Posted on 10/07/2010 5:29:48 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
‘War Machine’ Hit – 2
The International Situation – 3
Pope Scores Women’s ‘Immodesty’ and Bowing to ‘Tyranny of Fashion’ – 4
London Night Lull Delight to People – 4-5
60 Japanese Planes in Chungking Attack – 5
U.S. Air Infantry in Demonstration at Fort Benning (photos) – 6
40-Hour Week Start Clarified by Fleming – 6
Philippines Offer Invasion Problem – 7
Invasion of Reich Called British Aim – 7
Students in Norway Riot against Nazis – 8
Texts of Day’s War Communiques – 8
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/oct40/f07oct40.htm
Germans defend Romanian oil
Monday, October 7, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Romania... German troops enter Romania ostensibly to help reorganize the army. Hitler’s main aim is in fact to protect the oil fields.
In Occupied France... The Germans order all Jewish people in the occupied part of France to register immediately with their authorities.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm
October 7th, 1939
UNITED KINGDOM: Deepdale. Football: Preston play Bolton in a friendly. The crowd is generally listless with practically no conversation about the war at all. (72)
The U.S. freighter SS Black Heron is detained by British authorities at Weymouth, England. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: To mark Himmler’s birthday, Hitler appoints him Commissioner for Consolidation of the German Race; his task is to eliminate “inferior” peoples from the Reich.
Hitler issues a decree ordering Poles to be evicted from Western Poland or killed.
FINLAND: Since the Soviet Union started to browbeat the Baltic republics into accepting Red Army bases in their territory, Finns have feared that Finland would soon receive similar treatment. Molotov’s invitation two days ago to start negotiations on ‘concrete political issues’ seemed to confirm these fears. Unlike the Baltic republics, which all hastened to conclude unwanted pacts with the Soviets, Finns had decided to stay firm.
Today the Finnish government took two decisions to react to Molotov’s invitation. First, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the Finnish Ambassador at Stockholm, is nominated as the Finnish negotiator to go to Moscow. Second, it is decided to call part of the field army for extraordinary manouvers. In effect this is partial mobilization, but instead of using public proclamations, the reservists are sent personal orders by mail. (Mikko Härmeinen)
U.S.S.R.: Pravda quotes Hitler saying that the Polish state had no right to exist and was built “on the bones and blood of Germans and Russians.” (Mike Yared)
AUSTRALIA: The Australian War Cabinet offers No. 10 Squadron for active service in the UK (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: Washington: The US will continue to recognise the exiled Polish government, the state department said today. Most of the Polish administration is interned in Romania, but General Sikorski has set up a government in exile in Angers, France.
Baseball.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Graf Spee stops and sinks the British freighter ASHLEA (4222 BRT). (Navy News)
U-26 sinks SS Binnendijk. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 403 October 7, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 90. Visibility improves, although there are clouds and some rain. Luftwaffe again tries the tactic of sending over large raids of 50-100 aircraft, with bombers escorted by 3 times the number of fighters to overwhelm the RAF defenses. Again it fails and RAF claims 21 German fighters & 6 bombers shot down for the loss of 16 RAF fighters (6 pilots killed). London is subjected to heavy night bombing again but there is also widespread bombing of other cities including Bristol, Liverpool and towns in East Anglia, Wales and Scotland (where naval and dock facilities in the Firth of Forth are attacked).
Operation Lucid. Fire ships (tankers War Nizam & War African filled with a flammable floating cocktail) sail for the French channel ports but the operation is again cancelled when escort destroyer HMS Hambledon is badly damaged on a mine just off the English coast near Folkestone (under repair until May 1941).
50 miles off the Northwest Irish coast, at 4 PM, U-59 sinks Norwegian MV Touraine (1 killed, 34 survivors abandon ship in 3 lifeboats). 400 miles West of Ireland, British tanker British General finally sinks at 8 PM, after being hit by 2 more torpedoes from U-37 (all 47 hands lost).
