WE REMEMBER SEPT 12th

September 12th, 1939
UNITED KINGDOM: The home office opens an inquiry into black-out rules.  
The US freighter SS Black Eagle is detained by the British at a port off the
coast of Kent. She will be released on 19 September. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer HMS Jaguar commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: Abbeville: The Anglo-French Supreme War council meets for the first
time.

GERMANY: General Gamelin's forces, advancing in battalion strength have
driven 5 miles into Germany on a 15 mile front in the Saarland. The French
claim that their pressure has forced the Germans to transfer six divisions
from Poland, a claim received with scepticism by British observers. The most
likely explanation for German divisions moving to the West is the virtual
collapse of Polish resistance. French talk of an offensive is also not being
taken seriously. The advance into the Saar has brought the French to within
half a mile of the Siegfried Line, and a frontal assault on such a
formidable system of fortifications is judged to be out of the question.

POLAND: Polish troops push the Germans south of Kutno and recapture Lowicz.
The Polish attack over the Bzura fails. A task force of the German 1st
Mountain Division under Colonel Ferdinand Schorner, reaches Lwow. 

September 12th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 
4 Group. 10 OTU Whitley P4997 abandoned by four of crew in bad weather. Flt
Sgt L.F. East landed undamaged aircraft near St. Neotts and flew out next
day. 

Battle of Britain:
Blenheims of 2 Group and Battles of 1 Group attack invasion barges in Ostend
harbour, sinking 80.
RAF Fighter Command: Slight enemy activity during the day. German barge
concentrations are still growing. At night London, South Wales, the Midlands
and Merseyside are raided.
Around Harrogate's Majestic Hotel HEs exploded injuring 15 people during an
attack on an area where the Ministry of Aircraft Production has offices. GWR
main line services to Reading are interrupted but another attack fails to
hit the Northern Aluminium's Banbury factory. 
In late afternoon Tunbridge Wells is raided, incendiaries causing house
fires and destroying the ambulance station. Seven HEs fell at Hornchurch,
damaging the emergency operations room and hitting nearby dwellings.
At night London has a seven-hour raid with about 120 bombers operating, a
FW200 attacked a ship off the Isle of Man and KG54 mounted a small raid on
Rugby. Liverpool was bombed but little damage was caused, but more seriously
a lone low-flying raider bombed North Station Blackpool killing a mother of
two young boys. 
Losses: Luftwaffe, 4; RAF, 0.

London: Spr George Cameron Wylie (b. 1908), Royal Engineers located and
removed a bomb from deep under the pavement in front of St Paul's Cathedral;
his superior, Lt Robert Davies (1900-75) drove the bomb away and defused it.
(George Cross for both men)

IRISH SEA: A Luftwaffe FW200 attacked a ship off the Isle of Man. (Dave
Shirlaw)

FRANCE: Four teenagers follow their dog when it disappears down a hole near
Montignac, France, and discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as the
Lascaux Cave Paintings. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting
mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from
the Upper Palaeolithic period. The Lascaux grotto consists of a main cavern
66 feet (20.12 meters) wide  and 16 feet (4.87 meters) high. The walls of
the cavern are decorated with some 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols
and nearly 1,500 engravings. The pictures depict in excellent detail
numerous types of animals, including horses, red deer, stags, bovines,
felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures. There is only one human
figure depicted in the cave: a bird-headed man. Archaeologists believe that
the cave was used over a long period of time as a center for hunting and
religious rites. (Jack McKillop)

FINLAND: Helsinki: Finland signs an agreement giving German troops transit
rights to Norway.

 
EGYPT: Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt. (Jack McKillop)
 

U.S.A.: An explosion at the Hercules Powder Co. in Kenvil, New Jersey, kills
49 and injures 200. (Jack McKillop)

September 12th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Airspeed A.S. 51 Horsa troop-carrying glider
(DG 597) is flown. It has a crew of two pilots and can carry 20-25 troops.

FRANCE: Paris: The Germans shoot 12 of the Jewish hostages taken on 8
September.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of the German
army's High Command, today issued an explicit directive to his troops on how
they should treat Jews in the USSR. headed "Jews in the newly occupied
eastern territories", Keitel's directive says: "The struggle against
Bolshevism demands ruthless and energetic measures, above all against the
Jews, the main carriers of Bolshevism."

