1939

**1939** (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and *Anno Domini* (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade.

This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.

## Event

Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.

### January[edit]

Main article: January 1939

* January 5 – Pioneering US aviator Amelia Earhart is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance.
* January 6 – *Naturwissenschaften* publishes Otto Hahn's discoveries in the field of nuclear fission.
* January 14 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
* January 23 – "Dutch War Scare": Admiral Wilhelm Canaris of the *Abwehr* leaks misinformation to the effect that Germany plans to invade the Netherlands in February, with the aim of using Dutch air-fields to launch a strategic bombing offensive against Britain. The "Dutch War Scare" leads to a major change in British policies towards Europe.
* January 24 – 1939 Chillán earthquake: An earthquake in Chile kills an estimated 30,000 people and razes about 50,000 sq mi (130,000 km2) of land.
* January 25 – Refik Saydam forms the new (11th) government of Turkey.
* January 26
	+ Spanish Civil War: Spanish Nationalist troops, aided by Italy, take Barcelona.
	+ In Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, in response to rumours (which are true) that he is seeking to end the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, gives a speech highlighting his government's commitment to the *cordon sanitaire*.
* January 27 – Adolf Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the Royal Navy by 1944. The *Kriegsmarine* is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.
* January 30 – Hitler gives a speech before the *Reichstag* calling for an "export battle" to increase German foreign exchange holdings. The same speech also sees Hitler's "prophecy", where he warns that if "Jewish financiers" start a war against Germany, "the result will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".

### February[edit]

Main article: February 1939
February 21: Golden Gate International Exposition opens.

* February 2 – Hungary joins the Anti-Comintern Pact.
* February 6
	+ British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain states in the House of Commons that any German attack on France will be automatically considered an attack on Britain.
	+ In a response to Georges Bonnet's speech of January 26, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, referring to Bonnet's alleged statement of December 6, 1938, accepting Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere of influence, protests that all French security commitments in that region are "now off limits".
* February 15 – John Ford's film *Stagecoach* starring John Wayne premieres in New York City and Los Angeles.
* February 18 – The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco.
* February 27 – The United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government.

### March[edit]

Main article: March 1939

* March – The 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine ends.
* March 1 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explosion on the outskirts of Osaka kills 94.
* March 2 – Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI to become the 260th pope.
* March 3
	+ In Bombay, Mahatma Gandhi begins a fast, protesting against British rule in India.
	+ In Durban, South Africa the Timeless Test begins between England and South Africa, the longest game of cricket ever played. It is abandoned 12 days later, when the English team has to catch their ship home.
* March 13 –Adolf Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence, in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.
* March 14 – The Slovak provincial assembly proclaims independence; priest Jozef Tiso becomes president of the independent Slovak government.
* March 15 – German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.
* March 16
	+ Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt marries Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran.
	+ Hungary invades Carpatho-Ukraine; final resistance ends on March 18.
* March 17
	+ British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in Birmingham, stating that Britain will oppose any effort at world domination on the part of Germany.
	+ The nationalist governments of Spain and Portugal sign the Iberian Pact in Lisbon, pledging mutual defence of the Iberian Peninsula and neutrality in the event of a general European war.
* March 18 – "Romanian War Scare": Virgil Tilea, the Romanian Minister in London, spreads false rumours that Romania is on the verge of a German attack.
* March 20
	+ 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania, requiring return of the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) to Germany.
	+ At an emergency meeting in London to deal with the Romanian crisis, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet suggests to Lord Halifax that the ideal state for saving Romania from a German attack is Poland.
* March 21 – Aleister Crowley's *Eight Lectures on Yoga* is published by the Ordo Templi Orientis in London.
* March 22
	+ Following the March 20 ultimatum, Nazi Germany is granted the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory, *Memelland*) by Lithuania; on the following day German forces occupy the territory.
	+ In the U.S., undefeated LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball team tops undefeated Loyola of Chicago in the championship game of the second annual National Invitation Tournament, 44–32. LIU's 24–0 final record is the first perfect season of college basketball's postseason tournament era.
* March 23 – The Slovak–Hungarian War begins.
* March 26 – Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War launched by the Nationalists.
* March 27 – The University of Oregon defeats Ohio State University 46–33 in Evanston, Illinois, to win the championship of the first NCAA men's basketball tournament.
* March 28
	+ General Francisco Franco assumes power in Madrid, remaining in power until his death in 1975.
	+ American adventurer Richard Halliburton delivers a last message from a Chinese junk, before he disappears on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean. In 1945, some wreckage identified as a rudder, and believed to belong to the junk, washes ashore in San Diego, California.
* March 31 – Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in the House of Commons, offering the British "guarantee" of the independence of Poland.

