World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Wednesday May 8, 1940
Day 251

May 8, 1940: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 8, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 8, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 8, 1940: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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Note the report in column 3: "Webb Miller, United Press Writer, Dead"
[The report is concluded here.]
(Well known journalist Webb Miller died after falling off a train in London. His death was officially ruled as an accident, but his family and friends, along with other members of the press claimed his death was "suspicious" or "mysterious." This could have been fueled by German propaganda, which proclaimed that the British Secret Service had killed him. Not citing any direct evidence, or giving a direct reason, the Germans just made ambiguous accusations against the British. According to Wikipedia, Miller was "credited for helping turn world opinion against British colonial rule of India." I guess if MI5 or MI6 needed a reason for wanting him dead, the Germans could have mentioned this.)
 
Also note the report in column 1: "Professor Lewis B. Allyn Food-Specialist Found Dead"
(The first reports of the murder of Prof. Allyn. His murder is still unsolved to this day.)


May 8, 1940: Front page of the Idaho Times, Twin Falls, Idaho.
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Note the report in column 2: "Idaho boy, 16, Gets Sentence to Gallows"
[The report is concluded here.]
(Fourteen year-old Wesley Curtis was shot and killed by 16 year-old Clifford Albert Zipse because he believed that Curtis had caused trouble for him with the teacher. Zipse would have been the youngest person put to death in Idaho, had he been executed. On July 11th his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. It appears that he was released from prison at some point. He died in Arizona on May 31, 2007.)
[Also see "Boy To Escape Death Penalty" in The Twin Falls News of May 21, 1940.]
[While working on this page a report came across my television screen that on May 6th a sixth-grade girl, in Idaho, had shot several school mates and an adult. Fortunately, it is reported that all will survive, but their lives will be forever altered. The Synchronicity Conundrum had struck again.]


May 8, 1940: Front page of The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tennessee.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of the Butte Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
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May 8, 1940: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
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Note the report in column 2: "116 Killed in Colombia Blaze"


May 8, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
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1. Durchsichtige Ablenkungsmanöver: Märchen über einen Einmarsch nach Holland.
(Transparent diversions: fairy tales about an invasion of Holland.)
 
[This was a transparent diversion in itself. While decrying the western press for reporting that Holland was about to be invaded, the Germans were in fact preparing to invade Holland.]


May 8, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Spannung im Südosten auf dem Höhepunkt.
(Tension at its peak in the southeast.)



   
Page published May 8, 2021