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1932   (MONDAY) 

SWITZERLAND: Iraq enters the League of Nations.

1935   (THURSDAY) 

CANADA: After the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Canada refuses to support military intervention or even sanctions

ETHIOPIA: The Ethiopian government proclaims general mobilization stating that "Hostilities were reported to have begun on the Eritrean border."

1938   (MONDAY) 

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Slovakia presents an ultimatum demanding full autonomy.

JAPAN: Japan threatens counter measures to League of Nations sanctions stating that ". . . the adoption by the Council of the report concerning sanctions against Japan has made clear the irreconcilability between the positions of Japan and the League, . . ."

UNITED STATES: The USN commissions the light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL-46) at the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Navy Yard. The USN now has 17 light cruisers in commission.

October 3rd, 1939 (TUESDAY)

Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. re-establish diplomatic relations.

RAF: Bad weather over the continent precludes any operations for the next fortnight.

RAF Bomber Command leaflet drops over Germany again halt, due to complaints from Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark about airspace violations.

FRANCE: 1 Corps, BEF, moves into position on the border with Belgium. Orders are given out for the 3rd Div.., to move to a defensive area South of Lille, around Lesquin and take over from 1st Div. Described as "a highly pregnable stretch of ground offering a single anti-tank ditch as its sole obstacle to enemy penetration." Had the Germans invaded then, Lt-General Brooke noted in his diary, it would have been a walk over.

POLAND: The German Tenth Army pulls out and heads for the western front.

LITHUANIA: After an invitation for 'concrete negotiations', the Lithuanian Foreign Minister hastily departs for Moscow.

U.S.A.: Inter-American Conference reaffirmed their declaration of solidarity, announced, sea safety zones in Western Hemisphere for neutrals.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Deutschland, after accounting for two ships in the North Atlantic, is ordered home. She reaches Germany in November and is renamed Lutzow.

U-35 sank SS Diamantis. Took on 26 survivors from Diamantis and brought them to shore in Ventry, Ireland. U-35 sighted the Britain-bound SS Diamantis, a Greek steamer of 4990 tons, 40 nautical miles (46 statute miles or 74 kilometers) west of the Skellig Islands, County Kerry, Éire. The Skellig Islands (Skelligs Michael and Small Skelligs Rock) are located about 8 miles (12,8 kilometers) off the southwestern coast of Éire. The main claim to fame of these islands is a 6th century monastic settlement, complete with beehive huts, oratory and terraced garden on Skelligs Michael. U-35 surfaced in bad weather and warned those aboard that their ship was about to be sunk. As the sea was rough and unsuitable for normal lifeboat operations, the crew of 28 men were taken aboard U-35 and the ship was torpedoed and sunk. In the late afternoon of 4 October, after 30 to 35 hours on board, the Greeks were landed in Dingle Bay near Ventry, County Kerry, in neutral Éire, on a beach lined by local people. U-35 crew member Walter Kalabuch rowed the Greeks, several at a time, from the U-boat to the shore (He was awarded the Iron Cross, second class, for this on 12 October 1939). When all were ashore U-35 left slowly on the surface, watched by onlookers until it disappeared into the fog. (Dave Shirlaw and Jack McKillop))

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC: Summary of Allied and Axis Warship losses for the first month of the war:

20 British, Allied and neutral ships of 110,000 tons from all causes in the

North and South Atlantic and 1 fleet carrier.

2 U-boats.

MERCHANT SHIPPING WAR:: Summary of Allied losses

33 British, Allied and neutral ships of 85,000 tons in UK waters.

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October 3rd, 1940 (THURSDAY)

There is rain and drizzle in the Channel with visibility down to 500 yards (457 meters) in places. During the day, London and the Midlands appear to be the main objectives of the Luftwaffe but mention must be made of the number of aerodromes that have been attacked. St Eval Aerodrome appears to have received most damage. A single Ju 88 hits the de Havilland factory at Hatfield, destroying the Technical School and assembly shop where much of the work for the early Mosquitoes was promptly destroyed, before the bomber was brought down by light AA. Slight damage is done to the BBC Station at Tatsfield. The main hangar at General Aircraft's Feltham works, where Hurricanes were being repaired, was damaged. During the night German activity is on a very much smaller scale by comparison with raids of previous nights. London is visited and also the South East of England, but there is no report of the Midlands or the North having been bombed. RAF Fighter Command made no claims and none of their aircraft are lost.

