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1936 (MONDAY)

SPAIN: Insurgent forces relieve the army garrison from a ten-week siege by Spanish Loyalists of the Alcazar fortress.

1937 (TUESDAY)

SWITZERLAND: The League of Nations Assembly condemns Japanese air raids on China.

1938 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proposes a conference of Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, and the U.K. with Germany stating, "I feel certain that you can get all essentials without war and without delay. . . . I feel convinced we could reach agreement in a week. . . . I cannot believe that you will take responsibility of starting a world war which may end civilization far the sake of a few days' delay in settling this long-standing problem." German Chancellor Adolf Hitler consents to wait 24 hours; this was advised by Italian Premier Benito Mussolini. Chancellor Hitler invites Chamberlain, Mussolini, and French Premier Edouard Daladier to come to Munich. Italy and Germany had arranged to hold a conference at Munich on 29 September for political and military collaboration but Premier Mussolini advised four-power conference.

September 28th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

GREAT BRITAIN: In a memo headed (BBC) 'Broadcasting House: Protection', house superintendent HL Chilman wrote to his superiors:

"If we are going to have a succession of bright moonlit nights this winter, might it not be worthwhile having a 'street' or two and perhaps 'cross roads' and an odd dummy shadow or two on the south end and west face of Broadcasting House? At 2am tonight the building shone beautifully." More (Scott Peterson)

POLAND: Modlin garrison surrenders after 18 day siege. With his water supply severed, General Wiktor Thomme surrenders his 24,000 troops, 4,000 of them wounded, to the German Third and Eighth Armies.

Polish resistance is nearly over throughout the country. German and Soviet troops meet at Brest-Litovsk, and together stage a military review. An agreement is signed delineating their common border lines in eastern Poland.

     Lithuania annexes the Vilna region of Poland.

MAP

U.S.S.R.:  GERMANY and the Soviet Union conclude a series of treaties at Moscow, redrawing the borders of their respective spheres of interest. Lithuania becomes under the Soviet sphere, while Germany receives a chunk of former Polish territory from the Soviets.

Under heavy Soviet pressure, Estonia concludes a treaty of mutual assistance with the Soviet Union. Under the treaty, the Red Army and Navy receive numerous bases in Estonia. The Soviet Union gives a promise that it won't interfere with the Estonian internal affairs.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The USN establishes the Hawaiian Detachment, US Fleet at Pearl Harbor

CANADA: The Minister of National Defence announces that the 1st Canadian Division will be sent overseas.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-22 spotted a British submarine at 2130hrs (Starship class). U-22 fired three torpedoes, but they all missed.
U-16 sank SS Nyland.
U-32 sank SS Jern.

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September 28th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Berlin - Fokker aircraft factory at Amsterdam - ‘Razzling’.

51 Sqn. Twelve aircraft. Eleven got off, six bombed Berlin, four bombed alternatives.

78 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Berlin. One aborted, three bombed primary, two bombed alternatives, two failed to bomb.

RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe raids on London and Solent. Scattered bomber raids massively escorted, with inevitable results. Hurricanes particularly suffering. At night London is bombed.

From four large morning raids only six enemy aircraft penetrate to central London after 24 RAF Squadrons reacted. 

Afternoon aroused a 25-Squadron response to deal with about 40 bombers and 120 fighters, all flying high. Other fighters engaged about 50 Bf110s off Portsmouth. 

After dark 121 raiders approached London, 65 crossing its heart between 18:46 and 07:12 and causing the guns to fire for nine hours. Major incidents occurred at Lambeth and Nine Elms goods yards, the Albert Embankment, and Southwark, where three HEs destroyed St. Peter's Crypt Shelter, killing 18 outright and trapping many.

