September 15, 1939
Sep 15,1939 HULL WARNS WORLD ON NEUTRAL RIGHTS
Hull, you recall, is Secretary of State for the U.S.; this is a warning to European countries that we will act to protect our rights as a neutral power.
Sep 15,1939 STEP TOWARD WAR PICTURED BY BORAH IF WE END EMBARGO
Senator Borah, previously referred to as being the leader of the isolationist vote in the Senate, is reported as having warned that repealing our previous embargoes and modifying the neutrality acts would be tantamount to entering the war. The text of his speech to the Senate is printed in full on an interior page of the paper.
Sep 15,1939 Two More British Ships Sunk by U-Boats; Tanker and Freighter Make Allied Total 19
Sep 15,1939 GERMANS ROUT FOE
There is no longer any front in Poland. Fierce fighting continues on all sides of Warsaw, but 60,000 prisoners have been taken. Communiques from the Polish military have become increasingly belated. Radio reports are conflicting. The Germans are tightening their grip; they have crossed the Vistula, San, and Bug Rivers. Considerable rain has fallen in the past 48 hours, which favors the Poles, but with the front collapsing and fighting appearing to be transitioning to more of a guerrilla operation by the Poles than organized military fighting, the situation looks dire.
Sep 15,1939 POLAND REQUESTS MORE BRITISH AID
Sep 15,1939 FRENCH PUSH NAZIS BACK UPON FORTS
On the western front, the French are continuing to push the Germans back but are hindered by the same rain that is hindering the Germans in Poland. With air reconnaissance grounded by the rain, action is limited to artillery fire.
Sep 15,1939 PARTITION REVIVED
Soviet negotiators are in Berlin, working out details for a partitioning of Poland. It is seen as likely that they will negotiate to leave a Polish "buffer state" in existence between them, rather than having a shared frontier.
Sep 15,1939 POPE BEGS POWERS TO HUMANIZE WAR
Sep 15,1939 Incidents in European Conflict
Two strikes had occurred in a German industrial area; arrests followed. A French paper announces the first war death among their journalists; his name is not given. Fifteen of Germany's twenty universities are to close and remain closed indefinitely; five universities is considered sufficient for the wartime need. A British gentleman, 87 years old and retired from the army for 30 years, reported to a Lancashire regiment depot with a row of medals on his chest, demanding to know why they were so hard up for soldiers that they were calling him up as a reservist. "I served with your grandfather at Poona in '86," he is reported to have told the commanding officer. It turned out the papers he'd received had been intended for his grandson. Greece is banning fresh bread as a food conservation measure, reasoning that citizens will eat less if all the bread they have is stale; officials are searching for hoarded foodstuffs. Styles in women's haircuts are being impacted by the need for hairstyles that fit under the uniform hats of women's auxiliary units; two variants are described.
Sep 15,1939 ROME DISCUSSIONS PUSHED BY FRANCE
Sep 15,1939 BRITISH FLIERS TELL OF KIEL BASE RAID
Some British airmen found and bombed a German battleship.
Sep 15,1939 POLES SEEK TO SEND GOLD OUT OF COUNTRY
Sep 15,1939 UNIFIED PLAN HELD ALLIES' ADVANTAGE
In WWI, the French and British did not manage to truly work together until 1918, which is held as the reason for finally achieving victory thereafter. In this war, determined to learn from their previous mistakes, they are working together from the start, with a unified command and heads of state who have worked together closely for 16 months. (PM in England is still Chamberlain.)
Sep 15,1939 HUNGARY'S VIEWS STATED
Hungary has no aggressive goals, no wish to fight her neighbors, and great sympathy for the "hard and heroic struggle of the Poles."
Sep 15,1939 NEUTRALS ACT FOR FOES
A weird network of countries are maintaining contacts between foes; if, for instance, one is French and has interests in Germany, one can get aid from the United States. Various European countries that will soon be conquered are still numbered in the list of the neutrals and serving as part of this web of connections.
Sep 15,1939 RUINS MARK LINE OF NAZI ADVANCE
Sep 15,1939 Starhemberg Would Lead Austrians Against Nazis
The former Vice Chancellor of Austria would like to organize a legion of Austrians to fight with France against Hitlerism.
