April 1940

[April 1], 1940 (Monday)

• The 1940 United States census was taken.
• The BBC broadcast what appeared to be a speech by Adolf Hitler, in which the Führer reminded the audience that Columbus had discovered America with the help of German science and technology, and therefore Germany had a right "to have some part in the achievement which this voyage of discovery was to result in." This meant that all Americans of Czech and Polish descent were entitled to come under the protection of Germany and that Hitler would "enforce that right, not only theoretically but practically." Once the German Protectorate was extended to the United States, the Statue of Liberty would be removed to alleviate traffic congestion and the White House would be renamed the Brown House. CBS contacted the BBC in something of a panic trying to learn more about the origin of the broadcast, not realizing that it was an April Fools' Day hoax. The voice of Hitler had been impersonated by the actor Martin Miller.
• The soap opera Portia Faces Life premiered in syndication on American radio.
• Born: Wangari Maathai, environmental and political activist and Nobel laureate, in Ihithe, Tetu, Kenya
• Died: John A. Hobson, 81, English economist and social scientist

  [April 2], 1940 (Tuesday)

• Adolf Hitler signed the order for Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
• Germany made another air raid on Scapa Flow.
• Dutch troops were put on full alert along the German border.
• Britain and Denmark signed a trade agreement.
• Born: Penelope Keith, actress, in Sutton, London, England

  [April 3], 1940 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of Wuyuan ended in Chinese victory.
• Neville Chamberlain performed a reshuffle of his war ministry. Winston Churchill became chairman of the Military Coordinating Committee, Kingsley Wood became Lord Privy Seal, The Lord Woolton became Minister of Food, Robert Hudson took over as Minister of Shipping and Hugh Elles became Chief of the Operational Staff of Civil Defense Services. The position of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was abolished and its duties dispersed across other departments.
• The British cabinet approved Operation Wilfred, Winston Churchill's plan to mine the sea routes between Norway, Sweden and Germany and for Anglo-French landings in Norway to forestall a German invasion there, which British intelligence believed was imminent. However, the British government still dithered about implementing the plan due to Norway's neutrality.
• British intelligence advised of a German military buildup in northern German ports, suggesting that an invasion somewhere in Scandinavia was imminent.
• Died: Ernst Heilmann, 58, German socialist politician

  [April 4], 1940 (Thursday)

• Neville Chamberlain gave a speech to the Conservative Party in London stating he was confident of victory and that Hitler had "missed the bus" by not taking advantage of Germany's military superiority over Britain at the beginning of the war.
• 34 French communists convicted of illegally attempting to reorganize the Communist Party were sentenced to five years in prison. Eight others received suspended sentences of four years.
• The musical stage comedy Higher and Higher by Rodgers and Hart premiered at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway.

  [April 5], 1940 (Friday)

• The British began to implement Operation Wilfred by mining Norwegian waters.
• The Katyn massacre began.
• The Norwegian ambassador in Berlin warned Oslo and Copenhagen of a possible German invasion, as did the British. Britain and France also advised Norway that they had the right to act to deprive Germany of access to Norwegian raw materials.
• Bogskar won the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse.
• The fantasy film One Million B.C. starring Victor Mature was released.
• Died: Charles Freer Andrews, 69, Church of England priest, missionary, educator and social reformer in India; Song Zheyuan, 54, Chinese general

  [April 6], 1940 (Saturday)

• German submarine went missing in the North Sea, probably lost to a British naval mine.
• Born: Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., actor, in Mexico City, Mexico

  [April 7], 1940 (Sunday)

• British reconnaissance aircraft spotted a large German naval force heading northward. RAF bombers were dispatched to attack the group but this attack was not successful.
• Jimmy Demaret won the 7th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

  [April 8], 1940 (Monday)

• Norway protested the British naval mining of its territorial waters.
• The sank the British destroyer in the Norwegian Sea. Despite being hopelessly outgunned, Glowworm managed to ram Admiral Hipper, inflicting considerable damage, before sinking. Captain Gerard Broadmead Roope earned the first Victoria Cross of the war for his conduct, but it was bestowed only after the war when the Admiral Hippers log describing the battle was read by the Royal Navy.
• The Polish submarine sank the German troopship by torpedo in the Skagerrak.
• Born: John Havlicek, basketball player, in Martins Ferry, Ohio
• Died: Gerard Broadmead Roope, 35, British naval officer and Victoria Cross recipient