In the English Channel and Thames Estuary, the weather is cloudy otherwise generally fair to fine. During the day, Luftwaffe activity consisted of a few isolated raids and three main attacks, of which two are delivered over Kent towards London and one was directed against the Portsmouth area. Two attacks on convoys are reported. The number of German fighters employed appears to have greatly exceeded the number of bombers. Luftwaffe aircraft are reported to have been stepped up to a great height and to have attacked RAF fighters from above and out of the sun. In some cases, slight haze hindered interception of raids. The first main attack occurred at 0955 hours, when raids totaling 120+ aircraft approached the Kent Coast, of which 70 penetrated inland in two waves. The first wave of 30 aircraft flew to Biggin Hill and about six of these reached Central London. The second wave did not penetrate further West than Maidstone. Seventeen RAF fighter squadrons

  are despatched to intercept these raids which finally dispersed at about 1040 hours. German patrols are unusually active in the Straits during this attack. The second main attack occurred at 1330 hours, when about 160 aircraft of which about 35 are bombers, crossed the coast between Dungeness and Lympne and flew towards Maidstone and the Thames Estuary. These raids spread out over Kent but did not penetrate further West than a line Beachy Head - Maidstone - Isle of Sheppey. All operational squadrons of RAF No 11 Group are employed against this attack and five fighter squadrons of No 12 Group patrolled Hornchurch and North Weald. By 1410 hours, Luftwaffe aircraft are flying back towards France. The third major attack occurred at 1415 hours, some 60 German aircraft fly from Cherbourg towards Portsmouth. Some turn towards the Tangmere - Thorney Island area. The raids are met by five Squadrons of No 11 Group which are diverted from the Kent attack, and by four Squadrons of No 10 Group. Four Squadrons sight the Luftwaffe. It is reported that none of the German aircraft crossed the Coast and that they jettisoned their bombs into the sea. In other missions, at about 1000 hours, raids of one and one-plus aircraft are plotted over Liverpool and a single German aircraft crossed the Coast at Shoreham and flew over Uxbridge. This latter track faded South of Kenley. At 1515 hours, an attack on a convoy off Spurn Head was reported; at 1610 hours, a raid of one aircraft was plotted over Bristol; at 1730 hours, an attack on a convoy near the Thames Estuary was reported; at 1732 hours, a Naval Unit is reported to have been attacked; and at 1920 hours, a single Luftwaffe aircraft attacked Dover.

    During the night of 28/29 September, there are continued attacks on London. German activity commenced at about 2000 hours when the first raids crossed the Sussex Coast and approached London. At the same time, raids which appeared to originate from the Dutch Islands crossed the Coast in the Wash area and penetrated over Lincolnshire and Norfolk to Digby, Peterborough and Nottingham. Raids are also plotted into the Liverpool area, returning over Wales. At 2100 hours, a concentration of raids on London was plotted, crossing the Coast near Portsmouth and also between Beachy Head and Shoreham. After midnight, activity spread westwards to include an area Selsey Bill - St Albans Head and North to Middle Wallop, but the main objective of most raids still appeared to be London and its Western suburbs. Two isolated raids are plotted in Oxfordshire, and two in the Bristol Channel. By 0230 hours, raids are less in number but are still approaching London from the Coast of Sussex. Two raids are plotted in the Derby area. At 0345 hours, a fresh stream of raids came from Dieppe, France, towards London and activity over this area continued until 0550 hours. During the course of the night, considerable minelaying was suspected off North Foreland and in the Thames Estuary.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Lunenburg laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.

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September 28th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Dulverton commissioned.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: BOHEMIA-MORAVIA: Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia Reinhard Heydrich imposes martial law on six districts of the German Protectorate of Moravia and Bohemia created when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939..

U.S.S.R.: A conference in Moscow begins. Originally thought of at Placentia Bay in August, railroad magnate W. Averall Harriman from the US; Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook for the UK and Molotov meet regarding Lend-Lease and British Aid to Russia. This conference will last through October 1st.

MALTA: The entire population of Malta seems to have crowded the shoreline to cheer as three cruisers - their bands playing and crews lined up as though they had been on a peacetime cruise - led a vitally needed convoy into the Grand Harbour of Valetta today. 

Few convoys have had a such a powerful escort: three battleships - HMS NELSON, HMS RODNEY and HMS Prince of Wales - the carrier HMS ARK ROYAL, five cruisers and 18 destroyers. They were shepherding nine fast merchant ships, totalling 81,000 tons, with 2,600 troops divided among the transports and warships.

Three days out from Gibraltar the convoy, codenamed Operation Halberd, came under fierce air attack, with HMS ARK ROYAL's fighters stretched to the limit. HMS NELSON was slowed down by a torpedo hit.

