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1935   (WEDNESDAY)

ETHIOPIA: The Ethiopian government again asks the League of Nations for neutral observers. . . . “to establish the facts in regard to any aggression or other incident that might occur in order to fix the responsibility therefor."

1937   (SATURDAY)

GERMANY: Italian Premier Benito Mussolini conducted a state visit to Berlin where the German and Italian governments reaffirm the goals of the Rome-Berlin Axis.

1938   (SUNDAY)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In order to avoid war, the Czechoslovak government agrees to negotiate with Poland on Teschen, the region between Poland and Czechoslovakia that was divided about equally after World War I.

FRANCE: The French Cabinet decides to oppose German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's demands and commit itself to defend Czechoslovakia if the Germans attack. The French order partial mobilization.

September 25th, 1939 (MONDAY)

NORTH SEA: HMS Ark Royal rescues the submarine HMS Spearfish, which has been damaged by German warships off Horn Reefs in the Kattegat.

GERMANY: Bread and flour rationing is introduced.

Three aircraft from RAF Bomber Command Whitley Mk. IIIs of 102 Sqn.and two aircraft from 77 Sqn. (All Whitley's) make a leaflet raid on Hamburg and the Ruhr.

Hitler issues his fourth war directive, ordering increased attacks on Allied shipping and a swift conclusion to the Polish war.
OKW issues Führer Directive #4 for the Conduct of the War. 

(i) The final form of the government of the former Polish territory is yet to be decided. After Warsaw and Modlin are controlled, the Demarcation Line is to be secured by light forces. Air and Army forces necessary for the rapid destruction of remaining Polish resistance in the German zone are to be retained in the East. Preparations for general attacks to reduce Warsaw and Modlin before 3rd October should be undertaken although the attacks should await a personal order before proceeding. 

(ii) The westward flow of refugees across the Demarcation Line will be halted at once (with the exception of racial Germans and Ukrainian activists). 

(iii) The further strategy of the war is under consideration. No m easures shall be undertaken to restrict freedom of decision. The possibility of conducting an offensive in the west at any moment must be kept open. Sufficient forces to ensure a rapid occupation of Lithuania should be maintained in East Prussia. 

(iv) Directives for the conduct of land warfare in the West remain in force. At sea, trade warfare according to International Prize Law is to be waged against both France and England, free from previous restrictions. Attacks on French naval and air forces, and mining of embarkation points on the French coast are now permitted. Attacks on ‘passenger steamers’ or large vessels which obviously carry numerous passengers as well as cargo, are still forbidden. Existing limitations for air warfare remain in force. Aircraft may cross the frontier for the purposes of local reconnaissance and to attack hostile aircraft and observation balloons. 

(v) Only the following terms will be used when describing submarine warfare; ‘trade warfare’ [Handelskrieg] to describe activity in accordance with Prize Law, and ‘the siege of England’ [Belagerung Englands zur See] to describe unrestricted submarine warfare. English merchantmen which are clearly armed may be attacked by submarines without warning. (Marc Roberts) 

U-137, U-138, U-139, U-140, U-141, U-142, U-143, U-144, U-145, U-146, U-147, U-148, U-149, U-150, U-151, U-152, U-153, U-154, U-155, U-156, U-157, U-158, U-161, U-162, U-163, U-164, U-165, U-166, U-501, U-502, U-503, U-504, U-505, U-506, U-551, U-552, U-553, U-554, U-555, U-556, U-557, U-558 ordered.

POLAND: The Germans increase the bombardment of Warsaw in attempts to force the surrender of the Polish garrison there.

     Poland is dismembered and large parts of it are incorporated into Germany or the Soviet Union. The remainder on the German side with the core of the old Polish lands become the "Generalgouvernement.” From the start, the German government systematically tries to eliminate the polish intelligentsia and educated classes.

U.S.A.: A west coast hurricane moved onshore south of Los Angeles, California, bringing unprecedented rains along the southern coast of California. Nearly 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) of rain drenched Los Angeles during a 24-hour period. The hurricane caused US$2 million damage, mostly to structures along the coast and to crops, and claimed 45 lives at sea. "El Cordonazo" produced 5.66 inches (14,4 centimeters) of rain at Los Angeles and 11.6 inches (29,4 centimeters) of rain at Mount Wilson, both records for the month of September.

Aircraft carrier USS Hornet laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-36 sank SS Silesia.

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September 25th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Scharnhorst at Kiel - Antwerp docks - power station at Berlin.

51 Sqn. Eleven aircraft to Berlin and Kiel. Five bombed Scharnhorst , two bombed Berlin, two bombed alternatives.

78 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Four bombed Scharnhorst , three bombed Antwerp, three did not bomb.

Battle of Britain:

The weather is cool but fair to fine in most areas. During the day, with the exception of attacks on Filton and Portland during the morning and an attack on Plymouth in the afternoon, Luftwaffe activity has been confined to small raids chiefly in the southeastern area. About 100 aircraft had massed in the Calais, France, area by 0900 hours but an attack did not materialize. In the main attacks, the proportion of fighters to bombers appears to have been approximately equal., attacked the Bristol Aeroplane Company's Works at Filton. Dispersal of the German invasion assembly released sufficient aircraft to reinforce Luftlotte (Air Fleet) 3 to allow it to resume large-scale daylight operations with a morning attack by 27 He 111s of Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55 or Bomber Wing 55) plus escorting fighters on the Bristol Aeroplane works at Filton at 1148 hours. The attack is made from 11,000 feet (3 353 meters) and all bombs are dropped simultaneously.

