Posted on 08/15/2010 6:45:24 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Plus a special guest map from Michael Korda’s, “With Wings Like Eagles,” showing the air defenses of England and Wales, August 1940.
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Michael Korda, With Wings Like Eagles: The Untold Story of the Battle of Britain
Big Manhunt is On – 2-3
Claims of British Pilots Now Need No Witnesses – 3
Observers Thrill to the Air Fights – 3
German Success and German Failure in Aerial Warfare (photo) – 4
The International Situation – 5
Raid Milan, Turin – 5-6
Nazi Air Siege Called ‘Main Bout’; Result Is in Doubt, Seversky Holds – 6-7
Roosevelt Makes Plans To See Up-State Games – 7
Senate Lifts Pay in Army to $30 to Aid Enlisting – 7-8
Dancing Ban in Germany May Be Blitzkrieg Sign – 8
Italy is Indignant Over British Raids – 9
Italians in Africa Shelled From Sea – 11
Empty Seats Halt Guard Bill Vote – 11
Hollywood Stars Accused as Reds Before Grand Jury – 12-13
Blind Man Robbed; Brother Arrested – 13
2 Small Nazi Ships are Reported Sunk – 14
Program For Today at the World’s Fair * – 15
The Texts of the Communiques Issued in Day on the Conflict in Europe – 17-18
* This program for the World’s Fair is in the paper 7 days a week, and has been since the fair opened. I never printed it before because no article I wanted was next to it. Today it was on page 22, next to the Hollywood stars story so I coughed up an extra quarter and got the program. So that’s why it is here.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f15aug40.htm
British radar stations not targeted
Thursday, August 15, 1940 www.onwar.com
From Berlin... Goring takes two significant decisions. He decides that because the RAF has been so reduced in strength it is wasting effort to continue to attack any radar stations. This seems to contradict his other decision that the escorting fighters must fly a considerable portion of their strength very close to the bomber formations because of bomber casualties and poor morale among their crews. This drastically reduces the fighter’s effectiveness and increases the number needed to escort each raid. It is strongly resented by the fighter pilots.
Over Britain... The Germans fly almost 1800 sorties, the greatest number they will achieve during the battle, and the RAF almost 1000. The attacks of Kesselring and Sperrle from northern France are joined according to plan by Stumpff’s forces from Norway and Denmark which send attacks against targets in northeast England. The distances to be flown here prevent any Me109s from giving cover, and the Me110s which are sent to fill the escort’s role have to be fitted with extra fuel tanks in lieu of the rear gunners, further reducing their already limited combat capability. The Luftwaffe believes that because of the earlier attacks Dowding will have been forced to station all his few remaining fighters in the south and will have nothing left to meet this assault. In fact the Germans suffer heavily, losing 23 aircraft from a force of about 150, shooting no enemy aircraft down and doing little damage with their bombs. In the south the day’s events are much less one-sided. In several engagements the RAF comes off worse but not all. By the end of the day the overall score shows the RAF as having lost 34 planes, all fighters, and the Germans 75 altogether. Several RAF airfields have been damaged but not yet seriously enough to prevent rapid repairs.
In East Africa... The British forces begin to pull out of their positions around Tug Argan in British Somaliland after a notable defense.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
August 15th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Fiat works at Turin and Caproni aircraft at Milan.
10 Sqn. Four aircraft. Three bombed primary, one FTR.
RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe losses, 76 aircraft, RAF losses, 35.
The day begins with Luftwaffe reconnaissance sorties during which a Do17 of 3(F)/31 is shot down south of Ventnor by Spitfires.
Fighter patrols over two Thames convoys are initiated in response to Luftwaffe fighter sweeps over the Channel in the morning.
At 11:25, 40 Stukas with escort reach the coast on their way to bomb Lympne and Hawkinge. 24 of the Stukas turn towards Folkestone and they are intercepted by British fighters who shoot down the lead aircraft. Some bombs fall on Folkestone town with others damaging a hangar and barrack block at Hawkinge. The remainder of the Stukas bomb Lympne losing two of their number to defending fighters. Lympne is put out of action for two days.
The first large scale attacks on the north of the country take place as 65 He-111s with Bf110 escort attack the Bomber Command bases at Driffield and Linton-on-Ouse. Seriously underestimating the strength of No. 13 Group which includes many squadrons bloodied in the Battle of France, as many as 11 enemy aircraft of Luftlotte 5 are shot down.
