During the night of 29-30 September, three German spies land by rubber dinghy on the Scottish Banff coast after being deposited offshore by a Heinkel He 115. They are Vera de Witte, Theodore Drueke and Werner Waelt. This is part of Operation Lobster (Unternehmen Hummer), a continuing operation to infiltrate Great Britain with spies in order to gather data.
Germany’s unrelenting air siege of the past three weeks has seriously interfered with the production of some British aircraft factories, it was revealed today by workers in letters to Lord Rothermere’s Sunday Dispatch.
The Germans formally incorporate Luxembourg into the Greater Reich.
The Moscow Communist Party newspaper Pravda was quoted by the official Soviet news agency today as declaring that the triple axis alliance was prompted by “extension of military cooperation between England and the United States” and would mean a further expansion of the war.
Italian commentators warned the United States tonight that a bursting of the myth of American power” and destruction of her army would result from any U. S. intervention against the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis plans for world rearrangement. That warning appeared In the Popolo d’ltalia whose commentator, Mario Appelius, devoted a long article analyzing the dangers faced by America if she tried to buck the triple alliance. The entire Italian press was filled with warnings to America not to turn the axis “peace pact” into a war pact.
British warships from Alexandria, Egypt bombarded the coastal road in Libya and attacked Italian shipping along the Libyan coast.
The local government in Madagascar affirms its allegiance to Vichy France.
Maintaining a long-standing pattern in the Battle of Britain, 29 September 1940 is an “off” day after some “on” days. The Luftwaffe sends across scattered raiders, makes half-hearted attacks on shipping, and performs reconnaissance for most of the day. There are only a few halfway-major efforts that do not amount to much. Neither side takes many losses, and some of those are self-inflicted.
Late in the morning, the naval base at Lowestoft is hit which does not do much damage to the facility itself, but infrastructure such as water mains and houses take a beating. Another attack around the same time takes place against shipping off Portsmouth, and a third off the North Wales Coast. RAF Fighter Command does not get much accomplished in these instances, showing the value of these sorts of small-scale hit-and-run raids.
At 1600 hours, a large group of German aircraft, mostly fighters, conducted a sweep in Kent in southern England, United Kingdom; this sweep failed to draw British fighters.
Another, smaller series of raids occurs around 18:00 in waning daylight over St. George’s Channel. Not much happens, but a German fighter is lost.
After dark, it is a fairly average night. Around 20:00, bombers cross over and target numerous areas in southern Britain, including of course London. Liverpool receives a major attack around 22:30, initiating fires at the docks and nearby warehouses.
In London, St. Paul’s Churchyard takes an unexploded bomb, while the docks around Horse Shoe Wharf receive damage. Other raids target the aircraft factory at Gloucester. The Luftwaffe loses a couple of Heinkel He 111s late in the day. After midnight, the attacks are largely confined to London and surrounding areas, and they end a little earlier than usual at about 03:00.
Late in the day, as the light is fading, the RAF has some friendly fire incidents which cause it to lose two Hurricanes. Both pilots, however, survive.
Befitting the quiet day, losses are minimal and even at about a handful of planes apiece. The strategy of attacking at night makes the Luftwaffe’s bombers much more effective and reduces their losses, but it also reduces (actually eliminates) the precision necessary to selectively eliminate RAF infrastructure.
British Losses:
Hurricane P5177, No. 79 Squadron
F/O G.C.B. Peters killed. Failed to return after intercepting He 111s over the Irish Sea.
Hurricane V7312, No. 615 Squadron
P/O J. McGibbon killed. Dived into ground from 7,000ft during routine practice flight.
Hptm. Walter Oesau of Stab III./JG 51 claims two Spitfires for his 32nd and 33rd victories.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 9 Blenheims on uneventful daylight sweeps.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 88 Blenheims, Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys to many targets overnight. The Fokker factory at Amsterdam was bombed. 1 Hampden and 1 Wellington lost. Bomber Command continues its campaign against Luftwaffe airfields. It also targets oil installations at Hannover and Magdeburg, warehouses at Cologne and Osnabruck, an aluminum plant at Bitterfeld, and a gas plant at Stuttgart.
U-32, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Hans Jenisch, sank British steamer Bassa (5267grt) in 54-00N, 21-00W. At 0053 hours the Bassa (Master George Edward Anderson), dispersed only a few hours earlier from convoy OB.218, was hit aft by one torpedo from U-32 and sank by the stern southwest of Rockall. The Germans observed how the crew abandoned ship in lifeboats, but the survivors were never seen again. The master, 48 crew members and one gunner were lost. The 5,267-ton Bassa was carrying ballast and was headed for New York, New York.
