2 Sep 1939 | World War II Database

2 Sep 1939

Danzig

Germany annexed the Free City of Danzig. Adolf Hitler advised the United Kingdom and France that he would withdraw from Poland if allowed to keep Danzig and the Polish corridor. ww2dbase [The Danzig Crisis | TH, CPC]
The Germans began the construction of Stutthof Concentration Camp in Sztutowo (German: Stutthof) in the Free City of Danzig with labor of 65,000 Polish Christians. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Sztutowo | CPC]

France

No. 1 Group, British RAF Bomber Command, relocated to France with its squadrons of single-engine Fairey Battle aircraft. ww2dbase [AC]

Italy

Benito Mussolini continued to urge peace between Germany, United Kingdom, and France, without any success. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]

South Africa

In a fateful cabinet meeting South African Prime Minister Barry Hertzog declared that he was going to remain neutral and that under no circumstances would he allow the Union of South Africa to enter the war. ww2dbase [AC]

United Kingdom

During the day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier issued a joint ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdraw of troops from Poland within 12 hours. During the late hours of the night, Chamberlain attempted to convince Dalalier to carry out the threat from the earlier ultimatum by declaring war on Germany early in the next morning. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | TH, CPC]
The Times Literary Supplement reported that the copy of the Magna Carta owned by the Lincoln Cathedral of England, United Kingdom, currently on display at the 1939 New York World's Fair, would remain in the United States under the care of the Library of Congress for the duration of the war. It would be stored at Fort Knox until its return to Lincoln in 1944. ww2dbase [England | CPC]
The National Service (Armed Forces) Act was passed in Great Britain. It would be enacted on the following day upon Britain's official entry into the European War. ww2dbase [TH, AC]

Photo(s) dated 2 Sep 1939

Sailors inspecting damage aboard Schleswig-Holstein caused by Polish coastal batteries of Hel Penninsula, Sep 1939

German women living in Poland giving bread to German soldiers, Poland, 2 Sep 1939

German soldiers carrying MG34 machine guns, Poland, Sep 1939

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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