Tuesday 14 November 1939

The "Dyle Plan."

Battle of the Atlantic: On 14 November 1939, German vessel Trifels is captured by French auxiliary cruiser Koutoubia near the Azores.

Convoy OA 35 departs from Southend and OB 35 departs from Liverpool.

Anglo/French Military Command: The British and French high commands agree on a strategy in the event of an invasion, the "Dyle Plan." The plan calls for holding in the south with the Maginot Line and meeting a German thrust through the Ardennes and low countries with the deployment of the BEF north from where they are encamped around Sedan to the British Channel. They will form a defensive line called the "Meuse-Antwerp Line." This line barely covers Brussels and, if the Germans invade Holland as well, Amsterdam as well. However, Liege and vast parts of Belgium and Holland would be unprotected.

The Maginot Line itself, of course, remains incomplete due to its massive cost. The Dyle plan inherently requires a violation of Belgian neutrality which is assumed to be acceptable to the Belgians (the Belgians have not agreed to this and in fact remain non-committal). It also includes an advance into Holland, though that could more easily be side-stepped if the Dutch protested. The Dyle Plan is called "Plan D." It brilliantly covers the German Empire's attack of 1914.

Finland: The Finnish Army, some 175-200,000 men, digs in on the Karelian Isthmus north of Leningrad. The Soviets muster an army approaching a million men opposite them.

Venezuela: An oil refinery fire kills some 500 people and destroys the town of Lagunillas.

Peace Offers: Adolf Hitler joins the Allies in rejecting the offer of mediation by the royal houses of Belgium and Holland.

German/Swedish Relations: Trade talks between Sweden and Germany are broken off.

Polish/British Relations: General Sikorski and Foreign Minister Zaleski arrive in London for talks.

German Opposition: Continued turmoil in the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (former Czechoslovakia).

Holocaust: The President of Lódz joins other jurisdictions and mandates that Jews wear the Yellow Star of David armbands. In addition, the Germans burn to the ground the city's Great Synagogue of Łódź.

Admiral Byrd's snow cruiser loaded for its voyage to the Antarctic.

November 1939

November 1, 1939: The Jet Flies Again
November 2, 1939: The Soviets Devour Poland
November 3, 1939: Amending the Neutrality Act
November 4, 1939: Roosevelt Signs Neutrality Laws
November 5, 1939: The Spirit of Zossen
November 6, 1939: First Dogfight
November 7, 1939: More Lies About SS Athenia
November 8, 1939: Hitler Almost Killed
November 9, 1939: The Venlo Incident
November 10, 1939: Dutch Panic
November 11, 1939: Poignant Armistice Day
November 12, 1939: Peace Efforts Made and Rejected
November 13, 1939: First Bombing of Great Britain
November 14, 1939: The Dyle Plan
November 15, 1939: Elser Confesses to the Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
November 16, 1939: Martial Law in Prague
November 17, 1939: International Students Day
November 18, 1939: Magnetic Mines
November 19, 1939: Walls Around the Warsaw Ghetto
November 20, 1939: First RN Submarine Victory
November 21, 1939: Salmon & Gluckstein on the Prowl
November 22, 1939: British Recover A Magnetic Mine
November 23, 1939: HMS Rawalpindi Sunk
November 24, 1939: Japanese Enter Nanning
November 25, 1939: The Olympics are a War Casualty
November 26, 1939: Soviets Stage an "Incident" at Mainila
November 27, 1939: German Marriage Becomes Perilous
November 28, 1939: Judenrats in Poland
November 29, 1939: The Soviets Prepare to Invade Finland
November 30, 1939: Winter War Begins

2019