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.
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.