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.