Italy lodged a protest against Greece, citing its anti-Italian attitude. Italy has been making aggressive moves against Greece in recent years as part of an ancient rivalry that stretches back to the dawn of time. Today, Italy lodges a diplomatic protest against Greece alleging incursions across the Albanian border due to “anti-Italian bigotry.” Italian forces in Albania are preparing for the invasion of Greece still scheduled for 28 October 1940. Three Italian bombs hit Greek territory even though the countries are not yet at war.
Italy announced officially tonight that Albanian troops had fought off “armed Greek bands” in a frontier clash on Albanian soil, and foreign observers considered the incident might set off a long expected outbreak of hostilities in the Balkans. The Rome radio identified the Greeks as “soldiers.” A communique put the scene of the clash in the vicinity of Koriza (Koritsa), which is some 15 miles from the Greek border. It added that the Greeks had attacked Albanian outposts with rifles and hand grenades, saying: “The prompt reaction of an Albanian patrol and the successive intervention of other units helped throw back immediately the enemy band which had penetrated into Albanian territory.”
Adolf Hitler spends the entire day in Munich, his original power base, as he prepares for his meeting with Benito Mussolini in Florence on the 28th. Hitler, in fact, still maintains an apartment there (and will throughout the war). He stays in Munich until 18:00 on the 27th when his train heads south.
Hubert Lanz, Chief of Staff for XVIII Corps, takes over command of the 1st Mountain Division. This division had been earmarked for Operation FELIX, the capture of Gibraltar, but that mission essentially has been scrubbed due to Spain’s unwillingness to join the war effort on the Axis side. The 1. Gebirgs-Division soon will head east, along with many other army units. Lanz is an interesting figure during the war, a stout, relentless soldier who leads many successful operations but also a covert opponent of the Hitler regime. That said, he certainly is no saint and is implicated in war crimes.
British Ministry of Food subsidized fish and chip shops to encourage potato consumption. The British government realizes some basic things about the homefront:
— Many citizens love fish and chips;
— Potatoes are one food item that people can grow at home fairly easily and thus are in fairly plentiful supply.
— The daily fish catch is sufficient for present needs.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Food begins subsidizing the consumption of fish and chips.
It was disclosed in London today that King George VI had sent a message to Marshal Henri Philippe Petain expressing his sympathy for the sufferings of the French people and the certainty of Britain’s ultimate victory, in which France would share.
The newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported from Oslo tonight that a limited state of emergency has been proclaimed at Bergen because of demonstrations and sabotage in that city of Nazi-held Norway against the national Samling, pro-Nazi Major Vidkun Quisling’s party. Bergen citizens, it said, have been forbidden on the streets after darkness which descends now in the late afternoon. Two persons were said to have been killed and several injured last week at a meeting of the Samling (national union) which has been made the only legal political movement in Norway. Fish exports to Germany, this report said, have been spoiled by saboteurs on several occasions and long prison terms have been imposed on several persons convicted of espionage. Two Bergen newspapers have been banned in recent days, it added.
The North American P-51 Mustang had its first flight. The P-51 Mustang fighter prototype, NA-73X, took its maiden flight. Test pilot Vance Breese flew the NA-73X for its first time on Oct 26, 1940. It was a clear 25 mph faster than the P-40, despite being powered by the same engine. Following tests there were several changes in the geometry of the ventral ducting and controllable flaps. By the time that the NA-73 had been cleared for production, the duct had had its inlet moved downward so that its upper lip was lower than the underside of the wing, thus avoiding the ingestion of a turbulent boundary layer of air into the radiator cooler.
The Malta government long ago made hoarding illegal, but that hasn’t stopped anyone. Police now are authorized to search houses for stockpiles. Petrol and silver are in short supply — both being hoarded — and buses only run a few hours a day. Nobody really knows where everything is heading, the German rapprochement with Romania, a key trading partner of Malta which heretofore has supplied much of its fuel, has created numerous problems on the island.
The Soviet Union occupied the islands in the Danube Delta in Izmail on the grounds that they belonged to Bessarabia. Continuing its high-handed and predatory behavior to its neighbors, the Soviet Union occupies islands in the Danube Delta, contending that they are part of Bessarabia — which the USSR already has occupied.
The German Luftwaffe conducted the longest night time raid on London, England, United Kingdom to date.
The weather continues to offer acceptable flying conditions today, so operations on both sides again are busy.
