Posted on 08/23/2010 4:36:48 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Plus a special guest map from Michael Korda’s, “With Wings Like Eagles,” showing the air defenses of England and Wales, August 1940.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f23aug40.htm
Seaplanes sink ship off Scotland
Friday, August 23, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Moray Firth... Off the eastern coast of Scotland, German He115 seaplanes, armed with torpedoes, sink 2 cargo ships and damage a third.
In the Mediterranean... The British destroyer Hostile is sunk by an Italian mine in the Sicilian Channel.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
August 23rd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Little activity due to cloudy, showery weather.
Night attacks on Bristol, South Wales (Cardiff).
Some Luftwaffe bombers drop their bombs on London when they are unable to find their targets. The attack is unintentional, and against explicit instructions of the German high command. (Jack McKillop)
Manston received 30 more bombs at 01:25 and three Ju88s attacked Thorney Island.
Other incidents involved the Scillies, where 15 HEs fell on and around the radio station. At Colchester there were 40 casualties and Cromer, Harwich, Maidstone, Portsmouth and Tangmere were all bombed.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 2; RAF, 0.
U-37 sinks SS Keret and SS Severn Leigh. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
Berlin: The propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, worried by recent British successes, orders that ridicule of the English way of life must stop and the enemy’s fighting spirit be stressed instead.
NBBS reports that the shelling of Dover by long-range artillery from the French coast indicates a German intention to land in that area.
ROMANIA: A DC-3-227 of the Romanian airline LARES (Linile Aeriene Romane Exploatate cu Statul) crashes at Cluj; all 21 on the aircraft are killed. (Jack McKillop)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
Heavy mining in the Strait of Sicily by Italian surface ships leads to the loss of destroyer HMS Hostile on passage from Malta to Gibraltar 18 miles SE of Cape Bon, Tunisia at 36 53N, 11 19E in what was previously thought to have been a safe area. She is eventually scuttled and sunk by torpedo from HMS Hero after her crew has been transferred. Extensive Italian fields in the ‘Sicilian Narrows’ sink and damage many RN ships over the next three years. (Alex Gordon)(108)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Edmunston laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: From the “Christian Science Monitor”, Pg. 7: “U.S. Builds Biggest Bomber And Fastest Combat Plane”
General Arnold displayed the world’s fastest military airplane—the Lockheed interceptor— to William S. Knudsen, Chairman of the National defence Advisory Committee, and told for the first time its performance figures.
Its speed. General Arnold said. Is 460 miles an hour at two-thirds throttle, but it is stepped up past 500 miles per hour when “wide open.”
Its range is 1,100 miles; rate of climb 4,000 feet a minute; armament, one rapid fire cannon, shooting a one-pound shell, and four machine guns.
(Will O’Neil)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 358 August 23, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 45. Another very quiet day. Following yesterday’s gale, cloudy weather and showers prevent large German raids. British aircrews rest and recuperate, while airfields are repaired. German reconnaissance missions are flown over the Channel and single aircraft attack South coast towns in Devon and Hampshire and towns in the Midlands. Off the East coast of Scotland, Heinkel He115 torpedo bombers sink 2 merchant ships and damage another. Again, there is widespread bombing of British towns overnight. 3 German bombers are shot down (1 by antiaircraft fire) but the RAF loses no fighters. Notably, since the big raid of 15 August, RAF has added 85 fighters (20 Spitfires and 65 Hurricanes).
At 3.17 AM, British destroyer HMS Hostile hits a mine which breaks her back 18 miles off Cape Bon, Tunisia (5 killed, 3 wounded). The survivors are taken off by destroyers HMS Hero & Mohawk and landed at Malta. Hostile is sunk by torpedoes from HMS Hero. http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-27H-Hostile.htm
Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, Australian destroyer HMAS Stuart and British destroyers HMS Diamond, Ilex & Juno shell the Italian seaplane base at Bomba, Libya.
U-37 torpedoes 2 steamers in the Atlantic 500 miles West of Ireland; at 2.22 AM, Norwegian SS Keret (13 killed, 7 survivors in a lifeboat and a raft are picked up next day by British steamer Trident and taken to Sydney, Nova Scotia) and at 12.50 PM, British SS Severn Leigh (crew abandons ship in 4 lifeboats. U-37 shells Severn Leigh to silence her radio sinking 2 lifeboats, killing 32 crew and 1 gunner. 10 survivors safely reach Outer Hebrides, Scotland, on 5 September). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/473.html
Date: 23rd August 1940 
Enemy action by day
Enemy activity was on a restricted scale. In the morning a few reconnaissances were reported off the East Coast and a few raids penetrated inland, bad weather conditions prevented interception.
In the afternoon, a number of single raids crossed the South Coast and attacked isolated targets causing little damage.
North and East
A meteorological reconnaissance was plotted east of Scotland. One raid penetrated inland to the Rugby and Warwick areas and attacked targets with bombs and machine guns at these towns, causing slight damage.
A number of reconnaissances were plotted off the East Coast, probably looking for shipping; weather conditions were bad in this area.
One He111 was destroyed by fighters near Sumburgh.
South Coast
One reconnaissance, which crossed the coast at Clacton, was brought down by AA at Duxford and the crew of five made prisoners.
Two reconnaissances flew over the Walton, Harwich and North Foreland areas and attacked objectives near Harwich without result.
South and West
During the morning, five reconnaissances were reported in the Bristol Channel.
In the afternoon, nine raids of single aircraft, one of which was reported to be a meteorological flight, approached the coast between Selsey Bill and Lyme but turned away. Later, eleven individual aircraft penetrated inland and attacked scattered targets in Devon and Hampshire.
One Ju88 was destroyed in the Weymouth area by fighter action.
By night
Enemy activity was widespread although not on the scale of the previous night.
The largest of the raids were in the Bristol and South Wales area, Cardiff receiving several visits.
Raids were reported over East Anglia and northwards along the coast to Middlesborough, Harrogate and York. Kent was also visited.
Five raids were also plotted in the Birmingham area where AA guns were in action.
Convoys off Wick and Cromer were visited.
Five raids were plotted between Land's End and Falmouth. Minelaying was suspected in areas Portsmouth, Lizard-Land's End, Bristol Channel and Carmarthen Bay.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 23rd August 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
|---|---|---|
| By Fighters | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 1 He111 | ||
| 1 Ju88 | ||
| 2 | ||
| By Anti-Aircraft | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 1 Do17 | ||
| 1 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
I remember seeing a captured German artillery piece from WW-II in a Dover park with a sign hanging over it declaring “Es Schieß nach England”. The local pub had news clippings of the German shelling of Dover during the War. The German gun had been in a permantent emplacement, it was not a railway gun.
I suppose the Germans did not consider the shellings to be cost effective, or they might have continued until after D-Day.
It’s my recollection that they later tried long range shelling by drilling slanting holes in the chalk, inserting an explosive, and then the shell on top of that. Of course, the shot couldn’t be aimed (although the depth of the hole and the strength of the charge would impact the range).
For what it’s worth, according to Wikipedia, the last shelling of Dover from the French coast occurred September 26, 1944.
Thanks for the 411. That must have made life in the Dover area very uncomfortable during those years. Still, even just using a whole in the ground as a gun barrel, was this cost effective? Most shots would fall into empty fields.
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