Posted on 10/23/2009 5:29:33 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
*Grapes of Wrath is still tops nationally.
Mein Kampf has faded from the top six everywhere but Atlanta and New Orleans.
In Chicago: Capt. Horatio Hornblower, by C.S. Forester.
Homer discovered this one some 23 years later and was hooked.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601391023,00.html
Table of Contents: October 23, 1939
WAR & TERRORISM
WESTERN THEATRE: Push? (World War / WESTERN THEATRE)
AT SEA: How Did It Happen? (World War / AT SEA)
World War: Clever Boys (World War)
IN THE AIR: 72-Hour War? (World War / IN THE AIR)
From the past in my state of Louisiana!
October 23, 1939 - Offices of Louisiana attorney-general and his assistant seize by state troops on orders of Gov. Earl K. Long.
Further Finn-Soviet negotiations
Monday, October 23, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Moscow... Soviet and Finnish representatives meet to discuss border revisions. The Finnish delegation is led by Paasikivi and accompanied by Tanner, the Minister of Finance. There is little change in the terms offered by either side.
In the Soviet Union... North of Murmansk, a German prize crew steers the US ship City of Flint into Kola Bay. The steamer was seized as contraband by a German cruiser.
On the Western Front... Patrolling units engage in combat in the region west of the Saar.
In Paris... Sir Eric Phipps, the retiring British Ambassador, leaves.
In the North Sea... The British Home Fleet escorts an iron ore convoy from Narvik, Norway (arriving on October 31st).
The French has banned Armistice Day?! Well I guess the point is pretty mute now. It would be like the German’s celebrating the Battle of Sedan.
CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street S.W. 1, on Monday, October 23, 1939, at 11:30am.
The Secretary of State for War said that during the week-end there had bneen an increase of 4 or 5 German Divisions in the Saar area. One more habe also been identified near Cologne.
The British Liaison Officer with the French had reported that there was a weak point in the Maginot Line, about 10 miles broad, in the Saar area, where the defences were only of the type to be found on the Franco-Belgian frontier.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, in reply to an enquiry by the Prime Minister, said that this gap in the Maginot Line was due to the fact that the French had not started work on this sector while the future of the Saar was in doubt. The French were now working on the sector, and would be able to inundate the country in front of it if necessary.
The Secretary of State for War said that , in conversation with the Director of Military Intelligence, General Gamelin had given the impression that he was now thinking more in terms of a German offensive in the Spring than in terms of the immediate future. He had appeared confident, and had expressed his satisfaction with the French tanks, and also with the Curtis Fighter.
The First Lord of the Admiralty enquired whether the General Staff were now convinced that no major German offensive was impending.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff said that it was not possible to be absolutely definite on this point, but a major operation in the present state of the weather, and so late in the season, was not one which he himself would be prepared to undertake.
The War Cabinet took note of the above statements.
Nice. Please add me to your ping list.
A magnificant retreat.
Wait ‘til the French fool the hell out of the Germans with their withdawal in May and June of the coming year [1940].
And then they will really throw them by surrendering. Those French are a crafty lot.
Read this story and others in tomorrow's edition of The New York Times.
In the Soviet Union... North of Murmansk, a German prize crew steers the US ship City of Flint into Kola Bay. The steamer was seized as contraband by a German cruiser.
This story finally makes the front page as breaking news tomorrow. The treatment of this episode is really fishy. The time line appears to get twisted.
Yes, the “clever strategic maneuver” by withdrawing from the Warndt Forest completely fooled the Germans. I dug through my archives of materials and found a transcript of Gamelin’s strategy session where this was decided. I think the stenographer used some code names for the French staff:
ARTHUR: Run away! Run away!
ALL KNIGHTS (taking up cry): Run away! Run away!
They run down from the cave and hide, regrouping behind some rocks. TIM, some way away, is pointing at them and laughing derisively.
TIM: Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.
ARTHUR: Who did we lose?
LAUNCELOT: Sir Gawain.
GALAHAD: Ector.
ARTHUR: And Bors. Five.
+ GALAHAD: Three, sir!
+ ARTHUR: Three. Well, we’ll not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit’s dynamite.
ROBIN: Would it help to confuse him if we ran away more.
Lol!
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