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http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/sep39/08sep39.htm

Germans advance reaches Warsaw
Friday, September 8, 1939

In Poland... The German 4th Panzer Division, spearheading the German 10th Army (Reichenau) reaches the Warsaw suburb of Ochota, in the southeast, late in the day (having advanced 225 km in 7 days). The Polish garrison commander in Warsaw, General Czuma, broadcasts a defiant Order of the Day: “We shall fight to the last ditch!” Some 100,000 Polish civilians in Warsaw are engaged in digging trenches on the city outskirts. Meanwhile, other elements of the German 10th Army are heavily engaged around Radom, only 60 miles south of Warsaw; about 60,000 Polish troops are encircled to the west of Radom. The German 14th Army (List) reaches the San River north and south of Przemysl. In the north, the German 19th Panzer Corps (Guderian) is attacking along the line of the Bug River to the east of Warsaw.

On the Western Front... A group of 5 Curtiss Hawk fighters of l’Armee de l’Air (French air force) engage 5 Me109 fighters and claim to shoot down 2 of the German planes.

In London... In response to what the British government declares to be German resort to unrestricted submarine warfare, the government announces a long-range blockade of Germany, broadening the original blockade announced on September 3rd. Also, the government revives the convoy system for merchant ships. Three protected routes are established, two from Liverpool and from the Thames to the Atlantic, one from the Thames and the Firth of Forth.

In Washington... Roosevelt proclaims a state of “limited national emergency,” citing the war in Europe which “imposes on the United States certain duties with respect to the proper observance, safeguarding and enforcement” of its neutral status “and the strengthening of the national defense within the limits of peacetime authorizations.” All US military forces are authorized to increase enlisted manpower strength and to recall reservists to active duty.