Sunday 4 May 1941

Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House, 4 May 1941. Visible behind him is Hermann Goering, who technically is the leader of the Reichstag.

Anglo-Iraq War: The British on 4 May 1941 continue their successful defense of Habbaniyah Airfield, Basra and their other fortified positions in Iraq. The RAF has complete control of the air. British reinforcements, called "Iraqforce," are now on the march to Iraq from Palestine and Transjordan (Habforce and Kingcol), while men are trickling into Basra from India. The motley group of British ground forces in Habbaniyah already are having some success forcing the Iraqis back toward Baghdad, suggesting they will be able to hold out until the relief arrives.

The RAF raids the Iraqi forces, including Baghdad (where it drops leaflets) and other enemy areas. The Luftwaffe has a small presence at Mosul Airfield for receiving supplies via Vichy Syria, which the RAF also attacks.

There still is Iraqi resistance at Basra, where Iraqi gunboats and merchantmen remain outside of British control. Australian sloop HMAS Yarra arrives there today to help deal with the Iraqi shipping.

A Messerschmitt Bf 110D3 Zerstorer IAF 4.ZG76 in Iraqi markings, Mosul Iraq May 1941.

European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe continues bombing Liverpool. The May Blitz is notable for its ferocity and accuracy. The Germans have refined their techniques and finally are targeting port infrastructure and vulnerable shipping in the harbor with great success. The aftereffects of the devastating explosion of 7649-ton ammunition ship Malakand on the 3rd continue to be felt there, and 295-ton ship Pneumatic Elevator No. 11 sinks due to the blast effects, adding to the numerous ships sunk or damaged. Other ships damaged today by the Luftwaffe include:

• 274-ton tug Bison
• 10,254-ton liner Talthybius
• 7005-ton freighter Baron Inchcape
• 201-ton tug Hornby
• 99-ton tug Enid Blanche
• 719-ton hopper barge No. 33
• 209-ton barge Aid
• 67-ton flat John
• 46-ton sailing barge Bongo
• 7801-ton freighter Roxburgh Castle.

Some of the ships are repaired, but others are hit in subsequent raids and destroyed. The port is devastated and in chaos, with many ships on fire, others slowly sinking, and new ships still being docked and unloaded. There are separate attacks by 55 bombers targets Barrow-in-Furness, and 17 bombers on Hartlepool, with a small force hitting Middlesbrough. The Germans lose a couple of Junkers Ju 88s, one to engine failure, another to a night fighter.

Joseph Goebbels and Joachim Ribbentrop give the Hitler Salute at the 4  May 1941 speech by Adolf Hitler at the Kroll Opera House (Federal Archives).

East African Campaign: The 5th Indian Division, which has been advancing from the south, attacks the Italian positions at Amba Alagi. The Italians, though somewhat distracted by a separate attack coming up the Falaga Pass, are dug in and give little ground. The Gold Coast 24th Infantry Brigade attacks Italian positions at Wadara in Galla-Sidamo, while the Indian troops at Amba Alagi do capture a few foothills (Pyramid, Whale Back, and Elephant ). From here the going becomes steeper and more open to Italian fire.

Another British force is heading south toward the city, with a third force, the South Africans, also approaching. The Italians, meanwhile, are hiding out in caves which are very defensible, but also have no access to resupply and scant stores of even the most basic necessities such as food and water.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-38 (Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe), operating out of Lorient on her 9th and most successful patrol, is off of Freetown in the Atlantic when it fires three torpedoes and uses its deck gun to sink 5230-ton Swedish freighter Japan. The entire 55-man crew (and four passengers) makes land and survives, but is captured and interned by the Vichy French. The ship is part of Convoy OB-310. The U-38's deck gun explodes, injuring the gun crew.

The Luftwaffe hits 234-ton minesweeping trawler HMT Ben Gairn with a parachute mine at Waveney Dock, Lowestoft, Suffolk. There are no casualties, but the ship is destroyed.

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 222-ton British freighter Tregor off Trevose Head. The six-man crew survives.

The Luftwaffe also damages 545-ton Belgian freighter Marie Flore off Trevose Head. Marie Flore tries to make it to port but cannot get there and is beached at Padstow.

The Luftwaffe also damages destroyer HMS Southdown in the North Sea by a near miss. The ship is leaking and temporarily loses steering but makes it to port.

