The RAF bombed Berlin for the first time in the war. This is a reaction on accidental bombardments of London by German bombers. Damage was slight and nobody was killed, but it came as a loss of face for Hermann Göring, who had boasted that Berlin would never be bombed. Hitler authorized the bombing of London in retaliation.
Winston Churchill dispatched an order to Bomber Command that an attack of retaliation be made on Berlin. Hitler had still not issued a directive that the City of London should be attacked, and subsequently he issued the command that any aircrew that drops bombs on London will be severely reprimanded. Göring in turn, then issued telegrams to all bomber units requesting the names of any aircraft captain and crews that drop bombs on London. These names would then be submitted to Luftwaffe High Command in that the offenders may be transferred to Army Infantry Units. It is still unsure at this stage as to whether the bombing of London was a deliberate attack or not.
The first tentative steps toward unrestricted aerial warfare on cities and other civilian populations that began with an accidental Luftwaffe raid on London on 22 August and leaped forward on 24 August with another takes a giant step forward on 25 August 1940. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders RAF Bomber Command to send a bomber force to Berlin, which turns into one of its larger raids of the war to date, on the night of the 25th. He does not say “bomb military and industrial targets.”
So far in the war, Berlin has not been touched. There have been a handful of air raid alerts, but no actual attacks. The Bomber Command orders to the bomber squadrons are to target:
— Siemenstadt plants producing 85% of the electrical power in the area;
— Berlin’s Klingenberg power station;
— the Henschel Aircraft Factory in Berlin;
— the Bucker training aircraft factory at Rangsdorf;
— Tempelhof aerodrome; and
— the Tegel gasworks.
Many of the bombers can’t find the target at all — a very common occurrence during the war’s early years. Some get close and drop their bombs in the heart of Berlin and in the suburbs. Overall, including lesser raids on Boulogne, Cologne, and Hamm, Bomber Command loses five bombers during the night. There are six deaths — the death toll could have been much higher save for very poor bombing accuracy.
Everyone in 1940 knows how inaccurate bombers are — there is plenty of photo-reconnaissance being done after the fact to establish that — so attacking these targets in the heart of Berlin inevitably must cause many bombs to fall on civilian areas. Any appearance of targeting legitimate industrial plants is just a legal fig leaf — but then, the British could claim the same about the Luftwaffe raids that hit London “unintentionally.” War is a dirty business, and one thing leads to another.
The slippery slope to all-out devastation just got much, much steeper. The Germans are furious because this seems like an intentional dastardly deed and war crime — they don’t realize that the British feel the recent London bombings were intentional and that the British also were targeting factories and power stations. Luftwaffe boss Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, in particular, suffers a blow to his image which he feels pressured to repair.
It is a tragic if unavoidable development in the history of the conflict that is not ameliorated by the fact that it all began with navigational errors over London — some due to British jamming of the known Luftwaffe navigational system. It also is due to the sheer lack of communication between the two sides.
It is pretty obvious to both sides at this point what is going on. Hitler has the next big decision to make. Every decision made now has huge, and often unexpected and self-detrimental, long-term consequences. Many accounts state that Hitler immediately authorizes unrestricted bombing after this raid, but that is not the case. Instead, he ponders what to do.
Battle of Britain. Weather: After early morning mists, especially in the north, the morning is expected to be fine and clear with cloud developing during the afternoon. The north can expect scattered cloud during the afternoon and evening.
“The whole Bf 109 became enveloped in flames, and pieces began to fly off. Finally, as it went down, more pieces came off, all burning. As it tumbled down toward the Thames Estuary it was really a bunch of blazing fragments instead of a whole aircraft. It was an amazing sight.”
Sgt. R.F. Hamlyn 610 Squadron RAF Fighter Command 24th August 1940
“Ran into a bunch of Huns over the Thames Estuary. Had a bang at Bf 110 but had to break away as tracer was coming over my head from another behind me. He appeared to be hitting his fellow countryman in front of me but I didn’t wait to see if he shot him down. Had a crack at another and shot his engine right out of the wing, Lovely.”
Flying Officer B.J.Lane 19 Squadron RAF Fighter Command 24th August 1940
Surprisingly, although the weather could only be termed as cloudy but fair, it was in fact warm to hot with ideal flying conditions. But for a day of any serious activity, it was not to be, not for the morning period anyway. Dowding and Park were discussing the possibility that the Luftwaffe were turning their attention to the bombing of London and the cities after the previous night encounter, unaware at this stage that the bombing may have been accidental. Air Vice Marshal Sir Christopher Brand of 10 Group in the south- west disagreed that they were in for a lull in activities that had often been the case on previous occasions, and his foresight had been proven correct when, during the mid-afternoon, Ventnor CH had detected a formation coming in across the Channel again heading towards the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton.
1700 hours: Up until now, it had almost looked like being a perfect day off for the pilots of 10 and 11 Groups. Many just lazed around most of the day in the warm sunshine hoping that the Luftwaffe pilots were too, lapping it up and could not be bothered with fighting a wretched war. But now the non-events of the day changed. Some 100 plus aircraft had been detected coming in over the Channel from Cherbourg. Further to that, another three waves of enemy aircraft were coming in from the Channel Islands that totaled some 100 plus aircraft.
Headquarters FC immediately notified 10 Group in which they dispatched 609 Squadron Warmwell (Spitfires) under the command of Squadron Leader Horace Darley. 11 Group dispatched 17 Squadron Debden (Hurricanes) while 87 Squadron Exeter (Hurricanes) was under the command of Wing Commander John Dewar and made up the three squadrons vectored to attack the incoming German formations.
All squadrons met at the vectored position just to the south of Weymouth and Portland where the British fighters found a heavy contingent of Bf 110s from 1/ZG 2 and Bf 109s. As with nearly all occasions of combat, they were outnumbered and once again indulged in some serious dog fighting and a number of bombers managed to get through and attack the airfield at Warmwell causing damage only to a couple of hangars and cutting the communications. where the Bf 110s turned back on another aborted mission.
“I saw a Me110 below me and dived down on him going very fast indeed. Unfortunately I was going too fast and in the heat of the moment I forgot to throttle back with the result that I came up behind him at terrific speed and overshot him badly. I got a good burst of fire at practically point blank range as he flashed by and then I had to turn away very violently or I should have collided with him. His rear gunner took advantage of my mistake and fired a short burst at me, and put several bullets through my wing, very close to the fuselage and only a few inches from my leg. When I turned round to look for the Hun he had disappeared.
“Though there was a lot of fighting in progress and machines were turning and diving all over the sky, I had dived down below them all and couldn’t do much about it. I returned to base absolutely furious with myself for having missed that Me110. He was right in front of me, and if only I had not gone at him so wildly I should have had him easily.”
“Anyway, it taught me to be a little more cool in future. One lives and one learns — if lucky.”
- Pilot Officer D.M.Crook 609 Squadron RAF Fighter Command.
Squadron Leader Cedric Williams of 17 Squadron was shot down and killed when gunfire from one of the 110s hit his Hurricane, while another pilot was seen to bale out of his crippled Hurricane to safety. But if there has to be a hero of the day, it has to be Czech pilot Count Manfred Czernin of 17 Squadron who by accurate head on and rear attacks shot down three Bf 110s in just one minute. As the number of Bf 110s shot down became greater, more Bf 109s came in from above who shot down more British fighters, but the damage had been done, the force of 110s had diminished considerably, and the 109s had to return to their bases because they were low on fuel. In this combat, Fighter Command lost sixteen fighters from the three squadrons while the Luftwaffe lost a total of twenty aircraft.
1810 hours: At the same time, there was a small skirmish on Dover where a Staffel of 110s again bombed the Harbor and docks, but fighters from Gravesend and Biggin Hill chased them back out over the Channel. Later that afternoon, eighty-one British Hampden bombers were preparing for what to be the first attack to be made on the German capital Berlin. “If ever a bomb drops on Berlin, then you can call me Meier” Göring once joked, convinced that British bombers would never be able to reach the capital. That night, the Hampdens did get through and Berlin was bombed, although damage was described as only being light.
But the new Luftwaffe tactics were working, and to a point were working well. Germany at this time although not doing considerable damage during the daylight attacks, were said to be at this stage just probing, but the cost in loss of aircraft was still a major problem that displeased High Command.
They were pleased at the decision that the Bf 109 bases had been moved to the area of Calais which had now allowed them to spend more time over enemy territory. Also, the new tighter Luftwaffe formations were allowing the bombers now to at least get through to their target areas. A point recognized by Fighter Command who stated that all they have to do now is to learn that even from the air, dockland areas do not look like oil refineries and storage areas and that with the new formations they have taught the navigators how to read a map.
Total losses for the day are estimated as around 20 Luftwaffe planes and 16 RAF fighters. The Luftwaffe outnumbers the RAF fighter force by 2-1, so this is a favorable ratio for the Germans even without any adjustments. To be fair, the RAF loss figure should include the five RAF bombers lost over Europe during the night since the German bomber losses over England are always counted, but nobody does that because it is considered a separate battle. As usual, the London media is full of fantastic tales of many more Luftwaffe planes lost than is actually the case.
