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Battle of Britain Day 63. Cloudy, rainy weather returns after days of good flying weather and restricts Luftwaffe to mainly reconnaissance raids in the afternoon. 6 small raids approach London at 5.15 PM, presumably to drop incendiaries as markers, but these are turned back by RAF fighters (2 Dornier bombers shot down). 1 Spitfire is lost in combat (2 more fighters destroyed and 3 damaged in training operations). Overnight, East End of London is again bombed, as well as South Wales, West Midlands and Liverpool.

Royal Navy controls the Straits of Gibraltar; Vichy government has agreed to notify them to ensure safe passage of French ships. At 6 PM, French admiralty informs British Naval Attaché in Madrid that 3 cruisers intend to sail through the Straits next day. Despite this and other warnings, Royal Navy fails to appreciate the significance to the impending Free French landings at Dakar.

Libya, North Africa. Italian 10th Army advances slowly towards the Egyptian border. Troop formations, including the main armored force Maletti Group, get lost or are late leaving their starting points and many of the vehicles required for a rapid advance break down. British light covering forces delay the advance as they fall back, by sowing mines and harassing the Italians.

German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sinks British steamer Benarty (carrying lead, zinc and tungsten from Rangoon, India, to Liverpool) in the Indian Ocean 1250 miles East of Madagascar. All 49 crew are taken prisoner.

British submarine HMS Sturgeon attacks U-43 (no damage) 50 miles Southwest of Southern Norway.

Battle of Britain Day 62. Göring believes the RAF is beaten due to their lack of resistance to the first daylight bombing of London on September 7 (in reality, RAF was confused by the new Luftwaffe tactic). Today, RAF is ready when a large raid crosses the Channel at 5 PM towards London. In addition to Keith Park’s No. 11 Group patrolling the approaches to London, Douglas Bader’s “big wing” (a formations of 3 squadrons from No. 12 Group) swoops in from the West with the sun behind them and mauls the German bombers (29 shot down plus 21 Bf109 fighters). Very few of the German aircraft get through to bomb London but RAF loses 20 fighters and 6 pilots killed. London is, however, heavily bombed again during the night, as RAF has no effective deterrent for this.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/phase3ofthebattle.cfm

After weeks of preparation and prevarication, Marshal Rudolfo Graziani (who is under threat of replacement by Mussolini) orders Italian forces to advance on Egypt. Italian 10th Army moves towards British positions just inside Libya, as Italian Royal Air Force bombers soften up British defenses. RAF bombs Tobruk, troop concentrations and supply depots. Italian Royal Air Force Fiat fighters engage in dogfights with RAF Gladiators.

Vichy France has caught wind of De Gaulle’s plot to land Free French forces at Dakar. French cruisers Georges Leygues, Montcalm and Gloire, escorted by 3 destroyers, depart Toulon for Dakar.

Battle of the Atlantic. Convoy SC-2 is attacked again, 70 miles North of Ireland. At 00.24, Günther Prien in U-47 sinks Greek SS Possidon carrying 5410 tons of sulphur phosphate from USA (17 dead). At 4.47 AM, U-28 sinks British SS Mardinian carrying 3500 tons of pitch from Trinidad (6 crew lost, 22 survivors picked up by anti-submarine trawler HMS St. Apollo and armed merchant cruiser HMS Aurania or make land in a lifeboat). Italian submarine Comandante Faà di Bruno damages but does not sink British tanker MV Auris in the Atlantic, 750 miles West of Gibraltar. The first 8 US Navy destroyers are transferred to the Royal Navy at Halifax, in the deal giving US access to bases in British territories. Blackburn Skuas of 801 Squadron fly from Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, Orkney, Scotland, to attack German shipping off Bergen, Norway. 1 Skuas does not return (2 airmen killed).

German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sinks British tanker MV Athelking (in ballast) in the Indian Ocean, 1200 miles East of Madagascar (6 killed, 40 crew taken prisoner).

Battle of Britain Day 61. No. 11 Group commander AVM Keith Park flies his Hurricane over bomb-damaged parts of London, stating “It was burning all down the river. It was a horrid sight. But I looked down and said ‘Thank God for that’, because I knew that the Nazis had switched their attack from the fighter stations thinking that they were knocked out. They weren't, but they were pretty groggy”. At noon, 20 Dornier bombers escorted by 30 Bf109s head for London but they are intercepted and turned back by RAF fighters (3 Dorniers and 1 Bf109 shot down). RAF loses 4 fighters shot down (2 pilots killed). At 7.30 PM, 30 aircraft drop incendiary bombs on London to provide markers for the night raids. Overnight, Thames Estuary and London’s East End are bombed again (3 more Dorniers shot down by antiaircraft guns). http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/september8.html

British War Cabinet is convinced, by the heavy bombing of London the previous day and the accumulation of invasion barges on the Dutch and French coasts with favourable tides the next few nights, that invasion is imminent. Codeword “Cromwell” is passed to the Army and Home Forces, leading some to believe the invasion has started and causing great confusion. Church bells are rung, roadblocks set up, some bridges blown and landmines sown on some roads (killing 3 Guards officers). Home Guard units search beaches for invasion barges and scan the skies for approaching German paratroopers, but none come.

