Hitler told a crowd at a rally in Berlin: "When the British air force drops two or three or four thousand kilograms of bombs, then we will in one night drop 150, 230, 300 or 400 thousand kilograms - we will raze their cities to the ground."
With Romania in a state of near-revolution due to public anger at the Second Vienna Award, King Carol II summoned Ion Antonescu to the palace and asked him to form a government. Discussions were held with representatives of the political parties but no result was reached.
King Carol II reluctantly agreed to give full powers to Ion Antonescu, but the mood of the country remained volatile. With gunfire ringing out near the Royal Palace, Antonescu visited Carol again that evening and demanded that the king abdicate.
Oil storage tanks at Thameshaven were among the day's targets of German bombers. Fires broke out at Thameshaven that could be seen from London.
Ion Antonescu became the leader of Romania. On September 14 he would take for himself the title of Conducător.
The Germans bombed Grantham, the headquarters of No. 5 Group RAF. Grantham would be bombed eleven more times through the end of the year and for a while had the distinction of being the most frequently bombed town in all of England.
The Blitz began when the Luftwaffe shifted its focus from bombing British airfields and aircraft factories to conducting terror raids on London and other major cities in response to British bombing of Berlin. This proved to be a mistake, as it would give RAF Fighter Command much-needed time to regroup.
Italian Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani agreed to begin an offensive against the British in North Africa the following day, after Benito Mussolini threatened to dismiss him if he did not.
Winston Churchill gave a radio address saying that a German invasion of Britain could not be delayed for much longer if it was to be tried at all, so "we must regard the next week or so as a very important week for us in our history. It ranks with the days when the Spanish Armada was approaching the Channel and Drake was finishing his game of bowls, or when Nelson stood between us and Napoleon's Grand Army at Boulogne. We have read about all this in the history books, but what is happening now is on a far greater scale and of far more consequence to the life and future of the world and its civilization than those brave old days of the past. Every man and woman will therefore prepare himself and herself to do his duty whatever it may be, with special pride and care."
Prehistoric cave paintings were discovered in the Lascaux Cave near Montignac, France. The paintings are mostly of animals and are some of the finest examples of art from the Upper Paleolithic age.
U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo Joseph Grew warned Secretary of State Hull that Japan might treat an American embargo on oil exports as sanctions and retaliate.
The large-scale air battle known as Battle of Britain Day was fought. Believing the RAF was near its breaking point, the Luftwaffe mounted an all-out offensive, sending two huge waves of about 250 bombers each to bomb London and surrounding areas. The RAF managed to scatter many of the German bomber formations and shoot down 61 planes while losing 31 in return, inflicting a clear and decisive defeat on the Germans.
Hitler sent a letter to Francisco Franco asking for Germany to be granted naval bases in the Canary Islands and other places. Franco would reject the request a week later by asking for an excessive amount of compensation in return.
Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard von Lossberg prepared the Lossberg study on the planned German invasion of the Soviet Union.
The Royal Air Force bombed German invasion barges in ports along the French coast. After the attack, Hitler ordered the barges dispersed.
1924 Democratic presidential candidate John W. Davis delivered a speech to a U.S. Senate sub-committee proposing an amendment to the Constitution that would limit the President to serving one term lasting six years with no possibility of re-election. "We think we do better if we employ our servants in the executive branch for fixed and certain terms," Davis explained. "We want them to realize that what they do they must do within the allotted span of their official lives ... Six years is long enough in which to do all the good one man is likely to accomplish, if he thinks first of his country and not of himself."
In the Western Approaches, the German submarine U-47 spotted the lightly escorted Allied convoy HX 72. Other U-boats were radioed to the area and the wolfpack sank a total of 11 ships.
The British government officially approved the use of the London Underground as an air-raid shelter, long after civilians had started using it as one anyway.
King George VI gave a radio address from an underground air-raid shelter at Buckingham Palace. The King declared that Britain would be victorious with the aid of "our friends in the Americas." He also announced the creation of the George Cross and George Medal, new civilian awards for heroism.
The results of a Gallup poll were published asking Americans, "Which of these two things do you think is the most important for the United States to try to do — to keep out of war ourselves or to help England win, even at the risk of getting into the war?" 52% said help England, 48% said keep out.
In retaliation for the events at Dakar, Vichy French air forces attacked Gibraltar but did little damage.
Jimmie Foxx of the Boston Red Sox became the second member of the 500 home run club, hitting the historic round-tripper off George Caster in the sixth inning of a game against the Philadelphia Athletics. Foxx was only 32 years old and many observers expected him to surpass Babe Ruth's record of 714, but he would hit just 34 more in his career.
German submarine U-106, one of the most successful of the war, was commissioned.
Joachim von Ribbentrop alerted the German embassy in the Soviet Union that Japan was likely to join Italy and Germany in an alliance soon. Should this happen, the ambassador was instructed to reassure Moscow that this alliance was meant to deter the United States from entering the war and was not directed against Soviet interests.
The U.S. government placed an embargo on the exportation of scrap iron and steel to any country outside the Western Hemisphere excluding Britain, effective October 16.
Died:Walter Benjamin, 48, German Jewish philosopher and social critic (suicide)
The day before the annual two-week autumn vacation, school children in Berlin were told that they would be granted extra vacation time if their parents wanted them to go to the country or accept invitations from relatives in rural areas.