October 17th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
London: Sub-Lt Jack Maynard Cholmondeley Easton (b. 1906), RNVR, and AB Bennett Southwall (b. 1913), RN, tackled a mine dangling six inches from the floor of a house. It slipped and both men ran for cover, but the huge blast killed AB Southwell and badly injured Sub-Lt Easton. (George Crosses)
Coventry: 2nd Lt Alexander Fraser Campbell (b. 1898), 9 Bomb Disposal Coy Royal Engineers, lay alongside a bomb in case it began ticking as it was taken from a factory. He defused it but died the next day
along with six men of the Royal Engineers when another bomb exploded while he
was trying to defuse it. (George Cross).
German bombing has killed 1,567 people in the week up to today, much of the air raid damage due to new German land mines.
Limited visibility helped mask Luftwaffe attacks. In the morning, 90 Bf 109s and Bf 110s attacked Margate, Broadstairs and Stanmore. In the afternoon, large and small concentrations of Luftwaffe aircraft attacked England using clouds to maximum effect to confuse the RAF fighters. The weather is bright with some showers. During the day, German aircraft succeed in dropping a small number of bombs in London whicombs in London whicombs in London which causes little damage and few casualties. Intermittent and widespread bombing occurs in Kent and Essex but damage on the whole is slight. After dark, raids are again directed against London and railway communications seem to have been selected for particular attention. Several bombs are dropped in the Westminster district and practically all suburbs are visited resulting in a varying amount of damage. Birmingham and Liverpool are again bombed but little damage is reported although there appear to be a number of casualties. RAF Fighter Command claims 4-6-5 Luftwaffe aircraft. Three RAF fighters and the pilots are lost. Losses for the day were 15 Luftwaffe aircraft vs. 3 RAF fighters.
In London, a bomb destroyed automatic signalling equipment at Waterloo Station however, people using flags kept the trains rolling.
London: London Transport appeals to the provinces for vehicles for its badly blitzed bus fleet.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 15; RAF, 3.
RAF Bomber Command: Last night bombers attacked the German naval base at Kiel.
2 Group: A new tactic is tried with one crew from each of three squadrons (114, 139 and 218) being given a free hand attacking any target in Germany or occupied territory under cloud cover.
Corvette HMS Amaranthus launched.
Corvette USS Temptress (ex-HMS Veronica) launched.
NORTH SEA: Submarine HMS H-49 sunk by UJ116 and UJ118 off the Dutch coast.
GERMANY: Hitler makes what will be his last visit to the Kehsteinhaus or Teehaus built for him as a birthday gift by Bormann. Hitler's visits have been few due to his fear of height. (Russell Folsom)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Trail launched North Vancouver, British Columbia.
UNITED STATES: Iron and steel scrap exports are licensed to Great Britain and Western Hemisphere only ". . . with a view to conserving the available supply to meet the rapidly expanding requirements of the defense program in this country."
ATLANTIC OCEAN: During the battle against convoy OB-228, depth charges and gunfire from a British escort damaged U-93.
U-38 sank SS Liebe Aenos in Convoy SC-7.
U-48 sank SS Languedoc and SS Scoresby in Convoy SC-7.
U-93 sank SS Dokka and SS Uskbridge in Convoy OB-228 .