World War II in real time

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November 30th 1939

According to the terms of the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact of August 23rd 1939, Germany had given the Soviet Union carte blanche to do as it wished regarding Finland. On November 30th 1939, Stalin accordingly invades Finland following the sort of meticulous propaganda preparation, complete with manufactured "border incidents," that most people associate only with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

The Soviet forces under Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, People's Commissar of Defense, open fire at 06:50. They advance quickly into Finland with 21 divisions and a total of roughly 450,000 men in the front lines (amounts vary by source). The attack included a vicious aerial attack on Helsinki, Finland on the first day of the war, another tactic that most people associate with the Nazis and not the Soviets.

The attack violated several treaties between the two nations:

The 1920 Treaty of Tartu;

The 1932 Non-Aggression Pact, reaffirmed in 1934;

The Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by the Soviet Union in 1934.

The frontier was over 1,000 km (620 miles) in length, but chains of lakes and vast stretches of difficult terrain in the north effectively limited the axes of advance to the areas directly adjacent to Lake Ladoga. The main conflict occured on the Karelian Isthmus to the north of St. Petersburg aka Leningrad. The conflict becomes known as the Winter War, a war you can follow day by day in the Winter War in real time thread on this forum.

Photo: Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, in the year 1937, with the rank "Marshal".

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December 1st 1939

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December 1st 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

A recruitment office for Swedish volunteers in the Winter War opens in Stockholm. While the Swedes ware neutral, many are highly sympathetic to the Finnish cause. Officially, the 1907 Hague Convention forbade recruitment for a foreign war on neutral grounds. However, this didn’t apply to ‘persons crossing the frontier separately to offer their services to one of the belligerents.’ .

One day after the start of the war, the first office is opened. Not much later, up to 125 similar offices were set up all over Sweden. Many skilled and trained soldiers and navy-educated Swedes signed up, leading to the establishment of multiple Swedish independent combat groups. . Within a few days, three Swedish combat groups formed the volunteer corps. Roughly 7000 swedes were incorporated in this corps. They were stationed in Northern Finland, where the Soviets seriously threatened the Petsamo area.

Battle of the Atlantic

British freighter Dalryan hits a mine and sinks off the southeast coast of England. Norwegian freighter Realf is reported lost at sea.

United States

The United States sends six submarines to join the Asiatic Fleet in Pearl Harbor.

France

Premier Edouard Daladier addresses the French and British people (with simultaneous translation as usual). He states that it "has not been necessary to take an attitude of aggressive attack" due to the strength of the Maginot Line. He makes a point of blaming French communist leaders' subversion ("treating with foreign governments") for France's situation, stating that it constitutes "treason."

China

A major Chinese winter offensive, long planned by Chiang Kai-shek, begins. It starts in north China. The Chinese 1st War Area (Honan and northern Anhwei, with 3rd Army Group and 36th Army Group) cuts the Lunghai Railway in three places (Lowang, Neihuang, and Lanfeng).

In the Battle of Kwangsi, the Japanese, pursuing the fleeing Chinese, capture Kaofengyi north of Nanning.

Photo: Map of battles around Nanning from Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War.

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December 2nd 1939

Battle of the Atlantic

Near St. Helena again, Graf Spee’s Arado seaplane spots British freighter Doric Star (cargo of meat, dairy products and wool). Doric Star is stopped with 2 long distance shells but the crew radios a distress message and sabotages her engines. After transferring her crew, Graf Spee sinks Doric Star with shell fire and a torpedo.

German liner Watussi is stopped by battleship HMS Renown and cruiser HMS Sussex and scuttled 80 miles South of Cape Town. Watussi’s crew of 155 and 43 passengers are rescued by HMS Renown and will spend the rest of the war in South Africa.

United Kingdom

The government extends conscription to all men aged between 19 and 41 years. There are very limited occupational deferments.

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December 3rd 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

A formation of 24 British Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington bombers raid German warships at Heligoland. The attack is not particularly successful, but the bombers manage to hit a German anti-aircraft battery. Fun fact: these bombs are believed to be the first British bombs of the war to land on German soil.

The 24 Vickers Wellington bombers of squadron numbers 38, 115 and 149 fly in, in tight formation, but are intercepted by German Messerschmitt bf 109’s and bf 110’s. One of the bf 110’s is damaged, and the British bombers come through unharmed. This incident substantiates the idea that a tight bomber formation is enough of a defensive measure against enemy fighter planes in daylight.