  Three RAF fighter squadrons plus one section are despatched to intercept and all of them engaged, though only one squadron succeeded in doing so before the German aircraft reached the target. It is reported by Anti-aircraft Command that seven Ju 88s broke away from the main body flying to Filton, and made an unsuccessful dive bombing attack down to 500 feet (152 meters) on the oil tanks at Portland. Approximately 24 Luftwaffe bombers with an escort of 12 Me 110s crossed the coast at Start Point and attacked the Plymouth area at 1647 hours. Two sections of RAF fighters intercepted and dispersed this formation. Hostile reconnaissances, mostly of single aircraft, are plotted during the day as follows: (1) Over three convoys, one of which is reported to have been attacked and (2) London (three), Thames Estuary, Luton, Hatfield, Farnborough, Northolt, Kent, Sussex Coast, Bristol Channel, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and east of Yarmouth. Some interceptions are effected and casualties inflicted. Patrols by German aircraft are frequent in the Straits.

     During the night of 25/26 September, London, North Wales and Lancashire are attacked. German activity in the London area is widespread and steadily maintained throughout the night. Shortly after 1930 hours, raids began doming out of Le Havre, France, towards Portsmouth and made for London. These are followed by others from Cherbourg, France, which entered along the coast Westward from Beachy Head. Other raids from Holland came in over the Norfolk Coast and the Wash. Some of the later made a wide sweep and approached London from the North West. During this period, about 25 raids crossed the Coast, some of which flew to South Wales and one over Derby. Anti-aircraft in the Rochford area claim to have destroyed one Ju 88 at 1940 hours which is reported to have fallen into the sea. Between 2100 and 0100 hours, about 100 Luftwaffe aircraft came inland, 19 of which proceeded to the Midlands (as far North as the Mersey) and to the West Country and South Wales. After 2300 hours, raids ceased to approach London from East Anglia, the points of entry being between Dungeness and the Isle of Wight. Many raids appeared to return via the Estuary to the Dutch Coast. After midnight, about nine aircraft from the Dutch Coast circled in the outer Thames Estuary and may have been engaged on a shipping search or minelaying operations. At 0115 hours, a new series of about 20 raids started approaching from Holland and made for the London Area, but some remained in the Thames Estuary and these, to, may have been minelaying. By 0530 hours, the last raids from the London area had recrossed the South Coast. In addition to the activity mentioned above, there have been a few raids in Lincolnshire, the Humber area and in the South West. There has been no activity in the North of England or in Scotland.

GERMANY: U-581 and U-582 laid down.

WEST AFRICA:
Dakar: The bombardment of the town continues but HMS Resolution (09) is torpedoed and badly damaged by Vichy submarine 'Beveziers' and HMS Barham is hit by Richilieu's 15in gunfire. At this point the operation is abandoned and the Anglo-French forces withdraw.

The pro-Vichy police in the meantime are rounding up Allied sympathisers, and Senegal's black middle class, which demonstrated in support of de Gaulle, is paying the price.

It was the pro-Allied street demonstrations and an unsuccessful naval mutiny that persuaded the Allies that Senegal was fertile ground for the Free French. An so it was. Then the pro-Allied Governor was replaced by the present Governor Boisson and the colony was purged of Free French sympathisers. Worse, the amphibious force arrived two days after three French cruisers had docked bringing with them reliable Vichy reinforcements - although the Royal Navy did prevent several more French warships from sailing further south to overawe the Free French supporters in French Equatorial Africa. For the Royal Navy failure is bad news since it fears that Dakar may become a German U-boat base.

GIBRALTAR:

The French bomb again. The French formation is reinforced by two escadrilles and two more bomber groups. A total of 83 bombers made their run in good weather from 3:00 to 4:15 PM., this time without fighter plane cover. The air crews reported stronger anti-aircraft fire than on the previous day. They met no fighters and dropped 56 metric tons of bombs. A LeO45 bomber of French 23 Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group based on Merknes, was shot down by AA and crashed into the sea with its air crew under Lt. Court. 13 bombers were slightly damaged. Scout aircraft confirmed hits on the base and harbour installations.

This raid was the largest French operation since the war broke out.

CANADA: AMC HMCS Prince Robert intercepted and seized German freighter Weser 9,472 GRT, 15kts, renamed SS Vancouver Island.

U.S.A.: Military intelligence reads the Japanese "Purple" code for the first time.

The MIT Radiation Laboratory, where much Allied radar development would take place, comes into formal existence with a budget of $455,000 for the first year of operation. (Cris Wetton)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The last lifeboat of survivors of the City of Benares sinking is picked up due to the actions of Flight Lieutenant William Garing of No. 10 Squadron RAAF. When he heard about the sinking Garing himself worked out the likely course of winds and surface currents. He still had to protect his own allocated convoys but flew flight paths that would check these areas. Today, six days after the sinking, he found the one remaining lifeboat with 46 survivors aboard. He could not break radio silence so flew back to his convoy, even though this
meant he now did not have enough fuel to get home. He signalled his find to another Sunderland and the lifeboat was later picked up by destroyer.
Husbanding his fuel, Garing ditched 10 miles from his base at Oban. He and his crew were towed in. (Mike Mitchell)

U-29 sank SS Eurymedon in Convoy OB-217.
U-43 sank SS Sulairia in Convoy OB-217.
U-32 sank SS Mabriton in Convoy OB-216.

