Countdown to World War Two: Sunday 3 September 1939

War is declared

Headline: Britain is at war with Germany. The Government's ultimatum to Herr Hitler, ran out this morning. The King broadcast to the nation earlier this evening and called upon everyone to be 'calm, firm and united'.

At 9.00am Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany saying that unless German troops were withdrawn immediately from Poland the two countries would be at war. No reply came before the ultimatum expired at 11.00am, and so Britain is now at war with Germany.

France sent a similar ultimatum, which expired at 5.00pm this evening. A quarter of an hour after Britain's ultimatum had expired, the Prime minister broadcast to the nation.

Among the Commonwealth nations who heard his speech, Australia and New Zealand both followed Britain into war against Germany, while Canada promised full co-operation and called her parliament to discuss the situation. Among other members of the British Commonwealth, South Africa's position was unclear, while Eire decided to remain neutral.

The declaration of war comes after a couple of days of intense activity in London and Paris. Yesterday, apparently, the two governments had decided that they would fulfil their obligations towards Poland at the earliest possible moment. However they then had to liaise with each other to find out when that might be.

In both capitals there were many cabinet meetings throughout the day. The final one in London began at midnight. This was soon after the Prime Minister's stormy reception in the House of Commons, when members had demanded to know why the Government were delaying in going to Poland's help, as they'd promised to under the Anglo-Polish Alliance.

The delay, it transpires, was caused by the French who needed an extra day in which to complete their defences.

First air-raid warning.

Only minutes after the Prime Minister had broadcast to the nation this morning informing us that we were at war, the first air raid warning sounded across London.

[For audio clips of the speeches made by Neville Chamberlain and by George VI on the day war was declared, see the last page of this article.]

[*Reports taken from BBC news bulletins, and a range of daily newspapers]

Parliament's response

Headline: The Prime Minister has announced details of the War Cabinet. One of the new ministers is Mr Winston Churchill, who returns as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Half an hour after his broadcast to the nation, Mr Chamberlain left Downing Street for the House of Commons. The crowd, which had re-gathered after the first air raid warning, cheered him as he got into his car accompanied by his Parliamentary Private Secretary, Alec Douglas-Home.

When Mr Chamberlain entered the Chamber at noon and took his seat on the Treasury bench he was greeted with an enthusiastic cheering from all sides. Mr Chamberlain repeated the statement he has made in his earlier radio broadcast that Britain was now at war with Germany.

Some members were clearly surprised and some sympathetic when Mr Chamberlain rounded off his speech by saying:

Replying for the opposition, Mr Greenwood spoke of the new atmosphere in the House today. Where yesterday there was anger, resentment and apprehension that delays might end in dishonour, by today this had changed to relief, composure and resolution. After paying tribute to the bravery and restraint shown by Poland in the last three days, Mr Greenwood said:

Speaking from the Government backbenches, Mr Churchill raised cheers from the House with his familiar eloquence:

Mr Lloyd George, Liberal member for Caernarvon Boroughs, reminded the House in a rallying speech of the effort made by the country in the Great War.

Later this evening Mr Chamberlain asked for the resignations of his Ministry colleagues to enable him to make arrangements for a new War Cabinet. The King has now approved the following appointments:

Sir John Simon remains as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Halifax will continue to serve as Foreign Secretary. Lord Chatfield will also stay on as Minister for Co-ordination of Defence. Mr Winston Churchill is to succeed Viscount Stanhope as First Lord of the Admiralty, a post he held at the outbreak of the last war. Lord Hankey, a newcomer to ministerial office is to be Minister without Portfolio, and Mr Hore-Belisha stays on as Secretary of State for War.

Mr Kingsley Wood will also continue to serve as Air Secretary and finally Sir Samuel Hoare will succeed Sir John Anderson as Lord Privy Seal. Mr Anthony Eden comes back into the Government to be Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs with special access to the Cabinet.

There have been no members of the Opposition among the new appointments and both the leaders of the Liberals, Sir Archibald Sinclair and Mr Greenwood, the acting Labour leader, have refused invitations to join the Cabinet in order to remain free to openly criticise the Government in opposition.

