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September 7th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The first British Atlantic convoys sail. Convoy escorts are provided to 12.5 degrees W. Merchants are not required to sail in convoy and in fact many of the faster ones do not. U-boat successes at this stage are among these "independents"

GERMANY: The death penalty is decreed for anyone "endangering the defensive power of the German people". Another decree forces workers to accept new jobs even if they pay lower wages than jobs previously held.

French Army patrols cross into German near Saarbrucken. These gentle probings will continue until the 17th, when the fall of Poland makes them pointless.

Shirer writes in his diary: "The talk in Berlin is of peace, after a German victory in Poland, Hitler will offer the West peace"

The French offensive on the Saar begins. The Siegfried Line defences are sound with ample minefields and booby-trapped built-up areas. The Germans hold all the high ground. Forward positions and salients have to be reduced before the main line can be accessed. These forward positions are tenaciously defended by German 1st Army (von Witzleben) with 17 divisions. French General Prételat has had 31 divisions, but can use no more than nine in the initial operations to clear the salients. The French are attacking with their maximum force available, and have stripped their defences elsewhere. (Michael Alexander)

Großadmiral Dr. Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy meets with Hitler for their first wartime conference on the developing naval situation.

POLAND: German troops are within 20 miles of Warsaw.
The Polish naval base at Westerplatte surrenders after a renewed German bombardment.

The Polish command issues instructions for the forces on the line of the Narew to retire to the Bug.

ROMANIA: The Romanian government declares neutrality.

CANADA: A special session of Parliament is called. (Dave Hornford)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:  The 4,066 ton British freighter SS Olivegrove is stopped, torpedoed at 1427 hours GMT and sunk by German submarine U-33 615 kilometers west-southwest of Cork, County Cork, Éire, in position 49.05N, 15.58W. Upon receiving SS Olivegrove's distress signal, U.S. passenger liner SS Washington, en route to the British Isles to evacuate American citizens from the European war zone, alters course and increases speed to reach the scene. Meanwhile, U-33's commanding officer, Kapitanleutnant (Lieutenant) Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky, treats the British survivors courteously, and aids in their rescue by having distress rockets fired to guide SS Washington to the two lifeboats containing the 33-man crew, which she picks up without loss.

U-34 sank SS Pukkastan.

U-47 sank SS Gartavon.

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