Events Date 1940 May | History by KabAstro

Steinbeck Wins Pulitzer

May 6 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck for "The Grapes of Wrath"

May 7 British House of Commons begins its Norway Debate on the conduct of the war after Germany invaded Norway - will lead to Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister
May 10 Dutch-Indies Governor Van Starkenborch proclaims end to state of siege

Winston Churchill Becomes Prime Minister

May 10 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

May 10 World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent
May 10 WWII: Battle of France - Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), Germany invades Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and northern France, with Panzer tanks crossing through the Ardennes Forest
May 11 65th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6
May 11 NY World's Fair reopens
May 12 French marines occupy St Maarten
May 12 German tanks conquer Moerdijk bridges, Netherlands
May 12 Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with German forces crossing the Muese River
May 13 British bomb factory at Breda, Netherlands

Queen Wilhelmina Flees

May 13 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina flees to England

Queen of the Netherlands Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

May 13 German breakthrough at Grebbelinie
May 13 Winston Churchill says "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" in his first speech as Prime Minister to British House of Commons
May 14 Admiral Johannes Furstner, Royal Dutch Navy, departs to England

Foxx's Huge Home Run

May 14 Boston Red Sox Jimmie Foxx HR goes over the left field roof of Comiskey Park in Chicago

MLB Hall of Fame 1st Baseman Jimmie Foxx

May 14 British Local Defence Volunteers forms, an armed citizen militia designed to support the British Army during the Second World War. It is later renamed the Home Guard.
May 14 German breakthrough at Sedan
May 14 Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
May 14 Nazis bomb Rotterdam (600-900 dead), Netherlands surrenders to Germany
May 15 German armoured division moves into Northern France
May 15 German troops occupy Amsterdam, General Winkelman surrenders
May 15 Nazis capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP)
May 15 Richard and Maurice McDonald open the 1st McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino, California
May 15 USS Sailfish (SS-192) recommissioned, originally the Squalus
May 16 British Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris
May 16 Nazis forbid non-professional auto workers
May 17 Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins invasion of France
May 17 Nazis bombs Middelburg/B IJzerdrat begins illegal defiance
May 18 WWII: German troops conquer Antwerp, Belgium
May 19 Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time)

French Counter Attack

May 19 WWII: French counterattack at Péronne under General Charles De Gaulle

May 20 German General Guderian's tanks reach the English Channel (British expeditionary army)
May 20 Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen
May 20 Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7
May 21 AVRO chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees
May 21 Battle of Arras: British and French Allied forces counterattack south of Arras, France, winning time to reinforce and foritfy the Channel Ports
May 21 Paul Reynaud forms French government
May 22 Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Nazis
May 22 UK Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to decide with General Maxime Weygand a strategy to save the city
May 23 1st great dogfight between Spitfires and Luftwaffe
May 24 1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2)

Germany Issues Halt Order

May 24 Adolf Hitler and General von Rundstedt issue a Halt Order stopping German armed divisions and allowing British and French armies to evacuate through Calais and Dunkirk

May 24 Dutch army demobilizes
May 24 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio
May 24 German tanks reach Arras, France
May 24 NY Giants swat Boston Bees, 8-1, in 1st night game at Polo Grounds, NYC
May 25 German troops conquer Boulogne
May 25 Golden Gate International Exposition reopens

1st US Helicopter Flight

May 26 1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky

Miracle of Dunkirk

May 27 British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during World War II

British troops await evacuation at Dunkirk

May 27 World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops
May 28 Belgium surrenders to Germany, King Leopold III gives himself up
May 28 British-French troops capture Narvik, Norway

Louisiana Purchase

May 28 Irving Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase", satirizing Huey Long's political power, opens at The Imperial Theatre, NYC; runs for 444 performances

US Senator and Governor of Louisiana Huey Long

May 29 Adolf Kiefer swims world record 100 yards backstroke (58.8 sec)
May 29 Arthur Seyss-Inquart installed as Reich commissar of The Hague, Netherlands
May 29 In WWII, Germans capture Ostend & Ypres in Belgium and Lille in France
May 30 Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw drives same Maserati 8CTF he had driven to victory in 1939; first driver in the history to win at Indy in consecutive years
May 31 British Major General Bernard Montgomery leaves Dunkirk
May 31 Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with French Marshal Philippe Pétain who announces he is willing to make a separate peace with Germany