This Day in the War in Europe: The Beginning

13 October 1939 Friday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German pocket battleship "Deutschland" sank Norwegian freighter "Lorentz W. Hansen" 420 miles east of Newfoundland.

Admiral Donitz attempts his first 'wolf pack' deployment of U-boat tactics. Groups of submarines engage in sustained attacks on a convoy, but without success.

U-47 enters Scapa Flow. From the Log of Gunther Prien, commander of U-47:

"It is a very eerie sight. On land everything is dark, high in the sky are the flickering Northern Lights, so that the bay, surrounded by English mountains, is directly lit up from above. The blockships lie in the sound, ghostly as the wings of a theatre. I am now repaid for having learnt the chart beforehand, for the penetration proceeds with unbelievable speed. In the meantime I had decided to pass the blockships on the Northern side. On a course of 270 I pass the two-masted schooner, which is lying on a bearing of 315 in front of the real boom, with 15 meters to spare. In the next minute the boat is turned by the current to starboard. At the same time I recognize the cable of the northern blockship at an angle of 45 degrees ahead. Port engine stopped, starboard engine slow ahead, and rudder hard to port, the boat slowly touches bottom. The stern still touches the cable, the boat becomes free, it is pulled round to port, and brought on to course again with difficult rapid maneuvering, but; we are in Scapa Flow."

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NORTH AMERICA: In a radio broadcast, Colonel Charles Lindbergh questions the right of Canada;

"…to draw this hemisphere into a European war because they prefer the Crown of England to American independence."

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He appears to meet charges that he is pro-German by calling for both Nazi and Communist influence in America to be "stamped out." He also says that British and French colonies in the Caribbean should be handed over to the US to pay war debts.

GERMANY: General Wilhelm List was named the commanding officer of the German 12.Armee.

With the offer for peace rejected by the French on 7 Oct and by the British on 12 Oct, Germany announced that the western powers desired war, and Germany could not be blamed for military action on the German-French border.

NORTHERN EUROPE: Soviet and Finnish representatives continue to meet to discuss border revisions.

The King of Sweden invites the sovereigns of Denmark and Norway and the president of Finland to a conference.

UNITED KINGDOM: In Bletchley, three people die when two express trains collide in the blackout.

WESTERN FRONT: Skirmishes are reported east of the Moselle River. French forces demolish three bridges over the Rhine River.

POLAND: Following the division of Poland, 2 million Jews reside in German-controlled areas and 1.3 million in Soviet areas. Western Poland (roughly West of Danzig) is incorporated into Germany and over 1 million Poles are expelled; many are taken to Germany as forced labor but most are sent East into the German-controlled centre of Poland which will become the General Government (a German puppet state). Jews are forced to live in ghettos or deported to concentration camps. In their place, German nationals and Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Volkdeutsche (Balts of German descendent) are settled in Western Poland. They are given homes and businesses by the German administration.

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14 October
Allied New Ships
AMC MANOORA (See Australoia Station)

UBOATS

arrivals

Wilhelmshaven: U-24

departures

Kiel: U-19:

At Sea 14 October

U-10, U-18, U-19, U-20, U-23, U-37, U-46, U-47, U-48.

9 boats at sea.

Baltic

RN SS STURGEON (Lt. G.D.A. Gregory, RN) fired three torpedoes at U-23 in the Skagerrak some 20 nautical miles west-north-west of Skagen, Denmark . All three missed their target
The-Blueprints.com - Blueprints > Ships > Submarines (UK) > HMS Sturgeon (Submarine)


Swedish waters
German steamer MARION TRUBER (2334grt) was lost by grounding near Oxelosund.
(No image)

North Sea .

ORP SS ORZEL, which escaped internment at Tallinn on 18 September, was met in the North Sea 30 miles east of May Island by DD VALOROUS and escorted into Rosyth.

British east coast

FS.21 cleared Methil, escort DDs VIVIEN, WHITLEY, WITCH and sloop STORK, and arrived at Southend on the 16th.

Dutch waters

British Northern Waters

U.47 in one of the most daring and courageous Uboat operations of the war, penetrated the defences at Scapa and sank the BB ROYAL OAK (Flagship Rear Admiral H E C Blagrove, Captain W G Benn) at 0058 whilst at anchor. Prien also attempted to hit what he identified as BC REPULSE. Prien escaped unharmed. Rear Admiral Blagrove, Lt Cdr S D Roper, Lt J E Moore, Captain H E Balls RM, and over 800 sailors were lost.

ASW operations were conducted in the harbour by DDs SOMALI, MASHONA, ASHANTI until the 22nd, but without result as U.47 had escaped the area shortly after sinking ROYAL OAK. The first attack made was by DD ASHANTI at 1030/13th, long after the submarine had departed. Fortunately, most of the Fleet was at Loch Ewe. However, old seaplane tender PEGASUS was in the berth next to ROYAL OAK and, although identified by U.47 as BC REPULSE, was not damage.

Unjustifiably some beleived that treachery had been involved and blamed several of the locals, including a local jeweller. The accusations were completely unjustified and without foundation. The truth was that the RN had allowed the defences and blockships at Scapa to fall into some disrepair, a spin off from years of penny pinching and cost savings.

German submarine U-47 (1938) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

U47 returns to a heroes welcome. BC Scharnhorst in the background
HMS Royal Oak British battleship sunk by U47 1939 Scapa Flow Orney


These shots of the wreck of the ROYAL OAK were taken around the time of the 60th anniversary of her sinking and have just been released prior to the 70th anniversary in 2009

CLs AURORA and BELFAST next morning and most of the fleet auxiliaries in the Orkneys left for Loch Ewe, arriving on the 14th. CLA CURLEW was able to proceed there on the 16th.

Remaining at Scapa were: base ship IRON DUKE, accommodation ship VOLTAIRE, DDs SOMALI, MASHONA, ESKIMO, ASHANTI which were standing by for convoy duty, DD TARTAR with serious defects and MSWrs HAZARD, HEBE, SEAGULL, SHARPSHOOTER, SPEEDY.

CL CALEDON arrived at Kirkwall on the 18th, and COLOMBO at Sullom Voe on the 18th.

UK-France convoys .

Fr DDs BRESTOIS and BOULONNAIS dep Brest for Cherbourg, where BRESTOIS began refitting. The third destroyer of the DesDiv 5, FOUDROYANT, was on escort duty in the Atlantic and joined the other two on 2 November.

Southwestern Approaches

U.48 sank steamer SNEATON (3678grt) 150 miles SW of Fastnet, with the loss of one crewman. The survivors were picked up by Belgian tanker ALEXANDRE ANDRE (5261grt). The ship was stopped by U-48 with gunfire and was sunk by a torpedo 20 minutes later after the crew abandoned ship.
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart


Elements of KJF.3, en route to France and escorted by Fr SS SURCOUF, were attacked by U.37, U.45, U.46, U.48, south of Ireland early on the 14th, after SURCOUF lost touch in a storm (in any event it is doubtful that SURCOUF could have done much in what was to follow). U.45, on her second war patrol, sank two ships from the group. French liner BRETAGNE (10,108grt) went down 130 miles SW of Fastnet , and her survivors were picked up by DDs IMOGEN and ILEX, arriving Plymouth on the 15th.
liner Bretagne
(I found this image after a lot of searching......)



British steamer LOCHAVON (9205grt) was torpedoed 230 miles SW of Fastnet early on the 14th, sinking at 1800/16th, 150 miles SW of Fastnet. She lost seven crew with her survivors rescued by destroyer ISIS, which had left Plymouth on the 8th for escort duty with sister ship IMPERIAL.
LOCHAVON CARGO SHIP 1938-1939


MV KARAMEA (8457grt) was also attacked by U.45, 100 miles SW of Fastnet, but escaped unharmed. U.45 was then sunk south of Ireland by DDs INGLEFIELD, IVANHOE, INTREPID and ICARUS, which cleared Plymouth on the 13th for ASW patrol in support of KJF.3. All 38 crew of U.45 were lost.
German submarine U-45 (1938) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Med/Biscay

CL DAUNTLESS cleared Malta and reached Port Said on the 16th.

DDs GRAFTON and GALLANT reached Gib to escort BB RAMILLIES, and DD DUCHESS to escort Green 5.

Gibraltar

DDs COSSACK, MAORI, ZULU cleared Gib on the 11th, arrived at Portland. Sister ship NUBIAN, left with the other three, and reached Portsmouth on the 14th. Because of turbine defects, she was towed to Southampton on the 20th and was under repair until 23 November, but did not leave Portsmouth until the 30th for duty with the Home Flt. The final unit of the DesFlot 4, DD SIKH, remained in the Med with turbine defects until 20 December and did not arrive at Dover until the 23rd.

Central and South Atlantic –

RN CVL HERMES and Fr BC STRASBOURG arrived at Dakar having departed Plymouth and Brest, respectively, on the 7th

North Atlantic

DDs HAVOCK and HOTSPUR arrived off Montevideo for refuelling and left again that evening

CAs SUSSEX and SHROPSHIRE of British Force H, dep Simonstown and swept the southern half of the Capetown to Freetown route. On the 22nd, they returned to refuel - SUSSEX at Simonstown and SHROPSHIRE at Capetown.

North Atlantic

DKM CS DEUTSCHLAND sank Norwegian steamer LORENTZ W HANSEN (1918grt) east of Newfoundland , with the loss of three crew. The survivors were put aboard Norwegian tanker KONGSDAL (9959grt) stopped later the same day.
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?135710


Australia Station
The Australian coastal passenger liner MANOORA was requisitioned by the RAN, and converted to an AMC. In 1943 she was converted to a landing ship infantry.
HMAS Manoora (I) | Royal Australian Navy


HMA CL HOBART cleared Sydney late on the 13th, with HMA DDs STUART, VENDETTA and WATERHEN leaving at 0900/14th (local time) and all four proceeded in company. HOBART reached Darwin on the 21st, left the same day and proceeding via Lombok Strait, arrived at Singapore on the 26th. Meanwhile, the three destroyers reached Brisbane on the 15th to refuel and shelter from heavy weather, dep on the 16th, refuelled at Townsville on the 18th, arrived Darwin on the 22nd, dep on the 23rd and reached Singapore on the 29th.
http://www.charveyart.com/www/content/default.aspx?cid=786

HMA DDs VOYAGER and VAMPIRE also left on the 14th, from Fremantle, and proceeded to Singapore via the Sunda Strait, arriving on the 21st. All six ships were initially assigned to convoy duty from Singapore. On 13 November, the destroyers left Singapore for Colombo.

