Posted on 10/24/2009 8:58:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
A.J. McCarthy, vice president in charge of operations of the United States Lines, said last night at his home that he was surprised to hear the report that the freighter City of Flint had been seized by an armed raider and taken into Kola Bay, north of Murmansk, Russia, with a German crew on board.
He said the City of Flint, which left New York on Oct. 3 for Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, had no passengers on board. Mr. McCarthy said he had received no news concerning the fate of the City of Flint, since she was reported in the Maritime Register to have arrived in Manchester, England, Oct. 15.
What is the Maritime Register? The Flint was seized on October 9. The prize crew took her first to Tromso, Norway, arriving on October 20. I doubt the German prize crew stopped in Manchester for provisions.
I didn’t know Flint was a ship city, being all inland and that, but it does explain Michael Moore.
*In political circles it was held that such a capture would give no aid to supporters of the Administration’s Neutrality Bill, which would ban United States vessels from sailing to European ports and thus eliminate the danger of conflict arising from such seizures.
Maybe that is why it took two weeks and a day for this story to find its way into print. The Flint was seized on October 9 and it is a five-column page one headline on the 24th.
. . . the cargo of the City of Flint comprised more than fifty separate items “typical of her usual cargo on this run.” The statement added:
”The list included lard, cereals, canned meats, flour, canned goods, apples, wax, lubricating oil, cotton, sewing machines, plows, asphalt, pitch, grease, shade rollers, machinery, silk commercial chemicals, abrasive grains, disinfectants, feathers, coffee, lumber, gauze, hair and wall board. The total cargo amounted to approximately 5,000 tons.”
According to aab’s reply #7 on the thread linked below, the Flint held 4,000 tons of lubricating oil – 80% of the cargo.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/oct39/f24oct39.htm
Polish gold arrives in Paris
Tuesday, October 24, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Paris... The Polish gold reserves arrive, having traveled via Romania and Syria. The value of the gold is estimated at over £15,000,000.
In London... The Polish Consul-General announces that Poles in Britain will be mobilized for service in the Polish Army in France.
On the Western Front... A fairly sharp engagement takes place towards the southeastern border of the Forest of Warndt, where a German attack on a French outpost is driven back.
In Moscow... A Soviet-German trade agreement is signed. The USSR agrees to supply 1 million tonnes of grain and fodder to Germany. Meanwhile, the Finnish delegation leaves to consult with their government on new proposals put forward by the Soviet government, concerning boundary revisions.
In Danzig... The Nazi Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop, delivers a speech in which he accuses the British government of systematically preparing, over a period of years, to make war on Germany.
It seems the media are truly in the dark about the City of Flint story. At first I thought it was a government/media coverup of the seizure of the ship to protect the administrations's position on neutrality. It now looks like a purely government operation.
Otherwise the broadcast gives reason for hope. The Russo-Finnish negotiations appear to be heading for a peaceful resolution and the peoples of the Baltic states are just delighted to be the newest members of the Soviet Union. And how about those crazy Brits? 5,000 aircraft from American factories? That's crazy talk!
Crazy is right. 5,000 planes. Why it’s like Elmer said, it would take a year and a half to make that many planes.
What’s even more amazing is that 5 years later, in September of 44, the Germans will product almost 4000 aircraft just that month alone and that’s all while under the continuous pounding of allied bomber attacks. I wonder what the American numbers were that month. Astounding, I’d bet.
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