Light cruiser HMS Kenya arrived at Scapa Flow at 1000.
Light cruiser HMS Emerald and destroyers ORP Garland, HMS Broke, HMS Velox, and ORP Blyskawica departed Plymouth to pursue German destroyers off St Mary’s, Scilly Isle. Contact was not made and the ships arrived back at Plymouth on the 30th.
Light cruiser HMS Despatch departed the Clyde for Portsmouth for refitting and repairs.
Dutch steamer Arizona (398grt) was sunk on a mine one mile 204° from Kincraig Signal Tower, Firth of Forth. Three crewmen survived the loss of steamer Arizona.
Battlecruiser HMS Renown and destroyers HMS Firedrake, HMS Encounter, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Gallant departed Gibraltar at 0715 on the 29th to intercept French battleship Richelieu, reportedly en route to a Biscay port. On leaving Harbor, French destroyers Epee and Frondeur were sighted passing through the Gibraltar Straits. The British force also conducted patrols off the Azores on the report of German ships with troops, possibly en route to the Azores for occupation.
Oiler RFA Orangeleaf, escorted by destroyer HMS Wishart, departed Gibraltar on the 29th for patrol south of the Azores to refuel HMS Renown destroyers. Oiler Orangeleaf was met by destroyer Wrestler, which departed Gibraltar on 6 October, and escorted back to Gibraltar.
Battlecruiser HMS Renown and her four destroyers arrived back at Gibraltar on 7 October.
Light cruiser HMS Ajax, anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry, and Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen arrived at Alexandria.
Italian steamer Carmen (1434grt) was sunk in 41-17N, 19-11E, east, southeast of Durazzo, probably on a mine.
At 0700, battleships HMS Barham and HMS Resolution, heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire, light cruiser HMS Delhi, destroyers HMS Inglefield, HMS Faulknor, HMS Escapade, HMS Greyhound, HMS Fury, HMS Foresight, and HMS Forester, sloops HMS Bridgewater and HMS Milford, and boom defence vessel HMS Quannet arrived at Freetown.
Heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire arrived at Freetown.
Convoy OB.221 departed Liverpool with destroyer HMS Anthony, corvettes HMS Arabis, HMS Calendula, and HMS Coreopsis, and anti-submarine trawlers HMS Blackfly and HMS Lady Elsa. Corvette Coreopsis was detached that day. The two trawlers departed on the 30th. Corvette Arabis was detached on 2 October and destroyer Anthony and corvette Calendula left on 3 October.
Convoy FN.294 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Verdun and HMS Vivien. The convoy arrived at Methil on 1 October.
Convoy FS.294 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyer HMS Westminster and sloop HMS Egret. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 30th.
Convoy FS.295 departed Methil, escorted by destroyers HMS Valorous and HMS Wolsey. The convoy arrived at Southend on 1 October.
The way was cleared today for final Congressional action this week on the Excess Profits Tax and Amortization Bill when Senate and House conferees, meeting in unusual Sunday session, reached complete agreement on its highly complicated and controversial provisions.
With agreement today by conferees on the Excess Profits Tax Bill, Congressional leaders promised their colleagues either a four weeks’ recess or an agreement for a series of short recesses that will permit them to take the field in the political campaigns of October and early November. While it is uncertain as to the date Congress can finish its present calendar, next Saturday night was suggested as a possible quitting day, with a week from Wednesday considered the more probable date. Sine die adjournment was “out the window,” leaders said after a poll of the House membership showed a majority opposed to quitting and thus surrendering their constitutional authority until reconvened in the Seventy-seventh Congress, or until called into special session by the President. Many members, it was said, desired to escape any criticism of adjourning while the foreign situation remains tense. The German-Italian-Japanese pact was said to have produced such an effect in Congress as to remove any suggestion of a sine die adjournment.
America should not allow a Japanese threat to become a German “red herring” and lessen United States aid to Britain, in the opinion of Rear-Admiral Yates Stirling Jr., U.S.N, (retired), former chief of staff of the United States fleet and now United Press naval critic. Admiral Stirling advocates a policy of caution in the Pacific, even if war with Japan comes soon, using our fleet only as defense for the time being, with the idea of straightening out affairs in the orient only after the axis is defeated in Europe.
A problem of major proportions involving the manning of the rapidly expanding United States Navy awaits the solution of Congress. About four years is required to train a petty officer, and the petty officer is the backbone of the fighting fleet. At least half as much time is needed to train an efficient enlisted man in the lower grades. The seventy-sixth Congress has appropriated for a maximum enlisted strength of 172,000 men, or a little more than one-third the trained force that will be necessary when the fleet approaches its maximum authorized strength in combatant surface craft and airplanes. It will probably fall to the seventy-seventh Congress, which is to convene in January, to achieve an equilibrium between man and ship power. The Selective Service law will not solve the problem. Secretary Knox called attention to this fact a few days ago when he announced that in the expanding of its enlisted personnel the Navy will rely on the volunteer system. The draft law provides for one year’s service, whereas the Navy supposedly needs from two to six years to train its enlisted personnel.
The Rev. Allen Clay Lambert, Lutheran church pastor, told his congregation near Altoona, Pennsylvania, he would refuse to register for the draft and “would not encourage my young people in this business.” “I would not sign away my liberty,” declared the 35-year-old minister. “I cannot go along directly or indirectly in the greatest crime committed against the republic since its founding.” Mr. Lambert, father of three children, stated that “this whole thing has been more or less forced upon the American people and I think the time has come for a revolution against war.” He added that his stand was taken “not for any love for Hitler or anything like that, I’m willing to die for my country but not to kill.”
Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay lured a vast, merry-making crowd of 209,856 to the unrestrained festivities marking the closing tonight of the Golden Gate exposition. Carefree and out for a last fling at the exposition’s attractions before its two-year run comes to a final end sometime after midnight, the attendance swelled to this record figure at 11 p.m., when new arrivals began tapering off. The biggest previous crowd was 187,730 on Oct. 8, 1939 and on closing day last year it reached only 147,674. Tonight’s gala turnout boosted 1940 attendance to 6,544,632, exposition officials said. In an address by Marshall Dill, exposition president, the attitude of officials was expressed in his words that “for the past four months we have been joyously tending our garden while all about us the world has been bent on destruction.”
The light cruiser USS St. Louis departed Norfolk, Virginia for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with the Greenslade Board aboard. The Greenslade Board was a committee formed “to make a comprehensive study of the shore establishment (naval and commercial) necessary to support the Fleet in peace and war.” With the strategic requirements of the fleet in mind, the board was instructed to make recommendations for additional facilities in new locations and as to the expansion, limitation, contraction, abandonment, or conversion of existing shore facilities. The board was known by its senior member, Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade. The board, headed by Rear Admiral John F. Greenslade, which would evaluate base sites acquired from the British on September 5 in the destroyers-for-bases agreement.
The Midway Detachment, Third Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, under command of Major Harold C. Roberts, USMC, arrived on Midway Island to begin construction of defenses. The Marines were transported by the cargo ship USS Sirius and the light minelayers USS Pruitt (DM-22), USS Sicard (DM-21), and USS Tracy (DM-19).
The first U.S. merchant ship, “Booker T. Washington,” commanded by a black captain (Hugh Mulzac), is launched at Wilmington, Delaware.
“Double or Nothing”, a radio quiz show, is first broadcast on the Mutual Radio Network.
Major League Baseball:
The American League finishes the season drawing 5,433,791, surpassing the attendance record set in 1924.
Capturing a double-header from the Athletics, 9–4 and 4–1, the Red Sox finished in a fourth-place tie with the White Sox today. Chicago’s defeat by St. Louis knotted the fourth-place standings at 82 won and 72 lost for an average of .532.
The Yankees edge the Senators, 4–3, in 11 innings, as Joe DiMaggio singles in the deciding run. DiMaggio wins the American League batting title for the second year in a row. But the Yankees still finish third, as Cleveland wins to clinch second place.
The newly crowned champion Tigers engaged in their last American League workout today and once again went into reverse as they dropped the concluding game of the regular season to the Indians, 3–2. The struggle went fourteen innings. Al Milnar won his 18th.
The White Sox failed to lay full claim to fourth place in the American League today when Elden Auker of the Browns shaded Johnny Rigney in a pitchers’ duel and defeated the Chicagoans, 2–1. The White Sox thus ended the season in a fourth place tie with the Red Sox.
The Reds win their 100th game, beating the visiting Pirates 11–3, behind Bucky Walters. With one error in the game, Bill McKechnie’s Cincinnati team totals just 117 errors during the season, a Major League record and 18 less than any previous team. The .981 fielding mark is the best up to this time. The defense, plus the pitching of Bucky Walters, Paul Derringer, and reliever Joe Beggs, brings the 2nd straight National League flag to the Reds, despite multiple injuries to Ernie Lombardi. The big catcher went down again September 15th, and with Hershberger’s suicide, the club turns to 39–year-old coach Jimmy Wilson for some of the backstopping. Wilson will end up as a world series hero.
