9 Sep 1878
- Sergio Osmeña was born.
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9 Sep 1898
- Paul Mauser patented the bolt-action design he would later use for the Gewehr 98 rifles.
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9 Sep 1914
- Upon receiving word that the French 6th Army was on the offensive near Paris, France, British troops reversed from their retreat to join the offensive. German forces began to fall back, and the Allied pursuit would be slow.
9 Sep 1936
- The Non-Intervention Committee met for the first time in London, England, United Kingdom. It was created to prevent personnel and matériel reaching the warring parties of the Spanish Civil War.
» In-depth article - At the annual party rally Hitler announced a four year plan for economic and military revival under the supervision of Hermann Göring. Hjalmar Schlat, the Reich Minister of Economics, insultingly was not notified of the plan until it was publicly announced.
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9 Sep 1938
- Franklin Roosevelt announced that the United States would remain neutral on the topic of German pressures on Czechoslovakia.
» In-depth article - HMS Mohawk (L31) was commissioned into service with Commander R. F. Jolly in command.
- The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was established as the women's voluntary branch of the British Army.
9 Sep 1939
- Battle of the Bzura, also known as Battle of Kutno to the Germans, began; it was to become the largest battle in the Poland campaign. Elsewhere, German forces captured Lodz and Radom. At Warsaw, German attempts to enter the city were repulsed. In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed the German ambassador that Soviet forces would be ready to attack Poland within a few days.
» In-depth article - British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) began landing in France.
- German Gestapo ordered all misbehaving Polish citizens to be arrested and placed in Dachau Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - British Prime Minister Chamberlain's cabinet planned for a 3-year war.
- US President Franklin Roosevelt began recalling military servicemen who were on retired lists.
» In-depth article - The Vultee Model 48 Vanguard aircraft took its first flight.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 9 Sep 1939
9 Sep 1940
- German long-range guns shell Dover, England.
- Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain.
- All political parties in Norway were dissolved except for Quisling's Nasjonal Samling Party, which was installed as the pro-Nazi Norwegian government.
- The US Navy awarded contracts for the construction of 210 new ships, including 12 aircraft carriers and 7 battleships.
- A large German raid crossed the English Channel at 1700 hours and flew toward London, England, United Kingdom in two pincers. Unexpectedly, a British "Big Wing" formation came to intercept, shooting down 29 bombers and 21 Bf 109 fighters and prevented most of the German bombers from reaching London. The British lost 20 fighters (6 pilots killed) in the battle. Overnight, London was heavily bombed.
» In-depth article - Italian Army Marshal Rudolfo Graziani ordered his troops in Libya to march toward British positions, with troops of the Italian 10th Army under General Mario Berti as spearhead; the Italian goal was to capture the Suez Canal. Italian aircraft bombed British defensive positions while British aircraft flew sorties against Italian supply dumps and troop concentrations.
» In-depth article - Greek collier Antonios Chandris, abandoned by her crew as forced by German armed merchant cruiser Widder, was sunk by demolition charges at dawn. Lifeboats containing 22 of her crew of 29 would be rescued by Portuguese freighter Serpa Pinto on 8 Oct 1940.
- French intelligence reported a possible invasion of Dakar in West Africa by General de Gaulle's forces, supported by the British. In response, French cruisers Georges Leygues, Montcalm, and Gloire, supported by three destroyers, departed Toulon in southern France to reinforce Dakar.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-28 sank British ship Mardinian of Allied convoy SC-2 70 miles north of Ireland at 0447 hours; 6 were killed and 22 survived. Italian submarine Comandante Faà di Bruno damaged British tanker Auris 750 miles west of Gibraltar.
» In-depth article - At Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the first eight of many American submarines were transferred to the British Royal Navy.
- British Skua aircraft of 801 Squadron took off from Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, Orkney, Scotland to attack German shipping off Bergen, Norway; 1 of the Skua was lost during the attack, with two airmen killed.
- German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sank British tanker Athelking (without any cargo) 1,200 miles east of Madagascar; 6 were killed and 40 were captured.
- Walther von Brauchitsch issued a plan for the future military occupation of Britain which, among other things, called for the rounding up of males between the age of 17 and 35 to be sent to continental Europe as forced laborers and the systematic looting of British goods; this type of harsh treatment was not even implemented in German-occupied Poland at this time.
