http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm
January 9th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: After four months of war, the British unemployment figure for January stands at 1,603,000. Despite the call-up of over 1,500,000 men, the unemployed have increased by 12,000 over the average for the last year.
The harsh winter weather is partly responsible, by reducing outdoor employment, together with a slump in the building trade. because of government restrictions on civil building and the shortage of timber, 250,000 building workers have been laid off. Germany states that it has only 18,000 unemployed.
RAF Fighter Command: Unescorted merchant ships in the North Sea are attacked by an unknown number of Luftwaffe aircraft. Three British vessels are sunk; two Danish vessels are damaged; many casualties.
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Grp. 77 Sqn. Reconnaissance - Rheine, Emmerich, Hamm and Osnabruck. Two aircraft. Opposition slight.
102 Sqn. ‘Security Patrols’ - Hornum and Borkum. Four aircraft. Flarepath bombed. Opposition light.
Destroyer HMS Fernie launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORTH SEA: S class submarine HMS Starfish attempts an attack on German minesweeper M7, but due to faulty drill, no torpedoes are actually fired. After a number of depthcharge attackes by the minesweeper and some other vessels, conditions inside the submarine become serious, and while attempting to surface after dark, Starfish found herself under machine gun fire from enemy vessels on either bow. The commander decides to abandon the submarine and scuttles in the North Sea southwest of Heligoland. This is the third RN submarine to be lost within as many days. Submarine operations in the area are abandoned. (Alex Gordon)(108)
ENGLISH CHANNEL: The British ocean liner SS Dunbar Castle is mined and sunk off the southeast coast of England. It is feared that 152 people have lost their lives. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: The first colonial contingent, of Cypriot troops arrives to reinforce the BEF.
GERMANY: The West Prussian SS chief reports the successful “elimination” of 4,000 incurable mental patients in Poland.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0221, SS Manx was hit by one torpedo from U-19 off Kinnaird Head and sank within two minutes. Eight survivors managed to grab hold of an upturned lifeboat, but were scantily clad and in the stormy weather four of them gave up. After 8 hours the remaining four survivors were picked up by the Norwegian steam merchant Leka along with two men rescued from a raft. (Dave Shirlaw)
The harsh winter weather is partly responsible, by reducing outdoor employment, together with a slump in the building trade. because of government restrictions on civil building and the shortage of timber, 250,000 building workers have been laid off. Germany states that it has only 18,000 unemployed.
In an early chapter of "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," Shirer says that the Nazis handled the unemployment problem in a direct way. They matched all the unemployed with businesses and declared that "you now work for this company." End of problem. Obama might consider this method if our unemployement figures don't improve.