September 27
1840 Birth: Alfred Thayer Mahan, US navy admiral, influential author. The German Kaiser will memorize Mahan's work and build his navy accordingly.
...He was perhaps the most celebrated naval historian of his era, an influential promoter of United States naval and commercial expansion during America's rise to world power in the late nineteenth century. As the author of numerous articles and books, including the landmark The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783, Alfred Thayer Mahan was widely regarded as a brilliant naval theorist. From his writings, readers would never have guessed, however, that the renowned champion of the United States Navy hated the sea, and while an active-duty naval officer, lived in constant fear of ocean storms and colliding ships...
1894 Birth: Lothar von Richthofen, German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories during the war. He was younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen and a cousin of the Luftwaffe field marshal Wolfram von Richthofen.
1914 WW1: Heavy fighting at Artois until October 10.
1918 WW1: Haig's British army group flings itself against the Hindenburg line; but the drive soon slows down, in the face of a skillful German defense.
...Ludendorff, in his anxiety to protect Cambrai, had been withdrawing troops from Flanders. Doubtless he remembered our experiences in the third battle of Ypres, and recalled the fact that the Flanders mud had there done more to check our progress than had the German troops. The season was already far advanced and there had been a good deal of rain. The state of his reserves was such that in order to meet the American advance west of the Meuse, and the British advance on Cambrai, both of them blows aimed at his vitals, he had to take chances somewhere, and he decided to take them on...
1918 WW1: On Allenby's desert flank to the east, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and King Faisal cut the railway line at Deraa, while Allenby continues to press on toward Damascus.
1918 WW1: President Woodrow Wilson opens his fourth Liberty Loan campaign to support men and machines for WW1.
...An aggressive campaign was created by Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo to raise money from war-supporting Americans by selling the bonds. The government used famous artists to make posters, and used movie stars to host bond rallies. Al Jolson, Elsie Janis, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin were among the celebrities that made public appearances promoting the idea that purchasing a liberty bond was "the patriotic thing to do" during the era. Chaplin also made a short film, The Bond, at his own expense for the drive...
1923 Weimar: Fourteen mass demonstrations Hitler's NSDAP had planned to hold are banned by the Bavarian strong man, Gustav Kahr..
...There were many extreme nationalist groups in existence at the time all vowing to overthrow the Weimar government and restore Germany to greatness again. In early 1919 far left revolutionaries had declared Bavaria a communist republic. In May 1919, the Freikorps and army units had crushed the communist government, killing hundreds of opponents. By 1920 Bavaria was under the control of right wing nationalists led by Gustav Kahr. Hitler’s brand of nationalistic and racist political views found fertile ground..."
1928 The US announces that it will recognize the Nationalist Chinese Government.....The years 1928 - 1937 were the years that the Kuomintang ( KMT ) government had its best chance of reforming, rebuilding, and integrating a fractured China. It was during this decade that the KMT had its greatest potential to create the China envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. To many, it appeared as if the KMT government was in fact the revolutionary and reforming government it claimed to be. Beginning with the apparent success of the Northern Expedition, to the reform of the financial and education systems, the recovery of foreign concessions, and the modest increase in industrialisation, the KMT appeared to be well underway in its attempt to rebuild China into an integrated nation. Yet as important as these successes were, the reality was that the KMT, as a politically unifying force, was inherently flawed..."
1933 Church and Reich: Ludwig Müller (Mueller), bishop of Prussia and a confidant of Hitler, is named Reichsbishop. (THP)
1933 The Canadian garment industry joins the anti-Nazi boycott.1935 Holocaust: Waldemar Gurian, a German Catholic writer in exile, writes that the Nuremberg ordinances are "only a stage on the way toward the complete physical destruction of the Jews." (THP)
1936 Holocaust: The Gestapo closes the Association of Independent Artisans of the Jewish Faith, a German Jewish mutual aid society.
1938 Sudeten Crisis: Hitler again warns that he will crush Czechoslovakia if his demands concerning the Sudetenland are not met.
