It Happened Today During WW2

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September 10th

1939 - After seven nights of British flights dropping leaflets on Germany, the operation stops due to public criticism that Britain only dropped paper while Germany dropped bombs on Poland.

1939 - An article in the New York Times newspaper refers to the conflict in Poland as the "Second World War".

1939 - (1310 hours) In Ottawa, Canada, the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir, announces that Parliament has declared war on Germany, as of the start of the day.

1939 - The US extends its embargo on arms shipments to Canada.

1939 - (evening) German destroyer Oeresund hits a German mine south of Trelleborg, Sweden, and sinks. (This is the first warship loss of the war.)

1941 - (0210 hours) Convoy SC-42 across the Atlantic is attacked by German submarines. U-432 torpedoes and sinks SS Winterswijk. Seven more merchant ships are torpedoed by the end of the day.

1941 - A proposal to send two Canadian battalions to Hong Kong reaches British prime minister Winston Churchill's desk for approval. He accepts the recommendation.

1942 - A Japanese floatplane flies two missions dropping incendiary bombs on U.S. forests in the state of Oregon - the only bombing of the continental U.S. during the war. Newspapers in the U.S. voluntarily withhold this information.

1943 - American forces expand their bridgehead at Salerno, landing most of the 45th Division.

1943 - German troops occupied Rome and took over the protection of Vatican City.

1944 - German air forces attack the Tri Duby airfield in Slovakia in several waves. At the end, only four Slovak aircraft remain operational.

1944 - Canadian engineers complete a bridge over the Gent Canal in Belgium, allowing tanks to cross.

1944 - British General Bernard Montgomery and US General Dwight Eisenhower meet in Brussels, Belgium. Eisenhower agrees to an airborne operation with Arnhem as the first objective.

1944 - Operation Comet, a one-division airborne assault toward Arnhem, becomes Operation Market Garden, involving three airborne divisions.

1944 - (2129 hours) A third German V-2 rocket hits England, landing at North Fambridge near Maldon, in Essex, about 40 miles east of London. There is no damage or casualites.

[Kitty]

10-9-1945 Vidkun Quisling, the ‘puppet Premier’ of Norway, is sentenced to death for Nazi collaboration.

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September 11th
1939 - France notifies the League of Nations that it is at war with Germany, as of 1700 hours September 3.
1939 - The British Ministry of Information announces the British Government would not conclude peace with a German Government headed by Adolf Hitler.
1939 - President Juan Arosema of Panama proclaims the neutrality of Panama.
1940 - Adolf Hitler postpones invasion of Great Britain to September 24.

1942 - In the St. Lawrence River, near Cap Chat, Quebec, Canada, submarine U-517 torpedoes and sinks Royal Canadian Navy corvette Charlottetown. Ten die.

1942 - 479 British aircraft attack Düsseldorf. 20,000 are made homeless.

1943 - The Italian Navy surrenders its warships to the Allies at Malta.

1944 - Allied forces on land cross into Germany.

1944 - The Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (Black Watch) of the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade captures the town or Spycker in northern France.

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September 12th 1939

In Poland, the Polish army west of the Vistula River is trapped in Kutno and Radom pockets, and capital Warsaw is almost completely surrounded.

The Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, begins offering a course on the "second world war".

The Soviet Government reports three German war planes in Polish colors shot down over Minsk region of Russia, with German crewmen.

The official German News Bureau in East Silesia issues a special report saying that "Removal of the Polish Jewish population from the European domain would ... bring a solution of the Jewish question in Europe nearer.".

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September 12, 1943 - Former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was rescued by German paratroopers on orders from Adolf Hitler. Mussolini was being held prisoner by Italian authorities following the collapse of his Fascist regime.

[Kyt]

1939

On the Western Front... French forces have now advanced about 5 miles (8 km) into Germany on a 15-mile (24 km) frontage in the Saarland region. The French claim that the action has forced the Germans to withdraw 6 divisions from Poland, although British observers express doubts. The advance places the front within half a mile of the Siegfried Line and a frontal assault on this defensive system is considered to be out of the question. General Gamelin calls an end to the Saar offensive.

In Poland... Some of List's troops are fighting near Lvov while others are moving north from their bridgeheads over the San. The Polish army around Poznan, the one that was to have marched on Berlin, unexpectedly turns about and attempts to take the German 8th Army in the flank. This is the start of the violent battle of the Bzura River. Polish troops push the German forces 12 miles south of Kutno and recapture Lowicz. Gdynia is evacuated by the Poles. Luftwaffe planes bomb Krzemieniec (Kremenets) in eastern Poland, a declared open village where the diplomatic community from Warsaw has sought refuge.

In Bucharest... The German Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, demands that the Romanians not give asylum to Polish officials crossing the border and threatens military action in case of noncompliance.

In France... The Anglo-French Supreme War Council meets for the first time at Abbeville. Meanwhile, a Czech army-in-exile is formed.

In Britain... The home office opens an inquiry into blackout rules.

In the North Atlantic... The US Navy begins regular neutrality patrols along the entire length of the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean.

1940:

In Vichy France... Five schoolboys discover 10,000-year-old wall paintings of animals and hunters in Lascaux Cave (Dordogne).

Over Germany... British RAF Bomber Command aircraft raid the Hamm marshalling yards for the 60th time during the night (September 12-13).

In Occupied Poland... In Warsaw, a walled ghetto is to be constructed for the estimated 500,000 Jewish inhabitants of the city.

