Bad weather restricted the size of German raids, but still a continuous stream of single-bomber raids attacked London and surrounding RAF airfields in England, United Kingdom throughout the day; one of the bombs landed in front of the Buckingham Palace and another in the palace courtyard. Three of the German bombers were shot down during the day. Meanwhile, Royal Navy transferred battleships HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney to Rosyth and battleship HMS Revenge to Plymouth to deter a possible German landing through the next few days during tide conditions favoring landings. Overnight, German bombers attacked London and Cardiff.
This is London at three-thirty in the morning. This has been what might be called a “routine night” — air-raid alarm at about nine o’clock and intermittent bombing ever since. I had the impression that more high explosives and few incendiaries have been used tonight. Only two small fires can be seen on the horizon. Again the Germans have been sending their bombers in singly or in pairs. The antiaircraft barrage has been fierce but sometimes there have been periods of twenty minutes when London has been silent. Then the big red busses would start up and move on till the guns started working again. That silence is almost hard to bear. One becomes accustomed to rattling windows and the distant sound of bombs and then there comes a silence that can be felt. You know the sound will return—you wait, and then it starts again. That waiting is bad. It gives you a chance to imagine things. I have been walking tonight—there is a full moon, and the dirty-gray buildings appear white. The stars, the empty windows, are hidden. It’s a beautiful and lonesome city where men and women and children are trying to snatch a few hours’ sleep underground.
- Edward R. Murrow, CBS.
Weather over Great Britain: No sign in an improvement in the weather, and it was expected to remain unsettled with rain periods in all areas. In areas in the south and east there was a possibility that there could be breaks in the cloud to give sunny periods. Over the Channel, the heavy cloud and rain should give way to lighter higher cloud during the day.
Many of the German commanders are pushing for an exact date for ‘Operation Sealion’ to commence. Already the weather seems to be closing in and with these deteriorating conditions it appears that any chance of a successful invasion may be out of the question if Hitler cannot make up his mind. Already, the date previously set for September 11th had been postponed, and Hitler had said that he favored September 24th at the most likely date, but if conditions continued as they are, it would be an impossibility for the barges to cross the Channel should the expected winds that are prevalent at this time of the year accompany the heavy cloud and rain squalls.
A meeting had been called in Berlin to commence at lunchtime, and as was usual a banquet was organized prior to the serious meeting between Hitler, Göring, Milch, Kesselring and Jodl being the most notable commanders in attendance. The Führer outlined the present situation. He made mention of the fact that the Luftwaffe still had not yet attained air superiority over the Royal Air Force, which was a rather hypocritical statement being as he had ordered Göring to concentrate his attacks on London earlier in September at the expense of continuing the raids on RAF airfields. He also made mention that more and more barges were being unloaded along the Dutch and Belgian coasts in readiness. Soon, he said, we will be moving our armies to these northern ports, armies of specially trained men, all will be ready. But, he stated, our bombers have justly tore the heart out of the British populace. London is a city burning night after night and the British air force is still terribly weak and we can continue to hit the British where it so terribly hurts… at their beloved capital.
The Führer spoke at length on the bombing of London, and only outlined to preparations of any forthcoming invasion and the commanders started to think that Adolf Hitler was now more concerned with the total destruction of London and that they were beginning to think that their leader was having second thoughts about any invasion of England. By the time that the meeting was over, all that the commanders had learnt was the thoughts that were coming out of the mind of the Führer, there were no fresh orders, he failed to ask for any reports on the current situation.
In Britain, the radar operators lay in wait for the telltale blips that would indicate enemy intrusion across the Channel. Pilots sat around waiting for the telephone to ring, but it was the same story of the last few days. A small piece of action occurred high over Hornchurch and Biggin Hill, but these were recognized as weather reconnaissance aircraft when the British “Y” Service picked up their conversations. No action was taken against these aircraft and Fighter Command allowed them to return back across the Channel without any interception.
A Focke-Wolfe 200 is detected over Northern Ireland, the first time that the enemy has penetrated this area and proof that Ireland is not free of the war situation. The aircraft managed to drop bombs on the steamship ‘Longfort’ just off the coast at Belfast and also submitted an unidentified vessel to gunfire but there were no reports of damage.
For both sides, there were further tactical developments within this period. Now that the Luftwaffe had decided to abort any serious attacks on Fighter Command airfields and turned its attention on inland targets as well as London, Park had more time to assess the situation and gave them greater time to intercept the enemy. Keith Park had also sent out the instruction that squadrons should as far as possible work in pairs. The original order of this instruction went out as early as September 5th.
On the other hand, Kesselring’s view on this move by Fighter Command was that he agreed that Park’s order was actually working. Not only that, Fighter Command was a much stronger organization than the tattered remnants of a defeated defense as German sources had earlier imagined. Because of this, formation leaders had now been given the instruction, that should they meet up with what they would consider stiff opposition, they may decide and order the formation to disengage. This order was given by the German High Command.
Again, as on the day previous, air activities were hampered by bad weather, and the Luftwaffe took advantage of this by sending single aircraft deeper into Britain than they had done during other daylight attacks on the enemy. The Air Ministry buildings at Harrowgate were attacked, so was an aluminum factory at Banbury in Oxfordshire. The large railway junction just outside Reading had been bombed the previous day causing disruptions on the Great Western line, and as previously mentioned, the first raids on Northern Ireland had occurred.
Small raids did occur during the morning period when two German bombers flying single missions towards London and coming from different directions penetrated the defenses and dropped a small number of bombs which fell on Whitehall and a part of Downing Street while the other aircraft dropped bombs on the Chelsea Hospital and another fell in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, the third time the Royal Palace had been attacked and this time damaged had been sustained to the Royal Chapel.
1200 Hours: Keith Park at 11 Group Headquarters had been alerted from a message that originated from the Radio Interception Unit that German weather reconnaissance aircraft had radioed back to their bases that there was seven tenths cloud at 1,500 meters and stated that attacks could be made possible between 1,500 and 2,500 meters. The assessment that Park made, was that under the circumstances, he believed that the Luftwaffe would make spasmodic raids and have the advantage of using the cloud as a cover. He alerted the commanders of selected airfields to place at least one squadron at readiness.
1330 Hours: A number of squadron had been scrambled after reports came through that radar had picked up enemy aircraft, and that the general direction was London. Using the cloud to their advantage, it was difficult for the Observer Corps to keep track, but it did appear that the target were either Biggin Hill, Kenley or Croydon. One of the squadrons scrambled was 501 Squadron Kenley (Hurricanes) who intercepted a small force of He 111 bombers and attacked. Most decided to abort but not before one of the Heinkels was shot down.
At the same time, another small raid was centered on Tangmere. One enemy bomber was shot down by 609 Squadron Warmwell (Spitfires). Again, the raid was aborted and no damage was sustained on Tangmere aerodrome.
It had not been a good day for the Luftwaffe. Although only a small number of aircraft were destroyed, there was no real reason that, under the circumstances they need not have made any missions at all. The first aircraft lost was at 0330 hours while on a raid on South Wales that a He 111 hit the cables of a barrage balloon and crashed in the town of Newport. A He 111 of 2/KG1 was badly damaged during an operational mission over England that it crashed on landing back at its home airfield. Another He 111 crashed on German soil after a bombing mission, due to serious damage cause by AA gunfire and from an attack made by a British fighter. One of the Ju 88s that attempted to attack Tangmere was badly damaged and crashed into the ground on landing at its home base. As well as these aircraft destroyed and two others that crashed on English soil, twenty German aircrew were killed. The only British casualty during the German attacks was one of the Hurricanes of 501 Squadron, and then, the pilot Sgt J.H.Lacey Bailed out and was unhurt.
RAF Casualties:
0700 Hours: Norwegian Coast. Blenheim L5491. 248 Squadron Sumburgh
Sgt W.J. Garfield Listed as missing.
Sgt A. Kay. Listed as missing.
