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September 23rd, 1940 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Battle of Britain:

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. 10 Sqn. Whitley P4946 damaged by flak. Plt Off Bridson and crew unhurt. 77 Sqn. P5046:O Missing from Berlin and ditched in North Sea. Two men found in dinghy on 26th, one dead. Plt Off A.W. Dunn and Sgts D.A. Gibbons and B.L. Saville missing. Sgt D.B. Allen dead. Sgt G.H. Riley rescued injured. 77 Sqn. P4992:L belly landed at Appleton Yorks. Plt Off A.C. Akroyd-Stuart and crew safe.

Bombing - Calais docks - industrial targets at Berlin - ‘Razzling’.

10 Sqn. Three aircraft to Calais. All bombed.

51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Primary obscured, all bombed alternatives.

77 Sqn. Six aircraft to Berlin. One returned early, rest bombed with good results. One ditched on return, one man rescued.

78 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Seven bombed primary, two bombed alternatives at Wismar and Hamburg.

RAF Fighter Command: The weather is fine today and during the day the Luftwaffe flew fighter sweeps towards London. A major attack by some 200 Luftwaffe aircraft developed over East Kent, the Estuary and South Essex at 0930 hours. It is broken up by RAF fighters and the London area is not penetrated. At about 1730 hours a second attack of lesser importance and covering a more restricted area, involving about 100 German aircraft, took place in East Kent. Reconnaissance activity is on a minor scale and is confined to the East Anglian Coast and Southwards to Cornwall. In the East between 1030 and 1300 hours reconnaissance flights are made off the East Anglian Coast. In the South East between 0600 and 0900 hours three reconnaissances are made in the North Foreland - Dungeness area. At 0926 hours a formation numbering 100 Luftwaffe aircraft crossed the coast at Dover. This is joined at 0941 by three other raids totalling 80 German aircraft. At 0935 hours a section of nine aircraft detached itself from the main body and flew West along the South Coast to Hastings. The remainder spread out from Dover towards Maidstone and over the Estuary into Essex. At about 1015 hours a formation of 12 Luftwaffe aircraft came out from Dunkirk, France, heading for the North Foreland but turned southwest joining other Luftwaffe aircraft leaving Rye. None of the above raids entered the London area. Twenty-four RAF fighter squadrons are detailed to the attack and casualties are inflicted. At 1330 hours a RAF Anson spotting for big guns firing from Dover and escorted by two Spitfires, is attacked by nine Bf 109s. The Anson is compelled to land, but the Spitfires shot down one Bf109 and damaged another. At 1730 hours 40 German aircraft flew to the North Foreland, turned into the Estuary, crossed inland at Sheppey and flew South to Rye. At about the same time 55 aircraft crossed the coast between Folkestone and Dover. The attack lasted for only a short time and is confined to the area East of a line Sheppey - Rye. Twelve RAF fighter squadrons are detailed to the attack, but no casualties on either side are reported. At 1930 hours two raids by single aircraft flew to Northolt from Beachy Head, recrossing the coast at Shoreham. In the South between 0900 and 1030 hours four tracks are plotted in the Devon - Cornwall area flying North. At 1300 hours reconnaissances are made in the Isle of Wight area Eastwards, including a single aircraft reported to have been active in the Beachy Head area. At 1605 hours a reconnaissance by one aircraft is made over Portsmouth. In the English Channel and Straits in the early morning and again between 1300 and 1700 hours considerable activity took place off the French Coast and as far North as the Dutch Islands.

London was under Red Alert from 19:56 to 05:27 and fire engulfed Clarnico's, trapping over 100 in the factory's basement shelter. By midnight 24 serious fires were burning in West Ham. Searchlights were exposed 220 times, 7 times illuminating raiders for 42 AA sites which loosed off 5,565 rounds. A Vickers Twin Mk 8 firing from Waltham Cross exploded a descending mine, and SM11 guns brought down a He-111H-3 of KG26 at Chobham.

     During the night of 23/24 September, there are attacks on London and Merseyside. At 1945 the usual stream of Luftwaffe aircraft started from East of Baie De la Seine, France, area, crossing the coast at Beachy Head. At the same time a number of German tracks also appeared from the direction of Antwerp, Belgium, crossing the coast at Harwich and spreading out inland towards Bury St Edmunds where they turned southwest towards the London area. From 2100 - 2300 hours intense activity continued from the French, Belgian and Dutch Coasts. During this period, ten raids originated from Cherbourg, 22 from Le Havre and 10 from Dieppe, all crossing the coast between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill, and converging on west and central London via Kenley and Biggin Hill. From the Belgian coast about ten raids and from Antwerp area 12 raids originated, mostly entering north of Harwich and spreading over most of East Anglia, penetrating to Digby, Duxford, East and North London. After 2300 hours there is a lull in raids originating from Belgium but others began to come across from Holland, the tracks being intermingled with returning RAF bombers. One raid is reported to have attacked Newmarket. Activity from the French Coast also decreased in intensity, but a constant stream is maintained from this direction. About 2030 hours there are about six raids in the Liverpool area. Subsequently isolated raids visited this area and also the Midlands, including one or two as far as Preston. Only minor activity occurred in South Wales and the West Country. Minelaying from Humber to Firth of Forth is suspected. By 0345 hours only one raid remained in the London area, and a few between London and the South Coast. Elsewhere activity had almost ceased.