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October 3rd, 1941 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: Berlin: Propaganda minister Joseph Göbbels, announces that 150,000 mothers have been evacuated to safer parts of Germany.

Hitler tells a rally that Russia has been crushed "and will never rise again." "For the last forty-eight hours an operation of gigantic proportions is again in progress, which will help to smash the enemy in the East. I am talking to you on behalf of millions who are at this moment fighting and want to ask the German people at home to take upon themselves, in addition to other sacrifices, that of Winter Help this year."

"For the last forty-eight hours an operation of gigantic proportions is again in progress, which will help to smash the enemy in the East. I am talking to you on behalf of millions who are at this moment fighting and want to ask the German people at home to take upon themselves, in addition to other sacrifices, that of Winter Help this year."

U-635 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: German troops capture Tsarskoe Selo, outside Leningrad, and units of Heeresgruppe Mitte capture the industrial centre of Orel, south-southwest of Moscow.

INDIA: Mahatma Ghandi calls upon all the subjects of the British Raj to start a campaign of passive resistance.

AUSTRALIA: Canberra: The Labour leader, John Curtin, aged 56, is Australia's new prime minister following the fall of the Country Party government. The Fadden coalition government fell after being defeated in the House of Representatives when the two Independent members, Arthur Coles and Alex Wilson, voted with the Labour opposition to beat the government by 36 votes to 33. Fadden advised the Governor-General Lord Gowrie that Labour leader John Curtin should be commissioned as prime minister.

The new prime minister is fully committed to the prosecution of the war against the Axis, but he has in the past given greater weight to the threat from Japanese imperialism and less to the Middle East where the Australian forces are mostly concentrated. (Daniel Ross)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Nipigon joined Sydney Force.

U.S.A.: The US Secretary of State Cordell Hull congratulates the Finnish Ambassador Hjalmar Procope for the reconquest of Karelia, but states that continuing the offensive is short-sighted.

The motion picture "The Maltese Falcon" opens at the Strand Theater in New York City. 

Directed by John Huston, his first directorial role, this film-noir crime drama, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and Elisha Cook Jr.; Walter Huston appears in an uncredited role. The plot has San Franciso private detective Sam Spade (Bogart) trying to find the person who murdered his partner. Suspects are his client Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and his gunsel Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr. who played "Ice Pick" in the "Magnum, P.I." TV series). And of course, there is the elusive "Maltese Falcon" they are all trying to find. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture (it loses to "How Green Was My Valley"), Best Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Best Writing (Huston). The American Film Institute rates this film as Number 23 on the list of the "100 Greatest Movies."

Gerow advises Marshall that the Philippine reinforcements had changed “the entire picture in the Asiatic area." (Marc Small)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-129 was accompanying the German support ship Kota Pinang when the latter was sunk on this day by the British cruiser HMS Kenya. The U-boat took on all 119 survivors and three days later put them ashore in Spain.

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October 3rd, 1942 (SATURDAY)

GERMANY: Peenemunde: Today it has been third time lucky here at the German army's top-secret experimental station on the shores of the Baltic. After unsuccessful firings in June and July, the A-4 free-flight rocket has made its first successful flight. It reaches an altitude of 53 miles (85.3 km) and crashes in the Baltic 118 miles (189.9 km) away. 

The brainchild of the brilliant young scientist Wernher von Braun and General Walter Dornberger, the station head, who have been working on rocketry since 1932, the A-4 is 46 feet in height and weighs 13 tons. Now Dornberger and von Braun must convince the armaments minister, Albert Speer, that it warrants full-scale production.

U-229 and U-731 commissioned.

EUROPE: Armed opposition to the Nazis is on the increase throughout occupied Europe, and the Germans are retaliating with their customary brutality. Today they launched a massive anti-partisan sweep, Operation Regatta, around the White Russian town of Gorki, near Smolensk. Only yesterday the partisans blew up 50 telegraph poles near Peklina.