500 miles Northwest of Australia, German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin stops Norwegian tanker Storstad (carrying 12,000 tons of diesel oil from British North Borneo to Melbourne). Storstad is taken as a prize ship, loaded with 110 mines from Pinguin, renamed Passat and commissioned into the German Navy as an auxiliary minelayer. 30 of Storstad’s crew are taken prisoner while 5 continue to serve with the German prize crew of Passat. http://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/pinguin.html
Date: 7th October 1940
Enemy action by day
Five main attacks developed during the day, four towards the London area and one over Dorset. Patrols were active in the Straits and Channel and several reconnaissances were flown chiefly over East Kent and the Thames Estuary. Our fighters destroyed 28 enemy aircraft plus 5 probable plus 14 damaged.
Attacks on Kent and London
First Attack
Between 0920 hours and 1040 hours ten raids, totalling about 120 aircraft, flown over South East England, some of them penetrating as far as Gravesend and East London. It is reported that they were in the proportion of three fighters to one bomber. 11 Group despatched 16 Squadrons to meet this attack, which had terminated by 1105 hours.
Second Attack
At about 1250 hours waves of enemy aircraft totalling 130+ crossed the coast between North Foreland and Beachy Head. They penetrated to Biggin Hill and South and
South East London, and the last of the raiders had not returned to France until 1400 hours. 11 Group ordered 13 Squadrons to oppose.
Third Attack
At 1530 hours 50+ enemy aircraft were plotted crossing the coast near Romney. They flew again to Biggin Hill and East London. The country was again clear by 1620 hours.
Fourth Attack
At 1630 hours a further flight of 30 enemy aircraft crossed the coast at Dungeness, penetrated to Central and North East London, but quickly turned back to France at 1645 hours.
Attack in South West England
At about 1530 hours 50+ enemy aircraft from Cherbourg flew to St Alban's Head and on over Dorset as far as Yeovil. By 1615 hours this part of the country was again clear of enemy aircraft.
Patrols and Reconnaissances
Patrols were maintained in the Straits and in the Channel throughout most of the day.
Between 0700 and 0800 hours a number of reconnaissance flights were plotted around the coast especially between Dover and the Thames Estuary. A further reconnaissance of Weymouth Bay, Lyme Bay and the Western area was flown at 0900 hours, and one over South Sussex at 1100 hours.
Between 1745 and 1900 hours activity continued off Orfordness, Hastings and Poole in addition to the usual Straits patrols, and one raid of three aircraft crossed the coast near Tangmere and flew to the Northolt area.
Night Operations - 6th / 7th October 1940
Hostile activity was on a large scale, and continued with brief pauses, for a long period. While considerable forces concentrated on London, raiders were much more widely dispersed than for some time past, and large sections of the country were attacked.
Minelaying was suspected in the Thames Estuary, Firth of Forth, off Flamborough Head, Newcastle area and Merseyside.
1900 Hours to 2100 Hours
No less than 80 enemy aircraft were plotted in during this period, coming from various French districts, the Dutch Coast and Denmark. Some 7 raids penetrated to the Midlands and Lancashire, two visited Newcastle and several ranged over East Anglia, but the bulk concentrated on the London area. The raids from Denmark flew to Scotland, four being plotted in the Firth of Forth district and three around Arbroath.
2100 Hours to 2300 Hours
A further 40 raiders were employed during this period, 15 of which operated over South East England and London. The remainder was widely scattered over South Wales and the Bristol Channel areas, the Midlands and Lancashire, East Anglia, Sunderland and Firth of Forth districts.
2300 Hours to 0100 Hours 8.10.40
Enemy activity slackened, only about 10 incoming tracks being plotted. Operations continued over Kent and Sussex to London, and the West Country and Wales to Merseyside and the Potteries, with one raid over Montrose.
0100 Hours to 0300 Hours
At the beginning of this period enemy activity increased again, chief concentrations being apparently on aerodromes in East Anglia, 11 raids being plotted at one time in Essex and Suffolk alone. The London area was quieter and no raiders were plotted either in the West or North West. The Firth of Forth continued to receive attention.
