30-Dec-39: Chinese Air Force Decimated Over Lanchow; Rival Chinese Government Set Up; Finns Continue Winter War Offensive
Today is 30-Dec-1939, the 91st day of World War II; there are 2,072 days left in the conflict.
Over the Chinese city of Lanchow, forty Chinese Air Force fighters take on 13 Japanese aircraft. The Japanese shoot down 14 of the Chinese fighters, but suffer no losses of their own.
Wang Chingwei, the former foreign minister of Kuomintang of nationalist China and a rival of Chiang Kai-shek, signs an agreement with Japanese representatives in Hanoi which sets up a rival government sponsored by the Japanese. Wang Chingwei was convinced after the loss of the city of Wuhan that the war was lost and accommodations must be made with Imperial Japan.
The Finnish Army continues its offensives against the Soviet’s Eighth and Ninth armies. The Soviets reassign General Manfred Stern from the Far Eastern Army to command operations north of Lake Ladoga. The Soviet Air Force also bombs the city of Hango.
28-Dec-39: Soviet Division Destroyed; Red Army High Command Regroups; Fritz Thyssen Protests German Actions to Hitler; Polish Deportations More Frequent; HMS Barham Hit by Torpedoes; British Start Meat Rationing; Japanese Bomb Lanchow
Today is 28-Dec-1939, the 89th day of World War II; there are 2,074 days left in the conflict.
The Soviet Red Army’s 163rd Division of the Ninth Army is destroyed by the Finns near Suomussalmi after attempts to relieve it by the 44th Division were turned back (and the 44th itself was destroyed). Training, tactics, and even cross-country skiing abilities all play a role in the Finnish successes. After successive failures to crack the Mannerheim Line throughout the Winter War, the Soviet high command orders preparations for a better-coordinated assault on the Finns.
German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who played a key role in fundraising efforts and bankrolling the early National Socialist German Worker’s Party, as well as urging President Paul on Hindenburg to appoint appoint Adolf Hitler to the Reichskanzler post, writes a remarkable protest letter to Hitler from exile in Switzerland. Thyssen had been Prussian State Councillor for life, a member of the Reichstag for Dusseldorf East, and head of the institute for research into the corporate state, Standische Wirtschaftsordnung.
A devout Catholic, he resigned his posts and fled the country after protesting Hitler’s ongoing persecutions of religious communities, as well as the Non-Aggression Pact of 23-Aug-39 between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Thyssen was particularly upset by Reichkristallnacht, 9-10-Nov-38. The pogrom was triggered by the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a German-born Polish Jew named Herschel Grynszpan. The assassination touched off a oordinated attack on Jews and their property; 91 were murdered, 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested, 267 synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked by Hitler Jugend, the Gestapo and the SS. His property was confiscated and his citizenship revoked by Hitler after Thyssen left the country.
Thyssen’s letter to Hitler states:
“My conscience is clear. I know that I have committed no crime. My sole mistake is to have believed in you, our leader, Adolf Hitler, and in the movement initiated by you — to have believed with the enthusiasm of a passionate lover of my native Germany.
“Since 1923 I have made the greatest sacrifices for the National Socialist cause, have fought with word and deed, without asking any reward for myself, merely inspired by the hope that our unfortunate German people would finally recover. The initial events after the National Socialists come to power seemed to justify this hope, at least as long as Herr von Papen was vice-chancellor.
“A sinister development followed these events. The persecution of the Christian religion, taking the form of cruel measures against the priests and insults to the Churches, led me to protest in the early days, for instance when the police president of Dusseldorf issued a protest to Marshal Goering, It was in vain.
“When, on November 9th, 1938, the Jews were despoiled and martyrized in the most cowardly and brutal manner, and their temples razed to the ground throughout Germany, I also protested. To reinforce this protest, I resigned my office as state councillor. This, too, as in vain.”
Thyssen will eventually be arrested by Vichy French authorities and sent to a concentration camp. He will be freed by the Allies in 1945, but will convicted by a German court for being a former National Socialist leader. The court will order Thyssen to hand over 15% of his property to victims of the regime; he will die in 1951.
The Germans policy of ousting Poles from critical areas and bringing in ethnic Germans to colonize the former Polish areas begins to hit its stride. The whole population of Kalisz, 70,000 people, are deported and replaced by ethnic Germans from the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
On the high seas, the German Kriegsmarine’s unterseeboot U-30 torpedoes the British Battleship HMS Barham off the coast of northwest Scotland. The ship does not sink, but is laid up for repairs for three months.
The British government in London announces that the rationing of meat will go into effect immediately.
The Japanese Imperial Army conducts repeated bombing raids on the northwest Chinese military supply base at Lanchow.
14-Dec-39: League of Nations Expels Soviet Union, Urges Help for Finland; Winter War Continues; Hitler Orders Operational Planning for Invasion of Norway; Chinese Nationalists/Communists Clash in Ningxian; German Liner Attempts to Run British Blockade as US Ship Shadows Her
Today is 14-Dec-1939, the 75th day of World War II; there are 2,088 days left in the conflict.
The League of Nations, meeting in emergency debate in Geneva, formally expels the Soviet Union and names it an aggressor in violation of treaties with Finland, the League Covenant and the Pact of Paris. League member states are asked to give all possible assistance to Finland; the League will coordinate international aid programs for the Finns. The Soviets launch a new offensive near Petsamo, while the Finns continue to hammer away a the Soviet Eighth Army.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler orders the OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (armed forces high command) to begin preparations for the invasion of Norway under the codename Weserubung (Exercise Weber). He is now convinced he must secure Norwegian natural resources for the Reich before Britain cuts them off.
In the Asian theater, Chinese Nationalist forces occupy Ningxian after bitter fights with Chinese Communist troops.
The German liner Columbus departs the Mexican port of Vera Cruz in an effort to run the British blockade back to Germany. An American cruiser USS Tuscaloosa shadows the ship as part of neutrality patrol and broadcasts its location on open radio channels.
27-Nov-39: Finns Deny Responsibility for Mainila Incident; Germans Give Ultimatum to Citizens Married to Jews; No Nobel Peace Prize Will Be Awarded; Sweden Protests Mining; Japanese Complete Occupation of Nanking
Today is 27-Nov-1939, the 58th day of World War II; there are 2,105 days left in the conflict.
The Finns deny they were behind artillery fire which killed four Soviet soldiers in the USSR village of Mainila, claiming the shells came from the Soviet side of the border and suggest a mutual withdrawal of both countries’ troops.
The German government announces that German citizens married to Jews have one year to obtain a divorce from their spouses.
The Nobel Committee in the Norwegian Parliament announces that it will not award a Nobel peace prize for 1939 due to ongoing and escalating hostilities around the world.
In Stockholm, the Swedish government protests the mining of its territorial waters by the German Kriegsmarine. In ongoing reprisals for the German mine-laying campaign, the British government orders the seizure of German exports carried on the high seas.
