Posted on 09/17/2009 5:16:22 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
A key to the map symbols is on my profile.
Despite the poor quality this photo stayed with me. Those kids look like 10 going on 40.
You might be able to re-cycle this article, with a new date, in the near future!
I hope Stalin is burning in Hell.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/sep39/f17sep39.htm
USSR invades Poland
Sunday, September 17, 1939
In Poland... Soviet troops enter Poland. Naturally because of the German attack there is almost no defense in the east. The Soviets employ two army groups or Fronts. The Poles have only 18 battalions in the east of their country. Just before dawn, the Red Army invades along the entire 800-mile (1300 km) border. Poles are surprised and Soviet forces advance virtually unopposed. Meanwhile, the Polish government is fleeing towards the Romanian border, evacuating from the border town of Kuty — the fifth and last temporary seat in the Polish provinces. All surviving Polish aircrew fly to Romania. In Warsaw, St. John’s Cathedral is bombed during mass; the dead are buried in public parks because the cemeteries are full. Warsaw is now completely isolated as converging German forces of German Army Group North and Army Group South meet at Siedlce, in eastern Poland. Some 40,000 Polish prisoners have been captured by the Germans at Kutno and Brest-Litovsk is taken after a bitter 3-day battle. German are given a stop line because of the Soviet invasion in the east.
In Moscow... Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov, announces that the USSR is invading to protect Ukrainian and Belorussian minorities in Poland. Soviet newspapers have been making claims of “brutal treatment” of national minorities in Poland, especially Ukrainians and Belorussians. The Soviet government promises to respect Finnish neutrality and recognizes Slovakia as an independent state.
In Athens... The Italian government assures the Greek government that it will take no military action against Greece even if Italy enters the war.
In the North Atlantic... The British aircraft carrier, HMS Courageous, is sunk by U-29 while on anti-submarine patrol off the southwest coast of Ireland. More than 500 men are killed (514 of 1200 crew members). After this second incident, carriers are withdrawn from such work. Courageous has been one of the most effective of the British carriers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Courageous_(50)
Courageous served with the Home Fleet in the Channel Force at the start of World War II. On 17 September 1939, under the command of Captain W. T. Mackaig-Jones, she was on an anti-submarine patrol off the coast of Ireland. Two of her four escorting destroyers had been sent to help a merchant ship under attack. During this time, Courageous was stalked for over two hours by the U-29, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart. Then Courageous turned into the wind to launch her aircraft. This manoeuvre put the ship right across the bow of the U-29, which then fired three torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes struck the ship on her port side, and she capsized and sank in 15 minutes with the loss of 518 of her crew, including her captain. She was the first British warship to be lost in the war; the civilian passenger liner Athenia having been sunk two weeks earlier.
An earlier unsuccessful attack on HMS Ark Royal by the U-39, on September 14, and the sinking of Courageous three days later, caused the Royal Navy to withdraw its fleet carriers from anti-submarine patrol.
http://uboat.net/boats/u29.htm
17 Sep 1939
After the sinking of British fleet carrier HMS Courageous British destroyers attacked the boat with depth charges for 4 hours until the boat managed to slip away with minor damages (the destroyers had also expended all their depth charges). (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 90)
A few days earlier than the Soviet invasion of the poles but related.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2338731/posts
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
http://www.uboataces.com/battle-courageous.shtml
Sinking of HMS Courageous
On September 15 1939, a convoy contact was made due west of the English Channel, in an area the British called the Western Approaches. The sea lanes were abuzz with traffic and some successes against British shipping had occurred in the early days of the war. To provide at least some form of protection for these ships, the Admiralty had deployed the old aircraft carrier HMS Courageous with a destroyer escort screen to conduct anti-submarine patrols.
Launched in February 1916 and commissioned in January 1917, the HMS Courageous was originally laid down as a Battle Cruiser, being converted into an aircraft carrier between June 1924 and May 1928. A hangar and flight deck were installed aft of the hull with the original armament of two twin 15-inch guns being removed and replaced with 4.7 inch anti-aircraft guns. The light armament meant that she had to rely on her screening escorts for protection against surface ships.
HMS Courageous Battle Cruiser HMS Courageous Aircraft Carrier
HMS Courageous battle cruiser photograph in 1917. HMS Courageous after conversion to aircraft carrier, 1935
When Donitz received word of the convoy contact, he ordered all boats in the Western Approaches to converge on the convoy. That included Otto Schuhart in U-29 and Ernst-Gunther Heinicke in U-53. Searching for the convoy on September 17, Heinicke found and attacked the 5,000 ton British freighter, Kafristan with a combination of gunfire and torpedoes. The ASW fleet of the HMS Courageous was close by. Two of her destroyer escorts (out of four) and Swordfish biplanes from the Courageous were dispatched to the area of the Kafristan sinking to hunt Heinicke.
Meanwhile to the east, Schuhart in U-29 was still searching for the convoy. While running submerged, he spotted a Swordfish biplane instead. A Swordfish 300 miles out in the open sea could only mean one thing – that an aircraft carrier had to be close by. Keeping a sharp watch, at 1800 hours a puff of smoke was spotted on the horizon. It was the carrier Courageous. Schuhart sent his crew to battle stations and adjusted for an interception course.