British cruiser HMS Aurora, escorted by 3 destroyers, shells German shipping and invasion barges in the harbour at Boulogne, France. British torpedo boats MTB-14, MTB-15 and MTB-17 sink a German ammunition ship off Ostend, Belgium.

Overnight in the Central Atlantic, 500 miles from the nearest land, German armed merchant cruiser Widder stops Greek collier Antonios Chandris (carrying 6,616 tons of coal from Cardiff to Buenos Aires). Widder’s Captain Ruckteschell orders the 29 crew to abandon ship in the lifeboats before Antonios Chandris is sunk by demolition charges at dawn. 22 crew will be rescued 31 days later on October 8, over 1400 miles away, by Portuguese freighter Serpa Pinto and landed at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Battle of Britain Day 61. No. 11 Group commander AVM Keith Park flies his Hurricane over bomb-damaged parts of London, stating “It was burning all down the river. It was a horrid sight. But I looked down and said ‘Thank God for that’, because I knew that the Nazis had switched their attack from the fighter stations thinking that they were knocked out. They weren't, but they were pretty groggy”. At noon, 20 Dornier bombers escorted by 30 Bf109s head for London but they are intercepted and turned back by RAF fighters (3 Dorniers and 1 Bf109 shot down). RAF loses 4 fighters shot down (2 pilots killed). At 7.30 PM, 30 aircraft drop incendiary bombs on London to provide markers for the night raids. Overnight, Thames Estuary and London’s East End are bombed again (3 more Dorniers shot down by antiaircraft guns). http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/september8.html

British War Cabinet is convinced, by the heavy bombing of London the previous day and the accumulation of invasion barges on the Dutch and French coasts with favourable tides the next few nights, that invasion is imminent. Codeword “Cromwell” is passed to the Army and Home Forces, leading some to believe the invasion has started and causing great confusion. Church bells are rung, roadblocks set up, some bridges blown and landmines sown on some roads (killing 3 Guards officers). Home Guard units search beaches for invasion barges and scan the skies for approaching German paratroopers, but none come.

British cruiser HMS Aurora, escorted by 3 destroyers, shells German shipping and invasion barges in the harbour at Boulogne, France. British torpedo boats MTB-14, MTB-15 and MTB-17 sink a German ammunition ship off Ostend, Belgium.

Overnight in the Central Atlantic, 500 miles from the nearest land, German armed merchant cruiser Widder stops Greek collier Antonios Chandris (carrying 6,616 tons of coal from Cardiff to Buenos Aires). Widder’s Captain Ruckteschell orders the 29 crew to abandon ship in the lifeboats before Antonios Chandris is sunk by demolition charges at dawn. 22 crew will be rescued 31 days later on October 8, over 1400 miles away, by Portuguese freighter Serpa Pinto and landed at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Battle of Britain Day 60. On the brink of victory, Göring changes tactics. With RAF on its knees, Luftwaffe ceases bombing airfields, radar and aircraft works. Hitler, furious at the bombing of Berlin, believes Britain brought to the negotiating table by breaking the will of British civilians by terror bombing London. At 4 PM, a huge armada heads up the Thames Estuary (300 Heinkel and Dornier bombers & 200 Bf110s carrying bombs, escorted by 600 Bf109s). Soon, RAF has 23 squadron airborne waiting for them to split up. Instead they fly straight ahead to bomb London’s East End, including docks, shipyards & Woolwich Arsenal (igniting gunpowder stores for artillery shells). RAF tears into the retreating bombers, now unescorted by Bf109s which have returned home low on fuel. Luftwaffe loses 53 bombers and 21 Bf109s in all. RAF loses 27 fighters (15 pilots killed). Still burning, London’s East End is bombed continuously overnight (490 civilians killed, 1200 injured). http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/0036.html

Between 4 and 5.33 AM, 300 miles Northwest of Ireland, Günther Prien in U-47 sinks 3 steamers in convoy SC-2 en route to Britain from Sydney, Australia; British SS Neptunian carrying 8500 tons of sugar from Chile (all 36 hands lost), British SS José de Larrinaga carrying 5303 tons of steel and linseed oil from USA (all 40 hands lost) and Norwegian SS Gro carrying 6321 tons of wheat from Canada (11 killed, 21 survivors escape in 1 lifeboat and are picked up by British steamer Burdwan on September10, then transferred to corvette HMS Arabis and landed at Liverpool on 13 September).

Battle of Britain Day 59. At 3 AM, an armed German parachutist dressed in civilian clothes with a Swedish passport and British identity card lands in Northamptonshire to report on damage to airfields. He is injured by landing on his wireless set and is discovered in a ditch in Denton by a farmer at 5.20 PM. With continued good flying weather, Luftwaffe stays with the successful tactics of recent days. They send 3 raids up the Thames Estuary and across Kent at 9 AM, 1 PM and 6 PM, again splitting up to attack RAF airfields at Heston, Kenley and Biggin Hill. Hawker aircraft factory at Brooklands and oil storage tanks at Thameshaven are bombed for the second day. Luftwaffe loses 37 fighters and 7 bombers. RAF loses 22 fighters (7 pilots killed, 1 taken prisoner when his Spitfire is shot down in France). The situation is becoming critical for RAF with 295 fighters lost (171 badly damaged) and 103 pilots killed (128 wounded) since August 24.