Imperial Japanese Army troops complete the occupation of the city of Nanking.
24-Nov-39: Japanese Take Nanking; Germans Seize Property of Industrialist Ex-National Socialist; Belgians Register Concern; Royal Navy Rescues Sinking Survivors
Today is 24-Nov-1939, the 55th day of World War II; there are 2,108 days left in the conflict.
Over 100,000 Chinese troops attempt to repel the Imperial Japanese Army’s attack on Nanking but fail; the Japanese enter the city, breaking the Chinese winter offensive. The taking of Nanking represents the first Japanese victory in their drive westward into Kwangshi province, which is designed to break China’s links with Indochina to the south.
The German government in Berlin seizes the property and financial interests of iron and steel industrialist Fritz Thyssen, a former supporter of the National Socialists who fled to neutral Switzerland two months previously.
While the government of Belgium sends a note to the British government concerning announced reprisals against the Germans for laying magnetic mines, over 200 mines adrift in the North Sea wash up on the beaches of Yorkshire.
In the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy rescues five survivors of the Dutch tanker Sliedrecht, which had been sunk by a German Kriegsmarine Unterseeboot a week earlier. The survivors had endured the seven days before their rescue in an open life raft.
21-Nov-39: German Magnetic Mines Continue to Wreak Havoc on British Shipping, Chamberlain Announces Retaliatory Measures; With German Help, Slovaks Reclaim Territory Seized by Poles
Today is 21-Nov-1939, the 52nd day of World War II; there are 2,111 days left in the conflict.
German magnetic mines dropped by the Luftwaffe in British territorial waters continue to make up the bulk of the war news. A brand-new British cruiser, HMS Belfast is badly damaged by one of the mines in the Scottish Firth of Forth; the destroyer Gypsy is sunk in the North Sea; and the Japanese passenger ship Terukuni Maru is sunk in the Thames Estuary. Meanwhile, German Kriegsmarine battle cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst begin a new naval cruise aimed at sinking enemy ships.
In response to the wave of German naval successes, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain makes a public pronouncement that German merchant ships will be seized by the Royal Navy as compensation; at the same time, all goods being shipped to Germany through British ports are now confiscated, rather than just being temporarily halted.
In Bratislava, Slovakia, the Germans and Slovaks ink a treaty formally giving Slovakia 225 square miles of territory seized from the former Poland. The two allies claim that Poland had illegally seized that land from the former Czechoslovakia in the course of three annexations in 1920, 1924 and 1938.
19-Nov-39: Germans Erect Barrier Around Warsaw Jewish Quarter; Churchill Wants Mine Laying in Rhine River; Chinese Nationalists Order Winter Offensive Against Japanese
Today is 19-Nov-1939, the 50th day of World War II; there are 2,113 days left in the conflict.
German occupation authorities begin erecting a temporary barrier around the Jewish Quarter in Warsaw; it is a prelude to the later building of a permanent wall around the ghetto. Occupation authorities continue to crack down in the former Czechoslovakia; three more executions of student protesters, plus the arrests of over 50,000 people are reported.
In response to the sinking of five ships due to German Luftwaffe magnetic mining of British territorial waters and the North Sea, British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, still livid over the loss of life and shipping, urges the government to order the Royal Air Force to mine the Rhine River between Strasbourg and the Lauter River.
In Asia, the Chinese Nationalist government in Chungking, after the recent loss of the final viable port, Pakhoi, orders the army to conduct a winter offensive against the Japanese Imperial Army.
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.
29-Oct-39: OKH Takes Fall Gelb Revision to Hitler; Kriegsmarine Gives Go to Passenger Liner Attacks; Chinese Defections to Japanese Increase; Red Army Occupies Agreed Bases in Latvia
Today is 29-Oct-1939, the 59th day of World War II; there are 2,134 days left in the conflict.
The German High Command of the Army, OberKommando des Heeres (OKH), in response to Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler’s order, brings him a revision to the plan for Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), the invasion of France. The main portion of the invasion force is moved slightly to the south and the force directed at Holland is weakened somewhat. Debate continues within OKH as to if and how Fall Gelb could be modified further.
The German Kriegsmarine issues permission to its warships and U-boats for attacks passenger ships which are traveling in convoys.
The United States military attache in Tokyo reports to Washington that the numbers of Chinese defections to the invading Japanese are increasing. The report says that there are now over 100,000 Chinese under arms and they are known as Huang Hsieh Chun (Imperial Assisting Troops).
The first Red Army troops assigned to bases in Latvia as a result of the recently concluded Lativan-Soviet agreement arrive and begin their occupation.
An official French communique reports that all is quiet along the western front; the British move larger numbers of heavy artillery into positions along their positions facing the Belgian border.
22-Oct-39: 22-Oct-39: Dr. Goebbels Claims Churchill Lies; Allies Leave Ankara After Successful Pact Inked; Soviets Conduct Elections in Formerly Polish Territories; Western Front Artillery Duels Continue in Rain
Today is 22-Oct-1939, the 52nd day of World War II; there are 2,141 days left in the conflict.
War news is mostly quiet today. German Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment Dr. Josef Goebbels uses a radio broadcast to attack British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Churchill is a liar, he claims.
After the conclusion of successful talks and a pact with the Turks, British General Archibald Wavell and French General Maxime Weygand depart in triumph from Ankara.
In India, which is still a part of the British Empire, the independence-minded Congress Party declares that it will not support the war effort and condemns the imperialism of the Empire.
The Soviet Union conducts elections in the newly won territories of the western Ukraine and western Belorussia, which had formerly belonged to Poland.
The Germans and French continue to conduct sporadic artillery duels along their common border; due to heavy recent rains, the no-man’s land along the front has been turned into a sea of mud.
18-Oct-39: Nordic Leaders Have Conference in Stockholm; Germans Attempt Another Scapa Flow Attack; British, French Meet in Ankara, Turkey
Today is 18-Oct-1939, the 48th day of World War II; there are 2,145 days left in the conflict.
British General Archibald Wavell, the commander of British troops in the Middle East, and French General Maxime Weygand, the former chief of staff, fly into Ankara, Turkey, for consultations with the Turkish General Staff. The Germans respond by recalling their ambassador, former Chancellor Franz von Papen, for consultation in Berlin.
In Scotland, German Luftwaffe bombers again attempt an attack on the British Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, but this time are engaged by anti-aircraft defenses and no bombs are reported dropped.
At the same time in London, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces that a total of eight German aircraft have been downed; this announcement is followed by a claim by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill that a third of the German Kriegsmarine’s Unterseeboot fleet has been sunk. Neither offers proof to back up their claims, which are dismissed by the German Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment and in broadcasts on Deutscher Rundfunk, German radio.
