September 28th, 1941 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Dulverton commissioned.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: BOHEMIA-MORAVIA: Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia Reinhard Heydrich imposes martial law on six districts of the German Protectorate of Moravia and Bohemia created when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939..
U.S.S.R.: A conference in Moscow begins. Originally thought of at Placentia Bay in August, railroad magnate W. Averall Harriman from the US; Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook for the UK and Molotov meet regarding Lend-Lease and British Aid to Russia. This conference will last through October 1st.
MALTA: The entire population of Malta seems to have crowded the shoreline to cheer as three cruisers - their bands playing and crews lined up as though they had been on a peacetime cruise - led a vitally needed convoy into the Grand Harbour of Valetta today.
Few convoys have had a such a powerful escort: three battleships - HMS NELSON, HMS RODNEY and HMS Prince of Wales - the carrier HMS ARK ROYAL, five cruisers and 18 destroyers. They were shepherding nine fast merchant ships, totalling 81,000 tons, with 2,600 troops divided among the transports and warships.
Three days out from Gibraltar the convoy, codenamed Operation Halberd, came under fierce air attack, with HMS ARK ROYAL's fighters stretched to the limit. HMS NELSON was slowed down by a torpedo hit.
Despite reports that the Italian fleet had left port, no ship-to-ship encounters took place, although the convoy came under further torpedo attacks from the air with one transport, Imperial Star hit - but her troops were taken off before she sank.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:Corvette HMS Hyacinth attacked Italian submarine Fisalia near Jaffa (Palestine).
At 2205hrs U-331 began her
attempt to break through into the Mediterranean. Next morning at 0430hrs the
boat had successfully completed the passage.
NICARAGUA: Over 100
are killed as a hurricane strikes the Cabo Gracias area.
U.S.A.: Baseball, Boston Red Sox left fielder Ted
Williams is batting .399955 (.400 rounded) at the beginning of a double header
with the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on the final day
of the regular season. In the first game, Williams goes 4-for-5 as the Red Sox
defeat the A's 12-11; this raises his batting average to .404. In the second
game, Williams gets 2 hits in 3 times-at-bat and finishes the season with a
.4057 (.406 rounded) batting average.
In Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Dodgers meet
the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers win 6-1 and finish the season with a
100-54 record, 2-1/2 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers set a
new attendance record of 1,215,253. But the Dodgers must now meet the mighty New
York Yankees in a "subway series."