NORWAY: Boy Scouts and other youth organizations are banned by Quisling in
Norway. In their place the youth sections of the Nasjonal Samling Party
exist and boys are required to join.

U.S.S.R.: As the first snows of winter begin to fall, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer
Armies under von Kleist and Guderian join up at Lokhvitsa, near Rovno,
completing the encirclement of Kiev and a pocket of 600,000 Soviet soldiers
to the east of the city Chernigov on the Desna is evacuated under German
attacks.

LITHUANIA: A SS Einsatzkommando [action squad] murders 3,434 Jews at Ponary,
outside Vilna. 

ITALY: Flying from bases in Britain and North Africa, British bombers struck
at Italy's industrial north and at targets in Sicily, in the south, tonight.
The British based Stirlings took advantage of the longer nights to fly 1,200
miles across France and the Alps and bomb the royal arsenal at  Turin, where
at least nine large fires were started.
More fires were started at Messina and Palermo - both major supply ports for
the Italian army in Libya - with crews reporting hits on merchant ships, oil
tanks and a power station.

GREENLAND: The USCG gunboats USCGC Northland (WPG-49) and USCGC North Star
(WPG-59) seize the Norwegian trawler Buskoe in MacKenzie Bay. The crew of
the Buskoe is attempting to establish and service German weather stations in
Greenland. This the first capture of a belligerent ship by the U.S. in WWII.
(Jack McKillop)
******************* Consider:
from http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/northland.htm 
Northland sighted the German-controlled Norwegian sealer Buskoe 12 September
and sent a boarding party to investigate. Buskoe was taken to Mackenzie Bay,
on the Greenland coast, where she became the first American naval capture of
the period of emergency that preceded U.S. entry into the war. It was
believed that she had been sending weather reports and information on Allied
shipping to the Germans. Her capture also led to the discovery of a German
radio station about five hundred miles up the Greenland coast from Mackenzie
Bay. A night raiding party from Northland captured three Nazis at Peter
Bregt, with equipment and code, as well as German plans for other radio
stations in the far north.
 
U.S.A.: Stimson protests to cabinet Roosevelt’s gift to the USSR of 5 B-17's
as these were needed for the Philippines.  Roosevelt apologizes but the gift
stands. (Marc Small)   
The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) authorises the creation of the USNs
first photo interpretation (PI) school. (William L. Howard)

September 12th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Army Air Forces activates the 4th Fighter Group at
Bushey Hall, England and the three "Eagle" squadrons and their aircraft,
Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs, are transferred to the USAAF becoming
the 334th, 335th and 336th Fighter Squadrons respectively. The pilots who
have served in these Eagle Squadrons are allowed to wear their  RAF pilot
wings above their right breast pocket of the blouse. (Jack McKillop)
Woodley, Berkshire: The Miles Messenger (M. 38) light liaison and
communication duties aircraft makes its maiden flight. (22)

FRANCE: Ten British Commandoes raid Port-en-Bessin in Normandy and kill
seven Germans. The gunfire alerts the garrison which attacks and kills nine
of the commandoes; one, Private Hayes, swims along the coast and aided by a
French family, escapes to Spain. However, the Spanish police arrest Hayes
and send him back to France where he is interrogated by the Gestapo. Acting
under the notorious "Kugel" Order, signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel,
that orders execution for all captured British commandos, Hayes is executed
by the Gestapo.  (Jack McKillop)

POLAND: Warsaw: The gassing of 2,196 Jews at Treblinka today marks the end
of a week of deportations in which about 70,000 Jews have been decanted from
the ever-shrinking ghetto here. Since the Nazis started their plan to
eliminate the ghetto in July, nearly 255,000 people have been deported to
their deaths.
The latest Aktion, which the Jews grimly nicknamed the kesl [Yiddish for
cauldron], started on 5 September when all ghetto dwellers were ordered to
report to a new assembly point in Mila Street. Roped off and guarded by
armed police, who report shooting 2,648 attempted escapees this week, the
Jews have been shipped off to Treblinka at the rate of 10,000 a day. Only
around 70,000 remain out of a population of 350,000. There are no families;
those who remain are mainly single men in their twenties and thirties,
temporarily exempted from death only in order to boost the war effort as
labourers in the ghetto's German-owned factories.
Life in the ghetto is worse than ever. Those with the all-important work
permits sleep in their workplaces; those without them exist as scavengers on
the run, sheltering in burnt-out apartment blocks. Ukrainian militiamen roam
the area shooting Jews dead at random. Corpses line the street.

