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)
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.