October 1940

October 1, 1940 (Tuesday)

October 2, 1940 (Wednesday)

October 3, 1940 (Thursday)

October 4, 1940 (Friday)

October 5, 1940 (Saturday)

October 6, 1940 (Sunday)

  • Mussolini made a surprise inspection of armed forces in northern Italy as the Fascist press predicted that "something big" was coming soon.[6]
  • Born: Sukumari, film actress, in Nagercoil, British India (d. 2013)

October 7, 1940 (Monday)

October 8, 1940 (Tuesday)

October 9, 1940 (Wednesday)

October 10, 1940 (Thursday)

October 11, 1940 (Friday)

October 12, 1940 (Saturday)

  • The Battle of Cape Passero was fought southeast of Sicily. The Royal Navy clashed with several Italian ships which attacked them after a convoy mission to Malta, resulting in British victory.
  • German submarine U-98 was commissioned.
  • Died: Tom Mix, 60, American film actor (auto accident)

October 13, 1940 (Sunday)

  • 14-year old Princess Elizabeth made her first public speech, a radio address to the children of the British Commonwealth. Her ten-year-old sister Princess Margaret joined in at the end.[14]
  • Vichy France abolished departmental councils.[15]
  • Born: Pharoah Sanders, jazz saxophonist, in Little Rock, Arkansas

October 14, 1940 (Monday)

  • The Nationality Act of 1940 was signed into law in the United States.
  • A German bomb exploded on the road above Balham station in south London, creating a large crater which a double-decker bus drove into during blackout conditions. A total of 66 people were killed and pictures of the bus in the crater were published around the world.[16]
  • With the United States presidential election three weeks away, Charles Lindbergh made a radio speech attacking the Roosevelt Administration's record and appealing for the election of leaders "whose promises we can trust, who know where they are taking us, and who tell us where we are going." Lindbergh did not directly endorse Wendell Willkie or even mention him by name, but his position was unmistakable.[17]
  • Born: Cliff Richard, pop singer and actor, in Lucknow, United Provinces, British India

October 15, 1940 (Tuesday)

October 16, 1940 (Wednesday)

October 17, 1940 (Thursday)

October 18, 1940 (Friday)

October 19, 1940 (Saturday)

October 20, 1940 (Sunday)

October 21, 1940 (Monday)

  • Winston Churchill made a radio broadcast directed to the people of France. In a French-language address he appealed to them not to hinder Britain in the war against Germany, saying that "we are persevering steadfastly and in good heart in the cause of European freedom and fair dealing for the common people of all countries for which, with you, we draw the sword ... Remember, we shall never stop, never weary, and never give in, and that our whole people and empire have bowed themselves to the task of cleansing Europe from the Nazi pestilence and saving the world from the new Dark Ages."[22]
  • The Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was published.
  • Born: Geoffrey Boycott, cricketer, in Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire, England; Manfred Mann, rock musician, in Johannesburg, Union of South Africa

October 22, 1940 (Tuesday)

October 23, 1940 (Wednesday)

  • Meeting at Hendaye: Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco met at the train station of Hendaye on the Spanish-French border to discuss the conditions under which Spain would join the Axis. After seven hours of talks, Hitler found Spain's demands to be still too high.
  • President Roosevelt made a campaign speech in Philadelphia in which he answered many charges from his opponents, including one in particular that he called "outrageously false ... a charge that offends every political and religious conviction that I hold dear. It is the charge that this Administration wishes to lead this country into war." Roosevelt's speech concluded: "We are arming ourselves not for any foreign war. We are arming ourselves not for any purpose of conquest or intervention in foreign disputes. I repeat again that I stand on the platform of our party; 'We will not participate in foreign wars and will not send our Army, naval or air forces to fight in foreign lands outside of the Americas except in case of attack.' It is for peace that I have labored; and it is for peace that I shall labor all the days of my life."[24]
  • Born: Pelé, footballer, in Três Corações, Brazil

October 24, 1940 (Thursday)

October 25, 1940 (Friday)

October 26, 1940 (Saturday)

October 27, 1940 (Sunday)

October 28, 1940 (Monday)

  • The Greco-Italian War began when the Italians invaded Greece. October 28 is celebrated as Ohi Day in Greece and Greek communities throughout the world to commemorate Ioannis Metaxas' rejection of the Italian ultimatum.
  • The Battle of Pindus began.
  • Hitler and Mussolini met in Florence to exchange the latest war information. Hitler might have intended to use the meeting to dissuade Mussolini from attacking Greece had the invasion not, as it turned out, gone ahead that morning. Mussolini was in high spirits and told Hitler, "Don't worry, in two weeks, it will all be over." Hitler wished Mussolini the best of luck and refrained from expressing any disapproval, though after the meeting he fumed to his inner circle that what Mussolini had done was "pure madness" and that he should have attacked Malta instead.[27]
  • The troopship Empress of Britain was sunk northwest of Ireland by a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor long-range bomber.

