Posted on 11/03/2009 5:58:33 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Looks to me like we were in it before 12/7.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/nov39/f03nov39.htm
Finns refuse to give Soviets bases
Friday, November 3, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Moscow... Talks continue between the USSR and Finland on Soviet requests for an exchange of territory and border alterations. Finnish counterproposals were presented, stating it recognized Soviet security needs but that Finland has now gone as far as its “independence, security and neutrality permit.” The Finns refuse to allow the Soviets a military base in Finland.
In Washington... The US Senate votes to lift the embargo on the export of arms to belligerents.
In Britain... After complaints from employers and trades unions, the blackout is reduced by an hour. It now runs from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise.
In Pretoria... The South African Prime Minister, General Smuts, promises to defend British colonies in Africa if required.
I think everyone by this point knew it was going to have to happen eventually. Some wanted it to just be delayed as long as possible.
The Germans certainly thought so. And our level of involvement will only increase. This is the classic “slippery slope.” What began as a repeal of the Neutrality Act ended up with us in an undeclared war with Germany. The original idea of repealing the Neutrality Act is apparent from the headline; we expected $1,000,000,000.00 in war orders from the Allies. For a manufacturing/export nation struggling to come out of a depression, the allure of money was just too much to resist.
But note at the same time that there is nothing afoot to make the United States militarily ready for war. No expansion of the army, and naval construction programs are continuing but only modestly. It is next year that we will have the two essential Congressional acts that will get us ready for war: Selective Service and Two Ocean Navy. My contention is that the Two Ocean Navy act was probably what enabled us to win WWII. You don’t get a navy overnight; it takes years to create. Without a strong navy, the United States cannot project it’s power globally. Thanks to this Act, our shipyards got the head start needed for expansion and modernization. The ships authorized by this act began joining the fleet in 1943, and by 1944 we had created a navy whose size and power was unimaginable to our Japanese foes in 1941. Without the Two Ocean Navy Act, we don’t have that fleet until 1945 or 1946. By then, the Japanese may be entrenched enough and the war long enough that our population grows weary and negotiates a peace.
Naval Events- Friday, 3 November
American steamer CITY OF FLINT (4963grt) departed Murmansk during the night of 26/27 October, called at Tromso on the 30th and was ordered to leave, escorted by Norwegian destroyer SLEIPNER. On the 3rd, she was interned at Haugesand by Norwegian minelayer OLAV TRYGGVASON after entering the port without permission, arrived at Bergen on the 4th and was later set free after the German prize crew was removed. CITY OF FLINT departed Bergen on the 27th and arrived at Haugesand later that day to discharge her cargo, departed there on 20 December and Bergen on the 22nd, arriving at Narvik on the 28th.
_____
German steamer NEW YORK (22,337grt) successfully ran the blockade while the Home Fleet was involved with CITY OF FLINT. She departed Murmansk on 31 October and successfully used the Indreled, arriving at Hamburg on the 12th escorted by three minesweepers and aircraft.
_____
Light cruiser GLASGOW and destroyers KELLY, BEDOUIN, ESKIMO and MATABELE had been involved in trying to intercept CITY OF FLINT and NEW YORK as they came down the Norwegian coast. All four destroyers arrived back at Scapa Flow on the 5th after sustaining severe weather damage. GLASGOW arrived at Rosyth that day with her forecastle dropped by two inches from the effect of the weather.
Light cruiser NEWCASTLE arrived at Sullom Voe on the 3rd for refuelling, then went off on Northern Patrol.
KELLY, after emergency repairs at Kirkwall departed with destroyer ICARUS for temporary repairs from depot ship GREENWICH at Scapa Flow, before going on to Hebburn for permanent repairs. She was back in service on 14 December. ESKIMO departed Scapa Flow on the 6th and arrived at Newcastle on the 7th, repairing until the 24th. MATABELE and BEDOUIN departed Scapa Flow on the 7th, MATABELE arriving at Rosyth on the 8th and reaching Newcastle on the 10th, where she repaired until the 25th, while BEDOUIN arrived at Rosyth on the 8th for boiler cleaning and repairs.
_____
Convoy OA.28G departed Southend on 31 October escorted by destroyers ACASTA and ARDENT, while OB.28G departed Liverpool on the 1 November escorted by destroyers VERSATILE and VOLUNTEER. On the 3rd, the convoys with 33 ships merged as OG.5, and were joined in the Western Approaches by French large destroyers VAUQUELIN and TARTU the same day. The British escorts were relieved and returned to England. The convoy and the French escorts arrived at Gibraltar on the 9th.
_____
Light cruisers DRAGON, COLOMBO, DIOMEDE arrived at Sullom Voe.
_____
On Northern Patrol were light cruisers CALEDON and CERES between the Orkneys and the Faroes, three cruisers and one AMC between the Faroes and Iceland, and three AMCs in the Denmark Strait. Light cruiser SOUTHAMPTON was returning to Scapa Flow from Denmark Strait patrol.
_____
Anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA departed Grimsby on escort duties and arrived back later the same day.
_____
Convoy FS.31 departed Methil escorted by destroyers VALOROUS, WOOLSTON and sloop HASTINGS, and arrived at Southend on the 5th. There was no convoy FN.31.
