3-Dec-39: Soviets Press Forward in Finland; Swedes Call Up Reserves; British Accidentally Drop First Bomb on German Territory
Today is 3-Dec-1939, the 64th day of World War II; there are 2,099 days left in the conflict.
The Soviet Eighth Army pushes the Finnish Army backwards near Suojarvi; the Finns send reinforcements near Kuhmo, where the Soviet Ninth Army’s 54th Division is pressing forward. The Winter War is in its fourth day. To the west, the Swedes create a minefield off their east coast and call up army reserves.
The British Royal Navy’s HMS Renown, fresh from sinking the German’s Watussi off the coast of South Africa, puts in to Cape Town alongside the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.
The first British bomb to fall on German land is the result of an accidental release by one of the Royal Air Force 115th Squadron’s Wellington bombers after a bomb fails to drop over targeted shipping in the Heligoland Bight and subsequently drops off over the island of Heligoland.
15-Nov-39: Czech Student’s Funeral Turns Into Bloodbath, Neurath Closes Czech Higher Education; Ribbentrop Rejects Peace Appeal; French Add Work Hours; Last Chinese Port Falls to Japanese
Today is 15-Nov-1939, the 46th day of World War II; there are 2,117 days left in the conflict.
In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, several thousand students attend the funeral for medical student Jan Opletal, shot in the stomach by German troops during anti-occupation demonstrations in Prague on 28-Oct, who died 11-Nov.
Opletal (1-Jan-1915 – 11-Nov-1939) was a student of the Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. The thousands of students attending his funeral turned it into another anti-German rally and 12 are reportedly injured.
In response, Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath, governor of the former Czech lands, closes all Czech universities and colleges, and sends over 1,200 students to concentration camps; nine students will be executed on 17-Nov, which will later be commemorated as International Students Day by the International Union of Students and other groups.
Opletal’s remains are transferred to his native village of Náklo in the Olomouc Region; a post-war monument will be erected in his honor, and many Czech cities will name streets after him.
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop issues a formal rejection of the offer of neutral mediation made by Belgian King Leopold and Dutch Queen Wilhelmina. Ribbentrop gives the news to official representatives of Belgium and the Netherlands during a meeting in Berlin. He claims the rejection is prompted by what he terms the “blunt rejection” of the German peace appeal by Britain and France. The “German government considers the matter closed,” Ribbentrop concludes.
As munitions and other war-related industries rachet up in France, the government officially adds three hours to the work week; workers will now be required to work 43 hours per week.
The south China port city of Pakhoi is captured by Imperial Japanese troops. It is the final Chinese port occupied by the Japanese since their campaign began in July 1937.
In action on the high seas, British tanker SS Africa Shell is sunk in the Mozambique Channel two miles off Portuguese East Africa in the Indian Ocean by two bombs placed in her hold by an boarding party wearing British lifebelts from a 10,000-ton German raider. Africa Shell’s crew identifies the German raider as the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer.
9-Nov-39: Germans Claim British Behind Hitler Assassination Attempt; South Africans Uncover German Espionage; Finns Refuse Soviet Military Base Demand; British MI6 Agents Kidnapped by Germans at Venlo
Today is 9-Nov-1939, the 40th day of World War II; there are 2,123 days left in the conflict.
German press and radio reports claim that the British were behind the planting of a bomb in Munich’s Bürgerbräukeller which was aimed at assassinating Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler.
The South Africans claim that a German plot to sabotage vital war industries in the cities of Pretoria and Johannesberg has been uncovered and prevented.
With border/territory revisions still under negotiation, as well as a Soviet demand that the Finns allow a Red Army base on Finnish soil, the government of Finland in Helsinki issues a statement reaffirming its position: Finland “cannot grant to a foreign military power military bases on her territory and within the confines of her frontiers.”
After a series of intelligence successes, the British suffer their first serious setback of the war. In what will come to be known as the “Venlo Incident,” two British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) officers, Major Richard Stevens and Captain S. Payne Best, are kidnapped by the German Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo). The kidnapping is ostensibly ordered by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler in retaliation for the Bürgerbräukeller assassination attempt.
The two MI6 officers attempt to contact members of the German resistance; they have been meeting at Venlo, Holland, five miles from the German border, with man using the pseudonym “Major Schaemmle.” The man claims to represent a group of German Army officers who are plotting a coup d’etat against the National Socialist government. In reality, “Major Schaemmle is a Gestapo officer named Walther Schellenberg. Their meeting today is scheduled to be at a cafe situated just a few yards from the border at Venlo. But on their arrival via car, Stevens and Best are hit by machine gun bullets and overpowered by Gestapo agents and taken into Germany.
The damage from the incident is immediate and severe; one of the two officers is carrying a list of British agents. From the list, the subsequent interrogations and their own loose talk, the two MI6 officers enable the Germans to arrest a number of British undercover agents throughout German-occupied territory. Stevens and Best will remain prisoners of the Germans until the final collapse in April 1945.