Later in the day Ju88s based in Denmark are detected heading towards Humberside. 50 Ju-88A-1s from I., II. and III./KG 30 from Aalborg attack the Bomber Command airfield at Driffield in Yorkshire, but are intercepted by 12 Group fighters. Ten Whitley’s are lost on the ground for the loss of Six Ju88s.
Late this afternoon, 12 Ju88s from I./LG 1 bomb Middle Wallop, and 15 aircraft from II./LG 1 take off to attack Worthy Down. I./LG 1 destroyed several Spitfires on the ground; but II./LG 1 was less successful, only three aircraft reached their target; and no less than 5 aircraft from 4./LG 1 were shot down. Only the Staffelkapitan and one other crew survived.
KG3 attacks towards Rochester and Eastchurch in the mid-afternoon, with massive protection by the Bf109s of JG26 ensuring only two Do 17s destroyed while as many as eight British fighters were lost. Gruppen I and II attack the Short and Pubjoy factories at Rochester and manage to drop eight bombs near the target. III/KG3 was equally accurate at Eastchurch.
10 Group scrambled its largest number of fighters when 80 bombers headed towards Swanage and Southampton shortly after 17:00. Three squadrons made for Swanage to engage about 40 Ju87s protected by Bf109s and ‘110s, all heading for Portland. Nos. 87 and 213 Squadrons tackled the bombers and the ‘110s, leaving 14 Spitfires of 234 Squadron to engage first the Bf110s and then the Bf109s, which in overwhelming their interceptors shot down four. Nevertheless, the Stukas had been forced to jettison their loads.
The RCAF gets its first kill when Ernest McNab shoots down a Dornier bomber.
Prime Minister Churchill replies to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s telegram of 13 August in which Roosevelt stated that it may be possible to supply 50 overage destroyers to the RN. Churchill states that “the worth of every destroyer that you can spare to us is measured in rubies...” The “moral value of this fresh aid from your Government and your people at this critical time will be very great and widely felt.”
- Assistant Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Major General Delos C. Emmons (USAAC) Commanding General of General Headquarters Air Force (GHQAF), and Brigadier General George V. Strong (USA) arrive in London for informal staff conversations with British officers. (Jack McKillop)
BELGIUM: The first issue of the underground newspaper La Libre Belgique [Free Belgium] is published.
GERMANY: Berlin: The German News Bureau reported:
English reports claiming alleged losses suffered by the German Luftwaffe during its attacks on British airbases, harbours, munitions plants and convoys, have led to the comment by the [German] press in articles with headlines like “England Flees into Numbers Craze” and “Delirium Still Mounting.” The [newspaper] Berliner Borsen-Zeitung states that in no other way could the English demonstrate so clearly what they are seeking to hide at all costs; that their situation is desperate and that the blows struck by the German Luftwaffe have taught them the meaning of fear. Fear alone (says the B.B-Z) could drive them to rave in this way about the supposed numbers of German and British losses.
At a conference of his three senior commanders Goring repeats his order of the 13th that the offensive should concentrate on RAF ground installations. “Until further orders, operations are to be directed exclusively against the enemy air force, including the targets of the aircraft industry...” He also adds that it is doubtful whether further attacks on radio-directional masts would be worth-while, since they believed that none had been put out of action by the attacks on the 11th.
U-97 launched.
U-167, U-168, U-169, U-170, U-181, U-182, U-183, U-184, U-185, U-186, U-187, U-188, U-221, U-222, U-223, U-224, U-225, U-226, U-262, U-263, U-264, U-265, U-266, U-267, U-335, U-336, U-383, U-384, U-385, U-386, U-413, U-414, U-415, U-416, U-463, U-464, U-465, U-466, U-467, U-468, U-525, U-526, U-527, U-528, U-529, U-530, U-531, U-532, U-611, U-612, U-613, U-614, U-615, U-616, U-617, U-618, U-619, U-620, U-621, U-622, U-623, U-624, U-625, U-626, U-627, U-628, U-629, U-630, U-631, U-632, U-633, U-634, U-663, U-664, U-665, U-666, U-667, U-668, U-709, U-710, U-763, U-764, U-765, U-766, U-767, U-768 ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Mediterranean Fleet battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya and HMS Ramillies bombard Italian positions around Bardia in Libya, just over the border from Egypt.
The Greek cruiser ‘Helle’ is sunk by an Italian submarine.