Despite reports that the Italian fleet had left port, no ship-to-ship encounters took place, although the convoy came under further torpedo attacks from the air with one transport, Imperial Star hit - but her troops were taken off before she sank.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:Corvette HMS Hyacinth attacked Italian submarine Fisalia near Jaffa (Palestine).
At 2205hrs U-331 began her attempt to break through into the Mediterranean. Next morning at 0430hrs the boat had successfully completed the passage.

NICARAGUA: Over 100 are killed as a hurricane strikes the Cabo Gracias area.
                     
U.S.A.: Baseball, Boston Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams is batting .399955 (.400 rounded) at the beginning of a double header with the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on the final day of the regular season. In the first game, Williams goes 4-for-5 as the Red Sox defeat the A's 12-11; this raises his batting average to .404. In the second game, Williams gets 2 hits in 3 times-at-bat and finishes the season with a .4057 (.406 rounded) batting average.
   In Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Dodgers meet the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers win 6-1 and finish the season with a 100-54 record, 2-1/2 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers set a new attendance record of 1,215,253. But the Dodgers must now meet the mighty New York Yankees in a "subway series."

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September 28th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Caprice laid down.
Battleship HMS Howe commissioned.
Trawler HMS Manitoulin commissioned and loaned to RCN.

GERMANY: U-549 and U-749 laid down

U.S.S.R.: Russian forces cross the Volga River near Rzhev in the central sector.

The Stalingrad front is renamed by Soviet commanders as the Don front, and General Eremenko's south-east front becomes the new Stalingrad front.

On Lake Ladoga Italian 12th Naval Flotilla MAS 529 attacks a Soviet tugboat towing three small barges and escorted by a gunboat, but the torpedoes fail to explode (or the aim is faulty). (Arturo Lorioli)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Japanese reinforcements land on the north coast of Java.

NEW GUINEA: Australian forces occupy Ioribaiwa. The Japanese have abandoned it.

The main body of the US 126th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, arrives at Port Moresby and is assigned to the New Guinea Force to join the Australian advance on Wairopi. 

US Fifth Air Force P-40s and P-400 Airacobras bomb and strafe Wairopi bridge, the village of Kagi, Myola Lake area, and targets of opportunity along the Buna-Kokoda trail while a B-17 bombs Lae Airfield.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: General Vandegrift writes of the recent action on the banks of the Matanikau River: "The great lesson however is to be found embodied in the passage in the Field Service Regulations which warns against 'drifting aimlessly into action' for in last analysis it is to be observed that this battle was unpremeditated and was fought without definite purpose other than the natural one of closing with the enemy at once and upon every occasion."

The IJN dispatches 27 G4M "Betty" bombers escorted by 42 A6M "Zeke" fighters to bomb Henderson Field. All 19 USMC and 15USN F4F Wildcats intercept the incoming force; 4 G4Ms are shot down and 3 later ditch in the sea returning to base. No US aircraft are lost. US reinforcements in the form of 6 USN SBD Dauntlesses, 3 from Scouting Squadron Three (VS-3) and 3 from VS-71, and 4 TBF Avengers from Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) arrive at Henderson Field. 

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The Combat Intelligence Unit at Pearl Harbor issues a prediction that the Japanese would try to recapture the southern Solomons and to extend their control on new Guinea. They also note that because the enemy is having good success with copying our communications methods and therefore 'we will continue to be unable to read his mail [ i.e., use cryptoanalysis] to any great extent."

The first fuel storage vault at Pearl Harbor is completed.

The idea of underground oil storage at Pearl Harbor arose in 1938. $4 million was appropriated in 1940. The Bureau of Yards and Docks studied semi-buried and fully buried tank designs. Its final decision was an unprecedented tunnel-type storage with twenty vertical cylindrical vaults of prestressed concrete, 250 feet high by 100 feet wide, inside Red Hill on Oahu. Capacity was 5.4 million barrels of fuel oil and 600,000 barrels of diesel oil. Work began in December 1940. (Edward S. Miller)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The US Eleventh Air Force flies two bombing missions to Kiska and Attu Islands by an LB-30 and seven B-24 Liberators and a B-17 Flying Fortress escorted by 17 fighters; installations on Kiska Island and a freighter nearby are bombed; one of the B-24s and the LB-30 bomb the village and Chichagof Harbor on Attu Island and on returning silence Anti-Aircraft guns on a freighter; one A6M "Zeke" and 2 A6M2-N "Rufes" are shot down with the loss of one P-39 Airacobra.

