Saturday 19 October 1940

Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien has a terrific 48 hours as he participates in the attacks on Convoy HX 79 on 19 October 1940 (Schulte, Federal Archive).

Overview: With the Battle of Britain winding down on 19 October 1940, the real action is moving out to sea. The period 18-20 October 1940 is one of the most devastating of the war for the British due to huge losses at sea. Air raids can be handled, though of course they inflict great punishment; but Britain relies on imports for its very survival. Winston Churchill later comments that the war at sea was always his greatest concern during the war's early years, and, as discussed below, today is an extreme example of why that is.

Battle of Britain: The poor weather continues, restricting flight operations. There are scattered reconnaissance flights and an occasional "pirate raid," with some houses destroyed in Coventry.

At 14:00, some fighter-bombers (Jabos) set out for London, but they don't accomplish anything. At 15:00, the day's major daylight raid takes place. About 60 aircraft, including some Dornier Do 17s and Junkers Ju 88s, head for London. The RAF sends up five squadrons to intercept them. The RAF loses a couple of Spitfires.

The poor weather continues into the night, but the Luftwaffe attacks the usual targets: London, Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol, and South Wales. London takes the brunt of the attack, with the rail lines and dockyards suffering greatly. In the silver lining department, so much has been destroyed in the dockyards area that the bombs only stir up old debris. Eastbourne also takes damage to its gas works, where the gasometer is damaged.

Overall, it is a quiet day and a rare "victory" for the Luftwaffe. It loses two planes to the RAF's five. The Luftwaffe tends to do well on days with little action, whereas it gets its head handed to it when it mounts massive daylight attacks.

Pips Priller, 6./JG 51, gets his 20th victory and is awarded the Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz). Pips Priller is known for a flamboyant lifestyle, driving a fancy red car, and dressing well.

European Air Operations: The weather remains poor today. RAF Bomber Command carries out only a few operations on airfields in northwest Europe and railway installations at Osnabruck.

U-100 on the final approach to the German base at Lorient.

Battle of the Atlantic: Convoys SC 7 and HX 79 begin to merge in the Western Approaches to Liverpool. A U-boat wolfpack has been attacking SC 7 on the night of 18/19 October, and the convoy's survivors begin to recede to the east. Today, an entirely new convoy, HX 79, hoves into view from the west. The wolfpack begins stalking Convoy HX 79 as well. Yesterday we summarized the attacks on SC 7, which continue through the morning of the 19th; today, we summarize the attacks on HX 79.

Convoy HX 79 is composed of 49 ships that sailed out of Halifax on 8 October. It is about four days from landfall at Liverpool. It had been several days behind Convoy SC 7 but has since almost caught up to it. While originally the convoy had no escorts in the mid-Atlantic, the Admiralty, realizing by reports from Convoy SC 7 that U-boats are in the area, quickly sends 11 Royal Navy vessels (LCdr. Russell) out to protect it. These consist of:

• Destroyers HMS Whitehall and HMS Sturdy
• Corvettes HMS Hibiscus, HMS Heliotrope, HMS Coreopsis, and HMS Arabis
• A/S Trawlers HMS Lady Elsa, HMS 
• Blackfly, HMS Angle
• Minesweeper HMS Jason
• Submarine O-14

The U-boats had savaged Convoy SC-7 during the night of 18-19 October. Some U-boats depart the scene after that, due to running out of torpedoes or under instructions to stalk another target, Convoy HX 72. Those left are:

U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien);
 U-100 (Joachim Schepke);
U-46 (Engelbert Endrass);
U-48 (Heinrich Bleichrodt); and
U-38 (Heinrich Liebe).

Everything is being coordinated and controlled by Konteradmiral Karl Dönitz at his U-boat headquarters in Lorient. Doenitz relays instructions through Prien, who spotted the convoy originally. The sequential attacks on Convoy SC 7 and HX 79 are the first classic wolfpack action of the war, though there has been some small-scale cooperation previously.

The U-boats wait throughout the day as Convoy HX 79 approaches from the west. As darkness falls, they approach on the surface. Prien brazenly sails into the middle of the convoy from the south, Endrass from the north. This is Prien's favorite tactic, and Endrass had been Prien's second before receiving his current command, so they know what the other is likely to do without communicating. The convoy escort is completely ineffective, as was the one for Convoy SC 7.

