Pacific Campaign: American Navy Construction Battalion personnel, Seabees, began to arrive at Guadalcanal.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 230+ aircraft attack on Saarbrucken, Germany. Pathfinder force used. Target was missed, most bombs hit the neighbouring town of Saarlouis

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 200+ aircraft attack on Karlsruhe, Germany. Pathfinder force used. Reconnaissance photographs showed some damage to the city

Eastern Front: German forces reach the suburbs of Stalingrad. Men & boys conscripted into the Soviet Army

Chief of State of Vichy France Philippe Pétain and Prime Minister Pierre Laval create what will become the Service du travail obligatoire (STO).

Irish Republican Army riots occur in Belfast during the night.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 250+ aircraft attack on Bremen, Germany. Pathfinder force used. Serious damage to the city. Weser aircraft factory and Atlas shipyard damaged

Manhattan Engineering District is formally created, and full-effort production of the atomic bomb is begun.

Pacific Campaign: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese forces at Milne Bay, Papua, the first outright defeat for Japanese land forces in the Pacific War. Their evacuation and the failure to establish airbase ease the threat to Australia.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 200+ aircraft attack on Duisburg, Germany. Cloud and haze over the city, but serious damage still caused

Eastern Front: German forces reach the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

German Heavyweight Boxing Title Walter Neusel (Germany) beat Adolf Heuser (Germany) Rsf 9, Deutschlandhalle, Berlin.

Football International:Croatia 6-1 Slovakia, Stadion Concordije, Zagreb

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 250+ aircraft attack on Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Pathfinders were unable to locate the city. Some damage was recorded to the Opel tank factory and Michelin tyre factory

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 480+ aircraft attack on Dusseldorf, Germany. Pathfinders find and successfully marked the target. Dusseldorf & Neuss were damaged and production was disrupted

The Laconia incident: RMS Laconia, carrying civilians, Allied soldiers, and Italian POWs, is torpedoed by German Submarine U-156. Realising that the passengers were primarily POWs and civilians, immediately began rescue operations whilst flying the Red Cross flag.

Pacific Campaign: The start of the Battle of Edson's Ridge, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. American forces attempt to force Japanese forces off the ridge that overlooks the American positions around Henderson Field.

The Laconia incident: German submarine commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein sends a coded radio message to the Befehlshaber der U-Boote alerting them to the situation. It read: "Sunk by Hartenstein, British Laconia, Qu FF7721, 310 deg. Unfortunately with 1,500 Italian POWs; 90 fished out of the water so far. Request orders.” The head of submarine operations, Admiral Karl Dönitz, immediately ordered seven U-boats from the wolfpack Eisbär, which had been gathering to take part in a planned surprise attack on Cape Town to divert to the scene to pick up survivors. Dönitz then informed Berlin of the situation and actions he had taken. Hitler was furious and ordered that the rescue be abandoned. Admiral Erich Raeder ordered Dönitz to disengage the Eisbär boats, and send them to Cape Town as per the original plan. Raeder then ordered German submarines U-506, U-507, and Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini to intercept Hartenstein to take on his survivors and then proceed to the Laconia site and rescue any Italians they could find. Raeder also requested the Vichy French to send warships from Dakar and Ivory Coast to collect the Italian survivors from the three submarines. Hartenstein then broadcast a message on the 25-meter band in English—not in code—to all shipping in the area, giving his position, requesting assistance with the rescue effort, and promising not to attack. It read: "If any ship will assist the shipwrecked Laconia crew I will not attack her, providing I am not being attacked by ship or air force. I picked up 193 men. 4°-53” South, 11°-26” West. – German submarine.” The British in Freetown intercepted this message but, believing it might be a ruse of war, refused to credit it.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 440+ aircraft attack on Bremen, Germany. Pathfinders find and successfully marked the target. Serious damage was reported including the Lloyd dynamo works and Focke-Wulf aircraft factory. Bremen Gauleiter Wegener announces in the local newspaper that the Furher has specifically instructed me to express to you all his admiration and appreciation for your bravery and disciplined behaviour

Eastern Front: German forces surround Stalingrad and push into the city. Russian General Vasily Chuikov is put in charge of the defence of the city

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 200+ aircraft attack on Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Pathfinders find and successfully marked the target. Serious damage reported to the city

Pacific Campaign: End start of the Battle of Edson's Ridge, Solomon Islands. American victory. Japanese forces retreat from near Henderson Field.