Other
New York Times reports that the US rejects Nazi peace feelers. hitler after this date all but abandons any hope of making peace with the British in particular

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2362046/posts
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14 October 1939 Saturday
ASIA: Chuichi Nagumo was placed on a committee studying capital ship bridge design.

NORTH AMERICA: Senator Key Pittman of Nevada, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, and the New York Herald Tribune, as well as many Canadians, protest the comments made by Charles Lindbergh in a radio broadcast last night.

GERMANY: Lieutenant General Kurt Student of the 7.Bordabteilung (Airborne Division), is given the mission of preparing a plan of attack for the Fort Eben Emael in Belgium.

NORTHERN EUROPE: The first group ethnic German Latvian citizens leave for the Third Reich by sea.

In Moscow Soviet and Finnish representatives conclude the talks to discuss border revisions. There is little change in the terms offered by either side. Finnish counterproposals for a land exchange on their mutual border are refused by the Soviet negotiators. Stalin instead threatens a return to Russian Tsarist borders, eliminating Finland, saying presciently of Germany; "

we now have good relations, but everything in this world can change"

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. The Finns beg for more time and take the train home.

UNITED KINGDOM: Germany brings the war to the British Isles. At 0130, the British battleship, HMS "Royal Oak" (29,150 tons), is sunk at anchor in the Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands, by U-47 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Prien. Three of 7 torpedoes hit and in 13 minutes the ship capsized. There is a loud explosion, roar, and rumbling. Then come columns of water, followed by columns of fire, and splinters fly through the air. British losses are about 800 dead (786-810) and 414 survivors of a crew of 1200. German aerial reconnaissance photographs had revealed a 50-foot gap in the defenses at the entrance to Kirk Sound -- wide enough for a U-boat. This is a major blow to British prestige as well as an indication of a very serious real weakness in the defenses. Meanwhile, the Polish submarine "Orzel" reaches British waters after a daring escape from the Baltic Sea. From the Admiralty:

'We consider that Captain W.G. Benn and his officers did all that was possible to save their Ship. Captain Benn remained in the ship until the last possible moment, until in fact the ship left him, and his behaviour was in the best traditions of the service.'

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WESTERN FRONT: General Gamelin, French Commander-in-Chief, issues an Order of the Day predicting a massive German offensive "at any moment."

The escaped Polish Intelligence team resumes code-breaking operations with their highly secret replicas of the German "Enigma" machine.



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By 15 October


By mid October, the British and French Admiralties had organized the following Hunter Groups which were formed on the 5th in response to sinkings by German raider activity:

Force F - CAs BERWICK and YORK stationed in the West Indies and North America. YORK was detached from the America and West Indies Station, but did not serve in Force F. She was maintained for Halifax convoy cover)

CA York in 1941 and Berwick in 1945

Force G - CAs CUMBERLAND and EXETER stationed off South America with RNZN CL ACHILLES detailed on the 5th to join them.




Force H - CAs SUSSEX and SHROPSHIRE near the Cape of Good Hope.

Sussex as she appeared in 1942 and Shropshire early in the war

Force I - CVL EAGLE, CAs CORNWALL and DORSETSHIRE off Ceylon.



Force J - CV GLORIOUS and BB MALAYA off Aden in the approaches to the Red Sea.


Force K - CV ARK ROYAL and BC RENOWN near Pernambuco.

Force L - Fr BC DUNKERQUE, CV BÉARN, CLs GLOIRE, MONTCALM, GEORGES LEYGUES at Brest.

Force M - French heavy cruisers DUPLEIX and FOCH at Dakar.

Force N - Fr BC STRASBOURG, CVL HERMES, Fr CA ALGÉRIE and RN CL NEPTUNE to be based at Jamaica, but reassigned to Dakar.


STRASBOURG, DUPLEIX and ALGÉRIE travelled in company to Dakar.

Force N was never formed. FOCH did not arrive at Dakar until mid-November, then as Force X with DUPLEIX.

Enormous firepower and strength was being poured into the hunt for the two DKM ships. It was only a matter of time......

15 October 1939 Sunday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Since Sept 26, "Graf Spee" has sailed 2000 miles east from the coast of Brazil to the African side of the Atlantic, sinking 3 British merchant ships and taking several prisoners. She now sails west back into the middle of the Atlantic to rendezvous with her waiting support ship "Altmark" and refuel. "Almark", disguised as a Norwegian merchant ship "Sogne", is readied for the transfer of prisoners. "Graf Spee's" captain, Hans Langsdorff, is prevented from hunting convoys by orders to avoid confrontation with the Royal Navy (a lesson learned from WWI when German vessels were thrown into battle with superior British forces). He aims to sow confusion and tie up as many Royal Navy ships as possible by acting in widely dispersed locations, in addition to disrupting Britain's supply lines. "Graf Spee" will sail into the Indian Ocean and back to South America in the next few weeks.

GERMANY: Walter Krupinski began flight training.

NORTHERN EUROPE: Sweden, Denmark, and Norway issue a joint declaration that a Russian attack on Finland would be considered an attack on the whole north.

A German-Estonian treaty is signed providing for the transfer to the Third Reich of Estonians of German ethnic origins.

WESTERN FRONT: German forces are reported massing behind the lines. Reconnaissance forces are active on the whole front.

The Polish minister protests to the Lithuanian government against the incorporation of Vilna, on the grounds that the Soviet Union has no right to dispose of this territory.



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15 October
In a memorandum, Raeder stated that at present the war on merchant ships was waged according to the following rules:
(a) Unarmed enemy merchant ships sailing independently: stop, search, bring in; if this is impossible, sink.
(b) Neutral merchant ships sailing independently with contraband for enemy powers: stop, search, bring in; if this is impossible, sink.
(c) Enemy merchant ships in convoy, likewise neutral merchant ships in enemy convoy: sink without warning.
(d) Troop transports: sink without warning.
(e) All merchant ships which offer resistance to capture, or threaten German ships: sink without warning.

12 (a). U-Boats were now entitled to sink without warning:
(i) All identified armed enemy merchant ships.
(ii) All darkened enemy and neutral craft in enemy coastal waters, which were acting suspiciously.
(iii) All ships which were making use of their W/T when the U-Boat surfaced, or when captured.
The following were also top be stopped and searched:
(iv) All unarmed enemy merchant ships sailing independently.
(v) All neutral merchant ships sailing independently, or in neutral convoy.

12 (b). For the present, the following were excepted from a capture and sinking:
(i) The merchant ships of friendly neutral states; Italy, Spain, Japan and Russia.
(ii) Passenger steamers, and steamers which might carry a considerable number of passengers, even when sailing in enemy convoy.
(iii) Neutral ships sailing independently without contraband. On account of the British Admiralty's instructions to merchant ships to ram all U-Boats, U-Boats should sink without warning all enemy merchant ships, wherever encountered. The British Admiralty had also announced their intention to arm all merchant ships.
Source: U-boat Archive - Admiralty CB 4051 - History of U-boat Policy

UBOATS

arrivals

Kiel: U-10.

departures

None:

At Sea 15 October

U-18, U-19, U-20, U-23, U-37, U-46, U-47, U-48.

8 boats at sea.

North Sea .

CLs EDINBURGH, SHEFFIELD escort destroyer WHITLEY from the 15th to 23rd, then transferred to Loch Ewe

British east coast

DD BROKE and sloop FLEETWOOD ASW patrols off Blyth and on the 16th, attacked a contact. DDrs COSSACK and MAORI attacked a submarine contact 6 miles 83° from Coquet Island. DD MOHAWK attacked a submarine contact 4 miles NNW from Flamborough Head. Sloop STORK ASW attack on suspected submarine contact 6.5 miles NNE from Scarborough Rock

Norwegian Coast
HN.0 of five Polish, one French and one Greek steamer had departed Bergen on the 14th, and was met in the North Sea on the 15th by CL SOUTHAMPTON, which left Rosyth on the 13th, and DDs JERVIS, JERSEY, JACKAL, JANUS. Early on the 16th, SOUTHAMPTON, JERSEY, JACKAL and JANUS detached and destroyer MOHAWK joined. JERVIS and MOHAWK then escorted the convoy into Methil arriving on the 16th with SOUTHAMPTON reaching Rosyth the same day.

Northern Patrol - .

Five cruisers were on Northern Patrol between the Orkneys and the Faroes, four AMCs between the Faroes and Iceland, and four AMCs in the Denmark Strait. The AMCs were ASTURIAS, AURANIA, CALIFORNIA, CHITRAL, RAWALPINDI, SALOPIAN, SCOTSTOUN and TRANSYLVANIA. Following this patrol, ASTURIAS proceeded to Halifax for escort duty and SALOPIAN to Plymouth en route for the South Atlantic.

British Northern Waters

MV WANJA( Nor): The cargo ship ran aground off North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom and was wrecked
COASTERS OTHER SHIPS REVIVED » Search Results » wanja


Admiral Forbes departed Loch Ewe with BBs NELSON, RODNEY, BC HOOD, CVL FURIOUS, CLs BELFAST, AURORA and DDs BEDOUIN, FEARLESS, FOXHOUND and FURY.

CL SOUTHAMPTON and DD MATABELE escorted steamer ST CLAIR (1637grt) from Lerwick to Aberdeen until the 14th, MATABELE left on the 14th and called at Scapa. DDs MASHONA, PUNJABI, FIREDRAKE left Loch Ewe, also on the 14th, arrived at Scapa later the same day, and then with MATABELE, sailed from Scapa on the 15th to join Forbes at sea.

DD FORESTER cleared Scapa on the 16th and also joined Forbes, FAME was boiler cleaning until the 22nd, and TARTAR repairing defects until the 23rd, both at Scapa .

The sortie took the Fleet north of Iceland, 150 miles into the Arctic Circle, to block a reported sortie into the Atlantic DKM CS DEUTSCHLAND and to support the Northern Patrol. The Admiralty was still unaware that two raiders were loose. The DDs refuelled from the capital ships on the 17th.

