Chris Oakley
Banned
And now, to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the start of World War II, I present my second Timeline In A Week series....
ON TO BERLIN!
An Alternate History Of The First Days Of The Second World War
PART 1
NEW YORK POST
September 1st, 1939
WAR!
German Army Attacks Poland;
Britain And France Start Full Mobilization
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"Just moments ago Prime Minister Chamberlain told the House of
Commons that if Germany did not halt its invasion of Poland and
withdraw its troops from Polish soil within twenty-four hours, Great
Britain would have to regard herself as being in a state of war with
the Reich. In response Adolf Hitler has vowed that if the British should
go to war with him the German people will 'meet bomb with bomb'..."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES EVENING EDITION
ROOSEVELT PROCLAIMS U.S. NEUTRALITY IN EUROPE;
NAZI U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NEW YORK HARBOR
BALTIMORE SUN
September 2nd, 1939
GERMANY REJECTS BRITISH ULTIMATUM
British Expeditionary Force Prepares To Embark
For France; French Troops Poised On German Border
TIMES OF LONDON
NO SIGN OF GERMAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM POLAND
Home Fleet Ordered To Put To Sea;
RAF Fighter Command Squadrons On Alert
MUTUAL RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"With less than an hour to go before Prime Minister Chamberlain's
deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland is due to
expire, the invasion force is continuing to press home its attacks on
the Polish army and we are now getting reports that the Luftwaffe is
bombing Warsaw....”
EXCERPT OF PRIME MINISTER CHAMBERLAIN'S
RADIO ADDRESS
"I regret to tell you now there has been no indication from Berlin that
they are prepared to withdraw their troops from Poland, and thus this
country is at war with Germany..."
NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"Hitler today made good on his threat to 'meet bomb with bomb' as British
army units stationed in France came under air attack by the Germans in a
series of co-ordinated surprise early morning raids. There is no word yet as
to casualties, but a spokesman for the British Imperial General Staff confirms
the field headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force was one of the main
targets of the attack and promised swift retaliatory action by the RAF and its
French allies...."
NEW YORK TIMES EVENING EDITION
BRITISH, FRENCH ARTILLERY BOMBARD SIEGFRIED LINE
Royal Navy Claims German U-Boat Sunk Off Dutch Coast
WASHINGTON POST
September 3rd, 1939
ALLIED, GERMAN TANKS CLASH ALONG FRENCH BORDER
R.A.F. BOMBERS RAID GERMAN AIRFIELDS
BOSTON GLOBE AFTERNOON EDITION
BRITISH BATTLESHIP H.M.S. ROYAL OAK HEAVILY DAMAGED
IN U-BOAT ATTACK
Wounded Royal Navy Flagship Towed Back To Scapa Flow;
U-Boat That Launched Attack Sunk By Carrier Planes
DAILY MAIL
POLAND VOWS TO FIGHT ON DESPITE HEAVY LOSSES
Two Air Defense Squadrons Decimated In Heroic Battle
With German Planes Over Warsaw; Cavalry Brigade Cut To Pieces
VOLKISCHER BEOBACHTER
HEROIC GERMAN SOLDIERS CRUSH BARBARIC POLE ATTACK
ON EAST PRUSSIA
Polish Navy Treacherously Fires On Unarmed Merchant Vessel;
Hundreds Of Men Slaughtered In Cold Blood
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
September 4th, 1939
POLISH GOVERNMENT DENIES NAZI MASSACRE CLAIMS
Asserts Sunken German Merchant Ship Likely Victim
Of U-Boat Friendly Fire
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"The Allied armies in France have now gone over to the attack...The German
Reich's official state radio reported just minutes ago that French and British
troops have crossed the Franco-German border and are fighting the Wehrmacht
south of Kiel...."
LOS ANGELES TIMES EVENING EDITION
JAPAN CUTS DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH POLAND,
REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR ROME-BERLIN AXIS
BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN
“The German war ministry claims they have begun a counterattack against
Allied infantry and armored columns near Kiel, but so far there has been no
confirmation of this from independent sources....”
TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NOVA SCOTIA SHORE
Naval Patrols Pursue, Engage Enemy Sub; Casualties Unknown
NEW YORK TIMES
September 5th, 1939
SOVIET TROOPS AT POLAND'S EASTERN BORDER
TIMES OF LONDON
STALIN WARNS POLISH GOVERNMENT AGAINST ALLEGED
“BARBARISM” TOWARD ETHNIC RUSSIANS IN POLAND
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
“Tonight the Polish government is accusing the Soviet Union of plotting an invasion of
Poland’s eastern territories. With the Polish armed forces already under siege thanks to
the Nazi invasion of western Poland four days ago, sources at the Polish embassy here
in Washington state, a Soviet attack on Poland at this juncture might well lead to total
and irrevocable defeat for the Polish cause....”
HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN EVENING EDITION
PROTESTORS PICKET JAPANESE CONSULATE
OVER PRO-AXIS STATEMENTS FROM TOKYO
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
September 6th, 1939
INVASION
Red Army Attacks Eastern Poland In Four-Pronged Assault
NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
“Word of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland is being greeted horror and outrage
throughout America. Nowhere does that outrage simmer more hotly than in Chicago,
where thousands of Polish-American demonstrators are marching through the city's
streets in protest of Stalin's perfidious attack on their ancestral homeland....At the
White House President Roosevelt is accusing the Soviets of conspiring with the Nazis
to carve Poland up between them...”
BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN
“Marshal Stalin has denied any territorial ambitions in eastern Poland and asserts
the introduction of Soviet military forces into Polish territory is a purely defensive
measure to guard ethnic Russians in Poland against what he calls 'blatant malicious
persecution' by the Polish government....”
WASHINGTON POST EVENING EDITION
EXTRA—MARSHAL SMIGLY-RYDZ DEAD
Polish Prime Minister Killed In German Bombing Raid
ON TO BERLIN!
An Alternate History Of The First Days Of The Second World War
PART 1
NEW YORK POST
September 1st, 1939
WAR!
German Army Attacks Poland;
Britain And France Start Full Mobilization
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"Just moments ago Prime Minister Chamberlain told the House of
Commons that if Germany did not halt its invasion of Poland and
withdraw its troops from Polish soil within twenty-four hours, Great
Britain would have to regard herself as being in a state of war with
the Reich. In response Adolf Hitler has vowed that if the British should
go to war with him the German people will 'meet bomb with bomb'..."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES EVENING EDITION
ROOSEVELT PROCLAIMS U.S. NEUTRALITY IN EUROPE;
NAZI U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NEW YORK HARBOR
BALTIMORE SUN
September 2nd, 1939
GERMANY REJECTS BRITISH ULTIMATUM
British Expeditionary Force Prepares To Embark
For France; French Troops Poised On German Border
TIMES OF LONDON
NO SIGN OF GERMAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM POLAND
Home Fleet Ordered To Put To Sea;
RAF Fighter Command Squadrons On Alert
MUTUAL RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"With less than an hour to go before Prime Minister Chamberlain's
deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland is due to
expire, the invasion force is continuing to press home its attacks on
the Polish army and we are now getting reports that the Luftwaffe is
bombing Warsaw....”
EXCERPT OF PRIME MINISTER CHAMBERLAIN'S
RADIO ADDRESS
"I regret to tell you now there has been no indication from Berlin that
they are prepared to withdraw their troops from Poland, and thus this
country is at war with Germany..."
NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"Hitler today made good on his threat to 'meet bomb with bomb' as British
army units stationed in France came under air attack by the Germans in a
series of co-ordinated surprise early morning raids. There is no word yet as
to casualties, but a spokesman for the British Imperial General Staff confirms
the field headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force was one of the main
targets of the attack and promised swift retaliatory action by the RAF and its
French allies...."
NEW YORK TIMES EVENING EDITION
BRITISH, FRENCH ARTILLERY BOMBARD SIEGFRIED LINE
Royal Navy Claims German U-Boat Sunk Off Dutch Coast
WASHINGTON POST
September 3rd, 1939
ALLIED, GERMAN TANKS CLASH ALONG FRENCH BORDER
R.A.F. BOMBERS RAID GERMAN AIRFIELDS
BOSTON GLOBE AFTERNOON EDITION
BRITISH BATTLESHIP H.M.S. ROYAL OAK HEAVILY DAMAGED
IN U-BOAT ATTACK
Wounded Royal Navy Flagship Towed Back To Scapa Flow;
U-Boat That Launched Attack Sunk By Carrier Planes
DAILY MAIL
POLAND VOWS TO FIGHT ON DESPITE HEAVY LOSSES
Two Air Defense Squadrons Decimated In Heroic Battle
With German Planes Over Warsaw; Cavalry Brigade Cut To Pieces
VOLKISCHER BEOBACHTER
HEROIC GERMAN SOLDIERS CRUSH BARBARIC POLE ATTACK
ON EAST PRUSSIA
Polish Navy Treacherously Fires On Unarmed Merchant Vessel;
Hundreds Of Men Slaughtered In Cold Blood
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
September 4th, 1939
POLISH GOVERNMENT DENIES NAZI MASSACRE CLAIMS
Asserts Sunken German Merchant Ship Likely Victim
Of U-Boat Friendly Fire
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
"The Allied armies in France have now gone over to the attack...The German
Reich's official state radio reported just minutes ago that French and British
troops have crossed the Franco-German border and are fighting the Wehrmacht
south of Kiel...."
LOS ANGELES TIMES EVENING EDITION
JAPAN CUTS DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH POLAND,
REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR ROME-BERLIN AXIS
BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN
“The German war ministry claims they have begun a counterattack against
Allied infantry and armored columns near Kiel, but so far there has been no
confirmation of this from independent sources....”
TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NOVA SCOTIA SHORE
Naval Patrols Pursue, Engage Enemy Sub; Casualties Unknown
NEW YORK TIMES
September 5th, 1939
SOVIET TROOPS AT POLAND'S EASTERN BORDER
TIMES OF LONDON
STALIN WARNS POLISH GOVERNMENT AGAINST ALLEGED
“BARBARISM” TOWARD ETHNIC RUSSIANS IN POLAND
CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
“Tonight the Polish government is accusing the Soviet Union of plotting an invasion of
Poland’s eastern territories. With the Polish armed forces already under siege thanks to
the Nazi invasion of western Poland four days ago, sources at the Polish embassy here
in Washington state, a Soviet attack on Poland at this juncture might well lead to total
and irrevocable defeat for the Polish cause....”
HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN EVENING EDITION
PROTESTORS PICKET JAPANESE CONSULATE
OVER PRO-AXIS STATEMENTS FROM TOKYO
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
September 6th, 1939
INVASION
Red Army Attacks Eastern Poland In Four-Pronged Assault
NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN
“Word of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland is being greeted horror and outrage
throughout America. Nowhere does that outrage simmer more hotly than in Chicago,
where thousands of Polish-American demonstrators are marching through the city's
streets in protest of Stalin's perfidious attack on their ancestral homeland....At the
White House President Roosevelt is accusing the Soviets of conspiring with the Nazis
to carve Poland up between them...”
BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN
“Marshal Stalin has denied any territorial ambitions in eastern Poland and asserts
the introduction of Soviet military forces into Polish territory is a purely defensive
measure to guard ethnic Russians in Poland against what he calls 'blatant malicious
persecution' by the Polish government....”
WASHINGTON POST EVENING EDITION
EXTRA—MARSHAL SMIGLY-RYDZ DEAD
Polish Prime Minister Killed In German Bombing Raid
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