1 SEPTEMBER 1939
The Second World War begins as German forces sweep into Poland with the power of the “lightning war,” better known as the blitzkrieg.

2 SEPTEMBER 1918
In France, throughout September and October, the Canadian Corps breaks through the Hindenburg Line, pushing the German army back from east of Arras to Cambrai and beyond.

3 SEPTEMBER 1943
The Allies invade mainland Italy by crossing the Strait of Messina and landing near the town of Reggio di Calabria.

4 SEPTEMBER 1939
Pilot Officer S.R. Henderson, a Canadian serving in No. 206 Squadron, Royal Air Force, becomes the first Canadian to participate in an operational sortie during the Second World War when he serves as the lead navigator in a bomber force attacking German warships.

5 SEPTEMBER 1979
First Canadian gold bullion coin, stamped with the Maple Leaf, goes on sale.

6 SEPTEMBER 1943
Beginning on this day—and lasting four weeks—Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft destroy four U-boats in the Atlantic.

7 SEPTEMBER 1939
In reaction to British and French declarations of war against Germany, Canada’s Parliament meets in special session and on Sept. 9 pledges support to Britain and France. The next day King George VI announces Canada has declared war on Germany.

8 SEPTEMBER 1941
Leningrad is under siege by the Germans.

9 SEPTEMBER 1954
Sixteen-year-old Marilyn Bell becomes the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. She covers the distance—51.5 kilometres—in 20 hours and 59 minutes.

10 SEPTEMBER 1941
The Royal Canadian Navy scores its first wartime-acknowledged U-boat kill when His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Chambly and HMCS Moose Jaw use depth charges, gunfire and ramming to sink U-501 off Greenland.

11 SEPTEMBER 2001
Terrorists use two hijacked planes to destroy the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Two other passenger airliners are hijacked as part of this co-ordinated terrorist attack on the United States: One crashes into the Pentagon and the fourth slams into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Passengers and crew on the latter aircraft attempted to take control of the plane which hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. Approximately 3,000 people perish in the attacks, thousands more are injured.

12 SEPTEMBER 1994
The Parti Quebecois wins a majority in Quebec legislature.

13 SEPTEMBER 1944
Fifth Canadian Armoured Division captures Coriano Ridge in Italy.

14 SEPTEMBER 1889
Close to 400 Canadian voyageurs leave Halifax to participate in a Nile River expedition. The objective is to rescue a British major-general trapped at Khartoum in the Sudan.

15 SEPTEMBER 1916
Canadian troops participate in a major attack against Flers-Courcelette on the Somme battlefield in France.

16 SEPTEMBER 1910
The cruiser Niobe, formerly of the Royal Navy, becomes the second warship to join the Canadian navy, arriving at Halifax in October.

17 SEPTEMBER 1944
Commencement of the ill-fated Operation Market Garden, a bold attempt by Allied forces to bring the Second World War to an end by crossing the Rhine using a combined airborne drop and armoured advance.

18 SEPTEMBER 1941
Vancouver’s Asahi baseball club plays its last game as Japanese Canadians are sent into exile or internment camps.

19 SEPTEMBER 1955
A five-month strike involving 17,000 General Motors auto workers hits Ontario’s industrial heartland.

20 SEPTEMBER 1943
His Majesty’s Canadian Ship St. Croix is torpedoed and sunk south of Iceland by U-305. Five officers and 76 others are picked up by HMS Itchen, but the British ship is lost two days later.

21 SEPTEMBER 1902
Alberta’s first oil strike is drilled in what is now Waterton Lakes National Park.

22 SEPTEMBER 1952
Southeast of Cho-do Island, HMCS Nootka, a Tribal-class destroyer, is patrolling near the Chinnampo approaches when she detects an unidentified ship and gives chase. She succeeds in cutting off an enemy minelayer and taking several prisoners who yield valuable information regarding enemy mine laying operations.

23 SEPTEMBER 1944
Canadian forces commence their pursuit of German forces that have been broken during battles for the Gothic and Rimini lines in Italy.

24 SEPTEMBER 1950
Smoke from forest fires blacks out the sun over Eastern Canada and New England.

25 SEPTEMBER 1940
The Royal Canadian armed merchant cruiser Prince Robert captures the German merchant ship Weser attempting to break through the Allied blockade off Mexico.

26 SEPTEMBER 1969
At Bagotville, Que., 433 Squadron is formed under Lieutenant-Colonel Claude LaFrance.

27 SEPTEMBER 1991
Legionnaire Jack Jolleys is named Dominion President following the death of Dominion President Fred Williams.

28 SEPTEMBER 1942
A Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft, flown by Squadron Leader K.A. Boomer, destroys a Japanese seaplane over Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

29 SEPTEMBER 1962
Alouette 1, Canada’s first satellite, is launched at Cape Canaveral.

30 SEPTEMBER 1946
In Germany, 22 Nazi leaders are found guilty of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.

For ‘ON THIS DATE’ October Events, come back to legionmagazine.com on October 1st, 2010