TURKEY SIGNS 15-YEAR TREATY WITH ALLIES (10/20/39)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 10/20/39 | Raymond Daniell, Percy Knauth, Robert P. Post, Harold Denny

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The International Situation – 2
Military Compact – 2-4
The Day’s Communiqués – 5
Incidents in European Conflict – 6 First Phase of War Ended, Nazis Claim – 7
4 Navy Fliers Die as Bombers Crash – 8
Soviet Bidder Offers War Ore To Our Army – 8
Navy Fliers Adrift Since Scapa Flow Raid Reach British Coast in Collapsible Boat – 9
Seizures By Britain Total 338,000 Tons – 9
British Air Chief Visits France; Finds His Force Superior to Nazis’ – 10
Hitler Is Insane, Specialist Holds – 11
Windsor and Gloucester Visit Front Line in France – 11

[abb]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/oct39/f20oct39.htm

Neutral ships in Allied convoys targeted
Friday, October 20, 1939 www.onwar.com

From Berlin... The German government warns that neutral merchant ships joining Allied convoys will be sunk without warning. It is also announced that Hitler has signed a decree by which 3,000,000 Jews now living in Poland will get their own territory in eastern Poland, with a Jewish capital at Lublin.

On the Western Front... There is patrol and reconnaissance activity between the Moselle and the Saar rivers.
In Britain... The war office recommends that soldiers at the front read both Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto.

In Melbourne... The prime minister, Robert Menzies, announces the reintroduction of compulsory military training, for home service, in January 1940.

[henkster]

The western press continues to play up “non-stories” as though they are great allied victories. Today it’s on the diplomatic front with the treaty with Turkey. This is part of Britain’s diplomatic offensive to line up the Balkan states with the allies. One of the main targets is Romania, but there are also overtures to Greece and Yugoslavia.

In the end, the press reports about this treaty is much ado about nothing. Germany and Russia are the power players here. France and Britain have virtually no military assets in the area; they can only offer words of encouragement. While the British efforts will have some effect in Yugoslavia, and they will give token support to Greece when she is attacked by Italy and later Germany, in the end Germany will kick the British out of the Balkans with ease. Romania is never in play for the British; she casts her lot with Germany as “the lesser evil” as opposed to the USSR.

And the Turks? Despite this wonderful treaty, Turkey never becomes an active belligerent in WW2.

[henkster]

Too bad Dr. Brown isn’t around today to evaluate our Fuhrer.

[GeronL]

Interesting. That seem to think the Black Sea would be a focus of the coming war?

Of course Hitler was nuts.

Yep, that Force in France was definitely superior to the Nazi’s... *snicker*

The Ghost plane program would kill the best Kennedy ever born.

[GeronL]

“London audience cheers lampooning of Limbergh”

lol.

[tcrlaf]

Afternoon all....

Naval Events-Friday, 20 October 1939

Light cruisers COLOMBO and DELHI departed Sullom Voe for Northern Patrol.

Light cruiser DRAGON departed Sullom Voe for Northern Patrol and arrived back on the 25th.

Two light cruisers were on Northern Patrol between the Shetlands and the Faroes, light cruiser COLOMBO and AMCs AURANIA, CALIFORNIA, CHITRAL between the Faroes and Iceland, and light cruiser SHEFFIELD and AMCs SCOTSTOUN, RAWALPINDI, TRANSYLVANIA in the Denmark Strait.

While escorting convoy BC.10S with destroyer VIVACIOUS from Quiberon Bay to Barry, destroyer MONTROSE attacked a submarine contact.

Convoy FN.24 departed Southend. Shortly after, escorting sloop PELICAN was damaged when she struck submerged wreckage. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 22nd.

Convoy FS.24 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer BROKE, sloops BITTERN and ENCHANTRESS, and arrived at Southend on the 22nd.

