On Wednesday 8 November Hitler escaped an assassination attempt when he gave a speech to his supporters in the celebrated Bürgerbräukeller, the beer hall in Munich where he had staged his failed “Beer Hall Putsch” on this day in 1923. A time bomb had been planted but Hitler cut short his speech and left early; although the bomb exploded killing and injuring many people, Hitler and the other senior members of the Nazi Party had already left.

Although things were quiet Hetty Munro knew the “Phoney War” could become real at any time, she noted in her diary: “Hitler seems to be making up his mind to do something but nobody is quite sure what it is so of course we have all got to be prepared for all sorts of ridiculous things.”

All schoolchildren in Caithness were supplied with gas masks this week as schools reopened after the holidays. On Tuesday 7 November Dunnet School recorded in its log book, “School re-opened today. A consignment of small size gas respirators was delivered this morning and in the afternoon Mr Smith, warden called and fitted them. All the children have now been supplied.”

Meanwhile the constant flying (allied and German) made it hard for the children to concentrate. Barrock school noted on Friday 10th: “owing to the activity of aeroplanes in the vicinity the attention of the pupils tends to turn skyward.”

The blackout was responsible for an accident this week when “an elderly seaman belonging to Shetland” stepped off Scrabster quay in the darkness and fell into the harbour. Fortunately he was carrying an electric torch and “the beam of light from it revealed his whereabouts, and he was quickly rescued by means of ropes.”

The lighting restrictions had a knock-on effect on the sale of fish, since all white fish had to be sold in daylight; this meant some fishing boats had to leave the fishing grounds by 1 p.m. in order to make it back to harbour in time. All in all, what with the wartime restrictions and the bad weather, the Wick Harbour Trust reported a loss of £800 compared with the previous financial year. (Though as the chairman said, “The situation, in view of the unusual circumstances, might have been much worse.”)

This might have been why some trawlers were now illegally fishing the inshore fishing grounds, leaving many line fishers furious at their empty nets.

Finally, the subject of rationing was raised at a meeting of the Wick Hospital Committee. The Government was planning to introduce food rationing in the New Year; this would clearly have a significant impact on the running of the hospital, and so a sub-committee was set up to consider how it should be implemented.

Coming soon! Week 11, 13-19 November 1939, will be published on Monday 12th November 2012. To view previous issues please use the menus on the right hand side of the page.