Sgt B.W. Messner. Listed as missing. (Failed to return from reconnaissence flight over Norwegian coast)
Night Sortie: Calais. Blenheim Z5721. F.I.U. Shoreham (Time not known)
F/L R.G. Ker-Ramsey. Taken PoW.
W/O E.L. Byrne. Taken PoW.
W/O G. Dixon. Taken PoW. (Bailed out near Calais. Exact circumstances are not known)
In line with the general strategy of frustrating an invasion, the RAF steps up its attacks on German shipping along the coast. It makes a daylight raid on a convoy of tankers off Zeebrugge; the plane crews report sinking one, that it is unclear if that actually happened. Bomber Command shifts its priority from strategy targets in Germany to the likely invasion ports.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 22 Blenheims on daylight sea and coastal sweeps; 10 aircraft bombed shipping and barges in various ports. No losses.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 92 Blenheims, Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys overnight; they attacked barges in 4 ports. 1 Blenheim and 1 Hampden lost.
Italian troops of the 1st “23 March” Blackshirt Division captured Fort Capuzzo in Libya, which was captured by the British at the onset of the war.
The Italian 10th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, launched an offensive from its bases in Libya on the outnumbered British forces in western Egypt after Italian engineers had finished cutting several wide gaps in the layers of Barb wire along the Egyptian-Italian border. The Italians will move about 60 miles inside Egypt before stopping.
After several days trudging through the hot desert sand, the Italian invasion force (Operation E) of 200,000 men from Libya finally reaches the Egyptian frontier in force. Two divisions of the 10th Army’s XIII Corps (five divisions) advance along the coast road. A southern prong of the Italian advance, led by the Maletti Group (armored), has been canceled due to difficulties navigating in the desert, so the advance along the vulnerable coast road constitutes the entire invasion, though it has been split into closely separated prongs.
In the northern prong, the 1st Blackshirt Division (23rd Marzo, in honor of the date of the founding of the Fascist party in 1919) retakes Fort Capuzzo at just west of Sollum, which the British had taken at the start of the war. This is still on the Libyan side of the border. The Italians bombard Musaid, which is a British base just across the border. The Italians also open fire on Sollum airfield, which the British have not used. An Italian attack takes the barracks near the airfield, so the Italians “take Sollum,” though the British still hold the port.
Meanwhile, slightly inland on the southern prong, the Italians send two divisions and the Maletti Group toward Halfaya Pass. This creates a converging attack, as these troops will be met at the other end of the pass by the two divisions advancing past Sollum.
Opposing the Italians are two divisions of the British Western Desert Force under General O’Connor, the 7th Armoured and the 4th Indian. The British have orders to hold their positions. The Italians cut the barbed wire along the frontier but do not yet advance very far across it.
One apparent side effect of the Italian operations in North Africa is a period of quiet at Malta, which experiences no air raids again. Four Short Sunderland flying boats arrive for three days of operations, otherwise, it is a quiet day. Governor Dobbie informs the War Office that compulsory evacuation of British civilians would harm island morale, though voluntary evacuations at the person’s own risk would be acceptable.
The British Long Range Patrol Unit (the “Desert Rats”) reaches Siwa near the Libyan border. Here the group would take advantage of previously cached stocks of fuel, food, and water.
The East African war continued with a 20-mile incursion by Italian troops from occupied Ethiopia into British Kenya.
Sergeant J. Hannah was awarded the Victoria Cross. An 18-year old wireless operator/gunner on a Hampden bomber of No. 83 Squadron RAF that was hit by intense flak during an attack on invasion barges at Antwerp, Belgium. The wireless operator’s and rear gunner’s stations were set ablaze by a direct hit on the aircraft’s bomb-bay. After two of the crewmen had bailed out and with two fuel tanks pierced, Sergeant Hannah single-handedly fought the fire for ten minutes, using a fire extinguisher and his own log book, while rounds of ammunition detonated all around him and the aluminum fuselage beneath his feet melted in the heat. Such unselfish dedication to duty allowed his pilot to bring the wrecked bomber safely home.
