November 1939

[November 1], 1939 (Wednesday)

• Chinese forces launched the Winter Offensive on multiple fronts against the Imperial Japanese Army.
• A royal decree in the Netherlands established martial law in key regions mostly along the German-Dutch border.
• Born: Barbara Bosson, actress, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania
• Died: Kálmán Darányi, 53, Prime Minister of Hungary 1936–1938

  [November 2], 1939 (Thursday)

• The Polish government-in-exile dissolved the Parliament. A National Council was set up to govern in its place.
• Born: Frank Buncom, AFL linebacker, in Shreveport, Louisiana

  [November 3], 1939 (Friday)

• U.S. Congress amended the Neutrality Act of 1937, repealing the embargo on arms to belligerents but placing sales on a cash and carry basis to avoid a repeat of the situation after World War I when Britain and France ran into difficulty with making their war debt payments to the United States.
• The German-controlled American freighter City of Flint entered port in Haugesund despite being ordered by its Norwegian escort, the minelayer Olav Tryggvason, not to. The German captain later told interrogators he was just following orders from his government and did not know why he was instructed to dock in Haugesund, but it was probably to get instructions from the vice consul on how and when to proceed to Germany. Norway decided to seize the freighter and return its command to the Americans, and at 23:30 a boarding party stormed the ship and removed the German prize crew. The Germans were interned for violating international law, which forbade a ship from entering a neutral port without sufficient cause.
• The John Ford-directed historical film Drums Along the Mohawk starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda was released.
• The British propaganda film The Lion Has Wings, rushed through production after the outbreak of war, was released to cinemas in the United Kingdom.

  [November 4], 1939 (Saturday)

• The American Neutrality Law came into force, forbidding American ships and citizens from entering clearly defined war zones.
• The City of Flint sailed to Bergen with U.S. control finally restored.
• German submarine U-44 was commissioned.
• Born: Michael Meacher, politician, in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
• Died: Percy Douglas, 63, British naval officer

  [November 5], 1939 (Sunday)

• Three German Army commanders who believed an invasion of France would fail held a secret meeting to discuss ways to dissuade Hitler from ordering an attack on the western front.

  [November 6], 1939 (Monday)

• Sonderaktion Krakau: 183 professors of Jagiellonian University in Kraków were arrested by the Nazis. 168 of them were sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
• Born: Athanasios Angelopoulos, theology professor, in Katerini, Greece; Carlos Emilio Morales, jazz guitarist, in Marianao, Havana, Cuba ; Leonardo Quisumbing, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, in Masbate City

  [November 7], 1939 (Tuesday)

• Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and King Leopold III of the Belgians offered to mediate in the European war.
• The Polish government-in-exile made Władysław Sikorski General Inspector of the Armed Forces.
• Dalki massacre: 24 Poles massacred by the Germans in Dalki in German-occupied Poland.

  [November 8], 1939 (Wednesday)

• 13 minutes after Hitler concluded a speech at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich on the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, a time bomb exploded near the speaking platform that killed 8 people. Carpenter Johann Georg Elser was arrested with incriminating documents at the Swiss border and brought back to Munich for interrogation. His attempt to assassinate Hitler would have succeeded if the Führer's annual speech had not begun 30 minutes earlier than it did in previous years.
• Born: Elizabeth Dawn, actress, in Leeds, England ; Laila Kinnunen, singer, in Vantaa, Finland ; Meg Wynn Owen, actress, in Wales

  [November 9], 1939 (Thursday)

• Supreme Allied Commander Maurice Gamelin revealed his Dyle Plan at a conference of senior Allied officers in Vincennes.
• Auburn Stadium, later renamed Jordan–Hare Stadium, opened on the campus of Auburn University in Alabama.
• Born: Paul Cameron, psychologist and sexologist, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  [November 10], 1939 (Friday)

• Hitler flew for the first time in his new personal transport plane – an Fw 200A-0 named Immelmann III after the World War I flying ace Max Immelmann.
• The United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia unanimously ruled that schoolchildren did not have to salute the American flag if such action conflicted with their religious beliefs.
• Born: Russell Means, Native American activist, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota
• Died: Charlotte Despard, 95, Scottish-born Anglo-Irish suffragist

  [November 11], 1939 (Saturday)