Photo: Vickers Wellington in flight, 1939.



Battle for the Atlantic

The Admiral Graf Spee stops 7,983 ton British freighter Tairoa and sinks it.

Photo: Tairoa being shelled by the Admiral Graf Spee.

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December 4th 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

The British submarine HMS Salmon sinks the German submarine U-36 in the North Sea, North of Heligoland Bight and south-west of Kristiansand. The entire crew of 40, including the commander Wilhelm Fröhlich, dies.

The HMS Salmon’s logbook states that they sight the U-36 on ‘1330 hours’, December 4. 25 minutes later: ‘Fired a full salvo of six torpedoes from a range of 5000 yards. At least one torpedo broke surface and there was much disturbance visible on the surface on firing.’ And on ‘1359 hours - The U-boat was hit amidships and sank at once.’ ‘1401 hours - Surfaced. A lot of oil and wreckage was seen. No survivors could be seen.’

Photo: German submarine U-36 in 1936.

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December 5th 1939

Battle for the Atlantic

After sinking Royal Oak on their amazing October 14th sortie into Scapa Flow, Gunther Prien and U-47 are at sea again. Departing Kiel on November 16th, U-47 is now in the Bristol Channel just South of Ireland. U-47 sinks British merchant ship SS Navasota (in ballast from Liverpool to Buenos Aires) in convoy OB-46 with one torpedo (37 lives lost). 37 others are picked up by HMS Escapade. 8 more, rescued by British steamer SS Clan Farquhar, are taken to Capetown, South Africa 22 days later. One survivor, Albert Newbury of Wales was previously torpedoed on board SS Lochavon by U-45 on October 14th. 

Royal Navy HMS Ajax intercepts the German passenger liner Ussukuma off of Uruguay. The German crew scuttles the ship. The Ajax picks up 107 survivors.

Battle of the Pacific

Royal Navy cruiser HMS Despatch, on neutrality patrol off Chile, captures the German freighter Dusseldorf.

Photo: HMS Despatch underway off the Panama canal zone on 31 October 1939.

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December 6th 1939

Battle of the Atlantic

Admiral Graf Spee refuels from the Altmark. It is about 1,700 miles from Montevideo, Uruguay. The Admiralty has learned of the Graf Spee's sinking of a ship off of St. Helena. Commodore Henry Harwood guesses that the German pocket battleship will head for the River Platte and has been sailing his three cruisers (HMS Exeter, Achilles and Ajax) toward there for some days now.

Photo: German ship Altmark.



U-47 sinks the neutral Norwegian ship MV Britta 50 miles off Land’s End, England (6 dead). 25 survivors are picked up by the Belgian trawler Memlinc.

Air War over Europe

Air activity has slackened in recent weeks due to the poor weather. Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe is still intent on overflying Great Britain for various purposes. Today, a wrecked Heinkel He 111 bomber is found on the East Anglian coast. Other aircraft are sighted over the Orkneys. The weather hampers attempts to intercept all of these flights, but it also is causing the Luftwaffe pilots problems.

China

The Chinese winter offensive gets in motion with an attack by the 1st War Area on the Japanese 1st Independent Brigade in the vicinity of Anyang.

The Japanese are still launching spoiling attacks against the Chinese at Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien.

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December 7th 1939

War in the Atlantic

800 miles East of Rio de Janeiro, German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee sinks the 3,895-ton British steamer SS Streonshalh (cargo of wheat), this is the Graf Spee ninth victim. Graf Spee stops Streonshalh and takes the crew of 32 on board before sinking her with scuttling charges and 6 inch shells fired at the waterline. Papers captured from Streonshalh tell Graf Spee’s Captain Hans Langsdorff that a convoy of 4 ships is leaving Montevideo on December 10th. He heads for the estuary of the River Plate to intercept them.

U-47 mistakes neutral Dutch freighter MV Tajandoen (cargo, cement, iron and steel) for a tanker and sinks her with one torpedo (6 lives lost) 50 miles south of Land’s End. Belgian steamer Louis Scheid rescues 62 survivors and, in fear of being torpedoed, runs for the shallows off the Devon coast in a gale.

U-38 sinks British freighter SS Thomas Walton (13 lives lost) 80 miles from Narvik, Norway. U-38 also fires a torpedo at the German ship SS Sebu which rescues 31 survivors, taking them to Bodo, Norway.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Jersey intervenes at night against Kriegsmarine minelaying destroyer Erich Giese and is damaged by a torpedo.

