August 11th, 1940 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Weather, fine.
38 Luftwaffe and 32 RAF planes are downed in air battles today.
Dover and Portland heavily attacked. Several senior Luftwaffe officers killed or captured.
Convoys off east coast attacked.
At 1519, the Llanfair, a straggler from Convoy SL-41, was hit by one torpedo from U-38 in the stern and sank after 11 minutes west of Ireland. Three crewmembers were lost. The US-flagged California picked up the master and 29 crewmembers.
At night Merseyside and the Bristol Channel are mined.
Squadron log No. 74 squadron (Manston and Hornchurch: Spitfire I and II) commanded by
South Africa's "Sailor" Malan - Squadron log reads:-
take off at 0749 hrs., second patrol: take off 0950, third patrol: take off 1145, fourth
patrol: take off 1356.
Ten Bf110's and 13
Bf109s (including six of JG 2) are lost. Bombs fall for the first time
on York and heavy raids are reported on Bristol and Plymouth.
During a heavy air raid on Weymouth and Portland,
ASW Trawler HMS Hertfordshire was in
Admiralty floating dock (AFD19) which was holed and strained. The Hertfordshire
suffered some splinter damage.
At night a Bristol searchlight team hold a He-111H in their beam long enough for a
Hurricane of 10 Group to bring about the Groups first night success.
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 2 Blenheims of 604 Squadron escorted by 3 Spitfires of 152
Squadron attempted to set fire to waterborne He59s off France.
4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil refineries at Gelsenkirchen and Frankfurt - 'Razzling'.
10 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Gelsenkirchen. All bombed primary and 'Razzled'. Four damaged by
Flak, six damaged by burning 'Razzles'.
51 Sqn. Eight aircraft. One returned early, six bombed primary and 'Razzled'. One fighter seen,
but no attack. One FTR.
102 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Frankfurt. One returned early, seven bombed primary.
['RAZZLE' was an incendiary device; pills of phosphorus covered with gauze and inserted
between square pieces of celluloid. The were carried in sealed cans containing water which
kept them from drying out and becoming combustible and the idea was to scatter these
incendiary 'leaves' over areas of the Black Forest where, it was believed, arms and other
military stores were being concealed. After fluttering to earth they would dry out,
instantaneous combustion would take place and 'Puff' up would go the arms dumps. During
the first use of RAZZLE the aircraft, after first bombing their primary target, proceeded
to the Black Forest area where the first WOP/AG opened the cans and poured the contents
down the flare chute. However, not all the leaves fluttered to earth. Some of them, caught
in the aircraft's slipstream, were blown onto the tailplane, elevators and even the
tailwheel. Consequently when they dried out they burnt whichever surface they had stuck
to. the safety device supplied for use in such an emergency was a garden water syringe!]
FRANCE: Paris: Zeitschel, the Jewish affairs
attaché at the German embassy, send a memorandum to Abetz about the sale of 30 canvasses
remaining in the embassy. These ought to be auctioned while a decent price was obtainable
before the Einsatzstab flooded the market with entarte Kunst, or "degenerate
art."
BRITISH SOMALILAND: Italian troops attack British forces at
Tug Argan.
USA:
Washington: The government is to supply Britain with 4,000 tanks.