http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/27.htm
September 27th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - installations at Lorient Naval base.
10 Sqn. Twelve aircraft. All bombed.
RAF Fighter Command: London, Bristol, heavily escorted bombers raid aircraft factories, but big losses are inflicted by the RAF.
At night London, the Midlands and Merseyside are raided.
Erpro Gr 210 makes its final fighter-bomber attack on the British Isles. Escorted by I./ZG 26 it attacks Bristol, but suffers five losses, including the new Kommandeur, Hptm Martin Lutz, to Hurricanes of 504 Squadron.
Observer Corps reported six large bombers circling Kenley. The only bombs though are reported in the Dover area. Ju88s of KG 77 attempted two raids on London and lost 13 of their number to British fighters. Bf110s of LG 1 fared little better, losing seven on their number over Kent and Surrey.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 55; RAF, 28.
Light cruisers HMS Kenya and Phoebe commissioned.
Submarine HMS Unique commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: All Jews are forced to carry special identity cards.
BELGIUM: Eighty brand-new Italian Br.20M bombers have been assigned to 13th and 43rd Stormo and these units are transfered from Italy to Belgium today. The extremely bad weather conditions caused only 63 planes to arrive to their assigned bases of Melsbroech (13th St.) and Chivres (43rd St.). Twelve more Br.20s will arrive over the next several days, but five were lost in crash-landings. These units will begin the Italian contribution to the “Blitz”. (Ferdinando d’Amico)
GERMANY: Professor Franz Six, an SS colonel, is appointed to head the German secret police in Britain in the event of an invasion.
Berlin: Today, in the Berlin chancellery, the Japanese ambassador, Saburo Kurusu, put his signature to a tri-partite pact which extends the Rome-Berlin Axis to the Far East. In a move clearly directed at the United States, the three countries pledge themselves to aid one another with “all political, economic and military means” should one of them be attacked by “a power not involved in the European war.”
Japan accepts the hegemony of Germany and Italy in Europe, and they in turn recognise Japan’s right to organise “the Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere”. The pact contains a clause promising to preserve the status quo in relations with the Soviet Union.
In Washington, Roosevelt called his defence advisers to the White House to review the implications of the pact. Asked if he had expected Japan to join the Axis the President said: “Yes and No”.
A navy department spokesman said that the pact would not mean any change of policy. The navy, he said, would continue to be based at Pearl Harbor.
ICELAND: Second Hand John Henry Mitchell (1917-72) ran 100 yards and clambered over three ships to rescue two seamen from freezing waters. (Albert Medal)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-31 sank SS Vestvard.
U-37 sank SS Georges Mabro. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 393 September 27, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 80. Despite rain and clouds over Southern England, Luftwaffe launches a series of daylight bombing raids. At 9 AM, 80 bombers &100 fighters cross Kent towards London. Most of the bombers are turned back near Maidstone & Tonbridge, but some get through to bomb London. At 11.20 AM, 25 bombers & 45 Me110s fly towards Bristol. They are intercepted, sparing the Bristol Aeroplane Company, but RAF Filton is bombed. At midday, 300 German aircraft (mostly fighters) again cross Kent towards London but they are engaged at 12.30 & turned back. At 3 PM, 80 bombers & 80 fighters again fly towards London. They are intercepted & dispersed but 20 aircraft bomb Central London. In another big victory for RAF, Luftwaffe loses 21 bombers and 34 fighters while RAF loses 27 fighters (13 pilots killed). Overnight, there is heavy bombing of London (from Dieppe and Le Havre), as well as attacks on Liverpool (from Cherbourg), Edinburgh (from Denmark), Birmingham & Nottingham.
Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, designed to keep USA out of the war. Each agrees to declare war on any country that joins the war against one of the others. As Japan is not currently at war with the Allies, this is a clear sign of their intent to become involved.
At 11.13 AM, U-31 sinks Norwegian MV Vestvard 300 miles West of Ireland (1 killed, 30 survivors escape in 1 lifeboats and make land October 1 near Galway, Ireland). In the same area at midnight, U-37 sinks Egyptian steamer Georges Mabro (all hands lost). After sailing 500 miles West from base at St-Nazaire, France, in 4 days, U-46 malfunctions and dives accidentally, killing Oberbootsmaat Heinrich Schenk and Matrosenobergefreiter Wilhelm Reh. The patrol is aborted and they return to St-Nazaire.
Minesweeper HMS Halcyon is badly damaged on a mine laid by German aircraft in the mouth of the River Tees, North England (several crew wounded). Halcyon will be out of service until July 1941.