Posted on 09/17/2010 4:45:17 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Plus a special guest map from Michael Kordas, With Wings Like Eagles, showing the air defenses of England and Wales, August 1940.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/sep40/f17sep40.htm
RAF strikes German invasion fleet
Tuesday, September 17, 1940 www.onwar.com
Over Occupied France... The German invasion flotillas are attacked during the night by RAF Bomber Command and a fair degree of damage is done.
In Berlin... Hitler postpones Operation Sea Lion until further notice. Meanwhile, General Paulus, the Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff, presents a further plan for the attack on the Soviet Union. This version envisages three thrusts for Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev, but the emphasis is still on the central advance to the Soviet capital. Further consideration over the coming weeks confirms to the General Staff that this priority is correct.
Over Britain... The German night attacks include a raid on Clydeside in which the cruiser Sussex is damaged.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/17.htm
September 17th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. 78 Sqn. Whitley P4964 damaged by flak, Sgt R. Graham, rear gunner, wounded. Sgt A.S. Ennis and remainder of crew unhurt.
Bombing - Bismarck at Hamburg - invasion fleet at Zeebrugge and Ostend.
10 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Nine got off, one returned early, nine bombed. Severe opposition at Hamburg.
51 Sqn. Ten aircraft. One returned early, nine attacked Zeebrugge successfully.
78 Sqn. Eight aircraft. Seven bombed primary, one bombed alternative. One damaged by Flak, one man wounded.
An estimated 84 invasion barges are sunk.
RAF Fighter Command: Activity same as yesterday, few bombers in daylight, but fighter sweeps. At night London and Merseyside are raided.
In a night raid on Clydeside the cruiser HMS Sussex is damaged.
Daylight lone raiders visited Caterham, Portsmouth and Speke.
Night raiders use the 1000-kg blast bombs for the first time. Adapted from sea mines these cylindrical objects are about eight feet long and two feet in diameter. Each descends suspended from a 27-foot diameter silk parachute. Thin case and large charge combine to produce a colossal hollow bang, tremendous shock waves and extensive blast damage over a quarter mile radius.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 8; RAF, 5.
London: Fireman Harry Errington (b. 1910) rescued two trapped colleagues after a direct hit on a building which was being used as a shelter by auxiliary firemen. (George Cross)
Corvettes HMS Bellwort, Armeria and Anchusa laid down.
Light cruiser HMS Charybdis launched.
Corvette HMS Heather launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Units of the Mediterranean Fleet including HMS Valiant sail with HMS Illustrious for a raid on Benghazi. Swordfish torpedo the destroyer ‘Borea’, and mines laid by them off the port sink another, the ‘Aquilone’. On the return to Alexandria, heavy cruiser HMS Kent is detached to bombard Bardia. She is torpedoed and badly damaged by Italian aircraft.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-boat U-48 torpedoes and sinks the SS City of Benares, killing 77 British children and 248 crew en-route to Canada. The ship, part of convoy OB-213, had departed Liverpool, England, for Montreal and Quebec City, Canada, on 13 September carrying 199 passengers, 90 of which were children. The children are being transported to Canada as part of a government program. A few hours after the RN escort had withdrawn, the ship is torpedoed at 56.48N, 21.15W. The torpedo hits the ship on the port side and she sinks after a short time. Only 57 passengers, including 13 children, are rescued. Immediately after the sinking, the British government ceases the transportation of children to Canada and South Africa. (Jack McKillop)
U-65 sank SS Tregenna in Convoy HX-71.
U-99 sank SS Crown Arun. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: The Nazis set up a task force, based at the Musee du Jeu de Paume, to acquire art treasures for the Reich.
GERMANY: Berlin: Artur Axmann, the new German youth leader, decrees that all Hitler Youth aged between 14 and 18 in areas vulnerable to air raids must attend air-raid practice on Sunday mornings - thus keeping them out of Church.
Hitler puts off Operation Sealion, scheduled to be ordered today. The new came in an Enigma decoding of a message from the German General Staff to the officer responsible for loading the transport aircraft earmarked for invasion. The message orders him to dismantle his air-loading equipment; without that equipment there can be no invasion.