Sep 15,1939 NETHERLANDS DECIDES TO BAR ALL REFUGEES
Sep 15,1939 REICH HELD ASSURED OF TWO KEY NEUTRALS
Sep 15,1939 CARGO OF U.S. SHIP TAKEN BY BRITISH
Sep 15,1939 Stalin Triumph Seen in Nazi Pact; Vast Concessions Made by Hitler
Finland, Estonia, and Latvia are promised by Germany as part of the "Soviet sphere," and Russia has mobilized millions of troops all along its European border; while they are not fighting anyone right now, they are making it clear that they're willing and ready to do so. They are also accusing the Poles of oppressing ethnic minorities within Poland, which is seen as a precursor to an opportunistic invasion as soon as the Germans are done crushing Polish resistance.
Sep 15,1939 PAPER OWNER SCORES BRITISH CENSORSHIP
Sep 15,1939 FIRST PICTURE OF BOMB DAMAGE IN NEUTRAL DANISH CITY
Sep 15,1939 Reich Apologizes to The Hague
A German aircraft accidentally forced a Netherlands aircraft down; Hitler has apologized and offered to replace the aircraft.
Sep 15,1939 FRENCH WARNED OF RADIO
Sep 15,1939 Belgian Envoy for Broader Plan
Sep 15,1939 NAZIS CEASE CHURCH WAR
There had been a great deal of "antichurch agitation" by the Nazi government prior to the war, but that has now ceased. However, politics have been banned from sermons, up to 42% of pastors have been called into military service, retired pastors are stepping forward to fill empty pulpits, and church attendance has seen very little increase. This is contrasted to WWI, when the churches were all full; the difference is blamed on the government's antichurch attitude.
Sep 15,1939 STRANDED CITIZENS WORK WAY TO U. S.
Sep 15,1939 12,000 Reach America From War Area in Week
Sep 15,1939 RUSH HOME TO U.S. REACHING ITS PEAK
Sep 15,1939 ATHENIAN SURVIVORS ARRIVE AT NEWARK
Sep 15,1939 JAPANESE LINER HERE WITH WAR REFUGEES
Sep 15,1939 WMCA DENIES USE OF 'DECODED' NEWS
Sep 15,1939 ARMS TRADE SHOWS EFFECT OF EMBARGO
Sep 15,1939 ASKS PRISONER EXCHANGE
Sep 15,1939 Reich Names Poznan Civil Head
I've.... actually been to Poznan; I spent two weeks there when I was 17, visiting Gosia. This bit of news, therefore, hits me a little oddly. A German official has been named to head up the civil government of the area around Poznan; this is an entirely hypothetical appointment at this point, since the area is under military rule, but that is expected to change in the near future.
Sep 15,1939 Eve Curie Urges French To Increase Aid to Poles
Sep 15,1939 CATHOLIC WOMEN ASK EARLY ENDING OF WAR
Sep 15,1939 U-BOAT GAVE FOOD, VICTIM SAYS HERE
Sep 15,1939 U-Boat That Sank Ship Sent SOS to Admiralty
Sep 15,1939 First Reich Ship Seized Was in Dock at London
Sep 15,1939 JEWS, AT NEW YEAR, STUDY ROLE IN WAR
Rev. Dr. David de Sola Pool at the Shea-rith Israel Spanish & Portuguese Synogogue at Central Park West & 70th St. said in a Rosh Hashanah sermon, "unless religion overcomes war, war will destroy religion." "As the war goes on, more and more are we likely to see its appeal to the base and the ignoble wrapped up in the glorious flag of patriotism. More and more are we likely to see war's cruelty and barbarism presented to us as noble heroism. More and more is a cancerous nationalism likely to masquerade as loyalty. More and more will the quest of markets and financial profits of war be disguised and paraded before us as love of country."
Sep 15,1939 CHECK TO REICH IMPORTS
Sep 15,1939 RUSSIA INTERVENES
Sep 15,1939 RAIN IN POLAND
A summary of the importance rain has played in various military situations, from Waterloo to WWI.
Sep 15,1939 Letters to The Times
Newt