September

1939 Polish defenders of the Westerplatte at Danzig surrender after a week of continuous bombardment. The Polish government leaves Warsaw for Lublin, while its forces surrounded at Radom face a hopeless situation. At Bedzin, 200 Jews are burned alive in a synagogue by the Germans who charge Poles with the crime, and then execute 30 […]

1939 King George VI gives assent to National Registration Bill, providing government control over labour and introducing identity cards. Nine divisions of the French Army penetrate in to the Saarland, but their advance is very slow and no effort is made to attack the ‘Westwall’ itself. Polish forces trying to hold the line at the Narew River,

1939 General Smuts wins cabinet battle in South Africa and declares war on Germany. German troops advancing through Poland occupy the former German industrial area of Upper Silesia. German troops take Krakow, Poland. 1940 The Luftwaffe bring to a close the third phase of their air offensive “Battle of Britain”, having lost 308 aircraft in

1939 President Roosevelt declares US neutrality and upholds ban on export of weapons. The US establishes Neutrality Patrol to monitor military operations in western hemisphere and declares Neutrality Zone 300 miles off east coast. French forces begin a limited offensive towards Saarbrucken. Under the relentless pressure by the Wehrmacht, the Polish Army withdraws behind the

1939 The RAF attacks German shipping at Wilhelmshaven, Cuxhaven and Schillig Roads, with negligible results (7 out of 30 Wellington bombers are shot down by German fighters and Anti-Aircraft). The German 3rd Army and 4th Army join in the Corridor and re-establish the land connection between East Prussia and the Reich that was severed in

1939The official beginning of World War 2: After Germany rejects the Anglo-French ultimatum of September 1st, which called for the withdrawal of all German forces from Poland, Britain and France declare war on Germany at 11am. The Kriegsmarine begins its campaign against British merchant shipping with 17 U-boats putting to sea out of a total

1939 National Service Act passed in Britain. Hitler indicates to the Britain and France that he would withdraw from Poland provided that he was allowed to retain Danzig and the Polish Corridor. This was dismissed and a joint ultimatum was given to Germany to withdraw her troops from Poland within twelve hours or find herself

1939 World War II Begins Three German Army Groups begin the invasion of Poland at 4:45am. Massive strikes by the Luftwaffe destroy vital communications and assembly areas, decimating the Polish air force on the ground. Panzer and motorised divisions make deep penetrations into the Polish defences, using tactics soon to be known as the Blitzkrieg. Officially, the first

1939 First British casualty list published. The conclusion of the battle of the Vistula bend, with the Wehrmacht taking 170,000 prisoners. Germans suppress a Czech rebellion. Lavrenti Beria, chief of the Soviet NKVD, sets up a Directorate for Prisoners of War and establishes camps for the 240,000 Polish POWs in Soviet custody; about 37,000 will

1939 German and Soviet troops link at Brest-Litovsk, Poland. Polish cryptographers flee to Paris with vital information on German Enigma codes. 1941 Russians conscript all men aged 16 – 50. Units of Army Group South capture Poltava in the Ukraine. The Russians evacuate Kiev, but the ‘fight to the death’ continues in the area for