http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/25.htm
January 25th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Tug HMS Impetus launched.
Destroyer HMS Exmoor launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
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. (Jack McKillop)
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. (Dave Shirlaw)
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. (Jack McKillop)
A site near the village of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) is selected for construction of a concentration camp. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Parliament is dissolved for an election on 28 March because of recent controversy over the alleged weakness of war preparations. (Jack McKillop)
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. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Tourny sunk by U-44. (Dave Shirlaw)
Sounds intriguing. We'd better send Nugent to check it out tonight.