In terms of tactics, the close escort of the bombers which the fighter pilots hate actually is working well. The bombers are having more success getting through, and the fighter losses are not any higher than they were before. The massive differential in losses is being whittled away to the Luftwaffe’s benefit.
Overnight, German bombers attacked South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham, and other cities in the Midlands area of England, United Kingdom. In total, the Germans lost 38 fighters and 14 bombers, while the British lost 16 fighters and 2 bombers.
RAF Casualties:
1730 hours: Portland. Spitfire R6810. 152 Squadron Warmwell
P/O R.M. Hogg listed as missing. (Shot down by Bf 109s over Channel and crashed into sea)
1730 hours: Portland. Spitfire R6994. 152 Squadron Warmwell
P/O T.S. Wildblood listed as missing. (Shot down by Bf 109s over Channel and crashed into sea)
1730 hours: Portland. Hurricane V7226. 213 Squadron Exeter
P/O J.A.L. Phillipart killed. (Shot down by Bf 109 over Channel. Body washed ashore two days later)
1745 hours: Portland. Hurricane R4199. 17 Squadron Tangmere
S/L C.W. Williams listed as missing. (Aircraft broke in two after combat with Bf 110. Crashed into sea)
1800 hours: Hampshire. Hurricane P3200. 213 Squadron Exeter
P/O H.D. Atkinson listed as missing. (Last seen in combat over Warmwell. Failed to return to base)
1805 hours: Portland. Hurricane V7250. 87 Squadron Exeter
Sgt. L.R.E Wakeling Killed. (Shot down by Bf 109 and burst into flames and crashed near Dorchester)
1900 hours: Dover. Hurricane N2433. 32 Squadron Biggin Hill
P/O K.R. Gillman listed as missing. (Failed to return to base after combat over the Channel)
1900 hours: Canterbury. Spitfire R6966. 616 Squadron Kenley
Sgt. T.E. Westmoreland listed as missing. (Failed to return to base)
1900 hours: Off Dover. Spitfire K9819. 616 Squadron Kenley
Sgt. P.T. Wareing taken prisoner. (Crashed nr Calais after combat with Bf 109. Managed to escape after POW)
2200 hours: Wainfleet Lincolnshire. Blenheim L1330. 29 Squadron Digby
P/O R.A. Rhodes listed as missing.
Sgt. N. Jacobson listed as missing. (Believed shot down and crashed into sea during night combat)
NIGHT: Exeter. Blenheim L6782. 604 Squadron Middle Wallop
Sgt. C. Haig Killed.
Sgt. J.G.B. Fletcher Killed.
LAC I. Austin Died next day. (Crashed during night operational operation. No known reason)
The Luftwaffe transfers I,/JG 77 from Aalborg to Marquise, France. This brings it from Jutland to the Channel front at Pas-de-Calais and into the thick of the Battle of Britain.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 18 Blenheims against airfields in daylight, only 6 bombed 4 airfields in Holland and 1 in Germany. 6 Blenheims on sea sweep. No losses.
Following raids by German bombers on London and other English cities the previous night, the War Cabinet sanctioned the first raid on Berlin. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched an order to Bomber Command that a bombing attack be made on Berlin. This action was taken in retaliation for the bombing of civilian sections of London the previous night.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 103 aircraft (probably more) on operations. 81 British Hampden bombers of No. 49 and No. 50 Squadrons attacked Berlin, Germany in the first retaliation attack for the raid on London, England. Berlin was found to be covered by thick cloud, which prevented accurate bombing, and a strong head wind was encountered on the return flight. The clouds led to bombs falling largely in suburban lawns and gardens, killing only 6. Nevertheless, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring was shocked and embarrassed that the British bombers were able to get through in such great numbers. The Hampdens were at the limit of their fuel capacity in such conditions and 3 of them were lost and 3 more ditched in the sea on their return flight. The only bombs falling within the city limits of Berlin destroyed a wooden summer-house in a garden in the suburb of Rosenthal and 2 people were slightly injured. The Berlin records show that many bombs were dropped in the country areas south of the city and that some of these fell into large farms — Stadtguter — owned by the city of Berlin. The joke went round Berlin: ‘Now they are trying to starve us out.’ Approximately 24 Whitleys and Wellingtons bombed Bremen; Cologne and Hamm, and 12 Blenheims attacked airfields in France and Holland. 3 Blenheims were lost.
Elsewhere, RAF Coastal Command bombs Luftwaffe flying boat bases near Tromso, Norway, destroying a couple and damaging others and the base itself.
