October 14th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain: At night London suffers its heaviest raid thus far. Coventry is also bombed.The weather is occasional rain or drizzle spreading to the south-east. During the day, small numbers of German aircraft operating singly or in small groups, drop bombs in many scattered regions in Southern England. Apart from an attack on Luton, in which a Hat Factory is damaged, and some damage to residential property at Canterbury and Bournemouth, these raids have little effect, and the Luftwaffe does not penetrate to Central London. A full scale attack on London is launched after dark, and bombs are falling in most districts including the West End until an early hour on 15 October. Fires are caused by Oil Bombs, and the Railway system again suffers track damage by high explosive bombs; a factory is gutted and another damaged by fire and an electricity supply failure occurs at Ealing. Most of the damage, however, is of a minor character. Outside London, the attack is concentrated on Coventry, where damage is done to utility services, and many fires started; vital industrial plant, however, appears to have escaped serious damage. Elsewhere scattered bombing takes place in rural districts in South England, but no important targets are hit. RAF Fighter Command claims 0-0-3 mmand claims 0-0-3 aircraft; no RAF aircraft are lost.
Destroyer HMS Belvoir is laid down.
Submarine HMS P-39is laid down.
VICHY FRANCE: Married women are banned from jobs in public services.
GERMANY: Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:
The British raids on Berlin (or other German territory) should not be presented in such an exaggerated form that the reader is bound to get the impression that half of Berlin has been destroyed. But by the same token, the destruction in London should not be depicted so as to suggest that London has already been razed to the ground: in each case the possibility of intensified attacks must be preserved.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: While the British Mediterranean Fleet is still on the return trip to Alexandria, Egypt, from escorting a convoy to Malta, aircraft from the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious (87) and HMS Eagle (94) attack Leros Island in the Dodecanese Islands. In the evening, the British light cruiser HMS Liverpool (11) is hit in the bow by a torpedo from an Italian aircraft. The cruiser is heavily damaged and is repaired at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, U.S.A. HMS Liverpool is not operational again until January 1942..
CHINA: American fuel stocks are moved from Shanghai and Hong Kong to Singapore.
U.S.A.: The Department of State announces that the U.S. passenger liners SS Monterey, SS Mariposa, and SS Washington are being sent to the Far East to repatriate American citizens from that region in view of prevailing "abnormal conditions" there. This move is made because of the shortage of accommodations on the ships already engaged in the Far East trade. SS Monterey is to go to Yokohama, Japan, and Shanghai, China while SS Mariposa will proceed to Shanghai and Chinwangtao, China, and Kobe, Japan.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-137 damages HMS Cheshire.