The Luftwaffe damages minesweeper Selkirk and patrol yacht HMY Franc Tireur in the Thames Estuary. Both ships make it back for repairs.

Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Latona (Captain Stuart L. Bateson) is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: German General Paulus, temporarily in command of the Afrika Korps, seen enough of the abortive attack on Tobruk. He orders that no more attacks be made by Rommel's forces unless there are signs of Allied retreat. Paulus already is looking toward his rear and orders that a new defensive line must be built in Gazala. In this sense, he is basically in agreement with the failed Italian strategy which began the campaign, believing in the value of fixed defensive positions in the defensive rather than Rommel's faith in mobile operations. Rommel dutifully begins constructing defensive outposts facing the Tobruk perimeter. From this point forward for the next couple of months, the Germans and Australians will engage in only local actions, with the Germans holding their small three-mile wide incursion into Tobruk's defenses.

The campaign evolves into competing supply buildups between Germany and Great Britain, with both sides holding unique advances in that struggle (the Royal Navy largely controls the sea and can be supplied from India, Australia, and New Zealand in addition to England, while the Axis has a short, though dangerous, supply route from Italy).

Churchill cables his Middle East commander General Archibald Wavell in Cairo. He states that is is "most important not to allow fighting around Tobruk to die down" due to the Germans' over-extension following his "premature audacious advance." He encourages counterattacks "at the earliest possible moment" to prevent the Afrika Korps from being able to "gather supplies and strength for a forward move." Churchill and Paulus, thus, see the North Africa campaign developing the same way, and this is not a coincidence, as the British are reading the German codes via the Ultra decryption program.

Churchill also notes in his cable the "success of Demon." This is a reference to Operation Demon, a daring gamble of running disguised freighters directly through the Mediterranean to Egypt. In fact, one Demon ship already has been sunk, though two have made it through.

New Zealand Major-General Bernard Freyberg, the British leader in Crete, is feeling a bit exposed now that the Germans have had some time to digest the Greek mainland. He asks Wavell for permission to evacuate about 10,000 men who are refugees from the mainland and, by and large, unarmed. He notes that they have "little or no employment other than getting into trouble with the civil population."

The Germans occupy the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.

Italian torpedo boat Giuseppe La Farina hits a mine and sinks off Kerkennah. The Italians are busy supplying the Afrika Korps in Tripoli and today send a convoy of seven troopships from Naples. The Italians provide a heavy escort three light cruisers and 8 destroyers, with some smaller torpedo boats also involved.

At Malta, the Luftwaffe remains active. Minesweeper HMS Fermoy, which was damaged earlier in the month and under repair, sinks from its damage.

Santa Fe Excursion train, 4 May 1941.

War Crimes: The Luftwaffe damages 7117-ton hospital ship Karapara in Tobruk Harbour. While accidents happen, hospital ships are clearly marked and there have been many incidents involving them. The Karapara makes it to Port Said for repairs. While there may seem little to gain by attacking hospital ships, driving them off or destroying them isolates the Australians holding out in Tobruk.

Anglo/US Relations: Churchill cables President Roosevelt and suggests that the Royal Navy is seriously considering occupying the Canary Islands (which he never actually names) and other Portuguese islands in the Atlantic in order to forestall a Wehrmacht occupation there. The US, he proposes, would serve as the "guarantor" that those islands would be returned to Portugal after the war. He also notes that "We are determined to fight to the last inch and ounce for Egypt, including its outposts of Tobruk and Crete."

Anglo/Portuguese Relations: Perhaps coincidental to Churchill's cable to President Roosevelt (but perhaps not), Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, on his way to New York, calls on Portuguese Prime Minister Dr. Salazar in Lisbon. Salazar, Menzies writes in his diary, is "very sincere and earnest" and tells Menzies that "The Portuguese won't fight." Of course, the Portuguese are in no danger so long as Spain remains neutral, though Hitler still dreams of drawing Franco into his collection of satellites and then occupying Portugal and its Atlantic islands.

