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1931   (THURSDAY) 

SWITZERLAND: China asks the League of Nations Council members to send observers to Manchuria, "to collect information on evacuation and relevant circumstances."

1933   (SUNDAY) 

GERMANY: Nine high-ranking Army generals critical of Hitler are forced to retire.

1934   (MONDAY) 

GERMANY: The Germans begin building up their air force, the Luftwaffe, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.

1936   (THURSDAY) 

JAPAN: The Japanese government issues a series of secret demands to the Chinese Nationalist government and threaten immediate invasion of north and central China. The demands include the integration of Japanese troops in Chinese forces to fight Communists anywhere in China (a demand which would allow the Japanese to send military units across the country); the employment of Japanese advisors in all branches of the Chinese government; autonomy for the five northern Chinese provinces; and a reduction of Chinese tariffs to the 1928 level. The Japanese dispatched troops to Shanghai, but the Nationalist government refuses to acquiesce to these terms.

SPAIN: General Francisco Franco is made Commander in Chief of the Nationalist Army and Chief of the Spanish State.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet government joins the French, U.K. and U.S. governments in signing the London Naval Convention of 1936.

1937   (FRIDAY) 

PALESTINE: In response to the assassination of the British Commissioner for Galilee, the British government arrests the members of the Arab High Commission and deports most of them to the Seychelle Islands. By expelling the Arab leadership, the British hope to restore order in the mandate.

1938   (SATURDAY) 

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: The Czech government yields to the Poles and grants them the southern part of the Teschen region. This region had been divided about equally between Czechoslovakia and Poland after World War I, the larger northern part to Poland and the southern part to the Czechs.

SUDETENLAND: German troops occupy this area of Czechoslovakia.

UNITED KINGDOM: The First Lord of the Admiralty, Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, resigns today. Cooper, the most public critic of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy inside the Cabinet, famously resigns over the Munich Agreement with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in an act that Member of Parliament (MP) Vyvyan Adams described as "the first step in the road back to national sanity." Cooper is suceeded by James Richard Stanhope, 7th Earl of Stanhope.

October 1st, 1939 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Winston Churchill makes his first broadcast of the war, saying Russia will stop Hitler's plans for the east.

RAF: Leaflets detailing Nazi leader's overseas fortune's are dropped over Berlin and Potsdam. This was mission was accomplished by 4 Whitley's of No. 10 Sqn., and was the first occasion in which RAF aircraft flew over Berlin during W.W.II. The raid was led by Wing Commander W.E. Staton. One aircraft (K9018) failed to return, believed ditched in the North Sea after its fuel ran out. 6 crew are lost.

Another 250,000 men are conscripted (drafted).

U-16 encountered an enemy submarine in the North Sea, but neither sub attacked.

Submarine HMS Trident commissioned. U-35 sank SS Suzon.

FRANCE: Paris: Polish cryptologists arrive with a cargo of two Enigma machines.

3rd Div., BEF equipped only with what they carry, take over the billets recently vacated by 1st Div., at Everon.

GERMANY: Berlin: Germans are facing restrictions on the home front. Food ration cards, issued on 28th August, now cover meat (16 ounces a week), dairy products, bread, cereals and fruit. There are multi-coloured cards for the different types of food. Farmers are exempt from rationing, while miners are allowed extra amounts as "extra heavy workers". Petrol has been rationed since the beginning of the war, reflecting Germany's concern about its vulnerability to an Allied naval blockade of its trade routes.

The SS-Polizei-Division is formed with mainly middle-aged Ordnungspolizei (national police) members from across the Reich which are bolstered by previously trained Heer cadres that are organized and designated into units of division 300. (Russell Folsom)(210)

POLAND: Rear Admiral J. Unrug surrenders the fortified peninsula of Hel in the Baltic along with 5,000 of his men.

German troops enter devastated Warsaw and Adolf Hitler arrives and attends an impromptu victory parade.

JAPAN: Senior officers of the Kwantung army have been dismissed in the wake of the agreement signed in Moscow settling the border war with Russia. The failure of the anti-Soviet offensive has bolstered those in Japan who favour confrontation with US interests in the Pacific rather than those of Russia.

U.S.A.: As of this date, the USN has 396 commissioned ships.

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October 1st, 1940 (TUESDAY)

Battle of Britain:

A new phase opens in which the Germans use their main bomber force almost entirely under cover of darkness. In daylight they send over only small numbers of fast Ju88s together with Messerschmitt fighters at high altitude carrying bombs, protected by further fighters above. This activity occurs every day and proves extremely difficult to deal with, but strategically is of little benefit to the Germans. At night London is bombed heavily (by an average of 150 bombers) every night of the month except one.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 6; RAF, 4.

Corvette HMS Monkshood laid down. Corvette HMS Verbena launched.

GERMANY: U-90, U-155, U-213, U-380, U-439, U-440, U-583, U-584, U-585, U-586 laid down.

POLAND: Germany starts Operation Otto to improve road and rail links to the USSR. Slaves will provide the labour.

FINLAND: The government signs an agreement with Germany giving it sole rights to Finnish nickel exports in exchange for arms.

