Wednesday 22 November 1939

One of the German magnetic mines dropped by parachute on the Shoeburyness mud flats on 22 November 1939.

Battle of the Atlantic: The French announce on 22 November 1939 that they, too, will retaliate for the illegal placement of mines by the Germans.

Around 20:00-21:00, observers spot a low-flying Heinkel He 111 dropping mines on the Shoeburyness mudflats, which are uncovered at low tide. Lieutenant Commanders John Ouvry and Roger Lewis of the Render Mines Safe group (HMS Vernon) very carefully recover one of the mines. It quickly is given to scientists to figure out a counter-measure. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill himself personally arranges the whole affair and carefully supervises it.

U-43 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Ambrosius) torpedoes and sinks 4,374-ton French freighter Arijon in the Bay of Biscay. Everyone survives.

Italian freighter Fianona, 4,576-tons, strikes a  mine off the Thames estuary but makes it to port. Greek freighter Elena R. strikes a mine and sinks near the Shambles Light Vessel. The entire crew survives by reaching the Light Vessel. British vessels Lowland and Aragonite strike mines and sink.

The German freighter Bertha Fisser aka Konsul Hendrik Fisser, which had left Africa days before and has been masquerading as other ships, is intercepted near Iceland by RN cruiser Calypso. Her crew tries to scuttle her, but she winds up on the rocks near shore.

German freighter Adolf Woermann is scuttled off Ascension Island in the South Atlantic to avoid capture by Royal Navy cruiser Neptune.

US freighter Exmouth is detained by the British at Gibraltar.

German supply vessel Westerwald returns to Germany.

Convoy OA 39 departs from Southend and OB 39 from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: Six Luftwaffe planes raid the Shetland Islands. They destroy a Royal Air Force seaplane that is lying at its mooring. Other raiders appear over the Thames estuary and elsewhere along the coast. A Luftwaffe plane is shot down by anti-aircraft fire near the southeast coast.

There are air battles over France. Three Bf 109s are shot down by Allied fighters, and one Bf 109 is brought down by the anti-aircraft fire. A crashed Bf 109 is recovered by the French for evaluation.

RAF reconnaissance planes make sweeps over Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Bremen.

A Dutch Fokker D.XXI makes a bad landing in dense fog at brand new Auxiliary airfield Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, province of Noord-Holland on 22 November 1939.

Romania: The cabinet resigns.

Poland: The government-in-exile moves from Paris to Angers.

British Government: A national savings scheme with the slogan "Lend to Defend the Right to be Free" is launched by Sir John Simon.

Propaganda: Joseph Goebbels has the Reich's state media full of stories about British involvement in the Bürgerbräukeller bombing of 8 November 1939. This is Hitler's personal view, and Goebbels is just carrying out what Hitler wants. According to this narrative, Johann Georg Elser was controlled by the two British officers arrested at Venlo, Best and Stevens, along with Otto Strasser in Switzerland. Even Walter Schellenberg, who knew intimately the scope of Best and Stevens' operations found this theory "quite ridiculous."

American Homefront: The US Supreme Court issues its ruling in Schneider v. New Jersey (308 U.S. 147) (1939). This holds that people may hand out literature to people willing to receive it on public streets, and local municipalities may not unduly restrict that right on such grounds as keeping the streets clean. It is a key development in the law of public fora and the right to free speech under the 1st Amendment.

In addition, Admiral Byrd departs from Boston on his Antarctic expedition with his massive snow cruiser.

Bf-109.E3 Messerschmi of I / JG-76 (later, l / JG-54) forced to land in the French lines near Sarreguemines, November 22, 1939. The aircraft was repaired by the CEV for evaluation.

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