Posted on 11/07/2009 6:19:50 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
The European Situation – 1
Peace Soviet’s Aim – 1-4
Incidents in European Conflict – 2
Bolshevist Anniversary To Be Marked in Estonia – 4
Reports Nazi Rout – 5-7
7 Invasion Routes Indicated in West – 8-10
Amateur Actors Found in Ranks Of British Troops at the Front - 9
More proof Hitler and Stalin were socialist allies against the west. Love the part about how the Red army warned England and France not to widen the war. This should be requred reading in every history class that simply lists Russia as part of the “allies” in WW2.
I like the map of the where the French expect the German blow to fall. Note that the Ardennes are not part of their expectations.
Good to see that Belgium is well defended. That should prevent an invasion through there.
Baldwin metions the Ardennes only once in the whle article. Part of one sentence, “the most difficult...”
Guess the Germans didn’t read the TIMES.
Yup...especially fort eban emael. :)
further proof that hitler was a NYT subscriber. wouldnt you attack exactly where it wasnt expectd? also, not an expert, but the apparant reliance on machine guns as defense was to prove fatal. i dont think machine guns do a whole lot to a tank division on the move. in any event all the forts and fixed guns were run over in about a week if i recall.
Sorry to miss class this morning! Fish were biting!
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/nov39/f07nov39.htm
Germans postpone western campaign
Tuesday, November 7, 1939 www.onwar.com
From Berlin... The planned German attack in the west is postponed because of bad weather. This initial postponement will be repeated another 14 times until January 16th, 1940.
In Occupied Poland... The edict ordering Jews in Warsaw into a ghetto is withdrawn. Meanwhile, deportation of Jews from western Poland begin.
In The Hague... Queen Wilhelmina of Holland (the Netherlands) and King Leopold III of Belgium issue an appeal for peace and offer to mediate between the combatants.
In London... A double agent, Paul Thummel, passes details of the planned German western offensive to the Czech government-in-exile.
The routes of invasion look a lot like the old Schlieffen Plan. Incidently, if you disregard the routes through the Maginot Line opposite Germany, the map shows the very routes the Germans were actually planning at this time.
The article, with just a brief passage, dismisses the Ardennes as being “studded with Belgian pillboxes.” Hah! Some pillboxes!
But what nobody is considering is not just the thrust through the Ardennes, but the idea that instead of Paris, the objective will be the Channel and the amputation of the northern half of the allied front.
Molotov would have felt vindicated had he seen how America turned out 70 years later.
No Posting for today, so we’ll consider this for BOTH yesterday and today?
NAVAL EVENTS- Tuesday, 7 November
Destroyers COSSACK, MAORI and ZULU departed Rosyth for Scapa Flow at 1745 to escort the west coast section of convoy HN.1. COSSACK was damaged in collision with steamer BORTHWICK (1097grt) off May Island in the Firth of Forth at 2015, and five ratings killed. ZULU assisted COSSACK in rescuing one of the crew trapped in plating curled back in the collision.
Sister ship AFRIDI took COSSACK’s casualties ashore, while MAORI and sloop GRIMSBY assisted COSSACK. She was towed stern first by two tugs to Leith where she repaired until 15 January. MAORI and ZULU left to escort the convoy, joined later by sloop FLAMINGO.
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Destroyers GRENVILLE and GRENADE collided at Devonport during the night of the 7th/8th. GRENVILLE’s starboard side was damaged below the water line and number three boiler room flooded; she repaired at Devonport completing on 1 December. The stem of GRENADE was twisted and the fore peak flooded; her repairs at Falmouth were completed on 9 December.
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Light cruiser EFFINGHAM departed Devonport after boiler cleaning, and arrived at Halifax on the 15th.
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On Northern Patrol, three cruisers were on patrol between the Orkneys and the Faroes, two cruisers and one AMC between the Faroes and Iceland, and light cruiser NEWCASTLE and two AMCs in the Denmark Strait.
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Light cruiser SOUTHAMPTON arrived at Rosyth after Northern Patrol duties.
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Destroyer IMOGEN, her defects corrected, departed Liverpool for Scapa Flow, arriving on the 8th.
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Minelaying cruiser ADVENTURE departed Rosyth, was met by destroyers JUNO and JUPITER off Inchkeith, and safely escorted to Grimsby.
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Destroyer STURDY departed Rosyth, via the Humber for Portsmouth to escort aircraft carrier ARGUS to Toulon.
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Convoy HN.1 of six British and one Polish steamer departed Bergen and was joined just outside Norwegian territorial waters by destroyers TARTAR, SOMALI and PUNJABI. Sister ship ASHANTI joined the escort at daylight on the 8th. Four steamers were detached to their destinations on the west coast and the convoy arrived safely at Methil on the 10th.
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Convoy FN.33 departed Southend escorted by destroyer VIVIEN and sloops BITTERN and FLEETWOOD. On the 8th, destroyers JERVIS and JERSEY of the 7th Flotilla and KEITH and BOADICEA of the 22nd Flotilla departed Immingham, and Polish destroyers BLYSKAWICA, BURZA, GROM from Harwich to reinforce the convoy, which was being shadowed by German aircraft, and to counter an anticipated German surface attack.
The convoy arrived at Methil on the 9th without incident. Convoy FS.33 was cancelled due to too few ships being ready.
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Destroyers GRENADE, EXMOUTH and WREN were submarine hunting. GRENADE attacked a contact.
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Convoy BC.14 of steamers ADJUTANT, BATNA, BELLEROPHON (Commodore), BRIARWOOD, COXWOLD, HARMATTAN, JADE, LOCHEE, OUSEL, PACIFIC COAST and PEMBROKE COAST departed the Bristol Channel escorted by destroyers EXPRESS, VIVACIOUS and VESPER. The convoy safely arrived in the Loire on the 10th.
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In bad weather, convoy HG.5A had difficulty making the Downs, and steamer CITY OF MELBOURNE (6630grt) ran aground on the South Goodwins.
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Convoy HXF.7 was delayed due to bad weather, and during the afternoon of the 7th, only four ships out of the 13 in convoy were in company. Escorting armed merchant cruiser ASTURIAS sustained minor weather damage which required dockyard repair.
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On the 7th, Polish destroyers BLYSKAWICA and GROM on patrol 70 miles east of Lowestoft were attacked by German torpedo planes. No damage resulted in this first recorded aircraft torpedo attack of the war.
Returning to Harwich, they fouled the buoy, GROM’s port propeller was damaged, and she required docking. BLYSKAWICA was docked for examination after GROM completed her repairs.
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Submarine SEAL, returning from Dogger Bank patrol, was bombed by a German seaplane while waiting for submarines CACHALOT and L.26 off Orfordness.
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Submarine H.28 reported defects, and was repairing until 11 November.
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Heavy cruiser BERWICK departed Bermuda and arrived at Portsmouth for docking on the 14th, where she was under repair until 9 December. She departed Portsmouth the same day to join the 1st Cruiser Squadron.
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Depot ship MAIDSTONE departed Malta escorted by sloops ABERDEEN and DEPTFORD, and arrived at Gibraltar on the 10th. On the 12th, they departed Gibraltar, accompanied by light cruiser CAPETOWN.
West of Gibraltar, the sloops were detached and proceeded to England for duty in Home Waters. CAPETOWN escorted MAIDSTONE halfway to Freetown where she was relieved by light cruiser NEPTUNE.
CAPETOWN returned to Gibraltar while MAIDSTONE and NEPTUNE proceeded to Freetown, arriving on the 16th.
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Sloop FOWEY arrived at Malta en route to England from Alexandria. She was delayed by boiler defects and did not leave for Gibraltar until the 12th, arriving on the 15th. She departed on the 16th, escorting ammunition stores issuing ship (ASIS) PACHECO to Freetown.
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Light cruiser BIRMINGHAM departed Singapore for Hong Kong and en route, investigated a Japanese whaling convoy. She arrived at Hong Kong on the 10th.
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Light cruiser CAPETOWN departed Malta for Gibraltar where she arrived on the 9th.
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French heavy cruiser SUFFREN arrived at Singapore after departing Saigon on the 5th.
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French heavy cruiser FOCH, light cruiser LA GALISSONNIÈRE and destroyer LION, passed Gibraltar. The heavy cruiser and destroyer had departed Oran on the 7th and the light cruiser, Toulon on the 6th. FOCH was en route to Dakar, and LA GALISSONNÈRE to Brest for repairs.
