November 11th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command: Hurricanes of 46, 249 and 257 Squadrons intercept the only raid in strength by the Italian Air Force. Hurricanes shot down seven out of ten Fiat B.R. 20 bombers and four out of the 40 Fiat C.R. 42 fighters which escorted them toward the target of Great Yarmouth. No Hurricanes were lost.First five Cant Z.1007bis reconnaissance aircraft escorted by 24 G.50bis fighters, followed by 10 Br.20 bombers, escorted by 40 CR.42 fighters.
Another day operation of the Italian Corpo Aereo Italiano, today, had different results from previous missions in October, three of the ten Br.20s of 43 St. were shot down by RAF fighters and three more being so damaged to be forced to effect crash-landings in Belgium. The RAF also shot down three C.R.42 biplane fighters. One of the B.R.20s had a crew of six, all wearing helmets and carrying bayonets. (Jack McKillop and Ferdinando d'Amico)
RAF Coastal Command: Seven Lockheed Hudson Mk. IIIs arrive at RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, having flown direct from Gander, Newfoundland, in 10.5 hours. This marks the beginning of Hudson deliveries by air when all Hudson's are flown across the Atlantic. They left in the early hours of Sunday morning flown by BOAC civilian air crews under the command of Captain D. Bennett.
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Blenheims of 82 Squadron are sent to bomb Hamm, Soest, Osnabruck and Le Havre. Weather was very bad and only secondary targets were bombed, including Duisburg's docks and the railway at Dortmund. Two aircraft failed to bomb and two crashed into the sea upon return. 2 aircrew were killed in the crashes.
FRANCE: Paris: German guards violently break up a patriotic demonstration by students at the Arc de Triomphe.
VICHY FRANCE: Jean Moulin, the uncooperative prefect of the Eure-et-Loir district is sacked by the authorities.
GERMANY: Dachau: Fifty five Polish intellectuals are executed in the camp's first official mass execution.
U-159 laid down.
GREECE: The RAF's first offensive air operations are carried out by Blenheim Mk. Is of No. 30 Squadron based at Eleusis Airfield, Athens, in a low-level attack on Valaka Airfield.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: 'Operation Judgement' - FAA attack on Taranto.
From Alexandria, Admiral Cunningham, with Malaya, Ramillies, Valiant and Warspite, carrier Illustrious, cruisers and destroyers, sails to cover convoys to Crete and Malta. HMS Eagle has to be left behind because of defects caused by earlier bombing. Force H, in a separate operation called 'Coat', supports the passage of battleship Barham, two cruisers and three destroyers through from the west to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet. Troops are also carried to Malta at this time from Gibraltar.
Mediterranean Fleet meets its new members and covers the return of an empty ship convoy from Malta. On the 11th a cruiser force is detached for what turns out to be a successful attack on Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto. HMS Illustrious meanwhile, escorted by cruisers and destroyers , heads for a position 170 miles to the southeast of Taranto. All six battleships of the Italian Navy are at anchor there.
That night Illustrious launches two waves of Swordfish, some of which belong to HMS Eagle. Under the command of Lt-Cdrs K. Williamson, and J.W. Halle, the total of no more than 20 aircraft of 813, 815, 819 and 824 Squadrons hit 'Conte di Cavour' and 'Caio Diulio' with one torpedo each and the brand new 'Littorio' with three. All three battleships sink at their moorings and 'Cavour' is never recommissioned, all for the loss of just two Swordfish.
NORTH AFRICA: Telegram from Churchill to Wavell:
I am very sorry that European events have forced me to complicate [your plans for Operation Compass]. Unremitting efforts will be made to remount your Air Force on latest machines at the earliest moment.
INDIAN OCEAN: German Merchant raider Atlantis claims 13th victim:
AUTOMEDON (1) was built in 1922 by Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Co. at Jarrow with a tonnage of 7628grt, a length of 459ft 4in, a beam of 58ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Sister of the Eumaeus she was built for the Ocean Steam Navigation Co.
When sailing between the Nicobar Islands and Ceylon the German armed merchant cruise (Hilfskreuzer) HK Atlantis under the command of Kapitan Bernhard Rogge was spotted some 18 miles distance in a sea that was like glass. The two ships converged and when some 4600 yards apart the Atlantis swung to starboard, cleared for action and fired a warning shot. Immediately, the Automedon began to radio for assistance sending 'RRR Automedon 0416N' before the transmission was jammed and the Atlantis opened fire. The Atlantis was an experienced AMC and her gunfire extremely accurate. Her first shells demolished the bridge killing everybody there including her master, Capt. W. B. Ewan.
Three further salvoes scored eleven hits before the Atlantis ceased firing. The Automedon was still steaming at full speed and a man on board attempted to reach the stern gun to return fire. Three more salvoes hit the ship killing the gunner and stopping the ship. A boarding party from the Atlantis found a complete shambles with all the ships paper destroyed with the exception of those in the safe.