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October 1st, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)
 

UNITED KINGDOM: The war has dramatically changed the lives of children as well as adults on the home front. After the turmoil and tears of evacuation - often more than once, as the threat of aerial bombardment came and went - a major problem has been how to keep an education system alive.

Hundreds of schools have been hit by bombs, forcing children to have lessons in churches or even pubs. Many private schools have been moved lock, stock and blackboard to the country. But after the first wave of evacuation many school buildings which escaped unscathed were used as Civil Defence depots. By January 1940 it was estimated that one third of all city children were receiving no schooling at all. Large numbers of evacuees also swamped village schools, so many were taught in people's homes

There has also been a desperate shortage of teachers, as many were called up for war duties. Classes have therefore become quite large, often with as many as 50 or 60 children in a single classroom. And when the children can get to school, what they learn is also affected by the war. Pencils are shared and margins have been abolished because of the paper shortage. Geography is taught by following troop movements and gardening has replaced games in many schools, where it is taught as part of the "dig for victory" campaign.

General de Gaulle’s French government-in-exile sets up Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française.

Light cruiser HMS Tiger laid down. Corvette HMS Acanthus commissioned.

GERMANY: U-234, U-340, U-469, U-731 laid down. U-177, U-597 launched.

POLAND: In the Archdiocese of Posen, 74 Catholic priests have been shot or have died in the concentration camps, and 451 are being held in prisons or camps. Of the 441 churches in this diocese only 30 are still open for Poles.

U.S.S.R.: Petrozavodsk falls to Finnish forces as they attack west of Lake Onega.

     The German Panzergruppe 2 under General Heinz Guderian scores a clean breakthrough of the Soviet lines around Bryansk, driving 50 miles (80 kilometers) closer to Orel. The Soviet 13th Army is nearly surrounded After driving east toward Kharkov and paving the way for the infantry units, the Panzergruppe 1 turns south toward Rostov.

Early in morning, troops of Battlegroup Paalu (formed from 1st Division) and Detachment Lagus enter Petrozavodsk in eastern Karelia. It's the largest population center outside the pre-1939 borders conquered by Finnish Army. The city is renamed Äänislinna.

In the ravaged city the Finnish troops find, to their immense delight, the liquor distillery's tank intact and full. An AT-rifle is used to make hole in the tank, and soon the soldiers are boozing happily. As night is falling, streets are filled with drunken soldiers singing loudly and firing their weapons in air. One group takes over the city sports stadium and organises an armed guard to ensure that nobody disturbs their peace. Several detachments of military police are needed to clean up the mess.

Odessa: German forces use gliders to land behind Russian lines.

Vilna: 3,000 Jews are rounded up and shot dead in Ponary woods.

Moscow: An Anglo-American mission, led by Lord Beaverbrook to has agreed to boost military aid to Stalin next year. The USA will allocate 1,200 tanks a month to Britain and the USSR between July 1942 and January 1943, and a further 2,000 tanks a month for the following six months. This will mean initial US consignments of 400 tanks a month for the Soviets from 1 July.

In addition the USA will send 3,600 aircraft to Russia between 1 July 1942 and 1 July 1943, over and above the planes already being sent by Britain.  The Soviets will supply Britain and the USA with urgently needed raw materials.

This conference between Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union concludes. W. Averell Harriman, the U.S. representative to the conference, writes, "The delegates to the conference were sent here in order to examine the question of the needs of the Soviet Union, which is fighting against the Axis powers, for supplies which the United States and Great Britain must deliver. The conference, which has taken place under the chairmanship of Mr. Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, carried on its work since Monday without interruption. The conference examined the question of the resources of the Soviet Government in connection with the production possibilities of the United States and Great Britain. The conference decided to place at the disposal of the Soviet Government practically everything which was requested by the Soviet military and civil authorities. The Soviet Government is supplying Great Britain and the United States with large quantities of raw materials which are urgently needed by those countries. The question of transport possibilities has been examined in detail, and plans have been worked out for increasing the flow of freight in all directions."

CHINA: Changsha: Japanese troops were today on the run in Hunan after the collapse of their two-month-long offensive aimed at seizing the provincial capital, Changsha. First estimates put the Japanese losses for the campaign as high as 40,000.

The failure to take this vital town on the Manchuria-Canton railway is a setback for the Japanese. Control of Changsha would have made possible the opening of a new route for moving troops and materials to the Malayan and Burmese fronts.

The turning-point came four days ago as the Japanese main force, supported by 100 planes, launched an all-out attack on Changsha. By late afternoon a Japanese detachment in civilian clothes had got inside the city. But its backup, an airborne unit which it should have linked up with to destroy the cities defences, was dropped too far close to the Chinese front line and wiped out.

The Chinese troops, under General Hsueh Yueh, encircled the retreating Japanese between the Lao-tao and Liu-yang rivers, inflicting heavy casualties. A simultaneous offensive was launched in Yichang, tying down the only Japanese force available to relieve the fleeing 11th Corps.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: MacArthur      "> MacArthur vehemently protests Rainbow-5 to War Department. (Marc Small)

AUSTRALIA: There are now 113,887 soldiers on full-time duty in Australia; 61,396 are Militia and 36,357 are Australian Imperial Force.