All three arrived at Casablanca on the 8th. The light cruiser arrived at Brest on the 12th for repairs, completed 3 March, and arrived back at Oran on 7 March.
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French submarine SIDI FERRUCH arrived at Trinidad, and departed on patrol on the 8th.
NAVAL EVENTS-Wednesday, 8 November
On Northern Patrol, were two cruisers between the Orkneys and the Faroes, three cruisers and one AMC between the Faroes and Iceland, and light cruiser NEWCASTLE and two AMCs in the Denmark Strait.
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Light cruisers DUNEDIN, DELHI and DIOMEDE departed Sullom Voe. DUNEDIN and DELHI relieved light cruisers CALEDON and CERES which then returned to Sullom Voe on the 9th. DUNEDIN, DELHI and DIOMEDE all arrived at Loch Ewe on the 15th, DUNEDIN with rudder trouble and DIOMEDE with weather damage to her upper deck.
DIOMEDE and DUNEDIN reported sighting a periscope in Yell Sound and DUNEDIN dropped a depth charge on the contact, after which destroyer KELLY searched unsuccessfully for the U-boat.
Coast watchers reported a submarine in Yell Sound during the afternoon of the 9th and five destroyers were eventually detailed to search. As a result of these sightings, the Northern Patrol cruisers were ordered to use Loch Ewe instead of Sullom Voe.
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Sloops GRIMSBY and FLAMINGO, on passage to Harwich, were searching for a submarine six miles ENE of Hartlepool.
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Convoy OA.32G of 23 ships departed Southend escorted by destroyers VENETIA and WIVERN from the 8th to the 10th, and destroyers WAKEFUL and WHITEHALL from the 10th to 11th. On the 11th, the convoy merged with OB.32G, which was escorted by destroyers MACKAY and VIMY until the 11th, becoming OG.6.
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Steamers DUNKELD (4944grt) and FERNPOOL in convoy SL.6B collided at 2350/8th. Destroyer WALPOLE escorted the damaged ships to Bristol Channel, and then returned to the convoy at 1530/9th.
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Convoy HXF.8 departed Halifax at 1400 escorted by Canadian destroyers FRASER and ST LAURENT, which detached on the 10th. Ocean escort was armed merchant cruiser ASCANIA, which detached on the 19th and then returned to Halifax. The convoy was escorted in Home Waters by destroyers WINCHELSEA and WARWICK from convoy OB.35, and ACASTA and ARDENT from convoy OA.35 from the 19th to 20th. The convoy arrived at Dover on the 21st.
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Aircraft carrier EAGLE, Australian light cruiser HOBART and destroyer WESTCOTT departed Singapore for Colombo on convoy duty, arriving on the 12th.
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Sloops EGRET departed Durban and ROCHESTER from Aden, both to return to Home Waters, via Suez.
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Destroyer DAINTY departed Gibraltar for refitting at Malta, arriving on the 10th.
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Convoy SL.8 departed Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser CILICIA. On the 23rd, destroyers VANQUISHER, VERSATILE and WITHERINGTON from convoy OB.39 joined the convoy, which arrived next day.
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French torpedo boats BALISTE and LA POURSIVANTE arrived at Gibraltar from Toulon, departing on the 9th for Casablanca.
8 November, 1939-
Admiral Raeder’s planned fast-destroyer minelaying operations during the night of the 8th/9th in the Thames and 10th/11th in the Humber by German destroyers KARL GALSTER, HANS LÜDEMAN and HERMANN KÜNNE of the 5th Destroyer Division, FRIEDRICH ECKHOLDT and FRIEDRICH IHN of the 6th Destroyer Division, and PAUL JACOBI, THEODOR RIEDEL and HERMANN SCHOEMANN of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, were cancelled due to defects in KÜNNE.
“Light cruiser BIRMINGHAM departed Singapore for Hong Kong and en route, investigated a Japanese whaling convoy.”
During the war, the Japanese converted their whale fleet into oil tankers. They were desperately short of shipping tonnage, particularly tankers. Give it a few years, and American Gato class submarines will be “investigating” the whale ship convoys too.
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