October 29, 1940 (Tuesday)

October 30, 1940 (Wednesday)

  • Pétain gave a radio address to the French people saying, "It is with honor and in order to maintain French unity, a unity which has lasted ten centuries, and in the framework of the constructive activity of the new European order that today I am embarking on the path of collaboration."[29][23]
  • German submarine U-32 was sunk northwest of Ireland by depth charges from the British destroyers Harvester and Highlander.
  • German submarine U-146 was commissioned.
  • The Cole Porter musical Panama Hattie had its Broadway premiere at the 46th Street Theatre.
  • Born: Charles Fox, film and television composer, in New York City
  • Died: Arthur Heming, 70, Canadian painter and novelist

October 31, 1940 (Thursday)

  • The Battle of Britain ended. Between August 8 and this date the Luftwaffe lost 2,375 planes while the RAF lost 800.[8]
  • The Italian submarine Scirè attacked the British naval base at Gibraltar with manned torpedoes, but none of them deployed successfully and the British were able to recover one for analysis.[7]
  • German submarine U-74 was commissioned.
  • The Warsaw District government moved all Jews living in Warsaw to the ghettos.
  • Born: Craig Rodwell, gay rights activist, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1993)
  • Died: Frank Anstey, 75, Australian politician; John Renshaw Carson, 54, American transmission theorist and inventor

References

  1. "Einstein Gets Citizenship Papers Today". Jewish Telegraph Agency. October 1, 1940. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  2. "1940". World War II Database. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  3. Corvaja, Santi (2008). Hitler & Mussolini: The Secret Meetings. New York: Enigma Books. pp. 133–135. ISBN 9781929631421.
  4. "Fritzie Zivic". BoxRec. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  5. Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014). The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 9781473834880.
  6. "Duce Inspects Troops; Press Sees 'Big Move'". Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago: Chicago Daily Tribune. October 7, 1940. p. 4.
  7. Davidson, Edward; Manning, Dale (1999). Chronology of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. pp. 49–51. ISBN 0-304-35309-4.
  8. "Chronology 1940". indiana.edu. 2002. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  9. "Chronologie: Pendant la guerre". Charles-de-Gaulle.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  10. Doss, Erika (1991). Benton, Pollock, and the Politics of Modernism: From Regionalism to Abstract Expressionism. University of Chicago Press. p. 243. ISBN 9780226159430.
  11. "The Broadway Parade". Film Daily. New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.: 2 October 7, 1940.
  12. "Events occurring on Wednesday, October 9, 1940". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  13. Moorhouse, Roger (2010). Berlin at War. Basic Books. p. 313. ISBN 9780465028559.
  14. "Wartime broadcast, 1940". The official website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  15. Wieviorka, Olivier (2009). Orphans of the Republic: The Nation's Legislators in Vichy France. Harvard University Press. p. 110. ISBN 9780674032613.
  16. "Disaster at Balham Tube Station". World War II Today. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  17. "Elect Leaders 'We Can Trust,' Lindbergh Plea". Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago: Chicago Daily Tribune. October 15, 1940. p. 1.
  18. "French Outlaw Manufacture of War Goods". Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago: Chicago Daily Tribune. October 17, 1940. p. 2.
  19. "Events occurring on Thursday, October 17, 1940". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  20. Kowal, Barry (December 22, 2014). "Billboard Magazine's (USA) Weekly Single Charts From 1940". Hits of All Decades. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  21. Longerich, Heinrich (2012). Heinrich Himmler. Oxford University Press. pp. 504–505. ISBN 9780199592326.
  22. "Events occurring on Monday, October 21, 1940". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  23. Rosbottom, Ronald C. (2014). When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316217453.
  24. "It Is For Peace That I Have Labored". ibiblio. October 23, 1940. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  25. Chronology and Index of the Second World War, 1938-1945. Research Publications. 1990. p. 37. ISBN 9780887365683.
  26. "Was war am 26. Oktober 1940". chroniknet. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  27. Corvaja, p. 142-144.
  28. Zebrowski, Carl (2007). "Your Number's Up!". America in WWII. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  29. Kershaw, Alex (2015). Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris. Crown Publishing. ISBN 9780804140041.
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