http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
September 23rd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. 10 Sqn. Whitley P4946 damaged by flak. Plt Off Bridson and crew unhurt. 77 Sqn. P5046:O Missing from Berlin and ditched in North Sea. Two men found in dinghy on 26th, one dead. Plt Off A.W. Dunn and Sgts D.A. Gibbons and B.L. Saville missing. Sgt D.B. Allen dead. Sgt G.H. Riley rescued injured. 77 Sqn. P4992:L belly landed at Appleton Yorks. Plt Off A.C. Akroyd-Stuart and crew safe.
Bombing - Calais docks - industrial targets at Berlin - ‘Razzling’.
10 Sqn. Three aircraft to Calais. All bombed.
51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Primary obscured, all bombed alternatives.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft to Berlin. One returned early, rest bombed with good results. One ditched on return, one man rescued.
78 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Seven bombed primary, two bombed alternatives at Wismar and Hamburg.
RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe fighter sweeps towards London. At night raids on London on Merseyside.
London was under Red Alert from 19:56 to 05:27 and fire engulfed Clarnico’s, trapping over 100 in the factory’s basement shelter. By midnight 24 serious fires were burning in West Ham. Searchlights were exposed 220 times, 7 times illuminating raiders for 42 AA sites which loosed off 5,565 rounds. A Vickers Twin Mk 8 firing from Waltham Cross exploded a descending mine, and SM11 guns brought down a He-111H-3 of KG26 at Chobham.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 9; RAF, 11.
London: King George has instituted a new decoration, to be called the George Cross, for “deeds of valour by civilian men and women in all walks of life”. It will rank with the Victoria Cross and be worn in front of all other decorations.
The King himself announced the award in a broadcast from Buckingham Palace during an air raid last night. “It is London that is for the time being bearing the brunt of the enemy’s spite,” he told the nation. “I am speaking to you now from Buckingham Palace, with its honourable scars, to Londoners first of all. The Queen and I have seen many of the places which have been most heavily bombed.”
He thanked the ARP workers of the capital “who work on regardless of danger, though the sirens have sounded, and all who night after night uncomplainingly endure discomfort, hardship and peril in their homes and shelters. The walls of London may be battered but the spirit of the Londoner stands resolute and undismayed.” The George Medal is also being instituted for civilians, to rank with decorations for gallantry. Bomb disposal men are expected to be among those to receive the GC.
Holders of the Empire Gallantry Medal can now also exchange their EGM’s for GCs.
Destroyers HMS Hamilton, Bath, Brighton, Charlestown, Georgetown, Roxborough, St Albans and St Marys commissioned.
Light cruiser HMS Nigeria commissioned.
Destroyer HMCS Iroquois launched Newcastle-on-Tyne. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
Himmler orders that all gold teeth are to be removed from dead camp inmates, the proceeds to go into an SS account in the Reichsbank under the name of Max Heiliger.
Berlin: - Last night an old German acquaintance dropped in on me. He’s in the Luftwaffe now, and for the last three weeks has been a member of the crew of a night bomber which has been working on London. He had some interesting details. ...
My friend says quite frankly that they have the highest admiration for their British adversaries - for their skill and their bravery. They’re particularly fond of one British fighter pilot, he relates, who roars into a fight with a cigarette stuck at a smart angle between his lips. If this man is ever shot down on the German side, the German airmen have sworn to hide him and not to hand him over as a prisoner of war.
Berlin Diary by William Shirer.
In naval grid BF 17 U-48 and U-99 search for a crashed German He 111 aircraft. (Dave Shirlaw)
WEST AFRICA:
Dakar Expedition - Operation ‘Menace’.
Because of Dakar’s strategic importance to the North and South Atlantic routes, an expedition is mounted to acquire the port for Allied use. Free French troops led by Gen. de Gaulle are carried in ships escorted and supported by units of the Home Fleet and Force H under the command of Vice-Adm John Cunningham. They include battleships HMS Barham and HMS Resolution, carrier HMS Ark Royal, three navy cruisers and other smaller ships including Free French. Naval forces at Dakar include the unfinished battleship ‘Richelieu’ and two of the cruisers recently arrived from Toulon.
Attempts to negotiate fail and as Vichy French ships attempt to leave harbour, shore batteries open fire, damaging heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland and two destroyers. Shortly afterwards, the Vichy submarine Persee is sunk by gunfire and large destroyer L’Audacieux disabled by HMAS Australia and beached. A Free French landing is beaten off.
FRENCH INDOCHINA:
Hanoi. With just two hours to go before its ultimatum expired, Japan has gained a strategic foothold in French Indochina, allowing it to station troops and aircraft in Tonking so that it can prevent supplies reaching China from the south.
The decision by the governor-general, Admiral Decoux, to capitulate to Japanese demands led to an immediate protest from China. Under the deal Japan can use three airbases in Indochina and station 62,000 troops there.
CANADA: The 2nd group of 8 “overage” USN destroyers to be turned over to the RN in exchange for bases in the Western Hemisphere are transferred to RN crews at Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Jack McKillop)
USS Abbot (DD-184), commissioned as HMS Charlestown (I-21), USS Foote (DD-169), commissioned as HMS Roxborough (I-07), USS Hopewell (DD-181), commissioned as HMS Bath (I-17), and USS Doran (DD-185), commissioned as HMS St Marys ( I-12), USS Maddox (DD-168), commissioned as HMS Georgetown (I-40), USS Thomas (DD-182), commissioned as HMS St Albans (I-15), and USS Kalk (DD-170), commissioned as HMCS Hamilton (I-24), as part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)
Armed yacht HMCS Elk arrived Bermuda and assigned America and West Indies Station. (Dave Shirlaw)
AUSTRALIA: The government agrees to form the 9th Division in the U.K. around the 18th and 25th Brigades. The 24th Brigade had been formed in July and assigned to the 8th Division but it is transferred to the new 9th Division. Australian Lieutenant General Thomas Blamey is critical of forming a new division with two highly trained brigades and another, the 27th, yet to be formed.
The War Cabinet agrees to send the 7th Division to the Middle East after receiving a request from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Minesweeper HMAS Mildura laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 389 September 23, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 76. Fine weather brings 2 raids of 200 Luftwaffe fighters at 9.30 AM and 100 at 5.30 PM. These are both repulsed by RAF and do not reach London. Luftwaffe loses 10 Messerschmitt Bf109s and 1 Bf100, while RAF loses 11 fighters (2 pilots killed, 6 wounded, 1 crashes in the Channel near France and taken prisoner). Overnight, London is bombed by German bombers flying from France, Belgium and Holland. Liverpool is also bombed.
Operation Menace. General Charles de Gaulle attempts a peaceful landing of 3600 Free French troops at Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal), to persuade Vichy French forces to join the Allied cause. They are supported by 4300 British troops (held in reserve in case of resistance) and a flotilla including British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and battleships HMS Barham and Resolution. However, Vichy spirit has been strengthened by the recent visit of French warships (indicating that Vichy had learned of de Gaulle’s plans). 2 Free French aircraft from HMS Ark Royal land at Dakar airport, where the crews are taken prisoner. de Gaulle sends emissaries into the port under a white flag and French tricolour but they are fired on (2 wounded). At 10 AM, British warships close in to prevent Vichy ships leaving harbour and are shelled by shore batteries (damaging cruisers HMS Cumberland [1 killed] & Dragon and destroyers HMS Foresight [3 killed] & Inglefeld). The British ships withdraw out of range at 11.30 AM, unable to hit the French guns due to fog. Vichy submarine Persee is sunk attempting to torpedo cruiser Dragon. In the afternoon, cruiser HMAS Australia shells Vichy destroyer L’Audacieux, which catches fire and is beached (81 crew killed). de Gaulle then attempts to land his troops at Rufisque Bay, 10 miles East of Dakar, but the attack becomes confused in the fog and the beach is well defended. de Gaulle withdraws, not wanting to “shed the blood of Frenchmen for Frenchmen”. When Churchill learns of the failure, he urges “having begun we must go on to the end. Stop at nothing”.
7 old US Navy destroyers are handed over to the British Royal Navy at Halifax, Nova Scotia, as part of the “destroyers for bases” deal. British submarine H-49 sinks German steamer Heimdal 7 miles Northwest of Terschelling Island, Holland.