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September 25th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces in the Crimea are now isolated by the Germans. They begin attacks, with support from paratroop units, near Perekop.

Hitler orders all attacks by Heeresgruppe Nord (von Leeb) on Leningrad stopped; the city is to be besieged and starved-out, and after its eventual surrender, levelled to the ground.

CROATIA: The Italians reoccupy the demilitarized zone to secure Italy's Adriatic flank.

CANADA: Patrol boat HMCS Kuitan launched.
Corvettes HMCS Summerside and Drumheller arrive Halifax from builders.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "A Yank in the RAF" premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California. Directed by Henry King, this war musical/drama stars Tyrone Power, Betty Grable and Reginald Gardiner. Tyrone plays a "hot shot" pilot who enlists in the RCAF and ferries aircraft to the U.K. There he meets his old girlfriend (Gable). He then begins to understand what the war is about.

Marshall requests Stark delay converting three freighters into escort carriers to increase shipping lift for the reinforcements being sent to the Philippines. (Marc Small)

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are greeted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and cheering crowds as they arrive in Washington for their first visit together.

The motion picture "Lydia" is released today. Directed by Julien Duvivier, this romantic drama adopted from the French film "Un Carnet de Bal" stars Merle Oberon, Alan Marshal and Joseph Cotton. This tearjerker has an elderly woman (Oberon) meeting her former beaux and recalling their courtship. The film is nominated for a musical Academy Award.

In baseball, the Brooklyn Dodgers win their first National League pennant in 21 years as the second-place St. Louis Cardinals lose their game and the Dodgers defeat the Boston Braves 6-0.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-124 sank SS Empire Stream in Convoy HG-73.

During a battle against convoy HG-73 U-124 unsuccessfully attacked a British cruiser with two torpedoes.

In first successful US Navy escort of convoys during World War II, Navy escort turn over HX-150 to British escorts at the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point. All ships reach port safely]

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September 25th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Britain announces that it has taken Madagascar under its protection to ensure that a friendly regime will be established there. Or officially, "in order to ensure law and order and to provide for the administration pending the establishment of a friendly regime."

Frigate HMS Nith launched.

Submarine HMS Trespasser commissioned.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 25/26 September, RAF Bomber Command sends ten Wellingtons on a minelaying mission in the Frisian Islands without loss.

NORWAY: RAF No. 105 Squadron flying Mosquito Mk IVs makes a low-level attack on Gestapo headquarters in Oslo in an attempt to destroy any records relating to the Norwegian Resistance.

The aircraft are based at Horsham St. Faith, Norfolk, but staged out of Leuchars, Fife, to make the mission possible. The mission is intended to be a morale raiser for the Norwegian people and is timed to coincide with a rally of Norwegians who support the Germans. The four aircraft at intercepted by Fw 190s on their low-level bombing run and one Mosquito is shot down. Four bombs hit the Gestapo building but three pass right through without exploding and the fourth, which remains inside the building, also fails to explode.

SPAIN: U-66 had to put an ill crewmember on shore in El Ferrol.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s fail to locate a shipping convoy south of Crete and return without bombing.

LIBYA:  US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s bomb Benghazi. 

Miteiriya Ridge: Pte. Percival Eric Gratwick (b.1902), Australian Military Forces, alone wiped out a machine-gun post and a mortar and died charging a second post. (Victoria Cross)

MADAGASCAR: The East Africa 22d Brigade establishes contact with the 29th Independent Brigade, giving the British control of the central part of the island. 

CHINA: The US Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force bombers fly 11 missions during the remainder of September and early October to support Chinese ground forces attempting to hold the Japanese on the west bank of the Salween River.

Shanghai: 1,816 British prisoners of war are loaded onto the Lisbon Maru, a freighter. They include Arthur Betts of the First Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. The prisoners have spent ten months in a debilitating prisoner of war camp before being selected for slave labour in the docks of Japan. (Will Pavia)

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 4 US B-25 Mitchells of the US Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force, with an escort of 10 P-40s, attack Hanoi, French Indochina; the strike force is intercepted by 10 fighters but the B-25s place several bombs on the runway at Gia Lam Airfield; the P-40s claim at least 9 fighters shot down.

PORTUGESE TIMOR: Destroyer HMAS Voyager is attacked by Japanese aircraft. As she cannot be refloated, she is thoroughly wrecked by her own crew and abandoned. Location; Timor Island at 09 11S 125 43E. (Alex Gordon)(108) and (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)

NEW GUINEA: 25th Brigade, Australian 7th Division, opens a counteroffensive, attacking strongly towards Ioribaiwa, to drive the enemy back along Port Moresby-Kokoda trail. On the Kokoda Track, B Company of the Australian 2/25th Battalion attacks the Japanese north of Imita Ridge and gains some ground and captures weapons. 
     Australian General Thomas Blamey flies to Milne Bay where he informs Major General Cyril Clowes that the 2/10th Battalion will be airlifted to Wanigela, about 100 miles (161 kilometres) to the northwest, where it would advance towards Buna. 
     In the air, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-40s again bomb the bridge at Wairopi, scoring a direct hit on the northeastern end, which is demolished. 