U.S.S.R.: The perimeter held by the Soviet Army at Stalingrad is closed to
30 miles (48 kilometres). Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov is appointed to
command the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad and immediately orders
close-quarter fighting to prevent the Germans from using their Ju 87 Stuka
divebombers. Chuikov tells his 55,000 haggard men, "We shall hold the city
or die here."

NEW GUINEA: On the Kokoda Track the Japanese attack Ioribaiwa. (William L.
Howard) 
US 5th Air Force P-400 Airacobras, B-26 Maruaders, A-20 Havocs, and B-17
Flying Fortresses bomb the airfield and strafe barges at Buna. P-40s strafe
Gadaibai on Goodenough Island. A B-17 strafes a vessel in Bismarck Sea south
of Kavieng, New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago. (Jack McKillop)

PORTUGUESE TIMOR: The Bathurst class corvette HMAS Kalgoorlie makes a trip
to Timor with 14 soldiers and 15 tons of supplies; during this trip
Kalgoolie's captain made the observation that he had never before seen
troops who looked so hungry, and that no sooner had the unloading begun when
the soldiers broke open boxes of food and opened cans with bayonets and
knifes and ate the contents there and then. (William L. Howard)(188, 189,
190, 191)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The IJN sends 42 G4M "Betty" bombers and an unknown number
of A6M "Zeke" fighters to attack Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The
Japanese are intercepted by 11 USMC and 21USNF4F Wildcats; the Americans
shoot down 14 G4Ms and an A6M at the cost of 1 F4F. During the night, IJN
surface ships shell Guadalcanal killing 3 Marine SBD Dauntless pilots. (Jack
McKillop)
VF 5, the fighter unit from Saratoga that arrived on Guadalcanal yesterday,
flew it's first mission from Henderson Field today. Also arriving yesterday
was Admiral Turner. He has discussed Admiral Ghormley's pessimistic view of
the situation. He also wants to bring the 7th Marines to Guadalcanal. He
proposes sprinkling them in small groups around the island. General
Vandegrift opposes this plan. Admiral Turner visits with war correspondents
and is quoted: "...marines will be on the island for a long time and things
will get worse before they get better."
At 2130 hours, bombardment of the perimeter begins, IJN light cruiser
Sendai, and destroyers Shikinami, Fubuki and Suzukaze are offshore. Then an
attack against the ridge begins. Col Edson has a combined 840 men between
his Raider Battalion and the attached Marine Parachute Battalion. General
Kawaguchi has 3 battalions, with 2,506 men, attacking. But the jungle has
slowed the arrival of 2 battalions, his attack is very disjointed. The also
get bogged down between the ridge and the Lunga River. Finally about 1 hour
before daybreak the Japanese commanders begin to gain control of their
units. They regroup to attack the next night.
Japan assaults US positions around Bloody Ridge.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A US 11th Air Force weather and
patrol reconnaissance aircraft finds overcast at Kiska Island but takes
photos over Tanaga, Kanaga, and Attu Islands. The runway at Adak Island is
completed. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer HMCS Ottawa attacked by U-92. U-92, a type VIIC
U-boat built at Flender-Werke, Lubeck. laid down 4 Oct 41, commissioned 3
Mar 42, on her first war patrol at the time. U-92 went on to complete 9
patrols and compiled a record of 2 ships sunk for a total of 17,612 tons and
1 ship damaged for a further 9,348 tons. U-92 was heavily damaged 4 Oct 44
in Bergen, Norway, by bombs from RAF aircraft, of number 6 and number 8 Air
groups. U-92 was paid off 12 Oct 1944 and scrapped during 1944/45. (Dave
Shirlaw)
U-211 damaged SS Empire Moonbeam and SS Hektoria in Convoy ON-127.
U-404 damaged SS Daghil in Convoy ON-127.
U-512 sank SS Patrick J. Hurley.
U-515 sank SS Stanvac Melbourne and damaged SS Woensdrecht.
U-608 sank SS Empire Moonbeam and Hektoria in Convoy ON-127.
U-68 sank SS Trevilley. (Dave Shirlaw)

BRAZIL naval forces are placed under the operational control of the
USN. (Jack McKillop)

ARCTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-88 is sunk in the  south of
Spitzbergen, in position 75.40N, 20.32E, by the RN destroyer HMS Faulknor.
All hands, 46-men, on the U-boat are lost. (Jack McKillop)

SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN: The 19,695 ton former Cunard White Star passenger
liner SS Laconia is sailing to England. Aboard are 136 crewmen, 80
civilians, military material and personnel (268 men) and approximately 1,800
Italian prisoners of war with 160 Polish soldiers on guard. At 2207 hours,
the ship is torpedoed by the German submarine U-156 (Kapitänleutnant Werner
Hartenstein) and sinks at 2323 hours in position 05.05S, 11.38W. Shortly
after the ship sank, the crew of the surfaced U-156 hears Italian voices in
the sea and in the lifeboats. The captain begins a rescue operation and
sends a radio message in the clear asking for assistance from any vessel in
the area. Hartenstein states that "if any ship will assist the ship-wrecked
'Laconia'-crew, I will not attack providing I am not being attacked by ship
or air forces."
   During the next three days, U-156 rescues 400 survivors with 200 on the
deck of the sub and 200 in lifeboats. On 15 September, U-506 arrives at 1130
hours followed by U-507 and the Italian submarine Cappellini a few hours
later. The subs head for Africa towing the lifeboats behind them. The
following day, 16 September, a USAAF B-24 Liberator based on Ascension
Island flies over the scene and the pilot notifies his headquarters. Even
though the submarines are flying the Red Cross flag, the pilot is ordered to
attack them which he does at 1232 hours. The submarines cut the lines to the
lifeboats and submerge leaving hundred of people who were on the decks now
in the water. Shortly thereafter, French warships arrive from Dakar and pick
up about 1,500 survivors.
   As a result of the attack by the B-24, Admiral Dönitz orders that no
U-boats are to take part in rescue operations and they are to leave any
survivors in the water. (Jack McKillop)

September 12th, 1943
FRANCE: Paris: Ernst Jünger notes in his diary, "...a large number of people
are receiving model coffins through the post." [From the resistance] 

GERMANY: Rastenburg: German Gauleiters are appointed for South Tyrol and
Venetia, and Speer takes over control of the Italian arms industry.

U.S.S.R.: Stary Kermenchik, in the Donets basin, is liberated by Russian
units.

ITALY: 
Hand-picked paratroopers crash-landed by glider on an Italian mountainside
today and snatched Mussolini to freedom. In a brilliant operation involving
a hair-raising take-off down a rocky slope in a tiny aircraft, Il Duce was
delivered safely to an airfield at Pratica di Mare. Tonight he was flown to
Vienna en route to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia.
Hitler's order for the rescue of the former dictator was given to
SS-SturmbannFührer Otto Skorzeny. He first had to locate Mussolini, whom the
Italians had moved about since his arrest and fall of the 25th of July, to
avoid a rescue attempt. Mussolini had been held under guard in a seaside
boarding house and later in a villa on a Sardinian island. News of Italy's
surrender, including the condition that he would be handed over to the
Allies, was kept from him. 
Two weeks ago il Duce was moved to the Albergo di Campo Imperatore hotel,
7,000 feet up the Gran Sasso mountain in the Apennines, where he was guarded
by carabinieri. The hotel is about 93 miles east-northeast of Rome at an
altitude of 6,652 feet. The Italian Military Intelligence (SIM) attempting
to hide the former leader from the German Intelligence agents. The only
access was by cable car. An intercepted radio message gave Skorzeny the
answer to his quest. But how was he to reach the hotel, normally only
accessible by cable car? During a reconnaissance flight, Skorzeny saw a
small lawn just behind the hotel and this was the spot on which he decided
to land. A paratroop drop was out because of the altitude leaving only
gliders to get the German troops into the hotel. At Practica di Mare
Aerodrome Skorzeny, his Luftwaffe paratroopers from
Fallsirmjager-Lehr-Battalion under the command of Major Mors and fifty SS
men belonging to Skorzeny's unit, prepared for the operation which included
occupying the railway terminal to prevent reinforcement by Italian troops.
The raiding force were equipped with amongst other things explosives,
laughing gas and forged British bank notes. The twelve DFS 230C-1 gliders,
capable of carrying eight fully equipped soldiers, begin lifting off at 1230
hours local and shortly after, four of the twelve dropped out on the way for
various reasons with the lead two disappearing. The "small lawn" Skorzeny
had seen on his flight was in fact a small piece of very steep ground with a
sheer drop at the end meaning that the gliders would have to crash land near
the hotel. All gliders landed but one crash landed and injured all on board;
Skorzeny's glider stopped short only a few yards from the hotel doors. He
raced up to the hotel doors and kicked them in and preceded to put an
Italian radio operator and his radio out of action. He made contact with
Mussolini and declared "Duce, I have come to rescue you!" In four minutes
the Italian dictator was outside the hotel and boarding a Fiesler Fi 156
Storch light aircraft ready to fly back to the aerodrome. Although the Fi
156 had only two seats, Skorzeny insisted that he wanted to fly back to base
with Mussolini. This made the plane overloaded and 12 men held the plane on
his place as the pilot ran up the engine. Finally he raised his arm and the
men let go of the plane, the plane speeded ahead, almost hitting a large
rock, and finally disappeared over the edge. The plane landed in Rome and
Mussolini and Skorzeny were flown to Vienna. The propaganda value of this
mission was immense and Skorzeny and his SS men were featured in most of the
media broadcasts. The truth is that the entire Gran Sasso mission was
planned by Luftwaffe General Student and the Fallschirmjäger Lehr Battalion
under the command of Major Mors. Only two gliders contained Skorzeny and his
men from the Jagdverbande with the rest from the Fallschirmjäger Lehr
Battalion. Skorzeny was responsible for Mussolini's safety and his delivery
to Hitler but the mission itself was in overall command of the paratroops.
Not surprisingly, they were somewhat annoyed when Skorzeny and the SS
received all the kudos. Gen. Student even had the Luftwaffe make a film
showing the paratroops version of events.  (Jack McKillop)

