command of allSoviet forces.^[2]
January 7 – WWII:Winter War:Battle of Raate Road – Outnumbered Finnish troops decisively defeat Soviet forces.^[3]
January 8 – WWII:
- Winter War:Battle of Suomussalmi – Finnish forces destroy theSoviet 44th Rifle Division.
- Foodrationing in the United Kingdom begins; it will remain in force until1954.
January 9 – WWII: British submarineHMS Starfish is sunk in theHeligoland Bight.
January 10 – WWII:Mechelen incident – A German plane carrying secret plans for the invasion of Western Europe makes a forced landing in Belgium, leading to mobilization of defense forces in theLow Countries.
January 19 –The Three Stooges'You Nazty Spy!, the first Hollywood anti-Nazi comedy film, is released.
January 27 – WWII: A peace resolution introduced in theParliament of South Africa is defeated 81–59.
January 29 – Three gasoline-powered trains carrying factory workers crash and explode while approachingAjikawaguchi Station,Yumesaki Line (Nishinari Line),Osaka, Japan, killing at least 181 people and injuring at least 92.^[4]

February

[edit]

Main article:February 1940

February 2–11 – Scheduled dates for the1940 Winter Olympics inGarmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, cancelled in November 1939 due to WWII (originally allocated toSapporo, Japan).
February 1 – WWII:Winter War – Soviet forces launch a major assault on Finnish troops occupying theKarelian Isthmus.
February 2 –Vsevolod Meyerhold is executed in the Soviet Union on charges of treason and espionage. He is cleared of all charges fifteen years later, in the first waves ofde-Stalinization.
February 10 - The firstTom and Jerry cartoon,Puss Gets the Boot, premiered in theaters
February 15 –Paul Creston'sSaxophone Sonata is officially premiered at theCarnegie Chamber Hall by saxophonistCecil Leeson, who had commissioned it from the composer.^[5]
February 16 – WWII:Altmark incident – British destroyerHMS Cossack pursuesGerman tankerAltmark into theneutral waters ofJøssingfjord in southwesternNorway and frees the 290 British seamen held aboard.^[6]
February 22 – InTibet, province ofAndo, 4-year-oldTenzin Gyatso is proclaimed thetulku (rebirth) of the 13thDalai Lama.
February 27 – Theradioactive isotope carbon-14 is discovered byMartin Kamen andSam Ruben at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.^[7]
February – The last mounted charge by a British cavalry regiment is made when theRoyal Scots Greys are called to quell Arab rioters inMandatory Palestine.^[8]

March

[edit]

Main article:March 1940

March 5 –Katyn massacre: Members of the Soviet Politburo (Joseph Stalin,Vyacheslav Molotov,Lazar Kaganovich,Mikhail Kalinin,Kliment Voroshilov andLavrentiy Beria) sign an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs.
March 11 –Ed Ricketts,John Steinbeck and six others leaveMonterey, California, United States, for theGulf of California, on a marine invertebrate collecting expedition.
March 12 –Moscow Peace Treaty: TheSoviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow, ending theWinter War; Finns, along with the world at large, are shocked by the harsh terms.
March 13 – Indian nationalistUdham Singh assassinates SirMichael O'Dwyer (in revenge for the1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre) atCaxton Hall inLondon, for which he is hanged on 31 July atHM Prison Pentonville.
March 18 – WWII:Axis powers –Adolf Hitler andBenito Mussolini meet atBrenner Pass in theAlps. After being informed by Hitler that the Germans are ready to attack in the west, Mussolini agrees to bring Italy into the war in due course.^[9]
March 21 –Édouard Daladier resigns as Prime Minister of France;Paul Reynaud succeeds him.
March 23 –Pakistan Movement: TheLahore Resolution, calling for greater autonomy for what will becomePakistan inBritish India, is drawn up by theAll-India Muslim League during a three-day general session atIqbal Park,Lahore.
March 30 – WWII: FormerKuomintang member and Chinese foreign minister,Wang Jingwei, announces the creation of theReorganized National Government of the Republic of China inNanjing.
March 31 – WWII:Commerce raiding German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis leaves theWadden Sea for what will become the longest warship cruise of the war (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair).^[10]

April

[edit]

