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• Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact. ww2dbase [The Tripartite Pact | TH]
• 300 miles west of Ireland, German submarine U-31 sank Norwegian ship Vestvard at 1113 hours (1 killed, 30 survived in one lifeboat) and German submarine U-37 sank Egyptian ship Georges Mabro shortly before midnight (all aboard were killed). 500 miles west of Saint-Nazaire, France, German submarine U-46 dove suddenly due to mechanical failure, killing Oberbootsmaat Heinrich Schenk and Matrosenobergefreiter Wilhelm Reh; control was regained, and the commanding officer aborted the mission to return to Saint-Nazaire for repairs. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]

• British minesweeper HMS Halcyon hit a mine at the mouth of River Tees in the North Sea off northern England, United Kingdom and was heavily damaged. ww2dbase [North Sea | CPC]
• The survivors of Norwegian ship Tancred, sunk by U-32 in the Atlantic Ocean on the previous day, were picked up by the Norwegian motor merchant Tricolor; they would be landed in New York, United States about a week later. ww2dbase [HM]

• Comandante Cappellini departed La Spezia, Italy at 0800 hours for exercises, returning at 1630 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci transited the Strait of Gibraltar. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Strait of Gibraltar | CPC]

• At 0900 hours, 80 German bombers escorted by 100 fighters flew over Kent toward London, England, United Kingdom; most of the bombers were turned back near Maidstone and Tonbridge, but some got through and released their bombs over London. At 1120 hours, 25 bombers escorted by 45 Bf 110 fighters were intercepted before they reached their industrial targets in Bristol. Between 1200 and 1230 hours, 300 German aircraft, mostly fighters, conducted a sweep and engaged in dogfights near London; 20 bombers within this group were able to bomb London. By the end of the day, the Germans lost 21 bombers and 34 fighters while the British lost 27 fighters with 13 pilots killed. Overnight, London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Nottingham were bombed. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
• James Lacey shot down a German Bf 109 fighter over Britain. ww2dbase [James Lacey | CPC]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down his 6th kill, a British Hurricane fighter, over London, England, United Kingdom. In doing so, he abandoned his duty as wingman to flight leader Staffelkapitän Adolf Buhl, and Buhl would happen to be shot down in combat in this engagement. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | London, England | CPC]
• British newspaper The Daily Herald, on its front page story, reported that six evacuee children from the liner City of Benares, which had been torpedoed by Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt on 17 Sep 1940, had been rescued from a lifeboat in the mid-Atlantic. ww2dbase [AC]
• Georges Boris made a broadcast over the BBC from the United Kingdom to the French people, announcing that the Vichy regime in France was placed in charge of rationing across both occupied and unoccupied zones of France, thus villifying Vichy as a collaborationist regime which supported German occupiers at the cost of the suffering of the French people. Boris reminded the French people that, prior to German occupation, France was self-efficient in agriculture, thus the occupation and the collaborationists were to blame for the lack of food. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The United States announced that, with effect from 15 October 1940, they would be imposing an embargo on the export of iron and steel scrap to all nations except those in the western hemisphere and Great Britain. ww2dbase [AC]

27 Sep 1940 Interactive Map