Tuesday 10 December 1940

An Italian POW carries his dog into captivity, guarded by a British soldier. 10 December 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Operation Compass, the British attack on advanced Italian positions in Egypt, continues on 10 December 1940. Thousands of Italian troops of the Italian 4th Blackshirt Division and some Libyan formations have been pushed northward from their desert camps - place inland in part due to Royal Navy bombardments - to a 16x8 km pocket near Sidi Barrani. The British 16th Infantry Brigade of the 4th Indian Division comes forward to hem them in. The attack beings at 16:00, and by nightfall a couple of hours later, the British have taken Sidi Barrani itself.

With Selby Force blocking any retreat, the Italian 4th Blackshirt Division 3 Gennaio and two Italian Libyan Divisions must while away another night in the pocket without any food, water or shelter. The British troops are held up more by a sudden sandstorm than by anything the enemy is doing. The British don't even know how many Italian prisoners they have caught: the Coldstream Guards report simply that there are hundreds of acres of prisoners. General Wavell in Cairo, satisfied that the Italians no longer pose a threat, begins withdrawing troops to send south to Sudan. There, he hopes to terminate the endless back-and-forth around the border outpost of Kassala.
The Royal Navy sends the Mediterranean Fleet to sea from Alexandria in order to assist operations in the Western Desert. Force C (led by battleships HMS Barham and Valiant) and D (led by the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious) sail to bombard Sollum and Tobruk, respectively. The fleet also will come in handy if the Italians attempt a seaborne rescue. Overnight, monitor HMS Terror and gunboats HMS Ladybird and Aphis shell the Italian base at Maktila and causes the Italians there to abandon it.

The RAF also is very active today, particularly in harassing Italians retreating along the coast road to Libya. Force H sails from Gibraltar to help out as well.

In the Gulf of Aden, Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Southampton bombards Kismayo, Somalia. Japanese 5028-ton freighter Yamayuri Maru is damaged. This may be the first Japanese ship damaged by a western power during World War II.

Italian 5257-ton freighter Marangona hits a mine and sinks 50 km south of Pantelleria. It apparently hit an Italian mine.

German freighter Marburg hits a mine and sinks northeast of Ithaca, Greece in the Ionian Sea.

Pilots of No 312 (Czechoslovakian) Squadron RAF mock a scramble after receiving an alert at RAF Duxford in December 1940. The Czech fourth in line has been identified as Sgt Jan Truhlář. These guys fought in France, fought through the Battle of Britain, and are still fighting.

Western Front: In a unique incident, a German coastal gun at Cap Gris Nez scores a lucky hit in Hellfire Corner near the 13.5-inch British "Peacemaker" rail gun sited at Martin Mill, England. The explosion destroys one of the gun's sets of carrying wheels (bogies) and kills one of the accompanying Royal Marine gunners. This may be the only military fatality on English soil caused by German ground fire in two world wars.

Italian/Greek Campaign: The Greeks continue slogging through the snow in the mountains, with Greek II Corps capturing the high ground northwest of Pogradets. The RAF raids the port of Valona (Vlorë).

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends a small raid of four Blenheims against the Focke-Wulf plant at Bremen. The RAF also bombs several invasion ports along the Channel coast. The Luftwaffe sends a few desultory raids into East Kent and Esses.

Fliegerkorps X transfers from Norway to Sicily and southern Italy. This force includes Junkers Ju 87 Stukas and is under the command of General Hans Ferdinand Geisler. His first priority, according to Hitler: "Illustrious mussen sinken" ("Sink HMS Illustrious"). The force will include about 100 aircraft, most based at Comiso and Catania.

Tory Member of Parliament John Rathbone, serving in the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant, is killed in the Bristol Blenheim Mark IV bomber he is piloting on a mission over Antwerp. He is buried at Schoonselhof cemetery, Antwerp, Belgium. Rathbone is the sixth MP to be KIA during the conflict.

John Rathbone's 1935 election address, KIA 10 December 1940.

Battle of the Atlantic: Greek 4330-ton freighter Aghia Eirini runs aground at Achill Head, Clew Bay, County Mayo, Ireland after its steering gear fails, perhaps in part due to the rough weather during its crossing.

287-ton Faroes trawler Tor I hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea.

German 109-ton freighter Thor sinks near Cherbourg. This is not the famous German raider Thor (Schiff.10), which is operating in the South Atlantic with Admiral Scheer. This Thor apparently sinks during a sweep by Royal Navy destroyers.

