1940

The world war had started a year earlier. The ministry of information of the United Kingdom began printing a series of propaganda posters called Careless Talk Costs Lives.

1940

The ‘What a Farm Wife Painted’ exhibition by Grandma Moses opened the Otto Kallir’s Gallery in New York. As the war raged on, German forces took Paris on June 14. The Germans imposed a curfew on Parisians for 8 p.m. that same evening. By the time the German tanks entered the French capital, a large population had fled the city. The United States of America froze the assets of Axis powers members, Germany and Italy. The Germans arrested, interrogated and sent spies into the city. All through the invasion of Paris, the Germans flew a large swastika.

Life went on despite the terror of the World War II. On September 12, two boys discovered the Lascaux cave paintings near the French town of Montignac by four teenagers. The over 600 drawings and paintings are close to 17,000 years old that mostly depict animals are the earliest art forms from the Upper Paleolithic period. The paintings are in a cavern 16 feet high and 66 feet wide. The caverns also include around 1500 engravings.

On November 27, one of the greatest actors and martial arts experts, Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, California. A year later, the Lee family returned to their home in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee grew up as a child actor and starred in 20 films. Bruce Lee studied dancing and the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu. Bruce Lee later returned to America, started a martial arts school in Seattle, and even taught martial arts to the legendary actor, Steve McQueen.

As at 1940, the world was at its roughest times as the Second World War raged on. This year also saw the increase of female workers from 27% to 37% and one in every four married women was working.

Discover how the world looked like in 1940

Looking for 1940 Calendar ? Here it is: January 1940, February 1940, March 1940, April 1940, May 1940, June 1940, July 1940, August 1940, September 1940, October 1940, November 1940, December 1940

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Oscar

Oscar Winners

All Academy Awards Prize winners of the 13th edition of the Oscar ceremony


Best picture

Rebecca

Rebecca

Rebecca

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson

Country: United States of America

Best director

John Ford

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Best actor

James Stewart

The Philadelphia Story

The Philadelphia Story

Directed by: George Cukor

Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey

Country: United States of America

Best actress

Ginger Rogers

Kitty Foyle

Kitty Foyle

Directed by: Sam Wood

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli

Country: United States of America

Best supporting actress

Jane Darwell

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Directed by: John Ford

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin

Country: United States of America

world population

Time Person of the Year

Who was the person of the year of 1940?


Winston Churchill
Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain.

1940 Chinese Zodiac and Horoscope

According to the Chinese Zodiac and Astrology 1940 is the year of the Dragon

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vinyl songs

Music charts

Which were the top hits of 1940?


Top #1 songs in the USA

  • - We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, And Me)
  • - Beat Me, Daddy, Eight To The Bar

Movies

Which were the most popular Movies released in those months?
Watch popular movies, TV series and live events, start your 30-day free trial

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

Release year: 1940

Directed by: Raaghav Vinay Shivagange

The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator

Release year: 1940

Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Starring: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner

Country: United States of America

The Shop Around the Corner

The Shop Around the Corner

Release year: 1940

Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch

Starring: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut

Country: United States of America

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Release year: 1940

Directed by: John Ford

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin

Country: United States of America

Rebecca

Rebecca

Release year: 1940

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson

Country: United States of America

Popular names

Which were the top popular names given to babies born in 1940 in the USA ?

history

Historical Events

Which were the important events of 1940?


