August 27th, 1940 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:The base was at Kaldadarnes, Iceland, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Reykjavik, and the squadron was No. 98 Squadron equipped with Battle Mk Is. The ground echelon had arrived on 31 July and the air echelon arrived today.
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Turin and
Milan - aircraft factory at Augsburg - marshalling yards at Mannheim.
51 Sqn. Five aircraft to Augsburg. Three bombed primary.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Turin and Milan. Three bombed primaries, two bombed
alternative targets.
78 Sqn. Five aircraft to Mannheim. Three bombed primary, two bombed alternative
targets.
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Weather restricts enemy action. At night widely scattered
raids hit airfields and industrial areas.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 9; RAF, 1.
London: An air raid stops play at Lord's cricket ground.
Biggin Hill, Kent: Sqn-Ldr Eric Laurence Moxey (b. 1894), RAFVR, volunteered to
tackle two unexploded bombs. He was killed when one went off. (George Cross)
Cranfield, Bedfordshire: AC Vivian Hollowday (1916-77) pulled two men from a
crashed and burning plane, but they and a third man were dead. He made a similar
rescue attempt in July. (George Cross)
HMS
Dunvegan Castle proceeding independently to Belfast is attacked and sunk by U-46, 120 miles south-west of Ireland at 55 05N 11 00W. However, she remains
afloat long enough for the survivors to be taken off by HMS Harvester and
Primrose.
GERMANY:
NBBS extols the British public to horsewhip Churchill and his underlings and to
burn their property.
They then deny that the station (NBBS) is German. 'The fact that we are British
must be clear from every word we broadcast.'
LUXEMBOURG: German currency and foreign exchange
controls are applied to the country.
VICHY FRANCE:
Laws forbidding anti-Semitism in the press are repealed.
HUNGARY: Locotenent Aviator de reserva [Romanian for Reserve Flight Lieutenant, more or less] Nicolae Polizu of Escadrila 51 of the Royal Romanian Air Force, score Romania's first aerial victory of the war (as well as a military decoration), when he intercepts a flight of Caproni Ca 135's (of the 3/III. Bombazoosztaly, or #3 Squadron, Third Bomber Group, Hungarian Air Force). Despite overwhelming odds, Polizu shot up and forced down one of the bombers. (Greg Kelley)
FRENCH CAMEROON: Free French emissaries
LeClerc and Boislambert depart Victoria, British Cameroons, in native canoes for
Douala, French Cameroon where the Government Palace is occupied without
resistance. The next day LeClerc travels by train to Youande to accept the
transfer of power from the Vichy authorities.
CHINA: Britain completes the withdrawal of troops from Shanghai.
NEW ZEALAND: The 3rd Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force departs for Egypt; they arrive on 29 September.
CANADA: The 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade with the Calgary Highlanders, embarks for the United Kingdom; they arrive in Scotland on 4 September.
U.S.A.: US President Franklin D Roosevelt signs a joint resolution authorizing the callup of Army Reserve and National Guard units for a period of one year.
The induction of National Guard units will begin on 16 September and continue for a seven-month period until March 1941.
Attorney General Robert H. Jackson gives President Franklin D. Roosevelt a ruling in which the legal framework for the transfer of destroyers to the British can be accomplished. During the day, Roosevelt confers with Secretary of the Navy Knox, Secretary of War Stimson and Secretary of State Hull concerning a compromise to resolve the impasse that has arisen over the proposed destroyers-for-bases agreement. Subsequently, Roosevelt meets with Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of the Navy Knox and Secretary of State Hull, and British Ambassador Lord Lothian; these men review the proposal arrived at earlier that day. Admiral Stark certifies that the destroyers involved are no longer essential to the defence of the United States, thus clearing the way for their transfer.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: AMC HMS Dunvegan Castle sunk by U-46 in Convoy SL-43.
U-28 sank SS Eva in Convoy SC-1.
U-37 sank SS Theodoros T.