Franklin Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United States, with the immediate cause of this being the Japanese occupation of French Indochina.
The Japanese entering Saigon. Bicycles were a common means of conveyance in most armies at the time, with the U.S. being a real exception.
It'd be a mistake, of course, to view that as the sole cause, but it was instrumental in it. Japan was getting more aggressive in its expansion, having now moved its military into Indochina. It technically had French acquiescence to this, but as a practical matter, Vichy had little it could do about it. Japan had already intervened militarily in the northern part of Indochina a year prior, so they were already there. That had in fact resulted in fighting between the Vichy French and the Japanese, but Japanese occupation was a fact. Indeed, Japan had already secured permission to garrison troops in southern Indochina.
Free French poster criticizing the Vichy administration's collaboration with Japan.
It hadn't because it remained concerned about the Soviet Union. It's presence in Indochina had been ancillary to their war with China, but with increasingly difficult relations with the United States, and the United Kingdom, that focus changed once Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Japanese correctly guessed that the Soviets wouldn't interfere with them in any fashion while they were fighting the Germans. Given that, Imperial Japan set its sights on the Dutch East Indies, and its oil, and war with the United States.
While Japanese occupation of Indochina was already a fact, the formal change is something that really couldn't be ignored by the U.S. It was one step closer to war by both parties.
Oddly, China's assets were also frozen, and this by request of Chiang Kai Shek, the leader of Nationalist China. While not exactly knowing why, this may be because Chiang had concerns about Chinese assets being used by the Japanese and, of course, he also faced a domestic competitor in the form of the Chinese Communist Party, which was contesting the Nationalist for control of China.
Also, on this day King George VI gave permission for Prime Minister Churchill to travel to the United States to meet with Roosevelt. Permission was a formality, of course.
Not a formality was the growing relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt, often described as a friendship but in reality a species of alliance. Churchill's visit was to be a secret and was part of the building of that alliance.
Germany established Reichskommissariat Ostland, the administrative unit for the occupied Baltics and Belarus, on this day. The plan for the region was to Germanize the Baltics and to settle it with Germans. The region was regarded as "European" by the Germans due to the prior influence of Germany, Sweden and Denmark. The Belarusians were regarded as hopelessly backwards peasants who would be exploited. Jews, of course, were to be killed.
Germany began to act on these plans immediately, which is somewhat of a surprise in context. Not only did the Germans begin to slaughter Jewish residents of the area, along with Communists, but it also began to move German settlers into the areas it had taken. Indeed, while he has said little about it, one individual I know had a grandfather who had moved into the Eastern lands, resulting of course in his status as a refugee later on.
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