BC REPULSE with DDs JERVIS, JERSEY, COSSACK and MAORI cleared Rosyth on the 18th, with COSSACK and MAORI arriving back on the 19th and REPULSE, JERVIS and JERSEY joining Forbes at sea on the 20th. The two DDs were detached for refuelling at Sullom Voe on the 21st and afterwards carried out an ASW patrol off Muckle Flugga. They then left the patrol area to search off the Norwegian coast for American steamer CITY OF FLINT (which had been seized by DKM CS DEUTSCHLAND). .

DDs JERVIS and JERSEY arrived at Rosyth on the 25th without making contact.

UK-France convoys .

AXS.1 of one steamer departed Fowey, escort DD WAKEFUL and arrived at Brest on the 17th

English Channel

OA.20G dep Southend escort DDs KELLY and KINGSTON from the 15th to 17th, and by DDs AMAZON and ANTELOPE from the 17th to 18th. Convoy OB.20G also left Liverpool escort DDs WHIRLWIND and WALPOLE, the two convoys merging on the 17th as OG.3.

Southwestern Approaches

PC KINGFISHER and PC.74 on ASW patrol off Liverpool, and were relieved on the 16th by escort vessel/MSW GLEANER

Med/Biscay

Gibraltar

BB RAMILLIES dep Gib escort DDs GRAFTON and GALLANT for duty with the 1st Battle Squadron at Alex

Central and South Atlantic –

SL.5 dep Freetown escort DDs HASTY and HOSTILE, and joined by Fr CL PRIMAGUET, DDs MAILLÉ BRÉZÉ and VAUQUELIN, which cleared Dakar on the 19th and arrived at Casablanca on the 25th. DDs TIGRE, TARTU and CHEVALIER PAUL dep Toulon, also on the 19th, and reached Casablanca on the 22nd ready to relieve the French DDs already with SL.5. They left on the 25th and joined that day. RN DD GRENADE sailed from Gib on the 24th, also to join the convoy. PRIMAGUET, escorted by CHEVALIER PAUL detached and reached Lorient on the 28th, while TIGRE and TARTU after being relieved by British DDs, reached Brest on the 30th. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 3 November.

16 October 1939 Monday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: "Duguay-Trouin" intercepted German merchant ship "Halle" 320 kilometers southwest of Dakar, French West Africa; "Halle" was scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture.

UNITED KINGDOM: For the first time since the beginning of the war a German bomber unit flies over the United Kingdom. Nine Ju88A-1 bombers of I./KG 30 led by Hauptmann Helmuth Pohle are sent to bomb the British battle cruiser HMS "Hood" in the harbour at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth. When the German bombers arrived, HMS "Hood" was already in the dockyard and as Hitler had stated "no civilians were to be attacked." they instead dive bombed HMS "Edinburgh" and HMS "Southampton" lying at anchor to the east of the Forth Railway Bridge. Spitfires from RAF No.603 Squadron Turnhouse (now Edinburgh airport) and RAF No.602 Squadron from Drem attacked the raiders, forcing the German pilots to go down to roof top level to make it more difficult for the faster Spitfires to shoot them down. RAF No.602 Squadron pilot Flight Lieutenant George Pinkerton gained the second kill of the Second World War. During the low level chase, construction worker John Ferry was shot in the leg as he worked at an anti aircraft gun site at West Pilton. He became one of the earliest civilian casualties of the war. F/L Gifford was leading a section of three planes from RAF No.603. On patrol near Dalkeith, they found themselves confronted with a fleeing German bomber heading towards them, which had been caught by another 603 section. F/LGifford fired the last shots into it before it flopped into the sea, not far from Prestonpans. British Royal Navy Commander R. F. Jolly, despite being seriously wounded in the air attack steadfastly refused medical treatment or requests that he left the bridge of HMS "Mohawk" until some eighty minutes later when he had finally brought his damaged destroyer into the safety at Rosyth. Taken ashore he lived on for another five hours before his death in hospital at South Queensferry, Scotland. For his heroism Commander Jolly was awarded, a week later, with a posthumous Empire Gallantry Medal (later replaced by a George Cross, a decoration only second in precedence to the Victoria Cross).

GERMANY: German warships receive modified instructions for attacking:

"All merchant ships definitely recognized as enemy ones (British and French) can be torpedoed without warning. Passenger steamers in convoy can be torpedoed a short while after notice has been given of the intention to do so."

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The German High Command announces the official end to the Polish Campaign. Some Polish regulars continue to resist in remote areas. The Polish embassy claims that Polish troops continue to hold out against German and Soviet invaders in Suwalki, in the Carpathian Mountains, and in the Pripet Marshes at Bialowieza.

A factory defense squadron is established at the Fiesler aircraft factory at Kassel equipped with Bf 109Es.

Kommodore Oblt. Ulrich Kessler's Stab./KG 1 along with Gruppenkommandeur Oblt. Dipl. Ing. Robert Knauss' I./KG 1 and Gruppenkommandeur Major Benno Koch's II./KG 1 transfer their He 111s medium bombers from Kolberg to areas nearer the Front. The Stab goes to Fassberg as does the II./KG 1 while the I Gruppe moves to Lüneburg .

NORTH AMERICA: Five warships from England arrive in Halifax, Canada, carrying about 10 million Pounds Sterling in gold from Britain and other Allied nations, for safekeeping during the war.

The carrier USS "Ranger" and cruiser USS "San Francisco" were dispatched by US Navy to locate the German tanker recently departed from Mexico to supply German pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee".

WESTERN FRONT: German troops cross the extreme western end of the German frontier to France, losing twenty tanks in the battle. Initially, German forces strike along a 4-mile frontage immediately east of the Moselle River. French gunfire is credited with ending this advance. Later in the day, German forces attack on a 20-mile frontage east of the Saar River. The French "covering forces" retire, according to plan. Within 48 hours, the Germans push the French back from the gains of the Saar offensive in September. There are few casualties on either side though the Allies claim German forces suffer 5000 casualties in the operations.

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16 October
OKM Orders and notes, based on post war interrogations

13. Attacks on Merchant and Passenger Shipping
At a meeting between Raeder and Hitler, the Fuehrer approved:
(a) The torpedoing without warning of all merchant ships identified with certainty as enemy vessels (British or French).
(b) Passenger steamers in convoy could be torpedoed shortly after being warned. Raeder remarked that passenger steamers were already being torpedoed, if they were darkened.
(c) The Italian, Russian, Spanish and Japanese Governments should be requested to declare that they would carry no contraband, otherwise they would be treated as other neutral nations. (This was being done).

13 (a). Russians Offer a Base
Raeder announced that the Russians had placed a base west of Murmansk, in which a repair ship would be stationed, at the disposal of Germany.
Group Headquarters West war log ( diary by Donitz as the battle unfolded)
"The general impression in the Atlantic is as follows:
Position "GELB" was a very happy choice. Now that a few more reports of sinkings have been received, the total tonnage sunk in the last 3 days has risen to nearly 56,000. The enemy then immediately changed merchant shipping route and sent anti-S/M forces to this area. There is therefore no purpose in remaining long in this position. The boats will be ordered to proceed on to area "SCHWARZ". During the last few days the British news service has several times stated that several German U-boats had been sunk, including 2 of the largest and newest type. In spite of the many sinkings in area "GLEB"(sic), only U 37 and U 48 had reported. U 42, 45 and 46 were therefore ordered to give their position and situation report. There were no misgivings about this order, as the boats are leaving their areas and their presence has in any case become known through their activities. U 46 reported, but U 42 and U 45 did not. It can therefore only be taken for certain that U 37, U 46 and U 48 are proceeding on".

UBOATS

Kiel: U-23

departures

None

At Sea 16 October

U-18, U-19, U-20, U-37, U-46, U-47, U-48.

7 boats at sea

North Sea .
Norway
German steamer TIJUCA (5918grt) arrived off Kopervik, Norway, encountered Nor SS B.3 but continued on, reaching Hamburg on the 25th.

British east coast

ASW Activity on the East Coast

DD AFRIDI attacked a submarine contact in the Firth of Forth off Inchkeith Light, and was later joined by DDs WOOLSTON, VALOROUS and sloop HASTINGS. Destroyers INTREPID and ICARUS attacked a submarine contact in 49‑42N, 9‑59E. DD MOHAWK and sloop STORK attacked a submarine contact ESE of Scarborough. DD COSSACK attacked a submarine contact north of Blyth. DD BEAGLE attacked a submarine contact in 51‑20N, 01‑40E. Separately DD BROKE and sloop FLEETWOOD attacked a submarine contact off Blyth.

First major air raid of the Britlsh Isles

In the first significant LW attack inshore of the British Isles, LW a/c attacked anchored ships in the Firth of Forth. CL SOUTHAMPTON was hit by a 1000 pounder that fortunately failed to explode and passed through the bottom of the ship. The bomb penetrated three decks and came out of the bottom without exploding, but injuring three crew, one rating dying of wounds. CL EDINBURGH was slightly damaged by splinters from the near miss of three 500 pound bombs with eight crew wounded and Gunner G J Mitchell and one rating dying of wounds. SOUTHAMPTON's damage required only three days to repair while EDINBURGH remained in service. DD MOHAWK, suffered heavy damage however. The ship was just arriving in the Firth from convoy duty, and was bombed one and a half miles from May Island with substantial damage sustained to her topsides. CO Cdr R F Jolly was killed (and awarded the Albert Medal), the ship's first officer Lt E J O'Shea and ten ratings killed and 33 crew, including her navigator, Lt A L Harper, wounded. MOHAWK berthed at Rosyth for temporary repairs and then repaired at Newcastle from 22 October to 9 December (as an interesting aside, when MOWHAWK was sunk in May 1941, in the Med, she settled on a shallow sandbank, Supermarina sent out divers and recovered valuable papers and information from the wreck that allowed them to make their attack into Alex late in 1941). BC REPULSE was still at Rosyth on the 16th boiler cleaning, and this prevented the LW a/c from attacking her because there were still standing orders in place not to carry out attacks that endangered civilian lives.

