http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/17.htm
September 17th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. 78 Sqn. Whitley P4964 damaged by flak, Sgt R. Graham, rear gunner, wounded. Sgt A.S. Ennis and remainder of crew unhurt.
Bombing - Bismarck at Hamburg - invasion fleet at Zeebrugge and Ostend.
10 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Nine got off, one returned early, nine bombed. Severe opposition at Hamburg.
51 Sqn. Ten aircraft. One returned early, nine attacked Zeebrugge successfully.
78 Sqn. Eight aircraft. Seven bombed primary, one bombed alternative. One damaged by Flak, one man wounded.
An estimated 84 invasion barges are sunk.
RAF Fighter Command: Activity same as yesterday, few bombers in daylight, but fighter sweeps. At night London and Merseyside are raided.
In a night raid on Clydeside the cruiser HMS Sussex is damaged.
Daylight lone raiders visited Caterham, Portsmouth and Speke.
Night raiders use the 1000-kg blast bombs for the first time. Adapted from sea mines these cylindrical objects are about eight feet long and two feet in diameter. Each descends suspended from a 27-foot diameter silk parachute. Thin case and large charge combine to produce a colossal hollow bang, tremendous shock waves and extensive blast damage over a quarter mile radius.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 8; RAF, 5.
London: Fireman Harry Errington (b. 1910) rescued two trapped colleagues after a direct hit on a building which was being used as a shelter by auxiliary firemen. (George Cross)
Corvettes HMS Bellwort, Armeria and Anchusa laid down.
Light cruiser HMS Charybdis launched.
Corvette HMS Heather launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Units of the Mediterranean Fleet including HMS Valiant sail with HMS Illustrious for a raid on Benghazi. Swordfish torpedo the destroyer ‘Borea’, and mines laid by them off the port sink another, the ‘Aquilone’. On the return to Alexandria, heavy cruiser HMS Kent is detached to bombard Bardia. She is torpedoed and badly damaged by Italian aircraft.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-boat U-48 torpedoes and sinks the SS City of Benares, killing 77 British children and 248 crew en-route to Canada. The ship, part of convoy OB-213, had departed Liverpool, England, for Montreal and Quebec City, Canada, on 13 September carrying 199 passengers, 90 of which were children. The children are being transported to Canada as part of a government program. A few hours after the RN escort had withdrawn, the ship is torpedoed at 56.48N, 21.15W. The torpedo hits the ship on the port side and she sinks after a short time. Only 57 passengers, including 13 children, are rescued. Immediately after the sinking, the British government ceases the transportation of children to Canada and South Africa. (Jack McKillop)
U-65 sank SS Tregenna in Convoy HX-71.
U-99 sank SS Crown Arun. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: The Nazis set up a task force, based at the Musee du Jeu de Paume, to acquire art treasures for the Reich.
GERMANY: Berlin: Artur Axmann, the new German youth leader, decrees that all Hitler Youth aged between 14 and 18 in areas vulnerable to air raids must attend air-raid practice on Sunday mornings - thus keeping them out of Church.
Hitler puts off Operation Sealion, scheduled to be ordered today. The new came in an Enigma decoding of a message from the German General Staff to the officer responsible for loading the transport aircraft earmarked for invasion. The message orders him to dismantle his air-loading equipment; without that equipment there can be no invasion.
A plan for the attack on the Soviet Union is presented by General Paulus, Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff. This plan has 3 major axis, Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev.
U.S.A.: The first Lockheed YP-38 prototype (Lockheed Model 122-62-02, msn 122-2202, USAAC s/n 39-689) was flown by Marshall Headle on 17 Sep 40 at Burbank, California. This fighter aircraft is better known as the Lightning. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Lansdale commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Camrose laid down Sorel, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 383 September 17, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 70. At 2 PM, Ju88s attempt to bomb factories in Bristol but are turned back by Spitfires of 152 Squadron from Warmwell. Luftwaffe tries a new tactic arming Messerschmitt Bf109s, their best fighter, with 250kg bombs which slow them down and reduce their range. At 3.30 a large formation flies over Kent but they are intercepted by several squadrons of Hurricanes. 4 Bf109s are shot down and the rest drop their bombs indiscriminately in the Kentish countryside and head for home. Hitler postpones Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain) indefinitely. With Summer ending and Winter gales coming, it is now clear that there will be no invasion this year, but the bombing of British cities will continue. Overnight, London, South Wales and Liverpool are attacked again.
200 miles West of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, U-65 and U-99 each sink a British steamer in convoy HX-71 from Halifax, Nova Scotia. At 8.32 AM, U-99 sinks SS Crown Arun (all 25 crew are picked up by destroyer HMS Winchelsea and landed at Liverpool). At 4.26 PM, U-65 sinks Tregenna carrying 8000 tons of steel from USA (33 crew killed, 4 rescued by British steamer Filleigh and landed at Avonmouth).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/529.html
At 11.45 PM, in the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles west of Scotland, U-48 misses British liner SS City of Benares with two torpedoes. Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt does not know that on board are British 90 children being evacuated to Canada, in order to escape the Blitz.
British warships attack Italian forces in North Africa. Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious attack the important Italian-held port of Benghazi, 200 miles inside Libya. 9 aircraft from 815 Squadron bomb shipping while 6 aircraft from 819 Squadron lay mines in the harbour. Italian destroyer Aquilone hits a mine and sinks and destroyer Borea is sunk by torpedoes in the harbour, along with Italian merchant steamers Gloria Stella and Maria Eugenia. An Italian plane torpedoes British cruiser HMS Kent at 11.55 PM (31 killed), preventing further bombardment of Bardia the next day. British destroyers HMS Janus and Juno sail from Alexandria, Egypt, and bombarded Italian positions at Sidi Barrani at 11 PM. At 11.30, British gunboat HMS Ladybird shells the coastal highway at the point where it is closest to the sea, at Sollum. The coastal road is critical to the Italian supply lines.