CBI - China: Day 22 of 154 of the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria.
1936 — , October 9
Spain: Day 85 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
1937 — , October 9
Spain: Day 450 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 95 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 58 of 106 of the 2nd Battle of Shanghai.
Day 39 of 70 of the Battle of Taiyuan.
1938 — , October 9
Spain: Day 815 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 460 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 121 of 139 of the Battle of Wuhan.
1939 — , October 9
CBI - China: Day 825 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
1940 — , October 9
ETO - UK: Day 34 of 258 of the Blitz.
ETO - UK: Day 92 of 114 of the Battle of Britain.
Netherlands: The Netherlands make a decree which bans Jews and half-Jews from public employment.
East Africa: Day 122 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,191 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 330 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
CBI - Thailand: Day 9 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).
1941 — , October 9
Germany: Hitler prematurely announces that the war in the East, for all intents and purposes, has already been decided in favor of the Reich.
Spotlight...
German soldier unfurls Nazi flag over Stalingrad, Oct 1942
In October of 1941, Hitler announced that "the enemy (Russia) is broken and will never rise again." Wishful thinking. The over-confident Hitler had gambled everything by invading Russia. Although Germany's initial victories were tremendous and Russian losses in men, equipment and land were unbelievably enormous, Russia is HUGE, with endless resources. Its soldiers are tough, and its winter is terrible for anyone not fully equipped for it. The German military was definitely NOT equipped for the Russian winter, and they knew it.
Despite many victories in the coming years, Germany kept getting whittled down while the USSR kept gaining strength. Failing to defeat the Soviet Union could only mean that Germany would eventually be defeated.
USA: FDR commits the US government to embark upon a program of intensified research into the feasibility of a fission bomb.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 103 of 142 of Operation SILVER FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign to capture the Russian port of Murmansk in the Arctic.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 101 of 140 of Operation ARCTIC FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign against Soviet Northern Front defenses at Salla, Finland.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 110 of 164 of the Battle of Hanko. The Soviets will be forced off their leased naval base.
Russian Front: Day 110 of 167 of Germany's Operation BARBAROSSA.
Russian Front - North: Day 32 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - Center: Day 8 of 98 of the Battle of Moscow.
Russian Front - South: Day 63 of 70 of the Siege of Odessa, Ukraine.
MTO - Libya: Day 183 of 256 of the Siege of Tobruk.
East Africa: Day 487 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,556 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
1942 — , October 9
ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb targets at Lille.
Russian Front - North: Day 397 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 158 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - South: Day 104 of 150 of Germany's CASE BLUE, the failed offensive to take the Caucasus oil fields.
Russian Front - South: Day 48 of 165 of the Battle of Stalingrad, bloodiest battle in human history.
MTO - Libya: US B-24s attack the harbor facilities at Benghazi.
MTO - Egypt: US and RAF warplanes attack the enemy at El Daba and Sidi Haneish.
East Africa: Day 158 of 186 of the Battle of Madagascar.
CBI - China: Day 1,921 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Alaska: Day 125 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. The US and Canada will defeat the Japanese invaders.
PTO - Malaya: Day 233 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island, a long guerrilla war ending in Japanese victory.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 81 of 119 of the Battle of the Kokoda Track. The Australians continue pushing back the Japanese troops.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 64 of 187 of the Battle of Guadalcanal.
1943 — , October 9
ETO: US 8th Air Force: B-17s bomb in Germany while B-24s drive deep into Poland. On their last mission with the 8th AF, B-26 Marauders attack an airfield in Holland. These B-26s bombers are now transferred to the 9th AF.
Russian Front - North: Day 762 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 523 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket. USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - North: Day 14 of 15 of the USSR Kremenchug Offensive into Estonia.
Russian Front - South: Day 47 of 122 of the Battle of the Lower Dnieper River, USSR.
Russian Front - South: Soviets now control the Kuban peninsula on the Black Sea, after the successful evacuation of all German and Romanian troops in the Crimea.
MTO - Greece: US 12th Air Force attacks targets throughout the Aegean Sea.
CBI - China: Day 2,286 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 21 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 18 of 162 of the Battle of the Huon Peninsula. Will result in an Allied victory.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 56 of 56 of the Battle of Vella Lavella. Allied troops take the island.
1944 — , October 9
ETO - France: Day 70 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
ETO - Belgium: Day 38 of 62 of the liberation of Belgium.
