German forces came within artillery range ofLeningrad.[2]
A Nazi regulation announced that starting September 19, all Jews of the Reich would be required to wear theyellow Star of David badge.[3]
U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt gave aLabor Day radio address to the American people. "American labor now bears a tremendous responsibility in the winning of this most brutal, most terrible of all wars," the president said. "In our factories and shops and arsenals we are building weapons on a scale great in its magnitude. To all the battle fronts of this world these weapons are being dispatched, by day and by night, over the seas and through the air. And this Nation is now devising and developing new weapons of unprecedented power toward the maintenance of democracy ... Our vast effort, and the unity of purpose that inspires that effort, are due solely to our recognition of the fact that our fundamental rights - including the rights of labor — are threatened by Hitler's violent attempt to rule the world."[4]
Zyklon B was used experimentally atAuschwitz concentration camp, gassing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners. The experiment was deemed a success.[8]
TheGreer incident occurred in the North Atlantic when the German submarineU-652 fired a torpedo at the American destroyer USSGreer, perhaps believing that the American ship had launched an attack that had actually come from a British bomber.
360 refugees disembarked the Spanish freighterNavemar atHavana. Four died in the overcrowded conditions during the voyage across the Atlantic.[14]
The results of aGallup poll were published asking Americans, "Should the United States take steps now to keep Japan from becoming more powerful, even if it means risking a war with Japan?" 70% said yes, 18% said no and 12% expressed no opinion.[15]
Died:Sara Roosevelt, 86, mother of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Allied convoySC 42 was sighted nearCape Farewell, Greenland by the German submarineU-85. Over the next three nights a total of 16 ships from the convoy were sunk by a GermanWolfpack.
Iran agreed to the terms of the occupying Allied forces. All Axis-aligned consulates would be closed and German nationals would be turned over to the British or Russians. The Allies would control Iranian roads, airports and communication.[1]
Congressional hearings opened in Washington investigating allegations of propaganda in American films. North Dakota SenatorGerald Nye set the tone of the hearings on the first day by suggesting that propaganda was being injected into films by a cabal of foreign-born Jews who owned or operated the major movie studios.[18]
In Nazi-occupied Norway, martial law was declared and trade union officials were arrested in order to prevent a trade union plan for ageneral strike.[19]
German submarineU-501 was depth charged and sunk in theDenmark Strait by the Canadian corvette HMCSChambly.
Charles Lindbergh made a speech on behalf of theAmerica First Committee inDes Moines, Iowa which included remarks that would be instantly controversial: "The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration." Lindbergh said he admired the British and Jewish races, but claimed that the Jews' "greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government."[20]
President Roosevelt gave afireside chat on maintaining freedom of the seas and theGreer incident, an incident that led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue what became known as his "shoot-on-sight" order. Roosevelt publicly confirmed the "shoot on sight" order on 11 September 1941, effectively declaring naval war against Germany and Italy in the Battle of the Atlantic, 3 months prior to Pearl Harbor.[citation needed]
An authorized Nazi spokesperson said that President Roosevelt "wants war" and that Germany would take "appropriate measures". That same day, an editorial by the prominent Italian journalist and unofficial Axis spokesmanVirginio Gayda was published in theGiornale d'Italia, in which he declared that the "act of unprovoked aggression" by Roosevelt had left the Axis warships no alternative "but to attack United States naval ships on sight."[22]
September 16: Reza Shah abdicates and replaced by his son, Mohammad.
Reza Shah abdicated under pressure asShah ofIran in favour of his sonMohammad Reza Pahlavi. "I have spent all my power and energy in the service of the country," his abdication letter read. "I am no longer able to continue in the same vein. I feel the time has come for a younger and more energetic power to take charge of the affairs of the nation, which require constant attention, and to work for the happiness and welfare of the people. Therefore, I resign, bequeathing the crown to my heir and crown prince."[27]
Iran broke diplomatic relations with Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Romania.[28]
The Germans capturedKiev and took 500,000 Red Army soldiers prisoner.[1]
Over 1,000 civilians were killed in a German air-raid on Leningrad.[1]
Draža Mihailović andJosip Broz Tito met atStruganik in an attempt to reach an agreement to co-operate. The talks went well enough but no real agreement was reached due to the different concepts of resistance between the two groups.[32]
The Canadian corvette HMCSLévis was torpedoed and damaged offCape Farewell, Greenland by German submarineU-74. CorvetteMayflower began to tow the ship but theLévis capsized and sank later that day.
The Bulgarian cargo shipRodina struck a naval mine in theBlack Sea and sank.
Hitler issuedDirective No. 36, Instructions for Winter operations in Norway.
KingGeorge II of Greece arrived in exile in England from Egypt with members of his family and government.[5]
"Russian Tank Week" began in the United Kingdom. From this day through September 26, all armored vehicles produced in Britain were to be delivered to the Soviets.[37]
GermanStukas attacked Kronstadt again and sank the anchored battleshipMarat, marking the first time in history that a battleship was sunk by dive bombers.[39]
The Inter-Allied Council met inSt James's Palace. Representatives of the Soviet Union and Free France as well the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia unanimously affirmed the common principles of policy set forth in theAtlantic Charter.[40]
On the defensive since Lindbergh's remarks in Des Moines, the America First Committee issued a statement denying that Lindbergh or his fellow AFC members were anti-Semitic and invited Jews to join the organization's ranks.[41]
Died:Clifford Grey, 54, English songwriter, librettist and actor;Hall Roosevelt, 50, American engineer, banker and soldier, brother of Eleanor Roosevelt[38]
1,608 Jews inKaunas were loaded into trucks, driven to the outskirts of the city and killed.[1]
The British cargo shipAvoceta from convoyHG 73 was torpedoed and sunk north of theAzores by German submarineU-203.
The Congressional hearings on allegations of propaganda in American films adjourned with the intention to resume in January 1942. The media was almost universally critical of the attacks made on the film industry during the hearings, as the isolationist Senators who initiated the proceedings came across as anti-Semitic and more paranoid about Hollywood than any threat from Hitler.[44]
The first British convoy of supplies for the Soviet Union departed Iceland forArkhangelsk.[1]
Ted Williams of theBoston Red Sox entered the final day of the baseball season batting .3995535, which would have been rounded up to.400 in the official statistics. Williams believed he didn't deserve to hit .400 if he couldn't do it from the beginning of the season to the end, so he played in thedoubleheader atShibe Park against thePhiladelphia Athletics, telling a reporter that "I either make it or I don't." Williams went 4-for-5 in the first game and 2-for-3 in the second game to finish the season with a batting average of .4057, or rounded up, .406. No one has ever hit .400 in the major leagues since.[46][47]
Reinhard Heydrich arranged for the arrest of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Prime MinisterAlois Eliáš.[2]
In a statement toThe Globe and Mail, CommanderAndrew McNaughton called theCanadian Corps "a dagger pointed at the heart of Berlin," a phrase that made for great copy in the press back home while Canadian forces continued waiting to see front line action.[49]
Joe Louis beatLou Nova by technical knockout in the sixth round at thePolo Grounds in New York City to retain the world heavyweight boxing title.[50]
^abcdefgKirchubel, Robert (2013).Operation Barbarossa: The German Invasion of Soviet Russia. Botley, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing. p. 10.ISBN978-1-78200-408-0.
^Schatz, Thomas. "World War II and the Hollywood 'War Film'".Refiguring American Film Genres: History and Theory. Ed. Nick Browne. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998. p. 100–101.ISBN978-0-520-20731-8.
^Bruning, John (2013).Battle for the North Atlantic: The Strategic Naval Campaign that Won World War II in Europe. Zenith Press. p. 155.ISBN978-0-7603-3991-6.
^Afkhami, Gholam Raza (2008).The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 78.ISBN978-0-520-94216-5.
^Doenecke, Justus D. (1990).In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 as Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee. Stanford University Press. p. 39.ISBN978-0-8179-8841-8.
^Glancy, H. Mark (1999).When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film 1939–1945. Manchester University Press. p. 65.ISBN978-0-7190-4853-1.
^Rickard, John Nelson (2010).The Politics of Command: Lieutenant-General A.G.L. McNaughton and the Canadian Army 1939–1943. University of Toronto Press. p. 52.ISBN978-1-4426-4002-3.