A typical plane transfer from Gibraltar to Malta goes awry when a Blenheim has some kind of mechanical issue and ditches near Pantelleria. It may have run out of fuel. Pilot Warrant Officer G.H. Cluley, the only one aboard, perishes.
Battleship Bismarck fired 52 3.7cm and 400 2cm shells against raiding British aircraft at Kiel without any hits.
The claimant to the French throne, Jean III, Duc de Guise, passes away and is succeeded by son Henri, Comte de Paris.
Rumania, seething about what it considers to be territorial opportunism by all of its neighbors, accuses Hungary of violating its airspace.
The Hungarian delegates to the Transylvanian negotiations with Rumania, which were “adjourned” yesterday at Turnu Severin after first appearing to be broken down, returned to Budapest today to report to their government.
Greek reservists from fourteen classes in the Eprius district at the southern tip of Albania were reported today to have received individual summonses to serve in the border garrison.
The Supreme Soviet approved the Baltic States “request” to join the Soviet Union. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania officially became Soviet Socialist Republics, incorporated into the Soviet Union. In a purely ceremonial move, the Supreme Soviet “permits” the three Baltic States to become Soviet Socialist Republics, as they have “voted” to do.
It is a particularly bad day during a bad week for the Atlantic convoys. Two of the most successful U-boats of the war, U-37 and U-48, and top U-boat commander Joachim Schepke of U-100 pad their totals, and other U-boats and the Luftwaffe also have major successes. U-48 and U-124 attack the same convoy but are operating independently. Allied convoys are devastated.
U-37, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn, sank British steamer Blairmore from convoy SC.1 in 56N, 27-30W. At 0146 hours the Blairmore (Master Hugh Campbell) in convoy SC.1 was torpedoed and sunk by U-37 southeast of Cape Farewell. The ship had picked up seven survivors from HMS Penzance (L 28), which had been sunk by the same U-boat the previous day. Five crew members were lost. The master, 28 crew members and seven survivors were picked up by the Swedish motor merchant Eknaren (Master Erik Kallstrom) and landed at Baltimore. The 4,141-ton Blairmore was carrying timber and was headed for Tyne, England.
U-37 also sank British steamer Yewcrest in 55-10N, 25-02W. Around 2230 hours, U-37 opened fire with the deck gun at the Yewcrest (Master Cyril Lionel Doughty), a straggler from convoy OB.201, after following the ship for more than two hours through rain squalls and haze southwest of Iceland. A hit between the stack and the hatch was observed before the U-boat was forced to cease fire and had to turn away due to return fire from the ship. The Germans then began shelling her from ahead, but the crew soon stopped and abandoned the ship. The vessel sank in flames at 0307 hours on 26 August. One crew member was lost. The master, 36 crew members and one gunner were picked up by HMS Highlander (H 44) (Cdr W.A. Dallmeyer). The 3,774-ton Yewcrest was carrying ballast and was headed for Wabana, Newfoundland.
U-48, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Hans Rudolf Rösing, sank from convoy HX.65A British tanker Athelcrest (6825grt) in 58-24N, 11-15W and British steamer Empire Merlin (5763grt) in 58-30N, 10-15W. At 0245 hours U-48 attacked the convoy 90 miles east by north of Flannan Isles and hit the Athelcrest in station #13 and the Empire Merlin in station #15 with one torpedo each, claiming two ships totaling 14,000 grt sunk. Convoy HX.65A was escorted by sloops HMS Londonderry, HMS Egret, HMS Lowestoft and destroyer HMCS Skeena.
The Athelcrest (Master Llewellyn V.F. Evans) was struck on the port side between bunker and boiler room by one G7e torpedo and caught fire after an internal explosion with flames enveloping the poop, the main deck and bridge. The ship stopped at once and slowly settled by the stern until only 20 feet of her bow was visible over the water. 29 crew members and one gunner (the ship was armed with one 12pdr and one 4in gun) were lost. The master and five crew members managed to launch two lifeboats in the heavy swell, but suffered from oil and sulphur fumes from Empire Merlin. They were picked up after 4 hours by HMS Godetia (K 72) (LtCdr G.V. Legassick, RNR), which scuttled the wreck of the tanker with gunfire and later landed the survivors at Rosyth. The 6,825-ton Athelcrest was carrying diesel oil and was headed for London, England.
