27-Dec-39: Earthquake Kills 8,000 in Turkey; Poles Executed for Warsaw Shootings; Red Army Ends Mannerheim Line Attacks; Finns Launch Offensives; US Protests British High Seas Seizures; First Indian Troops Arrive in France
Today is 27-Dec-1939, the 88th day of World War II; there are 2,075 days left in the conflict.
An earthquake strikes Turkey during very cold winter weather and kills an estimated 8,000 people, rendering thousands more homeless. Among the worst hit are the region of Tokat and the Black Sea areas of Samsun and Ordu.
Poles kill two German army noncommissioned officers in a bar in the Warsaw suburb of Wawer. In retaliation, German officials execute the owner of the bar by hanging and select 120 Poles from the streets for execution by shooting.
The Red Army ends its attack on the northern end of the Mannerheim Line after failing to advance. The Finns evacuate the citizens of Viipuri and launch offensives against the Soviet Eighth and Ninth armies.
The United States embassy in London passes a protest to the British government concerning the Royal Navy’s seizure of US mail bound via the Atlantic for Europe.
British empire military troops continue to arrive to bolster the allied war effort; the British Expeditionary Force in France is strengthened by the arrival of the first troops from India.
17-Dec-39: Soviet Attacks Hammer Mannerheim Line at Summa, Are Repulsed; Finns Refine Successful Tactics, Destroy Two Red Army Divisions; First Canadian Division Lands in Liverpool; French Claim German Reconnaissance Flights Increased Over Western Front
Today is 17-Dec-1939, the 78th day of World War II; there are 2,085 days left in the conflict.
The saga of the Admiral Graf Spee German pocket battleship comes to an end in front of a large crowds lining the quays on both sides of the River Plate in South America. The ship had been in port at Montevideo, Uruguay, for several days for rest, repairs, and refueling, but British ships and diplomats moved to flush her out. The succeeded in have the Uruguayans insist that Spee leave her anchor (but not too quickly so that other Royal Navy ships have a chance to arrive) and have stationed HMS Ajax HMS Achilles at the mouth of the estuary. The drama is carried live worldwide via radio and attracts a large audience.
As the deadline for leaving port passes, the Graf Spee gets underway in the estuary, but suddenly stops; her crew is ordered to scuttle the ship rather than risk battle with heavy British forces. The battleship sinks, the crew is saved, not hostile shots are fired and the crowds on shore are treated to a rare spectacle.
The Soviet Union attacks again Finnish positions along the Mannerheim Line around Summa. A familiar pattern for the attacks emerged; tanks penetrate Finnish positions during the day; infantry support for them are head off until nightfall, then the Finns destroy the tanks during the night by emerging from deep hiding places. Finland claims two Red Army divisions have been destroyed and that they have captured 36,000 soldiers and surrounded another 20,000 troops.
The First Canadian Division lands the first troops on British soil upon their arrival in Liverpool with over 7,500 men under command of Major-General McNaughton. The force used five ocean liners to make the crossing; officers were kept in suites and the enlisted men in first class cabins.
French forces along the Western Front note that there has been an increase in German Luftwaffe reconnaissance flights over the front lines in recent days.
15-Dec-39: Battle of Soumassalmi Begins; Finns See Battlefield Success, Attempt to Open Negotiations, But Refuse to be Conquered; Uruguay Ousts German Battleship; Chamberlain Visits British Expeditionary Force in France
Today is 15-Dec-1939, the 76th day of World War II; there are 2,087 days left in the conflict.
The Battle of Soumussalmi begins during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. The Finns destroy the Soviet 139th Division at Tolvajarvi as well as the 75th Division. The Finns broadcast an appeal for negotiations to end the conflict to the Soviets, but are firm in saying that attempts to annex any part of Finland will be resisted to the last. “The Finns will never submit to a foreign yoke,” the broadcast states.
In the port of Montevideo, Uruguay, the neutrality of the country is put to a test as the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee puts in port to repair damage and take on fuel from a German tanker. The drama is followed around the world via radio. The Uruguayan government, bowing to pressure from the British, finally order the battleship to leave the port within 72 hours.
The British Expeditionary Force is visited by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain along its defensive line in France. The BEF is in contact with German forces around Metz.
9-Dec-39: First British Soldier to Die in WWII Killed on Western Front; Finns Halt Soviet Attacks; Soviet-German Relations Strained by Winter War; Germans Deport 1,800 Jews to Soviet-Occupied Poland, Only 200 Survive Winter Trek
Today is 9-Dec-1939, the 70th day of World War II; there are 2,093 days left in the conflict.
