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• » 8 Sep 1939

• Werner Mölders crash landed his fighter aircraft after developing engine trouble; his back was injured, which kept him out of action for 11 days. ww2dbase [Werner Mölders | CPC]
• U-56 ended her first patrol. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]

• Polish defenders at Westerplatte, Danzig surrendered. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | TH]

• German troops burned 200 Jews alive in a synagogue and executed 30 Jews in the public square in Bedzin, Poland. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Bedzin | CPC]
• Arthur Greiser was named the head of the military government in Poland. ww2dbase [Arthur Greiser | CPC]
• German troops neared the suburbs of Warsaw, and the Polish government evacuated to Lublin. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | Warsaw | TH]

• Lavrentiy Beria organized two NKVD operational groups, to be based in Kiev in Ukraine and Minsk in Byelorussia, for near-future deployment to eastern Poland to arrest resistance elements. The two groups in Ukraine and Byelorussia were led by Ivan Serov and Lavrentiy Tsanava, respectively. ww2dbase [Katyn Massacre and Related Atrocities | CPC]

• King George VI of Britain suggested to Lord Hankey, Minister without Portfolio, that the Government might not reject any German peace proposals out of hand, but should instead say that "We are prepared to discuss terms with the German people, but not with Hitler or his regime". ww2dbase [George VI | London, England | AC]

• US President Franklin Roosevelt declared a limited state of emergency. One of his orders of the day was to increase the US Marine Corps enlisted strength to be increased from 18,325 to 25,000, partially to be achieved by authorizing the recall of officers and men from the Marine Corps retired lists. ww2dbase [United States Neutrality Patrol | Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]

8 Sep 1939 Interactive Map