3rd » World War II: Kingdom of Italy named Italian forces begin the Italian conquest of British Somaliland named invasion of British Somaliland.
5th » World War II: The Soviet Union formally Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 1940-1941: The first Soviet occupation called annexes Latvia.
6th » Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union.
7th » World War II: Alsace-Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich.
8th » The "Aufbau Ost (1940) e.g Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
15th » An Kingdom of Italy known as Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli (1912) known as Greek cruiser 'Elli' at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in
19th » First flight of the North American B-25 Mitchell e.g B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
20th » In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
20th » World War II: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom e.g British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".
30th » The Second Vienna Award reassigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.
31st » Lovettsville Air Disaster called Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The Civil Aeronautics Authority e.g CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce a
Famous Birthdays on August in 1940
1st » Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire
1st » Ram Loevy, Israeli director and screenwriter
1st » Henry Silverman, American businessman, founded the Cendant called Cendant Corporation
2nd » Beko Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian physician and activist (d. 2006)
2nd » Will Tura, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist