HMS Gypsy
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/nov39/f23nov39.htm
Scharnhorst sinks British merchant cruiser
Thursday, November 23, 1939 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... Between Iceland and the Faroes, the British armed merchant cruiser, Rawalpindi, armed with only four 6-inch guns, meets the German battle cruiser, Scharnhorst, and is blown out of the water, killing 265 crew. Scharnhorst has been sailing in the company of Gneisenau and because of this meeting they turn back from their raiding mission. They evade searches by many British ships during the next few days and return to base safely. Their escape is aided by the German ability to read many of the British naval codes.
In Britain... In the early morning hours, two Royal Engineers officers, mine experts, succeed in defusing a German magnetic mine stranded in the Shoeburyness mud flat and manage to recover it for study. It can therefore be examined to devise countermeasures. These mines have been in use since October 16th and already they have been responsible for the loss of 50,000 tons of shipping. Meanwhile, bacon and butter are rationed.
In France... The Polish government-in-exile is established at Angers, in the west.
In Berlin... In a speech before his senior generals, summoned to the Reich Chancellery, Hitler says that he has led the German people to great heights, while they have only shown a lack of faith. “I am irreplaceable,” a frustrated Hitler states. “I shall attack France and England at the earliest moment. My decision is unchangeable.”
In Cracow... Dr. Frank, governor of the Government General in Nazi occupied Poland, orders all Jews over the age of ten to wear armbands marked with the Star of David.
In Germany... Food rationing for pets is announced.
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=19772
HMS Gypsy
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?415
HMS Gypsy (H63) was a British Navy Destroyer Type Class G built in 1934 by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Govan, Scotland. On the 21st November 1939 she was mined by German laid mines and sunk in the channel to Harwich Harbour. Loss of 30 crew. She was beached in shallow water and never recommissioned.
http://www.internet-promotions.co.uk/archives/caithness/rawalpindi.htm
AGAINST ALL ODDS - HMS RAWALPINDI
By Stephen Cashmore and David Bews
It was the season of long nights and short, gloomy days blighted with cold rain and bone-freezing winds. A new decade was rapping on the door with an icy fist. The old one was ending in a flurry of military activity seemingly designed to convert Caithness into a vast armed camp, studded with pill boxes, anti-tank traps, airstrips, radio stations and off-limits areas accessible ‘by pass only’. Twenty miles or so across the grey Pentland Firth the bodies of 786 sailors, Caithnessians among them, lay entombed inside the sunken grave that was once HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by an unseen enemy submarine on the night of 14th October. A month earlier another of these underwater wolves had sent the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous to the sea bed together with 515 human beings, and Germany had embarked on a ‘gloves off’ campaign of destruction against all merchant shipping sailing to or from Britain. The sea-lanes were infested with U-boats; German warships prowled the wide oceans searching for unarmed merchantmen to blow out of the water. Where would it all end, folk asked themselves?
One December morning, at their John’s Haven home, near Montrose, Mr and Mrs McBay received an official telegram. It was brief and to the point - their son, Robert, a gunner serving with His Majesty’s Royal Naval Reserve, had been posted missing, presumed killed in action. The McBays were not alone in their grief. Similar telegrams had been delivered at 15 Ackergill Crescent, Wick, where lived Margaret McLeod and her family; at 3 Murryfield, Castletown, the home of James and Christina Sutherland; and over on Stroma where Peter and Margaret Sinclair lived at The Cairn. Husband, sons - lost at sea, victims of a cruel war that was scarcely three months old.
This story begins in 1925 at the great Harland & Wolf shipbuilding yard in Belfast, with the launch of a 16,000 ton passenger ship christened Rawalpindi, one of a family of four built for the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company. Under the famous P&O flag the Rawalpindi settled down to a mundane career on the company’s Britain to India route, via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. And had it not been for the advent of National Socialism in Germany, the Rawalpindi would no doubt have ploughed the same sea furrows until, worn beyond economic maintenance, she would have been superseded by a newer model, decommissioned and scrapped, remembered only as a minor footnote in the annals of maritime history. But on August 24th 1939, the Admiralty requisitioned Rawalpindi and began fitting her with eight 6-inch guns of World War 1 vintage. A week later, as the Wehmacht’s panzers beat a swift and violent path into Poland, Britain declared war on Germany.
Born in a landlocked country with no maritime tradition, Adolf Hitler had little natural affinity with matters naval. In addition, the new Chancellor’s prejudices had been soured by events of October 1918, when a mutiny by the German High Seas Fleet had sparked disorders, riots and public disorder throughout the Reich, leading to the formation of a Socialist government and the deposition of the Kaiser. In the eyes of an infantryman who had fought loyally for his country, such disobedience was nothing less than treason. The submarine service however, had remained steadfast, scorning to join their rebellious surface ship cousins, choosing instead to fight on to the bitter end. This historical prejudice explains to some degree the imbalance in Hitler’s navy, the Kriegsmarine, between submarines and surface ships. In September 1939, the Kriegsmarine had 43 warships of destroyer size and above, against the Royal Navy’s 310. However, the Germans 98 U-boats were thirty more than the number of British submarines in service at that date. From this it becomes plain that Germany could pursue only one type of naval strategy: the destruction of Britain’s sea-born commerce, a policy intended to bring the island to its economic knees. Grand battles between opposing fleets, like that fought at Jutland in 1916, were to be avoided at all costs. After all, to a country like Britain, dependent as it was on maritime supply, the loss of a shipping convoy was infinitely more damaging than the sinking of a battleship or two.
When war broke the Kriegsmarine had at least a score of U-boats at sea, together with the pocket battleships Deutschland and Graf Spee. The presence of these two modern warships with their great speed and six 11-inch guns, was enough to paralyse merchant shipping throughout the Atlantic. The Royal Navy knew its mission was to seek out these raiders and destroy them. The Graf Spee’s brief career was to terminate in the epic struggle at the mouth of the River Plate on December 17th 1939, an action which we hope will feature in a future article, but in the meantime the Deutschland pursued its destructive ways in the North Atlantic until mid-November, when it developed engine trouble. Without support, it had no choice but to return to home for repairs. To cover the Deutschland’s withdrawal the German naval command sent out the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, then the most powerful warships possessed by the Kreigsmarine.
Launched in 1936 and completed by the end of 1938, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau represented a new phase in battle-cruiser development. Displacing 32,000 tons, their maximum speed of 31 knots was remarkable for heavily armoured vessels. But such swiftness came with a price: armament was restricted to nine 11-inch guns, powerful enough ordnance, certainly; but clearly inadequate in any long range shooting duel with British capital ships. Avoiding such formidable opponents was the best strategy and, if met, using their superior speed to outdistance the enemy was the order given to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. With these instructions in mind, the two great warships set sail from Kiel to rendezvous with the ailing Deutschland. By November 22nd, having evaded the British patrols east of Scotland, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were headed out into the wild winter waters of the North Sea, steering a course that would take them between Iceland and the Faeroes.
