1937 (THURSDAY)
SWITZERLAND: The League of Nations Council refers the Chinese plea for assistance in the war against Japan to the Far Eastern Committee.
1938 (FRIDAY)
POLAND: The Polish press demands the return of Teschen, a duchy centered on the town of Teschen that is contested and then divided by Poland and Czechoslovakia after World War I.
UNITED KINGDOM: Lord Runciman, who accompanied British lle Chamberlain for a meeting with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler yesterday, presents his report on Czechoslovakia to the British Cabinet. There is a sharp division in the British and French cabinets as to yielding to Hitler.
U.S.S.R.: A Soviet troop concentration is reported in the Ukraine.
September 16th, 1939 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Duke of Windsor is appointed a liaison officer with the French Army.Some 31 first class football matches are held as friendlies, on an amateur basis. Peterborough pulled off the upset of the day beating Nottingham Forest 4-3, the Halifax - Leeds game though, was described as at a level 'usually associated with the village green.'
The US freighter SS Shickshinny is detained by British authorities
at Glasgow.
Submarine HMS Triad commissioned.
EIRE: The Ministry of Supplies is established under Sean Lemass. Rationing of foodstuffs and essential raw materials is introduced a shortly thereafter. The supplies of petroleum products, coal and gas averaged less than 20% of normal, textiles 22%, and tea 25%. The British restrict shipping as part of a campaign to persuade Eire to support the Allies throughout the war. The restrictions tighten under British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who was enraged by Irish Prime Minister Eamon de Valera’s refusal to return the Treaty Ports to British control, i.e., the three Irish ports that the British had returned to Irish control in 1938 .
GERMANY: The US Naval Attache in Berlin advises Washington that Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, states that all German U-boat commanders deny sinking the British passenger liner RMS Athenia on 4 September.
POLAND: Warsaw: On the eve of the Jewish New Year, Luftwaffe aircraft dive-bomb the Jewish quarter. The besieged defenders today spurned a German demand for their surrunder. Well positioned in powerful fortifications, Major-General Czuma's men have already fought off one determined attack by General Reinhardt's tanks. In a battle lasting three hours the Poles inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans, knocking out 60 tanks and forcing Reinhardt to report that if ordered to continue the attack his 4th Panzer Division will not remain operational. Reinhardt then withdrew to his original positions. When ordered to attack again, replied that it was impossible. The German's though are concentrating on the Battle of the Bzura on their right flank.
Brest: Today's attack on the citadel by the German 20th motorized and 10th Panzer Divisions falters after they storm the encircling wall, but the infantry regiment of the 10th Pz. div fails to advance, as ordered, immediately behind the creeping barrage that the artillery was putting down. When the regiment did at last attack it was too late and without orders, it suffered heavy casualties without reaching its objective. (95)(Russ Folsom)
INTERNATIONAL: The Soviet and Japanese governments agreed to an armistice, which ends the fighting on the Mongolian-Manchukuo frontier, which began in May. Soviet attention is now focused on Eastern Europe.
CANADA: The Foreign Exchange Control Board pegs the value of the Canadian Dollar at 90 cents US and a Pound Sterling at $4.34 Canadian.
Destroyers HMCS St Laurent and Saguenay departed Halifax as escort for Convoy HX-1, the first escorted ship convoy in formation to protect against German U-boat attacks..
U.S.A.: An order for 300 Vultee Model 54 aircraft powered by an R-985-25 engine is placed.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-31 inaugurates the U-boat campaign against convoys when she attacks Convoy OB-4 (Liverpool, England, to North America). At 0837 hours GMT, a torpedo strikes 4,060 ton British merchant steamer SS Aviemore and the ship sinks about 255 nautical miles (472 kilometers) southwest of Cork, County Cork, Éire, in position 49.11N, 13.38W. This is the only ship lost in that convoy.
U-13 damages the SS City of Paris.
U-27 sinks the SS Rudyard Kipling.
U-33 sinks SS Arkleside.