World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 1 Sep 1942

• USS Tunny was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Elton Watters Grenfell in command. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• USAAF B-17 bombers damaged Japanese flying boat support ship Akitsushima. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Having taken over responsibility for building the Wildcat fighter from Grumman's Bethpage factory (which was now going over to building the F6F-3 Hellcat for the US Navy), the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors completed and flew its first FM-1 Wildcat fighter. ww2dbase [F4F Wildcat | AC]
• German submarine U-759 was spotted near Allied Convoy SC-97 500 miles east of the southern tip of Greeland in the North Atlantic; U-759 avoided the ramming attempt by Canadian corvette HMCS Morden but would succumb to depth charging by Morden; all 43 aboard were killed in U-759's sinking. 50 miles to the east, U-91 was damaged by a Catalina PBY aircraft of US Navy VP-73 squadron. 15 miles east of Cape Coast, Gold Coast, British West Africa, U-125 sank British ship Ilorin at 2206 hours; 33 were killed, 4 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Me 410 fighter took flight for the first time. ww2dbase [Me 410 Hornisse | CPC]
• Jef François was made the commander of Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen. ww2dbase [Jef François | CPC]
• Kurt Fricke was awarded Order of Michael the Brave 3rd Class of Romania. ww2dbase [Kurt Frike | CPC]

• A British Sunderland aircraft attacked Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on the surface in the Bay of Biscay west of France at 1244 hours, damaging the submarine; 2 were killed. ww2dbase [Reginaldo Giuliani | Second Happy Time | Bay of Biscay | CPC]

• Captured coast watchers Alan Kyle and Gregory Benham were executed by the Japanese on Mago Island near New Ireland. ww2dbase [Mago | CPC]
• 130 troops of the Japanese 5th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Forces departed Rabaul, New Britain for Milne Bay, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Australian troops attacked from the KB Mission on the coast of Milne Bay in Australian Papua, pushing Japanese troops back toward Waga Waga. Further inland, Japanese 41st Regiment clashed with Australian 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions at Eora along the Kokoda Track, penetrating the Australian lines after sundown. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]

• US 6th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands aboard USS Betelgeuse; the unit was tasked to improve and expand Henderson Field. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]
• US B-17 bombers damaged Japanese flying boat support ship Akitsushima and destroyer Akikaze off Buka Island in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Yugiri at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Before dawn, British Wellington bombers attacked German supply lines between Benghazi and Tobruk, Libya. The negative impact of such attacks was felt during the day, as only some of the Axis tanks was able to attack Allied lines at Alam el Halfa, Egypt due to inadequate fuel. ww2dbase [Battle of Alam el Halfa | Alam el Halfa | CPC]

• 231 British bombers launched to attack Saarbrücken, Germany but instead hit Saarlouis 13 miles to the northwest by mistake, killing 52 civilians; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Saarlouis, Westmark | CPC]
• Martin Gottfried Weiss was made the commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. ww2dbase [Martin Gottfried Weiss | Dachau Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• A Japanese garrison united arrived at Ocean Island, Hawaiian Islands, relieving the landing party from destroyer Yugure. Yugure set sail for Jaluit, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Yugure | Ocean | CPC]

• Shokaku was assigned to Support Force, Striking Force Main Body (3rd Fleet, Carier Division 1). ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille flew three sorties and shot down a total of 17 enemy aircraft (two Hurricane and two Spitfire fighters between 0826 and 0839 hours while escorting Stuka dive bombers to El Taqua in Libya, seven P-40 fighters between 1055 and 1103 hours near Alam Halfa, and five Hurricane fighters between 1747 and 1753 hours while escorting bombers toward El Imayid). His score at the end of the day stood at 121. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

• Japanese attacked a top level Malayan communist meeting at the Batu Caves north of Kuala Lumpur, killing most of the 100 meeting attendees. ww2dbase [Gombak, Selangor | CPC]

• USS Washington, with USS Nicholas as an escort, crossed the equator. ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Washington | Nicholas | DS]

• Tu Yuntan (Tu Yuen-ten) relieved Shen Jinding (Shen Ching-ting) as the Chinese ambassador to Panama. ww2dbase [Panama City | CPC]

• SS-Obersturmführer Franz Reichleitner was named the commandant of Sobibór concentration camp in occupied Poland, replacing Franz Stangl. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Sobibór Concentration Camp | Sobibór, Lublin | CPC]

• German 1.Panzerarmee established a bridgehead across the Terek River near Mozdok in southern Russia. Soviet troops launched the Mozdok-Malgobek Defensive Operation in response. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Mozdok, North Ossetia-Alania | TH]
• German aircraft sank Soviet torpedo boat Purga on Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, Russia. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | Leningrad | CPC]
• Soviet General Andrey Yeremenko pulled Soviet 62nd Army and 64th Army back near Stalingrad, Russia to avoid encirclement. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | CPC]

• German bombers attacked Lydd in southeastern England, United Kingdom. After sundown and lasting until the next date, Doncaster was attacked. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]

1 Sep 1942 Interactive Map