Other subject peoples are equally reluctant to allow the occupiers and their sympathizers an easy time. In Denmark, for example, Danes fighting in the German army have been beaten up by angry patriots while on leave from Russia.

POLAND: The "resettlement" of Warsaw's Jews ends, with 310,332 out of 350,000 shipped to the death camps.

U.S.S.R.: Premier Joseph Stalin stated, in a personal letter to the representative of the Associated Press in Russia, that Allied aid has so far been of little effect compared with the aid the Soviet Union as giving by drawing upon itself the main German forces.

Units of 6.Armee continue to push the decimated Soviet 62nd Army further back toward the Volga in the center of Stalingrad with heavy losses on both sides.

GREECE: The US Army Middle East Air Force dispatches B-24s to attack shipping in Pylos Bay during the night of 3/4 October; they claim 2 fighters shot down.

INDIA: The India Air Task Force is activated by the Tenth Air Force at Dinjan to support Chinese resistance along the Salween River by hitting supply lines in central and southern Burma; the new task force, commanded by Colonel Caleb V Haynes, includes all USAAF combat units in India, all based at Karachi-the 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), the 51st Fighter Group, and the 341st Bombardment Group (Medium).

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Australian troops begin clearing an area for aerial drops at Nauro while other troops began to move forward from Owen’s Corner. Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe Efogi and Myola Lake, P-40s strafe the Efogi-Buna trail, B-25 Mitchells hit a bridge at Wairopi, and a lone B-17 Flying Fortress bombs a camp on the Kumusi River.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Lt. Gen Maruyama of the Japanese Army lands on Guadalcanal to lead the next offensive against the Marines. He learns that of 9000 men already landed, 2000 are dead and 5000 are too weak to fight and many units have no equipment.

SBD Dauntlesses of Scouting Squadrons Three and Seventy One (VS-3 and VS-71) and Marine Scout Bombing Squadrons One Hundred Forty One and Two Hundred Thirty One (VMSB-141 and VMSB-231) plus TBF Avengers of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) from Henderson Field attack Japanese a supply convoy en route to Guadalcanal, damaging seaplane carrier HIJMS Nisshin.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force dispatches 6 B-24 Liberators, 4 P-38 Lightnings, and 8 P-39Airacobras to bomb and strafe 7 vessels in and around Kiska Harbor hitting a beached cargo vessel and the camp; the fighters down 6 float fighters attempting interception; the Japanese bomb the airfield on Adak Island but inflicts no damage.

US Navy announced that Army and Navy forces had occupied the Andreanof Islands, only 125 miles east of Kiska.

U.S.A.: The Office of Economic Stabilization is established and authorized to establish controls on farm prices, rents, wages and salaries.

In the third game of the 1942 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Cards' pitcher Ernie White (7-5 on the season) shuts out the Yankees on 6 hits, winning 2-0. Spud Chandler (16-5 on the season) was the starting pitcher for the Yankees. Arguments during the game result in US$200 (US$2,105 in year 2000 dollars) fines for Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon and third baseman Frankie Crosetti; the latter is also suspended for the first 30 days of the 1943 season for shoving umpire Bill Summers. This is the first World Series game in which the Yankees have not scored a run since the 3rd game of the 1926 World Series. The Cardinals lead the series 2-1.

Baseball!
The "Hollywood Canteen" opens on Cahuenga Boulevard. The project was initiated by Bette Davis and John Garfield. The canteen is open free of charge to any member of the Allied armed forces and Hollywood stars and would-be stars volunteer their services at the club. On stage tonight is Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, Kay Kyser and his Orchestra and Rudy Vallee.

No mention of Black troops in WW2 would be complete without the story of the first Black members of the USMC called the 'Montford Point Marines', named for the southern tip of Camp Lejuene, NC, where their first training facilities were situated beginning in August 1942. Times were different then, and these guys, some of whom fought at Iwo Jima in 1945, were of course subjected to the very same sort of prejudicial treatmeant as the 'Tuskeegee Airmen' (Red Tails), and the 761st 'Black Panthers" Tank Battalion in the ETO *. They overcame a lot of obstacles and [nevertheless] served their nation proudly.

See these fine websites concerning the 'Montford Marines': 

[training and history.]