In a meeting in Stockholm proposed earlier in the month, Finnish President Kyösti Kallio meets with the King Christian X of Denmark, King Haakon VII of Norway and King Gustaf V of Sweden confer about the Soviet demands revisions of the Finnish-Soviet border. King Gustaf reports that German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler sent assurances to Sweden that Germany would remain strictly neutral if a war were to break out between the Soviet Union and Finland; at the same time, Hitler “strongly” advised the Swedes follow the same policy.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to the assembled Nordic heads of state, expressing solidarity in the cause of neutrality and peace:
“October 18, 1939
“His Majesty Gustav, King of Sweden, Stockholm.
“The Conference of the Nordic States convened by Your Majesty in Stockholm will be followed with deep interest by the Government and the people of the United States.
“Under the circumstances which exist this Government joins with the Governments of the other American Republics in expressing its support of the principles of neutrality and order under law for which the nations represented at the Stockholm Conference have, throughout their history, taken a consistent stand.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt”
King Gustav himself replied almost immediately to the president with a telegram of his own:
“Stockholm,October 18, 1939
“The President:
“On behalf of the heads of the Nordic States assembled in Stockholm I wish to convey you the expression of our warm and sincere appreciation of the message of sympathy which you have addressed to us. In our endeavors to manifest our firm resolve to pursue a neutral policy based on international law and order we have felt it as a precious support and encouragement to receive this message which has been warmly greeted by our peoples.
“Gustav R..”
At the conclusion of the conference, a communique was broadcast by the Swedish News Agency (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå). The text of the communique stated:
“The kings of Denmark and Iceland, of Norway and of Sweden along with the president of the Republic of Finland got together in a meeting in Stockholm on the 18th to 19th of October 1939.
“At the meeting the general situation was first scrutinized from the viewpoint of each country. Special focus was given to difficulties that in the present serious international situation might be met as to retaining the right of self-determination in matters of neutrality, the principle the countries so often have pointed out and also confirmed in their neutrality declarations when the war broke out. It was stated in one voice that the governments are resolute and determined, working in close cooperation, to maintain their full neutrality. They intend to let their approach to the future questions be steered by what is needed to enforce this neutral status of complete self-determination. They demand that their right to this opinion, laying on the basis of friendly relations with other countries, will be respected by all parties.
“By reminding of the declaration, given by the Nordic kings during the Great War at the meeting of the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish governments in 1917 in Oslo, which stated that despite of what length or whatever form the war might take, friendly and confidential relations between governments should be maintained, the present meeting unanimously accepted that Denmark and Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden should conduct in the present crisis the same, successfully and in close cooperation carried out policy, as in the war of 1914-1918.
“The meeting also discussed the difficulties met by neutral states in commerce and shipping as consequences of the actions of the warring states. It was unanimously stated that on this matter the principles remain to be hold in line with the Copenhagen communique of 19th of September 1939, by maintaining usual commercial relations to all directions and mutually supporting the secure procurement of necessities.
“Likewise, unanimity prevailed over carrying out cooperation within the Oslo group and other neutral states for taking care of common interests.
In connection of the meeting the king of Sweden received cabled expressions of sympathy from the heads of states of neutral countries in America. These already publicized messages will be highly appreciated in the Nordic countries. The governments represented in the meeting have found in them valuable support in their efforts for the benefit of peace and international law.
“The Nordic governments remind of willingness to work for purposes of reconciliation. Already before breaking out of war this was expresses when their heads of state joined [Belgian] King Leopold’s appeal for peace. This willingness remains unchanged. They will with the greatest pleasure greet every sign showing that understanding between the warring parties is possible and that prospects can be seen to any contribution of neutral states in finding peace and security to all nations.”
17-Oct-39: Ju-88s Strike Scapa Flow; HMS Iron Duke Damaged, Beached; Mostly Quiet on the Western Front; Turks Break Off Soviet Talks
Today is 17-Oct-1939, the 47th day of World War II; there are 2,146 days left in the conflict.
Representatives of the Turkish government, in Moscow to negotiate a defense treaty with the Soviet Union, break off their talks without agreement. Both the Turks and the Soviets claim mutual friendliness and respect for each other, but Soviet proposals were seen as being counter to Turkish commitments to Britain and France, and were thus rejected by the Turks.
While the Germans claim that the Western Front is “absolutely quiet,” the French claim there are numerous infantry skirmishes near Saarbrucken.
The real action continues on the naval front. The British Royal Navy suffers another surprise attack as German Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88 bombers once again attack. This time, the target is the British naval base at Scapa Flow, which has already been hit by Unterseeboot action, resulting in the sinking of HMS Royal Oak.
The damage this time is more symbolic; the bombers succeed in damaging the training battleship HMS Iron Duke. The ship has to be beached as a result. The Iron Duke is famous as the World War I flagship battleship of British Admiral John Jellicoe, who was in command of the Grand Fleet during the Battle of Jutland.
Later that night, German Kriegsmarine destroyers use the cover of darkness to mine the waters off the Humber estuary in northern England on the border of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
11-Oct-39: British Increase Mustard Gas Production; Finns Continue Military Preparations; Albert Einstein’s Letter Regarding Nuclear Bombs Reaches Roosevelt
Today is 11-Oct-1939, the 41st day of World War II; there are 2,152 days left in the conflict.
In London, the British War Office orders an increase in the weekly production of mustard gas from 310 to 1,200 tons. British Secretary of War Leslie Hore-Belisha announces that the country now has a total of 158,000 troops on the ground in France.
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax meet with Polish government-in-exile Foreign Minister August Zaleski. And the British and Soviet governments ink a trade agreement which provides for the exchange of Soviet timber for rubber and Cornish tin.
A mistaken German radio report is aired stating that the British government has fallen and that an armistice has been reached; for awhile, Germans joyfully celebrate until the news is corrected.
Further north, the Finns continue their preparations for Soviet military aggression by mounting machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery in some of the largest Finnish cities.
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt notes the Finnish preparations, which have been going on all week, and sends a personal appeal to Soviet President Mikhail Kalinin urging the Soviets to “make no demands on Finland which are inconsistent with the maintenance and development of amicable and peaceful relations between the two countries, and the independence of each.”
Behind the scenes in the White House, the president receives a remarkable an historic letter from scientist Albert Einstein.
The Germans had successfully split the uranium atom the previous December; this plus continued German aggression led some physicists (including Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner) to fear that the Germans might be working on an atomic bomb. However, Szilard and Wigner had no influence or contacts with anyone in the American government. In July 1939, they found someone who did: Albert Einstein. Szilard will claim that Einstein said the possibility of a chain reaction “never occurred” to him, but he grasped the idea very quickly.
A month later, after further consolations, Szilard wrote a letter to President Roosevelt on behalf of Einstein, with Einstein’s signature attached. The letter finally reaches Roosevelt on 11-Oct, delivered by Roosevelt’s friend Alexander Sachs. Einstein would later acknowledge his full responsibility for the consequences of the letter and call it “the greatest mistake” of his life.
