http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/oct40/f24oct40.htm
Hitler and Petain discuss collaboration
Thursday, October 24, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Occupied France... Hitler meets Petain and discusses Franco-German collaboration.
In London... A Belgian government in exile is established. Its leading members include Camille Gutt, Hubert Pierlot and Paul-Henri-Spaak.
Over Germany... During the night, RAF bombers attack Berlin and Hamburg. These are the first British raids to cause significant civilian casualties.
In Britain... The first of 2000 provincial buses appear on London routes.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/24.htm
Day 420 October 24, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 107. Low cloud and drizzle again restrict Luftwaffe to reconnaissance flights. 1 Dornier Do17 is shot down in the English Channel and another approaching Coventry. There are no RAF losses. Overnight bombing of London is light but Birmingham is heavily bombed.
In Operation DNU, British battlecruisers HMS Hood and Repulse plus 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers conduct a sweep of the Norwegian coast hoping to engage German shipping. Their only victim is German weather ship WBS5 (trawler Adolf Vinnen) sunk by destroyers HMS Somali, Matabele & Punjabi, 30 miles off the Stadlandet peninsula between Bergen and Trondheim.
At 11.35, in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, a depth charge on board British destroyer HMS Mendip explodes, blowing off her stern. Mendip will be repaired at the Tyne until February 17, 1941.
Hitler’s armoured train arrives in Montoire, France, to meet French Prime Minister Philippe Pétain. After meeting with Franco yesterday, Hitler tries to persuade France to join the war against England. Pétain indicates he is only willing “to collaborate”, words that will cost him his freedom in 1945. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25217,_Henry_Philippe_Petain_und_Adolf_Hitler.jpg