Main article:April 1940

April 3 – WWII:Operation Weserübung – German ships set out for theinvasion of Norway.
April 4 –Neville Chamberlain,UK Prime Minister, in what proves to be a tragic misjudgment, declares in a major public speech thatHitler has "missed the bus".
April 7 –Booker T. Washington becomes the firstAfrican American to be depicted on a United Statespostage stamp.
April 8 – WWII:Operation Wilfred: The British fleet laysnaval mines off the coast of neutral Norway.
April 9 – WWII: Germany invades theneutral countries of Denmark and Norway inOperation Weserübung, opening theNorwegian campaign. The BritishRoyal Navy attempts to attack elements of the German fleet off Norway.Vidkun Quisling proclaims a new collaborationistregime in Norway. TheGerman invasion of Denmark lasts for about six hours, before that country capitulates.
April 10 – WWII:First naval Battle of Narvik – The BritishRoyal Navy attacks the German fleet in theOfotfjord.^[11] AtBergen,German cruiserKönigsberg is sunk by BritishFleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers, flying fromRNAS Hatston inOrkney.
April 12
- TheFaroe Islands areoccupied by British troops, following the German invasion of Denmark. This action is taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, with serious consequences for the course of theBattle of the Atlantic.
- Opening day atJamaica Race Course features the use ofparimutuel betting equipment, a departure frombookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York. Other tracks in the state follow suit later in 1940.
April 13
- WWII:Second naval Battle of Narvik – The BritishRoyal Navy sinks all 8 defending German destroyers in theOfotfjord.
- TheNew York Rangers win the1940 Stanley Cup Finals inice hockey. It will be another54 years before theirnext win in1994.
April 14 – WWII:Norwegian campaign – The first British ground forces land in Norway, atNamsos andHarstad.
April 16 – In American baseball, theCleveland Indians, behindBob Feller'sOpening Day no-hitter, defeat theChicago White Sox, 1–0.
April 23 – TheRhythm Club fire at a dance hall inNatchez, Mississippi, United States, kills 198 people.^[12]
April 27 –Mandatory Palestine andLebanon play anassociation football friendly; it is Lebanon's first official match, and Mandatory Palestine's last before they become Israel in 1948.

May

[edit]

Main article:May 1940

French prisoners of war being marched away from the front, May 1940

May 10 – WWII:
- TheBattle of France begins.
- German forces invade theLow Countries:
  - TheBattle of the Netherlands begins.
  - TheBattle of Belgium begins.
  - TheInvasion of Luxembourg begins.
- The Britishinvasion of Iceland begins.
- With the resignation ofNeville Chamberlain,Winston Churchill becomesPrime Minister of the United Kingdom.
May 13 – WWII:
- Winston Churchill, in his first address as Prime Minister, tells theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, "I have nothing to offer you butblood, toil, tears and sweat."^[13]
- German armies open a 60-mile (97 km) wide breach in theMaginot Line atSedan, France.
May 13–14 – QueenWilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government are evacuated to London, using the British destroyerHMS Hereward.
May 14 – WWII:
- Rotterdam is subjected to savage terror bombing by theLuftwaffe; 980 are killed, and 20,000 buildings destroyed.^[14] GeneralHenri Winkelman announces the surrender of theDutch army (outsideZeeland) to German forces.
