1923 Balkans: In response to a dispute with Yugoslavia, Mussolini mobilizes Italian troops on the Serbian border.

1925 Rise of Nazism:The North-West German Gauleiters' Working Group of the NSDAP is established. (Maser)

1926 Weimar: Germany enters the League of Nations. (THP)

1933 Church and Reich: The Concordat becomes final when documents of ratification are exchanged between Cardinal Pacelli and German Chargé d'Affaires Eugen Klee. (THP)

1937 Spanish Civil War: Opening of the conference at Nyon dealing with issues created by the war.

1939 World War II: Various:

Canada declares war on Germany:

The people of Canada will, I know, face the days of stress and strain [that] lies ahead with calm resolute and courage. There is no home in Canada, no family, and no individual whose fortunes and freedom are not bound up in the present struggle. I appeal to my fellow Canadians to unite in a national effort to save from destruction all that makes [life] itself worth living.

German Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Schulenburg) to the German Foreign Office:

Supplementing my telegram No. 310 of September 9 and with reference to telephone conversation of today with the Reich Foreign Minister. In today's conference at 4 p. m. Molotov modified his statement of yesterday by saying that the Soviet Government was taken completely by surprise by the unexpectedly rapid German military successes. In accordance with our first communication, the Red Army had counted on several weeks, which had now shrunk to a few days. The Soviet military authorities were therefore in a difficult situation, since, in view of conditions here, they required possibly two to three weeks more for their preparations. Over three million men were already mobilized. I explained emphatically to Molotov how crucial speedy action of the Red Army was at this juncture.

Molotov repeated that everything possible was being done to expedite matters. I got the impression that Molotov promised more yesterday than the Red Army can live up to. Then Molotov came to the political side of the matter and stated that the Soviet Government had intended to take the occasion of the further advance of German troops to declare that Poland was falling apart and that it was necessary for the Soviet Union, in consequence, to come to the aid of the Ukrainians and the White Russians "threatened" by Germany. This argument was to make the intervention of the Soviet Union plausible to the masses and at the same time avoid giving the Soviet Union the appearance of an aggressor. This course was blocked for the Soviet Government by a DNB report yesterday to the effect that, in accordance with a statement by Colonel General Brauchitsch, military action was no longer necessary on the German eastern border. The report created the impression that a German-Polish armistice was imminent. If, however Germany concluded an armistice, the Soviet Union could not start a "new war." I stated that I was unacquainted with this report, which was not in accordance with the facts. I would make inquiries at once.

Poland: German troops achieve a breakthrough at Kutno and Sandomir and reach the Vistula.

War at Sea: The submarine HMS Oxley, after failing to return a recognition signal, is sunk by the submarine HMS Triton off the coast of Norway, and becomes the Royal Navy's first loss.

1940 World War II: War in the air:

British War Cabinet reacts to the Blitz in kind:

The prior two nights of bombing had wrought extraordinary damage, especially in the London slum area, the East End. King George VI even visited the devastated area to reassure the inhabitants that their fellow countrymen were with them in heart and mind. Each night since the seventh, sirens had sounded to announce the approach of incoming German planes, which had begun dropping bombs indiscriminately in the London vicinity, even though the docks had been their primary target on Day One of the Blitz. As British bombers set out for Germany to retaliate, they were instructed not to return home with their bombs if they failed to locate their original targets. Instead, they were to release their loads where and when they could.

On the night of the 10th, a night when British Home Intelligence had been alerted of how panicked Londoners were becoming at the sound of those air-raid sirens, Berlin was paid in kind, with a cascade of British bombs-one of which even landed in the garden of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Party's minister of propaganda. (History.com)

Buckingham Palace is hit by a German bomb.

1941 World War II: War at Sea: British convoy SC42 is attacked by a wolf pack of German U-boats off Greenland. They sink 18 ships, with the loss of two submarines,U-207 and U-510.

