Tuesday 28 November 1939

Meeting of the Jewish council in the Lodz ghetto

Soviet/Finnish Relations: On 28 November 1939, the Soviets renounce the 21 January 1932 Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact. They also allege two more "incidents" of Finnish troops firing on Soviet forces along the border on the sensitive Karelian Isthmus. The decision to renounce the pact may seem rather pointless, but Hitler likes to maintain a certain facile pretense of legality to all of his actions. The Soviets quite obviously are adopting his pre-war tactics.

The Finns submit the conclusion of their own investigation to the Soviets. The conclusion is that it was Soviet artillery, not Finnish artillery, that shelled Mainila. This is based on numerous factors, including the absence of Finnish artillery in the area and direct observation of the shelling by Finnish observers as it happened.

Soviet Military: The Kremlin sends orders to its troops along the Finnish border to prepare to invade Finland on 30 November.

Battle of the Atlantic: The British and French governments jointly announce that reprisal measures for German mining of shipping lanes without warning will take effect on 4 December 1939.

The British freighter Rubislaw hits a mine and sinks in the North Sea.

The SS Gustaf E. Reuter, which was torpedoed on the 27th, is still barely floating, so the RN trawler Kingston Beryl gives it the coup de grâce.

The Norwegian government purchases the US-flagged City of Flint.

The HMS Chitral lands its 11 survivors from the HMS Rawalpindi, sunk near Iceland by the Kriegsmarine pocket battleship Scharnhorst. The other survivors were picked up by the Germans.

US freighter Winston Salem is detained by the British at Ramsgate.

Convoy OA 43 departs from Southend and OB 43 departs from Liverpool.

European Air Operations: The RAF performs reconnaissance over northwest Germany.

Twelve Bristol Blenheims of the RAF attack a German seaplane base at Borkum, one of the Friesian Islands. It is a low-level attack with machine guns. All the aircraft return safely and little damage is done to the base, but it is the first such attack by the British after innumerable reconnaissance flights.

Public views Magna Carta after it is deposited in the Congressional Library [Library of Congress], Washington, D.C., November 28, 1939.

Holocaust: Hans Frank in Krakow orders that there be a Judenrat (Jewish council of elders) in every Polish ghetto to carry out German orders and be held responsible for actions within those ghettos.

British Government: King George opens a new session of Parliament.

The British government ceremonially turns over the Magna Carta to the United States for safekeeping. It already is in the United States for display at the New York World's Fair. A return trip to Great Britain during wartime is considered too hazardous. The decision to retain it in the United States was arranged by President Roosevelt personally. The Magna Carta is put on public display in Washington, D.C.

British Military: The British recall to service Adrian Carton de Wiart. He is given the rank of Major General. De Wiart is a legendary, heroic figure in the annals of the British military. He has made his home in the Pripyat Marshes in Poland between the wars and has been advising the Polish government since the start of the war. De Cart already has had several narrow escapes from capture by the Germans before returning to England.

China: The Japanese attack Kaofengyi during the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi.

New Zealand: The steamer Waikouaiti runs aground on Dog Island three miles off Bluff in dense fog. It is a total loss, but no loss of life.

American Homefront: Today becomes infamous as Black Tuesday, the worst of many smoke-choked days in St. Louis’ smokiest cold-weather season. The city already is known for the nation’s filthiest air, worse even than Pittsburgh’s. The reason is the area’s reliance on cheap, dirty, high-sulfur “soft” coal dug from the hills and hollows across the Mississippi River in Illinois. St. Louis’ first anti-smoke ordinance was dated 1867 and was out obsolete. But as the city grew in population and industry, the smoke kept getting worse. This day finally prompts the city to ban the use of cheap soft coal, a hard sell during the Great Depression.

London is blacked out.

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