Posted on 08/08/2010 6:19:14 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f08aug40.htm
German losses mount over Channel
Thursday, August 8, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the English Channel... There are German attacks on shipping. On this day the Germans lose 31 planes and the RAF 20. Overall the losses are less favorable for the Luftwaffe. Between August 1st and 10th the Luftwaffe loses 62 aircraft while the RAF loses 27.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/08.htm
August 8th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Weather, cloudy, bright intervals.
Heavy Luftwaffe attacks on Channel convoy CW9 (codenamed Peewit) comprising 29 ships plus naval escort (the first Westbound since 25 July) off Dover and the Isle of Wight. Heaviest air fighting so far, involving 150+ aircraft. Ju87s prove very vulnerable. German shore radar detects the convoy and E-boats attack it in the Dover Straits sinking two coasters (Holme Force and Fife Coast) and damaging others.
Off Portland the Sister CE9 Channel convoy was proceeding easterly when at 06:39 two of its balloons were shot down. At 08:30 Ju 87s escorted by JG 27 and LG 1 attacked from the direction of Cherbourg. British radar detected them and five 11 Group squadrons and one from 10 Group were sent up to tackle the raiders. Between 08:49 and 09:43 two assaults each of 100-plus raiders attacked the convoy (15 miles west of the Isle of Wight), which lost SS Conquerdale and SS Empire Crusader. By the end of the engagement RAF fighters could accurately claim five of the enemy and St. Catherine’s Point gunners another two.
At about 12:48 the second assault on CW8 developed, just east of the Isle of Wight delivered by 60 Ju 87s of three Stuka Geschwaderen - Nos. 2, 3 and 77. After disposing of the balloon cover the Stukas dive-bombed and scattered the ships. but Hurricanes of Nos. 43, 145, 238 and 257 Squadrons and Spitfires of 609 Squadron - over 50 fighters - arrived. Sqn. Ldr J.A. Peel of No. 145 Squadron fires the first shots of this the first official day of the Battle of Britain. Three Stukas were shot down and four damaged along with an escorting Bf110 of V/LG 1 and three Bf109s, three more ‘110s and a ‘109 were damaged.
RAF lost three pilots and their Hurricanes.
Late afternoon saw another Stuka raid on the now re-organised convoy. Seven Squadrons of Hurricanes met them. At least two more Stuka’s and two ‘109s were shot down by 145 and 43 Sqn. shot down the Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG 27.
At night Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham (for the first time) are bombed. Midlothian and Truro suffer heavy raids.
Two misplaced parachute sea mines exploded near Stannington Sanatorium near Plessy Viaduct, four miles south of Morpeth (Co. Durham) bringing down the boiler house roof and blasting the hospital.
Losses: Luftwaffe 31; RAF 20.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Horatio launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
INDIA: The so-called Linlithgow offer is made. It states that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government but refer to neither date nor method of accomplishment.
Viceroy Linlithgow had gone so far as to recommend that Dominion status be granted a year after the end of the year. This has been blocked by the implacable enemy of Indian independence, Winston Churchill.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Pride and Prejudice” opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, this drama, based on the Jane Austen novel, stars Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver, Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ann Rutherford and Marsha Hunt. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-37 sinks SS Upwey Grange.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 343 August 8, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 30. Germans launch continuous attacks on a large convoy (CW9 codenamed Peewit) of 25 merchant ships with Royal Navy escorts moving through the Straits of Dover and heading West to the Atlantic Ocean. Torpedo boats attack before dawn, sinking British steamers Ouse, Holme Force (6 dead) and Fife Coast (5 dead). 300 Stukas escorted by 150 Messerschmitts fight a running battle with RAF fighters as Peewit moves through the English Channel. Dutch steamer Ajax (4 dead) & British steamers Coquetdale and Empire Crusader (5 dead) are sunk. Luftwaffe loses 17 Stukas, 26 Bf109’s and 9 Bf110’s. RAF loses 13 Hurricanes, 4 Spitfires and a Blenheim. http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/august8.html
East Africa. General Archibald Wavell (British Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command), based in Cairo, finally sends regular British Army troops (2nd Battalion of the Black Watch, Royal Highlanders) to British Somaliland, realizing the desperate situation. It is too little, too late. Italians bomb Berbera.