### April[edit]

Main article: April 1939

* April 1
	+ The Spanish Civil War comes to an end when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
	+ The rumor that Hitler is dead sweeps the United States, as millions of CBS radio listeners hear the Führer cut off in mid-speech during a shortwave relay of his address, at the dedication of the *Tirpitz* in Wilhelmshaven.
* April 3
	+ Adolf Hitler orders the German military to start planning for Fall Weiß, the codename for the invasion of Poland.
	+ Refik Saydam forms the new government in Turkey (12th government; Refik Saydam has served twice as a prime minister).
* April 4
	+ Faisal II becomes King of Iraq aged three, following the death of his father, Ghazi, in an automobile incident.
	+ The Slovak–Hungarian War ends, with Slovakia ceding eastern territories to Hungary.
	+ Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck, in London, signs a treaty designed to bilateralize Neville Chamberlain's "Polish Guarantee" of March 31.
* April 7
	+ Italy invades Albania; King Zog flees.
	+ Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, dies in office from a heart attack at the age of 59. He is briefly replaced by his deputy Earle Page, who serves as the 11th Prime Minister, until a UAP leadership election is held to replace Lyons.
* April 9 – African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.
* April 11 – Hungary leaves the League of Nations.
* April 14 – At a meeting in Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet meets with Soviet Ambassador Jakob Suritz, and suggests that a "peace front" comprising France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Poland and Romania would deter Germany from war.
* April 18
	+ The Soviet Union proposes a "peace front" to resist aggression.
	+ Robert Menzies is elected leader of the United Australia Party, and consequently becomes the 12th Prime Minister of Australia, defeating former Prime Minister Billy Hughes. However, he will not be sworn in until April 26, due to Earle Page and his Country Party refusing to serve under him.
* April 20 – Billie Holiday records "Strange Fruit", the first anti-lynching song, in the United States.
* April 25 – The Federal Security Agency (FSA) is founded in the United States, along with the Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Health Service.
* April 28 – In a speech before the *Reichstag*, Adolf Hitler renounces the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression.
* April 30 – The 1939 New York World's Fair opens.

### May[edit]

Main article: May 1939

* May 1 – Batman, the fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, makes his first appearance in *Detective Comics* #27.
* May 3
	+ Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov, as Soviet Foreign Commissar.
	+ The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
* May 6 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that the German and Soviet governments are secretly beginning a rapprochement, with the aim of dividing Eastern Europe between them. Goerdeler also informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival of the Nazi regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for Poland, then Hitler will be deterred from war.
* May 9 – Spain leaves the League of Nations.
* May 14 – Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, gives birth to a baby boy, becoming the youngest confirmed mother in medical history.
* May 17
	+ King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City, to begin the first-ever tour of Canada by Canada's monarch.
	+ The British government issues the White Paper of 1939, sharply restricting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.
	+ Sweden, Norway, and Finland refuse Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
* May 18 – The Hòa Hảo religious sect is established in Vietnam, by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.
* May 20 – Pan American Airways begins transatlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Boeing 314 flying boat *Yankee Clipper* from Port Washington, New York, to Marseille.
* May 22 – Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
* May 24 – The first issue of *Fashizmi* is published in Tirana, Albania.
* May 29 – Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.

### June[edit]

Main article: June 1939
June 24: Siam is renamed "Thailand".

* June 3 – The Soviet government offers its definition of what constitutes "aggression", upon which the projected Anglo-Soviet-French alliance will come into effect. French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet accepts the Soviet definition of aggression at once. The British reject the Soviet definition, especially the concept of "indirect aggression", which they feel is too loose a definition, and phrased in such a manner as to imply the Soviet right of inference in the internal affairs of Eastern European nations.
* June 4 – The *St. Louis*, a ship carrying a cargo of 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death camps during The Holocaust.
* June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, makes his debut in *The Bear That Couldn't Sleep*. However, it is not until 1942 that his name is adopted.
* June 12 – The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is officially dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.
* June 14 – Tientsin Incident: The Japanese blockade the British concession in Tianjin, China, beginning a crisis which almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war in the summer of 1939.
* June 17 – In the last public guillotining in France, murderer Eugen Weidmann is executed.
* June 23 – Talks are completed in Ankara between French Ambassador René Massigli and Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu, resolving the Hatay dispute in Turkey's favor. Turkey annexes Hatay.
* June 24 – The government of Siam changes its name to Thailand, which means 'Free Land'.
* June 29 – The Ford 9N tractor, with the Ferguson hydraulic three-point hitch, is first demonstrated at Dearborn, Michigan.

