Posted on 08/24/2010 4:31:13 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.
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Michael Korda, With Wings Like Eagles: The Untold Story of the Battle of Britain
The program is scheduled to begin, bombs or no bombs, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, 5 p.m. Pacific.
Against Deferring – 2
Plea Air Raids Upset Cows Frees Seller of Poor Milk – 2
The International Situation – 3
Big British Guns and Planes Reply to Nazi Artillery – 4-5
British War Relief Tops $500,000 Mark – 5
The Texts of the Day’s War Communiques – 6
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f24aug40.htm
German bombers strike Portsmouth
Saturday, August 24, 1940 www.onwar.com
Over Britain...After a lull of five days of poor weather the Germans again resume major operations. Their bombers now have really strong escorts and it is in consequence very difficult for the British fighters to get among the formations. The small airfield at Manston is so badly damaged that it cannot be used. There is also a damaging attack on Portsmouth. The losses for the day are nearer the figures required by the Germans, with the Luftwaffe losing 38 and the RAF 22. During the night the Germans continue their efforts, sending 170 bombers on various missions. Some of these, unable to find their targets, scatter their bombs aimlessly on south London despite specific orders to avoid this — a serious and significant error. During the night only two German bombers are lost.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/24.htm
August 24th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - electrical factory at Milan - aircraft factory at Augsburg - Daimler-Benz factory at Stuttgart.
10 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Milan. Four returned early, six bombed primary.
77 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Augsburg. Seven bombed primary, one FTR.
102 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Stuttgart. All bombed primary.
Battle of Britain:
London: The city has its first bombing raid when ten German planes returning home jettison their loads by mistake. Germany loses 38 planes today and Britain 22.
The Luftwaffe today concentrated its attacks on Fighters Command’s airfields flying 1,030 daytime sorties. The first raid appeared at 8.30 am when 40 Do17s and Ju88s, escorted by 66 Bf109s, approached the coast. 12 fighter squadrons went up to intercept. But the raid was a feint, and the real attack was timed to catch the British fighters on the ground as they refuelled.
Hornchurch and North Weald took heavy punishment, with the fighters scrambling to get into the air as the bombs dropped. Hornchurch was saved for severe damage largely by its anti-aircraft guns, while Hurricanes from neighbouring Romford came to the rescue at North Weald.
Manston, in its exposed position on top of the Kentish cliffs, took a terrible hammering, although stories about a “mutiny” amongst ground staff - allegedly refusing to come out of underground shelters despite threats and entreaties from the superior officers - appear to have arisen from a series of misunderstandings, as have tales of civilian workers refusing to fill in bomb craters under enemy fire. Tonight Manston has ceased to exist as a front line fighter base, and is being used only as an emergency field. This is not the only weakness that today’s attacks have shown up. Five of 264 Squadrons Defiants have been shot down.
There is also something wrong with the co-operation between Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park’s hard pressed 11 Group and Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory’s 12 Group.
When Park asked for help today, 12 Group’s squadrons took so long in forming their “big wing” that the raiders had bombed and gone before 12 Group appeared on the scene. The Germans also got through to Portsmouth where, attempting to bomb the dockyard, they were heavily engaged by anti-aircraft fire. Many of their bombs fell into the town and caused heavy civilian casualties. Ramsgate was also hit. As a result of the day’s fighting the German lost 41 aircraft and the RAF 20. But the day is not yet over.
Göring has ordered a round-the-clock offensive, and there are reports tonight of raids on Cardiff, Swansea, South Shields and many areas around London.
London: 2nd Lt Ellis Edward Arthur Chetwynd Talbot (1920-41), Royal Engineers, carried a new and unpredictable type of German bomb to a safe spot on his shoulders. (Empire Gallantry Medal)
Destroyer HMS Acheron damaged by German aircraft during an air raid on Portsmouth.
ASW trawler HMS Gavotte commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-144 is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Sorel is laid down at Sorel, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The USAAC signs a contract with Boeing for the construction of two prototype XB-29s and a static test model. (Jack McKillop)
The Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox play a baseball game in Fenway Park in Boston. With the Tigers leading 11-1 after seven innings, the Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams pitches the last two innings and gives up one run on three hits. (Jack McKillop)
Minesweepers USS Raven and Osprey are launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: An attack by U-37 on convoy SC1 and OA-200 to the southeast of Greenland leads to the loss of a merchantman (SS Brookwood) and sloop HMS Penzance. The sloop is blown in half by a torpedo and it was not possible to lower boats or rafts. (Alex Gordon)(108)
U-57 sinks SS Cumberland, SS Saint Dunstan and damages SS Havildar in Convoy OB-202.
