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Months in 1940: January February March April June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Results 1 - 75 of 75

1st - 140 Palestinian Jews die as German planes bomb their ship
1st - The 1940 Olympics are cancelled
4th - 21 "not neutral" nazis & communists arrested in Netherlands
4th - 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05
5th - Norwegian govt in exile forms in London
6th - Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath)
7th - Winston Churchill becomes PM of Britain
10th - British Local Defense Volunteers (Home Guard) forms
10th - Dutch torpedo boat Johan van Galen sinks
10th - Dutch-Indies Gov Van Starkenborch proclaims end to state of siege
10th - French marines stationed on Aruba
10th - French troops arrive in Zealand/Brabant Netherlands
10th - Nazi armies attack Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg
10th - Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British PM
10th - World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
11th - 66th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6
11th - NY World's Fair reopens
12th - French mariners occupy St Maarten
12th - German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug
12th - Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Muese River
13th - British bomb factory at Breda
13th - Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat
13th - Dutch Queen Wilhelmina flees to England
13th - German breakthrough at Grebbelinie
14th - Admiral Furstner departs to England
14th - Boston's Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Park's left field roof
14th - German breakthrough at Sedan
14th - Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
14th - Nazi bombs Rotterdam (600-900 dead), Netherlands surrender to Germany
14th - World War II: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
15th - 1st nylon stockings sold in US
15th - 1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300
15th - German armour division moves into Northern France
15th - German troops occupy Amsterdam, Gen Winkelman surrenders
15th - Nazi's capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP)
15th - Nylon stockings go on sale for 1st time (US)
15th - USS Sailfish (SS-192) recomisioned, origionaly the Squalus.
15th - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
16th - Nazi's forbid non-professional auto workers
16th - Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris
17th - Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium & begins invasion of France
17th - Nazi's bombs Middelburg/B IJzerdrat begins illegal defiance
18th - German troops conquer Brussels
19th - Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time)
19th - French counter attack at Pronne under Gen De Gaulle
20th - Gen Guderians tanks reach The Channel (British expeditionary army)
20th - Igor Sikorsky unveils his helicopter invention
20th - Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen
20th - Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7
21st - AVRO-chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees
21st - Allied counter attack at Atrecht North-France
21st - Reynaud forms French govt
22nd - Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with nazis
22nd - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to decide with General Maxime Weygand a strategy to save the city
23rd - 1st great dogfight between Spitfires
24th - 1st night game at NY's Polo Grounds (Giants 8, Braves 1)
24th - 1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2)
24th - Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio
24th - Dutch army demobilizes
24th - German tanks reach Atrecht France
24th - Hitler affirms Gen von Rundstedts "Stopbevel"
24th - NY Giants rip Boston Bees 8-1 in 1st night game at Polo Grounds
25th - German troops conquer Boulogne
25th - Golden Gate Intl Expo reopens
26th - Operation Dynamo begins evacuating defeated Allied troops from Dunkirk
27th - British & French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
27th - World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops.
28th - Belgium surrenders to Germany, King Leopold III gives himself up
28th - British-French troops capture Narvik Norway
28th - Irving Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase," premieres in NYC
29th - Adolf Kiefer swims world record 100 yards backstroke (58.8 sec)
29th - Arthur Seyss-Inquart installed as Reich commissar of Hague Neth
29th - In WW II, Germans capture Ostend & Ypres in Belgium & Lille in France
31st - Gen-major Bernard Montgomery leaves Duinkerken
31st - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a seperate peace with Germany