U.34 sank steamer SEA VENTURE (2327grt) east of the Shetlands and Swedish steamer GUSTAF ADOLF (926grt) 50 miles NE of Sullom Voe. All the crew of GUSTAF ADOLF were rescued, while the survivors from SEA VENTURE rowed in their lifeboats to a nearby island.

German auxiliary patrol boat Vp.701 (trawler ESTE, 426grt) was sunk on a mine between Moen and Falsterbo.

German steamer BIANCA (1375grt) had departed Rotterdam pre-war for Lisbon, called at El Ferrol and refuelled in an attempt to return to Germany before the start of the war. She reached Reykjavik on 7 September and remained there until 18 October when she made her attempt. At 1150/20th in the Denmark Strait, she was captured by armed merchant cruiser TRANSYLVANIA, taken to Kirkwall by a prize crew commanded by Lt Cdr D M MacLean RNR, and renamed EMPIRE WARRIOR in British service.

Greek steamer OMONIA (3699grt) was seized in the Baltic by German warships, taken to Swinemünde and later renamed OLSA for German use.

Light cruiser CARADOC arrived at Bermuda, and left the same day for Kingston, Jamaica.

Light cruiser DESPATCH departed Bermuda and arrived at Kingston on the 26th.

Light cruiser GALATEA departed Alexandria, reached Malta on the 27th, left again on the 28th and arrived back at Alexandria on the 30th.

Light cruiser DURBAN departed Mauritius for Colombo to examine the Cargados, Caarajos and Chagos groups for German activity.

The Admiralty ordered destroyers HOTSPUR and HAVOCK from the South America Station to the West Indies.

[tcrlaf]

War Diary and War Standing Orders of Commander in Chief, Submarines

There is so much damage to U 32’s engines that they will have to be exchanged. The boat was to have sailed within the next few days. Now she will be out of action for several weeks. She was just about to load mines. This will have far reaching consequences.

U 31 will have to take over her operation and will thus not be able to sail until 3 days later. The operation originally assigned to this boat will have to be postponed. This is an excellent example of what happens almost all the time.

Again and again plans are reversed because completion dates for the boats are postponed. One thing is certain: the M.A.N. engines have not proved their worth because their casing is too light. Presumably things will not improve until all the boats have been fitted with the new casings.

Admiral Donitz

[tcrlaf]

20 October 1939- The “Great Migration” of Ethnic Germans from Latvia continues:

From the Riga Newspaper Jaunakas Zinas (The latest news):

- Resettlers are allowed to sell their coke for central heating only with permission of the firing commissioner to the persons who are allowed to buy coke.

- 500 persons applied in Riga for apartments of resettlers, but only 50 apartments are registered as free.

- The Ministry of Agriculture ordered all the buyers of grain to buy all grain that the resettlers could offer.

- The spreaders of false information are punished. Vilhelms Eberhards with 1000 Ls fine or arrest to 3 months, his brother Adolfs with 300 Ls fine or arrest to 1 month, Oto Asmus with 100 Ls fine or 1 month of arrest. All of them distributed false information about the resettlement of local Germans.

- The Society of the houseowners of Riga discussed the problems that could arise in the lodging market of Riga city due to the emigration of Germans. It is expected that about 10,000 flats could be vacate.

Official Latvian Government Newsletter Valdibas Vistnesis (The government messenger):

Publishes the Law on the future hiring of the living premises after the Latvian citizens of German ethnicity would have emigrated. The Law is adopted on October 19 and becomes forcible at the day of the publication.

It is stated in the Law that all contracts of renting become null and void after the release from Latvia citizenship. The agreements about the transfer of premises contracted with the emigrants have no legal force.

The left premises should be registered and hired again only with permission of the relevant Police authorities. The Minister of the Interior Kornelijs Veitmanis issued similar orders a week before (October 13).

[tcrlaf]

Ship’s Log of the HMS Stronghold, 20 October 1939:

In Scrabster

Clean ship
14.40 Officers of Investigation Committee come on board
14.45 Ship proceeded to Scapa
Passed through Hoxa Boom
16.20 Inspection of blocked channels and booms
18.10 Hove to off Voltaire. Disembarked officers.
19.50 Proceed to anchor alongside HMS Bramble

[BroJoeK]

"From Berlin... It is also announced that Hitler has signed a decree by which 3,000,000 Jews now living in Poland will get their own territory in eastern Poland, with a Jewish capital at Lublin."

In fact, nothing of the sort ever happened. Instead, Jews were shipped to tiny ghettos and expected die there of disease, starvation or exposure. The surviving remnant would then be treated to "special actions."

[tcrlaf]

Movies Released on 20 October 1939

At the Circus (1939)

Pack Up Your Troubles (1939)

Television Spy (1939)

The Flying Deuces (1939) Laurel and Hardy

[tcrlaf]

“Jews now living in Poland will get their own territory in eastern Poland, with a Jewish capital at Lublin.”

“In fact, nothing of the sort ever happened”

TRUE....
But it DID keep them pacified long enough to arrange shipments to the camps. The power of Propaganda at work.

[tcrlaf]

Deportation of Jews from Austria to Nisko (Lublin), October 1939

Further to the Note on the conversation between SS Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, Dr. Ebner of the Gestapo and the Special Representative of Reichskommissar Dr. Becker, it is stated that the Resettlement operation to Poland will begin at 22.00 hours on October 20, 1939, with the first transport of 1,000 Jews fit for work, from the Aspang Rail Station in Vienna.

The Jews were supplied by the Jewish Community with tools for the erection of a barracks village at Nisko, where transports of Jews fit for work have already been sent from Maehrisch-Ostrau. The Jews on the transport will also be given foodstuffs for 4 weeks.

Further transports will leave regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week with 1,000 Jews. The second and third transports will consist of Jews and Jewesses at present under arrest in Vienna, whose departure date has been set by the Gestapo. From the fourth transport on, complete families will already be sent.

When the barracks village at Nisko has been completed, the Jews who arrived with the first transport will in continuous progression be distributed to the interior to the formerly Jewish villages in that area.

The composition of the transports is arranged by the Jewish Community of Vienna (as long as this remains possible) and a Jewish transport management is responsible for the transports. In addition, each transport is accompanied by 25 police (Schupo) officers under the command of a police captain, who must prevent all danger of escape by use of arms.

Dokumentationsarchiv des oesterreichischen Widerstandes (Document Archives of the Austrian Resistance), 2536.

[tcrlaf]

Instructions for the Deportation of the Jews From the Palatinate (Pfalz), October 1940

Secret

Notes for the Responsible Officials

1. Only full Jews will be deported. Mischlinge, partners in mixed marriages and foreign Jews, as long as they are not citizens of enemy nations or of areas occupied by us, will be excluded from the Aktion. Stateless Jews will, on principle, be detained. Every Jew is considered fit to be moved; the only exceptions are Jews who are actually bedridden.

2. In order to assemble the Jews collection points have been established in... The transport of those who are being held will be by buses. Every bus will be accompanied by a Crime Police official as transport leader. He will have with him, according to need, regular police, Gendarmerie or Crime Police. The transport leader is responsible for the assembly, transport and supervision of his group until the departure of the train from the collection point.

3. Every transport leader will receive a list at the concentration point, noting the bus which he has been allocated, the police officials who will work with him, and the names and addresses of the persons to be detained. Where the names of the officials to work with him have not yet been listed they will be inserted later by the transport leader.

4. The transport leader will inform the officials working with him of the names and addresses of the persons to be detained.

5. When the officials appointed for this purpose have received the personal information on the Jews, they will go to the homes of those concerned. They will then convey to them that they have been detained in order to be deported; it is to be pointed out at the same time that they must be ready to move in two hours. Possible queries are to be communicated to the head of the collection point, who will clarify the issue; no delay in the preparations is to be permitted.

6. Those who have been detained should take with them, as far as possible:

a) A suitcase or parcel with clothing for each Jew; the weight permitted is 50 kg. for each adult, 30 kg per child.

b) A complete set of clothing.

c) A woollen blanket for every Jew.

d) Food for several days.

e) Utensils for eating and drinking.

f) Up to RM 100 in cash per person.

g) Passports, identity cards or other identification papers. These are not to be packed but to be carried by each individual.

7. ...

8. A questionnaire is to be filled in for every head of a family or single Jew, in accordance with the sample provided, and is to be signed by the official in charge.

9. Attention should be paid to the following before the apartment is vacated:

a) Livestock and other live animals (dogs, cats, cage birds) are to be handed over to the local head official, chairman of the local farmers association or other suitable person against a receipt.

b) Perishable foodstuffs are to be placed at the disposal of the NSV [Nazi welfare organization].

c) Open fires are to be extinguished.

d) Water and gas supply is to be turned off.

e) Electrical fuses are to be disconnected.

f) The keys to the apartment are to be tied together and provided with a tie-on label with the name, city, street and number of the house of the owner.

g) As far as possible the persons detained are to be searched before their departure for weapons, ammunition, explosives, poison, foreign currency, jewelry, etc.

10. After the apartment has been vacated the entrance to the apartment is to be locked by the official and sealed with the adhesive strip provided for this purpose. The keyhole must be covered by the adhesive strip.

11. After the persons detained have been taken to the bus the official will hand over to the transport leader the objects or valuables, questionnaires and keys, for delivery at the concentration point.

12. After the transport leader has handed over the detainees at the concentration point he will check the list which he received, amend it if required, and mark it as having been dealt with.

13. It is absolutely necessary that the Jews will be dealt with in a proper manner when they are detained. Excesses are in any case to be avoided absolutely.

P. Sauer, ed., Dokumente ueber die Verfolgung der juedischen Buerger in Baden-Wuerttemberg durch das nationalsozialistische Regime 1933-1945 (”Documents on the Persecution of the Jewish Citizens of Baden-Wurttemberg by the National-Socialist Regime 1933-1945”), II, Stuttgart, 1966, pp. 236-237.

[tcrlaf]

SORRY...
This is from 1940, not 1939....

[tcrlaf]

20 October, 1939 Royal Australian Navy: The examination vessel HMAS ADELE, was commissioned. ADELE was formerly commissioned as HMAS FRANKLIN, on 14 September 1915. . . RAN Examination Vessel HMAS Adele in Port Darwin 1949. It was a coal-fired, single screw yacht requisitioned by the RAN. The ship was unarmed - not even a rifle was aboard. Signalman and officer would pull alongside and board ship being inspected. A Verey's Pistol (signal flares) and semaphore flags would be used to signal PWSS. If it was an enemy ship, red flares could be fired and signalman was expected to jump overboard. With a 6 knot current and crocodiles, they were very happy no enemy made it into the harbour. She was wrecked in Kiama harbour NSW.

[PzLdr]

“Hauptsturmbannfuehrer” Eichmann?

There was no SS rank of Hauptsturmbannfuehrer. Officers’ ranks went from Sturmfuehrer [2 Lt], to Obersturmfuehrer [1 Lt], to Hauptsturmfuehrer [Cpt.], Sturmbannfuehrer [Maj.], Obersturmbannfuehrer [Lt. Col], Standartenfuehrer [Col.], Oberfuehrer [Senior Col.], Brigadfuehrer [BG], Gruppenfueher [MG], Obergruppenfuehrer [Lt. Gen.], Oberstgruppenfuhrer [Col. Gen.], and Reichsfuehrer SS.

[BroJoeK]

"Again and again plans are reversed because completion dates for the boats are postponed. One thing is certain: the M.A.N. engines have not proved their worth because their casing is too light. "

Among the German military & Nazi leaders captured at war's end, the allies rated Dönitz the most intelligent, followed, strangely enough, by Göring.

So if we take the old saying that "amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics," then ask: what does military genius study?

Answer: the thickness of engine casings.