[Montford Point Marines on Iwo Jima.]

[761st TB Website]

(Russ Folsom)

The USAAF 8th Air Force makes its first enquiries about the availability of jettisonable fuel tanks to the USAAF Materiel Command.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-254 sank SS Robert H Colley in Convoy HX-209.

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October 3rd, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: USS Rodgers (DD-254), was commissioned as HMS Sherwood (I-80) on 23 Oct. 1940, as part of the bases-for-destroyers deal. Now stripped of usable parts she has been paid off at Chatham and towed to the Humber Estuary and beached today. She will be used as a target for RAF rocket-equipped Beaufighters. Her hulk is scrapped in 1945. (Ron Babuka)

WAAF Photographic Interpretation Officer, F/O Babington-Smith, discovers evidence of the V1 flying-bomb. It was photographed by a Mosquito of No. 540 Squadron during a sortie over Peenemünde, Germany.

Miniature submarine X-10 is scuttled in the North Sea after meeting up with HMS Stubborn on 28 September. With no working compass, a periscope propped in the up position and the weather worsening, Flag Officer Submarines ordered that it be scuttled rather than risk the lives of the transit crew who would otherwise have to bring it back to the UK. There are no casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Submarine HMS Unswerving commissioned.

FRANCE: Corsica is liberated by Free French troops. (Glenn Stenberg)

USAAF Eighth Air Force' VIII Air Support Command flies two missions: 36 B-26B Marauders are dispatched to the Vendeveille Airfield at Lille, France, but weather prevents their hitting the target and 72 B-26Bs are dispatched to Tille Airfield, Beauvais with 63 hit the target at 1724-1727 hours; a B-26 is lost.

     During the night of 3/4 October, six RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over the country.

NETHERLANDS: The USAAF Eighth Air Force VIII Air Support Command sends 131 B-26B Marauders to three airfields: 71 bomb Schiphol Airfield, Amsterdam; 34 hit Woensdrecht Airfield ; and 26 bomb Haamstede Airfield at 1120-1136 hours.

     During the night of 3/4 October, seven RAF Bomber Command Stirlings lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

GERMANY: During the night of 3/4 October, RAF Bomber Command sent 547 aircraft, 223 Halifaxes, 204 Lancasters, 113 Stirlings and seven Mosquitos, to bomb Kassel; 501 aircraft actually bombed. The H2S “blind marker” aircraft overshot the aiming point badly and the “visual markers” could not correct this because their view of the ground is restricted by thick haze. German decoy markers may also have been present. The main weight of the attack thus fell on the western suburbs and outlying towns and villages. Twenty four aircraft, 14 Halifaxes, six Stirlings and four Lancasters, are lost, 4.4 per cent of the force. A number of Mosquito operations also took place; nine aircraft on a diversion bombed Hannover, nine Oboe aircraft bombed the Knapsack power-station near Cologne and four on Mark II Oboe trials to Aachen, and three hit Cologne.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army’s VI Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division takes Benevento and establishes a bridgehead across Calore River. In the British Eighth Army area, the Germans rush reinforcements forward in an attempt to hurl back the bridgehead across the Biferno River at Termoli, and hard fighting ensues. A brigade of the 78th Division is landed in the bridgehead, during the night of 3/4 October. The Canadian 1st Division, hampered by terrain, is within 55 miles (89 kilometers) of Vinchiaturo.

The Twelfth Air Force's XII Bomber Command dispatches B-26s, B-25s, and P-38s to bomb railroad, highway, and pontoon bridges, an overpass, and road junction at Capua, Castel Volturno, Piana, Arce, Mignano, and Isernia; P-38s also hit shipping between Corsica and Italy. XII Bomber Command fighter-bombers hit motor transport in the battle area as US Fifth Army troops take Benevento.

     The marshalling yard at Civitavecchia is bombed by 46 RAF aircraft of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group during the night of 3/4 October without loss.

GREECE: German troops invaded the 209 square kilometer (81 square mile) Kos Island in the Aegean Sea.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-class submarine HMS Usurper (P 56) is lost after leaving for a patrol off Algiers on 24 September with instruction to patrol the Italian naval base at La Spezia. Today she is ordered to move to the Gulf of Genoa. It is thought that she may have been sunk in minefield QB.192 in the Gulf of Genoa, or been the victim of an attack by UJ.2208 on this date. There are no survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

CHINA: 7 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s damage a 250-ft (76.2 m) vessel on the Yangtze River near Chiuchiang; 4 P-38 Lightnings bomb Chiuchiang docks; and 6 B-24s damage a 100-ft (30.5 m) coastal freighter off Tonkon Point on Hainan Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force P-39s strafe several barges west of Choiseul Island while the Japanese complete evacuation of Kolombangara Island.

NEW BRITAIN ISLAND, Bismarck Archipelago: Fifth Air Force B-25s continue to hit barges along the west coast of the island.

NEW GUINEA: Destroyer USS Henley Sunk after being torpedoed by the Japanese submarine RO-108 off Cape Cretin.17 crewmembers lost their lives.

In North East New Guinea, Australian troops north of Finschhafen are attacked by the Japanese.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Dunver arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Tills, Samuel S Miles and Gustafson launched. Submarine USS Springer laid down.

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October 3rd, 1944 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Germany resumed its V2 bombardment of Britain today from new launch sites in the Netherlands. Some 35 V2 rockets were fired before 18 September when the Germans withdrew from to sites further east; 44 v2s were then fired from Denmark at East Anglia, but only one caused casualties. Now London is back in range.

Frigates HMS Largo Bay and Loch More launched.

In England, the Eighth Air Force flies 2 missions:

* Mission 662: 1,065 bombers and 753 fighters in 4 forces make PFF and visual attacks against airfields and industrial targets in Germany; 3 bombers and 4 fighters are lost:

- 380 B-17s are dispatched to hit Giebelstadt Airfield (49); targets of opportunity are Nurnberg (256), Ludwigshafen (13), Ulm (11) and others (24). Escort is provided by 260 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s; they claim 2-0-0 aircraft on the ground; 4 P-51s are lost.

- 228 B-17s are dispatched to hit a motor vehicle factory at Nurnberg (198); 10 others hit Ottingen Airfield; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 227 P-47s and P-51s.

- 119 B-17s are dispatched to hit the oil refinery at Wesseling (87); targets of opportunity are Cologne (26) and 1 other. Escort is provided by 24 P-47s.

- 338 B-24s are dispatched to hit Gaggenau (139) and Lachen/Speyerdorf (111) visually; secondary targets hit are Offenburg marshalling yard (19) and Pforzheim Airfield (19); targets of opportunity are Speyer Airfield (30) and Lachen (2). Escort is provided by 188 P-38s and P-47s.

* Mission 663: 6 B-24s and 4 B-17s drop leaflets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium during the night.

On the Continent, the Ninth Air Force dispatches 220+ B-26s and A-20s to bomb targets at Durena and Aldenhoven, Germany, and Arnhem, the Netherlands, are recalled because of weather; fighters fly armed reconnaissance over western Germany, hit railroads west of the River Rhine , and support the US Third Army in the Metz, France area. The IX Air defence Command continues night patrols.

NETHERLANDS: Seven RAF Mosquitoes and 252 Lancaster bombers today breached the sea wall protecting the Dutch island of Walcheren whose heavy guns threaten Allied shipping approaching Antwerp. The intention is to flood the island, most of which is reclaimed polder below sea level. The flooding would submerge some of the gun batteries and also hamper the German defence against eventual ground attack. The target for this first raid is the sea wall at Westkapelle, the most western point of Walcheren. The main bombing force is composed of eight waves, each of 30 Lancasters, with marking provided by Oboe Mosquitos and Pathfinder Lancasters, with the whole operation being controlled by a Master Bomber. The attack goes well and a great mass of high-explosive bombs, mainly 1,000- and 500-pound (454- and 227 kilogram) bombs but with some 4,000-pounder (1 814 kilogram) bombs, force a gap during the fifth wave of the attack. Some of the attackers dropped 21-foot long "Tallboy" bombs, each weighing 12,000 pounds. These penetrate hard targets, then trigger an explosion whose shock waves are as destructive as a direct hit. Later waves widen the breach until the sea is pouring in through a gap estimated to be 100 yards (91 meters) wide. Eight Lancasters of No 617 Squadron which are standing by are not needed and carry their valuable Tallboy bombs back to England. No aircraft are lost from this successful operation.

