Pennsylvania Military Museum

10/19/2026

Weekly World War II News
October 15th – October 21st, 1939
The Sentinel, Carlisle
Adolf Hi**er was reported by usually reliable sources to have sent a communique to Josef Stalin by courier and to expect an early answer due to affect Germany’s next step in the European war. There was no definite indication of the contents of the communication, but it was believed that the answer would have an important bearing on future steps to be taken by the N***s. It had been reported that Germany would consult with both Russia and Italy because of the failure of the N**i-Soviet peace offensive.
Three German planes were reported shot down during a N**i air raid against Scottish naval bases. One of the N**i craft was said to have been brought down in the Firth of Forth and two in the Fife district on the eastern coast. The objectives of the raiders, which were counterattacked by Royal Air Force planes and anti-aircraft batteries, were understood to be the Firth of Forth bridge and the Rosyth naval base. No bombs struck the bridge. Elsewhere in Britain daring N**i U-boat and aerial raiders had struck blows at the heart of British naval power in the great Scapa Flow base north of Scotland. N**i bombing planes raided that famous base and damaged the training battleship Iron Duke, veteran of the First World War Battle of Jutland. This was in addition to slight damage inflicted on the cruisers Southampton and Edinburgh and the destroyer Mohawk in the aerial attack along the Firth of Forth.
The German high command asserted that French troops had evacuated the greater part of the German territory they had held on the Western Front and had retired behind their own frontier. This announcement came immediately after a French high command communique announcing that 76,000 German troops in an offensive east of the Saar River following up upon a smaller attack in the Mozelle sector had pushed the French back to prepared defensive positions. In a long communique the high command said also that five enemy planes, two British and three French, were shot down while reconnoitering over Germany.
Adolf Hi**er was reported to have called the N**i ambassadors to Italy, Turkey, and Soviet Russia to Berlin for conferences on Germany’s next maneuver in light of Turkey’s “unneutral” action through signing a mutual impact with the Allied powers. The German press angrily but without special emphasis denounced Turkey’s “mistake” as aiding the desire of Britain and France to spread the war, but N***s declined to admit that the new treaty was a diplomatic setback for Germany. Hi**er also returned the eastern boundaries of Germany to approximately what they were before the World War by decreeing the formation, within the framework of the Reich, of the provinces of West Prussia and Posen. West Prussia was the Polish province of Pomorze, and Posen was the Polish province of Poznan before the collapse of the post-world war country. He also decreed that the Kattowicz district of what was Poland should be incorporated into the German province of Silesia and that the Zichenau area in the north should become a part of East Prussia. The exact boundaries of the new provinces were to be delineated later, but it was believed they would reestablish approximately the German frontier as it existed before 1914.
Thirteen Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accepted in principle a formula for modifying drastic restrictions on American shipping under the neutrality program. Under the plan, American vessels could carry on trade with belligerent in certain designated areas in the Pacific and south Atlantic, but could not include arms, am******on, or implements of war in their cargoes. President Hoover, an advocate of an embargo on “offensive arms,” amplified his views in a speech in New York. He asserted that failure by the United States to remain at peace would mean a prolonged dictatorship in this country, the loss of millions of lives, and economic disaster. Hoover, whose neutrality program was supported by Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, insisted that the United States should embargo bombing planes, their am******on, poison, gas, and submarines as “offensive weapons.”
Photo courtesy of newspapers.com and the Carlisle Sentinel.

10/15/2026

Weekly World War II News
October 8th – October 15th, 1939
The Daily Republican, Monongahela
On Monday, Soviet Russia called upon the Allied powers to put a business-like effort into the European war by accepting the N**i and Red Army conquests, but Great Britain and France were in complete accord regarding their objectives in the war against Hi**erism. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the House of Commons that any German peace proposal should be formally addressed to the Allies at the United States Embassy in Berlin. The American Embassy was representing Britain in the Reich. Hi**er’s speech to the Reichstag was not viewed by Britain as a formal peace offer. Hi**er on Tuesday repeated “our desire for peace” with the Allied powers. The führer said in a speech opening the winter relief campaign in Germany that it was fighting successfully against a British and French blockade: “We have no war claims or claims against the western powers.” But later in the week Great Britain and France rejected the “impossible” peace terms offered by Hi**er and warned Germany to choose between definite guarantees for permanent European security or “war to the utmost of our strength.”
The White House announced that Navy patrols on Sunday had sighted a non-American submarine about 20 miles west of Key West, Florida and two non-American oil tankers in the same general vicinity. President Roosevelt Saturday announced at Hyde Park that a submarine of some foreign power had been detected about 15 miles off Miami Florida. It was possible that the undersea boat seen off Key West was the same one.
Soviet Russia’s foreign policy was “peace and establishment of good neighborly relationship with all states,” the official Communist Party newspaper Pravda said in commenting on the “iron belt” of Russian defenses set up in the Baltic States. “The Soviet Union sets for all states an example for pacific solution of the most complex problems of foreign policy and indicates the way to establishment and consolidation of friendly relations among all countries,” the government newspaper Izvestiya added in a similar editorial regarding the new Russian “mutual aid” pacts with Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
Germany’s underwater offensive against the Allied naval blockade scored a victory late in the week when a U-boat sank the 25-year-old British battleship Royal Oak, which normally carried about 1,100 men. A few hours after the announcement that the battleship went to the bottom dispatches from Paris reported that 17 or 18 N**i submarines had been destroyed by Allied ships since April. The British Admiralty had announced the destruction of three U-boats on Friday the 13th.

