The Roosevelt Administration imposed a "moral embargo" on the Soviet Union and urged American companies not to sell the Soviets airplanes or components in their manufacture.[2]
24 Vickers Wellington bombers raided German warships at Heligoland. A German anti-aircraft battery was hit, probably the first British bomb of the war to land on German soil.[6]
Off the coast of Uruguay, the captain of the German passenger steamer Ussukuma decided to scuttle the ship when it was intercepted by the British cruiser Ajax. The Ajax rescued the 107 crew of the Ussukuma and interned them as enemy civilians.
Fritz Julius Kuhn was sentenced to 2½ to 5 years in prison for larceny and forgery.[9]
SS UntersturmführerHerbert Lange began overseeing the euthanization of mentally disabled patients at the Dziekanka Psychiatric Hospital in Gniezno. Between this day and January 12, 1940, a total of 1,043 patients were loaded into a van and gassed with carbon monoxide.[10]
The League of Nations sent the Soviet Union a telegram calling for a cessation of hostilities with Finland and to submit the dispute with Finland to mediation by the League.[17]
Soviet prisoner transport ship Indigirka ran aground off the Japanese coast near Sarufutsu while transporting fishermen with families and prisoners released for war effort - 741 of about 1,500 persons on board perished.
The Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations after it was declared the aggressor in the war with Finland.[19] Of the main powers on the world stage Britain and France were now the only ones left in the League, since Germany, Italy and Japan had already quit and the United States never joined.
The Norwegian pro-Nazi politician Vidkun Quisling met with Hitler and high-ranking members of the German military in Berlin as the Nazis investigated ways to go about occupying Norway.[20]
The German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in neutral waters near Montevideo as the time limit to leave port was running out. Captain Hans Langsdorff believed that British reinforcements were nearby and that he had used up too much fuel and ammunition to fight his way back to Germany.[22][23]
The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin.[24]
Adolf Hitler sent Joseph Stalin a telegram on his sixtieth birthday wishing him "good health and a happy future for the peoples of the friendly Soviet Union."[25]
The Anglo-French Supreme War Council met for the fourth time and decided to send help to Finland if requested, against the wishes of the neutral Scandinavian nations.[26]
In the face of strong Finnish resistance, the Soviet Union halted large-scale operations in order to bring in more resources before attempting a new offensive.[28]
Many Indian Muslims celebrated a "Day of Deliverance" celebrating the resignation of members of the Indian National Congress from government offices in protest over not being consulted over India's decision to enter the war.
Two express trains collided in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least 132 people.[29]
Pope Pius XII gave a Christmas address to 25 cardinals in which he offered a five-point program as a basis for negotiating a "just and honorable peace."[30]
The German submarine U-30 spotted the British battleship HMS Barham west of the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and hit it with a torpedo. Four crew members were killed but the Barham was able to make it back to Liverpool where it underwent six months of repairs.[31]
The British Minister of FoodW.S. Morrison announced that starting January 8, rationing would be expanded to include butter, bacon, ham and sugar.[32]
Died:Robert Edwin Bush, 84, English cricketer and explorer; Kelly Miller, 76, African-American mathematician, sociologist and writer; Madeleine Pelletier, 65, French physician, feminist and activist
A passenger train and a troop train collided in Naples, killing about 40.[34]
An article written by Hermann Göring appeared in the Völkischer Beobachter warning that as soon as Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack Britain "it will make an assault such as world history never has experienced."[35]
New Year's Eve observances in Britain, France and Germany were very subdued due to blackout and noise restrictions. Most celebrations were held in private homes with the windows shuttered.[37]
German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made a radio address reviewing the official Nazi version of the events of 1939. No predictions were made for 1940 other than saying that the next year "will be a hard year, and we must be ready for it."[38]
Generalissimo Francisco Franco made a radio broadcast asking "all Spaniards in this period of depression which follows any war to close the mouths of grumblers and not permit the enemies of the state to take advantage of the situation."[37]
Japan and the Soviet Union signed an accord on fishing rights in adjacent territorial waters.[11]
Born:Peter Camejo, author, activist and politician, in New York City (d. 2008)
^"Navy Upsets Army; Rams Defeat N. Y. U.; Stanford Triumphs". Brooklyn Eagle. December 3, 1939. p. 1.
^Trotter, William (1991). A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–1940. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books. p. 273. ISBN978-1-56512-249-9.
^Willmott, H.P. (2010). The Last Century of Sea Power: From Washington to Tokyo, 1922–1945. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 160. ISBN978-0-253-00409-3.
^"Bund Chief Kuhn Gets 2½ to 5 Years". Brooklyn Eagle. December 5, 1939. p. 1.
^Montague, Patrick (2012). Chelmno and the Holocaust: The History of Hitler's First Death Camp. New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 21–22. ISBN978-1-84885-722-3.