The letter to the president states:
“Sir:
“Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations:
“In the course of the last four months it has been made probable through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America — that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium,by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.
“This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable — though much less certain — that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.
“The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia. while the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.
“In view of the situation you may think it desirable to have more permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an inofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:
“a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States;
“b) to speed up the experimental work,which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment.
“I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.
“Yours very truly,
“(Albert Einstein)”
After reading the letter, the president will go on to form the Briggs Committee, which will begin the study of uranium chain reactions. The letter itself may be considered the start of a chain reaction of its own, which will culminate in the twin nuclear annihilations of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki almost six years later, with further consequences for mankind far into the future.
6-Oct-39: Chinese Celebrate Victory in First Battle of Changsha; Final Polish Troops Surrender Near Kock; Finns Mobilize; Hitler Addresses Reichstag
Today is 6-Oct-1939, the 36th day of World War II; there are 2,157 days left in the conflict.
In Hunan province, Nationalist Chinese troops celebrate victory over the Japanese in the 11-day First Battle of Changsha. Some 40,000 out of 120,000 soldiers die in what began as an ambush and the Imperial Japanese Army is dealt a major blow for the first time in two years of fighting. In addition to the casualties, the Japanese lose large quantities of supplies, weapons and ammunition.
Back in Europe, near the city of Kock in southeastern Poland, 8,000 Polish troops representing the final shreds of the nation’s army surrender to German Heer troops. The war in Poland is effectively over.
Further north in Helsinki, the Finnish government begins mobilizing troops; there is now a perceived threat from the Soviet Union after the realignments over the last month in eastern Europe. The mobilization is particularly urged as a response to a request from the Soviet government the previous day for talks on altering their common borders.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler convenes the Reichstag for a major speech as the Polish war dies out. He claims he has no war aims or further territorial demands and wishes to conclude peace with Britain and France. He believes that certain parties such as British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill are to blame for the continuation of hostilities. Hitler declares that his sole aim (and that of National Socialist Germany) has always been to overturn the unjust 1919 Versailles Treaty, imposed on Germany after its defeat in World War I, in order to secure appropriate living space for the German people. He believes that the European powers should meet to resolve the few remaining differences between them.
“National Socialism is not a phenomenon which has grown up in Germany with the malicious intent of thwarting League efforts at revision, but a movement which arose because for fifteen years the most natural human and social rights of a great nation had been suppressed and denied redress.
“And I personally take exception at seeing foreign states- men stand up and call me guilty of having broken my word because I have now put these revisions through.
“On the contrary I pledged my sacred word to the German people to do away with the Treaty of Versailles and to restore to them their natural and vital rights as a great nation.
“The extent to which I am securing these vital rights is modest. This I ask: If forty-six million Englishmen claim the right to rule over forty million square kilometers of the earth, it cannot be wrong for eighty-two million Germans to demand the right to live on 800,000 square kilometers, to till their fields and to follow their trades and callings, and if they further demand the restitution of those colonial possessions which formerly were their property, which they had not taken away from anybody by robbery or war but honestly acquired by purchase, exchange and treaties. Moreover, in all my demands, I always first tried to obtain revisions by way of negotiation.
“I did, it is true, refuse to submit the question of German vital rights to some non-competent international body in the form of humble requests. Just as little as I suppose that Great Britain would plead for respect of her vital interests, so little ought one to expect the same of National Socialist Germany. I have, however, and I must emphasize this fact most solemnly, limited in the extreme the measure of these revisions of the Versailles Treaty.
“Notably in all those cases where I did not see any menace to the natural, vital interests of my people, I have myself advised the German nation to hold back. Yet these eighty million people must live somewhere. There exists a fact that not even the Versailles Treaty has been able to destroy; although it has in the most unreasonable manner dissolved States, torn asunder regions economically connected, cut communication lines, etc., yet the people, the living substance of flesh and blood, has remained and will forever remain in the future.”
Hitler goes on to speak of his intentions towards the former Polish state:
“The aims and tasks which emerge from the collapse of the Polish State are, insofar as the German sphere of interest is concerned, roughly as follows:
“1. Demarcation of the boundary for the Reich, which will do justice to historical, ethnographical and economic facts.
“2. Pacification of the whole territory by restoring a tolerable measure of peace and order.
“3. Absolute guarantees of security not only as far as Reich territory is concerned but for the entire sphere of interest.
“4. Re-establishment and reorganization of economic life and of trade and transport, involving development of culture and civilization.
“5. As the most important task, however, to establish a new order of ethnographic conditions, that is to say, resettle ment of nationalities in such a manner that the process ultimately results in the obtaining of better dividing lines than is the case at present. In this sense, however, it is not a case of the problem being restricted to this particular sphere, but of a task with far wider implications for the east and south of Europe are to a large extent filled with splinters of the German nationality, whose existence they cannot maintain.
“In their very existence lie the reason and cause for continual international disturbances. In this age of the principle of nationalities and of racial ideals, it is utopian to believe that members of a highly developed people can be assimilated without trouble.
“It is therefore essential for a far-sighted ordering of the life of Europe that a resettlement should be undertaken here so as to remove at least part of the material for European conflict. Germany and the Union of Soviet Republics have come to an agreement to support each other in this matter.
“The German Government will, therefore, never allow the residual Polish State of the future to become in any sense a disturbing factor for the Reich itself and still less a source of disturbance between the German Reich and Soviet Russia.”
The speech is met with hysterical applause by the Reichstag deputies; the response elsewhere is considerably colder.
5-Oct-39: Victorious HItler Visits Conquered Warsaw, Reviews Troops; Diplomatic Activity Heats Up Over Lithuania; British, French Navies Begin Hunt for Graf Spee
Today is 5-Oct-1939, the 35th day of World War II; there are 2,158 days left in the conflict.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler conducts a triumphal tour and review of his victorious troops in the conquered Polish capital of Warsaw, even as the German Heer continues mopping-up operations against Polish troops still at large in the region between the Vistula and Bug rivers. After a victory parade, Hitler returns to Berlin for a scheduled meeting of the Reichstag.
German Kriegsmarine successes continue in the North Atlantic; the pocket battleship Deutschland sinks the British steamer SS Stonegate. But the Deutschland and its sister ship, the Graf Spee are now attracting much attention; the British and French navies form eight groups of attack ships to track down and sink the Graf Spee.
National Socialist Gauleiter of Franconia Julius Sturmer, one of the most notorious antisemitic propagandists of the party, publishes a “Hymn of Hate” in his weekly magazine Der Sturmer. The piece is targeted at England, which is called the “curse of the world.”
Meanwhile in Moscow, Soviet officials continue a full-press diplomatic push to consolidate their position in the Baltic region. They sign a pact with the Latvians, giving them the use of sea and air bases in that country.
The Germans are well aware of all the activity and a flurry of diplomatic telegrams between the Foreign Office on the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin and German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg regarding the Soviet’s political moves regarding Lithuania.
