Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

LONDON UNLEASHES FIERCEST FIRE YET AS NAZI BOMBS ROCK CITY 10TH NIGHT (9/17/40)
Microfiche-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 9/17/40 | Robert P. Post, Charles Hurd, James MacDonald, C. Brooks Peters, Joseph M. Levy, James A. Hagerty

Posted on 09/17/2010 4:45:17 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson

1

Photobucket

2

Photobucket

3

Photobucket

4

Photobucket

5

Photobucket

6

Photobucket

7

Photobucket

8

Photobucket

9

Photobucket

10

Photobucket

11

Photobucket



TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: milhist; realtime; worldwarii
Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.
1 posted on 09/17/2010 4:45:19 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
German Fighter Range and British Radar Deployment
Marcks’ Plan, August 5, 1940
The Mediterranean Basin (Map 33)
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

Plus a special guest map from Michael Korda’s, “With Wings Like Eagles,” showing the air defenses of England and Wales, August 1940.

2 posted on 09/17/2010 4:46:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
1

Photobucket

2

Photobucket

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

3 posted on 09/17/2010 4:46:50 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
1

Photobucket

2

Photobucket

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

4 posted on 09/17/2010 4:47:44 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: r9etb; PzLdr; dfwgator; Paisan; From many - one.; rockinqsranch; GRRRRR; 2banana; henkster; ...
Heart of City Hit – 2
The International Situation – 3
400,000 by Jan. 1 – 4
Two More Steps in the Building of a Two-Ocean Navy (photo) – 5
Ports Fired Anew – 6
Secrecy in Berlin Hits at Surprise – 6-7
Goering Reported on London Flight – 7
British Engage Foe in Egyptian Battle – 8
French Ships Seen Acting on ‘Revolt’ – 8
Willkie Predicts Dictatorship Here if Roosevelt Wins – 9
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 10-11
Swiss are Anxious over Vichy Parley – 11
5 posted on 09/17/2010 4:49:12 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

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.


6 posted on 09/17/2010 4:55:32 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

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)


7 posted on 09/17/2010 4:57:27 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

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.


8 posted on 09/17/2010 4:59:08 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

I scanned the map of Egypt and didn’t see a small coastal town about 60 miles west of Alexandria....


9 posted on 09/17/2010 5:01:33 AM PDT by henkster (A broken government does not merit full faith and credit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
Note keel laying for USS New Jersey with former Navy Secretary and current NJ Gov. Charles Edison. Edison pushed for the New Jersey to be built in Philadelphia to create jobs to help FDR win NJ and PA in the 1940 election:


New Jersey transiting the Panama Canal in 1984.

10 posted on 09/17/2010 5:16:15 AM PDT by iowamark
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

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.


11 posted on 09/17/2010 5:55:48 AM PDT by sharkhawk (Stanley cup champs The Chicago Blackhawks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
The German General Staff's fixation with Moscow will conflict with Hitler's prioritization on early encirclements and economic targets: Leningrad [tank manufacture], Ukraine [agriculture], the Donbass [minerals].

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.

12 posted on 09/17/2010 6:57:47 AM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
Battle of Britain Campaign Diary

Date: 17th September 1940


13 posted on 09/17/2010 8:28:17 AM PDT by CougarGA7 (It take a village to raise an idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson
I was having trouble with the web site today, but now it appears to be back up so I can bring you this secret session at the House of Commons.

BBC - Winston Churchill House of Commons Secret Session

14 posted on 09/17/2010 7:22:34 PM PDT by CougarGA7 (It take a village to raise an idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sharkhawk
"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. "

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? ;-)

15 posted on 09/19/2010 9:56:16 AM PDT by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson