1935 (SUNDAY)
ETHIOPIA: Government officials sign a general mobilization order. According to the Italians, this was the latest and complete expression of the warlike and aggressive spirit in Ethiopia issued as a direct and immediate threat to the Italian troops.
The U.S. Army Command and General Staff College still uses this mobilization order as an exapmle of simplicity.
"Everyone will now be mobilized. Boys old enough to carry a spear will report to Addis Abba. Married men will take their wives to carry food and cook. Those with out a wife will take any woman with out a husband. Women with small babies need not go. Those blind or those who can not walk or carry a spear are exempted. Anyone found at home after receipt of this order will be hanged. Haile Selassie I Emperor of Ethiopia (Bill Howard)
LITHUANIA: Despite changes in Memel electoral law designed to increase Lithuanian representation, the elections resulted in the return of 24 Germans to the Memel directorate and only five Lithuanians.
1938 (THURSDAY)
GERMANY: German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Italian Premier Benito Mussolini and Foreign Minister Nobile Ciano, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and French Premier Edouard Daladier meet in Munich to negotiate a settlement to the Sudeten Crisis (the Czechoslovak government is not represented). Chancellor Hitler receives all that he demanded: the Czechoslovak government will evacuate German areas between 1 and 10 October, under conditions arranged by an international commission, which would also determine the plebiscite areas (the plebiscites are never held). The British and French governments promise to guarantee the new frontiers against unprovoked aggression. After the Polish and Hungarian minority questions are settled, the German and Italian governments pledge to provide Czechoslovakia with frontier guarantees. The Western statesmen, returning from Munich, receive great public ovations as hopes for peace are strong across Europe. The partition of Czechoslovakia, which consists of the incorporation of another 3.5 million Germans and 10,000 square miles (25 900 square kilometers) of Czech territory into the Reich, is a clear step towards a world war. The Czechoslovaks are abandoned by their allies in the Little Entente and the French, despite numerous assurances that their treaty obligations will be respected. The Anglo-French decision leads to recrimination as a major defeat for the democratic powers. Only the Soviet government appears prepared to assist the Czechoslovaks, but neither the British or French governments are willing to risk war with Germany. German rearmament, especially in air power, threatens to overwhelm the unprepared British and French military forces and the Western powers prove ready to make concessions to the Germans at Munich. As a result of Chancellor Hitler's diplomatic victory, the Little Entente disappears as an actor in European diplomacy. The surviving state of Czechoslovakia falls under German domination, as well as Hungary and the other Danubian states. The Czechoslovak alliances with the French and Soviets are worthless and the Franco-Soviet alliance lacks credibility. As a result of the Munich agreement, Germany emerges as the strongest power in Europe and the clear hegemony in the Danubian region.
POLAND: Taking advantage of the Sudeten Crisis, the Polish government submits an ultimatum to the Czechoslovak government demanding the annexation of Teschen. The region has been in dispute between the two countries since the Czechoslovaks seized the region during the Russo-Polish War of 1920.
September 29th, 1939 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:A national census is taken to obtain information on rationing and mobilisation.
London: Chamberlain dismisses the German "peace offensive". This follows a series of private contacts leading from Hitler and Göring to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, a British diplomat in Oslo, and the ever present Birger Dahlerus. Chamberlain states in the Commons today that Britain and France went to war to stop Nazi aggression and nothing had changed that position. This is taken as reference to a conversation between Dahlerus and Ogilvie Forbes, a counsellor at the British legation in Oslo. Dahlerus claimed that Hitler and Göring had suggested Queen Wilhelmina should issue a call for peace, which could be followed by a secret Anglo-German armistice meeting in Holland. At such a meeting Hitler would guarantee the security of Britain, France and the Low countries.
But Chamberlain said that Hitler's promises were worthless. He is equally dismissive of the Molotov-Ribbentrop call for the liquidation of the war and the promise of "consultations on necessary measures" if the Nazi peace effort failed.
Army: This morning a series of trains bears 3 Division, commanded by Major-General Bernard Montgomery, to Southampton. Embarkation begins at 10.30 a.m., and just before midnight the fleet sails.
RAF: Heligoland Bight patrol attacks two German destroyers. Second formation of five shot down in battle with German fighters. Two German fighters destroyed. Five out of 11 Hampdens lost. No damage to the destroyers.
