18-Dec-39: Soviet Attacks Continue on Various Finnish Defenses; Germans Down Half of British Air Raid Bombers Over Heligoland; Hitler Meets Quisling Again, Offers Aid; Graf Spee Fallout Continues
Today is 18-Dec-1939, the 79th day of World War II; there are 2,084 days left in the conflict.
Attacks by the Soviet Red Army continue on the Mannerheim Line around Summa, along with bombing of Helsinki from the air and shelling of battery positions along the Finnish Baltic coast. The United States Navy in Washington D.C. announces that 40 aircraft will be sent to aid the Finns in their Winter War against the Soviet Union.
The last daylight raid of the British Royal Air Force for 1939 occurs and results in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight. 22 armed Wellingtons are sent by Bomber Command to reconnoiter Wilhelmshaven. They are intercepted by 50 German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me-109 and Me-110 fighters, which shoot down 12 of the Wellingtons. The 50% casualty rate induces Bomber Command to abandon daylight raids for over four months.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler holds another meeting with Norway’s Vidkun Quisling in Berlin; the Norwegian fascist is promised financial support in return for any assistance he extends to the Germans during their upcoming invasion of Norway.
The aftermath of the Admiral Graf Spee continues to unfold; 1,039 German Kriegsmarine officers and sailors of the pocket battleship are interned by the Argentinians in Buenos Aires, while the British promote Commodore Henry Harwood of the HMS Ajax, considered the victor of the battle, to rear admiral.
8-Nov-39: German Worker Arrested, Executed for Bürgerbräukeller Bomb Assassination Attempt that Narrowly Misses Hitler; Hans Frank Plans Mass Jewish/Polish Deportations; Dutch Flood More of Border Zone; Finns Reject More Soviet Proposals
Today is 8-Nov-1939, the 39th day of World War II; there are 2,124 days left in the conflict.
Georg Elser, a German workman opposed to the National Socialist government, conceals a time bomb in a support pillar in Munich’s Bürgerbräukeller. The target is Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler, who traditionally delivers an anniversary speech in the beer hall commemorating the National Socialists’ failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. While Hitler usually speaks for an extended time, on this night he inexplicably cuts the speech short and leaves the hall. The bomb goes off at its appointed time; it kills seven and injures 63.
While rumors are circulated that, like the Reichstag fire of 27-Feb-1933, the incident is deliberately planted by the government so that it can be used as anti-British propaganda and to usher in a final crackdown on what remains of the German opposition, a Gestapo search for the perpetrator quickly zeroes in on Elser, who is arrested and immediately executed. The damage to the Bürgerbräukeller is severe and the building will never be reconstructed. Hitler will return to the site three years later; on 8-Nov-1942, he will deliver an address on the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad. The building will finally be demolished after the German surrender in 1945.
In the German-occupied areas of Poland, consolidation is underway of plans to transport 600,000 Jews and 400,000 Poles from territory incorporated into the Greater German Reich as the General Government, to un-annexed areas. Governor of the General Government Hans Frank, a National Socialist former Justice Ministry attorney, is in charge of the planning and sets the start date for the deportations as 1-Dec-1939. Frank will be convicted of war crimes in 1946, find religion and express great remorse for his crimes, and then be hanged at Nuremberg.
German troop movements along the Dutch border, as well as recent reports received from secret sources, cause the Dutch government to flood a larger portion of the defensive zone along the border.
After weeks of back-and-forth negotiations on border and territory revisions, Finnish negotiators once again reject Soviet proposals. The Finns express a willingness to grant a few concessions, but report that the government sees Soviet attempts to bargain as a sign of weakness. Finnish military chief, Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, reportedly opposes this viewpoint by the Finnish government.
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.
5-Oct-39: Victorious HItler Visits Conquered Warsaw, Reviews Troops; Diplomatic Activity Heats Up Over Lithuania; British, French Navies Begin Hunt for Graf Spee
Today is 5-Oct-1939, the 35th day of World War II; there are 2,158 days left in the conflict.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler conducts a triumphal tour and review of his victorious troops in the conquered Polish capital of Warsaw, even as the German Heer continues mopping-up operations against Polish troops still at large in the region between the Vistula and Bug rivers. After a victory parade, Hitler returns to Berlin for a scheduled meeting of the Reichstag.
German Kriegsmarine successes continue in the North Atlantic; the pocket battleship Deutschland sinks the British steamer SS Stonegate. But the Deutschland and its sister ship, the Graf Spee are now attracting much attention; the British and French navies form eight groups of attack ships to track down and sink the Graf Spee.
National Socialist Gauleiter of Franconia Julius Sturmer, one of the most notorious antisemitic propagandists of the party, publishes a “Hymn of Hate” in his weekly magazine Der Sturmer. The piece is targeted at England, which is called the “curse of the world.”
Meanwhile in Moscow, Soviet officials continue a full-press diplomatic push to consolidate their position in the Baltic region. They sign a pact with the Latvians, giving them the use of sea and air bases in that country.
The Germans are well aware of all the activity and a flurry of diplomatic telegrams between the Foreign Office on the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin and German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg regarding the Soviet’s political moves regarding Lithuania.
The first of the telegrams is sent in the early hours of the morning from Schulenberg back to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop; it notes that the Lithuanians have the wind up:
“Reference my telegram No. 463 of October 3.
“Immediately after Under State Secretary Gaus’ first telephone call I transmitted to Molotov this morning the request not to divulge to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister anything regarding the German-Soviet understanding concerning Lithuania. Molotov asked me to see him at 5 p. m. and told me, that, unfortunately, he had been obliged yesterday to inform the Lithuanian Foreign Minister of this understanding, since he could not, out of loyalty to us, act otherwise. The Lithuanian delegation had been extremely dismayed and sad; they had declared that the loss of this area in particular would be especially hard to bear, since many prominent leaders of the Lithuanian people came from that part of Lithuania. This morning at 8 a. m. the Lithuanian Foreign Minister had flown back to Kowno, intending to return to Moscow in one or two days.
“I said that I would immediately notify my Government by telephone, whereupon I called Herr Gaus. An hour later Molotov informed me that Stalin personally requested the German Government not to insist for the moment upon the cession of the strip of Lithuanian territory.
“SCHULENBURG”
Ribbentrop responds with some specific instructions, as well as some crucial background information for his ambassador:
“Referring to today’s telephonic communication from the Ambassador.
“Legation in Kowno is being instructed as follows:
“1) Solely for your personal information, I am apprising you of the following: At the time of the signing of the German-Russian Non-aggression Pact on August 23, a strictly secret delimitation of the respective spheres of influence in Eastern Europe was also undertaken. In accordance therewith, Lithuania was to belong to the German sphere of influence, while in the territory of the former Polish state, the so-called Four-River Line, Pissa-Narew-Vistula-San, was to constitute the border. Even then I demanded that the district of Vilna go to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government consented. At the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty on September 28, the settlement was amended to the extent that Lithuania, including the Vilna area, was included in the Russian sphere of influence, for which in turn, in the Polish area, the province of Lublin and large portions of the province of Warsaw, including the pocket of territory of Suwalki, fell within the German sphere of influence. Since, by the inclusion of the Suwalki tract in the German sphere of influence, a difficulty in drawing the border line resulted, we agreed that in case the Soviets should take special measures in Lithuania, a small strip of territory in the southwest of Lithuania, accurately marked on the map, should fall to Germany.
“2) Today Count von der Schulenburg reports that Molotov, contrary to our own intentions, notified the Lithuanian Foreign Minister last night of the confidential arrangement. Please now, on your part, inform the Lithuanian Government, orally and in strict confidence, of the matter, as follows:
“As early as at the signing of the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, in order to avoid complications in Eastern Europe, conversations were held between ourselves and the Soviet Government concerning the delimitation of German and Soviet spheres of influence. In these conversations I had recommended restoring the Vilna district to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government gave me its consent. In the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty of September 28, as is apparent from the German-Soviet boundary demarcation which was published, the pocket of territory of Suwalki jutting out between Germany and Lithuania had fallen to Germany. As this created an intricate and impractical boundary, I had reserved for Germany a border correction in this area, whereby a small strip of Lithuanian territory would fall to Germany. The reward of Vilna to Lithuania was maintained in these negotiations also. You are now authorized to make it known to the Lithuanian Government that the Reich Government does not consider the question of this border revision timely at this moment. We make the proviso, however, that the Lithuanian Government treat this matter as strictly confidential. End of instruction for Kowno.
“I request you to inform Herr Molotov of our communication to the Lithuanian Government. Further, please request of him, as already indicated in the preceding telegram, that the border strip of Lithuanian territory involved be left free in the event of a possible posting of Soviet troops in Lithuania and also that it be left to Germany to determine the date of the implementing of the agreement concerning the cession to Germany of the territory involved. Both of these points at issue should be set forth in a secret exchange of letters between yourself and Molotov.
“RIBBENTROP”
Germany’s Secretary of State in the Foreign Office, Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker (who’s son Richard is the future eight president of the German Federal Republic) sends his own message on the situation to Ribbentrop that evening:
“The Lithuanian Minister called on me this evening in order, as was expected, to inquire about German claims to a strip of land in southwestern Lithuania. Herr Skirpa, however, even when he entered, had a friendlier appearance than was to be expected. For Minister Zechlin [German Minister in Lithuania] had in the meantime delivered information in Kowno as instructed, so that I did not need to go any further into the questions that Herr Skirpa put. I restricted myself to a brief mention of today’s telegraphic instructions to Herr Zechlin. Since Herr Skirpa expressed to me the satisfaction of his Government that we had withdrawn our claim, I stressed that the announcement of our need was “not at the moment pressing.” (It is noteworthy that Herr Skirpa knew and traced exactly on the map of Poland that happened to be spread out before us the line agreed upon by us in our secret protocol with the Russians.)
“The Minister then gave the further information that the Russians expected to get an assistance pact with Lithuania as well as permission to station Russian garrisons, at the same time agreeing in principle to the joining [Anschluss] of Vilna and environs to Lithuania. Herr Skirpa asked me if I had any ideas or suggestions to give in this regard. I stated that I was not informed and added that in connection with our negotiations in Moscow German interests had not been claimed beyond the Russo-German line in the east known to Herr Skirpa.
“In conclusion the Minister asked to be given any possible suggestions. Herr Urbsys [Lithuanian Foreign Minister] was still remaining in Kowno today and tomorrow; he himself — Skirpa — was at the disposal of the Reich Foreign Minister at any time.
“Weizsäcker”
With the final capitulations in Poland, the fate of eastern Europe is being finalized.
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.”
28-Sep-39: Polish Fortress Modlin Surrenders; Stalin, Ribbentrop Redraw Map of Eastern Europe in New Treaty; British Admiralty Rebuts German Naval Claim
Today is 28-Sept-1939, the 28th day of World War II; there are 2,165 days left in the conflict.
The British Admiralty issues a statement in response to German radio reports of the Kriegsmarine’s “recent successes against British warships in the North Sea.” The statement counters, “No British ship has been damaged nor any casualties incurred from German aircraft.” The statement, while strictly speaking true, is obviously carefully phrased; British ships have indeed been sunk by German submarine activity on the North Atlantic, just not by aircraft.
In Washington, DC, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Neutrality Bill which he proposed to a joint session of Congress the previous week, clears the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The full Senate will now decide the fate of the bill.
On the war front, the Polish fortress of Modlin, one of the last remaining centers of resistance, surrenders to German troops after a siege which had lasted 18 days. 10 Polish divisions had been encircled in the city of Modlin and the Kutno area during this time and are either wiped out or marched into captivity.
The Soviet Union reaches an agreement with the new government of Estonia, giving the USSR the use of military bases in Estonia. The pact will prove to be the first move by Soviet General Secretary Josef Stalin in his efforts to control the Baltic region, control which will only be relinquished in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.
With the war in Poland all but concluded, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov reach a crucial agreement on a new pact between the two countries which is designed to divide up eastern Europe between them.
The “German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty” is signed by Ribbentrop and Molotove today and includes the following provisions:
“The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. consider it as exclusively their task, after the collapse of the former Polish state, to re-establish peace and order in these territories and to assure to the peoples living there a peaceful life in keeping with their national character. To this end, they have agreed upon the following:
“ARTICLE I. The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. determine as the boundary of their respective national interests in the territory of the former Polish state the line marked on the attached map, which shall be described in more detail in a supplementary protocol.
“ARTICLE II. Both parties recognize the boundary of the respective nation interests established in article I as definitive and shall reject any interference of third powers in this settlement.
“ARTICLE III. The necessary reorganization of public administration will be effected in the areas west of the line specified in article I by the Government of the German Reich, in the areas east of this line by the Government of the U.S.S.R.
“ARTICLE IV. The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. regard this settlement as a firm foundation for a progressive development of the friendly relations between their peoples.
“ARTICLE V. This treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged in Berlin as soon as possible. The treaty becomes effective upon signature.
“Done in duplicate, in the German and Russian languages. Moscow, September 28,1939.
“For the Government of the German Reich: J. RIBBENTROP.
“By authority of the Government of the U.S.S.R.: W. MOLOTOV.”
The map, bearing the signatures of Josef Stalin and Ribbentrop is attached to the treaty:
At the insistence of the Germans, a confidential protocol is attached to the agreement regarding ethnic Germans who wish to migrate from Soviet territory to the Reich:
“The Government of the U.S.S.R. shall place no obstacles in the way of Reich nationals and other persons of German descent residing in the territories under its jurisdiction, if they desire to migrate to Germany or to the territories under German jurisdiction. It agrees that such removals shall be carried out by agents of the Government of the Reich in cooperation with the competent local authorities and that the property rights of the emigrants shall be protected. A corresponding obligation is assumed by the Government of the German Reich in respect to the persons of Ukrainian or White Russian descent residing in the territories under its jurisdiction.
“Moscow, September 28,1939.
“For the Government of the German Reich: J. RIBBENTROP
“By authority of the Government of the U.S.S.R. W. MOLOTOV.”
The Soviets counter with their own insistence on another supplementary “secret protocol” to the agreement:
“The undersigned Plenipotentiaries declare the agreement of the Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R upon the following:
“The Secret Supplementary Protocol signed on August 23,1939, shall be amended in item to the effect that the territory of the Lithuanian State falls to the sphere of influence of the U.S.S.R., while, on the other hand, the province of Lublin and parts of the province of Warsaw fall to the sphere of influence of Germany (cf. the map attached to the Boundary and Friendship Treaty signed today). As soon as the Government of the U.S.S.R. shall take special measures on Lithuanian territory to protect its interests, the present German-Lithuanian border, for the purpose of a natural and simple boundary delineation, shall be rectified in such a way that the Lithuanian territory situated to the southwest of the line marked on the attached map should fall to Germany.
“Further it is declared that the economic agreements now in force between Germany and Lithuania shall not be affected by the measures of the Soviet Union referred to above.
“Moscow, September 28,1939.
“For the Government of the German Reich: J. RIBBENTROP
“By authority of the Government of the U.S.S.R.: W. MOLOTOV.”
Both parties then agree that a third “secret protocol” regarding the suppression of Polish dissent is necessary:
“The undersigned plenipotentiaries, on concluding the German Russian Boundary and Friendship Treaty, have declared their agreement upon the following:
“Both parties will tolerate in their territories no Polish agitation which affects the territories of the other party. They will suppress in their territories all beginnings of such agitation and inform each other concerning suitable measures for this purpose.
“Moscow, September 28,1939.
“For the Government of the German Retch: J. RIBBENTROP
“By authority of the Government of the U.S.S.R.: W. MOLOTOV”
Following the conclusion of negotiations and the signing of the pact, protocols and the map redrawing the borders, the Soviets and Germans issue a joint public communique, designed to tell the rest of the world, particularly Britain and France, that matters in eastern Europe are now settled and there is no point in further hostilities in the west, but that if those two countries continue their belligerence, the blame will be settled squarely on their shoulders:
“After the Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. have, by means of the treaty signed today, definitively settled the problems arising from the collapse of the Polish state and have thereby created a sure foundation for a lasting peace in Eastern Europe, they mutually express their conviction that it would serve the true interest of all peoples to put an end to the state of war existing a present between Germany on the one side and England and France on the other. Both Governments will therefore direct their common efforts, jointly with other friendly powers if occasion arises, toward attaining this goal as soon as possible. Should, however, the efforts of the two Governments remain fruitless, this would demonstrate the fact that England and France are responsible for the continuation of the war, whereupon, in case of the continuation of the war, the Governments of Germany and of the U.S.S.R. shall engage in mutual consultations with regard to necessary measures.
“Moscow, September 28,1939.
“For the Government of the German Reich: J. RIBBENTROP
“By authority of the Government of the U.S.S.R.: V. MOLOTOV”
Finally, Ribbentrop follows up this flurry of diplomatic and propaganda activity with two telegrams to Molotov before Ribbentrop returns to Berlin. The first urges a quick agreement on economic matters, particularly regarding raw materials and other items badly needed by the Reich for its war effort, and the second regarding a similar urgency over access to Romania and Afghanistan for oil:
“Moscow, September 28, 1939.
“MR. CHAIRMAN: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today, in which you communicate to me the following:
“With reference to our conversations I have the honor to confirm herewith that the Government of the U.S.S.R. is willing on the basis and in the sense of the general political understanding reached by us, to promote by all means the trade relations and the exchange of goods between Germany and the U.S.S.R. To this end an economic program will be drawn up by both parties, under which the Soviet Union will supply raw materials to Germany, for which Germany, in turn, will make compensation through delivery of manufactured goods over an extended period. Both parties shall frame this economic program in such a manner that the German-Soviet exchange of goods will again reach the highest volume attained in the past. Both Governments will at once issue the necessary directives for the implementation of the measures mentioned and arrange that the negotiations are begun and brought to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
“In the name and by authority of the Government of the German Reich I am in accord with this communication and inform you that the Government of the German Reich in turn will take the necessary steps for this purpose.
“Accept, Mr. Chairman, the renewed assurance of my highest consideration.
“VON RIBBENTROP”
And:
“CONFIDENTIAL
“Moscow, September 28, 1939.
“MR. CHAIRMAN: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today, wherein you communicate to me the following:
“Implementing my letter of today about the formulation of a common economic program, the Government of the U.S.S.R. will see to it that German transit traffic to and from Rumania by way of the Upper Silesia-Lemberg-Kolomea railroad line shall be facilitated in every respect. The two Governments will, in the framework of the proposed trade negotiations, make arrangements without delay for the operation of this transit traffic. The same will apply to the German transit traffic to and from Iran, to and from Afghanistan as well as to and from the countries of the Far East.
“Furthermore, the Government of the U.S.S.R. declares that it is willing. in addition to the quantity of oil previously agreed upon or to be agreed upon hereafter, to supply a further quantity of oil commensurate with the annual production of the oil district of Drohobycz and Boryslav, with the proviso that one half of this quantity shall be supplied to Germany from the oil fields of the aforesaid oil district and the other half from other oil districts of the U.S.S.R. As compensation for these supplies of oil, the U.S.S.R. would accept German supplies of hard coal and steel piping.
“I take note of this communication with satisfaction and concur in it in the name of the Government of the German Reich.
“Accept, Mr. Chairman, the renewed assurance of my highest consideration.”
“VON RIBBENTROP”
The Germans, and possibly the Soviets, believe that the war, and their aims in it, are, for all intents and purposes, over. But Britain and France, not to mention German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler, have really only begun to fight.
27-Sep-39: Warsaw Surrenders; Hitler Makes Plans to Attack in the West and Establishes the RSHA; British Chancellor of the Exchequer Presents First War Budget and Raises Income Taxes
Today is 27-Sept-1939, the 27th day of World War II; there are 2,166 days left in the conflict.
After two days of heavy air and artillery attacks, Warsaw surrenders to German forces. The surrender comes after a siege which cost the lives of 2,000 soldiers and 10,000 civilians on the Polish side; 150,000 prisoners are also taken. The destruction is widespread and estimates are that 1/8 of the capital’s buildings are gone.
German General Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz receives the surrender and allows Polish officers to keep their swords. He tells the Poles that their troops will “only go into captivity for as long as it takes to dispose of the necessary formalities.” Under the surrender terms, the wounded and the general civilian population will receive “immediate relief.”
Back in Berlin, German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler informs the heads of his decision the branches of the Wehrmacht that an attack in the west will begin on 12-Nov. Representatives of the Heer express their opposition, but Hitler brushes aside their concerns.
Hitler also announces that, by his order, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler has established the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA – Reich Security Main Office) as a subordinate organization of the SS (Shutzstaffel – Protective Echelon). The RSHA is given the mission brief to “fight all enemies of the Reich inside and outside the borders of Germany.”
The RSHA is formed via the merger of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD – Security Service) and the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo – Security Police). The Sipo itself is composed of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo – Secret State Police) and the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo – Criminal Police).
Hitler appoints Reinhard Heydrich, the current chief of the three organizations, to head the RSHA, which, until he end of the Reich, will coordinate activities among a number of different agencies with wide-ranging responsibilities, mostly related to the elimination of groups and individuals considered by the Reich to be enemies of the state. For instance, the RSHA controlled the Einsatzgruppen (Special Groups), which were death squads that followed the invading Wehrmacht through eastern Europe and into the Soviet Union, eliminating a wide range of people.
The RSHA became a gigantic bureaucracy; it was organized around seven departments (or Amts):
• Amt I, Personnel and Organization
• Amt II, Administration, Law, and Finance
• Amt III, Inland-SD (Culture)
• Amt IV, Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo)
• Amt V, Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)
• Amt VI, Ausland-SD (Foreign Intelligence)
• Amt VII, Written Records (Ideological Tasks and Propaganda)
Meanwhile in London, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Simon presents his first war budget to Parliament; income taxes are raised from 25 1/2 p to the pound up to 37 1/2 p to the pound. It is merely the beginning of the Empire’s financial pain.
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.
25-Sep-39: Germans Issue Second Ultimatum to Warsaw; Hitler Urges Speed; British Carrier Ark Royal Avoids Sinking
Today is 25-Sept-1939, the 25th day of World War II; there are 2,168 days left in the conflict.
While the German Wehrmacht issues a second ultimatum to the Warsaw capital garrison to cease its resistance and surrender, the Germans also increase their bombardment of the city, including heavy air attacks. Over 400 Luftwaffe planes (bombers and Ju-88 Stuka dive bombers) repeatedly pound the city, starting large fires.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler is pushing the Wehrmacht to complete the conquest as soon as possible, but the Warsaw garrison is still fairly strong and resistant. The Germans therefore resort to the increased attacks, which also terrorize the civilians left in the city. The Germans keep the bombing going until the city finally surrenders.
In the German capital city, things are not as bleak as in Warsaw, but the civilian population begins to feel the first strains of the war as distribution of food ration cards is completed across the nation and bread and flour are now formally included in the rationing.
Hitler’s fourth war directive, in addition to the aforementioned swift conclusion to the conquest of Poland, also includes orders to the Kriegsmarine increasing assaults on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic and elsewhere. The Kriegsmarine’s U-Boats have already been successful in the beginning of this effort.
Meanwhile on those high seas, German newspapers and the Propaganda Ministry claim that the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal has been sunk during an attack by the Luftwaffe, which unveils the Ju-88 bomber during the action. In fact, the attack is just a near miss, and the false propaganda claims will be repeated several times before the ship is actually sunk in 1941.
24-Sep-39: Germans Tighten Noose on Warsaw, Which Reports Mass Casualties; Kriegsmarine’s U-Boat Campaign Racks Up More Sinkings
Today is 24-Sept-1939, the 24th day of World War II; there are 2,169 days left in the conflict.
North of Warsaw, German Heer soldiers surround the Modlin Fortress. In the capital city itself, there are reports of very heavy casualties among both Polish defenders and civilians; hospitals are overwhelmed. In the south, Red Army troops enter oilfields in Galicia and begin securing the area.
On the Western Front, the Friedrichshafen Zeppelin base in Germany is hit by French bombers, and French artillery units fire on German forces along the German border.
On the high seas, the German Kriegsmarine’s Unterseeboot force continues to chalk up victories against North Atlantic merchant shipping; the latest victims are a timber-carrying Swedish steamer and a British cargo ship.
In addition, the British steamer Kafristan is also sunk; 29 survivors are rescued by a U.S. ship, the American Farmer and taken to New York. Surviving passengers, as well as the ship’s master, report that while they were still in their lifeboats, a British plane arrived and attacked the German U-Boat, which had surfaced. The British plane sprayed the U-Boat’s deck with machine gun fire and dropped bombs on it; survivors claim one of the bombs hit the conning tower directly.
Ironically, the American Farmer will herself be sunk in April 1941.
23-Sep-39: Sigmund Freud Dies in London; Poles Fight on in Warsaw; Italy Reaffirms Neutrality; Germans, Soviets Plan Moscow Meeting
Today is 23-Sept-1939, the 23rd day of World War II; there are 2,170 days left in the conflict.
From London comes news that renowned Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is dead at 83 years of age.
In Warsaw, Polish forces continue to fight on in the surrounded capital city even as food supplies begin to run low.
German authorities in the Reich ban all non-German citizens (mainly Jews) from owning wireless radio sets; non-Germans are ordered to turn in their existing sets to the nearest authorities.
The German Kriegsmarine reports that Unterseeboots have sunk two cargo ships from Finland in the North Atlantic. The cargo was reported to be cellulose.
Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini announces that he still intends to keep his country neutral in the European conflict unless it is attacked; he says he is following a policy to “strengthen our army in preparation for any eventualities and support every possible peace effort while working in silence.” Mussolini also says that the “liquidation” of Poland as an independent nation could be the starting point of a general European peace settlement.
At a meeting in Panama, nations from North and South America agree to a neutral zone around the two continents extending 300 miles (480 km) off the continental coasts.
From Tokyo comes an announcement that Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura is appointed foreign minister in General Nobuyuki Abe’s recently appointed government. The Abe government will, from this point until January 1940, make a few conciliatory moves toward the United States, but these will be rebuffed. The U.S. stance is said to strengthen both the convictions and reputation of the more militant Japanese politicians, contributing to a steady deterioration in relations.
German Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sends a secret diplomatic cable to German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg. Ribbentrop states that he will be visiting Moscow in person for a second time in a little over a month, in order conclude negotiations over the exact new borders between Gerrmany and the Soviet Union in the former Poland. The telegram states:
“We, too, consider the time now ripe to establish by treaty jointly with the Soviet Government the definitive structure of the Polish area. The Russian idea of a border line along the well-known Four-Rivers Line coincides in general with the view of the Reich Government. It was my original intention to invite Herr Molotov to Germany in order to formulate this treaty.
“In view of your report that the leading personages there cannot leave the Soviet Union, we agree to negotiations in Moscow. Contrary to my original purpose of entrusting you with these negotiations, I have decided to fly to Moscow myself. This particularly because-in view of the full powers granted me by the Führer, thus making it possible to dispense with counter-inquiries, etc.-negotiations can be brought to a speedier conclusion.
“In view of the general situation, my sojourn in Moscow will have to be limited to one or two days at the most. Please call on Herren Stalin and Molotov and wire me earliest proposed date.”
The final partition and destruction of Poland is now imminent.
21-Sep-39: Romanian Prime Minister Assassinated; Deportation of Jews in Occupied Poland Begins; Roosevelt Urges Repeal of Neutrality Act Prohibition of Arms Sales
Today is 21-Sept-1939, the 21st day of World War II; there are 2,172 days left in the conflict.
In Bucharest, the Iron Guard, a Romanian Fascist paramilitary group, murders Armand Calinescu, the prime minister by blocking Calinescu’s car with a wooden cart and then shooting him and his guards.
After the assassination, the Iron Guard assassins then take over a radio station and announce over the air that “the death sentence on Calinescu has been executed.” According to the Iron Guard, the act is punishment for the government’s acceptance of Polish military and civilian refugees who are streaming over the border from the fighting in their country.
A large crowd gathers at the spot of the assassination as the Iron Guards involved are overpowered and shot to death by the police. Their bodies lie on the spot for 24 hours and are viewed by the crowd.
Meanwhile in Poland, the German Wehrmacht begins to step up its artillery and aerial bombing of strategic places in the capital Warsaw, which continues to hold out with remnants of the army and armed civilians.
In the parts of the country already captured, German occupation officials begin to take over and implement plans for the reshaping of the former Poland.
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, who is head of the German Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO – Security Police), which includes the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo – Secret State Police) and the Kriminalpolizei (KRIPO – Criminal Police), begins to implement the provisions of what became known as the “Heydrich Plan.” Among the provisions of the plan implemented at first was the forced deportation of 600,000 Jews from Danzig and western Poland to specially set aside ghetto districts in several central Polish cities.
In the west, there is little action to speak of; Radio Luxemburg ceases operation and the British government, looking to justify its actions leading up to the war, publishes the “Blue Book,” which contains declassified prewar diplomatic documents. Officially, the book is entitled, “The British War Blue Book: Documents Concerning German-Polish Relations and the Outbreak of Hostilities Between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939. Presented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to Parliament by Command of His Majesty (King George VI).” (Contents of the Blue Book can be read «here».)
Across the Atlantic in Washington DC, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses a specially called joint session of the Congress in order to urge the repeal of Neutrality Act provisions which forbid arms sales to countries which are at war. The Neutrality Act had been passed in 1935 as a result of populist anger against “merchants of death, bankers and munitions makers. Some Americans blamed those entities for entangling the United States in World War I.
States the President:
“Our acts must be guided by one single hard-headed thought — keeping America out of this war.” [Allowing arms to be sold on a cash-and-carry basis would be] “better calculated than any other means to keep us out of war. … [However,] destiny first made us, with our sister nations in this hemisphere, joint heirs of European culture. Fate seems now to compel us to assume the task of helping to maintain in the Western World a citadel wherein that civilization may be kept alive.”
The revisions to the 1935 Neutrality Act are designed to allow the sale of U.S. arms to warring nations on a “cash and carry” basis; the provision will be signed into law in November after a protracted Congressional debate. The revision will actually lead to Great Britain buying war materials for cash, as long as they are transported across the Atlantic on non-American ships.
American newspapers make note of the speech and also unveil allegations that German National Socialst leaders, including Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment Dr. Joseph Goebbels and party secretary Rudolf Hess, have accumulated foreign investments in excess of $12 million (US). This is hotly denied in Germany.
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.
19-Sep-39: Hitler Triumphantly Enters Danzig, Declares It Will Be German Forever; Wilno Falls to Soviets; 100,000 Poles Surrender at Bzura
Today is 19-Sept-1939, the 19th day of World War II; there are 2,174 days left in the conflict.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler arrives in Danzig for a triumphant parade and speech commemorating its return to the Reich. In his speech, he celebrates the return of the city, claims that it will be forever German, and ends on a note of defiance towards Britain and France, invoking God’s blessing on the German cause:
“But there should be no doubt about one thing: England’s goal is not ‘a fight against the regime’ but a fight against the German people, women and children. Our reaction will be compatible, and one thing will be certain: This Germany does not capitulate. We are determined to carry on and stand this war one way or another.
“We have only this one wish, that the Almighty, who now has blessed our arms, will now perhaps make other peoples understand and give them comprehension of how useless this war, this debacle of peoples, will be intrinsically, and that He may perhaps cause reflection on the blessings of peace which they are sacrificing because a handful of fanatic warmongers, persons who stand to gain by war, want to involve peoples in war.”
As Hitler speaks in Danzig, the Red Army ends its advance through Poland at the Hungarian border. After three days of battle, Wilno (Vilna) finally falls to the Soviets. And at Brest-Litovsk, the Soviet army links up with the German Wehrmacht. Since the secret protocols of the 1939 Nonaggression Pack of 23-Aug calls for Brest-Litovsk to be in the “Soviet sphere of influence,” the Germans vacate the city and the Red Army marches in.
After fighting their way out of the city of Kutno, some 30,000 Polish troops join the fighting around Warsaw, while the German Luftwaffe continues to pound the capital, especially public utilities and facilities.
Units of two Polish brigades and pieces of other forces escape from the Battle of Bzura and also make their way to Warsaw. But the battle ends today with 150,000 Polish troops from the Pomorze and Poznan armies prisoners of the Wehrmacht, which has also now surrounded the city of Lvov.
In Berlin, the new era of cooperation and alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union is underscored by a telegram sent from German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop’s special train to Ambassador to Moscow Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg. Ribbentrop instructs the ambassador to convey to Soviet General Secretary Josef Stalin that Germany will be standing by her obligations under the Nonaggression Pact:
“I request that you tell Herr Stalin that you reported to Berlin about your conference with him, and that you are now expressly directed by me to inform him that the agreements which I made on the authorization of the Fuehrer at Moscow will, of course, be kept, and that they are regarded by us as the foundation stone of the new friendly relations between Germany and the Soviet Union.”
Von der Schulenberg scrambles to comply with Ribbentrop’s instructions.
18-Sep-39: U-Boat Sinks SS Kensington; Scandinavian Countries Say Trade Will Go On Unimpeded; Battle of Wilno (Vilnius) Begins Between Poles and Red Army
Today is 18-Sept-1939, the 18th day of World War II; there are 2,175 days left in the conflict.
Seventy miles from the Sicily Islands in the North Atlantic, a German U-Boat shells the British merchant ship SS Kensington Court. The 4,863-ton ship was laden with wheat form Argentina and was bound for Birkenhead. The ship is hit with five shells, but sinks slowly, allowing the crew to send out an S.O.S. and take to the lifeboats.
The S.O.S. is picked up two Royal Air Force Sunderland flying boats (from numbers 228 and 204 Squadrons) on patrol in the area; they arrive on the scene, land and subsequently rescue all 34 of the sailors on board. The Sunderland will later, after several losses on rough seas, be supplanted by the PBY Catalina, which has a thicker hull more suitable for exposed water landings.
Meanwhile, the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland decide that, in order to “protect their economic existence,” they will continue to trade with both sides in the quickly broadening European conflict. The coordinated announcement is made simultaneously in the national capitals, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm and Reykjavik. Three of the five will soon discover that their neutrality is illusory.
In Poland, Warsaw’s defiant resistance continues, so the German Third and Tenth armies begin attacking the capital city. Polish President Ignacy Mościcki and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces General Edward Rydz-Śmigły, escape Poland and flee to Romania, where they are disarmed and interned as the Romanians had previously announced would happen to fleeing Polish nationals fleeing the fighting onto Romanian soil. The two Polish leaders leave behind messages urging the remaining Polish forces to continue to fight both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army.
In a crucial development for the future of the war, members of Poland’s Cipher Bureau, charged with intercepting enemy communications and breaking their codes, escape Poland to the south and begin a long and arduous journey to France, and then on to Britain. They carry crucial information about the German Wehrmacht’s “Enigma” code, which will be vital to the later successful breaking of the code, a famous episode of the war.
On the second day of the Soviet invasion in the east of Poland, the Red Army continues to meet very little resistance and successfully advances 100km into Poland.
However, at Wilno (present day Vilnius, Lithuania), later in the day (at 17:00 hours), Polish Colonel Jarosław Okulicz-Kozaryn, in command of the garrison there, receives reports of Red Army armored scouts approaching from Oszmiana (present day Ashmyany). These scouts are engaging Polish infantry units as they advance. Col. Okulicz-Kozaryn orders all units to fall back on the Lithuanian border, with the most experienced units of the Polish Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza screening the retreat.
Col. Okulicz-Kozaryn sends a Lt. Col. Podwysocki under a flag of truce to tell the Red Army that the Poles will not defend Wilno; however, he is shot at and forced to retreat behind Polish lines. Col. Okulicz-Kozaryn evacuates the city with most of the Polish forces, but Lt. Col. Podwysocki decides to defend the city anyway, even with few troops.
The Poles actual succeed in repulsing the first Soviet attack on the city in the evening hours, but the Red Army continues its push and rapidly encircles the city. By nightfall, they have captured the airfield and the Rasos Cemetery, and entered the city at several points. The battle will continue the next day.
On the propaganda front, a momentous occasion in Berlin happens which will propel an obscure American to infamy. The American, named William Joyce, had moved to Ireland and then Britain after his birth in Brooklyn in 1906. He subsequently became a member of the British Union of Fascists (led by Oswald Moseley and referred to as the Blackshirts), then fled to Germany in August, 1939, with his wife as war became imminent.
Having served in propaganda capacities for the British Union of Fascists, the Germans decided Joyce might be of some use in the same guise in Berlin. A week previously, the Germans had allowed Joyce to make a radio broadcast to the British; it so impressed the Germans that they give him a long-term radio contract. He will go on to broadcast throughout most of the war under an assumed (and now famous) pseudonym, Lord Haw-Haw (which had previously been used by three other German radio personalities for similar purposes). He would be known for his now famous opening salutation of his broadcasts: “Germany calling! Germany calling!”
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.
16-Sep-39: Soviets Inform Poles of Imminent Invasion of Eastern Poland; Warsaw Fights On; U-31 Sinks British Ship SS Aviemore
Today is 16-Sept-1939. It is the 16th day of the war; there are 2,177 days left in the war.
The command of Polish units defending Warsaw is given to General Walerian Czuma. The capital city is now completely surrounded by German forces, which now issue an ultimatum demanding the capital’s complete, unconditional surrender.
However, given that they have already repulsed a German advance on the city, inflicting many casulaties, the Polish garrison, with the support of the city’s civil population, decide to reject the Wehrmacht’s ultimatum. In response, the German Luftwaffe bomb the city’s Jewish quarter; today is also the day before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which is given as one of the reasons for the special attack. The last of Poland’s air force planes make their final, limited bombing runs.
The Germans are fighting west of Lvov, and some units are driving north in order to link with others fighting along the Bug River. The invasion is approaching its final phase, exceeding Wehrmacht expectations.
The Soviet government finally makes official what the Germans have been urging them to do since the beginning of the invasion; it informs Polish representatives in Moscow that, on the next day, 17-Sept, the Red Army will deploy into eastern Poland in order to, quote, “protect the Ukrainian and Belorussian minorities.”
On the high seas, the German Kriegsmarine’s U-Boats score another sinking when the U-31 attacks and sinks the SS Aviemore, a British steamer. The U-31 will go on to sink 10 more ships during its wartime career.
23 crewmen of the Aviemore die in the attack. The Aviemore is a British merchant steamer built in 1920 and owned by Johnston Warren Lines. She had been en route from Swansea, Wales, to South America — Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was carrying a cargo of 5,165 tons of tinplates and black sheets.
In London, the British Army appoints the former King Edward VIII, now known as the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated the throne in order to marry an American divorcee in 1936, as a liaison officer to the French army.
15-Sep-39: Japan, Soviet Union Sign Armistice; Warsaw Commander Refuses German Surrender Demands; First British Trans-Atlantic Convoy Sails from Halifax
Today is 15-Sept-1939. It is the 15th day of the war; there are 2,178 days left in the war.
Japan and the Soviet Union end the four-month-old “Nomonhan Incident” — in which the Japanese were disastrously defeated in the Battle of Khalkin Gol — with an armistice agreement signed in Moscow.
After their defeat in the battle (in which they lost over 17,000 soldiers), a new Japanese cabinet came to power and pressed for the armistice. The Germans had also been pressing for their two ostensible allies to come to an agreement and end the fighting ever since the 22-Aug signing of the Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact.
This armistice is another action designed to clear the decks for the Soviet invasion of Poland, planned for two days hence. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sends an urgent, top secret telegram to the Reich’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg. In it, he instructs the ambassador to convey to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov the following information:
“1. The destruction of the Polish Army is rapidly approaching its conclusion, as appears from the review of the military situation of September 14 which has already been communicated to you. We count on the occupation of Warsaw in the next few days.
“2. We have already stated to the Soviet Government that we consider ourselves bound by the definition of spheres of influence agreed upon in Moscow, entirely apart from purely military operations, and the same applies of course to the future as well.”
Ribbentrop instructs von der Shulenberg to give Molotov a thinly veiled warning: if the Soviets do not act and invade Poland as agreed in the 22-Aug Nonaggression Pact, the Soviet government might not like the results:
“From the communication made to you by Molotov on September 14, we assume that the Soviet Government will take a hand militarily, and that it intends to begin its operation now. We welcome this. The Soviet Government thus relieves us of the necessity of annihilating the remainder of the Polish Army by pursuing it as far as the Russian boundary. Also the question is disposed of in case a Russian intervention did not take place, of whether in the area lying to the east of the German zone of influence a political vacuum might not occur. Since we on our part have no intention of undertaking any political or administrative activities in these areas, apart from what is made necessary by military operations, without such an intervention on the part of the Soviet Government there might be the possibility of the construction of new states there.”
In other words, if the Soviets fail to act, they will find the German Wehrmacht at their borders along with possibly unknown and unwelcome new states along that border.
Ribbentrop then suggests that the Soviet government agree to the public issuance of a joint declaration, which would state:
“In view of the complete collapse of the previous form of government in Poland, the Reich Government and the Government of the U.S.S.R. consider it necessary to bring to an end the intolerable political and economic conditions existing in these territories. They regard it as their joint duty to restore peace and order in these areas which are naturally of interest to them and to bring about a new order by the creation of natural frontiers and viable economic organizations.”
The Reich’s foreign minister then urges his ambassador to speed the Soviets along:
“Since the military operations must be concluded as soon as possible because of the advanced season of the year, we would be gratified if the Soviet Government would set a day and hour on which their army would begin their advance, so that we on our part might govern ourselves accordingly. For the purpose of the necessary coordination of military operations on either side, it is also necessary that a representative of each Government, as well as German and Russian officers on the spot in the area of operations, should have a meeting in order to take the necessary steps, for which meeting we propose to assemble at Bialystok by air.”
Von der Shulenberg follows the instructions and presents Ribbentrop’s communique to Molotov.
Meanwhile, the fighting in Poland is increasingly going the Germans’ way; the Poles’ Poznan Army is encircled at Kutno and is steadily being destroyed by the Wehrmacht. Also encircled is the city of Brest-Litovsk, 120 miles east of Warsaw. The Bzura battles are also going badly for the Poles; the heaviest fighting is ending.
And in Warsaw itself, Major General Juliusz Rommel, the city’s military commander, receives a surrender proposal from German military representatives, but refuses to discuss it. The Poles will fight on in their capital.
The Romanian government in Bucharest makes a decision designed to at least partially placate the German government by granting asylum only to Polish civilian refugees fleeing the fighting by crossing the border into Romania proper. Any Polish military personnel who do the same will, the government declares, be disarmed and interned in camps.
The Germans make the decision to use captured allied flyers in propaganda radio broadcasts. On the air, they interview aircrew from Britain and New Zealand who were shot down and captured during the 4-Sept Royal Air Force raid on Wilhelmshaven.
On the high seas, a British TransAtlantic convoy departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and thus becomes the first such long-distance supply convoy of the war. The ships are supplying wheat and munitions from Canada and the United States.
From this point, all vital shipping will be required to travel in convoy form, scheduled by the military; naval forces from Britain and Canada will jointly provide protection for them from German U-Boats. Convoys are also organized for sailings from European ports to the British home isles such as Gibraltar, as well as ships sailing up and down the English/Scottish coasts and to Ulster and Ireland.
14-Sep-39: Germans Enter Gdynia, Poland’s Only Seaport; Soviets Launch Anti-Polish Propaganda Campaign; HMS Ark Royal Has Narrow Escape.
Today is 14-Sept-1939. It is the 14th day of the war; there are 2,179 days left in the war.
German troops enter the only Polish outlet to the sea, Gdynia, on the Baltic west of Danzig. German forces launched from East Prussia cross the Narew River near Modlin and start the encirclement of Warsaw. General Heinz Guderian’s Nineteenth Panzer Corps reaches the city of Brest-Litovsk. German attacks cut off the city of Lwow; ethnic Ukrainians begin an uprising there and in Stanislawow, attacking any Polish forces in those areas.
The Hungarian government in Budapest declares its neutrality; it claims there is no grounds for action since Hungary is not threatened by Hitler.
Northwest of Ireland, the British aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal luckily escapes the German submarine U-39 during an anti-submarine patrol. Three British destroyers near the carrier sink the U-39 and capture 43 of its crew.
In Moscow, Pravda, the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, starts an anti-Polish propaganda campaign with a front-page article denouncing the Poles treatment of ethnic minorities within that country. The Soviets are preparing their public for the launch of their own invasion of Poland, three days hence.
13-Sep-39: Germans Excuse the Bombing of Civilians in Poland; Battle of Bzura Rages; French Reshuffle Cabinet; French Cruiser Sinks at Casablanca
Today is 13-Sept-1939. It is the 13th day of the war; there are 2,180 days left in the war.
United States Ambassador to Poland Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. announces that German Luftwaffe bombers are intentionally bombing the civilian population of Warsaw. He says the Luftwaffe “are releasing bombs they carry even when they are in no doubt as to the identity of their objectives.”
In response, the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, (OKW), the High Command of the Wehrmact, responds to the charge by claiming that Polish civilians have involved themselves in the fighting; the Germans are therefore defending themselves.
In invasion news, the Battle of Bzura rages for a second day of heavy fighting, but the Poles are already losing ground. Meanwhile, a small German infantry force begins to cross the Vistula River just south of Warsaw.
A first wartime shakeup of the French government begins in Paris. Prime Minister Edouard Daladier creates a War Cabinet in which he is responsible for foreign affairs and retains the portfolios of war and national defense. Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet reassigned to be Minister of Justice. Raoul Dautry is appointed Minister of Armaments and Georges Pernot is appointed Minister of Blockade; both of these latter positions are new portfolios concerned with national defense during the war. The shuffling is seen as an effort by Prime Minister Daladier to create a war cabinet that will enable France to put aside intractable internal differences, thus freeing the country to fight the war in a spirit of national unity.
Bad news comes for the French Navy in Casablanca, Morocco, as the French cruiser La Tour d’Auvergne (formerly the Platonic) is destroyed in an accidental explosion.
The cruiser had been ordered to lay a defensive minefield in the waters outside of Casablanca. At the last minute, however, the order is cancelled and the ship is ordered to offload the mines back on the Casablanca docks. During the unloading, one of the mines explodes, destroying the ship and killing 186 sailors and bystanders. 37 of the ship’s crew and 47 persons on the dock are injured; significant damage is caused in the area by flying debris.
12-Sep-39: Allied Supreme War Council Has First Meeting; Poles Evacuate Gdynia; French End Border Incursion
The first meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council takes place in Abbeville, France. Representing the British are Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and Minister for Coordination of Defence Lord Ernie Chatfield; the French delegation is headed by Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, and General Maurice Gamelin. At the same time, the Czechs are forming an army-in-exile to join the allied effort.
French troops are now five miles deep into the Saarland of Germany along a 15-mile front. The French assert that the invasion forced the Germans to withdraw six divisions from the Polish invasion; British observers are doubtful of the claim, however. The French are now within a half-mile of the Siegfried Line, but a frontal assault on the German defenses is considered impossible. General Gamelin therefore calls an end to the offensive, a decision which is approved by the Supreme War Council in their Abbeville meeting.