The first of the telegrams is sent in the early hours of the morning from Schulenberg back to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop; it notes that the Lithuanians have the wind up:
“Reference my telegram No. 463 of October 3.
“Immediately after Under State Secretary Gaus’ first telephone call I transmitted to Molotov this morning the request not to divulge to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister anything regarding the German-Soviet understanding concerning Lithuania. Molotov asked me to see him at 5 p. m. and told me, that, unfortunately, he had been obliged yesterday to inform the Lithuanian Foreign Minister of this understanding, since he could not, out of loyalty to us, act otherwise. The Lithuanian delegation had been extremely dismayed and sad; they had declared that the loss of this area in particular would be especially hard to bear, since many prominent leaders of the Lithuanian people came from that part of Lithuania. This morning at 8 a. m. the Lithuanian Foreign Minister had flown back to Kowno, intending to return to Moscow in one or two days.
“I said that I would immediately notify my Government by telephone, whereupon I called Herr Gaus. An hour later Molotov informed me that Stalin personally requested the German Government not to insist for the moment upon the cession of the strip of Lithuanian territory.
“SCHULENBURG”
Ribbentrop responds with some specific instructions, as well as some crucial background information for his ambassador:
“Referring to today’s telephonic communication from the Ambassador.
“Legation in Kowno is being instructed as follows:
“1) Solely for your personal information, I am apprising you of the following: At the time of the signing of the German-Russian Non-aggression Pact on August 23, a strictly secret delimitation of the respective spheres of influence in Eastern Europe was also undertaken. In accordance therewith, Lithuania was to belong to the German sphere of influence, while in the territory of the former Polish state, the so-called Four-River Line, Pissa-Narew-Vistula-San, was to constitute the border. Even then I demanded that the district of Vilna go to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government consented. At the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty on September 28, the settlement was amended to the extent that Lithuania, including the Vilna area, was included in the Russian sphere of influence, for which in turn, in the Polish area, the province of Lublin and large portions of the province of Warsaw, including the pocket of territory of Suwalki, fell within the German sphere of influence. Since, by the inclusion of the Suwalki tract in the German sphere of influence, a difficulty in drawing the border line resulted, we agreed that in case the Soviets should take special measures in Lithuania, a small strip of territory in the southwest of Lithuania, accurately marked on the map, should fall to Germany.
“2) Today Count von der Schulenburg reports that Molotov, contrary to our own intentions, notified the Lithuanian Foreign Minister last night of the confidential arrangement. Please now, on your part, inform the Lithuanian Government, orally and in strict confidence, of the matter, as follows:
“As early as at the signing of the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, in order to avoid complications in Eastern Europe, conversations were held between ourselves and the Soviet Government concerning the delimitation of German and Soviet spheres of influence. In these conversations I had recommended restoring the Vilna district to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government gave me its consent. In the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty of September 28, as is apparent from the German-Soviet boundary demarcation which was published, the pocket of territory of Suwalki jutting out between Germany and Lithuania had fallen to Germany. As this created an intricate and impractical boundary, I had reserved for Germany a border correction in this area, whereby a small strip of Lithuanian territory would fall to Germany. The reward of Vilna to Lithuania was maintained in these negotiations also. You are now authorized to make it known to the Lithuanian Government that the Reich Government does not consider the question of this border revision timely at this moment. We make the proviso, however, that the Lithuanian Government treat this matter as strictly confidential. End of instruction for Kowno.
“I request you to inform Herr Molotov of our communication to the Lithuanian Government. Further, please request of him, as already indicated in the preceding telegram, that the border strip of Lithuanian territory involved be left free in the event of a possible posting of Soviet troops in Lithuania and also that it be left to Germany to determine the date of the implementing of the agreement concerning the cession to Germany of the territory involved. Both of these points at issue should be set forth in a secret exchange of letters between yourself and Molotov.
“RIBBENTROP”
Germany’s Secretary of State in the Foreign Office, Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker (who’s son Richard is the future eight president of the German Federal Republic) sends his own message on the situation to Ribbentrop that evening:
“The Lithuanian Minister called on me this evening in order, as was expected, to inquire about German claims to a strip of land in southwestern Lithuania. Herr Skirpa, however, even when he entered, had a friendlier appearance than was to be expected. For Minister Zechlin [German Minister in Lithuania] had in the meantime delivered information in Kowno as instructed, so that I did not need to go any further into the questions that Herr Skirpa put. I restricted myself to a brief mention of today’s telegraphic instructions to Herr Zechlin. Since Herr Skirpa expressed to me the satisfaction of his Government that we had withdrawn our claim, I stressed that the announcement of our need was “not at the moment pressing.” (It is noteworthy that Herr Skirpa knew and traced exactly on the map of Poland that happened to be spread out before us the line agreed upon by us in our secret protocol with the Russians.)
“The Minister then gave the further information that the Russians expected to get an assistance pact with Lithuania as well as permission to station Russian garrisons, at the same time agreeing in principle to the joining [Anschluss] of Vilna and environs to Lithuania. Herr Skirpa asked me if I had any ideas or suggestions to give in this regard. I stated that I was not informed and added that in connection with our negotiations in Moscow German interests had not been claimed beyond the Russo-German line in the east known to Herr Skirpa.
“In conclusion the Minister asked to be given any possible suggestions. Herr Urbsys [Lithuanian Foreign Minister] was still remaining in Kowno today and tomorrow; he himself — Skirpa — was at the disposal of the Reich Foreign Minister at any time.
“Weizsäcker”
With the final capitulations in Poland, the fate of eastern Europe is being finalized.
1-Oct-39: Chinese Successfully Repel Japanese Attack on Changsha; Poles in Warsaw Disarmed; Winston Churchill Makes His First Radio Broadcast of the War
Today is 1-Oct-1939, the 31st day of World War II; there are 2,162 days left in the conflict.
In a fight known as the First Battle of Changsha, Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese Nationalist Army scores a major victory over the Japanese Eleventh Corps in China’s northern Hunan province. The Japanese attempted to capture Changsha and the Tungting Lake region, but are forced to withdraw.
Japanese officials in Tokyo dismiss senior officers of the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchukuo (the former Manchuria). The firings are a result of the army’s failures in the border war, particularly their loss of the Battle of Khalkin Gol, which resulted in a capitulation to the Soviets in a treaty at Moscow.
Back in Europe, an estimated 100,000 Polish officers and men making up the garrison of Warsaw begin turning over arms and marching into captivity under the auspices of the German Wehrmacht. On the same day, the Polish garrison of the Hela Peninsula near Danzig, under heavy attack, including naval bombardment, since the early hours of the war, also surrender.
Meanwhile, Polish cryptologists arrive in Paris carrying two captured German Engima code machines, furthering the now legendary effort to break the Germans’ crucial codes.