» In-depth article - Douglas Bader shot down a German Do 17 aircraft and damaged the rudder of a He 111 aircraft using his propeller.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-47 sank Greek ship Possidon of Allied convoy SC-2 70 miles north of Ireland at 0024 hours; 17 were killed.
» In-depth article
9 Sep 1941
- Dutch submarine O.24 sank Italian ship Italo Balbo 2 miles east of Corsica, France.
- German submarine U-81 sank British ship Empire Springbuck 50 miles east of Greenland at 0655 hours, killing all 42 on board.
- General Nicolae Ciuperca was replaced by Lieutenant General Iosif Iacobici as the commanding officer of the Romanian 4th Army.
» In-depth article - The Iranian Government accepted the Soviet and British terms, which included the closure of Axis legations and the surrender of German nationals.
» In-depth article - British carrier HMS Ark Royal launched 14 Hurricane fighters to reinforce Malta.
» In-depth article - German cruiser Admiral Scheer was ordered to sail from Oslo, Norway for Swinemünde, Germany (now Swinoujscie, Poland).
» In-depth article
9 Sep 1942
- In the Caroline Islands, the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet transferred main units at Truk atoll to a new anchorage south of Summer (Dublon) Island.
- The Lookout Air Raid: Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-25) E14Y aircraft, dropped a bomb in a forest near Brookings, Oregon, United States. It was the only aerial bomb dropped in the United States during WW2.
» In-depth article - Field Marshal Wilhelm List was sacked, and Adolf Hitler took over command of Armeegruppe A which had been meeting heavy resistance in the Caucasus in southern Russia.
» In-depth article - Burning of bodies in open-air pits began at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Additionally, a decision was made to dig up 107,000 already-buried bodies and burn them in pits; this decision was made to prevent the large number of bodies contaminating ground water.
» In-depth article - German intelligence reported in error that the Soviet Union had used up all reserves.
- Two British, one Australian, and three Dutch prisoners of Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany made their escape, five disguised as Polish workers and the sixth as the German guard. Four of them would eventually be captured, but Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Hedley Fowler and Royal Dutch Navy Lieutenant Damiaem van Doorninck would make it to Switzerland.
- Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Mutsu was assigned to the Guadalcanal Operation Force based at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Montpelier was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Shirakumo at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 9 Sep 1942
9 Sep 1943
- The British Ventura bombers flew their last bombing mission; they would soon be replaced by Mosquito aircraft. This last mission was flown by crews of the No. 21 Squadron RAF.
» In-depth article - Operation Avalanche landed troops of the US Fifth Army at Salerno, Italy, while Taranto was captured by British forces. To the north, German troops disarmed their former Italian allies and classify them as prisoners of war while a new Fascist Anti-Badoglio government was formed. Italian leaders King Vittorio Emanuele III, the queen, Badoglio, Ambrosio, and others fled Rome eastward, then turned south toward Brindisi.
» In-depth article - 5,006 Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia arrived at the newly created Familienlager-Theresienstadt family camp in sector BIIb of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - John Basilone participated in a bond tour event in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
» In-depth article - Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 15th voyage with the Japanese Navy.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Tirpitz arrived at Kåfjord, Norway.
» In-depth article - The US submarine Grayling was missing, presumed rammed and sunk by a Japanese vessel, whilst on patrol off Manila, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 9 Sep 1943
9 Sep 1944
- General de Gaulle created a provisional government which included Communards.
» In-depth article - USS Rock departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her fourth war patrol.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 9 Sep 1944
9 Sep 1945
- Operation Magic Carpet: Americans began the repatriation of servicemen from the Pacific theatre. Over the next six months, 369 warships would take 1.3 million men back to the United States.
- Japanese Army General Yasuji Okamura, Commander-in-Chief of the China Expeditionary Force, signed a surrender document at Nanjing, China on behalf of 1,000,000 Japanese troops and handed it to General He Yingqin, acting on behalf of Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek. On the same day, Japanese forces formally surrendered in Seoul, Korea.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 9 Sep 1945
See all photos dated 9 Sep 1945
9 Sep 1955
- Captain Andrew McBurney Jackson, Jr. was named the commanding officer of USS Ticonderoga.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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