Hitler issued Directive No. 6 ordering preparations for an offensive in the west with an initial date set for November 12. The offensive is to be directed across the Low Countries and is intended to defeat strong sections of the French and British armies when these arrive to help the Dutch and the Belgians. The ground taken is to provide protection for the Ruhr and to give bases for the air war against Britain. The aims of the plan are, therefore, limited when compared with the Schlieffen Plan of 1914 or with the scheme which is actually adopted in May 1940. There is no mention of completely defeating France. This order is a further blow to the autonomy of the German army. Their view is that, although it lies within Hitler’s authority as head of state and Commander in Chief of the Wehrmacht to order an attack to be prepared as soon as possible, the army should be asked where and how this attack should take place. Even Keitel argues against Hitler on this issue. Protests from his service chiefs and very cold weather would cause the date of the attack to be postponed repeatedly.
The Supreme Commander Of The Armed Forces.
Berlin. 9th October, 1939. 8 copies
Directive No. 6 For The Conduct Of The War
- Should it become evident in the near future that England, and, under her influence, France also, are not disposed to bring the war to an end, I have decided, without further loss of time, to go over to the offensive.
- Any further delay will not only entail the end of Belgian and perhaps of Dutch neutrality, to the advantage of the Allies; it will also increasingly strengthen the military power of the enemy, reduce the confidence of neutral nations in Germany’s final victory, and make it more difficult to bring Italy into the war on our side as a full ally.
- I therefore issue the following orders for the further conduct of military operations: (a) An offensive will be planned on the northern flank of the western front, through Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland. This offensive must be launched at the earliest possible moment and in greatest possible strength. (b) The purpose of this offensive will be to defeat as much as possible of the French Army and of the forces of the Allies fighting on their side, and at the same time to win as much territory as possible in Holland, Belgium, and Northern France, to serve as a base for the successful prosecution of the air and sea war against England and as a wide protective area for the economically vital Ruhr Basin. (c) The time of the attack will depend upon the readiness for action of the armoured and motorized units involved. These units are to be made ready with all speed. It will depend also upon the weather conditions obtaining and foreseeable at the time.
- The Air Force will prevent attacks by the Anglofrench Air Forces on our Army and will give all necessary direct support to its advance. It is also important to prevent the establishment of Anglofrench air bases and the landing of British forces in Belgium and Holland.
- The Navy will do everything possible, while this offensive is in progress, to afford direct or indirect support to the operations of the Army and the Air Force.
- Apart from these preparations for the beginning of the offensive in the west according to plan, the Army and Air Force must be ready, at all times, in increasing strength, to meet an Anglofrench invasion of Belgium, immediately and as far forward as possible on Belgian soil, and to occupy the largest possible area of Holland in the direction of the west coast.
- These preparations will be camouflaged in such a way that they appear merely to be precautionary measures made necessary by the threatening increase in the strength of the French and English forces on the frontiers between France and Luxembourg and Belgium.
- I request Commanders In Chief to submit to me their detailed plans based on this Directive at the earliest moment and to keep me constantly informed of progress through the High Command Of The Armed Forces.
[signed] Adolf Hitler.
There is German patrol activity south of Zweibrücken and elsewhere on the front.
The Wehrmacht uses loudspeakers at the front to broadcast propaganda directed at French troops.
A contingent of the re-formed Czechoslovakian army leaves Paris for the front.
The first 22 German Jewish refugees were interned in the central refugee internment camp at Westerbork. The camp was situated in the northeastern part of the Netherlands near the towns of Westerbork and Assen. The Dutch government established the camp to intern Jewish refugees who had entered the Netherlands illegally. The camp continued to function after the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. From 1942 to 1944 Westerbork served as a transit camp for Dutch Jews before they were deported to extermination camps in German-occupied Poland.
Some 50,000 Baltic Germans in Latvia are to the “returned” to the Reich. Estonia also will be “returning” Germans to the Reich.
The International Red Cross requires clothing for Poles. Warm underwear and medicine are needed for refugee relief.
British reconnaissance planes fly the length of the Western Front to the North Sea. They return safely despite anti-aircraft fire between Coblenz and Sietburg.