- Recruitment begins in Britain for a volunteer home defence force: theLocal Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard.
May 15
- WWII: TheDutch Army formally signs a surrender document.
- Women'sstockings made ofnylon are first placed on sale across the United States. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day.^[15]
May 16 – President of the United StatesFranklin D. Roosevelt, addressing a joint session of theU.S. Congress, asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900,000,000 to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
May 17 – WWII:
- Brussels falls to German forces; the Belgian government flees toOstend.
- Zeeland is overrun by German forces, ending theBattle of the Netherlands and beginning fullGerman occupation of the Netherlands (Noord-Beveland surrenders on May 18, and the remaining Dutch troops are withdrawn fromZeelandic Flanders on May 19).
May 18 – MarshalPhilippe Pétain is named vice-premier of France.^[16]
May 19 – GeneralMaxime Weygand replacesMaurice Gamelin as commander-in-chief of all French forces.
May 20
- WWII: German forces (2ndPanzer Division), under GeneralRudolf Veiel, reachNoyelles on theEnglish Channel.
- The Holocaust: TheNazi concentration camp andextermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the German concentration camps, opens inoccupied Poland, near the town ofOświęcim. From now on until January1945, around 1.1 million people will be killed here.
May 22 – WWII: TheParliament of the United Kingdom passes theEmergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940, giving the government full control over all persons and property.
May 24 – WWII:
- TheAnglo-French Supreme War Council decides to withdraw all forces under its control from Norway.
- Hitler issuesDer Halte Befehl, a stop order preventing hisPanzer divisions advancing on Dunkirk.
May 25 – TheCrypt of Civilization time capsule atOglethorpe University,Brookhaven, Georgia in the United States, is sealed shut, with a projected opening date of 8113CE.
May 26
British troopsevacuated from Dunkirk arrive atDover, May 1940
- WWII: TheDunkirk evacuation of theBritish Expeditionary Force from France begins.
- The first free flight ofIgor Sikorsky'sVought-Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter is made in the United States.
May 27 – WWII:Le Paradis massacre: 97 retreating British soldiers of theRoyal Norfolk Regiment are executed by German troops of3rd SS Panzer DivisionTotenkopf after surrendering in France.
May 28 – WWII:
- (04:00) Surrender of Belgian forces on the orders ofKing Leopold III, ending the 18-dayBattle of Belgium. Leaders of theBelgian government in exile (on French territory at this time) declare Leopold's action to be unconstitutional; he is placed under house arrest by the German occupiers.
- Land battle of Narvik: German forces retire, giving the Allies their first victory on land in the war; however, the British have already decided to evacuateNarvik.
- Winston Churchill warns theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom to "prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings."
- TheWormhoudt massacre (or Wormhout massacre) takes place with the mass murder of 80 British and French POWs by Waffen-SS soldiers from the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during the Battle of France.
May 29 – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of theF4U Corsair U.S. fighter later used in WWII, makes its first flight.

