31 Aug in WW2 History | World War II Database

31 Aug 1880

Wilhelmina was born.
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31 Aug 1905

Isoroku Yamamoto was promoted to the rank of ensign.
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31 Aug 1919

The new German constitution was ratified by President Friedrich Ebert.

31 Aug 1920

Kuma was commissioned into service.
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31 Aug 1929

The Young Plan, which set the total WW1 reparations owed by Germany at US$26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58 1/2 years, was finalized.

31 Aug 1933

Werner von Blomberg was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst.
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31 Aug 1935

At the Nikanor-East section of the Central Irmino coal mine in the Ukrainian Donbass coalfield, a young hewer named Aleksei Stakhanov was challenged by his supervisor to attempt a record breaking shift. In just five and three quarters hours, Stakhanov hewed 102 tonnes (the norm was 6.5 tonnes per worker) to set a new world record.

31 Aug 1936

The United States passed a neutrality bill according to popular isolationist sentiment. The slogan "schools, not battleships" was used by supporters of this bill.

31 Aug 1938

Winston Churchill suggested that if United Kingdom, United States, and Soviet Union collectively asserted pressure on Germany, Germany might abandon its claims for the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia; he was unable to persuade fellow British politicians.
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Akagi completed her modernization, emerging with the three flight decks removed. In their place was one single flight deck running nearly the length of the ship. Aircraft capacity was increased from 61 to 91.
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Aviere was commissioned into service.
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31 Aug 1939

Evacuation order for London civilians orders given by the United Kingdom Ministry of Health, to be executed on the next day, with special note stressing that it did not necessarily meant war was inevitable.
The formal order for the German invasion of Poland was given; specific instructions were made for German troops on the western border to avoid conflict with the United Kingdom, France, and the Low Countries.
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German official Hermann Göring hosted British Ambassador Nevile Henderson and Swedish businessman Birger Dahlerus at his home in Berlin, Germany for tea between 1700 and 1900 hours, during which the latter two made a last attempt to broker peace.
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Adolf Hitler offered the United Kingdom that Germany would not risk war if Poland was willing to turn over Danzig and a small section of the Polish Corridor, and that Poland was to allow a plebiscite for the remainder of the Polish Corridor in the near future; British Ambassador in Germany Nevile Henderson expressed that the United Kingdom, while desiring peace, could not sacrifice Poland to achieve that goal. Meanwhile, Henderson continued to press Poland to send a delegation to Germany in a last attempt to negotiate peace over Danzig and the Polish Corridor. When Polish Ambassador in Germany Józef Lipski attempted to send Henderson's message to Poland later in the evening, he found that Germany had cut telephone and telegraph communications to Poland.
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In Italy, Galeazzo Ciano sent the United Kingdom and France a secret message noting that Italy would not fight should Germany start a war over Poland.
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Historical document written: Führer Directive 1
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Historical document written: No. 98: Message from Weizsäcker to Henderson
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Photos dated 31 Aug 1939

31 Aug 1940

By the end of Aug 1940, a little over 51,000 British citizens had registered as conscientous objectors.
RAF bombers attacked targets in Berlin, Cologne, Hanover, and Emden, Germany.
Battle of Britain: Overnight, the British did enough repairs to bring RAF Biggin Hill back to operational status. At 0800 hours, radar installations at Kent picked up German formations; it was soon discovered to be all fighters, thus fighters already dispatched to intercept were called back, and only 3 fighters (all Canadian) were lost. Before noon, the real German raids arrived. 200 bombers attacked Essex; No. 56 Squadron RAF shot down 1 bomber but lost 4 fighters to German escort fighters from III./ZG26 and III./JG26. Debden, North Weald, Eastchurch, Dietling (strafed by fighters), Croydon (bombed by Bf 109 fighter-bombers of Erprobungsgruppe 210), and Hornchurch were all attacked in the morning. In the afternoon, Hornchurch was attacked again, destroying 2 Spitfire fighters on the ground but at the cost of 5 Bf 109 fighters. At 1800 hours, Biggin Hill was bombed from low level, destroying 2 of the 3 remaining hangars, cutting telephone lines, and destroying the operations room. On this day, the RAF lost 41 fighters and 9 pilots, while the Luftwaffe lost 56 fighters and 29 bombers. After sundown, Liverpool was bombed for the fourth consecutive night; other cities received bombs, too.
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Five British destroyers, ordered to intercept German ships, sailed into a new German airfield. HMS Express hit a mine and received serious damage; 56 were killed. HMS Esk moved closer to HMS Express to assist, but also ran into a mine, caused her sinking; 135 were killed and 25 survivors were captured on the beach. HMS Ivanhoe, also trying to help HMS Express, hit a mine and was damaged, killing 8 and wounding 3; she would be scuttled on the next day, and 23 of her survivors would be taken prisoner.
8,000 British and French troops departed from Britain for Freetown, Sierra Leone, escorted by British cruisers HMS Devonshire and HMS Fiji and five destroyers. Their destination would ultimately be Dakar in French West Africa, which was still under Vichy control.
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Allied convoy OB-205 was attacked by German submarines 100 miles north of Ireland; at 0000 hours, German submarine U-60 hit Dutch passenger ship Volendam, carrying 273 crew and 606 British passengers (many were children) for Canada, killing 1 though the death occurred during the evacuation rather than during the attack; at 0206 hours, German submarine U-59 sank British ship Bibury, killing the entire crew of 38 and 1 gunner; at 0615 hours, German submarine U-38 sank British ship Har Zion; 33 were killed and 1 survived (rescued by Polish destroyer Blyskawica on the next day). To the west, 100 miles northwest of Ireland, German submarine U-46 sank Belgian passenger ship Ville de Hasselt; the entire crew of 53 survived on 4 lifeboats.
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Werner Mölders claimed two victories against British Hurricane fighters.
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US President Roosevelt called 60,000 men of the National Guard into federal service with the US Army.
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Chen Cheng was relieved from his position as the head of the political bureau of the Nationalist military.
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Battleship Bismarck fired 46 3.7cm shells against raiding British aircraft without any hits.
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31 Aug 1941

