Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, May 9 – 15, 1940

May 9, 1940: Japanese Army allocates hundreds of tanks to offensive in China’s Henan and Hubei province

May 10, 1940: Just hours after Germany invades the Netherlands, martial law is declared in the Dutch East Indies

May 11, 1940: One day after Germany invades the Netherlands, severing its ties with its overseas possession, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull warns foreign powers against disturbing status quo in the Dutch East Indies

May 12, 1940: Japan says it will not allow Dutch East Indies to change hands, despite German invasion of the Netherlands

May 13, 1940: US river gunboat Tutuila, part of the Yangtze Patrol, is refloated, almost a week after running aground near China’s wartime capital of Chongqing

May 14, 1940: US Joint Army and Navy Board adopts Rainbow 5, a plan for possible future American participation in war, calling for the need to deal with Germany first, Japan later

May 15, 1940: New British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, under immense pressure because of German offensive in Western Europe, sends message to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “I am looking to you to keep [Japan] quiet in the Pacific, using Singapore in any way convenient.”

Categories: War

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