11-1939

War Diary for Thursday, November 30, 1939: Finland WINTER WAR: RUSSIAN INVASION OF FINLAND. 26 divisions attack on four fronts at Karelian Isthmus, North of lake Ladoga, in the ‘Waist’, […]

War Diary for Wednesday, November 29, 1939: Politics Russia severs diplomatic relations with Finland.

War Diary for Tuesday, November 28, 1939: Politics Russia renounces Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact (signed 1932). Finns inform Moscow that investigations show that Russian artillery fired the 7 shells at Russian

War Diary for Monday, November 27, 1939: China Sino-Japanese War: Japanese capture Nanning, important rail head in southwest China. Sea War British Government orders seizure of German exports on the

War Diary for Sunday, November 26, 1939: Politics ‘Mainila Incident’: Russians accuse Finns of shelling village of Mainila, killing 4 soldiers, and demand immediate withdrawal of Finnish troops from vicinity

War Diary for Saturday, November 25, 1939: Sea War Germans lay mines off South West Sweden, inside Swedish territorial waters. Sweden protests on November 27.

War Diary for Friday, November 24, 1939: Home Fronts Germany: Government takes in trust the property and financial interests of Fritz Thyssen. The iron and steel magnate and a key

War Diary for Thursday, November 23, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: British armed merchant-cruiser Rawalpindi overwhelmed by German battlecruiser Scharnhorst southeast of Iceland (265 dead). Scharnhorst and Gneisenau avoid pursuit and

War Diary for Wednesday, November 22, 1939: Sea War Royal Navy experts defuse German magnetic mine dropped on Shoeburyness mud flats off coast of Essex. After examining its mechanism, they

War Diary for Tuesday, November 21, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst despatched into North Atlantic. Mine victims off British East Coast include new cruiser HMS Belfast

War Diary for Monday, November 20, 1939: Sea War German seaplanes begin dropping the new magnetic mines in British East Coast shipping lanes (night 20-21).

War Diary for Sunday, November 19, 1939: Occupied countries Poland: Germans erect barricades round Jewish quarter of Warsaw.

War Diary for Saturday, November 18, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: Four merchant ships sunk by magnetic mines off British East Coast. 86 passengers killed on Dutch liner Simon Bolivar. Home

War Diary for Friday, November 17, 1939: Sea War Atlantic: Pocket battleship Deutschland (Germany) arrives at Gdynia (Baltic) after her Atlantic raiding cruise (2 ships sunk). Renamed Lützow by Hitler

War Diary for Thursday, November 16, 1939: Sea War British, French and Australian warships search for German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in Indian Ocean and East Indies.

War Diary for Wednesday, November 15, 1939: China Sino-Japanese War: Japanese capture last Chinese port of Pakhoi. Since July 1937 Japanese have taken now all of China’s seaports. Politics German

War Diary for Tuesday, November 14, 1939: Western Front ‘Plan D’ (the ‘Dyle Plan‘) adopted by French and British High Commands after secret, inconclusive discussions with the Belgians. A German

War Diary for Monday, November 13, 1939: Air War Germans bomb Shetland Islands. No casualties, only one rabbit killed. Air raid warning in Paris, anti-aircraft guns engage German reconnaissance aircraft.

War Diary for Sunday, November 12, 1939: Politics King George VI and French President Lebrun issue cautious replies to Dutch-Belgian peace appeal. King Carol of Romania offers to mediate; rejected

War Diary for Saturday, November 11, 1939: Western Front Slight activity by German patrols and artillery. BEF hold Armistice Day services amid the great battlefields of World War One.