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• Weather data for 20 Sep 1939

• Blücher was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Werner Mölders scored his first kill of the European War; the victim was a P-36 fighter. For this victory, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Ferdinand Schörner was awarded Iron Cross 1st class. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• U-27 was sunk by British destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Faulknor west of Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]
• German submarine U-27 was sunk by destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Forester off Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Josef Frantisek was shot down near Zloczów, Poland (now Zolochiv, Ukraine) but escaped unharmed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The RAF and Luftwaffe clashed for the first time over the Westwall, the German defensive line on the border with France. The British lost two aircraft, the Germans one. ww2dbase [AC]
• Georg von Bismarck was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Koken Nikaido was made the commanding officer of Maizuru Naval Arsenal in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• German General Johannes Blaskowitz noted in his order of the day that, at the Battle of the Bzura in Poland, also known as Battle of Kutno to the Germans, his troops was fighting "in one of the biggest and most destructive battles of all times." Elsewhere, German troops withdrew to the agreed demarcation line in Poland, with Soviet forces moving in behind them. Finally, also on this day, the remaining Polish garrison in Grodno managed to kill 800 Soviet troops and at least 10 tanks. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

20 Sep 1939 Interactive Map