War conditions in Britain have allegedly brought food profiteering, with tenpenny steaks quadrupled in price.
Portugal reaffirms alliance to Britain. Premier Antonio de Oliviera Salazar stresses amity and does not call for participation in the war.
All scheduled servicemen departures from the Swedish Army are canceled.
German armored ship Deutschland seizes the 4,963-ton U.S. freighter City of Flint, en route from New York to the United Kingdom, as “contraband carrier”. Now the City of Flint is headed for the Russian port of Murmansk with a German Prize crew, which is hoping eventually to bring her to a German port. While at sea the Germans painted the fake name Alf on the freighter and hung Danish flags over the sides.
In the North Atlantic, the British Northern Patrol continues operations between the Shetlands, Faeroes, and Iceland. The light cruiser HMS Belfast successfully intercepts the German liner SS Cap Norte that is trying to return to Germany disguised as a neutral vessel. The liner is boarded and sent under armed guard to a British port. Cap Norte is the largest enemy merchant ship intercepted to date and under Admiralty law HMS Belfast’s crew received “prize money” in the form of a cash gratuity for her capture. The ship is renamed Empire Trooper by the British.
The Greek cargo ship Mount Ida ran aground on the Ower Bank in the North Sea (53°07′30″N 2°06′30″E). All 29 crew rescued by lifeboat but one later died from injuries sustained during the rescue.
The Finnish cargo ship Indra (1,999 GRT) was badly damaged by a mine in the North Sea off Terschelling, Friesland, Netherlands. Three crew were killed and 6 of the 20 survivors were wounded. The ship was towed to IJmuiden, Netherlands. Subsequently repaired and returned to service.
The War at Sea, Monday, 9 October 1939 (naval-history.net)
Destroyer WOOLSTON completed conversion to a fast escort vessel, and following working up at Portland, was assigned to Convoy C of the Rosyth Command.
Six British cruisers were on their Northern Patrol stations.
Light cruiser BELFAST had departed Scapa Flow on the 1st for Northern Patrol. On the 8th, she stopped Swedish steamer LILJEVALCH (5492grt) but allowed her to continue after inspection, and next day, stopped Norwegian steamer TAI YIN (7077grt), sending her into Kirkwall to check for contraband.
Shortly after sending off TAI YIN, BELFAST sighted another steamer which proved to be German liner CAP NORTE (13,615grt) carrying German reservists from South America. She was captured 50 miles NW of the Faroes in 63N, 10W and light cruiser CALYPSO, also on Northern Patrol in the area, arrived to assist. CAP NORTE was sent off towards Kirkwall under a prize crew consisting of Lt Cdr A G L Seale in command, Gunner (T) D E Wright and twenty ratings, and at 0730/10th, was turned over to light cruiser DELHI. They were joined off the Orkneys by armed boarding vessel NORTHERN ROVER (655grt) and CAP NORTE, DELHI, and NORTHERN ROVER reached Kirkwall on the 12th. CAP NORTE was renamed EMPIRE TROOPER for British use as a troopship. After dealing with her, BELFAST, her prize crews depleted, returned to Scapa Flow, arriving at 1500/13th.
From 29 September to 12 October, 64 ships were sighted by the Northern Patrol. Of these 26 were eastbound and 20 of them were sent to Kirkwall for inspection. CAP NORTE was the only German ship intercepted in this period.
Anti-aircraft cruiser CAIRO departed Grimsby on escort duties and arrived back on the 11th.
Anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA departed Grimsby on escort duties and arrived back on the 10th.
Destroyers VIVACIOUS and ESCAPADE were involved in a minor collision leaving Milford Haven. ESCAPADE was docked at Newport completing repairs on the 20th, while VIVACIOUS was only very slightly damaged and did not require repair.
French large destroyer PANTHÈRE collided with Belgian trawler VAN EYCK near Boulogne, and was repaired at Cherbourg, completing at the end of October.
Convoy OA.17 of eleven ships departed Southend escorted by destroyers ACASTA and ARDENT from the 9th to 11th.
Convoy OB.17 escorted by destroyers IMOGEN and ILEX departed Liverpool, the destroyers remaining with the convoy until the 12th.
