21 Aug 1939 | World War II Database

21 Aug 1939

French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier ordered his representatives in Russia to speed up negotiations with the Soviet Union; since Poland would not agree to Soviet troops within its borders, the French representatives were given the authority to accept a miltiary treaty excluding Poland. Soviet representative Kliment Voroshilov noted to the British and the French that if Poland was unwilling to allow Soviet troops to cross its borders, then there was little point for the Soviet Union to be a part of this military alliance. At 2100 hours, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin responded to the request from German leader Adolf Hitler to move the date of the meeting between the respective foreign ministers to 22 or 23 Aug 1939; with the two sides having agreed on a draft of a German-Soviet non-aggression agreement, the radio in Berlin, Germany interrupted a musical program to announce the upcoming signing of such a treaty between the two countries. ww2dbase [Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | CPC]
Kurt Fricke was awarded Order of Naval Merit 3rd Class in White of Spain. ww2dbase [Kurt Frike | CPC]
After sea trials off New London, Connecticut, USS Spearfish departed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on her shakedown cruise. ww2dbase [Spearfish | DS]

Germany

German warship Admiral Graf Spee and her tanker Altmark departed Germany on a raiding mission against British shipping. ww2dbase [Admiral Graf Spee | CPC]

21 Aug 1939 Photos