Wednesday 9 October 1940

Start of the workday, 9 October 1940.

Battle of Britain: Weather is poor on 9 October 1940, preventing major operations. As on the 8th, there are mostly small raids that don't accomplish much, with one major raid in the afternoon. There is a lot of damage, but by this time, bad as it is, the bombing is becoming almost routine.

Early in the morning, a bomber scores a strike on St. Paul's Cathedral. It damages the High Altar. Later in the morning, around 11:00, a moderate-sized raid of 20-30 planes reaches south London. The fighter-bombers (Jabos) fly high, as usual, and elude interception. Another raid of around 35 aircraft around the same time targets Gravesend, Hornchurch, and Canewdon. Other raids of about the same size hit Maidstone and Dover.

After lunch, at 13:00, some Heinkel He 111s attack a convoy of Land's End, but RAF No. 601 Squadron intercepts and shoots two of the bombers down. At 14:30, the day's main raid of about 175 aircraft crosses to hit East London. This formation includes Junkers Ju 88s and causes appreciable damage. Major dogfights break out over the Thames Estuary and points east. Damage is scattered, with many private residences taking damage.

Right before sunset, at 18:53, a Jabo attack on Solent Naval Air Station causes little damage. About half an hour later, the Luftwaffe attacks Yeovilton Naval Air Station, but the damage is slight. A little later, attacks are made on St Merryn Naval Air Station, which damages a Swordfish and a Proctor aircraft.

After dark, London is the main bomber target. The attacks begin around 19:00 and are of moderate intensity. Aside from London, the usual targets of Liverpool, Manchester, and Derby are hit. The Luftwaffe drops 386 tons of High Explosive bombs on London and 70,000 one kg bombs. The Luftwaffe also drops mines all along the English Channel shoreline.

Losses for the day are light, with the RAF losing only three planes and the Luftwaffe 9.

Oblt. Hans-Ekkehard Bob from 7./JG 54  makes two claims, both Spitfires.

Hawker Hurricanes, RAF No. 85 Squadron, October 1940.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command attacks oil installations at Hamburg and various targets in Holland (Texel Airfield, Helder) and France (Le Havre) during the day. After dark, it launches an oil installation at Cologne, a Krupp factory in Essen, and various Channel ports.

A Whitley of RAF No. 77 Squadron returning from a raid over Germany during the night flies into high ground west of Snape while returning. Midshipman D. A. C. Hadingham perishes.

RAF Coastal Command chips in with an attack on the port of Brest, causing minor damage to destroyers Eckholdt, Lody, and Riedel. The RAF loses one Albacore biplane, the crew becoming POWs.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-103 (KrvKpt. Viktor Schütze), on her first patrol and having entered the Atlantic between the Faroe and the Shetland Islands, has a big day. During the morning, the lookout spots Convoy SC 6 about 37 miles north-northwest of Rockall and Schütze goes to work. After stalking the convoy all day, he shoots three torpedoes at 22:11 and makes three hits.

U-103 torpedoes and sinks 3816 ton Greek freighter Delphin. Everybody survives.

U-103 torpedoes and sinks 4407 ton Greek freighter Zannes Gounaris, which is carrying a cargo of phosphate rock. One crewman perishes.

U-103 also torpedoes and badly damages 3697-ton British freighter Graigwen (Master Daniel Wright Fowle). After putting a torpedo into it at 22:11, the crew abandoned the ship. U-123 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle) sees the drifting hulk on 10 October at 21:33 and finishes it off with a torpedo. There are 27 survivors and 7 crew perish. The survivors are picked up by HMS Enchantress.

After this engagement, the convoy escorts depth-charge U-103, but it escapes.

Royal Navy 321 ton minesweeper (former fishing trawler) HMT Sea King (Acting Temporary Skipper T. Sleeth RNR) hits a mine and sinks in the Humber Estuary about 28 nautical miles off Bull Sand Fort, Grimsby. All 14 crew perish.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 633-ton British collier Alderney Queen off Grassholm Island in the Bristol Channel. Everybody aboard survives.

The weather in the North Sea is poor, and Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Furious is forced to abandon a planned strike on Bodo after leaving Scapa Flow.