The NEW ZEALAND Division of the Royal Navy becomes the Royal New Zealand Navy and all ships' names prefixed by HMNZS instead of HMS. The ships effected included the cruisers HMS ACHILLES and LEANDER. (Peter Beeston)

Baseball!

The USN assigns popular names to their aircraft, e.g., Catalina, Devastator, Dauntless, etc.

The 122d Observation Squadron, Louisiana National Guard based New Orleans, is inducted into Federal Service.

Submarine USS Haddo laid down.

Escort carrier USS Bogue laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-552 was attacked by a Hudson aircraft which dropped one bomb and damaged the U-boat slightly.

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October 1st, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Construction work starts in secrecy on floating docks, designed for an Allied invasion of Europe.

Destroyer HMS Redoubt commissioned.

The Times praises Pope Pius XII for his condemnation of Nazism and his public support for their Jewish victims. "A study of the words which Pope Pius XII has addressed since his accession," noted the Times, "leaves no room for doubt. He condemns the worship of force and its concrete manifestations in the supp- ression of national liberties and in the persecution of the Jewish race." (Russell Folsom)(273, pp. 75)

GERMANY: During the night of 1/2 October, RAF Bomber Command initiates three small raids in difficult weather conditions and without Pathfinders: (1) 62 of 78 Lancasters dispatched to bomb Wismar hit the target with the loss of two aircraft: (2) 23 of 27 Halifaxes bomb Flensburg with the loss of 12 aircraft; and (3) 20 of 25 Stirlings bomb Lübeck with the loss of three aircraft.

U-642 commissioned. U-231, U-387, U-650 launched.

DENMARK: The Germans have been able to round up just 360 out of 7,000 Jews for deportation to Theresienstadt.

U.S.S.R.: German forces are advancing toward Grozny against stiff Russian resistance. From Tuapse, north along the Black Sea, heavy fighting between the Germans and Russians is continuing.

Further north Russian forces begin crossing the river Dnieper.

Bitter fighting continues within and near Stalingrad throughout October, German Army Group B making limited progress against determined resistance. Soviet Army efforts to relieve the besieged city, which is under severe air and artillery bombardment, prove futile. The drives of German Army Group A are virtually halted by Soviet resistance and the Soviet Army contains attacks toward the Grozny oil fields. In the northwest sector of this front, fierce battles occur in the Novorossisk-Tuapse area along the Black Sea coast. The German offensive is steadily losing momentum because of fuel shortage, heavy losses in manpower, difficult terrain, and firm opposition.

 Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Submarine "M-118" sunk by aviation and surface ships gunfire, at Jerbiyanskaya Harbour. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

SLOVENIA: The German government formally annexes northern Slovenia into the German Reich and declares all of the inhabitants of the region as German citizens.

GREECE: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb shipping in Pylos Bay, Greece, claiming two direct hits and several near misses on a large vessel; other B-24s dispatched to bomb a convoy at sea fail to find the target.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s bomb shipping in Pylos Bay, Greece, claiming 2 direct hits and several near misses on a large vessel; other B-24s dispatched to bomb a convoy at sea fail to find the target.

EGYPT: The British Army forces the Axis from positions in region of El Alamein.

CHINA: Chekiang: A ship carrying Allied prisoners of war became a sealed coffin today when she was torpedoed by the US submarine GROUPER off China. In all 840 British and Canadian PoWs from Hong Kong drowned after Japanese guards battened down the hatches before abandoning ship. The 7,152-ton LISBON MARU was carrying 1,816 PoWs. Some managed to force the hatches and dive overboard - only to face machine-gun fire from escorting warships. This is the deadliest American-on-British "friendly fire" incident in military history.

Just before dawn on October 1, 1942, an American submarine, the Grouper, identified the Lisbon Maru as a Japanese troopship and fired six torpedoes. Five either passed under their target or failed to detonate, but one smashed into her stern.

Before they abandoned ship, the Japanese crew battened down the hatches, trapping the PoWs in the hold and leaving six armed "suicide" guards on deck to ensure that no prisoners escaped.

After 24 hours packed in dark, airless chambers, with the water rising at their feet, a group of PoWs managed to cut their way out and overpowered the guards. There followed a rush to get out as the ship tilted and began to sink. In one of the holds the ladder snapped and seventy men were shut in: they could be heard singing It’s a Long Way to Tipperary as the ship went down. Others were trapped as they tried to wriggle through potholes and drowned as the water level rose.

Most got out and leapt overboard. Arthur Betts of the First Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment could not swim a stroke but he grabbed hold of a piece of flotsam. Luckily the current begins to carry him towards a group of islands.

In the water the prisoners were shot at by soldiers who were aboard circling Japanese patrol boats. Prisoners who tried to climb aboard these vessels were thrown back into the water; some were run over.

After several hours drifting in the sea, Mr Betts had a vision. "He felt he saw a vision of Christ," Mrs Snowdon (his daughter) says. "Whether he was hallucinating for lack of food and water, I don’t know, but that’s what he said he saw, and it had a profound effect on him afterwards."

Mark Fielding-Smith (his grandson) says: "He was always adamant about it, whenever he told the story. He had the vision, and then he began kicking in the direction of the islands. He would talk a bit about the PoW camps, but mainly it was about that swim. He told me about friends being taken by sharks next to him and friends just drowning, and people being shot in the water and run over."

