September 1939

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 bombing of WieluńOn the morning of 1 September 1939 Luftwaffe dive-bombers destroyed central Wieluń, a town with no troops or air defences. The first bombs hit its hospital.
  • Germany annexes the Free City of DanzigOn 1 September 1939 Albert Forster proclaimed the Free City of Danzig part of the Reich, and the Reichstag confirmed it by law. Arrests of Poles began.
  • 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.
  • Hitler’s Reichstag speechOn 1 September 1939 Hitler told the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House that since 5.45 Germany had been “returning fire”. He cast the war as self-defence.
  • Italy and the neutral statesOn 1 September 1939 Italy announced it would not take up arms. The Nordic states, Estonia, Latvia and Portugal, England’s ally, also declared neutrality.
  • Britain prepares for warOn 1 September 1939 Britain ordered mobilisation, the blackout and the evacuation of its cities. A population register and a Ministry of Food followed.
  • Britain and France demand a German withdrawal from PolandOn the evening of 1 September 1939 Henderson and Coulondre demanded that Germany withdraw from Poland. The notes were a warning, not an ultimatum.
  • Roosevelt’s appeal to spare civiliansOn 1 September 1939 Roosevelt urged the belligerents not to bomb civilians. Hitler gave his pledge on the very day the Luftwaffe destroyed Wieluń.
  • Operation TannenbergOn 1 September 1939 Security Police and SD Einsatzgruppen followed the Wehrmacht into Poland, carrying lists of names to “neutralise” Poland’s leading strata.
• 02

  • Mobilisation in FranceOn 2 September 1939 general mobilisation began in France and parliament voted war credits without debate. Foreign Minister Bonnet still sought peace via Rome.
• 03

  • Key eventBritain and France declare war on GermanyOn 3 September 1939 Britain at 11 a.m. and France at 5 p.m. found themselves at war with Germany. Warsaw cheered, but no real help arrived.
  • Chamberlain’s War CabinetOn 3 September 1939 Chamberlain formed a nine-man War Cabinet with Churchill at the Admiralty, conscription for men aged 18–41 began and Gort took over the BEF.
  • India, Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland at warOn 3 September 1939 the Viceroy declared India at war without consulting Indians. Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland also entered the war that day.
  • 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.
  • Bloody Sunday in BydgoszczOn 3 September 1939 shooting broke out in Bydgoszcz amid retreating troops. Several hundred Germans died, and propaganda turned it into “Bloody Sunday”.
  • 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.
  • The Legion of Czechs and SlovaksOn 3 September 1939 President Mościcki decreed a Legion of Czechs and Slovaks. Some 1,000 refugees from Czechoslovakia were to fight Germany beside the Poles.
• 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.
  • Japan stays out of the war in EuropeOn 4 September 1939 Nobuyuki Abe’s government announced that Japan would not become involved in the European war and would focus on ending the “China Incident”.
  • More countries declare neutralityIn early September 1939 Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Lithuania, Iran, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico declared neutrality.
  • The British Expeditionary Force in FranceOn 4 September 1939 the advance parties of the BEF sailed from Portsmouth for France. In early October Lord Gort’s four divisions took over a sector near Lille.
• 05

  • The United States declares neutralityOn 5 September 1939 Roosevelt proclaimed US neutrality and an arms embargo on all belligerents, Poland included. A neutrality patrol and an emergency followed.
  • Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia break off relations with GermanyIn September 1939 Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Germany. They met their obligations to London but did not declare war on the Reich.
  • Britain withdraws recognition of SlovakiaAfter Slovakia joined the attack on Poland, London withdrew recognition and on 8 September declared it enemy-occupied. The USSR recognised it on 16 September.
• 06

  • South Africa declares war on GermanyOn 6 September 1939 South Africa declared war on Germany. Two days earlier parliament had rejected Hertzog's neutrality and Smuts had taken over the government.
  • 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.
  • Romania declares neutralityOn 6 September 1939 the Crown Council backed Romanian neutrality. Poland's ally stayed out of the war but agreed to let aid for Poland pass through.
• 07

