Jan 2, 1941: To boost shipping capabilities as risk of war becomes ever more apparent, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces massive construction program to build 200 standardized 7,500-ton freighters Jan 3, 1941: Displaying growing interest in the South Pacific, Japan appoints career diplomat Kawai Tatsuo to become its first envoy to Australia Jan 4, 1941:…
Dec 26, 1940: Brigadier General Leonard T. Gerow, acting chief of the US War Plans Division, calls for doubling of Philippine defense force Dec 27, 1940: Veteran Japanese diplomat Yoshizawa Kenkichi arrives in Dutch East Indies for talks aimed at increasing oil imports from Netherlands colony Dec 28, 1940: Richard Sorge, Soviet spy posing as…
Dec 19, 1940: Japanese Navy considers reopening Yangtze River to foreign shipping Dec 20, 1940: Lieutenant General Oshima Hiroshi is reappointed Japan’s ambassador to Germany Dec 21, 1940: Japan allows German merchant vessels berthed in Japanese ports to be armed and turned into commerce raiders aimed at British shipping Dec 22, 1940: President Franklin D….
Dec 12, 1940: Paul Wenneker, German naval attache in Tokyo, provides Japanese high command with top-secret documents obtained by German raider Atlantis while boarding British freighter Automedon near Sumatra Dec 13, 1940: Wang Jingwei, head of the Japanese-backed puppet government in China, appoints his foreign minister and brother-in-law Zhu Minyi as new ambassador to Tokyo…
Dec 5, 1940: The Hundred Regiments partisan offensive ends in China after months of vicious fighting Dec 6, 1940: Occupied East Chinese city of Suzhou on high alert after unknown perpetrators kill senior official in pro-Japanese puppet government Dec 7, 1940: Japan picks Honda Kumataro, its formers ambassador to Berlin, as its envoy to the…
Nov 28, 1940: Japanese planes cause temporary scare as they emerge in skies over Hong Kong, apparently by mistake Nov 29, 1940: Dozens reported killed as partisans sabotage train in East China carrying high-ranking Chinese and Japanese officials to ceremony in puppet capital Nanjing Nov 30, 1940: Japan formally recognizes Chinese puppet regime led by…
Nov 21, 1940: Several Japanese divisions involved in campaign in north China to suppress partisan offensive Nov 22, 1940: Japanese authorities detain two Americans for allegedly taking photos of military installations at port city of Haiphong, northern Indochina Nov 23, 1940: Heavy cruiser USS Augusta leaves Manila for US West Coast, aiming to investigate reports…
Nov 14, 1940: Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham is named commander of British forces in the Far East Nov 15, 1940: Yamamoto Isoroku is promoted to the rank of admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy Nov 16, 1940: Japan inaugurates 110-mile railroad across north China’s Hebei province, aimed at speeding up extraction of natural…
Nov 7, 1940: British cargo ship Cambridge is sunk off Australia laid by German auxiliary vessel Passat a few days earlier Nov 8, 1940: Admiral Nomura Kichisaburo is appointed Japanese ambassador to the United States Nov 9, 1940: Crew of US freighter City of Rayville is rescued one day after their vessel is sunk near…
Oct 31, 1940: German auxiliary vessel Passat, previously Storstad, begins laying mines south of Australia Nov 1, 1940: US Navy sets up Submarines Scouting Force, Pacific Fleet Nov 2, 1940: Japanese Army continues campaign in response to partisan “100 Regiments” offensive in China Nov 3, 1940: Powerful typhoon sweeps across Guam, ravaging the naval yard…