Photo: HMS Jersey in 1939



Photo: KMS Erich Giese



Romania

King Carol asks London if it will guarantee Romanian security against Soviet attack.

India

Sir Stafford Cripps, an early foe of fascism and a socialist, arrives in India for consultation with leaders Gandhi and Jinnah. It is felt that Cripps, with his communist leanings, may be best suited to keep the wayward Indians in line during the war, by offering various inducements for what may transpire after it.

China

The Japanese attack against Chinese 2nd War Area around Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien continues.

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December 8th 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

The American white house sends Britain a diplomatic message protesting the British policy of seizing German goods on neutral – most notably American, ships. The American government refers to ‘American people who have ordered something in Germany, and have already made payments.’ They also say that some goods cannot be bought anywhere else but Germany.

The Americans are afraid of the British wish to completely halt any German import and exports. If it has been manufactured in Germany, it will be subject to seizure, is the thought, without taking the buyers perspective into account.

The Americans feel that their neutrality is harmed by this stance, since Neutral countries shouldn’t be harmed by a countries tactic to harm any other belligerents in times of war.

Africa

General Wavell dismisses Major General Percy Hobart from his position forming Mobile Force (Egypt). Hobart has unconventional ideas about the use of tanks and other mobile forces, seeing in them the ability to project long-range power across the desert. The War Office is not a fan of these ideas, but, strangely enough, one Heinz Guderian in the Reich thinks that Hobart is brilliant and actually pays a translator so that he can read everything that Hobart writes. Hobart's dismissal is a reflection of the tensions going on in every major army about the role of mobile forces and tanks in particular. Hobart goes home to Chipping Campden and joins his Local Defence Volunteers unit as a lance corporal, serving as its Deputy Area Organiser.

Italy

Air Marshal Italo Balbo, long-time Governor-General of Libya, visits Rome and publicly states, "You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!" He is the only fascist to publicly criticize Mussolini's obvious sympathies with Hitler, and wishes that Italy would join the Allies. Balbo is such a towering figure in the military that Mussolini does nothing but inwardly seethe.

China

The Japanese 104th Infantry Division attacks Chinese Kwantung Army forces in Kwantung as a spoiling attack against the Chinese 4th War Area. The Japanese spoiling attacks in Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien continue.

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December 8th 1939

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December 9th 1939

Battle for the Atlantic

German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee sails towards the River Plate estuary (separates Uruguay and Argentina) to attack a convoy of 4 ships tought to be leaving Montevideo. Graf Spee’s Captain Hans Langsdorff is acting on information captured from British steamer SS Streonshalh (sunk on December 7th).

Meanwhile, Royal Navy Force G (light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles) is already heading to River Plate, following Commodore Henry Harwood’s hunch that Graf Spee will try the busy shipping lanes of South America. Harwood makes the wise decision to order the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter (currently refitting in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands) to join them in the River Plate estuary. Another heavy cruiser, HMS Cumberland, remains refitting in Port Stanley.

Western Front

Corporal Thomas Priday (King's Shropshire Light Infantry) becomes the first British soldier killed in action in WWII, a victim of “friendly fire” while on patrol.

Photo: The Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter off Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, circa in 1939

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December 10th 1939

Battle of the Atlantic

A Canadian troop convoy with five passenger liners full of troops sets sail from Halifax. It has numerous escorts. It is convoy HXF 12. It is bound for Liverpool.

The Soviet government formally protests to the British government about its blockade.

U-20 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Moehle) sinks 1,674 ton Norwegian freighter Føina north of Scotland. All eighteen crew perish.

The 4,815 ton British freighter Willowpool strikes a mine laid by a U-boat and sinks a few miles from the Newarp Lighship in the English Channel. All 36 crew survive.

British freighter Ray of Hope is sunk by mine.

German liner Bremen decides to risk Allied patrols and leaves Murmansk for Germany.

The British detain US freighter Steel Engineer at Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 50G departs from Southend, Convoy OB 50 departs from Liverpool, and Convoy SL 12 and SL 12F depart from Freetown.

China

The Chinese Winter Offensive opens with an attack by the Chinese 2nd War Area (Shansi and southern Shensi with 4th Army Group, 5th Army Group, and 14th Army Group) around Henlingkuan, Chenfengta, and Yenchangchen.

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December 11th 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

British King George VI visits the British Expeditionary Forces in Northern France. In this instance, he pays a royal visit to a Royal Artillery anti-aircraft site, where the use of a ‘predictor’ is explained to the King. . Predictors like these were fully automated anti-aircraft fire-control systems. They helped the anti-aircraft crew to aim the gun at an aircraft, taking speed, altitude, wind, projectile form, gun and angle into account. It would calculate the needed lead to hit a target wherever it would be by the time the projectiles exploded. All the gunners had to do was keep the anti-aircraft gun loaded while pointing the predictor at the target. The predictor would move the gun exactly where it had to be.

That being said, the predictor proved to be an invention ahead of its time. The mechanic control system was not very reliable and it was hard to maintain and operate. It was mostly abandoned later in the war, because simple cartwheel sights proved to be more effective.

Air War over Europe

A German barrage balloon drifts loose and falls in the Shetlands. Luftwaffe aircraft are spotted off the Yorkshire coast.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) torpedoes and sinks 4,708 ton Greek freighter Garoufalia inside Norwegian territorial waters. Four lives are lost, 25 saved. The attack is observed and quickly turned into a propaganda coup by the Norwegians and British. This is a classic example of a military success turning into a political blunder.

The British release US freighter Azalea City from detention at London, while US freighter Steel Engineer is released from Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 51 departs from Southend and OB 51 departs from Liverpool.

China

The Chinese 2nd War Area defeats the Japanese spoiling attacks around Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien.

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December 12th 1939

From World War II Realtime Instagram Account

The British destroyer HMS Duchess sinks in a collision with the British battleship HMS Barham off the Scottish coast at Mull of Kintyre. 120 officers and sailors lose their lives.

The Barham, escorted by four ‘D class’ Destroyers –one of which was the HMS Duchess, had just served 18 months in the Mediterranean and approached the United Kingdom via the Irish Sea. To confuse enemy U-Boats, the squadron commences a ‘Zig Zag’ manoeuvre. The Barham and three of the destroyers alter their course correctly, but the HMS Duchess turns the opposite direction and the Barhams bow hits the Duchess’ side, causing the Duchess to sink.

The Duchess sinks rapidly. Some of the men aboard manage to jump over to the deck of the Barham or are rescued with heaving lines. One officer and 20 other men survive. Many others are less fortunate. To make things worse, one of the Barhams sailors later describes that ‘there are explosions astern which may have come from the doomed Dutchess or the other destroyers’ depth charges in case U-Boats were around.’

Photo: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess at a buoy in 1933



Battle of the Atlantic

The 52,000 ton German liner Bremen (no passengers) wins its gamble and makes it to Bremerhaven from Murmansk. Unbeknownst to its crew, British submarine HMS Salmon (Lt. Commander Edward O. Bickford) had sighted the Bremen but forbore from torpedoing it because that would have violated international law - liners require warning before being attacked. In fact, the Salmon surfaced and tried to give warning, but the liner blew right by it without apparently noticing the sub. Salmon then dove to avoid approaching Dornier Do 18 aircraft, and after he resurfaced, Bickford decided that it would be illegal to sink the ship. The Bremen is of use to the Germans as a barracks ship.

The Admiral Graf Spee arrives off the River Platte estuary late in the day and spots the British Force G waiting for him. Captain Langsdorff is under orders to avoid combat. Since he is at the end of a long cruise after four months at sea, he takes those orders lightly, as some damage can be repaired in port while the engines are serviced. He dumps the Arado seaplane, removes extraneous equipment and prepares for battle.

Air War over Europe 

The RAF begins occasional patrols over the Frisian Islands being used by Luftwaffe seaplanes to lay mines. They bomb Luftwaffe bases at Borkum and Sylt.

China

The Chinese Winter Offensive gets rolling:

- Chinese 5th War Area (western Anhwei, northern Hupei, and southern Honan with 22nd, 29th, 31st, and 33rd Army Groups) opens offensive around Chienchiang, Pailochi, Hsientao, Loyangtien, and Hsuchiatien;

- Chinese 9th War Area (northwest Kiangsi, Hupei south of Yangtze River, and Hunan with 1st, 15th, 19th, 27th, and 30th Army Groups) opens attacks around Wanshoukung, Tacheng, Kulopu, Shihtoukang, Kaoyushih, Hsiangfukuan.

In an early success, the Chinese 9th War Area captures Chungyang, Wanling, Puling, Hsiaoling, Mankanling, Chienchow, and Paitzechiao. This severs communications for local Japanese forces.