SOLOMON ISLANDS:  On Guadalcanal, the 2d Battalion of the 5th Marines joins the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, on the northwest slope of Mt. Austen to continue the attack against the enemy in the Matanikau-Kokumbona area. Two companies of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, return to the Lunga perimeter. A patrol of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, reconnoiters Koli Point without incident. General KAWAGUCHI Kiyotake has ordered his troops to higher ground. He has received orders to seize the east bank of the river to prepare for the arrival of the 15 cm (5.9 inch) artillery. These units will be found the next day.  (John Nicholas)
     In the air, four USAAF B-17s attack Japanese warships in Tonolei Harbor in the Shortland Islands while other B-17s attack shipping in Buka Passage and strafe the seaplane base at Rekata Bay on Santa Isabel Island. 
 

GILBERT ISLANDS: Japanese troops land on Beru Island located 265 miles (426 kilometres) southeast of Tarawa.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The USAAF Eleventh Air Force dispatches 9 B-24 Liberators, a B-17 Flying Fortress, and a B-24 photo aircraft, escorted by 11 P-39Airacobras and 17 P-40s, fly the first of 2 missions to Kiska Island; RCAF Kittyhawks participate in this first combined Canadian-American mission; later 2 B-24s and a B-17, escorted by 15 P-39s, pound Little Kiska and Kiska Islands; radar installations at Little Kiska Island are destroyed and explosions and fires are caused in the Main Camp area; other targets include shipping, stores, and tents; the P-39s also strafe 2 submarines; 2 float planes are downed; 5 to 8 biplanes are probably destroyed on the water; 1 large transport vessel is hit and lists badly; and 150 personnel are believed killed. 

U.S.A.: The US Maritime Commission announces that 488 cargo ships have been built in the past year. 

The War Labor Board orders equal pay to women as recognition of role in war.

Destroyer escort USS Austin launched.
 

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-253 (Type VIIC) is believed to have been lost with all 46 crew off the northwest coast of Iceland at approximate position 67.00N, 23.00W.

U-253 reported for the last time from the approximate position 67.30N, 21.00W on 24 Sept, 1942 while operating against convoy OP.14. The following day she was ordered into the Atlantic, and would have had to cross submarine minefields SN 11 or SN 71 which were laid in June and August 1942.

(Alex Gordon)

U-216 sank SS Boston in Convoy RB-1.
U-96 damaged SS New York in Convoy RB-1.
U-442 sank SS Empire Bell in Convoy UR-42.

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September 25th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Due to the death of Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer two days ago, Churchill shuffles his cabinet. Attlee is Lord President of the Council, Sir John Anderson is Chancellor, Lord Cranbourne is Dominions Secretary and Lord Beaverbrook is Lord Privy Seal.  

     Four hundred free Germans met in London to form an anti-Hitler movement similar to the Moscow Free German Committee.

Corvette HMS Thorlock laid down.
Frigates HMS Inglis and Inman laid down.

NETHERLANDS: During the night 25/26 September, seven RAF Bomber Command Stirlings lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

FRANCE: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flies Mission 71: 68 B-26B Marauders hit Longuenesse Airfield at St Omer at 1717-1718 hours without loss.

Paris: Benoit-Guyod notes in his diary that he went down the rue de Rivoli, and at the level of the Magasins du Louvre, "I noticed that these buildings had been damaged where a fire had started on the upper floors. This came from the crash of an English twin-engined bomber, shot down in flames the previous night by anti-aircraft fire. I followed the crowd on to the rue Saint-Honoré. There surrounded by a cordon of police, the remains of an enormous plane could be seen lying in the middle of the thoroughfare... The public stared but made no comment at all."

GERMANY: During the night of 25/26 September, four each RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb Cologne and Düsseldorf without loss.

U-318, U-481, U-482 and U-924 launched.
U-904 commissioned.
U-364 was damaged in a collision with the tug Werner on the river Elbe.

U.S.S.R.: Smolensk and Roslavl fall to the Soviets of General Popov's Bryansk Front. This is perhaps the most important success of the Russian Army since the end of the Battle of Kursk. The general German retreat from here south has been forced by the Russians. It has been ordered to stop at the Dniepr River. The retreat, long urged by Manstein, is too late to be of great value to the Germans.

Describing the action which liberated Smolensk after several days of heavy fighting, Moscow says that Popov's men broke into the northern suburbs and drove the Germans back street by street until the city was cleared. The Germans admit that Smolensk has fallen, but claim that it was evacuated by their rearguard in the face of advancing Russian forces "after completing the most important and necessary measures and demolition of important military installations."

Berlin Radio says that bad weather prevented the Luftwaffe from intervening in the battle and that "the German formations were faced with the extremely difficult task of holding their positions against the numerically superior enemy."

Roslavl, 37 miles south-east of Smolensk, has also fallen to the Red Army, and fighting is now raging along a 300-mile front on the eastern approaches to the Dnieper.

Stalin has promised to award Russia's highest decoration, the Hero of the Soviet Union, to any soldiers who force crossings of the Dnieper, and there are reports that small bridgeheads have been established in the Rzhintsev/Kanev region, south of Kiev. It is likely that these bridgeheads have been made by Cossack horsemen who specialize in river crossings, swimming their horses across at night, above and below German strongpoints, and then attacking from the rear.

The Russians point out that the Germans have not yet been able to hold a river line, and do not expect them to hold the Dnieper. But the Russians also have their problems. A paratroop drop on the western bank has met with disaster.

GREECE: The Italian Navy’s torpedo boats Francesco Stocco, Enrico Cosenz and Giuseppe Sirtori are scuttled on Corfu Island in the Ionian Islands when German troops invade.