Photo courtesy of newspapers.com and the Monongahela Daily Republican.

10/13/2026

Happy Birthday United States Navy! Founded on October 13, 1775, the Continental Navy set to sea at a time when the survival of the new nation was far from assured. Its earliest sailors and officers were tasked with protecting coastal waters, disrupting British supply lines, and supporting the Continental Army during the darkest and most uncertain stages of the war. Throughout 1776, Continental Navy vessels and crews played a vital role in scouting enemy movements, securing much needed supplies, and challenging the Royal Navy, the most powerful maritime force in the world. These early actions helped establish the fighting spirit and maritime traditions that continue to define the United States Navy today. As America commemorates 250 years since those first bold steps in the Revolution, we also celebrate the Navy’s 251st Birthday. To all who have served and continue to serve, fair winds, following seas, and happy birthday, Navy!

10/07/2026

Weekly World War II News
October 1st – October 7th, 1939
The Morning Press, Bloomsburg
Great Britain’s King George VI called to armed service all British men between the ages of 20 and 22 years, “with certain exceptions,” as his first Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, boldly declared the European war would end only when the Allied forces were convinced that Reichsführer Adolf Hi**er, “has had enough.” The Admiralty chief, in an Empire broadcast, declared “Russia has worn Hi**er off his eastern dreams.” But he added that he could not forecast Russia’s next move, terming it a “riddle wrapped in mystery inside of an enigma.” Shortly before the Churchill speech, in which the Admiralty had said Britons believed “we are entitled to the respect in goodwill of the world and particularly of the United States.”
Adolf Hi**er and foreign minister Joaquin Von Ribbentrop met with Italy’s foreign minister for a conference which was though to possibly have an important bearing on the course of the European war. Speculation about the closed-door event ranged from the possibility that Premier Mussolini might be asked to initiate mediation in the war to reports Hi**er was consulting his Axis partner to explain policies which the Führer expected to present to the Reichstag later in the week, but Italy declared a few days later that she would refrain for the present from taking the initiative in any efforts to restore peace to Europe.
On the military front in the east, the German high command reported the last center of Polish resistance had raised the red flag of surrender on Hela Peninsula, which extends into the Baltic northwest of what was then the city of Danzig. The report said Polish representatives had emerged after weeks of German siege to arrange for capitulation. In the west, the British government coupled an announcement that the Royal Air Force had reconnoitered at night over Berlin with a warning that German bombers attempting to raid London would “get the reception they deserve.” The British, who had made elaborate preparations against possible air raids on London, heart of the empire, had sought to emphasize the “ease” with which the Royal Air Force had been able to make reconnaissance flights over Germany. At the same time, a new menace to British shipping appeared in an Admiralty announcement that an armed German raider had sunk the 5,151-ton British freighter Clement in the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil. Sinking of the Clement brought total British losses since the war start to at least 32 vessels and was the first reported since the 4,646-ton freighter Hazelside was shelled and torpedoed off the Irish coast September 24th. As to Hi**er’s intent, on October 7 the Führer offered an armistice in Europe’s war if President Roosevelt proposed such a step for a general European settlement. Soviet Russia and Germany exclusively would solve the problems of “final reorganization” and “the question of reestablishment of the Polish state.” Immediately France answered with a blunt declaration that the European war would be fought until “victory which alone will permit assurance of a regime of real justice and lasting peace in Europe.” Britain declared against treating with Germany on the basis of “minor assurances” but would welcome any peace proposals which would achieve Britain’s announced war aim of ending “German aggression.”
President Roosevelt warned mid-week that smugglers had better not carry supplies from United States ports to U-boats on the seas. At the president’s press conference, a reporter called his attention to a story in the Philadelphia Record that government agents were investigating reports that “erstwhile rumrunners” and unscrupulous skippers of “freighters” were carrying oil, food, and drinking water to German submarines off the Atlantic coast. The reporter asked the president whether, in view of these reports, he was willing to say a word to the wise. The president replied that if anybody was doing that sort of thing, they’d better not. Meanwhile, one of the articles adopted at the neutrality conference of American republics was an “American safety zone” surrounding the United States and countries to the south in the western hemisphere. Warring nations would be asked to consider the zone neutral territory and refrain from belligerent activities while in it. The area probably would be patrolled by naval vessels of the US and other North and South American countries.
Photo courtesy of newspapers.com and the Bloomsburg Morning Press.