### July[edit]

Main article: July 1939

* July 4 – The Neuengamme concentration camp becomes autonomous.
* July 6 – The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed by the Nazis.
* July 8 – The Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat *Yankee Clipper* inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service, between the United States (Port Washington, New York) and Britain.
* July 23 – Mahatma Gandhi writes a personal letter to Adolf Hitler from India, addressing him as "My friend", requesting him to prevent any possible war.
* July 27 – The first recorded snow falls in Auckland, New Zealand, since records began in 1853.

### August[edit]

Main article: August 1939

* August 2 – The Einstein–Szilárd letter is signed, advising President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb.
* August 4 – Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dismisses the Parliament of the United Kingdom until October 3.
* August 15 – MGM's classic musical film *The Wizard of Oz*, based on L. Frank Baum's famous novel, and starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
* August 19 – Adolf Hitler, after evaluating the pace of non-aggression negotiations with the Soviet Union, orders the Kriegsmarine to begin the opening operations for *Fall Weiß*, the invasion of Poland. The German pocket battleship *Admiral Graf Spee*, along with the German pocket battleship *Deutschland*, as well as dozens of U-boats, cast off for their advance positions. Hitler spends the next few days worrying that the Russians will not come to terms in time for the rest of the invasion plans to unfold as scheduled.
* August 20 – Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgy Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to Imperial Japanese Army forces in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia.
* August 23 – The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, a neutrality treaty that also agrees to division of spheres of influence (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland and Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova), north-east province of Romania to the Soviet Union; Lithuania and western Poland to Germany). Its annex reassigns Lithuania to the Soviet Union.
* August 24 – As details of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact become public, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain recalls the Parliament of the United Kingdom several weeks early. In a burst of legislation, the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to defence regulations, the British Royal Navy is to be put on a war footing, all military leave is to be cancelled, military reserve forces are to be called up, especially coast defence, radar and anti-aircraft units, and Civil Defence workers are placed on alert. In addition, the last British and French private citizens in Germany are advised to return home by their respective Governments.
* August 25
	+ The German Foreign Ministry cuts off all telegraph and telephone communication with the outside world, in accordance with the plan for *Fall Weiß*. At approximately 1830 Central European time, Adolf Hitler postpones *Fall Weiss* for 5 days, after receiving a message from Benito Mussolini that he will not honor the Pact of Steel if Germany attacks Poland, and because Chamberlain's government has not fallen as a result of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Some units already in their forward positions (the attack is scheduled for 0430 the next day) do not get the word in time and attack various targets along the border. That same day, Neville Chamberlain gives Edward Rydz-Śmigły his "ironclad guarantee" of assistance if Poland is attacked by Germany.
	+ 1939 Coventry bombing: An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England, killing 5 people.
	+ MGM's classic musical film *The Wizard of Oz*, based on L. Frank Baum's famous novel, and starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, is released in theaters throughout the United States.
* August 26
	+ The first televised Major League Baseball games are shown on experimental station W2XBS in the United States: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
	+ The Kriegsmarine orders all German-flagged merchant ships to head to German ports immediately, in anticipation of the invasion of Poland.
* August 27 – A Heinkel He 178, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, flies for the first time, with Captain Erich Warsitz in command.
* August 28 – The SS *Normandie* heads into New York Harbor, where she will be interned on September 3, and cut up for scrap, beginning in 1946.
* August 30 – Poland begins a mobilization against Nazi Germany.
* August 31 – Operation Himmler: Nazi German troops posing as Poles stage a series of false flag operations on the border (including the Gleiwitz incident), giving a pretext for the invasion of Poland.

### September[edit]

Main article: September 1939
September 1: Wieluń destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing.
Common parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest at the end of the Invasion of Poland. At the center Major General Heinz Guderian and Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein.