London: The Great exodus from the capital continues, with institutions, businesses and civil servants moving to country houses, spa hotels and large schools all over "safe" areas.
Much of the BBC has been moved to the west country: the drama department to Wood Norton, a country house near Evesham, the variety department to Bristol. The bank's central clearing house is at Trentham Park, Stoke-on-Trent; the Prudential has gone to Torquay; sections of the admiralty to Bath; the war office to Droitwich and air ministry to Worcester's former workhouse. Some 3,000 stately country houses are now hospitals, stately homes such as Blenheim and Longleat are housing public schools and the Great Western Railway has moved to it's Reading waiting room.
British warships continue to stop neutral shipping in the North Atlantic. During the next 2-weeks, 63 ships are stopped; 20 of them are detained in the U.K. for inspection of their cargo.
Destroyers HMS Hurricane and Harvester launched.
NORTH SEA: U-10 attacked in the North Sea a group of four British destroyers, but the single torpedo fired missed its target.
POLAND: The remaining Polish government in Warsaw capitulates.
U.S.S.R.:
Moscow: At 5.00 am after much haggling interrupted by a state banquet in the Kremlin and a visit to the Bolshoi to see Swan Lake, Russia and Germany sign a ten-year assistance and trade agreement, giving Russia important naval bases on the Baltic. Molotov and von Ribbentrop are the signatories. It is officially called 'The German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty'. The public clauses settle their boundaries in the "former Polish state" and "assure the people living there a peaceful life in keeping with their national character." The secret clauses allow Russia a free hand in the Baltic states, while Germany gets the whole of Warsaw and the province of Lublin.
Germany annexes the Free City of Danzig and Posen [32,000 square miles (82 900 square kilometers) between East Prussia and Silesia]. The Germans also established the Government General, composed of 39,000 square miles (101 000 square kilometers) of territory, which comes under German protection. As a result of this agreement, Germany gained 22 million new citizens and 72,866 square miles (189 000 square kilometers) of territory. The Soviets occupy 77,620 square miles (201 000 square kilometers) of eastern Poland, with a population of 13 million people. In addition, Lithuania and Slovakia receive small cessions of Polish territory.
FRENCH MOROCCO: The US freighter SS Executive which was detained by French officials at Casablance 2 days ago, is released however she must proceed to Bizerte, Tunisia.
U.S.A.:
New York: Fritz Kuhn, a naturalized American citizen and
the Fuehrer of the German-American Bund (Deutsch-Amerikanischer Volksbund),
is jailed in New York City for misappropriation of Bund funds; he is
released on US$50,000 (US$617,000 in year 2000 dollars) bail. He was
subsequently tried and convicted of grand larceny, stripped of his
citizenship and spent the war in a detention camp. In 1945, he was deported
to Germany where he was tried and sentenced to ten years in prison for his
prewar Nazi activities. He died in Munich in 1951.
While berthed at San Pedro, California, the engineering plant of the US battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) is sabotaged. Between 1700 hours local today and 0900 the next morning, one or more sailors (1) opened the reserve lube oil tanks in the port and starboard engine rooms and let oil drain into the bilges under the center engine room, (2) loosened nuts, bolts, threading taps, a valve and coil, and (3) placed pieces of steel wool in the spring bearing housings for three or the four propeller shafts. These bearings supported the shafts as they ran through the long shaft alleys and could have caused significant damage if the shafts were turning but since the ship was at anchor and the engines were not started, there was no damage. The oil was recovered, the steel wool was removed, bolts and nuts tightened and there was no damage to the ship. Shore leave was cancelled the next morning and an investigation was begun by the Navy. The FBI was also called in. Two sailors were suspects but nothing was ever proved against them. After an investigation, the FBI issued a 200-page report; a letter from a Naval District officer was also attached and the writer stated that this was probably an attempt to delay the ship rather than damage it and someone probably had a grudge against one of the Engineering officers and wanted him to look bad and get a poor rating.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-7 sank SS Takstaas.
The French submarine Poncelet captures the German merchant ship Chemnitz, the first German ship captured in the war. It will sail under French flag as Saint Bertrand until June 18, 1940 when it is captured by the British in Bermuda, and later handed to a Free French crew. (Louis Capdeboscq)