Wednesday 2 October 1940

The crew of an RAF No. 83 Squadron Hampden exit the aircraft "after a successful night's work over Germany," Scampton, 2 October 1940.

Battle of Britain: The Luftwaffe continues on 2 October 1940 its new and improved tactic of using "Jabo" fighter-bombers to entice the RAF up to the battle. The tactics work reasonably well, and Luftwaffe losses have declined drastically since true bombers were restricted to night operations. The RAF has difficulty intercepting these raids because Jabos fly higher and faster than the medium bombers, and also can get back to France quicker, providing fewer attack possibilities. On the downside for the Luftwaffe, the Jabos carry fewer bombs that can cause less damage (though they can aim more accurately under some circumstances), and the pilots have a pronounced tendency to jettison their bombs randomly whenever confronted by interceptors.

It is a cloudy, rainy day, giving the attacks some much-needed cover. The raids start early today, heading for London and nearby airfields such as RAF Biggin Hill around 07:15. RAF Penrhos (Gwynedd in Wales) takes a beating, with numerous ancillary buildings destroyed.

The first major attack starts to form at 08:30. when the Luftwaffe assembles a mixed formation of bombers, Jabos and fighters above Calais and sends it against London. RAF Fighter Command intercepts with 8 squadrons when they approach London. More formations follow, with the first group heading for central London and following formations branching off to surrounding areas. Some ancillary formations cross at different locations, creating a confusing picture for the RAF. The bombers generally reach their targets, and there are massive dogfights which result in few losses given the good cloud-cover.

A smaller raid crosses shortly before noon in the Maidstone area. This is a hit-and-run raid that bombs the coast there, but a larger, following formation heads for RAF Biggin Hill, RAF Lympne, and RAF Kenley and also east London and causing moderate damage.

After the by-now standard break for lunchtime, the Luftwaffe returns with moderate-sized (a few dozen aircraft) raids at 13:30 heading for the same Biggin Hill/Kenley/east London areas targeted during the morning. Once again, there are many ancillary raids of much smaller formations bombing other targets in East Kent such as  Camberwell and Sheppey.

Hurricane pilot and ground staff inspect the oxygen supply, October 1940. The mechanics back at base get no recognition, but the pilots knew who the real heroes of the Battle of Britain were.

Another large raid occurs around 16:30. This time, there is a large component of Heinkel He 111s amongst the 75 Luftwaffe planes. They target the same areas as in the earlier raids. Fighter Command, as one might expect, has better luck with the slow bombers than it had with the Jabos in the earlier raids.

Around dusk at 19:30, the Luftwaffe attacks a convoy off Peterhead with Heinkel He 115s, which have some luck (mentioned below). Fighter Command shoots down one Heinkel and damages another.

After dark, 180 Luftwaffe bombers queue up over London, Newcastle, Manchester, northwest Scotland and the Midlands. The raids are largely over by 01:00, much earlier than during September. The Luftwaffe also mines the Humber and the Thames Estuary. Overall, it is a fairly quiet night as these things have gone since the start of the Blitz on 7 September.

Losses are moderate, with the Luftwaffe losing about ten planes (half bombers, the rest Bf 109s) and the RAF apparently only one. The Luftwaffe's mix of fighters lost to bombers is "improving" in the sense that fewer bomber crews are being lost, though at the expense of more elite fighter pilots lost. Given the fact that there were bombers in only one moderate-sized raid throughout the raid, the attack around 16:30, a disproportionately high five Luftwaffe bomber losses just underscores how vulnerable they have become to the increasingly experienced and aggressive RAF fighter pilots.

For its part, the RAF is getting many more interceptors in the air at night - this time about 33 planes - but they remain singularly unsuccessful at intercepting the lumbering Luftwaffe bombers. The slow, largely unprotected Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s, and Dornier Do 17s still can conduct their operations virtually unmolested after dark aside from anti-aircraft fire (admittedly extremely intense over the London Inner Artillery Zone).

During the morning dogfights, some pilots of JG 53 claim to have a big day. Lt. Eric Schmidt and Uffz. Robert Wolfgarten, both from 9./JG 53, combine for claims of four Spitfires. RAF records, though, only report the loss of one plane during the day, so there was some, ah, German confusion over England.

An unusual incident happens in the morning when the crew of a meteorological/reconnaissance Junkers Ju 88 bomber - still a new entrant on the scene - gets disoriented. After departing Amsterdam Schiphol at 03:00, it wanders about in the dark, cloudy night and mistakes England for France (hey, it happens a lot during the war). Landing at 06:30, the RAF gets a perfectly good new plane for its "Ratwaffe," the British collection of intact captured aircraft.