On the morning of November 23rd, His Majesty’s Armed Merchant Cruiser Rawalpindi was patrolling the endless grey ocean wastes to the north of Faeroe. Among her 276 crew, most of who were members of the Royal Naval Reserve, were four men from Caithness. Seaman P/X6816C Hugh McLeod, RNR, had been a carter in civilian life. Born in 1907, the son of Hugh and Andrewina McLeod of Helmsdale, young Hugh had a wife and family back home in Wick. One of Hugh McLeod’s fellow seamen was D/SS9484 David Simpson Sinclair, a 39-year-old Stroma man who had served in the Royal Navy during World War 1. David’s parents, Peter and Margaret, stayed at a place called The Cairn, on Stroma, an island with a long and honourable seafaring tradition. Much younger than his Far North companions was Radio Officer 193856, Douglas Swanson Sutherland, who stayed with his parents James William and Christina at Murryfield, Castletown. Young Douglas was one of the Auxiliary Personnel conscripted from the Merchant Navy. Finally, there was gunner Robert McBay from Angus, whose last shore address was Castletown. Although they did not know it on that cold, November morning, three of these Far North sailors were destined never to see another sunrise.
The day’s routine had been enlivened by the commandeering of a Swedish freighter that had crossed the Rawalpindi’s path earlier that morning. Leaving a boarding party in charge of the Swedish vessel, the Armed Merchant Cruiser resumed her patrol. Intelligence had been received that the German pocket battleship Deutschland was at large somewhere in the North Atlantic, and indeed the German warship’s seizure of the neutral American merchantman City of Flint had caused a temporary diplomatic crisis in relations between Germany and the US. Be as this may, Rawalpindi’s orders were to avoid combat with the Deutschland should she happen to come across her - such a course of action would clearly be suicidal. Instead, she was to radio the German ship’s position back to Home Fleet HQ so that a battle squadron could be despatched to intercept her.
At 1530 hrs, with the winter sun about to sink below the horizon, Rawalpindi was steering an eastward course mid-way between Iceland and the Faeroes. It was a cold, calm afternoon. To port a fog bank was beginning to form; now and then the ship passed a solitary iceberg, white and eerie in the northern twilight. On the bridge Rawalpindi’s Captain, Edward Coverley Kennedy, father of future media figure Ludovic Kennedy, stood watching the world sail past. A veteran Royal Navy officer, recently recalled to duty, 60-year-old Captain Kennedy’s vast experience of sea life made him an ideal candidate for a command like Rawalpindi. Three months before, when he was languishing on the Reserve list, Kennedy could have had no inkling of what the future had in store for him and his charge. His awakening began with a message from the crow’s nest that a ship had been sighted on the starboard horizon.
Peering through the gathering gloom, Captain Kennedy thought he recognised the silhouette of an enemy battle-cruiser in his binocular lenses. On the other hand, could it be the Deutschland after all? Whatever, this was no time for games of I-spy. The Captain ordered “Action Stations!” followed swiftly by a command to change course to port. The duty Radio Operator was told to send an enemy sighting report without delay. Next moment, her alarm bells going like the hammers of Hell, Rawalpindi steered full speed towards the fog bank’s enveloping shelter. Smoke floats were lit and flung into the water. They failed to ignite. In an instant, Captain Kennedy ordered a course change to starboard where a large iceberg about 4 miles away, held out a better promise of protection. But it was too late. The German warship was fast approaching, cutting off Rawalpindi’s escape route. From her bridge the enemy flashed a signal ‘Heave to!’ backed up with a warning shell that sent up a fountain of spray some two hundred yards in front of Rawalpindi’s bows. The Captain scorned these hostile gestures. A man cast in the mould of Nelson and Richard Grenville, Edward Kennedy had an inflexible sense of duty.
As the German warship drew closer, Kennedy took another look at her. This time he felt certain she was indeed the Deutschland. Accordingly, he ordered an amended message be sent at once to the Home Fleet HQ. Again the German bridge flashed ‘Heave to!’ and again the message was ignored, not least because at that very moment a second ship had been sighted to starboard. At first Captain Kennedy thought this must be a fellow member of the Northern Patrol, a British heavy cruiser, perhaps. But he was very much mistaken: the Rawalpindi, a hastily converted passenger liner with outdated guns and eggshell armour was about to take on the mightiest warships in the Kriegsmarine.
Caught between two superior enemies Kennedy realised that his last hour was at hand. While the Rawalpindi’s Signal Officer was correctly identifying the newcomer as a German battle-cruiser, the Chief Engineer appeared on the bridge to hear the Captain declare; “We’ll fight them both, they’ll sink us - and that will be that. Goodbye” He shook the Chief’s hand, turned on his heel and cleared the decks for action.
From his vantage point on the Scharnhorst’s foretop, Captain Hoffmann ordered the signal ‘Abandon your ship!’ to be sent. To his astonishment, the Rawalpindi failed to respond to this message. Was the captain mad? Surely no sane person would pit eight obsolete 6-inch guns against the combined weight of eighteen modern 11-inch monsters, firing at a point-blank range of only 4 miles? Filled with a mixture of bewilderment and silent admiration, Hoffmann commanded the ‘Abandon ship!’ signal be repeated. It was - twice, and twice it went unheeded. With a heavy heart, Hoffmann prepared to give the signal for the Scharnhorst to open fire. He was a moment too late: a salvo of 6-inch shells from Rawalpindi’s four port guns burst harmlessly against the second German battle-cruiser, Gneisenau, commanded by Admiral Marshall and twin sister of the Scharnhorst. At the same moment a similar salvo was on its way to Hoffmann’s ship. It was 1545. Barely a quarter of an hour had gone by since Rawalpindi’s first sight of the hostile vessels. Another 15 minutes and it would all be over.
The first salvo from Scharnhorst slammed into the Boat Deck, directly under the Rawalpindi’s bridge, killing almost everyone on it and demolishing the radio room. Was Radio Officer Douglas Sutherland on duty there? We do not know; but from now on Rawalpindi was unable to transmit any further radio messages. She didn’t have to. At his base on the Clyde, the Home Fleet’s Commander-in-Chief was actioning Rawalpindi’s first signal. A veritable armada of British warships had been ordered to intercept the German battle-cruisers, among them HMS Newcastle, HMS Dehli; and the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, were hurrying full steam ahead to the scene of action. Would they arrive too late? It seemed so. A cluster of 11-inch shells from Gneisenau struck Rawalpindi’s main gun control station, killing everyone there and immobilising one of her starboard guns. Caught in a murderous crossfire, Rawalpindi had no hope of survival.
By some miracle, Captain Kennedy had lived through the direct hit on Rawalpindi’s bridge. Undaunted he sent for Chief Petty Officer Humphries. As he did so a shell burst in the ship’s engine room, knocking out the dynamos that supplied vital electric power to the shell hoists in the magazines. Kennedy ordered Humphries to go round all seven surviving gun turrets and tell their commanders to continue firing independently now that the central control system was out of action. Chief PO Humphries was also to enlist all spare hands in the thankless task of manhandling 6-inch shells from magazine to gun turrets. And still the storm of German shells continued to burst against the gallant little ship.
