Battle of Britain

Day 10

Weather - Occasional bright intervals in-between rain, over most of Great Britain. Conditions fair in the Channel.

Combat - Improved weather conditions also increases enemy activity. Early morning sees Hurricanes of No: 145 Squadron, from Tangmere, shoot down a Do-17, which has penetrated inland to Croydon and Northolt and at about 1000hrs Do-17's dropped bombs on Glasgow.

The afternoon brings some major engagements, which sees Fighter Command suffer its heaviest losses so far, most notably Defiants of No: 141 Squadron. At about 1215hrs a raid is plotted building up in the Calais area and No: 141 Squadron is scrambled to patrol south of Dover and Folkestone. Without warning, Me-109's of JG2 attack and make hits on 7 of the Defiants. As news reaches Hawkinge, Hurricanes of No: 111 Squadron are scrambled at great speed to assist and a large dogfight ensues.

Slightly later at around 1530hrs Hurricanes of No: 32 Squadron intercept a raid on Dover by Ju-87's and are themselves attacked by Me-109's while a Spitfire of No: 64 Squadron shoots down a Heinkel trying to drop mines in the Thames Estuary. Between 1700hrs and 1800hrs, Hurricanes of No: 145 Squadron are again in action against a He-111 off Shoreham along with those of No: 43 Squadron (also from Tangmere) involved in a dogfight with Me-109's off Selsey Bill and a lone Hurricane of No: 87 Squadron attacks Ju-87's bombing the naval base at Portland.

During the night bombs are dropped on Manston airfield, along the coast between Plymouth and the Isle of Wight and near Kilmarnock. Many other raids are plotted around the British coastline, most of which probably drop mines.

R.A.F. Losses: 13 aircraft damaged or destroyed, 11 pilots and aircrew killed or missing and 5 wounded.

Luftwaffe Losses: 6 aircraft damaged or destroyed, 12 pilots and aircrew killed or missing and 2 wounded.

NOTE: Losses include non-combat patrols and accidents.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-62 sinks the British steamer Pearlmoor (4681t) 62 miles west of Malin Head with the loss of 13 of her crew. 26 survivors make it to Gola Island, County Donegal.

Britain, Home Front

Gen Brooke is appointed to be Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces replacing Gen Ironside. This is purely an army position and does not give authority over the other services as the title might suggest. Brooke is more of a success in the job than Ironside and produces more realistic plans for dealing with invasion. Ironside is promoted to Field Marshal.

Diplomatic Relations

• In a speech to the Reichstag Hitler issues what he describes as a 'final appeal to common ense', urging that Britain make peace. Among other things he declares: 'If the struggle continues it can only end in annihilation for one of us. Mr. Churchill thinks it will be Germany. I know it will be Britain. I am not the vanquished begging for mercy. I speak as a victor. I can see no reason why this war must go on. We should like to avert the sacrifices which must claim millions. It is possible that Mr. Churchill will once again brush aside this statement of mine by saying that it is merely born of fear and doubt of victory. In that case I shall relieve my conscience of the things to come."
• Denmark withdraws from the League of Nations.

German Raiders

The German armed merchant cruiser Thor sinks the Dutch steamer Tela (3777t) in the South Atlantic. Her 33 member crew are made prisoners of war.

Germany, Home Front

The Führer creates 19 new Field Marshals and makes Hermann Göring Reichsmarschall.

A victory parade is held in Berlin to celebrate the stunning victory in the West. the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler takes part, and for the first time the achievement of the Waffen-SS is brought to the attention of the German public at large.

However, what was not disclosed was that the SS dash and élan had resulted in disproportionately high casualty rates among its members. In addition, the fact that the SS had committed atrocities during the campaign was also kept secret. The army is angry at these outrates.

Mediterranean

There is an action between 2 Italian cruisers and the Australian cruiser Sydney and 5 destroyers called the Battle of Cape Spada. The Italian Bartolomeo Colleoni is damaged by Sydney and then sunk by destroyer attack. 525 survivors are picked by the British destroyers. Later Sydney is hit by Bande Nere before the Italians flee.

United States, Politics

Pres Roosevelt signs the 'Two-Ocean Navy Expansion Act' which will provide for powerful reinforcement of the American fleet within the period 1940 to 1945. This orders construction of 1,425,000 tons of warships and 15,000 naval planes. Including the existing ships, the fleet will comprise 35 battleships, 20 carriers and 88 cruisers.