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WWII On This Day: September 24

What happened on September 24 during World War II? This date brings together 5 events from 1942, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Halder is removed

Hitler removed Franz Halder as chief of the Army General Staff on 24 September after months of argument over Soviet strength, operational priorities and the Führer's increasingly direct management of the campaign. Halder had repeatedly recorded the growing mismatch between German estimates and Soviet reserves. He was not an opponent of Case Blue from the beginning; the General Staff had helped design the campaign and shared many of the assumptions that made it possible. His dismissal therefore marks a command rupture rather than the removal of a lone officer who…

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

The Dnieper airborne operation disperses

About 4,500 troops of the 3rd and 5th Guards Airborne Brigades were dropped behind the Bukrin bridgehead to interfere with German movement and help enlarge the foothold. Navigation, timing and drop discipline broke down; aircraft arrived at different heights and headings, and many paratroops landed far from their assigned zones. Reconnaissance no longer matched the situation on the ground because German armoured and infantry formations had moved into the area. Many isolated groups were destroyed or captured, while survivors gathered in forests and some later joined partisan formations. The landing…

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1944
Men of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment rest in a Dutch village, 24 September 1944.
Men of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment rest in a Dutch village, 24 September 1944. Imperial War Museums, B 10292 · Public domain Source
Operation Market Garden

The decision to withdraw

At Valburg, commanders concluded that the Oosterbeek bridgehead could no longer be reinforced or supplied at a level sufficient to hold it. The decision was taken to withdraw the surviving 1st Airborne troops across the Nederrijn. The withdrawal required engineers, boats, artillery cover and a route through the perimeter to the riverbank. British and Polish forces south of the river would support the crossing while units in Oosterbeek maintained the appearance of continued defence.

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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

The truce for the wounded

A local truce was arranged through the divisional medical officer and Bittrich's staff. Around 1,200 wounded were carried out of the perimeter and handed over to German medical care, many of them from the Hotel Schoonoord dressing station. The fighting resumed the same afternoon. The perimeter by then was roughly 700 yards deep, with the river at its back.

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Warsaw Uprising: Two medics and a soldier (right) from "Parasol" battalion after coming out of sewers at Warecka Street near Nowy Świat (North Śródmieście district). In the center Maria Stypułkowska-Chojecka "Kama". On the right Krzysztof Palester "Krzych".
Warsaw Uprising - Soldiers from Parasol on Warecka Street 1 September 1944 · Jerzy Chrzanowski · Public domain · Source
The Warsaw Rising

The final assault on Mokotów

On the morning of 24 September German infantry, armour, artillery and aircraft opened the general assault on Mokotów. The attackers took Królikarnia and pushed the eastern and southern defence back toward the central streets of the district. The shrinking perimeter placed command posts, hospitals and sewer entrances under increasing pressure. Ammunition and communications deteriorated as German units compressed the district from several directions.

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