Convoy BC.10F of troopship ULSTER PRINCE departed Bristol Channel escorted by destroyers EXPRESS and ENCOUNTER, and arrived safely in the Loire on the 11th.
Convoy BC.10S of steamers BEAVERDALE, BELLEROPHON (Commodore), BRIARWOOD, CITY OF DERBY, DORSET COAST, EILDON, ERATO, FLORISTAN, LYCAON, MERKLAND, PEMBROKE COAST, RAMON DE LARRINGA and VOLO departed Bristol Channel escorted by destroyers EXMOUTH, ECLIPSE, MONTROSE and VIVACIOUS. The convoy safely arrived in the Loire on the 11th.
Convoy SA.12 of two steamers departed Southampton, escorted by destroyers VENOMOUS and ANTHONY, and reached Brest on the 10th.
Destroyers WALPOLE, AMAZON and WINCHELSEA departed Milford Haven to escort convoy KJ.1B.
Greek steamer MOUNT IDA (5210grt) was lost after running aground on the east coast of England.
German pocket battleship DEUTSCHLAND stopped American steamer CITY OF FLINT (4963grt) in the North Atlantic off the Newfoundland Banks. Captured British crew from steamer SOUTHGATE were put aboard, and disguised as Danish steamer ALF, she sailed towards Murmansk, arriving at Tromso on the 20th and the British crew put ashore. She continued on to Kola Bay where she arrived on the 22nd.
Aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL and battlecruiser RENOWN, sailing as Force K and en route to Freetown, encountered a merchant ship which identified herself as the American DELMAR. Lacking destroyers, the merchant ship could not be boarded and she was allowed to go on her way. Later intelligence revealed that the genuine DELMAR was in New Orleans and this had been German supply ship ALTMARK.
The 1st Battle Squadron – aircraft carrier GLORIOUS, light cruiser PENELOPE, and destroyers DUNCAN, DARING, DAINTY, GRAFTON, GIPSY, GALLANT and BULLDOG exercised off Alexandria. Battleship MALAYA with GLORIOUS, BULLDOG and DARING were then detached to Socotra to arrive on the 16th.
Destroyer DEFENDER arrived at Malta on the 5th and was out of service for 7 days with perforated boiler tubes.
Light cruiser DANAE departed Capetown on escort duties.
In Washington today, President Roosevelt returned from Hyde Park and broadcast tonight an address urging support of the 1939 mobilization for human needs. The White House announced that a foreign submarine and two foreign oil tankers had been sighted near Miami, Florida.
The Senate heard Senator Downey oppose repeal of the arms embargo, agreed to vote at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon on the Tobey motion for a separate vote on the title and carry clause in the neutrality resolution, and adjourned at 5:52 PM until noon tomorrow. The monopoly committee resumed its investigation of the oil industry.
The House heard Representatives Fish, Woodrum and others debate the neutrality question, received the Havenner joint resolution providing for an appropriation of $100,000 to cover negotiations for the purchase of Lower California, and adjourned at 2:07 PM until noon tomorrow. The Dies committee heard further testimony regarding activities of the Communist party.
The Supreme Court agreed to review several cases involving National Labor Relations Board rulings and handed down about 275 orders on the first decision day of the new term.
A belief that substantial peace moves were soon to be made in Europe, based mostly upon unsubstantiated reports of this government’s desire to offer itself as a mediator in the present war, gained sufficient currency at the Capitol today to add a new complication to the Administration’s effort to lift the arms embargo.
Despite official Administration assertions that the United States had not even been approached on the subject, Senator Edwin C. Johnson, Democrat, of Colorado, one of those pledged to embargo repeal, launched a movement in the Senate to suspend debate on the so-called neutrality resolution pending the outcome of peace efforts by President Roosevelt. The Colorado Senator had offered a resolution. last week urging the President to cooperate with other neutrals in a move to restore peace.
Mr. Johnson’s proposal, which administration leaders said with. complete confidence the membership would reject, was that the Senate begin a series of three-day recesses, and thus say nothing else about changing our Neutrality Law until newer efforts for peace had been exhausted. Senator Johnson withheld his motion today because of the desire of a number of other Senators to discuss it further. Once he makes the motion, it must be voted upon at once, as a motion to recess or adjourn is not debatable.
