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.
12-Dec-39: Finns Launch Attacts on Soviet Eighth Army; Two Battles Start North of Lake Lagoda; Churchill Advocates Invasion of Norway; German Ships Sees Blockade Success; Hitler Orders Doubling of Mines and Ammunition Production
Today is 12-Dec-1939, the 73rd day of World War II; there are 2,090 days left in the conflict.
The Finns launch attacks against the Soviet Eighth Army successfully, but aren’t as successful against Red Army forces near Kollaa. Two battles north of Lake Ladoga get underway: Tovaajarvland and Kitela. For their part, the Soviets reject a League of Nations proposal for a ceasefire and mediation.
British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill speaks in London to advocate an Allied invasion of Norway, saying, “It is humanity, and not legality, that we must look to as our judge.”
In adherence to British Admiralty instructions to refrain rom unrestricted submarine warfare, the British submarine Salmon allows the 52,000-tonne German ocean liner Bremen to proceed; the ship arrives in Bremerhaven from Murmansk, a successful run through the British blockade complete.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler orders the doubling of production of sea mines and ammunition.
5-Dec-39: Finn Resistance Stiffens on Mannerheim Line, New Tactics Exploited; Soviets Claim No Longer at War; Finns Bomb Murmansk; Churchill Declares Germans Have Sunk to Lowest Form of Warfare Imaginable
Today is 5-Dec-1939, the 66th day of World War II; there are 2,097 days left in the conflict.
The Finnish Second Corps, manning the Mannerheim Line, the main defensive strongpoint on the Karelian Isthmus, encounters forward units of the Soviet Seventh Army during the sixth day of the Winter War. The Finns begin to master tactics designed to exploit the Red Army’s weaknesses, such as separating tanks from supporting infantry troops and destroying them in close combat from hidden positions. Meanwhile, Finnish Blenheim bombers raid the Soviet’s airbase at Murmansk, surprising the forces there.
A League of Nations proposal to end the Winter War is rejected by the Soviet government on the grounds that the USSR is no longer at war, since it reached a peace agreement with the Communist-led Finnish Democratic Republic alternate government, which had also requested the Red Army’s intervention on 1-Dec.
A day after the HMS Nelson, flagship of the British Royal Navy’s Home Fleet, is damaged by a magnetic mine, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill addresses the House of Commons and declares that Germany has “descended to the lowest form of warfare that can be imagined;” he says the Germans first abandoned the gun for the torpedo and have now abandoned the torpedo for the mine.
29-Nov-39: Soviets Break Off Relations With Finland, Ramp Up Invasion Preparations; Spain Ratifies Pact With Germany; German Freighter Sunk Off American Coast While US Ship Watches; US Says Ready to Mediate in Finland/USSR Dispute
Today is 29-Nov-1939, the 60th day of World War II; there are 2,103 days left in the conflict.
The Soviet government breaks off diplomatic relations with Finland; the Finns respond by offering to hold renewed discussions over their territorial dispute and suggest conciliation or arbitration by a neutral third party in accordance with their 1932 non-aggression pact. The Soviets announced they were backing out of the pact the day before, and that no such negotiations were possible. Soviet People’s Commisar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov warns the Red Army it must be prepared for “any eventuality.”
The Spanish government ratifies a friendship pact with Germany; it includes secret protocols allowing German use of Spanish ports and the coordination of police and propaganda efforts.
The British Chancellor of the Exchequer reports that jewels, gold and gifts have been received from foreigners in an effort to help finance the Allied war effort.
The British Royal Navy ship Diomede sinks the German freighter Idarwild off the coast of the United States. The American naval ship USS Broome had been following the German ship, but the German government makes no comment on the American non-intervention in the sinking.
In other American news, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull announces that the Roosevelt administration is prepared to mediate the escalating dispute between Finland and the Soviet Union.
Fritz Kühn, considered the Fuehrer of the American National Socialists and officially titled the leader of the German-American Bund, is found guilty on charges of grand larceny and forgery.
26-Nov-39: Artillery Shells Kill Red Army Soldiers in Mainila; Chamberlain Makes First Radio Broadcast of War; Polish Liner Sunk in North Sea
Today is 26-Nov-1939, the 57th day of World War II; there are 2,106 days left in the conflict.
In the Soviet Union, seven artillery shells explode in the village of Mainila, near the Finnish border; four Red Army soldiers die. The Soviet government accuses Finland in the incident and demands an immediate withdrawal of all Finnish troops from the Karelian Isthmus near Leningrad, since their presence is a “hostile act.” The Mainila Incident represents an escalation of the ongoing crisis between the two countries.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain makes his first radio broadcast of the war, denouncing the indiscriminate laying of mines by the German Kriegsmarine; he also announces the existence of the previously secret magnetic mines.
The Polish passenger liner Pilsudski is torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea killing 10.
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.
12-Nov-39: King George VI Issues Negative Reply to Peace Appeal; First ENSA Entertainment Debuts; Germans Round Up Suspected Assassination Conspirators
Today is 12-Nov-1939, the 43rd day of World War II; there are 2,120 days left in the conflict.
King George VI issues a gracious reply to a joint peace appeal issued by Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and Belgian King Leopold the previous week; he states that the onus of the war, and therefore the means to end it, lie with the Germans. The reply is thus characterized as being negative. At the same time, French President Alfred Lebrun also issues a negative reply to the Low Countries monarchs. The Dutch and Belgian foreign ministers are holding their own meetings at Breda, in the Netherlands.
British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill announces via a BBC radio broadcast that the first campaign of the war will be won if the nation makes it through the war’s first winter without serious setbacks. British and French troops stationed in France are entertained by Maurice Chevalier and Gracie Fields in the very first concert of the war given by the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), which is chartered to provide such services in order to boost fighting troop morale.
German security forces arrest hundreds of dissidents and Jews as the search for the perpetrators of the 8-Nov attempted assassination of Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler in Munich heats up. Regular German citizens receive for the first time ration cards for clothing allowances.
10-Nov-39: Dutch Take Further Invasion Precautions; Germans Reinforce Siegfried Line; British and French Hold Conference in Paris; PM Neville Chamberlain Has Gout
Today is 10-Nov-1939, the 41st day of World War II; there are 2,122 days left in the conflict.
The Dutch move to further their preparations for a possible German invasion by opening sluice gates in order to flood pre-designated inundation areas. They also send troop reinforcements to the border and cancel military leaves. At the same time in Amsterdam, the United States Consulate warns American nationals of the invasion and advises them to leave the country.
German reinforcements are reportedly moving up to strengthen the Siegfried line along the French border; French army forces fire on German patrols in the border region. Meanwhile, in Paris, representatives from British Commonwealth nations plus British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, meet with the French, headed by Prime Minister Edoard Daladier and military Commander-in-Chief General Maurice Gamelin. The British report that Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain laid up in London with gout.
5-Nov-39: Plot to Arrest Hitler Collapses from Lack of Nerve; German Intelligence Chief Warns Dutch of Imminent Invasion; City of Flint Saga Draws to Close; Finns, Soviets Continue Negotiations; Churchill Visits French Marine Headquarters
Today is 5-Nov-1939, the 36th day of World War II; there are 2,127 days left in the conflict.
Commander in Chief of the German Army, Gen. Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch, meets with Reichskanzler Adolf HItler to discuss the plans drawn up by Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH – the High Command of the Army) for the invasion of France, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). Gen. Brauchitsch presses a strong argument that Fall Gelb should not be put in motion on 12-Nov as scheduled because of widespread weaknesses within the Heer after the invasion of Poland. The Reichskanzler loses his temper during the stormy meeting and states that he is unconvinced by the argument.
Unknown to Hitler, Gen. von Brauchitsch had agreed with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Franz Halder and Chief of the General Staff of High Command of the Army Gen. Ludwig August Theodor Beck that Hitler should be arrested and the military take over the country if he pressed forward with the prosecution of Fall Gelb. Although Hitler does not relent during their meeting, Gen. von Brauchitsch suffers a loss of courage and meekly returns to OKH headquarters in Zossen without executing the planned arrest; the conspiracy subsequently collapses.
One of the conspirators, Colonel Hans Oster, chief of the Abwehr, German Military Intelligence, does at least send a warning to the Dutch military attaché in Berlin, Colonel Gijsbertus Jacobus (Bert) Sas, that the Germans are preparing to invade both Holland and Belgium, as well as France, and that the invasion is imminent. Colonel Sas shares the information with his Belgian counterpart in Berlin; these activities will lead to a Dutch crisis in January of 1940.
In Oslo, the German government officially lodges a protest with the Norwegians regarding the ongoing saga of the United States freighter SS City of Flint, which had been seized by the German pocket battleship Deutschland on 9-Oct, and sailed by a prize crew to Murmansk, from which it was ejected by the Soviet government. The saga reaches its climax in Norway. The prize crew sails the ship to the port of Haugesund, Norway, after being ousted from Murmansk, but the Norwegian government (for the second time) refuses entry, claiming that the German crewmen are kidnappers. The prize crew runs out of options as British Royal Navy ships approach and they sail the ship into the harbor on 3-Nov. The Norwegian Admiralty dispatches the minelayer HNoMS Olav Tryggvason and boards the City of Flint. The Norwegian minelayer’s second in command, Captain B. Dingsør, and thirty of its armed sailors will return the City of Flint to its captain’s command. The ship unloads its cargo in Bergen and sets sail for the United States. The German prize crew is interned at Kongsvinger Fortress in Norway. The City of Flint will continue in cargo service on the Atlantic until she is sunk 23-Jan-1943.
The Finns and Soviets continue their border and territory negotiations; the Finnish delegation wires to Helsinki for more instructions.
And in France, marine headquarters is visited by Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.
26-Oct-39: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Gives Fireside Chat; Soviets, British Quarrel About Shipments to Germany; Hans Frank Appointed to Head the General Government
Today is 26-Oct-1939, the 56th day of World War II; there are 2,137 days left in the conflict.
The night before the United States Senate votes on revisions to the Neutrality Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt airs one of his famous fireside chats and tells the nation:
“In and out of Congress we have heard orators and commentators and others beating their breasts proclaiming against sending the boys of American mothers to fight on the battlefields of Europe. That I do not hesitate to label as one of the worst fakes in current history. It is a deliberate setup of an imaginary bogey.”
Former Reich Minister of Justice Hans Frank is appointed the head of the General Government region in the former Poland by Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. Frank’s government will be headquartered in Cracow.
In Moscow, tensions between the Soviets and British rise when the Soviet government rejects a British claim on the right to stop Soviet merchant ships bound for Germany.
Meanwhile in London, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain replies to charges by German Foreign Minister Joachim on Ribbentrop that the British had planned for and instigated war on Germany. “The whole world knows that this is not true,” Chamberlain proclaims.
23-Oct-39: Germans Take American Ship to Murmansk; Sir Eric Phipps Retires; Soviets and Finns Meet Again, But Make No Progress
Today is 23-Oct-1939, the 53rd day of World War II; there are 2,140 days left in the conflict.
The period of World War II known as the “Phony War,” is well underway. Action is local and limited in several theaters. Both sides are using this time to build up resources and train forces, rather than undertake widespread military operations.
Sir Eric Phipps, the British ambassador to France and former ambassador to Germany, retires from service and departs Paris to return home.
Soviet and Finnish officials meet once again to discuss revisions to their common borders but, since there are basically no changes in their respective positions, they make little headway.
Having seized the American cargo ship SS City of Flint on 9-Oct, a German Kriegsmarine prize crew arrives north of Murmansk, USSR, in Kola Bay and drops anchor. They had attempted to anchor in Norwegian waters, but were told to leave by Norwegian authorities. The seizure had been justified by the Germans because contraband supplies bound for Britain were found on board. The situation gets far more complicated with the German’s Murmansk gambit, since the Soviet Union is a neutral country. Diplomatic exchanges between the Soviets, Americans and Germans will be intense over the next few weeks.
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.
