8/9/06: 1941: Siege of Leningrad begins Nazi Germany's siege of Leningrad begins with the encirclement of the Soviet city on September 8, 1941. It lasted slightly less than 900 days. As food and fuel ran out, some citizens were forced to subsist on bread made with sawdust while others worked through the winter in makeshift military factories without heat. Although many perished from starvation, bombings, and the bitter cold, the citizens’ determined resistance held the German troops at bay and helped turn the tide of World War II. In January 1944, a Soviet offensive drove the Germans from the city's outskirts and the siege was lifted. An estimated 650,000 residents of Leningrad had perished. The Soviet government awarded the Order of Lenin to the people of Leningrad in 1945, paying tribute to their endurance during the grueling siege.
10-9-1945 Vidkun Quisling, the ‘puppet Premier’ of Norway, is sentenced to death for Nazi collaboration.
12th September 1942: A tragic day for some 1800 Italian and Allied service familes. HMT Laconia was torpedeod by U-156. Adding to the tragedy, a US bomber attacked the U-Boat while it was to attempting to rescue survivors. Consequently, Doenitz ordered the cancellention of the rescue attempt and forbade any such attempts in the future. 1943: Led by Colonel Otto Skorzeny, German airborne troops rescue Mussolini being held captive on Gran Sasso, in the Abruzzi mountains, Italy.
15th September 1940: Canada announced men aged between 21 and 24 are to be conscripted. 1944: Lancasters from 9 and 617 Squadrons of the RAF attack the Tirpitz - Germany's last battleship - in Altenfiord, Norway. Units of the Soviet Army cross the Vistula and establish bridgeheads in Warsaw
15-9-1935 At the Nuremburg rally Hitler issues new decrees which relegates Jews to sub-human status and the Swastika is adopted as the nation’s official flag. 15-9-1940 The greatest number of German aircraft are shot down in one day by the RAF and Allies (approximately 150) leading to the date being adopted as Battle of Britain Day.
17th September 1939: HMS Courageous torpedoed by U-29 while patrolling off the coast of south-west Ireland. 1940: Having failed to gain air supremacy, Hitler stands down "Operation Sealion." 1943: The Red Army liberates Bryansk. 1944: "Operation Market Garden" begins.
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 to allow lights on buses, trains and at railway stations for the first time in five years.
Seeing as I forgot yesterday, I'll combine it with today. 18-9-1944 10,000 troops are dropped or land by glider in Arnhem. 18-9-1948 7,000 tonnes of food supplies and petrol are airlifted into Berlin by British and American aircraft, defying a three month Soviet blockade. 19-9-1945 British traitor William Joyce - Lord Haw Haw - is sentenced to be hanged after his treason trial at the Old Bailey.
20-9-1944 Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his navigator J Warwick are killed when their Mosquito crashed in the Netherlands after acting as Master Bomber on a raid. 20-9-1946 The Cannes film festival was launched.
22nd September 1940: Japanese forces enter Indochina with only token resistance from some Vichy French troops. 1943: The Soviet Thirteenth Army crossed the Dniepr River south of Kiev. Britain's 78th (Battleaxe) Infantry Division lands at Bari preparatory to advancing to capture Foggia and its valuable airfield.
September 23rd 1943: Mussolimi, who had been rescued eleven days earlier, announced the formation of the Italian Social Republic in north-west Italy. As the area was under German control its significance was minimul.
GERMAN MILITARY REPORTS HEERESLAGE Afrika, 23 Sept., 1940 Because of the destroyed coastal-road Sollum – Sidi Barani it is not possible to continue advancing because supply with water is highly needed. All dwells are destroyed by the British by throwing salt-sacks into the water. LUFTLAGE WEST 9.Armee Enemy air attacks on Boulogne in the night 22./23.Sept. 6 fires in the harbour-area. One church on fire in the city-center. Losses: 3 small motorships and 1 harbor-guard-boat sunk, 1 dead, 1 wounded. 60 bombs on Le Havre: Artillery position, stock market, theater, weather-station, petroleum-harbour, mayors office, train-sation, Flak-position and two suburbs hit. 4 soldiers, 4 civilians killed, several wounded. Additional report from 25.Sept.1940: Casualties at attack on Le Havre 22./23.Sept.: 13 soldiers light-, 6 severely-injured, 24 civilians killed, 23 injured. Shed of A.V.L. destroyed by fire. 13.30 Spitfire crashes into the sea near harbor entrance of Fécamp. A british Leutnant was recovere by a rescue-boat and handed over to L.Nachr.Rgt.31. JT
And on Sept. 23, 1942: A dour, corpulent brigadier general of the US Army Corps of Engineers is summoned to the War Department. The general is asked what he knows of atomic theory. The general knows about atoms being split. That's been accomplished, the general is told. Now the general is to supervise a program that will handle every aspect, from construction to final delivery, of an "atomic device." The general asks what his levels of priority and funding are. He is told neither are a problem. Anything he wants is his for the asking. All he has to do is maintain strictest secrecy. The general's name: Leslie R. Groves. The program's codename: "Manhattan Project." Back on Guadalcanal, two Japanese officers complete a three- day inspection trip and fire off a radio appreciation of the situation to Rabaul. After whining about Guadalcanal's lack of decent billets and a good officers' club, they report that Maj. Gen. Kiyotaki Kawaguchi is in bad shape, his men exhausted and starving, barely holding their own. Kawaguchi needs help -- 150 mm howitzers to shell Henderson Field, and more troops. JT
