23:55GMT
23:55GMT
The day in dispatches
Filed through the day, as it happened
23:20GMT
23:20GMT
Official claims are growing more confident than the evidence allows
LONDON Several governments made confident statements today that are hard to test.
21:45GMT
21:45GMT
Arms embargo takes effect, with South Africa and Canada still off the list
WASHINGTON The arms embargo was signed here last night, two days after the President told the country it would stay neutral.
21:00GMT
21:00GMT
Gap widens between the French communiqué and unofficial reports of an advance
PARIS The gap between the French communiqué and unofficial accounts of the fighting has widened for a second day.
19:20GMT
19:20GMT
Soviet and Japanese forces are still fighting on the Mongolian frontier
HONG KONG Soviet and Japanese forces have been fighting on the Mongolian frontier since May, with artillery and aircraft, and the fighting was still going on this week. Both governments have avoided declaring war, and an armistice has yet to be agreed.
18:30GMT
18:30GMT
Romania's Crown Council resolves on strict neutrality
BUCHAREST Romania's Crown Council resolved unanimously this afternoon on strict observance of the rules of neutrality established by international convention.
17:00GMT
17:00GMT
Home Secretary says this morning's air-raid warning was mistaken for the all-clear
LONDON This morning's air-raid warning in London was misunderstood by street personnel and signalled as the all-clear, the Home Secretary, Sir John Anderson, has told the Commons.
16:10GMT
16:10GMT
Britain moves £280 million of Bank of England gold to the Exchange Account
LONDON Almost all the gold held in the Bank of England's Issue Department is being transferred to the Exchange Account today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon, has told the Commons.
15:20GMT
15:20GMT
Athenia's missing now put at about 125, on sworn evidence
LONDON The number unaccounted for from the Athenia is now put at about 125. The figure comes from sworn statements and the ship's passenger list, and it replaces yesterday's two estimates of about 300 and about 500.
14:30GMT
14:30GMT
Churchill: 1,418 were aboard the Athenia and about 125 are unaccounted for
LONDON The Athenia was carrying 1,418 people, and about 125 of them are unaccounted for, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, has told the Commons. Of those aboard, 315 were crew and 1,103 were passengers.
13:45GMT
13:45GMT
German minister leaves Baghdad after Iraq breaks off relations
BAGHDAD The German minister to Iraq, Dr Fritz Grobba, has left the country with his staff after the Iraqi Government severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
13:00GMT
13:00GMT
Berlin's claim to hold Kraków is unconfirmed but will soon be testable
STOCKHOLM Germany says it holds Kraków. The claim is unconfirmed this afternoon, but unlike many claims in this war it can be tested before long.
12:45GMT
12:45GMT
French communiqué reports local advances on the frontier
PARIS French forces have made local advances on the frontier, according to the French communiqué issued this morning. The communiqué leaves out the sector, the formations and the objective, and gives no figures for ground gained or casualties.
12:15GMT
12:15GMT
Berlin announces the capture of Kraków
BERLIN Germany has announced that its forces have taken Kraków. The claim is unconfirmed.
10:50GMT
10:50GMT
South Africa needed two days and a new government to go to war
CAPE TOWN South Africa is at war today, two days after its parliament voted down neutrality. Its route to war has been different from that of every other Dominion.
10:05GMT
10:05GMT
South Africa proclaims a state of war with Germany
PRETORIA South Africa is at war with Germany from today, under a proclamation published in a Government Gazette Extraordinary.
09:15GMT
09:15GMT
Warsaw is preparing a defence, but German positions are unclear
STOCKHOLM Three things are being reported from Warsaw this morning, and they differ in reliability.
08:20GMT
08:20GMT
Confusion on a London street as whistles are mistaken for the all-clear
LONDON The air-raid siren on the Fulham Road started at about twenty to seven this morning. A woman two doors down came out in a dressing gown with a kettle still in her hand.
07:55GMT
07:55GMT
Warsaw residents called out with spades to dig defences
WARSAW Polish radio has appealed to the people of Warsaw to report with spades and help dig defensive works, as the capital prepares for a battle.
05:55GMT
05:55GMT
Air-raid sirens sound across London and anti-aircraft guns open fire
LONDON Air-raid sirens sounded across London at 06:42 this morning after aircraft were reported approaching the east coast.
04:10GMT
04:10GMT
Westerplatte still under attack on the sixth day, Germany says
RIGA Germany continues to describe the Polish depot at Westerplatte as under attack, six days after the shelling of the position in Danzig harbour began. Berlin and Warsaw have both stopped short of announcing its fall.
02:00GMT
02:00GMT
Roosevelt signs the arms embargo
WASHINGTON President Roosevelt has signed the proclamation prohibiting the export of arms, ammunition and implements of war to the countries at war. It was issued in Washington tonight.
Where things stood at the start of the day
- Poland
- The Polish Post Office in Danzig has fallen, on the sole account of a correspondent who entered the city with German permission. Westerplatte is still holding after five days, and Warsaw's general staff has acknowledged abandoning Grudziądz, Bydgoszcz and Częstochowa.
- The Atlantic
- Survivors of the Athenia came ashore at Greenock, with two estimates of the number missing circulating about 200 apart and no authoritative death toll given. Three merchant ships have been lost elsewhere: the Olinda, the Carl Fritzen and Bosnia, with one man dead.
- Britain at home
- Berlin and London have given accounts of Monday's attack on the German fleet, and they agree on almost nothing. The Ministry of Information claims severe damage and gives no loss figure; Berlin says the ships were barely harmed and five British bombers came down.
- Western Front
- Two Bills received the Royal Assent in a single day: national registration with identity documents, and a prohibition on trade with the enemy. The French evening communiqué named no sector and gave no result, though French forces have been in action on the frontier.
- The Empire
- Hertzog has resigned in Cape Town and Smuts has been asked to form a government; the Union has refused neutrality but is not at war. Australia has ordered a militia call-up in successive drafts of 10,000, and Canada's parliament meets on Thursday.
- Neutrals
- Roosevelt has signed the proclamation of American neutrality, which does not impose the arms embargo and names neither South Africa nor Canada among the belligerents. Ireland is neutral, Italy is not a belligerent, and Japan says it will stay out of the European war.
Background
The law that took the decision out of the President's hands
The embargo signed in Washington last night was not a policy choice. Under the Neutrality Act, once the President finds that a state of war exists, the prohibition follows automatically.
That is why two instruments were needed rather than one. The general proclamation of neutrality states the position of the United States. The second proclamation is the operative one: it makes the export of arms, ammunition and implements of war to the named belligerents unlawful.
The list of names is the part worth reading. France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand. Those are the countries the United States now recognises as at war, and the prohibition reaches exactly as far as that list does and no further.