Battle of Britain

Day 43

Weather - Cloudy over all areas with occasional rain.

Combat - The Luftwaffe make many scattered raids over a wide area during the day, of which most consist low numbers of aircraft.

Early afternoon arrives as a raid of Do-17's cross East Anglia. They are intercepted by Spitfires of No: 611 Squadron and Hurricanes of No: 242 Squadron over Norfolk. Meanwhile, in Cornwall, a raid of Ju-88's is bombing the airfield at St. Eval, destroying 6 Blenheims of No: 236 Squadron, as Hurricanes of No: 238 Squadron scramble in pursuit.

At about 1330hrs, Spitfires of No: 234 Squadron engage more Ju-88's off the Cornish coast. A similar raid, of Ju-88's, is intercepted off the Sussex coast and the Isle of Wight by Hurricanes of No: 17 Squadron.

Between 1730hrs and 1830hrs two raids are made against the coastline. The first, by Ju-88's, is intercepted by Hurricanes of No: 238 Squadron off Cornwall whilst the second, saw Hurricanes of No: 56 Squadron attack Do-17's near Ipswich.

During the night activity is low with only a few small raids plotted.

R.A.F. Losses: 13 aircraft damaged or destroyed with 1 pilot wounded.

Luftwaffe Losses: 18 aircraft damaged or destroyed, 43 pilots and aircrew killed or missing and 2 wounded.

NOTE: Losses include non-combat patrols and accidents.

German Raiders

The German armed merchant cruiser Widder sinks the British steamer Anglo Saxon (5594t) in the Central Atlantic. There are only 2 survivors and they land at Eleuthera Island after drifting 2500 miles in 71 days.

World Affairs

Leon Trotsky, Russian Revolutionary leader and founder of the Red Army, is assassinated in Mexico. Trotsky has been an enemy of Stalin's throughout the latter's career, and it seems that the assassin, a Spanish Communist named Ramón Mercader, has been working on Soviet orders although Moscow denies responsibility.

Leon Trotsky was fatally attacked by a Soviet undercover agent in his home in Coyoacán, Mexico Trotsky was a leader in the Russian Revolution and later became Vladimir Lenin's number two man. It was assumed that he would succeed Lenin, however Josef Stalin maneuvered his way into power in the Communist Party and made sure he would succeed Lenin instead. Publicly, Trotsky still held titles, but behind the scenes, he had very little power. He was eventually exiled and bounced around to several nations, finally settling in Mexico where President Lázaro Cárdenas welcomed him. Trotsky lived with artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo until he and Rivera had a falling out. It was probably because Trotsky had an affair with Kahlo. He survived a raid on his home by Stalinist assassins in May 1940. Three months later, Soviet agent Ramón Mercader attacked Trotsky with an ice axe. He died the following day.