The Empire Merlin (Master David W. Simpson, MBE) was hit on port side amidships by one G7e torpedo and broke in two after the cargo of sulphur caught fire. The stern broke off and sank immediately while the fore part sank after 35 seconds before any lifeboats could be launched. The master, 33 crew members and one gunner (the ship was armed with one 4in gun) were lost. The sole survivor ordinary seaman John Lee rescued himself on a potato locker after swimming for 45 minutes and was picked up later that night by HMS Godetia (K 72) (LtCdr G.V. Legassick, RNR) which had troubles locating him in the darkness and searched in vain for another survivor who was heard for some time until the shouting eventually ceased. The survivor was landed in Rosyth. The 5,763-ton Empire Merlin was carrying sulphur and was headed for Hull, England.
U-124, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, in attacks on convoy HX.65A sank British steamers Harpalyce (5169grt, Convoy Commodore Vice Admiral B. G. Washington, Commodore 2/c, CMG DSO RNR,) and Fircrest (5394grt) in 58-52N, 06-34W, and damaged British steamer Stakesby (3900grt) twenty three miles north of Butt of Lewis, and attacked another steamer in 58-24N, 06-34W without success. Between 2350 and 2356 hours, U-124 fired four single torpedoes at four ships in the convoy 23 miles north of Butt of Lewis, Hebrides and claimed the sinking of all four. However, only three ships were hit: Harpalyce and Fircrest were sunk and the Stakesby was badly damaged.
The Harpalyce (Master William John Rees) was the ship of the convoy commodore (Vice-Admiral B.G. Washington, CMG, DSO, RNR (Rtd)) in station #31 and sank by the stern with a list to port within one minute after being hit by one torpedo, leaving the crew no time to launch the lifeboats. The master, the commodore, four naval staff members, 34 crew members and two gunners (the ship was armed with one 4in gun) were lost. Five crew members clung to debris or swam to rafts that floated free, neither the designated rescue ship nor the escorts picked them up, but the British armed trawler HMS Fort Dee located them when investigating the burning Stakesby nearby and picked them up at 0345 hours on 26 August. The trawler searched the area for further survivors during daylight and then landed the survivors at Kirkwall, Orkneys. The 5,169-ton Harpalyce was carrying steel and was headed for Hull, England.
The Fircrest (Master Russell H. Tuckett, OBE) in the most starboard column sank immediately after being hit amidships by a torpedo due to her cargo of iron ore. There were no survivors: the master, 38 crew members and one gunner were lost. The 5,394-ton Fircrest was carrying iron ore and was headed for Middlesbrough, England.
The Stakesby as leading ship of the most starboard column was the ship struck first, one torpedo hitting on the starboard side in #1 hold. The cargo kept the vessel afloat and she continued for one hour until the nine officers and 27 crewmen (the ship was armed with one 12pdr and one 4in gun) were forced to abandon ship because a fire forward could not be brought under control. They lowered three lifeboats and were picked up by the Norwegian steam merchant Cetus from the same convoy at 0230 hours on 26 August. The survivors, one of them injured, were landed at Stornoway later that day, from where the rescue tug HMS Thames was sent to salvage the burning vessel. Stakesby was beached at Glumaig Bay after the tow rope broke and sank in shallow water. In January 1942, she was raised, temporarily patched and left Stornoway in tow for Rothesay Bay on 9 June 1942, where the ship arrived three days later. Temporary repairs were carried out at the Clyde and permanent repairs at Sunderland. She was rebuilt by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and reentered service in 1943 as Empire Derwent (4026 grt) managed by Neill & Pandelis, London. The 3,900-ton Stakesby was carrying pit props and was bound for Tyne, England.
U-57, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Erich Topp, sank British tanker Pecten, a straggler from convoy HX.65, in 56-22N, 07-55W. At 1948 hours, U-57 fired a spread of two torpedoes at Pecten (Master Herbert Edward Dale), straggling less than a mile astern of convoy HX.65B due to engine troubles about 75 miles north of Tory Island. Only a few minutes after the tanker had been urged by HMS Gladiolus (K 34) (LtCdr H.M.C. Sanders, RNR) to get back on her station in the convoy, the ship was hit on the starboard side in the engine room and just abaft the bridge and disappeared in cloud of smoke, sinking by the stern within 90 seconds. The master and 47 crew members (the ship was armed with one 12pdr and one 4in gun) were lost. The first radio officer, an apprentice and six Chinese crew members rescued themselves on rafts that floated free and were picked up after 2 hours by the British steam merchant Torr Head from the same convoy, while HMS Gladiolus and HMS Westcott (D 47) (LtCdr W.F.R. Segrave, RN) unsuccessfully attacked the U-boat. The survivors were later transferred to the British armed trawler HMS Robina and landed at Belfast. The 7,468-ton Pecten was carrying Admiralty fuel oil and was headed for Clyde, United Kingdom.
