The Siege of Leningrad by German and Finnish forces is officially dated from 8 September; it would not end for 900 days. In Ukraine, German troops effectively surrounded the Soviet army defending Kiev. Stalin meanwhile ordered all 600,000 Soviet citizens of German descent in the Volga to be deported to Siberia. And after a US warship was fired on by a German U-Boat, on 11 September President Roosevelt ordered American ships to shoot on sight if threatened.
In Caithness, Dunbeath School was still badly affected by the measles epidemic. On 9 September the school log book reads, “As there were only 39 pupils present today, a phone message was sent to Dr Dick M.O.H. [Medical Officer of Health] informing him about the matter.” On 11 September: “Dr Dick M.O.H. visits the school today”. Finally, on Friday 12th, “Word was received today from Dr Dick that the school was to be closed by order of the M.O.H. from Monday 15th September until 19th September”.
You may remember from a few weeks ago the sad case of Frank Dunnett, the boy who was prevented from 
attending Brabster School because of a bull loose in a field he had to cross. Now, on 11 September, the Director of Education wrote to Miss Leitch, the teacher at Brabster School, to say that he’d been in touch with the Chief Constable, and had received the following message: “I wrote to my Constable at Mey. He has again seen Mr Angus and the latter says that he cannot have the bull removed from the hill ground before the 19th instant, when the schools close, but he will have the animal cleared off the ground before the schools reopen on 7th October.”
The John O’Groat reported on the recent Home Guard exercises that had been taking place all across the county. In one of them, the risk of sabotage by “fifth columnists” was highlighted. In one of the exercises, a man posed as an electrician and was able to place explosives on a gun. Another man posed as a veterinary surgeon, called to attend a horse in the same field as a gun emplacement. He began to inspect the horse, and then, “smacking the animal on the hip with his walking stick he caused it to canter towards the gun. He followed the horse for about 100 yards, thus getting to within easy range for throwing a hand-grenade. He threw a dummy grenade, followed by a bomb”, which put the gun out of action.
Finally this week, an indignant correspondent in the John O’Groat Journal (signing himself “Patriot”) took issue 
with the people of Wick who went down to Lybster at the weekends for the purpose of getting hold of alcohol which was banned at home: “The point raised by me was the annoyance felt by the majority of the Lybster and country district people at the Saturday night invasion of the village by the men, even boys, earning big wages, from Wick and along the coast, for the purpose of spending their money in drink, and the use of the late bus by these drunks so that sober people returning from their shopping after a hard day’s work in the field had to walk, or stand the chance of getting hit by a beer bottle in the frequent rows.”