ETO - Belgium: Day 8 of 38 of the Battle of the Scheldt Estuary.
ETO - France: Day 25 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
ETO - Germany: Day 21 of 145 of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest.
ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force B-24s attack targets in central Germany while B-17s bomb in southern part.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 25 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 3 of 23 of the Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive. The Soviets will drive the Germans out of the Arctic region in northern Scandinavia.
Russian Front - North: Day 26 of 41 of the Battle of Riga, Latvia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 26 of 72 of the Battle into East Prussia and northern Poland.
Russian Front - Center: Day 5 of 18 of the Battle of Memel, a border town of Lithuania and East Prussia.
Russian Front - South: Day 4 of 24 of the Battle of Debrecen, Hungary.
Russian Front - South: Day 26 of 72 of the Battle of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The 1st Bulgarian Army attacks toward Nis.
MTO - Italy: US 12th Air Force fighters support the ground units in the areas of Bologna and Sabbioso.
CBI - Burma: Day 192 of 302 of the Chinese Salween Offensive in Burma.
CBI - China: Day 2,652 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 176 of 259 of Japan's Operation ICHI-GO.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 300 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 171 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea.
PTO - Palau Islands: Day 25 of 74 of the Battle of Peleliu (Operation STALEMATE II).
PTO - Palau Islands: Day 23 of 36 of the Battle of Angaur.
1974 — , October 9
West Germany: Oskar Schindler dies in Hildesheim. He was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government in 1963 and would go on to be immortalized in the 1993 film Schindler's List.
Spotlight...
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist and member of the Nazi party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and munitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.
Far from squeaky clean, Schindler was initially an opportunist looking to profit from the plight of the Jews under the Third Reich, but gradually came to demonstrate extraordinary initiative, tenacity, and dedication in order to save the lives of his Jewish employees.
Oskar Schindler's grave in the Mount Zion Franciscan Cemetery, Jerusalem, Israel
The German inscription reads: "Oskar Schindler, the unforgettable lifesaver of 1200 persecuted Jews." The Hebrew inscription reads: "Righteous Among the Nations."
Oskar Schindler Timeline...
1935:
Schindler joins the Nazi party.
1938:
Joins the German military intelligence as a salesman; is excused from military service.
1939:
Signs his first contract with Stern.
1939:
Informs Stern the Jewish ghetto of Kazimierz will be raided and burned to the ground.
Early 1940:
Opens his "Deutsch Emailwaren Fabrik" factory in Krakow, Poland.
Mid 1940:
All "non-work-essential" Jews were to leave Krakow voluntarily; Schindler hires 150 Jews as Stern urged him.
Late 1940:
By now 23, 000 Jews were forced out of Krakow.
Late 1940:
All Jews above age 9 required to wear the 'Star of Zion" on their outer/inner clothing.
1941:
Schindler is arrested by the gestapo for black market activities; is released through high ranking friends and bribery.
Early 1942:
Arrested for kissing a Jewish girl on his 34th birthday party; again is promptly released.
Mid 1942:
Krakow deportation to Belzek begins, Schindler saves his office manager and other workers from the train.
Late 1942:
Schindler travels to Budapest, Hungary to inform the Jewish leaders about the German exterminations in Poland; they don't believe him.
1943:
Schindler establishes a Jewish sub-camp at his Emalia factory.
Early 1944:
Arranges to have a car full of Jews being deported sprayed with water as an act of kindness.
Mid 1944:
Emalia factory ordered dismantled, the prisoners sent to Plaszow; Schindler wins Helen Hirsch in a card game.
Mid 1944:
Schindler writes his list of Jewish workers he declared essential (as many as possible) and moves them to his new factory in Brunnlitz, Czechoslovakia.
Late 1944:
300 of his female workers are accidentally sent to Auschwitz, but are returned to the new factory promptly.
1945:
Is given a ring engraved "He who saves a single life saves the entire world" by his former workers as he flees the Russians with his wife and eight former workers.
1949:
Schindler goes to Argentina to try running a Nutria farm.
1957:
Nutria farm goes bankrupt.
1958:
Returns to west Germany and with loaned money starts a cement factory.
1961:
Cement factory goes bankrupt; Schindler is invited to Israel by his former workers.
1963:
Schindler is named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government.
09 Oct 74:
Oskar Schindler dies in West Germany.
Righteous people and the saving of Jews from the Holocaust...
Spotlight...
