July 8th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:In the eight weeks since Anthony Eden’s appeal, 1,060,000 men have signed on with the Local Defence Volunteers. However, they still have no uniforms, no ranks, and few weapons apart from rifles borrowed from museums and even from London’s Drury Lane theatre.
The LDV average age is high, and some units include several generals of the last war now in the ranks. In two days time the first course begins at the LDV training school set up at Osterley Park, near London. It is run by Tom Wintringham, the former commander of the British volunteers in Spain, whose articles in Picture Post on guerrilla fighting inspired its publisher, Edward Hulton, to set up the "guerrilla" school.
The LDV may soon see a change of name. Churchill recently suggested to Eden that they be given the shorter title "Home Guard".
London: The Exchange News Agency reports:
Marshal Petain’s government has published a warning to all British war vessels and aircraft, not to approach the French coast. His naval and aerial combat forces have been ordered (he says) to open fire without previous warning on any British units that appear.
NORTH SEA: A Hudson of RAF Coastal Command 233 Squadron attacks a Swedish destroyer squadron. All four bombs are near misses and no damage results. The British foreign office later issues an apology to the Swedes. (David Pounder)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Two Italian battleships, 14 cruisers and 32 destroyers are reported in
the Ionian Sea covering a convoy to Benghazi, to Admiral Cunningham.
After four days of attacking the Vichy French Fleet at Oran (Operation Catapult),
Vice-Admiral Sommerville's Force H, built around HMS Ark Royal, sorties into the Western
Mediterranean to support the Mediterranean Fleet's effort to escort two convoys running
between Alexandria and Malta. Within eight hours of departing the force is
attacked by Italian bombers but emerges unscathed. (Mark Horan)
ALGERIA: Algiers: The Reuters News Agency reports:
Official confirmation has been received that French fighter planes and coastal batteries shot down two British aircraft during the attack on the French fleet at Mers el Kebir (Oran).
FRENCH WEST AFRICA: During the night, the British launch two attacks to disable the French battleship Richelieu at Dakar. In the first, four depth charges dropped over the side of a motor boat from aircraft carrier HMS Hermes fail to explode. In the second, carrier-based Swordfish Mk. I aircraft of No. 814 Squadron in HMS Hermes torpedo Richelieu, rendering her incapable of steaming at more than half power. Her main battery, however, is unaffected. (Jack McKillop and Mark Horan)
U.S.A.: Richardson
traveled to Washington to protest the basing of his fleet at Pearl Harbor to
Roosevelt. He also met with
Cordell Hull and Undersecretary of State Sumner Wells to advise that War
Plan Orange was unrealistic given the present state of the fleet. (Marc
Small)
Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) begins operating the Boeing SA-307B Stratoliner on their San Francisco, California, to New York City route. The Boeing 307 is the first pressurized airliner allowing it to fly "above the weather." Total flight time is 13 hours and 40 minutes, two hours faster than the unpressurised Douglas DC-3.
FRENCH WEST INDIES: Carrier 'Bearn' and two cruisers are immobilised by mainly diplomatic means.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Newfoundland-registered Bowater Co. merchantman Humber Arm (5,758 GRT), was torpedoed and sunk by U-99, Kptlt. Otto Kretschmer, Knight's Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Knight's Cross with Swords, CO, south of Ireland, in position 50.36N, 009.24W. Humber Arm was as part of the 44-ship Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX-53 and was loaded with 1,000 tons of steel and 5,450 tons of paper. There were no casualties in this incident. Convoy HX-53 arrived in Liverpool on 10 Jul 40 having lost only one ship.