ITALY:  General Bernard Montgomery begins regrouping the British Eighth Army to strengthen the eastern flank. 5 Corps, which is to include the 5th, 1st Airbourne, and the Indian 8th Divisions, is initially to remain in the Taranto area while 13 Corps, with the 78th Division on the right and the Canadian 1st Division on the left, continues an advance. 5 Corps is later to move forward behind 13 Corps and secure its left flank. 
     In the air, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force dispatches about 90 B-17s to bomb the Bologna marshalling yard; 14 others attack the Bolzano railroad bridge; B-25s and B-26s bomb airfields at Pisa, Lucca, and Bastia/Borgo, a highway at Mignano, a road junction at Maddaloni, and railroad and road bridges at Cancello Amone, Caiazzo, and Ponte; USAAF and RAF fighters attack Serino (causing a roadblock), troop concentrations at Sarno, gun positions, troops, and vehicles near Nocera, Aquino airfield, a storage dump north of Foggia and a dredger at Termoli.   

     During the night of 25/26 September, 49 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber Group) bomb the highway at Formia.

Salerno: CSM Peter Harold Wright (1916-1990), Coldstream Guards, took charge of an assault on a hill after losing most officers. He silenced three gun posts in securing the position. (Victoria Cross)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:U-667 shot down RAF Wellington, Squadron 179/F in the Gibraltar Straits.

Minesweeper USS Skill sunk after being torpedoed by U-593 south of Capri, Italy.

ALGERIA:  U.S. and the Free French representatives sign a Lend Lease agreement at Algiers.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25s join USN TBF Avengers and SBD Dauntlesses in attacking gun positions in the areas around Vila airfield on Kolombangara Island and Disappointment Cove on New Georgia Island. 

The Japanese begin to evacuate Kolombangara. The garrison has been isolated by the island hopping campaign of the US.  

NEW GUINEA: The 162d Infantry of the U.S. 41st Infantry Division, having successfully completed its mission, begins the return trip to Australia. The 20th Brigade, Australian 9th Division, continues the battle for Finschhafen and consolidates its bridgehead across the Bumi River. In the Markham River Valley, the Australian 2/14th Battalion, with part of a battery of the 2/4th Field Regiment, lands at Kaiapit. 
     In the air, USAAF Fifth Air Force dispatches nearly 40 B-17s, B-24s, and B-25s to bomb installations and supply lines from Bogadjim to villages on the Ramu and Markham Rivers; A-20 Havocs and RAAF aircraft pound positions near Finschhafen as the Australian 9th Division pushes south. The air crews scare the dickens out of the men of the 2/6th Independent Company by dropping their auxiliary fuel tanks within 100 yards (91 meters) of their position.   
 

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25s bomb and strafe AA positions at Rein Bay on New Britain Island. 

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Summerside completed foc'sle extension refit Saint John.

Frigate HMCS Lanark laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the resignation of Under Secretary of State Summer Welles and the appointment of Edward R. Stettinius as his successor. He also announced the formation of the Office of Foreign Economic Administration under Mr. Leo Crowley, to include Lend-Lease Administration, Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation, and the Office of Economic Warfare.

Saratoga Air Group is reformed as CVG-3.

Destroyer escorts USS John J Powers and O'Toole laid down.
Destroyer escorts USS Gillette and Marsh launched.
Submarine USS Flasher commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Greenwood commissioned.

     The escort aircraft carrier (CVE) USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60, ex Astrolabe Bay) is commissioned at Astoria, Oregon. She is the 25th CVE in commission. (Jack McKillop & Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At the end of the Battle of Convoys ONS-18 and ON-202, 20 U-boats have sunk 36,422 tons of merchant shipping and three escorts; British ships sank three U-boats and damaged a further three.

U-387 set a ground reconnaissance team ashore on Spitzbergen (north coast of Alexandraland)

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September 25th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeper HMS Prompt commissioned. (DS)

NETHERLANDS: Helmond and Deurne, east of Eindhoven, Holland, fall to the British 2nd Army.

British paratroops in Arnhem will begin evacuation across the Rhine tonight by boat. 2400 will cross tonight. In the British Second Army's I Airborne Corps area, it is decided to withdraw the bridgehead north of the Neder Rijn in the Arnhem sector under cover of darkness, 25/26 September. Leaving the wounded behind, the British 1st Airbourne Division starts crossing the river, some by ferry and others swimming. The U.S. 101st Airborne and British 50th Divisions partially envelop the enemy's roadblock near Koevering, and the Germans abandon it after nightfall. 30 Corps clears Elst and Bemmel. 8 Corps takes Helmond and Gemert, northeast of Eindhoven and makes patrol contact with 30 Corps in the St Antonis area. 
     In the U.S. First Army area, XIX Corps takes responsibility for the corridor containing the Peel Marshes from the British, who by this time have cleared it as far as the Nederweert-Wessem Canal except for triangular position about Wessem. The Belgian 1st Brigade, although attached to British 8 Corps, holds outposts south of the canal within a new zone of the corps. The U.S. 7th Armored Division from the U.S. Third Army and the U.S. 29th Infantry Division from Brest, France, are to be employed by the corps in clearing the new sector. In the VII Corps area, elements of the 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, fighting in the forest on the southern flank of the corps, are by this time so weakened that they are almost incapable of continuing the battle.   
 

