5th September 1939
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WAR!!!!!
Sinking of the SS Athenia
275 US citizens dead
In a move most foul, the day before yesterday September 3rd, at 7:40 PM local time, a submarine of clear German origin (according to eyewitnesses) attacked the transatlantic SS Athenia during its travel between the cities of Glasgow, Scotland, and Montreal, Canada. The ship, numbering 1418 people between passengers and crew, sank after a torpedo launched by the submarine hit its starboard side, creating a leak too big to be repaired soon enough and killing approximately thirty crewmen. The captain's orders to leave the ship weren't, unfortunately, given fast enough for the remaining crew and passengers to leave the ship in time, as other torpedo hit the ship, this time at stern, disabling the propellers and sinking the ship faster. Only 140 people were able to reach the lifeboats alive, to be rescued later by the members of the fishing boat Aiwheen, who are being lauded by the survivors as the ones who saved them.WAR!!!!!
Sinking of the SS Athenia
275 US citizens dead
"It caught us by surprise," says Hannah Baird, on of the ship's waitress. "We knew that there was war, but we wouldn't have ever thought that the Germans would attack so near of England so soon. The first thing we heard was a huge explosion under us, a bit on my left side, then all of us lost balance with the impact. When I managed to stand up, I noticed that the ship was sloping, and I could barely hear the siren telling us to go up on deck. I was in panic and ran upstairs. A few minutes after that, there is other explosion in the back of the ship, and I can't remember much after that until I am in the lifeboat and the Athenia sinking a few hundred yards from us."
Nearby fishermen (among whom are the Aiwheen crewmen) were able to see the attacking submarine reaching the surface several minutes after the Athenia was hit, leaving the scene soon after that. At the closure of this edition, the Irish Government was discussing the possibility of entering the war in the British-French side.
Once the news reached the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for a Joint Session of the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to establish what should be done. In spite of the claims from German Ambassador to the United States Hans Thomsen that the attack on the Athenia was an accident and that Germany would be willing to compensate the families of the deceased for their loss, the following speech was given by the President:
"Mr. Vice President, Mr Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: yesterday, 3rd September 1939, the ocean-liner SS Athenia was attacked without notice, without provocation and with extreme force by a submarine of the German Navy in the sovereign waters of the nation of the Republic of Ireland. Two-hundred and seventy-five United States citizens, out of the three-hundred who were traveling aboard the Athenia, died alongside one-thousand and twenty-three people from other countries.
In spite of their recent cowardly attack against the nation of Poland and their alliance with the Soviet Union, the United States still hoped that the peace reached the countries of Europe before the bloodshed started at all, and had sent a message to the German Government through our Ambassador Hugh Wilson telling them of our hopes for a fast peace. However, this dastardly attack, as well as the attacks against its own population, shows us that the German Government and its Army and Navy don't have any qualms to attack innocent people, independently of their social extraction and origin. They attacked the ship in spite of the clear markings that signaled its use as a transport ship.
Germany has, therefore, undertaken an offensive against British and American positions in the Atlantic Ocean. The events of the last week, as well as those in the last years, have exposed the true nature of the German National Socialist Worker's Party, the one in the German Government since 1933, as the ones of people against freedom, against peace and against equality of all people.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense should they be necessary, for the possibility exists that German submarines try to attack the Eastern Seaboard ports, in spite of the distance between our country and Germany.
But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us and our allies. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated attack, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Germany on Sunday, September 3rd, 1939, a state of war has existed between the United States and the German Reich."
Upon the end of the speech, the whole Joint Session stood up to give a thunderous applause, being followed by a voting: with 416-19 in the House of Representatives and 49-1 in the Senate in favor of war, soon the declaration was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt and sent to the German Government through Hans Thomsen.
Several incidents have been reported to happen in several cities in the United States against people of German origin. The Government has asked for leaving American citizens of said origin unmolested, claiming that there isn't any danger coming from them. Indeed, several German-American people were seen last night in a pacific demonstration in St Patrick's Church while attending a mass for the redemption of the lost souls in the attack.
From the offices of this newspaper, we pray that this war ends with a victory for the United States of America and its allies. May God save America.