June

[edit]

Main article:June 1940

June 1 – WWII: Rear Admiral SirW. Frederic Wake-Walker's flagship, thedestroyer Keith, is sunk byStukas at Dunkirk.^[17]
June 3
- WWII:Paris is bombed by theLuftwaffe for the first time.
- The Holocaust:Franz Rademacher proposes theMadagascar Plan.
- TheWeather Bureau is transferred to theUnited States Department of Commerce.
June 4 – WWII:
- TheDunkirk evacuation ends: The British and French navies, together with large numbers of civilian vessels from various nations, complete evacuating 300,000 troops fromDunkirk, France to England.
- Winston Churchill tells theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, "We shall not flag or fail.We shall fight on the beaches... on the landing grounds... in the fields and the streets.... We shall never surrender."
June 7 – KingHaakon VII of Norway and his government are evacuated fromTromsø to London, onHMSDevonshire.^[18]
June 10 – WWII:
- Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
- U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech during the graduation ceremonies of theUniversity of Virginia.^[19]
- Canada declares war on Italy.
- TheNorwegian Army surrenders toGerman forces.
- TheFrench government flees toTours.
June 11 – WWII: TheWestern Desert Campaign opens, with British forces crossing theFrontier Wire intoItalian Libya.
June 12 – WWII: 13,000 British and French troops surrender toMajor-General Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, atSaint-Valery-en-Caux.
June 13 – WWII: Paris is declared anopen city.
June 14 – WWII:
- The French government flees toBordeaux, and Paris falls under German occupation.
- U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law, which aims to increase theUnited States Navy's tonnage by 11%.
- A group of 728 Polish political prisoners fromTarnów become the first residents of theAuschwitz concentration camp.
- Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania: The Soviet Union demands that itsRed Army be allowed to enter Lithuania and form a pro-Soviet puppet "People's Government of Lithuania".
June 15 – WWII:
- Occupation of the Baltic states: The Soviet Union occupiesLithuania.
- Verdun falls to German forces.
June 16
- TheChurchill war ministry in the United Kingdom offers aFranco-British Union (inspired byJean Monnet) toPaul Reynaud,Prime Minister of France, in the hope of preventing France from agreeing to anarmistice with Germany, but Reynaud resigns when his own cabinet refuses to accept it.
- TheSturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time, inSturgis, South Dakota.
June 17 – WWII:
Lancastria sinking off Saint-Nazaire as seen from a rescue ship
- Philippe Pétain becomesPrime Minister of France, and immediately asks Germany for peace terms.
- Occupation of the Baltic states: The Soviet Union occupiesEstonia andLatvia.
- Operation Aerial begins:Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- RMS Lancastria, serving as atroopship, is bombed and sunk byLuftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 aircraft, while evacuating British troops and nationals fromSaint-Nazaire in France, with the loss of at least 4,000 lives, the largest single UK loss in any World War II event, immediate news of which is suppressed in the British press.^[20]^[21] DestroyerHMS Beagle (H30) rescues around 600.
June 18 – WWII:
- Winston Churchill tells theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom: "TheBattle of France is over. TheBattle of Britain is about to begin... if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,This was their finest hour."
- Appeal of 18 June: GeneralCharles de Gaulle,de facto leader of theFree French Forces, makes his first broadcast appeal overRadio Londres from London, rallying theFrench Resistance, calling on all French people to continue the fight againstNazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."
June 20 – WWII:Evacuation of civilians from the Channel Islands to England begins.^[22]
June 21 – WWII: The unsuccessfulItalian invasion of France begins with an offensive in the Alps.
June 22
- WWII:Second Armistice at Compiègne: TheFrench Third Republic andNazi Germany sign anarmistice, ending theBattle of France in theForest of Compiègne, in the sameCompagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits railroad car used by MarshalFerdinand Foch to conclude theArmistice with Germany in1918. This divides France into aZone occupée in the north and west, under theMilitary Administration in France (Nazi Germany), and a southernZone libre,Vichy France.
- Albert Einstein gives a public address in the "I'm An American" series, on becoming an American citizen.
June 23 – WWII: German leaderAdolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris, in now-occupied France.^[23]
June 24
- WWII:Vichy France signs armistice terms with Italy.
- WWII:Operation Fish – British Royal Navy cruiserHMS Emerald sails fromGreenock (Scotland) in convoy forHalifax, Nova Scotia (arriving July 1), carrying a large part of thegold reserves of the United Kingdom andsecurities for safe keeping inCanada.^[24]
- United States politics: TheRepublican Party begins itsnational convention inPhiladelphia, and nominatesWendell Willkie as its candidate for president.
June 25 – WWII: After the defeat ofFrance, Hitler plans for an invasion of Switzerland, known asOperation Tannenbaum.
June 26 –Soviet calendar: The Soviet Union reverts to a seven-day week for all purposes.
June 28
- GeneralCharles de Gaulle is officially recognized by Britain as the "Leader of allFree Frenchmen, wherever they may be."
- Romania cedes Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, after an ultimatum.
- TheSmith Act (Alien Registration Act) is signed into United States law, setting criminal penalties for advocating overthrow of the government by force or violence, and requiring all aliens in the U.S. to register with the federal government.^[25]
June 30
- WWII: German forces land inGuernsey, marking the start of the 5-yearOccupation of the Channel Islands.
- Federal government of the United States reorganisation:
  - TheCivil Aeronautics Administration is placed under theDepartment of Commerce.
  - The U.S.Food and Drug Administration is placed under theFederal Security Agency.
  - TheUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service is placed under theDepartment of the Interior.

July

[edit]