German Military: While Adolf Hitler already has set the date for Operation Barbarossa as 22 June 1941, not everyone agrees with the decision. In fact, there is little enthusiasm for it within the uppermost reaches of the German government and military, including by Luftwaffe boss Hermann Goering. Admiral Raeder continues to press for his "peripheral strategy," which focuses on cutting off Great Britain's overseas possessions in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. That strategy to date has had great success, but the British remain entrenched in Egypt and at Gibraltar. The vast mass of the Wehrmacht, however, already is positioned in the East, and Hitler sticks with his plan to invade the Soviet Union.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt attends the dedication ceremony for the Home of Woodrow Wilson. Staunton, VA, May 4, 1941. FDR gives a speech on "The Power of Spiritual Force" (Margaret Suckley, FDR Presidential Library and Museum).

US Military: Brig. Gen. Henry B. Clagett, with his chief of staff Col. Harold Huston George, arrive at Manila in the Philippines to command the newly created Philippine Department Air Force. They arrive on a Boeing 314 Clipper (Pan-American Air Lines). Their mission is to expand the air defenses in the Philippines.

Soviet Government: The Politburo replaces Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov with Joseph Stalin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. This makes Stalin the de jure head of the Soviet government These appointments in the USSR are mere formalities, though, as there is no question that Stalin runs the government and always is the de facto national leader.

Hitler and Goering on 4 May 1941.

German Government: Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House (the Reichstag building itself has been unusable since the infamous fire several years ago). As often happens during his wartime speeches, Hitler sums up past events rather than giving a specific preview of coming events. In essence, it is a victory speech and covers events from the beginning of the war to date.

Hitler digs deep, delivering a polemic on why Germany is at war that is based on equal parts paranoia, self-delusion, and outright fabrications. He propounds some of his standard themes - that Germany was forced into the war based on decisions taken by others "as early as 1936," that the plot against Germany was formed by "great international Jewish financial interests," and that "this criminal" Winston Churchill (he also terms him a "fool" and a "drunkard") was personally responsible for the blockade and aerial campaign against the Reich.

Hitler also puts forth an economic argument for German policy in the Balkans - which obviously involves a lot of Wehrmacht military activity. He argues that reliance on money, or "worthless democratic money paper" as he puts it, is inherently unfair, and only mutual trade agreements such as those between the Reich and the Balkan states is fair. The wars that Germany has just won were the product of "filthy British politics" which had duped Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece and had forced a defensive campaign by the Wehrmacht to protect its southeast flank.

Hitler summarizes the Greek Campaign (Operation Marita) by claiming that Churchill had committed "one of the greatest strategic blunders of this war" by trying to garrison and defend it. He credits the order to attack Yugoslavia to the coup there. He notes that "the Greek soldiers have fought with the greatest bravery and contempt of death," and that the British force in Greece was there to attack the Reich and thus had to be removed. He gives figures of 57 officers and 1042 noncommissioned officers and men killed, 181 officers and 3571 noncommissioned officers and men wounded, and 13 officers and 372 noncommissioned officers and men wounded. Regarding future operations, he merely states that he views them with "perfect tranquillity and great confidence."

Needless to say, the speech is pure propaganda. Churchill's belated and inadequate military aid to Greece turned out to do nothing but offer Hitler a convenient excuse for why he attacked. No mention is made in the speech, of course, of Hitler's intense preparations for invading Greece long before the first British boot set foot there.

Singapore: Winston Churchill asks General Ismay for a "report on the efficiency of the gunners and personnel" manning air defenses in Singapore.

Romania: Madeleine Cantacuzino (soon to be Madeleine Lipatti) and Dinu Lipatti gave the first Romanian performance of Lipatti’s Symphonie concertante for two pianos and strings.

American Homeland: There is a concert held for the Deutsches Kriegshilfswerk [German war workers] at the California Hall in San Francisco, California. There is a strong German presence in San Francisco, where the Germans maintain a consulate.

Future History: Nickolas Ashford is born in Fairfield, South Carolina. He will become half of the famous singing group Ashford & Simpson. He will pass away in 2011.

Baseball in San Bruno Park, California on May 4, 1941 (Fred Beltramo, San Bruno Public Library).