The US Twelfth Air Force's XII Bomber Command sends B-17s to bomb the
Mignano road defiles, the Benevento road bridge, and the Frosinone airfield;
medium bombers hit Ariano (and trucks and road nearby), Isernia, and
Castelnuovo and Formia road junctions; US and RAF aircraft of the Northwest
African Tactical Air Force attack motor transport movement, roads, and
bridges in the Potenza-Auletta areas, maintain cover over the US Fifth Army
in the Salerno invasion area (where the enemy launches a fierce effort to
reduce the beachhead), and during the night of 12/13 September fly intruder
missions over 6 airfields between Rome and Pizzo, finding little activity. 
British Eighth Army forces on the toe of Italy capture Crotone and push
north, and on the Taranto front occupy territory up to north of Castelaneta.
Fighting at Salerno is marked by the effective use of the Hermann Göring
Panzer Division. (Jack McKillop)     
In the Salerno beachhead, the Germans begin their first major counterattack
late in the day which drives the British out of Battipaglia once more. The
British unit in the Molina Pass is under heavy pressure from the Hermann
Goering Panzer Division.
Capri: The Allies take the island without firing a single shot.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Ninth Air Force B-24s hit Kalathos and Maritsa
airfields on Rhodes. (Jack McKillop)
The German submarine U-617 runs aground under British aerial attack by RAF
Hudsons of No 48 and No 233 Squadrons and FAA Swordfish Mk IIs of No 833 and
No. 886 Squadrons, all four based at Gibraltar, in the Mediterranean near
Melilla, in position 35.38N, 03.27W. The wreck was destroyed by gunfire from
the RN corvette HMS Hyacinth and the RAN minesweeper HMAS Woollongong. All
49 crewmen on the U-boat survive. (Jack McKillop)

INDIA: USAAF Air Transport Command establishes a new air route to China via
the Himalayas, known as the "Hump". (Ron Babuka)

CHINA: 8 US Fourteenth Air Force P-38s bomb shipping in the Hong Kong area,
4 hit Yangtze River traffic at Chiuchiang, and 4 P-40s strafe barracks and
destroy a locomotive west of Shihhweiyao. (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: US Fifth Air Force B-17s and B-24s pound Lae as the Japanese
begin a withdrawal in the face of the Australian 9 and 7 Divisions moving in
from east and west; the Australian 5 Division occupies Salamaua and
surrounding area; the first Allied airplane lands at Salamaua airfield; and
B-25s strafe between Saidor and Langemak Bay. B-25s hit barges near Cape
Gloucester on New Britain Island, and A-20s bomb a radio station on Gasmata
Island off the coast of New Britain Island. (Jack McKillop)

