NAZIS CUT MASS AIR ATTACKS TO SMALL HIT AND RUN RAIDS; SHIPS BOMBED IN IRISH SEA (8/22/40)

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.

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
German Fighter Range and British Radar Deployment
Marcks’ Plan, August 5, 1940
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.

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

Heavy Bombs Used – 1
1,000,000 Canadians Seen Awaiting Call – 2
The International Situation – 3
Big Wheat Shortage Confronts Rumania – 4
British Raider Calls Italy an Easy Target; R.A.F. Held Unrivaled in Night Bombing – 4
British-Polish Unity on Policy Stressed – 4
Nazi Flier Reports to His Comrades on a Raid (photos) – 5
Tactics of Defense – 6
Blockade to Shorted War, Rome Declares – 6
The Texts of the Day’s War Communiques – 7

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/aug40/f22aug40.htm

German artillery bombards convoy

Thursday, August 22, 1940 www.onwar.com

In the English Channel... German artillery bombards a coastal convoy, near Dover, for 80 minutes without achieving any hits. In the evening, the guns bombard the town of Dover in England. A British 14-inch gun returns fire in what is the first of many cross-Channel artillery duels.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/22.htm

August 22nd, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:
London: MPs bitterly condemn the internment of aliens.

Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe attacks convoys in Dover Straits.

Attacks on RAF Manston.

At night Aberdeen, Yorkshire, Hampshire, South Wales, Bristol and Filton (airfield and Bristol Company’s works) are bombed.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 3; RAF 5.

Dover: German batteries shelled Dover tonight during a cross-Channel duel which had lasted all day. Their first target was a convoy of ships edging up the English side of the Channel under Royal Navy escort. Then the guns turned on Dover. In the air, RAF fighters broke up waves of Luftwaffe bombers. Other British aircraft hit back until nightfall. By then the convoy, with its 50,000 tons of food and war material, was snug at anchor.
The Germans have installed 14-inch batteries with a 20-mile range along the coast from Boulogne to Calais as part of the plan to invade England. Those guns were used for the first time today when shells sent water spouts 100 feet above the convoy. RN escorts laid smoke to conceal the convoy.
With dusk, the guns turned on civilian targets in Dover. During a 45-minute barrage a shell burst through the stained glass window of a church and exploded near the altar.
By midnight, refugees carrying bedding were seeking shelter as their homes were demolished. Across the Channel, the RAF lit up the gun pits with parachute flares, then bombed them.

Destroyer HMS Aldenham laid down.
Corvette HMS Gloxinia commissioned.

SS Thorold (1,689 GRT) Canadian merchant ship, was bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe Dornier Do-17 bombers, in the Irish Sea in position 51.46N, 005.38W. From her crew of 23, ten crewmembers were lost
(Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: British raiders bomb industrial targets at Frankfurt and Cologne.

German propaganda radio station NBBS prophesises the destruction of London by ‘aerial torpedoes carrying many tons of high explosive and guided by radio.’ [V1s ???]

GREECE: Athens: Britain promises to send air and sea forces to aid Greece if the enemy attacks.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Three Fleet Air Arm Swordfish deliver, arguably, the most interesting torpedo attack of the war. Having been informed of an Italian “depot ship” at An-el-Gazala, three Swordfish of HMS Eagle’s 824 Squadron, FAA, temporarily based at Ma’aten Bagush, are transferred to Sidi Barrani, equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks and torpedoes. In the late-afternoon, the three crews [Capt. O. Patch, RM (p)/Mid. G. J. Woodley, RNVR(o), Lt. N. A. F. Cheeseman, RN(p)/Sub-Lt. F. Stovin-Bradford, RN(o), and Lt. J. W. G. Welham, RN(p)/PO(A) A. H. Marsh(TAG)] headed out on the 180 mile flight to the Gulf of Bomba, routing 30 miles out to sea so as to approach the target from seaward. Approaching the target, they sighted the Italian Submarine Iride [the mother ship for Italian human torpedoes arriving to attack Alexandria] approaching on the surface. Heading straight for her, Captain Patch released his torpedo, which smacked Iride amidships, sinking her.

Having had no opportunity to attack themselves, the other two continued on the mission assigned. As they approached, they discovered the depot ship [Monte Gargano (1,976 GRT)] with a submarine and a destroyer tied up along side. Both torpedoes ran true into the pack, the resulting explosions “sinking whole bloody lot”. Initially treated with distain when they reported sinking four ships with three torpedoes, the crews were quite exuberant when recon photos the next morning verified that all three in harbour had, in fact, sank, though apparently the destroyer and the submarine were only beached. (Mark Horan) More

Human Torpedo

AUSTRALIA: Sloop HMAS Warrego is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Alberni launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: James V. Forrestal, former Administrative Assistant to the President and Wall Street broker, becomes first Undersecretary of the Navy. His office will become the most important coordinating agency for procurement and materiel in the Navy Department. (Jack McKillop)

MEXICO: The government orders all German consulates to be closed by 1 September. (Jack McKillop)

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 357 August 22, 1940

Battle of Britain Day 44. At 3.30 AM, first bombing of London (specifically Harrow, marginally within the London Civil Defence Area). Gale force winds and heavy rain again preclude large raids. At 9 AM, German artillery at Cape Gris Nez, France shells convoy “Totem” in the Straits of Dover for 80 minutes (no ships are hit). At 1 PM, Junkers Ju88s and Bf109s attack the convoy and are engaged by Spitfires of 54 Squadron and Hurricanes of 610 Squadron (shot down; 1 Ju88, 1 Spitfire, 1 Hurricane by friendly fire). At 6.30 PM, 30 German aircraft bomb coastal towns in Kent. In the evening, there is an artillery duel across the Straits of Dover between the German battery at Cape Gris Nez and a British 14-inch naval gun (named Winnie after Prime Minister Churchill, who has personally insisted that artillery be placed there to counter the German threat). Overnight, there is bombing of Aberdeen, Bristol, Pontefract, Bradford and Hull. In total, 6 German aircraft and 5 RAF fighters are lost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-Channel_guns_in_the_Second_World_War

Fairey Swordfish of 812 Squadron from HMS Peregrine (Royal Navy air station at Ford, Sussex) bomb German invasion barges at Daedereide on the Dutch coast. 1 Swordfish is shot down and 2 aircrew are taken prisoner.

3 Swordfish of 824 Squadron from aircraft carrier HMS Eagle sink Italian submarine Iride (killing most of the 45 crew) and depot ship Monte Gargano in the Gulf of Bomba, Libya. Italian torpedo boat Calypso is also damaged. This prevents a planned attack on Alexandria by Iride using manned “human torpedoes”.

Battle of Britain Campaign Diary

Date: 22nd August 1940

Weather: Cloudy and squally.
Day: Shipping reconnaissance and attacks on two Channel convoys.
Night: Increased activity particularly in the Midlands, north and west. Some minelaying.
Enemy action by day
Enemy activity consisted chiefly of a number of shipping reconnaissances off the South and East Coasts and two major attacks, one on a convoy in the Straits of Dover, the other in the Manston/Dover area. Interceptions were effected by fighters and enemy aircraft were destroyed.
North Coast
One reconnaissance flight was plotted towards Arbroath.
East Coast
One raid of three aircraft was plotted from St Abb's Head and was reported over a convoy in that area. Another raid was plotted over Orfordness; this aircraft was chased out to sea by our fighters but escaped after jettisoning its bombs.
At 1830 hours, a raid of 30+ crossed the coast near Deal and bombing is reported. Between 1900 and 1945 hours, a number of aircraft approached the coast in waves and bombs were reported at Dover, Deal and Manston. Six squadrons were sent to oppose these raids but a few interceptions were effected.
South East Coast
The were a number of reconnaissance flights to convoys off the Estuary and in the Straits and one enemy aircraft is reported to have been 'spotting' for guns shelling a convoy off Deal. Shortly after the shelling ceased a raid of 30+, which massed in the Gris Nez area, attacked the convoy between 1240 and 1315 hours. Two and a half squadrons of fighters were sent up to protect the convoy. Thereafter, several hostile formations were plotted in the Straits, but these turned back without engagement.
South and West Coast
Some eleven raids were plotted on reconnaissance flights along the South Coast; of these, one penetrated to Bristol, another crossed inland to the Thames Estuary and East Coast and a third was shot down over Somerset.
Between 2100 and 0100 hours, enemy aircraft visited Aberdeen, Pontefract district, Hampshire, Bristol, South Wales and a convoy of Kinnaird's Head. Minelaying is suspected in the Thames Estuary and to a lesser degree up to Flamborough Head and off the Firth of Forth.
By night
Enemy activity has been on a considerably larger scale and more widespread than for some time past, and continued throughout the hours of darkness. Raids have consisted almost entirely of single aircraft.
Raids were also plotted in the Bradford, Hull and Middlesborough areas.
Later, one raid of three aircraft flew over North Wales toward Liverpool and Manchester. Manston was again attacked.
London Central twice received the 'purple' warning and the 'red' warning at 0325 hours when 4 or more enemy aircraft were reported in the area. Later, Harrow was attacked.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 22nd August 1940
Blenheim - 58
Spitire - 219
Hurricane - 412
Defiant - 26
Gladiator - 6

Total – 721

Casualties:

	Enemy Lossees
	By Fighters
Destroyed	Probable	Damaged
2 Me109	3 Me109
3 Ju88	1 Do215
1 Me110
6	4	0
	By Anti-Aircraft
Destroyed	Probable	Damaged
Nil

Own:
Five aircraft (2 pilots lost).
Patrols:
Own
141 patrols involving 536 aircraft.
Enemy
Estimated approximately 190 aircraft of which 140 during the day (sunrise to sunset) and by night 230.
Balloons:
Flying 1433, Casualties 99 (88 repairable, 8 written off and 3 by enemy action).
Aerodromes:
Manston unserviceable until dawn, 23 August.
Eastchurch totally unserviceable.
Abbotsinch and Hartlepool.
Organisation:
No changes.
Air Intelligence Reports
No reports.
Home Security Reports
Date: 21st/22nd/23rd August 1940
General Summary
A number of enemy aircraft appeared during the day, principally over the southern half of the country. Bombs were dropped in the Aldeburgh district in Suffolk and in the Scilly Isles, causing little damage. During the night of 22nd/23rd reports have been received of enemy activity against RAF stations and in the London area.
Detailed Summary
21st August
Catfoss RAF Station. It has now been reported that damage was done to runway and landing ground. It is also reported that one of the unexploded bombs is suspected to be a 2,000lb bomb.
At the Royal Naval Station at Eastchurch it is reported that eight craters, approximately 10 feet in diameter, were made at the south end of the landing ground.
22nd August
Manston RAF Station was heavily bombed at 1910 hours on the 22nd and at 0125 hours on the 23rd. Approximately thirty bombs were dropped during the first raid resulting in the destruction of two hangars and two Blenheim aircraft. Some buildings were damaged and the aerodrome made unserviceable.
Filton RAF Station was bombed at 2358 hours and the Bristol Aero Factory was hit, but the ensuing fire was extinguished.
Guildford. At midnight, a train between Wanborough station and Tongham (Guildford rural area) was attacked with HE and IB and set on fire. One casualty so far reported.
Barnstaple. At Umberleigh, a train was machine-gunned at 1615 hours.
Brighton. HE were dropped in the Kemp Town area, 100 yards from a gun battery, which, however, was not put out of action.
Peterhead, near Aberdeen, was bombed at 2200 hours. Damage was caused to one house, water and gas mains. A signal cabin and engine were damaged, resulting in blockage of line.
23rd August
It was reported that HE were dropped at approximately 0310 hours on Harrow, Edmonton and Willesdon districts.
Casualties on Ground by Enemy Action:
To RAF Personnel - 0 killed, 3 injured.
To others - 3 killed, 36 injured
Enemy Attacks by Shell Fire
Reports have been received that approximately thirty shells of unknown calibre have fallen in the Dover area between the hours of 2100 and 2210 on the 22nd. Considerable damage was caused to houses and a church. Gas and water mains were seriously affected. At 1255 hours, St Margaret's Bay, near Folkestone was also reported to have been shelled causing slight damage.
Battle of Britain

It’s an interesting side note that at this time Poland (gov’t in exile) is at war with Russia. I assume that at some point after the German invasion of Russia an reconciliation will be in order. I’d be interested to see when and how this takes place.

Thanks for all your great research and for the Ping, Homer.