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1931   (FRIDAY)

 

SWITZERLAND: To address the crisis in Manchuria, the League of Nations attempts to end the hostilities and invites the U.S. to send a representative to sit on the League Council. The Hoover administration accepts the invitation and appoints Prentiss B. Gilbert to participate in discussions related to U.S. obligations under the Kellogg-Briand Pact. This Pact between the U.S. and other countries provided for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy and is signed at Paris on 27 August 1928

 

1933   (MONDAY)

 

ROMANIA: Stephen Tatarescu and others establish the pro-Nazi Christian-Fascist Party in Bucharest.

 

1934   (TUESDAY)

 

CHINA: The embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China. Known as Ch'ang Cheng--the "Long March"--the retreat lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles (9 656 kilometers). Civil war in China between the Nationalists and the Communists broke out in 1927. In 1931, Communist leader Mao Zedong was elected chairman of the newly established Soviet Republic of China, based in Kiangsi province in the southwest. Between 1930 and 1934, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek launched a series of five encirclement campaigns against the Soviet Republic. Under the leadership of Mao, the Communists employed guerrilla tactics to resist successfully the first four campaigns, but in the fifth, Chiang raised 700,000 troops and built fortifications around the Communist positions. Hundreds of thousands of peasants were killed or died of starvation in the siege, and Mao is removed as chairman by the Communi

 st Central Committee. The new Communist leadership employs more conventional warfare tactics, and its Red Army is decimated. With defeat imminent, the Communists decide to break out of the encirclement at its weakest points. The Long March begins at 1700 hours today. Secrecy and rear-guard actions confuse the Nationalists, and it is several weeks before they realize that the main body of the Red Army has fled. The retreating force initially consists of 86,000 troops, 15,000 personnel, and 35 women. Weapons and supplies are borne on men's backs or in horse-drawn carts, and the line of marchers stretches for 50 miles (80 kilometers). The Communists generally march at night, and when the Nationalists are not near, a long column of torches can be seen snaking over valleys and hills into the distance.

 

1937   (SATURDAY)

 

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: The police violently suppress a meeting of the Sudete German Party at Teplitz. The leader of the Sudete National Socialist Party, Konrad Henlein, protests against the government's brutal attack and demands complete autonomy for the 3.5 million Germans in Czechoslovakia.

 

HUNGARY: Several fascist organizations unite to form the Hungarian National Socialist Party, under the leadership of Ferenc Szalasi. This new political party strongly supports the Hungarian regent, Admiral Nicolas Horthy, and calls for his candidacy to the throne. Admiral Horthy rejected these efforts.

 

PALESTINE: Haj Amin el Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the most influential leader in the Arab Revolt, takes refuge in a mosque when the British government cracks down on the leaders of the Arab High Commission. The mufti escapes capture and flees to Syria, where he sets up headquarters to maintain the insurgency. As a result, the more radical members gain control over the movement and expand the fighting.

October 16th, 1939

UNITED KINGDOM: Ju88s of the 1st Group of the Luftwaffe's 30th Bomber Wing under Captain Pohle, bomb ships in the Firth of Forth and slightly damage cruisers HMS Southampton and HMS Edinburgh and destroyer HMS Mohawk. 60 naval, 2 civilian casualties in Rosyth; 3 naval ships slightly damaged. Estimated 12 attacking aircraft. RAF Spitfires of 602 and 603 squadrons (the Glasgow and Edinburgh Auxiliary Air Force squadrons) shoot down two aircraft. One Ju88 falls to flak.

HMS Mohawk was providing escort for a North Sea convoy. Two bombs fell to starboard (abreast of the bridge) and to port (abreast of the torpedo tubes). The bombs exploded on the surface of the sea well before most men had time to reach their action stations. Machine gun bullets and jagged metal splinters decimated the mooring party on the focsle, slashed through the bridge,  the wheelhouse, the director and the communications system. The personnel manning the machine guns, the search light position and after control position were mowed down by the projectiles. Fifteen men were killed and thirty injured, mostly experienced executive officers. On the bridge, Commander Jolly suffered a mortal stomach wound. While denying the comfort of medical attention, and in great pain and suffering, he commanded the ship for 35 miles until she was safely in port. After being taken to hospital at South Queensferry, West Lothian, Scotland, he died several hours later. For his gallantry, the Captain was awarded the George Cross posthumously. The ship was patched up at Rosyth then made his way to the Hawthorn Leslie Yard on the Tyne River for permanent repairs and a refit.

RAF: 102 Sqn. K8943 (Whitley) Overshot Aston Down on delivery flight U/S. 

Homefront: Women across the country are taking up their knitting needles in accordance with instructions from the admiralty. basic specifications for every shape of garment from the sea-boot stocking to the Balaclava helmet have been issued and unending supplies are needed. A firm of wool experts is currently advising the admiralty on the production of detailed patterns, but in the meantime British knitters of all ages are urged to get clicking.

U.S. freighter SS Gateway City is detained by British authorities while U.S. freighter SS Black Heron, detained by the British at Weymouth, England, since 7 October, is released.

     The Admiralty requests that the five Australian destroyers being sent to Singapore, Malaysia, be sent to the Mediterranean Sea.

AMC HMS Ascania commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Havelock launched.

GERMANY:
Warships are ordered to torpedo allied merchant shipping without warning.

The German News Bureau (DNB) announced: "German radio, which hitherto has concluded its new service by playing the "March of the Germans in Poland," has made a change. After the daily news report, it will play the poet Hermann Lon's song, "We ride against England." 

Saarbrucken: The German army pushes French troops back to the Maginot Line.

U-205, U-206, U-207, U-208, U-209, U-210, U-211, U-212, U-375, U-376, U-377, U-378, U-379, U-380, U-381, U-382, U-405, U-406, U-407, U-408, U-435, U-436, U-437, U-438, U-559, U-560, U-561, U-562 ordered.

CANADA: Five British warships arrive in Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying about UK£10 million in gold (US$39.55 million in 1939 dollars or US$555.7 million in 2005 dollars) from Britain and other Allied nations, for safekeeping during the war.

     In Ottawa, Ontario, the Government orders the Canadian 1st Division to the U.K.

U.S.A.: The 15-minute soap opera "The Right to Happiness" debuts on the NBC Blue Network weekdays at 1015 hours Eastern sponsored by Procter and Gamble. This radio drama turned out to be one of the longest-running radio shows of its kind remaining on the air until November 1960. The plot involved Carolyn Allen, daughter of a magazine editor, whose search for a "God-given right to happiness" leads her through four husbands, a prison sentence, and hours of anguish at the hands of her rebellious son Skip.

MEXICO: The German tanker SS Emmy Friedrich, whose cargo includes refrigerants needed for the magazine cooling systems in armoured ship Admiral Graf Spee, then on a raiding foray into the Atlantic, departs Tampico. The USN Neutrality Patrol assets, including the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) and heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), are mobilized to locate and trail the ship if the need arises.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-19 laid a field of 9 mines; this field was responsible for the loss of three ships some days later.

 

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