World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Monday, December 4, 1939
Day 95

December 4, 1939: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline: R.A.F. Bomb Nazi Fleet Off Heligoland"
(The attack was made, but there were no heavy German ships in the area. According to German documents, only 1 small ship was hit and sunk. The Germans also state that the bomb did not explode, but went through the ship.)
Also note the report in column 2: "Seven U-boats Go To Bottom"
(It is clear from Admiralty records that they did not believe that their forces had sunk 7 U-boats, so it can be considered that this disinformation was meant only for public consumption. Only one U-boat was sunk in all of Nov. and one in Dec. of 1939. The boat sunk in Dec. was sunk on the 4th (today) and would not have been reported yet.)
 
Also note the report in column 1: "One Bomb One U-boat"
(This was not about the U-boat sunk on this day, this was another false report. The boat sunk on this day was
U-36, which was sunk by a British submarine, HMS Salmon.)
Also note the report at the bottom of column 1: "Another Meets Its Doom"
(Another false report of the destruction of two U-boats.)
Also note the report in column 2: "Navymen Cheer Nazis"
(This report could describe the landing of the crew of U-35, which was sunk on Nov. 29th, the only U-boat sunk in November of 1939.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Star, Sheffield, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at center: "Man Who Sank Royal Oak Captured"
(Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, commanding officer of U-47, who sank HMS Royal Oak, was not captured by the British. He survived until March of 1940 when his boat was lost for unknown reasons.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Midland Daily Telegraph, Coventry, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
(Note the false report of U-boat losses is also in this paper.)
 
Note the report in column 3: "350 Poles Forced To Dig Own Graves"
Also note the report in column 5: "Lost His Arm For Science X-Ray Martyr Dies"
(Some people have sacrificed a lot for science and for the betterment of mankind, Prof. Charles Vaillant is one of those.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7: "New Jap Thrust In China"


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 3: "Chinese Launch Offensive As Japanese Threaten Another Provence"
Also note the report in column 4: "U-Boat's SOS Trick To Trap Ships"


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at bottom: "Princess Louise Who Gave Name To Alberta Passes In London At 91"


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Melbourne Herald, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 8: "U-boat Destroyed With All Hands"
(This is the Australian version of the reports from the British papers above.)
Also note the report in column 6: "Hundreds Of Jews Massacred"
(Nobody can say we didn't know.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at bottom right of HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney.
[More about HMS Nelson here.]


December 4, 1939: Front page of Het Volksdagblad, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Dutch communist paper.)
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the sub-headline: "Japan Attempts to Meet America's Demands"


December 4, 1939: Front page of the Dunkirk Evening News, Dunkirk, New York.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 2: "350 Hostages Held At Gdynia Shot By Germans, Poles Say"


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Lowell Sun, Lowell, Massachusetts.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of the Butte Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 1: "Winnie Ruth Judd Blonde Killer Is At Liberty"
(This is her second escape in less than two months.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


December 4, 1939: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Lügen über den Helgoland-Angriff.
(Lies about the attack in the Heligoland.)
2. Kein Kreuzer getroffen.
(No cruiser hit.)
[As it turns out this time the German press got the story correct. According to official German documents from the time, none of the British claims about heavy ships being hit was correct. The German did acknowledge that one of their aircraft had been shot down and one small ship sank after it was holed by a bomb that did not explode.]



   
Page published Dec. 4, 2020