The day begins with the usual reconnaissance flights. Around 10:30 on 26 October 1940, a fighter-bomber (Jabo) sweep accomplishes little, though the Luftwaffe pilots down a Spitfire of 4,/JG53 near Biggin Hill. There also is an exchange of losses off the coast.
A little later, a large formation heads across from Boulogne. Per recent policy, there are patrolling Hurricanes who intercept. A massive dogfight erupts which extends all the way across the Channel. A pair of Hurricanes of No. 229 Squadron attack a Heinkel He 59 rescue plane — standing orders for the RAF — and are both shot down by Bf 109s. One of the pilots becomes a POW, a relative rarity for RAF fighter pilots at this stage of the war, the other perishes.
During the noon hour, Jabos raid Kent and Sussex. Once again, there is a major dogfight. The RAF takes the worst of this encounter, but there are only a few planes lost altogether.
After that, there are primarily only small raids and RAF Fighter Command does not bother with them. There is one major action over Kent in which JG 26 tangles with RAF No. 605 Squadron (Hurricanes) and No. 222 Squadron (Spitfires). Adolf Galland of JG26 claims his 46th victory, a handful behind leader Werner Molders.
Toward dusk at 18:00, a small raid on RAF Wick by two Heinkel He 111s kills three and wounds a dozen other civilians. It causes moderate damage to the airfield and demolishes several nearby houses. The raid is a bit unusual because the Heinkels pretend to be RAF planes, flashing proper recognition signals. Among other damage, a Hudson plane is destroyed and two others damaged.
At 18:30, a somewhat similar raid by a pair of Heinkels is made on RAF Lossiemouth. They destroy one Blenheim and damage two others. There are two dead and a dozen wounded. The planes fly so low that one of the Heinkels is destroyed by its own stick of bombs.
After dark, the weather takes a turn for the worse, but both sides continue operations. The fledgling RAF night fighter service has a bad night when two Hurricanes of RAF No. 151 Squadron crash for unknown reasons shortly after taking off.
London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, and the Midlands take the brunt of the night attacks. While the raid on London is considered one of the longest of the Battle of Britain, the attack on Birmingham is particularly notable and effective. Bombs hit the center of the city and destroy a large area of important buildings. Several factories are completely flattened, and an unexploded bomb comes to rest on one of the station platforms at New Street (LMS). Large fires break out at Saffron Hill but are brought under control after maximum effort.
In London, mass transit is in trouble. The subway station at Victoria Station, St. Pancras, is demolished along with nearby portions of Victoria Station itself. More and more provincial buses are in town to replace buses lost in bomb craters and the like. Numerous other stations, such as Balham, are completely out of service. The underground is vital to the functioning of the city, but “lucky hits” slowly are making it difficult to use.
The Luftwaffe also continues its mining operations in the Thames Estuary. Mines have taken an increasing toll on smaller ships, though larger vessels have been lucky recently.
Overall, it is a fairly normal day in terms of losses. The Luftwaffe loses about 10 planes and the RAF roughly half as many.
British Losses:
Hurricane V7434, No. 151 Squadron
Sgt. D.O. Stanley died of injuries 27/10/40. Crashed and burst into flames on take-off from Coleby Grange on practice night flight.
Hurricane R4184, No. 151 Squadron
Sgt. R. Holder killed. Crashed attempting left-hand turn shortly after take-off from Coleby Grange.
Hurricane V6704, No. 229 Squadron
P/O D.B.H. McHardy captured. Shot down by Bf 109s off the French coast during attack on Heinkel He 59.
Hurricane W6669, No. 229 Squadron
F/O G.M. Simpson missing. Shot down by Bf 109s whilst attacking Heinkel He 59 moored off the French coast.
Spitfire R6839, No. 602 Squadron
Sgt. D.W. Elcome missing. Failed to return from routine squadron patrol.
A Swordfish from RAF No. 821 Squadron on a training flight crashes into Quendale Bay in the Shetlands, killing the three men on board.
Hubert Lanz was given command of 1. Gebirgs-Division.
James Lacey shot down a German Bf 109 fighter over Britain.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 11 Blenheims on daylight sea sweeps and cloud-cover raids to Hamburg and Bremen. No targets attacked. No losses.
RAF Coastal Command attacks a power plant at Brest.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 84 aircraft to many targets overnight, the largest raid being to a power-station in Berlin by 17 Hampdens. 5 further Hampdens were sent minelaying in the River Gironde. No losses from any operation. Bomber Command launches a heavy raid on Berlin. It also attacks the ports of Hamburg, Cuxhaven, Flushing, Antwerp, and Bremen. Other targets include oil installations at Stettin, Leuna, and Cologne and various rail lines and airfields in northwest Europe.