May 1941

May 1, 1941: British Hold Tobruk
May 2, 1941: Anglo-Iraq War
May 3, 1941: Liverpool Hammered
May 4, 1941: Hitler Victory Speech
May 5, 1941: Patriots Day
May 6, 1941: Stalin In Command
May 7, 1941: May Blitz
May 8, 1941: Pinguin Sunk
May 9, 1941: U-110 Captured
May 10, 1941: Hess Flies Into History
May 11, 1941: The Hess Peace Plan
May 12, 1941: Tiger Arrives Safely
May 13, 1941: Keitel's Illegal Order
May 14, 1941: Holocaust in Paris
May 15, 1941: Operation Brevity
May 16, 1941: Blitz Ends
May 17, 1941: Habbaniya Relieved
May 18, 1941: Croatia Partitioned
May 19, 1941: Bismarck at Sea
May 20, 1941: Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1941: Robin Moore Sinking
May 22, 1941: Royal Navy Destruction Off Crete
May 23, 1941: Crete Must Be Won
May 24, 1941: Bismarck Sinks Hood
May 25, 1941: Lütjens' Brilliant Maneuver
May 26, 1941: Bismarck Stopped
May 27, 1941: Bismarck Sunk
May 28, 1941: Crete Lost
May 29, 1941: Royal Navy Mauled Off Crete
May 30, 1941: Sorge Warns, Stalin Ignores
May 31, 1941: British Take Baghdad

2020

Monday 19 August 1940

Junkers Ju 87 Stukas in action, 19 August 1940.

Battle of Britain: The fickle finger of fate once again intrudes with a return of poor flying weather on 19 August 1940. Overall, at this stage of the battle, rainy and cloudy weather favors the British, as they are furiously repairing airfields and sorting out units for better defense against the rabid Luftwaffe attacks. The German aircrew along the French coast, on the other hand, get to reflect all day upon all the fine pilots, friends and leaders lost recently in a futile attempt to achieve a big fat nothing which has no lasting effect.

The Luftwaffe sends two large forces of fighters totaling about 100 planes over Dungeness and north of Dover. This is a classic "Freie Jagd," or unrestricted, mission. The RAF doesn't fear fighters without bombers and remains on the ground. Even random strafing missions on airfields such as RAF Manson, Lympne, and Hawkinge don't bring a response. A small formation of Junkers Ju 88s off Sussex does send fighters of RAF No. 602 Squadron up, and both sides lose a plane, with the bombers running for home.

There are some missions that produce results. Junkers Ju 88s hit Pembroke Dock in South Wales, setting 8 oil tanks at Llanreath ablaze. A portion of this attack hits RAF Bilbury, damaging a couple of Spitfires. Otherwise, there are just lone raiders on fields such as Worthy Down, Harwell, Coltishall, Honington and Shrivenham. These raids do kill people on the ground and destroy some aircraft on the ground (three Wellingtons at Harwell), but they are more nuisance attacks than strategic efforts.

During the night, the specially equipped Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111s of KGr 100 (a special group of 26 Heinkels, 12 typically operational) based at Meucon near Vannes in Brittany attacks the Bristol area and the aircraft factory at Filton. This attack does produce some effective destruction of the large plant. The planes are helped with their navigation by the X-Verfahren radio beams, an advancement on the Knickebein system under development since 1936. At this point, the British are not yet even aware of this particular system (though they know all about the less sophisticated Knickebein system).

RAF Bomber Command continues its raids on airfields throughout northwestern Europe. It also hits Kiel and continues reaching further into Germany proper, bombing the Zschornewitz electrical plant outside Leipzig. There is another lengthy (almost three hours) false air raid alert in Berlin, for only about the fifth time of the war. The alert is probably due to the relative nearness of the Leipzig attack and the uncertainty of where it is actually headed. Both sides, it should be pointed out, are still attempting (sometimes unsuccessfully) to limit their attacks to military targets of one form or another. However, mistakes do happen...

The Luftwaffe damages British freighter Waldinge off of Milford Haven.

Overall, the day's losses are usually given as 5-10 for the Luftwaffe and 2-5 for the RAF, but as usual, these figures don't include planes destroyed on the ground (by both sides). Overall, the day is pretty much a wash, with both sides taking the usual infrastructure damage.

A Heinkel He 111 of Kampfgruppe 100 based at a private, top-secret airfield surrounded by woodlands near Vannes, France, autumn 1940. These medium bombers are equipped to use special equipment for navigational purposes.

German Military: Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering has another meeting at Carinhall. He is not happy, but then, all his recently lost pilots don't have even that luxury.