1941

On the Eastern Front... North of Kiev, the city of Chernigov, on the Desna River is evacuated in the face of the advancing German 2nd Army. The first snowfall of the year is reported on the Eastern Front.

In Norway... the Norwegian Government under the pro-German leadership of Quisling bans the Boys Scouts and other youth clubs. Boys are required to join youth sections of the Nasjonal Samling Party.

In North Africa... the relief operations begin for Tobruk. Approximately 6300 soldiers, from Scobie's 70th British Division, and supplies for them are transported into the city. 6000 of the Australian garrison are taken out.

1942

In the Solomon Islands... On Guadalcanal, major attacks by the Japanese units, from General Kawaguchi's 35th brigade, begin. Fighting is heavy especially around the aptly named "Bloody Ridge". Reinforcements of aircraft are flown to the Americans from the USS Wasp.

In the Atlantic... German U-boat U-156 sinks the passenger liner Laconia, just south of the equator, off the coast of Africa. The passengers, service men's wives and children and Italian prisoners of war are aided by the U-boat captain, Hartenstein, who surfaces and then radios in plain language to Allied authorities for help for them. Despite this conduct, an American plane attacks the U-boat.

From Berlin... In response to the attack by the American plane, Admiral Doenitz orders that no U-boat commander may again attempt the rescue of civilians survivors. He also orders rescue boats from Dakar for the rest of the survivors of the Laconia. Of note, the "Laconia Order" forms one of the indictments against Admiral Doenitz at Nuremberg after the war.

On the Eastern Front... At Stalingrad, the German encirclement of Stalingrad continues. Soviet perimeter is now only about 30 miles long.

From Moscow... Stalin appoints General Chiuikov to command of the 62nd Army which will soon be completely besieged in Stalingrad.

1943

In Italy... On the Salerno beachhead, German forces mount their first major counterattack. Forces of the British 5th Corps are pushed out of Battipaglia, again. To the north of the beachhead, Allied forces holding the Molina Pass are under pressure from the German "Hermann Goring" Panzer Division. To the south, the British 8th Army captures Crotone and continues to make progress. Meanwhile, in a daring raid by a German parachute detachment led by Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini is freed from Gran Sasso in the Abruzzi Mountains and flown to Germany.

On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces near Bryansk renew their attack. In the Donets basin Soviet forces capture Stary Kermenchik. In the Caucasus, the Germans begin evacuating the 17th Army from the Kuban Peninsula.

In New Guinea... Troops of the Australian 5th Division capture Salamaua. To the north, the Japanese forces at Lae are being isolated.

1944

On the Western Front... The German garrison of Le Harve, about 12,000 men, surrenders under pressure of attacks by British 1st Corps (part of Canadian 1st Army, British 21st Army Group). Forces of US 1st Army (part of US 12th Army Group) reach the German border between Aachen and Trier.

In the Mediterranean... The German garrison on Mytilene, in the Aegean Sea, is evacuated.

In Liberated Italy... The Greek government in exile arrives in Caserta in the south, from Cairo, in order to be closer to Greece in anticipation of returning.

In Moscow... The Romanian government signs the armistice with the Allies. The terms include reparations to the Soviet Union of $300,000,000 as well as cession of territory to the USSR.

In the Philippines... Three groups of US Task Force 38, with 12 carriers, conduct air strikes on Japanese positions on the Visayas or central Philippine islands.

In Canada... The Octagon Conference continues. Churchill and Roosevelt and their staffs meet in Quebec to discuss strategy.

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September 12,

1946 Court martial convicts Henry de Man to 20 years, in Brussels

1944 Noorbeek and Mheer freed

1944 U.S. Army troops entered Germany for 1st time

1943 Free French lands on Corsica

1943 Waffen-SS (Skorzeny) frees Mussolini at Gran Sasso

1943 German paratroopers, on orders of Adolf Hitler, seize former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who was being held prisoner by the government

1942 Battle of Edson's Ridge begins at Guadalcanal

1942 Free-Poland and Belgium asks pope to condemn nazi-war crimes

1941 1st German ship in WW II captured by U.S. ship (Busko)

1940 49 die and 200 injured when Hercules Powder Co plant explodes (NJ)

1940 Italian troops enter Egypt

1938 Adolph Hitler demands self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czech

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Monday September 17th:

1944 British Premier Winston Churchill travels to U.S.

1944 Dutch begin railroad strike against German occupiers

1944 Operation Market Garden: British airborne division lands Arnhem Neth

1943 Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station

1943 Red Army recaptures Brjansk

1940 Hitler begins invasion of England (operation Seelowe)

1940 Nazis deprive Jews of possessions

1939 German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die

1939 Poland's president Moscicki and PM Slawoj-Skladkowski flee to Romania

1939 Russia invades Eastern Poland, takes 217,000 Poles prisoner

1939 Soviet Union invades Poland during WW II

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1944 British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed

1944 Eindhoven free (Lightly Day)

1944 U.S. 266th division occupiers Brest Bretagne

1943 Hitler orders deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessful)

1940 19 German aircrafts shot down above England

1940 Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani

1939 Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania

[Kitty]

17-9-1944 The British airborne invasion of Arnhem, Eindhoven and Njimegen in the Netherlands begins as part of ‘Operation Market Garden’.

17-9-1944 Blackout regulations are lifted in Britain to allow lights on buses, trains and at railway stations for the first time in five years.