* September 1 – Beginning of WWII:
	+ Opening shots of World War II and invasion of Poland: At 4:45am Central European Time, under cover of darkness, the German WWI-era battleship *Schleswig-Holstein* quietly slips her moorings at her wharf in Danzig Harbor, drifts into the center of the channel, and commences firing on a Polish military installation on Westerplatte at the northeastern mouth of the port of the internationalized Free City of Danzig, beginning the Battle of Westerplatte and Battle of Danzig Bay. Five minutes previously, the bombing of Wieluń in the western part of Poland had commenced, beginning the Battle of the Border. Shock-troops of the German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland.
	+ The Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.
	+ Britain and France deliver ultimatums to Germany. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland declare their neutrality. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt states that "every effort" would be made by his administration to stay out of the war. Italy is advised that Germany does not expect to need its military support at present.
	+ General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
* September 2 – WWII:
	+ Following the invasion of Poland, the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
	+ Spain and Ireland declare their neutrality.
* September 3 – WWII:
	+ The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia and India (by its Viceroy) declare war on Nazi Germany. Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, in English, and Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, in French, give an international radio address stating the Dominion's intention to declare war also.
	+ United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.
	+ Ocean liner SS *Athenia* becomes the first British civilian casualty of the war, when she is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine *U-30* in the eastern Atlantic. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew are killed.
	+ Chamberlain offers the war cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty to Winston Churchill, who returns to government for the first time since June 4, 1929.
* September 4 – WWII:
	+ The first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.
	+ The Defense of Katowice by irregular Polish militia fails and the city is secured by German Wehrmacht forces who carry out the Katowice massacre.
	+ Nepal declares war on Germany.
* September 5 – WWII: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
* September 6 – WWII: South Africa declares war on Germany.
* September 8
	+ WWII: Forward elements of General Hoeppner's XVI Panzerkorps take up positions outside Warsaw. The world is stunned by the rapidity of the German advance, and the Polish High Command is effectively isolated, but lack of infantry support and effective civilian resistance cause Hoeppner to halt outside the city itself.
	+ WWII: Battle of Westerplatte ends when Polish troops on the Westerplatte are forced by lack of food and ammunition to surrender. The garrison of about two hundred had held out against thousands of German forces (many of them naval officer cadets from *Schleswig-Holstein*) for seven days.
	+ The Little Sisters of Jesus is founded in Algeria, by Little Sister Magdeleine.

September: Siege of Warsaw.

* September 9 – WWII: Troops of the Polish Poznań Army under the command of General Kutrzeba open the Battle of the Bzura, the largest and best organized counter-attack mounted by the Polish forces in the campaign of 1939. For the first few days all goes well, and the Germans are forced to retreat; but quick reaction by mechanized units and the Luftwaffe soon take their toll, and the operation bogs down.
* September 10 – WWII: Canada declares war on Germany, the only declaration of war by Canada.
* September 13–14 – WWII: Zambrów massacre – German Wehrmacht soldiers shoot more than 200 Polish prisoners of war.
* September 15 – WWII: Diverse elements of the German Wehrmacht surround Warsaw, and demand its surrender. The Poles refuse, and the siege begins in earnest.
* September 16 – A ceasefire ends the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the undeclared border war between the Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
* September 17 – WWII:
	+ The Soviet Union invades Poland, and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
	+ Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS *Courageous* is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine *U-29* in the Western Approaches with the loss of 519 crew (the first British warship loss of the war).
* September 18 – WWII: *Orzeł* incident: Polish submarine ORP *Orzeł* escapes internment from Tallinn Harbour, Estonia, leading both the Soviet Union and Germany to question Estonia's neutrality.
* September 19 – WWII: The Poznan pocket collapses, and the Germans capture, according to many sources, over 150,000 men. Many elements of General Tadeusz Kutrzeba's forces work their way into Warsaw, under extreme difficulty.
* September 21
	+ Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police, sends a directive, the Schnellbrief, explaining that Jews living in towns and villages in the Polish occupation zones are to be transferred to ghettos, and Jewish councils, Judenräte, will be established to carry out the German authorities’ orders.
	+ Assassination of Armand Călinescu: Prime Minister of Romania Armand Călinescu is shot in Bucharest by members of the fascist Iron Guard.
	+ Radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C. records an entire broadcast day, for preservation in the National Archives.
* September 22 – WWII: A joint victory parade is staged by the Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk, at the end of the Invasion of Poland.
* September 24 – WWII: The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Estonia to allow Soviet military bases on its territory, which Estonia accepts on September 28. Similar ultimatums are issued to Latvia on October 5 and to Lithuania on October 10, who are forced to accept them as well.
* September 28 – WWII:
	+ Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland, after their invasion.
	+ Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders a day later; the last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock 8 days later.
* September 30 – General Władysław Sikorski becomes Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile.