The first British soldier to be killed in World War II dies leading a patrol along the Western Front. He is Corporal Thomas Priday of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. His death is the first of some 382,700 British soldiers, sailors and airmen who will die in the war through 1945. The death comes as British King George VI completes his five-day visit to the troops on the line.
The Finns successfully halt Soviet attacks in the Winter War near Suomussalmi and mount a successful night attack on the Soviet Ninth Army near Kollaa. The Soviets claim, via the news agency TASS, that Germany is providing supplies and war materiel to Finland; the reality is that Italy is supplying the arms and shipping them via Germany. Still, the report strains USSR/German relations. The League of Nations meets in Geneva to consider mediation or intervention in the Winter War.
The Germans deport 1,800 Jews from occupied Poland and force march them from their homes in Hrubieszow and Chelm over the new border into the Soviet occupation zone on the other side of the Bug River. Only 200 survive the wintertime trek.
4-Dec-39: Finns Fortify Aaland Island; Soviets Continue to Bomb Helsinki, Forcing Evacuation of Much of City’s Population; King George VI Inspects Troops; HMS Nelson Damaged by Mine
Today is 4-Dec-1939, the 65th day of World War II; there are 2,098 days left in the conflict.
The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland continues. The Soviets reject a mediation offer from Sweden and the Finns fortify the island of Aaland in the Gulf of Bothnia. Soviet air bombing forces the evacuation of the capital Helsinki and its populations shrinks to just over 50,000.
Britain’s King George VI inspects troops of the British Expeditionary Force and the Royal Air Force which have deployed to France. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy Home Fleet’s flagship, HMS Nelson, suffers damage but does not sink after encountering a German magnetic mine near Loch Ewe, Scotland.
14-Nov-39: Allies Meet Secretly with Belgians; Dyle Plan Accepted; Dutch, Belgian Royal Peace Offers Rejected by Germany; Prague Demonstration Violently Suppressed; Sikorski Arrives in London
Today is 14-Nov-1939, the 45th day of World War II; there are 2,118 days left in the conflict.
Allied military commanders on the Western Front meet secretly with Belgian military commanders in mostly inconclusive meetings, but there is agreement that British and French troops should immediately advance to a position known as the “Meuse-Antwerp Line,” southeast of Brussels, if the Germans invade. The secret agreement is referred to as the “Dyle Plan” or “Plan D” after the Dyle River.
After negative responses are recorded in Paris and London to a previous joint offer of peace negotiations given by Netherlands Queen Wilhelmina and Belgian King Leopold II, it is noted in Berlin that the Germans are also responding in the negative. The war will continue.
In Prague, police violently disperse a Czech Fascist Party demonstration injuring 12 marchers.
Polish President-in-Exile General Wojtech Sikorski, having been based in France since the German invasion of his country, arrives in London for an official visit.
11-Nov-39: Germans Say Neutrality of Low Countries Is Assured; BEF Holds Armistice Day Ceremonies on French Battlefields; In Radio Broadcast, Queen Elizabeth Exhorts British Women
Today is 11-Nov-1939, the 42nd day of World War II; there are 2,121 days left in the conflict.
In response to invasion preparations in Holland and general nervousness expressed by the three Low Countries (Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), the German Foreign Ministry issues a statement the promises the Germans will continue to respect the neutrality of the countries in question and respect their territorial integrity. German patrols and artillery are largely quiet along the Western Front further to the south.
The British Expeditionary Force observes the anniversary of the World War I armistice (11:00 11-11-18) by holding ceremonies on the sites of some of the most intense fighting of that war. holds Armistice Day services amid the great battlefields of the First World War.
In a broadcast from Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth declares that the women of the British Empire will take a prominent role in the new struggle; she says British women “have real and vital work to do … keeping the Home Front, which will have dangers of its own, stable and strong.”
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.
28-Oct-39: Molotov Takes Aggressive Stance Towards Finns; Tiso Named First President of Slovakia; Himmler Issues Lebensborn Decree; RAF Shoots Down First Bomber
Today is 28-Oct-1939, the 58th day of World War II; there are 2,135 days left in the conflict.
After a series of failed negotiations, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov addresses the Supreme Soviet in Moscow and asserts the right and duty of the USSR to adopt strong measures to insure its security, vis-a-vis Finland. He demands territorial concessions from the Finns.
