November 29th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Heavy night air attacks cause severe damage and many fires. St. Martin's Ludgate, the Old Bailey, the Tower of London, St James' Church Piccadilly are amongst those buildings hit. The cloisters and crypt of the Houses of Parliament are also damaged.Lieutenant Newgass, RNVR, was called to defuse a large parachute mine, dropped during a devastating Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool, which had penetrated the roof of a gasometer at Garston Gasworks. He was lowered into the gasometer wearing breathing apparatus six times, and despite working under the most difficult and dangerous of circumstances - in the dark, in a couple of feet of water, and surrounded by explosive gas - eventually managed to make the weapon safe. He was awarded the George Cross for his heroism.
ASW trawler HMS Tango launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Calverton mined and sunk off the Humber.
GERMANY: Berlin: The German High Command completes its planning for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia.
ROMANIA: Bucharest: Romania is in a state of anarchy. There is shooting in the streets as the Iron Guards clash with the army and rival factions of the Guards fight among themselves.
The young King Michael is reported to have fled to Yugoslavia. Among the victims of the anarchy are the former premier, Professor Jorga, and Dr Madgearu, a former minister of finance. German involvement is suspected but so far unproven.
CRETE: British and New Zealand troops under New Zealand Major General Bernard Freyberg, General Officer Commanding 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, occupy the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: The Thais begin a ground offensive against French positions. They order French nationals to evacuate border provinces within 24 hours after their patrols engage French Indochinese border guards at the Cambodian border. (Michael Alexander)
U.S.A.: The motion picture The Bank Dick is released. Directed by Eddie Cline, this comedy stars W.C. Fields, Una Merkel, Franklin Pangborn and Reed Hadley.
Submarine USS Grenadier launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: In the Gulf of Mexico, USN destroyers USS Simpson (DD-221) and Broome (DD-210), on Neutrality Patrol off Tampico, Mexico, trail German freighters SS Idarwald and SS Rhein as the latter ships make a bid for freedom.