18 Sep 1939
- When the British merchant ship Kensington Court was torpedoed 70 miles of the Isles of Scilly west of the southwestern tip of England, United Kingdom, two patrolling Sunderland aircraft had the entire crew of thirty-four personnel back on dry land within an hour of the vessel sinking. ww2dbase [S.25 Sunderland | AC]
- Aircraft from HMS Hermes located a German submarine escorted by destroyers Isis and Imogen; the subsequent attack was ineffective. ww2dbase [Hermes | CPC]
- Captain Max Burke DeMott was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Lieutenant Commander Donald Hendry Johnston. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | CPC]
- Italy organized the Milizia Fascista Albanese (Albanian Fascist Militia) in occupied Albania. ww2dbase [CPC]
- Adolf Hitler arrived in Danzig; he would remain in the region for the next week, staying at the Casino Hotel in Zoppot. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
- Polish cipher experts fled to Paris, France with vital knowledge of the German Enigma code. ww2dbase [Enigma Code Broken | Paris | AC]
- U-40 arrived at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [U-40 | Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | CPC]
- Italy deployed four Blackshirt divisions to Libya. ww2dbase [CPC]
- A Soviet-German joint victory parade was held in Brest-Litovsk in Eastern Poland (now in Belarus). ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | Brzesc nad Bugiem, Polesie | TH]
- USS Helena was commissioned into service with Captain Max B. Demott in command. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | CPC]
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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"With Germany arming at breakneck speed, England lost in a pacifist dream, France corrupt and torn by dissension, America remote and indifferent... do you not tremble for your children?"Winston Churchill, 1935