RAF Beauforts attack shipping in Sognefjord (Norway’s largest fjord). They bomb and sinks 763-ton Norwegian freighter H.J. Kyvig. Five crew perish. Some sources place this incident on the 28th.
U-28 damaged British steamer Matina (5389grt) in 57-30N, 16-31W. On 29 October, U-31 sank steamer Matina. At 0432 hours the unescorted Matina (Master David Alexander Jack) was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-28 (Kuhnke) about 100 miles west of Rockall, after the ship had been missed by a first torpedo at 2150 hours the day before. The U-boat then surfaced and fired 28 rounds with her deck gun, achieved 15 hits and left the vessel in a sinking condition. At 2200 hours on 29 October, U-31 reported the sinking of a drifting wreck by a coup de grâce, this must have been the Matina. The first U-boat had observed that some survivors abandoned ship in lifeboats, but they were never seen again. The master, 67 crew members, two gunners and one passenger were lost.
British troopship Empress of Britain (42,348grt) had departed Capetown on the 12th returning from the Middle East to Liverpool. The troopship was bombed and damaged by a German FW 200 bomber seventy miles northwest of Donegal Bay in 54-53N, 11-19W. Four hundred and sixteen crew, two naval gunners, two hundred and five passengers were on the liner. The convoy was escorted by destroyer HMS Echo and Polish destroyer ORP Burza. Destroyers Echo and Burza took 570 survivors from the troopship. Troopship Empress of Britain was taken in tow by destroyer Burza and supported by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo and destroyer HMS Broke which sailed from the Clyde on the 26th to assist.
Destroyer ORP Burza was later relieved by destroyer HMS Broke and escorted by destroyer HMS Sardonyx. A tug, which was joined by a second, later took over the tow and destroyers Broke and Sardonyx escorted the troopship towards port. Destroyer Scimitar was also involved in the escort of the damaged liner. Destroyers Echo and Burza arrived in the Clyde at 0800/27th with the survivors from the troopship.
On 28 October, U-32 sank troopship Empress of Britain in 55-16N, 09-50W. Twenty five crewmen and twenty passengers were lost on the troopship. Anti-submarine trawler HMS Cape Argona (494grt) assisted in the rescue of survivors from the troopship.
Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia arrived in the Clyde on the 26th after operations off Dakar and in the South Atlantic.
Destroyer HMS Sikh was damaged in a collision with a dockyard tug at Rosyth. Destroyer Sikh departed Rosyth on the 27th for Leith. Destroyer Sikh was repairing at Leith from 27 October to 8 November 1940. The destroyer departed Rosyth on 9 November and arrived at Scapa Flow at 0730 on 10 November.
Destroyer HMS Vimy departed Scapa Flow at 1200 to escort troopship Royal Ulsterman (3244grt) with 700 troops for Lerwick. The ships safely arrived at 0800/27th. Destroyer Vimy then escorted minelayer HMS Atreus from Lerwick to the vicinity of Scapa Flow. Destroyer HMS Foxhound departed Scapa Flow at 1530/27th to relieve destroyer Vimy. Destroyer Vimy arrived at Scapa Flow at 1940/27th. Destroyer Foxhound and minelayer Atreus arrived in the Clyde at 2300/28th.
A Swordfish of 821 Squadron crashed into Quendale Bay, Shetlands and Probationary Temporary Midshipman (A) R. T. Chambers RNVR, S/Lt P- B. Laycock, Naval Airman B. F. A. Brewster were all killed.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Alynbank left convoy EN.12 at 2359 and returned south to meet convoy EN.13.
RAF bombers sank Norwegian steamer Kyvig (763grt) off Sognefjord.
British tanker Dosinia (8053grt) was sunk on a mine near Q 1 Black Buoy, Queens Channel, Mersey. The entire crew was rescued.
Swedish tanker Strombus (6549grt) was sunk on a mine 2.2 miles 112° from Mumbles Light in 51-33-48N, 3-56-48W. The entire crew was rescued.
Swedish tanker Pegasus (9583grt) was damaged on a mine one miles south of Bar Light Vessel, Mersey.
Convoy FN.320 departed Southend, escorted by destroyer HMS Winchester and sloop HMS Egret. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 28th.
Convoy FS.320 departed Methil, escorted by destroyers HMS Wallace and HMS Westminster. Sloops HMS Puffin and HMS Widgeon joined on the 28th. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 28th.