British submarine HMS Tribune attacks U-56 40 miles West of Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland (all torpedoes miss U-56). Luftwaffe bombs merchant ships around Ireland, damaging British MV Melbourne Star (180 miles West of Ireland, under repair for 1 month) and Greek SS Aegeon (in the Irish Sea, 30 miles Southeast of Dublin). http://www.melbournestar.co.uk/index.html

British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, battleships HMS Barham and HMS Resolution and 10 escort destroyers depart Gibraltar bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone, for refueling. They will join cruisers HMS Devonshire and HMAS Australia to cover landings at Dakar by Free French troops under General De Gaulle (supported by 8,000 British troops).

Despite RAF’s needs for the Battle of Britain, 30 more Hurricanes are flown off aircraft carrier HMS Argus to Takoradi in the British colony of Gold Coast, West Africa, to be flown 3600 miles overland to RAF Abu Sueir in Egypt.

Battle of Britain Day 58. Another good day for flying. Luftwaffe sends 2 large raids across Kent. In the morning, they attack RAF airfields at Eastchurch, Lympne, North Weald and Biggin Hill. In the afternoon, targets are RAF airfields at Detling and Biggin Hill (again), Hawker aircraft works at Brooklands (slight damage and few casualties) and oil storage tanks at Thameshaven which are set ablaze. 23 German aircraft are shot down and RAF loses 20 fighters (7 pilots killed). RAF is close to breaking point due to loss of pilots and with airfields at Biggin Hill and Eastchurch out of action indefinitely and other airfields badly damaged. Furthermore, attacks on aircraft works force RAF to cover these vital factories. Overnight London, Manchester and Liverpool are bombed. RAF attacks Berlin with 85 bombers to goad Hitler into bombing of British cities instead of RAF airfields and aircraft factories.

Despite the imminent threat of invasion by Germany, Britain sends considerable materiel to defend her interests in the Middle East (Egypt, Sudan and Kenya) from Italian invasion. 6 Blenheim IV's and 6 Hurricanes arrive in crates at the port of Takoradi in the British colony of Gold Coast, West Africa. They will be assembled and flown 3600 miles across Africa to RAF Abu Sueir, an airbase in Eastern Egypt near the Suez Canal.

German armed merchant cruiser Komet enters the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Straits, completing one of the most remarkable voyages of WWII by going through the Artic Ocean, North of USSR. http://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/komet.html

300 miles Northwest of Ireland, U-47 loses Matrosenobergefreiter (Able Seaman) Heinrich Mantyk who falls overboard and drowns while using the deck gun.

Battle of Britain Day 57. More good weather for flying and Luftwaffe sends 2 raids up the Thames Estuary and across Kent to attack RAF airfields at Brooklands, Eastchurch, Lympne & Rochford as well as the aircraft works at Rochester (Short Brothers) and Brooklands (Vickers Armstrong, where 55 workers are killed and 250 injured). 20 German aircraft are shot down (6 Bf109s, 1 He111 and 13 Bf110s). RAF loses 9 Spitfires, 6 Hurricanes and 1 Defiant which crashes during night landing practice (11 pilots and 1 gunner killed). Overnight, there is bombing of South Wales and the Midlands. Hitler makes a speech condemning RAF bombing of Germany and threatens the destruction of British cities in retaliation. This is exactly the reaction Churchill is hoping for, to draw the Luftwaffe’s fire away from the RAF airfields. http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/0034.html

Following the humiliating acquisition of Romanian territory by USSR and Germany Romanian King Carol II hands over power to pro-German General Ion Antonescu. Antonescu will become Prime Minister and form the National Legionary State, an uneasy partnership with the was ultra-nationalist fascist Iron Guard.

German motor torpedo S-boats attack convoy FS.271 off Great Yarmouth. S-21 sinks steamers Corbrook & New Lambton and S-22 sinks Fulham IV (all crews are rescued). S-18 sinks British SS Joseph Swan (only 1 survivor) and the Dutch SS Nieuwland (8 crew killed). S-54 damages steamer Ewell.

At 8 PM, U-46 sinks neutral Irish SS Luimneach (carrying 1250 tons of pyrites from Huelva Spain, to Ireland) 200 miles West of Brest, France. 3 crew are taken prisoner and landed at Lorient on 6 September. The other 15 crew are picked up by a French fishing boat. At 1.28 AM, U-47 sinks British SS Titan (in ballast en route to Australia) in convoy OA-207 250 miles Northwest of Ireland (6 killed). 89 crew are picked up by escort destroyer HMCS St. Laurent (H 83) (Lt H.S. Rayner, RCN).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/513.html