20-Oct-39: Germans to Formally Re-Annex Former Reich Territory on 1-Nov; Lindbergh Lampooned in London; Oxford Psychologist Pronounces Hitler a Parnoid Megalomaniac
Today is 20-Oct-1939, the 50th day of World War II; there are 2,143 days left in the conflict.
According to a directive signed by German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler, Field Marshall Herman Goering, Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick, Deputy National Socialist Party Leader Rudolf Hess and State Secretary Hans-Heinrich Lammers, Germany will annex 11,500 square miles of territory which it had lost to Poland due to its loss of World War I and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. The “re-annexation of former Reich territory” will occur on 1-Nov.
The German government in Berlin also announces a warning to neutral merchant ships: if they join Allied convoys, they will be sunk without warning by the Kriegsmarine.
Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces in Melbourne “compulsory military training for home service.” It will be instituted beginning in January 1940.
People around the British Empire continue to react to Colonel Charles Lindbergh’s speech the previous week in which he criticized Canada for going to war. A new theater review at the Gate Theatre in London’s West End including a song lampooning prominent individuals and included this verse:
“Then there’s Colonel Lindbergh
“Who made a pretty speech
“He’s somewhere in America
“We’re glad he’s out of reach.”
The Canadian Press report noted that the audience in the theater, many of who were in uniform, “held the show up momentarily with lusty cheering.”
In a letter to the The Times of London, Dr. William Brown, director of the Institute of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University and “a world authority on diseases of the mind,” announces that he has completed years of study of the “character and mentality” of German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. His conclusion:
“… the German Chancellor is suffering from a chronic form of insanity, known as paranoia, that will gradually impair his intellect until he destroys himself or becomes a raving maniac. … [British Foreign Minister] Sir Nevile Henderson’s final report on the actions of Herr Hitler confirms my conclusion, reached six months ago, that he has ever symptom of the paranoiac who is suffering from persecutory mania and whose brainstorms and megalomania will increase until his madness is so apparent that he must be isolated.”
Dr. Brown says that Hitler’s mental makeup has the following tendencies:
“First, a hysterical tendency, shown in the emotional appeal to crowds in which his mind seems to undergo temporary dissociation through the very intensity of his concentration upon the matter in hand. With his mind so narrowed down on one point he may be temporarily oblivious of other considerations and thus may appear perfidious. There is also a probably hysterical identification in subconscious fantasy with Frederick the Great and a tendency toward mechanical imitation of the less admirable political maneuvers of him and of Napoleon, which makes him appear, judged by modern standards, as an atavistic monster.
“Second, a paranoid tendency amounting almost to persecutory mania. He is a very aggressive person and projects this aggressiveness upon the world around him, being acutely on guard against aggression from others with the suspicion, and possibly delusions, that such hostile aggressiveness is active against himself and his nation.
“Third, a growing megalomania with Messianic feelings. This is a further development of his paranoid tendency, making his followers paranoid and producing collective paranoia.
“Fourth, a compulsive tendency — in his case a power impulse — toward more and more bloodless victories in which his latest claim to territory or power is called his last — like the alcoholic who calls his latest drink his last.”
At the time dismissed as mere propaganda, Dr. Brown’s analysis and predictions would prove chillingly accurate.
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.”
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.
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.
10-Oct-39: Finns Escalate Military Planning; Soviets Sign Lithuanian Treaty; Raeder Urges Hitler to Invade Norway Before British Act
Today is 10-Oct-1939, the 40th day of World War II; there are 2,153 days left in the conflict.
In Britain, authorities suspend further recruitment into the Women’s Land Army after the initial goal of 25,000 enrollees are reached.
After calling up military reservists the previous day, the Finns begin the evacuation of some frontier districts, including Helsinki and Viborg. The tension over Soviet requests for renegotiation of the two countries’ border continues to escalate.
The Soviets continue to move forward with solidifying their new power position in the Baltic. In Moscow, the Soviet-Lithuanian Pact is signed; the Soviets now have the use of military bases in Lithuania. Vilna, which had been annexed by Poland in 1922, is restored to Lithuania.