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull urged America in a radio broadcast to prepare, to discourage and repel any assault on her security. “To have peace, we must have security. To have security, we must be strong … Essential to effective national defense are constant and skillful use of political and economic measures, possession of’ military weapons, and continuous exercise of wisdom and of high moral qualities. We must have planes and tanks and ships and guns. We must have trained men. We must hold to the ideal of a world in which the rights of all nations are respected and each respects the rights of all; in which principles of law and order and justice and fair dealing prevail. Above all, we must be a united people — united in purpose, and in effort to create impregnable defense … Thus can we maintain our inheritance.”
President Roosevelt has warned the Pétain government in Vichy that too close military collaboration with the German Government will bring on the occupation of Martinique and French Guiana by the American republics, operating under the Havana Convention, it was indicated by Secretary of State Cordell Hull at his press conference today. The Chief Executive’s message in this regard was handed to Gaston Henry-Haye, the French Ambassador, by Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State, on Thursday, the day Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain conferred with Chancellor Hitler, it was explained at the State Department. Later, in his speech on foreign relations before the National Press Club, Mr. Hull referred again to the Havana Convention as one of the most valuable weapons available for defending the security of the United States and of the Western Hemisphere. This agreement was negotiated in person by the Secretary of State at the consultative meeting of Pan-American foreign ministers at Havana last July.
The Roosevelt administration struck back yesterday at John L. Lewis’ denunciation of the new deal and support of Wendell Willkie while evidence piled up that a deep political schism had developed in the C.I.O. Stephen Early, presidential secretary, said Lewis had “chosen to go down the lonely road.” Many C.I.O. leaders, Early declared, had repudiated Lewis’ stand in messages to President Roosevelt. Secretary of State Hull said that Lewis was “100 percent wrong in his effort to prejudice the American people by the baseless charge that President Roosevelt is seeking to get this nation into war.”
Senator Claude Pepper of Florida, speaking in behalf of the candidacy of President Roosevelt, said tonight that “the European dictators hope Mr. Roosevelt is defeated at the November 5 general elections.” “Europe’s dictators,” Senator Pepper said, “hope Mr. Roosevelt is defeated, not because they rely upon the lack of patriotism of the other candidate, but because for at least two months and probably 14 there will be a virtual paralysis of American government should Mr. Roosevelt be defeated.”
Wendell L. Willkie said that he wanted to substitute for the new deal of divide and rule the other doctrine of unite and serve. Returning briefly to his home town to bid for the millions of votes which may determine which presidential candidate gets New York state’s 47 electoral votes, the Republican nominee declared: “Without any regard for myself personally, but because of the crusade I lead, I stand before you tonight as the only candidate for president in 1940 who can unite all the elements of American life in one common purpose.”
Endorsement of Wendell L. Willkie by John L. Lewis split the C. I. O. into two camps, the reaction of officers and members ranging from complete acceptance of the Lewis stand to demands for his resignation.
Senator Bennett Champ Clark, Missouri Democrat, isolationist and frequent bitter critic of President Roosevelt, tonight announced his support of a third term and accused Wendell L, Willkie of favoring intervention in the European war. Clark, in his first commitment on the national Democratic ticket since the Chicago convention, said he always has been opposed to a third term “for any president,” but declared the Republican presidential candidate’s “erratic and disingenuous approach to the issues of the day convinces me that he is not fit to be president.” “If I believed we would be less likely to be lured into war with Mr. Willkie as president, I would vote for him,” Clark said. “Such, however, is far from being the case. “He criticizes Mr. Roosevelt for not coming closer to intervention by extending more aid to England. He has swallowed all of Mr. Roosevelt’s foreign policy and complained because it did not go further, “He was willing to draft the youth of the land, possibly to send them to cough out their lungs on poison gas,” Clark said. “But all his loyalties to his former associates and employers were aroused at the suggestion that industry should be compelled to make some sacrifices.”
Alfred E. Smith, Democratic presidential candidate in 1928, declared tonight that the nation is “pretty close” to a dictatorship and won’t have to wait long for totalitarian rule if President Roosevelt is reelected. The former governor of New York said that if Mr, Roosevelt is given a third term, a fourth term follows logically, and after that “we might as well elect him for life, because he’s the only one who will have any experience.”
Prototype NA-73X of the North American P-51 Mustang has its first flight, only 102 days after the order was first placed. An all-aluminum design, test pilot Vance Breese reports that the plane handles during a five-minute flight well despite a heavy fuel load. It is heavily armed, with two .50 caliber Browning machine guns in the fuselage and four .30 inch Browning machine guns in the wings. Even fitted out with armament and everything else, the plane is 56 km/hour faster than the Spitfire V. The Allison engine, however, does not do well at altitude and soon shows other issues.