Convoy FN 356 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 358 departs from Methil, Convoy HX 95 departs from Halifax.

Minesweeper HMAS Ballarat launched.

U-125 launched.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: Captain Bernhard Rogge of the German raider Atlantis receives a signal from Berlin informing him that he has been awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross). The Atlantis is currently refueling with the Pinguin from captured Norwegian tanker Storstad in the southern Indian Ocean.

Spy Stuff: Karl Heinrich Meier and Jose Waldberg are executed in the Pentonville Prison in London. Both had been convicted of spying at the Old Bailey in November. Meier is a Dutchman of German origin who was caught by a suspicious landlady at the Rising Sun Pub in Lydd after rowing ashore in Kent. Waldberg, a native German, claimed that he had been coerced into cooperating with the Germans due to Gestapo pressure on his father. These are the first two executions under the Treason Act.

US/Japanese Relations: President Roosevelt expands the list of items that cannot be exported without a license - which currently includes oil and scrap metal - to encompass steel and iron.

Anglo/Chinese Relations: The British government extends a $40 million loan to China. This is quite generous, as the British themselves are running out of money.

The graduation picture of the first class of No. 12 Elementary Flying Training School at Sky Harbour, Ontario. This is part of the Imperial Training Scheme, and these men now are all RAF pilots. 10 December 1940 (photographer J. Gordon Henderson).

German Military: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 19, "Operation Attila." This directive instructs the Wehrmacht to plan for the eventual occupation of unoccupied Vichy France "In case those parts of the French Colonial Empire now controlled by General Weygand should show signs of revolt." This operation, given the codename Operation Attila, would be essentially a continuation of the Battle of France, with all resistance "ruthlessly suppressed." The Directive specifically instructs Admiral Raeder, using Admiral Canaris' Abwehr military intelligence organization, to keep tabs on the French Navy so that it can be seized or neutralized. Tellingly in light of current events, the Directive specifies at the end that "The Italians will be given no information about our preparations and intentions."

Fuhrer Directive No. 19 is telling in another way. Hitler realizes, given the obstinacy of Francisco Franco in Spain, that trying to convince other European leaders not yet under his thumb to cooperate in his war effort isn't working. Thus, he must plan to resort to force with them. This is one of the few Hitler Directives that essentially will be carried out as stated, but he much rather would have France with him than against him.

Separately - and not in Hitler's Directive - General Wilhelm Keitel issues an order announcing that Operation Felix, the planned subjugation of Gibraltar, is suspended indefinitely. Hitler, having read Admiral Canaris' negative report about his meeting with Franco on 7 December, has decided that Operation Felix cannot be pursued due to Spanish unwillingness to cooperate.

Taken in conjunction, this order and the Fuhrer Directive show how much things have changed since October when Hitler was hopeful that Petain and Franco would join in his war against England. Now, there appears to be no hope of that. Backroom planning for Operation Felix remains alive, however, until 1944.

US Military: The US Navy opens NAS Tongue Point, Oregon. It will service patrol planes.

Polish Military: Marshal Rydz-Smigly escapes from captivity in Romania and heads for Hungary to join the Polish underground there.

German Homeland: Even during 1940, which many consider the peak of German military success, Adolf Hitler repeatedly adopts a defensive tone. Today, he gives a speech at a Berlin munitions plant and says:

I am not a man who, once he is engaged in a fight, breaks it off to his own, disfavor.... [T]here will be no defeat of Germany, either by military or economic means, or by time.

It is a remarkable statement, full of foreboding, and sounds as if it were made in 1945, not 1940.

American Homeland: The NFL Draft is held. NFL Champions the Chicago Bears select Tom Harmon of the University of Michigan with the number one overall pick.

The Benjamin Fitzpatrick Bridge opens, connecting Tallassee and East Tallassee, Florida.

Tom Harmon, a University of Michigan halfback, poses with his 1940 Heisman Trophy. Today, 10 December 1940, Harmon gets drafted by the NFL's Chicago Bears. In five months, he will be drafted again... in a much different way.

December 1940

December 1, 1940: Wiking Division Forms
December 2, 1940: Convoy HX 90 Destruction
December 3, 1940: Greeks Advancing
December 4, 1940: Italian Command Shakeup
December 5, 1940: Thor Strikes Hard
December 6, 1940: Hitler's Cousin Gassed
December 7, 1940: Storms At Sea
December 8, 1940: Freighter Idarwald Seized
December 9, 1940: Operation Compass Begins
December 10, 1940: Operation Attila Planned
December 11, 1940: Rhein Wrecked
December 12, 1940: Operation Fritz
December 13, 1940: Operation Marita Planned
December 14, 1940: Plutonium Discovered
December 15, 1940: Napoleon II Returns
December 16, 1940: Operation Abigail Rachel
December 17, 1940: Garden Hoses and War
December 18, 1940: Barbarossa Directive
December 19, 1940: Risto Ryti Takes Over
December 20, 1940: Liverpool Blitz, Captain America
December 21, 1940: Moral Aggression
December 22, 1940: Manchester Blitz
December 23, 1940: Hitler at Cap Gris Nez
December 24, 1940: Hitler at Abbeville
December 25, 1940: Hipper's Great Escape
December 26, 1940: Scheer's Happy Rendezvous
December 27, 1940: Komet Shells Nauru
December 28, 1940: Sorge Spills
December 29, 1940: Arsenal of Democracy
December 30, 1940: London Devastated
December 31 1940: Roosevelt's Decent Proposal

2020

Monday 27 October 1939

Belgian forces on maneuvers in 1939.

Western Front: Wehrmacht troops are taking up positions all along the front on 27 October 1939, including in the north where they are facing Holland and Belgium.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-34 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann) torpedoes and sinks 5,317-ton British freighter Bronte. All 42 crew survive. It is a victory against Convoy OB-25.

Soviet authorities in Murmansk return the US City of Flint to its German prize crew. The authorities have decided to treat the situation as a legal, as opposed to political, matter, and announce that the ship must be released in the same condition in which it arrived - i.e., as a German prize ship with its prisoners. However, the Soviets retain the Captain of the City of Flint, Joseph Gainard, because he is an inactive US Naval Reserve officer. The Germans sail west back to Norway, but it remains unclear if they can evade British patrols which caused them to seek safe haven in Murmansk in the first place.

American consul William Chapman continues his discussions about British detainment of US vessels, this time speaking with the British Colonial Secretary. The stakes are rising because one of the ships detained was carrying diplomatic pouches. After meeting with Chapman, the British decide to release the ship containing the pouches, the Exporter, along with freighters Oakman and Meanticut.

Convoy OA 26 departs from Southend, and OB 26 departs from Liverpool.

Battle of the Pacific: Four Soviet submarines arrive by rail in Vladivostok, the USSR's main Pacific naval base.

Belgium: King Leopold, in a radio broadcast, states that his country will defend its neutrality.

German Propaganda: German state media complains about anti-German bias in Belgian media.

United States Government: The Senate passes a bill revising the neutrality laws to permit the sale of arms.

Malaya: Contributes  £80,000 to the Red Cross and St John fund. The fund now tops £500,000 in total.

Vatican: Pope Pius XII publishes the encyclical Summi Pontificatus. It condemns authoritative government practices and expresses compassion for displaced Poles.

Poland: Marshal Rydz-Smigly, interned in Romania, resigns as Commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces.

German military: Hitler dismisses concerns expressed by Heer C-in-C Brauchitsch and others that the Wehrmacht is not ready to attack in the West, particularly given the worsening weather.

China: Japanese attacks against Lanchow continue.

A Polish priest, Father Piotr Sosnowski, before his execution by German Security Police, near the city of Tuchola, October 27, 1939.

Holocaust: Executions in Poland continue. This stage is known as the Intelligenzaktion, a second phase of the Unternehmen Tannenberg directed by Heydrich's Sonderreferat from Berlin.

Future History: John Cleese is born in Weston-super-Mare, England. He goes on to become famous in the 1970s with Monty Python.

John Cleese is born on 27 October 1939.

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

2019

Sunday 10 September 1939

Troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under Lord Gort, marching to the ships taking them to France, 10 September 1939.

Battle of Poland: Polish troops quietly withdraw from Łomża after a vicious battle. The last Poles cross the river  a couple of hours before midnight on September 10, 1939.

The Germans break through at Wizna and take Nowogród, making the entire Narew River line untenable. It has been a dry summer, making standard defensive river lines less useful as opposing forces can ford the rivers. The Polish high command orders a general retreat to the southeast.