He officially suspends operations by Junkers Ju 87 Stukas in StG Staffeln in the interior of Great Britain. He keeps two Staffeln along the Kanalfront for "special situations" and withdraws the rest. The Stukas have produced good bombing results, but the losses are becoming insufferable: 57 lost since 8 August alone. Every bomber in the Luftwaffe is supposed to have dive-bombing capabilities, but the Stukas are the best that the Germans have for pinpoint attacks that are essential for taking out targets such as radar stations. Since Goering doesn't think the radar stations are worthwhile targets, they aren't really needed until the actual invasion anyway. Wolfram von Richthofen takes his VIII Fliegerkorps back to the Pas de Calais.

The limitations of the twin-engine Bf 110 Zerstörers also are addressed. The Bf 110s are beloved by Goering and the high command of the OKL, and in fact, they are quite capable planes. However, the Battle of Britain is proving that planes with rear gunners such as the Stukas and the Bf 110s are no match for top single-seat fighters like the Spitfire and Hurricane. Goering ordains that Bf 109s escort the Bf 110s. He also orders that escorts in general fly as close escorts, "tied" to the bombers rather than engaging in free-wheeling "Freie Jagds" favored by the fighter pilots. To encourage the fighter pilots to accept this change, Goering orders that they should become friends with the bomber crews and always escort the same bombers.

Neither the Junkers Ju 87 nor the Bf 110 is in any way "inferior" or "obsolete." In fact, both are used to the very end of the war with great success. The issue is their use against cutting edge fighters rather than missions better suited for their capabilities. Both planes develop new missions - the Stuka as a Soviet tank killer, the Bf 110 as a night fighter - that add to their legends.

Goering's changes, on the whole, reflect at least an acceptance of the facts, even if they aren't necessarily the most effective solutions (tying fighter and bomber formations together throughout campaigns is particularly problematic). As is so common in the German regime, though, these fairly reasonable tactical changes aren't the only thing he does: there must be some cathartic bloodletting as well. Luftwaffe formation commanders begin getting the ax. JG 52 is the first to feel the pain, with Major Merhart von Bernegg, replaced by Major Hanns Trübenbach as Kommodore. If there is one thing that you can count on with Hermann, it is finding a handy scapegoat or two.

Battle of the Atlantic: There are several U-boats operating in the same area off of northwest Ireland. This group is a proto-wolfpack which has great success.

U-48 (Korvettenkapitän Hans Rudolf Rösing) sinks 7900-ton Belgian passenger ship Ville de Gand right around midnight on 18/19 August (I also have this on the 18th). There are 38 survivors and 15 perish (accounts vary).

U-101 (Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim) torpedoes and sinks 4576-ton British freighter Ampleforth in the same area near Ireland at 01:54. There are 29 survivors and 9 crew perish.

U-A (Kplt. Hans Cohausz) torpedoes 4295-ton British freighter Hungarian Kelet in the same area at 10:00. There are 68 survivors and 6 perish. The Hungarian Kelet had rescued crew from the Clan Macphee which sank on 16 August, and of the 41 survivors taken aboard from the Clan MacPhee, all six deaths during this sinking were from the Clan Macphee (leaving 35 total survivors from that ship). This is actually a fairly common occurrence, survivors are often taken aboard ships that themselves are torpedoed later, and survivors for some reason usually seem to be in greater jeopardy than usual during the subsequent sinking. (This would make a good Twilight Zone episode when it's your time, it's your time....).

The British Fleet Air Arm bombs Kriegsmarine transports at Haugesund, Norway, causing damage to one.

There are two separate unsuccessful attacks by Italian submarines where they are operating off the Azores. The Malaspina misses a tanker, and the Barbarigo attacks the British freighter Aguila but also misses.

British submarine HMS Cachalot lays mines off of Penmarch in field FD 24.

Convoy FN 257 departs from Southend, Convoy MT 145 departs from Methil, Convoy FS 257 departs from the Tyne, Convoy OG 41 departs from Liverpool.

U-104 is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The RAF attacks Derna Harbour, oil storage tanks at Bir el Gobi, and the airfield at El Gubbi.

There are two air raids on Malta during the day, but the Italian aircraft stay offshore. A few more Blenheim bombers arrive for offensive missions.

The Malta Fighter Plane Fund announces that it has reached its target of £6000 (Spitfires actually cost a bit more than that), so it launches a second drive for another plane. Contributions are seen as highly patriotic, and many people with titles and all that are eager to contribute to show they are "in it to win it."

