Air Operations, Europe

In night raids the RAF hits Berlin and Hamburg. These are the first raids to inflict significant civilian casualties.

Axis Diplomacy

Hitler meets with Pétain and discusses Franco-German relations. German attitudes and actions will improve in direct relationship to the degree of French collaboration.

As Hitler returns from his interview with Franco, Pétain comes to his train in Montoire for an interview. A week later, Pétain would announce: "I enter today on the path of collaboration...”

Hitler and Pétain

Battle of Britain

Day 107

Weather - Generally overcast and cloudy over the country with mist in the Channel.

Combat - Luftwaffe activity is again reduced to mostly reconnaissance raids over East Anglia and southern England.

Just after 1200hrs a Dornier Do-215 is intercepted and shot down over St. Neots by Hurricanes of No: 1 and 17 Squadrons.

At 1430hrs Hurricanes of No: 229 Squadron, scrambled from Northolt, intercept a small raid of Do-17's over Middlesex.

Also during the afternoon a reconnaissance aircraft is plotted near Weston-Super-Mare and Taunton. Tragically, two Hurricanes of No: 87 Squadron, scrambled from Exeter to intercept, collide in cloud and 1 pilot was killed. The raider escapes.

During the night the main targets are London and Birmingham with further raids on Liverpool. Mines are dropped in the Thames Estuary, off the Essex coast and along the coastline between the Wash and the Firth-of-Forth.

A bomb is fitted to the wings of a British raider prior to the start of an assault of Berlin, 24 October 1940.

Preparing to Bomb Berlin

R.A.F. Losses: 6 aircraft damaged or destroyed with 2 pilots killed.

Luftwaffe Losses: 16 aircraft damaged or destroyed, 22 pilots and aircrew killed or missing and 6 wounded.

NOTE: Losses include non-combat patrols and accidents.

Belgium, Politics

An exile government is established in London. Its leading members include Camille Gutt, Hubert Pierlot and Paul-Henri Spaak.

An armorer of the RAF's Middle East Command prepares a bomb for its mission against Italian forces campaigning in Africa, 24 October 1940.

RAF Bomb Armorer

Britain, Home Front

The first of 2,000 provincial buses appear on London routes.

Diplomatic Relations

The US secretly agrees to equip and maintain 10 British division with weapons currently in production.

German Raiders

Undetected by British reconnaissance, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer reaches the Atlantic via the Denmark Strait.

United States, Policy

The U.S. warns of any transfer of French naval ships to the Axis. Washington says the Vichy government claims to be under duress, but it does not alter the fact that such a move 'would most definitely wreck the traditional friendship between the French and American peoples, would permanently remove any chance that this Government would be disposed to give any assistance to the French people in their distress, and would create a wave of bitter indignation against France on the part of American public opinion.'

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 goes into effect. The act created the 40-hour work week and made it illegal for employers to hire child labor. This comes after decades of struggle and progress, and would be part of New Deal Legislation aimed at helping the American economy during the Great Depression.

The Fair Labor Standards Act Goes Into Effect