It was hopeless. Ablaze from stem to stern, her guns being picked off one by one, Rawalpindi was doomed. In extremities such as these strange things happen. Men talk with angels, see Jesus in the sky, or imagine themselves back safe within their mother’s arms. On Rawalpindi a more prosaic vision occurred. A badly wounded loader crawling on his hands and knees, a 6-inch projectile clasped to his weary body, recalled an episode from his training time at shore-based HMS Ganges when, for the crime of ‘producing unsuitable noises during a gunnery class,’ he was sentenced to carry similar shells up and down Laundry Hill. Meanwhile, beside another 6-inch gun, its firing mechanism jammed solid, a man gone out of his mind with shock and terror, was roaring at his companions to help him get it freed oblivious to the fact that the he was shouting at dead men. Below decks, in the ship’s magazine the lights had gone out. A sailor groped his way above to find the Rawalpindi on fire. At once he shouted to his companions to flood the magazine and join him immediately on the upper deck. Arriving there they found things were perilous indeed. Cordite sticks and live shells were rolling about, surrounded by flames. The newcomers lost no time in throwing these dangerous munitions overboard.
In desperation, Captain Kennedy went aft with two ratings to try and lay a covering smoke-screen, while up on deck Chief Petty Officer Humphries was struggling to get wounded men into lifeboats. Suddenly, out of the smoke and flames a rating appeared. “The Captain’s been killed, Chief,” the smoke-blackened rating announced. By now fires were blazing everywhere, the ship’s water supply had failed and its steering gear was out of action. There was nothing for it but to abandon ship. A lifeboat filled with some forty wounded men was prepared for lowering into the sea, but it turned turtle and hit the water upside down, leaving the men to flounder helplessly in the freezing waves. Others were more successful, and for a moment it seemed as though a good number of the Rawalpindi’s crew would escape their ship’s doom. It was not to be. At 1600 hours a tremendous explosion broke the gallant merchant cruiser in two. A shell from one of Scharnhorst’s 11-inch guns had found Rawalpindi’s forward magazine. Her spine broken in half, the stricken vessel began to sink, one of its guns still firing crazily into the air. Tragically for those trying to get clear of the sinking ship, the Scharnhorst having closed in for the kill, swung hard about, swamping the Rawalpindi’s lifeboats. Then, in keeping with naval chivalry, the German battle-cruiser reduced speed and returned to rescue the survivors struggling in the freezing sea.
Darkness was fast falling on this melancholy drama when the last survivors were plucked from a watery grave. They totalled 38. Their companions, all 238 of them, including the three Caithness boys, Hugh McLeod, Douglas Sutherland and David Sinclair, had gone down with the Rawalpindi. The whole action was over and done in barely quarter of an hour.
By now the first of the British warships had arrived on the scene. HMS Newcastle and HMS Delhi, wary of drifting into range of the superior firepower of the German ships, began shadowing the battle-cruisers as they headed west, all the while sending back messages to the Home Fleet. Alerted by this intelligence a posse of cruisers and destroyers, soon to be joined by the battleship Warspite and the great battle-cruisers Hood and Repulse began converging on the forward track of the fugitive Germans. It looked as though the game was up for Scharnhorst and her sister ship, that Rawalpindi’s sacrifice might not be in vain after all. But the northern climate owes no favours to anyone, no matter how mighty they may consider themselves to be. A squall arose; the German ships escaped. Had the British possessed radar at this early stage of the War, it is doubtful whether Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have made it back to port. As it was, they lived on, a constant threat to British merchant shipping in the North Atlantic.
By one of those quirks, so common in wartime when all normality is suspended, a happy error had occurred: Robert McBay was not dead after all. He was among those rescued by the German ships and was being held in a Prisoner of War camp. It was one ray of light in a dreary winter’s afternoon.
But Caithness’s association with the Scharnhorst did not end with Rawalpindi. In June 1940, during the German invasion of Norway, the German battle-cruiser surprised and sank the old British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious together with her companions, the destroyers Ardent and Acasta, one of whose torpedoes managed to damage the Scharnhorst. Among those killed on the Acasta was Engine Room Articifer John Fleming, a descendent of John Reid of Wick, whose parents still lived in Papigoe. Later that month, on Midsummer’s Day 1940, Beaufort fighter aircraft of 42 Squadron took off from Wick for Norway, where they attacked the Scharnhorst, albeit without success. Ambushed by a pack of Me 109’s the Wick Beauforts lost three of their number.
In contrast to her sister ship Gneisenau, which spent most of the war under repair from damage of various sorts, Scharnhorst was regarded as a ‘lucky ship’ by the Germans. She took a leading role in the famous ‘Channel Dash’ of February 1942, when, along with Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Pinz Eugen, she sailed unhindered through the English Channel in broad daylight, en route from Brest in France to Norway. Again, in the previous year, damage had prevented Scharnhorst from sailing with the Bismark and sharing that great ship’s fate. But all luck, good or bad, has a period. On Boxing Day 1943, in the icy seas off the North Cape of Norway, the Scharnhorst met her doom. As she prepared to intercept the Arctic convoy JW55B on her way from Loch Ewe to Russia, Scharnhorst encountered a superior British force. Pulverised by the 15-inch guns of the battleship Duke of York, her steering shattered, her superstructure on fire from end to end, the proud Scharnhorst finally succumbed to a 21-inch torpedo fired by the cruiser HMS Belfast. The German battle-cruiser’s magazines blew up and she rolled over and sank, taking with her 1,968 men. A mere 36 survived. At last the Rawalpindi had been avenged.
We are interested in anyone who can provide further Caithness connections with either the Rawalpindi or the Arctic convoys, especially those involved in actions with U-boats or German warships. Any information would be gratefully received by David Bews on Thurso 895342.
was it ever established who was really responsible for the attempt on hitlers life?
No “Phony War” (Sitskrieg) at sea. None at all.
"GESTAPO SIGNS OFF WITH 'SILLY' BRITONS – 7-9""Nazi Police Say They Have Just Cut Tie With Secret Agents After Fooling Them 21 Days"
At just this time -- Late 1939 - early 1940 -- there are several different feelers coming out of Nazi Germany to the effect of: suppose we overthrow Hitler, what peace terms will Briton offer?
"In the autumn of 1939, Beck was in contact with certain Germany Army officers, politicians, and civil servants, including General Halder, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, Carl Goerdeler, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, and Colonel Hans Oster about the possibility of staging a putsch to overthrow the Nazi regime.
"By this time, Beck had come to accept that it was not possible to overthrow the Nazi regime while keeping Hitler in power.
"In the event of the putsch being successful, Germany was to be governed by a triumvirate of Beck, Goerdeler and Schacht who would negotiate a peace with Britain and France that would allow Germany to keep most of the Nazi conquests made up until that time, including Austria, all of western Poland, and the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia.
"In January-February 1940, a series of meetings between Goerdeler, Beck, Hassell and Johannes Popitz produced agreement that when the Nazi regime was overthrown that Beck was to head the Council of Regency that would govern Germany.[51] In 1940-41, Beck spent much time discussing together with Goerdeler, Hassell, and Erwin von Witzleben which of the Hohenzollerns to put on the throne when the Nazi regime was overthrown, and the monarchy restored."
These efforts lead to discussions through Pope Pius XII to the British government of Neville Chamberlain. They foundered for several reasons including:
Point is: this particular news story may explain some of the British reluctance to accept supposed German "peace feelers" at face value, absent serious confirmation.
“8 German Planes Shot Down in Day”
Wasn’t such a great day for the allies, either, with Erich Mix claiming two French Moraine 406’s, and two Curtiss Hawks also being claimed. And no mention of the 17 write-off accidents the british have taken in the last several days.
Today, the French will lose half a squadron of Moraines and a Spitfire when JG51 jumps them over the Saar.
