September 27th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - installations at Lorient Naval base.
10 Sqn. Twelve aircraft. All bombed.
RAF Fighter Command: London, Bristol, heavily escorted bombers raid aircraft factories, but big losses are inflicted by the RAF.
At night London, the Midlands and Merseyside are raided.
Erpro Gr 210 makes its final fighter-bomber attack on the British Isles. Escorted by I./ZG 26 it attacks Bristol, but suffers five losses, including the new Kommandeur, Hptm Martin Lutz, to Hurricanes of 504 Squadron.
Observer Corps reported six large bombers circling Kenley. The only bombs though are reported in the Dover area. Ju88s of KG 77 attempted two raids on London and lost 13 of their number to British fighters. Bf110s of LG 1 fared little better, losing seven on their number over Kent and Surrey.
The weather is fair in the extreme south and southwest and cloudy in the English Channel with light rain over southern England.
During the day, there are three major attacks on London and South-East England, and one smaller attack on Filton. Balloons are attacked at Dover. About 0900 hours, some 180 German aircraft (100 fighters and 80 bombers) crossed the Coast between Folkestone and Dover in six formations at heights varying from 15,00 to 20,000 feet (2 572 to 6 096 meters). RAF No 11 Group sent up 13 fighter squadrons to meet this attack and 11 of these Squadrons intercepted. RAF No 12 Group provided four fighter squadrons to patrol North Weald and Hornchurch. The attack is halted in the Maidstone - Tonbridge area but some Luftwaffe aircraft penetrated to Central and West London. By 0943 hours, raids are dispersing over the Coast from Shoreham to Dungeness. Between 1147 and 1215 hours, six formations totalling 300 German aircraft crossed the coast between Dover and Lympne at heights varying from 12,000 to 29,000 feet (3 658 to 8 839 meters), and headed towards the Chatham area. Twenty fighter squadrons are sent up and the main engagements took place over Kent and East Sussex. Luftwaffe formations encountered are principally composed of fighters. German dispersal commenced at 1230 hours and is practically completed by 1300 hours. Between 1500 and 1526 hours, nine formations totaling about 160 Luftwaffe aircraft, of which probably half are bombers, crossed the coast between Dover and Brighton at an average height of 22,000 feet (6 706 meters) and flew towards South London. The German formations are intercepted but about 20 aircraft appeared to penetrate to the Central London area. The last raids had recrossed the coast by about 1600 hours. At 1120 hours two formations consisting of about 25 bombers escorted by 45 Me 110s and some Bf 109s, crossed the coast near Swanage and flew to Filton. At Frome, the Bf 109s turned back. Eight RAF fighter squadrons are despatched to meet the attack, one of which intercepted and dispersed the Luftwaffe formations before they reached the Bristol Aeroplane Co's Works, but Filton RAF Station is attacked from 11,000 feet (3 353 meters). Formations are also intercepted on their return journey. At 1143 hours, Dover Balloons are unsuccessfully attacked by three Bf 109s. During the greater part of the day, the Germans maintain patrols in the Channel. In the evening, there is some reconnaissance activity off the South-East Coast, in the Estuary, and off East Anglia, the last probably being shipping reconnaissances over a convoy.
During the night, there is further raids on London, Merseyside and the Midlands. Luftwaffe activity is chiefly directed towards London from the French Coast and lasted from 1940 hours to 0600 hours, with a brief lull from 0215 to 0315 hours. Edinburgh, Scotland, is visited just after dusk and there are scattered raids in the Liverpool District, Birmingham and Nottingham, mostly up to midnight. Between 1930 and 2100 hours, there are 18 raids to the London area which originated from Dieppe and Le Havre, France. Nine raids from Cherbourg, France, crossed the Coast between Swanage and Selsey and made for the Bristol Channel area, some proceeding to Liverpool. Four raids from the direction of Denmark crossed the coast North of St Abb's Head and proceeded to Edinburgh, after visiting a convoy. Between 2100 and 0100 hours, 55 raids are plotted of which the majority proceeded to London from Cherbourg and Dieppe, France. A few of these went as far North as Duxford. Two or three raids visited the Liverpool district as well as one each to Birmingham and Nottingham. By 2300 hours the Western half of the Country is clear. Between 0100 and 0600 hours, raids continued to come in fairly steadily from the French Coast to the London area until 0215 hours. Activity in the remainder of the Country is very slight. At 0315 hours, there is renewed activity from the Abbeville, France, area to London crossing the coast between Bexhill and Hastings. This stream continued until about 0600 hours when the last raids are recrossing the coast.
RAF Fighter Command claimed 131-33-52 Luftwaffe aircraft while antiaircraft batteries claimed 2-2-0. The RAF lost 27 aircraft with 18 pilots killed or missing.Losses: Luftwaffe, 55; RAF, 28.
Light cruisers HMS Kenya and Phoebe commissioned.
Submarine HMS Unique commissioned.
FRANCE: All Jews are forced to carry special identity cards.
BELGIUM: Eighty brand-new Italian Br.20M bombers have been assigned to 13th and 43rd Stormo and these units are transfered from Italy to Belgium today. The extremely bad weather conditions caused only 63 planes to arrive to their assigned bases of Melsbroech (13th St.) and Chivres (43rd St.). Twelve more Br.20s will arrive over the next several days, but five were lost in crash-landings. These units will begin the Italian contribution to the "Blitz". (Ferdinando d'Amico)
GERMANY: Professor Dr. Franz Six, an SS colonel, is appointed to head the German secret police in Britain in the event of an invasion.
Berlin: Today, in the Berlin chancellery, the Japanese ambassador, Saburo Kurusu, put his signature to a tri-partite pact which extends the Rome-Berlin Axis to the Far East. In a move clearly directed at the United States, the three countries pledge themselves to aid one another with "all political, economic and military means" should one of them be attacked by "a power not involved in the European war."
Japan accepts the hegemony of Germany and Italy in Europe, and they in turn recognise Japan's right to organise "the Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere". The pact contains a clause promising to preserve the status quo in relations with the Soviet Union.
In Washington, Roosevelt called his defence advisers to the White House to review the implications of the pact. Asked if he had expected Japan to join the Axis the President said: "Yes and No".
A navy department spokesman said that the pact would not mean any change of policy. The navy, he said, would continue to be based at Pearl Harbor.
CANADA: The first group of Australian airmen to be trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia.
UNITED STATES: In Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called his defense advisers to the White House to review the implications of the tripartite pact between Germany, Italy and Japan. Asked if he had expected Japan to join the Axis the President said: "Yes and No." A US Navy Department spokesman said that the pact would not mean any change of policy. The navy, he said, would continue to be based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. (Andy Etherington)
ICELAND: Second Hand John Henry Mitchell (1917-72) ran 100 yards and clambered over three ships to rescue two seamen from freezing waters. (Albert Medal)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-31 sank SS Vestvard.
U-37 sank SS Georges Mabro.