Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, June 6 – 12, 1940

 

June 6, 1940: Japanese passenger liner Nitta Matu arrives in Los Angeles for the first time, heralding new age in transport across the Pacific. (Two years on, it is converted into an escort carrier by the Japanese Navy.)

June 7, 1940: Wang Kemin, 61-year-old leader of Japan-backed north Chinese puppet regime, resigns due to ‘old age’

June 8, 1940: US aviator Claire Chennault, advisor to the Chinese government, gets reinforcement as ten former US Army Air Corps pilots leave for unoccupied China to aid in war against Japan

June 9, 1940: Chinese General Zhang Zizhong reported killed in battle, one of the most senior officers to die in war against Japan

June 10, 1940: As Italy enters war on Germany’s side, Italian passenger liner Conte Verde, which has been transporting Jewish refugees to Shanghai, stays in Chinese waters for the time being

June 11, 1940: Japanese Army says it has taken the strategic Chinese city of Yichang

June 12, 1940: Japanese planes launch intense 23-minute raid on China’s wartime capital of Chongqing, leaving 1,500 casualties

Categories: War

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