September 12th, 1944
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 2 missions. Numbers
in parenthesis indicate the number of bombers attacking a target.
- Mission 626: For the second day, 888 bombers and 662 fighters, in 3
forces, are dispatched on a major assault on the German oil industry; they
are intercepted by 400-450 Luftwaffe fighters; USAAF claims 81-16-20
aircraft in the air; 35 bombers and 12 fighters are lost. 
(1) B-17s bomb oil refineries at Brux (79) and Ruhland (59); targets of
opportunity are Lauta (48), Plauen (30), Etterwinden (12), Karlsbad (11),
Kitzingen (11) and others (21); PFF methods are used for all targets; they
claim 14-9-7 aircraft; 19 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 238 P-47
Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 29-2-4 aircraft in the air and
21-0-16 on the ground; 10 P-51s are lost. 
(2) B-17s bombing visually attack Magdeburg/Rothensee (144),
Magdeburg/Friedrichstadt (73) and Bohlen (35); targets of opportunity are
Fulda (46), Molbis (11) and other (8); they claim 13-5-5 aircraft; 12 B-17s
are lost; escort is provided by 236 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 25-0-4
aircraft in the air and 5-0-15 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
 (3) B-24s hit Hemmingstedt (66), Kiel (58) and Misburg (34); targets of
opportunity are Laharte (38), marshalling yard at Northeim (12), Hannover
(11), Hemmingstedt (3) and other (3); PFF is used for bombing; 4 B-24s are
lost; escort is provided by 105 P-38 Lightnings, P-47s and P-51s without
loss.
- Mission 627: 7 B-17s drop leaflet in France, the Netherlands and Germany
during the night.
- 36 B-24s and C-47s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions during the
night.

FRANCE: The French 2nd Armoured Division of the US Third Army links up with
the French II Corps at Chatillon-sur-Seine, creating a solid Allied line
between the Channel and the Swiss frontier. 
12,000 Germans surrender at Le Havre to the British I Corps.
 400+ C-47 Skytrains of the First Allied Airborne Army's IX Troop Carrier
Command complete supply and evacuation missions. 
The "Dallas Lady" a B-24 of the USAAF flying from Algiers, flies over the
Southern French Alps to deliver arms to the French resistance. She flies too
low and crashes on the rocks of the Ubaquet, between the pass of the Colle
Rousse and the peak of the Corne-de-bouc, north-east of Turin at an altitude
of 1950 m. The pilot Major, Eart A. Desjardins, and his ten companions are
all killed. (Michel Hartinger )

BELGIUM: German forces fall back behind the Escaut Canal.

GERMANY:  Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan (b. 1914) WAAF, also
known as the SOE agent Madelaine is executed at Dachau concentration camp.
She had done highly risky work as an agent in France, and told the Nazis
nothing after her betrayal. (George Cross) 
The US Fifteenth Air Force sends nearly 330 B-17s and B-24s supported by
P-38s and P-51s to bomb Lechfeld Airfield, Allach engine works at Munich,
and Wasserburg jet aircraft factory, all in Germany. 50+ B-24s fly supply
mission to S France.

The US Ninth Air Force flies tactical missions in FRANCE and GERMANY. In
Germany, B-26s and A-20s hit Westwall fortifications, Sankt Wendel station,
where an armored division and important technicians are to entrain, and
fortifications around Nancy, France; fighters continue ground support in the
French/German border area. 

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The armistice treaty between Romania and the Allies here
today stipulates that the Romanians must pay the Soviet Union £75 million
for damage caused in Russia by the Romanian army. Another key clause
stipulates that the Soviet Union will keep Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
according to the terms of the 1940 treaty under which they were ceded to the
Soviet Union. In recompense Romanian will get back that portion of
Transylvania which Hitler gave to Hungary under the 1940 Vienna Award. The
terms, signed by the newly-promoted Marshal Malinovsky, also commit Romania
to "wage war against Germany and Hungary."

ITALY: US Twelfth Air Force B-26s blast defended positions in the central
battle sector of the Gothic Line; B-25s pound Po River railroad bridges and
attack guns and strongpoints in the battle zone as the enemy falls back to
prepared Gothic Line defenses and the rapid Allied advance halts;
fighter-bombers strike at guns, troop concentrations, strongpoints, and flak
positions in the Genoa and Milan areas.
The exiled Greek government moves from Cairo, Egypt to Caerta.

GREECE: German troops evacuate Rhodes and other Greek islands in the eastern
Mediterranean. (Jack McKillop)

BURMA: 25 US Tenth Air Force B-24s haul fuel to Kunming, China. 