 Over 100 islanders are feared to have died in the raid, either from the bombing itself or when the sea rushed through the breached wall.

FRANCE: Dunkirk: The battling armies agree a truce to enable civilians to be evacuated.

In the U.S. Third Army’s XX Corps area, the 90th Infantry Division begins a limited attack toward Maizires-lPs-Metz to secure a line of approach to Metz from the north and gain experience in attacking fortifications.

GERMANY: US troops cross the river Wurm, and establish a bridgehead across the Siegfried Line.

In U.S. First Army’s XIX Corps area, the 30th Infantry Division reaches Uebach and begins clearing house-to-house resistance and is overtaken there by the 2d Armored Division, which has crossed the Wurm River at Marienberg to expand the bridgehead northward while infantry works south to establish contact with VII Corps. The small bridgehead becomes very congested and neither armor nor infantry is able to get beyond Uebach. The 30th Infantry Division also takes Rimburg castle and woods, the latter in flanking and frontal assaults, but can go no farther; its bridgehead is only 800 yards (732 meters) deep.

     During the day, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent 1,065 bombers and 753 fighters in four forces to make PFF and visual attacks against airfields and industrial targets; three bombers and four fighters are lost: B-17 targets: 456 aircraft bomb the M.A.N. armored vehicle factory at Nurnburg, 87 hit the synthetic oil refinery at Wesseling, 49 hit Giebelstadt Airfield, 25 attack the Ford factory at Cologne, 13 hit Ludwigsburg, 11 each bomb Freudinstadt and the ordnance depot at Ulm, ten bomb Ottingen Airfield, one bombs Katzenelbogen and 14 attack miscellaneous targets of opportunity. B-24 targets are: 144 aircraft bomb the Daimler-Benz armament factory at Gaggenau, 113 hit Speyerdorf Airfield at Lachen, 30 attack the Bf 109 aircraft repair facility at Speyer, 19 hit the marshalling yard at Offenburg and 16 bomb the marshalling yard at Pforzheim.

     During the night 3/4 October, 42 Mosquitos of RAF Bomber Command bombed Kassel, five bomb Aschaffenburg, five bombed Handorf Airfield at Munster, three each bomb Pforzheim and the Chemischewerke synthetic oil refinery at Kamen, two hit the marshalling yard at Pforzheim and one bombs Kamen. No aircraft are lost.

U-2351, U-2531 and U-3023 laid down. U-2341 launched.

POLAND: Warsaw: The city has fallen. The last shots were fired at 10pm yesterday after a struggle lasting 63 days against the full weight of the Wehrmacht and SS. Attacked by two Panzer divisions, General Bor Komorowski, the commander of the Polish armed forces, had no ammunition, no food and no hope of Russian rescue. He had to surrender.

Surprisingly, the Germans out of respect for the tremendous fight put up by the Poles, have agreed to treat them as prisoners of war rather than franc-tireurs. Some 15,000 Polish fighters died in the uprising along with an estimated 200,000 civilians, killed as the city was torn apart by bombs and shells. The Germans have lost 10,000 dead.

Announcing the surrender last night, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, the Polish prime minister in exile, said: "The cessation of military operations took place after all supplies had been exhausted. The garrison and people were completely starved. Fighting ceased after vain attempts to fight their way out, after the successive fall of the Old Town, the suburbs of Mokotow, Zoliborz and finally, after all the hopes of relief from outside had vanished."

The surrendered fighters are being marched off to their prison camps, but as they go they sing their national anthem and are embraced by the civilian survivors. The spirit of Poland lives on.

ESTONIA: Troops of the Soviet Leningrad Front land on Dagoe (Hiiumaa) Island, off the coast at the entrance to the Gulf of Riga, and begin clearing the island.

ITALY: Bologna: Allied generals had every hope that their armour would move quickly across the flat country of the Romagna now that the Gothic Line has been pierced. It was not to be.