Bessie Knight-Hepburn, pictured at right, and Mrs. Clarke (left) become the first women to receive the George Medal for civilian bravery at the hand of King George V. Mrs. Clarke drove an ambulance that carried Mrs. Hepburn to a minefield, which they crossed at great hazard to themselves in an attempt to help two badly wounded men (both ultimately perish). Their medals were exhibited at the Moot Hall Museum at Aldeburgh for many years.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command targets oil installations at Bottrop in the Ruhr, Stettin and Hamburg, Hamm, Cologne warehouses, the Essen Krupp factory, and several major ports (Flushing, Antwerp, Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and other invasion ports along the Channel). The bomber lands at Brightlingsea, Essex

Battle of the Atlantic: U-32 (Kplt. Hans Jenisch) torpedoes and sinks 4606-ton British freighter Kayeson along the trade routes 400 or so miles west of Ireland at 18:25. All 38 onboard are seen by the U-boat to abandon ship, but none are ever seen again - Captain Jenisch notes high swells. The U-boat accidentally collides with the Kayeson's rudder and sustains damage and, since it is now out of torpedoes, heads for home. This is one of several incidents around this time when entire crews mysteriously disappear in the mid-Atlantic.

The Luftwaffe Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condors of 2,/KG 40 attack Convoy HG 44 a few miles west of County Kerry, Ireland. Oberleutnant Schlosser hits 2218 ton British freighter Latymer with a 250kg bomb and sinks it. There is some confusion about this sinking because the wreck site is west of Ireland, but she was heading from Lisbon to London and that was far out of her way. The ship may have been re-routed, but sending it clear around Ireland seems kind of odd. There was at least one fatality for this sinking, a seaman listed on the Plaques All Wars Seamen's Mission in South Shields (currently on the staircase).

RAF No. 801 Squadron based at Hatson bombs German shipping at Bjorne Fjord and lose a Skua, the two airmen perish.

The Luftwaffe attacks Convoy HX 74 off Scotland in the North Sea, but they cause no damage. However, in another attack off Peterhead against Convoy HX 74A, they damage freighter Trehata.

Convoy FN 297 departs from Southend, Convoy FS 298 departs from Methil.

U-144 (Kptl. Friedrich von Hippel) is commissioned.

The Curtiss SO3C Seamew developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in a wind tunnel, October 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy destroyers HMS Havock and Hasty find and depth charge Italian submarine Berillo for two hours while returning to Alexandria after the Malta convoy. The sub surfaces after being heavily damaged and all 45 onboard are taken as prisoners.

The Royal Navy fleet returns to Alexandria after its successful resupply mission to Malta.

Cruisers HMS Orion and Sydney attack the Italian base at the port of Maltezana on Stampalia (Astypalaia).

The Malta command, realizing how easy it is to confuse Royal Navy submarines and Italian ones (there are no U-boats in the Mediterranean at this time), develops a new protocol. Coastal batteries from now on will be given a stand-down order when Royal Navy submarines are known to be in the vicinity. The first such stand-down order (called "submarine sanctuary" orders, which is somewhat misleading) are issued today for the anticipated arrival of HMS Truant. Meanwhile, the infantry and artillery units on the island continue integrating the troops received in the recent convoy from Alexandria.

Anglo/US Relations: Pursuant to the destroyers-for-bases deal, the USS Mason (DD 191) becomes the HMS Broadwater (H 81, Lt. Commander Charles L. de Hauteville Bell).

The Greenslade Board inspecting the new US bases from that deal arrives at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"ON BOARD ONE OF THE US DESTROYERS RECENTLY TRANSFERRED TO THE ROYAL NAVY. 2 OCTOBER 1940, PLYMOUTH." © IWM (A 1062).

US Military: Colonel George S. Patton, Jr. receives a promotion to temporary brigadier general after well over a decade at the colonel level. Patton is the commander of the 2nd Armored Brigade, part of the 2nd Armored Division, and is in charge of training. Patton is one of the few US Army officers with actual experience leading tanks in combat during World War I and is a key figure in one of the very few armored formations in the US Army.

Holocaust: Adolf Hitler meets in Berlin with Hans Frank, the Gauleiter in Occupied Poland. He sets forth his views about the Poles (notes of the meeting by Martin Bormann):

The General Gouvernment is our work force reservoir for low-grade work (brick plants, road building, etc.) ... Unconditionally, attention should be paid to the fact that there can be no "Polish masters"; where there are Polish masters, and I do not care how hard this sounds, they must be killed. (...) The Führer must emphasize once again that for Poles there is only one master and he is a German, there can be no two masters beside each other and there is no consent to such, hence all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be killed ... The General Gouvernment is a Polish reservation, a great Polish labor camp.

In essence, Hitler sets forth the view that the Poles exist only to service the German war effort as slaves and otherwise are useless and unnecessary. This also is direct evidence of Hitler ordering executions of "undesirables." The issue of the Poles will remain an active topic until the last days of the Reich and will not deviate from this attitude. One last fact: many of the Polish "intelligentsia" (but not by any means all) are Jewish.

Free France: The British and General de Gaulle are having "issues." The Royal Navy sends the transports loaded with the troops intended for Operation Menace from Freetown to join de Gaulle at Duala, Cameroon. However, disagreements about objectives arrive, and the British turn the transports around and they return to Freetown. De Gaulle's prestige is at a low point due to the fiasco at Dakar.

British Homefront: The government formally ends the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) due to the recent sinkings of the Volendam and City of Benares (the latter sinking on 18 September 1940 decisive because of the large loss of life by the evacuees).

A pet fox waiting for its owner, Owning unusual pets was a big fad in the 30s-50s and included deer and pigs. Moorhead, Minnesota, October 1940.

October 1940
October 1, 1940: Wait Daddy October 2, 1940: Hitler's Polish Plans
October 3, 1940: British Cabinet Shakeup
October 4, 1940: Brenner Pass Meeting
October 5, 1940: Mussolini Alters Strategy
October 6, 1940: Iron Guard Marches
October 7, 1940: McCollum Memo
October 8, 1940: Germans in Romania
October 9, 1940: John Lennon Arrives
October 10, 1940: Führer-Sofortprogramm
October 11, 1940: E-Boats Attack!
October 12, 1940: Sealion Cancelled
October 13, 1940: New World Order
October 14, 1940: Balham Tragedy
October 15, 1940: Mussolini Targets Greece
October 16, 1940: Japanese Seek Oil
October 17, 1940: RAF Shakeup
October 18, 1940: Convoy SC-7 Catastrophe
October 19, 1940: Convoy HX-79 Catastrophe
October 20, 1940: Convoy OB-229 Disaster
October 21, 1940: This Evil Man Hitler
October 22, 1940: Aktion Wagner-Burckel
October 23, 1940: Hitler at Hendaye
October 24, 1940: Hitler and Petain
October 25, 1940: Petain Woos Churchill
October 26, 1940: Empress of Britain Attack
October 27, 1940: Greece Rejects Italian Demands
October 28, 1940: Oxi Day
October 29, 1940: US Draft Begins
October 30, 1940: RAF Area Bombing Authorized
October 31, 1940: End of Battle of Britain

2020

Sunday 26 October 1939

Slovakian Prime Minister Jozef Tiso.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Soviet government on 26 October 1939 protests Great Britain's right to stop and detain Soviet merchant ships bound for Germany. Great Britain and the Soviet Union, of course, are not at war. The Soviets also challenge the expansive definitions of "contraband" the British are applying. In fact, several nations are casting a leery eye at the British over this heavy-handed practice, but few are in a position to protest.

Perhaps coincidentally echoing the Soviet protest on the same day, US Consul at Gibraltar William E. Chapman informally questions the British officials there about their detainment practices regarding US-flagged ships. Some of the ships are being detained for lengthy periods and having their cargo removed before release. In addition, US mail is not being delivered to the Continent.

Murmansk authorities (no doubt in communication with Moscow) are mulling over what to do with the City of Flint. The German prize crew remains in detention. The Soviet issues with the British over detentions of neutral vessels may be affecting this vaguely similar issue, too.

The U-16, lost yesterday, washes up on Goodwin Sands with 50 crew dead inside.

US freighter Black Eagle is detained by the British.

Convoy OB 25 departs from Liverpool. Convoy OG 4 forms.

Western Front: Nothing much going on between occasional meetings between patrols and lackluster artillery exchanges.

Population Transfers: Berlin confirms that Hitler wishes to "return" ethnic Germans to the Reich, a program that has been in place for some time.

Australian Propaganda: An Australian radio station begins beaming anti-German content.

Poland: Hans Frank becomes the Governor-General of occupied Poland, with his headquarters in Krakow.

Rhodesia: The Southern Rhodesia Air Force (SRAF) offers to contribute three air squadrons to British defense.

Iran: Ahmad Matin-Daftari becomes Prime Minister.

Finland: The Finnish government seeks Swedish support in their diplomatic battle against the Soviets.

Slovakia: Jozef Tiso, until now Prime Minister, becomes President of Slovakia. Tiso, a priest, is also a fervent German sympathizer. He appoints Vojtech Tuka, a fellow right-wing radical who formed the Hlinka Guard paramilitary force in Slovakia, to replace him as Prime Minister. Slovakia may now be considered a German satellite.

China: Claire Chennault returns to San Francisco to tour aircraft factories as he continues reorganizing the Chinese air force.

Japanese combined arms operations against Lanchow, with some 100 planes attacking.

Holocaust: Jewish males between 14 and 60 years of age are forced to perform manual labor in Poland.

American Homefront: President Roosevelt is quoted in the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 26, 1939:

“The United States of America, as I have said before, is neutral and does not intend to get involved in war.”

Goodwin Sands at low tide. At normal times, it is several meters below sea level.

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

Thursday 19 October 1939

Newsmen atop a Maginot Line fort in rainy weather, 19 October 1939.

Western Front: The weather turns sour on 19 October 1939, and there are floods along the line.

The OKH at Zossen issues a preliminary plan for the invasion of France, which is still expected to take place in 1939. It calls for a Schlieffen Plan-like right hook through the low countries.

European Air Operations: A mysterious German balloon lands in Cruden Aberdeenshire. Two German crewmen of a downed bomber come ashore at Whitby. Sir Kingsley Wood returns to London after inspecting RAF operations in France.

Battle of the Atlantic: German vessel Bikaya is captured off of Iceland by the Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser Scotstoun. The German vessel Gonzenheim is scuttled to avoid a similar fate.

On neutrality patrol, the US gunboat USS Erie arrives on station off Manzanillo, Mexico to monitor the German freighter Havelland.

Convoy OA 22 departs from Southend.

Convoy OB 22 departs from Liverpool.

Turkey: Turkey signs an Anglo-French-Turkish Treaty of Mutual Assistance, good for a 15-year term. It provides for military assistance if a European power attacks the signatories, so long as Turkey does not have to fight the Soviet Union. The real interest of Turkey is not choosing between Hitler and the West, it is about Russia, with which Turkey has a long, deadly history. Turkey receives back some territory in northern Syria that she lost after World War I which has been under French mandate.

Poland: Hitler officially incorporates western Poland into the Reich.

Sweden: The Scandinavian heads of State meeting in Stockholm broadcast a message of solidarity.

German Government: Adolf Hitler's personal pilot Hans Bauer has told the Fuhrer that he would like a fast Focke Wulf 200 Condor in place of the slow Junkers Ju 52 that Hitler has been using. Today, a specially outfitted Fw 200 is delivered to the Fuhrer's private air force Fliegerstaffel des Fuehrers. It includes such amenities as an ejection seat with parachute for Hitler.

British Government: The British Ministry of Transport releases a report stating that in September, due to the blackout, persons killed on the roads almost doubled, from 617 to 1,130.

Contraband seized for the week ending 14 October 1939 totals 23,000 tons.

Holocaust: In order to coordinate the seizure of property from Jews and other Poles in Poland, Hermann Goering creates the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (HTO), or the Main Trustee Office for the East. It is staffed by officials of the Deutsche and Dresdner banks.

American Military: Four Navy flyers are killed when two bombers collide over San Diego.

American Homefront: More fallout from Charles Lindbergh's America First broadcast: boxer Gene Tunney of all people castigates Lindbergh for having accepted an award from Hermann Goering during a visit to Germany, and portrays Lindbergh as "deserting" England.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" opens, starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur.

A typical Third Reich publication glorifying the Luftwaffe, 19 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

Monday 16 October 1939

The first Luftwaffe plane shot down over the UK to fall there. It was downed by 602 Squadron. Note the double wing markings, done to make the planes less susceptible to friendly fire over Poland. Heinkel HE-111 H, W.Nr.5449 1H+JA, Humbie, Scotland, 1939.

Battle of Poland: The Wehrmacht defines 16 October 1939 as the "official" end of the Battle of Poland. There are still some hold-outs, but no major Polish forces remain in the field. The Polish Embassy in Paris refutes the German claim and contends that there are substantial Polish troop formations at Suwalki in the Carpathians, and in the Pripet Marshes at Bialowieza.

Western Front: The Wehrmacht sends troops into the Saar area that the French had occupied during Operation Saar. Attacking in the morning on a four-mile front east of the Moselle, they are finally halted by French gunfire. In the afternoon, they attack along a 20-mile front east of the Saar River. The offensives clear the area of French observers, the main French force having long ago withdrawn back to France, behind the safety of the Maginot Line.

European Air Operations: The first Luftwaffe strategic bombing attack is launched on Great Britain in the afternoon. Nine Junkers Ju 88 bombers from Gruppe 1 of Kampfgeschwader (KG) 30 (Helmut Pohle) and a few Heinkel 111s attack Rosyth, Firth of Forth. The cruiser HMS Southampton and HMS Edinburgh are lightly damaged. Some casualties are suffered on the destroyer HMS Mohawk. Three German planes (two Junkers and a Heinkel) are lost when some Spitfires of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Auxillary Air Force Squadrons (602 and 603) intervene.

These reportedly are the first enemy aircraft downed over the UK to actually fall on the UK, though one or two previously had been shot down but fallen nearby. There are a lot of "firsts" in World War II - first shot down by the RAF, first shot down from the UK, first shot down to fall on the UK, first shot down over England... and so on and so forth. To be clear, the first aircraft shot down by a UK-based RAF aircraft was a Dornier 18 over the North Sea on 8 October.

RAF bombers drop leaflets over Germany during the previous night. The British are learning from feedback: Germans are afraid to be seen stooping to pick up the literature, so the British propaganda office makes the typescript big enough to read from a standing position.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Kriegsmarine revises its instructions to U-boat commanders:

All merchant ships definitely recognized as enemy ones (British and French) can be torpedoed without warning. Passenger steamers in convoy can be torpedoed a short while after notice has been given of the intention to do so.

In practice, it is virtually impossible to give warning to ships sailing in convoys, and it is seldom done except inadvertently.

German tanker Emmy Friedrich leaves Tampico, Mexico for a rendezvous with Admiral Graf Spee. Neutrality patrols are on the lookout for it.

The British detain US freighter Gateway City and release US freighter Black Heron.

German vessel Halle is scuttled to avoid capture west of Dakar.

U-35 appears on the cover of Life Magazine for its rescue of Greek sailors in the Diamantis incident.

Finland: The Finnish negotiators return from Moscow.

Poland: The Germans expel all Poles from Gdynia.

Iraq: The Grand Mufti arrives in Baghdad following his escape from the French.

Finnish negotiator Juho Kusti Paasikivi returning from Moscow on 16 October 1939 (Jukka Nevakivi: Apu jota ei annettu, ISBN 951-0-24676-x, page 213 photo 9).

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 15 October 1939

Cuban mail rockets.

Western Front: Paris radio reports on 15 October 1939 that German troops are massing behind the lines. It also reports that French reconnaissance planes are watching the front, as are German reconnaissance planes.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Admiralty publishes a list of the 414 survivors of the HMS Royal Oak.

U-37 (Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartmann) sinks the French 5,186-ton merchant freighter Vermont by gunfire. Two crew perish.

The Admiral Graf Spee refuels from the tanker Altmark.

Convoy OA 20G departs from Scotland.

Convoy SL 5 departs from Freetown for Liverpool.

European Air Operations: Having previously lost both legs in an inter-war flying accident, Douglas Bader seeks to regain full flight status in the RAF.

Finland: The military imposes compulsory national service.

Estonia: The Estonian government signs an agreement with the German government for the transfer of ethnic Germans to Germany.

Lithuania: The Polish minister in Kaunas protests to Lithuania that the Soviets had no right to deed the Polish city of Vilnius to Lithuania on 10 October 1939. The Lithuanians, however, had little choice in the matter, as the Soviets wanted to help enhance the reputation of the local communist party and threatened consequences if the territory was not accepted.

Poland: there is an outbreak of typhoid and cholera.

China: The 11th Japanese Army is now back to its starting point in the Battle of Changsha.

Official Post Office cachet for Cuban rocket mail.

Cuba: The Cuban post office tests the use of rockets to deliver mail between cities. The test is unsuccessful.

Prisoner swaps: Germany and England exchange their detained consular officials.

Holocaust: German puppet state Slovakia orders that Jews serve in forced labor.

American Homefront: The airport in Queens that eventually becomes LaGuardia Airport (now New York Municipal Airport) is dedicated before 100,000 people. There are air force fly-bys.

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

Tuesday 22 August 1939

Hitler at lunch at the Berghof with his General on 22 August 1939. They are in civilian clothes to disguise the true nature of the day's agenda. After this, military garb will be the norm at the Berghof.

German Military Planning: With prospects for a deal with the Soviet Union rushing to a satisfactory conclusion, on Tuesday, 22 August 1939 Adolf Hitler holds a meeting for his fifty top military leaders at the Berghof. Attendees include the usual suspects: Luftwaffe boss Hermann Goering, General Erich von Manstein, and so forth.

There are three different known sources of notes for the speech that day. They apparently were taken by Abwehr (military intelligence), chief Vice-Admiral Canaris. Others at the meeting only jotted down random notes, but Canaris' full set found their way into the files at Heer headquarters at Zossen. The note versions differ only in details. In essence, Hitler gives a ninety-minute oration in which he sets forth his resolve to "smash Poland," a decision he claimed he had made the previous spring.

A controversial part of the speech involves a reference to the Armenian genocide around the time of World War I. In one version of the notes which has an unknown provenance, Hitler states:

Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter – with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It’s a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me. I have issued the command – and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad – that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness – for the present only in the East – with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks to-day of the annihilation of the Armenians?

The translation is from Louis P. Lochner, who provided the sole copy of the notes that contained this paragraph. Lochner refused to identify his source ("Mr. Maasz gave it to me" was the extent of what he would say, and nobody has any idea who that might be) or give any specifics as to why he thought it was a reliable source. Lochner's version was not introduced into evidence at the Nuremberg trials due to the unknown source. In other words - it could be completely spurious and manufactured by anyone.

Looking at the paragraph above purely analytically, it is unclear if it is an accurate quote. It does contain some phrases that Hitler tended to prefer, such as "It's a matter of indifference to me," a common expression used by Hitler. On the other hand, the stark belligerency ("I'll have them all shot" may have been accurate, but is not the sort of Hitler statement often seen elsewhere in the record) is not a pose that Hitler often adopted in staff settings. Thus, there are pros and cons for those trying to divine its authenticity. There also is the possibility of the note-taker perhaps putting his own spin on whatever Hitler said - and Canaris (if he took these notes as well, which is unknown) was later shot at Auschwitz for plotting against Hitler. Canaris was a fairly mellow officer (for a member of the Third Reich), so he may have tended to exaggerate the blood-thirstiness that he heard for effect.

The last sentence of the above quote is occasionally used for political purposes to this day. It obviously is a very pungent summation of a cynical attitude toward death and morality. The quote is inscribed on one of the walls of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Whether or not Hitler actually said it, the meaning of the sentence does seem to sum up Hitler's attitude towards the subject, and the importance of remembering past tragedies. At this point, it is just accepted that Hitler made the quote, and whether he actually did or not is almost beside the point - that is the "official" version of history that people rely upon today and which comports with the known character of the speaker.

A lot about the day is uncertain besides that quote. In fact, Hitler may have given two speeches that day, depending upon how one defines such things: one before lunch, and one after. As with many other aspects of Hitler's life, an air of mystery surrounds the event. However, one thing is clear: Hitler was ready to go to war, but did not think he would have to. As Admiral Canaris' (known) notes state, Hitler said:

I have only one fear, that at the last moment some idiot may offer to mediate.

Goering, of course, had been trying to "mediate" in his clumsy way all along, but without results, so that quote may have been directed specifically at him. Hitler also says that he does not expect his enemies to fight: "They are worms: I saw them at Munich."

The mood of the German Generals is somber, especially given the news they had just received that morning that a deal with Stalin was at hand. Such a deal with the only nation in any position to conceivably protect Poland, they must figure, would almost automatically trigger a conflict. There is not the joyous outburst of enthusiasm such as had happened throughout Germany in August 1914.

German/Soviet Diplomacy: After attending Hitler's speech, Foreign Minister Ribbentrop boards Hitler's personal Condor transport and flies to Moscow with roughly 30 associates. He had received Stalin's acceptance to the meeting only the day before. Among them is Hitler's personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, there to memorialize the visit. They spend the night at Königsberg, it being a long flight from Bavaria for the era.

Ribbentrop with his Moscow delegation on their return to Germany on 24 August 1939.

British Government: With war fears ascending, the British Parliament is called back into session, to be held 24 August 1939.

US Homefront: The Pine Ridge Boys record country classic "You Are My Sunshine" for Bluebird Records.

Future History: Valerie Harper is born in Suffern, New York; Carl Yastrzemski is born in Southampton, New York. Harper becomes famous as a comic actress in the 1970s, while Yastrzemski ("Yaz") becomes the cleanup hitter for the Boston Red Sox.

Valerie Harper, born on 22 August 1939.

Pre-War

8-9 November 1923: Beer Hall Putsch

December 20, 1924: Hitler Leaves Prison

September 18, 1931: Geli Raubal Commits Suicide

November 8, 1932: Roosevelt is Elected

30 January 1933: Hitler Takes Office
February 27, 1933: Reichstag Fire
March 23, 1933: The Enabling Act

June 20, 1934: Hitler Plans the Night of the Long Knives
June 30, 1934: Night of the Long Knives

August 1, 1936: Opening of the Berlin Olympics

September 30, 1938: The Munich Agreement
November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht

August 1, 1939: Flight Tests of B-17 Flying Fortress
August 2, 1939: Einstein and the Atom Bomb
August 7, 1939: Goering Tries to Broker Peace
August 14, 1939: Hitler Decides To Attack Poland
August 15, 1939: U-Boats Put To Sea
August 16, 1939: Incident at Danzig
August 20, 1939: Battle of Khalkhin Gol
August 22, 1939: Hitler Tips His Hand
August 23, 1939: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
August 25, 1939: Hitler Postpones Invasion of Poland
August 27, 1939: First Jet Flight
August 31, 1939: The Gleiwitz Operation

2019

Friday 1 September 1939

Old German battleship SMS Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the morning of 1 September 1939.

Preliminary Fact: The previous night, the Germans had implemented "Operation Himmler." This involved the staging of "provocations" along the German/Polish border, most famously at the radio station at Gleiwitz. Hitler has used this operation to build a propaganda "justification" for an invasion of Poland.

Germany, Air Operations: Case White, the invasion of Poland, begins. At 4:40 a.m., the Luftwaffe attacks the Polish town of Wieluń, causing extensive damage and killing an estimated 1200 civilians and soldiers. Later, air attacks commence against Kraków, Łódź, and Warsaw.

Operation Wasserkante, the air attack on Warsaw, is composed of four bomber groups but is hampered by poor weather. In addition, PZL P.11 fighters of the Pursuit Brigade shot down 16 German aircraft for the loss of 10 of their own. While a major Polish success, the Germans can sustain their losses, the Poles cannot.
Germany, Naval Operations:  SMS Schleswig-Holstein, a pre-dreadnought laid down in 1905 which had participated in the Battle of Jutland, opens fire at about 4:45 a.m. The target is a Polish ammunition depot at Westerplatte by the Port of Danzig. Many consider this the first "official" shot of the war, though an entire war machine was on the move at the time and indications are that other forces were in play before this action. Choosing this as the start was more due to the convenience of cameras being present that recorded the action than reality. The salvo initiates a ground attack on the depot that is initially unsuccessful.

In London, September 1st, 1939. Three  Kennedys - Joe Junior, Kathleen, and Jack - hurry to attend a special sitting of the British House of Commons. Their father, Joe, is the Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

Germany, Army Operations: Shortly before 5 a.m., German forces move across the frontier. The main attack, though, does not begin until 8 a.m., when the Wehrmacht attacks Mokra. Three pincers aim at Warsaw from East Prussia in the north, Slovakia (a German ally) in the south, and straight east from Germany proper.

The primary forces (53 Divisions) entering Poland under Army (Heer) Commander-in-Chief Walther von Brauchitsch:

• Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North) (Fedor von Bock);
• Heeresgrupped Sud (Army Group South) (Karl Rudolf von Rundstedt);

The individual armies are:

• 3rd Army (Georg von Küchler)
• 4th Army (Günther von Kluge)
• 8th Army (Johannes Blaskowitz)
• 10th Army (Walter von Reichenau)
• 14th Army (Wilhelm von List).

There are two Luftwaffe forces corresponding to the Army Groups and giving them dedicated support (one for each):

• Loftflotte 1 (Albert Kesselring);
• Luftflotte 4 (Alexander Löhr);

Poland, Army Operations: Polish forces successfully defend against an opening attack on the strategic Dirschau Bridge designed to capture it intact. Elsewhere, though, resistance is light.

Germany, Diplomacy: Chancellor Adolf Hitler announces the invasion to the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House (the Reichstag building having been burned in the 27 February 1933 Reichstag Fire). Hitler states that the hostilities are a defensive action. He further states, "If anything should befall me in this struggle, then my successor shall be party-member Goering." He does not ask for a declaration of war, but nobody is left in any doubt that war has commenced.