Examination of the holds revealed a cargo worth millions to the Allied war effort. Bound for Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai she was carrying aircraft , cars, machinery spares, bicycles, microscopes, service uniforms, steel and copper sheets, cameras, sewing machines as well as beer , whisky cigarettes and food supplies. There were also 120 mail bags. Rogge was concerned about the situation as both ships were stationary in a relatively busy shipping lane and another ship observing the scene would quickly guess what was happening and send a radio message before any action could be taken by the Atlantis. He therefore set a time limit of 3 hours during which time 31 British and 56 Chinese crew members, 3 passengers including a woman, their possessions, all the frozen meat and food together with the ship's papers and the mail bags.
The British crew members were appreciative of Rogge's gesture regarding possessions and assisted with the transfer of food but nothing else. They did, however, indicate where 550 cases of whisky were stored in the No.3 hold as well as helping to locate 2.5 million Chesterfield cigarettes. Among the 56 Chinese crew members were twenty or so who had been picked up from Lawther and Latter's Anglo-Saxon which had been sunk earlier in the North Atlantic. They were on their way home to Hong Kong and Rogge was impressed by their phlegmatic stoicism.
As the stores were being loaded the safe was forced and the contents extracted. Because the bridge party were killed at the onset of the action the secret documents could not be destroyed. Amongst the papers were Admiralty Sailing Instructions, the Merchant Navy Code and Deciphering Tables 7, 8 and 9. To Rogge's further astonishment, when two mail bags marked ' Safe Hand, British Master Only' were opened, he found mail for the Commander-in-Chief, Far East which included Cabinet papers suggesting a defence of the Far East and a review of the European situation at the time. He also found detailed maps of minefields, new fleet cipher tables plus a number of coded documents. The contents of the two mail bags was so comprehensive that the Japanese later believed them to be fakes, put on board a British merchant ship in order to mislead the enemy.
Rogge then thought that he could tow the Automedon out of the shipping lanes but his engineers reported that the steering gear had been totally wrecked so the concept had to be abandoned.
Consequently, time bombs were placed aboard the Automedon and at 15.07 hours she became the thirteenth victim of the Atlantis as she sank by the stern. The survivors eventually reach Bordeaux in the captured Norwegian tanker STORSTAD. The entire load of high octane aircraft gasoline in the Norwegian tanker SS Ole Jakob captured yesterday and top secret documents about Singapore defences taken today are sent to Japan in SS Ole Jakob. As a result, the Japanese secretly approve the use of Muag Island, a small island in the Mariana Islands, as rest-refitting-replenishment area for raiders and blockade runners. (Denis Peck)
FIJI ISLANDS: HQ 8 New Zealand Infantry Brigade is established in Fiji.
AUSTRALIA: The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D 48) departs Fremantle, Western Australia, escorting the 6,700 ton troopship SS Zealandia en route from Sydney, New South Wales, to Singapore with almost 1000 reinforcements of the 8th Australian Division.
CANADA: Oiler
HMCS Sunbeam commissioned. Bunker Vessel, 589/11, ex-D.M. Hopper Barge No.4,
ex-MandF Hopper Barge No.4, ex-Foremost 19, arrived Canada circa 1920, #132590,
Purchased. Sunbeam's Log - Built Port Glasgow, NS, Launched 1911, Yard #90,
converted at Marine Industries Ltd, Sorel, Province of Quebec, hull Log - jn -
89, 589 tons, 178x33.5x12ft, 6kts, crew 2/27. Post WW.II, sold 1947, 1949
renamed Oakbranch, 1971 broken up. (MandF=Ministry of Marine and Fisheries, and
D.M.=Dept of Marine).
U.S.A.: Time Magazine reports on the first Draft selection of October 1940.
Secretary of War Henry Lewis Stimson, 73, stepped to the jar [same one used to pull draft numbers in 1917]. Fragile, twittery Lt. Colonel (retired) Charles R. Morris, who blindfolded Newton D. Baker for the first draft drawings of WWI, did the same for Mr. Stimson (with a bandage made from the cover of a chair in Independence Hall, sanitized with a sheet of Kleenex). Secretary Stimson gingerly put his left hand in the jar, took the first capsule he touched, handed it to Mr. Roosevelt. The President, old-stager that he was, glanced at the newsreel and radio men, got their nod before he intoned: "The first number is one---five---eight." Registration serial number 158, held by some 6,175 registrants throughout the US, thus became draft order No. 1. In the crowded auditorium, Mrs. Mildred C. Bell gasped: 158 was her 21-year-old son Harry's number. A friend sitting beside her squawked with excitement, bringing newsmen, radio announcers, and temporary fame upon the belles and Harry's fiancé. (W Rinaman)
An Armistice Day storm rages across the Great Lakes Region and the Upper Midwest. A blizzard leaves 49 dead in Minnesota, and gales on Lake Michigan cause ship wrecks resulting in another 59 deaths. Up to 17 inches (43 centimeters) of snow falls in Iowa, and at Duluth, Minnesota, the barometric pressure falls to 28.66 inches of mercury (971 hectopascals). The blizzard claims a total of 154 lives, and kills thousands of cattle in Iowa. Whole towns are isolated by huge snowdrifts.
Minesweeper USS Raven commissioned.
Destroyer USS Ludlow launched.