August 10th, 1940 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Frankfurt-am-Main.During the night serious damage was done to the Llandore GWR (Great Western Railway) viaduct near Swansea where a direct hit on a shelter killed four.
Bombs fall for the first time on Abergavenny, Rochester and Wallasey along with heavy raids on Swansea and Weymouth.
Submarine HMS P 222 laid down.
Destroyer HMS Holderness commissioned.
RAF">RAF Coastal Command: 608 Sqn. carries out its first operation with its new Blackburn Botha general reconnaissance aircraft.
Despite the threat of invasion, Churchill decides to send three regiments of tanks (about
150) to North Africa.
FRANCE:
VICHY FRANCE: Laval offers Germany 200 pilots to help fight the Battle of Britain.
GERMANY:
U-56 sank AMC HMS
Transylvania.
U-94 commissioned.
U-132 and
U-655 laid down.
U-143 launched.
AUSTRIA:
Vienna: Baldur von Schirach becomes Gauleiter of Vienna; Artur Axmann will take over as
Reich youth leader.
ROMANIA:
Anti-Semitic legislation is passed.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper
HMAS Lismore launched.
PACIFIC OCEAN: The Japanese naval
blockade of the coast of China is extended to South China.
CANADA: Corvette
HMCS Spikenard launched Lauzon Province of
Quebec.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Return of Frank James" is released. This western, directed by Fritz Lang, stars Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney (her film debut), Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull, John Caradine and Donald Meek. The plot has Frank James (Fonda) seeking revenge against the men who killed his brother Jesse.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Transylvania of the Northern Patrol is lost to U-56 to the
north of Ireland 40
miles off Malin Head at 55 50N 08 03W. (Alex Gordon)(108)