At 1.14 AM, U-37 sinks British MV Upwey Grange (5380 tons of frozen beef from Argentina to Britain) 200 miles West of Ireland. The crew and passengers take to the lifeboats but 1 boats is never seen again (33 crew, 3 passengers lost). 42 crew and 8 passengers are picked up after three days by the British trawler Naniwa 50 miles from the coast, transferred to destroyer HMS Vanquisher and landed at Liverpool. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/455.html
Operation Tube. Another British submarine HMS Proteus reaches Malta from Gibraltar with spares for the newly-arrived Hurricanes.
German armed merchant cruiser Widder sinks Dutch collier Oostplein carrying 5,850 tons of coal from Britain to Buenos Aires (all 34 crew rescued by Widder).
How interesting to see this newspaper - all of this happened when I was 3 days old. Didn’t realize I would get to see some of it happen again 70 years later - history repeats itself!
Happy birthday, Grams.
Date: 8 August 1940
Start of Phase 2 of the Battle of Britain
Enemy action by day
The enemy's main effort, which developed into three successive attacks involving about 300 aircraft, was directed against one convoy off the South Coast. In the course of combats with these forces, our fighters achieved very considerable success in inflicting 66 casualties (confirmed and unconfirmed) upon the enemy against a loss of 18 aircraft.
There was, in addition, a minor attack towards Dover and this may have been made to create a diversion from one of the above convoy attacks which occurred further west shortly afterwards.
South and West
At 0541 hours, a convoy off the Isle of Wight was reconnoitred by an enemy aircraft flying at 20,000 feet. The reconnaissance was followed at 0840 hours by an attack upon the convoy from two raids totalling 60+ aircraft. The convoy was being escorted by three sections of fighters which were then reinforced by two squadrons and in the course of the engagement 9 enemy aircraft are claimed as confirmed casualties against our loss of two fighters. Two ships are reported to have been sunk. Fighters report that waterborne balloons above the clouds would appear to have disclosed the position of the convoy.
At 1205 hours, two raids originating from Cherbourg (as did the previous attack), and consisting of 100+ aircraft appeared as a mass raid on a 20-mile front and made a second attack on the convoy. Six squadrons were detailed to this attack and as a result, 23 enemy aircraft are claimed as confirmed and 4 as unconfirmed. We lost five aircraft.
Between 1300 and 1400 hours, 3 raids of one aircraft each approached the Isle of Wight and in one case an enemy seaplane was reported. It is suggested (but not confirmed) that this seaplane was being used to pick up survivors from aircraft previously shot down.
Between 1400 and 1500 hours, reconnaissances were made off Falmouth and the Lizard, and a Ju88 is claimed as an unconfirmed casualty.
At about 1615 hours, a third attack developed against the convoy off Bournemouth. This consisted of five raids numbering some 130 aircraft which emanated from the Cherbourg area and fanned out as they approached our coast. By this time the convoys is said to have scattered as a result of the previous raids. Five of our squadrons operated against this attack and accounted for 18 aircraft claimed as confirmed and 9 as unconfirmed casualties. Our losses were 6 aircraft.
South East
At about 1145 hours, a raid originating in Le Touquet area and consisting of 20+ aircraft, approached Dover and eventually turned west along the coast to Beachy Head where it circled and the flew south east. It was intercepted by 3 squadrons and they claim two enemy aircraft as confirmed. Our losses were five aircraft, one of which was a Blenheim undergoing a training flight which got mixed up in the battle.
Two other raids approached the coast in the morning but did not materialise.
Between 1500 and 1600 hours, two raids were engaged by fighters off Dover, and one of these raids preceded the third attack on the same convoy.
