Posted on 11/19/2009 5:02:04 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
News of the Week in Review
Japan Looks for Peace; China Plans Long War – 10
Seas and Coasts from which American Shipping is Banned (Map) – 11
New York Times Magazine
Pius XII: Militant for Peace – 12-14
Swing – 15-23
Rotogravure Picture Section in Two Parts
Fashions Out Of ‘Gone With the Wind’ – 24-28
In Europe’s Headlines – 29-33
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/nov39/f19nov39.htm
Warsaw Jewish quarter isolated
Sunday, November 19, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Occupied Poland... The first barricades are erected around the Jewish quarter in Warsaw.
In Occupied Czechoslovakia... Some 50,000 people are reportedly under arrest. Nazi authorities execute 3 more dissidents.
In London... First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, proposes mining the Rhine, between Strasbourg and the Lauter River, using mine-laying aircraft.
In China... The Nationalist government at Chungking orders a winter offensive against the Japanese.
http://www.capdantifer.org.uk/sweepers/textLMNO.html
Hitler had boasted of his “secret weapon” and it seemed that this might be the magnetic mine. It was not, however, a new invention, for the Royal Navy had used magnetic mines off the Belgian coast in the previous war, and, so far from its being a secret, an American citizen, Mr. Caesar Marshall, had been granted a British patent for such a device in 1918. Other inventors had experimented with mines of similar type, and the Mine Experimental Department of H.M.S. Vernon was well aware of their existence; indeed, its own magnetic mines were in an advanced state of development.
The magnetic mine is so called, not because it is attracted to a ship’s hull, but because it is detonated by a magnetic needle which becomes active when a large mass of iron passes in its field. When the mine is laid on the sea bottom it can operate only in comparatively shallow water, but within its range it can cause far more damage than the moored mine, since the moored mines blows a hole in a ship, usually for’ard, which may be localized, whereas the explosion from a ground mine strikes the vessel under her bottom amidships, opening up the plating of the hull, shattering the machinery and the pipes, and frequently breaking her back.
Against this weapon neither the existing sweeps nor the paravane availed. But counter-measures were taken, first with the “Bo’sun’s nightmare,” which was still in the experimental stage. This was a wire sweep to which a number of magnetized bars were attached and towed between two ships just off the sea bottom. Large electro-magnets and barges with coils of wire were also used; even aircraft were employed. The first magnetic mine was detonated in the Bristol Channel, but although the sweepers were rapidly fitted with new devices and the officers given instruction in their use, none was wholly satisfactory and the sinkings continued at an alarming rate.
A doctor cannot prescribe a remedy until he has had the opportunity of diagnosing the disease, and the officers of the Mine Experimental Department of H.M.S. Vernon could not find the effective antidote to the magnetic mine until they had studied a specimen and discovered its mechanism. Every effort was made to recover a magnetic mine intact, but for some time without success.
Then it appeared that the enemy was dropping the mines from aircraft. This was all the more serious, because it rendered our own mine barrages, which were a protection against surface-layers and submarines, of no avail. Between 18th and 22nd November, fifteen merchant ships were mined, including the Japanese liner Terukuni Maru and the Dutch steamer Simon Bolivar. H.M.S. Belfast was damaged and the destroyer Gipsy sunk.
The danger to shipping had suddenly become intensified, and it seemed that merchant traffic would be paralysed unless the remedy could be found. The men in the sweepers did all they could, but they were powerless against this weapon new to their experience. They looked to the scientists to give them the means to combat the offensive, but that the scientists could not do until they had discovered exactly what they had to fight.
The first definite evidence that the enemy mines were being laid from air came on the night of 21st November, when aircraft, believed to be Heinkel 115s, operating from bases on the islands of Sylt and Borkum, were seen to drop mines in the Humber and in the estuaries of the Stour and the Thames. Observers reported that the mines looked like sailors’ kit-bags suspended from parachutes. Officers from H.M.S. Vernon were sent to East Coast ports to investigate. They could discover no further information. None came in next day. The situation had become very grave. Shipping in three rivers was held up. The Minesweeping Division at the Admiralty and all officers ashore and afloat were working under a severe strain. But as yet there was no conclusive proof of the nature of the mine.
