http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/25.htm
August 25th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: The first RAF Bomber Command raid on Berlin occurred during the night of 25/26 August. The participants were:
1. Nine Vickers Wellington Mk Is of No. 99 Squadron based at Newmarket, Suffolk, and
2. Eight Vickers Wellington Mk Is of No. 149 Squadron based at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and
3. Twelve Handley Page Hampdens Mk Is of No. 61 and No. 144 Squadrons, both based at Hemswell, Lincolnshire, and
4. Nine Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk Vs of No. 51 Squadron (4 Group) and five Whitley Mk Vs of No 78 Squadron (4 Group), both based at Dishforth, Yorkshire. (Jack McKillop)
4 Group (Whitley) Reports: Bombing - industrial targets at Berlin and the Ruhr.
51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Weather atrocious, two bombed primary.
58 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Three returned early, four bombed primary, three bombed alternative targets.
78 Sqn. Five aircraft. None bombed due to adverse weather.
Whitley and Wellington crews are told that their main target “is the Siemens and Halske factory at Siemenstadt, producing 85% of the electrical power used by the German forces.” Hampden crews are told to demolish Berlin’s Klingenberg power station. Other objectives are the Henschel Aircraft Factory, the Bucker training aircraft factory at Rangsdorf, Tempelhof aerodrome and Tegel’s gasworks.
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Attacks on RAF Driffield and Airfields in south-east, south and south-west (Warmwell), the bombers are heavily escorted.
No large raids appear until 16:00, when a strong force heads for Weymouth.
10 and 11 Groups face it with all available aircraft between Tangmere and Exeter. 87 and 609 Squadrons defend Portland and 17 Sqn. protects Warmwell. The Ju88s of II/KG 51 and II/KG 54 protected by Bf110s split into three groups to attack Weymouth, Portland and Warmwell. 87 Sqn. takes on the Portland Ju88s leaving the 110s to 609 Sqn. But the 110s are in turn escorted by Bf109s of JG53. 17 Sqn. found the bombers impossible to reach through the dense fighter screen.
One Ju88 was shot down but the RAF lost 12 fighters and 8 pilots.
The only other sizeable raid of the day develops over Kent around 18:00. Six 11 Group squadrons are in action, 32 Sqn operating from Hawkinge, and engaging a dozen Do17s until Bf109s drove them off and destroyed a Hurricane.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 20; RAF, 16.
GERMANY: U-110 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
BALTIC SEA:
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are formally incorporated into the Soviet Union.
NORTH AFRICA: The remaining French airborne units, the 601st and 602nd GIA are disbanded. (Stuart Millis)
U.S.A.: The first parachute wedding ceremony is performed by Reverend Homer Tomlinson at the New York World’s Fair for Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward. The minister, bride and groom, best man, maid of honour and four musicians were all suspended from parachutes. (Jack McKillop)
Secretary of State Hull appeals for national unity behind the defence program and related foreign policies. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-100 sank SS Jamaica Pioneer.
U-124 sank SS Fircrest, Harpalyce and damaged SS Stakesby in Convoy HX-65A.
U-48 sank SS Athelcrest and SS Empire Merlin in Convoy HX-65A.
U-37 sank SS Blairmore and SS Yewcrest in Convoy SC-1.
U-57 sank SS Pecten in Convoy HX-65B. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 360 August 25, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 47. Mist in the morning gives way to a clear, warm day but there is little German activity. At 5 PM, German raids approach the South coast. RAF airfield at Warmwell is damaged and Dover is also bombed. Czech pilot Count Manfred Czernin, flying for RAF in a Hurricane of 17 Squadron, shoots down 3 Bf110s in 1 minute. Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham and other cities in the Midlands. German losses are 38 Messerschmitt fighters and 8 bombers shot down plus 6 aircraft downed by anti-aircraft fire. RAF loses 16 fighters and 2 Blenheim bombers (13 aircrew are killed and Sgt. P.T.Wareing is taken prisoner after crashing near Calais). Overnight, 81 Handley Page Hampden bombers of British Bomber Command attack Berlin in reprisal for yesterday’s bombing of London, shocking Göring who has claimed this is impossible. http://www.rafbombercommand.com/timeline/logbook2_v3.html
At 1.46 AM, U-37 sinks British steamer Blairmore in mid-Atlantic 500 miles West of Ireland (5 crew killed). 29 crew and 7 survivors from British sloop HMS Penzance (sunk by U-37 the previous day) are picked up by Swedish MV Eknaren and landed at Baltimore, USA. U-37 also sinks British steamer Yewcrest just before midnight. At 8 PM, U-100 sinks British banana boat Jamaica Pioneer, West of Ireland (2 dead).
Convoy HX-65 from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool suffers continuous U-boat attacks. At 2.45 AM, U-48 sinks steamer Empire Merlin (6830 tons of sulphur, 35 killed, 1 survivor picked up by corvette HMS Godetia) and tanker Athelcrest (carrying oil from Aruba, 30 dead, 6 rescued by HMS Godetia) 90 miles North of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. At 7.48 PM, U-57 sinks tanker Pecten (9546 tons of Admiralty fuel oil, 49 crew killed, 8 survivors landed at Belfast) 75 miles North of Ireland. Between 11.50 and 11.56 PM, U-124 fires 4 torpedoes at the convoy 23 miles North of the Outer Hebrides, sinking British steamers Harpalyce (8000 tons of steel, 37 crew and 5 naval staff killed) and Fircrest (7900 tons of iron ore, all 39 crew lost) and damaging Stakesby which is towed on fire and beached at Stornaway.