3-Nov-39: US Senate Approves End to Arms Embargo; British Blackout Regulations Altered by One Hour; Soviets, Finns Harden Negotiating Positions; South Africans Pledge Protection for British African Colonies
Today is 3-Nov-1939, the 34th day of World War II; there are 2,129 days left in the conflict.
After weeks of debate, the United States Senate finally votes to approve the end of the embargo in the Neutrality Act against the export of arms to warring nations. It is a victory for President Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy.
Blackout regulations continue to cause problems in Britain; business owners, workers, and trades unions pressure the government, which responds by reducing the blackout period by one hour. The new regulation calls for blackout conditions to run from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise.
After breaking off and restarting numerous negotiation sessions, the Soviet Union and Finland restart talks once again on territory exchanges and border alterations. The Finns state that they recognize Soviet security requirements, but that their latest counterproposals represent a final position, concessions beyond which the “independence, security and neutrality” of Finland will not permit. Furthermore, the Finns refuse a Soviet request to allow Red Army troops to be stationed at a military base within Finnish territory. Both nations’ positions are now hardening.
After ousting a neutrality minded government, taking control and then declaring war on Germany on 6-Sep, South African Prime Minister General Jan Smuts in Pretoria announces that his nation will defend colonies of the British crown throughout the continent of Africa, should the need arise.
6-Sep-39: Polish Government Flees Warsaw; German Ambassador Discusses Soviet Mood; French Introduce 72 Hour Week for Munitions Workers
Over Britain, there is confusion in the air during the first air raid warning of the war. Two Royal Air Force Spitfire fighters accidentally shoot down two RAF Hurricane fighters. The incident becomes known as the “Battle of Barking Creek.” The air raid warning proves to be a false alarm.
In Poland, the invasion continues apace as von Reichenau’s German Tenth Army continues to lead the advance, penetrating to the east of Lodz. Armored units capture the cities of Tomaszow and Kielce, southwest of Warsaw. Krakow is captured by troops of List’s Fourteenth Army. German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler visits the headquarters of General Heinz Guderian’s Panzer Corps on the northeastern front.
The Polish government and supreme military command abandon Warsaw. The government flees to Luck-Kremieniec; the supreme military command to Brzesko on the Bug River. The supreme command also issues orders for all Poles in and out of uniform still capable of fighting to retreat to the line of the Narew, Vistula and San rivers.
In international affairs, the South African government of new Prime Minister Jan Smuts in Pretoria officially declares war on Germany. And the Iraqi government in Baghdad breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany. But the Spanish government of General Francisco Franco declares its neutrality, disappointing Hitler (although the news was expected). He is somewhat mollified that Franco makes a secret pledge to support Germany.
The French introduce a 72-hour working week for the munitions industry.
The German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg sends a revealing telegram to the German Foreign Office in Berlin regarding the state of mind of the Soviet people and the impact of propaganda on them. He writes:
“Since anxiety over war, especially the fear of a German attack, has strongly influenced the attitude of the population here in the last few years, the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with Germany has been generally received with great relief and gratification. However, the sudden alteration in the policy of the Soviet Government, after years of propaganda directed expressly against German aggressors, is still not very well understood by the population. Especially the statements of official agitators to the effect that Germany is no longer an aggressor run up against considerable doubt. The Soviet Government is doing everything to change the attitude of the population here toward Germany. The press is as though it had been transformed. Attacks on the conduct of Germany have not only ceased completely, but the portrayal of events in the field of foreign politics is based to an outstanding degree on German reports and anti-German literature has been removed from the book trade, etc.
“The beginning of the war between Germany and Poland has powerfully affected public opinion here, and aroused new fear in extensive groups that the Soviet Union may be drawn into the war. Mistrust sown for years against Germany, in spite of effective counter-propaganda which is being carried on in party and business gatherings, cannot be so quickly removed. The fear is expressed by the population that Germany, after she has defeated Poland, may turn against the Soviet Union. The recollection of German strength in the World War is everywhere still lively.
“In a judgment of conditions here the realization is of importance that the Soviet Government has always previously been able in a masterly fashion to influence the attitude of the population in the direction which it has desired, and it is not being sparing this time either of the necessary propaganda.”
The war is now six days old.
5-Sep-39 — Germans Cross Vistula River, Put Pressure on Soviets; Americans Declare Neutrality, New South Africa Government Declares War
On the fifth day of the Polish invasion, the German Tenth and Fourteenth armies break through Polish lines and cross the Vistula River. The Polish supreme command orders a general retreat to new positions behind the Vistula.