U-100, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke, sank British steamer Jamaica Pioneer (5471grt) in 57-05N, 11-02W. At 1912 hours the unescorted Jamaica Pioneer (Master Thomas Elwyn Maurice Jenkins) was hit by a torpedo from U-100 east of Rockall. The ship had been missed by a first torpedo at 1908 hours and was missed again at 1930 hours. After a second hit at 1934 hours, the U-boat tried to sink the vessel by gunfire and fired 55 rounds without hitting the ship, which was finally sunk with a coup de grâce at 2012 hours. Two crew members were lost. The master, 52 crew members and two gunners were rescued. Some of them were picked up by HMS Anthony (H 40) (LtCdr N.J.V. Thew, RN) and landed at Greenock and the remaining survivors by HMS Wanderer (D 74) (Cdr J.H. Ruck-Keene, RN) and were landed at Belfast. The 5,471-ton Jamaica Pioneer was carrying bananas and was headed for Avonmouth, England.
Battlecruiser HMS Hood with destroyers HMS Inglefield, HMS Escapade, HMS Echo, and HMS Javelin arrived at Scapa Flow at 0640 from Rosyth.
All Home Fleet units, except heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, at Scapa Flow raised steam with dispatch. At 0140/26th, steam was reverted to normal notice.
Light cruisers HMS Galatea and HMS Cardiff departed Scapa Flow for the Humber.
British minefield BS.34 was laid by minelayers HMS Teviotbank, HMS Plover, and HNLMS Willem Van Der Zaan and destroyers HMS Esk, HMS Icarus, and HMS Impulsive.
British steamer Goathland (3821grt) was sunk by German bombing in 50-21N, 15-08W. The entire crew was rescued.
British steamer Hampshire Coast (485grt) was damaged by German bombing six miles SW of St Ann’s Light.
British steamer Ossian (1514grt) was damaged by German bombing in 51-39N, 05-51W.
British steamer Sanfry (946grt) was damaged by German bombing in 50-26N, 00-22W, and attacked by a German motor torpedo boat on the 26th.
At 0730, Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, light cruiser HMS Enterprise, destroyers HMS Gallant, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Griffin departed Gibraltar to carry out exercises. Battlecruiser HMS Renown, destroyers HMS Velox, HMS Encounter, HMS Greyhound, and HMS Vidette departed at 2025 on the 25th and joined aircraft carrier Ark Royal at sea. This force joined the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious force and escorted them into Gibraltar. The British force was aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, battleship HMS Valiant, light cruiser HMS Sheffield, anti-aircraft ships HMS Coventry and HMS Calcutta, and destroyers HMS Faulknor, HMS Fortune, HMS Forester, HMS Foresight, HMS Fury, and HMS Firedrake from Scapa Flow was met off Gibraltar on the 28th and escorted into Harbor, arriving on the 29th. Destroyers HMS Wrestler and HMS Wishart were involved in local escort duties.
Italian submarine Bianchi attacked an armed patrol boat off Gibraltar without success.
Convoy OA.204 departed Methil escorted by escort ship HMS Gleaner and corvette HMS Clematis from 25 to 29 August. On the 26th, the escort was supplemented by destroyers HMS Jaguar, HMS Javelin, and HMS Eglinton.
Convoy FN.262 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Verdun, HMS Vimiera, and HMS Garth. Patrol sloops HMS Guillemot and HMS Puffin joined for 26 August. The convoy arrived in the Tyne on the 27th.
Convoy MT.150 departed Methil. The convoy arrived in the Tyne later that day.
Convoy FS.262 departed the Tyne. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 27th.
Convoy SC.2 departed St Johns escorted locally by Canadian armed yacht HMCS Reindeer and ocean escort sloop HMS Scarborough. The convoy was joined on 7 September by destroyers HMS Scimitar and HMCS Skeena, sloop HMS Lowestoft, corvette HMS Periwinkle, and anti-submarine trawlers HMS Apollo and HMS Berwickshire. Destroyer Scimitar and corvette Periwinkle were detached on 8 September. The remainder of the escorts, including sloop Scarborough, arrived with the convoy at Liverpool on 10 September.
Convoy BN.4 departed Bombay, escorted by armed merchant cruisers HMS Hector and HMS Ranchi. These escorts were detached on 1 September when light cruiser HMS Leander joined. Light cruiser Leander turned the convoy over on 8 September to sloops HMS Clive and HMS Shoreham. The convoy arrived at Suez on 11 September.
