Military operations
Category
(1014)1939
March
April
May
August
September
- 01
- Key eventGermany invades PolandAt dawn on 1 September 1939 the Wehrmacht attacked Poland from the north, west and south without declaring war. The Slovak army struck alongside the Germans.
- The defence of Westerplatte beginsAt 4.45 a.m. on 1 September 1939 the battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelled the Polish depot on Westerplatte. Its garrison beat off two assaults that day.
- The defence of the Polish Post Office in GdańskOn 1 September 1939 Polish postal workers held the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk for about 14 hours. After their surrender 38 were sentenced to death and shot.
- 03
- The sinking of the AtheniaOn the evening of 3 September 1939 U-30 torpedoed the British liner Athenia without warning, with over 1,400 people aboard. Between 112 and 117 died.
- The sinking of Wicher and GryfOn 3 September 1939 German dive bombers sank the destroyer Wicher and the minelayer Gryf in the naval port of Hel, Poland’s largest warships in the Baltic.
- 04
- Germany cuts the Polish CorridorAfter the fighting in the Tuchola Forest the German 4th Army reached the Vistula and met the 3rd Army from East Prussia. The Pomorze Army lost two divisions.
- The first RAF raidsOn 4 September 1939 British bombers attacked warships off Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel. The bombs that hit the Scheer did not explode; the RAF lost 7 aircraft.
- 06
- Friendly fire in the first days of the warOn 6 September 1939 Spitfires shot down two British Hurricanes over Essex, and on 10 September the submarine Triton sank the British submarine Oxley.
- The Germans take KrakówOn 6 September 1939 the German 14th Army entered undefended Kraków. The Kraków Army was retreating to the Nida and Dunajec; the Wawel treasures had left.
- The Admiralty introduces convoysOn 6 September 1939 the first British convoys and the Northern Patrol set out. A day earlier U-47 had sunk the freighter Bosnia, the first of its kind.
- 14
- The Battle of Changsha beginsOn 14 September 1939 the Japanese 11th Army opened an offensive in Jiangxi to smash China's 9th War Zone and reach Changsha, the capital of Hunan.
- The sinking of U-39On 14 September 1939 U-39 attacked the carrier Ark Royal, but its torpedoes exploded prematurely. Destroyers sank it, the first U-boat lost in the war.
- 17
- Key eventThe Soviet invasion of PolandAt dawn on 17 September 1939 the Red Army entered Poland without a declaration of war, carrying out the secret protocol of its pact with Germany.
- The sinking of HMS CourageousOn 17 September 1939 U-29 sank the carrier HMS Courageous west of Ireland; 518 or 519 men died. She was the first Royal Navy warship sunk by the enemy.
- 26
- The first German aircraft shot down by the BritishOn 26 September 1939 a Skua from Ark Royal shot down a Do 18 flying boat over the North Sea. Germany later falsely announced that the carrier had been sunk.
- The Japanese cross Lake DongtingIn late September 1939 the Japanese broke Chinese defences on the Xinqiang, landed on the shore of Lake Dongting and forced the Miluo on the way to Changsha.
October
- 14
- Orzeł reaches BritainOn 14 October 1939, after six weeks at sea, with no charts and a damaged radio, ORP Orzeł reached Scotland. The British had given her up for lost.
- The sinking of HMS Royal OakOn the night of 13–14 October 1939 Günther Prien’s U-47 slipped into Scapa Flow and sank the battleship Royal Oak. 833 or 835 men were killed.
November
December
- 07
- The Battle of Suomussalmi beginsOn 7 December 1939 the Soviet 163rd Division reached Suomussalmi, burnt by the Finns. The Finnish command sent Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo's brigade there.
- The Battle of Kollaa beginsOn 7 December 1939 the Soviet 56th Rifle Division attacked Finnish positions on the Kollaa river in Ladoga Karelia. The Finns held them to the end of the war.