Convoy OB 226 departs Liverpool, Convoy FN 304 departs from Southend, Convoy HG 45 (49 ships and carrying 1093 civilians on troopship Neuralgia) departs from Gibraltar.

German raider (AMC) Kormoran is commissioned.

Hermann Goering on an inspection tour in France, September/October 1940 (Dreesen, Federal Archives).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Free French under General Charles de Gaulle invade and capture Duala in Cameroon. This establishes Free French control over the colony, from which de Gaulle hopes to launch air raids against Italian positions to the north and east. De Gaulle himself arrives aboard Free French minesweeper Commandant Duboc.

Both the Royal Navy fleet based at Alexandria and elements of the Italian fleet based at Taranto are at sea, but they don't spot each other. Aerial reconnaissance from Malta, though, spots Italian ships at sea near Taranto. The reconnaissance establishes that the Italians have five battleships there.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Regent torpedoes the 6968-ton Italian transport Antonietta Costa off Durrës, Albania.  The freighter manages to make it close enough to shore - about 10 miles - to run aground, but it is a total loss.

The RAF attacks Tobruk Harbor. There is some skirmishing south of Buna in East Africa that results in some Italian casualties.

Italian destroyers Vivaldi, Da Noli, and Tarigo lay mines south of Malta.

At Malta, Governor Dobbie requests permission to implement a bonus system for the fast construction of shelters.

German/Romanian Relations: German troops continue entering Romania with that government's permission in order to secure the Ploesti oil fields and other key points. The oil fields are a major preoccupation of Adolf Hitler and are the real reason for this "invasion," which ostensibly is to train the Romanian Army (which doesn't really need any training). While the Soviet Union looms nearby, Hitler is more worried at this point by British sabotage.

The New York Times reports the end of the World Series.

Anglo/Canadian Relations: Continuing the cozy relationship between Great Britain and North America, the British purchasing mission places initial orders for 20 10,000 ton freighters. This order eventually expands to 26 ships.

British Government: In a quirk of British politics, Prime Minister Winston Churchill has not been the leader of the Conservative Party - that honor has belonged to Neville Chamberlain. Today, with the "retirement" of Chamberlain recently due to illness, that is rectified and Churchill formally becomes the leader of the party. While not well-liked within the party, for better or worse he has become the face of the Conservatives and of the war effort in general.

Holland: The Germans ban Jews and half-Jews from public employment.

Future History: John Winston Lennon is born at Liverpool Maternity Hospital to Julia and Alfred Lennon. Alfred is a merchant seaman and is not present. John Lennon becomes a happy-go-lucky schoolboy in the 1950s, gets a guitar from his mother in 1956 and goes to art school. He forms a skiffle/rock and roll group called the Quarrymen in 1956 and meets younger student Paul McCartney on 6 July 1957. They team up with McCartney's even younger friend George Harrison and Lennon's old pal Stuart Sutcliffe from art school (from which Lennon flunks out). In early 1960, they rename the group "The Beatles," and in August/September perform in Hamburg. They continue these German gigs into 1962, when Brian Epstein, the son of a local record store owner, becomes their manager and starts them on a path to recording their music. Ringo Starr, a local but well-known Liverpool drummer, now joins the group to replace the first drummer, Pete Best. Sutcliffe passes away around this time, leaving the lineup of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr.

The Beatles release their first single, "Love Me Do," in October 1962, and finds middling success (on its initial release). After recording their first album, Please Please Me, in February 1963, which contains 8 songs written by Lennon and McCartney, the group begins to get mainstream success. The movie "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964 causes the group to explode in popularity, and an appearance in New York on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964 cements their international fame. The group, always led by Lennon and McCartney, goes on to become the most successful act in pop music history, with songs reaching the charts decades after the Beatles' breakup in early 1970. John Lennon goes on to solo success as a singer and songwriter but is assassinated by a crazed fan on 8 December 1980.

John Winston Lennon.

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 6 October 1940

The great Legionnaire (Iron Guard) manifestation in Bucharest, October 6,1940.