  • The Saar Offensive beginsOn 7 September 1939 French troops crossed the Reich border in the Saar. It was France's only offensive of 1939, cautious and limited from the outset.
• 08

  • Germany mines British watersIn September 1939 U-boats began secretly laying mines off the British coast, including near Portland. Minesweepers were helpless against the new magnetic mines.
• 10

  • Canada declares war on GermanyOn 10 September 1939 Canada declared war on Germany, a week after Britain. The delay was deliberate, to show that parliament in Ottawa had decided.
  • The bombing of WarsawOn 10 September 1939 Warsaw endured one of the worst days of the siege, with over a dozen Luftwaffe raids. Yet it had been bombed since the war began.
• 11

  • Turkey and Bulgaria stay neutralOn 11 September 1939 Prime Minister Refik Saydam announced that Turkey would stay out of the war for now. On 15 September Bulgaria formally declared neutrality.
• 12

  • Gamelin halts the Saar OffensiveOn 12 September 1939 Gamelin halted the Saar advance, and the French and British prime ministers at Abbeville accepted that Poland could not really be helped.
• 13

  • Explosion aboard the cruiser PlutonOn 13 September 1939 the French minelaying cruiser Pluton blew up in Casablanca harbour while unloading armed mines. Some 200 people were killed.
• 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.
  • German pressure on RomaniaOn 14 September 1939, under pressure from Berlin, Romania resolved to intern Polish leaders if they crossed its border and restricted arms transit to Poland.
• 15

  • The encirclement of WarsawOn 15 September 1939 the German 3rd Army reached Praga and cut Warsaw off from the east. A day later the defenders rejected a demand to surrender.
• 16

  • The first HX convoyOn 16 September 1939 convoy HX 1 sailed from Halifax for Liverpool, escorted by Canadian destroyers – the start of the longest convoy series of 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.
• 18

  • The Polish government crosses into RomaniaOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 the President, government and Commander-in-Chief crossed into Romania, hoping to reach France. They were interned.
  • The escape of Orzeł from TallinnOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 ORP Orzeł, interned in Tallinn, escaped. Moscow said Estonia could not guard its neutrality and began to apply pressure.
• 19

  • German and Soviet troops meetThe Red Army took Wilno and met the Wehrmacht near Lwów and Brest. On 22 September Guderian handed Brest over to Krivoshein’s tank brigade.
• 21

  • The assassination of Armand CălinescuOn 21 September 1939 Iron Guard legionaries shot the Romanian prime minister Armand Călinescu in Bucharest. Hundreds of legionaries were executed without trial.
• 24

  • Dönitz intensifies the U-boat warOn 24 September 1939, at Dönitz's request, U-boats were allowed to sink ships using their radio and to attack French ones – a first step away from prize rules.
  • Soviet demands on EstoniaOn 24 September 1939 Molotov demanded that Estonia's Selter sign a mutual assistance pact with Soviet bases, threatening force if Estonia refused.
• 25

  • The Pan-American Conference in PanamaIn September 1939 the foreign ministers of 21 American republics met in Panama. Their declaration of 3 October set a war-free zone around the Americas.
• 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.
• 27

  • The Phoney WarOn 27 September 1939, as Poland was going down, German guns shelled French villages. In the west the Phoney War went on, with almost no fighting on land.
  • Key eventEstablishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
• 28

  • The German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship TreatyOn 28 September 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Boundary and Friendship Treaty, moving the partition line to the Bug and giving Lithuania to the USSR.
  • The capitulation of WarsawOn 28 September 1939 Generals Kutrzeba and Blaskowitz signed the capitulation of Warsaw at Rakowiec, after its heaviest air raid and a general assault.
  • The Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance PactOn 28 September 1939, under threat of war, Estonia signed a mutual assistance pact in Moscow, giving the USSR bases and the right to station 25,000 troops.
• 30

  • Graf Spee sinks her first shipOn 30 September 1939 the “pocket battleship” Admiral Graf Spee sank the British freighter Clement off the coast of Brazil. Her crew survived.