After about eight hours in the water, Mr Betts crawled ashore on one of the easternmost islands of the Zhoushan archipelago. About two hundred swimmers reached the islands, but some were smashed into the rocks as they attempted to clamber ashore. Arriving naked and exhausted, they were taken in by the islanders and fed and clothed. Chinese fishermen put to sea in sampans to pick up more of the swimmers, a development that apparently prompted the Japanese to start picking up other survivors. (Will Pavia)

NEW GUINEA: General Headquarters issues a plan for the encirclement and reduction of the Buna-Gona beachhead. Upon securing Kumusi River line from Wairopi southeastward, Goodenough Island, and the north coast from Mime Bay to Cape Nelson, concerted assault is to be made on the Buna-Gona area. The advance will be along three routes: Kokoda Trail, where Australians are now pursuing the Japanese; from the south coast to Jaure along either the Rigo or Abau track, both of which are being reconnoitered; and northwest along the coast from Milne Bay.

General MacArthur orders the Allies to attack Buna and Gona. A US force is to move over at Kapa Kapa Trail to join the Australians on the Kokoda Trail to cut the Japanese retreat at the Kumusi River.

A US force is to move over at Kapa kapa Trail to join the Australians on the Kokoda Trail to cut the Japanese retreat at the Kumusi River.

US Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and P-400 Airacobras pound forces and communications in the Owen Stanley Range, hitting Menari, Kagi, Myola Lake, the Kokoda area, Wairopi bridge, and the Buna-Wairopi trail.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: IJN Destroyer Division 11, (Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, and Muakumo), make a Tokyo Express Run to Guadalcanal. MG Nasu and the 4th Regiment are landed.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, the 7,053 ton Japanese transport vessel SS Lisbon Maru, is sailing from Hong Kong, China, to Japan carrying 1,816 British and Canadian POWs. The prisoners are contained in three holds which soon became foul with the stench of sweat, excreta and vomit. Many POWs become unconsciousness through thirst, lack of fresh air and extreme heat. Men are reduced to licking the condensation from the sides of the ships hull. A bucket of liquid is lowered by the guards and thirsty men rush to grab it, only to find it was filled with urine. On the top deck are 778 Japanese military men on their way home to Japan. At 0700 hours, a torpedo fired by the USN submarine USS Grouper (SS-214) strikes severely damaging the ship but causing no casualties among the prisoners. Soon a Japanese ship, the freighter SS Toyukuni Maru comes alongside and takes off all the Japanese soldiers but none of the Allied prisoners. The SS Lisbon Maru is then taken in tow heading for Shanghai, China, but some hours later the ship, now low in the water, begins to sink by the stern. Prisoners in Number 3 hold are unfortunately below the waterline and now beyond rescue. Some prisoners in the other two holds manage to break free but are shot down as they emerge. Lisbon Maru sinks about 107 nautical miles (198 kilometers) southeast of Shanghai, China, in position 29.57N, 122.56E. Another four Japanese ships appear on the scene and some escaped prisoners, swimming in the water, manage to reach the dangling ropes and start to climb aboard only to be kicked back into the water when within a few inches from the deck. Eventually, most of the surviving prisoners are taken on board the four ships and taken to Shanghai where 35 sick and wounded are unloaded. A few however, managed to swim away from the Lisbon Maru and are rescued by Chinese fishermen and taken to a group of small islands nearby. At Shanghai, a roll call accounted for 970 men, a total of 846 had perished, 154 were from the Middlesex regiment. Of the 970 survivors, some 244 died during their first winter in the Japanese camps.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: A Japanese reconnaissance airplane over Adak Island establishes US occupation of the island. Seven US Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators on a search-attack and photo reconnaissance mission over Kiska Island hit hangars and ramps, starting several fires; four fighters appear and are engaged; one probable victory is claimed; two other B-24s take off, after a USN PBY Catalina sights a transport, but cannot locate it.

CANADA: Submarine HMS P553 arrived Halifax for ASW training. Fairmiles HMC ML 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 ordered.

Fuel is now rationed in most parts of the country. 

The first American turbojet aircraft, the Bell Model 27 XP-59A-BE Airacomet, msn 27-1, USAAF s/n 42-108784, makes its first flight at Muroc AAB (now Edwards AFB), California. The flight was made with the landing gear in the down position and at 25 feet (7.62 meters) off the ground. Three more flights were made today in this aircraft.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends two-week trip to war plants across U.S.

Destroyer USS Nields launched. Submarine USS Scorpion commissioned. Destroyer USS Waller commissioned. Destroyer USS Dashiell laid down. Destroyer escorts USS Wintle and Dempsey laid down.

PUERTO RICO: A Douglas (Model DC-2-243) C-39, msn 2081, USAAF s/n 38-524, crashes near Coamo at 0930 hours local killing all 22 aboard. The aircraft made a wide descending turn with engines running roughly and crashed into a hill.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-407 attacked the great passenger liner Queen Mary with a four-torpedo fan shot, but all torpedoes missed.

U-175 sank SS Empire Tennyson.