Polish rear guards and armed civilians put up a determined resistance at the city of Bydgoszcz, which is on the southern end of the Polish corridor; units of the German Third Corps finally eliminate the pocket. German Heer troops find the corpses of hundreds of ethnic German residents of the Bydgoszcz, massacred by the retreating Poles. The find is loudly trumpeted by German media and the Propaganda Ministry as proof of German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler’s justification for the invasion, that the Poles were massacring and terrorizing ethnic Germans in the country.
German troops enter the town of Piotrkow and set fire to the Jewish quarter. Southwest of Warsaw, German Luftwaffe bombers destroy the town of Sulejow.
On the diplomatic front, the Germans begin putting pressure on the Soviet Union to live up to its obligations under the secret protocols of the recent Nonaggression Pact and invade Poland from the east. German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg sends two telegrams back to Berlin and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop communicating the official Soviet view as expressed by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
The first telegram, sent at 14:30 and marked strictly secret, tells Ribbentrop that Molotov called in von der Schulenberg at 12:30 and stated:
“We agree with you that at a suitable time it will be absolutely necessary for us to start concrete action. We are of the view, however, that this time has not yet come. It is possible that we are mistaken, but it seems to us that through excessive haste we might injure our cause and promote unity among our opponents. We understand that as the operations proceed, one of the parties or both parties might be forced temporarily to cross the line of demarcation between the spheres of interest of the two parties; but such cases must not prevent the strict execution of the plan adopted.”
In other words, the Soviets will delay their own invasion of Poland for the time being. Von der Schulenberg then asks Molotov to work on the Turks, pressing them to declare permanent neutrality, thus protecting the southwest European flank. The Germans also want the Turks to close off the Dardanelles straits completely, preventing naval traffic between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which will also prevent the British from sending aid to Rumania. Von der Schulenberg informs Ribbentrop:
“Today at 12:30 p. m. I again asked Molotov to have the Soviet Government continue to work on Turkey with a view to permanent neutrality. I mentioned that rumors were current to the effect that England was putting pressure on Rumania to take active part and was holding out a prospect of aid from British and French troops. Since this aid might come by sea, it was in the interests of the Soviet Government to prevail upon Turkey to close the Dardanelles completely.
“Molotov replied that the Soviet Government had considerable influence with Turkey and was exerting it in the sense desired by us. Molotov added that there was only the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Turkey; conversations regarding the conclusion of a mutual assistance pact had, it is true, been carried on at one time but had borne no fruit. He would have rumors about Rumania looked into through the Soviet Embassy in Bucharest.”
In Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues a proclamation declaring the neutrality of the United States of America in the war now existing between Germany and France; Poland; and the United Kingdom, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Roosevelt issues Executive Order #8233, “Prescribing Regulations Governing the Enforcement of the Neutrality of the United States.”
The order prescribes that, “during said war, the departments and independent offices and establishments of the United States Government shall have the following duties to perform in enforcing the neutrality of the United States, which duties shall be in addition to the duties now prescribed, or hereafter prescribed, by law, or by other executive order or regulation not in conflict herewith, for the departments and independent offices and establishments of the United States Government.” The order has instructions for the War Department, the Navy Department, the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, the Governor of the Panama Canal, the Department of Justice, and all other “Departments and Independent Offices and Establishments of the United States.” The duties are spelled out in more detail in the remainder of the document.
American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt writes in her daily column, My Day:
“I hope that, in spite of the contagion of war, we can keep out of it, but I hope that we will decide on what we believe and do what we can to keep ourselves from being bitter even against those we think are in the wrong. I hope that we will throw our weight as best we can toward a speedy termination of the war, for when there is war no one is safe and the economic consequences of war are serious even to those not involved in the actual fighting. We should do all we can to bring war to an end with as little loss as possible, and to keep ourselves in the frame of mind where we can be fair, just and merciful. Our prayer should not be like the Pharisees: “I thank God for what I am,” but a petition that we may be worthy of the mercy which is being shown us. Let us do all we can for those who suffer.”
In Africa, conflict over the war arises in the nation of South Africa; General Jan Christian Smuts is named prime minister after the legislature defeats a proposal to declare neutrality. Many South Africans of Dutch descent are sympathetic to German racial policies and are opposed to supporting the British war effort. Smuts replaces pro-German Prime Minister Barry Herzog.
South Africa, a dominion of Great Britain, is constitutionally obligated to support Great Britain against Germany since the Polish-British Common Defence Pact required Britain and its dominions to help Poland if attacked by the Germans.
As Prime Minister, Jan Smuts officially declares war on Germany and its Axis allies. He begins fortifying the country against possible German sea invasion since the country has global strategic importance via its control of the long sea route around the Cape of Good Hope.
John Vorster and his Ossewabrandwag group begin to actively carry out sabotage against Smuts’ government; Smuts answers the threat by jailing the Vorster and the movement’s other leaders for the duration of the war.
The British create a new Ministry of Information in London.