A plan for the attack on the Soviet Union is presented by General Paulus, Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff. This plan has 3 major axis, Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev.
U.S.A.: The first Lockheed YP-38 prototype (Lockheed Model 122-62-02, msn 122-2202, USAAC s/n 39-689) was flown by Marshall Headle on 17 Sep 40 at Burbank, California. This fighter aircraft is better known as the Lightning. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Lansdale commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Camrose laid down Sorel, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 383 September 17, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 70. At 2 PM, Ju88s attempt to bomb factories in Bristol but are turned back by Spitfires of 152 Squadron from Warmwell. Luftwaffe tries a new tactic arming Messerschmitt Bf109s, their best fighter, with 250kg bombs which slow them down and reduce their range. At 3.30 a large formation flies over Kent but they are intercepted by several squadrons of Hurricanes. 4 Bf109s are shot down and the rest drop their bombs indiscriminately in the Kentish countryside and head for home. Hitler postpones Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain) indefinitely. With Summer ending and Winter gales coming, it is now clear that there will be no invasion this year, but the bombing of British cities will continue. Overnight, London, South Wales and Liverpool are attacked again.
200 miles West of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, U-65 and U-99 each sink a British steamer in convoy HX-71 from Halifax, Nova Scotia. At 8.32 AM, U-99 sinks SS Crown Arun (all 25 crew are picked up by destroyer HMS Winchelsea and landed at Liverpool). At 4.26 PM, U-65 sinks Tregenna carrying 8000 tons of steel from USA (33 crew killed, 4 rescued by British steamer Filleigh and landed at Avonmouth).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/529.html
At 11.45 PM, in the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles west of Scotland, U-48 misses British liner SS City of Benares with two torpedoes. Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt does not know that on board are British 90 children being evacuated to Canada, in order to escape the Blitz.
British warships attack Italian forces in North Africa. Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious attack the important Italian-held port of Benghazi, 200 miles inside Libya. 9 aircraft from 815 Squadron bomb shipping while 6 aircraft from 819 Squadron lay mines in the harbour. Italian destroyer Aquilone hits a mine and sinks and destroyer Borea is sunk by torpedoes in the harbour, along with Italian merchant steamers Gloria Stella and Maria Eugenia. An Italian plane torpedoes British cruiser HMS Kent at 11.55 PM (31 killed), preventing further bombardment of Bardia the next day. British destroyers HMS Janus and Juno sail from Alexandria, Egypt, and bombarded Italian positions at Sidi Barrani at 11 PM. At 11.30, British gunboat HMS Ladybird shells the coastal highway at the point where it is closest to the sea, at Sollum. The coastal road is critical to the Italian supply lines.
I scanned the map of Egypt and didn’t see a small coastal town about 60 miles west of Alexandria....
New Jersey transiting the Panama Canal in 1984.
Homer, Though I don’t respond very often I really appreciate the threads. It’s fascinating to see history through the eyes of the times rather than through the lens of “historians” who often bring a biased view. Today, the story of Wilkie warning of dictatorship if FDR wins is interesting. I wonder what would have happened if FDR was actually not sickly and lived another 10 years or so. Would he have continued to run for Pres? What would a 25 year reign have done to democracy? What would happen today if we repealed term limits. Interesting mental exercise.
In fact, Halder will basically ignore Hitler's directives. Two of the four Panzer groups will be deployed on the Minski - Smolensk - Moscow axis. Only one [Kleist’s will face the Ukraine.
Paulus, the ultimate staff jockey will spend part of 1941 observing [and condemning] Erwin Rommel's handling of the German-Italian Army in Africa. That's before his oh so stellar handling of a field command himself.
Date: 17th September 1940
Enemy action by day
Seemingly on account of weather conditions, reconnaissance activity was on a reduced scale, but a big attack was launched in the East Kent area about 1530 hours. This was met by 23 Fighter Squadrons some of which made successful interceptions and casualties were inflicted.