Another test motion, that of Senator Charles W. Tobey, Republican, of New Hampshire, to recommit the neutrality resolution with instructions to the Foreign Relations Committee to separate its two main provisions — embargo repeal and cash-and-carry commerce with belligerents — for a separate vote on each, also was postponed by the Senate until tomorrow at 2 PM. Meanwhile, interest in the debate over the arms embargo shifted from the Senate to the House, where Democratic leaders gave every indication of making embargo repeal a party matter.
Senator Johnson intimated that if he failed at the first attempt to have the Senate recess for three days in the interest of peace moves, he would try again and again, in the hope of winning eventually sufficient support to adopt it. “It is significant that we have had rumors that one of the belligerents has suggested that the President of the United States should make a move toward stopping the war and should act as a mediator to that end,” said Senator Johnson in explaining his proposal to the Senate.
“It is significant to me that this suggestion came from the so-called aggressor nation. Knowing his well-established and well-known feeling toward the gobbling up of Czecho-Slovakia and his well-known and frequently stated position on the conquest of Poland, it is still suggested that the President act as mediator. I think that it is extremely important and extremely significant. I believe that, with that sort of situation, we must accept the view that Germany will listen to an honorable peace proposal.
“They know full well that the President of the United States is not going to advance any proposal for surrender or anything of that kind. They know where the United States Government and its people stand on these questions which affect the world; so when they call in the President of the United States they must be speaking, to some degree at least, of an honorable peace.”
Administration leaders said they would call upon the fullest possible strength of the majority which they claim for repeal of the embargo to vote down Mr. Johnson’s motion. These leaders questioned that this government was willing or ready to make any peace moves. Furthermore, they did not want any further complications to their plan to repeal the embargo. Both Senator Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky, majority leader, and Senator Key Pittman, Democrat, of Nevada, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, insisted tonight that they would fight on for embargo repeal, regardless of the eventual fate of the Johnson move.
President Roosevelt, in memorandum for the Acting Secretary of the Navy, expresses displeasure with “the slowness of getting the East Coast, Caribbean, and Gulf Patrol under way,” the “lag between the making of contacts and the follow-up of the contact,” and the weakness of the liaison between the Navy, the Coast Guard and the State Department. The Chief Executive emphasizes that “in this whole patrol business time is of the essence and loss of contact with surface ships will not be tolerated.” Roosevelt urges that patrol planes and naval or Coast Guard ships “May report the sighting of any submarine or suspicious surface ship in plain English.”
The convention of the American Federation of Labor was thrown into turmoil. this afternoon when a bitter attack on President Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt and the New Deal evoked a spirited defense of the Roosevelt Administration and the charge that the critic had suppressed the information that his union had gone on record as favoring a third term for Mr. Roosevelt. The clash took place during discussion of a resolution approving the reply of William Green, president of the A.F.L., to President Roosevelt’s plea for peace with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Chauncey Weaver, seventy-year-old delegate of the American Federation of Musicians, declared that he was not deeply impressed with the President’s plea for labor solidarity and taunted the President for failing to solidify the Democratic party. He asserted that Mrs. Roosevelt had told a young people’s meeting in New York that its rejection of a resolution condemning communism was “one of the finest things” the organization had done. He also charged that the “C.I.O. is the darling of the national administration” and “grandmaster and guide of the National Labor Relations Board.”
The first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles. Tens of thousands of people jammed the parade route on Broadway in Los Angeles, as the street became ablaze with light when the first power streaked 266 miles from the Hoover Dam Power Plant to the city.
In a trial that may last three months and involve nearly 500 witnesses, the government opened today a courtroom battle to convict the General Motors Corporation and affiliated companies of violation of the Sherman anti-trust law in their sales finance methods.
U.S. Economists see a rise despite the war and agree that recovery has begun.
Officials close all Dodge plants in Detroit, laying off 18,300 workers.
Chinese troops recaptured all territory in Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi Provinces in China that the Japanese had captured as part of the recently-failed advance on Changsha, Hunan.