U-48 sinks SS La Brea in Convoy HX-65. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 359 August 24, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 46. Fine weather brings the return of sustained Luftwaffe activity. All day, raids cross the coast of Kent bombing RAF airfields at Hornchurch, North Weald and Manston (now so badly damaged it cannot be used). Luftwaffe loses 22 fighters and 18 bombers while RAF loses 20 fighters. At 4 PM, 50 German aircraft bomb Portsmouth (100 civilians killed, 300 wounded). British destroyers HMS Acheron (2 killed, 3 wounded) and HMS Bulldog (the captain Commander Wisden is hit by splinters, dying August 29) are damaged in Portsmouth Harbour. Bulldog will be repaired by September 2 but Acheron is out of commission until December 2. Overnight, there is widespread bombing of British cities. Notably, Germans bombers hit parts of North, East and West London, suggesting a deliberate attack rather than a couple of bombers straying off target. http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/document-37.html
Just after midnight 2 miles off the North coast of Ireland, U-57 attacks convoy OB-202, sinking British steamers Saint Dunstan (14 dead) and Cumberland (4 dead) and damaging Havildar. At 2.14 PM, U-48 sinks British tanker La Brea (9410 tons of fuel oil) 130 miles West of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland (2 killed). 31 crew escape in lifeboats to the Outer Hebrides.
At 3.14 AM, U-37 sinks British steamer Brookwood in mid-Atlantic 500 miles West of Ireland. (1 killed, 35 crew and 1 gunner picked up after 5 days adrift by British merchant Clan Macbean and landed at Freetown, Sierra Leone). At 8.38 PM, U-37 sinks British sloop HMS Penzance escorting convoy SC-1 (90 lives lost, 7 survivors rescued by British steamer Blairmore).
In the Indian Ocean 900 miles East of Madagascar, German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sinks British steamer King City carrying 7300 tons of coal and coke to Singapore from Cardiff (6 killed). Atlantis picks up the survivors out of the water in very rough seas.
Date: 24th August 1940
Enemy action by day
The main enemy activity consisted of six large raids which crossed the Kentish coast and in two cases flew up the Estuary towards London. A large number of enemy aircraft attacked targets in the Portsmouth area.
Preliminary reports state that our aircraft destroyed 40 enemy aircraft at the cost of 20 to ourselves but only six of our pilots were lost.
North East
Reconnaissance aircraft were reported off the East Coasts of Scotland and the Orkneys during the afternoon.
In the early morning there were two small raids off East Anglia and a target at Gorleston was attacked.
South East
Between 0600 and 0800 hours, a series of raids totalling 80+ aircraft crossed the coast in the Dover-Dungeness areas and flew towards North Foreland and Gravesend. Fighters intercepted and dispersed these raids, destroying four enemy aircraft.
At 1000 hours, Dover was shelled and a little later about 100 enemy aircraft were plotted to Dover and Manston in which places were heavily attacked. Fighters again drove off the enemy inflicting a reported loss of three enemy aircraft.
At 1230 hours, about 50 enemy aircraft again approached Dover and Manston and were engaged by fighters. Enemy losses were estimated as seven aircraft.
Between 1300 hours and 1400 hours, about 30 enemy aircraft were engaged over the North Foreland and Deal areas.
At 1500 hours, four raids crossed the Kentish Coast and one of these penetrated to the eastern outskirts of London, attacking targets in Upminster, Dagenham and Essex areas. These raids were heavily engaged and it is reported fighters destroyed about 20 hostile aircraft.
At 1845 hours, 110+ hostile aircraft crossed the coast near Dover and Dungeness and penetrated to Maidstone but turned away on despatch of our fighters apparently without attacking any objectives.
South and West
Activity up to 1600 hours was limited to reconnaissance in the Channel and in the Middle Wallop district. At 1600 hours, 50+ enemy aircraft approached Selsey Bill in a wide front and attacked objectives at Portsmouth.
By night
Enemy activity was on a widespread and continuous scale over Southern and Western England, South Wales, the Midlands, East Anglia and Yorkshire.
London Central was under 'Red' warning for nearly two hours, and the City of London, Millwall, Tottenham, Islington, Enfield, Hampton, Kingston and Watford were attacked.
Birmingham was visited continuously for over four hours and there were repeated raids in the Devon, Bristol, Gloucester and South Wales areas.
Raids were also reported in the Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull and Middlesborough districts, and in Kent, Hampshire, Reading, Oxford and East Anglian districts.
Minelaying is suspected off the Lancashire coast, in the Channel off Lyme Bay and Weymouth, and extensively off the Thames Estuary, East Anglia, the North Foreland and Flamborough Head.
Enemy aircraft also attacked Newcastle and the London area received a second visit.
It is reported that one He111 was destroyed by fighter action +1 probable.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 24th August 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
| By Fighters | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 11 Ju88 | 8 Me109 | 6 Me109 |
| 21 Me109 | 3 He111 | 3 Me110 |
| 1 Me110 | 2 Me110 | 3 Ju88 |
| 1 He113 | 3 He111 | |
| 5 He111 | ||
| 1 Do215 | ||
| 40 | 13 | 15 |
| By Anti-Aircraft | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 1 unknown | 4 unknown | |
| 1 | 4 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
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