U-202 sank SS Achilles.

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October 1st, 1943 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A report by the intelligence section of the US Eighth Air Force in England shows that despite recent efforts of the Allies to destroy the German aircraft industry, fighter production has expanded greatly and enemy fighter strength on the Western Front has increased.

Submarine HMS Spur laid down. Minesweepers HMS Skurry and Spectacle launched.

GERMANY: Colonel Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg as chief of staff in the Replacement Army, is posted in Berlin. (Glenn Stenberg)

     Sixteen USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, unable to locate the target in Augsburg, bomb targets of opportunity at Gundelfingen; one B-17 is lost.

     During the night of 1/2 October, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 243 Lancasters and eight Mosquitos to bomb Hagen. This raid is a complete success achieved on a completely cloud-covered target of small size, with only a moderate bomber effort and at trifling cost. The Oboe skymarking was perfect and severe damage was caused. Two Lancasters are lost, 0.8 per cent of the force. At the same time as the main attack on Hagen is ending, 12 Oboe Mosquitos are dispatched to attack a the Ruhrstahl A.G. steelworks at Witten, northwest of Hagen, for training purposes. Eight Mosquitos bomb at Witten and two, whose Oboe equipment failed, drop their bombs on the fires burning in Hagen. No aircraft lost.

DENMARK: Danes begin to smuggle the bulk of the Jewish community, 7,300 people, across the Oresund Strait to Sweden.

AUSTRIA: Vienna is the target of Allied Air Raids today. (Glenn Stenberg) In the third attack from the the Mediterranean on behalf of the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO), B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force and B-24s on detached service from the USAAF Eighth Air Force in England, bomb two targets: 73 bomb the aircraft industry at Wiener-Neustadt and 26 bomb a tank factory at Steyr. Nineteen bombers are lost. The Eighth Air Force B-24s return to England after this attack.

POLAND:      In the Archdiocese of Posen in Poland, 74 Catholic priests have been shot or have died in the concentration camps, and 451 are being held in prisons or camps. Of the 441 churches in this diocese only 30 are still open for Poles.

U.S.S.R.: Under Vatutin, in the north and Konev, in the south, Russian forces cross the Dniepr River in numerous places around Kremenchug. They quickly improvise bridges to assist in their advance. This action will continue over the next 5 days.

During first week of the month, three Soviet army groups apply strong pressure against the German line along the Dnieper River bend and succeed in establishing small bridgeheads in the vicinity of Kiev, Kremenchug, and Dniepropetrovsk.

Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: MS "TSch-896"/No. 42 (ex-RT-308 "Krasnii Onejanin") - by U-960, close to Mikhailov Peninsula, in Karsk Sea  (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Averell Harriman is appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union. (Glenn Stenberg)

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army’s British X Corps area, the King’s Dragoon Guards enter Naples during the morning without opposition.Naples, falls to the US 5th Army. At the cost of 12,000 British and American casualties in a 21-day campaign. Allied troops enter the wrecked city today. Allied bombs and German engineers have systematically destroyed everything of possible military value in Naples. The port - the Allies' prime target - is a mass of twisted wreckage, the harbour choked by sunken ships and the industrial area almost flattened.

The stench of raw sewage overhangs everything. The retreating Germans blew up the drainage system and the aqueduct that brought fresh water to the city. The population of more than a million people is threatened with mass epidemics and it has to be fed.

British tanks of Lt-Gen Richard McCreery's X Corps were the first to enter the city (King's Dragoon Guards, part of the US Fifth Army), but already they are moving on northwards to the Volturno river where the Germans are establishing a defensive line. The American 82nd Airborne Division has moved into Naples to police the city.

Even though the bulk of German forces had retreated north, the fight from Salerno to this city was never easy. To reach the plain of Naples, Allied troops had to cross rugged terrain easily defended by small German demolition detachments - aided by heavy rain that washed away bridges and flooded roads.

With the major ports of Taranto and Bari in Allied hands, Montgomery is preparing a major offensive in the east against Foggia, following on from today's occupation of the Foggia airfields by the British Eighth Army. The Germans are placing much reliance on a new weapon: the radio-controlled glider bomb which crippled HMS Warspite at Salerno and sank the Italian flagship ROMA.

     In the British Eighth Army area, XIII Corps occupies the Foggia airfields and drives northward toward the line Termoli- Vinchiaturo in order to safeguard the fields, the British 78th Division along the main coastal road and the Canadian 1st Division along the inland route leading into mountains. Gargano Peninsula is clear of the Germans.

After his success with the delaying actions in Italy, Kesselring is ordered, by Hitler, to hold a defensive line south of Rome.

US Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit communications targets in the Capua, Grazzanise, Arce, and Mignano areas; and Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force and XII Air Support Command medium and light bombers, and fighter-bombers hit the Benevento town area and marshalling yard, the bridge at Capua, and motor transport, trains, and railroads mainly in the Isernia area and north to Avezzano. B-24s, including aircraft on detached service from the US Eighth Air Force in England, bomb Wiener-Neustadt, Austria; B-17s, sent against an airplane factory at Augsburg, Germany, fail to locate the target, and bomb several alternate targets and targets of opportunity in Austria, Italy, and off Corsica and Elba Island.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 21 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s, supported by 21 P-38s and P-40s, bomb a power plant, the warehouse and dock area  at Haiphong. 40-65 IJA fighters intercept, shooting down 2 US aircraft; 30 fighters are claimed destroyed by the Fourteenth in the air battle.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: US Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and RAAF aircraft bomb and strafe the Finschhafen, New Guinea area as the Australian 9 Division pours more troops into the assault on the town with another battalion. B-25s strafe a power boat near Gasmata Island off New Britain Island.

