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From: military@cbnews.att.com
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: 50 Years Ago : Monday, 25 September, 1939
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Date: 23 Sep 89 18:46:24 GMT
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Monday, 25 September, 1939


After a twelve-day hiatus to deal with the Bzura counterattack and to carry
out an intense campaign of propaganda leafletting, the Luftwaffe bombs
Warsaw.  About 400 aircraft (Ju-87 Stukas, He-111s, and a /Gruppe/ of
clumsy Ju-52 transports) fly repeated sorties from temporary airstrips on
Polish territory.  By nightfall 500 tons of high explosives, 72 tons of
incendiaries, and massed artillery fire leave the city in flames.

The Germans deliver a second ultimatum to the Warsaw garrison. 
Food is short in the city, and typhoid runs rampant.

The Royal Navy commences laying of an anti-submarine minefield across the
straights of Dover; its completion requires another month.

In Germany, bread and flour are rationed, and food ration cards have
been distributed to the entire populace.

The aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) is laid down at Newport News
shipyard.   Sister ship to Yorktown and Enterprise, already commissioned,
she will displace 20,000 tons and carry 96 aircraft upon her
completion in October, 1941.

Contributing Reporter: Mark Jackson (MJackson.Wbst@Xerox.COM)

References:
(1) /Airwar/ by Edward Jablonski
C.Argyle, _Chronology of World War II_
J. Piekalkiewicz, _Tank War 1939-1940_
R.Dupuy and T.Dupuy, _The Encyclopedia of Military History_

--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bill Thacker			            military@cbnews.att.com
Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com

"Hitler now gave it out that the governing class and intelligentsia of
Poland were to be exterminated, and took steps to use the appropriate
instruments to that end." - Walter Goerlitz, _History of the German
General Staff_