     RAF Fighter Command claim 11-6-6 Luftwaffe aircraft and anti-aircraft batteries claimed 0-1-0. The RAF lost 11 aircraft with 3 pilots missing.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 9; RAF, 11.

London: King George has instituted a new decoration, to be called the George Cross, for "deeds of valour by civilian men and women in all walks of life". It will rank with the Victoria Cross and be worn in front of all other decorations.

The King himself announced the award in a broadcast from Buckingham Palace during an air raid last night. "It is London that is for the time being bearing the brunt of the enemy's spite," he told the nation. "I am speaking to you now from Buckingham Palace, with its honourable scars, to Londoners first of all. The Queen and I have seen many of the places which have been most heavily bombed."

He thanked the ARP workers of the capital "who work on regardless of danger, though the sirens have sounded, and all who night after night uncomplainingly endure discomfort, hardship and peril in their homes and shelters. The walls of London may be battered but the spirit of the Londoner stands resolute and undismayed." The George Medal is also being instituted for civilians, to rank with decorations for gallantry. Bomb disposal men are expected to be among those to receive the GC.

Holders of the Empire Gallantry Medal can now also exchange their EGM's for GCs.

Destroyers HMS Hamilton, Bath, Brighton, Charlestown, Georgetown, Roxborough, St Albans and St Marys commissioned.

Light cruiser HMS Nigeria commissioned.

Destroyer HMCS Iroquois launched Newcastle-on-Tyne.

 

GERMANY:

Himmler orders that all gold teeth are to be removed from dead camp inmates, the proceeds to go into an SS account in the Reichsbank under the name of Max Heiliger.

Berlin: - Last night an old German acquaintance dropped in on me. He's in the Luftwaffe now, and for the last three weeks has been a member of the crew of a night bomber which has been working on London. He had some interesting details. ...

My friend says quite frankly that they have the highest admiration for their British adversaries - for their skill and their bravery. They're particularly fond of one British fighter pilot, he relates, who roars into a fight with a cigarette stuck at a smart angle between his lips. If this man is ever shot down on the German side, the German airmen have sworn to hide him and not to hand him over as a prisoner of war.

Berlin Diary by William Shirer.

In naval grid BF 17 U-48 and U-99 search for a crashed German He 111 aircraft.

 

WEST AFRICA:

Dakar Expedition - Operation 'Menace'.

Because of Dakar's strategic importance to the North and South Atlantic routes, an expedition is mounted to acquire the port for Allied use. Free French troops led by Gen. de Gaulle are carried in ships escorted and supported by units of the Home Fleet and Force H under the command of Vice-Adm John Cunningham. They include battleships HMS Barham (84) and HMS Resolution (09), carrier HMS Ark Royal (91), three heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, ten destroyers, two sloops, an antisubmarine trawler, six troop transports, five freighters, a tanker, 21 fighters, 25 torpedo planes and 8,000 men including Free French. French Naval forces at Dakar include the unfinished battleship FR 'Richelieu' two light cruisers which recently arrived from Toulon, three destroyers, a fleet torpedo boat, four escort or patrol boats, five auxiliary cruisers, and three submarines..

Attempts to negotiate fail and as Vichy French ships attempt to leave harbour, shore batteries open fire, damaging heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland and two destroyers. Shortly afterwards, the Vichy submarine Persee is sunk by gunfire and large destroyer L'Audacieux disabled by HMAS Australia (D 84) and beached. A Free French landing is beaten off.

 

FRENCH INDOCHINA:

Hanoi. With just two hours to go before its ultimatum expired, Japan has gained a strategic foothold in French Indochina, allowing it to station troops and aircraft in Tonking so that it can prevent supplies reaching China from the south.

The decision by the governor-general, Admiral Decoux, to capitulate to Japanese demands led to an immediate protest from China. Under the deal Japan can use three airbases in Indochina and station 62,000 troops there.

AUSTRALIA: The government agrees to form the 9th Division in the U.K. around the 18th and 25th Brigades. The 24th Brigade had been formed in July and assigned to the 8th Division but it is transferred to the new 9th Division. Australian Lieutenant General Thomas Blamey is critical of forming a new division with two highly trained brigades and another, the 27th, yet to be formed.
     The War Cabinet agrees to send the 7th Division to the Middle East after receiving a request from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Minesweeper HMAS Mildura laid down.

 

CANADA: The second group of eight "overage" USN destroyers to be turned over to the RN in exchange for bases in the Western Hemisphere are transferred to RN crews at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

USS Abbot (DD-184), commissioned as HMS Charlestown (I-21), USS Foote (DD-169), commissioned as HMS Roxborough (I-07), USS Hopewell (DD-181), commissioned as HMS Bath (I-17), and USS Doran (DD-185), commissioned as HMS St Marys ( I-12), USS Maddox (DD-168), commissioned as HMS Georgetown (I-40), USS Thomas (DD-182), commissioned as HMS St Albans (I-15), and USS Kalk (DD-170), commissioned as HMCS Hamilton (I-24), as part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)

Armed yacht HMCS Elk arrived Bermuda and assigned America and West Indies Station.

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