October 4th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:Battle of Britain:
Park issues new observations and instructions to sector controllers and to squadron commanders, whose pilots are becoming fretful at the frequency with which they are still at an unfavourable height when they meet the enemy. Park assured them:
"I wish the squadron commanders and sector controllers to know everything humanly possible is being done by group to increase the warning received of incoming raids. ... With the prevailing cloudy skies and inaccurate heights given by the RDF the group controllers' most difficult problem is to know the height of the incoming raids."
Park then detailed what steps were being taken to correct this situation, including the formation of a special reconnaissance flight at Gravesend.
"Whatever time permits I wish you to get the readiness squadrons in company over sector aerodromes. Spitfires 25,000 feet, Hurricanes 20,000 feet, and wait until they report they are in good position before sending them to patrol lines or to intercept raids having a good track in fairly clear weather.
The Luftwaffe starts the day by dropping bombs indiscriminately in Kent, Surrey, Essex and East Anglia, and damage is mainly confined to private property. In London the New Cross Telephone Exchange is hit and there is a certain amount of damage done to the railways. The night attack started at 1900 hours. London is the main objective and it will be noticed that certain towns receive more than one visit. Kent again suffers very considerably. There are also reports to the effect that Liverpool and Newcastle are visited by enemy aircraft but no bombs are dropped. RAF Fighter Command 2-3-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; three RAF aircraft are lost with one pilot missing.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 12; RAF, 3.
Sir Charles F.A. Portal, KCB, DSO, MC is chosen to be Chief of the Air Staff, with effect from 24 October, to replace Sir Cyril Newall, who has been appointed Governor of New Zealand. Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse is named Portal's successor as C-in-C Bomber Command.
London: Churchill asks Roosevelt to send US ships to help defend Singapore, a British colony.
ITALY:
Brenner Pass: "The War is won," Hitler told Mussolini today when the two met for three-hours in an armoured train - a gift from the Fuhrer to the Duce. The British people were under an "inhuman strain" and, Hitler claimed, it was only a matter of time before they cracked.
In Berlin, foreign office spokesmen told neutral journalists that the principal subject discussed by the two leaders and their foreign ministers was an appeal to the British to call off the war. However, the Italians were quick to note that Hitler no longer talks about invading Britain.
Count Ciano, notes in his diary, that this obvious setback for their Axis partner put Mussolini in an exceptionally good mood. "Rarely have I seen the Duce in such good humour."
In Rome, Il Popolo di Roma (newspaper) commenting on the talks, speaks of a long war in prospect, with Germany unable to invade Britain this year.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: In the Adriatic Sea, British submarine HMS/M Rainbow (N 16) is rammed and sunk by the Italian merchant SS Antonietta Costa of Durazzo, Albania. (Andy Etherington and Peter Beeston)
CANADA: Corvettes
HMCS Summerside and Louisburg laid down
Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
Patrol vessel HMCS Otter commissioned.
U.S.A.: Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg lands in New York City.
Baseball!
The motion picture "Knute Rockne-All American"
premieres in South Bend, Indiana. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, this American
football biography stars Pat O'Brien as Knute Rockne, Ronald Reagan as George
Gipp and Donald Crisp. The premiere is attended by O'Brien and Reagan.