August 22nd, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Attacks on RAF Manston.
At night Aberdeen, Yorkshire, Hampshire, South Wales, Bristol and Filton (airfield and Bristol Company's works) are bombed.
Dover: German batteries shelled Dover tonight during a cross-Channel duel which had lasted
all day. Their first target was a convoy of ships edging up the English side of the
Channel under Royal Navy escort. Then the guns turned on Dover. In the air, RAF fighters
broke up waves of Luftwaffe bombers. Other British aircraft hit back until nightfall. By
then the convoy, with its 50,000 tons of food and war material, was snug at anchor.
The Germans have installed 14-inch batteries with a 20-mile range along the coast from
Boulogne to Calais as part of the plan to invade England. Those guns were used for the
first time today when shells sent water spouts 100 feet above the convoy. RN escorts laid
smoke to conceal the convoy.
With dusk, the guns turned on civilian targets in Dover. During a 45-minute barrage a
shell burst through the stained glass window of a church and exploded near the altar.
By midnight, refugees carrying bedding were seeking shelter as their homes were
demolished. Across the Channel, the RAF lit up the gun pits with parachute flares, then
bombed them.
Destroyer HMS Aldenham laid down.
Corvette HMS Gloxinia commissioned.
SS Thorold (1,689 GRT) Canadian merchant ship, was bombed and
sunk by Luftwaffe
Dornier Do-17 bombers, in the Irish
Sea in position 51.46N, 005.38W. From her crew of 23, ten crewmembers were lost
GERMANY: British raiders bomb industrial targets at Frankfurt and Cologne.
German propaganda radio station NBBS prophesises the destruction of London by 'aerial
torpedoes carrying many tons of high explosive and guided by radio.' [V1s ???]
GREECE: Athens: Britain promises to send air and sea forces to aid Greece if the enemy attacks.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Three Fleet Air Arm Swordfish deliver, arguably, the most interesting torpedo attack of the war. Having been informed of an Italian "depot ship" at An-el-Gazala, three Swordfish of HMS Eagle's 824 Squadron, FAA, temporarily based at Ma'aten Bagush, are transferred to Sidi Barrani, equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks and torpedoes. In the late-afternoon, the three crews [Capt. O. Patch, RM (p)/Mid. G. J. Woodley, RNVR(o), Lt. N. A. F. Cheeseman, RN(p)/Sub-Lt. F. Stovin-Bradford, RN(o), and Lt. J. W. G. Welham, RN(p)/PO(A) A. H. Marsh(TAG)] headed out on the 180 mile flight to the Gulf of Bomba, routing 30 miles out to sea so as to approach the target from seaward. Approaching the target, they sighted the Italian Submarine Iride [the mother ship for Italian human torpedoes arriving to attack Alexandria] approaching on the surface. Heading straight for her, Captain Patch released his torpedo, which smacked Iride amidships, sinking her.
Having had no opportunity to attack themselves, the other two continued on the mission assigned. As they approached, they discovered the depot ship [Monte Gargano (1,976 GRT)] with a submarine and a destroyer tied up along side. Both torpedoes ran true into the pack, the resulting explosions "sinking whole bloody lot". Initially treated with distain when they reported sinking four ships with three torpedoes, the crews were quite exuberant when recon photos the next morning verified that all three in harbour had, in fact, sank, though apparently the destroyer and the submarine were only beached. (Mark Horan) More
AUSTRALIA: Sloop HMAS Warrego is commissioned.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Alberni launched.
U.S.A.: James V. Forrestal, former Administrative Assistant to the President and Wall Street broker, becomes first Undersecretary of the Navy. His office will become the most important coordinating agency for procurement and materiel in the Navy Department.
MEXICO: The government orders all German consulates to be closed by 1 September.