Location of the attack on Convoy HX 79.

After the U-boats are in position, all blazes break loose. The battle continues past midnight into the 20th, but we will look at the entire night's results here.

U-47 sinks (damages) the following ships:

• 4966-ton Uganda
• 6023-ton Shirak (damaged)
• 4947-ton Wandby
• 5185-ton La Estancia
• 5026-ton Whitford Point
• 8995-ton Athelmonarch (damaged).

U-100 sinks the following:

• 8230-ton Caprella
• 6218-ton Sitala
• 5452-ton Loch Lomond

U-46 sinks:

• 4548- ton Ruperra
• 9965-ton Janus

U-38 sinks:

• 7653-ton Matheran
• 6856-ton Bilderdijk

U-48 sinks:

• 6023-ton Shirak (U-47 damages her first)

Altogether, the U-boats sink 12 ships of 75,069 tons and damage two others of 15,018 tons. The Allied escort not only is ineffective, it also trips all over itself, as the surface escorts mistake their own submarine O-14 for a U-boat and attack it without, fortunately, sinking it.

It is a classic U-boat attack. Just like on the previous night, there are burning ships, sinking ships, derelicts getting in the way, lifeboats, U-boats, flotsam, jetsam, explosions, men drowning left and right, ships careening at full speed into the night - everything. The U-boats make a clean getaway, though an armed merchant ship takes a few potshots at U-1010 and misses.

The British take losses elsewhere, too.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Venetia (Lt Cdr D. L. C. Craig), on a patrol with two other destroyers in the Straits of Dover, hits a mine and sinks off Margate, Kent. There are 34 deaths and 18 other casualties.

Royal Navy 290 ton trawler HMS Velia hits a mine and sinks off the Kentish Knock Lightship. Everyone survives.

British coaster Aridity hits a mine and sinks in the Thames Estuary.

There is a violent storm in eastern Canada. Canadian 221 ton auxiliary minesweeper Bras D'Or sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as a result while engaged in traveling with Romanian freighter (Ingner N. Vlasspol) from Quebec to Sydney, Nova Scotia. There are no survivors among the 29 crew.

Polish submarine Wilk attacks Danish freighter Norge in Lister Fjord but misses.

Convoys OB 231 and OL 8 depart from Liverpool, Convoys FN 312 and FN 314 depart from Southend, Convoy FS 314 departs from Methil.

Winnipeg Ukrainians (note native dress) gather to promote a concert they are giving on the 23rd to raise money for the war effort. Among the performers: radio artists The Dirty Dozen. Winnipeg Free Press Archives.

Battle of the Mediterranean: On the 18th, the Royal Navy obtained documents from Italian submarine Durbo before sinking it. Today, the Royal Navy uses that information to hunt for Italian submarine Lafole operating off Cape Tresforcas.

Royal Navy cruiser HMS Ajax is in port at Alexandria getting repairs for shell holes suffered in its encounter with Italian destroyers on 12 October.

Brazilian 8265 ton freighter Ipanemaloide (formerly the Cuma) sinks in the Mediterranean south of Sicily. This is usually ascribed to a torpedo hit, but there are numerous minefields in the area and that may have been the cause.

The RAF attacks Italian positions at Benghazi, Berka, Halfaya, Maritza (in the Dodecanese), and Diredawa, Abyssinia. The Italians respond during the night with attacks on Cairo, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, targeting British ARAMCO oil installations. There are reports in the press that the Italians are sending out patrols in anticipation of a continuation of their offensive, but the Italian Commando Supremo has its eyes on Greece, not North Africa.

At Malta, Governor Dobbie once again complains about the mail and newspaper service to the island. Everything comes around Africa and takes weeks, if not months, to reach soldiers stationed on Malta. This is creating a real morale problem. For instance, at this time, the latest mail received by the troops is from August, and some just recently received is from as far back as May. This was before the start of the bombing of London, so there is increasing anxiety about the safety of relatives and property.

General Sir Alan Cunningham becomes commander of British forces in East Africa.

Military men have very practical reasons for wanting to get news from home. Saturday Evening Post, 19 October 1940.

Italian/German Relations: While the Germans are frantically trying to uncover Italian intentions toward Greece using their own sources, Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano continues to dribble out information. Today, he sends a telegram summarizing the planned invasion but puts the start date as 23 October. In fact, the projected start date is 28 October, as he should know. Shortly after, German Ambassador to Rome Hans Georg Mackensen telegrams that Ciano has informed him that Hitler has approved Mussolini's plan to attack Greece. This is news to Ribbentrop, who was present at the Brenner Pass meeting and has no inkling that this was supposedly discussed. Upon being informed of these communications, Hitler tells Ribbentrop to do nothing regarding the matter - which some interpret as approval of the invasion by silence. However, the entire affair is muddled and subject to interpretation.

Spanish/German Relations: The OKW completes planning for Operation Felix. This, however, requires the participation of Spain, and thus Spanish entry into the war.

Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler travels by train to Spain to meet with Franco and get in a little tourist time devoted to his mystical beliefs about German ancestors.

German Government: Hitler decides to meet with French leader Petain and Spanish leader Franco. He will depart on his train Amerika late on the 20th.

Actress Anne Nagel shows how to celebrate the upcoming US holiday of Halloween, 1940.

US Military: The US Army Air Corps establishes the Hawaiian Air Force at Fort Shafter.

Light cruiser USS St. Louis departs from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station for San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is carrying the Greenslade Board to examine British bases received in the destroyers-for-bases deal.

Soviet Military: The Stavka plans a major ship-building program.

Spain: Belgian Prime Minister Pierlot and Foreign Minister Spaak have been interned in Barcelona since the fall of Belgium in May. They elude their captors and escape to neutral Portugal hidden in a truck. Technically they can also be interned there, too, but the Portuguese government is notorious for not doing so.

Australia: A convoy, US 6, carrying the Australian 7th Division, Australian Imperial Air Force, 20th Infantry Brigade and 21st Infantry Brigade sets sail for the Middle East.

Future History: Michael Gambon is born in Cabra, Dublin. He becomes a British television actor, later a famous Hollywood actor, and throughout a respected stage actor. He remains active, though he has retired from the stage.

Early snow in Delaware, USA signals the change of seasons.

October 1940
October 2, 1940: Hitler's Polish Plans
October 3, 1940: British Cabinet Shakeup
October 4, 1940: Brenner Pass Meeting
October 5, 1940: Mussolini Alters Strategy
October 6, 1940: Iron Guard Marches
October 7, 1940: McCollum Memo
October 8, 1940: Germans in Romania
October 9, 1940: John Lennon Arrives
October 10, 1940: Führer-Sofortprogramm
October 11, 1940: E-Boats Attack!
October 12, 1940: Sealion Cancelled
October 13, 1940: New World Order
October 14, 1940: Balham Tragedy
October 15, 1940: Mussolini Targets Greece
October 16, 1940: Japanese Seek Oil
October 17, 1940: RAF Shakeup
October 18, 1940: Convoy SC-7 Catastrophe
October 19, 1940: Convoy HX-79 Catastrophe
October 20, 1940: Convoy OB-229 Disaster
October 21, 1940: This Evil Man Hitler
October 22, 1940: Aktion Wagner-Burckel
October 23, 1940: Hitler at Hendaye
October 24, 1940: Hitler and Petain
October 25, 1940: Petain Woos Churchill
October 26, 1940: Empress of Britain Attack
October 27, 1940: Greece Rejects Italian Demands
October 28, 1940: Oxi Day
October 29, 1940: US Draft Begins
October 30, 1940: RAF Area Bombing Authorized
October 31, 1940: End of Battle of Britain

2020

Wednesday 18 September 1940

Survivors of the City of Benares. Left to right, Kenneth Sparkes, Derek Capel, Freddie Steele, Billy Short, and Howard Clayton.

Battle of Britain: Adolf Hitler insists on continuing the bombing of London, against the inclinations of Reichsmarschall Goering and others in the Luftwaffe. Hitler typically imbues a political perspective to his military decisions, a tendency that becomes more pronounced as the war lengthens. In this case, he perhaps feels that the damage to British morale and industry is more important than resuming an all-out offensive against the RAF and actually defeating it.

At this stage, 18 September 1940, the Luftwaffe is engaging in a hybrid strategy, where it challenges Fighter Command by day and bombs London, Liverpool and other favored targets such as Brighton and South Wales by night. It is overstating matters to claim that the Luftwaffe has lost the initiative, but it cannot be said to be defeating the RAF, and, with the invasion called off, there is no pressing need to do so. The damage to English cities is, of course, horrible, but it does not impair growing British military strength.

