22:30GMT
22:30GMT
Today's official figures cannot be independently checked
Six governments published a number today, and every one of those numbers rests on the word of the office that issued it.
The day in dispatches
Filed through the day, as it happened
21:20GMT
21:20GMT
Italy says it is withdrawing troops from the Greek border
ROME Italy is withdrawing troops from Albania's frontier with Greece, the Italian government announced in Rome today. It says Greece is taking corresponding measures on its side.
20:45GMT
20:45GMT
Roosevelt meets Landon and Knox on the neutrality law
WASHINGTON President Roosevelt met Alfred Landon and Frank Knox at the White House today to discuss what Congress should do about the neutrality law when it meets in special session. He also met the congressional leadership.
20:10GMT
20:10GMT
Canada names Ford and rail executives to run War Supply Board
OTTAWA Canada has appointed Wallace R. Campbell as chairman of its War Supply Board and Robert C. Vaughan as vice-chairman and director of purchasing. The appointments were made by order in council today.
19:30GMT
19:30GMT
Germany restricts private motoring from today
BERLIN Private motoring in Germany is sharply restricted from today under a regulation on the continued use of motor vehicles.
19:00GMT
19:00GMT
French say German attack east of the Saar was driven back
PARIS German troops attacked east of the Saar and Blies rivers last night under heavy artillery cover and were driven back, the French General Staff said today. The French account calls it a partial attack.
18:15GMT
18:15GMT
Berlin says Polish resistance is now mainly at Warsaw and Modlin
LONDON Serious Polish resistance in German-held territory is now mainly at Warsaw and at Modlin, a fortress north-west of the capital, the German army says in today's communiqué.
17:50GMT
17:50GMT
Shipping losses to submarines fall to 45,848 tons in a week, Chamberlain says
LONDON British and neutral shipping losses to submarine attack came to 45,848 tons in 13 ships in the week ended 19 September, Neville Chamberlain told the Commons this afternoon. The week before, the figure was 95,000 tons in 17 ships.
17:30GMT
17:30GMT
Poland asked Romania to shelter its president and ministers, Chamberlain says
LONDON The Polish Government has asked Romania for hospitality for its Head of State and his ministers, Neville Chamberlain told the Commons this afternoon. He was citing a communiqué issued on Monday.
17:10GMT
17:10GMT
16:55GMT
16:55GMT
Chamberlain says Hitler's Danzig speech does not change Britain's position
LONDON Hitler's speech at Danzig on Tuesday does not alter the British position, Neville Chamberlain told the House of Commons this afternoon.
16:20GMT
16:20GMT
Churchill says 1,202 were aboard Courageous and 687 have been saved
LONDON HMS *Courageous* had 1,202 officers and men aboard when she was torpedoed, and 687 have been picked up by destroyers and merchant ships, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons this afternoon.
13:40GMT
13:40GMT
How the newspapers arrived at 578 dead in Courageous
LONDON The figure of 578 dead from *Courageous*, printed in this morning's papers and in headlines abroad, is a newspaper calculation and was never issued by the Admiralty.
12:50GMT
12:50GMT
Britain says it stopped 110,000 tons of cargo bound for Germany last week
LONDON British ships intercepted or detained about 110,000 tons of goods believed to be bound for Germany in the week ending 16 September, the Ministry of Information said in London today.
12:10GMT
12:10GMT
Berlin claims 105,000 Polish prisoners taken at the Bzura
BERLIN Germany has taken 105,000 Polish prisoners at the River Bzura, west of Warsaw, and the number is still rising, the German army claims in today's communiqué.
11:15GMT
11:15GMT
Courageous survivors describe the sinking
A BRITISH PORT Survivors from the aircraft carrier *Courageous* came ashore here in other men's clothes and talked to reporters on the quay. Most of what they said was about the twenty minutes after the explosion.
09:55GMT
09:55GMT
German radio claims Soviet troops hold entire Polish-Romanian border
Soviet forces now hold the whole of the Polish-Romanian frontier, German radio claimed today.
09:25GMT
09:25GMT
Admiralty puts final number saved from Courageous at 682
The Admiralty says 682 men were saved from the aircraft carrier *Courageous*, and that this list of survivors is final.
08:30GMT
08:30GMT
More than 3,000 Polish soldiers cross into Hungary, Budapest reports
More than 3,000 Polish infantrymen have crossed the Uzhok Pass in the Carpathian mountains into Hungary, and more than 20,000 Polish civilians are sheltering in the country, according to a report from Budapest today.
07:10GMT
07:10GMT
Estonia denies helping Polish submarine Orzeł escape
Estonia has rejected a Soviet accusation that it helped the Polish submarine *Orzeł* escape from Tallinn.
05:20GMT
05:20GMT
Warsaw command says German attack at Utrata was beaten back
WARSAW Polish troops have beaten back a German attack at Utrata in bayonet fighting, the Warsaw Defence Command says in a communiqué dated 20 September.
02:10GMT
02:10GMT
Warsaw's mayor asks Britain when help will come
Warsaw's mayor, Stefan Starzyński, has publicly asked when British and French help will reach the city, in a reply to a British radio message broadcast to Warsaw overnight.
Where things stood at the start of the day
- At sea
- The Admiralty's survivor list for Courageous stood at approximately 681 at the close of the 19th, with no casualty figure given and the complement stated as 1,260.
- Poland
- Warsaw remained under bombardment and continued to broadcast. Resistance was reported around the capital, at Modlin and at Lwów.
- The east
- Soviet forces continued to advance. Polish soldiers and civilians were crossing into Romania and Hungary.
- Germany
- Hitler spoke at Danzig on the 19th, setting out his account of how the war began.
- Britain
- The Ministry of Information's Coastal Command account had appeared in the morning press, claiming submarines destroyed without giving a count.
- Elsewhere
- The Polish government was in Romania. The Soviet accusation against Estonia over Orzeł stood unanswered at the close of the day.
Background
What “contraband control” means
Britain has put a figure on its blockade: about 110,000 tons of goods stopped in a week. The figure rests on a machinery most readers have never seen, and on a definition Britain writes itself.
Contraband control is physical. Merchant ships bound for northern Europe are intercepted at sea by the Navy and brought into designated examination ports, where their cargo and papers are inspected. Ships carrying nothing on the list go on. Cargo assessed as contraband is detained, and the ship may be held with it for days.
What counts as contraband is set out in British proclamations and amended as the war goes on. Absolute contraband covers material with an obvious military use. Conditional contraband covers goods that are military only when destined for an enemy government or its forces, which in practice means food and fuel. The distinction matters because the second category is where neutral governments object, and where the list has grown fastest.