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FRENCH AND BRITISH ATTACK GERMANS ON WIDE FRONT (9/5/39)
Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 9/5/39 | Frederick T. Birchall, G.H. Archambault

Posted on 09/05/2009 5:53:45 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson

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TOPICS: History; Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball; milhist; realtime; worldwarii
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Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime”.)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.
1 posted on 09/05/2009 5:53:46 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
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To: Homer_J_Simpson


A key to the map symbols is on my profile.

2 posted on 09/05/2009 5:54:22 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
AT TEN O’CLOCK on the morning of September 5, 1939, General Halder had a talk with General von Brauchitsch, the Commander in Chief of the German Army, and General von Bock, who led Army Group North. After sizing up the situation as it looked to them at the beginning of the fifth day of the German attack on Poland they agreed, as Halder wrote in his diary, that “the enemy is practically beaten.”

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

3 posted on 09/05/2009 5:55:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
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Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

4 posted on 09/05/2009 5:55:59 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

This is such a cool thread.


5 posted on 09/05/2009 5:56:00 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Carbon offsets? Sounds like the Environmental Church wants us to buy climate indulgences.)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
05/09/1939: Under the relentless pressure by the Wehrmacht, the Polish Army withdraws behind the Vistula river, but the German troops gain bridgeheads on the opposite bank.

http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/eastern-europe/eastern-europe-index-1939.htm

6 posted on 09/05/2009 5:57:42 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: r9etb; PzLdr; dfwgator; Paisan; From many - one.; rockinqsranch; GRRRRR; 2banana; henkster; ...
It is difficult to find any stories today that support the stirring headline of attacks on wide fronts.

There is no separate thread for baseball standings this week.

Germans Cut off Polish Corridor – 2-3
The Developments in Europe – 4
Incidents in European Conflict – 5
British Raid Fleet – 7-8
Fires in Warsaw – 9-10
Berliners Appear Indifferent to Foe – 10
Slovakia Faces Famine If War Lasts Into Winter – 10
German Ship Sunk By British Cruiser – 11
‘Contact’ in West – 12-13
3 U. S. Army Planes Missing in Pacific – 14
Major League Baseball Standings – 15

7 posted on 09/05/2009 5:59:59 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/all-anniversaries/21379-first-raf-bombing-raid-war.html

First RAF bombing raid of the war.

Losses for the Wilhelmshaven raid

107 Squadron
Blenheim IV N6184 OM-
3 crew lost

107 Squadron
Blenheim IV N6188 OM-
3 crew lost

107 Squadron
Blenheim IV N6189 OM-
3 crew lost

107 Squadron
Blenheim IV N6240 OM-
1 crew lost
2 pow

110 squadron
Blenheim IV N6199 VE-
4 crew lost.

Losses for the Brunsbuttel raid

9 squadron
Wellington I L4269 WS-
5 crew lost

9 Squadron
Wellington I L4275 WS-H
5 crew lost


8 posted on 09/05/2009 6:08:32 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Refresh my memory-where was the Soviet Union’s armies at the time. When did they invade Poland from the east?


9 posted on 09/05/2009 6:12:03 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2/6134666/World-War-2-RAF-planes-fly-over-Germany.html

World War 2: RAF planes fly over Germany

Article first published in the Daily Telegraph, Sept 5, 1939.

It was officially announced today that on the night of Sept. 3 aircraft of Royal Air Force carried out extensive reconnaissance over Northern and Western Germany. They were not engaged by enemy aircraft.

More than 6,000,000 copies of a note to the German people were dropped over a wide area.

The Admiralty announced that naval activity continues on all seas, but as yet there are no major operations to report. The port of Dover is closed to commercial shipping.

The first communiqué of the war issued from Paris read: “Communiqué No. 1. On the morning of Sept. 4 the land, sea and air force operations began.”

Heavy fighting was reported today on the Polish fronts, and the Poles claimed the recovery of several towns on the north-west. Polish bombers reached Frankfort-on-Oder, only 50 miles east of Berlin.

Steam of troops to front - A special report from Our Own Correspondent. Warsaw, Monday

A private report from Sandomierz on the southern front, states that the retreat is continuing in Silesia with the object of shortening the front line. Matawiew was still held last night.

The civil population in towns and villages in the Katowice district have been evacuated.

Post Offices are guarded by military. On the roads is a continuous stream of troops going to the front, and another of refugees retiring inland.

Allied declaration – troops encouraged

The news of the French and British declaration brought new spirit to the hard-pressed southern front. The Poles gained ground near Rybnik and in the Katowice-Krakow line against strong attacks.

The British Consul from Katowice is now in Lublin with three other British subjects. Eight Britons are still in Krakow, where air raids are almost continuous.

A military communiqué reports: “Polish planes destroyed two of three enemy motorised columns near Czestochowa, in Silesia, the Polish losses being four planes.

“The Polish cavalry counter-attacked on the sector between Leszno and Rawicz on the Poznan front, and drove the enemy into Germany hotly pursuing. This morning, an artillery bombardment near Grudziadz, on the East Prussia front, was accompanied by mustard gas.

“In the frontier area occupied by the enemy, Poles have been summarily executed.”

Czechs cheered - Crowds at Legation

Warsaw crowds gathered at the Czech Legation and raised cheers for a free Czechoslovakia.

The Czech Minister, M. Slavik, appeared at the window with Gen. Prchala, the Commander of the Czech Legion which is being formed in Poland, and acknowledged the ovation.

