World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 30 Sep 1940

• Weather data for 30 Sep 1940

• British monitor HMS Erebus fired 17 15-inch shells at German gun emplacements near Calais from the Strait of Dover, escorted by destroyers HMS Vesper and HMS Garth. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British armed yacht HMY Sappho and minesweeping trawler HMT Comet were sunk by German mines laid by destroyers Eckholdt, Riedel, Lody, Galster, Ihn, and Steinbrinck on 28 Sep off Falmouth in southwestern England. 29 and 15 were killed, respectively. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-37 sank British ship Samala 300 miles west of Ireland at 1013 hours, killing everyone aboard (65 crew, 1 gunner, and 2 passengers). At 2156 hours, in the same area, U-37 sank British ship Heminge, killing 1; 24 crew and 1 gunner were rescued by British merchant ship Clan Cumming. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Hugh Dowding was made Knight Grand Commander of the Order of Bath. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Georg von Bismarck was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Thomas Adlerson of British Air Raid Precautions was gazetted for a George Cross award for the daring and skillful rescue of many civilians in Bridlington in Aug 1940. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Seeadler began laying mines in the English Channel. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Communist Chinese New 4th Army withdrew from Jiangyan (now a district of Taizhou), Jiangsu Province, China and moved toward nearby town of Huangqiao ("Yellow Bridge"), where it intended on fighting against the detected Nationalist attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 4 German raids, each consisting of 60 to 200 bombers and escorted by large numbers of fighters, crossed into southern England, United Kingdom at 0900, 1000, 1300, and 1600 hours; some got through to London, but some did not drop their bombs as they had little visibility due to low clouds, overshooting their targets as radar operators misread the Knickebein radio beacon signals. Meanwhile, 2 groups of about 100 bombers each attacked cities on the southern coast. On this day, the Germans lost 14 bombers, 28 Bf 109 fighters, and 1 Bf 110 fighter, while the British lost 19 fighters with 8 pilots killed. Today's daylight attacks would represent the last major raids of such type conducted by the Luftwaffe. Overnight, London, Liverpool, and several others cities were bombed; the aircraft factory at Yeovil was attacked but was only lightly damaged as most bombs fell on the town instead. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• James Lacey damaged a German Ju 88 aircraft over Britain. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Over Britain, Josef Frantisek scored his final kill as a fighter pilot. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Arizona arrived at Long Beach, California, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

30 Sep 1940 Interactive Map