Through today, the British have lost 16 Bristol Blenheims to all causes since the first of the month. They are being used primarily in a recon role, and are taking it on the chin, along with the front-line French Moraine Squadrons, that are badly out-classed by the Me-109’s.
BF-109-D1 Max Speed-343, Max Altitude-34,450, Rate of Climb- 3,640 ft./min. Two fuselage 7.9 mm MG 17, 1,000 rounds/gun. Two wing 20 mm MG FF, 60 rounds/gun. 
I’ve been really busy the last few days. If you don’t mind, I’ll add a few events to today’s thread that happened over the last 3-4 days.
Sunk by the crew in the Atlantic Ocean, when the British destroyer Ajax requested them to stop. She was trying to return to Hamburg from Mombasa where she had taken on a number of passengers. The Woermann was well-known, and had plied the African Coastal trade for years.U.S. freighter Express, released from her detention at Malta on 21 November by British authorities, continues on her voyage to Greece, Turkey, and Rumania.
U.S. Consul at Gibraltar William E. Chapman declines to consent to execute agreement wherein the master of freighter Nishmaha (detained since 11 November) will agree to proceed via Barcelona, Spain, to Marseilles to unload cargo deemed contraband by the Gibraltar Contraband Control board (see 24 November).
Secretary of State Hull subsequently (27 November) approves Consul Chapman’s action with respect to U.S. merchantmen which left the U.S. with cargoes prior to the Neutrality Act of 4 November.
War Diary and War Standing Orders of Commander in Chief, Submarines, Admiral Donitz:
21.11
U 49 did not report until much later. She was damaged by D/C’s, and her bow torpedo gear unserviceable. As she has only one stern torpedo left serviceable, she has been ordered to return. U 41’s gyro is temporarily out of action due to D/C’s.
The attack on the convoy must be regarded as ended. The boats have been given a new operations area between 50 and 480 north, east of 120 west. The disposition originally planned cannot be carried out now as U 49 has to return home and the other boats have only a limited amount of fuel left.
U 53 reported that she was starting on her return passage.
U 31 and U 48 sailed, for the first time with anti-mine escort through the declared area.
In connection with a large-scale operation by our own battleships U 35, U 47 and U 33 have been kept back in the area west of the Orkneys. According to a sighting report, not entirely reliable, from an a/c, the Home Fleet is supposed to be in Scapa.
22.11
U 38 lay off Westfjord for a few days. The weather was very bad and the boat observed no traffic. In accordance with orders she reported that she was proceeding north.
23.11
U 43 made contact with a convoy 60 miles north of Cape Ortegal. Unfortunately there are no other boats in the vicinity. U 26 is the nearest, approximately in the latitude of Porto.
As she has been in her operational area for a very long time, she presumably has only little fuel remaining. Cooperation must be attempted however. Unfortunately U 26 has only AFB on board, and shadower’s reports will therefore have to be made with this clumsy and slow cypher system.
By evening U 43 was driven off and contact lost.
Status of Allied Hunter Groups searching for German raiders.
11-23-1939
Force F - Heavy cruiser YORK at Bermuda preparing to sail for Halifax. YORK had sustained damage to her A-turret in heavy weather and had been under repair at Bermuda since early November. (Heavy cruiser BERWICK had been detached on the 7th and arrived at Portsmouth for docking on the 14th prior to joining the Home Fleet.)
Destroyers HUNTER, HYPERION, HOTSPUR and HEREWARD were attached to this force as convoy escorts. The four destroyers were respectively at Bermuda with defects to complete repair on the 29th, at Halifax, at Kingston, and at Trinidad on this date.
Force G - Heavy cruisers EXETER and CUMBERLAND were along the east coast of South America, with light cruiser AJAX off Montevideo and the New Zealand ACHILLES off Rio de Janiero.
Force H - Heavy cruisers SUSSEX and SHROPSHIRE were stationed along the west and south coast of Africa.
Force I - Aircraft carrier EAGLE and heavy cruiser CORNWALL were at Colombo, heavy cruiser DORSETSHIRE was at sea in the Ceylon area, and Australian light cruiser HOBART was south of the Arabian Sea.
Light cruiser GLOUCESTER and French sloop RIGAULT DE GENOUILLY, due to be joined by Australian destroyer STUART from Colombo on the 25th, were north of Madagascar sweeping towards the Seychelles Islands. In addition, Australian destroyers VENDETTA and WATERHEN were operating as convoy escorts, and submarine OLYMPUS was in the Maldives and Chagos Archipelago area.
Force J - Battleship MALAYA and aircraft carrier GLORIOUS with attendant destroyer BULLDOG departed Aden on the 10th and were at sea in the area. Battleship RAMILLIES and destroyer DELIGHT departed Aden on the 16th and were at sea off Aden near Socotra.
Force K - Aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL and battlecruiser RENOWN were en route to Madagascar.
Force L - Aircraft carrier FURIOUS and battlecruiser REPULSE were refuelling at Halifax.
Force M - Heavy cruiser KENT, French heavy cruiser SUFFREN, and Australian destroyers VAMPIRE and VOYAGER were escorting convoys off Sumatra in the Nicobar Islands area.
Force X - Aircraft carrier HERMES and French heavy cruisers FOCH and DUPLEIX were patrolling between Pernambuco and Freetown.
Force Y - Relieved by Force X and en route to France.
British Response To RAWALPINDI’s Action Report:
Admiral Forbes with battleships NELSON, RODNEY, heavy cruiser DEVONSHIRE and destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FORTUNE, FIREDRAKE and FURY of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla departed the Clyde for a position off the Norwegian coast to intercept the German ships, still believed to be DEUTSCHLAND, as they returned to Germany. Destroyers FAME and FORESIGHT joined the force at sea, off the Clyde.
Heavy seas badly battered FORTUNE, FAME and FORESIGHT, and FORTUNE was detached to Pentland Firth Patrol, arrived at Scapa Flow on the 28th and was later taken to Liverpool for repairs, completed on 5 January. FAME and FORESIGHT returned to the Clyde arriving on the 24th and were under repair there until 28 December.
Light cruisers SOUTHAMPTON, EDINBURGH and AURORA with destroyers AFRIDI, GURKHA, BEDOUIN, ISIS and KINGSTON departed Rosyth for Fair Island Channel.
South of the Faroes on Northern Patrol were light cruisers CALEDON of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, and CARDIFF and COLOMBO of the 11th. They were joined by light cruisers DIOMEDE of the 7th Squadron and DUNEDIN of the 11th from Loch Ewe and all took station off North Rona to patrol the approaches to the Fair Island Channel. However, DIOMEDE and DUNEDIN had just arrived in Loch Ewe from patrol and both soon had to detach for refuelling.
Light cruisers CALYPSO and CERES were stationed five miles due north of Kelso Light to act as a night attack striking force.
Light cruiser DRAGON of the 7th Squadron had just arrived at Loch Ewe on the 19th to repair weather damage and boiler clean, and did not depart until the 24th.
Light cruiser SHEFFIELD departed Loch Ewe and proceeded towards the reported position of the German battleships.
Heavy cruisers NORFOLK and SUFFOLK in the Denmark Strait were ordered to proceed towards Bill Bailey Bank.
