World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Wednesday Sept. 4, 1940
Day 370

Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at top right: "U.S. Destroyers Reported On Way"
(Very sporting of the press to inform the Germans that the destroyers were at sea on the way to England.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Newcastle Journal and North Mail, Newcastle, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 2: "Britain Will Never Sink or Surrender Fleet"


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Victim Of Raider? Ship Overdue at Noumea"
(The ship, Notou, was captured and sunk by the German hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser) Orion on Aug. 16.)
Also note the report in columns 3-4: "Spitfire Fund Nears £3000 Mark"


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Daily Telegraph, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at bottom right: "Children Saved from Evacuee Ship"
(Some of the children from the Volendam.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "British Liner Attacked by Sub But Holds Own"
(The Avoceta would escape this attack, but on Sept. 25, 1941, U-203 would send her to the bottom.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at bottom right: "Havoc-Raising Mascot Figures Army Rules Exist To Be Broken"


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at bottom: "Flood Waters Inundate New Jersey"
(A photo from a flood, not from today, but from 1940. Guess Sen. Chuck Schumer, Biden and the new Governor of New York were wrong, the northeast has flooded before.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 1: "Sub Grayling Launched Five Months Early"
(USS Grayling SS-209 was lost with all hands for unknown reasons near Lingayen Gulf, Philippines between Sept. 9 and 12, 1943.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline: "Destroyers' Moves Veiled" and report at top right: "Fear Publicity Invites Nazis To Sink Boats"
(In the report White House Secretary Stephen T. Early is quoted as saying;
"When they leave and where they leave from are questions which Mr. Hitler can find out for himself as far as I am concerned."

But the ever-inquisitive press apparently asked someone in the navy who said, in the very next paragraph that the ships "are to be sent to Canadian ports with their present (American) crews where they will be manned by British trained crews."

Earlier in the report about how their movements were to be "veiled" someone told the reporter that the first ships "would not sail until about Friday."

Reading further in the report about the "veiled" movements of these destroyers this is written;

"At Boston, American crews were at work on eight destroyers, said to be the first group to be traded, getting them in shape for transfer to the royal navy at a Canadian port Friday, or immediately thereafter."

Next paragraph; "Another flotilla of six of the 1,200-ton class destroyers was reported to have left Hampton Roads, Va., headed north for Boston."

As can be seen, secrecy was the utmost priority to the people quoted, the reporters who wrote the story and the publishers who published it. One must ask if the Associated Press, which is who wrote the report, understands what the word "veiled" means, or if they were just working for...

At least they did not name the Canadian port where the destroyers were going to, and of course, the Germans had no idea that it was Halifax, so that secret was safe. Well as it turns out, it wasn't. The German naval high command wrote this on Sept. 8; "The arrival of the first 8 destroyers for England is reported from Halifax."


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California. the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Olympic Fish Barge Rammed By Freighter"
[The report is concluded here.]
(The Japanese freighter, Sakito Maru, ran down the barge. Sakito Maru would be torpedoed and sunk by USS Trout SS-202 on Feb. 29, 1944. Sadly, Trout would be sunk minutes later by an escorting destroyer.)


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. U-Boot versenkt 6 bewaffnete Handelsschiffe.
(U-boat sinks 6 armed merchant ships.)
[Report about U-46 and Oberleutnant zur See Engelbert Endrass.]
 
2. Feind verlor gestern 62 Flugzeuge.
(Enemy lost 62 aircraft yesterday.)
[Or they could have said, R.A.F. fighter command loses 12 aircraft in combat and 3 for other reasons, which would have been more accurate.]


Sept. 4, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Taifun deutscher Luftgeschwader über England.
(German Typhoon Squadron over England.)
2. Lloyd George sieht das ende der R.A.F. kommen.
(Lloyd George sees the end of the R.A.F. coming.)



   
Page published Sept. 4, 2021