The city of Gdynia, near Danzig, is evacuated by the Poles. Fighting continues near Lvov and German troops are moving north from their bridgeheads over the San River. The Polish army around Poznan cancels a planned advance on Berlin and instead turns around and attempts a flanking action on the German Eighth Army, thus kicking off the Battle of the Bzura River. Polish troops push Wehrmacht troops back 12 miles south of Kutno and recapture the city of Lowicz.
The eastern Polish city of Krzemieniec (Kremenets) had been declared an open village from the beginning of the invasion and the Warsaw international diplomatic community had sought refuge there. But today, the German Luftwaffe bombs the refuge, killing an unknown number of people.
In southeastern Europe, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop informs officials in Bucharest that Polish officials crossing the border into Romania are not to be given asylum. The Germans promise military retaliation if asylum in such cases is granted.
Across the Atlantic, the United States Navy starts regular neutrality patrols up and down the east coast and in the Caribbean.
11-Sep-39: Polish Forces at Radom are Destroyed; Germans Announce Counter-Blockade; Washington Says No More Peace Initiatives
German Wehrmacht forces cross the River San in southeast Poland both north and south of the city of Przemysl. The Poles are holding their own in the battle on the Bzura river. However, German General Gerd von Rundstedt, leader of Army Group South, and his Chief of Staff, General Erich von Manstein, start to gather reinforcements for the Eighth Army, which will prove to be decisive in the battle.
Polish forces in the city of Radom are destroyed; 60,000 men are captured and the industrial area of Upper Silesia is completely occupied.
In response to Britain’s announcement yesterday, the German government announces a counter blockade against the British Isles. The government announces that, “since economic warfare was forced on her, she is not only able to resist every pressure of blockade and every form of British hunger warfare, but to reply to it with the same methods.”
The British are unaware that, at the same time, German cipher experts have solved the British merchant ship code and can now identify convoy meeting points.
Meanwhile, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill begins corresponding with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Churchill signs each letter with the sobriquet, “A Naval Person.”
The British cabinet decides to put a moratorium on further attempts to bomb Germany by air. They also indefinitely postpone plans for the federation of India.
From Washington D.C., American Secretary of State Cordell Hull cables a secret message to the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy had wired earlier urging the president to make peace overtures to the European combatants, believing that the time was ripe, before the USSR and Italy jumped into the fray. Hull replies, noting that President Roosevelt will not be undertaking further peace initiatives because of strong anti-German sentiment in the country. The wire states:
“The President desires me to inform you, for your strictly confidential information and so that you may be guided thereby without divulging this message to any one, that this Government, so long as present European conditions continue, sees no opportunity nor occasion for any peace move to be initiated by the President of the United States. The people of the United States would not support any move for peace initiated by this Government that would consolidate or make possible a survival of a regime of force and of aggression.”
The war is now set to run its course.
10-Sep-39: Canada Declares War on Germany; Luftwaffe Raids Warsaw 15 Times; British Expeditionary Force Builds Up in France
In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King asks a special session of Parliament to approve his request that Canada join the war against Germany. Most Canadians see the coming of war one week after the declarations of war by England and France as inevitable. A few days before, a solemn King George VI took to the airwaves in London in an address called “Canada at the side of Britain.” This also marks the first time that Canadians make their own declaration of war as a sovereign nation.
Prime Minister King vows to secure Canada’s defense, and take “all necessary measures” to curb Germany’s “lust for conquest.” Even though the Canadians are the last of the British Dominions to declare war, the few days of hesitation permits the accelerated delivery from the US of large amounts of war goods which, after the declaration of war are now barred by American neutrality laws.
Meanwhile on the front lines in Poland, Polish armies are ordered to retreat to defensive positions in the southeast of the country. The German Luftwaffe conducts 15 air raids on Warsaw. German forces also make an attempt at spreading false propaganda by broadcasting a fake news bulletin on the same wavelength as Radio Warsaw that announces the fall of Warsaw, the capital.
The Polish Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Smigly-Rydz, continues making pleas to the French to invade Germany and take pressure off the Poles. But the French Chief of the General Staff, General Maurice Gamelin, announces that more than half of his active divisions are in contact with the enemy on the northeast front and that he can do no more to help the Poles.
Meanwhile, at the Channel ports, the first major units of British Expeditionary Force begin to land on French soil; small advance parties have been arriving since 4-Sept. 160,000 men, 24,000 vehicles and 140,000 tons of supplies are sent to France during September.
On the high seas, friendly fire takes its toll as the British submarine Triton mistakenly torpedoes the British submarine Oxley. The Oxley becomes the first allied naval casualty of World War II. Only three of 55 sailors on board survive.
9-Sep-39: Poles Gather Around Kutno to Launch Counterattack; Soviets Make War Preparations; Göring Makes Air Defense Claims
The German Sixteenth Panzer Corps’ Fourth Panzer Division attacks the southeast suburbs of Warsaw, but is repulsed after fierce fighting. The German Oberkommando des Heeres (high command of the army) announces almost all Polish forces are now beaten back to the east of the Vistula River. However, new units from the Poznan and Pomorze armies join together around Kutno. In fact, ten Polish divisions gather in this area under the command of General Tadeusz Kutrzeba in order to launch a counterattack over the Bzura River against the German Eighth Army, which will ignite some of the fiercest fighting of the invasion.
In the west, French troops cross the border into the Warndt Forest, capturing three square miles of German territory. The region, referred to by the French as “occupied Germany,” is actually deserted and heavily mined; the action is thus of value mostly for propaganda purposes.
Further to the west, the last of 13 British Royal Air Force squadrons arrives and joins the British Expeditionary Force.
In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov somewhat prematurely congratulates the Germans on the “entry of German troops into Warsaw.” German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop asks the Soviets to advance to their new common border along the Narew, Vistula and San rivers. Molotov promises that the Soviets will invade Poland “within the next few days” to comply with the German request and the secret protocols of August’s Non-Aggression Pact. German Ambassador to the Soviet Union von der Schulenberg wires Ribbentrop that he sees evidence that Molotov is speaking truthfully:
“The Red Army has admitted to Lieutenant General Kostring [German Military Attache at the embassy in Moscow] that the Soviet Union will intervene. Moreover, external evidence is multiplying of imminent Soviet military action: calling a large number of reservists up to 40 years of age, in particular technicians and physicians, sudden disappearance of important foods, preparation of schoolrooms as hospitals, curtailment in issuance of gasoline, and the like.”
In Berlin, German Field Marshal and Commander of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring states that “the Polish Army will never emerge again from the German embrace.” He also threatens reprisals against Britain if the Royal Air Force bombs Germany. He then makes a now-familiar boast: “Berlin will never be subjected to enemy aerial attack.” This is the second time Göring has made such a claim; a month previously, on 9 August 1939, Göring exclaimed, “The Ruhr will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Göring: you can call me Meier!” The phrase, “I want to be called Meier if …” is a familiar German idiom used to describe something that cannot possibly happen. Meier (and its several spelling variants) is the second most common surname in the country. These boasts will come back to haunt Herr Meier, a.k.a. Göring later in the war.