Monday, September 26, 2011

Day 758 September 27, 1941

Ethiopia. After a lengthy siege, British King's African Rifles capture Wolchefit Pass from the Italians (11 miles North of Gondar, the last Italian stronghold in East Africa).

Overnight, U-66 torpedoes unescorted and unarmed neutral Panamanian tanker I.C. White (3 dead and 34 survivors).

600 miles North of the Azores, U-201 takes over the attack on convoy HG-73 sinking 2 merchant ships and British anti-aircraft ship HMS Springbank (32 dead, 201 survivors rescued by HMS Jasmine, which also scuttles Springbank by gunfire, HMS Hibiscus and HMS Periwinkle).

Liberty Fleet Day in USA. SS Patrick Henry and 13 other Liberty ships are launched for supply to Britain under lend-lease to replace shipping lost to U-boats. Another 312 Liberty ships are on order, although 2710 will be built during WWII.

Operation Halberd. The Malta resupply convoy from Gibraltar is attacked by Italian bombers between Sardinia and Tunisia. British battleship HMS Nelson is hit in the bows by a torpedo and SS Imperial Star is sunk carrying 8,000 tons of supplies. Between Sicily and the Italian mainland, British submarine HMS Upright sinks Italian submarine chaser Albatros (42 survivors rescued by U-371).

Operation Supercharge. Overnight, British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Kandahar, Jaguar & Griffin make the last trip from Alexandria to Tobruk carrying troops and supplies. Since September 17, Royal Navy has carried 6308 British troops and 2100 tons of supplies into Tobruk and removed 5444 troops mostly Australian 9th Division, 544 wounded, and 1 POW.

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