President Roosevelt returned tonight from a weekend fishing cruise in Chesapeake Bay to face the problem of filling two Cabinet vacancies and mapping further third-term campaign strategy.
Senator Hiram W. Johnson, California Republican, veteran isolationist leader, tonight closed his campaign for reelection with a plea that the United States government not be transformed “into the mold of Hitler and Stalin” because it is in danger. “Americans must guard against the specious plea that we must alter our form of government,” Johnson said in a nation-wide radio address. Plans to create a peacetime army of from three to five million men are “at variance with the fundamentals of our government,” he said. “This country is being eased down the road to war. … It will not be many months, unless the brake is applied, before we will be in this dreadful holocaust.”
Confident the Burke-Wadsworth conscription bill will be enacted, administration leaders in congress already are working out plans to speed an appropriation to pay military training costs. Senator Barkley of Kentucky, Democratic leader, told reporters he would offer an amendment to the draft bill on which the senate is scheduled to begin its twelfth day of debate tomorrow to authorize an appropriation.
The question of transferring fifty or more American destroyers to Great Britain was debated on the radio tonight, with Senator Claude Pepper of Florida and Colonel Henry Breckenridge of New York, former Assistant Secretary of War, urging the transfer and Senators John A. Danaher of Connecticut and Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota opposing it. They spoke before the American Forum of the Air in the Willard Hotel over the network of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The proponents asserted that sending the destroyers would be a vital contribution in the fight against Hitlerism and dangers that the United States might eventually face; the opponents held that it would be contrary to laws and treaties, and unwise.
Senator Barkley of Kentucky, majority leader of the Senate, said today that this country ought to acquire “a whole string” of air and naval bases guarding the Panama Canal.
Wendell L. Willkie, Republican nominee for President, said yesterday that he would not debate campaign issues with Paul V. McNutt, Federal Security Administrator, because it would be “a pure loss of time.”
A telegram sent by Joseph Curran, president of the Greater New York Industrial Union Council of the C.I.O., to hundreds of unions in this city asking them to give financial support to the Emergency Peace Mobilization to be held in Chicago this week-end precipitated the most widespread rebellion in local C.I.O. history yesterday. Thirty-six officers of twentyseven unions affiliated with the United Retail and Wholesale Employes of America, C.I.O., started the revolt by issuing a joint letter to Mr. Curran in which they said: “We consider your telegram of August 21 asking for financial aid for the so-called ‘peace mobilization meeting’ in Chicago tantamount to a request that we give sustenance to a program which would benefit the totalitarian nations and which is, in our opinion, diametrically opposed to the best interests of our country and of democracy and labor throughout the world. You can, therefore, expect no support from us.”
Gene Tunney, former heavyweight boxing champion and chairman of the National Foundation for American Youth, announced today that this organization intended to expose as “phony” the so-called emergency peace mobilization planned in Chicago.
A race riot broke out at a pier amusement ride in Santa Monica, California, and spread in sporadic fights through the Ocean Park amusement zone early today. Four white men and one black man were sent to a hospital with knife wounds. Fifteen policemen had difficulty in quelling the disturbance.
Lefty Tom George, who started in pro ball in 1907, returns to the mound for York (Interstate League) at age 54, and wins, 3–2. He had been inactive for five years.
Major League Baseball:
In the second game of a twinbill, the Red Sox explode for 11 runs in the 6th inning. Jimmie Foxx hits his 3rd grand slam of the year in the inning, connecting off the Browns’ Emil Bildilli. The game is called after seven innings, with the Sox ahead, 17–3. The Red Sox had dropped the opener to to the Browns, 7–2, as George McQuinn contributed a homer, double, and single.
Ted Lyons stops the Yankees on a three-hitter in the opener of a doubleheader with the White Sox. Charlie Ruffing holds the Sox to five hits himself, but two are a Luke Appling single followed by a Taft Wright double in the ninth inning, for the deciding run. The Yankees bounce back to capture the nightcap, 3–1, behind Ernie Bonham’s five-hitter.
Buck Newsom kept nine hits well scattered today and pitched his sixteenth victory when the Tigers rode roughshod over the Athletics, 7–3, before 19,794 at Shibe Park.
Rookie Sid Hudson scored his thirteenth victory of the season today as Washington defeated the Indians, 5–4, in a chilly drizzle. It was the fourth straight defeat for the tribe. The Senators sent Johnny Allen, first of four Indian hurlers, to the showers in the first inning with a four-run rally.
The pace-setting Reds gained a full game in the National League pennant race today, putting them seven and one-half games in front, as they swept a double-header from Philadelphia, 3–2 and 6–5, while the second-place Dodgers divided a twin bill. Johnny Rizzo hit two homers for Philly in the nightcap, but in vain.