0300 Hours to 0600 Hours
Activity was restricted to the East Coast and London, with single aircraft widely scattered as far North as Kinnairds Head, some enemy aircraft entering into East Anglia with our returning bombers. By 0545 hours all enemy aircraft appeared to be on homing courses, and at 0600 the Country was clear.
________________________________________
Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 7th October 1940
Casualties:
| Enemy Losses | ||
| By Fighters | ||
| Destroyed | Probable | Damaged |
| 15 Me109 | 3 Me109 | 8 Me109 |
| 6 Me110 | 2 Me110 | 3 Me110 |
| 4 Ju88 | 1 Ju88 | |
| 2 Do17 | 2 Do17 | |
| 27 | 5 | 14 |
Patrols:
Balloons:
Serviceability of Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Home Security Reports
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I wonder who these high place sources that say the Philippines cannot be invaded are coming from? As of right now the general feeling at the Joint Board is that the Philippines is not defensible. War plan Orange is a feeble compromise between the Navy, who would like to keep these forward bases and the Army who would prefer to pull out of the area if they are not allow to fortify those positions, especially in the Philippines.
I understand Admiral Richardson is planning to visit Washington for a frank discussion with his CIC on the matter of our capability in the Pacific
That is coming up. One major point of contention with him is the shortage of manpower for all these new ships that are supposed to come online. Despite all this back and forth on the conscription of men to build up the army, the navy still relies on a volunteer force for its numbers. That’s probably why we saw that article on the Navy dipping into its reserves the other day.
The Philippines represent a real dilemma. The US cannot simply pull out and abandon them after occupying for 42 years. But how to defend islands so far from the US?
Just to expand on this a bit since one of the characters involved is someone I just ask Homer to keep an eye out for in the news.
It’s really a bad deal all around. The state of the Philippines really represents a conflict between the military branches on what they perceive as most critical moving forward.
The Army, if it was entirely up to them, would go ahead and cut the Philippines loose since they see it as more of a liability than an asset and are stronger advocates of the Monroe Doctrine which ends their commitments to the American continents. In 1933 the head of the coastal defenses in the Philippines was a Stanely Embick. He was of the strong opinion that the Philippines was undefendible under their conditions at the time and continued to profess that same inclination when he became the chief at the War Plans Division.
The Navy on the other hand are adherents of Mahanian philosophy in which part of that doctrine includes the securing of forward bases in order to maintain your own, and distrupt your enemy’s lines of communications (commerce and supply). This made facilities like the Philippines, Midway, and Guam very important to them.
The only initial contribution from the State Department on this dispute was to force the Army and Navy to come together and put together a joint plan for the Far East. The main contributors was Lt. General Embick as mentioned above and the soon to be in the news again, Admiral Richardson. The result of this work was the aforementioned War Plan Orange (well, the 1938 version which is often referred to as the Embick-Richardson version).
Ironically, neither man liked the final product and felt that it set them up for failure in the Philippines. Embick stated that to carry out War Plan Orange “would be literally an act of madness” while Richardson trying to be a bit more amiable in his Pearl Harbor testimony called it “a fairly sound plan theoretically, but the time element bore no relation to reality.”
The compromise merely made for a plan that was untenable from any aspect which we will see is made even worse by the decisions made by the man in charge at the time the Japanese finally came to the Philippines...but of course that story is for next year.
October 7th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain: Heavier raids by Ju88s of II/KG 51 escorted by Bf110s of ZG 26 on Westland Factory at Yeovil. Little damage is done and 7 Bf110s and 2 Ju88s are shot down.
Small daylight raids on London cause fires in dockland and Rotherhithe.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 21; RAF, 17.
RAF Bomber Command: 30 Wellington’s of 3 Group and 12 Whitley’s of 4 Group attack Berlin at night. This is the heaviest raid on Berlin so far, 50 tons of HEs are dropped. 25 are left dead and 50 wounded. Two aircraft failed to return.
FRANCE: All Jews in occupied France are ordered by the Germans, to register immediately with authorities.
VICHY FRANCE: Algerian Jews are deprived of their French citizenship.
ROMANIA: Bucharest: The Axis Powers have marched into Romania. Two divisions of German troops, totalling 30,000 men, along with token Italian units today passed through Hungary to take control of the oilfields and the harbours from which the oil is shipped. The German claim that their soldiers have been sent to Romania “in accordance with an agreement with the Romanian government for training and reorganising the Romanian army with all the equipment essential for modern warfare”. In another announcement, however, the Germans claim that their action was taken to protect Romania from British plans to sabotage the oilfields. certainly the oilfields, developed largely by British capital, are the prime reason for the invasion.
Last week the government of the dictator Ion Antonescu arrested British officials on allegations that they were plotting to set fire to the oilfields. Some of these officials have been subject to ill-treatment. It is apparent that the entry of the Germans has been made with the consent and co-operation of the Antonescu regime. Barracks in the capital have been evacuated by the Romanian army to make way for the Germans. An expeditionary force GHQ has been set up and contact established with the Romanian General Staff.
The invasion is seen as resulting from the meeting between Hitler and Mussolini at the Brenner Pass last Friday, although Mussolini is reported to have been surprised by the move especially as it undercuts Italian attempts to purchase in interest in Romanian oil production facilities to shore up their own fuel supplies. The German coup undercuts these efforts and leaving Italy totally dependent upon Germany for oil supplies. (Mike Yaklich)
JAPAN: Tokyo: Japan is to become a one-party state with the inauguration next week of the ultra-nationalistic Imperial Rule Assistance Association, which will replace all existing political parties. The two leading parties, Rikken Seiyukai and Rikken Minseito, which dominate Japan’s parliament, will be voluntarily dissolved.
The new organisation, the brainchild of Prince Konoye, is intended to capitalise on the growing patriotic fervour among the Japanese and mobilise mass political support for land-hungry Japan’s plans to expand its territorial borders in China and south-east Asia.
The IRAA, with offices in every prefecture, will mirror precisely Japan’s current legislative structure. Discussions on the IRAA began in July, with moderate and nationalists battling over how closely it would imitate the totalitarian aspects of Europe’s Nazi and Communist parties.
U.S.A.: Baseball!
Washington: The Japanese ambassador, Kensuke Horinouchi, warns the USA that the embargo on scrap metal exports “cannot fail to be regarded as directed against Japan and, as such, an unfriendly act.”
* Artie Shaw and his Orchestra record Hoagy Carmichael’s classic song “Stardust” for Victor Records. This version of “Stardust” was voted the Number 1 all-time favorite record in “Billboard’s” 1956 Disc Jockey poll.
* On the radio, two new daily 15-minute soap operas debut today: - “Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy,” sponsored by Maxwell House coffee, debuts on CBS at 1645 hours Eastern. Tom Hopkins, Kate’s husband, was played by eventual “Beat the Clock” host Clayton ‘Bud’ Collyer; one of the writers was Gertrude Berg (writer and Emmy Award-winning actress of “The Goldbergs”, a popular radio and TV series in the 1940s and 1950s); and the announcer was Ralph Edwards of future “This is Your Life” fame. The show remained on the air until April 1942.
- “Portia Faces Life,” sponsored by Post Flakes and Post Bran, debuts on CBS at 1600 hours Eastern. The show centred around Portia Blake, a young woman attorney who battled corruption in the small town of Parkerstown. The show remained on the air until June 1951. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Livermore is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
PANAMA: The first US Army operational radar, a lab-built SCR-270 goes on air atop Fort Sherman. (Will O’Neil) (157,158,159,160,161 and 162)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-59 sinks the SS Touraine. (Dave Shirlaw)
Now would be a good time to try to make a run for the Spanish border.
Artie Shaw and his Orchestra record Hoagy Carmichael’s classic song “Stardust” for Victor Records. This version of “Stardust” was voted the Number 1 all-time favorite record in “Billboard’s” 1956 Disc Jockey poll.
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