9 Ju88s took part in the raid, which was undertaken at the extreme range limits. This first raid took British air-defence completely by surprise. No alarm was sounded, until well after the attack was under way and the performance of the early-warning system gave serious cause for concern.

The raid was so close to the shore that AA gunners on the Forth could engage the intruders. Some time later, Spitfires of 603 Squadron 'City of Edinburgh' were scrambled from Turnhouse Aerodrome, as was 602 'City of Glasgow' Squadron based at Drem in East Lothian. They shot down two bombers over the the water and a further bomber was claimed off the May Island. The crew of a local fishing boat picked up two German survivors. These were the first enemy aircraft of the war to be brought down over Britain.

Northern Patrol - .

4 CLs were on Northern Patrol between the Orkneys and the Faroes, 4 AMCs between the Faroes and Iceland, and 3 AMCs in the Denmark Strait..The northern patrol was shifting its search emphasis from detecting ships breaking out, to ships trying to return to Germany. For the moment its success was limited.

British Northern Waters

U.23 laid mines off Cromarty

UK-France convoys .

BC.11 of steamers ADJUTANT, BALTARA, BARON CARNEGIE, BARON KINNAIRD, BLACKHEATH, BOTHNIA, COXWOLD, HARMATTAN, JADE, KINGSBOROUGH, LOCHEE, LOTTIE R, MARSLEW, NIGERIAN (Commodore) and SODALITY dep Bristol Channel, escort DDs EXMOUTH, ESK, WESSEX, and arrived safely in the Loire on the 18th.

English Channel

Convoy SA.13 of two steamers departed Southampton, escort DDs ACHATES and VENOMOUS, and arrived on the 17th.
Convoy FN.22 dep Southend and arrived at Methil on the 18th.
.
UK-outbound convoys

OG.3, totalling 33 MVs, was formed from OA.20G which departed Southend on the 15th escort DD KELLY and KINGSTON, relieved by DD AMAZON and ANTELOPE, and OB.20G which clearedLiverpool on the 16th escort DDs WHIRLWIND and WALPOLE. AMAZON was damaged in a collision on the 18th and the other DDs remained with the convoy until the 19th. Fr DDs FOUGUEUX and L'ADROIT, which dep Brest on the 17th, joined the convoy on the 19th which arrived at Gib on the 23rd.

Southwestern Approaches

MSW/escort ship GLEANER attacked a submarine contact 17 miles 184° from Great Ormes Head

FR MV VERMONT (5186 GRT), Carrying Ballastm enroute le havre to New Orleans. U-37 stopped the unescorted VERMONT by two shots across her bow. The crew abandoned ship so hastily that one of the lifeboats capsized and several men fell into the water. A boarding party went on the ship and placed explosive charges but when they failed to detonate a G7a torpedo had to be fired into the ship and some rounds from the deck gun were also used to accelerate the sinking. Two men died in the water.
MV IONIC STAR (UK) (5994 GRT): The cargo ship ran aground in Liverpool Bay off Southport, Lancashire. Her cargo was salvaged but the ship was a total loss. Wreck is still visible
Image from the state Library of NSW, AND IONIC STAR CARGO SHIP 1917-1939

MV VERMONT MV IONIC STAR

Med/Biscay

Fr DDs CYCLONE and MISTRAL on escort for KJ.2, attacked a U-boat in the Bay of Biscay

CL DAUNTLESS cleared Suez for Colombo.

Green 5 dep Gib escort DD DUCHESS and sloop FOWEY until the 17th, when convoying in the Med was abandoned and the escorts withdrawn. DUCHESS arrived at Malta on the 20th.

Fr DD MILAN and ÉPERVIER cleared Marseilles with three troopships for Beirut.

Central and South Atlantic –
Ger MV Halle (5888grt) The blockade runner cargo ship was intercepted in the Atlantic Ocean south west of Dakar, Senegal by FR CL DUGUAY TROUIN and was scuttled by her crew
HALLE CARGO SHIP 1921-1939


North Atlantic

DDs INGLEFIELD and IVANHOE attacked a submarine contact in the Western Approaches.

Indian Ocean

German steamer UHENFELS (7603grt) slipped from Lourenco Marques (Mozambique) on the 13th, but was acquired and shadowed by sloop EGRET. However the sloop was short of fuel, and only marginally faster than the Grman ship and was forced to abandon the chase down. CLs LIVERPOOL and DURBAN, also in the area were unable to find her the blockade runner, but because of the naval activity, UHENFELS returned to Lourenco Marques.

Lindbergh's comments about the US taking control of UK and French colonies needs some context. I don't much like Lindbergh but he was reflecting a popular attitude of the time.

Enough of this debate had seeped into the general public domain by the following year that in July ('40) Gallup conducted a poll on the question of the US seizing European possessions near the Panama canal.

The poll was conducted against the background of the US sponsored Havana Conference at which the twenty one American republics debated the fate of these territories. The results of the Gallup poll were unusually clear cut. A huge majority, 87%, was in favour of seizing these territories should Britain be defeated. 84% were prepared to fight to keep the Germans out of these territories. 81% thought that the USA and the American republics should buy these territories from the British, should Britain need more money to prosecute the war.

Cheers

Steve

dont know about any of that steve, but I was kinda hoping you would make submissions either for the BOF or the BOB from the allied perspective........

17 October
Known Reinforcements
Allied New Ships
AMC Arawa SS TRIBUNE (TClass - early group)

OKM (German Admiralty) notes and orders
"Operations Division, Naval Staff, ordered U-Boats in the North Sea and Baltic to cease attacks on merchant shipping, as generally the danger incurred while observing the "Prize Law" was considerable. Operations against convoys, troop transports, etc., however, were to continue, if these ships endangered the U-Boats. Armed merchant ships could be attacked without warning.

On 17.10.39, an order was issued to U-Boats to attack all enemy merchant ships by whatever means. This order was justified by the danger of ramming, or other active resistance by enemy ships. Enemy ships were not first to be boarded, but to be sunk by torpedo. Action by gunfire was to be avoided". This effectively removed all restriction in UBoat Attacks

Group West Daily diary (referred to as BdU KTB...Donitz's observations at the time)

Radio signal from U 46 reporting the sighting of a large cruiser, course north, 14 knots. It could not be gathered whether the boat was shadowing or trying to regain contact. U 34 sailed for her operations area.
0851: U 46 reported a convoy of 20 ships escorted by 12 destroyers, on a main course northeast. Boat was shadowing, lost contact for a while, regained it and shadowed until afternoon. Then English coastal radio stations received reports of the torpedoing of 2 ships. At 2000 U 37 reported: convoy scattered, one ship sunk. She must therefore have reached the convoy. After the convoy had scattered, contact was lost. In order to regain it, U 37 ordered a reconnaissance line to be formed the following morning which is intended to pick up the convoy from the northeast.

UBOATS

arrivals

Kiel: U-20

Wilhelmshaven: U-47 (returned to a heroes welcome after sinking the Royal Oak)

departures

Wilhelmshaven: U-34

At Sea 17 Otober

U-18, U-19, U-34, U-37, U-46, U-48.
6 boats at sea

Baltic

DKM DD PAUL JACOBI, THEODOR RIEDEL, HERMANN SCHOEMANN and TB LEOPARD, ILTIS, WOLF conducted an anti-shipping patrol in the Skagerrak from the 17th to 19th.

TB WOlf Class and DD 1934A Class Paul Jacobi Z5

North Sea .

DD BEAGLE attacked a submarine contact on the Eastern coast.

DKM DDs HERMANN KÜNNE, FRIEDRICH ECKHOLDT, DIETHER VON ROEDER, KARL GALSTER and HANS LÜDEMAN, escort by DD WILHELM HEIDKAMP sailed from Wilhelmshaven to lay mines in the North Sea off the Humber on the night of the 17th/18th. Seven merchant ships grossing 25,852 tons were sunk in the field. It was the beginning of a daring and successful change in the minelaying activities of the KM.

DD Frederic Eckoldt Z16
This was the first minelaying operation by German Commodore Bonte's destroyers between the Thames and the Tyne. By February 1940, 1800 mines had been laid, and destroyer JERSEY torpedoed and badly damaged during one of the minelaying operations. All the German destroyers, except LEBERECHT MAAS, GEORG THIELE, PAUL JACOBI, THEODOR RIEDEL and HERMANN SCHOEMANN were employed in at least one operation.

U.19 laid mines off Inner Dowsing near Yarmouth during the night of the 16th/17th, on which three merchant ships were sunk.

Northern Patrol - .

4 CLs were on Northern Patrol between the Orkneys and the Faroes, 4 AMCs between the Faroes and Iceland, and 3 AMCs in the Denmark Strait. The armed merchant cruisers were ASTURIAS, AURANIA, CALIFORNIA, CHITRAL, RAWALPINDI, SCOTSTOUN, and TRANSYLVANIA.

CL SHEFFIELD dep Loch Ewe for Northern Patrol in the Denmark Strait, arriving back on the 22nd after capturing German steamer GLORIA.

British Northern Waters

Destroyer JUNO fired on German aircraft shadowing her SW of Farne Island. British aircraft came to her assistance and shot down a Dornier flying boat.

Interesting contrast to Chris's account, the RN account of the LW attack on Scapa is slightly different. 3 LW a/c bombed Scapa , one of which was shot down by DD ESKIMO. Two near misses damaged old battleship IRON DUKE (now demilitarised and used as a Base Ship which took a heavy list and bomb blast damaged her electrical installations. She was towed into shallow water, settled onto the sea bed and ESKIMO provided electric power. DDs SOMALI and ASHANTI were also at Scapa at the time , and later in the day, four more aircraft attacked, near-missing ASHANTI, but causing no damage.

Iron Duke as she appeared as a Dreadnought

UK-France convoys .

BC.10S of steamers BARON GRAHAM, BEAVERDALE, BELLOROPHON (Commodore), CITY OF DERBY DORSET COAST, EILDON, ERATO, FLORISTAN, GLAMIS, GLYCAON, MERLAND, PEMBROKE COAST, TASSO and VOLO dep the Loire, escort DDs MONTROSE and VIVACIOUS, and arrived safely in the Bristol Channel on the 19th.

