The day in dispatches
Today's new figures describe earlier events
LONDON Three figures in today's news changed, and none of them changed because of anything that happened today.
Pittman begins drafting the neutrality bill
WASHINGTON Senator Key Pittman, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, brought senators together today to begin work on legislation to carry out the President's neutrality proposals. Mr. Roosevelt put the proposals to Congress two days ago.
Correspondents on German-run tour of Prague report no disorder
PRAGUE Foreign correspondents were taken through Prague today on a visit arranged by the German authorities, and reported afterwards that they saw no disorder.
Mussolini says the Polish question is settled and Italy will stay out
ROME Benito Mussolini told Fascist party representatives from Bologna today that the Polish question had been "liquidated". He was speaking at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome.
Reports put Romanian executions at 340 or at a thousand
BUCHAREST Private reports reaching Copenhagen put the number of Iron Guard members executed in Romania at 340. A separate report circulating through London, which this service carried yesterday, put it at a thousand.
French say three German attacks east of the Saar were beaten back
PARIS French forces east of the Saar were attacked three times today and held their positions each time, according to the French War Office.
Berlin declares the Polish field army destroyed and names three places still fighting
BERLIN The German Armed Forces High Command said today that organised resistance by the Polish field army has ended. Its statement says a Polish army of a million men has been defeated, captured or dispersed. It names Warsaw, Modlin and the Hel Peninsula as the three places still fighting. It is the fullest claim Berlin has made about the campaign as a whole.
Twenty-one American republics open neutrality talks in Panama tonight
PANAMA CITY Foreign ministers and representatives of the twenty-one American republics meet in Panama City this evening to coordinate their neutrality and protect the hemisphere's trade from the war in Europe.
Moscow claims 120,000 Polish prisoners and the capture of Białystok and Brest-Litovsk
MOSCOW The Soviet General Staff says the Red Army occupied Białystok and Brest-Litovsk on 22 September and took 120,000 Polish prisoners between 17 and 21 September. Its communiqué was issued in Moscow this morning and covers operations to the 22nd. The American embassy transmitted it to Washington at one o'clock Moscow time, which is 10:00 GMT. All the figures are Soviet claims and are unconfirmed.
Five missing after patrol vessel HMS Kittiwake strikes a mine in the Channel
LONDON The patrol vessel HMS Kittiwake struck a mine in the Channel on Wednesday, and five of her company are missing and believed killed, the Ministry of Information has announced on behalf of the Admiralty.
Admiralty adds three Courageous survivors, putting total at 685
WELLINGTON The Admiralty has added three more survivors from the aircraft carrier Courageous and put the total saved at 685, according to an announcement datelined London, 21 September, carried in New Zealand and Australian papers this morning.
Correction: Australia's war borrowing is £20,405,000
CANBERRA We reported yesterday that the Australian government asked Parliament for authority to borrow £21,630,000 for the war. That figure was wrong.
Warsaw's mayor gets a message out: troops holding, milk almost gone
WARSAW Stefan Starzyński, the mayor of Warsaw, has sent a message out of the besieged capital saying the troops are holding. The message reached New York at eight o'clock last night, which is midnight GMT.
Where things stood at the start of the day
- Warsaw
- Still held and still on the air. The mayor's own message out of the city describes shelling, fires and civilian dead, and none of it can be checked from outside.
- The east
- Moscow says Białystok and Brest-Litovsk were occupied on the 22nd. Berlin and Moscow announced the demarcation line on Friday: the Pissa, the Narew, the Vistula and the San.
- Lwów
- Moscow says six Polish divisions and two regiments surrendered in the region. Berlin says its troops there were relieved by Soviet formations.
- Prisoners
- Three figures are in circulation and they count different things: 170,000 in the Vistula bend, an unpublished total at Tomaszów, and a Soviet claim of 120,000 for the 17th to the 21st.
- Romania
- Argeșanu's government is under a state of siege. Reports of executions range from 340 to a thousand and neither figure is verified.
- At sea
- The Courageous count stands at 685 in the Admiralty's own announcement. Contraband control stands at 200 ships stopped and 80 released, counted to the 20th.