The British Admiralty in London receives for the first time information about the existence of the German Kriegsmarine’s pocket battleships Graf Spee and Deutschland, thanks to the Graf Spee’s recent activity in the South Atlantic.
A historic moment also occurs in London as First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill broadcasts on the radio for the first time in the war. He uses the occasion to criticize the Soviet Union, claiming that the USSR has “pursued a policy of cold self-interest” where Poland is concerned. He also states, “We could have wished that the Russian armies should be standing on their present line as the friends and allies of Poland instead of invaders. But that the Russian armies should stand on this line was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia against the Nazi menace.”
23-Sep-39: Sigmund Freud Dies in London; Poles Fight on in Warsaw; Italy Reaffirms Neutrality; Germans, Soviets Plan Moscow Meeting
Today is 23-Sept-1939, the 23rd day of World War II; there are 2,170 days left in the conflict.
From London comes news that renowned Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is dead at 83 years of age.
In Warsaw, Polish forces continue to fight on in the surrounded capital city even as food supplies begin to run low.
German authorities in the Reich ban all non-German citizens (mainly Jews) from owning wireless radio sets; non-Germans are ordered to turn in their existing sets to the nearest authorities.
The German Kriegsmarine reports that Unterseeboots have sunk two cargo ships from Finland in the North Atlantic. The cargo was reported to be cellulose.
Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini announces that he still intends to keep his country neutral in the European conflict unless it is attacked; he says he is following a policy to “strengthen our army in preparation for any eventualities and support every possible peace effort while working in silence.” Mussolini also says that the “liquidation” of Poland as an independent nation could be the starting point of a general European peace settlement.
At a meeting in Panama, nations from North and South America agree to a neutral zone around the two continents extending 300 miles (480 km) off the continental coasts.
From Tokyo comes an announcement that Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura is appointed foreign minister in General Nobuyuki Abe’s recently appointed government. The Abe government will, from this point until January 1940, make a few conciliatory moves toward the United States, but these will be rebuffed. The U.S. stance is said to strengthen both the convictions and reputation of the more militant Japanese politicians, contributing to a steady deterioration in relations.
German Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sends a secret diplomatic cable to German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg. Ribbentrop states that he will be visiting Moscow in person for a second time in a little over a month, in order conclude negotiations over the exact new borders between Gerrmany and the Soviet Union in the former Poland. The telegram states:
“We, too, consider the time now ripe to establish by treaty jointly with the Soviet Government the definitive structure of the Polish area. The Russian idea of a border line along the well-known Four-Rivers Line coincides in general with the view of the Reich Government. It was my original intention to invite Herr Molotov to Germany in order to formulate this treaty.
“In view of your report that the leading personages there cannot leave the Soviet Union, we agree to negotiations in Moscow. Contrary to my original purpose of entrusting you with these negotiations, I have decided to fly to Moscow myself. This particularly because-in view of the full powers granted me by the Führer, thus making it possible to dispense with counter-inquiries, etc.-negotiations can be brought to a speedier conclusion.
“In view of the general situation, my sojourn in Moscow will have to be limited to one or two days at the most. Please call on Herren Stalin and Molotov and wire me earliest proposed date.”
The final partition and destruction of Poland is now imminent.
15-Sep-39: Japan, Soviet Union Sign Armistice; Warsaw Commander Refuses German Surrender Demands; First British Trans-Atlantic Convoy Sails from Halifax
Today is 15-Sept-1939. It is the 15th day of the war; there are 2,178 days left in the war.
Japan and the Soviet Union end the four-month-old “Nomonhan Incident” — in which the Japanese were disastrously defeated in the Battle of Khalkin Gol — with an armistice agreement signed in Moscow.
After their defeat in the battle (in which they lost over 17,000 soldiers), a new Japanese cabinet came to power and pressed for the armistice. The Germans had also been pressing for their two ostensible allies to come to an agreement and end the fighting ever since the 22-Aug signing of the Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact.
This armistice is another action designed to clear the decks for the Soviet invasion of Poland, planned for two days hence. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sends an urgent, top secret telegram to the Reich’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg. In it, he instructs the ambassador to convey to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov the following information:
“1. The destruction of the Polish Army is rapidly approaching its conclusion, as appears from the review of the military situation of September 14 which has already been communicated to you. We count on the occupation of Warsaw in the next few days.
“2. We have already stated to the Soviet Government that we consider ourselves bound by the definition of spheres of influence agreed upon in Moscow, entirely apart from purely military operations, and the same applies of course to the future as well.”
Ribbentrop instructs von der Shulenberg to give Molotov a thinly veiled warning: if the Soviets do not act and invade Poland as agreed in the 22-Aug Nonaggression Pact, the Soviet government might not like the results:
“From the communication made to you by Molotov on September 14, we assume that the Soviet Government will take a hand militarily, and that it intends to begin its operation now. We welcome this. The Soviet Government thus relieves us of the necessity of annihilating the remainder of the Polish Army by pursuing it as far as the Russian boundary. Also the question is disposed of in case a Russian intervention did not take place, of whether in the area lying to the east of the German zone of influence a political vacuum might not occur. Since we on our part have no intention of undertaking any political or administrative activities in these areas, apart from what is made necessary by military operations, without such an intervention on the part of the Soviet Government there might be the possibility of the construction of new states there.”
In other words, if the Soviets fail to act, they will find the German Wehrmacht at their borders along with possibly unknown and unwelcome new states along that border.
Ribbentrop then suggests that the Soviet government agree to the public issuance of a joint declaration, which would state:
“In view of the complete collapse of the previous form of government in Poland, the Reich Government and the Government of the U.S.S.R. consider it necessary to bring to an end the intolerable political and economic conditions existing in these territories. They regard it as their joint duty to restore peace and order in these areas which are naturally of interest to them and to bring about a new order by the creation of natural frontiers and viable economic organizations.”
The Reich’s foreign minister then urges his ambassador to speed the Soviets along:
“Since the military operations must be concluded as soon as possible because of the advanced season of the year, we would be gratified if the Soviet Government would set a day and hour on which their army would begin their advance, so that we on our part might govern ourselves accordingly. For the purpose of the necessary coordination of military operations on either side, it is also necessary that a representative of each Government, as well as German and Russian officers on the spot in the area of operations, should have a meeting in order to take the necessary steps, for which meeting we propose to assemble at Bialystok by air.”
Von der Shulenberg follows the instructions and presents Ribbentrop’s communique to Molotov.
Meanwhile, the fighting in Poland is increasingly going the Germans’ way; the Poles’ Poznan Army is encircled at Kutno and is steadily being destroyed by the Wehrmacht. Also encircled is the city of Brest-Litovsk, 120 miles east of Warsaw. The Bzura battles are also going badly for the Poles; the heaviest fighting is ending.
And in Warsaw itself, Major General Juliusz Rommel, the city’s military commander, receives a surrender proposal from German military representatives, but refuses to discuss it. The Poles will fight on in their capital.
