Battle of Britain

Day 6

Weather - Heavy rain and low cloud throughout the British Isles.

Combat - Once again bad weather hampers the German offensive with a few small raids reported during the morning on Brighton, the Cardiff area and off the Norfolk coast.

The afternoon sees raids over Liverpool, Drem in Scotland, St. Athan in Wales, a convoy off the Norfolk coast, the Westland Aircraft factory near Yeovil is bombed by LG1 and railway lines near Avonmouth. 15 Do-17's of KG2 make one of the largest raids of the day over the Thames Estuary at about 1415hrs. This is intercepted by Hurricanes of No: 56 Squadron scrambled from North Weald.

During the night mines were thought to have been dropped in Liverpool Bay and along the East Coast from Norfolk to Newcastle.

R.A.F. Losses: 5 aircraft damaged or destroyed and 1 pilot killed.

Luftwaffe Losses: 8 aircraft damaged or destroyed and 5 pilots and aircrew killed or missing.

NOTE: Losses include non-combat patrols and accidents.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-34 sinks the Greek steamer Evdoxia (2018t) 40 miles southwest of Bull Rock. 1 crewmen was lost. The Greek steamer Naftilos (3531t) is also sunk by U-34 in the same area. The entire crew is rescued.
• The British steamer Belle Rock sinks on a mine. 17 of the crew are lost.
• The British steamer City of Limerick is sunk by German bombing 100 miles west of Ushant with the loss of 2 crewmen. The survivors are rescued by the Belgian trawler Roger Jeannine.
• The Panamanian steamer Fossoula (1282t) is sunk by German bombing 240 miles northwest of Cape Finisterre with the loss of 4 of her crew.
• The Polish steamer Zbaraz (2088t) is badly damaged by German bombing 10 miles south of Aldeburgh Light Vessel. She later sinks after being taken in tow. There are no casualties.
• German bombing sinks the Estonian steamer Merisaar (2136t) off Queenstown. Also sunk by German bombing is the Portuguese steamer Alpha (853t). The entire crew is picked up by the British destroyers Bedouin, Meshona and Tartar.

Vichy France

The Vichy government refuses a German request to use French military bases in North Africa, an act of considerable courage which Hitler, surprisingly, accepts.