The German Government bows to reality and completes a plan to help parents voluntarily evacuate their children from Berlin.
Himmler meets in Berlin with Viktor Brack, section chief in Hitler’s Chancellery responsible for running the “euthanasia” program. After the war, Brack told American interrogators that the physical destruction of the Jews was already an “open secret” in high party circles, as early as 1940, although he had “in no case heard anything officially.”
The head of the Hungarian General Staff reported tonight that the occupation of Northern Transylvania, ceded to Hungary by virtue of the Vienna agreement, had been concluded. The occupation, apart from a few minor incidents, was completed according to schedule.
Turkey is beginning to pay serious attention to the incessant German propaganda, intrigues and espionage. The latest indication is the news that a close friend of Franz von Papen, the German envoy, has been arrested for espionage.
Battleship HMS Nelson, battlecruiser HMS Hood, anti-aircraft cruisers HMS Naiad, HMS Bonaventure, with destroyers HMS Kashmir, HMS Kipling, HMS Zulu, HMS Sikh, HMS Somali (D.6), and HMS Eskimo were ordered from Scapa Flow at 0700 to Rosyth for anti-invasion duties. They left on the 13th and were joined at sea by destroyers HMS Jackal and HMS Electra, after refueling at Scapa Flow. Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo joined off Noss Head, and the force arrived at Rosyth that same day.
This force joined battleship HMS Rodney, which had arrived at Rosyth on 25 August, the same day destroyers HMS Cossack and HMS Maori reached there from other duties. Destroyers HMS Matabele, HMS Ashanti, HMS Tartar, and HMS Punjabi arrived on 11 September. Meanwhile destroyer HMS Bedouin undocked from the Scapa Flow floating dock at 1600/15th and proceeded to Rosyth at 1945 on the 15th. On the 16th, HMS Cairo returned to Scapa Flow for convoy anti-aircraft protection duties.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa arrived at Scapa Flow to work up.
Destroyer HMS Amazon and troopship Ulster Monarch (3244grt) departed the Clyde for Iceland, with Amazon arriving back on the 17th.
The following destroyers were engaged in anti-invasion operations: HMS Campbell, HMS Garth, and HMS Vesper at sea during the 13th/14th to bombard Ostend, but cancelled due to bad weather, HMS Broke, HMS Witherington, HMS Vansittart, and the Polish ORP Burza and ORP Blyskawica swept the French coast westward from Roches Douvres, HMS Highlander, HMS Harvester, HMS Bulldog, and HMS Beagle swept from Cherbourg to Le Havre, and HMS Malcolm, HMS Wild Swan and HMS Venomous from Boulogne to Cape Griz Nez. Off Boulogne, the latter force engaged German trawlers from 0115 to 0135, but the action was broken off when they came under shore gunfire.
Submarine HMS Porpoise laid minefield FD.26 with 48 mines off Ile d’Yeu, north of La Rochelle.
German torpedo boats T.1, T.2, and T.3 departed Rotterdam on the 12th. Off the Scheldt on the afternoon of the 13th, they were attacked by an RAF Blenheim which near missed T.2, damaging her with splinters, both underwater and on the bridge. She proceeded to Vlissingen, was temporarily repaired at the Wilton yard, and continued on to Wilhelmshaven, arriving on the 25th for repairs completed in May 1941. The other two arrived at Le Havre on the 15th.
Steamer Inishtrahull (869grt) was damaged by German bombing in Belfast Lough.
German auxiliary minesweeper M.1306 (trawler Hermann Krone: 449grt) was sunk on a mine off Hanstholm.
British passenger ship City of Benares departed Liverpool, southern England for Quebec and Montreal, Canada as the flagship of Allied convoy OB-213 commanded by Rear Admiral Mackinnon. She was carrying 90 British children being evacuated to Canada.
