Posted on 10/31/2010 6:23:46 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.
Thomas E. Griess, Series Editor, The Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/oct40/f31oct40.htm
The battle of Britain ends
Thursday, October 31, 1940 www.onwar.com
Over Britain... Day 114 of the battle of Britain. This day marks the end of the continuous Luftwaffe raiding campaign.
In the Mediterranean... British forces land on the Greek island of Crete.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/31.htm
October 31st, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
This month, 6,350 civilians have been killed and 8,700 injured by enemy action.
Blackpool, Squire’s Gate: The Wellington V High Altitude bomber reaches 30,000 feet, for the first time.
London: The government is to release 5,000 building workers from the army to try to catch up with the urgent task of repairing bomb damage. In London 60,000 houses are uninhabitable, 130,000 less badly damaged, and 16,000 totally destroyed. Three-quarters of the houses in the East End are of Stepney are estimated to be wrecked.
So far only 7,000 people have been rehoused by local authorities, out of 250,000 made homeless, at least temporarily. No more repair workers are to be called up until further notice. In the meantime, 5,000 men of the Pioneer Corps are clearing debris. London’s “Rest Centres” are badly overcrowded, with 25,000 homeless people seeking shelter each night.
Submarine HMS Upholder commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Bleasdale laid down.
Corvettes HMS Dahlia, Kingcup and Spirae launched.
Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan (ex-Iroquois) laid down Vickers-Armstrong Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: The Protestant cleric Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who is banned from preaching and teaching, this month issued a “confession” that the church has been “silent when it should have screamed, because the blood of the innocent cries to heaven.”
U-74 commissioned.
U-587, U-588, U-589, U-590 laid down.
U-71 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British troop reinforcements land on Crete.
EGYPT: Telegram from HQ RAF, Middle East , to the Air Ministry, repeated to the Minister at Athens and C-in-C, Med.
“... it has become absolutely essential to send token force to Greece even at the expense of my forces here. I have despatched to Athens 1 Blenheim Sqn. of which half the aircraft are equipped as fighters, half as bombers. This makes no provision for fighter defence of the fleet base at Crete for which no aerodrome available. It also reduces fighter defence of Alexandria.”
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Trillium commissioned Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMS Windflower arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC (Summary for October):
Pocket battleship Admiral Scheer sails from Germany for the Atlantic and later Indian Oceans. She gets back home in March.
Raider ‘Widder’ arrives in France after six months of operations in the central Atlantic where she has sunk or captured 10 ships of 59,000 tons.
The Luftwaffe’s long range aircraft are now flying from bases in Norway. Inter-service rivalry between the Luftwaffe and the Navy means the Kondor will never be fully integrated into the German effort in the BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC.
Escort limits are now being pushed out to 19 degrees west. In a series of pack attacks on lightly defended Canada/UK convoys, U-boats sink more than 30 ships from SC7 and HX79 between the 17th and 20th a rate of loss that will soon bring Britain to her knees. Fortunately a number of measures are being taken to ease the dire situation and provide some of the foundations from which Britain and her Allies will go on to defeat the U-boat.
- The old US destroyers are coming into service and the British building programme is starting to deliver the escorts needed.
- The need for permanent escort groups to develop and maintain expertise is being accepted and greater emphasis given to A/S training.
- Co-operation between RAF Coastal Command and Western Approaches Command is steadily improving.
However, there is still a long way to go and vast areas of the Atlantic are still without air or sea anti-submarine cover.
U-124 sank SS Rutland in Convoy HX-82. (Dave Shirlaw)
Losses:
ATLANTIC OCEAN: 56 ships of 287,000 tons and 1 destroyer
1 U boat
European Waters: 43 ships of 132,000 tons.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: 1 ship of 3,000 tons.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 427 October 31, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 114 – Last Day. Despite cloud, haze and drizzle, Luftwaffe mounts numerous reconnaissance flights and ineffective single aircraft bombing raids on RAF airfields in South England. The weather and lack of real threat prevent RAF from responding so there are no losses on either side. Bad weather also hampers overnight bombing. London is bombed from 6.30 – 9 PM while London and the Midlands are bombed from 2.45 – 6 AM. Although night bombing continues for many months and there are sporadic German daytime raids, Luftwaffe has been contained by RAF and the threat of a German invasion of Britain is over. RAF has lost 915 fighters while 1733 German planes have been shot down. RAF recognizes 2936 Fighter Command aircrew (mostly pilots) from14 countries who were awarded the Battle of Britain Clasp to the 1939–45 Star by flying at least one authorised operational sortie from July 10 to October 31 1940. 544 were killed in Battle of Britain and another 795 died later in the war, leaving 1597 who survived WWII. About 100 of those are still alive today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RAF_aircrew_in_the_Battle_of_Britain
At 9.58 PM, 300 miles Northwest of Ireland, U-124 sinks British SS Rutland which is carrying bananas from Jamaica (all 24 hands lost).
