WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1940
Find out what all happened January to September 1940

First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. (19. August 1940)

World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War. (28. May 1940)

An explosion at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey kills 51 people and injures over 200. (12. September 1940)

In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco. (29. February 1940)

World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat. (3. June 1940)

Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union. (28. June 1940)

Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. (26. August 1940)

World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy. (27. September 1940)

The first flight of the Vought F4U Corsair. (29. May 1940)

World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces. (10. June 1940)

The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by German submarine U-48; those killed include 77 child refugees. (18. September 1940)

World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland. (3. August 1940)

Appeal of June 18 by Charles de Gaulle. (18. June 1940)

John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. (6. May 1940)

World War II: Battle of Dunkirk – In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France. (26. May 1940)

World War II: Norwegian Campaign – Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. (5. May 1940)

Doodlebug Disaster: A doodlebug train in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio collides with a multi-car freight train heading in the opposite direction, killing 43 people. (31. July 1940)

World War II: Army order 112 forms the Intelligence Corps of the British Army. (19. July 1940)

For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award. (29. February 1940)

World War II: Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani. (16. September 1940)