World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 9 Sep 1942

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• 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. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]
• Mutsu was assigned to the Guadalcanal Operation Force based at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Mutsu | CPC]
• Montpelier was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Montpelier | CPC]
• German intelligence reported in error that the Soviet Union had used up all reserves. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-584 made contact with Allied convoy ON-127 in the middle of the North Atlantic and relayed the finding to 11 fellow wolfpack mates. At 1516 hours, U-755 sank US Navy weather ship USS Muskeget 590 miles northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland; all 121 aboard were killed. At 1528 hours, U-66 sank Swedish ship Peiping 875 miles north of Antigua island; 3 were killed, 31 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British RAF torpedo bombers sank Italian hospital ship Arno 85 miles northeast of Tobruk, Libya. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The escort force of Allied convoy PQ-18 was joined by Rear Admiral Robert Burnett's force including escort carrier HMS Avenger and several small warships. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• Australian troops fell back 2 miles from Efogi to Menari on the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua while US aircraft from Port Moresby area airfields momentarily paused the Japnaese advance. At Port Moresby, Australian 25th Infantry Brigade arrived from Australia. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Menari | CPC]

• Soviet aircraft destroyed two Italian torpedo boats in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]

• In the Caroline Islands, the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet transferred main units at Truk atoll to a new anchorage south of Summer (Dublon) Island. ww2dbase [Truk | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Shirakumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• 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. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw and cutter USCGC Taney departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii bound for San Francisco, California escorting 13 ships. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Shaw | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• 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. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The Lookout Air Raid: After some time waiting submerged off Oregon, United States, Japanese submarine I-25 launched her E14Y aircraft, flown by Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, shortly after dawn. The aircraft was spotted by the Americans as it crossed the coast. It dropped two incendiary bombs in a forest near Brookings, Oregon at 0600 hours; this attack was the only aerial bombing against the United States during WW2. En route back to the submarine, the aircraft spotted two merchant ships. After recovering Fujita and Okuda, I-25 attempted to give chase to the two merchant ships, but US aircraft would force I-25 to abandon the attack and submerge. ww2dbase [Nobuo Fujita | Brookings, Oregon | TH, CPC]
• USS Whale completed her training which took place between San Francisco and San Diego in California, United States. ww2dbase [Whale | California | CPC]
• USS Permit began a scheduled overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Permit | Vallejo, California | CPC]

9 Sep 1942 Interactive Map