Addressing the crowd, M. Slavik said: “We knew the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia, which shook the conscience of the entire world, would not be in vain. We knew the time would come when the nation, refusing to acquiesce in the deprivation of freedom, would rise to regain its most valued treasure. The day has come thanks to Poland’s heroic resistance.”

Attack on train - Survivor’s description

A survivor of the bombing of the refugee train at Kutno on Friday gave me the following eye-witness account:

“I left Gdynia for Warsaw on Thursday, via Torun and Kutno. The train consisted of about 30 passenger coaches and three or four goods vans in the rear, drawn by two engines.

“The occupants of the train were the wives and children of civil servants, officers and railway employees of the frontier zone, evacuating inland. A few soldiers, officers and reservists were also on the train.

Bombers appear - Shower of bullets

“Leaving Kutno at six a.m. on Friday, I saw six two-engined bombers flying low above the Warsaw line. The passengers watched calmly, believing that air exercises were in progress.

“Suddenly we heard a detonation and a shower of machine-gun bullets struck the sides and roofs of the carriages, wounding many of the crowded passengers. The train jerked violently and stopped.

“Civilians and reservists, women and children, jumped through the doors and windows into a ploughed field on one side and into a wet meadow on the other. The planes flew over, described a circle and returned, sending a new shower of bullets into the panic stricken crowd. The planes then departed.

Many casualties - Civilians killed and wounded

“Amidst the cries and sobs of frightened women and children, I left the train with the wife of a high railway official from Orlowo to see the results of the attack.

“Near the steps of the carriage lay the body of a man clutching a parcel in his hand. At a distance we heard the piercing cries of an elderly, poorly-dressed man. He had been terribly injured by machine-gun bullets. Further on was a woman who had been shot through the hip.

“Near the end of the train we heard moans from badly wounded soldiers – more than 10 of them - in a third-class Pullman. They were literally cut to pieces with bullets and glass.

“Further on a goods van had been split in two and the bodies of eight soldiers thrown out on the roof by an explosion. Alongside the train in the ploughed field, we saw 20 unexploded 100 kilogram gas bombs.

“As an ex-Great War soldier, I suggest that the failure of these bombs was due to the fact that they were dropped from a low altitude.

“I was too overwhelmed by the sudden attack to note the exact casualties, but I saw more than 10 bodies and many more than 10 wounded. I can state definitely that the airmen were flying so low that they must have known that they were massacring defenceless people.”


10 posted on 09/05/2009 6:14:16 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: Maine Mariner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland

Sept. 17, 1939


11 posted on 09/05/2009 6:24:20 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Umm - why didnt we attack the Russians too?

They also invaded Poland.


12 posted on 09/05/2009 7:04:55 AM PDT by blackminorca
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To: blackminorca
Umm - why didnt we attack the Russians too? They also invaded Poland.

We (the Allied nations) didn't really attack the Germans in a big way until 1942. Until then it was the Germans attacking and everyone else defending. In June 1941 the Germans turned on their ally of convenience, the Soviet Union, and invaded that country. Since the Soviets were taking on Hitler, seen as the primary enemy of humanity by the western allies, Stalin became our ally of convenience. That situation is still being debated today and will no doubt come up in these threads from time to time.

13 posted on 09/05/2009 7:25:30 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: MNJohnnie

Isn’t it? :-)

Reminds me of my pre-Internet/computer college days way back in the *cough*’s, when we did our research using the microfiche system...still run across that now and then while doing genealogy work, but not so much nowadays. The Internet has made this kind of obsolete, and that’s a shame.


14 posted on 09/05/2009 7:32:27 AM PDT by pillut48 (CJ in TX --"God help us all, and God help America!!" --my new mantra for the next 4 years)
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To: pillut48
Reminds me of my pre-Internet/computer college days way back in the *cough*’s, when we did our research using the microfiche system

Me too! Could be kind of tedious but what gems of information you would come across some times. I use to get so side tracked I would waste hours reading about stuff that had NOTHING to do with the research I was working on.

15 posted on 09/05/2009 7:35:10 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Carbon offsets? Sounds like the Environmental Church wants us to buy climate indulgences.)
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To: blackminorca
Umm - why didnt we attack the Russians too?

"We" did attack anyone at this time. "We", at this time, were neutral.

16 posted on 09/05/2009 7:37:39 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Carbon offsets? Sounds like the Environmental Church wants us to buy climate indulgences.)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

You obviously miss my point - which is that the leftist west was in cahoots with the commies for 20 years prior to 1939.


17 posted on 09/05/2009 7:57:06 AM PDT by blackminorca
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
I chopped off the last two lines of Churchill's 9-point First Lord's minute in reply #4. The final sentence should be -

The First Lord submits these notes to his naval colleagues for consideration, for criticism and correction, and hopes to receive proposals for action in the sense desired.

18 posted on 09/05/2009 7:57:08 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: MNJohnnie

You obviously miss my point - which is that the leftist west was in cahoots with the commies for 20 years prior to 1939.

The Nazis are responsible for 35 million deaths, but the Commies murdered 100 million


19 posted on 09/05/2009 7:58:22 AM PDT by blackminorca
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

“French and British Attack Germans on Wide Fronts”. Proving that imagination, and fantasy have no boundaries.


20 posted on 09/05/2009 12:49:24 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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