Reconnaissance vehicles of the British Guards
Armoured Division in Belgium during the
Allied advance on Brussels

September 1-3
Western Front, France/Belgium
The British Guards and 11th Armored Divisions, both part of the British XXX Corps, reach Arras and Aubigny. The Canadian II Corps, part of the Canadian First Army, liberates Dieppe.

On the 2nd, XXX Corps is instructed to slow its advance and await a projected paratroop drop. With the cancellation of the drop, the advance resumes again. The 32nd and 5th Brigades of the Guards Armored Division begin a race for Brussels, which is won by the 32nd Brigade on the 3rd. On the same day, the British XII Corps is bogged down in fighting around the town of Béthune.

September 2
Politics, Finland
Finland accepts the preliminary conditions for a peace treaty with the Soviet Union and breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany. The Soviet Union then agrees to an armistice.

Those Allied troops who liberated Brussels
experienced something akin to a Roman
triumph on the streets of the city

Eastern Front, Bulgaria
The Red Army reaches the Bulgarian border.

September 3
Western Front, France/Belgium
The US First Army takes Tournai and three German corps are crushed. The British Second Army liberates Brussels.

September 4
Western Front, Belgium
The British Second Army liberates the port of Antwerp.

Italy, Adriatic Sector
The British Eighth Army fails to breach the Gemmano-Coriano Ridge on the Gothic Line. The ridge is the pivot point of the German Tenth Army's second line of defense, and as such it is strongly held, particularly by antitank weapons. An attack by the British 2nd Armored Brigade, for example, is defeated easily, with the British losing over half their tanks.

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