A mixed-gender anti-aircraft battery with 200 men and an equal number of women was established, with great public interest, in Richmond Park, London, England, United Kingdom. The women were the first to take a combat role in Britain.
The Soviet Baltic Fleet completed its evacuation from Tallinn, Estonia to Kronstadt off Leningrad, Russia. 165 vessels arrived in Leningrad with 28,000 military personnel and civilians on aboard.
German bombers attacked Alexandria, Egypt, killing 2 British Royal Navy officers but otherwise doing little to no damage to ships and port facilities, which were the primary targets.
Kasuga Maru completed her conversation into an escort carrier at Sasebo, Japan. She was renamed Taiyo.
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31 Aug 1942

German and British tanks engaged in combat near Alam el Halfa, Egypt, reaching no conclusion by nightfall as the British refused to fight in open terrain as the Germans wanted. German tanks broke off the attack at sundown.
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Georg von Bismarck was killed by mortar fire during the Battle of Alam el Halfa.
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Before dawn, the newly arrived 1,000 fresh troops (delivered by 8 destroyers before the previous midnight) began organizing an attack toward Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. During the day, the USMC 1st Raider Battalion and the USMC 1st Parachute Battalion arrived at Guadalcanal from Tulagi as reinforcements.
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Adolf Hitler ordered Wilhelm List to launch a major offensive to gain the Caucasus region in southern Russia.
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Repairs to I-168 was finished and she departed Sasebo, Japan. Lieutenant Commander Katsuji Watanabe became the commanding officer of the submarine.
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Japanese submarine I-26 damaged USS Saratoga by torpedo, leaving her dead in the water. There were no casualties from this attack. She would be out of action for next three months for repairs.
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Destroyer Yuzuki departed Ocean and Nauru Islands area.
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Photos dated 31 Aug 1942

31 Aug 1943

Hitler authorized limited withdrawals in Ukraine.
RAF again attacked Berlin, Germany.
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The first combat mission of the US Navy's latest fighter aircraft occurred when F6F-3 Hellcat fighters of VF-5 operating from the carrier USS Yorktown assisted in an attack on Japanese installations on Marcus Island. This was a mere eighteen months after the prototype's first flight. Altogether some 2,545 examples of the F6F-3 aircraft were delivered during 1943.
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Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross.
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USS S-31 made a daylight attack on a Japanese submarine; three torpedoes were fired, but none hit the target.
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USS Langley was commissioned into service.
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Velite was commissioned into service.
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Photos dated 31 Aug 1943

31 Aug 1944

Soviet forces captured Bucharest, Romania.
US Fifth Army attacked across the Arno River in northern Italy as British Eighth Army attacked the Gothic Line.
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British 11th Armoured Division captured Amiens, France. Meanwhile, US Third Army reached the Meuse River.
USS Franklin launched strikes against Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima through 2 Sep 1944.
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USS Croaker arrived at Midway for refitting, ending her first war patrol.
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While attacking a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea with other submarines of her wolfpack, USS Tunny was attacked by gunfire and depth charges. Tunny did not fire any torpedoes.
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USS Wake Island departed Quonset Point, Rhode Island, United States.
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Photos dated 31 Aug 1944

31 Aug 1945

Around 1,000 Allied prisoners of war from camps in the Tokyo, Japan area were transferred to hospital ships offshore.
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Truman wrote Attlee, requesting the United Kingdom to accept the immigration of 100,000 European Jews into Palestine.
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MacArthur established the Supreme Allied Command in Tokyo, Japan.
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Shokaku was removed from the Japanese Navy List.
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Battleship Yamato was removed from the Japanese Navy list.
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USS Cod departed Fremantle, Australia.
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Japanese submarine I-401 surrendered to USS Segundo at the entrance to Tokyo Bay, Japan.
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USS Segundo arrived at Sagami Wan, Japan at 0500 hours and was relieved of the duty of escorting the captured Japanese submarine I-401.
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USS Cabrilla departed Fremantle, Australia for the United States.
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Photos dated 31 Aug 1945

31 Aug 1946

Light carrier Hosho was transferred to the Home Ministry for deactivation.
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31 Aug 1947

Ira Eaker retired from the US Army.
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31 Aug 1997

Off New Jersey, United States, John Chatterton dove the wreck of U-869 and sledgehammered away an oxygen tank (risking explosion) in order to retrieve a spare parts box in the electric motor room, which he handed to fellow diver Richie Kohler waiting outside the room. On his way out, he was entangled in loose wires and nearly ran out of air while trying to free himself. Meanwhile, on the surface, fellow divers already began to examine the spare parts box, finding a tag that conclusively identified the submarine, debunking the previous hypothesis that U-869 had been sunk off Gibraltar.
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31 Aug 2006