Main article:July 1940

July 1 – Thefirst Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8-foot (2.4 m) girder and 190 feet (58 m) above the water, as the third-longestsuspension bridge in the world.
July 2 – WWII: British-ownedSS Arandora Star, carryingcivilian internees andPOWs of Italian and German origin fromLiverpool to Canada, istorpedoed and sunk byGerman submarine U-47 off northwest Ireland, with the loss of around 865 lives.
July 3 – WWII:Attack on Mers-el-Kébir: British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in theAlgerian ports ofMers-el-Kebir andOran, to prevent them from falling into German hands. The following day,Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.
July 5 – WWII:Operation Fish – A British convoy includingHMSBatory sails fromGreenock (Scotland) forHalifax, Nova Scotia, carryinggold bar and other valuables worth $1.7 billion for safe keeping inCanada,^[24] the largest movement of wealth in history.^[26]
July 6
- Story Bridge opens inBrisbane.
- WWII: British submarineHMS Shark is sunk.
July 10 – WWII: TheBattle of Britain air offensive of the GermanLuftwaffe against the BritishRAF Fighter Command begins.
July 11 – WWII:
- British destroyerHMS Escort is torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine.
- Vichy France begins with a constitutional law which onlyeighty members of the parliament vote against.Philippe Pétain becomesPrime Minister of France.
July 14 – WWII:Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, proclaims the intention of Great Britain to fight alone against Germany whatever the outcome: "We shall seek no terms. We shall tolerate no parley. We may show mercy. We shall ask none."
July 15 – U.S. politics: TheDemocratic Party begins its national convention in Chicago, and nominatesFranklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as president.
July 19 – WWII:
- Battle of Cape Spada:HMAS Sydney and five destroyers sink theItalian cruiserBartolomeo Colleoni.2
- Adolf Hitler makes a peace appeal ("appeal to reason") to Britain, in an address to theReichstag. BBC German-language broadcasterSefton Delmer unofficially rejects it at once^[27] andLord Halifax, the British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply onJuly 22.
July 20–August 4 – Scheduled dates for the1940 Summer Olympics inHelsinki, Finland, cancelled in November 1939 due to WWII (originally allocated toTokyo, Japan).
July 21
- After rigged parliamentary elections in the three occupied countries onJuly 14–15, the parliaments proclaim theEstonian,Latvian andLithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics.
- TheMitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft enters service, so named as 1940 roughly corresponds to the year 2600 on the Japanese Imperial calendar.
July 23 –Welles Declaration: United StatesUnder Secretary of State Sumner Welles announces that the U.S. will not accorddiplomatic recognition to theSoviet Union'soccupation of the Baltic states.
July 25 – GeneralHenri Guisan addresses the officer corps of theSwiss army atRütli, resolving to resist any invasion of the country.
July 27
- Eleven British nationals, including Melville James Cox, are arrested on suspicion of spying for military intelligence by thesecret police inJapan. Cox commits suicide inTokyo on July 29, according to a report by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.^[28]
- Bugs Bunny makes his debut in theOscar-nominated cartoon short,A Wild Hare. However, it is not until 1941 that his name is adopted.

August

[edit]

Main article:August 1940

Soldiers of theLithuanian People's Army carrying theSoviet propaganda posters, August 1940

August 1 – WWII: British submarineHMS Spearfish is sunk off the coast of Norway
August 3 – TheLithuanian SSR is annexed into theSoviet Union, followed by theLatvian SSR onAugust 5 and theEstonian SSR August 6, just seven weeks after their occupation. Ethnic Germans will be deported to Germany.
August 3–19 – WWII: TheItalian conquest of British Somaliland is completed.
August 4 – U.S. Gen.John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, whileCharles Lindbergh speaks to anisolationist rally atSoldier Field in Chicago.
August 8 – WWII: German generalWilhelm Keitel signs theAufbau Ost directive, which eventually leads to the invasion of theSoviet Union.
August 10 – WWII: British armed merchant cruiserHMS Transylvania is torpedoed offMalin Head, Ireland, byGerman submarineU-56.
August 13 – WWII:LuftwaffeAdlertag ("Eagle Day") strike on southern England occurs, starting the rapid escalation of theBattle of Britain.
August 15 – Italy, without having declared war on Greece, sinks the Greek boatElli (Έλλη).
August 18
- WWII: "The Hardest Day" in theBattle of Britain: Both sides lose more aircraft combined on this day than at any other point during the campaign, without theLuftwaffe achieving dominance over RAF Fighter Command.
- The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, is installed asGovernor of the Bahamas.^[29]
August 20
- WWII:Winston Churchill pays tribute in theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom to theRoyal Air Force fighter pilots: "Never in the field of human conflict wasso much owed by so many to so few."^[30]
- Leon Trotsky is attacked with anice axe in his Mexico home byNKVD agentRamón Mercader.^[31]
August 24 –Howard Florey and a team includingErnst Chain andNorman Heatley at theSir William Dunn School of Pathology,University of Oxford, publish their laboratory results showing thein vivo bactericidal action ofpenicillin. They have also purified the drug.^[32]^[33]
August 25 – WWII: The firstBombing of Berlin is carried out, by theBritish Royal Air Force.
August 26 – WWII:Chad is the first French colony to proclaim its support for the Allies.
August 30 –Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy compel Romania to cede half ofTransylvania to Hungary.
August 31
- WWII:Texel Disaster: Two British Royal Navydestroyers are sunk by running into aminefield off the coast of the occupied Netherlands with the loss of around 400 men, 300 of them dead.^[34]
- British film starsLaurence Olivier andVivien Leigh are married at theSan Ysidro Ranch inCalifornia.^[35]

