Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, April 11 – 17, 1940

April 11, 1940: German invasion of Scandinavia followed intensely by Japan, with Tokyo press calling it the biggest event in the war since Soviet attack on Poland and expecting US involvement a matter of time. In that case, a pro-German newspaper argues, Japan “must cast off cloak of neutrality”

April 12, 1940: US Navy destroyer J. Fred Talbott returns to Canal Zone after mission in Pacific where it has provided medical assistance to passenger on board Japanese vessel Arimasan Maru

April 13, 1940: Former US Undersecretary of State William R. Castle says American embargo policy may drive Japan into Soviet arms

April 14, 1940: Japanese planes bomb Chinese villages near border with Hong Kong

April 15, 1940: Japan says it will not allow the war in Europe to spread to the Dutch East Indies

April 16, 1940: Shao Lizi, a leftist member of the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, is appointed Chinese ambassador to Soviet Union

April 17, 1940: Madame Chiang Kai-shek, China’s First Lady, says China ‘is fighting the battle of free men’ against Japan, arguing that Japan would be conquering western territories in the Pacific if it was not tied down in the Chinese quagmire

Categories: War

Leave a Reply