Today In History

9 British Lancaster bombers attacked Graf Zeppelin at Gotenhafen (Gdynia), occupied Poland with 5,550-pound bombs, causing no damage   

Australian Private Bruce Kingsbury armed with a Bren-Gun and grenades, seeing Japanese troops were preparing a fresh attack on the Kokoda Trail in Australian Papua, charged through intensive machine-gun fire to eliminate the enemy's positions, but was then killed by a hidden Japanese sniper as the rest of his patrol (having gained 100 yards of track) were setting up a holding position. For his heroism Private Kingsbury would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.





 

Armored cars of 4/8th Hussars of British 4th Armoured Brigade penetrated Axis lines near Alam el Halfa, Egypt, destroying 57 German supply trucks near Himeimat. Erwin Rommel decided that he would withdraw since he could not gain initiative in battle.

3 September 1939
At 0900 hours, British Ambassador in Germany Nevile Henderson delivered the British declaration of war to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, effective at 1100 hours; British Commonwealth nations of New Zealand and Australia followed suit. France would also declare war later on this day, effective at 1700 hours. In the afternoon, Adolf Hitler issued an order to his generals, again stressing that German troops must not attack British and French positions. Finally, Hitler also sent a message to the Soviet Union, asking the Soviets to jointly invade Poland.



This document is the script of the address to the nation of Neville Chamberlain on September 3, 1939, declaring that Britain had declared war on Germany. It was broadcast on the Downing Street BBC at 11:15, shortly after Germany refused to withdraw its troops from Poland.
In his speech, Chamberlain reiterated his attempts to win a peaceful solution and opposed Hitler’s statements that Poland had rejected an agreement. Finally, it offers encouragement to the British people to defend their country for a just cause.

After some time waiting submerged off Oregon, United States, Japanese submarine I-25 launched her E14Y aircraft, flown by Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, shortly after dawn. The aircraft was spotted by the Americans as it crossed the coast. It dropped two incendiary bombs in a forest near Brookings, Oregon at 0600 hours; this attack was the only aerial bombing against the United States during WW2. En route back to the submarine, the aircraft spotted two merchant ships. After recovering Fujita and Okuda, I-25 attempted to give chase to the two merchant ships, but US aircraft would force I-25 to abandon the attack and submerge.