4-Oct-39: Germany’s U-35 Sinks Greek Ship, Rescues Crew; Hitler Convenes Reichstag; Kruschev Decrees Communization of Eastern Europe
Today is 4-Oct-1939, the 34th day of World War II; there are 2,159 days left in the conflict.
In the North Atlantic, the German Kriegsmarine’s Unterseeboot campaign continues its string of successful sinkings, with a rather remarkable event.
The SS Diamantis, a Greek merchant ship under a Captain Pateras, weighing 4,990 tons and carrying 7,700 tons of manganese, is bound from Freetown, West Africa, to Barrow-in-Furness, England and is torpedoed by the U-Boat U-35, which is under the direction of Captain Werner Lott. It sinks 40 miles west of Scillies, off Lands End, England.
According to the U-35’s report, the weather is very rough, so the U-boat warns the crew of the Diamantis by firing a gunshot prior to the sinking. The Greek ship’s crew of 28 panics and boards lifeboats which, however, overturn in heavy seas. Capt. Lott’s crew luckily manages to pick up the entire crew, then launches three torpedoes, which sink the Diamantis in 20 minutes.
The Greek crew is then landed by the U-35 at Ventry Harbour, Dingle Bay, County Kerry, Ireland, early in the morning. While the “noble action” enjoys worldwide attention in the media, Capt. Lott is reprimanded by the Kriegsmarine’s U-Boat command for putting his ship and crew in danger and breaching Ireland’s neutrality.
The Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party Nikita Krushchev speaking from Soviet-occupied Poland, declares the “Communisation” of the eastern part of the former Poland.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler orders the Reichstag to convene on Friday, October 6th, but does not announce a reason.
17-Sep-39: Soviets Invade Eastern Poland in Order to “Protect Ukrainian and Belorussian Minorities;” British Aircraft Carrier HMS Courageous is Sunk by U-29
Today is 17-Sept-1939, the 17th day of World War II; there are 2,176 days left in the conflict.
At 02:15 a.m. local time, Polish Ambassador to the Soviet Union Waclaw Grzybowski is summoned to the Soviet Foreign Office in Moscow. He is received there by the Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Potemkin. Potemkin reads a note to Grzybowski from the USSR government that the Soviets regard the Polish government as completely disintegrated, and therefore the Polish state has “ceased to exist.” Therefore, all agreements between the Soviet Union and Poland have also “ceased to be in effect.”
The note goes on to state that, without leadership or government, Poland is now a threat to the Soviet Union. In addition, because of the anarchy in Poland, ethnic Ukrainians, Belorussians and White Russians were in danger and defenseless. The Polish ambassador is then given the coup de grace:
“Accordingly, the Soviet Government has ordered its troops to cross the Polish border and take under their protection the life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western White Russia. At the same time, the Soviet Government proposes to extricate the Polish people from the unfortunate war into which they were dragged by their unwise leaders, and enable them to live a peaceful life.”
The Red Army then pours across the border along an 800-mile line; the attack is organized into two army groups — what the Soviets call Fronts, a term which will be used for the duration of the war. Because of the fighting against the German Wehrmacht in the west, the Poles have only 18 battalions in the east, so there is virtually no resistance to the Soviet invasion.
Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov makes the official announcement of the invasion, reiterating the claim that it is to ensure the protection of the Ukrainian and Belorussian minorities in the region. Soviet newspapers continue to note claims of “brutal treatment” of those minorities, Molotov says. He adds that the Soviet government promises to respect the neutrality of Finland. In a move that will further please the Germans, he also announces that the government is formally recognizing Slovakia as an independent state.
The invasion is a complete surprise to Poland’s civil and military leaders, as well as its population. In certain places, there was confusion among civilians who initially believed the Red Army was marching in order to save Poland from the Germans. They quickly discover the truth, and some Polish military forces in the region swing to the east, beginning three weeks of war against the Red Army between the Carpathian Mountains and the Dvina River.
The remains of the Polish government flee towards the Romanian border, evacuating Kuty, the fifth and final temporary seat of government since the abandonment of the capital, Warsaw. Government officials flee into Romania; all surviving Polish Air Force flight crews fly the remaining aircraft to Romanian airfields. Under the terms of Romania’s declaration of two days previously, they are disarmed and interned in Romanian camps.
As the eastern invasion is unfolding, the German Wehrmacht continues to pound away at Polish forces elsewhere. The Luftwaffe bombs Warsaw, hitting St. John’s Cathedral while Mass is being performed. Dead parishioners are buried in public parks since the city’s cemeteries are now full of victims of the German invasion.
The German Heer continues to close a tighter ring around Warsaw; it captures over 40,000 Polish prisoners at Kutno and succeeds after three days of fighting in finally capturing Brest-Litovsk. Army groups North and South join up in eastern Poland at Siedlce, but are ordered to halt their invasion along a pre-determined line in order to avoid accidental clashes with the oncoming Red Army.
The naval war continues to heat up on the Atlantic; the German Kriegsmarine’s Untersee Boot U-29 succeeds in torpedoing and sinking the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous off the southwest coast of Ireland, killing 514 of the 1200 sailors on board.
Courageous is performing anti-submarine patrol duties when it is hit, much like the carrier Ark Royal several days previously. While the Courageous has been highly effective in this work, and the Ark Royal did successfully escape being sunk, the sinking of the Courageous prods the Royal Navy to decree that its carriers will not be used in such work in the future.
Finally, an eventful day ends with signs that the Italians will not long remain out of the conflict. Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Fascist de facto dictator of the country, has the Italian government send a message to Athens assuring the Greek government that Italy will take no military action against Greece even if Italy enters the war. It is a promise that will only last a little over a year; the Italians will invade Greece in October 1940 with disastrous results.