Tuesday 19 September 1939

Adolf Hitler (in the front of the car) enters Danzig (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.).

Battle of Poland: German troops meet advance Soviet troops at Brest-Litovsk and at Wlodawa, on the river Bug, on 19 September 1939.

Soviet troops reach the Hungarian border.

Soviet troops take Vilnius after fierce but uncoordinated last-ditch resistance by Polish troops on the city's bridges.

Polish reinforcements from Kutno numbering about 30,000 fight through the German encirclement at the Battle of Wólka Węglowaand and reach Warsaw. It is a tactical victory but a strategic defeat, as Warsaw remains surrounded.

The Luftwaffe switches to bombing Warsaw public utilities.

The Polish Pomorze and Poznan armies (19 Polish divisions, 100,000 troops total) surrender on the Bzura River.

The Germans surround Lviv.

The week-long Battle of Kępa Oksywska in the Oksywie Heights outside the city of Gdynia concludes when pułkownik (Colonel) Stanisław Dąbek. It has been a horrendous battle for the Poles, who were compressed into 4 km² with civilian refugees, with no supplies, and subject to constant Luftwaffe and artillery attack. Polish deaths are roughly 14% of all forces, and virtually every soldier not killed is wounded. The Poles have inflicted huge losses on the Germans but are dwarfed by the Wehrmacht forces opposing them. Col. Dąbek then commits suicide.

Lithuania: Lithuanian troops cross the Lithuanian-Polish border in the direction of Vilnius.

German Propaganda: Adolf Hitler enters Danzig and gives a major speech which defends his alliance with the Soviet Union and suggests that the war could be ended with the status quo (dismemberment of Poland) intact. He makes various vows about Germany forever retaining Danzig and never surrendering.

Holocaust: The Nazis conclude their round of exterminations of Jews in Przemysl.

General Franz Halder, Chief of Staff of the OKH (Military High Command), writes in his diary about communications he has had with Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich informed him that the SS had begun to "clean house" in Poland of certain undesirable classes: Jews, intelligentsia, Catholic Clergy, and the aristocracy. This is the earliest stage of the Holocaust and Halder does nothing more than writing about it in his obscure diary for posterity. In typical fashion, though, while he actually does nothing about the "cleaning," Halder does note his doubts about the draconian "measures intended by Heinrich Himmler."

American Homefront: The first Batman comic book goes on sale.

The Allies do not take well to Hitler's Danzig speech.

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

2019

Saturday 16 September 1939

Steel-helmeted, uniformed Polish women march through the streets of Warsaw to aid in defense of their capital on September 16, 1939. They are not, however, armed. (AP Photo).

Battle of Poland: Polish forces break through German lines on 16 September 1939 in the forests north and west of the town of Janów. Six battalions get through to Janów despite determined defense by the German "Pemsel" combat group formed from the 1st Mountain Division. The Poles repel a counter-attack at Dobrostany. This concludes the Battle of Jaworów, which has been a tactical Polish victory.

The Luftwaffe bombs the Jewish quarter of Warsaw. The Poles in Warsaw are successfully repelling determined German ground attacks but are largely defenseless to air attack. General List's army is both investing Warsaw and heading north to link up with the rapidly approaching XIX of General Guderian.

European Air Operations: The Polish Air Force launches its final bombing raid.

Soviet Government: Moscow broadcasts that it will invade Poland the next day "to protect the Ukrainian and Belorussian minorities."

Western Front: French forces make some tentative movements in the Saar and are 12 miles east of Saarbrücken.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-27 (Kapitänleutnant Johannes Franz) torpedoes and sinks the trawler Rudyard Kipling. He stops to pick up the crew and keeps them for eight hours, giving them food and clothing, before releasing them in their lifeboats for the long row (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) to Ireland. U-27 so far has eluded destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Faulknor, which know there is a U-boat in the vicinity and have been hunting it.

U-31 (Kptlt. Johannes Habekost) sinks an independent, the Aviemore, which is near convoy OB-4. Of the crew, 23 are lost and 11 are picked up by HMS Warwick. This marks the first successful attack on a ship within the convoy's sphere of protection, though technically the Aviemore is not a member of the convoy.

Belgian steamer Alex van Opstal is sunk by Luftwaffe mine or torpedo off Weymouth.

Other Allied losses for the day are Fanad Head, Davara, and Cheyenne. Some vessels are accounted for on other days for various reasons.

A large escorted convoy leaves Halifax, the first of three over the next week.

British Government: The Duke of Windsor, newly returned from France, is appointed a liaison to the French government.

Japanese/Soviet Relations: Pursuant to the agreement of the previous day, the battle of Khalkhin Gol formally ends.

War Crimes: Mass executions commence in Przemysl on the eve of the Jewish New Year. The liquidations occur at several places in the city outskirts: Lipowica, Pralkowce, Pikulice, at Przekopana, near the Wiar river and near the Jewish cemetery at Slowackiego Street. According to some estimates as many as 600 Jews in total are killed over the next few days.

American Homefront: The NY Yankees clinch their fourth straight American League Pennant, beating the Detroit Tigers 8-5. Their opponent in the World Series is yet to be determined.

On September 16, 1939, residents of London carrying gas mask containers (white boxes) walk along curbs widened and marked with stripes for civil defense purposes (AP Photo).

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

2019

Monday, 11 September 1939

Hitler and Generalmajor Erwin Rommel at an airfield of the Army Group South in the area Rawa / Tomaszow, September 11, 1939. Rommel is the commander of the Führerbegleitbrigade battalion, tasked with guarding Hitler and his field headquarters during the invasion of Poland.

Battle of Poland: The Germans occupy Łomża on 11 September 1939.