Overview: Both sides have incidents of Friendly Fire on 6 October 1940 that unnecessarily take the lives of men simply doing their jobs in a routine way. These things happen in war, and they happened a lot more during World War II than either side ever acknowledged until many years later.

Battle of Britain: The poor weather returns, with more clouds and rain over England. In fact, the Luftwaffe actually begins a large raid at one point, but it turns back due to the weather. Instead, the day is characterized by lone "pirate" raiders conducted by specially trained crews who make hit-and-run raids on selected targets.

Late in the morning, a raider bombs Middle Wallop, while at 12:45 it is the turn of RAF Biggin Hill. Another raid on Eastbourne damages gas/water lines.

The Luftwaffe attacks the same convoy at 13:30 and then again an hour later. This is the largest raid of the day, with maybe a dozen bombers, but it accomplishes nothing. At 16:19, a bomber from Chartres starts to come across but turns back. A little while later, a Junkers Ju 88 strafes RAF White Waltham and Farnborough, and a bomber scores some minor hits on the Hawker Aircraft Factory at Stough. Another strafing attack on RAF Northolt catches a Hurricane about to take off and destroys it and kills the pilot, while the Junkers Ju 88 is hunted down and destroyed at Leatherhead, Surrey. Other attacks during the afternoon take place at Biggin Hill and Croydon.

London does have a few minor attacks during the day, but after dark, everything is very quiet. An occasional bomber crosses over, such as one at 20:00 and another at 21:00, but they don't accomplish much. There are a couple of more lone raiders before midnight, then the remainder of the night is peaceful.

Overall, losses are in the single digits for both sides. The RAF loses two planes, and the Luftwaffe about nine.

An airman refueling a Hawker Hurricane I aircraft of No. 1 (F) Squadron, RCAF. Northolt, England, October 6, 1940. Photographer unknown.

The RAF suffers a friendly fire incident when a Hampden bomber of RAF No. 106 Squadron shuttling between bases on a quiet day is mistakenly attacked by a pair of Hurricanes. A quick burst of fire kills the bomber's navigator, Sgt K.S Powers, but then the Hurricane pilots recognize their mistake. The bomber lands intact and without any great damage, but the man is dead. These kinds of things can happen on days of low visibility such as this, but generally, there is little tolerance for such incidents within the RAF. The Hurricane pilots hear about it with great emphasis from their commander when they land.

Sergeant Frederick Fenton Vinyard, flying a Spitfire for RAF No. 64 Squadron, has some kind of mechanical or weather issue and crashes into the sea near Beverley, Yorkshire. It is a typical incident, no glory, an accident, just another casualty of the war. However, sometimes we remember an individual now and then. His name is listed at the Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England.

Hauptmann Helmut Wick receives the Oak Leaves for his 40th victory on the 5th.

Oblt. Werner Streib, Gruppenkommanduer of I./NJG 1 is awarded the Ritterkruez. He is instrumental in developing the Luftwaffe's night fighter force.

Perhaps the biggest news of the day is that the Luftwaffe has a new version of the Bf 109 to play with. Geschwaderkommodore Werner Mölders of JG 51, the top scorer in the battle, is given the honor of being the first to fly the new Bf 109 F-1 WNr. 5628 'SG+GW' in action. The weather is so bad that he makes no interceptions.

European Air Operations: During the day, RAF Bomber Command bombs several ports along the Channel coast, including Boulogne, Calais, and Ostend. along with the airfield at Diepholz. Coastal Command attacks a German convoy off the Dutch coast and loses a Hudson.

HMS Poulmic.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-123 (Karl-Heinz Moehle), U-103 (Kptl. Viktor Schütze)  and U-37 (Victor Oehrn) are all operating in the general area of the trade routes about 400 miles west of Ireland. This is becoming a favored spot by the U-boats based in France and Norway.

U-123 torpedoes and sinks 5943-ton British cargo ship Benlawers at 13:04. The Benlawers is loaded with trucks and other goods destined for British forces at Cairo. There are 27 survivors and 24 men perish. The Benlawers is a straggler from Convoy OB 221.