Postal rates to Malta are raised to limit the amount of mail being sent by air.

HMAS Hobart participating in the evacuation from British Somaliland.

British Somaliland: With the British having evacuated on the 19th, the Italians cautiously occupy Berbera today. HMAS Hobart remains around in the harbor during the day to give the Italians a proper rousing welcome and blow up various items that couldn't be removed to Aden. The Italians have lost roughly 2000 men during the campaign (estimates vary) and the British only 38 dead and 222 other casualties, but the campaign is a huge British embarrassment and a black eye to British prestige despite a competently fought campaign under the circumstances.

Losing to the Italians is particularly galling to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who has been openly and caustically belittling their fighting ability for years. The campaign took only 16 days. Churchill now nurses a grudge against Middle East Commander General Wavell, one of the most highly respected General in the world. Hitler is jubilant, sending Mussolini a message that it is "a great victory in East Africa, a foretaste of British ruin to come at home."

German/Spanish Relations: Abwehr chief Admiral Canaris is back in Madrid seeing if he can get Spanish support for projected Operation Felix, the invasion of Gibraltar.

Front view of the first North American B-25 Mitchell, 40-2165.

US Military: The prototype North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber makes its maiden flight.

Submarine USS R-5, a 1919 submarine decommissioned in 1932, is recommissioned in order to patrol off the Bay of Panama and protect the Canal Zone.

Estonia: The Soviets seize two Estonian submarines (Kalev and Lembit) and some other ships. "Seize" may be too harsh a word, since Estonia is now an SSR and technically part of the Soviet Union. As the Soviets see it, the USSR is merely "seizing" its own assets, or one might say just "transferring" them. However, much of the local population doesn't quite see it that way.

China: Zero fighters (A6M2) have been operational with the 12th Rengo Kōkūtai since July, but they have been used only for training so far. Today, in their first combat mission, a dozen of them (Model 11) escort 54 G3M2 Type 96 "Nell" bombers over Chungking. The Chinese are still using ancient biplane fighters in the defense which are no match for the cutting edge Zeros.

British Homefront: The Children's Overseas Reception Board begins evacuating children to Australia. Heretofore, evacuations were usually to more rural areas of England where parents could visit on the weekends (and also some to Canada), so this is a bit of a wrenching change for many.

American Homefront: The Gallup organization publishes a poll showing that Americans approve of the destroyer-for-bases deal by a 62-38% margin.

Future History: Jill Arlyn Oppenheim is born in Los Angeles, California. Jill becomes a child actress, appearing on the radio as early as 1946 and on television in "A Christmas Carol" in 1949. At some point, her mother changes Jill's last name to something more distinctive, and as Jill St. John she becomes a top Hollywood actress, a Bond girl and marries Robert Wagner. She remains active in the film industry as of this writing.


August 1940

August 1, 1940: Two RN Subs Lost
August 2, 1940: Operation Hurry
August 3, 1940: Italians Attack British Somaliland
August 4, 1940: Dueling Legends in the US
August 5, 1940: First Plan for Barbarossa
August 6, 1940: Wipe Out The RAF
August 7, 1940: Burning Oil Plants
August 8, 1940: True Start of Battle of Britain
August 9, 1940: Aufbau Ost
August 10, 1940: Romania Clamps Down On Jews
August 11, 1940: Huge Aerial Losses
August 12, 1940: Attacks on Radar
August 13, 1940: Adler Tag
August 14, 1940: Sir Henry's Mission
August 15, 1940: Luftwaffe's Black Thursday
August 16, 1940: Wolfpack Time
August 17, 1940: Blockade of Britain
August 18, 1940: The Hardest Day
August 19, 1940: Enter The Zero
August 20, 1940: So Much Owed By So Many
August 21, 1940: Anglo Saxon Incident
August 22, 1940: Hellfire Corner
August 23, 1940: Seaplanes Attack
August 24, 1940: Slippery Slope
August 25, 1940: RAF Bombs Berlin
August 26, 1940: Troops Moved for Barbarossa
August 27, 1940: Air Base in Iceland
August 28, 1940: Call Me Meyer
August 29, 1940: Schepke's Big Day
August 30, 1940: RAF's Bad Day
August 31, 1940: Texel Disaster

2020