1938 Sudeten Crisis: Sep 27-28 The British Home Fleet is mobilized in response to the Czechoslovakian crisis. 1938 Holocaust: The fifth ordinance under the Reich Citizenship act closes the legal professions to Jewish lawyers in the German states. 1938 Holocaust: Police in Denmark adopt strict measures to prevent illegal Jewish immigrants from entering their country.1939 Holocaust: The RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or Reich Security Head Office) begins operation..
...For the next six years Eichmann's office was the headquarters for the implementation of the 'Final Solution'; though it was not until the summer of 1941 that his 'resettlement' department began the task of creating death camps, developing gassing techniques and organizing the system of convoys that were to take European Jewry to their deaths...
1939 WW2: The German Foreign Office to the German Embassy in the Soviet Union:.
For Reich Foreign Minister in person. Telegram from Helsinki No. 245 of the 26th: The Foreign Minister notified me of demands made by Russia on Estonia and observed that Finland was prepared to improve her relations with Russia, but would never accept such demands and would rather let it come to the worst. I pointed to the difference between the position of Estonia and that of Finland and advised the Foreign Minister to seek the security of his country in good relations with Germany and Russia. The Foreign Minister agreed and emphasized complete elimination of English influence from the Baltic area. Blücher." "The Foreign Minister conveyed a request to inform the Reich Foreign Minister of the following, if possible before his departure for Moscow: The Estonian Government, under the gravest threat of imminent attack, perforce is prepared to accept a military alliance with the Soviet Union. Minister Selter with staff will fly to Moscow tomorrow, Wednesday, to negotiate. Aim of negotiation: Framing of a treaty in such manner that the sovereignty and internal security of the country are preserved and the Estonian non-aggression pact kept intact. Hence they intended to propose, in connection with the mutual assistance obligation of the contracting parties, to except the existing non-aggression pacts with third countries. It is further desired that naval and air bases should be made available only in case of war, when assistance obligation comes into play; in peace time as far as possible only preparation of the bases. The Russians first demanded Reval as a naval base, but seem prepared to agree to Baltischport or a port on Ösel. The Estonians wish if possible to grant air bases only on island. The general tendency is to meet the demands only as far as necessary to prevent an attack and maintain existing good relations with Germany." Note: Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop begins a three day visit to Moscow.
1939 WW2: Warsaw Surrenders to the Nazis after undergoing 36 hours of Luftwaffe bombing, strafings and artillery fire. Thousands of civilians are killed including an estimated 3,000 Jews..
Poland's defeat was the inevitable outcome of the Warsaw government's illusions about the actions its allies would take, as well as of its over-estimation of the Polish Army's ability to offer lengthy resistance..."
1939 Holocaust: Near Grabowiec, 150 Polish policemen, 4 NCOs and 6 officers among 5,000 taken prisoner, are executed by the Soviets with the aid of Ukrainian and Jewish militias. (THP) 1939 WW2: British First Lord to First Sea Lord: "Pray examine and advise upon a proposal to establish a minefield, blocking Norwegian territorial waters at some lonely spot on the coast as far north as convenient. If the Norwegians will do this themselves, well and good. Otherwise a plan must be made for us to do it."1939 The Bulgarian government moves to suppress growing anti-Semitic violence.
1940 Countdown to Infamy: Sep 27-28 Germany, Italy and Japan sign a 10-year military and economic alliance, the Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis. Hitler regards Japan as a buffer against the US and a distraction for the USSR. Japan takes advantage of the situation and quickly occupies northern French Indochina (Vietnam).
