Battle of Britain Day 92. Despite bad weather, with rain in northern France and the Straits of Dover and clouds over the Channel, Luftwaffe mounts several large raids (consisting mainly of bomb-carrying Messerschmitt fighters) in the Southeast of England and towards London. Bombs are dropped at London, Maidstone, Hastings, Falmouth and other towns. 3 German fighters and 1 Ju88 bomber are shot down. RAF loses 1 fighter (pilot is safe). Overnight, London, Liverpool and Manchester are bombed. St Paul's Cathedral in London is hit, destroying choir stalls and the High Altar but the building is not structurally damaged. Fairey Albacore biplane torpedo bombers of 829 Squadron from HMS Peregrine (Royal Navy air station at Ford, Sussex) bomb Brest during the night, damaging German destroyers Eckholdt, Lody and Riedel by near misses. 1 Albacore is shot down and 3 aircrew are taken prisoners of war, including the squadron commander, Lt. Cdr. Stevinson.
At 10.11 PM, 20 miles Northwest of Ireland, U-103 attacks convoy SC-6 sinking Greek steamers SS Zannes Gounaris (1 killed) and SS Delphin (all hands rescued) and damaging British SS Graigwen (7 killed, 26 crew and 1 gunner picked up by HMS Enchantress and landed at Londonderry). U-103 is then depth charged by a convoy escort but not damaged.
British submarine HMS Regent torpedoes Italian merchant ship Antonietta Costa, 20 miles West of Durrës, Albania. Antonietta Costa does not sink but goes aground and is lost 10 miles off the coast near Durrës.
British minesweeping trawler HMS Sea King hits a mine and sinks 28 miles East of Grimsby, England (14 lives lost).
German troops enter its ally, Romania, to provide protection to the oilfields vital to the German war effort.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment