Wednesday 29 November 1939

Fritz Kuhn of the German-American Bund with Adolf Hitler.

Soviet/Finnish Relations: On 29 November 1939, the Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Finland without waiting for a formal reply to its diplomatic note of 28 November. A Finnish offer to renew discussions over the territorial issues, perhaps via arbitration, is spurned. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull announces that he is prepared to mediate.

At 24:00, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov orders the invasion of Finland.

Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Diomede, a recently reactivated Great War cruiser, chases the German freighter Idarwald from Tampico, Mexico. The Germans scuttle the ship off Cabo Corrientes, Cuba before it can be captured. A US destroyer (either the USS Broome or USS Sturtevant) has been shadowing the freighter but does not intervene in its destruction.

U-35 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Lott) surfaces and surrenders after a depth-charge attack by British destroyers HMS Icarus, Kashmir and Kingston. The U-boat then sinks. All 43 crew survive, a rarity for U-boats, because Lord Mountbatten, in command on the Kashmir, sends boats over to rescue the Germans.

The U-35 was a moderately successful predator, sinking four vessels for a total of 7,850 tons. U-35 was the U-boat involved in the Diamantis incident. After disembarking the ship and sinking it, the U-35 brought all 28 Greek crewmen to safety at Ireland on 4 October 1939. It is an event still remembered fondly by people in Ballymore at Ventry Harbor. The rescued U-35 crew are temporarily imprisoned in the Tower of London before being sent to POW camps.

The 3,114-ton British freighter Ionian hits a mine and sinks near Newart Lightship in the English Channel. All 37 crew survive.

The Admiral Graf Spee transfers to the tanker Altmark all of its British prisoners from the six ships that it has sunk, where they remain imprisoned.

US freighter Nishmaha is detained by the French at Marseilles and the US freighter Extavia at Gibraltar.

German Government: Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 9, "Instructions for Warfare against the Economy of the Enemy." It specifies tactics for starving Great Britain into submission.

European Air Operations: There is an air duel over the Northumbrian coast. Two British patrol aircraft and a Dornier seaplane are shot down over the North Sea.

Western Front: French troops perform reconnaissance in Vosges Forest areas held by German troops.

Spanish/German Relations: The Spanish government ratifies a friendship pact with Germany. It includes secret protocols permitting Germany the use of Spanish ports and cooperation regarding propaganda and policing.

Soviet Government: The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issues a decree granting citizenship to all permanent residents of territory recently incorporated into the USSR (all of it has been). Such citizens are obligated to serve in the military.

British Government: The British government announces in the preceding week (ending 25 November) that it seized 21,500 tons of contraband allegedly destined for Germany.

Ireland: The Government of Eire commissions some motor torpedo boats and armed trawlers.

British Homefront: The Chancellor of the Exchequer reports that foreigners are sending in contributions, often in the form of family jewels, gold, and other tangible gifts, to help finance the war effort.

American Homefront: The leader of the German-American Bund, Fritz Julius Kuhn, recently arrested in New York, is convicted of five counts of larceny and forgery.

Salvador Dalí photographed by Carl Van Vechten on November 29, 1939.

November 1939

November 1, 1939: The Jet Flies Again
November 2, 1939: The Soviets Devour Poland
November 3, 1939: Amending the Neutrality Act
November 4, 1939: Roosevelt Signs Neutrality Laws
November 5, 1939: The Spirit of Zossen
November 6, 1939: First Dogfight
November 7, 1939: More Lies About SS Athenia
November 8, 1939: Hitler Almost Killed
November 9, 1939: The Venlo Incident
November 10, 1939: Dutch Panic
November 11, 1939: Poignant Armistice Day
November 12, 1939: Peace Efforts Made and Rejected
November 13, 1939: First Bombing of Great Britain
November 14, 1939: The Dyle Plan
November 15, 1939: Elser Confesses to the Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
November 16, 1939: Martial Law in Prague
November 17, 1939: International Students Day
November 18, 1939: Magnetic Mines
November 19, 1939: Walls Around the Warsaw Ghetto
November 20, 1939: First RN Submarine Victory
November 21, 1939: Salmon & Gluckstein on the Prowl
November 22, 1939: British Recover A Magnetic Mine
November 23, 1939: HMS Rawalpindi Sunk
November 24, 1939: Japanese Enter Nanning
November 25, 1939: The Olympics are a War Casualty
November 26, 1939: Soviets Stage an "Incident" at Mainila
November 27, 1939: German Marriage Becomes Perilous
November 28, 1939: Judenrats in Poland
November 29, 1939: The Soviets Prepare to Invade Finland
November 30, 1939: Winter War Begins

2019

Tuesday 19 November 1939

Heinkel He 177 V1.

Western Front: The Germans launch some scattered attacks on the French lines on 19 November 1939, throwing grenades.

Battle of the Atlantic: More ships are sunk by the magnetic mines dropped by Kriegsmarine destroyers, but the U-boats have a big day.

U-35 (Kptl. Heinz Scheringer) torpedoes and sinks 793-ton British merchant Bowling near the Outer Farne Islands in the North Sea. All thirteen crew perish.

U-41 (Kapitänleutnant Gustav-Adolf Mugler) torpedoes and sinks the 1,351-ton British freighter Darino near Spain. Eleven survive, picked up by the U-boat and transferred to an Italian steamer, and sixteen perish. It turned into extremely long and tedious stalking, as the U-boat fired three torpedoes over eight hours that all missed or malfunctioned. Finally, at 01:50, a fourth hits.

U-49 (Kapitänleutnant Kurt von Gossler) torpedoes and sinks 4,258-ton British freighter Pensilva near Spain. U-49 has been stalking convoy HG 7 out of Durban for three hours before it gets the right opening. Again, two torpedoes miss, but the third does hit the ship.

U-57 (Kapitänleutnant Claus Korth) torpedoes and sinks 1,383-ton British freighter Stanbrook in the North Sea. All 20 crew perish.

British ship Torchbearer hits a magnetic mine and sinks.

Kriegsmarine minesweeper M-132 is accidentally damaged by depth charges and, after being beached, is a total loss.

Convoy HG 9 leaves Port Said for Liverpool.

European Air Operations: Flights of Luftwaffe planes are spotted both in the southeast and near the Firth of Forth.

German Opposition: Rumors are running wild about the actions taken against the students in Prague. Up to 120 Czech students and teachers are claimed to be killed, with another 50,000 people arrested. It is all just rumor and conjecture, there are no hard facts being reported by any media sources.

British Government: First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill, wishing to retaliate for the success of the German magnetic mines, proposes using aircraft to drop mines in the Rhine between Strasbourg and the Lauter River and around the Ruhr stretch of the river. He wishes to make the former mines time-activated so they will float downstream and then blow up in the busiest section of the Rhine.

Luftwaffe: The prototype Heinkel He 177 V1, the Luftwaffe's only four-engine bomber (in two nacelles feeding only two propellers), makes its maiden flight. The flight must be cut short because of overheating engines.

Dutch/Belgian/German Relations: The Dutch and Belgians protest at incursions of their airspace by the Luftwaffe.

Japanese/Soviet Relations: Molotov signs an agreement with the Japanese ambassador to establish a commission to fix the border of Manchukuo, where the two nations recently clashed at Khalkin Gol.

China: Chiang Kai-Shek renews his quest for a Winter Offensive against the Japanese despite recent setbacks along the coast.

Warsaw Ghetto Fencing.

Holocaust: The Germans announce that they have erected walls around the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw in order to better control the inhabitants.
American Homefront: American League MVP Joe Dimaggio marries Dorothy Arnold in San Francisco.

The cornerstone ceremony is held for the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York. It is the first Presidential Library. He places a "time capsule" inside. Despite his physical condition, FDR stands for the ceremony.

November 1939

November 1, 1939: The Jet Flies Again
November 2, 1939: The Soviets Devour Poland
November 3, 1939: Amending the Neutrality Act
November 4, 1939: Roosevelt Signs Neutrality Laws
November 5, 1939: The Spirit of Zossen
November 6, 1939: First Dogfight
November 7, 1939: More Lies About SS Athenia
November 8, 1939: Hitler Almost Killed
November 9, 1939: The Venlo Incident
November 10, 1939: Dutch Panic
November 11, 1939: Poignant Armistice Day
November 12, 1939: Peace Efforts Made and Rejected
November 13, 1939: First Bombing of Great Britain
November 14, 1939: The Dyle Plan
November 15, 1939: Elser Confesses to the Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
November 16, 1939: Martial Law in Prague
November 17, 1939: International Students Day
November 18, 1939: Magnetic Mines
November 19, 1939: Walls Around the Warsaw Ghetto
November 20, 1939: First RN Submarine Victory
November 21, 1939: Salmon & Gluckstein on the Prowl
November 22, 1939: British Recover A Magnetic Mine
November 23, 1939: HMS Rawalpindi Sunk
November 24, 1939: Japanese Enter Nanning
November 25, 1939: The Olympics are a War Casualty
November 26, 1939: Soviets Stage an "Incident" at Mainila
November 27, 1939: German Marriage Becomes Perilous
November 28, 1939: Judenrats in Poland
November 29, 1939: The Soviets Prepare to Invade Finland
November 30, 1939: Winter War Begins

2019

Wednesday 4 October 1939

Troops in action between the Bug and Vistula rivers, October 1939.

Battle of Poland: General von Wietersheim of the XIV Motorised Corps finally accepts on 4 October 1939 that the trapped Polish forces between the Bug and Vistula rivers will have to be subdued by force. He adds the 29th Motorised Infantry Division to the 13th Motorised Infantry Division and tells General Otto to get the job done. On the other side, General Kleeberg decides that his best tactic is to eliminate the two divisions one by one. He picks the 13th ID as his first victim.

The 13th ID attacks in the morning and advances until halted around noontime. The Poles adjust their forces to meet the German thrusts, and after much back-and-forth, the Poles hold their line.

In Berlin, Hitler issues an order to blow up the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-35 lands in Ireland the 28 Greek crewmen that it saved after torpedoing their ship and then returns to patrol.

U-21 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer) sinks the British merchant ship Glen Farg northeast of Scotland. One crew member dies and 16 are picked up by the HMS Firedrake. It is Kretschmer's first victory in three patrols. He allows the crew to disembark before sinking it.

British authorities release the US freighter Black Hawk from detention.

The U.S. Naval Attaché in Berlin reports that Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had informed him of a brewing "false flag" situation. The U.S. passenger liner Iroquois, that had sailed from Cobh, Ireland, with 566 American passengers on October 3, would be sunk (by the British) as she neared the east coast of the United States under "Athenia circumstances" to arouse anti-German feeling.

Convoy KJ 3 departs from Kingston for the UK.

Western Front: The Germans are quietly evacuating cities directly behind the Siegfried Line and militarizing them. Karlsruhe is the latest. Perhaps as cover for this operation, the Germans launch some minor attacks.

European Air Operations: No. 219 Squadron, a World War I unit, is re-formed at Catterick with Blenheim fighters to protect shipping.

Soviet Propaganda: Nikita Kruschev, the Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party, announces the "Communization" of Soviet-occupied Poland.

German/Soviet Diplomacy: There is back and forth between Ribbentrop and Molotov about the "Lithuania strip of territory." Ribbentrop is against the Soviet decision to cede this territory to Lithuania without his authorization.

German Government: Hitler issues a secret decree absolving all German military and police personnel of criminal liability for the period 1 September through 4 October. Any crimes committed, he explains, were compelled by "atrocities committed by the Poles."

Hitler orders the Reichstag to meet on that Friday, 6 October.

United States Government: The Department of the Interior issues a press release from the "Bureau of Biological Survey." It states that foreign supplies of furs are in grave danger of being cut off by the war and that this might cause certain American fur-producing animals to be "exterminated." It urges more effective "fur-animal conservation."

American Homefront: The NY Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the 1939 World Series.

Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer ('Silent Otto") and his U-boat.

October 1939

October 1, 1939: Occupation of Warsaw
October 2, 1939: Hel Peninsula Falls
October 3, 1939: The Diamantis Incident
October 4, 1939: Otto Kretschmer Gets Rolling
October 5, 1939: Polish Resistance Ends
October 6, 1939: Hitler Peace Effort
October 7, 1939: The British Have Arrived
October 8, 1939: First RAF Kill from UK
October 9, 1939: "City of Flint" Incident
October 10, 1939: Lithuania Under Pressure
October 11, 1939: The Atomic Age Begins
October 12, 1939: England Rejects Hitler's Peace Offer
October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh Speaks Out
October 14 1939: Royal Oak Sunk
October 15, 1939: Cuban Rockets
October 16, 1939: First Aircraft Shot Down Over UK
October 17, 1939: Marshall Mannerheim Returns
October 18, 1939: Prien Receives His Award
October 19, 1939: Preliminary Plan for Fall Gelb
October 20, 1939: Hitler Grapples with the Jews
October 21, 1939: Hurricanes to the Rescue!
October 22, 1939: Goebbels Lies Through His Teeth
October 23, 1939: Norway the Center of Attention
October 24, 1939: German "Justice" Gets Rolling
October 25, 1939: Handley Page Halifax Bomber First Flies
October 26, 1939: Jozef Tiso Takes Slovakia
October 27, 1939: King Leopold Stands Firm
October 28, 1939 - First Luftwaffe Raid on Great Britain
October 29, 1939: Tinkering with Fall Gelb
October 30, 1939: Defective Torpedoes
October 31, 1939: Molotov Issues an Ultimatum

2019

Tuesday 3 October 1939

U-35 featured on the cover of Life Magazine.

Battle of Poland: German units begin returning to the Reich on 3 October 1939. In particular, the German 10th Army heads toward the Western Front. Some 30 Divisions of the 53 originally committed will remain in Poland for the time being, including the 3rd, 8th, and 14th Armies.

Reviewing the situation between the Bug and Vistula rivers, General Otto now realizes that the Poles are not ready to surrender. He sends his entire division on an assault with the aim to split the Polish defenses. The Poles, on the other hand, decide to launch a flank attack on the Germans, the object to send the Germans back behind a nearby river (the river Wieprz). After heavy fighting, the Germans are stopped after making slight gains. The Polish counter-attack is stopped almost immediately. Otto decides to commit more forces late in the day, and that too is unsuccessful.

Western Front: The French end Operation Saar by completing their withdrawal from the Warndt Forest/Saarbrücken salient. The French claim to have occupied 154 square miles of German territory.

Elsewhere, the BEF mans a section of the Western Front.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-35 (Kptlt. Werner Lott) torpedoes the Greek ore freighter Diamantis. She is a legitimate target because, although neutral, she is carrying cargo for Great Britain. Lott, in an extraordinary act of kindness and at risk to himself, transports the crew to the Irish coast, where his U-boat is seen by civilians in Ventry onshore unloading the 28 Greek sailors. Lott later is later reprimanded by his commanders for jeopardizing his command, but also was featured on the cover of Life Magazine.

British Government: PM Chamberlain address the House for the fifth time about the war. He states:

“No mere assurance from the present German government could be accepted by us. For that government has too often proved in the past that their undertakings are worthless when it suits them that they shall be broken.”

House members are angry, and round on Lloyd George when he suggests that peace offers should at least be considered.

Turkey: Turkish Foreign Minister M. Sarajoglu remains in Moscow. A Turkish military mission arrives in London.

Lithuania: Foreign Minister M. Urbsy arrives in Moscow for talks with Molotov.

Future History: Lott and his crew from the U-35 survived the war because they were captured by British naval forces after he scuttled his boat on 29 November 1939. Once again, Lott was involved in a dramatically unusual humanitarian gesture, but this time on the receiving end: the attacking British ships stopped and sent lifeboats to pick up all the German sailors, one of the very few times that happened during World War II.

The event is not forgotten. On Saturday, 17 October 2009, a special day was set aside in Ventry, Ireland to commemorate the event. A memorial stone was unveiled and the German Ambassador attended.

The Diamantis (Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart).

October 1939

October 1, 1939: Occupation of Warsaw
October 2, 1939: Hel Peninsula Falls
October 3, 1939: The Diamantis Incident
October 4, 1939: Otto Kretschmer Gets Rolling
October 5, 1939: Polish Resistance Ends
October 6, 1939: Hitler Peace Effort
October 7, 1939: The British Have Arrived
October 8, 1939: First RAF Kill from UK
October 9, 1939: "City of Flint" Incident
October 10, 1939: Lithuania Under Pressure
October 11, 1939: The Atomic Age Begins
October 12, 1939: England Rejects Hitler's Peace Offer
October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh Speaks Out
October 14 1939: Royal Oak Sunk
October 15, 1939: Cuban Rockets
October 16, 1939: First Aircraft Shot Down Over UK
October 17, 1939: Marshall Mannerheim Returns
October 18, 1939: Prien Receives His Award
October 19, 1939: Preliminary Plan for Fall Gelb
October 20, 1939: Hitler Grapples with the Jews
October 21, 1939: Hurricanes to the Rescue!
October 22, 1939: Goebbels Lies Through His Teeth
October 23, 1939: Norway the Center of Attention
October 24, 1939: German "Justice" Gets Rolling
October 25, 1939: Handley Page Halifax Bomber First Flies
October 26, 1939: Jozef Tiso Takes Slovakia
October 27, 1939: King Leopold Stands Firm
October 28, 1939 - First Luftwaffe Raid on Great Britain
October 29, 1939: Tinkering with Fall Gelb
October 30, 1939: Defective Torpedoes
October 31, 1939: Molotov Issues an Ultimatum

2019

Sunday 1 October 1939

Britain's King George VI, right, and Queen Elizabeth leave St.Paul's Cathedral, London, on Oct. 1, 1939, following a service for the Nation's Day of Prayer.

