1933 (SUNDAY)
U.S.A.: A 24-hour rainfall of 7.36 inches (18,69 centimetres) sets the stage for the worst flood in Los Angeles, California history. Flooding claims 44 lives.
U.S.S.R.: The Polikarpov I-16 monoplane, the first low-wing single-seat fighter monoplane with a retractable landing gear to achieve service, makes its first flight. This aircraft enters squadron service in the second half of 1934 and served in front-line units until the spring of 1943 fighting the Luftwaffe in 1941 and 1942.
1936 (THURSDAY)
ITALY: Italian Foreign Minister Gian Ciano gives the United Kingdom a pledge that "so far as Italy is concerned, the integrity of the present territories of Spain shall in all circumstances remain intact and unmodified."
1937 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Just over 2,000 television sets have been sold in U.K. by the end of the year.
1938 (SATURDAY)
U.S.A.: The government rejects the new order in China stating, "In the light of facts and experience the Government of the United States is impelled to reaffirm its previously expressed opinion that imposition of restrictions upon the movements and activities of American nationals who are engaged in philanthropic, educational, and commercial endeavours in China has placed and will, if continued, increasingly place Japanese interests, in a preferred position and is, therefore, unquestionably discriminatory, in its effect, against legitimate American interests. Furthermore, with reference to such matters as exchange control, compulsory, currency circulation, tariff revision, and monopolistic promotion in certain areas of China, the plans and practices of the Japanese authorities imply an assumption on the part of those authorities that the Japanese Government or the regimes established and maintained in China by Japanese armed forces are entitled to act in China in a capacity such as flows from rights of sovereignty and, further in so acting, to disregard and even to declare non-existent or abrogated the established rights and interests of other countries, including the United States. . . . This government does not admit, however, that there is need or warrant for any one power to take upon itself to prescribe what shall be the terms and conditions of a `new order' in areas not under its sovereignty and to constitute itself the repository of authority and the agent of destiny in regard thereto."
The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner makes its first flight in Seattle, Washington. The 307 is a transport version of the B-17C Flying Fortress with a new fuselage. The outstanding feature is the pressurized cabin which allows the aircraft to fly above rough weather with a service ceiling of 26,200 feet (7 986 meters). Three aircraft are delivered to Pan American Airways (PAA) and five go to Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA). During the war, the TWA aircraft are drafted by the USAAF€™s Air Transport Command and assigned the USAAF designation C-75-BO and USAAF serial numbers. These aircraft are operated by TWA crews until returned to the factory in 1944 for reconditioning prior to return to the airline. TWA continued to operate them until 1951. The PAA aircraft also served the military but with civilian registration. They are sold after the war when the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser became available. The only remaining 307, one of the three delivered to Pan American, is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, approximately 26 miles (42 kilometres) west of downtown Washington, D.C.
December 31st, 1939 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 'Security Patrols' - Hornum, Borkum, Norderney, Heligoland. 10 Sqn. Four aircraft. Moderate opposition.
London: Police arrest New Year revellers shining torches in the blackout onto Eros to see in 1940.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Walnut commissioned.
GERMANY: Berlin: In his New Year message to the German people, Hitler said: "We shall only talk of peace when we have won the war. The Jewish-capitalist world will not survive the 20th century." He looked forward to the creation of a new Europe under German leadership, a Europe liberated from "British tyranny".
In a separate Order of the Day to the armed forces Hitler said that in the effort to create a new order in Europe, "the hardest struggle for the existence or non-existence of the German people lies before us."
Göring told his Luftwaffe crews that they would unleash against Britain, "such an onslaught as has never been known in the history of the world."
TURKEY: Floods and further earthquakes push the death toll up to 30,000.
FINLAND: The Finns claim to have pushed the Red Army back across the frontier on the Suomussalmi-Kemijarvi front.
The battle which has been raging outside Suomussalmi for the past week has ended in the destruction of two Russian Divisions, 27,000 Russians have died against only 900 Finns in the classic battle of ambush and destroy. The Russians are now fighting back in their own territory.
General Wallenius, the commander of the Finnish Northern Army, has revealed that his men are now operating on Soviet territory. "We don't let them rest," he said, "we don't let them sleep. This is a war of numbers against brains. We train our men to fight individually and they can do it, whereas the Russian can never rid himself of his natural gregarious instincts."
Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo, who planned and led the destruction of the Russian divisions, has been promoted to general and sent south with the objective of inflicting a similar fate on another Russian division trapped by the "White Death" Finns in the forest at Kuhmo. The Russians have also been driven back over the frontier further south after their defeat at Tolvarjarvi where they lost 2000 dead and 600 prisoners. "There were," said a Finn, "more Russians than we had bullets."
GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Excalibur, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 17 December, is released.
U.S.A: The Dow-Jones Industrial Average finished the year at 150.24 -2.92% down on the year.
The motion picture "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by William Dieterle, this drama stars Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara and Edmond O'Brien. The film is nominated for two technical Academy Awards. The American Film Institute has rated this Number 98 on the list of the 100 America's Greatest Love Stories.
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC:
At 1947, SS Luna was torpedoed by U-32 and sank slowly by the stern.
December Summary:
Losses. 7 ships of 38,000 tons.
1 pocket battleship.
Merchant Shipping War
Losses. 66 ships of 152,000 tons.
Trawlers are the main victims of the first successful attacks by German aircraft off the East Coast. By the end of March they have accounted for 30 vessels of 37,000 tons. Losses from mines are 33 ships of 83,000 tons in December.
Year-end balance: Great Britain has lost 422,232 tons of shipping (2% of fleet), Germany has lost 224,322 tons of shipping (5% of fleet). Britain's blockade has resulted in the confiscation of 1 million tons of goods bound for Germany.
Year in Review:
Movies: The Four Feathers directed by Alexander Korda, based on A.E.W. Mason's novel.
Stanley and Livingstone with Spencer Tracy and Cedric Hardwicke, made by Henry King.