U-103 torpedoes and sinks 6123-ton Norwegian tanker Nina Borthen in the same general area as U-123's success at 22:04. The tanker refuses to sink, so the U-boat puts two more torpedoes into it at 22:14 and 22:38 - but it remains afloat. Finally, a fourth torpedo at 23:30 does the trick. There are no survivors, all 35 onboard perish. The Nina Borthen had been dispersed from Convoy OA 222.

U-37 (Kplt. Victor Oehrn), also operating in the same area, spots 6989-ton British tanker British General. Tankers are notoriously difficult for U-boats to sink due to their internal structures, and the British General has deck guns. The tanker also is empty, which gives its crew some flexibility in counter-flooding. U-37 puts one torpedo into it at 18:55 and the second at 23:10, but the tanker remains afloat and the U-boat cannot surface to use its deck gun due to the British General's armament. This is one instance where a deck gun plays a vital role in assuring a merchant ship's survival for a while. The ship remains afloat as the day ends, but the U-37 is waiting patiently to finish it off. The British General has been dispersed from Convoy OA 222.

British 910 ton freighter Jersey Queen hits a mine laid by German destroyers and sinks a couple of miles from St. Anthony Point in the English Channel. Two crewmen perish. This sinking is uncertain, and some sources claim it was sunk by the Luftwaffe.

British 300 ton auxiliary minesweeper HMS Poulmic (Le Poulmic, seized from France) also hits a mine and sinks in the same general area off Penlee Point, Cornwall. Divers describe the wreck - a popular dive spot - as being all strewn about as if caused by a particularly violent explosion.

British 84 ton coastal freighter Scotch Thistle runs aground in the Thames Estuary and is written off.

Swedish trawler Hugin hits a mine and sinks in the Skagerak.

Convoys OA 225 and Convoy FS 302 depart from Methil, Convoy FN 301 departs from Southend, Convoy OL 6 departs from Liverpool.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, as he is wont to do, conducts a surprise snap inspection of army units in northern Italy. The Roman press drops hints about "big things" in the offing.

Italian submarine Tricheco mistakes her fellow submarine Gemma for an enemy and torpedoes and sinks it five miles south of Karpathos (near Leros) in the Dodecanese. Everyone aboard perishes. The Italian Naval Command (Supermarina) fails at notifying both crews of the others' presence.

Yugoslavian 1919 ton freighter Vido hits a mine about 18 km off of Sulina, Romania in the Black Sea. The crew beaches the ship.

At Malta, there are no air raids, continuing a lengthy pause in operations. There are various patrols by Short Sunderland Flying Boats that spot an Italian hospital ship and a Greek freighter, but otherwise, it is a very uneventful day.

Anglo/US Relations: The US destroyers that arrived in Halifax on the 5th are turned over to the Royal Navy pursuant to the destroyers-for-bases deal.

• USS Branch -> HMS Beverley, 
• USS Hunt -> HMS Broadway, 
• USS Mason -> the HMS Broadwater, 
• USS Satterlee -> HMS Belmont, 
• USS Laub -> HMS Burwell, 
• USS Aulick -> HMS Burnham, 
• USS Edwards -> HMS Buxton, and 
• USS McLanahan -> HMS Bradford.

Horia Sima, Antonescu and King Michael I of Romania, 1940

Romania: Ion Antonescu presides over a massive rally by the Iron Guard in Budapest. He thereby skillfully creates the appearance of being in charge of the Iron Guard, when in fact that position is still held by Horia Sima. In fact, Antonescu, for now, continues a relatively moderate policy of tolerating the opposition parties (PNT and PNL) without massive reprisals or persecutions.

The Iron Guard pledges allegiance to Antonescu and Sima. The Iron Guard has gained a poor historical reputation for fascism and violence, but at least its ethos has a mystical, heroic quality that transcends current politics:

Walk only on the path of honour. Fight and never exhibit cowardice. Leave to lesser men the ways of infamy. Better to fall in battle, struggling on the path of honour, than to win the battle through the ways of infamy.

 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the Iron Guard in "Cărticica şefului de cuib."

American Homefront: Game 5 of the World Series. The Detroit Tigers win, 8-0, and lead the series 3-2 (best of 7).

The Tigers' Dick Bartell heads home in the first inning of Game 5 of the World Series. Center fielder Mike McCormick throws him out.