The Romanian government in Bucharest makes a decision designed to at least partially placate the German government by granting asylum only to Polish civilian refugees fleeing the fighting by crossing the border into Romania proper. Any Polish military personnel who do the same will, the government declares, be disarmed and interned in camps.
The Germans make the decision to use captured allied flyers in propaganda radio broadcasts. On the air, they interview aircrew from Britain and New Zealand who were shot down and captured during the 4-Sept Royal Air Force raid on Wilhelmshaven.
On the high seas, a British TransAtlantic convoy departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and thus becomes the first such long-distance supply convoy of the war. The ships are supplying wheat and munitions from Canada and the United States.
From this point, all vital shipping will be required to travel in convoy form, scheduled by the military; naval forces from Britain and Canada will jointly provide protection for them from German U-Boats. Convoys are also organized for sailings from European ports to the British home isles such as Gibraltar, as well as ships sailing up and down the English/Scottish coasts and to Ulster and Ireland.
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.
4-Sep-39 — Germans Take Cracow, Push Toward Warsaw; First RAF Raid; Propaganda War Heats Up
On the fourth day of the war, the British Royal Air Force Bomber Command makes its first attack against Germany — a daylight raid with 29 Blenheim and Wellington bombers on warships in the Heligoland Bight. The German ship Admiral Scheer, a Deutschland class heavy cruiser (or pocket battleship) is hit three times, but the bombs fail to go off. The cruiser Emden is damaged by when a Blenheim bomber is shot down and crashes into it. Seven bombers are lost in this first RAF raid of the war.
In northern Poland, the Polish Modlin Army, having put a stubborn defense around the city of Mlawa, if forced to retreat. In southern Poland, Gen. Reichenau’s German 10th Army has advanced more than 50 miles since the beginning of the invasion and crosses the River Pilica just a few miles south of Warsaw. The Fourth Army, directed by Gen. von Kluge crosses the Polish corridor to German East Prussia. The Third Army under Gen. Kuchler pushes south from East Prussia and threatens the River Narev above the Warsaw. The Eighth Army under Gen. Blaskowitz passes north of Lodz, while Gen. List’s 14th Army forces Polish forces to abandon the city of Cracow and begin pushing west.
Over the city of Lodz, German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me109 fighters destroy 11 Polish fighters and 3 bombers.
In the west, the first shots between French and German forces are fired; the clashes are limited to skirmishing in the “No Man’s Land” between the French Maginot Line and the German Siegfried Line. Meanwhile, British navy destroyers land advance elements of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Cherbourg.
The propaganda aspect of the war begins to heat up. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts a message in German to the Germans, explaining his government’s position denouncing the National Socialist regime. In an article published in the Vokischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the National Socialist party, German Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment Dr. Josef Goebbels claims that the sinking of the SS Athenia was arranged by British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill in order to “create an incident between Germany and the United States.”
In Tokyo, the Japanesse government declares its neutrality and notes that Japan will “concentrate her efforts on a settlement of the China affair.”
31-Aug-39 — Japanese Destroyed at Kholkin-Gol; Hitler Orders Invasion; Italy Rattles Sabers; Germans Fake Polish “Provocations.”
In Mongolia, the battle of Kholkin-Gol ends with the massacre of the Japanese forces by the Soviets under the command of General Georgi Zhukov. The Japanese, surrounded by the Soviets, refuse to surrender, and the Soviets destroy them with artillery and air attacks. Remaining Japanese units retreat to east of Nomonhan, and into Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
The last day of peace in Europe begins with news that German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler is proposing a 16-point plan for a settlement between Germany and Poland. A radio broadcast outlines the settlement; it consists of a series of demands made by Germany, namely: the immediate return of Danzig to the German Reich and the immediate evacuation of the Corridor by Polish authorities, except for the port of Gdynia, which will remain Polish, followed by a plebiscite a year from now to decide the future of the Corridor. Once agreement has been reached between Germany and Poland, demobilization of their armies will begin.
In Rome, Germany’s ally Italy begins some saber-rattling of its own. In the Giornale d’Italia, Gen. Ambrogio Bollati expresses his confident belief in the superiority of the forces at the disposal of the Rome-Berlin Axis:
“He says that the 150,000,000 men of the Rome-Berlin axis form a compact and homogeneous whole from the Baltic to Libya. The hundreds of millions of men belonging to the Anglo-French bloc are scattered over three-quarters of the globe. Moreover, the latter include the British Socialist party, which is hostile to military service; the Oxford undergraduates who are conscientious objectors; the Dominions, which think only of their own affairs and the Irish, who are determined not to fight for the United Kingdom. Also, the transport of black troops from Africa is even more problematical than in 1914.
[He further states that] “Germany and Italy can put 20,000,000 men into the field, of whom many have already had war experience. The axis air force and submarines are far better than those of the Anglo-French bloc. In addition, Spain might join the axis.”
The newspaper Resto del Carlino adds to belligerent atmosphere the claim that “if the British and French fleets sail into the Mediterranean they will never get out of it. The Mediterranean will be their eternal grave.”
Back in Berlin, while publicly advancing a detailed plan for peace, Hitler is actually issuing final instructions for the invasion and destruction of the Polish state. He informs military leaders that:
“As all the political possibilities are exhausted to eliminate by peaceful means a situation on its eastern border, which is unbearable for Germany, I have decided on a solution by using force. The attack on Poland is to proceed along the lines of the preparations for Operation White [Fall Weiss], with modifications resulting from the now almost completed strategic movement of the army. There will be no change in the goal of the operation and the way the tasks are divided. Day of attack: 1 September 1939. Hour of attack: 04:45.
“This time is also for operations in the Gdingen-Danzig bay and the Dirschau bridge. In what regards the west, the responsibility for the beginning of hostilities has to be unmistakably placed with England and France. … The neutrality of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland of which we have been assured, is to be carefully preserved.”
Hitler thus orders the execution of Fall Weiss by the already-in-place Wehrmacht, and seals Poland’s fate. He is convinced that he can do safely, since in Moscow, the Supreme Soviet ratifies the ten-year Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact, which was signed a week ago and stipulates that neither country will help the other should they be attacked by a third power (i.e., Poland). The secret protocol to the pact carves up eastern Europe into “spheres of influence” between Germany and the Soviet Union; Poland will be divided in half and cease to exist. The western democracies, and Poland itself, remain unaware of the details of this part of the pact. Hitler still, even at this late stage, does not believe that Britain and France will go to war to save Poland. He is about to have his bluff called.
On the streets of Warsaw, visible signs of military preparation continue to proliferate. Camouflaged vehicles have begun to appear and truck loads of steel-helmeted troops and plain clothes police watch for unusual activities, says the BBC:
“The four recruiting depots have been busy all day, air raid warning tests have been heard across the city this evening, and posters are calling for volunteers for first aid. The railways and telegraph services have now been taken over by military authorities. With the military machine in an advanced state of readiness, the feeling in Warsaw is that any German settlement will be resisted.”
