September 4, 1939

1939Denis Lindsay, South African cricketer and referee (died 2005)^[†]

Denis Thomson Lindsay was a South African cricketer who played 19 Test matches for South Africa between 1963 and 1970. His outstanding series was against Australia in 1966–67, when he scored 606 runs in seven innings, including three centuries, took 24 catches as wicketkeeper and conceded only six byes.

1939World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany.^[†]

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.