World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Sunday, December 30, 1939
Day 121

December 30, 1939: Front page of the Evening Express, Liverpool, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "40 Dead, 150 Hurt In Italian Rail Crash"
(This was the latest in a spate of deadly train crashes. In Germany there had been at least 8 massive train crashes and in the Port Arthur News below another crash is being reported today in Texas.)
Also note the report in column 2: "Postcard Delivered After 28 Years"


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Midland Daily Telegraph, Coventry, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 2: "Torpedoed Battleship In Harbour"
(The unnamed battleship was HMS Barham, which had been torpedoed by the German submarine U-30, the same boat that had sunk the passenger ship Athenia on Sept. 3rd.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "Goering or Himmler May Go"
(Both Göring and Himmler remained in their respective commands until the end of the war.)
Also note the report in column 4: "Reached Port After 12 Weeks Lost"
(Just a small report which highlights the dangers of sea travel in the 1940's.)
Also note the report in column 5: "France Has Sunk Nine U-boats"
(To this point in the war only 9 U-boats had been sunk in total, and none of the by the French.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of Het Volksdagblad, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Dutch communist paper.)
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of The Lowell Sun, Lowell, Massachusetts.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of the Butte Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Installment #6 of "Hitler Speaks" from The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 30, 1939: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Neujahrsaufruf des Führers.
(New Year's call from the Führer.)
2. Den jungen Nationen die Zukunft.
(The future for the nation's young.)



   
Page published Dec. 30, 2020