3 Sep in WW2 History | World War II Database

3 Sep 1913

Lord Gort was appointed the aide-de-camp to General Officer Commanding London District Francis Lloyd.
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3 Sep 1917

The American 1st Aero Squadron arrived in France.
The German 8th Army captured Riga, Latvia and pushed on some distance beyond.
Four Gotha bombers attacked Chatham, England, United Kingdom. One bomb fell on a naval barracks killing 131 ratings.

3 Sep 1919

Jan Smuts became the 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa.
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3 Sep 1925

The US Navy airship Shenandoah broke in two during a squall at Caldwell, Ohio, United States, killing 14.
The battleship HMS Nelson was launched at Vickers-Armstrong's Newcastle shipyard in England, United Kingdom.

3 Sep 1935

Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, United States with a recorded speed of 301 mph.

3 Sep 1936

Spanish Republican Catalan troops on Majorca, Spain, faced by a much stronger Spanish Nationalist Garrison (than that on Ibiza) under the command of Colonel Garcia Ruiz, were thrown back by a counter-attack supported by Italian fighters aircraft and bombers. The Republican force rapidly withdrew to the beaches and, covered by the guns of the battleship Jaime I, re-embark aboard the ships which had brought them. Meanwhile, on the mainland, Nationalist forces captured Talavera de la Reina.
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Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States.
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3 Sep 1937

The first British-built Bren gun fired in testing.
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3 Sep 1939

55 Polish peasants at Truskolasy were executed.
At 0900 hours, British Ambassador in Germany Nevile Henderson delivered the British declaration of war to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, effective at 1100 hours; British Commonwealth nations of New Zealand and Australia followed suit. France would also declare war later on this day, effective at 1700 hours. In the afternoon, Adolf Hitler issued an order to his generals, again stressing that German troops must not attack British and French positions. Finally, Hitler also sent a message to the Soviet Union, asking the Soviets to jointly invade Poland.
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German submarine U-30 torpedoed British passenger liner Athenia.
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German government issued orders that executions by members of the SS were to be carried out in concentration camps, effective 20 Sep 1939.
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The first RAF operation flight over Germany was a reconnaissance mission, but later in the night RAF bombers would conduct a leaflet raid.
The government of Belgium announced their neutral stance in the European War.
British General Edmund Ironside became the Chief of the Imperial Staff.
Otto Skorzeny was sent home from Trost Barracks, Vienna, Austria despite the outbreak of war due to the lack of instructors to train new recruits.
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British Member of Parliament Winston Churchill became the First Lord of the Admiralty, a post he had held during the Great War.
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Adolf Hitler departed Berlin, Germany for the Eastern Front.
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Historical document written: No. 121: Herr Hitler's Proclamation to the German People and the German Army
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1939

3 Sep 1940

US President Roosevelt announced the destroyers-for-bases deal to the public. Captain Ferdinand L. Reichmuth, the commanding officer of destroyers of the US Navy Atlantic Squadron was placed in charge of the transfer of destroyers to Britain.
Germany began planning Operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain.
50 German Do 17 bombers escorted by 80 Bf 110 fighters and 40 Bf 109 fighters flew up the Thames Estuary in souther England, United Kingdom, then split up to hit RAF airfields at North Weald, Hornchurch, and Debden. All three airfields were badly damaged, but all remained operational. Biggin Hill also saw two minor raids on this date. Luftwaffe lost 17 fighters and 8 bombers, while the RAF lost 20 fighters and 2 bombers (to friendly fire). During a meeting on this date, Kesselring recommended Göring to cease the bombing of British fighter airfields because there were too many of them; instead, he suggested to bomb London and use the threat of civilian deaths to force large numbers of British fighters to come to battle. Overnight, German bombers attacked Kent, Liverpool, and South Wales.
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German submarine U-57 collided with Norwegian ship Rona at Brunsbüttel, Germany. U-57 sank with 6 lost; there were 19 survivors. She would later be raised to serve as a training ship.
German submarine U-60 sank British collier Ulva about 150 miles southwest of Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0326 hours; 3 were killed and 17 survived. A British convoy escort vessel depth charged German submarine U-101 200 miles west of Ireland, damaging her and causing flooding, but U-101 would survive and reach Lorient, France on 16 Sep for repairs.
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Joachim von Ribbentrop denied that the Second Vienna Arbitration had violated any terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, as Vyacheslav Molotov had accused. Furthermore, Ribbentrop complained that the manner in which the Soviet Union had take over the Baltic States was in itself a violation of the pact.
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Light cruiser USS St. Louis departed Norfolk, Virginia with Rear Admiral John F. Greenslade on board, who was placed in charge to survey land recently gained from the United Kingdom for building military bases.
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1940