In future, could you please preface these historical articles with the word “history”? For about the 10th time, now, I have been unnerved by seeing something that I thought was current news—which would be insanely bad news if it was current news. And just ambiguous enough so it theoretically *might* be current news.
Two hundred rioters in Exalter Prison were confined to their cells today after a night-long uproar in which they had shouted, “We’re Englishmen; we want to fight”
The disturbance was characterized as the worst of a series since convicts from Wandsworth Prison were transferred to Exeter at the start of the war.
Berlin, Nov 12 - Habitual drunkards who despite laws forbidding them to enter bars and other alcohol-dispensing establishments, persist in indulging in liquid stimulants are now threatened with publication of their names in the news papers.
Heinrich Himmler, supreme chief of German police, today instructed all police in Greater Germany to enforce the regulations prohibiting such persons from frequenting bars - although persons getting drunk “occasionally” are specifically excluded - and he suggested that the local police investigate the possibility of publishing the names of those who are disobedient.
I cringe when I see this as a national policy. Takes on a whole different flavor...............
1) Good writing, not like our current politicians.
2) Even in this short paragraph credit and honor is given to others.
3) It will take 4 months to respond in kind to Germany. The link between action and consequence to Germany will be lost.
4) For some reason, I really like the last sentence.
I'll bet William Ayres could have punched it up for him.
Sorry pal, but you'll need an IQ above room temperature to "play" here at Free Republic.
If after TEN TIMES the numbers "(11/19/39)" still mean nothing to you... well, maybe you'd want to consider repeating some of your schooling -- how about the third grade? ;-)
Great scan today. Article on Swing was fascinating. Interesting how Roosevelt rarely seems to get mentioned. Perhaps the cult of the President had not grown to the level it has today?
SHows how little people knew... if they knew what the Nazis were REALLY all about, they would stay out of bars when instructed to. Sheesh, and what they DID know about the Nazis by 1939 was quite bad enough - probably drove them to drink in the first place.
Tit fer tat is no way to bring peace to the world. Just because the government of Germany is terrorizing the people of England and the Netherlands is no reason to stoop to their level and terrorize the honest burghers of Germany in return. Ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
Since you seem to think you speak on behalf of the original poster, let me speak on behalf of everyone else here at Free Republic to ask you to “Lighten up, Francis.”
Isn't that great? The writer interviewed Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton for the article. What a time that was.
Regards,
Original Poster
I remember talking to an older gal at church about the kid’s music tastes nowadays, but said “I guess that’s the way it always is - the parents just think it’s noise”. She surprised me and said “Yep - my parents hated the music I lked too!” (She was 80+) I looked funny at her and said “What music was that?” “Big Band. If it wasn’t all strings it was the Devil’s music!”
Absolutely — I got hooked on the Jazz PBS miniseries by Ken Burns recently, so a lot of that stuff they were saying was still pretty fresh in my mind. Like Louis Armstrong being influenced on the street by Bobby Bolden. Stuff like that. Those pictures - haunting. I freaking LOVED Louis Armstrong when I was a kid in the 60s. He belongs to the ages now.
Homer speaks for himself, usually better and more succinctly than I can. ;-)
But you might be interested to learn there is a long history of complaints somewhat similar to yours. For many months a poster named (IIRC) Petronski would regularly criticize Homer's format, to which Homer & others responded, and even eventually made some changes -- changes that I find perfectly acceptable.
So I put your comment in the category of "some people are just never satisfied."
As for “Lighten up, Francis,” did you intend your comment as a joke? If so, then next time you might want to consider using some indicator of "I just made a funny" -- such as ;-) or </sarc>.
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