military@cbnews.att.com (09/29/89)
Saturday, 30 September, 1939 A Polish government-in-exile is established in Paris, under the leadership of General Sikorski. The German panzerschiffe Admiral Graf Spee sinks the SS Clement in the South Atlantic. Allied merchant losses to date amount to some 185,000 Gross Registered Tons (GRT). French forces begin to fall back from German territory this evening, signalling the end of the Saar offensive. The withdrawal is completed by 4 October. A flight of 5 Fairey Battle reconnaissance bombers is surprised by 15 Me-109's over Germany; all five British aircraft are downed. German authorities react to Churchill's announcement that merchant ships will be armed against U-boats by threatening to torpedo merchantmen without warning. So far, policy has been to first surface alongside the ships, allowing the crew to abandon before attacking. [note: To reduce wasted space, the general references listed below will now only be printed on Saturday editions. This is not intended to deceive the reader of the value of these sources, but simply to conserve bandwidth as my source material grows. - Bill ] References: C.Argyle, _Chronology of World War II_ J. Piekalkiewicz, _Tank War 1939-1940_ R.Dupuy and T.Dupuy, _The Encyclopedia of Military History_ C.Salmaggi and A.Pallavisini, _2194 Dayss of War_ The New York Times, daily editions Time magazine -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Peace in Our Time !" - Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, one year ago today, following Munich Conference with Hitler.