October 13th, 1940 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:Battle of Britain:
There is early fog clearing to blue skies and clouds later in the day. During the day, German bombing activity is on a smaller scale than usual, only a few incidents taking place in Kent and Sussex, from which damage is negligible and casualties slight. Scattered bombing in the Southern and Eastern Boroughs of London result in some damage to railway property, and a fire at a gas works which blazed furiously for an hour before being extinguished. After dark, and until an early hour on 14 October, bombs are being dropped in most districts of the Capital, causing much damage of a minor character; major incidents are confined to the destruction of a small factory at Wandsworth. In Stoke Newington, London, a basement shelter under a flat (apartment) building is hit by a heavy high explosive bomb at 2130 hours. The building collapses and buries about 250 people who are sheltering underneath; 154 people are killed. Activity in the North of England is more pronounced during the night, and bombs fall in Middlesborough, Hull, Huddersfield, Grantham, Liverpool and Manchester, where property suffers damage and some casualties occur, but industrial production does not appear to have been affected. Rural districts in the Southern half of England are also visited during the period of darkness, but only minor damage is reported. RAF Fighter Command claims 2-4-0 aircraft while antiaircraft batteries claim 0-1-0. The RAF loses two aircraft but both pilots are safe.
154 people are killed in a shelter in Stoke Newington in a night bombing raid.
London: The 13,000 children evacuated overseas to the Dominions and the United States heard a message from home tonight delivered by Princess Elizabeth, in her first broadcast, at the age of 14, her coolness and resemblance in voice to her mother, the Queen are striking.
"My sister, Margaret Rose, and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all," said the Princess. "We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage and are trying to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war ... My sister is by my side and we are going to say goodnight to you - come on, Margaret. Good night and good-luck to you."
The Queen has decided that the princesses should not go to Canada.
NORTH SEA: Four Tribal-class destroyers sink two ships in a German convoy of four ships and two escorts. The destroyers were COSSACK (F 03), ASHANTI (F 51), MAORI (F 24) and SIKH (F 82). The action took place off Egersund. (Ric Pelvin)
GERMANY:
Ribbentrop writes to Stalin, trying to ease his fears about the German 'occupation' of Romania. England, he explains, is responsible for the war, which anyway has been won by Germany. The German moves against Russia in Finland and Romania as well as the Tripartite Pact are explained as really a boon to Russia. In the meantime British diplomats and secret agents are trying to stir up trouble between Germany and Russia. To frustrate them ,why not send Molotov to Berlin, Ribbentrop asked Stalin, so that the Fuhrer could "explain personally his views regarding the future moulding of relations between our two countries"?
Ribbentrop gave a hint what those views were:- 'nothing less than dividing up the world between the four totalitarian powers.
It appears to be the mission of the Four Powers [he said] - the Soviet Union, Italy, Japan and Germany - to adopt a long-range policy ... by delimitation of their interests on a world-wide basis.'
JAPAN: Foreign Minister MATSUOKA Yosuke invites ting, "The new world order envisaged by the three powers, is one in which economic barriers will be broken down and the natural geographic divisions of the earth established in complementary fashion which will make for the prosperity of all peoples. . . . We three nations, Japan, Germany, and Italy, will be very glad to welcome other powers into our alliance, whether it be the U.S. or any other nation, should they desire, to join in the spirit of the new order."
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-103 sank SS Nora.
U-37 sank SS Stangrant in Convoy HX-77.