Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Dec 12 – 18, 1940

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 14, 1940: Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, pictured above, publishes book ‘Chiang Kai-shek: Marshal of China’, celebrating his leadership of his people in a time of ‘darkness and misery greater than any their forefathers ever had to endure’

Dec 15, 1940: New Japanese mobilization law tightens government’s grip over society and strengthens control over media, mandating stiff prison terms for journalists deemed to be endangering national security

Dec 16, 1940: Japanese Admiral Suetsugu Nobumasa says Germany’s war in Europe and Japan’s war in China serve the same purpose of creating ‘a new world order’

Dec 17, 1940: Chinese bankers refuse to work with head of Japanese-backed puppet government Wang Jingwei unless he cedes control over financial matters

Dec 18, 1940: Following Japanese government statement that it wishes to see an end to the war in China, US Ambassador Joseph Grew reacts with skepticism, arguing that Japan must be judged by its actions, not its intentions

Categories: War

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