1933 (MONDAY)
UNITED STATES: The first dust storm of the great dust bowl era of the 1930s occurs. The dust storm, which has spread from Montana to the Ohio Valley yesterday, prevails from Georgia to Maine resulting in a black rain over New York and a brown snow in Vermont. Parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa reported zero visibility yesterday. Today, dust reduces the visibility to half a mile (805 meters) in Tennessee.
1936 (FRIDAY)
LEBANON: The French and Lebanese governments sign a treaty which recognizes the special social and political character of Lebanon in relation to the new Syrian state.
November 13th, 1939 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: German destroyers Karl Galster, Wilhelm Heidkamp, Hermann Kunne and Hans Ludemann lay a minefield in the South and Edinburgh channels of the Thames Estuary. Soon after the minefield had been laid, the Minelaying Cruiser HMS Adventure (M 23) (Capt A. R. Halfhide) ran into a mine. Temporally disabled the injured were transferred to the destroyer HMS Basilisk (H 11) while B Class destroyer HMS Blanche (H 47) stood by. As the force made its way towards safety HMS Blanche was mined by a magnetic mine and settled by the stern at 51. 29N, 01 30E. The tug Fabia went to the destroyer’s assistance but as she was towed the destroyer capsized and sank.London: General Henry Crerar sets up the Canadian military headquarters.
Shetland Islands: German bombers dropped bombs on British soil for the
first time today. Damage was confined to a deserted crofter's cottage and a rabbit. The
bombers missed naval vessels and anchored flying boats. The Germans claimed hits on a
cruiser and two aircraft. "This is only the beginning," said their spokesman.
This led to the famous Flannigan and Allen song 'Run Rabbit Run', popular with the BEF.
Corvette HMS La Malouine (ex-FS La Malouine) laid down.
Minesweeping trawlers HMS Ash and Birch launched.U.S. freighter SS Black Hawk is detained by British authorities at Ramsgate, Kent, England.
GERMANY: The RAF resumes aerial leaflet drops over Germany. These drops continue until 9 April 1940, when German forces invade Denmark and Norway.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Finnish delegates leave for Helsinki after peace talks break down; Stalin orders preparations for war against Finland.
By this date at the latest the Soviets take measures to create a 'People's Government of Finland'. Komintern official Otto Willie Kuusinen, a Finnish emigrant communist who somehow managed to survive the purges (which also devastated the Finnish Communist Party), becomes the Prime and Foreign Minister.
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, the British steamship SS Sirdhana, bound for Hong Kong, blunders into a British minefield off Singapore, Malaya; ten U.S. citizens (a troupe of magicians) are among the survivors. There are no casualties.
UNITED STATES: The USN orders a Lockheed (Model 18-08) XR5O-1 Lodestar, msn 18-2008, for the U.S. Coast Guard.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: