Posted on 08/25/2010 5:01:37 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
News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 14
Campaign of Britain Entering a Third Phase – 15-16
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 16
You know... Some of your headlined should only be read after the first cup of coffee. I thought the world was going to he’ll this AM.
*Sigh* When journalism actually reported the facts. Sad one has to look back 70 years to see it.
Thanks for posting these articles.
Muslims again? Oh, wait, this was the Nazis... Well, what's the difference?
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f25aug40.htm
Attrition ratio favors Germans
Sunday, August 25, 1940 www.onwar.com
Over Britain... The main German attack is against the fighter airfield at Warmwell. The attack is heavily escorted and, despite powerful British fighter forces being sent, the Germans only lose one bomber and each side loses 11 fighters. In total the Germans lose 20 aircraft and the British 16. This ratio favors the Germans in the long run. During the night the Germans attack Birmingham and other targets.
Over Germany... In response to the events of the previous night the RAF bombs Berlin. This is something of a shock to the German leaders who have claimed extravagantly that this is impossible.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/25.htm
August 25th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: The first RAF Bomber Command raid on Berlin occurred during the night of 25/26 August. The participants were:
1. Nine Vickers Wellington Mk Is of No. 99 Squadron based at Newmarket, Suffolk, and
2. Eight Vickers Wellington Mk Is of No. 149 Squadron based at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and
3. Twelve Handley Page Hampdens Mk Is of No. 61 and No. 144 Squadrons, both based at Hemswell, Lincolnshire, and
4. Nine Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk Vs of No. 51 Squadron (4 Group) and five Whitley Mk Vs of No 78 Squadron (4 Group), both based at Dishforth, Yorkshire. (Jack McKillop)
4 Group (Whitley) Reports: Bombing - industrial targets at Berlin and the Ruhr.
51 Sqn. Nine aircraft to Berlin. Weather atrocious, two bombed primary.
58 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Three returned early, four bombed primary, three bombed alternative targets.
78 Sqn. Five aircraft. None bombed due to adverse weather.
Whitley and Wellington crews are told that their main target “is the Siemens and Halske factory at Siemenstadt, producing 85% of the electrical power used by the German forces.” Hampden crews are told to demolish Berlin’s Klingenberg power station. Other objectives are the Henschel Aircraft Factory, the Bucker training aircraft factory at Rangsdorf, Tempelhof aerodrome and Tegel’s gasworks.
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Attacks on RAF Driffield and Airfields in south-east, south and south-west (Warmwell), the bombers are heavily escorted.
No large raids appear until 16:00, when a strong force heads for Weymouth.
10 and 11 Groups face it with all available aircraft between Tangmere and Exeter. 87 and 609 Squadrons defend Portland and 17 Sqn. protects Warmwell. The Ju88s of II/KG 51 and II/KG 54 protected by Bf110s split into three groups to attack Weymouth, Portland and Warmwell. 87 Sqn. takes on the Portland Ju88s leaving the 110s to 609 Sqn. But the 110s are in turn escorted by Bf109s of JG53. 17 Sqn. found the bombers impossible to reach through the dense fighter screen.
One Ju88 was shot down but the RAF lost 12 fighters and 8 pilots.
The only other sizeable raid of the day develops over Kent around 18:00. Six 11 Group squadrons are in action, 32 Sqn operating from Hawkinge, and engaging a dozen Do17s until Bf109s drove them off and destroyed a Hurricane.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 20; RAF, 16.
GERMANY: U-110 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
BALTIC SEA:
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are formally incorporated into the Soviet Union.
NORTH AFRICA: The remaining French airborne units, the 601st and 602nd GIA are disbanded. (Stuart Millis)
U.S.A.: The first parachute wedding ceremony is performed by Reverend Homer Tomlinson at the New York World’s Fair for Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward. The minister, bride and groom, best man, maid of honour and four musicians were all suspended from parachutes. (Jack McKillop)
Secretary of State Hull appeals for national unity behind the defence program and related foreign policies. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-100 sank SS Jamaica Pioneer.
U-124 sank SS Fircrest, Harpalyce and damaged SS Stakesby in Convoy HX-65A.
U-48 sank SS Athelcrest and SS Empire Merlin in Convoy HX-65A.
U-37 sank SS Blairmore and SS Yewcrest in Convoy SC-1.
