Atlantic
In the City of Benares Affair, U-48 sinks the liner carrying 102 children to Canada under the Children's Overseas Reception Board scheme. 77 children and 248 crew are lost.
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]Battle of Britain
Day 70
Weather - Generally cloudy with showers and thunderstorms.
Combat - During the morning there are many reconnaissance raids made by the Luftwaffe over Southern England and around London. One of these raiders, a Ju-88, is intercepted and shot down over Dorset by Spitfires of No: 152 Squadron that had been scrambled from Warmwell.
Not until mid-afternoon, at about 1530hrs, does any sizeable raid appear over the coast. It consists of several large waves of Me-109 fighters that sweep across Kent. Furious dogfights break out involving Hurricanes of No: 17, 303, 501, 504 and 607 Squadrons and Spitfires of No: 19, 41 and 611 Squadrons.
Later at 1800hrs Hurricanes of No: 151 Squadron scrambles from Digby, intercepts a He-111.
Dockland Area Bomb Damage |
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During the night London is bombed again along with raids on Liverpool, South Wales, East Anglia, Middlesborough and Glasgow. Mines are dropped in the Thames Estuary and off the coasts of Kent and Suffolk.
R.A.F. Losses: 13 aircraft damaged and destroyed, 3 pilots killed and 2 wounded.
Luftwaffe Losses: 17 aircraft damaged and destroyed, 17 pilots & aircrew killed or missing and 8 wounded.
NOTE: Losses include non-combat patrols and accidents.
[ | ]Battle of the Atlantic
- U-65 sinks the British steamer Tregenna (5242t) from Convoy HX-71 78 miles northwest of Rockall. 33 crewmen are lost. 4 survivors are picked up by the British steamer Filleigh.
- U-99 sinks the British steamer Crown Arun (2372t), a straggler from Convoy HX-71, north of Rockall. 25 survivors are picked up by the British destroyer Winchelsea.
- The Greek steamer Kalliopi S (5152t) is sunk by German bombing 11 miles southwest of Tory Island.
| ]The Blitz
Liverpool is bombed by the Luftwaffe. 350 tons of bombs are dropped on London with the worst damage being in the southern and eastern boroughs.
[ | ]German Raiders
In the Indian Ocean the disguised German raider Atlantis sinks the Free French liner Commissaire Ramel (10,000t).
[ | ]Germany, Planning
After failing to achieve aerial supremacy over southern England, Hitler decides to suspend Operation Sealion. The Allies learn of this through an intercepted Enigma signal. Meanwhile, General Friedrich von Paulus, the Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff, presents a further plan for the attack on the Soviet Union. This version envisages three thrusts for Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev, but the emphasis is still on the central advance to the Soviet capital. Further consideration over the coming weeks confirms to the General Staff that the priority is correct (see December 5).
[ | ]Mediterranean
- British destroyers bombard Sidi Barrani and Sollum.
- The British aircraft carrier Illustrious launches an air attack on Benghazi. The Italian destroyer Borea is sunk by torpedo planes. The Italian destroyer Aquilone sinks on a mine dropped by carrier aircraft. The Italian steamers Gloria Stella (5490t) and Maria Eugenia (4702t) are also sunk in the attacks. Several other ships are damaged.
| ]Occupied France
In Paris the Nazis organize a task force to acquire art treasure for the Reich.
[ | ]Rumania, Home Front
Antonescu requests a German Military Mission in Rumania for the purpose of modernizing the Romanian Army, specifically with tanks and artillery. In return he promises Hitler that his forces will be deployed on the Russian, not the Hungarian border.
The first German units arrive in the country on October 7. In total 22,430 military personnel will be deployed to Rumania, of whom 17,561 will be from the army. By mid-November the 13th Motorized Infantry Div, 4th Panzer Regt, engineers, signal troops and anti-aircraft detachments, plus 6 fighter and 2 reconnaissance Luftwaffe squadrond, had arrived in the country.
Unknown to either Antonescu or the mission members, on September 19 the OKW issued a statement detailing specific tasks of the mission in Rumania: to protect the Ploesti oil fields from a third party, to enable Rumania's armed forces to undertake specific missions according to German interests, and to prepare for operations by Axis forces from Romanian territory in the event of a war against the USSR.
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