Scharnhorst
Battleship
Commissioned 7 January 1939
Otto
Ciliax
Takes command of the Battleship
Scharnhorst
on 7 January 1939 to 23 September
1939 Lützow
Heavy cruiser
Launched 7 January 1939
Adolf
Hitler on 27 January 1939, orders Plan Z, a 5 year naval expansion programme
intended to provide for a huge Kriegsmarine fleet capable of taking on the Royal
Navy by 1944. The Kriegsmarine is given the first priority on the allotment of
German economic resources.
On 6 February 1939, In a response to Georges
Bonnet's speech of January 26, German Foreign Minister Joachim
von Ribbentrop, referring to Bonnet's alleged statement of
6
December 1938, accepting Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere
of influence, protests that all French security commitments in that region are
now off limits .
Bismarck
Battleship
Launched 14 February 1939
Wehrmacht ground forces occupy
the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia on 15 March 1939, Czechoslovakia ceases
to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.
Tirpitz
Battleship
Launched 1 April 1939
28 April 1939 In a speech before
the Reichstag, Adolf
Hitler renounces the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish
Non-Aggression Pact. Finally, addressing United States of America President Franklin
Roosevelt's letter of 14 April 1939, in which Franklin Roosevelt requested Germany
to guarantee the borders of 31 nations, Adolf
Hitler noted the result of the subsequent survey that revealed most of the
nations Poland excluded responded that they were not at all threatened by Germany.
On 6 May 1939, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that
the German and Russian governments are secretly beginning a reconciliation with
the aim of carving up Eastern Europe between them. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler also
informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival
of the national socialist regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for
Poland, then Adolf
Hitler will be deterred from war.
On 1 June 1939, The
Focke-Wulf
Fw-190 V1 (civil registration D-OPZE), powered by a
BMW
139 14 cylinder two row radial engine fighter made its maiden flight at Bremen,
Germany. The aircraft displayed excellent handling characteristics and was highly
manoeuvrable but suffered from engine overheating problems which required the
fitting on a redesigned engine cowling.
On 24 July 1939, Hungarian PM
Pál Teleki advised Germany and Italy that should war break out between
Germany and Poland, Hungary would not take part in a joint invasion; German leader
Adolf Hitler
would soon intimidate Pál Teleki to take back the statement. On the same
day, Italian leader Benito Mussolini warned Adolf
Hitler that should war break out due to the Polish German tension, Italy would
come to Germany's help, but Benito Mussolini thought it would not be a simple
Polish German War, but rather, other nations such as the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and France would be embroiled, leading to another
war.
On the 31st August 1939 in spite of the fact that this was the first
time that the Polish government heard of them, it was stated that the German government
had waited in vain for two days before the arrival of a Polish negotiator, and
therefore considered that the proposals had been rejected.
At 4:45 am
on 1 September 1939, without any formal declaration of war, the German army crosses
the Polish frontier, operation Fall Wiess has begun. The Wehrmacht cross the frontier
at several points, with 53 divisions, under the command of General Walther
von Brauchitsch, divided into two Heeresgruppen, Heeesgruppe Nord commanded
by General Fedor
von Bock, and Heeesgruppe Sud commanded by General Karl
Rudolf von Rundstedt. The individual armies are commanded by General's Günther
von Kluge, 4th Army Georg
von Küchler, 3rd Army Wilhelm
von List, 14. Armee Walter
von Reichenau, 10th Army and Johannes
Blaskowitz, 8th Army and the armoured formations are commanded by general
Heinz
Guderian, XIX Corps Erich
Hoepner, XVI Corps and Paul
von Kleist, XXII Corps The Polish defences are very quickly overwhelmed and
the German Panzers penetrate deep into Polish territory. Simultaneously the Luftwaffe
have two Luftflottes in service Luftflotte 1 commanded by Albert
Kesselring, and Luftflotte 4 command by Alexander
Löhr, bomb several major Polish cities, including Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow.
In the port of Danzig the Pre-dreadnought
Schleswig
Holstein opens fire on the defences of Westerplatte where the Polish navies.
Arsenal is located.
Kurt-Caesar
Hoffmann
Takes command of the Battleship
Scharnhorst
on 23 September 1939 to 31 March
1942 On 14 October 1939
U-47
commanded by Günther
Prien attacks a strongly defended naval base of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands
and sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak.
On 1-2 November 1939,
Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems
and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.
On 13 December
1939, The Battle of the River Plate The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser
Admiral
Graf Spee is cornered by cruisers HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles, and HMS Exeter
after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. The
Admiral
Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbour on 17 December 1939.
Adolf
Hitler On 14th December orders (OKW) the supreme command of the German armed
forces to prepare a preliminary study of plans for an invasion of Norway
Admiral
Graf Spee Scuttled 17 December 1939
Hans
Langsdorff
Commanding the
Graf
Spee commits suicide on 20 December 1939 so as not to disgrace the German
Navy.
For a complete
list of
sources 