Also in the Baltic region, the Estonian government in Riga resigns. Jüri Uluots is appointed the new prime minister and Ants Piip becomes the new foreign minister.
German and French patrols are active along their border and artillery exchanges are fairly common. At the same time, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, in a national radio broadcast, issues a formal rejection of Hitler’s 9-Oct peace proposals. Daladier says France will continue to fight for definite guarantees of security in Europe.
German Kriegsmarine Admiral Erich Raeder approaches Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler with the idea of invading Norway to secure naval and submarine bases. He notes that British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill is currently arguing in the cabinet that the British should mine Norwegian coastal waters in order to shut down German iron-ore traffic, which is a critical resource to the Reich. The result of this conversation will change the course of the war in the west.
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.
3-Oct-39: Chamberlain Rejects Various Peace Overtures; Germans Begin Troop Movements Westward; Soviets Wily Over Lithuania
Today is 3-Oct-1939, the 33rd day of World War II; there are 2,160 days left in the conflict.
The New York Times reports that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tells a “wildly cheering House of Commons” that Russian and German collaboration on peace initiatives will not change Great Britain’s determination to “put an end to successive acts of German aggression … no threat will ever induce this country or France to abandon the purpose for which they entered this struggle.” He adds that his government is ready to consider any proposal that holds the prospect of stable peace, but also warns that “no mere assurances from the present German government could be accepted by us.”
But a counterpoint to his speech is made by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who led the country to victory in the First World War, startled the House by “counseling the Allies to move slowly while there yet remained a chance of avoiding another slaughter.”
“The words of the patriarchal elder statesman, envisaging the possibility of a world conference that would include Italy, Russia and possibly the United States to discuss the restoration of Czecho-Slovakia as well as Poland in some form, the redistribution of colonies and disarmament, fell like a bombshell in the House, whose members heard him through in silence.”
Prime Minister Chamberlain is urged to make an immediate response:
“Mr. Chamberlain, who had listened carefully to one of the bitterest critics of his appeasement policy, rejected flatly the proposed closed session, and said that a discussion of peace terms that had not been submitted was ‘premature,’ pointing out that when a peace offer came it might be ‘one which no self-respecting government could consider.’”
Meanwhile in Poland, the final cohesive Polish army units surrender en masse near the city of Luck. Over 700,000 Poles are prisoners of the Germans and another 200,000 are in the hands of the Soviets, although many will escape and make their way west. Polish casualties are extremely high, but the losses to the German Wehrmacht total 10,000 dead and 30,000 injured.
Fresh from their victory, German forces begin to withdraw from Poland for rest and redeployment to the western front. The Tenth Army is the first unit to do so. The Germans also begin the assessment of the successes and failures of the campaign; official staff thinking is that tanks are useful auxiliaries, but the infantry continues to be responsible for carrying the most important load in a campaign.
On the western front itself, in order to straighten the front line, the British Expeditionary Force orders the First Corps to hold down a section of the French/Belgian border at the same time that French troops withdraw from German territory, specifically the Warndt Forest and the Saarbrucken Salient.
German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg sends another in a series of diplomatic cables from Moscow to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin noting that dealing with the Soviets will be full of ups and downs over the longterm; Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov is now being difficult over Lithuania:
“Molotov summoned me to his office at 2 p. m. today, in order to communicate to me the following:
“The Soviet Government would tell the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, who arrives today, that, within the framework of an amicable settlement of mutual relations (probably similar to the one with Estonia), the Soviet Government was willing to cede the city of Vilna and its environs to Lithuania, while at the same time the Soviet Government would indicate to Lithuania that it must cede the well-known portion of its territory to Germany. Molotov inquired what formal procedure we had in mind for carrying this out. His idea was the simultaneous signing of a Soviet-Lithuanian protocol on Vilna and a German-Lithuanian protocol on the Lithuanian area to be ceded to us.
“I replied that this suggestion did not appeal to me. It seemed to me more logical that the Soviet Government should exchange Vilna for the strip to be ceded to us and then hand this strip over to us. Molotov did not seem quite in accord with my proposal but was willing to let me ask for the viewpoint of my Government and give him a reply by tomorrow noon.