English Channel

Fr Contre Torpilleur DD LÉOPARD, which had been covering minelaying in the Pas de Calais area, returned to Brest on the 17th. Contre Torpilleur DD JAGUAR sailed from Dunkirk on 1 November and with Contre Torpilleur DD PANTHÈRE, which had been at Cherbourg under repair, also arrived at Brest, but on the 2nd.

CLA CALCUTTA departed Grimsby and arrived back on the 18th.

UK-outbound convoys

Southwestern Approaches

OA.21 of 21 ships dep Southend escort DDs VANSITTART and WIVERN, remained with the convoy until it dispersed on the 22nd.

Med/Biscay
HG.3 is subjected to further sustained attacks. Convoy was unescorted at the time of this attack
MV CLAN CHISOLM (7256GRT) Destination Liverpool carrying 3300 tons of tea, 1900 tons of jute, 1750 tons of pig iron and 2600 tons of general cargo, including coconuts and cotton. Was torpedoed from astern by U-48, who suffered a further torpedo failure with the first torpedo. 4 of the 71 crew were lost
Source Uboat Net


Steam Passenger Ship YORKSHIRE (10.183grt)(with Convoy commodore aboard) carrying a mixed cargo of general cargo, and Parrafin, enroute from Burma to Liverpool with 118 passengers (military famillies) aboard was hit by two stern torpedoes from U-37 and sank about 160 miles WNW of Cape Finisterre. 58 of the 281 people on board lost their lives. 105 crew members and 118 passengers were picked up by the US MV INDEPENDANCE HALL and landed at Bordeaux on 20 October.
Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart


MV CITY OF MANDALAY (7028grt) enroute from a number of ports in the far east, carrying general cargo, including tea, rubber and sago. U-46 attacked the YORKSHIRE in the unescorted convoy with four rounds from her 8.8cm gun, no hits were scored and as the vessel fired back the U-boat dived.
At 16.30 hours, U-46 heard a detonation, this was the hit on the YORKSHIRE by U-37 . 20 minutes later U-46 fired a G7e torpedo at the CITY OF MANDALAY, observed a hit amidships in the engine room and saw the ship listing. A second torpedo fired at 17.00 hours detonated prematurely.

The target sank a short time later 360 miles west-northwest of Cape Finisterre. Two crew members were lost. The master, 76 crew members and a passenger were picked up by the American steam merchant Independence Hall and landed at Bordeaux.


Belatedly, DDs WAKEFUL, ELECTRA and ESCORT were ordered to attack a submarine reported near the convoy from just after the time YORK was lost. The last steamer was CLAN CHISHOLM (UK 7256 grt) sunk by U.48, Survivors from all three ships, including Rear Admiral Bedford, were picked up by American steamer INDEPENDENCE HALL and taken to Bordeaux. ELECTRA and ESCORT had dep Dover on the 13th and joined the convoy on the 18th from OA.19. In addition, DDs ARDENT and ACASTA cleared Dover on the 20th and joined.

Convoying in the Mediterranean was discontinued.

DD DUCHESS and sloop FOWEY, awaiting Green 5, were sent from Gib to Malta, arriving on the 20th. DD DIANA and sloop DEPTFORD, en route to Port Said from Blue 5, were sent to relieve DDs GRENVILLE and GIPSY on contraband patrol. DD DUNCAN from Blue 4 was transferred to escort BB RAMILLIES, relieving DDs GRAFTON and GALLANT. DDs DAINTY and DEFENDER cleared Malta on the 18th to escort RAMILLIES, which reached Alex on the 20th. Fr DDs CASSARD and KERSAINT returned to Bizerte. DDs DECOY and DELIGHT were at Malta. After refitting, DELIGHT reached Gib on the 31st for escort duty, and DECOY, her refit completed on 3 November, dep Malta to escort steamer NEVASA to Marseilles.

Central and South Atlantic –

MV HUNTSMAN (8196) is sunk by DKM GRAF SPEE. .



North Atlantic

HX.5 dep Halifax escort CA YORK and RCN DDs FRASER and ST LAURENT. RCAF flying boats accompanied the convoy until 1800/17th. ST LAURENT was detached at 0830/18th, FRASER at 1630/19th, and YORK at 1000/19th, arriving back at Halifax the same day. CL EMERALD dep Halifax on the 17th as ocean escort, and she arrived at Portsmouth on the 29th. YORK cleared Halifax again on the 22nd to support the convoy and search for DKM CS DEUTSCHLAND. DDs GRAFTON, GALLANT, WESSEX escorted the convoy on the 28th and 29th, when it arrived at Liverpool.

17 October 1939 Tuesday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: British liner SS "Huntsman" has been used as a prison ship since her capture by "Graf Spee" on Oct 10. About 35 prisoners are transferred to "Altmark" ("Graf Spee's" supply ship) and "Huntsman" is sunk. Diary of Captain Albert Horace Brown of SS "Huntsman";

'Late this night we heard six explosions then another much heavier one which we presumed was a torpedo sinking my ship. I was pleased it was done at night so I could not see her go as I was very fond of her and very much attached to her. Our Prison Officer confirmed "She died hard."'

Click to expand...

EASTERN FRONT: Turkish representatives break off talks for a defense treaty with the Soviet Union. While the prolonged Turkish-Soviet negotiations end without agreement there are professions of mutual friendliness. Soviet representatives paid tribute to Turkish Foreign Minister Sarajoglu before his departure. Last minute Soviet proposals conflicted with Turkish engagements to Britain and France and these were rejected by Sarajoglu.

GERMANY: The Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich issued the "Decree relating to a special Jurisdiction in Penal Matters for members of the SS and for members of Police Groups on Special Tasks" which, in effect, was to free the armed SS from the legal jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht.

Major Dr. Ernst Bormann's He 111 equipped III./LG 1 transfer from Greifswald to new accommodations at Jever.

Reinhard Heydrich ordered all Gypsy populations to cease travelling or face a concentration camp.

German Naval Staff gave orders for U Boats to attack all enemy ships, except liners, without warning - this restriction on liners was lifted on 17th November.

WESTERN FRONT: The French report sharp infantry engagements on the front near Saarbrucken. The Germans report "absolute quiet" on the Rhine Front. A lone German soldier was accidentally killed by falling shrapnel from a German anti-aircraft gun.

UNITED KINGDOM: Four Ju88s of KG 30 are sent to raid the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow. They find no capital ships in the harbor. Unknown to the Luftwaffe, the British Admiralty has ordered the Home Fleet to withdraw to the Clyde, near Glasgow, Scotland. The bombers do manage to hit the island of Hoy; the first part of the British Isles to receive a German bomb in World War II, and the obsolete training battleship HMS "Iron Duke" (which was the flagship of Admiral Jellico -- 1914 to 1917 -- during World War I) has to be beached in shallow water because of damage. One of the bombers - a Ju88A-1 coded 4D+EK of 1./KG 30 - crashed at the mouth of Pegal Burn on the Isle of Hoy. Very early in the attack, before dropping any bombs this aircraft was fired upon by anti aircraft guns on Rysa Little (a small island off Hoy). No.226 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery on the little island of Rysa had its Battery No 1 gun fired and its 4.5 inch shell blew the glazed nose clean off. The aircraft was hit and caught fire almost immediately; the gunner was almost certainly killed by this AA fire as his compartment was virtually destroyed. The nose landed by the gun crew while the aircraft fell at the mouth of the Pegal Burn, Isle of Hoy. Uffz. Ambrosius released the upper escape hatch which was dragged away from the aircraft by the slip stream, with him still holding onto the release handle. Once clear of the aircraft he was able to open his parachute. This aircraft was the first German aircraft to be brought down on British soil. It has often been overlooked and an He111 which was shot down near Edinburgh is sometimes quoted as being the first - that aircraft was the first to be shot down over the mainland and the first by fighter aircraft over land.

A Dornier Do 18 was shot down by three Gladiators of B flight, RAF No.607 Squadron, some 30 miles off Blyth and it ditched in the sea alongside the Destroyer HMS "Juno". The crew were taken prisoner and the aircraft sunk by gunfire. The Gladiators returned to Acklington at 14:10. After the war a Jumo 205 engine was recovered from the sea NE of the Tyne and it is believed that it originated from the above aircraft. The engine is now in the North East Aircraft Museum. A second Do 18 was shot down off Berwick and the crew killed.

The German destroyers 'Galster', 'Eckholdt', 'Lüdemann', 'Roeder', 'Künne' and 'Heidkamp' assembled in Wilhelmshaven Navy Yard, took on their cargo of 60 mines each (Except 'Heidkamp' which as an escort carried none) and sailed at about midday on the 17th, racing at first, northwards from the Shillig Roads at 30 knots as a deception, then at dusk turning westwards for the target area, the mouth of the Humber. In the early hours of the 18th the five destroyers began their task, between the Humber Estuary and the Withernsea Light - the 'Heidkamp' standing by. Nothing untoward happened and on completion, the destroyers steamed for home at high speed, undetected. This minefield of 300 mines, eventually claimed seven ships.



.

18 October 1939 Wednesday
ASIA: Representatives from Britain, Japan, and the United States reached an agreement regarding the presence of troops of all three powers in and near the Gulangyu island international zone near Xiamen, China since May 1939; all three pledged to withdraw troops from the international zone and to suppress anti-Japanese activities in the international zone.

POLAND: Jews in Wloclawek, Poland were forced to wear the Star of David. On the same day, the first Jewish ghetto was established in Lublin, Poland.

General Johannes Blaskowitz sent a message to Adolf Hitler, complaining of SS atrocities in Poland.

GERMANY: Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 7 "for the Conduct of the War" ( http://der-fuehrer.org/reden/english/wardirectives/07.html). Hitler announces that 'FALL GELB' is set to begin on 12 November and not a day later, despite objections from his Generals on a winter campaign. After numerous arguments about his Directive No. 6, he orders preparations for the assault. As first presented by General Halder and General Von Brauchitsch, the attack on the West proposed only a small portion of the Netherlands would be occupied by the Germans. But in the weeks that followed his Directive No 6, Generalfeldmarschall Göring of the Luftwaffe pleads his case that Holland could be used as airbases for RAF bombers and fighters who could attack the German forces. 'FALL GELB' is eventually changed to include the occupation of the whole of Holland in an effort to deny the British Holland's airfields. The plan is to use a total of 102 Divisions with nine armoured and six motorized. The Navy may attack passenger ships in convoys or without running lights. If Anglo-French forces invade Belgium, the German army may enter Luxembourg. Attacks endangering the civilian population are forbidden in Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.

The staff of Generalmajor Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen's VIII Fliegerkorps moves its Headquarters to Koblenz while the Messerschmitts of 2./JG 3 transfer to Zerbst. This move brings a total of forty-six Stafflen of aircraft under Generalmajor von Richthofen's command including the whole of JG 53 and its fighters.

The Stuka Gruppe, I./StG 1 receives a new commander when Major Paul-Werner Hozzel is posted to replace Major Werner Rentsch. The unit is based at Köln-Wahn.

Germany and Soviet Union conducted a prisoner exchange.

The War Merit Cross second class bronze with swords (Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. klasse mit Schwertern) also known as the KVK 2 was instituted by Hitler. This award could be awarded to military personal as well as to civilians for bravery not directly connected with frontline actions.

WESTERN FRONT: British armed merchant cruiser HMS "California" stopped and captured German merchant ship "Borkum" in the Denmark Strait.

NORTHERN EUROPE: The president of Finland meets with the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to consider the threat resulting from Soviet demands for a revision of the Finnish-Soviet border. Hitler has already assured the Swedes that Germany will remain neutral in a war between Finland and the USSR and strongly advised the Swedes to do the same. The Finnish army continues mobilizing, utilizing limited resources to fortify the Red Army's most likely route of attack across the Karelian Isthmus. Concrete blocks and boulders are placed to slow tank movements. They clear paths in the forests to corral infantry into fields of fire that are ranged by artillery, strung with barbed wire and then densely sown with mines (which are cheap and plentiful). This will prove deadly to advancing Red Army troops.

The first Soviet forces enter Estonia and the Baltic Germans start leaving. Eventually 12-13,000 will migrate by ship from ports in Estonia to Danzig, for resettlement (Umsiedlung) in Polish territory annexed by Germany. They occupy homes and businesses left by deported Poles. This is part of the Nazi plan for Germanisation or cultural and economic assimilation of Polish regions into greater Germany to provide living space (Lebensraum) in the East.

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Chamberlain announces that 8 German aircraft have been shot down, and Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, claims that one in three of the German submarine force have been sunk.

German aircraft reportedly approached Scapa Flow, the base of the British Home Fleet, but no bombs were dropped. The planes were engaged by anti-aircraft fire. An He 111H of 2(F)./122 was attacked by Spitfires of No. 41 Sqdn RAF over the North Sea, the Heinkel was shot down approx. 20 miles off Whitby.

Dutch liner "Simon Bolivar" struck a German magnetic mine in the English Channel 10 miles east of Harwich, England, United Kingdom at 1030 hours; the mine was laid in this shipping lane without warning on the previous day; 86 were killed. The Netherlands made an official protest to Germany regarding this violation in international shipping law.

A Whitley bomber taking off from Driffield airfield, stalled at 100 ft, then crashed. It was carrying stores and men from Catterick to Drem, and was found to be too heavily loaded. Seven men were killed and two injured.

MIDDLE EAST: General Wavell, commander of British land forces in the Middles East, and General Weygand, former chief of the French General Staff, arrive by air for talks with the Turkish General Staff. Meanwhile, the German Ambassador to Turkey, von Papen, is recalled by his government.

18 October
Allied Ships
PC Whaler type Buttermere


UBOATS
BDU KTB (Uboat Command Summary report)
"At 0029 U 48 sighted the enemy again. She reported: A straggler sunk. A second straggler steering a northerly course in square 6789 BE. All torpedoes used.. The boat shadowed this ship. At 0500 U 37 gave the order to act on U 48's report, thus canceling the order for a reconnaissance line. At first light U 48 again sighted the convoy, which had apparently reassembled meanwhile. At 0630 a second U-boat was reported in sight of a ship. Therefore at least one more boat had reached the enemy on U 48's report. Towards midday a/c appeared, contact was lost. U 37 ordered the boats which had been driven off to go to position "SCHWARZ". Reports received show that 5 ships were sunk for certain, probably 4. But again torpedo failures were reported. 2 explosions at the end of the run, 2 surface runners and 2 explosions at the end of the safety range. It is first in attacks on such strongly escorted convoys that these can have the most unpleasant and serious consequences for the boat, because they give it away, quite apart from the approach made for nothing and which can often not be repeated for many hours. U 48 has been ordered to start back as she has no more torpedoes. An enquiry elicited the fact that U 37 and U 46 will only have 30 and 5 tons of fuel respectively when they reach position "SCHWARZ". U 46 has therefore been allocated an operations area closer to. (off Lisbon)".

U 25 sailed for her operations area.

arrivals

Wilhelmshaven: U-19

Kiel:

departures

Kiel: U-16 (lost 8 days later)
Wilhelmshaven: U-25

At Sea 18 October

U-16, U-18, U-25, U-34, U-37, U-46, U-48.
7 boats at sea.

North Sea .

British East coast
DD AFRIDI attacked a submarine contact 3.2 miles NE off St Abb's Head. Whilst AFRIDI NARKED WITH BOUYS the position of the so-called submarine, DD WHITEHALL was ordered to stand by the location.

Northern Patrol - .

AMC RAWALPINDI intercepted the German Blockade runner TKR GONZENHEIM(4,574 grt) in the Denmark Strait. The German ship had left Buenos Aires on 14 September. The tanker was scuttled by her crew before a boarding party could get on board


Model of the RAWALPINI, and photo of Tanker Gonzenheim
sources wiki and Forum Schiff ? Thema anzeigen - Die URAG und die Frankfurter Metallgesellschaft

British Northern Waters

CL CALEDON cleared Kirkwall, and arrived at Sullom Voe on the 20th.

English Channel

DD AMAZON, was damaged in collision with steamer ARACATACA (5378grt) whilst moving to rendezvous with OG.3 . AMAZON had closed to pass information and the steamer altered course without warning. She was under repair at Portsmouth from 20 October to 28 November.

Dover Straits

DD BOREAS was attacked north of the Goodwin Sands by a German seaplane.
.
Southwestern Approaches

MV IMPERIAL STAR (10,733grt) was attacked by a U-boat, 60 miles west of the Scillies. DD INTREPID was sent to assist.

Med/Biscay

HG.3 reported continued attacks, but no results for the attacking Uboats. MVs SAGAING (7968grt), GARBRATTAN (1811grt), CITY OF GUILDFORD (5157grt) and CLAN MCBEAN (5000grt) reported they were attacked on the 18th but undamaged. DD ESCORT joined SAGAING which had straggled and escorted her from the area.

Blue 5 dep Port Said on the 18th, but was dispersed and travelled without escort

Central and South Atlantic –

CL DANAE cleared Lagos for St Helena, where she arrived on the 22nd.

SLF.5 dep Freetown, unescorted, and arrived at London on the 30th.

19 October 1939 Thursday
GERMANY: General Halder (German High Command chief of staff) and OKH issues Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) in response to Directive No. 6 issued by Hitler on October 9th. It provides for a holding action on the French border with the main attack being sent through central Belgium and some attention being devoted to the Dutch. "Case Yellow" is a pedestrian drive through Belgium to the North Sea (based on WWI's Schleiffen plan) designed to separate the British Expeditionary Force from the French army. Halder is possibly trying to deter Hitler from attacking at all and he estimates this will cost hundreds of thousands of German casualties and not deliver a full invasion of France until 1942. This is not the quick mechanized thrust into France that Hitler wants, with the element of surprise limiting German casualties. Hitler is not pleased; however, his impatience will quickly lead him to endorse this plan and order its execution. Generals von Rundstedt and von Manstein soon get wind of this and devise their own plan. Meanwhile, Hitler officially incorporates western Poland into the German Reich.

MIDDLE EAST: In Angora, Turkey signs a Treaty of Mutual Assistance with Great Britain and France. If Turkey enters the war, France and Great Britain commit to providing assistance. The term of the treaty is 15 years. The Turks pledge to aid the Allies if the war reaches the Mediterranean, but not if such aid could bring Turkey into conflict with the Soviet Union. In return, Turkey receives control of the disputed Sanjak of Alexandretta from French Syria.

UNITED KINGDOM: Two German airmen, half the crew of a bomber shot down over the North Sea on Tuesday, drifted ashore in a collapsible rubber boat near Whitby.

In London the Ministry of Transport announces that in September, first month of the black-out, the total number of persons killed on the roads of Britain was 1130, compared with 617 in August.

NORTH AMERICA: American gunboat "Erie" arrived off Manzanillo, Mexico on neutrality patrol to monitor movements of German freighter "Havelland".

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19 October
Known Reinforcements
Axis
IJN Kagero Class DD AMATSUKAZE

OKM Submarine Division (not the same as KTB BDU….more to do with Raeder)

Prize regulations for U-boats were lifted for shipping as far west as 20°.

UBOATS

KTB-BDU (Kriegstagebücher - War Diary)

"Still no report from U 40 on her Channel passage. This fact, added to radio intelligence reports on the 14th that 4 U-boats had been sunk, one of them by French forces, gives rise to the suspicion that U-40 and U 12 (see F.O. U/B West's War Log) have been lost in the Channel. According to radio intelligence reports 2 boats were sighted in the Channel west of the Straits of Dover, so it must be assumed that the boats got through the mined Dover-Calais narrows and were lost west of this. I view the question of the Channel passage as follows:
1. U 31 passed the Dover-Calais narrows once, U 15 twice, probably also U 12 and U 40 once each.
2. U 35 did not have to turn back, her doing so does not disprove the possibility of getting through the Channel.
3. Danger from mines must be regarded as the most dangerous aspect of the Channel passage. In all probability however, there have not been any victims of mines as yet, possibly U 12 on her way back.
4. Losses of boats so far have been 2 in the Atlantic or North Sea (U 27, 30), 2 probably in the Atlantic (U 42, 45), 2 perhaps in the Channel. These losses do not preclude the Channel passage.
5. The danger of surprise air attack is no greater in the Channel than in the open sea area, as boats have to proceed submerged by day anyhow.
6. I am therefore loath at present to give up the enormous advantage of the short approach route through the Channel. But the question will have to come up for constant consideration.
U 46 encountered a fresh convoy of 15 ships, but she was soon driven off by destroyers and lost contact. On the orders of Naval War Staff, the area in which unrestricted action can be taken against darkened ships has been extended to 300 west".

arrivals

Kiel: U-18

departures

Wilhelmshaven: U-19

At Sea 19 October

U-16, U-25, U-34, U-37, U-46, U-48.
6 boats at sea

SU Northern Flt .

Soviet SS SC-424 The Shchuka-class submarine collided in Kola Bay with trawler RT-43and sank


North Sea .

MV CITY OF LONDON (UK) (GRT unknown, but she was a coaster, so probably < 5000GRT): The coaster collided in the River Thames with a Dutch vessel and was beached at World's End

(No images found))

DD WHITEHALL and sloop WESTON attacked a submarine contact three miles ENE of St Abb's Head.

OA.22 of nine ships departed Southend escort DD VESPER, which stayed until the convoy dispersed on the 21st.

Northern Patrol - .

CLs CARDIFF, DIOMEDE, DRAGON dep Sullom Voe for Northern Patrol. There were on this day, two cruisers on Northern Patrol between the Shetland and the Faroes, AMCs AURANIA, CALIFORNIA, CHITRAL between the Faroes and Iceland, and CL SHEFFIELD and AMCs RAWALPINDI, SCOTSTOUN, TRANSYLVANIA in the Denmark Strait.

Ger Tkr BISKAYA (6386grt) had departed Hamburg on 13 August for Port Arthur, Texas, but with the start of war, found refuge at Las Palmas until 7 October when she attempted to return to Germany. She was captured on the 19th by AMC SCOTSTOUN on Northern Patrol in the Denmark Strait, taken to Leith by a prize crew commanded by Lt Cdr R H A Clark RNR, and renamed EMPIRE UNITY in British service.


British Northern Waters

DDs INTREPID, ICARUS, IVANHOE arrived at Loch Ewe and sister ship IMPULSIVE at Scapa on the 25th, all for duty with the Home Fleet. DD ILEX, ISIS, IMPERIAL joined the 22nd Flotilla at Harwich on the 31st, were released from the Flotilla on 5 November and rejoined the 3rd Flotilla operating with the Home Flt – IMOGEN, after completing repairs, and IMPERIAL on 8 November, ILEX and ISIS on the 14th, and INGLEFIELD, also after completing repairs, on the 16th.

English Channel

While in dock at Devonport, DD KEMPENFELT was transferred to the RCN as HMCS DD ASSINIBOINE. She had been there since 29 September repairing collision damage from the day before. As ASSINIBOINE, she dep Plymouth for Halifax on 7 November.

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UK-outbound convoys

OB.22 dep Liverpool escort DDs MACKAY and VIMY, the DDs detaching on the 22nd to escort SL.4.

Central and South Atlantic –

Fr Convoy 9B of steamers STRASBOURGEOIS, MAROC, JUMIEGES and POITIERS after leaving Brest on the 7th October, as well as SAINT NAZAIRE, escorted by sloop CHEVREUIL after leaving Quiberon, also on the 7th escort Fr DD FOUDROYANT arrived at Casablanca.

Separately, DD BOURRASQUE reached Casablanca on the 17th with convoy 3.K of steamers MARRAKECH and KERGUELEN. They had left LeVerdon on the 13th. Both DDs then departed Casablanca and arrived at Gib on this date.

China Station

CA DORSETSHIRE dep Hong Kong for Singapore and duty with the Crusqn 4 in the East Indies Station. She left Singapore on the 22nd for Colombo.

Other
On October 19, 1939 Turkey agreed to a mutual-assistance treaty with Britain and France, but Turkey did not have to fight in the war unless its interests were threatened. Turkey was also loaned £16 million in gold and given a credit of £25 million to buy military equipment. The National Defense Law passed in January 1940 gave the government the right to fix prices, requisition materials, and impose forced labor
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20 October 1939 Friday
GERMANY: The German government warns that neutral merchant ships joining Allied convoys will be sunk without warning. It is also announced that Hitler has signed a decree by which 3,000,000 Jews now living in Poland will get their own territory in eastern Poland, with a Jewish capital at Lublin.

Maximilian von Weichs was made the commanding officer of German 2.Armee.

WESTERN FRONT: There is patrol and reconnaissance activity between the Moselle and the Saar rivers.

UNITED KINGDOM: The war office recommends that soldiers at the front read both 'Mein Kampf' and the 'Communist Manifesto'.

The SS 'Sea Venture' (2,327t) cargo ship, carrying coal from the Tyne to Tromso in Norway was sunk by torpedo and gunfire from U 34 east of the Shetlands. (see below)

NORTHERN EUROPE: While diplomacy continues between Finland and USSR, both countries' armies mobilize. The Finns prepare proposals which they hope will placate USSR, although falling far short of the Soviet demands. Stalin, in contrast, is going through the motions of diplomacy only as a prelude to war. He hopes to acquire the Baltic republics and Finland to reestablish the pre-1918 Tsarist borders, which he now views as best providing security to Russia's Northwest corner, with the twin goals of protecting Leningrad and preventing German access to launching points for a land attack. He intends to conquer Finland all the way to the Swedish border - and possibly beyond to take the valuable Swedish iron ore mines, only 50-70 miles the Finnish border. The Red Army begins assembling 450,000 men along the Finnish border.

The German-captured US freighter "City of Flint " arrived in neutral Norway. The Norwegians refused entry and told the German prize crew that they have 24 hours to leave.

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20 October

UBOATS
Kriegstagebücher (KTB) - War Diary
" There is so much damage to U 32's engines that they will have to be exchanged. The boat was to have sailed within the next few days. Now she will be out of action for several weeks. She was just about to load mines. This will have far reaching consequences.

U 31 will have to take over her operation and will thus not be able to sail until 3 days later. The operation originally assigned to this boat will have to be postponed. This is an excellent example of what happens almost all the time. Again and again plans are reversed because completion dates for the boats are postponed. One thing is certain: the M.A.N. engines have not proved their worth because their casing is too light. Presumably things will not improve until all the boats have been fitted with the new casings".

arrivals

Kiel: U-19 .

departures

Wilhelmshaven: U-47

At Sea 20 October

1939
U-16, U-25, U-34, U-37, U-46, U-48.
6 boats at sea.

Baltic

Danish waters

DKM V-701 vorpostenboot struck a mine and sank in the Baltic Sea off Møn, Denmark with the loss of 70 of her 75 crew
Vorpostenboot: V 701 ESTE, pomocniczy patrolowiec niemiecki


Gk steamer OMONIA (3699grt) was seized in the Baltic by DKM warships, taken to Swinemünde and later renamed OLSA for German use.
OLSA CARGO SHIP 1908-1944

(ORMONIA after she was renamed OLSA, pictured in 1944, before she was bombed and wrecked by the VVS near Kirkenes

Norwegian Waters

MV GUSTAF ADOLPH (Sd 926 grt) Carrying wood pulp, At 06.00 hours on 20 Oct 1939 the neutral Gustaf Adolf was stopped by U-34 about 50 miles northeast of Sullom Voe, Shetland Islands. The ship was enroute from Goteborg to Bristol, therefore its cargo was contraband and the vessel was sunk by gunfire at 07.32 hours, after the crew abandoned ship. The U-boat took the lifeboats in tow, and commenced towing the boats to Norway. Enroute U-34 stopped the Norwegian steam merchant BISCAYA with two shots across her bow at 10.30 hours. The survivors were picked up by the ship and taken to Moss, Norway.
Photo courtesy of Sjöhistoriska Museet, Stockholm


MV SEA VENTURE (br 2327 GRT) Carrying coal from Tyne to Tromso,, sailing unescorted. U-34 tried to stop the vessel with three shots across the bow about 50 miles northeast of the Shetland Islands, but the ship returned fire inaccurately and tried to escape so the U-boat shelled her until the crew abandoned ship at 11.23 hours. She was sunk by a coup de grâce at 13.40 hours. The master and 24 crew members were picked up by the Lerwick lifeboat and landed at Lerwick. There were no casualties.
Photo from UBoat Net


British east coast

AZARIAH ( UK): (Displacement unknown, guessed at 350 tons). A sail powered lighter barge, or Thames barge, sank in the North Sea off Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. Unknown causes

(No mage)

FN.24 dep Southend. Escorting sloop PELICAN was damaged when she struck submerged wreckage shortly after departure. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 22nd.

PELICAN was an Egret Class escort vessel, roughly in the same capability as a US DE

FS.24 dep Methil, escort DD BROKE, sloops BITTERN and ENCHANTRESS, and arrived at Southend on the 22nd.

Carribbean

CLs CARADOC DESPATCH arrived at Bermuda, and left the same day for Kingston, Jamaica.

Northern Patrol - .

CLs COLOMBO, DRAGON and DELHI cleared Sullom Voe for Northern Patrol.

Northern Patrol had attached on this day: 2 CLs between the Shetlands and the Faroes, CL COLOMBO and AMCs AURANIA, CALIFORNIA, CHITRAL between the Faroes and Iceland, and CL SHEFFIELD and AMCs SCOTSTOUN, RAWALPINDI, TRANSYLVANIA in the Denmark Strait.

Ger MV BIANCA (1375grt) dep Rotterdam pre-war for Lisbon, called at El Ferrol and refuelled in an attempt to return to Germany before the start of the war. She reached Reykjavik on 7 September and remained there until 18 October when she made her attempt. At 1150/20th in the Denmark Strait she was captured by AMC TRANSYLVANIA, taken to Kirkwall by a prize crew commanded by Lt Cdr D M MacLean RNR, and renamed EMPIRE WARRIOR in British service.


UK-France convoys .

