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September 12th, 1940 (THURSDAY)

Corvette HMS Heliotrope commissioned.

Battle of Britain: The weather is unsettled with rain in most districts. During the day, there is a marked increase in the number of hostile reconnaissances especially in the South-eastern and Southern areas, otherwise German activity is on a much reduced scale. In the East, one reconnaissance aircraft reported shipping off Spurn Head, while another over the Humber area is intercepted and damaged by No 151 Squadron. One Luftwaffe aircraft reconnoitered Harrogate, Manchester and Liverpool and attacked a target.
Blenheims of 2 Group and Battles of 1 Group attack invasion barges in Ostend harbour, sinking 80.

RAF Fighter Command: Slight enemy activity during the day. German barge concentrations are still growing. At night London, South Wales, the Midlands and Merseyside are raided.

Around Harrogate's Majestic Hotel HEs exploded injuring 15 people during an attack on an area where the Ministry of Aircraft Production has offices. Great Western Railway main line services to Reading are interrupted but another attack fails to hit the Northern Aluminium's Banbury factory. 

In late afternoon Tunbridge Wells is raided, incendiaries causing house fires and destroying the ambulance station. Seven high explosives fell at Hornchurch, damaging the emergency operations room and hitting nearby dwellings.

In the afternoon, an aircraft is reported off Yarmouth and in the Wash but attempts to intercept are unsuccessful. In the South East in the morning, several reconnaissances are plotted in the Estuary and over the Coast near Dover. Early in the afternoon, three aircraft crossed the Coast near Dover and reconnoitered South London aerodromes. From 1500 to 1700 hours, reconnaissance aircraft are reported in the Thames Estuary and six small raids approached South London from the Estuary, Beachy Head and Dungeness. Targets near Beckenham are attacked. In the South and West in the morning, there is a noticeable increase in the number of reconnaissance aircraft in the Channel between Start Point and Dungeness. One raid penetrated inland and attacked targets near Reading and Banbury and one Ju 88 which is returning from the Aldershot area, is intercepted and claimed as damaged by No 213 Squadron. A merchant ship is attacked S

At night London has a seven-hour raid with about 120 bombers operating, a FW200 attacked a ship off the Isle of Man and KG54 mounted a small raid on Rugby. Liverpool was bombed but little damage was caused, but more seriously a lone low-flying raider bombed North Station Blackpool killing a mother of two young boys.

Hostile raids which are mostly plotted as single aircraft, originated from the Channel Islands, and Cherbourg and Dieppe areas of France. Some raids crossed the Coast between Portland and Plymouth and penetrated to South Wales, West Midlands and Liverpool areas. Others crossed the Coast between Selsey Bill and Dungeness and flew up through Sussex and Kent to the London area. The greater number of raids left the French Coast between 2100 and 2200 hours, after which there is a gradual decrease in activity until about 0330 hours when raids ceased to approach this Country. All raids had finally withdrawn by 0415 hours. A series of raids flying from Dieppe, France, to London appeared for the most part to use identical tracks and several are plotted as turning at Whitehall whence they flew back on reciprocal tracks. One German aircraft is reported shot down by antiaircraft guns in North London, another Luftwaffe casualty is claimed by the Balloon Barrage at Newport (Monmouthshire) and a third German aircraft is reported to have been badly damaged by antiaircraft guns in the West Country and is last seen flying very low over the sea.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 4; RAF, 0.

London: Sapper George Cameron Wylie (b. 1908), Royal Engineers located and removed a bomb from deep under the pavement in front of St Paul's Cathedral; his superior, Lt Robert Davies (1900-75) drove the bomb away and defused it. (George Cross for both men)

IRISH SEA: A Luftwaffe FW200 attacked a ship off the Isle of Man.

FRANCE: Four teenagers follow their dog when it disappears down a hole near Montignac, France, and discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as the Lascaux Cave Paintings. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from the Upper Palaeolithic period. The Lascaux grotto consists of a main cavern 66 feet (20.12 meters) wide  and 16 feet (4.87 meters) high. The walls of the cavern are decorated with some 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings. The pictures depict in excellent detail numerous types of animals, including horses, red deer, stags, bovines, felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures. There is only one human figure depicted in the cave: a bird-headed man. Archaeologists believe that the cave was used over a long period of time as a center for hunting and religious rites.

GERMANY: U-153 and U-407 laid down.

FINLAND: Helsinki: Finland signs an agreement giving German troops transit rights to Norway.

 

EGYPT: Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt.

JAPAN: U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew warns Secretary of State Hull that Japan might interpret the drastic U.S. embargo on oil as "sanctions" and retaliate.

CANADA: Canada's cabinet introduces Order In Council P.C. 4751, giving Canadian authorities power to imprison disobedient foreign seamen from non-Canadian ships in Canadian ports.

Corvette HMS Bittersweet launched Lauzon, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: An explosion at the Hercules Powder Co. in Kenvil, New Jersey, kills 49 and injures 200.

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