1 Nov 1939
  • Kurt Fricke was promoted to the rank of counter admiral. ww2dbase [Kurt Frike | CPC]
Austria China
  • Colonel Oyanazu Masao was named the commanding officer of Japanese Unit 516 chemical weapons research unit based in Qiqihar, Nenjiang Province, China, replacing Colonel Katsumura Fukujirou. ww2dbase [Qiqihar, Nenjiang | CPC]
Germany
  • Heinkel demonstrated the first jet aircraft He 178 to the German Air Ministry, but the German officials were not impressed. ww2dbase [He 178 | CPC]
  • The German military complained that the Soviet Union purchases too much war materials from Germany, which was hampering with the German ability to prepare for a war against France; it was acknowledged, however, the import of Soviet oil was vital. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Georg von Küchler was named the commanding officer of 11th Army. ww2dbase [Georg von Küchler | CPC]
  • In a meeting with General Wilhelm Keitel and Lieutenant Commander Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer, Adolf Hitler's liaison officer with the Naval War Staff in Berlin, Hitler repeatedly told the officers that the name of the cruiser Deutschland should be changed and the ship was to avoid any action the same orders were to be issued to the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. Hitler was worried that any action would bring out the British Grand Fleet before air protection was organised. The Graf Spee, on station in the South Atlantic was to be ordered to be ready to sail to the Indian Ocean. Any operations of battleships must be held until Italy entered the war and the British Forces consequently held down. Submarine warfare was to be intensified. Passenger ships could be attacked and neutral ships would be attacked once a state of siege be declared against Britain. Hitler would not give priority to the production of submarines however, as Army equipment and ammunition supplies were of prime importance. Erich Raeder sent a copy to Admiral Karl Dönitz, Commander of the Submarine Arm with a note saying that in order to carry out a large scale submarine war then continuous pressure would be necessary. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | Adolf Hitler | Erich Raeder | Wilhelm Keitel | Deutschland | Berlin | HM]
Japan
  • Captain Aritomo Goto was relived as the commanding officer of battleship Mutsu. ww2dbase [Mutsu | CPC]
  • Captain Shutoku Miyazato was named the chief equipping officer of repair ship Akashi. Miyazato would supervise the installation of five cranes and various tools and equipment aboard the ship. ww2dbase [Akashi | CPC]
  • Captain Hisashi Ichioka was made the chief equipping officer of Katori and Kashima, relieving Shutoku Miyazato. ww2dbase [Katori | Kashima | Yokohama, Kanagawa | CPC]
Photo(s) dated 1 Nov 1939
Front view of the He 178 prototype aircraft, date unknown

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Spanish General Agustín Muñoz Grandes with Adolf Hitler, circa Mar 1942


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"With Germany arming at breakneck speed, England lost in a pacifist dream, France corrupt and torn by dissension, America remote and indifferent... do you not tremble for your children?"

Winston Churchill, 1935


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