http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm
November 14th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group. Aircraft of Nos. 101, 105 and 110 Squadrons attack Cambrai and Beauvais, home of KG 76 and KG 53. Also airfields at Etaples, Knocke, Rennes and Amiens/Glisy are bombed.
Coventry:
Special Constable Brandon Moss (b. 1909) saved four people trapped under the dangerously unstable debris of two bombed buildings. (George Cross)
London:
The Air Ministry announced:
Today the German Luftwaffe made several unsuccessful attempts to penetrate to London. British fighters put up vigorous resistance enabling them to repel each of the attack waves. Not one bomb fell on London.
In another announcement the Air Ministry said:
On the night before Thursday, the Italian naval port of Taranto was again bombed.
London: Neville Chamberlain’s funeral is held at Westminster Abbey.
Prime Minister to General Wavell: General situation makes it very desirable to undertake operation (Operation Compass) of which you spoke to Eden. It is unlikely that Germany will leave her flagging ally unsupported indefinitely. ...now is the time to take risks and strike the Italians ...
Corvettes HMS Auricula and Wallflower launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Soviet-German negotiations on the USSR joining the alliance of the fascist states failed. (Dave Shirlaw)
ITALY:
Rome: The Italian Stefani News Agency reported:
The Italian Armed Forces Bulletin No. 138 reported on the enemy raid on Taranto on the night of 11th-12th November. Yesterday in the House of Commons, Churchill gave a completely false version of this incident. However, Italian authorities do not think it necessary to reply to this kind of tendentious twisting of the facts.
ALBANIA: Dimitry Statharos reaches the Albanian front south of Koritsa (Korce) and participates in a week long bombardment of the Italian stronghold. The next two and a half weeks will be his busiest combat period of the six month campaign, in addition to bombarding Italian positions he and his men must fight off the cold and hunger as it is in this three week period that food supplies arrive sporadically and his men must turn to boiling snails at times in order to get by. (Steve Statharos)
SINGAPORE: Air Marshall Brooke-Popham arrives as the new British Commander in Chief.
CANADA: Corvette HMS Trillium arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Minesweeper HMCS Mahone launched North Vancouver, British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: It is reported that Congress has had to take other quarters because engineers have decided that the 112-ton roof of the House chamber and the 90-ton roof of the Senate may crash any day.
Destroyers USS Hobson and Emmons laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 441 November 14, 1940
A clear moonlit night provides ideal conditions for Operation Moonlight Sonata, a major Luftwaffe raid on the ancient industrial city of Coventry in the English Midlands. At 7.20 PM, 13 Heinkel He-111 bombers (of Kampfgruppe 100) drop marker flares to illuminate the city. 437 He-111s (of Luftflotte 3) follow, flying multiple sorties in small groups all night and returning to bases in France to reload. They drop 450 tons of high explosive bombs (to damage water mains and crater roads, hindering firefighting efforts), 50 parachute mines (to blast off rooftops over a wide area) and 36,000 incendiary bombs (to ignite the old wood timbered buildings). RAF night fighters lack radar and are ineffective; only 1 He11 is shot down by anti-aircraft fire. The raid is a devastating success, destroying 60,000 buildings (including the cathedral), killing 600 civilians and injuring 1000 more. German propaganda gloats, using the term “Coventrate” for the strategy of leveling British cities. It is a strategy that will come back to haunt Germany.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/coventry/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8936000/8936620.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11746328
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/coventry/hi/puffbox/hyperpuff/stories/things_to_do/newsid_9172000/9172755.stm
German bombers raid Alexandria, Egypt, sinking Egyptian steamer Zamzam.