August 28th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Dortmund
and Dusseldorf - airframe factory at Dessau.
10 Sqn. Two aircraft each to Dortmund and Dusseldorf. All bombed primaries.
102 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Dessau. All bombed primary.
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command reports airfields at Eastchurch and Rochford
attacked, with Luftwaffe
fighters flying in sweeps across southern Britain.
After further heavy losses the Defiant fighter will now be pulled out of the daylight battle.
At night much heavier raiding begins - around 160 bombers raid Merseyside, 180 operate elsewhere, yet in 600 sorties by night, Luftlotte 3 has lost only 7 aircraft.
During the early hours Gillingham is dive-bombed, probably in error, hundreds of
incendiaries are released, damaging 20 houses and killing 16 people.
He-111s of II and III/KG 53 and Do17s of I/KG 3 escorted by Bf109s of I and III/JG
51 proceed north near Sandwich and are met by 501 and 615 Hurricane Squadrons
along with 264 Squadrons Defiants. They were unable to prevent the Dorniers from
reaching Eastchurch and Heinkels from raiding Rochford. Eastchurch was seriously
damaged with two Battles destroyed and two damaged. Eight RAF fighters and six
pilots were lost for five enemy aircraft brought down.
Rochford was again attacked at 12:40 leaving some buildings damaged but failing
to catch 264 Squadron on the ground. Spitfires of 54 Squadron positioned at
30,000 feet dived upon the escort, Flt. Lt. Deere claiming a Bf109, Flt. Lt.
George Gribble another at the end of an 11-aircraft line, and Sqn. Ldr Leathart
a Dornier. In a quite astonishing chase of a Bf109 Gribble and Norwell ended the
fight so low that Gribble's shooting killed a cow. After landing he discovered
pieces of a tree lodged in his Spitfire, Deere was less fortunate and had to
bail out. As the raiders were approaching Rochford, Hurricanes on No.1 Squadron
downed a Do17 of 6/KG 3 on Rochford aerodrome, its crew becoming PoWs.
Afternoon fighting showed the success of a Bf109 and Bf110 seven element
excursion over Kent, which resulted in a wasteful fighter-versus-fighter
encounter with 16 aircraft lost on both sides. Dowding forbids further pointless
fighter engagements.
Night operations by beam-riding He-111s of KGr 100 include an attempt to pathfind
to Liverpool and Sealand RAF base near Chester. The bombers went so far astray
that the British thought that the Midlands and London area were the main
targets. The bombers also hit London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Derby, Manchester
and Sheffield. At Avonmouth (Bristol) the Shell Mex installations and the
National Smelting Co. works were hit, Coventry shops and houses were damaged and
in Altrincham (Cheshire) a 50,000 gallon oil tank at the Anglo-American oil
depot caught fire.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 30; RAF, 20.
U-101 sank SS Elle in Convoy SC-1.
U-28 sank SS Kyno in Convoy
HX-66.
VICHY FRANCE:
The government breaks off relations with European governments in exile.
ITALIAN SOMALILAND:
The South African Air Force bombs Italian bases in Somaliland. 11 Squadron SAAF
dive bomb a "substantial vehicle park" at Mogadishu with their Fairey Battles
and claim the destruction of 800 trucks. However, when Mogadishu is later
captured, the trucks are discovered to be worn out wrecks that had been dumped
there in 1936 after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.
FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: Free French Commandant De Lange leads his battalion in a march on the Government Palace in Brazzaville, Congo. Vichy General Husson yields power without resistance but in protest. General de Larminat arrives by boat from Leopoldville, Belgian Congo to take power in the name of Free France. Governor de Saint Mart in Bangui, Ubangi, receives a telegram reporting events in Brazzaville and declares the colony's adhesion to Free France. The local garrison threatens a coup d'etat but General de Larminat arrives by airplane and to defuses the situation with an offer to return Pro-Vichy officers to Dakar in French West Africa.
U.S.A.: The USN destroyers USS Biddle (DD-151) and USS Blakeley (DD-150) escort U.S. Army transport USAT American Legion on the final leg of her voyage from Petsamo, Finland, to New York City. The 40 mm Bofors gun she carries is subsequently shipped to the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia.