Posted on 09/20/2010 5:02:47 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.
Shouldn’t this be in Breaking News? :)
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/sep40/f20sep40.htm
Convoy attackers go undetected
Friday, September 20, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... The convoy HX-72 is successfully attacked by a U-boat group over the course of a three day period. Altogether 12 ships of 78,000 tons are sunk, seven of them during the night of September 21-22 by Schepke’s U-100 without him even being detected by the convoy escorts.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/20.htm
September 20th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - marshalling yards at Hamm - Flushing Docks- industrial targets at Brussels, Krefeld, Mannheim and Osnabruck.
10 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Hamm. All bombed, four damaged by Flak.
58 Sqn. Three aircraft to Osnabruck. All bombed. Two aircraft to Mannheim, both bombed. One aircraft to Flushing. Bombed.
77 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Krefeld, Brussels and Flushing. All bombed.
Battle of Britain:
Heavy fighter sweeps towards London lead to dogfights, the outcome favouring the Luftwaffe more than usual. At night London is bombed, along with Bath and targets in the Gloucester and Bristol areas.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 7; RAF, 7.
ATLANTIC: The Australian cruiser HMAS Australia intercepts the French cruiser Gloire, which is sailing from Casablanca to Dakar, French West Africa. The French ship is forced to return to Casablanca. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: The third group of 6 “overage” destroyers being transferred to the RN in the destroyers-for-bases agreement arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: The Chinese Eighth Route Army attacks Japanese lines, launching the second phase of a Communist “Hundred Regiments Offensive.”
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 386 September 20, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 73. Despite fine weather, there are only reconnaissance flights until 11 AM when 100+ Messerschmitt Bf109 fighters cross the Channel, in 3 waves, and converge on London. 15 squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes engage the Bf109s. The German fighters do not have to protect any bombers. They fare much better in these dogfights than usual and only 2 are shot down while RAF loses 7 fighters (4 pilots killed). In addition, Sgt. C.V. Meeson is killed when his Hurricane crashes during formation flying practice. London is bombed again overnight.
Between 9.20 and 9.26 PM, U-138 fires 3 torpedoes at convoy OB-216 and hits 3 ships 10 miles North of Malin Head, Ireland. Yugoslavian collier Boka, carrying coal from Wales to Sierra Leone, sinks (8 killed 26 survivors). British passenger liner SS City of Simla also sinks (1 crew and 2 passengers lost, 182 crew and 165 passengers rescued). British whale factory ship New Sevilla is hit (2 crew lost, 282 rescued) and taken in tow, but sinks the next day. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/534.html http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/533.html http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/535.html
In the Red Sea, Italian aircraft attack Convoy BN-5 which is also being hunted by Italian Navy destroyers and submarines. British SS Bhima is damaged by near misses and will be towed to Aden and beached. Escort cruiser HMS Leander (New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy) is unsuccessfully attacked. 1 Italian bomber is shot down.
In the Indian Ocean halfway between Madagascar and Australia, German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis reluctantly sinks empty French passenger liner Commissaire Ramel carrying a cargo of steel, wheat, soap, leather and fruit (3 crew killed). 63 crew, mostly Australians, are added to the prisoners on board Atlantis. Fregattenkapitän Rogge would prefer to transfer his 230 prisoners to the liner and send her home as a prize ship. Royal Navy forms hunter group to locate Atlantis, composed of Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Canberra and armed merchant cruiser Westralia as well as British cruisers HMS Capetown and Durban. http://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/atlantis.html
The 1941 Lincoln’s look great in that ad.
no price ? wonder if they were over a g note
Date: 20th September 1940
Enemy action by day
One major attack at 1100 hours by a force of about 100 enemy aircraft, consisting mostly of fighters, was made on East Kent with apparently London as the final objective. The attack was broken up and casualties were inflicted. Reconnaissance flights round the Coasts were also carried out.
