September 16, 1939
Sep 16,1939 PLEA BY STIMSON
Former Secretary of State follows up isolationist Senator Borah's speech with a plea to repeal the neutrality acts on the grounds that repealing it may be the only way to now ensure that we don't enter the war. In other words, a desire to stay out of the war is near-universal; the debate is over how to accomplish this.
Sep 16,1939 LINDBERGH URGES WE SHUN THE WAR
Sep 16,1939 CONGRESS LIMITED
President Roosevelt will spend this special session of Congress focused entirely on the question of the Neutrality Acts and has no further agenda.
Sep 16,1939 SAAR DRIVE GOES ON
Germans are hitting back hard on the Western front by low-flying airplane; this is thought to herald additional future response by the Germans.
Sep 16,1939 Diplomats in Poland Ask Their Governments To Protest German Air Raids on Open Towns
Sep 16,1939 Fight Against U-Boats Effected By Wide Sea and Airplane Patrol
Sep 16,1939 SINKINGS INDICATED AS OFF THIS COAST
Two ships sunk by U-boats appear to have been sunk close to the Atlantic coast.
Sep 16,1939 POLISH RESISTANCE FIRM IN 2 BATTLES
Fighting continues at Warsaw and Kutno.
Sep 16,1939 FAR EAST PACT SEEN
The Soviets and Japanese have signed an armistice, which may lead to a full non-agression pact (which some believe may have already been signed, but currently kept secret). This changes the shape of things in the Far East dramatically; it frees Japan up to fight more strongly against the Chinese (which they have been doing at this point, if I recall correctly, since 1932); it frees up Soviet forces for the Soviet European front; and it threatens British and American interests in the Pacific.
Sep 16,1939 Incidents in European Conflict
Berlin has been transformed by rationing (of food - two days a week are "meatless" - clothing, gasoline, car use, etc.) and "air raid mindedness;" antiaircraft guns top many roofs, first-floor windows have been covered and sandbagged; church and museum treasures are being hidden in bomb-proof shelters or hidden behind sandbags. Overtime pay that would normally be paid to workers will instead be put into an account for use by the government; the reasoning seems to be to try to avoid "wartime profiteering" by the workers while still having the companies pay extra for extra time, evenings, weekends, etc. British motorists will be rationed to 6 gallons of gasoline per month starting September 23. The German army is loaning Polish prisoners of war to German farmers, who must pay them 60 percent of the normal going rate for such labor. British imports of bacon and ham, except from Ireland, will be requisitioned by the government with the goal of supplying the armed services first and distributing the rest equitably throughout the country.
Sep 16,1939 Nurse, 72, Is Ready Again
Sep 16,1939 Elephant and Camel Aid Planned for Reich Farms
Sep 16,1939 HITLER ASSAILED HERE
German-American groups characterize Hitler and Hitlerism as an enemy of the true interests of the German people.
Sep 16,1939 Reich Air Unit Credited With 74 Polish Planes
Sep 16,1939 BRITAIN WILL ENLIST ANTI-NAZI GERMANS
Sep 16,1939 TROTSKY SEES SOVIET CATERING TO HITLER
Sep 16,1939 Paraguay Declares Neutrality
Sep 16,1939 POLES' LOSSES LAID TO NAZI AIR MIGHT
Sep 16,1939 German Wheat Ship Tries Run
Sep 16,1939 VATICAN IS CRITICAL ON CURBS IN REICH
The Vatican has been very circumspect in its criticism of the Reich, and so the fact that it is speaking out even cautiously regarding Reich restrictions on the Catholic Church within Germany is considered very significant.
Sep 16,1939 NAZI OFFICIAL IN RUMANIA
Officially, this has to do with a trade treaty due to expire Oct. 1, and is said to have nothing to do with the war.
Sep 16,1939 Soviet Troops Down Reich Plane
Sep 16,1939 ROME NEUTRALITY NAZI BAIT TO TURKS
Germany seems to think that Italy's neutrality is a more long-range thing and is trying to use this to keep Turkey neutral; in spite of this, Turkey and Britain seem to be moving gradually towards a closer alliance.
Sep 16,1939 NAZIS REVEAL WRATH AT REPORT BY BIDDLE
Biddle is the American ambassador to Poland and has, of course, been sending home reports of the bombing in Poland, including accounts of "indiscriminate bombing of civilian objectives" and an account of bombing near his villa in Poland. The Nazis have issued a scathing statement repudiating these accounts in which they accuse Biddle of trying to drag the U.S. into the war and resort to attacks on Mr. Biddle's person, describing him as bald and "rolling in millions."
Sep 16,1939 JAPANESE 'ADVISED' TO GO FROM ITALY
Sep 16,1939 FACTOR OF ATTACK ON BELGIUM POSED
Military experts are contemplating that Germany might invade Belgium in order to "turn the flank of the Maginot Line" and retake the initiative in the west, especially if they can transfer significant numbers of troops out of Poland.
Sep 16,1939 U. S. AUSTRIANS DENY HOMELAND IS AT WAR
Sep 16,1939 SAYS POLES DROPPED ARMS
Sep 16,1939 FRANCE PREPARED IF POLES COLLAPSE
Sep 16,1939 AS THE GERMANS MOVE AHEAD IN THEIR CAMPAIGN AGAINST POLAND
Sep 16,1939 VISA SNAG DELAYS EUROPEAN EXODUS
Sep 16,1939 Vienna Hospital Houses Wounded
Sep 16,1939 3 LINERS HELD HERE BY UNION SIT-DOWN
Sep 16,1939 GERMAN CYCLE TROOPS REACH THE FRONT BY AIRPLANE
Sep 16,1939 HITLERISM IS LAID TO MORAL LAPSES
It is the second day of Rosh Hashana, and the sermons by New York rabbis are evidently being followed closely. Today, the report is that "rabbis here imputed Hitlerism to moral weaknesses in modern civilization and urged a general rededication to spiritual ideals as a means of averting future strife."
Sep 16,1939 LONDON'S WAR MIEN DIFFERS FROM 1914
In 1914, there were bands playing and flags waving; now, it's all sandbags, dark nights (blackouts were already the rule at night, for fear of bombers), and childless streets (the children have already been sent to the country). Overall, people are quite willing to "do their bit," but only two weeks into the war, they find it rather dreary.
Sep 16,1939 Urges Norway to Act With Us
Sep 16,1939 Yankee Clipper Here in Swift Crossing; Dwight Davis, Ex-Secretary of War, Aboard
Sep 16,1939 WAR SAFETY ZONES URGED
Sep 16,1939 Lindbergh's Appeal for Isolation
Sep 16,1939 HOOVER RESTATES HUMANE WAR PLEA
Newt