Timeline April 1940

Events in April 1940 12

• 1865 – 1940 Mrs Patrick Campbell (1865-1940) Died 9 April 1940, aged 75 English stage actress for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion". She died in Pau, France.
• 1871 – 1940 Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940) Died 28 April 1940, aged 68 Italian coloratura soprano and one of the most celebrated opera singers of the early twentieth century. Chicken Tetrazzini is named after her.
• 1940 1940 World Snooker Championship Joe Davis Title 14 The final tournament before the WWII hiatus. Winner: Joe Davis; Runner-up: Fred Davis. Score: 37–36.
• 1940 Katyń Massacre War Crime Mass execution of Polish officers and intelligentsia by the Soviet NKVD.
• 1940 – 2011 Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) Died 25 September 2011, aged 71 The Kenyan environmentalist founded the Green Belt Movement, which planted tens of millions of trees across Africa, and became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004. She died in Nairobi of ovarian cancer. She was also a member of the Kenyan parliament and a prominent democracy activist.
• 1940 Katyn massacre Soviet NKVD executes about 22,000 Polish prisoners Between April and May the Soviet NKVD shot about 22,000 Polish officers, police and members of the intelligentsia in the Katyn Forest and at other sites. The Soviet Union blamed Nazi Germany for the killings until 1990. The massacre remains a defining grievance in Polish-Russian relations.
• 1940 – 2019 John Havlicek Hondo 8-time champion with the Celtics; famous for the "Havlicek stole the ball!" call.
• 1940 Battles of Narvik Allied and German forces fight over the iron-ore port German forces seized the northern Norwegian port of Narvik on 9 April. British, French, Polish and Norwegian troops retook the town in late May but withdrew in early June as the situation in France collapsed. The naval battles in the fjord cost Germany ten destroyers.
• 1940 Fleeing the Nazi Invasion When Nazi Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, three-year-old Harald, his mother and his two sisters were rushed northward, crossing into Sweden under fire. They eventually made their way to the United States, settling in Washington, DC, while his father and grandfather King Haakon VII remained in London with the government-in-exile.
• 1940 German invasion of Denmark and Norway Operation Weserübung secures Scandinavia for Germany On 9 April Germany invaded Denmark, which surrendered within hours, and Norway, which fought on with Allied support. The campaign ended when the last Norwegian forces capitulated on 10 June. King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government went into exile in London.
• 1940 Sinking of the Blücher Battle of Drøbak Sound Norwegian coastal artillery sank the German cruiser, allowing the King and government to escape.
• 1940 – 2024 Queen Margrethe II The Artist Queen A popular monarch and stage designer who reigned for 52 years before her surprise 2024 abdication.