http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/04.htm
July 4th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Royal Navy: In attacks on Thames-out convoy OA178 off Portland, JU87’s sink the auxiliary AA ship HMS Foyle Bank and four merchantmen. Leading Seaman Jack Foreman Mantle (b. 1917), gunner in the ‘Foyle Bank’ continues in action at his pom-pom gun although mortally wounded. He is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Channel convoy loses five out of nine ships to Stukas.
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - aircraft factory at Hamburg.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft sent, all bombed. Opposition intense.
102 Sqn. Six aircraft sent. Five bombed. One returned early. Opposition heavy.
2 Group: One aircraft of 15 Sqn. bombed oil refineries south of Zwolle (Netherlands, 80Km east of Amsterdam), one aircraft ( Blenheim) bombed Schipol but attacked by 15 fighters, rear gunner killed.
18 Sqn. Bombing - North-West Germany, one aircraft FTR.
101 Sqn. Three aircraft bombed a pipeline by the Kiel Canal.
Corvettes HMS Windflower and Nasturtium launched.
Destroyer HMS Nizam launched.
Minesweeper HMS BLACKPOOL launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Toulouse: General Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, has been sentenced in his absence to a four-year term of imprisonment by a military court in Toulouse.
De Gaulle, who was the under-secretary for National Defence in the French government when he fled to London in June, was also fined 100 Francs. He has already been reduced in rank to Colonel. Vice-Admiral Muselier, commanding Free French air and naval forces, is also to be prosecuted.
GERMANY: Berlin: The German News Bureau reported:
We have learned concerning the attack of the British fleet on French warships in the port of Oran, that some of the ships were not under steam at the time of the sudden British assault, and were so positioned in the harbour that they could not bring their heavy artillery to bear. The battleships Dunkerque and Provence, as well as the combat flotilla leader Mogador, now lie burning in Oran harbour. The battleship Bretagne was apparently blow up by a British-laid mine as it put to sea. The battleship Strasbourg, five flotilla leaders and a large number of torpedo boats and submarines succeeded in fighting their way through the encircling British ships and broke through to the Mediterranean.
U-453 and U-454 are laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ROMANIA: The country has a new cabinet. Gigurtu is Prime Minister and Manoilescu is Foreign Minister. The policies of the new government are clearly pro-German and anti-Semitic.
PORTUGAL: Lisbon: The Duke of Windsor is appointed Governor of the Bahamas.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Alexandria: Admiral Cunningham is able to reach agreement with French Admiral Godfrey on the demilitarisation of battleship ‘Lorraine’, four cruisers and a number of smaller ships.
Colonial sloop FS Rigault de Genouilly sunk off Algiers by submarine HMS Pandora. (Dave Shirlaw)
GIBRALTAR: The first aerial combat takes place between British and French aircraft about 30 leagues(104 miles) southwest of Gibraltar. Three French Curtiss Hawk fighters attack a British Sunderland flying boat that was on patrol against U-boats. The Sunderland shot down one fighter and damaged a second.
EAST AFRICA: Italian forces advance into Sudan, occupying Kassala and Gallabat.
U.S.A.: New York: A bomb in the British hall of the World’s Fair goes off, killing two people.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Dauphin laid down Montreal.
Corvette HMS Hepatica (later HMCS Hepatica) laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
Minesweepers HMCS BURLINGTON and NIPIGON are laid down in Toronto. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 308 July 4, 1940
Operation Catapult. At 3.30 PM, British submarine HMS Pandora sinks French mine-laying gunboat Rigault de Genouilly, sailing from Oran, Algeria. French bombers attack the British fleet at Gibraltar, without damage, in retaliation for the sinking of French warships. Likewise, French submarines, armed merchant cruisers and destroyers at Dakar are ordered to attack British shipping.
Churchill speaks in the House of Commons justifying the capture or sinking of French warships on July 3, to prevent them falling into German or Italian hands. He does not apologise but leaves judgment “to the world and to history”. He also dispels the notion “that we have the slightest intention of entering into negotiations in any form and through any channel with the German and Italian Governments. We shall, on the contrary, prosecute the war with the utmost vigour by all the means that are open to us.” Churchill receives his first standing ovation from the House as Prime Minister.
Italians advance from Ethiopia just over the border into Sudan and attack 2 British forts at Kassala and Gallabat, forcing British garrisons to withdraw. The Italians stop here and fortify the towns with anti-tank defenses.
Germans arrive on the last of the Channel Islands, Sark. They receive the island’s surrender from the Dame of Sark (hereditary ruler of this island). When asked if she is afraid, the Dame replies “is there any need to be afraid of German officers?” Apart from a curfew and other restrictions, the Islanders have little cause for fear. The Channel Islands have fallen without a shot fired. Germany invests heavily in fortifying the islands, which will be completely bypassed come D-day.
In a prelude to the first phase of the Battle of Britain, German bombers and motor torpedo boats attack Convoy OA178 in the English Channel between Cherbourg, France, and Bournemouth, England, sinking 5 merchant ships (British SS Elmcrest & SS Dallas City, Dutch SS Britsum & SS Deucalion, Estonian SS Kolga) and damaging many more. In addition, German bombing of Royal Navy base in Portland harbour sinks British auxiliary anti-aircraft ship Foyle Bank (176 lives lost, 157 men rescued) and tug Silverdial.