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 65 of 65

1st - Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
2nd - Bryan Davis, cricketer (bro of Charlie WI batsman v Australia 1965)
2nd - Sari van Heemskerck Pillis-Duvekot, Dutch MP (VVD)
3rd - Konrad "Conny" Plank, German record producer and musician
3rd - Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
4th - Dick Curl, Chester Pa, offensive coordinator coach (Barcelona Dragons)
4th - Robin Cook, American novelist
5th - Eric Burdon, rock singer (House of Rising Sun-Animals, War)
5th - Lance Henriksen, actor (Aliens, Pumpkinhead, Knights, Hard Target)
6th - Henry Habibe, Arubian poet (Kerensentenchi)
6th - Murray Sidlin, Baltimore Maryland, conductor (Natl Symph 1973-77)
7th - Armando Krieger, composer
7th - John Irvin, actor (Moment in Time)
7th - Angela Carter, English novelist and journalist (d. 1992)
7th - Jim Connors, American Radio personality (d. 1987)
8th - James Blyth, CEO (Boots)
8th - Peter Benchley, NYC, novelist (Jaws, The Deep)
8th - Ricky Nelson, NJ, rock star (Hello Mary Lou, It's Late, Garden Party)
8th - Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician
8th - Toni Tennille, American singer
9th - Dick Morrissey, saxophonist
9th - James L Brooks, producer/director (Broadcast News, Taxi, Critic)
10th - Arthur Alexander, US singer/songwriter (Lonely Just Like Me)
10th - Taurean Blacque, actor (Neal Washington-Hill Street Blues)
10th - William Cash, MP
10th - Wayne A. Downing, retired United States Army general
11th - Ronald Anthony Pellegrino, composer
11th - Juan Downey, Chilean video artist (d. 1993)
13th - Bruce Chatwin, England, writer (On the Black Hill)
13th - Richard Brooks, singer (Impressions)
14th - Chay Blyth, English sailor (Alone in Order to the World)
14th - Troy Shondell, American singer
14th - 'H'. Jones, British Soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
15th - Beth Stone, LPGA golfer
15th - Mireille Darc, Toulon France, actor (Week End, Hurried Man)
15th - Paul Rudd, Boston Mass, actor (Conn Yankee in King Arthur's Court)
16th - Bernardo Bertolucci, Parma Italy, director (1900, Last Emperor)
16th - Gareth Roberts, chancellor (Sheffield University)
17th - Alan Kay, American computer scientist
18th - A Marshall Stoneham, FRS, physicist
18th - Pat Trimborn, cricket pace bowler (South African in 4 Tests 1966-70)
19th - Carlos Diegues, actor (Xica)
19th - Frank Lorenzo, airline executive (Continental, Texas Air, Eastern)
19th - Joan Staley, playmate (Nov, 1958)
19th - Mickey Newbury, rocker
19th - Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
20th - Sadaharu Oh, of Yomiuri Giants (Japan), hit 868 career HR
20th - Shorty Long, soul singer/pianist (Here Comes the Judge)
20th - Stan Mikita, NHL center (led NHL in scoring 4 times)
22nd - Bernard Shaw, news correspondant (CBS, CNN)
22nd - Erapalli Prasanna, cricketer (one of India's big four spinners)
22nd - Michael Sarrazin, actor (Seduction, They Shoot Horses Don't They)
24th - Gary Burghoff, Bristol CT, actor (Radar-M*A*S*H)
24th - Joseph Brodsky, USSR, author (Less than 1, Nobel 1987)
26th - Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, French Canadian politician
26th - Levon Helm, American musician (The Band)
27th - Rene Koering, composer
28th - Betty Shabazz, educator/talk show hostess/widow (Malcolm X)
28th - Hans Dulfer, tenor saxophonist/director (Paradiso)
28th - Thomas E Petri, (Rep-R-WI, 1979- )
29th - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan
30th - David Ackroyd, Orange NJ, actor (I Come in Peace, Memories of Me)
31st - Augie Mayer, rocker (Sir Douglas Quintet)
31st - Elfi Mikesch, cinematographer (Erotique, Out of America, Malina)
31st - Gilbert Shelton, American underground comics illustrator

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 18 of 18

7th - George Lansbury, Labour Party Leader (b. 1859)
10th - Euphemia "Phemia" Molkenboer, Dutch author/poster artist, dies at 56
14th - Eddy [Charles E] du Platform, writer/poet, dies
14th - Emma Goldman, US anarchists/feminist/author (Living My Life), dies
14th - Jacob van Gelderen, economist/sociologist/SDAP-2nd-Chamber, dies at 49
14th - Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (Forum, New Elite), suicide at 38
15th - Joseph Limburg, liberal 2nd-Member of parliament (1905-19), dies at 75
15th - Willem A Bonger, Dutch criminologist (Race & Crime), suicide at 63
20th - Amar Singh, cricketer (of pneumonia Indian pace bowler 1932-36), dies
20th - Joris [Georges] van Severen, Flem fascist/Member of parliament, dies
23rd - Andrej N Rimski-Korssakov, Russian musicologist/son of Nikolai, dies
23rd - Paul Nizan, French journalist/writer (Ce Soir/Aden Arabia), dies at 35
25th - Joe De Grasse, American film director (b. 1873)
28th - Randle Ayrton, actor (Manx Man), dies at 70
28th - Theodor Streicher, composer, dies at 65
28th - Walter Connolly, actor (It Happened One Night, Good Earth), dies at 53
28th - Friedrich Karl von Hessen (b. 1868)
30th - Y de Smit-Rog, eldest Dutchman, dies at 104