• Hitler appeared unexpectedly in Munich at the funeral for the victims of the Bürgerbräukeller bombing. He stayed only a few minutes to hear Rudolf Hess deliver the eulogy and then left without speaking.
• The Nazis burned down the Ezras Israel Synagogue in Łódź.
• Ostrów Mazowiecka massacre: up to 600 Jews massacred by the German police in Ostrów Mazowiecka in German-occupied Poland.
• Although Britain did not hold an official Armistice Day ceremony at the Whitehall Cenotaph this year, wreaths were laid on behalf of the King and Queen and people still came to leave flowers. There was no official two minutes' silence at 11 a.m. either, but Britons publicly observed it anyway.
• Queen Elizabeth made a broadcast to the women of the British Empire reminding them that in the war "we, no less than men, have real and vital work to do."
• Died: Jan Opletal, 24, Czech student

  [November 12], 1939 (Sunday)

• German authorities began the deportation of Jews from Polish territories annexed by Germany to the General Government.
• France said that the Belgian and Dutch offer of mediation required Germany to repair "the injustices which force has imposed on Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland" before peace could be discussed. George VI wrote a reply explaining that the "essential conditions upon which we are determined that an honorable peace must be secured have already been plainly stated", but if the Queen of the Netherlands was "able to communicate to me any proposals from Germany of such a character as to afford real prospect" of achieving Britain's aims he would "give them my most earnest consideration."
• Died: Norman Bethune, 49, Canadian physician and humanitarian

  [November 13], 1939 (Monday)

• British soil was bombed by the Germans for the first time during World War II, in the Shetland Islands. No casualties were inflicted.
• The Finnish delegation in Moscow refused to accede to Soviet demands and broke off negotiations.
• The Union of Armed Struggle was created from an earlier Polish resistance movement, the Service for Poland's Victory.
• was sunk by a mine in the Thames Estuary, the first British destroyer lost to enemy action in the war.
• Born: Bob Tutupoly, Indonesian singer
• Died: Lois Weber, 60, American actress

  [November 14], 1939 (Tuesday)

• Joachim von Ribbentrop informed the Belgian and Dutch envoys that Germany was turning down their joint mediation offer based on the responses already made from Britain and France.
• The Great Synagogue of Łódź was burned to the ground by the Nazis.
• An oil refinery fire in Lagunillas, Venezuela killed 500 people and destroyed the town.
• Born: Wendy Carlos, electronic musician, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

  [November 15], 1939 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of South Guangxi began.
• The German heavy cruiser was renamed Lützow, both to confuse enemy intelligence and to avoid the potential damage to national pride that would occur if a ship bearing the name of the country were to be sunk in action.
• A funeral held in Prague for Jan Opletal turned into another spontaneous anti-Nazi demonstration.
• Mayor of Long Beach, California Louis F. Edwards was assassinated by a police officer who had lost his bid for president of the local Patrolmen's Benevolent Association to a candidate Edwards supported.
• Born: Yaphet Kotto, actor, in New York City

  [November 16], 1939 (Thursday)

• Al Capone was released from federal custody after serving seven-and-a-half years of his eleven-year sentence for tax evasion. Capone was suffering heavily from paresis and upon release he immediately went to a Baltimore hospital for treatment.
• Born: Michael Billington, author and theatre critic, in Leamington Spa, England
• Died: Pierce Butler, 73, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

  [November 17], 1939 (Friday)

• Germans stormed the university dorms in Prague and other towns in the former Czechoslovakia, attacking and arresting thousands of students. The Nazis executed nine Czechs by firing squad without trial that day for leading the recent demonstrations. Today International Students' Day is observed on November 17 in remembrance of the students who were killed or sent to concentration camps for opposing the Nazis.
• The Anglo-French Supreme War Council held its third meeting in Paris.
• The historical film Tower of London starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price was released.
• Born: Auberon Waugh, journalist, in Dulverton, England
• Died: Josef Matoušek, 33, Czech historian and professor

  [November 18], 1939 (Saturday)

• The Dutch liner Simon Bolivar set off two mines and sank 20 miles off Harwich, England. 86 lives were lost out of the approximately 400 on board. The British accused the Germans of laying the mines in violation of Article VIII of the 1907 Hague Conventions, which forbade using mines in circumstances likely to endanger commercial shipping.
• The Nazis closed all the technical schools in the former Czechoslovakia.
• Born: Margaret Atwood, novelist, poet and environmental activist, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Amanda Lear, French model, actress and singer, in either Saigon or Hong Kong; Brenda Vaccaro, actress, in Brooklyn, New York