_____
German steamer SCHWABEN (7773grt) had departed Santos on 26 September and passed through the Denmark Strait on 21 October. She entered Haugesand shortly after the CITY OF FLINT and was allowed to continue, arriving safely in the Weser on the 8th.
_____
French torpedo boat BRANLEBAS reported the track of a torpedo.
_____
Heavy cruisers DEVONSHIRE and SUFFOLK departed Alexandria and NORFOLK Malta on the 5th. All three cruisers called at Gibraltar on the 7th and 8th, and left on the 8th, escorted by destroyers DOUGLAS and KEPPEL. The destroyers were relieved in 44N by destroyers ISIS and ILEX which had escorted battleship WARSPITE from Gibraltar on the 6th. DEVONSHIRE and NORFOLK arrived at Plymouth on the 11th and SUFFOLK at Portsmouth on the 12th. NORFOLK reached the Clyde on the 18th and departed the same day on Northern Patrol duties. SUFFOLK arrived in the Clyde on the 19th and also departed later the same day for Northern Patrol. DEVONSHIRE repaired at Devonport until the 21st, and then arrived at the Clyde on the 22nd for duty with the Home Fleet.
_____
Destroyer DECOY departed Malta after refitting, and escorted steamer NEVASA to Marseilles. The destroyer returned, escorting ocean boarding vessel VAN DYCK and reached Malta on the 7th.
_____
Destroyers ISIS and ILEX, which had departed Plymouth, arrived at Gibraltar for escort duties with battleship WARSPITE and later, with cruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron.
_____
Submarine OSIRIS was damaged by a motor room fire at Alexandria. She departed Alexandria on the 8th escorted by anti-submarine trawler CORAL and arrived at Malta on the 13th, where she was under repair and refit until 30 December.
_____
Light cruiser CARADOC departed Kingston for duty in the Pacific Ocean.
F.d.U./B.d.U.’S War Log of Admiral Donitz
3 November, 1939
Naval War Staff requested B.d.U to go into the question of attacking England’s timber imports from north Russian ports. These imports are regarded as of great importance.
I had in any case planned to operate U 36 against those timber transports in the area east of North Cape. I think that chances of success are good in this area, but nevertheless I cannot decide further until I get information of the situation from this operation.
Naval War Staff also informed me at the same time that there was a chance of setting up a “Base North”. I think everything possible should be done to get this matter cleared up.
The advantages of a base in the north are:
1) The much better position for attacking the north Russia-England convoy routes.
2) The safe approach route, loading well away from England through deep water.
The disadvantages are:
1) A lengthening of the approach route by about 300 miles.
2) Lack of suitable dock and repair facilities and the difficulty of supplying material overland.
As long as boats can pass through the North Sea without running too great a risk or losing too much time, a base in the north would only be important for attacking timber transports from the north Russian ports. But if at any time the disadvantage of the longer route should outweigh the increasing dangers of a passage through the North Sea, the Northern Base would assume very great importance.
It cannot be foreseen how long the timber transports will continue, but it is justifiable to assume that they will either stop soon or else the political conditions for this base will become void.
The base would also have to have reliable radio communication with the boats and with home. As a large-scale undertaking cannot be kept secret for long, there would have to be military protection from the first in order to prevent surprise coups by the enemy.
A proposal has been worked out on these lines and sent to Naval War Staff.
Bundesarchiv Bild Fot. Ho 3/11/1939
Arthur Greiser is another real winner from that period....
Decorated in WW1 he returned to now-Polish Posen and joined the Freikorps Grenzschutz Ost organization. He joined the Nazi Party and SA on 1 Nov 1929, and became a part of the SS on 30 Jun 1931.
Greiser authorized the formation of SS detachments that essentially acted as mobile execution squads that murdered Jews, mental patients, and other groups deemed subhuman by Nazi philosophies.
Wilhelm Koppe, an ardent Nazi subordinate to Greiser, was the man placed in charge of the Holocaust, who between late 1941 and Apr 1942 alone killed 150,000 Jews using gas vans. Greiser was fully aware of the efforts and results of the mass murders.
On 20 Jan 1945, he was contacted by Martin Bormann, notifying Adolf Hitler’s orders for him to flee from Reichsgau Wartheland, though he was to instruct his troops to hold the Fortress City of Posen at all costs; Posen fell under Russian control on 28 Jan.
He surrendered to the Americans in Austria near the end of the European War. He was tried by the Polish Supreme National Tribunal after the war. His defense against war crimes charges was that he was following orders from above, but he was still found guilty of several charges, including genocide, torture, and the systematic destruction of Polish culture and identity.
He was executed by hanging on slope of Fort Winiary in Poznan (restored Polish name of what Germans formerly referred to as Posen) in what would become the last public execution in Polish history.
Greiser speaking at the first Nazi rally in Posen, Germany after German conquest, 3 Nov 1939 Source German Federal Archive
3/11/1939- Kurytowka, Poland
Socialist Union Teachers are arrested by Gestapo Police
In Kurytowka, Joseph Szczesny and Joseph Wojcik create the first underground structures of the of the Union for Armed Struggle, the beginnings of the Home Army, in South-Eastern Poland.
