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WWII On This Day: September 3

What happened on September 3 during World War II? This date brings together 8 events from 1939, 1942, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1939
A Warsaw demonstration after Britain and France declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939.
A Warsaw demonstration after Britain and France declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939. Unknown photographer · Public domain (PD-Poland) · via Wikimedia Commons Source
Invasion of Poland 1939

Britain and France enter the war

Britain declared war on Germany at 11:00 on 3 September after its ultimatum expired; France followed later that day. The invasion of Poland had become a general European war. French forces entered the Saar region in a limited advance while the main German field forces remained concentrated in Poland. The scale and tempo of the western action left the eastern campaign free from the major diversion Polish planners had expected. Polish headquarters continued to fight inside an alliance strategy that assumed German strength would eventually face significant pressure in the…

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Survivors of Athenia disembarking from Knute Nelson in Galway, after the liner was torpedoed on 3 September 1939. The photograph records the rescue aftermath, not the torpedo attack.
Survivors of Athenia disembarking from Knute Nelson in Galway, after the liner was torpedoed on 3 September 1939. The photograph records the rescue aftermath, not the torpedo attack. Press Agency photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 51014 · IWM Non-Commercial Licence Source
The Opening Convoy War

U-30 torpedoes Athenia

Hours after Britain declares war, U-30 torpedoes the passenger liner Athenia northwest of Ireland. The ship is carrying 1,418 passengers and crew, including many civilians leaving Europe. Of these, 117 die. The attack contradicts the German restrictions then governing attacks on passenger ships and immediately creates the impression in Britain and the United States that unrestricted submarine warfare may already have begun. Fritz-Julius Lemp does not report the sinking by radio. When the incident reaches BdU through broadcasts, Dönitz reiterates the existing prize-law restrictions and Hitler orders that passenger ships…

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1942
Red Army soldiers carrying a Soviet flag through the ruins of Stalingrad in 1943.
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R76619 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Stalingrad

Sixth and Fourth Panzer Armies join west of the city

On 3 September leading elements of Sixth Army and Fourth Panzer Army made contact near Pitomnik west of Stalingrad. The junction closed the gap between the German forces approaching from the northwest and south, but 62nd and 64th Armies had already withdrawn toward the inner city defences and avoided being trapped on the open steppe. German commanders now faced a different battlefield. The Soviet bridgehead was compressed against the Volga, while Soviet attacks north of Stalingrad continued to pin formations on Sixth Army’s exposed flank. The German armies could concentrate…

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1943
British infantry landing at Reggio Calabria on 3 September 1943 for Operation Baytown; contemporary IWM catalogue caption identifies the date.
British infantry landing at Reggio Calabria on 3 September 1943 for Operation Baytown; contemporary IWM catalogue caption identifies the date. Sgt Drennan / No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Imperial War Museums · British official photography · Public domain (UK Government) Source
The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

Eighth Army lands at Reggio in Operation Baytown

British XIII Corps began crossing the Strait of Messina before dawn on 3 September 1943 and landed near Reggio with naval and artillery cover from Sicily. The Canadian 1st Division and British 5th Division established positions on the southern Italian coast. German troops had withdrawn from the most exposed coastal ground. After the initial landings the advancing divisions depended on engineers and transport moving through difficult Calabrian roads.

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Sherman tank of the landing force moves into Reggio around 09:30 on 3 September 1943.
Sherman tank of the landing force moves into Reggio around 09:30 on 3 September 1943. Sgt Loughlin / No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Imperial War Museums · British official photography · Public domain (UK Government) Source
The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

Sherman tanks and anti-tank guns follow the infantry inland

The beachhead at Reggio received Sherman tanks and towed anti-tank guns as landing craft returned from Sicily. By mid-morning armour was entering the town and crews were bringing equipment onto the coastal roads. A fast landing helped secure the strait. The pursuit then faced demolished bridges, steep gradients and limited roads, allowing the German rearguard to draw north.

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A half-track and QF 6-pounder anti-tank gun come ashore at Reggio on 3 September 1943.
A half-track and QF 6-pounder anti-tank gun come ashore at Reggio on 3 September 1943. Sgt Loughlin / No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Imperial War Museums · British official photography · Public domain (UK Government) Source
The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

Towed anti-tank guns are landed at Reggio

British forces unloaded half-tracks and QF six-pounder anti-tank guns from landing craft at Reggio as Baytown’s first units spread beyond the beaches on 3 September 1943. These weapons were intended to defend the advance from armoured counterattack, while engineers worked to open roads damaged by German withdrawals.

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British Brigadier Kenneth Strong, Italian General Giuseppe Castellano, Allied General Walter Bedell Smith and interpreter Franco Montanari pose just after the armistice signing at Cassibile, Sicily, on 3 September 1943.
British Brigadier Kenneth Strong, Italian General Giuseppe Castellano, Allied General Walter Bedell Smith and interpreter Franco Montanari pose just after the armistice signing at Cassibile, Sicily, on 3 September 1943. Immaginario Diplomatico (1861–1961), historical photograph · CC0 1.0 per Wikimedia Commons Source
The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

Italian and Allied representatives sign the armistice at Cassibile

General Giuseppe Castellano signed the armistice for Italy at Cassibile, near Syracuse, on 3 September; General Walter Bedell Smith signed on behalf of the Allies. The agreement was kept secret while invasion preparations continued. Badoglio’s government needed to manage German troops already deployed across Italy. The Allied command expected public surrender to accompany its main landing, leaving little time to clarify what orders would reach individual Italian formations.

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1944
U.S. Navy LCVPs on a Baie de Cavalaire invasion beach during Operation Dragoon, 15 August 1944, with German prisoners passing behind them.
Baie de Cavalaire invasion beach, 15 August 1944 · U.S. Navy / Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-59475 · Public domain · Source
Operation Dragoon

Lyon is liberated

German forces withdrew from Lyon and Allied and French Resistance forces entered the city on 3 September. The capture marked another major step up the Rhône valley and removed the largest urban center on the route toward eastern France. The pursuit had now carried Seventh Army hundreds of miles from the assault beaches. Fuel and transport became the limiting factors in the rate of advance, even as retreating German formations tried to establish a defensible line farther north and east.

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