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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.



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