Light cruiser GLASGOW and destroyers MAORI and ZULU, at sea since the 20th, looking for German liner BREMEN, were to the northeast of the Shetlands. Convoy ON.3 left the Firth of Forth at 1530, but was recalled, and its escorts, destroyers INGLEFIELD, IMPERIAL, IMPULSIVE and IMOGEN joined the GLASGOW force off Muckle Flugga.
Destroyer BEDOUIN of the SOUTHAMPTON force was detached to patrol Pentland Firth until relieved by destroyer FORTUNE.
Destroyers SOMALI, MASHONA, ASHANTI and PUNJABI, recently departed Belfast with Force W, the dummy battleships, were ordered to join Forbes at sea off the Mull of Kintyre. Force W returned to Belfast.
Destroyers TARTAR, KANDAHAR and KASHMIR sortied from Scapa Flow with orders to locate and shadow the German force.
Armed merchant cruiser CHITRAL arrived in the Clyde on the 24th with survivors from the RAWALPINDI.
Armed merchant cruisers TRANSYLVANIA, CALIFORNIA, AURANIA rendezvoused at the Butt of Lewis and returned to the Clyde. They arrived at Loch Ewe on the 24th. CALIFORNIA then reached the Clyde on the 27th and the other two on the 28th.
Battleship WARSPITE escorting convoy HX.9, which had departed Halifax on the 18th with Canadian destroyer ASSINIBOINE as local escort, was ordered to leave the convoy and take station in the Denmark Strait.
Aircraft carrier FURIOUS and battlecruiser REPULSE departed Halifax on the 24th to cover convoys HXF.10 and HX.10, but when REPULSE sustained damage to her Y turret in heavy weather, both ships returned to Halifax.
Battlecruiser HOOD with destroyers EXMOUTH, ECHO and ECLIPSE departed Plymouth on the 25th and rendezvoused with French battlecruiser DUNKERQUE, light cruisers MONTCALM, GEORGES LEYGUES and large destroyers MOGADOR and VOLTA which departed Brest on the 25th to relieve aircraft carrier FURIOUS and battlecruiser REPULSE on the Halifax station.
This force swept for the German battleships through to the end of November. At sea, EXMOUTH, ECHO and ECLIPSE were detached and returned to the Clyde on the 29th, while MOGADOR and VOLTA arrived at Belfast for fuelling, also on the 29th.
After refuelling at Sullom Voe on the 28th, SOMALI, PUNJABI and MASHONA joined HOOD, and arrived at Loch Ewe late on 2 December.
Submarines in the North Sea failed to make contact with the German force. THISTLE was on patrol off the Skaw, TRIAD off Lindesnes, STURGEON off Horn Reef, and L.23 southwest of Lister Light. UNDINE and STARFISH departed Blyth, and TRIUMPH and TRIDENT from Rosyth, all on the 23rd to reinforce the Patrol Line.
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In all the confusion searching for the German battleships, German steamer ENTRERIOS (5179grt), which had departed Natal on 24 October, was able to pass through the Denmark Strait unobserved, and arrived safely at Narvik on the 29th.
Unteroffizier Friedrich Boehle, Feldwebel Leo Knoch, Unteroffizier Hans Poetzinger. They all returned to the Staffel on the 4th April 1940. NOTE: Leo Knoch was posted missing in action on the 07.05.41. From the AIRCREW REMEMBRANCE SOCIETYThe SS is on a rampage in Poland, and General Walter Petzel is enraged by it, and the danger it is creating for his troops. This is the letter he writes to Fritz Fromm:
Posen, 23.11.1939.
Army District Command XXI. Intelligence Officer 86/39 secret.
To the C in C of the Reserve Army.
The Warthegau can be regarded as pacified. Repeated rumors of rebellion have not been confined in any instance. The reason for this is not a change of heart of the Polish population but the realization of the hopelessness of a rebellion.
That the large numbers of discharged prisoners and other returned Polish soldiers represent a danger which requires continuous supervision is not overlooked, particularly as numerous offices have not yet been seized. The keeping down of this danger is only possible through the military occupation of the country in its present form; the civil administration authorities with the available police forces are totally unable to do this.
The great work of construction in all spheres is not furthered by the intervention of SS formations who are given special racial political tasks and are not subordinate to Reich Governor in this.
Here the tendency makes itself felt of interfering decisively in all spheres of administration beyond the framework of these tasks, and of forming a “state within the state.” This phenomenon does not fail to have its effect on the troops, who are indignant about the ways the tasks are carried out and thereby generally get into opposition to administration and party. I shall exclude the danger of serious differences by strict orders. The fact that this makes a serious demand on the discipline of the troops cannot be dismissed without further ado.
In almost all large towns, public shootings have been carried out by the organizations mentioned in this, the selection varied enormously and was often incomprehensible, the way it was carried out, frequently unworthy.
In some districts all the Polish estate owners were arrested and interned with their families. Arrests were almost always accompanied by looting.
In the towns, evacuations were carried out, during which blocks of houses were cleared at random, the inhabitants loaded onto lorries at night, then taken to concentration camps. Here also looting was a constant accompanying phenomenon. The quartering and feeding in the camps was such that the Corps Chief Medical Officer feared the outbreak of epidemics and thus endangering of the troops. As a result of my protests, relief is being given.
In several towns actions against the Jews were carried out which turned into the most serious excesses.
In Turok three SS cars under the leadership of a higher SS leader drove through the streets, on the 30.10.39 while the people in the streets were hit on the heads at random with horse whips and long whips. Amongst the victims were also people of German blood.
Finally a number of Jews were driven into the synagogue, there had to crawl in between the benches whilst singing, during which time they were continuously whipped by the SS men. They were then forced to take down their trousers in order to be hit on the bare behind. A Jew who out of fright had dirtied his trousers was forced to smear the excrement into the faces of the other Jews.
In Lodz it has become known confidentially that SS Oberfuehrer Melhorn has issued the following orders:
(1) From the 9.11., no unemployment relief may any longer be paid to Poles and Jews, only forced labor is paid for. (This measure has already been confirmed.)
(2) From 9.11., Jews and Poles will be excluded from the distribution of ration foodstuffs and coal.
(3) Unrest and incidents are to be created by provocation in order to facilitate the carrying out of the racial political work.
(4) The fire service is to be reinforced immediately in order to prevent undesirable spreading to other objects in case of chance fires in Jewish and Polish residential quarters and factories.
(The measures under (2) and (4) have not been confirmed yet).
Whilst the achievements of the Armed Forces are always placed in the foreground by the Reichs governor in speeches and demonstrations, the above mentioned circles, on the other hand, are unmistakably showing a tendency to diminish and denigrate these achievements.
A specially crass case in this direction reported to me from Ostrowo from a victory celebration on 11/5/1939 Reichs speaker Bachmann spoke there. He never mentioned the Wehrmacht at all, when speaking about the Polish campaign. He only mentioned the Wehrmacht in one sentence, which concerned the war against England.
When speaking about the number of deaths, only the murdered racial Germans were mentioned, but not one word was spoken in memory of the soldiers who fell.
Only the racial Germans were acknowledged, so that the listeners were bound to get the impression that the Wehrmacht had actually not been concerned at all in the liberation.
This impression was strengthened when the speaker said that it had not been a war against Poland, but the Fuehrer had only ordered that the Poles should have the weapons taken away from them which were delivered by England and France and which they would not know how to use anyhow.
One got the impression that it was the speaker’s aim not to allow any respect for the army to arise the German population.