The United States Fleet will be built into a deterrent “to those nations which would plant the heel of dictatorship across this hemisphere.” President Roosevelt wrote today in a letter to Colonel Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy.
One battleship and three heavy cruisers scheduled to be anchored in the Hudson River in New York over the weekend will “dress ship” in honor of Navy Day the nineteenth anniversary of which will be observed today with parades, reviews, public addresses and many private activities throughout the country.
Sixfold expansion of its St. Louis aircraft plant was announced today by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation for completion late next Spring to turn out $70,000,000 national defense orders recently received for military planes.
The U.S. Marine Corps organized a Marine Parachute Detachment at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
Detroit Tigers slugger outfielder Hank Greenberg is named the MVP in the American League with 292 points. Greenberg won the MVP honors in 1935 as a first baseman. Bob Feller is 2nd with 222 points.
The German commerce raider Atlantis, unable to find a ship with additional provisions to capture, rendezvoused with the captured Yugoslavian freighter Durmitor in the eastern Indian Ocean. 216 prisoners were transferred to the Durmitor along with as much food and water as could be spared to cover the estimated three-week journey to Italian-occupied Somaliland. The Durmitor had been captured by the Atlantis four days earlier. Lack of proper supplies caused the Durmitor to become a “hell-ship.” The Durmitor would arrive off the port of Warsheik, 45 miles north of Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland on November 22, and in the absence of a pilot to take her in the Durmitor initially was run aground and then “taken prisoner” by the Italians. The ship was refloated, the prisoners transferred, and the freighter taken down the coast to the port of Kismaayo where control of the vessel was given to the Italians.
Japanese aircraft raided the CAMCO factory at Loiwing (Leiyun), China, destroying recently arrived kits of CW-21 fighters.
In the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi, Japanese army troops at Lungching and Pinghsiang are cut off and begin retreating to French Indochina.
The Japanese asserted today that their bombers had cut the Burma supply route to China completely — at least for several months — by destroying suspension bridges over mountain gorges in Yunnan Province. 36 planes again bombed the road today.
Dispatches from Chungking said today that traffic still was flowing over the recently reopened Burma Road, despite Japanese claims that bridges had been destroyed. Reports from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s capital said that even if bridges were damaged Chinese authorities already had prepared for such emergencies by placing extra ferries and bridge replacement materials at all important river crossings along the vital road.
Twenty-three Japanese planes bombed the downtown area of Chungking today. Bombs destroyed the former Japanese Consulate and caused casualties estimated at 100. Sixty houses and a dozen bookshops were destroyed and the ruined St. Joseph’s Cathedral again was struck. Yesterday’s Japanese raids wrecked the Chungking branch of the Bank of Indo-China.
Diplomatic quarters reported today that Chancellor Hitler, simultaneously with an Axis diplomatic offensive in Europe, was seeking to promote a settlement of the war in China in an effort to break up American and British collaboration in the Far East.
To coordinate Far Eastern defenses, representatives of Britain, Australia, and New Zealand meet in Singapore.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 132.26 (+1.1)
Born:
Gennadi Strekalov, Russian cosmonaut (Civilian Specialist Group 5; Soyuz T-3, 1980; T-8, 1983; T-11, 1984; TM-10, 1990; TM-21, 1995), in Mytishchi, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (d. 2004).
Darel Carrier, ABA shooting guard (ABA All-Star, 1968-1970; Kentucky Colonels, Memphis Tams), in Warren County, Kentucky.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy Isles-class minesweeping trawler HMS Hildasay (T 173) is laid down by Cook, Welton & Gemmill (Beverley, U.K.); completed by Amos & Smith.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-409 is laid down by Danziger Werft AG, Danzig (werk 110).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-457 is laid down by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel (werk 288).
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 117 is commissioned.
The U.S. Navy converted cargo ship USS Arcturus (AK-18), lead ship of her class of 11, is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Commander Russell Clyde Bartman.
The U.S. Navy converted minesweeper USS Flicker (AM-70) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Harrell Willoughby Hall, USN.
The Royal Navy “T”-class (First Group) submarine HMS Thunderbolt (N 25) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Cecil Bernard Crouch, RN.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type 1936A destroyer Z24 is commissioned.
The Nihon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) Kagerō-class destroyer HIJMS Amatsukaze (天津風; “Heavenly Wind”) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Commander Tameichi Hara.
History Diaries 