For a brief period today the Giants threatened to fall twice before the Cubs in a double feature that drew 18,892 fans to Wrigley Field despite early rains and overcast skies. New York had dropped the first game after a stiff ten-inning battle by 5–4. The club’s pitching. which had collapsed in the opener, was tottering in the nightcap, but Mel Ott, Babe Young and Ken O’Dea took matters into their own hands, and the Giants triumphed by 12–8. Ott, whose twelfth homer of the campaign was a futile gesture in the opener, drove No. 13 in the sixth inning of the nightcap with two aboard. He also hit a double and a single to send in five runs all told.
The Dodgers and Pirates split a twinbill, with Brooklyn bowing in the first game, 4–3, as Arky Vaughn and Vince DiMaggio homer for the Pirates. Freddy Fitzsimmons holds Pittsburgh to five hits in the nightcap as the Dodgers win, 8–1.
Boston’s seventh-place Bees broke the Cardinals’ winning streak at nine straight games by taking the first half of today’s double-header, 4–1, but St. Louis bounded back with an 8–5 victory in the nightcap to remain firmly in third place. Johnny Mize’s two-run homer in the seventh inning of the nightcap is the deciding blow.
St. Louis Browns 7, Boston Red Sox 2
St. Louis Browns 3, Boston Red Sox 17
New York Giants 4, Chicago Cubs 5
New York Giants 12, Chicago Cubs 8
Philadelphia Phillies 2, Cincinnati Reds 3
Philadelphia Phillies 5, Cincinnati Reds 6
Chicago White Sox 1, New York Yankees 0
Chicago White Sox 1, New York Yankees 3
Detroit Tigers 7, Philadelphia Athletics 3
Brooklyn Dodgers 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 4
Brooklyn Dodgers 8, Pittsburgh Pirates 1
Boston Bees 4, St. Louis Cardinals 1
Boston Bees 5, St. Louis Cardinals 8
Cleveland Indians 4, Washington Senators 5
Admiral Yates Stirling writes in the New York Times: “It seems evident that unless the United States and Japan can compose their ever-mounting differences, the war in the Pacific long prophesied by strategists and economists is inevitable.”
Following last week’s activities of the Chinese Eighth Route Army in disrupting traffic on railway lines and dynamiting bridges it is now officially admitted that raiders are within a few miles of Peiping’s walls in the vicinity of the Summer palace. One rumor said Chinese forces had even captured Chinchow, twenty miles from Peiping. The Peiping-Tientsin railway was cut by guerrillas and the Peiping-Hankow railway was again disrupted south of Shihkiachwan. A belated official Japanese announcement admits eighteen Chinese secret agents had been captured inside Peiping and executed on August 8. They were convicted of espionage and sabotage. Forty others received long prison terms.
Six hundred Seaforth Highlanders left Shanghai today, en route to Singapore, it was reported, completing withdrawal of British armed forces from Chinese soil except for a few soldiers left to supervise shipment of equipment. The British fulfill their promise of earlier in the summer and evacuate the last of their forces from Shanghai and Tientsin Province under intense Japanese pressure (a blockade of Tientsin, for instance). They will never return as an occupying power.
The conference of the Japanese trade delegation, arriving in Batavia next week, with the Netherlands Indies Government and Netherland and American oil men may have a vital bearing upon the future of Eastern affairs, it is believed. The Japanese visitors, representing the Mitsui and other companies, are expected to seek increased exports of oil, tin and rubber to Japan, especially oil. Mr. Schultz of the Far Eastern Standard-Vacuum Company will fly to Batavia from Hong Kong, and Mr. Kany of the same company will fly from New York to consider the Japanese desires. Hitherto the Japanese have obtained oil through the selling companies in Japan-Standard and Shell. But the Japanese contend that they are not getting enough oil through the normal channels. Hence, this visit to Batavia to confer with the Netherlands Indies Government as well as the oil producers in these islands. It was said in Batavia tonight that the Japanese wanted increased oil in order to build up their reserves as Germany did up to a year ago.
Born:
José van Dam, Belgian bass-baritone singer, in Brussels, Belgium.
Don Wallace, MLB pinch runner, pinch hitter, and second baseman (California Angels), in Sepulpa, Oklahoma.
Died:
Prince Jean, Duke of Guise, 65, Orleanist pretender to the French throne.
Édouard Michelin, 81, French industrialist who founded Michelin.
Naval Construction:
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IXB U-boat U-110 is launched by AG Weser, Bremen (werk 973).
History Diaries 