Events

  • 03 Jan 1940 WPG-AM in Atlantic City, New Jersey consolidates with WBIL andWOV as new WOV
  • 04 Jan 1940 WWII: Axis powers: Luftwaffe General Hermann Göring assumes control of most war industries in Germany.
  • 05 Jan 1940 FCC hears 1st transmission of FM radio with clear, static-free signal
  • 06 Jan 1940 WWII: Winter War: General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Russian forces.
  • 08 Jan 1940 World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
  • 09 Jan 1940 WWII British submarine is sunk.
  • 10 Jan 1940 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 the Low Countries.
  • 14 Jan 1940 Commissioner Kenesaw Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers.
  • 21 Jan 1940 Foreign correspondents in the Netherlands under censorship
  • 22 Jan 1940 1st radio broadcast of Road to Happiness on CBS
  • 23 Jan 1940 Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes premier of Polish government in exile.
  • 26 Jan 1940 Brisbane, Australia swelters through its hottest day ever, 43.2 degrees Celsius (109.76 Fahrenheit).
  • 27 Jan 1940 -17 degrees F (-27 degrees C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia, USA (state record).
  • 29 Jan 1940 Three trains on the Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. 181 people are killed.
  • 30 Jan 1940 Cor Jongert wins 6th Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race.
  • 31 Jan 1940 40 U-boats sunk this month
  • 01 Feb 1940 Russia begins new offensive against Finland.
  • 02 Feb 1940 Vsevolod Meyerhold is executed in the Soviet Union on charges of treason and espionage. He is cleared of all charges 15 years later in the first waves of de-Stalinization
  • 05 Feb 1940 Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record Tuxedo Junction
  • 07 Feb 1940 British railroads are nationalized.
  • 08 Feb 1940 Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
  • 09 Feb 1940 Joe Louis beats Arturo Godoy in 15 rounds for heavyweight boxing title.
  • 10 Feb 1940 In The Mood by Glenn Miller hits #1
  • 14 Feb 1940 British merchant vessel fleet is armed.
  • 16 Feb 1940 British search plane finds German Altmark off Norway
  • 17 Feb 1940 British destroyers board German Altmark off Norway
  • 20 Feb 1940 Larry Clinton and his Orchestra record Limehouse Blues
  • 22 Feb 1940 German air force sinks two German destroyers, killing 578.
  • 23 Feb 1940 Russian troops conquer Lasi Island.
  • 24 Feb 1940 Frances Langford records When You Wish Upon a Star
  • 25 Feb 1940 1st televised (W2XBS, NYC) hockey game
  • 26 Feb 1940 US Air Defense Command established at Mitchell Field, Long Island, New York.
  • 28 Feb 1940 1st televised basketball game
  • 29 Feb 1940 Gone with the Wind, wins 8 Oscars
  • 01 Mar 1940 12th Academy Awards: Gone With the Wind, Robert Donat and Vivien Leigh win.
  • 02 Mar 1940 Soviet armies conquer Tuppura Island, Finland.
  • 03 Mar 1940 Artie Shaw records Frenesi on RCA Victor label
  • 05 Mar 1940 Members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.
  • 06 Mar 1940 First US telecast from an airplane, New York City, New York.
  • 07 Mar 1940 Ray Steele beats B Nagurski in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, to become wrestling champion.
  • 10 Mar 1940 1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci
  • 11 Mar 1940 Ed Ricketts, John Steinbeck and six others leave Monterey, California for The Sea of Cortez on a collecting expedition.
  • 12 Mar 1940 Finland surrenders to Russia during WWII, gives Karelische Isthmus
  • 13 Mar 1940 Finland-Russian cease fire signed, Finland gives up Karelische
  • 14 Mar 1940 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen, Texas, USA.
  • 16 Mar 1940 First person killed in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, James Isbister.
  • 18 Mar 1940 World War II: Axis Powers : Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
  • 19 Mar 1940 French government of Edouard Daladier falls.
  • 21 Mar 1940 Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France Paul Reynaud succeeds him.
  • 23 Mar 1940 All-India-Muslim League calls for a Muslim homeland.
  • 26 Mar 1940 Ernest Hemingway and Benjamin Glazer premiere in New York City
  • 29 Mar 1940 Joe Louis knocks out Johnny Paycheck in two rounds to retain heavyweight boxing title.
  • 31 Mar 1940 Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes 12th Soviet republic (lasts until 1956).
  • 02 Apr 1940 Walt Disney Productions first offers shares in the company to the public. 155,000 shares of preferred stock are offered at US$25 per share, and 600,000 of common stock for US$5 per share. US$3.5 million is raised from the stock offering.
  • 03 Apr 1940 WWII: Operation ''Weserübung'': German ships set out for the invasion of Norway.
  • 05 Apr 1940 Neville Chamberlain, in what proves to be a tragic misjudgment, declares in a major public speech that Hitler has quotmissed the busquot.
  • 07 Apr 1940 1st black to appear on US stamp
  • 08 Apr 1940 Germany battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious
  • 09 Apr 1940 Germany invades Norway and Denmark during WWII
  • 10 Apr 1940 Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian national government
  • 12 Apr 1940 NFL cuts clipping penalty from 25 yards to 15 yards.
  • 13 Apr 1940 2nd battle of Narvik-8 German destroyers, destroyed
  • 14 Apr 1940 Allied troops land in Norway
  • 15 Apr 1940 British troops land at Narvik, Norway.
  • 16 Apr 1940 Cleveland Indians' Bob Feller hurls an opening day no-hitter versus Chicago, 1-0.
  • 19 Apr 1940 Lake Shore Ltd train derails, killing 34 near Little Falls, New York.
  • 20 Apr 1940 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 21 Apr 1940 Netherlands beats Belgium 4-2 in soccer.
  • 22 Apr 1940 Rear Admiral Joseph Taussig testifies before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable (He was right).
  • 23 Apr 1940 New York Yankees dedicate a plaque to Jacob Rupert.
  • 27 Apr 1940 Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp
  • 28 Apr 1940 Glenn Miller records Pennsylvania 6-5000
  • 29 Apr 1940 1st radio broadcast of Young Dr Malone on CBS
  • 30 Apr 1940 Brooklyn Dodgers' Tex Carleton no-hits Cincinnati Reds, 3-0.
  • 01 May 1940 The 1940 Olympics are cancelled.
  • 04 May 1940 21 not neutral Nazis and communists arrested in the Netherlands
  • 05 May 1940 Norwegian Government in exile forms in London, England.
  • 06 May 1940 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck
  • 07 May 1940 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
  • 09 May 1940 World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks the French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
  • 10 May 1940 Dutch torpedo boat Johan van Galen sinks
  • 11 May 1940 66th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6.
  • 12 May 1940 German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug.
  • 13 May 1940 Churchill says "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat".
  • 14 May 1940 Admiral Furstner departs to England
  • 15 May 1940 1st nylon stockings sold in US
  • 16 May 1940 Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris
  • 17 May 1940 Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins invasion of France
  • 18 May 1940 German troops conquer Brussels
  • 19 May 1940 Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time).
  • 20 May 1940 Gen Guderians tanks reach The Channel
  • 21 May 1940 Allied counter-attack at Atrecht, North-France.
  • 22 May 1940 Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Germans.
  • 23 May 1940 1st great dogfight between Spitfires
  • 24 May 1940 1st night game at St. Louis Sportsman Park
  • 25 May 1940 German troops conquer Boulogne
  • 26 May 1940 Operation Dynamo begins evacuating defeated Allied troops from Dunkirk
  • 27 May 1940 British and French begin evacuation of Dunkirk
  • 28 May 1940 Belgium surrenders to Germany, King Leopold III gives himself up
  • 29 May 1940 In WWII, Germans capture Ostend andYpres in Belgium andLille in France
  • 01 Jun 1940 Coffee and tea rationed in Holland
  • 02 Jun 1940 Heavy German bombing on Dunkirk beach
  • 03 Jun 1940 Last British / French troop leave Dunkirk
  • 04 Jun 1940 1st night game at Forbes Field
  • 05 Jun 1940 American Negro Theater organizes
  • 07 Jun 1940 British / French troops evacuate Narvik
  • 08 Jun 1940 72nd Belmont: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 2:29.6
  • 09 Jun 1940 44th US Golf Open: Lawson Little shoots a 287 at Canterbury Golf Club - Ohio