### October[edit]

Main article: October 1939

* October 6 – WWII: The Battle of Kock ends the Polish Campaign. Polish resistance moves underground.
* October 7 – WWII: British Royal Navy cruiser HMS *Emerald* departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish.
* October 8
	+ WWII: Germany annexes Western Poland.
	+ The Holocaust: Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, the first Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, is proclaimed in German-occupied Poland.
* October 11 – The Einstein–Szilárd letter is delivered to President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, advising of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb, leading to the Manhattan Project.
* October 14 – German submarine *U-47* sinks the British battleship HMS *Royal Oak* at anchor in Scapa Flow (Scotland), with the loss of 833 crew.
* October 15 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
* October 17 – *Mr. Smith Goes to Washington* premieres in Washington, D.C.
* October 21 – The first meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Uranium is held under Lyman James Briggs, authorized by President Roosevelt to oversee neutron experiments, a precursor of the Manhattan Project.
* October 22 – In the first televised NFL football game, the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 23–14 at Ebbets Field.
* October 24 – Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time anywhere in Wilmington, Delaware.

### November[edit]

Main article: November 1939
November 6: Hedda Hopper

* November – Lebensborn: Policy of kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany initiated in occupied Poland.
* November 1–2 – WWII: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems, and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 4 – WWII: 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 to non-belligerent nations.
* November 4 – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 6
	+ *Hedda Hopper's Hollywood* debuts on radio with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show runs until 1951, making Hopper a powerful figure among the Hollywood elite).
	+ WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau: Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków, and other Kraków universities.
* November 8
	+ WWII: In Munich, an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler is made by Georg Elser, while Hitler is celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
	+ CBS television station W2XAB resumes test transmission, with an all-electronic system broadcast from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.
* November 9 – WWII: Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
* November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
* November 16 – Al Capone is released from Terminal Island, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.
* November 17 – WWII: To punish protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech homeland, the Nazis storm the University of Prague and murder 9 Czech graduate students, send over 1,200 to concentration camps, and close all Czech universities, an event which will be commemorated as International Students' Day.
* November 23 – WWII: British armed merchantman HMS *Rawalpindi* is sunk in the GIUK gap, in an action against the German battleships *Scharnhorst* and *Gneisenau*.
* November 26 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Union's Red Army shells the Russian village of Mainila, then claims that the fire originated from Finland, giving a *casus belli* for the Winter War.
* November 30 – WWII:
	+ Winter War: Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
	+ Sweden declares itself a non-belligerent in the Winter War.

### December[edit]

Main article: December 1939

* December 2 – LaGuardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
* December 4 – WWII:
	+ British battleship HMS *Nelson* strikes a mine (laid by *U-31*) off the coast of Scotland, and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.
	+ German submarine *U-36* is torpedoed and sunk by British submarine HMS *Salmon* off Stavanger, the first enemy submarine lost to a British one during the war.
* December 9 – WWII: The first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force is killed; Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine.
* December 12 – WWII: HMS *Duchess* sinks after a collision with HMS *Barham* off the coast of Scotland, with the loss of 124 men.
* December 13 – WWII – Battle of the River Plate: The German heavy cruiser *Admiral Graf Spee* is trapped by cruisers HMS *Ajax*, HMNZS *Achilles*, and HMS *Exeter* after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. *Graf Spee* is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbor, on December 17.
* December 14 – WWII – Winter War: The League of Nations expels the USSR for attacking Finland.
* December 15 – The epic historical romance film *Gone with the Wind*, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. Based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel of 1936, it is the longest American film made up to this date (at nearly four hours) and rapidly becomes the highest-grossing film up to this time.
* December 18 – WWII – Battle of the Heligoland Bight: RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack *Kriegsmarine* ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.
* December 26 – Miners strike in Borinage, Belgium.
* December 27 – The 7.8 Mw  Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (*Extreme*), causing $20 million in damage, and leaving 32,700–32,968 dead.

### Date unknown[edit]

* Kirlian photography is invented by Semyon Kirlian.
* Enzo Ferrari founds Auto Avio Construzioni, the company that becomes Ferrari in 1947.