1940 - What happened in 1940 ?

January 1940

Friday 05:

FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time.

Saturday 06:

Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the city of Poznan, Warthegau.

Friday 12:

World War II: Russia bombs cities in Finland.

February 1940

Friday 02:

Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.

Wednesday 07:

Pinocchio, an Academy Award-winning animated feature based on the story Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, was first released by Walt Disney Productions.

Friday 16:

Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, was boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.

Friday 23:

The animated movie Pinocchio is released.

Thursday 29:

Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations

March 1940

Sunday 03:

Five people are killed in a arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.

Wednesday 06:

Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.

Tuesday 12:

Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.

Wednesday 13:

Winter War ended.

Saturday 30:

Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking to be the capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.

April 1940

Sunday 07:

Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

Sunday 14:

Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, occupying key points, preparatory to a larger force arriving two days later.

Monday 15:

The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Tuesday 23:

A fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi kills 198 people.

Wednesday 24:

World War II: Operation Demon – The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.

May 1940

Wednesday 01:

The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.

Friday 10:

World War II: Winston Churchill appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Tuesday 14:

World War II: The Netherlands surrender to Germany.

Friday 24:

Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.

Monday 27:

World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knochlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.

June 1940

Monday 03:

World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German tactical victory and with Allied forces in full evacuation.

Tuesday 04:

The Destroyer War Badge for Kriegsmarine was instituted.

Tuesday 11:

World War II: First attack of the Italian Airforce on the island of Malta.

Monday 24:

France and Italy sign an armistice.

Wednesday 26:

World War II: Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and northern part of Bukovina.

July 1940

Wednesday 10:

The German Luftwaffe begin to hit British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).

Sunday 14:

World War II: Andrew George Latta McNaughton takes command of the 7th Army Corps consisting of British, Canadian and New Zealand troops.

Friday 19:

World War II: Battle of Cape Spada between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualities.

Saturday 20:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act.

Saturday 27:

Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.

August 1940

Saturday 03:

Second World War: Italy invades British Somaliland.

Tuesday 13:

The Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.

Tuesday 20:

Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice-ax. He will die the next day.

Friday 23:

World War II: The Germans start bombing London.

Monday 26:

Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.

September 1940

Wednesday 11:

George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.

Thursday 12:

The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.

Friday 13:

Italy invades Egypt.

Sunday 15:

World War II: The Battle of Britain ends with a Royal Air Force victory over the Luftwaffe.

Tuesday 24:

Baseball: Jimmie Foxx becomes the second member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

October 1940

Tuesday 01:

The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.

Monday 07:

Germany invades Romania.

Wednesday 09:

During a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb.

Monday 28:

World War II: Italy invades Greece.

Thursday 31:

The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Great Britain.

November 1940

Wednesday 13:

The animated feature-length film Fantasia is released.

Saturday 16:

New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.

Monday 18:

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.

Wednesday 27:

In Romania, General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II of Romania's aides, including former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga. Mediterranean Sea: battle of Cape Spartivento between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina

Saturday 30:

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are married in Greenwich, Connecticut.

December 1940

Monday 09:

British Army attacks Italian forces in North Africa

Sunday 29:

Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians

Monday 30:

California opens its first freeway: the Arroyo Seco Parkway.