During operations, four enemy aircraft were destroyed (plus one probable and two damaged).
Our losses amounted to seven aircraft, four pilots killed or missing.
North and North East Coast
One raid was plotted off the Aberdeenshire Coast in the afternoon.
East Coast
A reconnaissance aircraft off East Anglia reported on a convoy at 1600 hours.
South East Coast
From 0600 hours to 1030 hours enemy aircraft made reconnaissance in the Estuary, round North Foreland, Dover and westwards to Beachy Head.
At 1040 hours enemy aircraft started to mass in the Calais area. At 1100 hours a formation of 20+ aircraft at 15,000 feet apparently led in by a single aircraft at 21,000 feet, flew inland at Dungeness. Other formations of from 12+ to 30+ aircraft crossed the coast at Dover, Lympne and Deal, between 1100 and 1110 hours. One raid flew up the Estuary without crossing the coast.
The enemy aircraft converged on East London and the attack reached Biggin Hill, Kenley, the Inner Thames Estuary and Hornchurch. 20 Squadrons were detailed to meet the attack while four Squadrons were patrolling. The enemy turned back at 1135 hours.
Between 1300 and 1700 hours, various reconnaissances were made in the Straits and in the Kent and Sussex areas, penetrating in some cases inland up to 10 miles. Throughout the day observation balloons were flying over long range guns on the French Coast.
South and West
From 0600 to 1500 hours slight activity by single aircraft took place as far West as the Lizard. Three small raids were plotted off Anglesey in the late afternoon but they did not threaten Liverpool.
By night
At 1950 hours London Central received a 'red' warning. This was occasioned by raids of single aircraft from Le Havre crossing the coast between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill. Activity was on a very much smaller scale than on the previous night.
From 2100 to 2300 hours enemy aircraft started to approach in fair numbers from Cherbourg/Calais/Ostend entering this country over Shoreham and Dungeness and North of the Thames Estuary. The number of enemy aircraft operating soon diminished and at midnight the country was clear; London was given the 'all clear' signal at 0014 hours.
Minelaying activity was fairly certain off the North East Coast, St Abb's Head to the Tees, also from the Humber to the Norfolk coast as far as Cromer.
At 0100 hours a further stream of enemy aircraft started to come over Beachy Head and Dungeness from Dieppe, and London Central received a 'red' warning at 0119 hours.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 20th September 1940
Casualties:
Enemy Losses | ||
By Fighters | ||
2 Me109 | 1 Me109 | 2 Me109 |
1 He126 | ||
1 He113 | ||
4 | 1 | 2 |
By Anti-Aircraft | ||
1 He? | ||
1 Ju88 (night of 19th/20th) | ||
2 | Nil | Nil |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Home Security Reports
In addition to the historical articles, I love the random ads that Homer includes in these threads.
A V-12 Ford motor under the hood of that Lincoln? I’ll bet it does have plenty of “get up & go.” A pity that we didn’t develop the V-12; soon the V-8 will be the standard. I think only the Jaguars will continue with V-12s as production engines.
Oh, and if you care about the sticker price, you don’t belong in a Lincoln showroom in the first place.
I must confess the car ads are not random. When I saw the new models being unveiled in the big spreads I thought folks might get a kick out of them so I started collecting them for the different manufacurers. The Lincoln ad is #3 or 4 I think. There will be a few more.
Now I have that Johnny Cash song stuck in my head.
I see two more members of Murder Inc. have gotten sentenced today too. Looks like they are going to get to ride the lightning.
Again worth noting that 11 states of the Old Confederacy -- which combined account for half the electoral college vote he needs -- are giving Roosevelt their support by an average margin of 80% to 20%.
The Deep South is going for FDR by 87% on average.
By contrast, Wilkie's support all comes from northern and mid-western states.
One can only wonder: what was it our normally conservative, patriotic and anti-big government Southerners saw and liked in a New York elitist like Franklin Roosevelt?
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