Show history making malang events of 1940 pass in review nini nine nations fall before conquering forces as aa U S arms by ROGER SHAW released by western newspaper union of the many significant events in the ill stai starred red year 1940 the sudden and gene general ial ly unexpected collapse of liberal france was wa s perhaps the outstanding disaster other significant happenings weri were the reelection election re of mr roosevelt to a third term as president of the united states and the triumph of churchill over chamberlain in british imperial circles another phase not to be overlooked by any manner or means was the surprising success of the 1940 U boat campaign against the british isles and the comparative lack of success in the matter of german air raids the destruction of coventry notwithstanding still another upset was the silly double collapse of italian armies in al barlia bania greece and in libya egypt with savage repercussions at home in the italic peninsula RUSSO kusso WAR the year 1940 open opened d with the eser continuation of 0 one les lesser war in addition to the ahe two major anglo german and sino japanese conflicts this was al the russo finnish war var which lasted a little more than three lull full months it began at the end of november 1839 1939 and ran on through a little lemore more than the first firs t two months of 0 1940 before finland finally gave up the finns were virtually disarmed arm ed the russians took over the mannerheimo Man line and the second city of finland viborg or VII allpurt puri as well as certain highly strategic points in the finnish gulf the finnish war president kahllo resigned Pol following lowing the finnish war the other three little baltic states lithuania latvia and estonia voted themi selves into the soviet union early in april the germans pulled their no 1 surprise of the no 2 world war like a streak of lightning they occupied copenhagen the capital ot of little denmark and oslo the capital of norway the norwegian war was a brisk affair the port of narvik barvik way up north changed hands between the british and germans and was the scene of bitterest fighting it was chiefly in im 1 because it was an embarkation point for the swedish iron en route tor for germany the te british eventually evacuated narvik barvik in the light ot of the subsequent british defeats in flanders norway was placed under the local dictatorship ot of major quisling a german sympathizer pat hizer FALL OF FRANCE people were surprised by norway early in april they were even more surprised by flanders in may 1840 1940 suddenly the hammer of thor came down on the western european anvil manfred von brauch atsch the german field commander and william kettel keitel who ran the berlin war office sent the field grays over the dutch belgian and luxembourg lines like a sudden whirlwind luxembourg me like denmark did not resist the famed belgian forts collapsed as they had in 1914 quite promptly and the dutch held out for less than a week in holland german parachute troops dropped from the ubiquitous junkers transports showed a remarkable military example british and french troops poured up into flanders to help the dutch and belgians the germans took on n all it four of them king leopold of of the the belgians suddenly made an armistice and thereby saved his army and retained his tottering throne the british made an epic retreat via the flemish channel port of dunkirk an operation in which the royel navy and royal air force covered themselves with glory they lost roost most of motorized and mechanized equipment but a good part of the B E F got back to eng land somehow the germans went ahead and captured parts paris premier reynaud who had taken the place of premier da ladier made defiant speeches then ran away france surrendered and g semi term military government of marshal retain general and admiral darlan darian took control these men founded the vichy government the germans divider divided france into two portions two thirds occupied by german troops and a third independent and directly under marshal petain who was much under the influence of a politician who always wore white meek neckties ties swarthy pierre lavil laval alsace lor balne was annexed directly to germany who had bad lost it in 1918 bits ol of the french brench navy clashed with the british navy twice once at oran in algeria and a second time at dakar in west africa meanwhile a minor french general named de a tank tanked ex pert escaped to england and organized a group known as free frenchmen to carry on the war b by Y pestering the germans and the allegedly pro german vichy government de had the rp special e ear of churchill de planned the unsuccessful dakar operation era tion and his agents were active in various other french colonies french premier genrl petain in a surprise move ousted pierre laval from his cabinet aid ad appointed in his place pierre etienne flandin Fland ln anxious to know what the conquered enemy was doin doing g germany immediately sent ambassador abetz to investigate BATTLE OF BRITAIN following the british defeats at narvik barvik norway dunkirk flanders and dakar west africa afric a the british isles took an increased hammering from the german air force nicknamed the goering flying circus or CF G F C the following po ports arts took special aerial liverpool bristol london southampton plymouth tor for the germans wished to td disrupt the war supply traffic with america which entered these harbors the germans also attacked the two