“Molotov’s suggestion seems to me harmful, as in the eyes of the world it would make us appear as “robbers” of Lithuanian territory, while the Soviet Government figures as the donor. As I see it, only my suggestion enters into consideration at all. However, I would ask you to consider whether it might not be advisable for us, by a separate secret German-Soviet protocol, to forego the cession of the Lithuanian strip of territory until the Soviet Union actually incorporates Lithuania, an idea on which, I believe, the arrangement concerning Lithuania was originally based.”
Both governments continue their jockeying over eastern Europe.
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.”
29-Sep-39: British Lose Five Bombers in Heligoland Raid; Chamberlain Dashes Peace Hopes on Munich Pact Anniversary; US Jails American Nazi Leader
Today is 29-Sept-1939, the 29th day of World War II; there are 2,164 days left in the conflict.
A British census gets underway to help with rationing and mobilization efforts; ironically, it is the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Munich Agreement by Chamberlain, German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, which permitted the Germans to annex the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. The annexation was declared by Hitler to be his “last territorial demand in Europe,” and was hailed by Chamberlain as “Peace in our time.”
Rumors abound in London that private channels between British and German officials are open and may lead to formal negotiations toward a peace treaty, now that Poland has ceased to exist and Germany and the Soviet Union has carved it up between them.
However, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain lets the air out of the optimists’ balloon when he informs Parliament during a speech in the House of Commons that Britain and its ally France are at war in an all-out effort to “stop Nazi aggression” and that there is nothing happening that is changing that.
In the skies over Europe, eleven British Royal Air Force bombers make a daylight raid on Germany’s Heligoland Bight in two waves. In the first, six Hampden bombers attempted to hit two destroyers, but failed. By the time the second wave of five bombers came over, the Germans were better prepared and shot down all of the attacking planes.
In the United States, Fritz Kuhn, the Führer of the German-American Bund, is sent to prison. Born in Germany, Kuhn earned an Iron Cross as a leutnant in the German infantry during World War I. After the war, he earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Munich, then moved to Mexico. In 1928, he moved to New York City and in 1934 became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Elected head of the Bund, Kuhn was known as the “American Führer” and was introduced to Hitler during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Kuhn’s imprisonment happens after New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia instructs city prosecutors to investigate the Bund’s taxes in an effort to curtail its political activities. The investigation discovers that Kuhn had embezzled over $14,000 from the Bund, and that part of the money has been spent on Kuhn’s mistress. New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey (later the governor of New York and the Republican presidential candidate in 1944 and 1948) obtains a criminal indictment and Kuhn is convicted at trial. In spite of his guilt, the Bund’s members continue to respect him.
Although he will be released within two years, upon the outbreak of war between Germany and the U.S. in 1941, Kuhn will be arrested again, this time as an enemy agent. He will be imprisoned in an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas, until the end of the war in 1945, when he will be released, sent to Ellis Island for a short period, and then deported to Germany. He will die an obscure chemist in Munich in 1951.
26-Sep-39: Germans Unleash Furious Assault; OKH Chief Brauchitsch (Left) Joins Warsaw Fight; French Ban Communists; Churchill Says U-Boat War Being Won by Britain
Today is 26-Sept-1939, the 26th day of World War II; there are 2,167 days left in the conflict.
Warsaw comes under heavy fire from German artillery; the Wehrmacht’s Eighth Army, personally headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH – High Command of the Army) Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch, arrives and joins the attack. Massed German infantry follow the bombardment with an assault on the city center, destroying it. At the same time, Polish forces push the Germans out of Mokotow Airport; they rebuild six airplanes during the night and fly away from the doomed city.
In what is becoming a usual pattern, French army artillery again opens fire along the German border, aiming for the forward defenses of the Siegfried Line with limited success. In Paris, President Albert Lebrun uses a presidential decree to dissolve the Communist Party, also outlawing propaganda using the themes of the Third International. The action is taken supposedly because French communists are considered leaders of the antiwar movement in the country. Several of the party’s leaders are jailed.
