December 1939

December 1, 1939 (Friday)

December 2, 1939 (Saturday)

December 3, 1939 (Sunday)

December 4, 1939 (Monday)

December 5, 1939 (Tuesday)

  • The Soviet 7th Army reached the Mannerheim Line.[8]
  • Off the coast of Uruguay, the captain of the German passenger steamer Ussukuma decided to scuttle the ship when it was intercepted by the British cruiser Ajax. The Ajax rescued the 107 crew of the Ussukuma and interned them as enemy civilians.
  • Fritz Julius Kuhn was sentenced to 2½ to 5 years in prison for larceny and forgery.[9]

December 6, 1939 (Wednesday)

December 7, 1939 (Thursday)

December 8, 1939 (Friday)

December 9, 1939 (Saturday)

December 10, 1939 (Sunday)

December 11, 1939 (Monday)

December 12, 1939 (Tuesday)

December 13, 1939 (Wednesday)

  • Battle of the River Plate: In South American waters, the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was critically damaged in a battle with the British warships Exeter, Ajax and Achilles.
  • Soviet prisoner transport ship Indigirka ran aground off the Japanese coast near Sarufutsu while transporting fishermen with families and prisoners released for war effort - 741 of about 1,500 persons on board perished.

December 14, 1939 (Thursday)

  • The Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations after it was declared the aggressor in the war with Finland.[18] Of the main powers on the world stage Britain and France were now the only ones left in the League, since Germany, Italy and Japan had already quit and the United States never joined.
  • The Norwegian pro-Nazi politician Vidkun Quisling met with Hitler and high-ranking members of the German military in Berlin as the Nazis investigated ways to go about occupying Norway.[19]
  • Born: Ernie Davis, American football player, in New Salem-Buffington, Pennsylvania (d. 1963)

December 15, 1939 (Friday)

December 16, 1939 (Saturday)

December 17, 1939 (Sunday)

December 18, 1939 (Monday)

December 19, 1939 (Tuesday)

December 20, 1939 (Wednesday)

December 21, 1939 (Thursday)

  • In the face of strong Finnish resistance, the Soviet Union halted large-scale operations in order to bring in more resources before attempting a new offensive.[27]
  • The cantata Zdravitsa (A Toast!) by Sergei Prokofiev was performed for the first time in Moscow.[18]
  • German submarine U-62 was commissioned.

December 22, 1939 (Friday)

December 23, 1939 (Saturday)

  • Died: Anthony Fokker, 49, Dutch aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer

December 24, 1939 (Sunday)

  • Pope Pius XII gave a Christmas address to 25 cardinals in which he offered a five-point program as a basis for negotiating a "just and honorable peace."[29]
  • Born: Christiane Schmidtmer, actress and model, in Mannheim, Germany (d. 2003)

December 25, 1939 (Monday)

December 26, 1939 (Tuesday)

December 27, 1939 (Wednesday)

December 28, 1939 (Thursday)

December 29, 1939 (Friday)

December 30, 1939 (Saturday)

December 31, 1939 (Sunday)

  • New Year's Eve observances in Britain, France and Germany were very subdued due to blackout and noise restrictions. Most celebrations were held in private homes with the windows shuttered.[36]
  • German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made a radio address reviewing the official Nazi version of the events of 1939. No predictions were made for 1940 other than saying that the next year "will be a hard year, and we must be ready for it."[37]
  • Generalissimo Francisco Franco made a radio broadcast asking "all Spaniards in this period of depression which follows any war to close the mouths of grumblers and not permit the enemies of the state to take advantage of the situation."[36]
  • Japan and the Soviet Union signed an accord on fishing rights in adjacent territorial waters.[11]
  • Born: Peter Camejo, author, activist and politician, in New York City (d. 2008)
  • Died: Frank Benson, 81, British actor-manager

References

  1. Chronology and Index of the Second World War, 1938–1945. Research Publications. 1990. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-88736-568-3.
  2. Heinrichs, Waldo (1988). Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-19-802136-0.
  3. "The Winter War". WW II Database. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  4. "Navy Upsets Army; Rams Defeat N. Y. U.; Stanford Triumphs". Brooklyn Eagle. December 3, 1939. p. 1.
  5. Trotter, William (1991). A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–1940. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-56512-249-9.
  6. "British Military Aviation in 1939". Royal Air Force Museum. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  7. Willmott, H.P. (2010). The Last Century of Sea Power: From Washington to Tokyo, 1922–1945. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-253-00409-3.
  8. Davidson, Edward; Manning, Dale (1999). Chronology of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. pp. 21–22. ISBN 0-304-35309-4.
  9. "Bund Chief Kuhn Gets 2½ to 5 Years". Brooklyn Eagle. December 5, 1939. p. 1.
  10. Montague, Patrick (2012). Chelmno and the Holocaust: The History of Hitler's First Death Camp. New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-1-84885-722-3.
  11. "Chronology 1939". indiana.edu. 2002. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  12. Mercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 521. ISBN 978-0-582-03919-3.
  13. Hargittai, István (2002). The Road to Stockholm: Nobel Prizes, Science, and Scientists. Oxford University Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-0-19-850912-7.
  14. "Award Ceremony Speech". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  15. "Today in Canadian History: December 10". Canada Channel. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  16. Noderer, E. R. (December 12, 1939). "Soviet Reply to Bid for Peace Awaited by League". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
  17. Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945. London: Chatham Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
  18. "1939". MusicAndHistory. Archived from the original on June 5, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  19. "Norway's Quisling Meets Hitler". The Daily Chronicles of World War II. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  20. Bliss, Edward, Jr. (1991). Now the News: The Story of Broadcast Journalism. Columbia University Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-231-52193-2.
  21. "Fact File: Admiral Graf Spee Sunk". WW2 People's War. BBC. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  22. Burford, Tim (2014). Uruguay. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1-84162-477-8.
  23. "The diaries: Quisling sealed Denmark's WWII fate".
  24. "Stalin's 60th Birthday Telegrams". World War II Today. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  25. "Finnish Aid to Disrupt Nazi Ore Imports". The Daily Chronicle of World War II. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  26. "Let's Help Finland". Gazette and Bulletin. Williamsport, Pennsylvania. December 22, 1939. p. 12.
  27. Irincheev, Bair (2009). The Mannerheim Line 1920–39: Finnish Fortifications of the Winter War. Osprey Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-84603-384-1.
  28. "Express Trains Collide in Germany". History. A&E Networks. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  29. "Pope Offers Warring Nations 5 Point Program for Peace". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 25, 1939. p. 2.
  30. "HMS Barham (04)". uboat.net. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  31. Darrah, David (December 29, 1939). "Britain Extends Food Rations to Meat and Sugar". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
  32. Martin, Robert Stanley (May 24, 2015). "Comics By the Date: March 1906 to December 1939". The Hooded Utilitarian. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  33. "Troops Train Crash Dead Put at 40". Brooklyn Eagle. December 30, 1939. p. 1.
  34. "Nazis to Unleash Greatest Air Attack, Goering Warns". Brooklyn Eagle. December 31, 1939. p. 1.
  35. "Edison Named to Cabinet as Head of Navy". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 31, 1939. p. 1.
  36. Darrah, David (January 1, 1940). "Blackout Dims Europe's '40". Chicago Daily Tribune. pp. 1–2.
  37. "The New Year 1939/40". Calvin College. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

December 1939 was the twelfth and final month of that common year. It began on a Friday and ended after 31 days on a Sunday. It was also the last month of the 1930s decade.

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