But he could not mount an attack. Planes were circling over the carrier and the two remaining destroyer escorts were clearly visible. He later wrote in his log “At that time it looked like a hopeless operation. Because of the aircraft, I could not surface and my underwater speed was less than 8 knots while the carrier could do 26. But we were told during our training to always stay close and that is exactly what I did, following him submerged”.
Schuhart trailed on for another one and a half hours, all the while losing distance with the carrier. Then suddenly at 1930 hours, the carrier turned into the wind to launch aircraft, inadvertently placing the ship in perfect position for a torpedo attack. By 1940 hours, U-29 was in position and Schuhart fired all three forward torpedoes from less than 3,000 yards. Schuhart logged “the vast size of the target upset all normal calculations and in any case, I was looking straight into the sun”.
HMS Courageous
HMS Courageous had an air group of 2 squadrons of Swordfish aircraft, 48 planes in total.
Just 500 yards away, while the torpedoes were still making its run, Schuhart observed through his periscope lens as one of the destroyers sailed by, still unaware of the impending attack. To evade, he dived deep – to a depth of 180 feet, the deepest he had ever dived. Then, in the creaking silence of U-boat’s pressure hull, the crew heard two resounding explosions. Two torpedoes had it the target and exploded with such force that Schuhart thought he had been attacked. The crew cheered, although they all knew what was to follow next – an impending depth charge attack.
They braced themselves for the attack and minutes later, one of the destroyers picked up the U-29 on sonar. The second destroyer rushed to the location to join the hunt and both attacked with such fury and ferocity that during the pounding, Schuhart thought he had lost the U-29. The boat reeled and creaked under the force of the explosion which lasted for hours. Then at 2340 hours, the last depth charge exploded. Both destroyers had expended all depth charges and were now weaponless in attacking the enemy down below. Silently easing away, Schuhart in the U-29 made good his escape. As soon as he surfaced, he radioed to Donitz, “Courageous destroyed. U-29 homebound”.
Meanwhile, back at the sinking of the Courageous, a Dutch passenger liner Veendam was passing nearby. Eye witnesses account that a huge white cloud had engulfed the Courageous. They thought it was a smoke screen and paid little attention until two tremendous explosions ripped through the carrier. Pieces of steel and dismembered aircraft shot upwards as with the flames and oil slick which soon followed. The Courageous sank in less than 15 minutes with the loss of 519 lives, including her commander Captain W T Makeig-Jones. Her total complement was 1,260 officers and ratings (including air group), and two squadrons of Fairey Swordfish aircraft (48 planes). The Veendam and a British freighter Collingsworth participated in the rescue, fishing survivors from the oily waters.
HMS Courageous sinking
HMS Courageous sinking after being torpedoed by U-29.
By the next morning of September 18, news of the sinking had been broadcasted worldwide. The sinking of the HMS Courageous was the first U-boat offensive against the Royal Navy, and more importantly, Schuhart’s victory prompted the Admiralty to withdraw all three remaining carriers from the Western Approaches. The first naval engagement turned out to be a resounding victory, as carriers were not to be seen in those waters for another four years.
This was precisely what Donitz had wanted, as the withdrawal of ASW vessels allowed his U-boats to continue with their sinkings unabated. Politically, Hitler was neither pleased, nor displeased. He was still hopeful of a diplomatic solution with Great Britain and did not want to further antagonize the Western Powers by sinking a major capital warship. However, no specific orders had been issued otherwise and in fact, the Kriegsmarine was ecstatic. Donitz noted gleefully in his diary “A wonderful success”.
Schuhart was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the entire crew the Iron Cross Second Class. In tonnage sunk for a single patrol, his tally was 41,905 tons which was to stand as a record high for a very long time.
The U-29 was a Type VIIA U-boat, an oceangoing boat which had four bow and one stern torpedo tube.
HMS Courageous was sunk on September 17 1939 at 1940 hours at the Western Approaches (Southwest of Ireland), Grid BE3198, 150nm WSW of Mizen Head, Ireland. Her sister ship, the HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers, Ardent and Acasta was to suffer the same fate on June 8 1940, during an attack by two German battle cruisers, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.
Hah - Moscow announced it was remaining neutral!!
How much longer till they invade Finland, Estonia, Lithuania,and Latvia?
thanks Homer!
And TODAY is the day that Obama sells out the Poles to the Russians! Almost as if he wants to demoralize them.
The Times does not run this story until the 19th. And then they start out with, "A German submarine struck a telling blow at the British Navy last night by sinking the 22,500-ton aircraft carrier Courageous . . .
HMS Courageous and her sister HMS Glorious were two of the most outrageous results from First Sea Lord Admiral Jackie Fisher.
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Courageous.html
Courageous Class Large Light Cruisers
“With the Nazis we lose our lives, with the Soviets we lose our souls.” - General Wladyslaw Anders
I’m betting the peace struck between the Soviets and Japan yesterday is starting to switch some light bulbs on in some people’s heads.
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