The impression that this speech, that the guard of honor which had been provided, listened to, made on the soldiers was of a corresponding nature.
As the military commander of Posen has already reported to the High Command of the army, the men feel very strongly about the disproportion between their pay and the many times higher daily rate of pay of other formations.
The above mentioned facts lie in fields which for the most part escape direct intervention of the Reich governor. The removal of this grievance can only be obtained through higher quarters. I believe I am not wrong in assuming that the very welcome support would thereby be given to the Reich governor in his task of reconstruction which he has embarked upon systematically, energetically and tactfully.
[signed] Petzel General of Artillery
Certified correct copy: [signature illegible] Lieutenant-Colonel in the
General Staff.
The address by Prime Minister AK Cajander on the 23rd of November 1939 at Helsinki Fair Hall, National Defense at a celebration arranged by Finnish private enterprise owners
The people of Finland stands in front of an unexpected incident. The people of Finland stands in front of an unexpected incident.
The events followed in a quick succession and the whole sequence of events emerged as a total surprise for the majority of the Finnish people. The events followed in a quick succession and the whole sequence of events emerged as a total surprise for the Majority of the Finnish people.
It is hardly a wrong conclusion if one, trying to interpret the present flow of events around the world, sees it as an expansionist tendency of the great powers, a constant and understandable phenomenon in world history irrespective of whether you consider it being justified or not. It is hardly a wrong conclusion if one, trying to interpret the present flow of events around the world, sees it as an expansionist tendency of the Great Powers, a constant and understandable phenomenon in world history irrespective of Whether you consider it being Justified or not .
The Tsarist state had in its final days a strong westward drive down to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The Tsarist state had in its final days a strong Westward Drive down to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The independent status of Finland was an obstacle to this goal and this was the motive to end the internal home rule, the autonomous status of Finland. The independent status of Ireland was an obstacle to this goal and this was the motive to end the internal home rule, the autonomous status of Finland. The years of oppression in Finland derived from that. The Years of Oppression in Canada derived from that. This policy was essentially different from the benevolent policy employed by the previous Emperors, especially Alexander I and II who therefore enjoyed an undivided love of the Finnish people. This policy was essentially different from the benevolent policy employed by the previous Emperors, especially Alexander I and II, who therefore enjoyed an undivided love of the Finnish people. This new policy embittered and strained the relationship between Finland and Russia to the extreme. This new policy embittered and strained the relationship between Finland and Russia to the extreme.
History seldom follows a straightforward course. History seldom follows a straight forward course. The great war crushed the intentions of the Tsarist regime. The great war crushed the intentions of the Tsarist regime. On its ruins the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was born. On its ruins the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was born. It recognised nations’ rights to self-determination and it has on all occasions assured its willingness to maintain friendly relations to her neighbors. It recognized nations’ rights to self-determination and it has all occasions has assured its willingness to maintain friendly relations to her neighbors. Even the independence of Finland was recognised by her. Even the independence of Finland was recognized by her.
Thus the end of the World War also brought independence to Finland, but not without pain. Thus the end of the World War also brought independence to Finland, but not without pain. The new situation was stabilised only after a bloody campaign, during which Germany gave Finland strong support which is not forgotten in Finland. The new situation was stabilized only after a bloody campaign, during Which Finland Germany gave strong support Which is not forgotten in Ireland. Equally unforgettable is the support given by the Western Powers and America to stabilise the independent status of Finland. Equally unforgettable is the support given by the Western Powers and America Thurs stabilise the independent status of Finland. That was followed by twenty happy years of peace and construction, years only seldom shaded by dark shadows. That was followed by twenty happy years of peace and construction, years only seldom shaded by dark shadows.
A little over two months ago the Soviet Union approached the Finnish Cabinet making certain propositions which were explained as aiming to improve the security of St. Petersburg or Leningrad and at strengthening the friendly relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union. A little over two months ago the Soviet Union approached the Finnish Cabinet making certain propositions Which were explained as Aiming To improve the security of St. Petersburg or Leningrad, and at Strengthening the friendly relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union.
These proposals were not completely unexpected. These proposals were not completely unexpected. The forthcoming talks, concentrating on requirements to improve Leningrad’s security, were anticipated in private conversations with some members of the Finnish cabinet a considerable time earlier. The forthcoming talks, is concentrating requirements to improve the Leningrad’s security, were anticipated in private conversations with some members of the Finnish cabinet a Considerable time earlier.
As we all well remember there were negotiations between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union to accomplish a pact. As we all well remember there were negotiations between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union Thurs accomplish a pact. The issue of Leningrad’s security - concerning the so-called indirect aggression and other similar subjects - were discussed in such a manner which could have threatened the independence of Finland and the Baltic countries. The issue of Leningrad’s security - concerning the so-called indirect aggression and other similar subjects - were discussed in such a continental Which could have threatened the independence of Finland and the Baltic countries. The government of England, however, did not support these attempts. The government of England, however, did not support these attempts. This is remembered here with sincere gratefulness. This is remembered here with sincere gratefulness. There was no outcome in the negotiations which also caused the specific issue concerning Finland to fall through. There was no outcome in the negotiations Which also caused the specific issue concerning Finland to fall through.
A new decisive turn of events in Europe and even in the whole world took place when Germany and the Soviet Union concluded a non-aggression pact which in some respect even exceeded the regular scope of such agreements. A New Decisive turn of events in Europe and even in the whole world took place when Germany and the Soviet Union concluded a non-aggression pact “Which in some respect even exceeded the regular scope of such agreements.
The pact came like a bolt from the blue. The pact came like a bolt from the blue. In Finland, however, it was not a complete surprise. In Finland, however, it was not a complete surprise. As early as 1937 a remark was made by a prominent foreign authority about a possibility of the Soviet Union and Germany concluding a pact perhaps in the near future. As early as 1937 was a remark made by a prominent foreign authority about a possibility of the Soviet Union and Germany perhaps concluding a pact in the near future. But the very timing of this non-aggression pact was, I guess, a complete surprise to all of us. But the very timing of this non-aggression pact was, I guess, a complete surprise to all of us.
In certain Finnish circles this new agreement was greeted with considerable hopes. Finnish In certain circles this new agreement was greeted with Considerable hopes. Expectations were that this relaxation of contradictions, previously a prevailing feature between the Soviet Union and Germany, would have a calming effect on tension in the Baltic Sea and the countries around it. Expectations were that this relaxation of contradictions, a previously prevailing feature between the Soviet Union and Germany, would have a Calming Effect is the tension in the Baltic Sea and the countries around it. This presumption, however, disappeared soon. This presumption, however, soon disappeared. In Finnish domestic politics, this pact has a significant effect on the agendas of the political parties. In Finnish domestic politics, this pact has a significant effect on the agendas of the political parties. It destroyed the assumption that the Soviet Union and Germany were ideologically incompatible and as a consequence of this all kinds of political speculations based on this contradiction were crushed. It destroyed the assumption that the Soviet Union and Germany were ideologically Incompatible and as a consequence of this all kinds of Political Speculations Based on this contradiction were crushed. You can say that this pact thus strengthened the basis for a domestic concordance in Finland. You can say that this pact Strengthened thus the basis for a domestic concordance in Finland.