Arnhem: Maj. Robert Henry Cain (1909-74), Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, led his company with great valour when it was cut off (19-25 September). (Victoria Cross)

BELGIUM: During the day, 70 RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes started a series of flights to carry petrol (gasoline) in jerricans from England to airfields in Belgium, in order to alleviate the severe fuel shortage being experienced by Allied ground forces. The RAF would fly 435 such sorties during an eight-day period. Each Halifax carried about 165 jerricans, approximately 750 Imperial gallons (901 U.S. gallons or 3 410 liters) of petrol (gasoline), on each flight. The total amount of petrol (gasoline) lifted during the period is approximately 325,000 Imperial gallons (390,309 U.S. gallons or 1,5 million liters), about the same amount of fuel that the Halifaxes themselves consumed. No aircraft are lost during these operations.

FRANCE: In the Canadian First Army's II Corps area, the 3d Division, having moved up to Calais from Boulogne, begins an all-out assault after preparatory bombardment. Polish armour is moving from the east flank of 2 Corps to the east flank of the British I Corps. 

In the U.S. Third Army area, General George S Patton lists the priorities for limited attacks. In the XX Corps area, the 5th Infantry Division, extending southward, completes relief of the 7th Armored Division and withdraws to a new main line of resistance, pulling back its outpost line. Corny and Pournoy-la-Chetive, secured at great cost, are abandoned in the retrograde movement. The 83d Infantry Division, tasked with clearing rear guards from the northern flank of the corps west of the Sauer and Moselle Rivers, reaches the west bank of the Moselle River at Remich. Task Force Polk then moves south to the Thionville area. In the XII Corps area, the 35th Infantry Division is relieving the 6th Armored Division (-) in the Foret de Gremecey sector. In powerful counterattacks against the salient held by Combat Command A, 4th Armored Division, a German Fifth Panzer Army column drives through Marsal and Moyenvic to Vic-sur-Seille where contact is made with the German First Army. The enemy also thrusts sharply at other points of Combat Command A's perimeter and overruns Moncourt; Combat Command B turning over its positions west of Chateau-Salins to the 35th Infantry Division, moves to the south of Combat Command A, between Rechicourt and the canal. 
     In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, the 45th Infantry Division completes clearing Epinal. The 36th Infantry Division is attacking toward Bruyeres and Tendon and the 3d Infantry Division takes over St Ame area from 36th Infantry Division.   
     In the French 1st Army area, the 2d Corps opens a limited offensive with the 1st Armored Division, whose third combat command has now joined it, and the 1st Infantry Division. Progress is limited because of firm opposition. 
     In the air, 176 USAAF Eighth Air Force B-24s on a TRUCKIN' mission fly fuel to France; 1 B-24 is lost. The USAAF Ninth Air Force’s IX Air defence Command flies night patrols from Paris east to Luxembourg and the German border. 

     During the day, RAF Bomber Command sends 872 aircraft, 430 Lancasters, 397 Halifaxes and 45 Mosquitos, to bomb German defensive positions at Calais but encountered low cloud. Only 303 aircraft are able to bomb, through breaks in the cloud. No aircraft lost.

GERMANY: Berlin: Allied Intelligence has a poor opinion of some of the new recruits appearing in the front line facing the Allies in the west - "policemen ... boys of 16 and men with duodenal ulcers have been taken prisoner recently". Hitler's new recruits are likely to be of yet poorer calibre. The formation of the new "home guard", the Volkssturm, was announced today. It will be organized by Nazi Gauleiters under the direction of Himmler and Bormann. Hitler's mistrust of his generals is such that he believes that the Nazi Party, rather than the military, will mount the final defence of Germany. The Volkssturm will be operational next month.

On paper, the Fuhrer still has ten million men in his armed forces, seven and half million of them in the army. Most are scattered across Europe, in the Baltic states, the Balkans, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and northern Italy, instead of coming to the defence of the Reich. Many of the regular formations assigned to home defence, and identified as divisions, are of no more than battalion strength.

In the air, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 647: 1,306 bombers and 622 fighters are dispatched to attack marshalling yards in western Germany and the synthetic oil plant at Ludwigshafen bombed by the Pathfinder Force; 5 bombers and 3 fighters are lost. (1) 400 B-17s, escorted by 200 P-51s,  bomb the Opau oil plant and the marshalling yard at Ludwigshafen; 46 others hit targets of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost; (2) 410 B-17s, escorted by 210 P-38 Lightnings and P-51s, bomb the Frankfurt industrial area (410) and 2 others hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s and 2 fighters are lost; and (3) 257 B-24s, escorted by 157 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s, bomb the Mosel and Rhein marshalling yards at Koblenz; 1 P-51 is lost. 
     Due to bad weather, no bomber missions are flown by the USAAF Ninth Air Force but the fighters fly cover for U.S. First Army units in western Germany, dive-bombs rail lines, and armed reconnaissance over the Trier-Koblenz-Aachen area. 

     During the night of 25/26 September, RAF Bomber Command sends 48 Mosquitos to Mannheim and four to a chemical factory at Höchst, just west of Frankfurt; all aircraft bombed the targets.

U-2349, U-2528 and U-3522 laid down.

Crewmember of U-1221 committed suicide. Matrosengefreiter Emil-Heinz Motyl jumped overboard in the North Atlantic after a punishment for sleeping on the watch.