Hitler holds out hope, encouraged by German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, that Britain and France will not intervene. Unofficial/amateur Swedish diplomat Birger Dahlerus, at the behest of Hermann Goering, phones the permanent undersecretary of the British Foreign Office in London, Sir Alexander Cadogan early in the morning. He wants to broker some kind of understanding. Cadogan tells him that no talks are possible unless and until Germany withdraws from Poland. Around noon, Dahlerus goes to the British embassy in Berlin with the same proposal and is told the same thing.

Germany, Home Front: In sharp contrast to August 1914, when there were wild celebrations upon the outbreak of World War I in Germany and Austria-Hungary, there are few if any public demonstrations in Germany. Crews are busy securing various art treasures and buildings against air attack.

Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag on 1 September 1939.

Future History: Lily Tomlin is born on 1 September 1939. She gains fame in the 1960s and thereafter as a television/film/stage comedienne.

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

Alfred Naujocks and the Gleiwitz radio tower.

Germany, Diplomacy: Following several days of covert diplomacy with Great Britain, France and Poland, events culminate on 29 August with a German ultimatum to Poland (the "Sixteen Points"). While the Sixteen Points are intentionally framed as reasonably as possible in order to appear attractive to the British, the Polish Ambassador Lipski, for the time being, ignores the entire document as diplomatically offensive. This is precisely what the Germans are counting on. Lipski falls into the trap set by Hitler to create another thin pretext for military action and reasons for the British to not support the Poles. It is a standard Hitler tactic, and it proceeds exactly as planned.

With the diplomatic pretext working, the German High Command (OKW) issues final orders for Case White, the invasion of Poland, just after noontime. Negotiations via Birger Dahlerus continue with the British virtually around the clock. As expected, the Polish refusal to consider the Sixteen Points immediately (as demanded) is used by the Germans in an attempt to fracture Western support for Poland. There are a few very subtle signs of this possibly happening, as the British at least keep talking to Dahlerus in London and make vague statements that leave open the possibility of further negotiations.

Germany, military affairs: With negotiations sputtering along with Great Britain to prevent it from honoring its defense obligations to Poland, Adolf Hitler on 28 August rescheduled Case White (the invasion of Poland) for 1 September 1939. However, in a desire to create a military pretext for the invasion (in addition to the diplomatic pretext), several months previously he had asked his SS chief Heinrich Himmler to craft a sequence of border "incidents" to "justify" military action. Collectively, these incidents would proceed under the code name "Operation Himmler." In later parlance, these are "false flag" operations, perhaps the first in history.

One of these incidents, and the most notorious, was Operation Grandmother Died ("Unternehmen Grossmutter Gestorben"). This would involve a supposed Polish attack on a German radio station that was close to the border at Gleiwitz. Why the Poles would suddenly attack a random German radio station was unclear, but it made sense to the Germans.

SS-Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) Alfred Naujocks organizes the plan. He uses one Franciszek Honiok, a Catholic Polish farmer who had proven troublesome to local German authorities in Silesia. Honiok had been arrested the previous day on a pretext. On 31 August, he is given a lethal injection and then, dressed in a Polish uniform, driven to the radio station. There, he is shot multiple times and left on the station steps. Afterward, Naujocks has someone broadcast a message in Polish urging an invasion of Germany. Then, he and his soldiers leave. The incident forms a major pretext (a "provocation") for Hitler's speech to the Reichstag the following morning "justifying" the unprovoked German invasion of Poland.

By some interpretations, Honiok becomes the first casualty of World War II.

Franciszek Honiok.

Pre-War

8-9 November 1923: Beer Hall Putsch

December 20, 1924: Hitler Leaves Prison

September 18, 1931: Geli Raubal Commits Suicide

November 8, 1932: Roosevelt is Elected

30 January 1933: Hitler Takes Office
February 27, 1933: Reichstag Fire
March 23, 1933: The Enabling Act

June 20, 1934: Hitler Plans the Night of the Long Knives
June 30, 1934: Night of the Long Knives

August 1, 1936: Opening of the Berlin Olympics

September 30, 1938: The Munich Agreement
November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht

August 1, 1939: Flight Tests of B-17 Flying Fortress
August 2, 1939: Einstein and the Atom Bomb
August 7, 1939: Goering Tries to Broker Peace
August 14, 1939: Hitler Decides To Attack Poland
August 15, 1939: U-Boats Put To Sea
August 16, 1939: Incident at Danzig
August 20, 1939: Battle of Khalkhin Gol
August 22, 1939: Hitler Tips His Hand
August 23, 1939: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
August 25, 1939: Hitler Postpones Invasion of Poland
August 27, 1939: First Jet Flight
August 31, 1939: The Gleiwitz Operation

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