Pacific Campaign: Japanese forces are now within 30 miles of Port Moresby, New Guinea, on the Kokoda trail.

The Laconia incident: U-156 remained on the surface at the scene for the next two-and-a-half days. At 11:30 a.m. on 15 September, she was joined by U-506, and a few hours later by both U-507 and the Comandante Cappellini. The four submarines, with lifeboats in tow and hundreds of survivors standing on their decks, headed for the African coastline and a rendezvous with the Vichy French surface warships that had set out from Senegal and Dahomey.

The Laconia incident: German submarine U-156 had remained on the surface for 2 days overlooking the lifeboats & survivors and was joined on the scene by German submarines U-506, U-507 and the Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini. The four submarines, with lifeboats in tow and hundreds of survivors standing on their decks, headed for the African coastline and a rendezvous with the Vichy French surface warships that had set out from Senegal and Dahomey.

The Laconia incident: During the night the rescue submarines became separated. German submarine U-156 was spotted by American Consolidated B-24 Liberator flying from a secret base on the British Ascension Island. The submarine was travelling with a Red Cross flag draped across her gun deck. Hartenstein signalled to the pilot in both Morse code and English requesting assistance. A British officer also messaged the aircraft: "RAF officer speaking from a German submarine, Laconia survivors on board, soldiers, civilians, women, children.” American aircraft returned under orders and attacked German submarines, attacking with bombs and depth charges. One landed among the lifeboats in tow behind U-156, killing dozens of survivors

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 370+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany. Pathfinders find and successfully marked the target. Serious damage to Krupps works

The Laconia incident: American Consolidated B-24 Liberator spots German submarine U-506, which had 151 survivors on board including nine women and children, and attacked. On the first run the bombs failed to drop, U-506 crash-dived and on the second run the B-24 dropped two 500 lb bombs and two 350 lb depth charges but they caused no damage. All survivors from the Laconia were eventually rescued from the submarines by Vichy French warships. Of Laconia’s original complement of 2,741, only 1,083 survived. Of the 1,658 who died, 1,420 were Italian POWs. Some estimates put the death toll as 1,757.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 110+ aircraft attack on Danzig, Germany. Minelaying attack on the Baltic Sea city

Eastern Front: Battle of the "grain silo" in Stalingrad; the Germans are beaten back. The Red Army begins ferrying troops across the Volga at night.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 110+ aircraft attack on Saarbrucken, Germany. Pathfinder force used. Target was missed, and most bombs scatted over town

European Lightweight Boxing Title Roberto Proietti (Italy) beat Ascenzo Botta (Italy) Pts 12, Stadio del PNF, Rome.

Football International: Germany 2-2 Sweden, Olympiastadion, Berlin

Then end of The Grossaktion Warschau ("Great Action Warsaw"). The last transport was sent to Treblinka from the Polish capital with 2,196 victims. It includes Jewish police involved with deportations and their families. Between 254,000-265,000 Warsaw Ghetto inmates, men, women and children, were sent to Treblinka and exterminated there usually on their day of arrival

Pacific Campaign: Third Battle of Matanikau River, Guadalcanal, Japanese naval bombardment and landing forces nearly destroy Henderson Field in an attempt to take it, but the land forces are soon driven back.

The Laconia incident: In response to the incident, German Admiral Karl Dönitz issued an order named Triton Null, later known as the Laconia Order. In it, Dönitz prohibited U-boat crews from attempting rescues; survivors were to be left in the sea. Even afterwards, U-boats still occasionally provided aid for survivors.

World Featherweight Boxing Title Chalky Wright (USA) beat Lulu Constantino (USA) Ko 10, Madison Square Garden, New York City.

Jews trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto begin to construct fortified bunkers to defend themselves

European Welterweight Boxing Title Marcel Cerdan (France) beat Jose Ferrer (Spain) Rsf 1, Velodrome d'Hiver, Paris.

Baseball World Series Game 1: New York Yankees 7-4 St Louis Cardinals, Sportsman's Park, St Louis