SprueStack Zero Hour: WW2 day by day

8 October 1939

What happened on this day in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with a source for every entry.

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Each day we list events from the Second World War that happened on that date, from 1939 to 1945. Every entry names its source and links to it, so you can read further. Entries are sourced and machine-screened before they go up, a subset is human-reviewed, and we add more over time.

4 sourced entries for this date.

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Entries

At sea

Coast Guard cutter Campbell joins U.S. passenger liner Iroquois, followed later by destroyers Davis (DD-395) and Benham (DD-397). The four ships proceed in company to New York (see 11 October).

Source US Navy chronology (NHHC) (opens external site)
8 October: in a major victory the Chinese army inflicts heavy losses to the Japanese at Changsha forcing them to retreat to Yueyang.

Source Wikipedia (opens external site)
Diplomatic record

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

Source FRUS, US State Dept (opens external site)
Diplomatic record

The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State

Source FRUS, US State Dept (opens external site)

Sources listed with each entry. Spotted an error? Tell us.

8 October in other years 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944

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8 October 1939

Entries

Coast Guard cutter Campbell joins U.S. passenger liner Iroquois, followed later by destroyers Davis (DD-395) and Benham (DD-397). The four ships proceed in company to New York (see 11 October).

8 October: in a major victory the Chinese army inflicts heavy losses to the Japanese at Changsha forcing them to retreat to Yueyang.

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State

Talk about it