24-Dec-39: Finns Enter Soviet Territory for First Time; Germans, Soviets Re-Establish Rail Service in Poland; Graf Spee Burns Out; Pope Makes Christmas Eve Appeal
Today is 24-Dec-1939, the 85th day of World War II; there are 2,078 days left in the conflict.
For the first time in the Winter War invasion by the Soviet Union, Finnish troops enter Soviet territory near Lieksa after routing the Red Army in the Tolmojaervi and Aglajaervi districts. The Finns also begin to approach Salla, pushing the Soviets back there as well.
Rail links are re-established in the occupied Poland between the eastern zone occupied by the Soviet Union and the western zone occupied by the Germans.
After burning for a week after its scuttling in the River Plate Battle on the border between Uruguay and Argentina, the German Kriegsmarine’s pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee finally burns itself out.
Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve address to the College of Cardinals in the Vatican and appeals for world peace. He says that there have been, in contempt of freedom and human life, “acts which cry for the vengeance of God.” He also says reparations for injuries must be made.
27-Oct-39: Pope Pius XII Issues First Encyclical; King Leopold II of Belgium Asserts Neutrality; OKH Ordered to Revise Fall Gelb Planning; US Senate Approves Neutrality Act Alterations
Today is 27-Oct-1939, the 57th day of World War II; there are 2,136 days left in the conflict.
From the Vatican, Pope Pius XII issues his first encyclical. The document condemns racism, dictatorships and violations of treaty obligations.
In a radio broadcast to the United States, Belgium’s King Leopold III asserts that Belgium is determined to defend its neutrality, just as in 1914; meanwhile in Germany, the Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment orders newspapers to complain about anti-Nazi propaganda in newspapers in Belgium; they claim such writing actually violates Belgium’s promises of neutrality.
After being disappointed by the plans drawn up by OberKommando des Heeres for Fall Gelb, the invasion of France, German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler orders the OKH generals to revise the planning and begin operational preparations for the invasion. Reports continue that German troops are massing in the Saar, along the German North Sea coast and along the German borders with Belgium, Holland and Switzerland.
Finally, in a historic vote in Washington, DC, the United States Senate votes to approve amendments to the Neutrality Act which repeal the act’s arms embargo.
30-Sep-39: Pope Pius Hopes Polish Occupation Will Be Temporary; German Kriegsmarine Piles Up More Successes; Neutrality Act Debate Heats Up in U.S. Senate
Today is 30-Sept-1939, the 30th day of World War II; there are 2,163 days left in the conflict.
The German Heer’s withdrawal from Polish areas assigned to the Soviet Union in their partition agreements continues; occupation of Warsaw is deferred until 2-Oct to give the capital’s former defenders time to evacuate.
In Rome, Pope Pius XII addresses a group of noted Poles and expresses hope that the military occupation of Polish-inhabited areas will prove only temporary. At the same time, in Paris, the Poles form a government-in-exile. Władysław Raczkiewicz is named the First President in Exile and General Wladyslaw Sikorski is named Prime Minister and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
In London, the cabinet authorizes the army to send poison gas shells to France in order to be prepared if the Germans begin using chemical weapons.
In naval action, the Germans claim that armed British merchant vessels have been attacking German U-Boots, so they notify the British Admiralty that any merchant ships on the high seas which are found to be armed will be sunk without warning. The London Daily Herald reports that German radio was broadcasting claims that the British aircraft carrier Glorious has been sunk by aerial bombs; the paper notes, however, that the Glorious is “afloat and unscathed.” The report adds that it believes the object of the German broadcast was actually to learn the location of the ship if the Admiralty, in denying the broadcast, could be tricked into mentioning the ship’s location.
Meanwhile, the Kriegsmarine and its U-Boats continue to take a toll on both the Royal Navy and neutral merchant shipping; two Norwegian ships are torpedoed in the North Sea and a third is sunk by a German mine. And in the South Atlantic, off Pernambuco, Brazil, the pocket battleship Graf Spee scores its first kill: the British steamship Clement. The Graf Spee herself will meet a similar fate in just two months; it will in the meantime sink eight more vessels, totaling 50,000 tons of shipping.
On the home front, German Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick partly rescinded a decree prohibiting all public dancing, which had been published at the beginning of the Polish invasion. Dancing is now permitted between 19:00 and 01:00 each evening. The Germans further announced that food ration cards will be required in restaurants after 2-Oct.
British King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and members of the royal household fill in registration forms; eventually food ration cards will be issued to them. During World War I, King George V and Queen Mary also filled out the cards and conformed to ration regulations.
In Washington, the debate over the Neutrality Act continues to generate heat in the U.S. Senate. Senator Key Pittman, D-Nevada, claims that the proposed “cash and carry” substitute for the arms embargo will, to a certain extent, modify the Johnson Act, which bans loans to nations in default on their World War I debts.
The Pan-American Neutrality Conference completes plans for an economic cushion to protect the Americas from wartime dislocations.