U-57 sank SS Pecten in Convoy HX-65B. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 360 August 25, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 47. Mist in the morning gives way to a clear, warm day but there is little German activity. At 5 PM, German raids approach the South coast. RAF airfield at Warmwell is damaged and Dover is also bombed. Czech pilot Count Manfred Czernin, flying for RAF in a Hurricane of 17 Squadron, shoots down 3 Bf110s in 1 minute. Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham and other cities in the Midlands. German losses are 38 Messerschmitt fighters and 8 bombers shot down plus 6 aircraft downed by anti-aircraft fire. RAF loses 16 fighters and 2 Blenheim bombers (13 aircrew are killed and Sgt. P.T.Wareing is taken prisoner after crashing near Calais). Overnight, 81 Handley Page Hampden bombers of British Bomber Command attack Berlin in reprisal for yesterday’s bombing of London, shocking Göring who has claimed this is impossible. http://www.rafbombercommand.com/timeline/logbook2_v3.html
At 1.46 AM, U-37 sinks British steamer Blairmore in mid-Atlantic 500 miles West of Ireland (5 crew killed). 29 crew and 7 survivors from British sloop HMS Penzance (sunk by U-37 the previous day) are picked up by Swedish MV Eknaren and landed at Baltimore, USA. U-37 also sinks British steamer Yewcrest just before midnight. At 8 PM, U-100 sinks British banana boat Jamaica Pioneer, West of Ireland (2 dead).
Convoy HX-65 from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool suffers continuous U-boat attacks. At 2.45 AM, U-48 sinks steamer Empire Merlin (6830 tons of sulphur, 35 killed, 1 survivor picked up by corvette HMS Godetia) and tanker Athelcrest (carrying oil from Aruba, 30 dead, 6 rescued by HMS Godetia) 90 miles North of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. At 7.48 PM, U-57 sinks tanker Pecten (9546 tons of Admiralty fuel oil, 49 crew killed, 8 survivors landed at Belfast) 75 miles North of Ireland. Between 11.50 and 11.56 PM, U-124 fires 4 torpedoes at the convoy 23 miles North of the Outer Hebrides, sinking British steamers Harpalyce (8000 tons of steel, 37 crew and 5 naval staff killed) and Fircrest (7900 tons of iron ore, all 39 crew lost) and damaging Stakesby which is towed on fire and beached at Stornaway.
Date: 25th August 1940
Enemy action by day
Enemy activity up to 1700 hours was on a restricted scale but later, mass raids assembled in the Cherbourg and crossed to Weymouth and Warmwell. A large assembly was plotted near Calais resulting in an attack on East Kent, the Isle of Sheppey and Thames Estuary.
North and East Coast
Two reconnaissance flights were plotted off the Scottish Coast and several off East Anglia.
South East Coast
There was little activity in this area until 1815 hours when raids of 50 and 30+ circled over Calais and proceeded to Dover and Hawkinge. Of these aircraft, 30 crossed to the Isle of Sheppey and after passing Eastchurch split - one raid being plotted along the north side of the Estuary and the other the south. These raids were followed by a further 12+ approaching Dover, but by 1940 hours the activity in this area had ceased. Enemy casualties were estimated at five.
South West Coast
In the morning, two raids were plotted over Portsmouth, Portland Bill and Start Point. In the afternoon, isolated reconnaissance flights were made east of Selsey and in the west inland of Yeovil and over Lyme Bay. Other raids were plotted between the Lizard and Land's End and off the West Cornish Coast.
West Coast
A number of reconnaissance flights were made toward Milford Haven and four further raids were plotted in this area.
It is reported that merchant ships were attacked off St David's Head.
By night
Enemy activity was on a large scale until 0200 hours, after which time the number of attackers was gradually reduced.
The whole of England and Wales south of a line from the Humber to Cardigan Bay was under either red or purple warning for a great part of the night. Large numbers of enemy aircraft coming from Holland and Best, crossed the British Coast at numerous points between Land's End and Skegness.
The most visited districts were South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham, Coventry and other Midland districts, Middlesborough, Newcastle and East Anglia.
A few raids were plotted off Wick and Aberdeen.
London Central was twice under read and five times under purple warning.
Minelaying was suspected from the Isle of Wight along the entire coast to Flamborough Head and near Montrose.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 25th August 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
| By Fighters | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 18 Me110 | 6 Me110 | 8 Me110 |
| 20 Me109 | 7 Me109 | 6 Me109 |
| 4 Do17 | 1 Do17 | 1 Do17 |
| 1 Do215 | 1 Ju88 | 1 Hs126 |
| 3 Ju88 | ||
| 1 unknown | ||
| 47 | 15 | 16 |
| By Anti-Aircraft | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 6 unknown | ||
| 6 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
Corrigendum
"They had bombed London, whether on purpose or not, and the British people and London especially should know that we could hit back. It would be good for the morale of us all." - from Winston's War, Max Hastings
A BTT for one of my favorite projects, and thank you again for the trouble you’re taking to do it.
From Hopkins' letter of resignation:
"We must marshall our complete economic strength for the task of defense. This means that instead of retreating from our social and economic objectives, we should push forward vigorously with a program to abolish poverty from the land. To do less would be to undermine our security."
I see that Democrat logic was fully evolved way back in 1940.
Interesting to note yet again how foreign 1940s era politics were to our assumptions today...
The "Solid South" which we today think of as solidly conservative -- the very heart of "Red State Country" -- was then solidly behind Socialist Roosevelt, the progenator of our own generation of Democrat leaders.
At the same time, today's People's Republics of New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, etc., etc., were the 1940's supposedly more conservative Republican strong-holds.
Goes to show that in the long run lots of things change...
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