AUSTRALIA: The government discontinues recruiting for the Royal Australian Navy because of a severe manpower shortage.

NEW CALEDONIA: Headquarters, Special Troops, is activated at Fiji and assigned to the Americal Division. (Yves J. Bellanger)

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: B-25 Mitchells strafe a power boat near Gasmata, New Britain Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., commander of the South Pacific Area and commander of the Third Fleet, informs General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander South West Pacific Area (SWPA) in Australia, of his decision to invade Bougainville Island at Empress Augusta Bay on 1 November and is promised maximum air assistance from SWPA.

24 US Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb a supply and bivouac area north of Vila airfield on Kolombangara Island. B-25s and P-38s join USN SBD Dauntlesses in a strike on a barge depot at Kakasa on Choiseul Island. 

8 USN destroyers make a sweep near Kolombangara Island and sink 20 or 35 Japanese barges. The destroyers are shadowed by Japanese aircraft that constantly harass the ships; 1 destroyer is damaged by a near-miss.

Coast Guard-manned LST-203 stranded in Southwest Pacific.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Tug HMCS Glenora commissioned and assigned to St John's.

U.S.A.: The US Army's 122nd Infantry Battalion (Separate), (formed with personnel of Greek ancestry, is redesignated Third Contingent, Unit "B," Operational Group, Office of Strategic Services. (Nick Minecci)

President Roosevelt"> Roosevelt announced the resignation of Admiral William H. Standley as Ambassador to Russia and named W. Averell Harriman as his successor.

The motion picture "Thank Your Lucky Stars" is released today. This musical comedy directed by David Butler, is a showcase for all of the Warner Brothers stars in a lame plot. Appearing are Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Bette Davis, Olivia deHavilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Spike Jones, et al. One notable is Bette Davis singing "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old."

Submarine USS Angler commissioned. Frigate USS Glendale commissioned.

     The authorized complement of fighters in USN Essex Class carrier air groups is raised, increasing the total aircraft normally on board to 36 fighter, 36 scout bombers and 18 torpedo bombers. The authorized complement for small aircraft carrier (CVLs) air groups is established at the same time as 12 fighters, nine scout bombers and nine torpedo bombers and revised in November 1943 to 24 fighters and nine torpedo bombers and remained at that level through the war.

Destroyer escorts USS Manning, Rich and Sanders commissioned.

U-402 was attacked by a Ventura aircraft (VB-128, US Navy) but suffered no damage.

The 14th Antiaircraft Artillery Group departs the US. (Jean Beach)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-703 sank SS Sergej Kirov in Convoy VA-18.

U-532 sank SS Tahsinia.

U-410 sank SS Fort Howe and damaged SS Empire Commerce in Convoy MKS-26.

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October 1st, 1944 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies

Mission 657: 9 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Belgium during the night.

Submarine HMS Virulent commissioned.

FRANCE: The USAAF Ninth Air Force's XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional), which is to support the U.S. Ninth Army, is detached from the IX Tactical Air Command and becomes an independent body.  The US Ninth Air Force's XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) locates advance HQ at Arlon; weather prevents bomber operations; a few fighters fly armed reconnaissance over eastern France and wide areas of western Germany and patrol the battle areas; night patrols are flown over eastern France and Luxembourg.

German army and naval units defending the fortress of Calais behind Allied lines surrender to Canadian forces.

     In the U.S. Seventh Army’s XV Corps area, elements of French 2d Armoured Division, in conjunction with attack of U.S. 45th Infantry Division (VI Corps), cut the Rambervillers-Baccarat road.

BELGIUM: In the Canadian First Army’s II Corps area, the Canadian 2d Division begins a drive west across the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal toward the Beveland Peninsula through the northern suburbs of Antwerp. The British 49th Div is engaging the Germans north of St Leonard.

NETHERLANDS: In the Canadian First Army’s II Corps area, Polish armor crosses the Dutch frontier on right flank of corps. In the British Second Army area, the Germans make another strong but futile attempt to reach the Nijmegen bridges, pushing south from Arnhem.

GERMANY: Buchenwald: Seven homosexual prisoners are castrated in the name of medical research.

The U.S. First Army spends most of its time during October encircling and reducing Aachen, from which the drive on Cologne is to begin. The main offensive of the XIX Corps, the attack on West Wall between Aachen and Geilenkirchen, cannot be undertaken as planned on this date because of poor weather conditions.

     In the U.S. Third Army’s XX Corps area, elements of 83d Infantry Division reach the outskirts of Grevenmacher, on the west bank of the Moselle River north of Remich.

