August 15th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Fiat works at Turin and Caproni aircraft
at Milan.
10 Sqn. Four aircraft. Three bombed primary, one FTR.
RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe losses, 76 aircraft, RAF losses, 35.
The day begins with Luftwaffe reconnaissance sorties during which a Do17 of 3(F)/31 is
shot down south of Ventnor by Spitfires.
Fighter patrols over two Thames convoys are initiated in response to Luftwaffe fighter sweeps over the Channel in the morning.
At 11:25, 40 Stukas with escort reach the coast on their way to bomb Lympne and Hawkinge. 24 of the Stukas turn towards Folkestone and they are intercepted by British fighters who shoot down the lead aircraft. Some bombs fall on Folkestone town with others damaging a hangar and barrack block at Hawkinge. The remainder of the Stukas bomb Lympne losing two of their number to defending fighters. Lympne is put out of action for two days.
The first large scale attacks on the north of the country take place as 65 He-111s with Bf110 escort attack the Bomber Command bases at Driffield and Linton-on-Ouse. Seriously underestimating the strength of No. 13 Group which includes many squadrons bloodied in the Battle of France, as many as 11 enemy aircraft of Luftlotte 5 are shot down.
Later in the day Ju88s based in Denmark are detected heading towards Humberside. 50 Ju-88A-1s from I., II. and III./KG 30 from Aalborg attack the Bomber Command airfield at Driffield in Yorkshire, but are intercepted by 12 Group fighters. Ten Whitley's are lost on the ground for the loss of Six Ju88s.
Late this afternoon, 12 Ju88s from I./LG 1 bomb Middle Wallop, and 15 aircraft from II./LG 1 take off to attack Worthy Down. I./LG 1 destroyed several Spitfires on the ground; but II./LG 1 was less successful, only three aircraft reached their target; and no less than 5 aircraft from 4./LG 1 were shot down. Only the Staffelkapitan and one other crew survived.
KG3 attacks towards Rochester and Eastchurch in the mid-afternoon, with massive protection by the Bf109s of JG26 ensuring only two Do 17s destroyed while as many as eight British fighters were lost. Gruppen I and II attack the Short and Pubjoy factories at Rochester and manage to drop eight bombs near the target. III/KG3 was equally accurate at Eastchurch.
10 Group scrambled its largest number of fighters when 80 bombers headed towards Swanage and Southampton shortly after 17:00. Three squadrons made for Swanage to engage about 40 Ju87s protected by Bf109s and '110s, all heading for Portland. Nos. 87 and 213 Squadrons tackled the bombers and the '110s, leaving 14 Spitfires of 234 Squadron to engage first the Bf110s and then the Bf109s, which in overwhelming their interceptors shot down four. Nevertheless, the Stukas had been forced to jettison their loads.
The RCAF gets its first kill when Ernest McNab shoots down a Dornier bomber.
Prime Minister Churchill replies to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's telegram of 13 August in which Roosevelt stated that it may be possible to supply 50 overage destroyers to the RN. Churchill states that "the worth of every destroyer that you can spare to us is measured in rubies..." The "moral value of this fresh aid from your Government and your people at this critical time will be very great and widely felt."
- Assistant Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Major General Delos C. Emmons (USAAC) Commanding General of General Headquarters Air Force (GHQAF), and Brigadier General George V. Strong (USA) arrive in London for informal staff conversations with British officers.
BELGIUM: The first issue of the underground newspaper La Libre Belgique [Free Belgium] is
published.
GERMANY:
Berlin: The German News Bureau reported:
English reports claiming alleged losses suffered by the German Luftwaffe during its
attacks on British airbases, harbours, munitions plants and convoys, have led to the
comment by the [German] press in articles with headlines like "England Flees into
Numbers Craze" and "Delirium Still Mounting." The [newspaper] Berliner
Borsen-Zeitung states that in no other way could the English demonstrate so clearly what
they are seeking to hide at all costs; that their situation is desperate and that the
blows struck by the German Luftwaffe have taught them the meaning of fear. Fear alone
(says the B.B-Z) could drive them to rave in this way about the supposed numbers of German
and British losses.