english of birmingham and coventry the courage 0 f the british brolet proletariat ablat particularly in the miserable en east st end of london was astonishing something like 15 per cent of london was hit and british industrial production dropped according to british figures by 40 per cent more dangerous than the goering flying circus were the german submarines still known as U boats in the closing months of 1940 these undersea under sea monsters hunted in packs against the british merchant convoys from america the british ship losses began to skyrocket sky rocket and churchill said openly that he feared the subs more than the planes german surface raider sand seap seaplanes sea planes lanei aided the U boats and sin kings begin began to approach the top figure of hectic april 1917 in the midst of this crisis in december lord lothian died the british ambassador to the untied states U S DEFENSE following the french collapse ot of june julie a veritable lever fever swept over the united states it was called by some some a needful awakening it was called by others a contagious hysteria it affected high analow and low and reached to every comer odthe of the country god bless america re sounded everywhere and the local interventionists were especially loud in their linking of the british william wilham allen alien white of kansas a veteran liberal journalist headed an extremely influential committee to defend america by aiding the allies it succeeded behind the scenes to in helping to engineer the exchange of SO 50 overage over age american destroyers for a row of american naval and aerial bases on british new mew world posses possessions slops the bases were to be held by the U S on an 99 year leases and they include ed newfoundland bermuda bahamas jamaica antigua st lucia trinidad and british guiana in south america our army and navy at once set about the fortification of the newly acquired bases this was not ach all it was decided that the U S possess two navies atlantic and pacific instead ot of one we had 15 battleships for example and 37 cruisers but we were to have no less than 32 battleships and 85 cruisers before we got done also the first peacetime conscription in american history was passed in congress the new conscripts were already being called up at the close of 1940 close to lads between the ages of 21 and 39 30 were registered at washington a national defense board was called into being including military experts labor leaders and capitalists the nations war industries dus tries were speeded up to top pitch and congress voted billions tor for armaments the president declared that the british would get a rough 50 per cent of our production franklin roosevelt defeated wendell willkie in the 1940 el election the total score was roughly rough Y votes to the electoral vote however was overwhelming ly for or the third term although an estimated three quarters of the nations press campaigned for or the indiana utilities lawyer willkie stood for the draft and tor for aid to britain but he received most ot of the isolation vote and carried the outstandingly s stan tan isolation minded 5 tates stales in the midwest ITALY italy entered the war just in time to look in on the collapse of france a la Is jackal the italian troops captured one french city ot of and another af ot inhabitants i alter after the battle ot of france italy skirmished with En glands mediterranean a fleet while a few italian fliers appeared over london and the royal air force bombed turin and milan italian industrial centers for flat fiat and isotta fraschina in september under general gra alani aiani the italian libyan army invaded the british protectorate of 0 egypt and bogged down 80 miles up the coast in a feeble effort to take the distant suez canal late in october under marshal staff work the italians abruptly invaded little greece from the italian foothold of albania the inoffensive greeks turned around and counter attacked with the great est success the british navy air ail force and australian units came to their thear aid the italians were chased out of greece and the greeks occupied close to a quarter of italis restless albanian colony Ba baroglio badoglio doglio resigned as chaos reigned at home on top of this the italian libyan army took a bad beating in egypt and went into retreat with the british in pursuit the royal navy ant an the australians operated cooperated co md end 36 italians were capt captured tired by mid december RUMANIA partitioned rumania was another major victim of the year 1940 it wai was subdivided between russia bessara bia and the bukovina hungary northern transylvania and bulgaria the southern what was left underwent an iron guard revolution which ousted king carol and his friend redheaded red headed magda lupescu carols son michael became monarch the ger man army moved in to police the Ral balkans kans establish air bases and control the rumanian oil wells the new rumanian puppet government ern ment under dictator john antonescu tone tones seu cu joined the ronae rome berun to kyo axis so called so did hungary and the little slovak puppet state which is the rump of what used to be czechoslovakia meanwhile ru russia sia was still on the make and hels held the balance of power la in eu rope something that england baa had held for or centuries within a year stalin had acquired a third ol 01 poland parts ot of finland the three little baltic states and a piece ol of rumania all of at which russia bad lost oter after the first worm world wr war |