1937: GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler orders the resumption of the immorality and foreign exchange trials against Catholic clergymen, which had been halted shortly before the Olympic Games in the summer of 1936.
1938: U.S.A.: The prototype Bell (Model 11) XP-39 Airacobra (USAAC s/n 38-326) makes its first flight at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. A total of 8,914 P-39s are built during the war; a large number are transferred to the Soviet Union and France under Lend Lease.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov proposes that talks between the Soviet and the U.K. governments be held at ministerial level.
April 6th, 1939 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Colonel Josef Beck, the Polish foreign minister, arrived in London today to sign an agreement which turns last month's Anglo-French guarantee of Poland's security into a wider pact of mutual assistance. The move is a belated attempt to put a stop to Hitler's acts of aggression, though nobody seems to know just how Britain and France can go to the aid of the Poles if Hitler decides to strike this year, as intelligence reports from Germany suggest.
The Poles, with long memories of Russian domination, are adamant that Soviet troops will not be allowed to enter their country, not even as formal allies. As for the Polish armed forces, they lack modern equipment and have only a few hundred obsolete planes. Even as Colonel Beck was signing the pact, London was receiving reports from the British military attaché in Warsaw saying Poland's frontiers are indefensible and the strategic position is "disastrous."
The Anglo-French guarantee has driven Hitler into a rage, but Chamberlain has now lost all faith in the Führer and is determined to fight.
ITALY: The government assures Britain it is not considering any sudden attack against Albania.