     During the night of 1/2 October, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 48 Mosquitos to Brunswick (46 bomb), eight each to Heilbronn (five bomb) and Krefeld (seven bomb) and six each to Hoesch synthetic oil refinery at Dortmund (six bomb) and Koblenz (five bomb). No aircraft are lost.

Himmler appoints SS General (Obgruf.) Gottlob Berger as plenipotentiary chief of all Prisoner of War affairs. (Russell Folsom)

U-2530 and U-3020 laid down.

FINLAND: The Finnish landings behind German lines begin. They are led by Major General A. Pajari, the commander of the 3rd Division. The division (at that time) consisted of 11th and 53rd Rifle Regiments, 13th Separate Bn, Art.Reg 16. 

Pajari had luck in the landing operation. Finns used merchant ships with little to no armament. The key was surprise which was achieved. The landing began on 1 Oct at 7:45 A.M. at the distant "Röyttä" harbour of Tornio (some 8 km south of the town) without the Germans noticing anything. Within 10 minutes, after the first ship attached to the pier, the Jaeger company of the 11th Rifle Reg. was already moving to scout ahead.

The Germans then tried to restart the friendly co-operation (the "phony war" that had taken place not long before, where the Germans retreated and the Finns advanced according to agreed timetable). They even tried to contact the Finnish GHQ. When no answer arrived before the set time 2 Oct 20:00 hrs (it was first 12:00 hrs, but the Germans gave 8 hours extra time), the Germans felt betrayed and the razing of Lapland began. (Sami Korhonen)

Yesterday Finland received an ultimatum from the Allied Supervisory Committee, demanding offensive operations against the Germans. Worried President and Marshal of Finland Gustaf Mannerheim telephones Lieutenant Gerneral Hjalmar Siilasvuo, the general responsible for the anti-German operations, who reassures the Marshal that there will be good news tomorrow, on 1 October. As Mannerheim and Siilasvuo are having this discussion, the men of Infantry Regiment 11 (Lieutenant Colonel Wolf Halsti) are boarding three large commercial freighters at Oulu. Protected by night and rain, the regiment manages to surprise the German defenders. Despite the good beginnings, German resistance and faulty intelligence slows down the Finnish advance. The Battle for Tornio lasts until 8 October.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Hungarian officials arrive to negotiate a secret armistice.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army’s IV Corps area, troops of the South African 6th Armoured Division on Mont Catarelto are forced to give ground under strong German counterattacks. Task Force 45 and Regimental Combat Team 6 of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (BEF) are joined under the operational command of Major General Enrice Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian Minister of War. The U.S. II Corps begins an offensive toward Bologna at 0600 hours after artillery preparation; the Germans resist stubbornly from improvised strongpoints. Units of the 85th Infantry Division heading for Mont Bibele, take La Martina.

US Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s attack bridges, fuel dumps, factory, and barracks in the central and western Po Valley, including 3 attacks on Piacenza while XII Fighter Command's A-20s hit a fuel dump and bivouacs and fighter-bombers blast guns and communications in the mountainous battle areas between Florence and Bologna.

     A photographic group is assigned to the USAAF Fifteenth AF, completing the full establishment of 21 heavy bomber groups, seven fighter groups, and a reconnaissance group, as authorized in the War Department directive of 23 October 1943. Weather permits only photo and weather reconnaissance missions.

General McCreery assumes command of the British 8th Army in ITALY from General Leese. Leese is appointed to command Allied Land Forces, South East Asia.

Brazilian troops of the US II Corps (5th Army) go on the offensive, launching an Allied drive towards Bologna.

GREECE: From Kithria Island., the British Advance Coastal Forces base and 9 Commando move by sea to Poros Bay, Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands to reconnoiter, leaving elements of the Greek Sacred Regiment on Kithira. Greek Naval Port parties land on Mytilene (Lesbos), Lemnos, and Levita Islands.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: A photographic group is assigned to the US Fifteenth AF, completing the full establishment of 21 heavy bomber groups, 7 fighter groups, and 1 reconnaissance group, as authorized in the War Department directive of 23 Oct 43. Weather permits only photo and weather reconnaissance missions.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

BURMA: 34 US Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts bomb Thetkegyin while 20 others hit railroad targets throughout the north Burma railroad corridor and troop concentrations at Ponlon; 4 P-47s bomb Shwegugale while 6 others hit Lungling, China and sweep the Burma Road in the area.

CHINA: 18 US Fourteenth Air Force B-25s bomb Tien Ho and White Cloud Airfields in Canton, the town of Wuchou, and targets of opportunity in the Samshui and Canton areas; 100+ P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance throughout areas south of the Yangtze River hit a variety of targets of opportunity, concentrating on communications targets and troops in the Mangshih and Hsinganhsien areas.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators strike the airfield on Iwo Jima.

CENTRAL PACIFIC: US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan, strike the airfield on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. In the Gilbert Islands, B-25s from Makin Island bomb Nauru Island while B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands, hit Truk Atoll in the Caroline Islands.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The USN's Special Air Task Group One (STAG-1) continues operations with the Interstate TDR drone aircraft in the Solomon Islands with 2 attacks against Japanese positions on Bougainville. In the first, 4 TDRs are launched against AA positions on Ballale and Poporang Isalnds; 1 lands in the middle of an AA postion, the 2nd lands at the south end of the airfield on Ballale; and the 3rd and 4th expode on Poporang Island. The second raid, against AA positions south of Kahili Airfield on Bougainville, also involves 4 TDRs. The first two hit the lower slope of the hill where the AA batteries are located but 1 does not explode; the 3rd crashes; and the 4th cannot find the target and explodes north of the target.