At a conference of his three senior commanders Goring repeats his order of the 13th that
the offensive should concentrate on RAF ground installations. "Until further orders,
operations are to be directed exclusively against the enemy air force, including the
targets of the aircraft industry..." He also adds that it is doubtful whether further
attacks on radio-directional masts would be worth-while, since they believed that none had
been put out of action by the attacks on the 11th.
U-97 launched.
U-167, U-168,
U-169,
U-170,
U-181,
U-182,
U-183,
U-184,
U-185,
U-186,
U-187,
U-188,
U-221,
U-222,
U-223,
U-224,
U-225,
U-226,
U-262,
U-263,
U-264,
U-265,
U-266,
U-267,
U-335,
U-336,
U-383,
U-384,
U-385,
U-386,
U-413,
U-414,
U-415,
U-416,
U-463,
U-464,
U-465,
U-466,
U-467,
U-468,
U-525,
U-526,
U-527,
U-528,
U-529,
U-530,
U-531,
U-532,
U-611,
U-612,
U-613,
U-614,
U-615,
U-616,
U-617,
U-618,
U-619,
U-620,
U-621,
U-622,
U-623,
U-624,
U-625,
U-626,
U-627,
U-628,
U-629,
U-630,
U-631,
U-632,
U-633,
U-634,
U-663,
U-664,
U-665,
U-666,
U-667,
U-668,
U-709,
U-710,
U-763,
U-764,
U-765,
U-766,
U-767,
U-768 ordered.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Mediterranean Fleet battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya and HMS Ramillies bombard Italian
positions around Bardia in Libya, just over the border from Egypt.
The Greek cruiser 'Helle' is sunk by an Italian submarine.
Note: Greece and Italy are not at war when the HELLE was at anchor off Tinos for a religious celebration! (Peter Beeston)
SOMALILAND: Capt. Eric Charles Twelves Wilson (b.1912), attached to the Somaliland Camel Corps, was captured after keeping a gun post in action for four days despite wounds and malaria. (Victoria Cross)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Agassiz launched North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Convoy SC1 sailed. SC series of convoys were introduced in Aug 1940 to provide a system of protection for slow merchant ships (7.5 knots minimum, often not achieved) which had previously been sailing independently, with disastrous consequences. Sydney, Cape Breton, was chosen as the western terminus to help ease congestion on the port of Halifax. SC1 sailed on 15 Aug 40. During the winters of 41 and 42 the SC convoys were shifted to Halifax, due to ice in Sydney harbour and its approaches. In Aug 42, when the terminus for the HX series of convoys was shifted to New York City, the SC convoys were moved to Halifax, with an interval originating from New York between Sep 42 and Mar 43. Of the 177 SC convoys, only three failed to reach their destination. SC52 lost 4 of its 34 ships to U-boats in Oct 41 and with the prospects for continued heavy opposition, was returned to Sydney by a tortuous circumnavigation of Newfoundland. SC62 and 63 were scattered by bad weather in Jan 42 and completed their voyages as independently routed ships. In all, only 29 of the 177 SC convoys were attacked, mainly made possible by signals intelligence and evasive routing, and only 145 ships were lost from the total of 6,806 (2.1%). This number is somewhat misleading as a large number of 'stragglers' were sunk when they dropped out of convoy that were not counted against convoy losses. Likewise, a number of 'rompers', ships that detached from the convoy to move ahead independently, were lost, and not counted.
U.S.A.: Two motion pictures are released today:
- "The Great McGinty," a comedy directed by Preston Sturges (his directorial debut), stars Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and William Demarest. The plot has a hobo (Donlevy) who is recruited by crooked politicians to commit voting fraud. He works himself up to mayor of the city but then wants to become honest. Sturges wins an Academy Award for best writing.
- "I Love You Again," a comedy based on a novel by Octavus Roy Cohen directed by W.S. Van Dyke, stars William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh and Edmund Lowe. The plot has an upstanding, mean, teetotaling business man (Powell) being hit in the head and suffering amnesia. When he recovers, he reverts to his old self, a con-man, but he falls in love with his wife who is divorcing him.
Submarine USS Triton commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-51 sinks SS Sylvafield in Convoy HX-62.
U-A sinks SS Aspasia.