1942 World War II: Various

Failure of Soviet forces attacking from besieged Leningrad to break the German lines:

Less than two and a half months after the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany, German troops were already approaching Leningrad. The Red Army was outflanked and on September 8 1941 the Germans had fully encircled Leningrad and the siege began. The siege lasted for a total of 900 days, from September 8 1941 until January 27 1944. The city's almost 3 million civilians (including about 400,000 children) refused to surrender and endured rapidly increasing hardships in the encircled city. Food and fuel stocks were limited to a mere 1-2 month supply, public transport was not operational and by the winter of 1941-42 there was no heating, no water supply, almost no electricity and very little food.

War in the Air: The Royal Air Force uses 476 planes to drop 100,000 bombs on Duesseldorf in a single raid:

Area bombing of city centres was achieving far more visible results than bombing of industrial targets. The synthetic oil refinery at Gelsenkirchen was bombed twice, but was back in production within weeks; by contrast, a single raid on Duesseldorf left 140,000 people homeless. However, German air defences were increasing in efficiency; Bomber Command lost 1,000 aircraft during the campaign. Harris was forced to switch targets and send out diversionary raids, limiting the devastation caused by each raid.

Madagascar: The British carry out an amphibious landing at Majunga, north-west Madagascar, to re-launch Allied offensive operations in the Madagascar Campaign.

India:

Churchill: Large reinforcements have reached India and that the numbers of white soldiers now in that country, though very small compared with its size and population, are larger than at any time in the British connection. I, therefore, feel entitled to report to the House that the situation in India at this moment gives no occasion for undue despondency or alarm.

USA: Gasoline rationing as part of the US wartime effort:

Almost overnight the economy shifted to war production. Consumer goods took a back seat to military production as rationing began almost immediately. It was truly a total war affecting every citizen whether soldier or worker, mother or child. Rubber became the first commodity rationed as the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies cut off our supply. Gasoline rationing reduced the number of miles the average citizen drove and thus conserved rubber. Voluntary gas rationing proved ineffective and by the Spring of 1942, seventeen Eastern states had instituted some form of mandatory gas rationing. By December mandatory controls extended across the entire country. On average, motorists who used their cars for "nonessential" purposes were restricted to 3 gallons of gas a week.

Holocaust: 533 Jews are deported from Nuremberg to the camp at Theresienstadt. Only 27 will survive the war. (THP)

The first name that the Nazis gave to the garrison town, which had been renamed Terezin by the Czechs, was Theresienbad, which means Spa Theresien, implying that it was a spa town where people could take mineral baths. Then the name was changed to Reichsaltersheim, or State Old People's Home. Some of the unsuspecting elderly Jews in Germany actually paid for an apartment in the ghetto and signed contracts for housing, food, and medical treatment which was to be provided. They were very disappointed when they got to Theresienstadt and learned that it was nothing like the spa town or old folks' home that they were expecting and that they were not going to have luxury accommodations, even though they had paid. Since they were too old to work, their rations were less than the amount given to the workers, and their mortality rate was extremely high.

1943 World War II: Various:

FDR and Churchill to Stalin:

We are pleased to tell you that General Eisenhower has accepted the unconditional surrender of Italy, terms of which were approved by the Unites States, the Soviet Republics, and the United Kingdom. Allied troops have landed near Naples and are now in contact with German forces. Allied troops are also making good progress in the southern end of the Italian peninsula.

Italy: One day after Italy surrenders to the Allies, German forces occupy Rome and the strategic northern passes.

Black Sea: Soviet marines supported by naval units of the Red Fleet recapture the Black Sea port of Novorossisk.

1944 World War II: Various:

Poland: General Kazimierz Sosnkowski: The Supreme Commander of the Polish troops fighting on the Western Front tells his soldiers that "Poland entered the war four years earlier because of the urging of Great Britain." At Churchill's insistence, General Sosnkowski is relieved of his command. (THP)

The Germans leave Istanbul: Baron Sebottendorff, founder of the Thule Society, who has been working for German Intelligence, is given funds to support himself for a year. (THP)

Holocaust: Slovakia: The deportation of Jews is renewed. (THP)

1945 Vidkun Quisling: 'Puppet' Premier of Norway, is sentenced to death in Norway for his collaboration with Nazi Germany after the 1940 invasion. Note: Quisling was the founder of Norway's National Party in 1934, which was an imitation of Hitler's National Socialist Party. (See Oct 24)

 


 







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