East
No activity took place until 1600 hours when an aircraft flew towards the Tyne and a Ju88 was reported near Cromer. A trawler was bombed off Yarmouth at 1656 hours.
France
From 1300 hours onwards, patrols were unusually active in the Calais - Boulogne area.
By night
Raids of one aircraft and 4+ aircraft from Cherbourg approached Portland and Start Point. Minelaying was presumed to be in progress off Falmouth/Plymouth/Lyme Bay and the Bristol Channel. Several raids approached Poole, Birmingham and Manchester and the mouth of the Mersey River and 15 miles north of Barrow-in-Furness. Further minelaying is suspected in the Humber and Thames Estuary and off the East Anglian coast. During the night, one aircraft of No 219 Squadron (Blenheims) intercepted an enemy raider in the Humber area but with no apparent result. One raid came in the Newcastle area. Raids crossed the Devonshire coast, proceeded up to North Wales, then to Liverpool and Leeds and across to the Catterick district and probably went out to sea north of Flamborough Head. Enemy aircraft were also active over Bristol, St Margaret's Bay and Birmingham.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 8 August 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
|---|---|---|
| By Squadron No. | Confirmed | Unconfirmed |
| 145 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 12 Ju87 | |
| 6 Me109 | ||
| 3 Me110 | ||
| 64 Sqn (Spitfires) | 2 Me109 | |
| 238 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 2 Me110 | 1 Me 110 |
| 1 Me109 | 2 Me109 | |
| 1 Do17 | ||
| 609 Sqn (Spitfires) | 2 Ju87 | |
| 3 Me110 | ||
| 41 Sqn (Spitfires) | 6 Me109 | |
| 257 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 2 Me109 | |
| 601 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 3 Me109 | |
| 234 Sqn (Spitfires) | 1 Ju88 | |
| 43 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 3 Ju87 | 6 Ju87 |
| 3 Me109 | ||
| 1 Me110 | ||
| 152 Sqn (Spitfires) | 2 Me109 | 2 Me109 |
| 213 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 1 Me109 | |
| 17 Sqn (Hurricanes) | 1 Ju88 | |
| TOTAL | 52 | 14 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
Apart from the circus clown remarks the article documents serious debate that took place as the Senators wrestled with the problem of how to craft national defense policy while adhering to constitutional principles.
The phto of the 110 is funny. The Brits didn’t score anything of worth. The Me 11o was a pig. When they weren’t flying in a “circle up the wagons” formation in an effort to survive British fighters, they had to be escorted by Me 109s.
memories from the last year or so of the war?”
Thanks for the birthday wish. I’m not in very good company - Obama, Clinton, etc. Leo’s do have a very dark side and with some it shows more than others so the manner in which they choose to govern and their behavior doesn’t surprise me a bit.
We lived on a farm so life was what it was. Particularly harsh in the winter. Fortunately we had an inside bathroom. I remember sugar was rationed and my mom used leg paint. She made a wonderful chocolate cake using mayonnaise. When you are small world events don’t really matter. And it was so long ago.
I don't think that is a problem for the Times. Their mission (just guessing) is to build support in the U.S. for the British and to convince Americans that teaming up with them will put us on the winning side. That will improve the chances of Congress allowing FDR to send aid to the British. For example 50 old, useless World War era destroyers (that are just sitting around getting rusty, anyhow, so what's the big deal?).
Interesting that the reporters a getting a little more savvy about the aircraft they are describing. A couple months ago I don't think they new the difference between bombers and fighters. In a couple more months they will probably be making the same points about the ME 110 that you made in your reply.
I tried to figure out how leg paint could be a substitute for sugar, without success. I turned to Mrs. Homer for help and she explained that it was a substitute for nylon hosiery. Or was it silk? She also had a tip (learned from her grandmother) that, if you had a nice tan you could draw a seam down the back of your leg with an eyebrow pencil and go without stockings altogether.
Silk. They needed it for parachutes.
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