GREECE: 51 US Fifteenth Air Force B-24s, with P-51s and P-38s providing target cover and close escort, bomb Piraeus, Skaramanga, and Salamis harbors in Greece.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's IV Corps area, Task Force 92, consisting of the 370th Infantry of the 92d Infantry Division and Combat Command B of the 1st Armored Division, takes command of the zone previously held by the 1st Armored Division.

Elements of the South African 6th Armoured Division move to Mt. Casciaio, west of Mt. Coroncina, and relieve the 34th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop of the task of screening the left flank of II Corps.

In the II Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division progresses slowly toward Mt. Bastione on the left flank of the corps.

The 91st Infantry Division takes Mt. Beni, below Mt. Oggioli, on the right but makes little headway on the left under fire from Mt. Bastione.
The 338th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division, attempts to outflank the enemy on Mt. Canda by attacking first toward Torre Poggioli to the northeast, but is unable to gain this objective; the 3d Battalion, 339th Infantry, tries to assist the attack on Torre Poggioli but is stopped by opposition from Montarello.
The boundary between the 85th and 88th Infantry Divisions is altered in preparation for a strong effort by the 88th Infantry Division on 26 September to break through the last heights before Imola.
The 337th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division, takes responsibility for Mt. la Fine, releasing the 349th Infantry, 88th Infantry Division.

The British 13 Corps battles for the heights commanding Palazzuolo, Marradi, and San Benedetto. Several attempts by the 1st Division to take Mt. Gamberaldi fail. The Indian 8th Division begins an attack on Mt. di Castelnuovo, where the enemy resists strongly. The 6th Armoured Division, previously ordered to the Eighth Army front, is directed to remain in place and contain enemy on right flank of corps. 

     In the British Eighth Army's 5 Corps area, the Indian 4th Division is delayed in crossing the Uso River on the left flank of corps by fire from Cornacchiara on the far bank, but the enemy withdraws during the night of 25/26 September. The 46th Division expands its Uso bridgehead toward Canonica. The 1st Armoured Division, after establishing a bridgehead across the Uso at San Arcangelo and Highway 9, is relieved there by the 56th Division. In the Canadian I Corps area, the 5th Armoured Division secures a bridgehead across the Uso River.   
     In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers and A-20s cancel operations due to bad weather; fighter-bombers hit barracks areas, railroads, roads, and transportation in or near Bologna, Bozzolo, Parma, Castelfranco Veneto, and Canneto sull'Oglio, and in the immediate battle areas as the US Fifth Army meets strong opposition, especially in the vicinity of Mt Bastione, and near Torre Poggioli, Mt Gamberaldi, and Mt Castelnuovo. 

ESTONIA: Haapsalu, is captured by the Soviet Army.

YUGOSLAVIA: Partisan forces liberate Banja Luka.

U.S.S.R.: Three U-boats, U-711, U-739 and U-957 attacked and destroyed the Soviet radio station Sterlingova at Novaja Sjemla. Five men were captured.

EGYPT: A Pan-Arab conference opened in Alexandria with Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Trans-Jordan participating.

CHINA: Still furious about the letter he received from US President Franklin D Roosevelt on the 19th, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek refuses to give US General Joseph Stillwell, Chief of Staff to Chiang, operational control of the Chinese Nationalist Army.

In the air, USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24s again haul fuel to China, 15 landing at Kunming, 3 at Liuchow, and 1 at Yungning. Twelve USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25s blast the barracks area at Mangshih; 12 bomb Kweiyang, and 6 hit the town area and railroad yards at Hengyang; 11 B-24s pound Nanking; about 120 P-51 Mustangs and P-40s on armed reconnaissance over the vast expanses of China south of the Yangtze River attack a large variety of targets of opportunity at numerous locations including troops, buildings, and communications targets in the Paoching area and between Siangtan and Fulinpu. 

BURMA: 13 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts attack the towns of Haungton, Myintha, and Mawlu. B-24s again haul fuel to China, 15 landing at Kunming, 3 at Liuchow, and 1 at Yungning and the Tenth Air Force flies 220+ other transport sorties to various CBI terminals.

PACIFIC: In the air in the North Pacific, USAAF Seventh Air Force Saipan-based B-24s Marcus Island During the night of 25/26 September, Kwajalein Atoll-based B-24s hit Wake Island. 

VOLCANO ISLANDS: In the air, USAAF Seventh Air Force Saipan-based B-24s bomb Iwo Jima. 

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The submarine USS Nautilus (SS-168) lands 25 tons of cargo, 20 drums of gasoline and 2 drums of oil on Cebu Island in the Philippines. As she begins to retire, the submarine grounds on Iuisan Shoal. Forced to lighten her load, her evacuees, mail, captured documents, and cargo are sent ashore. All secret materials is burned. Her reserve fuel tanks are blown dry, variable ballast is blown overboard and 6-inch (152 mm) ammunition jettisoned. With the blowing of her main ballast tanks she is finally able to get off the reef within 3 1/2 hours, despite the receding tide, and clear the area by dawn.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: On Morotai, Task Force TRADEWIND is dissolved. Major General Charles Hall, as Commanding General XI Corps, is responsible for continuing base development. 
     In the air, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Kendari Airfield and B-25s bomb Langoan Airfield on Celebes Island. A-20s fire storage areas and hit personnel areas on the western shore of Kaoe Bay on Halmahera Island. Namlea Airfield on Buru Island is again bombed by B-24s while P-38s attack Kairatoe Airfield on Celebes Island and Boela Airfield on Ceram Island. 
 