  • 10 Jun 1940 French government moves to Bordeaux
  • 11 Jun 1940 Italy declares war on allies / raids Malta
  • 12 Jun 1940 World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Major General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
  • 13 Jun 1940 WWII: Paris is declared an open city.
  • 14 Jun 1940 Auschwitz concentration camp opens
  • 15 Jun 1940 38 Italians Fiat bombers bomb Luc-and-Province
  • 16 Jun 1940 General De Gaulle arrives in Bordeaux
  • 17 Jun 1940 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WWII
  • 18 Jun 1940 Gen Charles de Gaulle on BBC tells French to defy Nazi occupiers
  • 19 Jun 1940 Brenda Starr, 1st cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago
  • 20 Jun 1940 Joe Louis TKOs Arturo Godoy in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
  • 21 Jun 1940 German occupiers disband Dutch States-General / Council of State
  • 22 Jun 1940 France falls to Nazi Germany; armistice signed, France disarms
  • 23 Jun 1940 Marcel Louette seeks opposition group White Brigade on Antwerp
  • 24 Jun 1940 France signs an armistice with Italy during WWII
  • 25 Jun 1940 Adolf Hitler views Eiffel tower and grave of Napoleon in France
  • 26 Jun 1940 End of the USSR experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6 / 27
  • 27 Jun 1940 Soviet Army attacks Romania
  • 28 Jun 1940 Quiz Kids? premieres on radio.
  • 29 Jun 1940 Anjer (Carnation) Day-anniversary of Prince Bernhard
  • 30 Jun 1940 Brenda Starr cartoon strip, by Dale Messick, 1st appears
  • 01 Jul 1940 Australia refuses entry to Dutch Jewish refugees
  • 02 Jul 1940 Dutch Prime Minister Colijn publishes Borders of 2 Worlds
  • 03 Jul 1940 ARP-leader / ex-premier Colijn argues cooperation with Germany
  • 04 Jul 1940 British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die
  • 05 Jul 1940 Diplomatic relations broken between Great Britain and Vichy government in France.
  • 06 Jul 1940 British submarine is sunk.
  • 09 Jul 1940 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
  • 10 Jul 1940 Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces attacked by air
  • 11 Jul 1940 British and German dogfight above Lyme Bay
  • 14 Jul 1940 Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmet with earflaps
  • 15 Jul 1940 Nazi occupiers seize library of IISG Amsterdam
  • 18 Jul 1940 British government signs Bruma law under Japanese pressure
  • 19 Jul 1940 Hitler orders Great Britain to surrenders
  • 20 Jul 1940 Germany occupiers forbid Dutch Communist Party (CPN) in the Netherlands
  • 21 Jul 1940 Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
  • 22 Jul 1940 Dutch Prime Minister De Geer meets Hitler seeking peace talks
  • 23 Jul 1940 Blitz all-night air raid by German bombers on London begins
  • 24 Jul 1940 1st illegal Newsletter of Pieter It Hen publishes in the Netherlands
  • 25 Jul 1940 John Sigmund begins swimming for 89 hours 46 minutes in the Mississippi River
  • 27 Jul 1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts.
  • 28 Jul 1940 Radio Orange, London begins
  • 29 Jul 1940 Urk soccer team forms
  • 31 Jul 1940 38 U-boats sinks this month
  • 01 Aug 1940 WWII: British submarine is sunk.
  • 02 Aug 1940 Clermont-Ferrand sentences General Charles de Gaulle to death
  • 03 Aug 1940 German occupiers forbid ritual slaughters and English and French movies
  • 04 Aug 1940 Gen. John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, while Charles Lindbergh speaks to an isolationist rally at Soldier Field in Chicago.
  • 05 Aug 1940 Acquaintance blows-up Zandvoortse synagouge
  • 06 Aug 1940 Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire
  • 07 Aug 1940 Churchill recognizes De Gaulle government in exile
  • 08 Aug 1940 31 German aircrafts shot down over England
  • 10 Aug 1940 Prince Bernhard Fund forms
  • 11 Aug 1940 38 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 12 Aug 1940 Luftwaffe bombs British radar stations, loses 31 aircrafts
  • 13 Aug 1940 Germany air attack on South England
  • 14 Aug 1940 Dutch Premier De Geer vacations in Switzerland
  • 15 Aug 1940 1st edition of Jewish Weekly newspaper in Amsterdam
  • 16 Aug 1940 45 German aircrafts shot down over England
