1st » The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
5th » World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London
5th » World War II: Norwegian Campaign – Norwegian squads in Battle of Hegra Fortress Hegra Fortress and Battle of Vinjesvingen Vinjesvingen capitulate to Nazi Germany German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.
6th » John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction named Pulitzer Prize for his novel 'The Grapes of Wrath'.
7th » The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
9th » World War II: The Nazi Germany German submarine German submarine U-9 (1935) 'U-9' sinks the French coastal submarine Doris (submarine) Doris near Den Helder.
10th » World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
10th » World War II: Nazi Germany e.g German raids on British shipping convoys and military airfields begin.
10th » World War II: Germany invades Battle of Belgium Belgium, the Battle of the Netherlands Netherlands and German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II Luxembourg.
10th » World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.
10th » World War II: Invasion of Iceland by the United Kingdom.
13th » Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the Nazism e.g German invasion. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands named Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
14th » World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the Nazi Germany named German Luftwaffe.
14th » World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands ends with the Netherlands surrendering to Germany.
14th » The Yermolayev Yer-2, a long-range Soviet Union e.g Soviet medium bomber, makes its first flight.
15th » USS Sailfish SS-192 6 is recommissioned. It was originally the USS 'Squalus'.
15th » World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Netherlands e.g Dutch troops surrender to Nazi Germany e.g Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
17th » World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
17th » World War II: the old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland.
20th » The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
24th » Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
24th » Acting on the orders of Soviet Union named Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
25th » World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) named 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne (1940) known as Battle of Boulogne.
26th » World War II: Operation Dynamo In northern France, Allies of World War II known as Allied forces begin a Dunkirk evacuation known as massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
26th » World War II: The Siege of Calais (1940) e.g Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.
27th » World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to Nazi Germany known as German troops; two survive.
28th » World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
28th » World War II: Norway Norwegian, France French, Poland Polish and United Kingdom British forces Battles of Narvik recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
29th » The first flight of the Vought F4U Corsair.
Famous Birthdays on May in 1940
1st » Bobbie Ann Mason, American author and critic
1st » Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
1st » John Wheeler (politician) or John Wheeler, English-Irish politician