R. A. F. BLASTS CHANNEL PORTS; NAZIS BOMB CENTRAL LONDON (10/6/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 10/6/40 | James MacDonald, Raymond Daniell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

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.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
German Fighter Range and British Radar Deployment
Marcks’ Plan, August 5, 1940
The Mediterranean Basin (Map 33)
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.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Large Fires Seen – 2
The International Situation – 3
London’s East End Battered by Nazis – 3-4
Major Sports Yesterday – 4
Hungary Expelling Rumanian Nationals – 4
Roosevelt’s Lead Mounts in Survey – 6-7
How Nominees Stand – 6
Institute Survey Attacked as ‘Preposterous’; Martin Declares a Later Study Refutes It – 7
Bucharest Seizes All Jews’ Farms – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 9

News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Questions – 11
How the Nazis See the “Future” Map of the Eastern Hemisphere – 12
Answers to Twenty News Questions - 13

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/oct40/f06oct40.htm

Italians sub sinks Italian sub

Sunday, October 6, 1940 www.onwar.com

In the Mediterranean... The Italian submarine Gemma is accidentally sunk by its sister ship Tricheco.

In Romania... Antonescu assumes command of the Iron Guard, adding further strength to his position.

Over Britain... Poor weather brings a brief lull in the London Blitz. The Luftwaffe drops a few bombs near the capital.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/06.htm

October 6th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain: Small raids penetrate to several airfields (Middle Wallop, Northolt, Biggin Hill).

Losses: Luftwaffe, 6; RAF, 1.

CANADA: The fourth group of eight USN destroyers involved in the Destroyers for Bases Deal that arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, yesterday are decommissioned and turned over to RN authorities. The eight ships and their new names are: (1) Branch (DD-197) to HMS Beverley, (2) Hunt (DD-194) to HMS Broadway, (3) Mason (DD-191) to HMS Broadwater, (4) Satterlee (DD-190) to HMS Belmont, (5) Laub (DD-263) to HMS Burwell, (6) Aulick (DD-258) to HMS Burnham, (7) Edwards (DD-265) to HMS Buxton, and (8) McLanahan (DD-264) to HMS Bradford. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: Baseball!

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-123 sinks SS BENLAWERS in convoy OB-221.

U-37 sinks SS BRITISH GENERAL in convoy OA-222.

During the morning U-103 fires two torpedoes at a lone tanker, but both miss the target. In the evening U-103 sinks SS NINA BORTHERN with four torpedoes. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 402 October 6, 1940

Battle of Britain Day 89. Göring again changes tactics, tiring of the heavy losses in recent days despite the high fighter:bomber ratio and the RAF showing no sign of weakening. In fact, AVM Park’s policy of not responding to small fighter-only raids has been very successful in avoiding unnecessary and costly engagements. Göring begins saving his bombers mostly for night operations, leaving Messerschmitt Bf109s & Bf110s to bring their smaller bomb loads during daylight along with occasional conventional medium bombers. They target mainly factories and RAF airfields. Luftwaffe loses 1 Do17 bomber and RAF loses 1 fighter (pilot killed). It is a quiet night with relatively little bombing of London. http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/phase4ofthebattle.cfm

At 1.04 PM, 400 miles West of Ireland, U-123 sinks British steamer Benlawers carrying supplies for the British Army in Egypt, including trucks (23 crew members and 1 gunner are lost, 27 survivors rescued by British steamers Bengore Head and Forest). In the same area, U-103 sinks Norwegian tanker Nina Borthen at 10.04 PM (all 35 crew lost) and British tanker British General is torpedoed by U-37 at 6.55 and 11.10 PM but refuses to sink. U-37 stays nearby throughout the night but cannot surface and use her deck gun because British General is armed.

Italian submarine Tricheco accidentally sinks Italian submarine Gemma, 5 miles South of the Greek island of Karpathos.

[CougarGA7]

Battle of Britain Campaign Diary

Date: 6th October 1940

• Weather: Dull with continuous rain all day.
• Day: Small formations attacked London and East Anglia.
• Night: Very quiet.

  Enemy action by day

  Operations by enemy aircraft by day have been on a small scale and were generally carried out by single aircraft; several attacks on aerodromes are reported.

  Three threatened attacks in force did not materialise and degenerated into patrols in the channel.

  Our fighters destroyed one enemy aircraft plus one damaged. We lost one aircraft and the pilot is missing.

  Reconnaissances

  A reconnaissance of Kenley and Biggin Hill was carried out during the morning and a convoy off Southwold was shadowed.

  Attacks on Convoys

  At 1330 hours two raids were over a convoy. Two sections of our fighters were despatched to intercept and at 1430 hours a raid of 12+ flew over the same convoy and crossed in and out over the coast near Aldeburgh. No interceptions have been reported.

  Raids

  Raids by single aircraft were carried out over South and South-East England, London and the Thames Estuary. During the morning these raids were particularly directed against the Dover/Deal area, whereas, in the afternoon, they were concentrated more particularly on the Inner Artillery Zone. Some penetrated s far as Reading, Bedford, Bicester, Duxford, Bury St Edmunds, Attleborough and Brighton.

  Patrols

  Patrols were frequently flown in the Straits during the hours of daylight.

  Night Operations - 6th / 7th October 1940

  At 2000 hours only one enemy aircraft was over England. It flew from Dieppe, over Shoreham, towards Kenley and Northolt, and then out East.

  At 2100 hours another flew in to near Reading, on to the Birmingham area, Bury St Edmunds, Duxford and North Weald, across the Inner Artillery Zone, and out over Romney at 2320 hours.

  One further raid flew in at Beachy Head at 2120 hours over London to Waltham Abbey and Hatfield and then South and out at Romney at 2230 hours.

  The navigation of these two flights was a remarkable feature, carried out in conditions reported at 10/10 cloud, base at 100/500 feet.

  At 0515 hours four raids from the Dutch Islands approached London. One entered the Inner Artillery Zone at 0548 hours, with others over Debden, Blackwater, and Brighton. These raids were still in progress at 0600 hours.

  

  ________________________________________

  Statistics

  Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 6th October 1940

• Blenheim - 48
• Spitfire - 229
• Hurricane - 411
• Defiant - 18
• Gladiator - 8
• Total – 714

  Casualties:

  	Enemy Losses
  	By Fighters
  Destroyed	Probable	Damaged
  1 Do17		1 Do17
  1	Nil	1

• Own:

• One Spitfire with the pilot missing.

  Patrols:

• Own

• During the night of 5th / 6th October - 4 patrol involving 4 aircraft.
• During the day of 6th October - 67 patrols involving 181 aircraft.

• Enemy

• It is estimated that about 215 enemy aircraft operated over or near our coasts during the night 5th / 6th October and 130 during the day of 6th October.

  Balloons:

• No report.

  Serviceability of Aerodromes:

• Caistor is unserviceable by day and night.
• Sherborne is unserviceable by night.

  Organisation:

• No 23 Squadron moved from Middle Wallop to Ford.

  Home Security Reports

• General Summary

• Date: 6th October 1940

• Owing to weather conditions the enemy carried out most attacks by singly flying aircraft, which operated chiefly in East Anglia, Kent and Sussex. A number of attacks were made on various aerodromes in the country but there was very little damage to report.
• Quite a feature of the day has been the number of attacks which have been made on small towns with machine-gun fire - Wickham Market, Felixstowe and Shirley (a suburb of Southampton) suffered chiefly, but very little damage was done.

• Detailed Summary

• RAF Stations - 5th October 1940

• Hendon: A hangar received considerable damage owing to a direct hit during an attack at 2115 hours. The LMS was also affected.

