Posted on 09/03/2009 5:28:55 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
I had no idea that Elliott Roosevelt had a regular radio address like his father. That is a little odd.
Second World War: Why We Delayed Declaration of War
BBC - Britain Declares War on Germany
BBC - King George VI Addresses the Nation (Excerpt 1)
BBC - King George VI Addresses the Nation (Excerpt 2)
BBC - Places of Entertainment to be Closed
BBC - Prime Minister Chamberlain Declares War on Germany
BBC - Reports Defense Order Closing Places of Entertainment
Fascinating. Whether intentional or not, Mussolini muddied the waters over offering talks after the invasion of Poland commenced. The Brits hesitated declaring war as a result. The Poles grew hopeful in vain.
Today, I expect that the Lodz Group of Polish divisions no longer exists as a cohesive fighting force, having been crushed by German 8th and 10th Armies. 10th Army panzer and motorized units are probably running free in the Polish rear areas while the infantry mops up.
The Modlin Group, badly battered by Kuechler’s 3rd Army operating out of East Prussia, is ready to make it’s stand on the Narew but by tomorrow will also be destroyed as an effective fighting formation.
The divisions of Poznana Group and surviving parts of Pomorze Group are already looking to concentrate in the area between the Vistuala and Bzura Rivers.
On both sides, there must already be a sense that the Germans have the upper hand, and the campaign’s outcome is not in doubt.
Thanks for the blow-by-blow. The map at the top is OK but it is static for 14 days.
Definitely getting good now - thanks again for these posts and pings.
So whats coming. What is the “Phony War”? Is that where everyone builds up and preps for battle?
The opening lines to “The World at War” as read by Sir Laurence Olivier:
Down this road, on a summer day in 1944. . . The soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, the community which had lived for a thousand years. . . was dead.
This is Oradour-sur-Glane, in France. The day the soldiers came, the people were gathered together. The men were taken to garages and barns, the women and children were led down this road . . . and they were driven. . . into this church. Here, they heard the firing as their men were shot. Then. . . they were killed too. A few weeks later, many of those who had done the killing were themselves dead, in battle.
They never rebuilt Oradour. Its ruins are a memorial. Its martyrdom stands for thousands upon thousands of other martyrdoms in Poland, in Russia, in Burma, in China, in a World at War...
ON THIS DAY:
After recieving news of the Declaration of War, HMS Ajax (Capt. C.H.L. Woodhouse, RN) intercepts the German merchant Olinda (4576 GRT) off the coast of Uruguay in position 33º50’S, 53º30’W.
The German ship is sunk by gunfire.
German aircraft attack Polish Navy ships that had moved to Hela, sinking the Destroyer “Wicher”, the Gunboat “General Haller”, 2 minesweepers, and several smaller ships.
The German Navy begins laying the “Westwall” mine barrages in the North Sea. This involves most of the Destroyers and light cruisers of the German Navy.
SS Athenia, a British cruise ship en-route from Glasgow, Scotland to Montreal, Canada is torpedoed by German submarine U-30 250 miles Northwest of Ireland. 112 passengers and crew are killed. The “Battle of the Atlantic” begins. Only a few hours before, at 1256 hours Berlin time, BdU had broadcast an urgent encoded message: “Hostilities with England effective immediately”.
In Poland,Third and Fourth Armies have linked up. The Pomorze Army force assigned to the defense of the Corridor proper had been destroyed, with a loss of 15,000 men in prisoners alone, 90 field pieces, and large stocks of matériel.
The Modlin Army, from which the Germans claimed to have captured 10,000 prisoners, had been forced to withdraw southward from the Mlawa area. The Corridor was cut at base and center. The northern end of the Corridor and the fortress of Westerplatte in Danzig Harbor remained in Polish hands, but under constant attack by German ground, air, and sea forces.
The Podlaska Cavalry Brigade of the Narew Group made several local penetrations into East Prussia in the area held by Corps Brand during this period of operations. These actions received much publicity in the foreign press but affected the campaign very little.
In the south, Czestochowa was taken on the morning of 3 September, and Tenth Army seized several bridgeheads across the Warta despite determined Polish resistance. Fourteenth Army fought its way through the fortifications about Katowice and Mikolow in its zone of advance, and moved east along the Vistula.
The southern Polish armies, bypassed in numerous places by the fast-moving German columns, began a hurried withdrawal. The troops on the front noted a marked decrease in Polish resistance and made extensive gains.
In Air Operations, The Polish Air Force has ceased to exist as an effective fighting force. In three days the Luftwaffe had driven the Polish Air Force from the skies, and destroyed most of its bases on the ground. 1st and 4th Air Forces are ordered to switch thier main effort to ground support of the troops.
A number of German civilians resident in the Bydgoszcz area were shot in an operation directed by the local Polish commander, and the Reich government charged the Polish Government with terrorism. The Polish Government, in turn, used the incident to support its claim of fifth column activities on the part of the German minority resident within Poland’s borders. The “Bloody Sunday” incident was promptly used in the psychological warfare effort of both Germans and Poles.
My old “Panzer General II” game had a Polish battle. It was the operations of German I Corps and Corps Woodrig vs. Modlin Group.
The German player was expected to gain a brilliant victory two turns shy of the limit. Well, I was able to, anyway.
When does Churchill become PM?
5/10/40. He will remain in the War Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty until then.
Your links are wonderful, especially the article about the delay in declaring war.
I got to imagine it already feels hopeless for those units in the field. And they haven’t seen the worse of it yet. The Luftwaffe will start hitting Polish units on the 5th. Up to now they have been busy making around 400,000 reserves stranded by taking out their rail access not to mention finishing off the Polish Airforce (pretty much all on the ground).
No, both sides had been preparing for war for a long time (Germany more so than the UK and France, but America was selling/giving them all the arms they needed). There were some skirmishes along borders and some ships were sunk, but no real battles. The British Air Force also dropped leaflets over Germany nearly every night.
In April things started to heat up in Norway. In early May Chamberlain's government started to collapse and on May 10th the Germans invaded Belgium and France. Churchill took over and the war escalated almost immediately.
May 10th next year. The exact same day that western offensive starts.
Churchill became PM on May 10, 1940, the same day Germany invaded Belgium with the clear intent of pushing through to France.
That article was a cool little bonus find there. I was looking for something else at time, but I’ll take it.
It still amazes me that Chamberlain’s ineptitude was allowed to go on for another eight months.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it discussed anywhere (though Shirer or Speer certainly may have), but I wonder if Hitler may have “held back” from engaging the French and British in hopes that he could take over the rest of Europe and then sign new treaties with them later. It cannot be a coincidence that the western campaign started on the same day any hint of appeasement ended.
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