1939 Calendar
What Happened In Year 1939?
- January 1, 1939 – Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city.
- February 19, 1939 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Earth Rabbit in Chinese astrology.
- April 20, 1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday is celebrated as a national holiday in Nazi Germany.
- May 17, 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States’ first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.
- May 23, 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
- June 24, 1939 – Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the country’s third prime minister.
- July 6, 1939 – Holocaust: the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
- August 15, 1939 – 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. There are no survivors.
- August 31, 1939 – Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day thus starting World War II in Europe.
- September 1, 1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).
- September 2, 1939 – World War II: following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
- September 10, 1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies – France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.
- September 19, 1939 – World War II: The Battle of Kępa Oksywska concludes, with Polish losses reaching roughly 14% of all the forces engaged.
- September 22, 1939 – Joint victory parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk at the end of the Invasion of Poland.
- October 6, 1939 – World War II: The last Polish army is defeated.
- October 16, 1939 – World War II: First attack on British territory by the German Luftwaffe.
- November 4, 1939 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
- November 15, 1939 – In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- November 17, 1939 – Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. In addition, all Czech universities are shut down and over 1200 Czech students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students’ Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.
- December 15, 1939 – Gone with the Wind receives its première at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
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