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.”