Destroyers HMS Hyperion and HMS Diamond departed Alexandria for Port Said to escort convoy LW 16.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry arrived at Aden and joined destroyer HMS Kimberley. They departed the same day and joined troopships Andes, Empress of Britain, and Empress of Canada of convoy WS.2A. Coventry remained with the convoy until the 14th when it had passed Massawa, and then proceeded to Port Sudan.
Escorting convoy BS.4, Australian sloop HMAS Parramatta attacked a submarine contact in the Red Sea. The convoy continued with New Zealand Division light cruiser HMS Leander, which returned to Aden when the convoy was dispersed.
Vichy French steamers Ginette Le Borgne (1619grt) and Cassidaigne (1417grt) were sunk, and Cap Tourane (8009grt) damaged on mines west of Sardinia. They were carrying demilitarized troops from North Africa to France.
Heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland departed Freetown for the UK, but next day, was ordered for join Force M.
Convoy OB.213 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyer HMS Winchelsea plus corvettes HMS Gladiolus and HMS Gloxinia.
Convoy FN.279 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Vega, HMS Verdun, HMS Vortigern, sloop HMS Black Swan, plus patrol sloops HMS Guillemot and HMS Mallard, and arrived in the Tyne on the 15th.
Convoy MT.168 departed Methil, and arrived in the Tyne the next day.
Convoy FS.280 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyer HMS Winchester and sloop HMS Egret, and arrived at Southend on the 15th.
Convoy HX.73 departed Halifax at 1400 escorted by Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine plus auxiliary patrol vessels HMCS French, HMCS Laurier, and HMCS Reindeer which later turned the convoy over to ocean escort, armed merchant cruiser HMS Ascania on the 14th. The armed merchant cruiser was detached on the 24th.
Convoy BHX.73 departed Bermuda on the 12th escorted by ocean escort, armed merchant cruiser HMS Ausonia, and rendezvoused with HX.73 on the 17th, when Ausonia detached. On the 23rd, destroyers HMS Antelope and HMS Anthony joined the convoy, followed on the 24th by destroyer HMS Walker with corvettes HMS Anemone and HMS Mallow, and on the 25th by sloop HMS Fowey and corvette HMS Peony. The sloop and corvettes detached on the 26th, and anti-submarine trawler HMS Man O War joined the convoy in Home Waters, which arrived at Liverpool on the 28th.
Insistence in the Senate tonight on a different version of the industrial conscription section blocked the Administration’s plans to rush the Burke-Wadsworth selective service bill through to legislative enactment before morning. Angry contentions in the senate that a clause calling for the commandeering of “non-cooperative industry” was weak and unenforceable prompted a Senate-House conference committee tonight to insert in the peacetime conscription bill a section described as having “more teeth in it.” The Senate had bucked at accepting the language originally laid before it by the conference committee and, by a vote of 37 to 33, had sent the whole bill back to conference with instructions to insert a more iron-bound provision.
President Roosevelt nominated Jesse H. Jones today to be Secretary of Commerce. The nomination had been withheld pending passage by congress or a resolution permitting Jones, a resident of Houston, Texas, to retain his present post as federal loan administrator while serving in the cabinet. Jones succeeds Harry L. Hopkins, who recently resigned because of ill health.
President Roosevelt today tightened further the government’s control over defense necessaries and secrets of the United States by enlarging the classification of things which may be exported only under license to include equipment and formulas for the making of aviation-grade gasoline and all things needed in the construction of aircraft and aircraft engines. The Japanese Government has taken the attitude that action of this type is a direct blow at its interests.
Adjournment of Congress within ten days is expected by President Roosevelt. Whether it actually adjourns sine die, he said at a White. House press conference today, or recesses for a limited period of time, is of no actual importance, because obviously if any new legislation is required the session can be resumed immediately. The President remarked, without specifying his source of information, that the Congress might be ready to quit by the end of next week.
From mid-morning until dark, Wendell L. Willkie campaigned along 75 miles of Chicago streets today and in a half dozen addresses called for “economic rehabilitation” to put more men to work. Besides speaking at stockyards and in the south and west industrial districts, Willkie swung his 40-car caravan through the busy loop, jammed with spectators who cheered and threw confetti and ticker tape. “I suppose I have seen almost a million citizens today,” Willkie said in one speech. He told reporters later he had been told the downtown crowd was the largest since Col. Charles A. Lindbergh visited Chicago in 1927.
General John J. Pershing, celebrating his eightieth birthday, expressed the opinion today that Great Britain would stand up against the onslaught by Nazi Germany. He did so upon receiving reporters shortly after President Roosevelt, in the presence of the entire Cabinet, bestowed upon the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in the First World War the Distinguished Service Cross for an act of heroism in the Philippines twenty-seven years ago. A reporter asked him if he thought the British would be able to hold out. After a moment’s deliberation, he said: “Yes. I think they can.” Asked what he thought of the British fight against Nazi air raids he said “I think they’re living up pretty well to the British reputation for stability.”
Traffic along the Santa Fe railroad was interrupted today when a rain of cloudburst proportions washed out about 60 feet of road bed two miles east of Valentine, Arizona. Work crews were sent to repair the damage. Railroad officials said service would be resumed early tomorrow.
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox tonight said five days’ observation of the U. S. battle fleet in Hawaiian waters had convinced him it was the “most powerful, most effective high seas fleet anywhere in the world.” Saying that his favorable impression of the fleet was a fulfillment of his expectations, Colonel Knox disclosed his experiences while watching the war games ranged from being theoretically sunk while aboard a destroyer which was part of a flotilla of 18 stalking the remainder of the fleet, to taking off from the deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise in a scout bomber. The operation was so smooth that “I didn’t even know when the two-seated plane left the deck,” he said. The small bomber left the Enterprise this afternoon 404 miles off the island of Oahu and carried Colonel Knox here for a continuation of his inspection of naval and army defense establishments. Territorial officials will honor Colonel Knox tomorrow at a luncheon to which ranking army and navy officers were invited. He was tentatively scheduled to fly to San Diego Monday aboard the four-motored bomber flagship of Admiral Arthur B. Cook, chief of the bureau of aeronautics.
The War Department contracted today to buy 736 warplanes and an undisclosed number of engines for a total value of more than $41,000,000, and awarded miscellaneous supply contracts valued at more than $10,000,000. At the same time fourteen letters were addressed to nine manufacturers authorizing them to undertake plant expansion and other preparations for orders totaling about $170,000,000, which would be awarded later.
The Republic P-44 Rocket project, a plan to modernize the P-43 Lancer fighter design for the U.S. Army Air Corps, was scrapped. The USAAC drops the P-44 program, an attempt to upgrade a high-altitude Republic P-43 Lancer fighter with a Pratt & Whitney R-2180-1 Twin Hornet engine rated at 1,400 hp (1,000 kW). This is due to combat reports from Europe suggesting that the basic P-43 design already is obsolete. Incidentally, although the designation for the P-44 is “Rocket,” it was never intended to use an actual rocket engine — a fact which confuses a lot of people. This family of designs will continue to evolved, eventually emerging as the XP-47 Thunderbolt.
Reorganization of its new “streamlined” divisions to provide greater striking power and simplicity of command was ordered today by the War Department.
Major League Baseball:
The Reds beat the New York Giants and Carl Hubbell, 5–2. Johnny Vander Meer start for Cincinnati but walk three in a row for one Giant run in the third. Joe Beggs gets the win in relief.
Kirby Higbe turned his back on the superstitions of Friday the 13th and pitched the Phils to a 6–1 victory over the Cubs for his thirteenth triumph of the season. He limited Chicago to four hits while his mates were collecting eleven. Joe Marty of the Phils hit two homers off Charlie Root and Clay Bryant.
The Dodgers beat the Pirates for the third straight game at Ebbets field, winning 8–2. Ed Head held the Priates to seven hits and got his first major league win. Brooklyn rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.
The Cardinals rebounded behind Lon Warneke today and hammered three of four pitchers for eleven hits and a 9–3 victory over the Bees. Warneke kept most of Boston’s eight hits scattered.