The weather is fairly clear over England, but with storms to the north. The first raid comes across between 09:00 and 10:00, with a few bombers heading for the London Docks. The main force is fighters searching for trouble over the Thames estuary, but Fighter Command focuses on the bombers and leaves the fighters alone. There are isolated dogfights, but nothing on the scale of previous days. It is a wasted morning for the German fighters.

The bombers head over around noontime. Once again, the number of bombers is small compared to the numerous escorts. This time, Fighter Command gives battle. JG 26 has a good day, with Commander Major Adolf Galland shooting down three Hurricanes. This leaves him with 35 victories.

Another raid approaches around 15:30, and this time composed mostly of bombers. Fighter Command springs into action, with No. 11 Group fully engaged and helped by No. 12 Group's "Duxford Wing." Douglas Bader leads his Big Wing against bombers heading up the Thames, and there is very predictable carnage. They shoot down 19 bombers in one of those imponderable decisions by the Luftwaffe, sending largely unescorted Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88 bombers into the teeth of the fighter defense. The silver lining for the Luftwaffe is that dozens of bombers do get through and hit the central areas of the city, but at quite a cost to themselves.

Darkness falls around 1930, and that is when the night bombers arrive. The bombers continue coming across through the night, with London the objective for the vast majority of them. Smaller raids are made in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and the Newcastle area.

Overall, the RAF wins the day but takes a dozen losses itself to about 20 for the Luftwaffe.

Hauptmann Walter Oesau of Stab III./JG 51 gets his 28th victory over Ashford.

Hans-Joachim Marseille, who got off to a fairly slow start in the Battle of Britain, gets his fifth kill just one day after receiving the Iron Cross First Class for his fourth kill.

Hauptmann Günther "Fränzl" Lützow of JG 3 is awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross).

The Richmond Times-Dispatch repeats the mantra that the British want to convey, that they are barely holding off the German invaders and really could use more American help. In fact, the British leadership already know they basically have won the Battle of Britain.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command takes no chances with a possible invasion despite having learned on the 17th - via the Ultra decrypts - that the invasion is off. It targets the invasion ports all along the coast, and also main supply points such as Brussels, Osnabruck, Ehrang, Hamm, and Mannheim. Coastal Command chips in with raids on Cherbourg, a convoy near Borkum, and De Kooy Airfield 5 km south of Den Helder in Holland (just south of Texel).

U-boat Captain Heinrich Bleichrodt.

Battle of the Atlantic:  U-48 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich "Ajax" Bleichrodt), operating out of L'Orient, has been shadowing Convoy OB 213 west of Scotland (about 255 miles southwest of Rockall) for much of the 17th. Bleichrodt has an extremely successful day during one of the best patrols of any U-boat during the war. It begins just after midnight when Bleichrodt sinks the liner City of Benares (discussed below under War Crimes).

After quickly reviewing the situation with the City of Benares with his searchlight and seeing that its situation is hopeless, Captain Bleichrodt heads east and torpedoes British freighter Marina at 00:07. There are two deaths, with 37 survivors.

Bleichrodt continues stalking the convoy throughout the day. As the sun sets at 18:49, he strikes again and sinks the 3118-ton British iron ore freighter Magdalena. It is a straggler from Convoy OB 213. All 31 onboard perish.

Elsewhere, the RAF bombs and sinks 1626 ton German transport Johann Blumenthal (apparently named after the shipping company) near Cherbourg in the English Channel. There are some survivors, how many is unclear, picked up by German destroyer Lody. German torpedo boat TB T.11 also is heavily damaged in this attack, as is minelayer Schiff 23.

The RAF also bombs and sinks 3145-ton French freighter Dunkerquois at Le Havre.

British lumber schooner Minas Prince is caught in a storm and founders 60 miles from the southeastern tip of Nova Scotia. The storm caused the ship, carrying rock plaster, to settle lower and lower in the rough seas, putting out her engine and finally causing the crew to abandon ship a few hours before it sinks. Six men, including Captain Murray Will Igar, are picked up by a passing freighter and reach the shore at St. John, New Brunswick.

There are violent storms off Aberdeen, Scotland, too. British ships (HMS Versatile and freighter Lady of Mann) take weather damage.