From the moment that the New Zealand Division - the Eighth Army's Corps de Chasse - was stopped by its old antagonists, the German 1st Parachute Division, after 27 separate attacks, it became clear that this would be no easy operation. The Marecchia river was six inches deep when the New Zealanders crossed a week ago. Today it is a roaring, 12-foot deep torrent.

Despite a shortage of infantry - General Mark Clark has reported losses of 55 men a day - the US Fifth Army is less than 20 miles from Bologna.

In the U.S. Fifth Army’s IV Corps area, the Germans withdraw from Mt. Catarelto.

The Fifteenth Air Force is grounded for the eighth consecutive day due to bad weather. Medium bombers of the Twelfth Air Force continue to attack road and rail bridges and fuel dumps in the Po Valley; A-20s, fighter-bombers, and fighters of the XII Fighter Command hit fuel dumps, rail lines, and transportation in the Valley and support US Fifth Army forces in the battle areas in the northern Apennines south and southwest of Bologna and north of the Arno River Valley.

GREECE: German troops evacuate Athens.

CHINA: 23 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s attack Pingnam, trucks and rivercraft in the Wuchou, Samshui, and Canton areas, and bomb Tien Ho and White Cloud Airfields in Canton; 100 P-51 Mustangs and P-40s continue armed reconnaissance over wide expanses of China south of the Yangtze River, attacking rivercraft, road traffic, troops, town areas, and other targets of opportunity; the Hsinganhsien, Pingnam, and Chuanhsien areas are covered exceptionally well.

JAPAN: Two Eleventh Air Force B-24s flying offshore reconnaissance over Onnekotan, Harumukotan, and Shasukotan Islands in the Kurile Islands, also strafe several small vessels.

EAST INDIES: In British North Borneo, USAAF Far East Air Force B-24s of the 5th and 307th Bomb Groups attack oil refineries and oil storage facilities at Lutong for a second time.

     In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit shipping and bomb Sanana on Sanana Island, Moluccas Islands; B-25s attack Kaoe Aerodrome on Halmahera Island and bomb Galela Airfield on Galela Island; B-25 Mitchells and B-24 Liberators over Ceram Island-Ambon Island hit barge and coastal targets of opportunity and pound Taka Airfield in the Moluccas Islands, while fighter-bombers attack Halong seaplane base on Halong Island and Namlea Airfield on Buroe Island and Haroekoe Aerodrome on Haroekoe Island.

NEW GUINEA: On the Vogelkop Peninsula in New Guinea, fighter-bombers again hit Fak Fak and Otawiri. (Jack McKillop and Robert McFaul)

CAROLINE ISLANDS: On Peleliu Island in the Palau Islands, the 7th Marine Regiment gains hold on ridges along east side of the Umurbrogol Pocket.

CENTRAL PACIFIC: Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island hit shipping in the Bonin Islands while P-47s pound gun positions, buildings, and a wharf on Pagan Island, Mariana Islands.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: USAAF B-24s on special reconnaissance missions bomb the airfield on Iwo Jima.

Submarine USS Seawolf sunk in error in a safety zone for American submarines in the Morotai area, by aircraft from the escort carrier USS Midway and destroyer escort USS Richard M. Rowell. The American forces in the area had just been attacked by a Japanese submarine and Seawolf was apparently mistaken for it. There were no survivors. Destroyer escort USS Shelton Sunk after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine R0-41 off Morotai Island. 13 of her crew were lost.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Harold J Ellison laid down. Destroyer USS Frank E Evans launched.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) direct General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific (SWPA), to seize bases on Luzon, Philippine Islands from which to support future operations. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Ocean Area and Commander of the Pacific Fleet, is to provide cover and support for the Luzon operation; invade Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, in January 1945 and the Ryukyu Island, with the assistance of SWPA aircraft, two months later.

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October 3rd, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

NETHERLANDS: While ferrying a captured Arado Ar-234 jet bomber back to Britain from Norway, the test pilot Eric Brown is forced to make an emergency landing at the USAAF station at Nordholz. More...

A fleet of Dutch minesweepers sail for the Netherlands East Indies to begin sweeping for Japanese mines.

CANADA: Submarines HMS Unruffled and Unseen departed from ASW training Digby, Nova Scotia for UK.

HMC ML 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129 paid off.

U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Wheatear commissioned.

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