Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: September 15

What happened on September 15 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1940, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
Fighter Command, 1940.
Fighter Command, 1940. Imperial War Museums A 704 · Public domain Source
The Battle of Britain

The Luftwaffe again finds Fighter Command in strength

Two major daylight attacks on London on 15 September met repeated interceptions by 11 Group, reinforced during the fighting by squadrons from other groups. The scale of the response contradicted German assessments that Fighter Command had been reduced to its last effective strength. British victory claims for the day were greatly inflated, as were many air-combat claims during the campaign. Postwar reconciliation substantially reduced the number of German aircraft actually lost. What mattered operationally was that the Luftwaffe still could not send large daylight bomber formations to London without serious…

Continue in The Battle of Britain →
A Messerschmitt Bf 109 of 3.(J)/LG 2 forced down on the Isle of Sheppey after combat on 15 September 1940.
A Messerschmitt Bf 109 of 3.(J)/LG 2 forced down on the Isle of Sheppey after combat on 15 September 1940. Imperial War Museums HU 88420 · archival photograph; check file reuse conditions Source
The Blitz

Battle of Britain Day

On 15 September the Luftwaffe mounted two major daylight attacks toward London. Fighter Command met them in strength from No. 11 Group, reinforced by formations from neighbouring groups. German losses were severe and, more important operationally, the attackers encountered a fighter force that German intelligence had expected to be close to exhaustion. The day's combat did not end bombing of London, but it undermined the expectation that mass daylight raids could quickly produce air superiority. Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion on 17 September. The bombing campaign continued and increasingly moved…

Continue in The Blitz →
1943
Children affected by the Bengal famine on a Calcutta street in a photograph published by The Statesman on 22 August 1943.
The Statesman, Calcutta, 22 August 1943 · public domain in India
The Bengal Famine

Grain deliveries rise while distribution inside Bengal remains critical

Government deliveries into Bengal increased substantially during September and October. In the House of Commons, Leopold Amery later stated that deliveries rose from about 1,000 tons a day in July and August to about 3,700 tons a day in September and October. Incoming grain did not end the famine immediately. Stocks still had to be unloaded, allocated, moved through Bengal and placed within reach of people who had lost purchasing power. By this stage the crisis had become a combined problem of availability, transport, local distribution, prices and disease. The…

Continue in The Bengal Famine →
Red Army troops crossing the Dnieper on the Kyiv axis in 1943.
Yefim Kopyt · Russian archival photograph · Public domain
The Dnieper Crossings

Army Group South falls back to the Dnieper

Hitler authorized the major withdrawal toward the Dnieper after weeks in which Manstein had argued that continued forward positions risked losing forces before they could reach the river. The retreat aimed to put the river between Soviet spearheads and the main German formations while a new line was organized on the western bank. Field fortifications were incomplete, so the river itself, available road networks and the concentration of mobile reserves had to compensate. The decisive question became whether German units could arrive and dig in before Soviet detachments secured usable…

Continue in The Dnieper Crossings →
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

Allied artillery and naval fire blunt further German attacks

German formations continued to press the Salerno perimeter on 15 September. U.S. and British artillery, supported by cruiser and destroyer gunfire, concentrated on the approaches used by the German armoured columns. German infantry and armour had suffered losses while attempts to split the two corps failed. Continued unloading and reinforcement made a renewed penetration increasingly difficult.

Continue in The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno →
1944
Allied transport aircraft and gliders overhead while paratroops descend over the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944.
U.S. Army Air Forces / National Archives, NAID 531308 · Public domain in the United States · Source
Operation Market Garden

Armoured reports near Arnhem remain in the intelligence picture

Major Brian Urquhart assembled Dutch reports, aerial reconnaissance and other indications that German armoured formations or refitting elements were near Arnhem and raised the issue within I Airborne Corps. II SS Panzer Corps was indeed refitting in the area after heavy losses in Normandy. Its divisions lacked full establishment strength, but surviving tanks, assault guns, infantry and experienced staffs could still be organised rapidly once the airborne landings began.

Continue in Operation Market Garden →