WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO OCTOBER 1939
Find out what all happened January to October 1939

Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison (17. June 1939)

United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal. (27. February 1939)

General Władysław Sikorski becomes commander-in-chief of the Polish Government in exile. (30. September 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. (17. May 1939)

World War II: Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania. (18. September 1939)

Slovakia declares independence under German pressure. (14. March 1939)

World War II: First attack on British territory by the German Luftwaffe. (16. October 1939)

Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor. (12. June 1939)

A Lockheed P-38 Lightning flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes. (11. February 1939)

The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press. (14. April 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. (23. May 1939)

World War II: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies – France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. (10. September 1939)

Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran. (16. March 1939)

The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date. (1. September 1939)

Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people. (1. September 1939)

World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia. (14. September 1939)

Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall. (9. April 1939)

Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five. (14. May 1939)

The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak within her harbour at Scapa Flow, Scotland. (14. October 1939)

World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland. (9. September 1939)