http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/25.htm
September 25th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Scharnhorst at Kiel - Antwerp docks - power station at Berlin.
51 Sqn. Eleven aircraft to Berlin and Kiel. Five bombed Scharnhorst, two bombed Berlin, two bombed alternatives.
78 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Four bombed Scharnhorst, three bombed Antwerp, three did not bomb.
Battle of Britain: By day Plymouth, Portland and Filton (Bristol) are bombed by heavily escorted bombers aiming for aircraft factories. At night London, South Wales and Lancashire are bombed.
Dispersal of the invasion assembly released sufficient aircraft to reinforce Luftlotte 3 to allow it to resume large-scale daylight operations with a morning attack by He-111s of KG 55 on the Bristol Aeroplane works at Filton. No. 10 Group, after incorrect intelligence indications had pointed to Raid 22H attacking Yeovil, positioned squadrons of fighters accordingly. As a result 90 tons of HEs and 24 oil bombs caused serious damage to Filton’s aero engine and airframe works as well as nearby villages and communications. Casualties amounted to 60 dead and 150 injured before Nos. 152 and 238 Squadrons struck down at least three of the withdrawing Heinkels and AA gunners another. Several Ju88s of LG1 later dive-bombed oil installations at Portland and Plymouth, where a crane was destroyed.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 13; RAF, 4.
Under the dispersal plans Vickers prototype Wellingtons including the high-altitude models are flown to Squires Gate airfield in Blackpool, Lancashire.
Destroyer HMS Quentin laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWAY: The Reichs Commissioner for Norway, Terboven, deposes the King of Norway formally and appoints Vidkun Quisling to head the new Norwegian government.
GERMANY: U-581 and U-582 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
WEST AFRICA:
Dakar: The bombardment of the town continues but HMS Resolution is torpedoed and badly damaged by Vichy submarine ‘Beveziers’ and HMS Barham is hit by Richilieu’s 15in gunfire. At this point the operation is abandoned and the Anglo-French forces withdraw.
The pro-Vichy police in the meantime are rounding up Allied sympathisers, and Senegal’s black middle class, which demonstrated in support of de Gaulle, is paying the price.
It was the pro-Allied street demonstrations and an unsuccessful naval mutiny that persuaded the Allies that Senegal was fertile ground for the Free French. An so it was. Then the pro-Allied Governor was replaced by the present Governor Boisson and the colony was purged of Free French sympathisers. Worse, the amphibious force arrived two days after three French cruisers had docked bringing with them reliable Vichy reinforcements - although the Royal Navy did prevent several more French warships from sailing further south to overawe the Free French supporters in French Equatorial Africa. For the Royal Navy failure is bad news since it fears that Dakar may become a German U-boat base.
GIBRALTAR:
The French bomb again. The French formation is reinforced by two escadrilles and two more bomber groups. A total of 83 bombers made their run in good weather from 3:00 to 4:15 PM., this time without fighter plane cover. The air crews reported stronger anti-aircraft fire than on the previous day. They met no fighters and dropped 56 metric tons of bombs. A LeO45 bomber of French 23 Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group based on Merknes, was shot down by AA and crashed into the sea with its air crew under Lt. Court. 13 bombers were slightly damaged. Scout aircraft confirmed hits on the base and harbour installations.
This raid was the largest French operation since the war broke out.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The last lifeboat of survivors of the City of Benares sinking is picked up due to the actions of Flight Lieutenant William Garing of No. 10 Squadron RAAF. When he heard about the sinking Garing himself worked out the likely course of winds and surface currents. He still had to protect his own allocated convoys but flew flight paths that would check these areas. Today, six days after the sinking, he found the one remaining lifeboat with 46 survivors aboard. He could not break radio silence so flew back to his convoy, even though this
meant he now did not have enough fuel to get home. He signalled his find to another Sunderland and the lifeboat was later picked up by destroyer.
Husbanding his fuel, Garing ditched 10 miles from his base at Oban. He and his crew were towed in. (Mike Mitchell)
U-29 sank SS Eurymedon in Convoy OB-217.
U-43 sank SS Sulairia in Convoy OB-217.
U-32 sank SS Mabriton in Convoy OB-216. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Military intelligence reads the Japanese “Purple” code for the first time.
The MIT Radiation Laboratory, where much Allied radar development would take place, comes into formal existence with a budget of $455,000 for the first year of operation. (Cris Wetton)
CANADA: AMC HMCS Prince Robert intercepted and seized German freighter Weser 9,472 GRT, 15kts, renamed SS Vancouver Island. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 391 September 25, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 78. Again, the weather is fine but only 2 major raids materialize. At 11.45 AM, 27 German bombers and 30+ fighters attack the Bristol Aeroplane Company factory at Filton, near Bristol, which manufactures Blenheims. In 45 seconds, construction sheds are damaged, 8 newly built are aircraft destroyed, including 2 Beaufighter prototypes, and 132 people are killed (315 wounded). 6 German aircraft are shot down (8 airmen killed, 10 taken prisoner) and 2 more crash land returning to France. 4 RAF fighters are shot down (1 pilot killed). At 4.47 PM, 24 bombers and 12 Me110s attack Plymouth (1 bomber shot down, no RAF fighters lost). London and other cities are bombed overnight and mines laid in the Thames Estuary.
Operation Menace. British warships return and shell Dakar harbour and coastal batteries. At 9 AM, French submarine Beveziers torpedoes British battleship HMS Resolution (which has to be towed back to Freetown, Sierra Leone, by HMS Barham), forcing the British warships to retire. In consultation with the British war cabinet, the operation is abandoned. Vichy French bombers return to bomb Gibraltar from bases in Algeria and Morocco. While most bombs drop in the sea, the harbour receives some damage and British anti-submarine trawler Stella Sirius is sunk.
At 3.25 AM, 500 miles West of Ireland, U-32 sinks British SS Mabriton (12 dead, 25 survivors rescued by British survey ship HMS Jason and sloop HMS Rochester). 400 miles West of Ireland, U-43 sinks British SS Sulairia at 1.30 PM (1 killed, 56 survivors picked up by Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa) and U-29 hits British MV Eurymedon at 2 PM, which sinks 2 days later (20 crew & 9 passengers lost, 42 crew & 22 passengers picked up by HMCS Ottawa). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/555.html
Operation Lucid. Old Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers War Nizam & War Nawab are to be set on fire and sent into the French Channel ports as fire ships to ignite German invasion barges. Filled with 2-3000 tons of a cocktail of 50% heavy fuel oil, 25% diesel oil and 25% petrol, they depart Sheerness and Portsmouth escorted by 6 destroyers, 5 minesweepers and torpedo boats. The operation is cancelled in the evening when War Nizam breaks down. Reminiscent of Sir Francis Drake’s attack on the Spanish Armada in 1588 which “singed the King of Spain’s beard”, the plan is supported by Churchill to “singe Hitler’s moustache”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lucid http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=28522