military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (11/01/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, 1 November, 1939 The division of occupied Poland is completed, as Germany annexes its western portions (Danzig, the Corridor, eastern Silesia, Lodz, and Ciechanow) while the USSR incorporates the east (Western Ukraine and Western White Russia). Finnish Foreign Minister Erkko announces that country's readiness to "firmly resist" Russia's demands on her territory. The Finnish port and pennisula of Hangoe have been mined, as well as Finland's southern coast. Belgium and Holland, in response to reported German troop buildups on their borders, begin testing their flood defense. Sluices on key dams are partially opened, to allow water to saturate the ground in the flood plane, ensuring rapid and effective flooding should such be required in the future. The experimental Heinkel 178 jet aircraft is shown to senior Luftwaffe officials, including Ernst Udet and and Erhard Milch, who declare their skepticism about turbojet propulsion for aircraft. The He 178 had been previously flown as early as 27 August. In the USA, the Rockefeller Center is completed. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "It is impossible for Finland to agree to any settlement that would rob us of independence or neutrality. This right of self-defense belongs to every independent and free nation." - Foreign Minister Eljas Erkko