Łukasz
Author
(1129)1939
March
- 15
- Key eventGermany occupies Bohemia and MoraviaOn 15 March 1939 the Wehrmacht marched into Bohemia and Moravia, and that night Hitler slept at Prague Castle. Breaking the Munich Agreement ended appeasement.
- Hungary occupies Carpatho-UkraineOn 15 March 1939, as Carpatho-Ukraine proclaimed independence, Hungarian troops advanced on Khust. In three days they took it and reached the Polish border.
- 23
- The German–Romanian economic agreementOn 23 March 1939 in Bucharest, Germany and Romania signed a treaty on economic relations, opening the way for the Reich to Romanian oil, grain and timber.
- Germany takes KlaipėdaOn 23 March 1939 the Wehrmacht entered the Klaipėda Region and Hitler arrived by sea aboard the Deutschland. It was the Reich's last bloodless conquest.
- The Slovak–Hungarian War beginsAt dawn on 23 March 1939 Hungarian troops entered eastern Slovakia without a declaration of war. Germany, guarantor of the new state, did not come to its aid.
April
May
June
July
August
September
- 01
- The defence of Westerplatte beginsAt 4.45 a.m. on 1 September 1939 the battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelled the Polish depot on Westerplatte. Its garrison beat off two assaults that day.
- The defence of the Polish Post Office in GdańskOn 1 September 1939 Polish postal workers held the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk for about 14 hours. After their surrender 38 were sentenced to death and shot.
- Hitler’s Reichstag speechOn 1 September 1939 Hitler told the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House that since 5.45 Germany had been “returning fire”. He cast the war as self-defence.
- Italy and the neutral statesOn 1 September 1939 Italy announced it would not take up arms. The Nordic states, Estonia, Latvia and Portugal, England’s ally, also declared neutrality.
- Roosevelt’s appeal to spare civiliansOn 1 September 1939 Roosevelt urged the belligerents not to bomb civilians. Hitler gave his pledge on the very day the Luftwaffe destroyed Wieluń.
- Operation TannenbergOn 1 September 1939 Security Police and SD Einsatzgruppen followed the Wehrmacht into Poland, carrying lists of names to “neutralise” Poland’s leading strata.
- 03
- Chamberlain’s War CabinetOn 3 September 1939 Chamberlain formed a nine-man War Cabinet with Churchill at the Admiralty, conscription for men aged 18–41 began and Gort took over the BEF.
- The sinking of the AtheniaOn the evening of 3 September 1939 U-30 torpedoed the British liner Athenia without warning, with over 1,400 people aboard. Between 112 and 117 died.
- Bloody Sunday in BydgoszczOn 3 September 1939 shooting broke out in Bydgoszcz amid retreating troops. Several hundred Germans died, and propaganda turned it into “Bloody Sunday”.
- The Legion of Czechs and SlovaksOn 3 September 1939 President Mościcki decreed a Legion of Czechs and Slovaks. Some 1,000 refugees from Czechoslovakia were to fight Germany beside the Poles.
- 04
- The first RAF raidsOn 4 September 1939 British bombers attacked warships off Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel. The bombs that hit the Scheer did not explode; the RAF lost 7 aircraft.
- Japan stays out of the war in EuropeOn 4 September 1939 Nobuyuki Abe’s government announced that Japan would not become involved in the European war and would focus on ending the “China Incident”.
- The British Expeditionary Force in FranceOn 4 September 1939 the advance parties of the BEF sailed from Portsmouth for France. In early October Lord Gort’s four divisions took over a sector near Lille.
- 05
- The United States declares neutralityOn 5 September 1939 Roosevelt proclaimed US neutrality and an arms embargo on all belligerents, Poland included. A neutrality patrol and an emergency followed.
- Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia break off relations with GermanyIn September 1939 Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Germany. They met their obligations to London but did not declare war on the Reich.
- 06
- South Africa declares war on GermanyOn 6 September 1939 South Africa declared war on Germany. Two days earlier parliament had rejected Hertzog's neutrality and Smuts had taken over the government.
