2 Sep 1939

Danzig
  • Germany annexed the Free City of Danzig. Adolf Hitler advised the United Kingdom and France that he would withdraw from Poland if allowed to keep Danzig and the Polish corridor. ww2dbase [The Danzig Crisis | TH, CPC]
  • The Germans began the construction of Stutthof Concentration Camp in Sztutowo (German: Stutthof) in the Free City of Danzig with labor of 65,000 Polish Christians. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Sztutowo | CPC]
France
  • No. 1 Group, British RAF Bomber Command, relocated to France with its squadrons of single-engine Fairey Battle aircraft. ww2dbase [AC]
Italy
  • Benito Mussolini continued to urge peace between Germany, United Kingdom, and France, without any success. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]
South Africa
  • In a fateful cabinet meeting South African Prime Minister Barry Hertzog declared that he was going to remain neutral and that under no circumstances would he allow the Union of South Africa to enter the war. ww2dbase [AC]
United Kingdom
  • The National Service (Armed Forces) Act was passed in Great Britain. It would be enacted on the following day upon Britain's official entry into the European War. ww2dbase [TH, AC]
  • During the day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier issued a joint ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdraw of troops from Poland within 12 hours. During the late hours of the night, Chamberlain attempted to convince Dalalier to carry out the threat from the earlier ultimatum by declaring war on Germany early in the next morning. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | TH, CPC]
  • The Times Literary Supplement reported that the copy of the Magna Carta owned by the Lincoln Cathedral of England, United Kingdom, currently on display at the 1939 New York World's Fair, would remain in the United States under the care of the Library of Congress for the duration of the war. It would be stored at Fort Knox until its return to Lincoln in 1944. ww2dbase [England | CPC]
Photo(s) dated 2 Sep 1939
Sailors inspected damage on Schleswig-Holstein caused by Polish coastal batteries of Hel Penninsula, Sep 1939German women living in Poland giving bread to German soldiers, Poland, 2 Sep 1939German soldiers carrying MG34 machine guns, Poland, Sep 1939

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.

Share this article with your friends:

 Facebook
 Reddit
 Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

 RSS Feeds
Search WW2DB & Partner Sites
News

Random Photograph

List of men lost aboard HMS Hermes, printed by J. Abrams and Sons of Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, circa 1942




Current Site Statistics

Famous WW2 Quote
"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."

Winston Churchill