September 24th: 1943 Soviet forces reconquer Smolensk 1941 9 Allied governments pledged adherence to Atlantic Charter 1941 Bomb explosion in German headquarters in Hotel Continental in Kiev 1940 Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton
1942 : Gestapo headquarters targeted in Norway On this day in 1942, British bombers attempt to take out the local headquarters of the German secret state police, the Gestapo, in Norway. They miss--but send some Nazis running for their lives. Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, in a stunning blitzkrieg campaign, a response to Britain's laying of mines in Norwegian waters--which was itself a response to Norway's iron-ore trade with the Axis power. But in one short month, the British and French troops that had landed in Norway to aid in its defense were chased out, as well as Norway's royal family, who set up a government-in-exile in London. The Germans immediately established a Reich commissioner to rule the occupied territory. The commissioner outlawed all political parties but one--the pro-Nazi National Unity Party. It was led by Vidkun Quisling, the former Norwegian minister of war. His name would become synonymous with acquiescence and collaboration. Quisling, now a German puppet, ruled as a Nazi wannabe, an overlord who would brook no dissent, even sending thousands of his own countrymen to German concentration camps. A majority of Norwegians despised both Quisling and his German masters. Teachers and clergy resigned their positions in the state-sponsored church in order not to be implicated in the new fascist regime. One means of keeping defiant locals of newly occupied countries under control was the use of the Gestapo. An office was typically set up in conquered nations to terrorize the populace. On September 25, during a Nazi Party rally in Oslo, British aircraft, aiming to destroy the records of the Norwegian Resistance (kept in Gestapo headquarters, but not as yet acted upon), bombed the building. The bombs missed their target, but surrounding buildings were hit, and four people were killed. The Brits did put a scare into the Nazis, though, who ran from the city, leaving their Party's rally in ruins. ADVERTISEMENT
25th September 1940: Nazi sympathiser Vidkun Quisling proclaims himself to be Norway's leader. Hence, a new word in dictionaries. 1943: Soviet forces recapture Smolensk.
1940 Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton 1939 German Luftwaffe strikes Warsaw with (fire)bombs 1939 Versailles Peace Treaty forgot to include Andorra, so Andorra and Germany finally sign an official treaty ending WW I
REPORTS 25 SEPT. 1939 Heereslage Ost Heeresgruppe Süd 10.Armee (Starachowice) Local combat action against enemy following. 14.Inf.Div. around Lublin, 4.Inf.Div. northwest of Lublin, with rear guards along the Wierpz. Local attacks by Polish bandits. XIV.A.K.(Radom): completed a second 16ton bridge at Deblin and is transporting captured goods out of Deblin. XVI.A.K. Pi.Btl.62: II./2./Pi.Btl.62 (Lt.Mokulies) is attached to the I.Btl. of a infantry regiment to attack Fort Legjonow south of Warschau. The platoon is transported by vehicles from Solimow to domain Ursynow via D.Natolin – Wolica. From there the platoon advances to the road-junction Sluzew. The platoon has order to support the attack which starts at 12:00 and open wire-obstacles in front of the Fort. Under enemy artillery fire the platoon advances between the 1st and 2nd company of the infantry regiment. About 200m in front of the wire-obstacle the first casualties occure. Uffz.Rothe (Führer 5.Gruppe) and Pionier Dahn are injured by grenade fragments. Mokulies orders three teams with explosives (gestreckte Ladungen) to blow three breaches into the wire obstacle. They are successful without casualties. Especially Pionier Walter distinguishes himself as he places the load under heavy enemy fire. After the loads exploded the platoon receives heavy fire from four enemy machineguns. Immediately the machineguns of the platoon start to fire back. Under the cover of the machineguns Lt.Mokulies leads his platoon through the passages and pushes into the Fort. In close combat using handgrenades and flame-throwers the Fort is taken until 19:00. ------------ Note: Radom, a city south of Warsaw, was home to the state arsenal where the excellent VIS wz. 35 pistol, caliber 9mm Para., was manufactured for the Polish military from 1936 to late 1939. After the occupation, production continued for the Wehrmacht as the Pistole 35 (p). JT
September 26th 1944 British and Polish paratroopers evacuate Oosterbeek (Arnhem) 1944 Soviet forces occupy Estonia 1941 Nazi's slaughter about 34,000 Jews of Kiev 1940 Airplane manufacturer in Woolston bombed, 30 killed 1940 Japanese troops attack French Indo-China 1939 German seaplane shoots KLM-aircraft (1 killed) 1938 Hitler issues ultimatum to Czech government, demanding Sudenten Land