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.