British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill tells the House of Commons in London that Britain is winning the U-Boat war. He claims that 1/10th of the German Unterseeboot fleet was destroyed in just the first two weeks of the conflict; losses by now are either 1/4 or 1/3 of the fleet by this time, he adds.
22-Sep-39: Germans, Soviets Link Up at Brest-Litovsk for Joint Victory Parade; Gen. von Fritsch Killed at Warsaw; Allies Hold Second Meeting; Rationing, Blackouts Cause British Problems
Today is 22-Sept-1939, the 22st day of World War II; there are 2,171 days left in the conflict.
In eastern Poland, Soviet Red Army forces capture the cities of Lvov and Bialystok; they also meet up with German Heer forces and conduct a joint victory parade in the city of Brest-Litovsk. The mood is extremely jovial, even though the Poles are still fighting both armies.
Near Warsaw, a dramatic end came to a famous incident in Germany of 1938; an incident which would have serious, long-term effects on the German Wehrmacht.
In 1938, two related scandals, the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (also known as Blomberg-Fritsch-Krise or Blomberg-Fritsch crisis) deeply disturbed both the political and army hierarchies of the Third Reich, and resulted in the subjugation of the Wehrmacht completely to Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. The two highest ranking military officers in the Reich, Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, General Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, and Commander-in-Chief of the Heer (Army) Werner von Fritsch, were felled by unrelated crises in early 1938.
On 12 January 1938, the 59-year-old widower von Blomberg married his second wife, a 26-year-old secretary; Hitler and other Reich leaders attended the event. Hitler served as a witness and Luftwaffe commander in chief Hermann Göring had been the best man. But when a policeman reported that the young bride had previously posed for pornographic photos, was possibly a prostitute and had a criminal record sent shock waves through the German establishment. Hitler ordered Blomberg to annul the marriage in order to avoid a scandal and to preserve the integrity of the army. Blomberg refused, but Göring threatened to make his wife’s past public knowledge; Blomberg therefore resigned all his posts and retired effective 27-Jan-1938.
Hitler thought the crisis had passed, but Göring and Reichsfuerhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler had decided to get rid of Fritsch as well, since Fritsch would succeed Blomberg and become Göring’s superior, while HImmler wanted to weaken the Wehrmacht itself in order to strengthen his Schutzstaffel (SS) organization and build up the Waffen-SS as a competitor to the Heer. Göring and Himmler devised a plot.
A few days after the Blomberg affair passed, Himmler and the SS accused Fritsch of being a homosexual; a police file was produced which the Geheime Staatspolizei had Göring and Himmler presented new evidence in the form of a witness. It was said that Fritsch was encouraged by General Ludwig Beck to carry out a military putsch against Hitler, but that he declined. Fritsch was given now choice but to resign and did so on 4-Feb-38. The witness against Fritsch later withdrew his accusation, but was then murdered. Fritsch demanded an Army trial and was acquitted on 18-Mar-38; however, the damage was done and his career was over.
Having taken a personal oath to Hitler (the 1934 Reichswehreid — ironically ordered by Blomberg himself), many officers of the Wehrmacht declined to take action regarding this double-pronged assault on their brother officers and the independence and aristocratic leadership of the Heer. From that point, the Heer was, for the most part, a reliably compliant, pro-Hitler organization. This would lead to the destruction of both Hitler and the Wehrmacht itself.
Prior to the Polish invasion, General von Fritsch was recalled, and chose, once the invasion was underway to personally inspect the front lines as an Honorary Colonel of the 12th Artillery Regiment. It was a very unusual activity for someone of his high rank.
And now, on 22-Sept-39, comes the denouement: In the Warsaw suburb of Praga while the capital is under siege, a Polish bullet from either a machine gun or a sharpshooter hit General von Fritsch and tore an artery in his leg. The general’s adjutant, a Leutnant Rosenhagen, is an eyewitness to von Fritsch’s death and writes of the death in his original, official protocol:
“[…] In this moment the Herr Generaloberst received a gunshot in his left thigh, a bullet tore an artery. Immediately he fell down. Before I took off his braces, the Herr Generaloberst said: ‘Please leave it,’ lost consciousness and died. Only one minute passed between receiving gunshot and death.”
Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch thus becomes the second German general to be killed in combat in the war (the first being Generalmajor der Ordnungspolizei and SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig at 14:15 on 10-Sep-39 near Opoczno, Poland. Von Fritsch’s death was thus carefully investigated. The investigation concluded that the Generaloberst deliberately sought death on the front lines. He was given a ceremonial state funeral four days later in Berlin.
Ironically, nearby in Praga, Hitler himself arrives and observes the shelling of Warsaw by his troops, not far from the scene of von Fritsch’s death.
In the west, the Allied Supreme War Council meets for the second time of the war, this time in Sussex, England. Even though it is supposed to be secret, the meeting attracts a large crowd outside, while inside, British Prime Minister Chamberlain, British Foreign Minister Lord Halifax, and Minister for Coordination of Defense Lord Chatfield, meet with French Premier Eduard Daladier, French Commander in Chief on the Western Front General Maurice Gamelin, and Chief of the French Naval Staff Admiral François Darlan. The group releases a communique after the meeting stating that the leaders discussed supplies of munitions and other related issues.
The British begin the rationing of gasoline. A report by the London Metropolitan Police Commission states that there has been a tripling of road accidents in the three weeks since the blackout was imposed; the municipal courts are overloaded with blackout violation cases.
20-Sep-39: First RAF vs. Luftwaffe Clashes of the War Occur Over Aachen; Britain and France Vow to Keep Fighting; British Conservatives Under Fire for Lack of Assistance to Poland
In a foreshadowing of greater clashes to follow, the British Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe engage each other for the first time in the war. Three British Fairey Battle reconnaissance bombers are on a patrol over the Siegfried Line near Aachen, Germany when they are attacked by a flight of German Messerschmitt Me109 fighters.
This first fight results in one Me109 and two Battles being shot down.
In Poland, the Battle of Grodno gets underway between a hodgepodge of Polish forces under Gen. Józef Olszyna-Wilczyński and the Soviet Red Army. Soviet tanks of the 27th Armoured Brigade/15th Armoured Corps reach the city’s outskirts but, lacking infantry support and oil, they are forced to halt before capturing the city. They are also hampered because of their lack of experience in urban tank warfare (a situation which will quickly change and cease to be a problem for the rest of the war).
The Red Army attempts to seize Grodno from a bridge over the Niemen River on the south side of the city, but the Poles repulse the attempt.
In Moscow, German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg replies to the previous day’s telegram from Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop instructing him to inform Soviet General Secretary Josef Stalin that the German Reich will keep its agreements and obligations under the 23-Aug Nonaggression Pact with a message from Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov:
“Molotov stated to me today that the Soviet Government now considered the time ripe for it, jointly with the German Government, to establish definitively the structure of the Polish area. In this regard, Molotov hinted that the original inclination entertained by the Soviet Government and Stalin personally to permit the existence of a residual Poland had given way to the inclination to partition Poland along the Pissa-Narew-Vistula-San Line. The Soviet Government wishes to commence negotiations on this matter at once, and to conduct them in Moscow, since such negotiations must be conducted on the Soviet side by persons in the highest positions of authority, who cannot leave the Soviet Union. Request telegraphic instructions.”
In other words, the Soviets and Germans are moving toward a finalization of their partition of Poland, which means its elimination as a nation.
Meanwhile in the west, despite German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler’s triumphant entry into and defiant speech from Danzig yesterday, the British and French vow to keep fighting in spite of HItler including a tentative peace offering in his speech. They announce that they “will not permit a Hitler victory to condemn the world to slavery and to ruin all moral values and destroy liberty.”
In London, the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is beginning to come apart; the Labour Party opposition attacks the Conservative Party and the government in the House of Commons in Parliament for “failing to help Poland enough” against the invasions by Germany and the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, the British Conservative Party government, under the leadership of Neville Chamberlain, is denounced by the Labour Party opposition, in the House of Commons, for failing to help Poland enough against the German and Soviet invaders.
The government will, however, last for another eight months.