1 November 1939
A Royal decree in the
Netherlands established martial law in key regions, mostly along
the German-Dutch border. |
2 November 1939
The Polish government in
exile dissolved parliament and set up a national council. |
3 November 1939
The British propaganda
film 'The Lion Has Wings' was rushed through production and
released to the cinemas in the United Kingdom. |
4 November 1939
Nearly 80 000 men had
enlisted voluntarily for military service since the beginning of
the war. |
5 November 1939
Headquarters of the 5th
Battalion, King's Own, moved from Wooler to Milfield in North
Northumberland. 'A' Company was based at Doddington, 'B'
and 'C' Companies were based at Lowick and 'D' Company were
based near by at Barmoor Castle, all in North Northumberland.
Three German army commanders, who believed the invasion of
France would fail, held a secret meeting to dissuade Adolf
Hitler from ordering the attack on the Western Front. |
6 November 1939
In Lancaster, public air
raid shelters had been established at 42 Parliament Street, the
Tramway Hotel, the King's Arms Hotel, Richmond House and Greaves
House. Public air raid trenches were available in Ryelands
Park, Giant Axe Field, Quay Meadows, Scotforth Road, and
Bowerham Road. |
7 November 1939
It was stated in the House
of Commons that since the last war the death penalty had been
abolished for a number of offences including desertion,
cowardice, and sleeping when on sentry duty and only remained
for murder, mutiny and offences of a treacherous character. |
8 November 1939
13 minutes after Adolf
Hitler concluded a speech in Munich, a time bomb exploded near
the speaking platform that killed 8 people. Hitler's
speech began 30 minutes earlier than expected, which meant he
had left the platform when it exploded. |
9 November 1939
In the months of September
and October 1130 and 919 people were killed as a result of road
accidents in Britain, many as a result of accidents in the
blackout. |
10 November 1939
Adolf Hitler flew for the
first time in his new personal transport plane, a Focke-Wulf
FW200. |
11 November 1939
Adolf Hitler appeared
unexpectedly in Munich at the funeral of those killed in the
bombing on 8 November. |
12 November 1939
Both Britain and France
respond to a Belgian and Dutch offer of mediation with Germany
by indicating that Germany would need to withdraw from Austria,
Czechoslovakia and Poland. |
13 November 1939
The German News Agency
issued a statement that Germany would respect the neutrality of
Belgium and the Netherlands as long as France and Britain did,
and as long as both countries showed themselves capable of
pursuing neutrality.
British soil was bombed by Germany for
the first time in the Shetland Islands. There were no
casualties.
HMS Blanche became the first British destroyer
lost in the war when it struck a mine in the Thames Estuary with
the loss of two crew members. |
14 November 1939
Lord Nuffield made
a gift of £50 000 for amenities for men of the three fighting
services with a desire that £15 000 be spent on providing
wireless sets for the forces in France. |
15 November 1939
In Lancaster the Chief
Constable had purchased and converted four second hand motor
vehicles as towing vehicles for brigade pumps for ARP purposes. |
16 November 1939
The cargo ship 'Arlington
Court' was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-43 in the
Atlantic Ocean with the loss of 5 of her 34 crew. |
17 November 1939
German troops stormed the
university dorms in Prague and other towns in the former
Czechoslovakia, attacking and arresting thousand of students.
The Nazis then executed nine Czechs by firing squads, without
trial, for leading recent demonstrations.
In Britain 'How
Hitler Made The War', documents concerning the outbreak of
hostilities, was published at the price of 3d. |
18 November 1939
The Dutch liner 'Simon
Boliver' struck two mines and sank 20 miles off Harwich with the
loss of 86 lives of around 400 on board. |
19 November 1939
An official German
communiqué announced that barricades had erected around the
Warsaw Ghetto and that Jewish districts would be placed under
strict control. |
20 November 1939
Britain had its first
submarine success of the war when HMS Sturgeon sank German
patrol vessel V-209 in the Heligoland Bight, in the North Sea. |
21 November 1939
The British government
declared a blockade of German exports in reprisal for numerous
incidents at sea.
The British destroyer HMS Gipsey struck a
mine outside Harwich and sank with the loss of 30 crew.
HMS
Belfast struck a mine in the Firth of Forth and was severely
damaged, repairs took until November 1942 to complete. |
22 November 1939
It was reported in the
House of Commons there was a shortage of small batteries, known
as the 3d size. With the result that pedestrians were
using much larger and brighter torches which tend to contravene
the black out regulations. |
23 November 1939
The British armed
merchant cruiser, HMS Rawalpindi, was sunk by German warships
north of the Faroe islands. 238 of the 286 crew were lost. |
24 November 1939
Today the BBC Radio Home
Service featured the Band of His Majesty's Coldstream Guards,
'First Steps in First Aid', 'For the Troops', A NAAFI variety
programme from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London and the
Victorian thriller 'Gas Light'. |
25 November 1939
The Winter Olympics, to
be held in Germany in February 1940, were cancelled. |
26 November 1939
Soviet troops shell the
Russian village of Mainila and claim the fire has come from
Finland, which was untrue, but gave the Soviet Union a
propaganda boost which resulted in the start of the Winter War
four days later. |
27 November 1939
A secret report to the
British War Cabinet indicated that 4 513 personnel and 394
vehicles had been shipped to the British Expeditionary Force in
France in the previous week. A battalion of infantry had
also been sent to the Orkney Islands. |
28 November 1939
12 Bristol Blenheims of
the Royal Air Force bombed the German sea plane base at Borkum.
Little damage was done, but all the planes returned safely. |
29 November 1939
The Soviet Union
cancelled the Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact.
German
submarine U-35 surfaced and surrendered near the Shetland
Islands after being depth charged by the British destroyers, HMS
Icarus, HMS Kashmire and HMS Kingston. All 43 crew were
taken prisoner of war.
Adolf Hitler issued Directive Number
9, Instructions for warfare against the Economy of the Enemy,
focussing on attacking British shipping and ports and blockading
sea lanes and using U-boats and naval mines. |
30 November 1939
The Winter War began when
the Soviet Union invaded Finland. 600 000 soldiers of the
Red Army began to cross the Finnish Border and Soviet aircraft
bombed the capital Helsinki. |