Battle of Poland: Warsaw having surrendered, Wehrmacht troops on 1 October 1939 enter and begin disarming the estimated 120,000 Polish soldiers and transporting them to POW camps.

The Polish garrison on the Hela Peninsula (Admiral Józef Unrug) decides to surrender.

Following the Battle of Szack, the Polish Defence Corps (Gen. Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann) is on the run and has crossed the Bug River. The Poles have walked hundreds of kilometers in the past fortnight, are marching through the night and are short of supplies, but they remain a disciplined fighting force. Near the village of Wytyczno near Włodawa, tank elements of the Soviet 45th Rifle Division attack at 1 a.m. The Poles fight them off and destroy four Soviet tanks. Another assault in daylight by the majority of the Soviet division again is beaten off, but the Poles are running out of ammunition. The exhausted Polish units then form small groups and melt away through the forests to join other units. The Battle of Wytyczno is considered a Soviet tactical victory, but also a Polish moral victory by only a few thousand poorly armed men against overwhelming odds.

British Military Intelligence: Poles fleeing from their country to England bring with them two Enigma machines.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Admiralty learns of the pocket battleships Graf Spee and Deutschland operating as lone commerce raiders.

U-35 sinks 2,239-ton Belgian merchant ship Suzon 42 miles off Ushant at 18:45 after stopping it, inspecting it, and disembarking the crew. The kill is legal because the ship, even though neutral, is transporting war goods from Bordeaux to Cardiff.

Western Front: The French claim a small advance near the district town of Saarlouis in the Saar.

British Homefront: Winston Churchill makes his first wartime broadcast to the British people. He summarizes the events of the first month of the war. He suggests that the Soviet invasion of Poland "was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia against the [German] menace." He coins the famous phrase "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" to describe Soviet machinations, "a cold policy of self-interest."

Churchill lists "three important things" that happened in that month:

• Poland has been overrun;
• The assertion of the power of Russia;
• "The U-boat attack has not so far proved successful"

He  anticipates a war of "at least three years."

A Royal Proclamation is issued calling up the classes of 1918 and 1919.

China: The Japanese 11th Corps. withdraws from Changsha and the nearby Tungting Lakes. Chiang Kai-shek has a rare victory in this "Battle of Changsha."

Soviet/Japanese Relations: As a show of good faith to the Soviets, the Japanese dismiss senior officers of the Kwantung army who had led the battle of Khalkin Gol. The dismissed Generals had been contemptuous of Tokyo authority.

German/Italian Relations: Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano is in Germany for discussions with Hitler and Ribbentrop.

Soviet/Turkish Relations: The Turkish Foreign Minister (M. Sarajoglu) meets with Molotov in Moscow.

German Homefront: On an undetermined day in October, Hitler has typed on his personal stationery (and backdated to 1 September 1939) a Fuhrer Decree that authorizes mercy killings of persons who "are incurable."

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

October 1939

October 1, 1939: Occupation of Warsaw
October 2, 1939: Hel Peninsula Falls
October 3, 1939: The Diamantis Incident
October 4, 1939: Otto Kretschmer Gets Rolling
October 5, 1939: Polish Resistance Ends
October 6, 1939: Hitler Peace Effort
October 7, 1939: The British Have Arrived
October 8, 1939: First RAF Kill from UK
October 9, 1939: "City of Flint" Incident
October 10, 1939: Lithuania Under Pressure
October 11, 1939: The Atomic Age Begins
October 12, 1939: England Rejects Hitler's Peace Offer
October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh Speaks Out
October 14 1939: Royal Oak Sunk
October 15, 1939: Cuban Rockets
October 16, 1939: First Aircraft Shot Down Over UK
October 17, 1939: Marshall Mannerheim Returns
October 18, 1939: Prien Receives His Award
October 19, 1939: Preliminary Plan for Fall Gelb
October 20, 1939: Hitler Grapples with the Jews
October 21, 1939: Hurricanes to the Rescue!
October 22, 1939: Goebbels Lies Through His Teeth
October 23, 1939: Norway the Center of Attention
October 24, 1939: German "Justice" Gets Rolling
October 25, 1939: Handley Page Halifax Bomber First Flies
October 26, 1939: Jozef Tiso Takes Slovakia
October 27, 1939: King Leopold Stands Firm
October 28, 1939 - First Luftwaffe Raid on Great Britain
October 29, 1939: Tinkering with Fall Gelb
October 30, 1939: Defective Torpedoes
October 31, 1939: Molotov Issues an Ultimatum

2019