• RAF Stations - 6th October 1940

• Ford Naval Air Station was attacked on the night of 5/6th, but there was no damage.
• Middle Wallop: Attacked at 1130. No damage.
• Sawbridgeworth: Several IB's were dropped at 0115 hours, but the damage was only slight.
• Northolt: A Ju88 attacked at 1210 hours, and bombed and machine-gunned the aerodrome. One Hurricane was burnt out, another severely damaged and one Blenheim also suffered.
• Biggin Hill: Several bombs were dropped at 1245 hours. There is nothing to report beyond the possibility of damage to one Spitfire.
• Farnborough: A Ju88 machine-gunned at 1635 hours the Southern perimeter of the Camp. No damage.
• White Waltham: The Aerodrome and adjacent houses were machine-gunned at 1700 hours by the enemy, but no damage occurred.
• Tangmere: Attacked by a Ju88, but no hits are recorded.
• Uxbridge: This station was raided, but there was only slight damage to the Airmen's Married Quarters.
• Hornchurch: It was also reported that an attack was made, but there are no details.

• Factories - 6th October 1940

• Fires have occurred at 0145 hours at Siemens Bros, Woolwich, but no damage is yet reported.
• A fire is reported at Loders & Nuceline Factory at Silvertown. No details.
• The Hawker Aircraft Factory at Slough was attacked at 1650 hours. There was slight damage to one of the shops. An unexploded bomb is reported in one of the concrete floors.
• Fire broke out at Shell Mex BP premises at Purfleet at 1712 hours. Five tanks of oil were involved but the position is not serious. One office is damaged.
• Turner's Asbestos Works at Erith were set alight by enemy aircraft with the result that three blocks of buildings and some cutting machines were destroyed.
• The enemy attacked the Standard Telephones & Cables Ltd Works at North Woolwich and caused slight damage to the buildings.
• The Vauxhall Works at Luton were also bombed but no damage is reported.

• Railways

• Owing to enemy action three rail tracks are out of use at Gidea Park.
• As a result of bombing both lines are blocked at Woolwich Arsenal Station.
• Bombs were dropped on Brentwood Station Yard and some carriages were burnt.

• Elsewhere

• The Royal Arsenal at Woolwich was bombed during the night of 5/6th, and a packing case store room was burnt out, but production was not affected.

  Battle of Britain

[CougarGA7]

There sure is a lot of interesting items in today’s paper.

First I noticed the front page story on the discovery of a Roman fortress along Hadrian’s Wall. For those who don’t know, when the Romans conquered England they never actually controlled the entire island. Along the entire length of the island on its northern border the Romans constructed a wall to keep out the barbarians (Scottish). This wall bears the name of the Roman emperor at the time of its construction, Hadrian. Interesting that people digging air raid shelters came across this incredible find. For me it is history discovering history though I know that’s not how it was for them.

Next I noticed that Picasso has returned to Paris. He is a more public example of someone in a conquered land just trying to maintain whatever semblance of normal day to day life. An interesting story on when the Germans occupied France; it is told that a group of German officers were in his studio in Paris and one was looking at some of Picasso’s paintings of the Spanish Civil War and asked Picasso, “Did you do this?” to which Picasso answered back to the officer, “No, you did.”

Looks like the new Rumannian government under Antonescu has adopted as harsh a line towards the Jews as the Nazi’s have. This certainly will help relations between the somewhat dismantled country and Hitler. Being given 3 percent of the value of the farms per year as compensation for the land is pretty harsh. The Yugoslavian government isn’t doing much better either with their restriction on Jewish school applicants.

[PAR35]

They found the mosaic floor of a Roman villa, together with other artifacts, while digging a bomb shelter near the Cathedral in Cologne. Don’t expect that we’ll see that in the NYT.

[CougarGA7]

When was that. That is interesting too.

[PAR35]

1941 is the most specific I could find on the date. More recently, they built a modern museum over the site.

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-roman-germanic-museum

It’s the other side of the Cathedral from the main train station, on the bank of the Rhien.

[CougarGA7]

That looks very interesting. It seems like that would be a site not to be missed if you were in the area.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t in the Times considering that it was in the middle of Germany in 1941. I’d bet the western press didn’t get much word on this find. I wonder what, if any, press it received in German papers. 1941 was a pretty busy time for Germany’s propaganda machine and if this was found after the beginning of BARBAROSSA it may have been totally lost from a reporting standpoint.