July 14th, 1940 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:10 Sqn. Four aircraft to Diepholz. All bombed. Opposition severe.
51 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Diepholz. All bombed. Opposition severe.
102 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Paderborn. One returned early, nine bombed.
Straits of Dover: Convoys attacked by about 45 Ju87s escorted by fighters. RAF Fighter Command claim 7 enemy aircraft destroyed.
London: General de Gaulle’s Free French volunteers celebrated Bastille Day on foreign soil in London today.
In the morning General de Gaulle, accompanied by Vice-Admiral Muselier, the head of his naval force, and M Labarth, the director of technical services, laid a wreath at the Cenotaph. He shouted "Vive l’Angleterre!" and then "Vive la France!" and the crowd took up his cry. Later, units of the Free French forces marched to the statue of Marshal Foch at Victoria, and 2,000 of de Gaulle’s men attended a film show. Mr. Churchill sent a message saying he looked forward to the time, "not far distant", when they would celebrate 14 July in France.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Thetis A sunk by U-52 at 47.40N, 13.20W.
At 1145, the unescorted Sarita was hit on the port side in the #7 tank by one stern torpedo from UA and was abandoned by the crew in one lifeboat and two rafts. After one hour, the U-boat surfaced and fired 34 rounds from the deck gun at the tanker of which 11 were hits. The ship developed a list to port and did not sink because the empty starboard tanks kept her afloat, but the U-boat fired with the 2cm AA gun holes into the hull and she sank at 1338. The Germans then came alongside of the lifeboat and took the master on board with the ship’s papers. He was allowed to go back to the boat and after they took care of two injured men the U-boat left the area. The survivors distributed themselves on the rafts, but on 16 July after three ships had passed by without spotting them, all returned to the lifeboat and set sail for Barbados. They were picked up two days later by the British SS Dunstan in 15°31N/30°04W and taken to Pernambuco.