The Japanese military spokesman in Shanghai tonight tacitly admitted Chinese military claims that Japanese forces engaged in a campaign in the Changsha district had withdrawn and that the Chinese armies had re-entered many towns and small cities that the Japanese had previously captured. The spokesman declared that this campaign was virtually completed and that the Japanese armies at present had withdrawn into “permanent positions.”
The advance toward Changsha, he explained, which began on September 15, did not contemplate the capture and occupancy of any towns, cities or districts but was devised solely to destroy Chinese manpower and war material.
During the last three weeks the Japanese forces, he claimed, had scattered Chinese forces totalling sixty-one divisions averaging 6,000 men each and had actually fought forty Chinese divisions. These, he said, had abandoned upward of 60,000 dead upon the battlefield. The campaign was originally launched, the spokesman explained, because the Chinese High Command had concentrated sixty-one divisions and was planning an October offensive into Japanese-occupied territory.
The Chinese said today that their forces were still driving Japanese remnants toward the Honan-Hupeh provincial border, the starting point of a Japanese drive against Changsha. Dispatches from Changsha said. that the people were celebrating what they considered a major Chinese victory with mass meetings and the publication of congratulatory messages. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was said to have ordered distribution of a cash award to the North Hunan Army. An additional gift was also announced by a private group as a “comfort” donation.
The Chinese people today ushered in their national holiday in a high spirit of optimism as the result of the Chinese victory in Northern Hunan. Reports from the front last night revealed that the Chinese were continuing their successes. Sinchiang, an important city on the banks of the Sinchiang River, from which the Chinese were driven when the Japanese launched their Changsha offensive, is recently reported to have been retaken together with most of the other Japanese-occupied towns south of the river.
The Japanese Foreign Office strike of 150 employee against the transfer of the economics division to the Ministry of Trade will go before the Cabinet today as a still unsettled problem. Each side is in a stubborn mood.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 149.89 (+0.29)
Born:
Mike Hershberger, MLB outfielder (Chicago White Sox, Kansas City-Oakland A’s, Milwaukee Brewers), in Massillon, Ohio (d. 2012).
(Overton Vertis) “O.V.” Wright, American singer, in Lenow, Tennessee, (d. 1980).
John Pilger, journalist, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (d. 2023).
Pierre Mertens, Belgian lawyer and writer (Lettres Clandestines), in Watermael-Boitsfort, Belgium.
Died:
Giulio Gavotti, 56, Italian pilot.
Naval Construction:
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-351, U-352, U-353, and U-354 are ordered from Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges, Flensburg (werk 470-473).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-651, U-652, U-653, U-654, U-655, U-656, U-657, U-658, U-659, U-660, U-661, and U-662 are ordered from Howaldtswerke Hamburg AG, Hamburg (werk 800-811).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-701, U-702, U-703, U-704, U-705, and U-706 are ordered from H C Stülcken Sohn, Hamburg (werk 760-764, 766).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-751, U-752, U-753, U-754, U-755, U-756, U-757, U-758, U-759, U-760, U-761, and U-762 are ordered from Kriegsmarinewerft (KMW), Wilhelmshaven (werk 134-145).
The Royal Navy Bar-class boom defense vessel HMS Barthorpe (Z 95) is laid down by Lobnitz & Co. Ltd. (Renfrew, Scotland).
The U.S. Navy Gleaves-class destroyer USS Woolsey (DD-437) is laid down by the Bath Iron Works (Bath, Maine, U.S.A.).
The Royal Australian Navy auxiliary minesweeper HMAS Beryl II (F 71/BT) is commissioned.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) minesweeping trawler M 1404 (later M 4415; finally vorpostenboot V 623 Jupiter) is commissioned.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) minesweeping trawler M 1405 (later M 4416; finally vorpostenboot V 624 Köln) is commissioned.
The Royal Indian Navy auxiliary patrol vessel HMIS Padmavati is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is L V Heyman, RINVR.
The Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser HMS Cilicia (F 54) is commissioned. Her first commander was Commander (retired) Godfrey Herbert, DSO, RN.
The Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle (F 25) is commissioned. Her first commander is Captain (retired) George Bridges Lewis, RN.
History Diaries 