In Bratislava in the former Czechoslovakia, Joseph Tiso is named the first president of the First Replublic of Slovakia. Meanwhile in the Czech capital of Prague, German police forces fire on student demonstrators who were marching in observance of the 20th anniversary Czechoslovakian independence.Later in the day, ethnic Germans fight with Czech nationalists; a student is killed and 16 are wounded. The Germans arrest over 3,000 people.
German Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler issues a Lebensborn (“Fount of Life”) decree. The Lebensborn program was started in 1935 and provided for maternity homes and financial assistance to the wives of SS members and to unmarried mothers; it also sets up orphanages and relocation programms for children. The purpose was to increase birthrates of pure Aryans in the German Reich. In the decree, Himmler wrote:
“Beyond the boundaries of bourgeois laws and customs which may in themselves be necessary, it will now become the great task, even outside the marriage bond, for German women and girls of good blood, not in frivolity but in deep moral earnestness, to become mothers of the children of soldiers going off to war … On the men and women whose place remains at home by order of the state, these times likewise more than ever the sacred obligation to become again fathers and mothers of children.”
London reports indicate that the British Expeditionary Force in France has enough food for its 200,000 soldiers to last for over 45 days; more supplies are on the way.
The Royal Air Force meanwhile shoots down a German Luftwaffe Heinkel He-111 bomber east of Dalkeith, southeastern Scotland. It is the first German aircraft to be shot down over the British Isles in the Second World War; two injured survivors are captured by authorities on the ground. The He-111, a plane of Luftflotte 2 had been attacking shipping in the North Sea from a base in far northern Germany.
12-Oct-39: Germans Begin Jewish Deportations in Central Europe; Chamberlain Rejects Hitler Peace Move; Finns Meet With Soviets for Border Negotiations
Today is 12-Oct-1939, the 42nd day of World War II; there are 2,151 days left in the conflict.
In a secret move, the German Central Office for Jewish Emigration, under the auspices of the Shutzstaffel (SS) begins to carry out the deportation of Jewish people in the Ostmark (the former Austria) and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (the former Czechoslovakia). Deported Jews are moved by the SS into parts of now-occupied Poland. This first move to render the Greater German Reich Judenrein (Jew-Free) is under the direction of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Adolf Eichmann.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain officially announces that the government has rejected German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler’s 9-Oct Reichstag speech proposal for a European peace conference. Chamberlain declares that to “consider such terms would be to forgive Germany for all aggressions;” he further warns that Germany “must choose between permanent security arrangements in Europe and war to the utmost of our strength … since past experience has shown that no reliance can be placed upon the promises of the present German government.”
As the implications of this announcement are being felt around Europe, the War Office in London reports that the British Expeditionary Force has completed its planned deployment and is occupying its assigned stations along the border between France and Belgium, between the towns of Maulde and Halluin.
After a week of feverish military preparations in Finland for a possible Soviet invasion, representatives of the two countries finally meet to discuss the Soviets’ border proposals. These include the turnover of Finnish territory near Leningrad, control of islands in the Gulf of Finland, use of the port of Hanko and other alterations as far north as Murmansk. In return the Soviets offer some land concessions. However, the Finns inform their neighbors that they will only be able to agree to a limited range of concessions.
7-Oct-39: Himmler Appointed German Race Commissioner; British Expeditionary Force Completes Movement to French Soil; US Will Continue to Recognize Polish Exile Government
Today is 7-Oct-1939, the 37th day of World War II; there are 2,156 days left in the conflict.
On the Western Front, small units of German Heer troops raid French lines in the west and there are artillery duels between German and French forces between the Moselle and Saar rivers. Meanwhile, along the English Channel, 161,000 British troops, 24,000 vehicles and tanks and 140,000 tones of supplies are now on French soil as the cross-channel transport of the British Expeditionary Force is completed. Protected by the British and French navies, no troops or transports are lost during the operation.
In Berlin, German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler appoints Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler to the newly created post of Commissioner for Consolidation of the German Race and issues decree ordering that all ethnic Poles are to be evicted from German-occupied western Poland; those who refuse to leave are to be liquidated. Himmler’s brief as commissioner will be to eliminate persons of inferior ethnicity from the greater German reich.
In Washington, DC, the United States State Department announces that the government will officially extend diplomatic recognition to the Polish government-in-exile, located at the moment at Angers, France.