Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

3 Sep 1939 - At 11 am Britain declares war on Germany to be followed at 5pm by France. Australia and New Zealand also declare war on Germany. A Bristol Blenheim of No. 139 Sqn, Wyton, carries out the RAF's first operational sortie of the war - photographic reconnaissance of the German naval base of Wilhelmshaven.

[Peter Clare]

3/4 Sep 1939 - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany, dropping some 6 million leaflets over Hamburg, Bremen and the Ruhr - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany dropping some 6 million leaflets over Hamburg, Bremen and the Ruhr.

[Peter Clare]

MV ANDREA GRITTI (September 3, 1941)

Italian vessel of 6,338 tons and part of a convoy heading from Naples to Tripoli was torpedoed by British torpedo-carrying aircraft about 25 miles from Capo Spartivento in position 37º33'N 19º26'E. The ship blew up and sank with the loss of 347 men.

[Peter Clare]

September 4, 1940
The USS Greer is fired upon

On this day in 1940, the American destroyer Greer becomes the first U.S. vessel fired on in the war when a German sub aims a few torpedoes at it, sparking heightened tensions between Germany and the United States.
It was a case of mistaken identity. As the Greer made its way through the North Atlantic, a British patrol bomber spotted a German sub, the U-652. The British bomber alerted the Greer, which responded by tracking the sub. As the American destroyer approached Iceland, the area in which the sub had been spotted, a British aircraft dropped a depth charge into the water, rocking the sub. The U-652, believing the Greer responsible for the charge, fired its torpedoes. They missed. The Greer made it safely to Iceland. Although the United States was still officially a neutral country, Roosevelt unofficially declared war on anyone who further attacked American vessels in the North Atlantic: "If German or Italian vessels of war enter these waters, they do so at their own peril."

[Herakles]

Here's a picture of USS Greer

[Peter Clare]

3/4 September 1939. (First Bomber Command losses WW2)

58 Squadron.
Whitley III K8969.
Op. Nickel.

9 Squadron.
Wellington I L4268.
Op. Brunsbuttel.

9 Squadron
Wellington I L4275
Op. Brunsbuttel.

107 Squadron.
Blenheim IV N6184.
Op. Wilhelmshaven.

107 Squadron.
Blenheim IV N6188.
Op. Wilhelmshaven.

107 Squadron.
Blenheim IV N6189.
Op. Wilhelmshaven.

107 Squadron.
Blenheim IV N6240.
Op. Wilhelmshaven.


4 September 1939.

110 Squadron.

Blenheim IV N6199
Op. Wilhelmshaven.

[Peter Clare]

September 5, 1943
U.S. forces seize more of New Guinea

On this day in 1943, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's 503rd Parachute Regiment land and occupy Nazdab, just east of Lae, a port city in northeastern Papua New Guinea, situating them perfectly for future operations on the islands.
New Guinea had been occupied by the Japanese since March 1942. Raids by Allied forces early on were met with tremendous ferocity, and they were often beaten back by the Japanese occupiers. Much of the Allied response was led by forces from Australia, as they were most threatened by the presence of the Japanese in that sphere.
The tide began to turn in December 1942, as the Australians recaptured Buna-but despite numerical superiority, the Japanese continued to hang on, fighting to keep every square mile they had captured. Many Japanese committed suicide, swimming out to sea, rather than be taken prisoner. In January 1943, the Americans joined the Aussies in assaults on Sanananda, which resulted in huge losses for the Japanese--7,000 killed--and the first land defeat of the war. As Japanese reinforcements raced for the next Allied targets, Lae and Salamauam, in March, 137 American bombers destroyed the Japanese transport vessels, drowning 3,500 Japanese, as well as their much-needed fuel and spare parts.
On September 8, almost 2,000 American and Australian Airborne Division parachutists landed and seized Nazdab, which held a valuable airfield. The Allies quickly established a functioning airstrip and prepared to take the port city of Lae, one more step in MacArthur's strategy to recapture New Guinea and the Solomons-and eventually go back for the Philippines.

[Peter Clare]

September 6, 1944
Italian resistance fighters persevere

On this day in 1944, British intelligence receives word that, despite setbacks, Italian guerillas fighting the German occupiers of their country are continuing to widen their activity.
Since the Italian surrender in the summer of 1943, German troops had occupied wider swaths of the peninsula to prevent the Allies from using Italy as a base of operations against German strongholds elsewhere, such as the Balkans. Allied occupation of Italy would also put into their hands Italian airbases, further threatening German air power.
As the Allies battled the Germans, pushing them farther and farther north, Italian partisans (antifascist guerilla fighters) aided them. The Italian Resistance had been fighting underground against the fascist government of Mussolini long before its surrender. Now it fought against German fascism-and the Italian monarchy. Italian liberation for the partisans meant a democratic republic-not a return to a country ruled, often ineptly, by a king.
The partisans had proved extremely effective in aiding the Allies; by the summer of 1944, resistance fighters had immobilized eight of the 26 German divisions in northern Italy. German reaction to resistance activity was brutal; in one incident, German soldiers killed 382 Italian men, women, and children as revenge for a partisan attack that killed 35 German soldiers. German "sweeps" of partisan activity did much damage, but failed to stop the guerillas. On September 6, the Japanese ambassador to Italy reported back to Tokyo that partisan activity, especially around Turin and the Franco-Italian border, had widened, despite German purges. This information was intercepted by British intelligence and decoded, reassuring the British forces fighting within Italy that they were not alone in fighting the Germans.
By war's end, Italian guerillas controlled Venice, Milan, and Genoa, but at considerable cost. All told, the resistance lost some 50,000 fighters--but won its republic.

[Peter Clare]

6 Sep 1939 - South Africa declares war on Germany. Also on this day is the Battle of Barking Creek, when a error in identification in the Chain Home Radar system led to RAF aircraft engaging each other over the Thames Estuary. Blenheims, Hurricanes and Spitfires, not physically unlike the German Ju 88 and Bf 109, reported seeing enemy aircraft and several claims were made.

[Peter Clare]

6 September 1939.

First Fighter Command losses WW2.

56 Squadron
Hurricane I L1985
P/O. M L. Hulton-Harrop +

Accidentally attacked and shot down by 74 Squadron Spitfires near Ipswich.

56 Squadron.
Hurricane I L1980
P/O. F C. Rose. Safe. (F/O. F C. Rose was killed in action on 18 May 1940)

As above. The aircraft was repaired and was lost when HMS Glorious was sunk on 8 June 1940.