  [April 9], 1940 (Tuesday)

• At 5:20 a.m. in Norway, the German envoys in Oslo and Copenhagen presented the Norwegian and Danish governments with a German ultimatum demanding that they immediately accept the "protection of the Reich." Denmark capitulated so as to not provoke mass bloodshed at the hands of the Germans, and the country was invaded in six hours. Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Halvdan Koht, however, responded with the defiant words "Vi gir oss ikke frivillig, kampen er allerede i gang". The entire Norwegian government including King Haakon VII fled the capital that morning for the mountains in the north.
• German forces quickly took control of the ports of Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo.
• German forces captured Arendal and Egersund.
• The Action off Lofoten was fought.
• Vidkun Quisling spoke on Norwegian radio and ordered his countrymen not to resist the Nazis.
• The French and British put Plan R 4 into action.
• The Norwegian destroyer was attacked and sunk off Stavanger by German bombers.
• The old Norwegian coastal defence ships and ' were sunk near Narvik by the German destroyers and, respectively, when they chose to fight rather than surrender.
• The Norwegian destroyer was scuttled at Fredrikstad to avoid being captured. The Germans were still able to salvage it, however.
• The guns of Oscarsborg Fortress sank the in the Battle of Drøbak Sound.
• The was scuttled after being torpedoed and badly damaged near Kristiansand by the British submarine.
• Norwegian coastal artillery sank the German cargo liner.
• The British destroyer was bombed and sunk off Norway.
• Born: Jim Roberts, ice hockey player, in Toronto, Canada
• Died: Mrs. Patrick Campbell, 75, English stage actress

  [April 10], 1940 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of Midtskogen was fought in the early morning hours and resulted in Norwegian victory.
• In the First Battle of Narvik, the German destroyers and were sunk, while the destroyers and were lost on the British side.
• With Denmark occupied by the Nazis, Iceland effectively declared independence when the Althing granted full powers of government to the Icelandic cabinet.
• Blackburn Skua dive bombers of the British Fleet Air Arm sank the at Bergen.
• The sank the British submarine near Skudenes.
• A German armed merchant vessel sank the British submarine by depth charges off the Danish coast.
• U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8389, freezing Danish and Norwegian assets in the United States so the Germans could not access them.
• Born: Gloria Hunniford, Northern Irish broadcaster in Portadown, County Armagh

  [April 11], 1940 (Thursday)

• The German pocket battleship Lützow was knocked out of action for a year after being hit by a torpedo from the British submarine in the Kattegat.
• First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill made a speech to the House of Commons announcing that the strategically important Faroe Islands belonging to Denmark were now being occupied by Britain. "We shall shield the Faroe Islands from all the severities of war and establish ourselves there conveniently by sea and air until the moment comes when they will be handed back to the Crown and people of a Denmark liberated from the foul thraldom in which they have been plunged by the German aggression," Churchill said.
• Belgium canceled army leave.

  [April 12], 1940 (Friday)

• The Cyprus Regiment was founded.
• During a press conference at the White House, reporters asked President Roosevelt whether a violation of the integrity of Greenland, such as a German invasion, would raise the question of applying the Monroe Doctrine. The president called the reporters "very, very premature" and "awfully hypothetical," explaining that the U.S.'s primary interest in Greenland was currently in providing relief for its 17,000 inhabitants if their supply ships from Denmark were cut off. The president also took a question about television. He said that while it had "a great future", the FCC still needed to work out the matter of monopoly prevention to ensure that no single company would control it.
• German submarine was commissioned.
• The Alfred Hitchcock-directed psychological-thriller mystery film Rebecca premiered in the United States.
• The science fiction horror film Dr. Cyclops was released.
• Born: John Hagee, televangelist, in Goose Creek, Texas; Herbie Hancock, jazz musician, in Chicago, Illinois
• Died: Nestor Nyzhankivsky, 76, Ukrainian composer