Note: Greece and Italy are not at war when the HELLE was at anchor off Tinos for a religious celebration! (Peter Beeston)
SOMALILAND: Capt. Eric Charles Twelves Wilson (b.1912), attached to the Somaliland Camel Corps, was captured after keeping a gun post in action for four days despite wounds and malaria. (Victoria Cross)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Agassiz launched North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Convoy SC1 sailed. SC series of convoys were introduced in Aug 1940 to provide a system of protection for slow merchant ships (7.5 knots minimum, often not achieved) which had previously been sailing independently, with disastrous consequences. Sydney, Cape Breton, was chosen as the western terminus to help ease congestion on the port of Halifax. SC1 sailed on 15 Aug 40. During the winters of 41 and 42 the SC convoys were shifted to Halifax, due to ice in Sydney harbour and its approaches. In Aug 42, when the terminus for the HX series of convoys was shifted to New York City, the SC convoys were moved to Halifax, with an interval originating from New York between Sep 42 and Mar 43. Of the 177 SC convoys, only three failed to reach their destination. SC52 lost 4 of its 34 ships to U-boats in Oct 41 and with the prospects for continued heavy opposition, was returned to Sydney by a tortuous circumnavigation of Newfoundland. SC62 and 63 were scattered by bad weather in Jan 42 and completed their voyages as independently routed ships. In all, only 29 of the 177 SC convoys were attacked, mainly made possible by signals intelligence and evasive routing, and only 145 ships were lost from the total of 6,806 (2.1%). This number is somewhat misleading as a large number of ‘stragglers’ were sunk when they dropped out of convoy that were not counted against convoy losses. Likewise, a number of ‘rompers’, ships that detached from the convoy to move ahead independently, were lost, and not counted. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Two motion pictures are released today:
- “The Great McGinty,” a comedy directed by Preston Sturges (his directorial debut), stars Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and William Demarest. The plot has a hobo (Donlevy) who is recruited by crooked politicians to commit voting fraud. He works himself up to mayor of the city but then wants to become honest. Sturges wins an Academy Award for best writing.
- “I Love You Again,” a comedy based on a novel by Octavus Roy Cohen directed by W.S. Van Dyke, stars William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh and Edmund Lowe. The plot has an upstanding, mean, teetotaling business man (Powell) being hit in the head and suffering amnesia. When he recovers, he reverts to his old self, a con-man, but he falls in love with his wife who is divorcing him. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine USS Triton commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-51 sinks SS Sylvafield in Convoy HX-62.
U-A sinks SS Aspasia. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 350 August 15, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 37. Fine weather yields the first day of really big raids on British airfields. German bombers and fighters from Norway and Denmark cross the North Sea to bomb RAF airfields in the North of Britain. At noon, they are met by RAF fighters. Simultaneously, a huge formation of 1100 Luftwaffe aircraft cross the Dover Straits, then splits up heading for various airfields. RAF squadrons scramble, giving rise to dogfights over Kent and the English Channel. Numerous airfields have damage to planes, hangers and runways. Radar stations at Rye, Dover and at Foreness are also knocked out. At 6.50 PM, Messerschmitt Bf110s bomb South London airfield at Croydon by mistake. Many Bf110’s are shot down by RAF fighters, crashing in this suburb of London (60 civilians killed, 120 wounded). Despite taking a heavy toll on RAF installations, Luftwaffe loses 161 aircraft (mostly bombers) while RAF losses are 34 fighters and only 18 pilots killed. http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/0026.html http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/august15.html
British Somaliland. Italians again attack British defenses at Tug Argan and take another hill. Overnight, British forces withdraw towards Berbera. The Black Watch Royal Highlanders along with African and Indian troops hold a rearguard position 10 miles back at Barkasan on the Berbera road.
Greece is neutral, although leaning towards supporting the British. In an act of intimidation on the feast day of Assumption of Mary, Italy attacks the Greek Navy near the tiny Aegean islands of Tinos and Syros. Italian airforce bombs Greek destroyers Vasilissa Olga and Vasilevs Georgios I escorting merchant ships. Italian submarine Delfino sinks WWI-era Greek cruiser Helle at anchor. http://www.sommergibili.com/delfinoe.htm
Kriegsmarine orders the construction of 86 new U-boats. At 8 PM, UA sinks Greek steamer Aspasia (carrying Manganese ore) with 2 torpedoes, 700 miles West of Gibraltar. All 19 crew are killed in the explosion and subsequent fire. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/461.html
U-51 sinks British tanker Sylvafield (7860 tons of fuel oil) 190 miles Northwest of Rockall, Ireland (3 crew killed). 20 survivors are picked up by Belgian trawler Rubens and 16 more by British minesweeping trawler HMS Newland.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/462.html
Wow $30 a day once a month, gotta join! Then again, a cup of coffee or a soda was 5 cents and a pack of cigarettes was about 10 cents. That still left you with 85 cents a day extra. What a deal, considering a home owner was earning about $40-50 a week and had all those expenses that went with it and the 2-3 kids to support without medical coverage. (How the hell did we manage to survive?)