10/03/2026

Sergeant First Class Randall D. Shughart grew up in Newville, Pennsylvania. He was part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October 3, 1993 when soldiers and airmen launched a raid against a Somali warlord. During the action, a Blackhawk helicopter was shot down. Shughart and his sniper team leader, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, volunteered to secure the crash site alone, facing certain death. Gordon and Shughart formed a defensive perimeter around the wounded helicopter crew, protecting the survivors until their am******on was gone. Gordon and Shughart were killed in the action, but as a result of their selfless service the Blackhawk pilot survived. Gordon and Shughart received the Medal of Honor in 1994.

10/01/2026

Today is International Coffee Day! Anyone who has ever worn a military uniform knows one undeniable truth: the armed forces run on caffeine. This tradition goes all the way back to 1776, with soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen consuming countless cups of “joe” through the ages. During the Civil War, it was said that whenever troops paused on a march, they’d immediately kneel down to brew a quick cup. In WWI, the Salvation Army and YMCA brought steaming pots of coffee right up to the front lines. In WWII, it was rare to spot a sailor or Marine without a watch mug filled with strong, black Navy coffee aboard ship. Even today, our servicemen and women stay alert and watchful thanks to that familiar coffee cup in hand. Make sure you enjoy a cup or two of that faithful brewed beverage today!

09/30/2026

Weekly World War II News
September 24th – September 30th, 1939
The Times, Gettysburg
Early in the week it was reported that the Western Front had sprung into action as a major accompaniment to German conflict with Britain and France on the sea and in the air. French troops struck at German positions in the Haardt mountains trying to find a weak spot in the Siegfried Line, and German and French artillery exchanged shells across the Rhine. Swiss reports declared British or French warplanes had put out of commission one of Germany’s main aircraft factories in a raid Sunday night in Friedrichshafen. The German high command denied such a raid had taken place. A German communique said a British destroyer had been sunk and eight French planes downed.
On the Eastern Front, the German government announced that operations had started against Warsaw “after all efforts failed at convincing the Polish commander of the gruesomeness and uselessness of resistance.” Warsaw had been besieged for 18 days while German and Soviet forces had taken over almost all of Poland. The communique said “2,000 prisoners were taken” in a pocket southeast of the capital, and Russian troops had neared the agreed demarcation line splitting Poland between the two powers as German troops fell back toward the new border. A survey had estimated Poland had lost between 600 and 700 planes since fighting had begun on 1 September.
The Royal Air Force had flown over Germany on Sunday to drop propaganda leaflets warning Germans that many of their vital war supply reserves were “almost gone” because of British-French maritime activity. The surrender of Warsaw on 28 September had raised expectations that its capitulation would bring a new “peace offensive” from Adolf Hi**er, backed by the threat of a German-Soviet military alliance. Great Britain and France appeared preparing to rebuff the peace maneuver, but Italy stood by Germany and the USSR. Turkey, caught between ties with Russia and the west, was reported to have notified Britain and France that mutual assistance agreements to them would be annulled if they went to war with the Soviet Union. The next step of the new Moscow-Berlin axis was expected to be a search for a neutral power which would mediate among the combatants. The United States was mentioned in some circles, but a request that it serve as an intermediary was considered unlikely because Germany and Soviet Russia were believed to fear a rebuff by Washington.
By the end of the week fighting had lagged on the Western Front with no noteworthy recent activities.

Photo courtesy of newspapers.com and the Gettysburg Times.

09/29/2026

The Pennsylvania Military Museum is seeking a Museum Educator II to join our team! We're looking for someone with a strong background military history or education who can conduct academic research and develop classes, tours, exhibits, lectures, and various other programs in support of our mission of education and preservation. If you're passionate about history and want to make a meaningful contribution to preserving the heritage and legacy of Pennsylvania's service men and women, the Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard, and our Commonwealth's contributions to America's military history, come join us! Click here for details on how to apply:

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09/26/2026