September 6, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)
FRANCE: French forces begin a limited offensive toward Saarbruecken, Germany.
French authorities remove two seamen of German nationality from U.S. freighter SS Exochorda at Marseilles.
GERMANY: U-103 laid down.
POLAND: The German Fourteenth Army captures Krakow. Poznan and Kielce also fall.General Halder in his diary notes that "Of the total Polish forces, five divisions can be considered annihilated; ten still completely intact".
Before leaving Warsaw for Lublin, the government issues orders for Polish forces to retire to the line of the Narew, Vistula and San Rivers.
The German command asks the Polish Command to evacuate noncombatants from Warsaw if it intends to defend the city. Poland answers: "Warsaw will be defended, nobody will be evacuated."
U.S.S.R.: The German liner Bremen breaches the British blockade and puts into Murmansk after a dash from New York.
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Smuts replaces General Hertzog as Prime Minister and declares war on Germany.
IRAQ: The government breaks off relations with Germany, and begins deporting Germans.
NEW ZEALAND: A decision is made to mobilize a Special Force of three battalions from each of the three military districts as a contribution to the Commonwealth war effort. This force will be recruited from volunteers and from the New Zealand Territorial Force. They are 1st (Rifle) Battalion from the Northern Military District, 2nd (Rifle) Battalion from Central Military District and 3rd (Rifle) Battalion from Southern Military District. By 3 October 1939, the force became know as the New Zealand Division and the force of three battalions became 18th, 19th and 20th Infantry Battalions of 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade.
CANADA: Patrol craft (ex fishing vessels) HMCS Van Isle and Malaspina commissioned.
U.S.A.: Commander Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral Alfred W. Johnson) begins to establish the off-shore Neutrality Patrol. The seaplane tenders USS Gannet (AVP-8) and USS Thrush (AVP-3) sail for San Juan, Puerto Rico, to establish a seaplane base there.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The RN's British Northern Patrol (7th and 12th Cruiser Squadrons) commences operation between Shetland and Faeroe Islands, and Iceland. Light cruisers HMS Caledon (D 53), HMS Calypso (D 61), HMS Diomede (D 92), HMS Dragon D 46), HMS Effingham (D 98), HMS Emerald (D 66), HMS Cardiff (D 58) and HMS Dunedin (D 93)are the ships that undertake this work. The patrol stops 108 merchantmen over the next three weeks, ordering 28 into the port of Kirkwall to have their cargoes inspected.
Mr Turner, a Merchant Navy radio officer, won one of the first gallantry awards of the Second World War for staying aboard to rescue two badly injured sailors after their ship was attacked by a U-boat. He received the Empire Gallantry Medal, the forerunner to the George Cross.
U-38 sank SS Manaar.
U-47 sank SS Rio Claro.