Boy do I wish y’all would put the date first. Every time I read one of these headlines I have a heart attack. :)
I hope I didn’t upset your Sunday morning too badly. But now that I have your attention . . .
Nazi Air Siege Called ‘Main Bout’; Result Is in Doubt, Seversky Holds – 6-7
This essay is a great example of the “Douhetist” school of aviation warfare doctrine, to which henkster (I think it was) referred some time ago. That is, the idea that the “big bomber,” which “will always get through,” is by itself sufficient to destroy the enemy’s ability to resist. From the final paragraph: “It will take time for people to recognize the fact that air power makes possible the defeat of an enemy without occupation. [Emphasis added by Homer.] In 1945 General Eisenhower will threaten to resign from his position of Supreme Allied Commander because the strategic bombing commanders didn’t want to stop bombing the German homeland in order provide tactical support for the Normandy invasion. I couldn’t understand how these otherwise intelligent men could be so thick headed on this one issue, but now I understand they were simply Douhetists. They thought the invasion was a needless waste of troops since, with a little more time, the Allied strategic bombers would force Germany to her knees.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the press used to get far more infomration than we give them today. The news used to be a lot more up front and open. This is the idea that we cannot change things we don’t know anything about. If the end was in doubt then they said so, and if we didn’t want it to be in doubt then we had best do something about it like enlist. Today, the press sits before a military spokesman and just listens to what the military wants to be said.
Date: 15th August 1940
Enemy action by day
There were five major actions as follows:
Aerodromes appeared to be the principal objectives. Industrial targets and coastal towns were also attacked. In the combats resulting from the above actions the number of enemy aircraft destroyed reached the record figure of 161.
North and East Coasts
From 0751 to 0900 hours, a hostile reconnaissance was plotted east of the Wash. This aircraft circled for some time over a position about 30 miles north-east of Cromer. At 1300 hours about 64+ enemy aircraft crossed the coast near Newcastle and attacked the aerodrome at Newcastle and targets in Sunderland. At the same time, 17 aircraft flew in from Flamborough Head and attacked Driffield RAF Station. In ensuing combats, our fighters destroyed about 40 enemy aircraft including 10 Ju88s. These latter aircraft were destroyed out to sea off Flamborough Head soon after the termination of the attack on Driffield.
South East and East Coasts
A hostile reconnaissance of the Thames Estuary was followed at 100 hours by two reconnaissances of the Dover Downs area. No contact was effected. At 1100 hours, about 100 aircraft attacked Hawkinge aerodrome. RAF wireless stations in this area were out of action for a time owing to the electric mains having been cut by enemy bombs. At about 1430 hours, some 200 enemy aircraft concentrated in the Calais - Boulogne area and at 1500 hours simultaneously attacked the RAF Station at Martlesham, RAF establishments at Bawdsey, Dover, deal and Lympne, but with comparatively little success. Eight squadrons met this attack and 15 enemy were destroyed.
At about 1800 hours, four raids of 70+ aircraft crossed the coast at Dungeness and attacked targets at Rochester and RAF stations at West Malling and Croydon. Seven squadrons intercepted and destroyed about 17 enemy aircraft.
At about 2100 hours, eight raids came in from the Dutch Islands, penetrated inland to the North Weald area and are reported to have bombed Harwich.
South and South West Coasts
During the morning enemy reconnaissances were carried out in the Portland, Bristol, Cardiff and Newport areas and also in the Bristol Channel and off Falmouth, while from 1300 to 1400 hours enemy patrols were maintained in the Channel.
At about 1720 hours, formations totalling 150+ aircraft approached the Isle of Wight and Weymouth areas. These raids penetrated inland as far as Middle Wallop and were followed by other raids until enemy raids in this area totalled from 200 to 300. Targets were attacked at Portsmouth, Portland, Middle Wallop and in other scattered areas. Ten of our squadrons succeeded in destroying some 60 enemy aircraft.
Between 1800 and 2000 hours, formations totalling 100+ massed over Calais - Boulogne and flew to Dover. Of these, a number penetrated as far as Croydon and attacked. This raid, which turned London Central 'Red', cost the enemy 14 aircraft.
By night
Enemy activity was comparatively slight.
Between 2200 and 2330 hours, a number of small raids crossed the coast between The Wash and Scarborough. Attacks on aerodromes in this area are reported and one raid penetrated as far as Wittering. There were also a few raids in Somerset and the Bristol Channel.
Between 0020 and 0100 hours, diminished hostile activity was confined to the coast between Lincolnshire and the Isle of Wight.
Between 0100 and 0400 hours, some raids penetrated inland to Liverpool, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Hereford and the Leconfield area.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 15 August 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
|---|---|---|
| By Fighters | ||
| 19 Me109 | 4 Me109 | 6 Me109 |
| 38 Me110 | 7 Me110 | 11 Me110 |
| 4 He111 | 3 He113 | 1 He111 |
| 2 He115 | 3 Ju87 | 4 Ju87 |
| 21 Ju87 | 13 Ju88 | 11 Ju88 |
| 26 Ju88 | 1 Do17 | 7 Do17 |
| 5 Do17 | 3 Do215 | 18 unknown |
| 4 Do215 | 21 unknown | |
| 34 unknown | ||
| 153 | 55 | 58 |
| By Anti-Aircraft | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 8 unknown | 6 unknown | |
| 8 | 6 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
With all the innovations the Germans made in WWII, it’s surprising that they didn’t come up with the drop fuel tank. How much time did their Me 109s have over England - 15-20 minutes?
Wow. 14 years before the McCarthy hearings.
They couldn’t stay on station long for certain. Looking at all sides of the conflict it is interesting to follow the technologies that some developed and others did not. The Germans never picked up on drop tanks or the bubble canopy. The Allies lagged way behind in rocketry and jet propulsion. Some of the items were truly a matter of neccessity. The Cavity Magnetron for example which was only recently invented (70 years ago) was part of a need by the British to make their radar units smaller, preferably the size to fit into a plane (this is also one of my favorite inventions of the war since we all use them today. They are in our microwave ovens). During the America atomic program there was a large issue in that uranium hexiflouride (HEX) was very corrosive to anything organic so rubber and grease seals would quickly corrode. The solution was a new plastic called teflon. Technology is one of my favorite aspects of the Second World War.
When you think of it there really are not too many other aerial strategists these men could look to. The two perdominant theorists at the time were Douhet and Billy Mitchell.
I did notice that Major Seversky spends a lot of time in his article outlining what would be the Douhetian philosophy of air superiority. This is probably the most important aspect of Douhet strategy that continued on after many of the other strategies were proven impractical. Both Mitchell and Douhet were proponents that you much first take control of the sky by destroying the enemies aerodromes and aircraft construction facilities and also by removing the enemy’s aircraft from the air. From there you could then focus on conquering the enemy with a rain of fire from the skies.
Then of course there is the misguided belief that you can win a war solely with air power. Both Douhet and Mitchell believed this. In fact Mitchell went so far as to say, “we believe the air force will be the first line of defense and that surface navies, at least, will dissappear”. Clearly Seversky believes this as well since he feels the 50 destroyers deal will have no effect on the war.
This really is a developmental time for air power. We still don’t realize that a bomber armed with machine guns cannot defend itself. We are still learning the true value of close air support, the Germans are teach lessons on that. There still even are varying philosophies on bombing in general that need to be figured out: big strategic bombers or small tactical ones, precision bombing or area bombing, target civilian populations or just military targets, victory solely from the air or boots on the ground.
You’ll see many Douhetian attitudes going forward throughout the entire war, even after some of the points have been made clearly irrelevant.
You have to remember that, with the death of Walter Wever, the Luftwaffe became, for all extent and purpose, a tactical air force only. There were no four engine, long range bombers [Wever’s “Ural Bombers”], and the bombers the Luftwaffe did have carried small payloads. Neither they, nor the fighters were built for long distance. They only had to fly far enough to cover the spearheads of the Heere.
The Germans spent the rest of the war trying to remedy the situation with field expedients, but by the latter part of the war they no longer needed long range in their fighters, and no longer needed heavy bombers.
Raising enlistees to $467.17 a month, in today’s money. And that nickle coke would cost 78 cents. Of course, that was for 6.5 ounces, so 12 ounces would be $1.50.
So Coke hasn’t kept up with inflation, while military pay has exceeded it.
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