September

[edit]

Main article:September 1940

London Underground duringthe Blitz, 1940

September – TheU.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division inArizona,Colorado,New Mexico, andOklahoma), is activated and ordered into federal service for one year, to engage in a training program inFt. Sill andLouisiana, prior to serving in WWII.
September 2 – WWII: TheDestroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and Great Britain is announced, to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work will be transferred to Great Britain. In return, the United States gains 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic,West Indies andBermuda.^[36]
September 4 – WWII:Adolf Hitler'sWinterhilfe speech at theBerlin Sportpalast declares thatNazi Germany will make retaliatory night air raids on British cities and threatens invasion.^[36]
September 5 – WWII:Commerce raiding German auxiliary cruiserKomet enters the Pacific Ocean via theBering Strait, after crossing the Arctic Ocean from theNorth Sea, with the help of Soviet icebreakersLenin,Stalin andKaganovich.^[37]
September 6 – KingCarol II of Romania abdicates and is succeeded by his sonMichael.
September 7
- ThePresident of Paraguay,José Félix Estigarribia, dies in a plane crash.
- Treaty of Craiova:Romania losesSouthern Dobruja toBulgaria.
- WWII:The Blitz –Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London (the first of 57 consecutive nights ofstrategic bombing).
September 9–16 – WWII: TheItalian invasion of Egypt commences from Libya, progressing only as far asSidi Barrani.
September 9
- Treznea massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported bylocal Hungarians, kill 93Romanian civilians inTreznea, Sălaj, a village inNorthern Transylvania, as part of attempts atethnic cleansing.
- George Stibitz first demonstrates the remote operation of a computer, in the United States.
September 12
- InLascaux, France, 17,000-year-oldcave paintings are discovered by a group of young Frenchmen hiking through Southern France. The paintings depict animals, and date to theStone Age.
- The Hercules Munitions Plant inSuccasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
September 14 –Ip massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported bylocal Hungarians, kill 158Romanian civilians inIp, Sălaj, a village inNorthern Transylvania, as part of attempts atethnic cleansing.
September 16 – WWII: TheSelective Training and Service Act of 1940 is signed into law byFranklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
September 17 – WWII:
- Hitler postponesOperation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe), the planned German invasion of Britain, indefinitely.^[38]
- British planes fromHMSIllustrious, backed by battleshipHMSValiant, attack the port ofBenghazi in Libya. Four Italian ships are sunk in the harbour.
September 17–18 – WWII:SS City of Benares istorpedoed byGerman submarine U-48 in the Atlantic, with the loss of 248 of the 406 on board, including child evacuees bound for Canada. This results in cancellation of the BritishChildren's Overseas Reception Board's plan to relocate children overseas.
September 20–22 – WWII:Convoy HX 72, a North Atlantic convoy of 43 ships, is attacked by a German U-boat group (wolfpack), eleven ships of 73 tons are sunk, seven during the second night of the attack by theU-100 under the command ofJoachim Schepke.
September 21 –1940 Australian federal election:Robert Menzies'UAP/Country Coalition Government is re-elected as aminority government, narrowly defeating theLabor Party led byJohn Curtin. It is the last federal election to result in a minority government until2010.
September 22 –French Indochina in World War II: Japan and the colonial Vichy government ofFrench Indochina sign an agreement permitting certain numbers of Japanese troops into the country (with rights for three airfields) to blockade China. There immediately follows aJapanese invasion of French Indochina, in which a group of Japanese officers takeĐồng Đăng andLam Sơn, with 40 Franco-Vietnamese troops killed and around 1,000 deserting. Fighting dies down on September 26.^[39]
September 23–25 – WWII:Battle of Dakar – Naval forces ofFree France and Britain fail to take the port ofDakar inFrench West Africa fromVichy France.
September 25 –Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany: GermanReichskommissarJosef Terboven appoints a provisional council of state from the pro-NaziNasjonal Samling party, underVidkun Quisling, as a puppet government for Norway.
September 26 – The U.S. government places anembargo on the exportation of scrap iron and steel to any country outside the Western Hemisphere excluding Britain, effective October 16.^[40]
September 27 – WWII: Germany, Italy and Japan sign theTripartite Pact.
September 30 (night toOctober 1) –Arsonists from theHitler Youth destroy theGreat Synagogue of Strasbourg.