The Luftwaffe damages British freighter Rudmore at Gravesend Reach, London, and also damages freighter Ling in at the Liverpool docks.

A tanker and escorting ship for Vichy French Force Y, on a quick "Show the Flag" mission in the Cameroons, are spotted by the British, who shadow them. The Royal Navy is busy positioning its capital ships for Operation Menace against Dakar and sends battleship Barham from Freetown to join the gathering force outside that harbor. Vichy French Force itself also begins its journey back to Dakar. The Royal Navy's orders are not to sink Vichy French ships, but to order them to make port in Casablanca - another about-face in British handling of the situation, where sometimes they sink Vichy French ships, sometimes they don't.

The Admiralty and War Cabinet are undecided about Operation Menace. It is an on-again, off-again operation. At the moment it is on again and scheduled to begin within a few days.

The Germans seize 1059 ton Swedish freighter Frisia at Bordeaux

The US re-commissions USS S-31, a Great War submarine, at Philadelphia and assigns it to SubDiv 52 at New London, Connecticut. Destroyer USS Mayo (DD 422, Lt. Campbell D. Emory) also is commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Cleveland (L 46,  Lt. Commander William S. Clouston) is commissioned.

U-143 (Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Mengersen) is commissioned.

The Minas Prince.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The loss of Sidi Barrani to the Italians is having subtle but growing adverse effects on the British hold on the Mediterranean. The RAF airbase there had been extremely useful for launching raids against Italian-held Libya and for shuttling planes to Malta. The next-nearest airfield is at Benghazi, and fighters cannot make it from there to Malta even with extra fuel tanks. Even Blenheim bombers can barely make it, with little room for error. Thus, losing Sidi Barrani makes reinforcement of Malta much more difficult, and curtails transits between there and the main base at Alexandria. Loss of Sidi Barrani also deprives Royal Navy ships from Alexandria of fighter cover over the Italian positions further west such as Bardia. And, of course, the reverse situation applies, with the Regia Aeronautica now in a position to bomb RAF airfields further east and give more cover to its ships at Tobruk and other eastern Libyan ports. All in all, the tepid Italian advance has had far more effect on the British military posture than its small gains might suggest.

One of the odder bomb disposal efforts takes place when a well is pumped dry in order to retrieve a 400 lb bomb that fell down it. The operation requires special lifting gear and of course special handling. In addition, for the first time a German bomb is found and has to be defused - previously, only Italian bombs have been used.

War Crimes: The incident described here was found not to be a war crime. However, it illustrates the types of situations in which one might have been found.

U-48 has been trailing the zigzagging City of Benares, a liner with guns at either end, for ten hours as the 17th of September ends. Just before midnight on the 17th, he fires two torpedoes and misses (most accounts thus place this incident on the 17th, but in fact, the sinking occurs on the 18th). Still in firing position, just seconds after midnight, Bleichrodt fires a third torpedo. It hits the 11,081-ton British liner in the stern. The ship sinks within 30 minutes. Bleichrodt steps back from the periscope and quietly mutters his verdict:

A success.

Bleichrodt surfaces and plays a searchlight over the scene, giving hope to survivors. It is chaotic, with people in the sea and lifeboats everywhere. The ship is obviously kaputt. Satisfied, he leaves the scene and heads east, where he spots another ship from the convoy and sinks it, too.

The crew of the stricken ship acts incredibly quickly and gets as many lifeboats in the water as possible before the ship sinks. There are 260 deaths, while 147 people survive (sources vary on all the numbers). Among the passengers are 90 British children being sent to Canada as refugees; 77-83 of them perish before seeing land again. HMS Hurricane, 300 miles away, receives a message about the sinking and immediately heels over to race to the scene. When it arrives a day later, there is massive confusion because another ship in the convoy, the Marina, also has been torpedoed around the same time. This causes one of the lifeboats from the City of Benares to be overlooked, and the passengers spend eight days drifting before finally being spotted and picked up by HMS Anthony.

This incident spells the end for the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB), which has been relocating children to Canada. However, private evacuations of the sort continued for another year.

As a reward, Captain Bleichrodt in mentioned in the daily Wehrmachtsbericht, an incredible honor, a few days later on 21 September 1940 for his successful patrol (8 ships sunk as of that date). A top U-boat ace, he suffers some kind of mental breakdown a couple of years later and is given shore duty - but even so, he is considered the war's tenth-most-successful U-boat ace.

