http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/sep40/f05sep40.htm
Germans mine Straits of Dover
Thursday, September 5, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the English Channel... German minelayers are active in the Straits of Dover during the night (September 5-6) as part of Operation Walter.
In Romania... Parliament is dissolved and the constitution suspended.
Over Britain... German aircraft attack the Biggin Hill and Detling airfields. German Ju88 and He111 bombers hit the oil storage tanks at Thameshaven (causing fires that continue to burn for several days). Maidstone is also raided during the day. Oberleutnant von Werra is captured after making a forced landing his Me109 in Kent. (He later becomes the only German prisoner to escape from Canada and return to Germany.) At night, Liverpool and Manchester are bombed.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/05.htm
September 5th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil target at Regensburg - Fiat works at Turin - ‘Razzling’.
58 Sqn. Bombing - nine aircraft to Regensburg. Five bombed primary, four bombed alternatives and ‘razzling’.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft. Five got off and bombed, claiming good results.
2 Group: Blenheims of 15 and 40 Sqns raid barges in Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Antwerp, Ostend and Flushing.
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: There were two main raids on the south-east today, the first between 10:15 and 10:45 directed at targets in south-east London.
In a second and more serious phase, between 15:15 and 16:30, Detling aerodrome was bombed and five oil tanks at Thameshaven set on fire, which came to serve as a useful beacon despite the efforts of 43 and 303 Squadrons to prevent the bombing. During the engagement Flt. Lt. A. Rabagliati of 46 Sqn. took a four-cannon Hurricane, V7360, into action for the first time. Operating alongside 249 Squadron, No. 46 encountered Bf109s over the Thames Estuary, one being blown apart by cannon fire.
At night the Luftwaffe roamed almost with impunity over a wide area, many single aircraft overflying London’s IAZ (Inner Artillery Zone). Bombs falling at Greenwich.
Shops and buildings at Clifton, Bristol, were hit and four people killed, while at Liverpool bombs found the docks, Dunlop’s Walton works, domestic buildings and shops in Bootle, Lime Street and Rainhill Mental Hospital. At Prescot, St. Helens, four died, and others in incidents at Birkenhead, Wallasey and Wigan.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 23; RAF 20.
Destroyer HMS Cottesmore launched.
Minelayer HMS Manxman launched. Corvettes HMS Larkspur and Aubretia launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
Flower class corvette HMS Picotee is completed at Harland and Wolff at Belfast. (Debbie Laws)
NORTH SEA:
4,000 German troops are believed drowned when a British submarine torpedoes the transport ship ‘Marion’. This later turns out to be a false rumour.
LUXEMBOURG: The authorities adopt Germany’s anti-Semitic Nuremburg Laws, and seize all Jewish-owned businesses.
ROMANIA:
Parliament is dissolved and the constitution is suspended.
CANADA: The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division is formed and concentrated in the Maritimes at Camp Debart, Nova Scotia and Camp Sussex, New Brunswick. (Jack McKillop)
Corvette HMCS Kenogami launched Port Arthur, Ontario. Minesweeper HMCS Malpeque launched North Vancouver, British Columbia.
(Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Corvette USS Fury launched. Destroyer USS Charles F Hughes commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
COSTA RICA: The government offers Cocos Island to the U.S. for the defence of the Panama Canal. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: After months of negotiations, an agreement is announced for the transfer of 50 old but valuable US destroyers to the RN in exchange for bases in the West Indies and British Guinea. The first of them arrive in Britain towards the end of the month.
U-47 lost a man (MtrOGfr Heinrich Mantyk) overboard during use of the deck gun. (Dave Shirlaw)