  • 17 Aug 1940 FDR and Canadian Prime Minister William M King agree to joint defense commission
  • 18 Aug 1940 71 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 19 Aug 1940 First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
  • 20 Aug 1940 1st Polish squadrons fight along in the Battle of Britain
  • 21 Aug 1940 Leon Trotsky dies of injuries sustained.
  • 23 Aug 1940 German Luftwaffe begins night bombing on London
  • 24 Aug 1940 Luftwaffe bombs London
  • 25 Aug 1940 1st (British) night bombing of Germany (Berlin)
  • 26 Aug 1940 RKC soccer team forms in Waalwijk
  • 27 Aug 1940 Caproni-Campini CC-2, experimental jet plane, maiden flight (Milan).
  • 28 Aug 1940 French colonies Cameroon / Congo-Brazzaville support General De Gaulle
  • 29 Aug 1940 7th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Green Bay 45, All-Stars 28
  • 30 Aug 1940 The Second Vienna Award re-assigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.
  • 31 Aug 1940 1st edition pf illegal opposition newspaper Free Netherlands
  • 01 Sep 1940 Gen George Marshall sworn in as Chief of Staff of US army
  • 02 Sep 1940 23rd PGA Championship: Byron Nelson at Hershey Country Club - Hershey, Pennsylvania
  • 03 Sep 1940 39.4 CM rainfall at Sapulpa Oklahoma
  • 04 Sep 1940 CBS begins broadcasting TV as station W2XAB
  • 05 Sep 1940 WWII: Commerce raiding German auxiliary cruiser ''Komet'' enters the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait after crossing the Arctic Ocean from the North Sea with the help of Soviet icebreakers ''Lenin'', ''Stalin'', and ''Kaganovich''.
  • 06 Sep 1940 Crown Prince Michael succeeds Carol II as King of Romania
  • 07 Sep 1940 54th US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs
  • 09 Sep 1940 28 German aircraft shot down above England
  • 10 Sep 1940 Buckingham Palace hit by German bomb
  • 11 Sep 1940 54th Postmaster General: Frank C Walker of Pa takes office
  • 12 Sep 1940 4 teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux France discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as Lascaux Cave Paintings
  • 13 Sep 1940 Buckingham Palace destroyed by German bombs
  • 14 Sep 1940 German bomb hits shelter in Chelsea; 100s die
  • 15 Sep 1940 Chicago Tribune sponsors Ted Lyons Day
  • 16 Sep 1940 Dutch SS forms
  • 17 Sep 1940 Nazis deprive Jews of possessions
  • 18 Sep 1940 19 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 19 Sep 1940 Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.
  • 24 Sep 1940 Jimmy Foxx hits his 500th career home run.
  • 25 Sep 1940 German High Commissioner in Norway sets up Vidkun Quisling government
  • 26 Sep 1940 Airplane manufacturer in Woolston bombed, 30 killed
  • 27 Sep 1940 55 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 28 Sep 1940 Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of stands and attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades Brennan
  • 29 Sep 1940 Double or Nothing, a radio quiz show, 1st heard on Mutual Radio Net
  • 30 Sep 1940 47 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 01 Oct 1940 Pennsylvania Turnpike, pioneer toll thruway, opens.
  • 02 Oct 1940 17 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 03 Oct 1940 France Vichy government proclaims end to Jewish status
  • 04 Oct 1940 12 German aircrafts shot down above England
  • 06 Oct 1940 Zoological Gardens opens on Sloat and Skyline in San Francisco
  • 07 Oct 1940 Reds Bucky Walters is 1st pitcher in 14 years to homer in World Series
  • 08 Oct 1940 German troops enter Romania to protect its oilfields.
  • 09 Oct 1940 World War II: Battle of Britain : During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
  • 14 Oct 1940 Balham subway station disaster, in London, England, occurs during the Nazi Luftwaffe air raids on Great Britain.
  • 16 Oct 1940 Lottery for 1st US WWII draftees held; #158 drawn 1st
  • 17 Oct 1940 German occupiers issue identity cards
  • 18 Oct 1940 Kaufman and Harts George Washington Slept Here, premieres in New York City
  • 20 Oct 1940 Cheese rationed in the Netherlands
  • 21 Oct 1940 RAF drops 1st anti-Nazi pamphlets on Netherlands
  • 24 Oct 1940 Protestant churches protest against dismissal of Jew civil servants
  • 25 Oct 1940 Benjamin O Davis Dr became 1st Black general in US Army
