Year 1939

War Diary for Tuesday, November 21, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst despatched into North Atlantic. Mine victims off British East Coast include new cruiser HMS Belfast […]

War Diary for Monday, November 20, 1939: Sea War German seaplanes begin dropping the new magnetic mines in British East Coast shipping lanes (night 20-21).

War Diary for Sunday, November 19, 1939: Occupied countries Poland: Germans erect barricades round Jewish quarter of Warsaw.

War Diary for Saturday, November 18, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: Four merchant ships sunk by magnetic mines off British East Coast. 86 passengers killed on Dutch liner Simon Bolivar. Home

War Diary for Friday, November 17, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: Pocket battleship Deutschland (Germany) arrives at Gdynia (Baltic) after her Atlantic raiding cruise (2 ships sunk). Renamed Lützow by Hitler

War Diary for Thursday, November 16, 1939: Sea War British, French and Australian warships search for German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in Indian Ocean and East Indies.

War Diary for Wednesday, November 15, 1939: China Sino-Japanese War: Japanese capture last Chinese port of Pakhoi. Since July 1937 Japanese have taken now all of China’s seaports. Politics German

War Diary for Tuesday, November 14, 1939: Western Front ‘Plan D’ (the ‘Dyle Plan‘) adopted by French and British High Commands after secret, inconclusive discussions with the Belgians. A German

War Diary for Monday, November 13, 1939: Air War Germans bomb Shetland Islands. No casualties, only one rabbit killed. Air raid warning in Paris, anti-aircraft guns engage German reconnaissance aircraft.

War Diary for Sunday, November 12, 1939: Politics King George VI and French President Lebrun issue cautious replies to Dutch-Belgian peace appeal. King Carol of Romania offers to mediate; rejected

War Diary for Saturday, November 11, 1939: Western Front Slight activity by German patrols and artillery. BEF hold Armistice Day services amid the great battlefields of World War One.

War Diary for Friday, November 10, 1939: Neutrals Holland: Dutch reinforce border troops, cancel all Army leave and prepare to flood ‘inundation area’ by opening sluice gates.

War Diary for Thursday, November 9, 1939: Secret War Venlo Incident: two British Intelligence officers, Major Stevens and Captain Best, kidnapped by the Gestapo on Dutch-German border, while attempting to

War Diary for Wednesday, November 8, 1939: Home Fronts Germany: BUERGER-BRAEUKELLER BOMB INCIDENT. Powerful bomb wrecks Munich beer hall (killing 8) minutes after vehement anti-British speech by Hitler, who predicts

War Diary for Tuesday, November 7, 1939: Western Front Hitler postpones offensive planned for November 12 – and 13 further postponements follow at intervals until May 9, 1940. Politics Queen

War Diary for Monday, November 6, 1939: Western Front The Biggest dogfight to date. Nine French Curtiss Hawk fighters shoot down 4 out of 27 Me 109Ds over the Saar.

War Diary for Sunday, November 5, 1939: Home Fronts Germany: THE ZOSSEN CONSPIRACY. Generals von Brauchitsch (Army C in C), Halder and Beck plot to stop Hitler’s planned Western Front

War Diary for Saturday, November 4, 1939: Secret War ‘Oslo Report‘: revealing secrets of German long-range rockets and radar – sent anonymously (probably by anti-Nazi German scientist) to British naval

War Diary for Friday, November 3, 1939: Politics Embargo on export of arms lifted by US Senate. Neutrality Bill amended. Britain and France now able to obtain supplies on ‘cash

War Diary for Thursday, November 2, 1939: Occupied countries Poland: Western White Russia (Russian-occupied Poland) incorporated in Belorussian SSR.