Berlin

Headline: In Germany Herr Hitler has accused the British of being 'liars'...

In Germany Herr Hitler has accused the British of being 'liars' and 'war inciters' in a message broadcast to the German Army. His message to the army in the east was, 'I shall be with you today,' and to his army on the Western Front his message said that warmongers in the British Government had proclaimed war on a threadbare pretext.

Calling on the soldiers to protect the Reich with a wall of steel and iron he closed his message, 'As an old soldier of the World War and as your Supreme Commander, I am going, with confidence in you, to the army in the east.'

In his appeal to the German people Herr Hitler was considerably more outspoken especially in his account of British policy. He spoke of 'British war inciters intent on world conquest seeking to destroy the European State.' If, what he called the 'Versailles Diktat', has been fulfilled, 20,000,000 Germans would, he said, have been exterminated.

After Britain's ultimatum had expired at 11.00am this morning, a note was handed to the British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson in which it was stated that the Reich refused to accept, or even satisfy, the demands of the British Government

Fighting in Poland

Headline: Heavy fighting continues in many parts of Poland.

The German invasion of Poland has been continuing throughout the day. The news that Britain and France had declared war on Germany was received with tremendous enthusiasm in Warsaw.

Crowds of people who had been waiting in the streets all of yesterday and today, converged on the British Embassy, singing, shouting and waving flags. When the Ambassador, Sir Howard Kennard, appeared on the balcony with Colonel Beck, the Polish Foreign Minister, he was cheered by the crowd, who shouted, 'Long live Great Britain, long live the fight for liberty!'

Having managed to quieten the crowd, Colonel Beck told them, 'We never doubted that Great Britain and France would fight, but this was soon drowned by more cheering. The crowd then moved to the French Embassy where there were new scenes of jubilation, including the French Military Attaché being chaired through the streets.

Elsewhere in Poland the German invasion continues relentlessly - it is difficult to say precisely what's happening as there are few reports and these are difficult to confirm. However, it is certain that the Germans are both confining themselves to bombing military objectives, but are also attacking cities, towns and villages and thus terrorising the population, while it's also interesting to note that so far there has been no attack on Poland's industrial triangle.

The German military offensive appears to be centring on six Polish cities, Torun, Poznán, Lodz, Czestochowa, Katowice and Krakow. In fact the latest Polish communiqué says that Polish troops have now been forced to abandon Czestochowa.

Another interesting element in this invasion has been the work of various groups of local Nazis, who have been trying to sabotage vital installations. In one case, near Katowice, a band of 20 young men were taken out and shot by the Polish Army, after being found sabotaging the local electrical manufacturing works.

The question now remains, can Britain and France's declaration of war prevent Germany from occupying Poland?

Other stories

German repatriation

On the day that they became the enemies of Britain, the few remaining Germans took the last opportunity of returning to Germany. In a plane that had been specially laid on by their own government, they left, some of them no doubt wondering when they might return.

Prisons

Prisoners with less than six months to serve will be released from jails in areas where there's a danger of air attack. The Home Office stresses that no one connected with any IRA outrage is likely to be released.

TUC

It's been decided that the TUC will go ahead with their annual conference in Brindlington. However, the conference will be a very short one, lasting only a couple of days.

Entertainment shut down

All cinemas, theatres and other places of entertainment have been closed until further notice. The reason for this is that if a bomb should fall on them, many people could be killed or injured.

[For audio clips of the speeches made by Neville Chamberlain and by George VI on the day war was declared, see the last page of this article.]

Audio archive: The countdown to war

[If you haven't listened to audio clips before, you may need the free Real Player plug-in. BBC's WebWise help has a step-by-step guide to help you download it.]

Find out more

Books

The conduct of the Air War in the Second World War edited by Horst Boog (1992)

Bomber Command by Max Hastings (1979)

The Bomber Command War Diaries by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (1985)

Most Secret War by RV Jones (1978)

Links

Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum: Bomber Command

About the author

Mark Fielder is executive producer of the BBC Battlefields series. He has made many other series, including D-Day, Burma, War Walks, and Western Front.