- The Germans take KrakówOn 6 September 1939 the German 14th Army entered undefended Kraków. The Kraków Army was retreating to the Nida and Dunajec; the Wawel treasures had left.
- The Admiralty introduces convoysOn 6 September 1939 the first British convoys and the Northern Patrol set out. A day earlier U-47 had sunk the freighter Bosnia, the first of its kind.
- Romania declares neutralityOn 6 September 1939 the Crown Council backed Romanian neutrality. Poland's ally stayed out of the war but agreed to let aid for Poland pass through.
- 14
- The Battle of Changsha beginsOn 14 September 1939 the Japanese 11th Army opened an offensive in Jiangxi to smash China's 9th War Zone and reach Changsha, the capital of Hunan.
- The sinking of U-39On 14 September 1939 U-39 attacked the carrier Ark Royal, but its torpedoes exploded prematurely. Destroyers sank it, the first U-boat lost in the war.
- 18
- The Polish government crosses into RomaniaOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 the President, government and Commander-in-Chief crossed into Romania, hoping to reach France. They were interned.
- The escape of Orzeł from TallinnOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 ORP Orzeł, interned in Tallinn, escaped. Moscow said Estonia could not guard its neutrality and began to apply pressure.
- 27
- The Phoney WarOn 27 September 1939, as Poland was going down, German guns shelled French villages. In the west the Phoney War went on, with almost no fighting on land.
- Key eventEstablishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
- 28
- The German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship TreatyOn 28 September 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Boundary and Friendship Treaty, moving the partition line to the Bug and giving Lithuania to the USSR.
- The capitulation of WarsawOn 28 September 1939 Generals Kutrzeba and Blaskowitz signed the capitulation of Warsaw at Rakowiec, after its heaviest air raid and a general assault.
- The Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance PactOn 28 September 1939, under threat of war, Estonia signed a mutual assistance pact in Moscow, giving the USSR bases and the right to station 25,000 troops.
October
- 05
- The Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance PactOn 5 October 1939 Latvia, under threat of force, signed a mutual assistance pact in Moscow. The USSR gained bases at Liepāja and Ventspils and 25,000 troops.
- Hunting groups against the raidersOn 5 October 1939 the Admiralty, together with the French, formed eight hunting groups of carriers and heavy ships to track down German surface raiders.
- 18
- The Red Army enters EstoniaOn 18 October 1939 the Red Army entered Estonia to occupy the bases granted by the pact. That day the first ship carrying Baltic Germans left Tallinn.
- The Nisko PlanOn 18 October 1939 the first transport of Jews left Ostrava for Nisko on the San, the first wartime deportation of Jews from the Reich, run by Eichmann.
November
- 22
- The Shoeburyness mineOn the night of 22–23 November 1939 a German magnetic mine fell on the mudflats off Shoeburyness. Once disarmed, it gave away the secret of its firing unit.
- Hodža’s Slovak National CouncilOn 22 November 1939 Milan Hodža founded the Slovak National Council in Paris, a rival to Beneš’s Committee, which France had just recognised.
- The Polish government moves to AngersIn November 1939 Sikorski’s government moved from Paris to Angers on the Loire, where it got an extraterritorial seat. It reached London only in June 1940.
December
- 07
- Scandinavia, Italy and the Winter WarIn early December 1939 Norway and Denmark declared neutrality in the Winter War, Italy reaffirmed its “non-belligerence”, and Sweden declared no neutrality.
- The Battle of Suomussalmi beginsOn 7 December 1939 the Soviet 163rd Division reached Suomussalmi, burnt by the Finns. The Finnish command sent Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo's brigade there.
- 28
- Britain extends food rationingAt the end of December 1939 Food Minister William Morrison confirmed that from 8 January 1940 bacon, ham, butter and sugar would be rationed.
- U-30 hits HMS BarhamOn 28 December 1939 Lemp’s U-30 torpedoed the battleship HMS Barham off the Hebrides. Two weeks earlier Barham had sunk her own destroyer Duchess in fog.