October 12th, 1940 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:Battle of Britain: Biggin Hill and Kenley are attacked in daylight.
There is widespread mist and fog during the day, clearing later. During the daylight period, German forces, again composed largely of fighter aircraft carrying bombs, stage several attacks on the South-eastern corner of England and bombs are dropped in Kent, Sussex, Surrey and the Isle of Wight, damage being slight except in Hastings where two attacks are made. At 1010 hours, four houses and five warehouses are damaged, and at 1350 hours when a major fire is started at the Gas Works and seven houses are wrecked. Some of the Luftwaffe aircraft penetrate to London, where incidents, none of any great importance, occur in Mayfair, Woolwich and Deptford, and in the Dockside area. After dark, Greater London is attacked intermittently from 1920 hours to 2300 hours, and damage, which is not heavy, is mainly confined to the Railway system. In Trafalgar Square, a high explosive bomb falls at 2045 hours near King Charles' Statue and penetrates to the Hall at the bottom of the escalator at the Trafalgar Square Tube (Subway) Station, where it explodes, killing seven people and injuring 30. A heavy attack on the Coventry area develops between 2037 hours and 2150 hours, and several serious fires are started; many other scattered localitibed during the night, but the scale of the attack is light and no material damage is caused in these districts. The new explosive incendiary bombs claim a victim when a man is pouring sand over a specimen which is burning. The bomb then explodes and the man is killed. RAF Fighter Command claims 10-11-7 Luftwaffe aircraft and antiaircraft batteries claim another 1-0-0. The RAF loses ten aircraft with four pilots lost.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 11; RAF, 10.
London: The National Gallery was hit by a bomb today, but Myra Hess carried on her Gallery concerts as she has been doing for the past year. Against the bare walls of the central galleries (the pictures are safe in a Welsh slate quarry), lunch-time chamber-music concerts are given to 1,500 people, who pay a shilling a head to hear pianists like Solomon and Denis Mathews as well as Myra Hess's Bach and Beethoven. Much of the music - like the bomb damage is German.
Corvette HMS Arbutus commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Mendip commissioned.
GERMANY: Hitler postpones the invasion of England until - if then thought advisable - April 1941.
U-70 launched.
U-98 commissioned.
ROMANIA: A German military mission is set up in Bucarest for the purpose of aiding in the training of the Romanian Army.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: A British convoy with four merchant vessels left Alexandria, Egypt, for Malta on 8 October. This convoy is escorted by the light cruisers HMS Calcutta (D 82) and, Coventry (D 43) and four destroyers. Cover is provided by the Mediterranean Fleet with the battleships HMS Warspite (03), Valiant (02), Malaya (01) and Ramillies (07); the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious (87) and Eagle (94); the heavy cruiser HMS York (90); the light cruisers HMS Gloucester (62), Liverpool (11), Ajax (22), Orion (85) and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D48; and 16 destroyers. The convoy is not spotted and arrives safe at Malta on 11 October. The only damage sustained is to the destroyer HMS Imperial (D 09) that is mined off Malta and is out of action for over six months.
While on the return trip the Mediterranean Fleet is sighted by an Italian aircraft and the Italian Navy tries to intercept them in the Ionian Sea. During the night of 11/12 October the 1st Italian Torpedo Boat Flotilla with Airone, Alcione and Ariel attack the light cruiser HMS Ajax. The attack fails and Ajax sinks Airone and Ariel while Alcione escapes. A little while later the Italian 11th Destroyer Flotilla, with Artigliere, Aviere, Camicia Nera and Geniere arrive on the scene. They are surprised by gunfire from HMS Ajax. Artigliere (640-ton) is heavily damaged and Aviere is lightly damaged. Camicia Nere tries to tow Artigliere away but she is sighted by an RAF Sunderland aircraft that homes in three Swordfish aircraft from HMS Illustrious. However the torpedoes they fire don't hit the Italian ships. Later the British heavy cruiser HMS York arrives on the scene. Camicia Nera quickly slips the towing line and sped off. After her crew has left the ship Artiglire is sunk by York with torpedoes. Radio signals are transmitted on Italian frequencies giving the position of survivors, and a Sunderland flying boat guided an Italian hospital ship to the scene. The carriers later launch strikes against Leros in the Dodecanese.
FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: In Douala, Cameroon, Brigadier General Charles DeGaulle, leader of the Free French forces, issues orders for the liquidation of the Vichy enclave in Gabon and departs for meeting with Felix Eboue, the Governor of Chad, and Marchand at Fort Lamy, Chad, and a tour of Free French posts on the Libyan border. The trip nearly ends in disaster when the DeGaulle’s plane makes a forced landing in the middle of a swamp.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
MacArthur">
MacArthur
drafts memorandum to Quezon detailing
America’s refusal to commit to a defence plan for the Commonwealth and
emphasizing that the Philippines could only remain independent if shielded by
guarantees of US military support. The
memorandum highlights the failure by both the War and Navy Departments to
develop a specific plan, be this withdrawal or reinforcement, for the Islands,
and warns Quezon that “strategic
abandonment” by the US was a possibility.
U.S.A.: Dayton, Ohio: President Roosevelt rejects appeasement, and promises to defend America and its seas against aggression.
"We of the Americas still consider that this defense of these oceans of the Western Hemisphere against acts of aggression is the first factor in the defense and protection of our own territorial integrity. We reaffirm that policy, lest there be any doubt of our intention to maintain it. . . .We are building a total defense on land and sea and in the air, sufficient to repel total attack from any part. of the world. . . .The core of our defense is the faith we have in the institutions we defend. The Americas will not be scared or threatened into the ways the dictators want us to follow. . . .The people of the United States, the people of all the Americas, reject the doctrine of appeasement. They recognize it for what it is–a major weapon of the aggressor nations. . That is why we arm. Because, I repeat, this nation wants to keep war away from these two continents. Because we all of us are determined to do everything possible to maintain peace on this hemisphere. Because great strength of arms is the practical way of fulfilling our hopes for peace and for staying out of this war or any other war. Because we are determined to muster all our strength so that we may remain free."
Cowboy actor Tom Mix, 60, dies of a broken neck after his car overturns in Florence, Arizona.
Tom Mix, the best known cowboy actor, is killed in a car accident in Florence, Arizona. While driving at about 80 mph (128.7 km/h), he lost control of the car after hitting a dirt detour and is instantly killed. Mix appeared in over 300 motion pictures between 1909 and 1935 and was one of the highest-paid actor in silent films during the 1920s making US$7,500 (US$73,529 in year 2000 dollars) per week.
While operating off the coast of Virginia, the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) launches 24 USAAC P-40s from the 8th Pursuit Group (Fighter) and nine O-47As from the 2d Observation Squadron to gather data on comparative take-off runs of naval and army aircraft. This is the first time that Army aircraft have flown off a USN carrier.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-101 sank SS Saint Malô in Convoy HX-77. Canadian merchantman was ex-French registered freighter (5,779 GRT), which had been requisitioned for Canada. Of her crew of 44, 28 men were lost. ST MALO had been part of convoy HX77, which had left Halifax on 30 Sep 40 with 39 ships. She was laden with 7,274 tons of general cargo. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on 15 Oct 40 having lost six merchant ships.
U-48 sank SS Davanger in Convoy HX-77.
U-59 sank SS Pacific Ranger in Convoy HX-77.