During the day our fighters destroyed 5 enemy aircraft (plus 4 probable and 2 damaged). In addition AA destroyed 2 enemy aircraft.
Own casualties 5 of which one pilot.
East Coast
Reconnaissances by single aircraft were made off the Wash and East Anglian Coast, and one of these aircraft approached North-East London.
South-East
Between 0730 and 1300 hours thirteen reconnaissances by single aircraft were made in East Kent, four of these up to 0930 hours flew towards Kenley, Biggin Hill and London. At about 1530 hours a series of formations totalling about 300 aircraft crossed the Coast at Lympne, Dover and Deal. The leading raid of 110 plus aircraft flew as far West as Maidstone, the remainder spread out over East Kent. The area of activity was bounded on the West by a line running North and South through Maidstone, and on the North by the Estuary which was not crossed. The Inner Artillery Zone was not penetrated. No 11 Group detailed 23 Squadrons to meet the attack while No 12 Group had 5 Squadrons patrolling at 15,000 to 20,000 feet north of the Estuary. From 1700 hours reconnaissance activity continued in the Dungeness area.
South and West
A few reconnaissances were made along the South Coast. In the course of these an inconclusive interception was made at 123 hours near Brighton, while a Ju88 which flew North to Filton from Portland was intercepted and shot down near Warminster.
One enemy aircraft flew across the Bristol Channel to North Wales and Liverpool area. Its return flight was made via Stoke and Oxford.
By night
Enemy activity was again concentrated mainly on the London area and the South-eastern Counties, with a few raids penetrating to Wales.
At about 1930 hours, the first hostile raids were plotted out of Cherbourg, Seine Bay and Dieppe areas, after which a steady stream of raids, mostly single aircraft, crossed the Coast between Selsey Bill and Dungeness. The majority flew towards the London area, but many of them turned South again without penetrating the AA barrage.
Between 2100 and 0030 hours, a number of raids flew to South Wales, some of which penetrated to the Liverpool area.
Raids were also plotted over East Anglia and in the Digby, Middlesborough and Glasgow areas.
Minelaying was suspected in the Thames Estuary and off Southwold and Foreness.
After 0100 hours, activity was almost entirely confined to London area, East Anglia and the South-eastern counties. Intensity slackened at 0230 hours but increased again at 0345 hours when further raids became active originating from the Dieppe area.
Some of the night raiders were plotted returning in the direction of Ostend and the Dutch Islands.
During the night, one Ju88 was destroyed by a Defiant of No 141 Squadron. AA guns claim to have destroyed 5 enemy aircraft but only two of these have so far been confirmed.
The Country was not free of raids at the close of this report.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 17th September 1940
Casualties:
Enemy Losses | ||
By Fighters by Day | ||
Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
4 Me109 | 4 Me109 | 1 Me109 |
1 Ju88 | 1 Ju88 | |
5 | 4 | 2 |
By Fighters by Night | ||
1 Ju88 | ||
1 | Nil | Nil |
By Anti-Aircraft by Day | ||
2 Me109 | ||
2 | Nil | Nil |
By Anti-Aircraft by Night | ||
2 E/A | ||
2 | Nil | Nil |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Home Security Reports
Here's my impression of Wilkie's hard hitting speeches against Roosevelt: a man with a huge hammer, flailing away, pounding mightily but never quite hitting the nail he's aiming at.
First Wilkie accuses FDR of being the biggest appeaser of them all at Munich, then of wanting to send American troops to Europe.
Wilkie promises that unlike Roosevelt, he will really, truly, honestly, by-golly for certain keep America out of Europe's war.
But what if the US is attacked?
Nothing from Wilkie about that.
As for the US becoming a dictatorship if FDR reelected -- from the point of view of the average American of 1940, America today is a national-socialist dictatorship run by the Demican-Republicrat party of the RINOs & DINOs and dedicated to the proposition that the US Federal Government shall forever be the most powerful physical entity in the history of the Universe.
So, what can we say, except that Wilkie was right? ;-)
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