Bleichrodt is tried after the war for the sinking. One of U-48's crew, a Corporal Solm, had described the sinking after his capture, "“We knew there were kiddies on board before the tin fish were fired. We bagged a kiddie ship! Six thousand tons. We heard on the radio what was on board. No one survived.” However, Bleichrodt himself denies any knowledge of the presence of children in the City of Benares when he fired the torpedo and refuses to show remorse. The court agrees with the captain after some helpful testimony from the British Admiralty, Bleichrodt is cleared, and he retires to Munich. Bleichrodt passes away in 1977. Very clearly, if he had been found to have known there were children aboard, Bleichrodt would have been found guilty. Very, very close call.

Survivors of the City of Benares.

Anglo/US Relations: More US destroyers arrive at Halifax for the British to take over pursuant to the destroyers-for-bases deal. The ships are:

• USS Kalk, 
• USS Maddox, 
• USS Cowell, 
• USS Foote, 
• USS Hopewell, 
• USS Abbot, 
• USS Thomas, and 
• USS Doran

The Greenslade Board, inspecting the new US bases under the deal, heads from St. John, Nova Scotia for Argentina aboard the USS St. Louis.

Soviet Military: Soviet Minister of Defence Marshal S.K. Timoshenko and Chief of General Staff K.A. Meretskov submit to the Politburo their plan for the invasion of Germany. It proposes an advance north of the Pripet Marshes - very similar to the opening stages of World War I. Those who prefer to see Operation Barbarossa as the most epic military mistake of all time tend to overlook the fact that the Soviets are considering something similar. In fact, this plan has a great resemblance to some of the initial planning for Barbarossa - in reverse.

Japanese Military: Japanese carrier Akagi arrives at Hiroshima Bay, Japan en route to Kure.

Vichy France: The United States continues to recognize Vichy France, and today the American Library in the occupied zone of France reopens in Paris.

British Somaliland: British troops stage a small-scale raid on the Italian border station at El Uach.

China: Emperor Kangde of the puppet state presides over the dedication ceremony of the National Martyr Shrine of Manchukuo in Xinjing.

The Nationalists open the Chungking University of Technology.
American Homefront: The Cincinnati Reds win the National League Pennant again, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in 13 innings.

Future History: Philadelphia has a better day than it realizes at the time with that Phillies loss. Francis Thomas Avallone is born there today. He becomes a child actor and changes his name to Frankie Avalon, appearing on television shows such as "The Jackie Gleason Show." His main passion, though, is singing, and he gets No. 1 hits "Venus" and "Why" in 1959. He goes on to team up with Annette Funicello in the "Beach Blanket" movies. Frankie Avalon remains active as of this writing and continues to tour. (Some sources say that Avalon was born on this date in 1939.)

Amongst other national tragedies, the National Chess Center is hit by incendiary bombs on 18 September 1940 and destroyed. It had opened less than a year earlier.

September 1940

September 1, 1940: RAF's Horrible Weekend
September 2, 1940: German Troopship Sunk
September 3, 1940: Destroyers for Bases
September 4, 1940: Enter Antonescu
September 5, 1940: Stukas Over Malta
September 6, 1940: The Luftwaffe Peaks
September 7, 1940: The Blitz Begins
September 8, 1940: Codeword Cromwell
September 9, 1940: Italians Attack Egypt
September 10, 1940: Hitler Postpones Sealion
September 11, 1940: British Confusion at Gibraltar
September 12, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto Approved
September 13, 1940: Zeros Attack!
September 14, 1940: The Draft Is Back
September 15, 1940: Battle of Britain Day
September 16, 1940: italians Take Sidi Barrani
September 17, 1940: Sealion Kaputt
September 18, 1940: City of Benares Incident
September 19, 1940: Disperse the Barges
September 20, 1940: A Wolfpack Gathers
September 21, 1940: Wolfpack Strikes Convoy HX-72
September 22, 1940: Vietnam War Begins
September 23, 1940: Operation Menace Begins
September 24, 1940: Dakar Fights Back
September 25, 1940: Filton Raid
September 26, 1940: Axis Time
September 27, 1940: Graveney Marsh Battle
September 28, 1940: Radio Belgique Begins
September 29, 1940: Brocklesby Collision
September 30, 1940: Operation Lena

2020