Thursday 1 November 1939

Polish teachers from Bromberg being taken into the "Valley of Death" (Dolina Śmierci) in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 1 November 1939. It is estimated that there are some 5-6,000 Poles buried there in mass graves.

Western Front: German long-range artillery is shelling French villages and fortifications well behind the front lines on 1 November 1939.

Battle of the Atlantic: The British detain US freighter Exminster in Gibraltar.

Convoy OB 28 departs from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: The RAF makes reconnaissance flights over northwest Germany.

The He 178 in flight.

Luftwaffe: The new jet He 178 V1, which first flew in late August, is demonstrated for top Luftwaffe chiefs at the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin. Amazingly, despite the advances made, the Air Ministry (RLM) has not been told of the extensive progress made, so the demonstration comes as something of a surprise. Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch, who essentially control Luftwaffe purchasing decisions, attend, but Air Minister Goering does not. The demonstration is an absolute technical success, as the jet performs flawlessly. However, Milch and Udet are not sold on the design due to a weak engine that limits the He 178's speed to an unimpressive (for a supposedly revolutionary technology) 372 mph (598 km/hr) and flight endurance of only ten minutes. No orders are placed.

Ernst Heinkel, however, is certain the technology will revolutionize aviation. He decides to proceed with his own private development of a jet fighter based on the He 178, the He 280, despite the RLM's disinterest. He does not know, though, that the RLM already is backing other jet projects, though their prototypes have not flown yet.

Poland: The Reich merges the portions of West Poland that had been ceded by the Treaty of Versailles into itself.  This includes Danzig and the Polish Corridor. It creates within this territory new districts (Reichsgaue): Posen, Greater East Prussia, and Danzig West Prussia.

The Soviet Union similarly proceeds with its own annexation of eastern Poland into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. While it has not Great War claims on its territory, it bases this decision on supposed "plebiscites" held in the territory which, naturally, supported the Soviet desires.

Holland: A "state of siege" is proclaimed along the border with Germany by Dutch Royal Decree. This means martial law.

Switzerland: The country prepares for a possible invasion, issuing decrees related to that eventuality.

British Government: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer submits the Oslo Report on German weapons development.

Finland: The delegation returns to Moscow after Molotov's ultimatum of the day before.

Australia: Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces that the country will increase the size of the armed forces.

China: Chiang Kai-Shek launches a Winter Offensive in several places against the Japanese.

American homefront: The International Olympics Committee meets and decides that the 1940 Olympics cannot take place in Finland as planned. This effectively cancels the Games for 1940.

Holocaust: Mass killings of undesired inhabitants pursuant to Operation Tannenberg continues in Poland with liquidations in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) by "Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz" and the Gestapo.

Future history: Barbara Bosson is born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. She becomes famous in such 1960s films as "Bullitt" and 1980s television series as "Hill Street Blues."

October 1939

October 1, 1939: Occupation of Warsaw
October 2, 1939: Hel Peninsula Falls
October 3, 1939: The Diamantis Incident
October 4, 1939: Otto Kretschmer Gets Rolling
October 5, 1939: Polish Resistance Ends
October 6, 1939: Hitler Peace Effort
October 7, 1939: The British Have Arrived
October 8, 1939: First RAF Kill from UK
October 9, 1939: "City of Flint" Incident
October 10, 1939: Lithuania Under Pressure
October 11, 1939: The Atomic Age Begins
October 12, 1939: England Rejects Hitler's Peace Offer
October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh Speaks Out
October 14 1939: Royal Oak Sunk
October 15, 1939: Cuban Rockets
October 16, 1939: First Aircraft Shot Down Over UK
October 17, 1939: Marshall Mannerheim Returns
October 18, 1939: Prien Receives His Award
October 19, 1939: Preliminary Plan for Fall Gelb
October 20, 1939: Hitler Grapples with the Jews
October 21, 1939: Hurricanes to the Rescue!
October 22, 1939: Goebbels Lies Through His Teeth
October 23, 1939: Norway the Center of Attention
October 24, 1939: German "Justice" Gets Rolling
October 25, 1939: Handley Page Halifax Bomber First Flies
October 26, 1939: Jozef Tiso Takes Slovakia
October 27, 1939: King Leopold Stands Firm
October 28, 1939 - First Luftwaffe Raid on Great Britain
October 29, 1939: Tinkering with Fall Gelb
October 30, 1939: Defective Torpedoes
October 31, 1939: Molotov Issues an Ultimatum

November 1939

November 1, 1939: The Jet Flies Again
November 2, 1939: The Soviets Devour Poland
November 3, 1939: Amending the Neutrality Act
November 4, 1939: Roosevelt Signs Neutrality Laws
November 5, 1939: The Spirit of Zossen
November 6, 1939: First Dogfight
November 7, 1939: More Lies About SS Athenia
November 8, 1939: Hitler Almost Killed
November 9, 1939: The Venlo Incident
November 10, 1939: Dutch Panic
November 11, 1939: Poignant Armistice Day
November 12, 1939: Peace Efforts Made and Rejected
November 13, 1939: First Bombing of Great Britain
November 14, 1939: The Dyle Plan
November 15, 1939: Elser Confesses to the Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
November 16, 1939: Martial Law in Prague
November 17, 1939: International Students Day
November 18, 1939: Magnetic Mines
November 19, 1939: Walls Around the Warsaw Ghetto
November 20, 1939: First RN Submarine Victory
November 21, 1939: Salmon & Gluckstein on the Prowl
November 22, 1939: British Recover A Magnetic Mine
November 23, 1939: HMS Rawalpindi Sunk
November 24, 1939: Japanese Enter Nanning
November 25, 1939: The Olympics are a War Casualty
November 26, 1939: Soviets Stage an "Incident" at Mainila
November 27, 1939: German Marriage Becomes Perilous
November 28, 1939: Judenrats in Poland
November 29, 1939: The Soviets Prepare to Invade Finland
November 30, 1939: Winter War Begins

2019

Tuesday 31 October 1939

Members of the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL) (Italian Youth of the Lictor), the consolidated youth movement of the National Fascist Party of Italy, during a practice drill. 1939.

Battle of the Atlantic: Total Allied shipping losses for October 1939, and German U-boat losses:

• 46 Allied ships
• 193,355 tons
• 5 U-boats sunk

The British break their own losses for October out as:

• 19 ships
• 83,000 tons.

This has been a significant drop since the 37 ships of 155,000 tons in the previous month.

The British send four battleships, 14 cruisers and 5 aircraft carriers to hunt down the Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic on 31 October 1939. This weakens convoy protection, one of the hidden benefits to the Germans of the pocket battleship's mission.

U-25 (Kapitänleutnant Viktor Schütze) sinks French freighter Baoulé off the Spanish coast. Thirteen men perish and 33 survive. The freighter was carrying badly needed supplies such as rubber, cotton, cocoa, and coffee.

The British detain the US freighter Black Osprey at the Downs and release the freighter Gateway City. The latter's cargo was seized as contraband.

Theodore Krancke takes command of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer.

Convoy OA 28G departs from Southend. Convoy SL 7 departs from Freetown for Liverpool. Convoy HXF departs from Halifax for Liverpool.

German/Soviet Relations: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov gives a speech to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. He summarizes the status of the negotiations with Finland, attacks Great Britain for waging war on the Germans, and professes belief in neutrality. Most importantly, he emphasizes friendship with Germany, supports German peace efforts and wishes continued economic collaboration.

Finland: Negotiations resume about the border. Molotov, now assured of the backing of the Supreme Soviet, issues his first ultimatum to Helsinki. It includes his demands about Hanko, Petsamo and the other items on his wish list.

Italy: Mussolini makes some changes in the Italian (Grand Fascist) cabinet. The new members (six ministries and several secretariats) tend to support continued neutrality. Dismissed are three military chiefs (Alberto Pariani, Giuseppe Valle and Luigi Russo) and two cabinet ministers (Achille Starace and Dino Alfieri). Count Ciano (Mussolini's son-in-law) remains Foreign Minister. Count Grandi remains head of Justice and is known to be an Anglophile.

The British appoint a Consul General to Tirana, Albania, effectively recognizing the occupation Italian government there subsequent to the invasion of April 1939.

Australia: In a sign of slight easing of tensions about the conflict, the government scales back its plan to send an entire expeditionary air force to Great Britain, and instead will send just a reconnaissance squadron.

Poland: The SS establishes the death penalty for all Poles who become a problem, with violators to be tried in SS courts.

Father Nowakowski.

Holocaust: Liquidations continue throughout Poland. For instance, and just as an example because to recount sterile numbers alone is just not sufficient to emphasize what is happening, Polish Diocesan Priest Leon Nowakowski is shot in the town of Piotrków Kujawski in Poland.