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task
Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 attack Japanese installations on Cebu. The
aircraft also attack shipping and sink 20 vessels.
Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 attack
Japanese installations on Cebu. The aircraft also attack shipping and sink
20 vessels.  (Jack McKillop)
     Ensign Thomas C. Tillar, USNR, a pilot from USS Hornet (CV-12), in TG
38.1, is rescued by Filipinos after his F6F Hellcat ditches off Apit Island,
off the southwestern coast of Leyte. Before Tillar is recovered by SOC
Seagull from heavy cruiser USS Wichita  (CA-45), he learns from his rescuers
that the size of the Japanese garrison on Leyte is negligible. That fact,
when combined with the lack of aerial opposition encountered and the few
airfields that exist on Leyte and Samar, prompts Admiral Halsey, Commander
Third Fleet, to recommend that the planned attack on Yap Island in the
Carolines be abandoned and that the date of the landings on Leyte be
advanced from 20 December to 20 October 1944.  (Jack McKillop)

KURILE ISLANDS: 6 US Eleventh Air Force bombers fly a negative shipping
sweep over Shimushu Island; 3 more attack Suribachi Airfield and offshore
shipping targets; 1 B-24 flies negative reconnaissance. 

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: US Far East Air Force B-24s pound 3 airfields in the
Menado area on Celebes Island. B-24s and B-25s bomb Kaoe and Galela
Airfields on Halmahera Island, and radar facilities on Morotai Island. 
B-24s hit Lautem on Timor Island. P-38s dive-bomb Namlea runways on Buru
Island while P-47s hit Boela on Ceram Island. In New Guinea, A-20s, B-25s,
and fighter-bombers hit airfields, AA guns, and other targets at Babo,
Mongosah, Manokwari, Sagan, Moemi, and Samate.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarines sink seven Japanese ships: USS Pampinito
(SS-383) sinks a merchant passenger/cargo ship (ex-U.S. passenger liner SS
President Harrison) and a tanker north of Luzon, Philippine Islands.
Returning to the scene 3 days later, Pampinito will find and rescue 73
Australian and British POWs. The convoy had been transporting over 2000 POWs
from the Philippines to Japan. Other US submarines are dispatched to pick up
survivors. Many POWs were picked up by the Japanese and continued to Japan.
Now part of the National Maritime Museum, she is on display at San
Francisco, USA, since 1982. (Jack McKillop)
     Other submarine victories include (1) USS Growler (SS-215) sinks the
destroyer HIJMS Shikinami 240 miles (386 kilometres) south of Hong Kong and
an escort vessel 250 miles (402 kilometres) east of Hainan Island: (2) USS
Pipefish (SS-388) sinks an auxiliary vessel off Shiono Misaki, Japan; and
(3) USS Sealion (SS-315) sinks a transport and a merchant passenger/cargo
ship in the South China Sea, east of Hainan Island.  (Jack McKillop)
High speed transport USS Noa sunk in collision with destroyer USS Fullam off
Palau. (Dave Shirlaw)
 
PALAU ISLANDS: Carrier-based aircraft of Task Group 38.4 plus escort
aircraft carriers, begin the final pre-invasion attacks on Peleliu Island. 
The escort aircraft carriers involved are:
Task Group 30.7, the Antisubmarine Warfare Group
USS Hoggatt Bay (CVE-75) with Composite Squadron Fourteen (VC-14)
Task Group 30.8, the At Sea Logistics Service Group:
USS Barnes (CVE-20), an aircraft transport
USS Nassau (CVE-16), an aircraft transport
USS Nehenta Bay (CVE-74) with VC-11
USS Rudyerd Bay (CVE-81) with VC-77
USS Sargent Bay (CVE-83) with VC-79
USS Sitkoh Bay (CVE-86), an aircraft transport
USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), an aircraft transport
Task Group 32.7.1, the Covering Force
USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76) with VC-20
USS Marcus Island (CVE-77) with VC-21
USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) with VC-75
USS Savo Island (CVE-78) with VC-27.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-518 damaged SS George Ade. (Dave Shirlaw)
 

September 12th, 1945
FRENCH INDOCHINA: French troops land to occupy the country. (Jack McKillop)

SINGAPORE: Japanese forces in South-east Asia formally surrender to the
British Admiral Mountbatten.