War Briefs
London - October 5 -The Ministry of Information today said it had reason to believe that half of the German submarines operating at sea at the outbreak of the war have been destroyed. No figures were given.
October 6 - Fuehrer Hitler today listed the losses of Germany’s armed forces in the Polish campaign as 10,572 killed, 30,322 wounded and 3,404 missing. A “laying down of arms” in Europe through a broad conference designed to bring about disarmament and new economic treaties was proposed by Adolf Hitler in a speech to the Reichstag. Premier Daladier tonight declared France and Great Britain will not lay down their arms until a peace which excludes all possibility of hegemony in Europe by one State or group of States is “effectively ensured”.
October 7 - France settled herself for a long war, her announced determination to “carry on to victory”, apparently unshaken by Adolf Hitler’s ‘last’ offer to end hostilities. Major-General A.G.L. McNaughton, president of the National Research Council and former chief of the general staff, will command the first Canadian division of the Canadian Active Service Force.
October 9 - The Governments of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have agreed to set up preliminary training schools in their own countries. Graduates of these schools will be sent to Canada for advance technical training. It was thought likely the number would exceed 25,000 annually. The Royal Navy repulsed repeated attacks by German bombing planes in the North Sea, without damage to any British ships.
October 10 -The Daily Sketch reported that Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the German navy, tried unsuccessfully to resign his post as a result of Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop’s “Baltic blunder”. The newspaper said that Raeder protested that von Ribbentrop’s action, enabling Russia to grasp all strategic points and islands in the eastern Baltic, hammed in the German navy in the East while the British fleet bottled it up in the West. French troops were reported to have turned back numerous German assaults south of the strategic city of Saarbruecken with hand grenades and rifle fire.
October 11 - Winston Churchill, first lord of the Admiralty, today declared the balance was now in Britain’s favor in the war on merchant shipping. “From September 24 to October 9 we have lost by U-boat action 5,890 tons and we have taken from the enemy 13,615 tons, leaving a balance in our favor of 7,725 tons.”
October 12 - German patrols battered French outposts from the Moselle to the Rhine today, continuing a series of thrusts reported to have cost the Nazis ‘’hundreds” of casualties. The Royal Navy was reported to have captured the 13,615-ton German steamship Cap Norte.
October 13 - British diplomatic circles received calmly reports from Berlin that Adolp Hilter had decided to throw Germany’s full strength into the war against Britain and France. The Admiralty announces that Friday, the 13th of October, has proved an unlucky day for the U-boats, three having been destroyed, two of which were the large ocean going type.
October 14 - The Admiralty announced the sinking of the British battleship by a German submarine. The 29,150 ton battleship was built in 1914.
- Kindersley Clarion - October 1939