NEW GUINEA:  In the air, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s and A-20s bomb Sagan and Urarom Airfields while P-40s attack Kaimana. 

CAROLINE ISLANDS:  In the air during the night of 25/26 September, USAAF Seventh Air Force  Kwajalein Atoll-based B-24s stage through Eniwetok Atoll on a strike at shipping at Truk Island; failing to locate the primary targets the B-24s bomb Tol, Eten, Param, and Moen Islands. 
 

PALAU ISLANDS:  On Peleliu, the 7th Marines continue to support attack of 321st Infantry, 81st Infantry Division, and extends the left flank to release elements of 321st for the main push. On the left, 321st Infantry patrols northward along the coast almost to the fifth phase line against light resistance. The 5th Marines move forward to join with the 321st Infantry in an attack to clear the northern part of the island. The right flank elements of the 321st Infantry continue clearing the lateral trail through the central ridge system, meeting strong opposition.  
     On Angaur Island, the 322d Infantry, whose efforts to push into the Lake Salome bowl from the south have all ended in failure, attempts in vain to find a suitable route of advance into the bowl from the north coast. Engineers then begin construction of road for an attack from the east-northeast. 

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: 2 US Eleventh Air Force B-25s fly a negative shipping sweep.

U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Hart, Metcalf, Shields and Wiley launched.

Destroyer escort USS McGinty commissioned.
Light cruiser USS Manchester laid down.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Beauharnois commissioned.

HMC ML 082 paid off.

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September 25th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Nos. 23 and 156 Squadrons, RAF, (Mosquito) are disbanded. No. 615 Sq. (Thunderbolt) is also disbanded.

RAF Watton is handed back to the RAF by the USAAF as it continues it's departure from Europe.

Fleet destroyer HMS Solebay is commissioned.

Hatfield: The de Havilland Dove, light transport makes its maiden flight.

GERMANY: The authorities in the British Zone issue their "Instruction on the Re-Organization of the German Police System", this gives details of all the considerations involved in British policy planning since 1939, additionally portraying all of the protagonists involved. The decentralization measures mandated by the Instruction, although not at all contrary to traditional German principles, rouse scepticism and sometimes outright rejection among German officials. (Peter Kilduff)(204)

NORWAY: The last Soviet troops leave Kirkenes.

FINLAND: The last Red Army soldier leaves Finnish territory around Ivalo.

JAPAN: The USS Sumter disembarks occupation troops at Kii Suido.

The USS Grimes puts the US 2d Marines ashore at Nagasaki.

HQ USAAF 5th Air Force moves to Irumagawa.

Tokyo: Emperor Hirohito gives his first ever interview to a media organisation when he speaks to Hugh Baillie, president of the United Press wire service and Frank Kluckhohn, Pacific bureau chief for the New York Times. The emperor names Hideki Tojo an the man responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The interview was recorded by officials of the household agency's Board of the Ceremonies.

Analysts said aides to Hirohito clearly wanted the interview to stave off international moves to pursue the question of the emperor's responsibility for Japan's actions during the war.

The document includes responses to questions that were submitted to the emperor beforehand.

One crucial question posed by Kluckhohn centred on the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The emperor was asked whether he had intended to withhold Japan's declaration of war on the United States until after the attack, which is what Tojo did.

The emperor replied that it had never been his intention for the declaration of war to be issued to American officials hours after Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor. He said that decision was made by Tojo.

A draft of the interview compiled by former Prime Minister Kijuro Shidehara avoided directly naming any individual for the decision to attack Pearl Harbor. Instead, it said only that "details of war strategy were left up to the highest commanders in the (Imperial Japanese) army and navy."

In the Page One story that runs in todays edition of The New York Times, Kluckhohn wrote that the emperor placed responsibility on Tojo for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Because the contents of that report differed from the draft put together by Shidehara, researchers had long pondered the accuracy of The New York Times report.

Asahi Herald Tribune (Japan) (26-07-06)

KOREA: The US 6th Infantry Division arrives at Inchon to begin occupation duty.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Chebogue paid off Milford Haven. Constructive total loss. Sold to Wager, Stein and Greene.

U.S.A.: The first parachute jump from a helicopter is made when an HOS-1G of the US Coast Guard loses control over Philadelphia in high winds.

A US Army Intelligence assessment of the Waffen-SS

SAIS/CIR/16 25 Sep 45 (a survey of a number of W-SS officers on various W-SS topics)

2. Deterioration of Personnel During the War

Oberkamp* gave the following estimate on percentage deterioration of morale: officers, 40%; NCOs, 70%; soldiers, 50%.

Doerffler-Schubandbstated that in the second half of the war, the effects of the badly neglected Reich educational system became especially evident among the officer candidates, and consequently in the officer corps. The teachers in the officer schools lacked proper experience at the front and were not acquainted sufficiently with new tactical developments. Furthermore, the expansion of the Waffen SS resulted in the fact that officers who were too young and inexperienced were promoted to field officer grade and had to take over responsible positions for which they were ill-suited. This grew continually worse with the progress of the war because of the heavy losses of officers on the front.

*Oberkamp, Carl Ritter von, Brigf (Brig Gen) Inspector of Inf *Doerffler-Schuband, Werner, Brigf, Chief of Amt XI of SS-Fuehrungshauptamt (SS Main Office)

(Frederick L. Clemens)

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