16 Sep 1939
Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean
- In the first German submarine attack on an Atlantic convoy the merchantman Aviemore was sunk off Land's End, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | AC]
- U-27 attacked British trawler Rudyard Kipling 190 kilometers (120 miles or 100 nautical miles) west of Ireland at 0353 hours. The crew of U-27 boarded Rudyard Kipling and destroyed the ship with scuttling charges. U-27 rescued the survivors, gave them food and warm clothing, and sent them off in lifeboats. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | U-27 | CPC]
- M18 was launched by OderWerke in Stettin, Pommern, Germany. ww2dbase [OderWerke | M18 | Stettin, Pommern | CPC]
- Polish troops counterattacked, destroying 22 tanks of Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler" regiment. Elsewhere in Poland, German troops captured Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus). In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the Soviet Union would enter the war with the reason of protection of Ukrainians and Byelorussians; Germany complained that it singled out Germany as the lone aggressor. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | CPC]
- Polish general Józef Kustron was killed in the village of Ulazow, Poland; he was the second general-rank officer to be killed in action during the European War. ww2dbase [Ulazow | CPC]


16 Sep 1939 Interactive Map
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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