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WWII On This Day: October 6

What happened on October 6 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1939, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1939
The roadside at Kock after the final battle of the Polish campaign, 6 October 1939.
The roadside at Kock after the final battle of the Polish campaign, 6 October 1939. Polish Official Photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 106375 · Public domain (UK Crown Copyright expired) · via Wikimedia Commons Source
Invasion of Poland 1939

Kleeberg ends the last major field battle

The Independent Operational Group Polesie under General Franciszek Kleeberg fought German forces around Kock after moving through eastern Poland and encountering both Soviet and German troops. Kleeberg's formations still conducted tactically effective actions, while ammunition and supplies approached exhaustion. By early October the group had become the last major organised Polish field formation operating independently inside the country. Kleeberg surrendered on 6 October, marking the conventional end of the campaign inside Poland. Tens of thousands of Polish servicemen had already crossed into neighbouring states and were beginning the process of…

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1943
British troops unloading from landing ship LST 383 on the Salerno coast on 9 September 1943.
Imperial War Museums NA 6630 · British official photograph · Public domain (UK Government)
The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

Fifth Army reaches the Volturno defensive line

By 6 October Fifth Army units were approaching the Volturno, where German forces occupied another defensive river position. The Allied armies had secured footholds and major ports in southern Italy, but the fighting was moving into a landscape shaped by rivers, hills and narrow roads. The Volturno crossing later in October would begin another phase of the advance. German rear guards retained the ability to delay Allied units while evacuating men and equipment to prepared lines farther north.

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1944
Infantrymen of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division rest on a slope in the Hürtgen Forest on 18 November 1944.
U.S. Army Signal Corps / National Archives · 18 November 1944 · Public domain · Source
Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest

The 9th Division attacks toward Schmidt

Two regiments attacked through the forest toward Germeter, Vossenack and Schmidt. The official plan sought the Hürtgen road net and commanding ground on the eastern edge; the Roer dams lay beyond the stated October objective. The defending 275th Infantry Division had about 5,000 combat troops after absorbing the 353rd Division. Field fortifications, mines and registered fire compensated for its improvised organisation.

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LVT-4 Alligator amphibious vehicles pass Terrapin amphibious vehicles near Terneuzen during the Battle of the Scheldt, 13 October 1944.
Department of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada · 13 October 1944 · Public domain in Canada · Source
The Battle of the Scheldt

Operation Switchback opens

The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division opened Operation Switchback across the Leopold Canal on 6 October. Wasp flamethrower carriers fired across the water while infantry crossed in assault boats and established small bridgeheads on the northern bank. Generalmajor Knut Eberding's 64th Infantry Division held prepared positions in the Breskens Pocket and used flooded ground, canals and artillery to contain the bridgeheads. The first three days became a fight to keep enough ground for reinforcement.

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