The Cardinals closed the season today with a 6–0 shutout of the Cubs, blasting their former mound ace, Dizzy Dean, to the showers with nine hits and five runs in five fast innings.
Johnny Rucker, a Life magazine cover boy at the start of the season, based on his .346 average with Atlanta and his speed afoot, never quite lives up to the ballyhoo. But this day he hits a grand slam and drives in record-tying 7 runs in two consecutive innings, as the Giants crush the Boston Bees, 14–0. Bill Lohrman spun a three-hit shutout to win today after ten consecutive losses dating abck to July.
Brooklyn’s Lee Grissom, once brilliant southpaw of the Reds, threatened to write a new page in the season’s history today as the Dodgers wound up their 1940 work with a 5–0 victory over the Phillies. The lanky left-hander allowed only two hits and was well on his way to a no-hitter when old Chuck Klein, batting for Johnny Rizzo with two away in the sixth, spoiled the dream with a line single to right. Grissom struck out eleven.
Philadelphia Athletics 4, Boston Red Sox 9
Philadelphia Athletics 1, Boston Red Sox 4
St. Louis Browns 2, Chicago White Sox 1
Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Cincinnati Reds 11
Detroit Tigers 2, Cleveland Indians 3
Boston Bees 0, New York Giants 14
Brooklyn Dodgers 5, Philadelphia Phillies 0
Chicago Cubs 0, St. Louis Cardinals 6
New York Yankees 4, Washington Senators 3
Japanese soldiers today occupied the United States Far Eastern Trading Co. warehouse in Haiphong, French Indo-China but a few hours later abandoned it, replacing the American flag they had removed and tendering regrets to United States Consul Charles Reed.
The Tokyo newspaper Asahi this morning accuses the United States and Britain of “encircling” Japan and disturbing the Pacific.
The Brocklesby mid-air collision occurred over Brocklesby, Australia. Two Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAAF collided and, unusually, remained locked together. All four crewmen involved survived the accident.
The collision of two Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAAF, based at RAAF Forest Hill near Wagga Wagga, creates one of the most unusual incidents in aviation history. Flying in formation at 1000 feet (330 meters) over Brocklesby, the two aircraft come together, knocking out the upper aircraft’s engines and somehow locking the two planes together. There are two men in each aircraft, all students in the final stages of their training. Three of them successfully bailout, with the sole exception of the pilot in the top aircraft. He is a man with a plan.
Leading Aircraftman Leonard Graham Fuller, 22, the pilot of the top aircraft, is now flying an aircraft whose engines are out, but which is still flying because the engines of the lower aircraft remain in operation. His controls otherwise work, though he later comments that they are “pretty heavy.” Fuller flies five miles (8 km) and then spots a field about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Brocklesby. Landing into the wind, he brings the two aircraft down in the field, sliding 200 yards (180 m) before they come to rest.
By landing the planes, Fuller not only avoids damage to the town or wherever else the planes might come down together, but saves £40,000 worth of military hardware (both aircraft are repaired and one returns to service, the other used as an instructional aid). Fuller receives an immediate promotion to sergeant but also is reprimanded for talking to the media without authorization. He later receives the Distinguished Flying Medal for actions over Palermo in 1942. In 1944, Fuller perishes when hit by a bus.
Australian schooner Henrietta sinks at Port Phillip, Victoria in poor weather. The ship runs aground on a reef because there were no charts on board and is wrecked in a storm during the night. The three sailors on board survive, as well as the ship’s cat, but the cat’s kittens don’t make it.
British 429 ton freighter Kinabulu runs aground at Batu Mandi Rock, North East Borneo. It is carrying cattle and other cargo to from Jesselton to Sandakan. The five crew perish.
Born:
Mike Eischeid, AFL-NFL punter (AFL Champions-Raiders, 1967 [lost Super Bowl II]; Oakland Raiders, Minnesota Vikings), in Orange City, Iowa.
John Miszuk, Polish-Canadian NHL and WHA defenseman (Detroit Pistons, Chicago Black Hawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars; Michigan Stags-Baltimore Blades, Calgray Cowboys), in Naliboki, Poland (d. 2025).
Jimmy Knapp, British trade unionist (National Union of Railwaymen), in Hurlford, Ayrshire, England, United Kingdom (d. 2001).
Naval Construction:
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “K” (Katjusa)-class submarine K-23 is commissioned.
History Diaries 