Future History: Walt Disney uses October 31, 1939, as the date of record for its Tower of Terror ride at Disney Studios in Orlando, Florida. According to studio lore, the Hollywood Hotel, which opened in 1919, is mysteriously struck by lightning on this Halloween day in 1939. An elevator car full of people is then transported to the Twilight Zone. The hotel remains empty until the theme park opens the attraction in 1994 and life within the hotel resume as ... somewhat... normal.

October 31, 1939, is the date for the fictional Tower of Terror hotel at Orlando.

October 1939

October 1, 1939: Occupation of Warsaw
October 2, 1939: Hel Peninsula Falls
October 3, 1939: The Diamantis Incident
October 4, 1939: Otto Kretschmer Gets Rolling
October 5, 1939: Polish Resistance Ends
October 6, 1939: Hitler Peace Effort
October 7, 1939: The British Have Arrived
October 8, 1939: First RAF Kill from UK
October 9, 1939: "City of Flint" Incident
October 10, 1939: Lithuania Under Pressure
October 11, 1939: The Atomic Age Begins
October 12, 1939: England Rejects Hitler's Peace Offer
October 13, 1939: Charles Lindbergh Speaks Out
October 14 1939: Royal Oak Sunk
October 15, 1939: Cuban Rockets
October 16, 1939: First Aircraft Shot Down Over UK
October 17, 1939: Marshall Mannerheim Returns
October 18, 1939: Prien Receives His Award
October 19, 1939: Preliminary Plan for Fall Gelb
October 20, 1939: Hitler Grapples with the Jews
October 21, 1939: Hurricanes to the Rescue!
October 22, 1939: Goebbels Lies Through His Teeth
October 23, 1939: Norway the Center of Attention
October 24, 1939: German "Justice" Gets Rolling
October 25, 1939: Handley Page Halifax Bomber First Flies
October 26, 1939: Jozef Tiso Takes Slovakia
October 27, 1939: King Leopold Stands Firm
October 28, 1939 - First Luftwaffe Raid on Great Britain
October 29, 1939: Tinkering with Fall Gelb
October 30, 1939: Defective Torpedoes
October 31, 1939: Molotov Issues an Ultimatum

November 1939

November 1, 1939: The Jet Flies Again
November 2, 1939: The Soviets Devour Poland
November 3, 1939: Amending the Neutrality Act
November 4, 1939: Roosevelt Signs Neutrality Laws
November 5, 1939: The Spirit of Zossen
November 6, 1939: First Dogfight
November 7, 1939: More Lies About SS Athenia
November 8, 1939: Hitler Almost Killed
November 9, 1939: The Venlo Incident
November 10, 1939: Dutch Panic
November 11, 1939: Poignant Armistice Day
November 12, 1939: Peace Efforts Made and Rejected
November 13, 1939: First Bombing of Great Britain
November 14, 1939: The Dyle Plan
November 15, 1939: Elser Confesses to the Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
November 16, 1939: Martial Law in Prague
November 17, 1939: International Students Day
November 18, 1939: Magnetic Mines
November 19, 1939: Walls Around the Warsaw Ghetto
November 20, 1939: First RN Submarine Victory
November 21, 1939: Salmon & Gluckstein on the Prowl
November 22, 1939: British Recover A Magnetic Mine
November 23, 1939: HMS Rawalpindi Sunk
November 24, 1939: Japanese Enter Nanning
November 25, 1939: The Olympics are a War Casualty
November 26, 1939: Soviets Stage an "Incident" at Mainila
November 27, 1939: German Marriage Becomes Perilous
November 28, 1939: Judenrats in Poland
November 29, 1939: The Soviets Prepare to Invade Finland
November 30, 1939: Winter War Begins

2019

Wednesday 20 September 1939

German and Soviet troops in Brest-Litovsk (Ehlert, Federal Archive).

Battle of Poland: The Polish Kraków Army (Armia Kraków) surrenders after the First Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski on 20 September 1939. It has been the largest tank battle of the campaign. Units from other Polish armies are located nearby and remain active.

The Germans claim to have taken 105,000 Polish prisoners so far.

The Soviets reach Lwow, which the surrounding Germans hand over to them.

Soviet tanks of the 27th Armoured Brigade of the 15th Armoured Corps approach Grodno. They attempt to seize the city by crossing the bridge over the Niemen River but are repulsed. They regroup for an attack in the morning.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-27 is tracked down after several recent successes that have alerted the Royal Navy to its presence. HMS Fortune rams the U-boat after three torpedoes launched at it and the accompanying HMS Faulknor explodes prematurely. All of the 38 U-boat crew members survive. Kapitänleutnant Johannes Franz later alerts the Kriegsmarine BDU (U-boat high command) of the defective torpedoes by managing to send Berlin a coded message from his POW camp.

Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Kittiwake, a Kingfisher class patrol vessel, strikes a British mine in the Straits of Dover. Five men are lost.

European Air Operations: Three RAF Fairey Battle Reconnaissance bombers meet a squadron of Bf-109s over the Siegfried Line near Aachen, Germany. The RAF loses two Battles and the Luftwaffe loses a Messerschmidt.

German Navy: The heavy cruiser Blücher is commissioned.

Resistance: A revolt breaks out in former Czechoslovakia (now incorporated into the Greater German Reich).

Peace Negotiations: The British and French categorically reject the peace offering by Hitler made in Danzig.

British Politics: The Labour Party attacks the Conservative government of Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons for the conduct of the war.

Czechoslovakia: the revolt in former Czechoslovakia continues. The Germans are applying their usual measures to suppress it.

British Government: The government announces that it has seized £500,000 in good destined for Germany during the week.

Canada: The cabinet decides to raise 20,000 for an expeditionary force to supplement the BEF.

Australia: The government gives the British the personnel of four bomber squadrons and two squadrons of two-seat fighters.

Germany Homefront: Jews are ordered to surrender all radios.

American Homefront: There are newspaper reports detailing the alleged overseas fortunes totaling $33 million of German leaders.

Joe Louis mounts a successful defense of his world heavyweight boxing title against Bob Pastor at Detroit's Briggs Stadium.

Soviet and German troops sharing stories.

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

2019

Friday 15 September 1939

Jews being humiliated by Wehrmacht troops in Przemysl by shaving off their beards.

Battle of Poland: German radio reports on September 15, 1939, that Wehrmacht troops have surrounded Warsaw. The Third Army from Army Group North attacks Praga. The German forces attack on both sides of the Vistula. Polish forces defeat the German 23rd Infantry at Grochów with heavy Wehrmacht casualties. Polish Major General Juliusz Rómmel, in charge of the Warsaw Army and the Modlin Fortress,  rejects a surrender demand.

German troops occupy oil fields in Galicia.

Wehrmacht troops cross the East Prussian border.

Radio Warsaw claims that forces at Lwow have repulsed a German attack.

General Guderian's XIX Corps surrounds Brest-Litovsk.

Polish submarine Orzeł, which has been at sea, reaches Tallinn in Estonia and is interned at German request.

Western Front: Operation Saar continues without making any progress.

War at Sea: The first convoys from Kingston, Jamaica sets out for England.

Regular convoys also are sailing between Glasgow and London.

European Air Operations: Germany radio broadcasts propaganda interviews of British and New Zealand airmen downed during the Wilhelmshaven raid on 4 September 1939.

Polish Propaganda: Radio Warsaw denounces the Luftwaffe attacks on open towns.

British Home Front: The Ministry of Information announces the seizure of goods destined for Germany, including 28,000 tons of petroleum.

Motorists form long queues at gas stations due to prospective petrol rationing.

Romania: Resisting foreign pressure, the government announces that it will grant asylum to Polish civilians and intern Polish military as required by international law.

Australia: The cabinet authorizes a volunteer force of 20,000.

Palestine: Tensions ease in Palestine due to a recognition of a common danger to world peace.

War Crimes:  Einsatzkommando of the Sipo (Sicher­heitspolizei), begin arresting some of the 20,000 Jews in Przemysl and taking them out to be shot and buried in mass graves.

Japanese/Soviet Relations: As the Soviets desired when signing the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact, Germany has pressured Japan into signing an armistice agreement ending the conflict in Manchukuo and Mongolia. That has the immediate consequence of formally ending the Khalkhin Gol incident. The talks were initiated by the Japanese cabinet.

Jackie Cochran with her record-setting Seversky.

US Aviation: Jackie Cochran sets a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record flying a Seversky AP-7A, civil registration NX1384, over a 1,000-kilometer course, from Burbank to San Francisco and back to Burbank. Cochran averages 492.34 kilometers per hour (305.93 miles per hour). It is a specially built racer and is the same plane that won the 1938 Bendix Trophy.

American Homefront: Aviator Charles Lindbergh, who has visited Germany and reviewed the Luftwaffe, makes an America First speech that is broadcast across the country. He states (somewhat presciently) "We must either keep out of European wars entirely or stay in European affairs permanently." His ultimate desire is to keep the United States out of the developing European conflict.

Night view of the World's Fair, New York City, September 15, 1939. The international situation is detrimental to the fair's success (Library of Congress).

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

2020