1940 in Germany

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See also:Other events of 1940
History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1940 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

Head of State and Chancellor


Events

January
  • 4 January — World War II: (Axis powers): Luftwaffe General Hermann Göring assumes control of most war industries in Germany.
  • 10 January — World War II: 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.

February
  • 16 February — World War II: Altmark Incident: The British destroyer HMS Cossack pursues the German tanker Altmark into Jøssingfjord in southwestern Norway.

March

April
  • 9 April — World War II: Germany carries out Operation Weserübung, and invades Denmark and Norway. German forces land in several Norwegian ports and take Oslo; The Norwegian Campaign lasts two months. The Allied campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
  • 9 April — German invasion of Norway: German heavy cruiser Blücher is sunk by gunfire and torpedoes from the Norwegian coastal fortress Oscarsborg in the Oslofjord. Of the 2,202 German crew and troops on board, some 830 died (at least 320 of them crewmen). Most either drowned or burnt to death in the flaming oil slick surrounding the wreck.
  • 20 April - on his 51st birthday, Hitler orders a new SS regiment to be set containing Norwegians and Danes as well as Germans.

May

June
  • 3 June — The Holocaust: Nazi leader Franz Rademacher proposes the Madagascar Plan according to which the Jewish population of Europe would be relocated to the island of Madagascar.
  • 3 June — World War II: Paris is bombed by the Luftwaffe for the first time.
  • 10 June — World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.
  • 14 June — World War II: Fall of Paris to German occupation.
  • 15 June — World War II: Verdun falls to German forces.
  • 17 June — A Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks the British ship RMS Lancastria, which was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France, killing some 5,800 men.[2] (Wartime censorship prevents the story from becoming public.)
  • 21 June — World War II: Vichy France and Germany sign an armistice at Compiegne, in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.
  • 23 June — World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.[3]
  • 30 June — World War II: German forces land in Guernsey, marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel Islands.

July
  • 14 July — World War II: Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, proclaims the intention of Great Britain to fight alone against Germany whatever the outcome.
  • 19 July — World War II: Adolf Hitler promotes 12 generals to field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony following the swift victory over France, and makes a peace appeal to Britain in an address to the Reichstag. Lord Halifax, British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply on 22 July.

August

September

October

November
  • 11 November — World War II: The German Hilfskreuzer (commerce raider) Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
  • 14 November — World War II: The city of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed).
  • 16 November — World War II: In response to Germany levelling Coventry 2 days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents will have died from Allied attacks).
  • 18 November — World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.

December
  • 12 December & 15 December — World War II: "Sheffield Blitz" – The City of Sheffield is badly damaged by German air-raids.
  • 16 December — World War II: Operation Abigail Rachel – RAF bombing of Mannheim.
  • 29 December — World War II: Luftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid on London, starting 1,500 fires. Many famous buildings, including the Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.

Date unknown
  • undated: In 1940, German optometrist Heinrich Wöhlk invented plastic Contact lenses.

Births

Deaths
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References
  1. Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of World War II. Prentice-Hall. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-13-354027-7.
  2. Hooton, E.R. (2007). Luftwaffe at War: Blitzkrieg in the West. London: Chevron/Ian Allan. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6.
  3. http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blhitler38.htm
  4. Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of World War II. Prentice-Hall. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-13-354027-7.

Further reading
  • Bloch, Leon Bryce and Lamar Middleton, ed. The World Over in 1940 (1941) detailed coverage of world events online free; 914pp
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