At the city of  Jarosław on the San River, General Stanisław Maczek and his Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade mount a defensive operation. The objective is to hold open an escape route for his forces further west. He holds out throughout the day, then skillfully withdraws and leaves only a skeleton force in the city.

Generalmajor der Ordnungspolizei and SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, 51, is ambushed in his staff car and shot in the head by Polish troops near Opoczno and becomes the first German General to die during the war.

Polish/French Diplomacy:  Polish Commander-in-Chief Marshal Rydz-Smigly urgently requests French troops to be sent to aid Poland. General Gamelin, engaged in his offensive in the Saar, replies that this is impossible because over half of his force is in contact with the enemy.

Polish Propaganda: The Luftwaffe mounts 15 raids on Warsaw which are hurting morale. Polish radio broadcasts that the Germans have withdrawn from the vicinity of the city, which is not the case.
German Propaganda: The German High Command broadcasts that the tempo of operations is being slowed to consolidate gains. In fact, just the opposite is happening as the Poles abandon the Narew River line.

In order to sow confusion, German radio technicians, using the same wavelength as Radio Warsaw, broadcast a spurious announcement that Warsaw has fallen.

Canadian Government: Prime Minister Mackenzie King and bearing the seal of Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir publish a joint statement in the Canada Gazette declaring that a state of war exists between the Dominion of Canada and the German Reich "as and from the tenth day of September 1939."

Unlike some other British commonwealth nations, the declaration is not backdated to 3 September. This delay has a hidden purpose. Unlike the other commonwealth nations, Canada is close enough to the United States to furiously stock up supplies from there before the American neutrality laws bar their shipment.

Battle of the Atlantic: In a tragic case of friendly fire, the HMS Triton (Lieutenant Commander Steel) sights another submarine and, assuming that it is a U-boat after any response to attempts to communicate, lets loose two torpedoes. They strike HMS Oxley. There are only two survivors. Steel is later cleared by a Board of Enquiry. The matter is hushed up until the 1950s.

Future History: Cynthia Lennon is born in Blackpool, England. She later marries Beatle John Lennon. Cynthia passes away in 2015. Her son, Julian Lennon, also becomes a pop star after John's death in 1980.

Cynthia, Julian and John Lennon in the 1960s.

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

Thursday 7 September 1939

These prisoners were taken at Westerplatte, 7 September 1939.

Polish Military: With Warsaw already threatened from the west, Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły relocates his Polish Army headquarters further east from Warsaw to Brest-Litovsk (Brest, Belarus). He and the rest of the government now realize that the line of the Narew cannot be held.

Battle of Poland: Westerplatte, which the Germans had attacked first thing during the invasion, finally falls to the Germans. It had held out for a full week and inspired resistance elsewhere despite intense German shelling. Its fall is a shock to the nation. However, it remains a national symbol of resistance somewhat akin to the Alamo in the United States. The battleship Schleswig-Holstein, which had begun the war by firing on Westerplatte, now switches its fire to the Polish naval base at Hela.

The Polish town of Wizna is part of the Polish line of defenses of Łomża. The 10th Panzer Division of the XXI Army Corps (General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst) captures it, but the retreating Poles blow up the bridge across the Narew. German patrols cross the river late in the day and attack Giełczyn, but are stopped. This becomes part of the larger battle of Łomża,  which straddles the Narew River. Around mid-day, the 21st Infantry Division advances directly into Polish defenses at Łomża without preparation (aside from scattered Luftwaffe attacks in previous days) but is repelled. The Germans lose 6 tanks and relatively heavy infantry casualties. The Poles hold out, causing the 21st ID to withdraw north and taking 57 German prisoners.

German radio announces that its forces have reached Pultusk, 30 miles north of Warsaw.

Western Front: The French Army mounts an expedition in the Saarland against German screening forces. The area is in peacetime conditions, with German power plants still supplying the French towns with electricity.

Operation Saar, one of the more controversial episodes of the war because of its missed opportunities, is launched by French General Maurice Gamelin's Third, Fourth and Fifth Armies (11 divisions total). They advance timidly into the Cadenbronn and Warndt Forest salients. The advance is extremely measured, and the German outposts retreat without any fuss. The Germans leave behind placards in French stating that Germany has no quarrel with France. They also position loudspeakers blasting propaganda message in French with a similar theme. The defending German forces are light in infantry and have no panzers. They also are very weak in anti-tank weapons. The French military, of course, knows none of this.

Along with the propaganda efforts, the Germans have mined the roads and fields and booby-trap the towns. General Gamelin orders the hesitant French infantry to drive a herd of pigs through the mines, with many of the animals blown up.

Hitler appoints General Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein to be the commander of Army Detachment A, an ad hoc force for the defense of the Siegfried Line. Hammerstein is overdue for retirement, and his appointment is an expression of Hitler's desire that nothing dramatic occurs along the Western Front. Factories in Saarbrücken continue to operate as normal with French forces just miles away and virtually no defenses in between.

Battle of the Atlantic: Winston Churchill organizes and sends out the first British convoy to America. However, many ships still sail without convoys due to being particularly fast or slow. These are called "independents" and provide the easiest targets for U-boats.

The Dutch steamship Batavia is attacked but the torpedoes miss. British freighter Olivgrove is sunk in the Bay of Biscay 200 miles northwest of Spain.

Hitler meets with Admiral Raeder, CIC of the Kriegsmarine. He issues the Athenia Order, which is that "in order not to provoke neutral countries, the United States, in particular, it is forbidden to torpedo passenger steamers, even when sailing in convoy. Warfare against French merchant ships, attacks on French warships and mine laying off French ports is prohibited."

British Government: Ambassador to Germany Sir Neville Henderson is repatriated to England. General Viscount Lord Gort is appointed to command the British Expeditionary Force.

German Government: The death penalty is prescribed for anyone "hindering the defensive power of the German people."

United States Military: The military takes over control of the Panama Canal.

Irish Government: The Eire government calls up volunteers to supplement Army reserve.

Yugoslav Military: Yugoslavia mobilizes its military.

International Relations: Iraq, independent since 1932, breaks diplomatic relations with Germany. The British maintain two RAF bases there,  RAF Shaibah, near Basra, and RAF Habbaniya, between Ramadi and Fallujah.

United States Homefront: In the Webster Times of Webster, Massachusetts, the big news is of the finale of sailboat racing at the lake.

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

Tuesday 5 September 1939

Günther Prien and U-47.

International Relations: The United States officially declares neutrality in Europe on 5 September 1939. Jan Smuts replaces J.B.M. Hertzog as Prime Minister of South Africa, as Hertzog wishes to declare neutrality. Yugoslavia, Argentina, and Chile also announce neutrality. British soldiers remove two German nationals from a US-flagged ship at Port Said, Egypt, and the US lodges a diplomatic protest.

Battle of the Atlantic: Günther Prien gets his first victory when U-47 sinks the British Steamer Bosnia.

The British authorities at Port Said, Egypt remove five German engineers from Panamanian ship Don Juan. The US lodges a diplomatic protest.

Battle of Poland: German forces moving eastward from Germany toward East Prussia and Danzig annihilate Polish forces of the Pomeranian Army at Tuchola Forest defending the Polish Corridor. Heinz Guderian leads the charge with the XIX Panzer Corps as part of the 4th German Army led by General Günther von Kluge. The way to the south-east and east is now open to the 4th Army.

Further south, the XVI Panzer Corps (1st and 4th Panzer Divisions) is headed toward Piotrkow when the Polish 19th Infantry Division hits it. Later, the Polish 2nd Tank Battalion helps to defend the city. The Germans suffer heavy tank casualties 17 panzers, 14 armored cars, 2 self-propelled guns, while the Polish forces only lose two tanks. However, the Germans shrug off the losses and continue driving forward. They drive a wedge between Army Lodz and Army Kraków. Marshal Rydz-Smigly orders a retreat to behind the Vistula.

The Germans have forced the line of the Vistula and are preparing to cross the Narew and the Western Bug Rivers.

Adolf Hitler on 5 September 1939. Things are looking pretty rosy at the moment.

European Air Operations: The RAF drops 3 million leaflets over the Ruhr industrial region.

British Government: The Crown approves of the National Registration Act.

US Homefront: Stocks surge 10% higher on the first trading day since the outbreak of war. Demand for war materials and other goods by Europe is seen as likely to increase.

Future History: George Lazenby is born in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. He moves to London in the 1960s and becomes famous when he is cast to replace Sean Connery as James Bond in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969). He remains active in Hollywood to this day.

The US newspapers are full of glorious news about fanciful air raids against the evil Germans. News about actual German land advances is a little more difficult to spot.

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