3 Sep 1941

Experimental trials of gas chambers at Block II of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland began, using Soviet prisoners of war as test subjects. Zyklon-B was used.
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The equivalent of a whole Red Army Division under NKVD officers was sent south to round up and deport all the Soviet Union's ethnic Germans they could find. By Jan 1942, 800,000 Germans from all parts of the Soviet Union had been shipped eastward.
Operation EGV.1, which involved an air attack on German targets at Tromsø, Norway by carrier aircraft from HMS Victorious, was cancelled due to lack of cloud cover.
German bombers damaged British ship Fort Richepanse at noon in the Atlantic Ocean; at 2042 hours, German submarine U-567 caught up with the damaged ship 450 miles west of Ireland, sinking her with 41 deaths; 22 survived.
In England, United Kingdom, Alan Brooke inspected 70 Welsh Young Soldiers’ Battalion at Duxford, A Company of 70th King's Royal Rifle Corps at Debden, and B Company of 70th King's Royal Rifle Corps at Castle Camp in the morning. After lunch with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he inspected A and B Companies of 70th Suffolks regiment at Martlesham and A and B Companies of 70th Essex regiment at Southend. He was disappointed by the progress of the training of the Essex regiment.
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German and Romanian troops captured the village of Vakarzhany, Ukraine.
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3 Sep 1942

Armed resistance was met during the German liquidation of Lahava ghetto, western Byelorussia.
An attempt by Soviet forces in Leningrad, Russia to break out of the encirclement to meet relief forces failed.
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The German 6.Armee and 4.Panzerarmee finally linked up near Stalingrad in southern Russia, but were rebuffed in their attempts to enter the city.
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Allied forces counterattacked in Egypt partially successfully, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Bernard Montgomery decided to call off the counterattack, thus allowing Axis forces to withdraw.
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British destroyers HMS Vimy, HMS Pathfinder, and HMS Quentin sank German submarine U-162 northeast of Trinidad with depth charges, killing 2 in the process. 49 survivors were captured and sent to the United States as prisoners of war.
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US Marine Corps Brigadier General Roy Geiger arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands along with the command echelon of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.
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Eduard Neumann promoted Hans-Joachim Marseille to the rank of hauptmann.
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USS Flying Fish sank a Japanese patrol craft off Truk, Caroline Islands, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes fired.
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3 Sep 1943

The Jewish ghetto at Tarnów, Poland was closed and its residents deported; Amon Göth was placed in charge of the deportation.
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The new Italian government signed a secret armistice with the Allies. Immediately after, Operation Baytown, the invasion of the Italian mainland, was launched across the Strait of Messina, with troops landing unopposed.
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John Basilone arrived in New York, New York, United States.
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USS Pollack sank Japanese cargo ship Tagonoura Maru off Japan with two of four toropedoes fired.
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Historical document written: Armistice with Italy
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Historical document written: Armistice with Italy
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1943

3 Sep 1944

In Belgium, British Second Army captured Brussels and US First Army captured Tournai.
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US and French troops reached Lyon, France.
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Feldmarschal von Rundstedt took command of German forces in the West.
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Allied bombers conducted a raid on Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
A B-17 Flying Fortress bomber was mistakenly directed to Düne Island, Helgoland, Germany; its original target was a German submarine pen.
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A National Day of Prayer was declared in Britain on the 5th anniversary of the start of the war for the United Kingdom. British casualties to-date were revealed as 242,995 killed, 80,603 missing, 311,500 wounded, and 290,381 captured.
Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kure, Japan.
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USS Tang arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her fourth war patrol.
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USS Segundo arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands.
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In the Pacific Ocean, USS Becuna spotted an aircraft in the distance and believed it to be a friendly Liberator bomber.
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USS Pompon arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her sixth war patrol.
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1944

3 Sep 1945

General Tomoyuki Yamashita surrendered Japanese troops in the Philippine Islands to US Army General Jonathan Wainwright.
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British doctors parachuted into Singapore ahead of a Royal Navy fleet.
USS Trepang arrived at San Diego, California, United States.
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USS Segundo departed Tokyo Bay, Japan for the west coast of the United States.
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1945

3 Sep 1948

Edvard Beneš passed away.
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3 Sep 1954

Submarine Gür completed her GUPPY I conversion work at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania, United States.
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Photos dated 3 Sep 1954