October 1940
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

Thursday 28 September 1939

German troops goosestep through Warsaw after the capitulation.

Battle of Poland: On 28 September 1939, Warsaw capitulates following a cease-fire arranged the previous day. There are 140,000 Polish soldiers sent into captivity. Polish forces elsewhere continue to fight, but Warsaw was the anchor of the defense.

The Poles may have surrendered in Warsaw, but elsewhere large troop formations continued to operate. One of them is a motley group of Polish Border Defence Corps (KOP) forces in the East under the command of General Wilhelm Orlik-Rueckemann. They are headed through forests near Włodawa and Kamień Koszyrski, in between the encroaching German and Soviet forces. The Soviet forces are nearby and prepare to engage the Poles.

Forming a defensive line between the villages of Mielniki and Szack (Shatsk), the Poles wait for the Soviets to attack. At 8:00 a.m., a Soviet tank/infantry formation from the Soviet 52nd Rifle Division approaches head-on without adequate support; the Poles wait until the targets are almost upon their positions before opening fire. The Soviets, who have weak T-26 tanks, are overwhelmed and their staff headquarters captured. The Poles then withdraw toward the Bug River.

While a minor action, the Battle of Szack demonstrates the enduring weakness of Soviet tactics. Just as in the Winter War later, the local Soviet commands show tactical ineptitude and lose strong forces through elementary tactical blunders. Incidents such as this no doubt reinforce Hitler's already low opinion of the Soviet military.

Soviet War Crimes: Some of the KOP forces ("Polesie" Brigade) near Szack are captured. All officers and NCOs are shot immediately by the Soviet 4th Army under Vassili Chuikov (later hero of Stalingrad).

Soviet Diplomacy: The USSR and Estonia sign a pact that gives the Soviets bases in Estonia in exchange for Vilnius and other territories in defeated Poland.

British Homefront: Vera Lynn records "We'll Meet Again" with Arthur Young on the Novachord. Written by Hughie Charles and Ross Parker, the song becomes quite closely associated with World War II in Great Britain and leads to a film based on it, "We'll Meet Again," that is released on 18 January 1943. The first release did not do particularly well in terms of sales, but the song gained popularity as time went on, and Lynn recorded many subsequent versions of it, some of them quite different than the original.

Vera Lynn - "We'll Meet Again" (1939 Version)

Sunday 8 October 1939

A Lockheed Hudson.

Air Operations, England: On Sunday, 8 October 1939, the air war over the United Kingdom begins when a Lockheed Hudson shoots down a Dornier Do18 flying boat. Hudsons were hasty patch-ups of civilian Model 14 Super Electra airliners to meet immediate RAF needs, but they served admirably throughout the war, first in front-line units for RAF Coastal Command, and later for training and transport. Due to their derivation, Hudsons were luxurious and roomy by military standards and had an automatic pilot ("George" to RAF crew) to reduce the tedium.

German Diplomacy: Following the lightning victory over Poland, Hitler issues a decree annexing large areas of the country to the German Reich. A subsequent decree amplifying on the first follows on 12 October. Hitler includes the territories which Germany had lost under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, such as the Polish Corridor, West Prussia and Upper Silesia, and also territory to the east that Germany had never previously possessed, including the city of Łódź. This is a harbinger of Hitler's extensive ambitions in the East.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-37 sinks Swedish merchant "Vistula."

Convoy HX 4 departs Halifax for London.

Convoy OB 16 departs Liverpool.

Holocaust: The Germans establish a ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski in the Lódz district, Poland.

Switzerland: Orders deportation of all refugees who entered after 6 September 1939.

China: The Chinese 9th War area captures Chiuhsientang. Japanese 11th Army withdraws north across the Hsinchiang River.

America, Home Front: The NY Yankees defeat the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, 7-4, and close out the World Series title. Joe Dimaggio goes 2-5 and gets an RBI, while relief man Johnny Murphy takes the win in the 10th inning.

Future History: Australian actor Paul Hogan is born on 8 October 1939. He will achieve worldwide fame in the "Crocodile Dundee" series of films over forty years later.

Judy Garland on the cover of Danish Uge Magasinet, 8 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