At sea
SprueStack Zero Hour: WW2 day by day
17 December 1939
What happened on this day in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with a source for every entry.
About this page
Each day we list events from the Second World War that happened on that date, from 1939 to 1945. Every entry names its source and links to it, so you can read further. Entries are sourced and machine-screened before they go up, a subset is human-reviewed, and we add more over time.
7 of 8 sourced entries for this date, chosen by the editor.
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Entries
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At sea
U.S. freighters Meanticut and Excalibur are detained by British authorities at Gibraltar (see 18 and 31 December, respectively).
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17 December: The Admiral Graf Spee is forced by Uruguay to leave Montevideo harbor; given freedom of choice by Berlin, the ship's Kapitän zur See, Hans Langsdorff, orders the scuttlling of the vessel just outside the harbour.
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Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
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Diplomatic record
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of the American Republics (Duggan)
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Diplomatic record
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
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Diplomatic record
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
The full list for this date is being cleaned and will return soon.
Sources listed with each entry. Spotted an error? Tell us.
17 December in other years 19401941194219431944
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