  • 26 Oct 1940 The US P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
  • 28 Oct 1940 Meeting between Hitler and Mussolini in Florence
  • 29 Oct 1940 Secretary of War Henry L Stimson draws first number (158) in first peacetime military draft in US history.
  • 30 Oct 1940 Cole Porters musical Panama hattie, premieres in New York City
  • 31 Oct 1940 63 U-boats sunk this month
  • 01 Nov 1940 Dutch Curfew forms
  • 04 Nov 1940 Eggs and cake rationed in the Netherlands
  • 05 Nov 1940 Dutch submarine departs Dundee
  • 06 Nov 1940 Franklin D Roosevelt re-elected President
  • 07 Nov 1940 Tacoma Narrows (Galloping Gertie) Bridge collapses, Washington State, USA.
  • 08 Nov 1940 RAF bombs Munich
  • 09 Nov 1940 Germany invades Norway and Denmark in WWII
  • 10 Nov 1940 Pittsburgh and Philadelphia play a penalty-free NFL game.
  • 11 Nov 1940 1,000s Paris students lay reath at Grave of Unknown Soldier
  • 12 Nov 1940 Blizzard strikes midwestern US, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes).
  • 13 Nov 1940 RKO Radio Pictures world premieres Disney's third animated feature film, Fantasia, at New York's Broadway Theater. The film introduces stereophonic sound to motion pictures via a special sound system called Fantasound. This is Mickey Mouse' feature film debut, in the segment The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
  • 14 Nov 1940 During WWII, German planes destroy most of Coventry, England
  • 15 Nov 1940 1st black to sign hockey contract-Arthur Dorrington and AC Seagulls
  • 16 Nov 1940 World War II: in response to the leveling of Coventry, England by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.
  • 17 Nov 1940 Green Bay Packers become first NFL team to travel by plane.
  • 18 Nov 1940 World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
  • 19 Nov 1940 Belgian King Leopold III visits Adolf Hitler
  • 20 Nov 1940 Hungary joins 3 Power pact
  • 21 Nov 1940 Nazi occupiers forbid building schools in the Netherlands
  • 22 Nov 1940 500 students in Delft demonstrate against Nazis
  • 23 Nov 1940 1st edition of illegal The Truth publishes
  • 24 Nov 1940 World War II: Slovakia becomes a signatory to the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
  • 25 Nov 1940 Patria, carrying illegal immigrants, sinks in port of Haifa, 200 die
  • 26 Nov 1940 Leidse students strike
  • 27 Nov 1940 6th Heisman Trophy Award: Tom Harmon, Michigan
  • 28 Nov 1940 Cleveringa arrested by Nazis
  • 30 Nov 1940 28th CFL Grey Cup (Game 1): Toronto Balmy Beach defeats Ottawa, 8-2
  • 01 Dec 1940 Manuel Ávila Camacho takes office as President of Mexico.
  • 06 Dec 1940 Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter / poster artist Helen Ernst
  • 09 Dec 1940 British assault on Banghazi Libya.
  • 10 Dec 1940 British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani).
  • 11 Dec 1940 Russian General Zhukov warns of German assault.
  • 12 Dec 1940 British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani.
  • 16 Dec 1940 Joe Louis knocks out Al McCoy in six rounds for heavyweight boxing title in Chicago, Illinois.
  • 17 Dec 1940 British troops occupies Sollum
  • 20 Dec 1940 Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Kansas City Athletics for US$42,000.
  • 21 Dec 1940 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, author (Great Gatsby, Zelda), dies of a heart attack in Hollywood, California at age 44.
  • 22 Dec 1940 World War II: Himare is captured by the Greek army.
  • 23 Dec 1940 World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (?-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.
  • 24 Dec 1940 Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual non-violence leader writes his second letter to Adolf Hitler addressing him quotMy friendquot, requesting him to stop the war Germany had begun.
  • 25 Dec 1940 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Harts Pal Joey, premieres in New York City
  • 28 Dec 1940 Arthur Morris scores 111 in second innings of first game after 148.
  • 29 Dec 1940 Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London, England.
  • 30 Dec 1940 In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad forms the Victor Hasselblad AB Camera Company.
  • 31 Dec 1940 37 U-boats sunk this month