1940 Death: Walter Benjamin, German Marxist literary critic and philosopher. Benjamin probably committed suicide in Port-Bou at the Spanish-French border, attempting to escape from the Nazis. The circumstances of his death are unclear. As an emigrant Jew, a radical writer who had made close friends with Brecht and Adorno, and a fierce critic of Nazism he would have been well-known to the Gestapo and it's a well documented fact that the Spanish border police were cooperative with the Germans. Once he was dead, following this interpretation, there would be no point in holding back the others (who did not know Benjamin). Benjamin certainly was aware that he was risking his life both if he went south or if he stayed behind in Paris; the latter meant certain death and probably torture at the hands of the Gestapo. It does not seem that he was using any forged identity papers when attempting to cross into Spain, and this would make it easier for the border police to identify him. In all probability Benjamin did not know people who were in the more advanced escape business, and his portliness and distinctive face made it hard for him to disguise himself anyway.
1941 Holocaust: Himmler comes through with a long-delayed promotion of Heydrich to Obergruppenfuehrer (Lieutenant General) and general of the police. (THP)
1942 WW2: At Stalingrad, German forces succeed in capturing most of the strategic Mamayev Kurgan hill, and penetrating the heavily defended Red October and Barricades housing estates.
1942 WW2: Joseph Goebbels delivers a pep-talk to the Reich:.
...One can argue about whether the English and Americans, along with their Jewish blowhards, were forced by domestic political reasons to reveal so openly their secret intentions toward us. Whatever the reason, it hardly needs to be said that their propaganda has done them serious harm, both in the world and above all with respect to our own people. It may be that, given their eternal military defeats, the English and Americans need to let off steam occasionally with outbursts of rage and revenge. No one can doubt, however, that we can only welcome their revelations...
1942 WW2: Australian forces defeat the Japanese on New Guinea in the South Pacific.....Having been repulsed in this attempt to take Port Moresby by sea, and another attempt in August 1942 by the Australians at Milne Bay, the Japanese pushed toward their objective over the Owen Stanley Mountains from the Buna-Gona area in southeastern New Guinea. Two Australian divisions, one U.S. Army division, and a separate U.S. Army regiment had to be committed to the fight..."
1943 WW2: General withdrawal of all German forces in the Ukraine to positions on the west bank of the Dnepr river.
1944 WW2: Thousands of British troops are killed as German forces rebuff their massive effort to capture the Arnhem Bridge across the Rhine River in Holland.
1944 WW2: German forces of Heeresgruppe E evacuate western Greece..
In 1944 Greece is liberated from the German occupation though the celebration is a short one. The victorious resistance fighters of the left and the right have already begun to fight each other. With the King, the government and the army still in Egypt and the collapse of the occupation government, it is the Greek communists who control most of the country...
1944 WW2 Field-Marshal Smuts to Churchill:.
...it has to be feared that after the war against Germany is won war fever in the United States will cool off and American ardor be transferred to trade and industry...Division of zones in Germany between the United Kingdom and United States appears fair. The destiny of Prussia under occupied by the Russians seems likely to be a Bolshevised Soviet province or protectorate. So much for Hitler's dream. But it shows that Europe's 2,000 year old problem of Germany will remain as great as ever..."
1944 WW2 Churchill to Stalin:.
...it is the Russian Army that tore the guts out of the German military machine, and is at the present moment holding by far the larger portion of the enemy on its front. 2. I have just returned from long talks with the President, and I can assure you of our intense conviction that on the agreement of our three nations...stand the hopes of the world. I feel very sorry to learn that you had not been feeling well lately, and that your doctors did not like your taking long journeys by air...but it may be the course of the war, even before Christmas, may alter the picture along the Baltic shore to such an extent that your journey will not be tiring or difficult...I most earnestly desire, and so, I know, does the President, the intervention of Soviet Russia in the Japanese war, as promised by you at Teheran as soon as the German Army was beaten and destroyed. The opening of a Russian military front against Japan would force them to burn and bleed, especially in the air, in a manner which would vastly accelerate their defeat. From all I have learned about the internal state of Japan and the sense of hopelessness weighing on their people, I believe it might well be that once the Nazis are shattered a triple summons to Japan to surrender, coming from our three Great Powers, might be decisive. Of course, we must go into all these plans together...
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