German armed merchant cruiser Widder arrives at Brest after 179 days at sea in the mid-Atlantic, sinking 10 ships for 58,645 tons. Captain Helmuth von Ruckteschell will be convicted after the war as a war criminal for his conduct on this short voyage and die in prison. http://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/widder.html
Italy’s invasion of Greece begins to stall. Their troops lose momentum in the face of resistance from Greek screening forces in the rugged terrain of the Epirus Mountains along the Albanian border. Many Italians die in frontal assaults on well dug-in Greek positions. With the agreement of the Greek government, British forces land on the islands of Lemnos and Crete in the Aegean Sea, as a defensive move to prevent their occupation by an Italian amphibious landing. Greek destroyers Spetsai and Psara depart the Gulf of Patras and use their 120mm guns to bombard Italian troops on the Ionian coast of Albania and Northern Greece. Greek naval activity and the presence of the British Royal Navy persuade the Italian Navy to abandon plans for landing on Corfu.
Excellent as always, Professor. I’m sorry I don’t always remember to tell you.
And did you see that little dandy in the middle of the front page about unions requiring initiation fees for non-union laborers? Some things never change ...
Roosevelt Lied People Died...
No Blood for oil...
Germany and Japan had no WMDs...
[/DNCspeak]
Date: 31st October 1940
Enemy action by day
Hostile activity was very reduced in the morning. In the afternoon it was a little more marked and this increased in the late afternoon to flights inland especially in East Anglia. The objective would appear to have been reconnaissance of aerodromes. The activity resembled night operations on a reduced scale.
There were no interceptions and no casualties to the enemy or ourselves.
North and North East Coast
At about 1100 hours a ship off Rattray Head and the Bell Rock Lighthouse were machine-gunned. While this ship was being salvaged in the afternoon it was again attacked.
East Coast
Between 1300 and 1700 hours, five tracks were plotted of single aircraft in the East Anglian area. Between 1700 and 1800 hours one aircraft flew inland at Mablethorpe to Kirton-in-Lindsey, and a second at 10,000 feet from Cromer to Spurn Head, Driffield and Hull thence South again to Kirton-in-Lindsey. Four other single aircraft made flights in the neighbourhood of Lowestoft, Norwich, Dereham, Mildenhall, Downham Market and Bassingbourn, the last named is reported to have been bombed at 1300 hours. Reconnaissance of or attacks on aerodromes may have been the objective.
South East Coast
At 0720 hours one aircraft flew inland from Dover to Detling and is reported to have dropped bombs at Martlesham. Other reconnaissances took place in the Straits up to 0900 hours. Between 1300 and 1700 hours, three raids were plotted inland to Hornchurch, Debden and Kenley areas.
South and West Coast
At 1145 hours one aircraft crossed the coast at Worthing and flew to Bristol, Monmouth and Newport. Glascoed is reported to have been bombed.
At 1230 hours one aircraft flew along the coast and bombed an RAF Station at Poling. At 1235 hours an enemy aircraft was plotted over Liverpool.
Between 1300 and 1700 hours, eight raids crossed the coast to Wittering, Spurn Head, Nottingham and East Anglia. In addition other raids were plotted from the Isle of Wight to Salisbury and Swindon, to Middle Wallop - Warwick and then South East to London.
Night Operations - 31st October/1st November 1940
Enemy activity was divided into two phases, one in the early evening and the other in the early morning. Adverse weather conditions accounting for intervening absence of any enemy operations.
First Phase - 1825 Hours to 2100 Hours
At 1825 hours the first night raiders (approximately 30) were leaving Dieppe on the usual North Westerly route. Strong westerly gales blew them off course so that landfalls were made in the Hastings/Dungeness area. These raids were joined by two from Calais and all proceeded towards West and Central London, though only a few achieved their objective.
In addition two raids were suspected of minelaying off Spurn Head. All raids returned on reciprocal courses.
By 2020 hours the London area was quite clear and by 2100 hours no enemy raiders were plotted in or near the country.
The "All Clear" was sounded at 2100 hours.
Second Phase - 0245 Hours to 0600 Hours 01/11/40
Two attacks developed with London and the Midlands as their respective objectives. The Midland raids of approximately six aircraft made landfall in the Weymouth area, the majority proceeding to Birmingham and in one or two cases further North. Approximately 25/30 raids from Dieppe/Le Havre Coast were concerned in the London attack. At 0500 hours the attack on London began to slacken and the last raids on the Midland area were leaving the country. A few raids were still active at the close of this report.
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Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 31st October 1940
Casualties:
Patrols:
Balloons:
Serviceability of Aerodromes:
Organisation:
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