Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Dec 19 – 25, 1940

Dec 19, 1940: Japanese Navy considers reopening Yangtze River to foreign shipping

Dec 20, 1940: Lieutenant General Oshima Hiroshi is reappointed Japan’s ambassador to Germany

Dec 21, 1940: Japan allows German merchant vessels berthed in Japanese ports to be armed and turned into commerce raiders aimed at British shipping

Dec 22, 1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt names industrialist William Knudsen head of new four-member board to prepare defense measures

Dec 23, 1940: British colony Singapore strengthens defenses, especially beefing up air force

Dec 24, 1940: Japanese Army imposes stricter rules in occupied Beijing, threatening to be shoot on sight anyone passing the city wall without permission

Dec 25, 1940: Japan’s new ambassador to the US Nomura Kichisaburo tours China and Manchukuo to acquaint himself with conditions before assuming post in Washington

Categories: War

Leave a Reply