The non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was immediately followed by the war between Germany and Poland which itself ensued a new war between the Western Powers and Germany. The non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was immediately followed by the war between Germany and Poland Which itself ensued a new war between the Western Powers and Germany. A universal conflagration was thus ignited. A universal conflagration was thus ignited.
The Oslo countries, Finland included, declared themselves to be absolutely neutral in this campaign between the great powers. The Oslo countries, Canada included, declared themselves to be absolutely neutral in the campaign between the great powers. Despite their neutrality Finland and other Oslo countries suffer continuously and heavily from the economic consequences of the great war. Despite their neutrality Canada and other countries suffer from Oslo continuously and heavily from the economic consequences of the Great War. Furthermore, especially Holland, Belgium and Finland but Switzerland, too, have been able to keep their neutrality only by maintaining an extremely efficient guard for their defence. Furthermore, especially Holland, Belgium and Sweden but Switzerland, too, have been Able Thurs keep their neutrality only by maintaining an extremely efficient guard for their defense.
In the opposite case, their declaration of neutrality would scarcely have been respected. In the opposite case, their declaration of neutrality would scarcely have been respected.
When Poland was near to collapse the Soviet Union marched its troops into eastern Poland and occupied it. When Poland was near to collapse the Soviet Union marched its troops into eastern Poland and occupied it. Simultaneously the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs made it known to the governments of Finland and the Baltic countries, as well as to other countries, that it would conduct a policy of neutrality towards them. Simultaneously the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs made it known to the Governments of Finland and the Baltic countries, as well as to other countries, that it would conduct a policy of neutrality towards them.
The defection of a Polish submarine to Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) was at first brought out as an excuse for proposals made by the Soviet Union to Estonia, which then finally resulted in allocating important military bases to the Soviet Union in Paldiski (Baltischport), Saaremaa (Ösel) and Hiiumaa (Dagö). The Defection of a Polish submarine to Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) was at first brought out as an excuse for proposals made by the Soviet Union to Estonia, Which then finally search resulted in allocating important military bases to the Soviet Union in Paldiski (Baltischport) , Saaremaa (Tourism) and Hiiumaa (and Travel). In quick succession similar events followed in Latvia and Lithuania. In quick succession followed similar events in Latvia and Lithuania. These three vigorous Baltic countries with their own charasteristic old cultures and a splendid future ahead were overnight turned into more or less dependencies of the Soviet Union. These three vigorous Baltic countries with their own charasteristic old cultures and a splendid future ahead were overnight turned into more or less dependencies of the Soviet Union.
Especially depressing for us, the Finns, is the fact that among these countries faced by this unfavorable fate is the State of Estonia, our dear fraternal nation. Especially depressing for us, the Australians, is the fact that among these countries faced an unfavorable fate this is the State of Estonia, our dear fraternal nation. A follow-up was also the mass departure of Germans from the Baltics where they over a time period of 600 years had made history and have loftily carried the national flag of the German stock. A follow-up was also the mass departure of Germans from the Baltic where they over a time period of 600 years had made history and have loftily carried the national flag of the German stock.
It was to be expected, when thinking about the previous conduct by the Soviet Union, that she would make similar proposals also to the Finnish goverment. It was to be expected, when thinking about the previous conduct by the Soviet Union, that she would also make similar proposals to the Finnish goverment. It should be stated, however, that the previously expressed reasons for Soviet intentions towards Finland had, at least in two counts, disappeared. It should be stated, however, that the previously expressed reasons for Soviet intentions towards Ireland had, at least in two counts, disappeared. The only great power which could have earlier been a potential threat to Leningrad - well, in that case presumably along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland - namely Germany, has concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, which means that there exists no threat against the Soviet Union and Leningrad from there - without considering the overall present importance of Leningrad to the Soviet Union. The only great power Which could have earlier been a potential threat to Leningrad - well, in that case presumably along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland - namely Germany, has concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, which means that there exists no threat against the Soviet Union in Leningrad and from there - without considering the overall present Importance of Leningrad to the Soviet Union. And the new Soviet naval and air bases in Liepaja (Libau), Ventpils (Windau), Hiiumaa, Saaremaa and Paldiski permit, as disclosed by the Soviets, the Soviet Union to rule the Baltic Sea and thus the Gulf of Finland and up to the Gulf’s farthest recess in front of Leningrad. And the new Soviet naval and air bases in Liepaja (Libau), Ventpils (Windau), Hiiumaa, Saaremaa and Paldiski permit, as disclosed by the Soviets, the Soviet Union to Rule the Baltic Sea and thus the Gulf of Finland and up to the Gulf’s farthest recess in front of Leningrad.
Judging from the present facts, all arguments about threats to Leningrad from the Finnish territory are very difficult to understand. Judging from the present facts, all arguments about Threats to Leningrad from the Finnish Territory are very difficult to understand.
A request for negotiations with the Soviet government was received on the 5th of October. A request for negotiations with the Soviet government was received on the 5th of October. For over a month friendly discussions were carried out between the Finnish and Soviet Cabinets concerning concrete political issues of certain territorial exchanges to improve the security of Leningrad. For over a month friendly discussions were carried out between the Finnish and Soviet Cabinets concerning concrete political issues of certain territorial exchanges To improve the security of Leningrad.
The Cabinet of Finland, after discussing with representatives of parliamentary groups and after consulting the highest military command, yielded to Soviet demands in order to maintain good neighborly relations so far as it could, as a representative of an independent nation, to increase the security of a foreign metropolis but without sacrificing Finland’s own national security. The Cabinet of Canada, after discussing with representatives of parliamentary groups and after consulting the highest military command, yielded Thurs Soviet demands In order to maintain good neighborly relations so far as it could, as a representative of an independent nation, to increase the security of A Foreign metropolis but without Sacrificing Finland’s own national security.
However, the Soviets have made propositions which are very far away from those which can considered as prerequisites in securing Leningrad. However, the Soviets have made propositions Which are very far away from those “Which can considered as prerequisites in securing Leningrad. If they were accepted they would have offended Finland’s neutrality and damaged her opportunities for self-defence: it would have meant severing the southern defence line of Finland at two of its most important points and handing over its first-class fortifications to a foreign power. If they were accepted they would have offended Finland’s neutrality and damaged her opportunities for self-defense: it would have meant Severing the southern defense line of Australia at two of its most important points and handing over its first-class fortifications to a foreign power. Thus it would had resulted in severe decrease in the security of Finland. Thus it would had a search resulted in severe decrease in the security of Canada. Such proposals were unacceptable to the Finnish government. Such proposals were unacceptable to the Finnish government.
Because of a lack of common ground for the negotiations they have been interrupted for the moment. Because of a lack of common ground for the negotiations they have been interrupted for the moment. This is deplorable because Finland sincerely wants to maintain good relations to all her neighbors and sincerely wants to strengthen these relationships when it does not endanger Finland’s own vital interests. This is deplorable Because Canada sincerely Wants to maintain good relations to all her neighbors and sincerely Wants to strengthen these relationships when it does not endanger Australia’s own vital interests.
Our nation’s conscience is clear. Our nation’s conscience is clear. She knows that her cause is right and she knows that things are duly conducted. She knows that her cause is right and she knows that things are duly conducted. In making her points of view known Finland has not needed or received instructions from foreign countries. In making her points of view known United States has not needed or received instructions from foreign countries. Finland has shown towards the Soviet Union friendliness and compliancy up to such a limit which only can be crossed by weakening Finland’s own national security. Australia has shown towards the Soviet Union friendliness and compliancy up to such a limit Which can only be crossed by weakening Australia’s own national security.