CANADA: Corvette HMS Honesty (ex-USS Caprice) launched Kingston, Ontario

U.S.A.: Lieutenant General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General U.S. Army Air Forces, gives highest priority to the development of two exceptional aircraft--the Northrop B-35 Flying Wing and the Consolidated Vultee B-36 Peacemaker--intended for bombing runs from bases in the United States to targets in Europe.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-595 had a serious fire in the control room while at sea. The boat headed back to base due to damages sustained, reaching it the same day.

U-514 attacked SS Lages and Ozório. Both constructive total losses.
U-516 sank SS Antonico.

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September 28th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMS Candytuft launched.

Corvette HMCS Long Branch (ex HMS Candytuft) launched Glasgow, Scotland.  Log: Built by A. and J. Inglis, Glasgow, Scotland. Revised Flower Class (Increased Endurance) 970 tons, 208.3x33x11ft 16kts, crew 6/79, 1-4in, 1-2pdr, 2-20mm, hedgehog, renamed Sep 43. Long Branch named for a village absorbed by Toronto. Post WW.II, sold 1947, renamed SS Rexton Kent II, later renamed SS Rexton Kent. scuttled 1966 east coast. 28.09.43 Monnow's Log: Built by Charles Hill and Sons Ltd. 1,445 tons, 301.5x36.7x9ft, 19kts, crew 8/133, 2-4in(1xII) 4-20mm, hedgehog. Post WW II returned to RN; to Denmark renamed Holger Dansk C/S "OUGH" broken up Odense, Denmark 1959.

Submarines HMS Vox and Totem launched.
Frigates HMS Gardiner and Goodson commissioned.

Frigate HMCS (ex-HMS) Monnow laid down Bristol.

GERMANY: A prototype high-speed U-boat, U-792, is launched; this is the first of four experimental submarines of this type. These boats are powered by a Walter gas turbine using hydrogen peroxide in a stabilized form called Perhydrol. The boats are used for training and reach a speed of 25 knots submerged. The Walter boats are extremely complex to build and maintain; also, they rely on an uncertain supply of Perhydrol, a fuel that was highly flammable.

Perhydrol is stabilized [they hope] 95% hydrogen peroxide. It broke down into steam, which ran the turbine, and oxygen, which was used with additional fuel. I believe the problem was the Walther turbine used a hell of a lot of it making its use impractical. (Tom Hickcox)

U.S.S.R.: A Soviet army spearhead reaches the Dnepr River at Dnepropetrovsk, 240 miles southeast of Kiev. (Jeff Chrisman)

ITALY: The people of Naples rise against the Germans. This fight will last 3 days and will end only with the advance of the Allied Armies.
The British X Corps arrive on the plain of Naples at Nocera and continue their advance. The US VI Corps advances near Avellino and captures Teora, Italy.

The US Fifth Army is ready for an assault on Naples and Avellino while Caistellamare di Stabia, Nocera, and Sala Consilina are taken.

Weather prevents completion of US Twelfth Air Force B-17 missions against the Bologna marshalling yard and the Bolzano railroad bridge, except for a B-17 which bombs Bolzano. Tactical aircraft operations are also severely curtailed by weather but fighter-bombers bomb and strafe motor transport in the Benevento-Caserta area.

AUSTRALIA: The Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area was activated 18 April 1942 at Brisbane, Queensland, assigned to Southwest Pacific Area, U.S. Army.

This unit retained operational control over the Fifth Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Command, attached Netherlands East Indies units and Aircraft, Seventh Fleet. Effective 15 June 1944, this unit also gained operational control of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) and all U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation units located west of 159E longitude

PACIFIC

NEW GUINEA: The Wewak area is again hit by the US Fifth Air Force; 40 B-24s, escorted by 29 P-38 Lightnings, claim 8 fighters shot down; A-20 Havocs and RAAF Vengeances attack the Finschhafen and Lae area; and B-24s and P-39s hit a road near Bogadjim.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 5 US Thirteenth Air Force B-24 snoopers attack a convoy in northern Solomon waters and claim several damaging hits causing the convoy to reverse its course.

During the night, the IJA garrison on Kolombangara Island begins withdrawing.