October

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Main article:October 1940

*Wait for Me, Daddy*, a photo taken byClaude P. Dettloff of theBritish Columbia Regiment marching inNew Westminster, October 1940

October 1 – The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the United States' first long-distancecontrolled-access highway, is opened.
October 9 – The Lead Singer ofThe Beatles,John Lennon was born.
October 11 – Portuguese-born performerCarmen Miranda makes her American film debut inDown Argentine Way, one of the first films produced to promote theGood Neighbor policy.
October 14 – WWII: At least 66 people are killed when aLuftwaffe bomb penetratesBalham station on theLondon Underground which is in use as anair-raid shelter duringThe Blitz on England.
October 15 –Charlie Chaplin'sThe Great Dictator, a satirical anti-fascist comedy film, premieres in New York City. Written, directed, produced by and starring Chaplin as his first true sound film, it is a critical and commercial success and goes on to become Chaplin's most financially successful work. Filming began in September 1939.
October 16
- The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.
- Nazi Governor-GeneralHans Frank establishes theWarsaw Ghetto.
October 18–19 – WWII: Thirty-two ships are sunk fromConvoy SC 7 andConvoy HX 79 by the most effective "wolfpack" of the war, includingOtto Kretschmer,Günther Prien andJoachim Schepke.
October 26–28 – WWII:RMS Empress of Britain, serving as atroopship under the British flag, is bombed, torpedoed and sunk off theDonegal coast, with the loss of 45 lives. At 42,348GRT, she is the war's largest merchant ship loss.
October 28 – WWII:Greco-Italian War begins when Italian troops invade Greece, meeting strong resistance from Greek troops and civilians. This action signals the start of theBalkan Campaign.
October 29 – TheSelective Service System lottery is held in Washington, D.C..

November

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Main article:November 1940

November – InCambodia, theKhmer Issarak is formed to overthrow theFrench Army within the country.
November 2–8 – WWII:Greco-Italian War –Battle of Elaia–Kalamas inEpirus: OutnumberedGreek forces repel theItalian Army.
November 2 –German submarineU-69 is commissioned, the firstType VIIC U-boat ofNazi Germany'sKriegsmarine, which will become its most numerous class, with 568 commissioned during the War.
November 5
- 1940 United States presidential election:Democrat incumbentFranklin D. Roosevelt decisively defeatsRepublican challengerWendell Willkie, and becomes the United States' first and only third-term president.
- WWII: AlliedConvoy HX 84 is attacked byGerman cruiserAdmiral Scheer in the North Atlantic; the sacrifice of escorting Britisharmed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay under Capt.Edward Fegen andSS Beaverford enables a majority of the ships (including tankerMV San Demetrio) to escape.
November 6 –Agatha Christie's mystery novelAnd Then There Were None is published in book form, in the United States.
November 7 – InTacoma, Washington, the 600-foot (180 m)-long center span of theTacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapses.
November 8 – WWII:MS City of Rayville is sunk by a naval mine offCape Otway, Australia (the firstUnited States Merchant Marine loss of the war).
November 9 –Joaquín Rodrigo'sConcierto de Aranjuez for classical guitar and orchestra premieres inBarcelona, Spain.
November 10
- 1940 Vrancea earthquake: An earthquake inRomania kills 1,000.
- The 2600th Anniversary Celebrations of the Japanese Empire

November 11
- WWII: The BritishRoyal Navy launches the firstaircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italianbattleship fleet anchored atTaranto Naval Base.
- WWII:German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis capturestop secret British mail intended for theBritish Far East Command from theSS Automedon, and sends it to Japan.
- Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in theMidwestern United States.
November 12 – WWII: TheBattle of Gabon, begun on October 27, concludes withFree French Forces taking control of the colony ofGabon and the remainder ofFrench Equatorial Africa from theVichy regime.^[41]
November 13 – TheWalt Disney animated filmFantasia, the first commercial film shown instereophonic sound, has its world premiere at theBroadway Theatre in New York City. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it recoups its cost years later and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
November 14 – WWII:Coventry Blitz – The city centre ofCoventry, England is destroyed by 500Luftwaffe bombers; 150,000fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed. The city's cathedral is gutted.
November 15 –Abbott and Costello make their film debut, inOne Night in the Tropics.
November 16
- WWII: In response to Germany levellingCoventry 2 days before, theRoyal Air Force begins to bombHamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents will have died fromAllied attacks).
- An unexplodedpipe bomb is found in theConsolidated Edison office building (only in 1957 later is the culprit, former employeeGeorge Metesky, apprehended).
- TheJamaica Association of Local Government Officers is founded.
November 17 – TheTartu Art Museum is established inTartu,Estonia.^[42]
November 18 – WWII: German leaderAdolf Hitler and Italian Foreign MinisterGaleazzo Ciano meet to discussBenito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
November 20–24 – WWII:Hungary,Romania andSlovakia join theAxis powers.
November 25
- Patria disaster: As British authorities attempt to deportJewish refugees (originating fromGerman-occupied Europe) fromMandatory Palestine toMauritius, aboard the requisitioned emigrant linerSS Patria atHaifa, the Jewish paramilitary organizationHaganah sinks the ship with a bomb, killing around 250 refugees and crew.
- Thede Havilland Mosquito andMartin B-26 Marauder military aircraft both make their first flights.
- Woody Woodpecker makes his debut in the animated short,Knock Knock. It is not until 1941 that his current name is adopted.
November 26–27 –Jilava Massacre: InRomania, coup leader GeneralIon Antonescu'sIron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled KingCarol II of Romania's aides, starting at a penitentiary nearBucharest. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historianNicolae Iorga.
November 27 – WWII:Battle of Cape Spartivento: The BritishRoyal Navy and ItalianRegia Marina battle to a draw.
November 30 – TheBattle of South Guangxi (Second Sino-Japanese War) concludes after a year with the Japanese retiring having attained their strategic objectives; however, theCentral Hubei Operation concludes after five days leaving many Japanese dead.^[43]

December

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Main article:December 1940

December –Timely Comics'Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941),first appearance ofCaptain America andBucky, hits newsstands in the United States.
December 1 –Manuel Ávila Camacho takes office asPresident of Mexico.
December 6 – British submarineHMS Regulus is sunk nearTaranto.
December 8 – TheChicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory inNational Football League history, defeat theWashington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
December 9 – WWII:Operation Compass – British forces in North Africa begin their first major offensive, with an attack on Italian forces atSidi Barrani,Egypt.
December 12 andDecember 15 – WWII:Sheffield Blitz ("Operation Crucible") – TheYorkshire steelmaking city ofSheffield in England is badly damaged by German air-raids.
December 14 – WWII:
- British destroyersHMS Hereward andHMS Hyperion sink an Italian submarine offBardia.
- Royal NavyFairey Swordfish based onMalta bombTripoli.
- Plutonium is first synthesized in the laboratory, by a team led byGlenn T. Seaborg andEdwin McMillan, at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.
December 16 – WWII:Operation Abigail Rachel – TheRAF bombsMannheim.
December 17 – President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain, which will become known asLend-Lease.
December 23 – WWII:Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the people of Italy, blamesBenito Mussolini for leading his nation to war against the British, contrary to Italy's historic friendship with them: "One man has arrayed the trustees and inheritors of ancient Rome upon the side of the ferocious pagan barbarians."
December 24 –Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual non-violence leader, writes his second letter toAdolf Hitler, addressing him as "My friend", and requesting him to stop the war Germany had begun.
December 25 – The German cruiserAdmiral Hipper attacks a British shipping convoy (WS 5A) en route toSierra Leone 700 miles (1,100 km) west ofCape Finisterre inSpain.Admiral Hipper sinks one ship but has to withdraw with engine trouble.
December 27 – WWII: German auxiliary cruiserKomet shells and heavily damages the phosphate production facilities on the Pacific island ofNauru (under Australian protection at this time) while flying the Japanese flag. The bombardment lasts an hour and causes the loss of 13,000 tons of oil.
December 29
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, in afireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."
- WWII: "Second Great Fire of London" – TheLuftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid, starting 1,500 fires. Many famous buildings, including theGuildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.

Date unknown

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Ansul Fire School is founded inMarinette, Wisconsin.^[44]
In Korea, theHunminjeongeum (1446) is discovered, explaining the basis of theHangul alphabet.
Walter Knott begins construction of a Californiaghost town replica, which soon evolves intoKnott's Berry Farm.