1940 TIMELINE
Unsorted 1940 Events [Bottom]
JANUARY
Top
00 - |Holocaust ?+| Quote from
Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher
08 - Rationing begins in Britain.
25 - |Holocaust|
Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as site of new
concentration camp.
FEBRUARY
Top
12 - |Holocaust| First deportation of
German Jews into occupied Poland.
MARCH
Top
06 - Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union ends. Finland
loses 10% territory.
12 - Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.
16 - |WW II ?| Germans bomb
Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.
APRIL
Top
09 - |WW II ?| Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
14 - |WW II| British forces land in Norway.
19 - |WW II| Stojadinovic arrested in connection with alleged Nazi plot to overthrow Yugoslav government
30 - |Holocaust|
The Lodz Ghetto in occupied Poland is sealed off from the outside world with
230,000 Jews locked inside.
MAY
Top
01 - |Holocaust|
Rudolf Höss is chosen to be kommandant of Auschwitz.
10 - |WW II ?| Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
10 - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns and
Winston Churchill +¢ becomes British Prime Minister.
15 - |WW II| Holland surrenders to Germany.
26 - |WW II| Beginning of the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk.
28 - |WW II| Belgium surrenders to Germany.
JUNE
Top
03 - |WW II ?| Germans bomb Paris
03 - |WW II| Dunkirk evacuation ends.
10 - |WW II| Norway surrenders to the Nazis.
10 - |WW II| Italy declares war on Allies
27 - |WW II| The Soviet Union acquires Bessarabia and northern Bukovina
14 - |WW II| Germans enter Paris.
16 - |WW II| Marshal Pétain becomes French Prime Minister.
18 - |WW II| Hitler ?+ and
Mussolini + meet in Munich
18 - |WW II| Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States.
22 - |WW II| France signs an armistice with the Nazis.
23 - |WW II| Hitler tours Paris.
24 - |WW II| France signs armistice with Italy.
25 - |US| Fair Employement Practice Committee (FEPC) is set up to reduce
discrimination in government employment and in defense industries.
28 - |WW II| Britain recognizes Gen. Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
JULY
Top
00 - Eichmann's Madagascar Plan presented, proposing to deport all European Jews
to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of east Africa.
01 - |WW II ?| German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.
05 - |WW II| French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain.
17 - The first anti-Jewish measures are taken in Vichy France.
23 - |WW II| Soviets take
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Communist terror
begins.
AUGUST
Top
00 - 1st Conference of Croatian KP
03 - |WW II ?| Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.
[u.19]
08 - Romania introduces anti-Jewish measures restricting education and
employment, then later begins "Romanianization" of Jewish businesses.
13 - |WW II| The Battle of Britain begins
13 - |WW II| German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.
15 - |WW II| Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.
17 - |WW II| Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.
23/24 - |WW II| First German air raids on Central London.
25/26 - |WW II| First British air raid on Berlin.
SEPTEMBER
Top
03 - |WW II ?| Hitler plans Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain).
06 - Karol II abdicates and flees Romania; his son, Michael, becomes king
07 - Romania cedes southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria
07 - |WW II| German Blitz against England begins.
13 - |WW II| Italians invade Egypt.
15 - |WW II| Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff,
Liverpool and Manchester.
16 - |US| Selective Service Act
passed [First big birth rise: 9 months after introduction].
20 - Restrictions imposed on Jews in Yugoslavia
27 - |WW II| Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
27 - |WW II| British win battle of Britain.
OCTOBER
Top
00 - Tito confirmed as political secretary of KPJ at 5th KPJ conference at
Zagreb
03 - Vichy France passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.
07 - |WW II ?| German troops
enter Romania.
11 - Lluís Companys, President of Generalitat of Catalonia, is shot at
Montjuďc Castle, Barcelona.
12 - |WW II| Germans postpone Operation Sealion until Spring of 1941.
17 - |WW II| Bulgaria consents to
eventual placement of German troops for attack
on Greece
19 - Commercial agreement between Yugoslavia and Greece
22 - Deportation of 29,000 German Jews from Baden, the Saar, and Alsace-Lorraine into Vichy France.
25 - |WW II| USSR offers Bulgaria
mutual-assistance pact
28 - |WW II| Italy attacks Greece
28 - |WW II| British troops arrive
in Greece.
NOVEMBER
Top
00 - Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia become Nazi Allies.
00 - |Holocaust| The Krakow Ghetto
is sealed off containing 70,000 Jews.
01 - |WW II ?| Yugoslavia
declares neutrality in conflict between Italy and Greece
04 - Police close Zbor headquarters in Belgrade
05 - |WW II| Limited Italian
bombings hit southern Serbia; Prince Pavle dismisses Nedic
05 - Roosevelt elected to 3rd term as president defeating Wendell L.
Wilkie, in first election with significant Negro voters.
10/11 - |WW II| A torpedo bomber
raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
14 - |WW II| Greece launches
counteroffensive in an attempt to drive Italy back
into Albania
14/15 - |WW II| Germans bomb
Coventry, England.
15 - |Holocaust| The Warsaw Ghetto, containing over 400,000 Jews, is sealed off.
20 - |WW II| Hungary joins the
Axis Powers.
22 - |WW II| Greeks defeat the
Italian 9th Army.
23 - |WW II| Romania joins the Axis
Powers.
DECEMBER
Top
09/10 - |WW II ?| British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
11 - Yugoslavia and Hungary sign peace and friendship treaty
20 - |USA ?|
The Office of Production Management is set up to coordinate defense manufacturing and supply
material aid to Great Britain. This will eventually invigorate the United States economy.
29 - |USA|
During a Fireside Chat, FDR declares that the U.S. should become
an "arsenal of democracy" against the Axis threat.
29/30 - |WW II| Massive German
air raid on London.
TOP
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