October 1939
Politics:
October 1st: Norway announces that she has invited Russia to station troops within her borders.
October 2nd: French troops invade Germany. France releases the following statement: "Free people everywhere, take comfort in the knowledge that France shall strike a blow for freedom against the German war machine bent on destroying the world. France shall remain the bastion of liberty in which free peoples gather, France shall be the dam of freedom against the flood of fascism, let her people be the tools that take apart the Hun's war machine. I ask my countrymen to remember their fathers in the great war and the sacrifices they made to save our republic; this is our time to sacrifice. People of France, pray for quick victory and God's mercy. Vive la France."
October 3rd: Belgium declars war on France, and officially allies herself with Germany. October 3rd: Saarbrucken falls to French forces.
October 5th: Britain announces a new Defense Pact with Finland and Norway.
October 30th: Yugoslavia and Russia announce a new military assistance alliance. Russia flies the first of several groups of military advisors into Belgrade.
Naval Encounters:
October 2nd: British planes report contacts with German ships in the North Sea, heading towards the North Atlantic. Contact is broken soon after initial spotting.
October 3rd: 1:35 AM-Danish lookouts report possible ships headed into the Baltic.
October 4th: German Destroyer claims an enemy sub sunk within the Baltic.
October 7th: British ships engage German task forces in the North Sea. British planes from the carrier Formidable hit the German destroyer screen in the opening moves. As the two task forces started to close range, the British battleships Rodney and Resolution, along with the Battlecruiser Renown mopped up the remaining destroyers, and began to inflict damage on the German capital ships. While the German battlecruisers Scheer, Graf Spee, and Deutschland found themselves unable to successfully engage the British big ships, they did sink 4 Royal Navy destroyers. With the Scheer damaged by shelling from the Renown, the Kriegsmarine ships turned for home. Before they could escape, British subs in the area torpedoed the light cruiser Denmark, and damaged one of her sister ships. Unwilling to give up the chase easily, the Brits maintained pursuit. Just as they began to close the gap again, Luftwaffe dive bombers appeared overhead. Stripped of any fighter cover by naval air losses earlier in the day, the UK ships were hit again and again. When the smoke cleared, the Rodney was listing severely to one side, and would sink in under an hour. The remaining British ships broke off pursuit before more Luftwaffe planes could arrive.
October 29th: British media claims 8 subs sunk, and no successful convoy attacks. German radio counters with 4 sub losses for 10 destroyer and 2 light cruisers.
Land Battles:
October 2nd: French forces capture Offenberg, Germany.
October 8th: French offensive in Germany finally stalls, approximately 15-25 km from Stuttgart and Manheim. German forces begin conducting probing attacks through Belgium.
October 12th: German forces capture Sedan inside France.
October 14th: German forces recapture Saarbrucken.
October 15th: German forces mop up the remnants of seven French divisions inside Germany, near Saarbrucken.
October 19th: German forces take Metz as their counter-offensive slows to a halt.
October 21st: French forces trapped just inside Germany abandon their heavy equipment and recross the Rhine into France.
October 25th: German forces secure the entire portion of the Maginot line north of Hagenau.