9 Sep 1939
France



France
- British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) began landing in France. ww2dbase [TH]
- German Gestapo ordered all misbehaving Polish citizens to be arrested and placed in Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
- U-23 began her second war patrol. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
- 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 Łódź and Radom. South of Radom, Stuka dive-bombers of Colonel Gunter Schwarzkopff's St.G.77 finished off the great Polish attempt to cross the Vistula River, crushing the last pockets of resistance in conjunction with tanks; "Wherever they went", reported one Stuka pilot after the action, "we came across throngs of Polish troops, against which our 110-lb fragmentation bombs were deadly. After that we went almost down to the deck firing our machine guns. The confusion was indescribable." At Warsaw, German attempts to enter the city were repulsed. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | Kutno, Łódź | TH, AC]
- 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. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | Vyacheslav Molotov | Moscow | CPC]
- British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's cabinet planned for a 3-year war. ww2dbase [Neville Chamberlain | London, England | CPC]
- Two Wellington bombers from No. 99 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom recorded the first operational mission to Germany when they undertook a "Nickel" (leaflet dropping) sortie over Hannover. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Mildenhall, England | AC]
- US President Franklin Roosevelt began recalling military servicemen who were on retired lists. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
- The Vultee Model 48 Vanguard aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [P-66 Vanguard | Downey, California | CPC]




9 Sep 1939 Interactive Map
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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