It Begins

Chapter I: 1939

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September

• FRI 1 SEP 1939
  World War II begins as Germany invades Poland with a power and rapidity that convincingly demonstrates to the world the blitzkrieg, or "lightning war." Italy announces its neutrality. Ultimately, the global conflict set in motion on this late summer day will engulf much of the globe and wreak far-reaching changes in the world order. The U.S. Navy in September 1939 is, for the most part, concentrated on the west coast of the United States, reflecting the nation's traditional interest in the Far East and its isolationist leanings away from Europe. Although the matter is discussed as hostilities have loomed on the horizon late in August 1939, there are no plans to use U.S. naval vessels to repatriate American citizens except in "collecting small groups [of Americans] in the Mediterranean area for transportation to places where they can move to safe ports for embarkation."
  
  Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OpNav) sends dispatch to commanders in chief of Asiatic Fleet, United States Fleet, Atlantic Squadron, Special Service Squadron and Squadron 40-T: "Reliably informed [that] German submarines are set to operate on Atlantic trade routes and that a dozen German merchant vessels will operate as armed raiders [and that] neutral merchantmen may expect Great Britain may institute similar practices as in last war." Additional addressees to this warning include the three new warships on shakedown cruises: light cruiser St. Louis (CL-49) (at Punta Delgada, Azores), destroyer Anderson (DD-411) (at Montreal, Canada) and submarine Spearfish (SS-190) (en route from New York City to Bahia, Brazil).
  
  Hydrographic Office begins issuing, by despatch and bulletin, special warnings of restrictions and dangers to navigation incident to the outbreak of hostilities between Germany and Poland. Special Warning Number One is that the German government has announced that Danzig Bay is a danger area due to military operations taking place there.
  
  President Roosevelt appoints Admiral William D. Leahy, who has recently retired as Chief of Naval Operations, as Work Projects Administrator for the Territory of Puerto Rico (see 11 September).
  
  Light cruiser Marblehead (CL-12) transports marines from Chinwangtao, China, to Shanghai. The emergency movement is to bring the Fourth Marine Regiment to full strength in the event that the Japanese take advantage of the European war to force an incident at Shanghai.
  
  German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee which has left Wilhelmshaven on 21 August for the South Atlantic, makes rendezvous with tanker Altmark southwest of the Canary Islands. The fuel oil carried in Altmark's bunkers was obtained in August at Port Arthur, Texas. Admiral Graf Spee's sister ship Deutschland, which had departed Wilhelmshaven on 24 August, is deployed to raid commerce in the North Atlantic.