RAF RAID OVER BERLIN

October 2, 1939

In Berlin, German Command advised the United States that all merchant ships in international waters will be subjected to boarding by German naval forces in search of contraband. Meanwhile, US President Roosevelt has declared the Panama-American Security Zone to be in effect.  This comes after the Inter-American Conference convened in Panama. Twenty-one nations of the Americas have agreed to set a security zone from 300 to 1,000 nautical miles off the American coast.  Any hostile act would be interpreted as an act of war against that nation. Within this zone US naval ships will be escorting convoys bound for the United Kingdom.

The Freighters Ethan Allen and Ipswich have been released from British custody. The US ships were intercepted and searched by British Naval authorities ten days ago for contraband. Cargo destined for Bremen and Hamburg have been seized but no information has been provided as to its contents.

Since September 18th the Polish Navy has been attached as auxiliary to the Royal Navy under British Admiralty and assigned a number of destroyers under a lease scheme: The Garland, Piorun, Krakowiak, Kujawiak, Slazak, Orkan, as well as three submarines (Sokul, Jastrab, and Dzik), 6 motor torpedo boats,  and two cruisers (Dragon and Conrad). The Polish Navy has been serving in the theatre of operations ranging from escorting convoys in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, action in the North, as well as special tasks.

Meanwhile, the RAF is conducting its first night-raid by dropping propaganda leaflets over Berlin. Here is a sample leaflet written in German, with English translation to follow.  A total of 13 tons of leaflets have been printed for this mission.

WARNING!

England to the German people

The Nazi regime has, in spite of the endeavours of the leading great Powers, plunged the world into war. This war is a crime. The German people must quite clearly distinguish between the pretexts employed by its government so as to unleash war and the principles which have forced England and France to defend Poland.

From the very beginning the English government has made it clear that the Polish question is not one which can justify a European war with all its tragic consequences.

Five months after the Munich Agreement the independence of Czecho-Slovakia was brutally trodden underfoot. So that Poland shall not also suffer the same fate, we must insist that peaceful methods of negotiation shall not be rendered impossible through threats of force, and that in the negotiations which are requisite the Poles right to live must be guaranteed and honourably kept. We cannot accept or admit a Diktat.

If Herr Hitler believes that the English government, out of fear of war, will allow the Poles to be left in the lurch, then he has been deceiving himself. In the first place England will not break her pledged word. Furthermore, it is high time that the brutal force whit which the Nazi regime strives to dominate the World should be halted.

Through this war the German Chancellor places himself against the unbending resolution of the English government, a resolution which has behind it not only the resources and means of the whole English Commonwealth, but also a union of other great Powers. It is a question of the salvation of human freedom and the right of peoples to live free.

Up to the very last moment the Pope, the President of the United States and the King of the Belgians, in the name of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, made fruitless appeals to your Nazi government, urgently requesting that negotiations should be chosen in the place of war.

Now a catastrophe has broken out upon you in that the Reich finds itself isolated from the community of civilised peoples, without any support save that of Communist Russia.

You cannot win this war. Against you are arrayed resources and materials far greater than your own.

For years you have been subjected to the most stringent censorship, and by means of an incredible system of secret police and informers the truth has been withheld from you.

Against you stands the united strength of the free peoples, who with open eyes will fight for freedom to the last.

This war is as repulsive to us as it is to you, but do not forget that England, once forced into war, will wage it unwaveringly to the end. England's nerves are strong, her resources inexhaustible. We will not relent.

Pass on (this leaflet)

In Britain special tribunals have investigated some 50,000 enemy aliens registered in the London area. About six hundred have been classed as  "A"  and are considered high security risks.  They have been immediately interred by the British government for interrogation. Class B numbers approximately 6,500 and are doubtful cases, but are still subject to restrictions.  The remainder are grouped in Class C, and do not constitute any danger. Most are Jewish refugees.

Isle of Man, UK Internment Camp

In Paris today a Franco-Czech agreement was signed for the creation of a Czech National Army-in-exile.

Link:

Polish Greatness.com