DD VIVACIOUS escorted BC.10S and attacked a submarine contact whilst en route

Med/Biscay

CL GALATEA cleared Alex on patrol, reached Malta on the 27th, left again on the 28th and arrived back at Alexandria on the 30th

Central and South Atlantic –

DDs HOTSPUR and HAVOCK were ordered from the South America Station to the West Indies.
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Indian Ocean

CL DURBAN dep Mauritius for Colombo to examine the Cargados, Caarajos and Chagos groups (sw of the subcontinent) for German raider activity

21 October 1939 Saturday

ASIA: Nobutake Kondo was named the deputy commander of the Navy General Staff in Japan.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: British light cruiser HMS "Orion" and Canadian destroyer HMCS "Saguenay" located German tanker "Emmy Friedrich" in the Yucatán Channel, and began to move to intercept.

The French Force de raide (including the world's fastest destroyers) escorts a large Atlantic convoy and intercepts the German SS "Sante Fe".

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet elections are held in the Soviet controlled western Ukraine and western Belorussia (formerly Polish territory).

GERMANY: General Erich von Manstein, Chief of Staff of Heeresgruppe A, obtained a copy of "Fall Gelb" whilst passing through Berlin, Germany on his way to set up Heeresgruppe A Headquarters at Koblenz. He found little to admire in the plan, considering it to be too much like the strategy of 1914, and even predicting that the advance would bog down at the same place – on the Somme River in France. Von Rundstedt and his chief of staff, von Manstein, prepare an alternative to Halder's plan. They find fault with Halder's lack of manoeuver and encirclement of the main Allied forces. They propose an alternative plan to achieve these goals by attacking through the Ardennes forest which, coincidentally, lies in von Rundstedt's sector, strengthening his Heeresgruppe A at the expense of von Bock's Heeresgruppe B advancing into the Low Countries. Because of Manstein's hand in this plan and his advocacy of the strategy to Hitler at a later meeting, it becomes known as the Manstein Plan.

The Stab./JG 77 led by Oblt. Von Manteuffel leaves its parent airfield at Neumünster and transfer to Köln-Ostheim. Hptm. Johannes Janke's I./JG 77 transfer from their airbase at Oedheim and settle at Frankfurt / Rhein-Main.

MEDITERRANEAN: An agreement is signed by the German and Italian governments for the transfer to the Third Reich of ethnic Germans in South Tyrol.

MIDDLE EAST: In Ankara British General Wavell and French General Weygand leave at the conclusion of successful talks with the Turkish General Staff.

In India the Congress Party declines to support the British war effort and condemns British imperialism.

NORTHERN EUROPE: Juho Kusti Paasikivi (Ambassador to Sweden) and Väinö Tanner (leader of the Social Democratic Party) lead the second Finnish delegation to discuss Soviet territorial demands, leaving Helsinki by train for Moscow.

NORTH AMERICA: The Uranium Advisory Committee in the United States, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, met for the first time. The committee had a budget of US$6,000 at this time.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Hawker Hurricane had its baptism of fire. This day, "A" Flight of RAF No.46 Squadron took off from North Coates satellite airfield, on the Lincolnshire coast, and was directed to intercept a formation of nine Heinkel He 115B floatplanes from 1./KaFlGr 906, searching for ships to attack in the North Sea. The Heinkels were already attacked and had been damaged by two RAF No. 72 Squadron Spitfires when six RAF No.46 Sqdrn Hurricanes intercepted the Heinkels, which were flying at sea level in an attempt to avoid fighter attacks. Nevertheless, the Hurricanes in rapid succession, shot down four of the enemy (46 Squadron claiming five and the Spitfires pilots' two). Two of them crashed into the sea off Norfolk, one in Denmark and one crashed into the sea 5 miles E of Spurn Head at 13.00. The bodies of three crew members of the last mentioned plane were washed ashore and were buried at Happisburgh, on 2nd November 1939.

SS 'Orsa' (1,478t) struck a mine and sank about 20 miles off Flamborough Head, with the loss of sixteen of her crew. She was on a voyage from the Tyne to Bordeaux with a cargo of coal.

WESTERN FRONT: General Gamelin, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, says that he has no intention of attacking the Germans. He has issued orders that if the Germans attack in strength, the French should retreat behind the Maginot Line fortifications.

Sporadic artillery exchanges take place in heavy rain. The no-man's-land on the Moselle-Rhine is described as a sea of mud.
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21 October

DKM War diary
The DKM war Diary reveals the german Admiralty enjoyed an amazing degree of knowledge concerning Allied fleet movemkents. This intell came from various sources, including their radio intercept B-Dienst Service
https://archive.org/stream/wardiarygermanna21939germ#page/137/mode/1up
Of particular note are the orders issued to Graf Spee. Though the raiders mission was primarily of political importance, and the diversion of the vast allied resources to hunt worked in perfectly with that strategy, DKM was becoming concerned for the ships safety, particularly after the transfer of the RENOWN and ARK ROYAL to Freetown. Consequently the following message was sent to GRAF SPEE



UBOATS

Kriegstagebücher (KTB) - War Diary

"U 31 and U 53 sailed for their operations areas. U 31 to mine Loch Ewe with TMB in accordance with operations Order No. 9 (the operation originally intended for U 32). U 53 is to proceed first to an area southwest of Ireland. She is to operate there against merchant shipping until U 26, which is sailing on 22.10, has had time to carry out her minelaying operation".

arrivals

Wilhelmshaven: U-47 (Engine defects after only 2 days at sea)

departures

Kiel: U-53
Wilhelmshaven: U-31

At Sea 21 october

U-16 , U-25, U-31, U-34, U-37, U-46, U-48, U-53.

8 boats at sea

Northern Waters

Scapa

The crew of the Nor MV LORENTZ W HANSEN arrived on Norwegian tanker KONGSDAL (9959grt) at Kirkwall and brought news proving that there were two german surface raiders, DKMI CS's ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE and DEUTSCHLAND at sea. It had been thought up until that time that all the sinkings to date had been due to a single ship.

MV LAKE NEUCHATEL (1300grt): The cargo ship was scuttled as a blockship in Kirk Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands. Salvaged in 1948
Blockships | Defences in and around Scapa Flow | 1914 to 1945 - two world wars | The 20th Century | Archaeology and History | Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme


Blockships in the Holm channel, where the LAKE NEUCHATEL was expended as a Blockship

North Sea .

British east coast

A convoy off the midlands with CLAs COVENTRY CAIRO and CALCUTTA attached were subjected to a determined LW air attack There were no reported losses with the convoy, which was escorted to Flamborough Head. COVENTRY experienced a steering gear defect and returned to Immingham, docking on the 26th for repairs completed on 14 November. She then left next day for duty at Sullom Voe.

Fr MV CAPITAINE EDMUND LABORIE(3087grt) : Carrying Ballast, the cargo ship struck a mine previously laid by U.19 October 16 and sank in the North Sea 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) east of the Inner Dowsing Lightship . All crew were rescued by the Gorleston Lifeboat .

(No image located)

Nor Tkr DEODATA (3255 grt) Carrying Ballast, the tanker struck a mine laid by U.19 and sank in the North Sea off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk All crew were rescued by the Gorleston Lifeboat. Built in 1897 as a sailing Barque converted in 1926 to a engine driven whale oil tanker
WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO On this Day

Deodata, an image taken before she was converted in 1926, when the ship was the Fr four-masted barque Le Quevilly

Northern Patrol - .

CL DIOMEDE left port for Northern Patrol between Shetlands and Faroes, and arrived back on the 25th.

Ger MV POSEIDON (5864grt) dep Rio on 1 September within intent to run for Germany, but was forced to put into Mar del Plata on the 5th to avoid contact with CL AJAX. She was finally able to leave for Germany on 1 October, but was captured during the afternoon of the 21st by AMC SCOTSTOUN north of Iceland in the Denmark Strait Heavy weather prevented a boarding party from being put aboard at that time, and it was not until the afternoon of the 22nd that Py/Lt C W Armstrong RNR and his men were able to go across. SCOTSTOUN then escorted POSEIDON for 29 hours before losing touch in thick snow. AMC TRANSYLVANIA finally found the missing ship early on the 25th, but she was incapable of steaming, taken in tow and proceeded towards Reykjavik with CL SHEFFIELD in company. When Icelandic waters were reached, SHEFFIELD detached and returned to Sullom Voe, being relieved on Northern Patrol by CL SOUTHAMPTON (now fitted with radar, according to one source). However, before reaching Reykavik, TRANSYLVANIA's tow line parted in a gale and she was forced to sink POSEIDON with gunfire on the 27th.

(NO IMAGE FOUND)

Ger Blockade Runner MV GLORIA (5896grt), had departed Buenos Aires on the 6th, was captured by CL SHEFFIELD on Northern Patrol in the Denmark Strait, whilst attempting to avoid detection by hugging the coast six to ten miles off the north coast of Iceland. GLORIA was taken to Kirkwall by a prize crew commanded by Sub Lt S Phillips. GLORIA was renamed EMPIRE CONVEYOR in British service.

(No Images found)

UK-France convoys .

OB.23 dep Liv escort DDs VOLUNTEER and VERSATILE, which detached to KJ.3 on the 24th.

English Channel

MV ORSA (1478grt) was sunk 15 miles 150° from Flamborough by a mine laid by U.15 on 6 September, with the loss of 16 crew.

(NO IMAGE FOUND)
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UK-outbound convoys

OA.23 of 15 ships dep Southend escort DDs ACASTA and ARDENT from the 21st to 23rd, and the convoy dispersed on the 26th.

Med/Biscay

Gibraltar

CL GALATEA arrived at Gib.

Central and South Atlantic –

Hunter Force M with Fr CAs DUPLEIX and FOCH, and Force N with Fr BC STRASBOURG and CVL HERMES, were reassigned to cover the Dakar to Pernambuco route. Later, HERMES, DUPLEIX and FOCH worked togther, forming Force X. this group became effective in mid-November. STRASBOURG, with French CL DUGUAY TROUIN and the British NEPTUNE were formed into Force Y .

Indian Ocean

CLs GLASGOW and NEWCASTLE, already at sea escorting a convoy, were reassigned to escort convoy KJ.3, then en route from the West Indies. They detached from KJ.3 on the 24th and the convoy arrived at Land's End on the 25th. NEWCASTLE reached Portsmouth on the 26th and GLASGOW on the 27th.

Far EasStation

MV NEW MATHILDE (tonnage unkown) ( US): The cargo ship foundered in the South China Sea 3 nautical miles off Kwangchowan, French Indo-China