London and Paris are still intent on diplomatic maneuvering to get Hitler to the bargaining table, but are aware that this is increasingly unlikely. The British government orders the evacuation of over three million children as from 1 September. The Minster of Health, Mr. Walter Elliot, claims the evacuation is only a precaution. “The country has been divided up into evacuation and reception areas, the evacuation areas being those that are thought to be vulnerable to enemy attack, and the reception areas which are thought to be safe,” says the BBC.
“The majority of evacuees, as they are called, will be schoolchildren, and over 750,000 of them will be evacuated during the next few days. This colossal piece of organisation will involve most of the nation’s transport system and as a result people are being urged not to travel by train during the next couple of days unless their journey is really necessary.
“In London much of the public transport system will be used for the evacuation of schoolchildren between 09:00 tomorrow and 18:00 tomorrow evening, so ordinary passengers are asked to co-operate by travelling outside of these hours. The Stock Exchange and some other businesses won’t be opening tomorrow so that their employees won’t have to travel into work, and thus avoid congesting the trains and buses.
“As well as schoolchildren, other categories will be evacuated over the next few days. These include expectant mothers, the blind, as well as other physically and mentally handicapped people. In his broadcast the Minister of Health, Mr. Elliot was quite confident that the whole operation would run smoothly.”
Hitler wishes to blame the Poles for the start of the coming war. For the last few months, a orchestrated propaganda campaign by German newspapers and politicians have been accusing Polish authorities of organizing or tolerating violent elimination of ethnic Germans living in Poland.
This evening, German army intelligence (the Abwehr) and the SS put into action Operation Himmler and orchestrate 21 incidents intended to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany.
The first and most famous of these incidents will be the attack on a radio station in Gleiwitz, a town in German Silesia near the border with Poland. At 20:00 hours, the German News Agency reports that the Gleiwitz radio station has been attacked by Poles who forced their way into the studio and began broadcasting a statement in Polish. The agency claims that within 15 minutes, the Poles are fired upon and overpowered by German police. Several Poles are claimed to have died in this action.
In fact, the “Poles” carrying out the attack on Gleiwitz are actually armed SS soldiers in plain clothes, posing as “Silesian rebels” — Polish sympathizers. The operation is directed by SS Sturmbannfuehrer Alfred Naujocks, who was chosen by the head of the Reich Sicherheit Haupt Amt {Reich Security Main Office or RSHA), Reinhard Heydrich, who was himself acting on direct orders from Hitler. Heydrich orders the operation to commence by passing the code phrase (“Grossmutter gestorben” — Grandma is dead) via phone to Naujocks.
The troops attack the station and then broadcast a 10-second message in Polish, saying “Attention! This is Gliwice. The radio station has been seized by the Poles.” The rest of the address is not aired because one of the station’s employees, unaware of the true nature of the attackers, pushes the switch off button.
The night before the attack, a Polish Silesian named Franciszek Honiok is arrested by the German Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) in his nearby native village. They inject him with drugs, take him to the Gleiwitz station, dress him in a stolen Polish uniform and then shoot him, leaving him behind to be displayed as evidence of the Polish attack. He is referred to by the code name Konserve (“canned goods”).
Naujocks will be known in the future as the “man who started World War Two.” Honiok will be known as the “first victim of World War Two.” The full truth about the raid will remain a secret until the 1946 Nuremberg war crimes trials, when Naujocks will reveal the details of Gleiwitz to Allied investigators. He escapes Allied custody and works as a businessman in Hamburg, where he also will sell his story to the media as “The Man who Started the War.” He will die in 1960.
Meanwhile, all along the Polish border, units of the German Wehrmacht are taking their final jumping off positions for the lauch of Fall Weiss. The invasion of Poland and the start of World War Two is now a very few hours away.
30-Aug-39 — Soviets Wind Up Victory; Hitler Grants Extension, Invasion of Poland Put Off for One Day; Diplomatic Efforts Continue
In Mongolia, Soviet General Georgi Zhukov’s troops overwhelm the survivors of the Japanese 23rd Division at Khalkin Gol, effectively ending the battle which began a week ago. Tokyo is said to be seeking a way to bring the fighting to an end.
In a significant move vis-a-vis the later attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet.
In Europe, German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler agrees to Britain’s request for a 24-hour extension to permit a Polish negotiator to meet with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. “Y-Day” (the day when the Wehrmacht will execute Fall Weiss, Case White, the invasion of Poland, is moved by Hitler to 1 September. Last minute negotiations are marked by a flurry of diplomatic telegrams all over the continent, with the British and French seeking to bring the Germans and Poles to the bargaining table, unaware that the Germans are already set on the full invasion.
Hitler sets up a new permanent Council of Ministers for the Defence of the State; the sweeping powers afforded to the new Council surprise many. According to the BBC, for the duration of what Hitler calls “the present political tension abroad,” Field Marshall Hermann Goering is appointed the council’s chairman, “for the uniform management of the administration and of economic affairs.” Four ministers, including the Fuehrer’s deputy Herr Rudolph Hess, will convene with Field Marshall Goering and General Keitel, the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, to form a council with a considerable concentration of power for quick action.”
In Poland, Foreign Minister Jozef Beck tells British Ambassador to Poland Sir Howard Kennard that Polish mobilization will resume at midnight tonight. By 16:30, all Polish towns are reported to be covered with posters summoning all men up to the age of 40 to report for enlistment.
The French evacuate over 16,000 school children from Paris and speed up the distribution of gas masks to children aged two to ten. 45,000 children are expected to be evacuated by tomorrow.
In New York, the German ocean liner Bremen finally sails. It had been detained for two days while US customs officials searched it to find out whether it can be converted to carry weapons, says the BBC.
Fall Weiss is now just two days away.
20-Aug-39 — Course of War Determined in Mongolia
In what will ultimately come to be seen as a decisive and destiny-determining event, Soviet General Georgy Zhukov, then a completely unknown entity in the Red Army, launches the largest tank battle the world has yet seen against the Japanese along the Mongolian border.
Zhukov has more than 50,000 troops, 498 tanks and 250 planes and surprises the Japanese. Aircraft and artillery pound the Japanese at long range. 11 days of fighting will end with 45,000 Japanese and 17,000 Soviet soldiers dead.
The battle of Khalkin-Gol is strategically important for the course of the impending war. After their defeat, the Japanese decide to expand into the Pacific and take on the United States, which is seen as a weaker opponent; this will also mean that the Soviet eastern flank will be secure for the duration of the war, allowing the Soviets to concentrate on the west.
It will be said that the Battle of Khalkin Gol will lead directly to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, as well as the Japanese decision to refrain from attacking the Soviet Union in the east in order to aid Hitler’s invasion in the west. This may mean that Hitler’s Barbarossa is doomed to failure two years before it is even launched.