October 15th, 1940 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain: During the day, the weather is fair but cloudy in the Straits; during the night, it is clear and moonlit. During the day, the Luftwaffe penetrates to London targets and targets in Kent and the Thames Estuary. For once, RAF fighters bounce high-flying Bf 109s out of the sun, shooting down 4. At night, there are unusually heavy attacks on London and Birmingham.At 2100 hours local, 30 aircraft head for Hornchurch and central London and hit Waterloo Station and block all but 2 of the rail lines. At 2145 hours, another 50 aircraft attack the city and at 2320 hours, attacks begin in Kent and the Thames Estuary.
In London, train service is stopped at the 5 main stations and traffic for other stations is cut by more than two-thirds. The Underground (subway) is severed at 5 places and roads are blocked throughout the city and a reservoir, 3 gasworks, 2 power stations and 3 important docks were hit. There are 900 fires in London during the night and there are over 1,200 casualties including 400 killed including 64 people sheltering in Balham Underground station. The BBC loses 7 people killed when a bomb hits Broadcasting House during the BBC's 2100 hours local news program. Bombs destroy the main artery of London's water supply, the 46 million Imperial gallon-a-day (55.2 million U.S. gallons or 209.1 million liters) pipeline at Enfield. it is notable that the Germans have resumed the use of the parachute mine, which has caused considerable devastation and casualties.
Outside London the main objective is the Birmingham area, and this atm area, and this attack, which is maintained intermittently for over six hours, results in numerous fires, and damage to railway tracks as well as to house property and utility services; industrial damage, however, seems to be comparatively slight. Bombs also fall in Bristol and Avonmouth, causing damage chiefly to roads and utility mains, as well as in Essex, Kent and Sussex, where no important damage is done.
RAF Fighter Command flies 643 sorties during the day; 14 Luftwaffe aircraft are shot down vs. 15 RAF aircraft, but nine of the pilots are safe.
Birmingham: Section Cdr George Walter Inwood (b. 1906), Home Guard, saved two men unconscious from gas in the cellar of a bombed house; he died from gas on a third rescue. (George Cross)
Losse: Luftwaffe, 14; RAF, 15.
London: Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Eric Charles Twelves Wilson of the East Surrey Regiment, reported killed and awarded a VC posthumously last Saturday, is alive and a prisoner of war. The War Office has informed his parents, the Reverend Cyril and Mrs Wilson of Hunsdon Rectory near Ware, Hertfordshire.
Wilson was awarded his VC, the 12th of the war, for outstanding bravery while attached to the Somaliland Camel Corps. Between 11 and 15 August he kept a machine-gun post on Observation Hill in action despite being wounded and suffering from malaria. His mother said tonight that she had never given up hope.
The night of 15/16 October marked the final operation by Fairey Battle light bomber in RAF Bomber Command and the aircraft are turned over to training units. About 800 are shipped to Canada and another 400 to Australia. They provided good service serving in the RAF until 1949.
Corvette HMS Orchis launched.
Corvettes HMS Aster and Bergamot laid down.
GERMANY: U-441 laid down.
ITALY: Rome: Mussolini orders the invasion of Greece even though he knows that Hitler strongly disapproves.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Last night, on patrol southwest of Calabria in the Ionian Sea, submarine HMS/M Triad (71) is lost in a surface gun action with the submarine 'Enrico Toti'. The TRIAD, commanded by Lt-Cdr G. S. Salt, was on patrol in the Gulf of Taranto and found the Toti on the surface shortly after midnight. Triad fired first hitting Toti twice, one of which was at the base of the conning tower by a 4" round from TRIAD but the damage was minor, and firing a torpedo which goes astern of Toti. The two boats now came so close that Toti's first lieutenant could hear Triad's bridge party speaking English. TOTI (an unorthodox boat with a 120mm gun in an enclosed mount forward) now used her superiority in close range weapons to force Triad's bridge party and the gun crew below decks. Triad began to dive but Toti scored two hits with her gun on TRIAD's conning tower and one hit with a torpedo and the British submarine was later seen to sink. The TRIAD, commanded by Lt-Cdr G. S. Salt, was on patrol in the Gulf of Taranto and had earlier fired a torpedo which narrowly missed going to the stern of the target. According to the reports of the Toti's captain (Lt-Cmdr Bandino Bandini) though, it was a surface torpedo attack. The Italian boat at once point came so close to the British submarine that the crews could hear each other and an Italian threw a boot at the Triad.
At about this time HMS Rainbow is lost off
Albania in a collision with the Italian merchant ship Antonella Costa. The
entire crew of 53 are casualties.
(Peter Beeston and Mike Yaklich and Alex Gordon)(108
and 121)
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Outarde laid down North Vancouver, British Columbia.
U.S.A.: Over 16 million men have registered for the draft.
The United States requisitioned planes ordered by Sweden. These are 144 Vultee Model 48C single-seat fighter aircraft which are given the USAAF designation P-66 and assigned to Britain (which designated it Vanguard Mk. I), Canada and China under Lend-Lease. China eventually received 129 of the aircraft and the USAAF kept 14 as trainers.
Additional units of the National Guard (NG) are inducted today. Called up are three divisions, ten brigades, 26 regiments, four observation squadrons and a battalion of coast artillery from five states and Puerto Rico. The divisions are New York's 27th, Ohio's 37th and the 32d consisting of NG units from Michigan and Wisconsin.
The 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments of the Hawaii National Guard are inducted at Honolulu.
The motion picture "The Great Dictator" premiers at the Astor and Capitol Theaters in New York City. Written, directed and starring Charles Chaplin, this screwball comedy also stars Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner and Billy Gilbert. Chaplin plays a dual role, a Jewish ghetto barber and dictator Adenoid Hynkel of Tomania, a spoof of Adolf Hitler, while Oakie plays Benzino Napaloni of the rival country Bacteria, a spoof of Benito Mussolini. The film is nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture (it loses to "Rebecca"), Best Actor (Chaplin), Best Supporting Actor (Oakie) and a music and writing award.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-93 sank SS Hurunui in Convoy OA-228.
U-138 damaged SS British Glory and sank SS Bonheur in Convoy OB-228.
U-103 sank SS Thistlegarth in Convoy OB-227.