23:55GMT
23:55GMT
The day in dispatches
Filed through the day, as it happened
23:20GMT
23:20GMT
The only figure for British bombers lost over Wilhelmshaven came from Berlin
Three questions were open today, and only one of them was answered.
22:50GMT
22:50GMT
Warsaw bombed eight times in one day, Polish communiqué says
WARSAW Warsaw was bombed eight times during the day, according to a Polish communiqué. It says leaflets were dropped during the eighth raid.
22:20GMT
22:20GMT
Japan tells European powers it will stay out of their war
HONG KONG Japan has told the European powers that it will concentrate on China and stay out of their war. Talks with Britain over Tientsin have been suspended.
21:10GMT
21:10GMT
Canada is on a war footing but has yet to declare war
OTTAWA Canada is on a full war footing but is still legally at peace.
20:45GMT
20:45GMT
Canada's parliament opens its war session and adjourns without declaring war
OTTAWA Canada's Parliament opened a special session today and adjourned without declaring war. The debate continues.
20:00GMT
20:00GMT
Switzerland requires visas as refugees reach its frontier
BERNE Switzerland has introduced a visa requirement for foreigners entering the country.
19:15GMT
19:15GMT
Chamberlain confirms French troops are in contact with the enemy
PARIS French forces are now in contact with the enemy on the common frontier, the British Prime Minister told the House of Commons this afternoon.
18:30GMT
18:30GMT
Germany makes listening to foreign broadcasts a crime
BERLIN Listening to foreign radio broadcasts has been made a criminal offence in Germany.
17:20GMT
17:20GMT
Smuts says South Africa will defend its territory and the Cape sea route
CAPE TOWN South Africa will defend its own territory and the sea route round the Cape, and will assist in trade, shipping and finance, General Smuts said today as he set out the limits of the Union's part in the war.
16:40GMT
16:40GMT
More than ten million leaflets dropped over Germany, Chamberlain says
LONDON More than ten million leaflets have been dropped over German territory on three successive nights, the Prime Minister has told the Commons.
16:20GMT
16:20GMT
About 1,475,000 people moved out of British cities, Chamberlain says
LONDON About 1,475,000 children and mothers have been moved out of British cities under the government evacuation scheme, the Prime Minister has told the Commons.
16:00GMT
16:00GMT
Government has still to say how many bombers were lost over Wilhelmshaven
LONDON The government has now described the damage done in Monday's raid on the German fleet three times, and has still to say how many British bombers were lost.
15:40GMT
15:40GMT
Berlin's Westerplatte claim is probably right, though Warsaw still denies it
STOCKHOLM Berlin announced this afternoon that the garrison at Westerplatte surrendered at twenty past ten this morning, and put its strength at 120 men. Polish radio spent the afternoon broadcasting that Westerplatte is defending itself, as it has every day since the war began.
15:30GMT
15:30GMT
Evacuated children are billeted in a Buckinghamshire village hall
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE A party of evacuated children arrived at a Buckinghamshire village today and were found billets in the village hall.
15:10GMT
15:10GMT
Chamberlain claims at least two hits on a German pocket battleship
LONDON At least two hits were scored on a German pocket battleship in Monday's air attack on Wilhelmshaven, the Prime Minister has told the Commons.
14:45GMT
14:45GMT
Chamberlain: three or four more merchant ships sunk, and convoys being set up
LONDON Three or four British merchant ships have been sunk in addition to the Athenia, the Prime Minister has told the Commons.
13:30GMT
13:30GMT
Berlin says Westerplatte has surrendered
BERLIN The Polish garrison at Westerplatte surrendered at twenty minutes past ten this morning, Germany has announced.
10:45GMT
10:45GMT
Loan to Poland will be hard to spend while supply routes are closed
LONDON Britain and France have lent Poland money, but Poland has few ways to bring in anything it buys this week.
10:00GMT
10:00GMT
Britain and France grant Poland a war loan
LONDON Britain and France have agreed further financial assistance to Poland. Britain is to advance £5 million and France 600 million francs.
06:10GMT
06:10GMT
German and Polish loss figures are both unconfirmed a week into the war
STOCKHOLM A week into the war, the position of the German army in Poland is known only to the two armies, and both are keeping it to themselves.
04:30GMT
04:30GMT
Berlin claims a further advance in Poland
BERLIN German forces have advanced further into Poland and taken large numbers of prisoners and guns, the German High Command says.
02:15GMT
02:15GMT
Warsaw bombed repeatedly through the night
WARSAW German aircraft attacked Warsaw repeatedly during the night and into the early morning, in separate waves.
Where things stood at the start of the day
- Poland
- Berlin announced yesterday that its forces hold Kraków, and no independent account of the city has reached this desk. Warsaw is preparing to be fought over, with civilians and government departments moving east and German columns reported approaching from more than one direction.
- The Atlantic
- Churchill has given the Commons the first count for the Athenia: 1,418 aboard, about 125 unaccounted for, and more than 300 holding United States passports. He says sworn statements establish the ship was attacked without warning by a submarine, and he did not say whose.
- Britain at home
- Air-raid sirens sounded across London at 06:42 yesterday and anti-aircraft guns were heard firing, with no damage reported. The Home Secretary says the warning reached street wardens late and their whistles were taken for the all-clear, sending people back up from the shelters.
- Western Front
- The French communiqué reports local advances and names no sector, formation or objective. Accounts reaching correspondents in Paris place French troops beyond the German frontier, but they carry nobody's name and the Ministry of War will not comment.
- The Empire
- South Africa is at war, settled by a proclamation in a Government Gazette Extraordinary after the Union voted down neutrality 80 to 67, Hertzog resigned and Smuts took office. It says nothing about what forces will be raised, and Canada's parliament meets today.
- Neutrals
- Roosevelt has signed the arms embargo, which applies to both sides equally and names neither South Africa nor Canada. Romania has resolved on strict neutrality, and Iraq has broken relations with Germany without declaring war.
Background
What a Dominion has to do to be at war
Canada's Parliament sat today, heard that the country's forces are already on active service, and went home without declaring war. That is not a contradiction, and the reason lies in a statute passed eight years ago.
Before 1931. Before 1931 the Dominions were at war when Britain was at war. The King declared, and the declaration carried. Nobody in Ottawa or Canberra or Pretoria was asked.
After 1931. The Statute of Westminster ended that. Each Dominion now has its own Crown and its own capacity to declare, which means each has had to find its own route to the same destination, and this week they have taken six different ones.