EAST INDIES: On Celebes Island, US Far East Air Force B-24s bomb Langoan while B-25s hit Lembeh Island, Menado, and Bolaang-oeki port. B-24s bomb Taka in the Moluccas Islands while P-38s hit Amahai, Ceram Island; Kairatoe, Celebes Island; and shipping off Amboina, Ambon Island. B-25s and P-38s on shipping sweeps off Halmahera Island destroy several barges and luggers. In New Guinea, A-20s and P-38s attack Urarom Airfield and Fak Fak supply dumps, while P-40s hit Doom Island and targets of opportunity in Windissi, Idorra, and MacCluer Gulf; P-47s and A-20s hit Doeroa, Langgoer, and Faan Airfields in the Kai Islands.

NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and P-38 Lightnings attack Utarom (Kaimana) Aerodrome and Fakfak supply dumps, while P-40s hit Doom Island and targets of opportunity in Windissi, Idorra, and MacCluer Gulf. 

NAURU ISLAND: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the island. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometer (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific Ocean, located about halfway between the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and was occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Lasalle departed Bermuda for Halifax to join EG-27. Corvette HMCS Kenogami completed foc'sle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: USN Patrol Squadrons (VPs) and multi-engine bombing squadrons (VBs) are renamed and redesignated patrol bombing squadrons (VPBs).

In baseball, the Detroit Tigers meet the Washington Senators before 45,565 fans at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers send Dizzy Trout (27-14 on the season), pitching on one day's rest, against the Senators knuckleballer Dutch Leonard (14-14 on the season). Leonard had lost in his last seven starts against the Tigers in 1943-1944 but the Senators win 4-1. Years later, Leonard reported that he had received a phone call offering him US$20,000 (US$196,078 in year 2000 dollars) to throw the game.

In St. Louis, the St. Louis Browns have their first sellout crowd in 20 years as 37,815 fans pack Sportsman Park to see the Browns clinch the American League pennant on the final day of the season. The Browns beat the Yankees 5-2 on a pair of 2-run home runs by utility outfielder Chet Laabs.

Submarines USS Argonaut, Capitaine and Quillback launched. Minesweeper USS Inaugural launched. Destroyer USS James C Owens launched. Destroyers USS Charles R Ware and McCaffery laid down.

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October 1st, 1945 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: 627 Squadron RAF (Mosquito) is disbanded.

GERMANY: Many schools reopen today after being shut in the closing days of the war.

A group of British engineers in the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee (BIOS) visit the Volkswagen works in Fallersleben to assess the future for any German automotive industry. More...

Nürnberg: Walther Funk, the president of the Reichsbank is sentenced to life imprisonment.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: The Czech armed forces, returned from service with the Allies, begin to reorganize into their own, native, formations.

MALAYA: The British Military Administration reasserts control of the Malay States.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Surabayan native troops attack and seize the Japanese Arms Warehouse which is commanded by Major Harimoto. These weapons are then distributed to independence groups in Surabaya and Jakarta.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The US 86th Infantry Division headquarters moves from Batangas to Canluban to relieve the 38th Division, who are to return to the USA, from tactical responsibility.

The new mission for the 86th Division was:

1. Assume responsibility for areas formerly assigned to the 38th Division 2. Continue surrender arrangements with enemy groups in the Division zone of responsibility. 3. Assume control of all guerrilla and other organized Filipino forces in the zone of responsibility. 4. To provide and maintain-on 24 hours duty-two armed guards to protect equipment at radio station WVTEM which was 15 kilometres north of Manila on highway 3. 5. Prepare necessary security detachments for protection of installation property and personnel at San Marcellino Air Field. 6. Provide security guards, four men each, 24 hours a day at strategic locations. 7 Provide military police duty with 900 men, vehicles, and necessary organization in the City of Manila 8. Protect Air Corps pipe lines in the Subic Bay, Clark Field Area.

In additions to the above rnissions, the 86th also established 11 Japanese collecting points in areas where Japanese, remaining at large , would come.

The major duty of the 86th Division was policing and controlling the U.S. troops, Filipino citizens and Japanese POWs. (Drew Philip Halévy)

NAURU: The Japanese garrison surrenders.

U.S.A.: The OSS is abolished.

Destroyer USS Brinkley Bass commissioned. Destroyer USS Timmerman laid down.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-286 decommissioned. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area, at Milne Bay, etc. during the war.

1946   (MONDAY)  

GERMANY: The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg sentences 12 high-ranking Germans to death including Martin Bormann who was tried in absentia. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Göring, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the Luftwaffe; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior. Seven others, including Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's former deputy, are given prison sentences ranging from ten years to life. Three others are acquitted. On 16 October, ten of the architects of Nazi policy are hanged one by one. Hermann Göring, who at sentencing was called the "leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews," committed suicide by poison on the eve of his scheduled execution.

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