SULU SEA: The USN submarine USS Cisco (SS-290) is sunk in the Sulu Sea off Panay Island, the Philippines by the gunboat HIJMS Karatsu [ex-river gunboat USS Panay (PR-7)] and a Mitsubishi F1M, Navy Type 0 Observation Seaplane, Allied Code Name "Pete" at position 9.47N 121.44E. She was spotted after being located through her leaking oil tanks. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: Glen Boren notes in his journal:
Loaded up on the USS BUNKER HILL and we left San Diego, underway for Pearl Harbor.

I was looking forward to a couple months in Pearl for the Squadron to finish the training program. We were less than half way thru it.

That feeling lasted just two days. Our lead chief came up to us on the hanger deck and said that he wanted to move four fighters to the flight deck and to set Fox-1 up on the catapult. We asked him what was going on and he said we were the new fighter squadron for the Bunker Hill. He said that VF-17 with the F4U's were being pulled off at Pearl and going to be land based somewhere and we were " IT" from then on. When we were near Pearl, all our fighters were flown off and we did get two weeks for training but that was it.

Oh well, the best layed plans, and so forth.

Regards,

Glen

Submarine USS Robalo commissioned.

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September 28th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 2 missions.

- Mission 652: 1,049 bombers and 724 fighters, in 3 forces, attack oil and military vehicle factories in central Germany using PFF means; they claim 37-8-18 Luftwaffe aircraft; 34 bombers and 7 fighters are lost. (1) B-17s attack the Magdeburg/Rothensee oil refinery (23); 359 hit the secondary at Magdeburg and 35 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 10-7-5 aircraft; 23 B-17s are lost; escort is  provided by 263 P-38s and P-51s; they claim 24-0-13 aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground; 5 P-51s are lost. (2) B-17s bomb the Merseburg/Leuna oil refinery (301); 10 others hit targets of opportunity; 10 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 212 P-51s; they claim 2-1-0 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost. (3) B-24s hit the Kassel/Henschel motor transport plant (243); 1 hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost; escort is provided by 171 P-47s; 1 P-47s is lost.

- Mission 653: 4 B-24s and 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS: Fighters fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in Arnhem, the Netherlands (from which British airborne troops have relinquished their hold because of strong German opposition) and support US First and Third Armies in eastern France and western Germany. Night patrols continue over Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.

BELGIUM: During the day, 75 RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes deliver petrol (gasoline) from the U.K. to Melsbroek Airfield in Brussels.

NETHERLANDS: In the British Second Army area, the Germans make a particularly strong counterattack against the Eindhoven-Arnhem salient in a futile effort to take highway bridge at Nijmegen.

     USAAF Ninth Air Force fighters fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in the Arnhem area (from which British airborne troops have relinquished their hold because of strong German opposition).

FRANCE: The Canadian 3rd Division pushes into Calais and takes the Citadel. The Canadian commander refuses a German request that Calais be declared an open city but agrees to 24 hour truce to allow evacuation of civilians.

     A U.S. Third Army directive places Metz first on the priority list.

     A TRUCKIN' mission is flown to France with fuel by 194 B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Eighth Air Force.

     USAAF Ninth Air Force bombers hit the defended area of Foret de Parroy; fighters escort bombers, attack railroads west of the Rhine River. During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 494 aircraft, 230 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 50 Mosquitos, to attack four German positions at Calais and six battery positions at Cap Gris Nez; approximately 50 aircraft are allocated to each position. Only 68 aircraft bombed at Calais before the Master Bomber cancelled the raid because of worsening cloud conditions and only 198 (of 301) aircraft bombed at Cap Gris Nez. No aircraft are lost. Calais surrendered to the Canadian Army soon after this raid and all the French Channel ports are thus in Allied hands, although most of the facilities required extensive clearance and repair. This, and the continuing presence of German troops along the River Scheldt between Antwerp, Belgium, and the sea, would cause the Allied ground forces serious supply difficulties for several more weeks.

GERMANY: USAAF Ninth Air Force fighters attack the Koblenz, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, and Mannheim areas, and support US First and Third Armies in eastern France and western Germany.

     During the night of 28/29 September, RAF Bomber Command sends Mosquitos to attack various targets: 44 bomb Brunswick, four bomb the marshalling yard at Heilbronn, two bomb Heilbronn and Aschaffenburg, and individual aircraft bomb Obernburg and Partenstein.

U-2350 laid down.
U-2340 launched.

POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: 200 gypsies are gassed.

FINLAND:  The first Finnish offensive action against the retreating Germans in northern Finland takes place today, as the troops of Jäger Battalion 5 clash with Germans near Pudasjärvi. This comes as a complete surprise to Germans, who have been under the impression that Finns are still honouring the agreement that Finns will only advance once the Germans have left a given locality. Many POWs are taken.

YUGOSLAVIA: The Soviet Army begins an offensive from western Bulgaria and Romania toward Belgrade.

ITALY: In the U.S. IV Corps area, Task Force 92 gains control of east-west Highway 12 and takes Lucchio. The II Corps finds that the Germans have abandoned former strongpoints in the Radicosa Pass. In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Canadian I Corps reaches positions generally along the Fiumicino River. A company of the Canadian 5th Armoured Division crosses but is wiped out by the Germans. Operations, except for patrolling, are almost at a standstill after this because of heavy rains and flooding.

     Weather grounds US Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs and medium bombers; fighter-bombers, operating on a reduced scale bomb Bologna and hit roads and rail lines at four locations.

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: Bad weather cancels US Fifteenth Air Force bombing operations, limiting missions to weather reconnaissance.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

BURMA: 4 US Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts bomb and strafe Mawhun and Nansiaung and 21 B-24s fly fuel to Liuchow, Yungning, and Kunming, China.

CHINA: 26 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s pound the town of Samshui; 31 B-25 Mitchells attack the towns of Taochuan and Shangchiebshou, Tien Ho and White Cloud Airfields at Canton, and river and road traffic around Lingling, Siangtan, and Chuchou; 100+ P-40s, P-51s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance attack numerous targets of opportunity including bridges, town areas, troops, and road, rail, and river traffic throughout inland southeastern China and, on a smaller scale, in southwestern China and in French Indochina.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: On Peleliu Island in the Palau Islands full scale attacks end. Bitter fighting continues though as the Army's 321st Infantry Regiment finishes clearing pockets of defending Japanese at the northern part of the Umurbrogol Pocket to a previously designated line. 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment continues clearing the northern part of the western arm. The 3d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, lands on three small islands off the coast, Ngcsebus, Kongauru, and an unnamed one, and begins clearing them. The landing on Ngesebus is covered by 20 Marine F4U Corsairs. On Angaur Island, the Army's 322d Infantry Regiment continues clearing a Japanese pocket inside the bowl, suffering its highest casualties for a single day on the island, about 80.

PACIFIC

CENTRAL PACIFIC: The Third Battalion, Fifth US Marines and Company G, Second Battalion, Fifth US Marines occupy Ngesebus and Kongarutu Islands in the Palau Islands.

US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb naval installations at Chichi Jima Island in the Bonin Islands. P-47s bomb defenses on Pagan Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: On Celebes Islands, US Far East Air Force B-25s on a shipping sweep attack small vessels off Kairatoe sinking a small cargo vessel; and A-20s bomb Langoan Airfield. P-38s hit barge and the town area at Pajahi in the Moluccas Islands. In New Guinea, P-47s pound Manokwari Airfield.

U.S.A.: DuMont TV Network's station WABD (for Allen B. DuMont), channel 4 in New York City, telecasts the first full-length comedy written for television, "The Boys from Boise."
   Top pop songs on the charts today are "I'll Walk Alone" by Dinah Shore; "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)" by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters; "I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby; and "Smoke on the Water" by Red Foley.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Bowmanville commissioned.
Frigate HMCS St Stephen arrived Halifax from builder Esquimalt, British Columbia.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-219 shot down USN Avenger aircraft, Squadron VC-6. This was the last aircraft lost to U-boats from escort carriers in the Atlantic.

U-307 landed weather report team ashore in Spitsbergen. They formed the weather station 'Haudegen' which did not formally surrender to the allies until 4 Sept 1945.

U-668 had to leave wolfpack "Zorn", which was waiting for convoy JW 60 in the Arctic Sea, because the II WO was suffering from appendicitis.

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September 28th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Double summer time was discontinued effective 0200 hours GMT, 7 October 1945.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Nanaimo paid off Esquimalt, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: The first round-the-world air service is started by the USAF Air Transport Command.  A Douglas C-54E Globemaster, carries nine passengers, 23,147 miles in 149 hours, 44 minutes, starting and finishing in Washington D.C. 

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