3/11/1939
-The German Reich and the USSR sign a relocation agreement.
In return for the repatriation of ethnic Germans from western Ukraine and Belarus, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians and Ruthenians allowed to leave the Polish General Government.
The German Resettlement Trust is established as a department of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German nationhood, Heinrich Himmler. It aims to serve settlers and grant loans to property.
3.11.1939
Swiss Broadcasting begins with special programs for soldiers.
3.11.1939
In Bratislava, Students demonstrate against the occupation of territories by Slovakian Hungarians. 5 German businesses are destroyed.
These protests will grow, culminating in the Prague Protests of Novemer 17, which will be violently put down, resulting in the closing down of the university and the execution of the protest leaders.
Quite unexpectedly, tens of thousands of people turned up at the ceremony. The gathering evolved into an anti-communist demonstration and was brutally dispersed.
Several hundred people were beaten up and there were rumours about fatalities. Hundreds of young people were arrested.
On the following day students announced a seven-day strike. They demanded punishment for those responsible for the brutal crackdown, the resignation of the authorities, and negotiations between the authorities and the Student Society. They also called for a general strike.
The protest was gradually spread to other cities. Another demonstration took place in Prague on 19 November.
The Students’ Coordination Committee was established, as well as the main organisation of the “Velvet Revolution” oppositionists, the Civic Forum with Václav Havel as its leader.
NOTE:
Vaclev Havel, A Nobel Peace Prize winner that ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING, would later become President of the Czech Republic.
On the following day the Slovak counterpart of the Civic Forum, the Public Against Violence, was founded.
Not only did these two organisations play a leading role in the changes of the autumn of 1989, but also became leading political forces in both parts of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the communist system.
Tomorrow's lead story.
"The broad strategic objectives of the Associated Powers will be the defeat of Germany and her Allies."
The Associated Powers being the allies of course.
Paragraph 13 of the same plan that had its last modification on April 5, 1941 (still before Pearl Harbor) states:
"13. Plans for the Military operations of the Associated Powers will likewise be governed by the following:
(a) Since Germany is the predominant member of the Axis Powers the Atlantic and European area is considered to be the decisive theatre. The principal United States Military effort will be exerted in that theatre and operations of United States forces in other theatres will be conducted in such a manner as to facilitate that effort.
(b) Owing to the threat to the sea communications of the United Kingdom the principal task of the United States naval forces in the Atlantic will be the protection of shipping of the Associated Powers, the center of gravity of the United States effort being concentrated in the Northwestern approaches to the United Kingdom. Under this conception, the United States naval effort in the Mediterranean will initially be considered of secondary importance.
(c) It will be of great importance to maintain the present British and Allied Military position in and near the Mediterranean basins, and to prevent the spread of Axis control in North Africa.
(d) Even if Japan were not initially to enter the war on the side of the Axis Powers, it would still be necessary for the Associated Powers to deploy their forces in a manner to guard against Japanese intervention. If Japan does enter the war, the Military strategy in the Far East will be defensive. The United States does not intend to add to its present Military strength in the Far East but will employ the United States Pacific Fleet offensively in the manner best calculated to weaken Japanese economic power, and to support the defense of the Malay barrier by diverting Japanese strength away from Malaysia. The United States intends so to augment its forces in the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas that the British Commonwealth will be in a position to release the necessary forces for the Far East...
"Vatican Reports Lwow Archbishop Killed By Russians,
Whose Invasion He Opposed"
According to Wartime Rescue of Jews by the Polish Catholic Clergy page 10:
"According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), “Poland—The Church in Poland, 1939–1945,” volume 11, at pages 481–83:"In all, 13 Polish bishops were exiled or arrested and put in concentration camps. Of these the following died:
- Auxiliary Bishop Leon Wetmański of Płock on May 10, 1941, and
- Archbishop Antoni Nowowiejski of Płock on June 20, 1941, in Soldau (Działdowo);
- Auxiliary Bishop Michał Kozal of Włocławek on Jan. 26, 1943, in Dachau;
- Auxiliary Bishop Władysław Goral of Lublin at the beginning of 1945 in a hospital bunker in Berlin.
"There were
- 3,647 priests,
- 389 clerics,
- 341 brothers, and
- 1,117 sisters put in concentration camps, in which
- 1,996 priests,
- 113 clerics, and
- 238 sisters perished
"… The diocesan clergy of the Polish Church, who at the beginning of World War II numbered 10,017, lost 25 per cent (2,647).
The Dioceses of Włocławek (220, or 49.2 per cent),
Gniezno (Gnesen, 137, or 48.8 per cent), and
Chełmno (Kulm, 344, or 47.8 per cent) suffered a loss of almost half their clergy.
The losses for the Dioceses of Łódź (132, or 36.8 per cent) and
Poznań (Posen, 212, or 31.1 per cent) were also very heavy."
We note here the Pope immediately publicly condemned the murder of one Archbishop by the Russians. When Catholic clergy were later murdered in their dozens and hundreds by Nazis, the Pope was not as public in his potests.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.