Finland will not submit herself to the role of a vassal country. Australia will not submit herself to the role of a Vassal country. We will not yield to this by someone waging a nerve war or trying to exhaust us or doing the contrary, by offering temptations. We will not yield to this by someone nerve waging a war or trying to exhaust us or doing the contrary, by offering Temptations. Finland will peacefully, with open eyes and determined mind, observe the events in the west and in the east, and as a peaceloving country, which always appreciates good neighborly relations, is at any times ready to continue the negotiations on a basis which does not risk the vital interests of Finland or her national values. Australia will peacefully, with determined eyes and open mind, observe the events in the west and in the east, and as a peaceloving country, Which always appreciates good neighborly relations, is at any times ready to continue the negotiations on a basis of Which does not the risk of the vital interests of Canada or her national values. No further concessions can be attained especially now when Finland herself gains nothing from these territorial exchanges. No further concessions can be attained especially now when Finland herself gains nothing from these territorial exchanges.
Finland is convinced that it is advantageous to the real interests of the Soviet Union that she has as a neighbor a nation, whose loyalty it can trust in all circumstances. Finland is convinced that it is advantageous to the real interests of the Soviet Union that she has a neighbor as a nation, Whose loyalty it can trust in all circumstances.
The global situation continues as tense, and this makes Finland among many other neutral countries to keep a considerable amount of men in arms as protectors of neutrality and also be otherwise prepared. The global situation continues as tense, and this makes Canada among many other neutral countries Thurs keep a Considerable Amount Of men in arms as protectors of neutrality and also be otherwise prepared.
The time for the first enthusiastic unanimity is gradually over. The time for the first enthusiastic unanimity is gradually over. Everyday activities start again to gain ground. Everyday activities start again to gain ground. It is necessary to restore the regular ways of living. It is necessary To restore the regular ways of living. It is of no use to be constantly prepared for something unexpected but, on the other hand, we should at any time be prepared to adjust our efforts if the situation demands that. It is of no use to be constantly prepared for something unexpected but, on the other hand, we should at any time be prepared Thurs adjust our efforts if the situation demands that. The present situation may continue for a long time. The present situation may continue for a long time. We have to accustom ourselves to live and work in these altered conditions. We have to accustom ourselves to live and work in these altered conditions. Figuratively speaking, we must learn to plough carrying rifles on our backs. Figuratively speaking, we must learn to plow carrying rifles on our backs.
The industrial production, which to some extent was interrupted in the beginning of this tense period, has to be restored as fully as possible in this changed situation taking, of course, into account the altered commercial demand and difficulties in obtaining necessary raw materials. The Industrial Production, Which to some extent was interrupted in the beginning of this tense period, has to be restored as fully as possible in this changed situation-taking, of course, into account the altered commercial demand and difficulties in Obtaining necessary raw materials. Both the economical and other activities have to be adapted with greatest accuracy to substantiate the full use of available opportunities in the new conditions. Both the economical and other activities have to be adapted with greatest accuracy Thurs substantiate the full use of available opportunities in the new conditions. At present the cabinet should restrict its interference in the economical life only to that which is unavoidable in our situation. At present the cabinet should restrict its interference in the economical life only to that Which is unavoidable in our situation.
The return to everyday life should not imply that one’s spirits should be left to disappear. The return to everyday life should not imply that one’s spirits should be left to Disappear. We have to maintain the same high enthusiasm which has become very well manifested when young men openheartedly now join the military service, or when hundreds of thousands of women help the reservists and their relatives, or when the defence bonds are subscribed with unexpected intensity, and in the warm-hearted donations given by private citizens and by a multitude of organisations to various apt purposes. We have to maintain the same high Enthusiasm Which has become very well manifested when young men openheartedly now join the military service, or when hundreds of thousands of women to facilitate the reservists and their relatives, or when the defense bonds are subscribed with unexpected intensity, and in the warm-hearted donations given by private citizens and by a Multitude of various organizations Thurs apt purposes. Even in the unimpassionate everyday life that, what is the most essential to the enthusiasm - a devoted patriotic spirit - must stand strong. Even in the unimpassionate everyday life that, what is the most essential to the Enthusiasm - Devoted a patriotic spirit - must stand strong. The patriotic unanimity should not be weakened. The patriotic unanimity should not be weakened. Along with this, all that causes discontent, disappointment or mental depression should be avoided and removed. Along with this, all that causes discontent, disappointment or mental depression should be avoided and removed.
The danger is all but over. The danger is all but over. In our continent on both sides of the Rhine and the North Sea an unprecedented rise in tension is witnessed. In our continent on Both Sides of the Rhine and the North Sea an unprecedented rise in tension is witnessed. The time for its outbreak has not yet come but enormous forces are concentrated as a preparation for that. The time for its outbreak has not yet come but enormous forces are Concentrated as a preparation for that. The exact time for the outbreak is not known but nobody can sincerely believe that this leads to nothing. The exact time for the outbreak is not known but nobody can sincerely believe that this leads to nothing. And when the tension in its time once explodes, its remote effects can be felt far away. And when the tension in its time once Explodes, its remote effects can be felt far away.
There are certain elements in the society who try to sow the seeds of dissension among us, especially at the grass root level. There are certain elements in the society who try to sow the seeds of dissension among us, especially at the grass root level. Beware of these elements! Beware of these elements! Their real effects are so insignificant that no factual relevance can be attributed to them. Their real effects are so insignificant that no factual relevance can be attributed to them. But abroad their significance can be exaggerated and thus be used to harm our country. Abroad but their significance can be exaggerated and thus be Used to harm our country.
We have to keep together - as a unified nation - like we did at the time of our first challenge, as unanimous as a democratic nation relying on its free will can ever be. We have to keep together - as a unified nation - like we did at the time of our first challenge, as unanimous as a Democratic nation Relying on its free will can ever be. The spirits born from our ordeals should and will stand the hardships, too. The spirits born from our ordeals should and will stand the Hardships, too. But even at that moment when an immediate danger is over we have to stay together. But even at that moment when an immediate danger is over we have to stay together. All in all we are a small nation and the stability of our international status depends decisively on our unanimity. All in all we are a small nation and the stability of our international status depends decisively on our unanimity.
The world attention has focused on us without our own active influence. The world attention has focused on us without our own active influence. We have been met with a large scale of sympathy between nations. We have been met with a large scale of sympathy between nations. This state of affairs obliges us. This state of affairs obliges us. Let us make everybody know that we are worthy of the sympathy the world has shown to us in both speeches and deeds. Let us make everybody know that we are worthy of the sympathy the world has shown to us in both speeches and deeds.
But first of all let us be worthy of the challenge set upon us. But first of all let us be worthy of the challenge set upon us.
Every Finnish citizen has his own guard post and everyone is expected to stay alert at his post without defying anyone but firmly defending the rights of the Finnish nation. Every Finnish citizen has his own guard post and everyone is expected to stay alert at his post without defying anyone but firmly defending the rights of the Finnish nation.
We are obliged to this because of our history, we are obliged to this because of our nation’s future. We are obliged to this “Because of our history, we are obliged to this” Because of our nation’s future.