January 25th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Destroyer HMS Exmoor launched.
BELGIUM: The Belgian Foreign Minister rejects British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's appeal to join the Allies that was issued in a speech on 20 January.
NORTH SEA: At 0230, SS Biarritz was torpedoed by U-14 36 nautical miles NW of Ymuiden. She sank quickly and only one lifeboat with 19 people set off. 26 crewmen and 11 passengers (among them several women) died. 21 survivors and three bodies were picked up by the Norwegian SS Borgholm, which sailed nearby and were taken to Ymuiden. Several passengers were sailors who had paid off their ships and were on their way home.
U-19 sank SS Everene five miles off Longstone Lighthouse, Farne Islands.
At 2130, SS Gudveig was torpedoed and sunk by
U-19 4.5 miles east of
Longstone Lightvessel, north of Newcastle. Eight survivors were rescued and
taken to Methil. Four of them probably by the Norwegian SS Vim.
POLAND: The "Goring-Frank
Circular" is issued. It specifies that all material resources and manpower is to
be ruthlessly exploited for the immediate benefit of the Reich. Copies of this
top secret document are soon obtained by the Polish government-in-exile in
France and widely publicized.
A site near the village of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) is selected for
construction of a concentration camp.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Shop Around the Corner" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, this romantic comedy stars Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Tourny sunk by U-44.