Young Jim Bagby of the Red Sox threw a sterling two-hit performance at the pennant-hungry Indians this Friday the Thirteenth and still dropped a 1–0 decision. Al Milnar did him one better by holding the Sox to three singles — and no runs.
The Tigers’ Tommie Bridges shuts out the Yankees, 8–0, on six hits, for his 16th victory and Detroit’s 8th win in 9 games. Greenberg hits his 33rd homer of the year. The win keeps Detroit a half-game ahead of the Indians in the American League pennant race, while dropping the Yankees three games behind.
The White Sox sweep a pair from the A’s, winning 6–2 and 8–4. A’s shortstop Al Brancato helps Chicago by making 3 errors in one inning in the nitecap, after making 2 errors in game 1.
Stopping the Senators with no hits in the last five innings, Big Bill Trotter, ordinarily a relief pitcher, went the route for the St. Louis Browns today for the first time this season and earned a 7–3 victory.
Pittsburgh Pirates 2, Brooklyn Dodgers 8
St. Louis Cardinals 9, Boston Bees 3
Philadelphia Athletics 2, Chicago White Sox 6
Philadelphia Athletics 4, Chicago White Sox 8
Boston Red Sox 0, Cleveland Indians 1
New York Yankees 0, Detroit Tigers 8
Cincinnati Reds 5, New York Giants 2
Chicago Cubs 1, Philadelphia Phillies 6
Washington Senators 3, St. Louis Browns 7
Debut of Japan’s Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter: 13 Zeros escort bomber formation to Chungking and shoot down all 27 defending Chinese I-15 and I-16 Russian-made fighters; 4 Zeros are damaged. Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” fighters have been operational for months now, with pilots qualifying on the planes which are a quantum leap ahead of previous Japanese fighters. The workup period, however, is now complete and they are ready for action.
To date, they have seen little action aside from routine escort duties. Today, however, 13 Zeros led by Lieutenant Saburo Shindo serve as an escort for a bombing raid on the Nationalist capital, Chungking, and all that changes. For once, the Nationalist air force sends up a large formation to challenge the bombers, which have been ravaging the city for months. They meet the Zeros in combat with nine I-16 (monoplane) and 25 Polikarpov I-15 (biplane) fighters.
The Zeros shoot down 27 of the Nationalist fighters. They only suffer damage to four of their own planes. It is perhaps the most one-sided encounter in military aviation history.
Now, admittedly the Nationalists only have old Soviet fighters, Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s. These are not up to the standards of the European combatants, though of course, they have machine guns that are fully capable of taking down a Zero. Thus, the victory is not quite as fantastic as it appears from the numbers alone. However, this incident begins to open the world’s eyes to the new kid on the block, a Japanese fighter that quickly gains the reputation of being unbeatable. It also imbues the Imperial Japanese Air Force with extreme confidence, perhaps overconfidence, in its new fighter.
The 27 Japanese G3M bombers thus get through to the target.
Japanese bombers in a noon raid on Chungking today demolished the German Embassy. There were no casualties, since members of the embassy staff were in their homes on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Concussions had damaged the embassy building more than forty times in the last year. The German Consulate was burned out by Japanese bombs on May 4, 1939. Chialing House, the government-managed hotel for foreign travellers, was damaged extensively in raids yesterday and today and no longer is habitable.
German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop has his aide Heinrich Stahmer meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka. They reach a tentative agreement for an alliance, which of course must be negotiated further, written up and approved by both governments.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 127.74 (-0.13)
Born:
Óscar Arias, President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize, 1987, in Heredia, Costa Rica.
(Lionel) “Linc” Chamberland, American R&B and jazz-fusion guitarist, in Norwalk, Connecticut (d. 1987).
Joyce Schouten, Dutch pop singer (Fouryo’s — “Dance With Me One More Time”), in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Naval Construction:
The U.S. Navy Gleaves-class destroyer USS Kearny (DD-432) is commissioned. Her first commander is Commander Anthony Leo Danis, USN.
History Diaries 