July 19th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets and Bremen and the Ruhr.RAF Fighter Command: One He 111 intercepted over the South Downs - shot down by Hurricane of No.43 Sqn. One Hurricane of No. 1 Sqn. lost - pilot safe.
General Alan Brooke is appointed C-in-C Home Forces, replacing Field Marshal Sir Edmund Ironside who retires, promoted to Field Marshal.
In the Second Supplement to the London Gazette ( Gazette Issue 34902 published on the 19 July 1940)
The King is pleased to make known the following:
REGULAR ARMY.
Gen. Sir W. Edmund Ironside, G.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Col. Comdt. R.A., A.D.C. Gen. to the King, to be Field-Marshal, 20th July 1940 (supernumerary to establishment).
COMMANDS AND STAFF.
The undermentioned relinquishes his appt.:
F.M. Sir W. Edmund Ironside, G.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.p., Col. Comdt. R.A., A.D.C. Gen. to the King, as C.-in-C., Home Forces.20th July 1940 The undermentioned appts. are made:
Gen. The Visct. Gort, V.C., G.C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., M.V.O., M.C., from C.-in-C C., B.E.F., to be Inspr.-Gen. to the Forces for Trng. .20th July 1940 Lt.-Gen. Sir Alan F. Brooke, &.C.B., D.S.O., Col. Comdt. R.A., from G.O.C.-in-C., Southern Comd., to be C.-in-C., Home Forces, and is granted the actg. rank of Gen..20th July 1940 Lt.-Gen. C. J. E. Auchinleck, C.B., C.S.I., D.S.O., O.B.E., from a Comdr., to be G.O.C.-in-C., Southern Comd. 20th July 1940. (Daniel Ross)
The first prototype cavity magnetron is delivered to TRE -- the British radar
research centre -- near Swanage, on the south-west coast. (Cris Wetton)
Corvette HMS Kingcup laid down.
Submarine HMS Umbra laid down.
Corvette HMS Bluebell is commissioned.
Corvette HMS Picotee launched.
Submarine HM S/M P-611 is launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Crestflower bombed and sunk off Portsmouth.
GERMANY: Hitler issues a "Last Appeal to Reason", urging Britain to make peace; he also promotes 12 generals to field marshal, including von Brauchitsch, Keitel, von Rundstedt and Kesselring; he gives Field Marshal Göring the new and unique title of Reichsmarschall.
Oberstleutnant Ramcke is transferred to the 7th Flieger Division.
DENMARK: The government withdraws from the League of Nations.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Action off Cape Spada - Off Cape Spada at the northwest tip of Crete, 'Bartolomeo Colleoni' is stopped by HMAS Sydney's gunfire and finished off with torpedoes from the destroyers. 'Bande Nere' manages to escape. HMAS Sydney and destroyers HMS Hasty, HMS Havock, HMS Hero, HMS Hyperion and HMS Ilex on an anti-submarine sweep into the Aegean north of Crete. Collins, SYDNEY'S captain, in his narrative of the action, states that SYDNEY, with HAVOCK in company, was to support the destroyers. In addition SYDNEY was to make a sweep of the Gulf of Athens for enemy shipping. As these two missions could not be carried out simultaneously Collins chose to support the destroyers. No special course changes were made indicating a deviation from the designated mission. The meeting of the Italian cruisers and the destroyers which precipitated the Cape Spada action was quite by chance. Collins makes no mention of any report of the Italian ships. (Ric Pelvin)
U.S.A.: Washington: Congress today passed the bill asked for by President Roosevelt to pay for a "two-ocean" navy. The House of Representatives approved a bill appropriating an additional $4 billion to build enough warships to enable the US to confront the danger of war with Germany and its allies in the Atlantic, and simultaneously with the Japanese in the Pacific. There will be an additional 1,325,000 tons of warships and 15,000 naval aircraft. The US fleet will then number 35 battleships, 20 aircraft carriers and 88 cruisers.
It will talk six years for the new ships to be ready. But by 1947 the US Navy will have 701 ships, as against 369 today. The number of battleships will rise from 15 today to 35 in the future.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1828, the Pearlmoor, a straggler from Convoy SL-38, was hit by one torpedo from U-62, broke in two and sank 62 miles west of Malin Head. 13 crewmembers were lost. The master and 25 crewmembers landed at Gola Island, Co Donegal.