Thursday 25 July 1940

Searching the skies for Germany paratroopers, a soldier stands in a standard armored Beaverette reconnaissance car of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, Royal Armoured Corps, 25th July 1940.

Battle of Britain: The Luftwaffe, specifically General Kesselring's Luftflotte 2, continues pressing its attacks on the Channel convoys on 25 July 1940. They are proving successful in their mission to both destroy ships and draw the RAF up to combat. The Luftwaffe has installed some radar on the French coast, and it is making shipping attacks and air interceptions more precise. The Germans also have a wireless intercept station at Wissant that is proving useful. The beauty of the strategy from the German point of view is that the RAF fighters, acting on the defensive, must climb to meet the attacking Luftwaffe fighters who already are at altitude, leaving the Spitfires and Hurricanes vulnerable.

Sixty Stukas (II,/StG1 and IV StG1), assisted by S-boats, use the radar information to sortie against a convoy at first light. Convoy CW 8 "Peewit" loses five small freighters (Corhaven, Polgrange, Leo, Portslade, and Henry Moon), while five other freighters are damaged and two destroyers - HMS Boreas and Brilliant - are as well. Spitfires of RAF Nos. 54 and 65 arrive late, and the Bf 109s are waiting for them. JG26, still smarting from recent losses, escorts the Stukas. Adolf Galland of III,/JG26 pounces, and the British lose three planes in a hurry. The Stukas are vulnerable after their dives, and the RAF planes shoot two down. The action continues all afternoon, with both sides sending swarms of planes. During the afternoon, Ju 88s attack. The raids continue until 19:30.

After dark, it is fairly quiet. Most of the Luftwaffe activity is minelaying in the Firth of Forth, Newcastle and the Thames estuary.

Overall, it is a bloodbath at sea which appears to justify Luftwaffe chief Goering's strategy. Only 2 out of 21 ships of the convoy make it to Portland. It is estimated that the Luftwaffe lost about 16 planes and the RAF 8. This sounds like a big RAF victory, but all of the British losses are fighters, and the RAF fighter defenses are getting ground down. RAF No. 54 Squadron has been mauled over since the start of the Battle of Britain, losing five pilots and twelve airplanes. It is pulled from the line and sent north to regroup. Hugh Dowding of Fighter Command admits that "If we try to fight the Germans on a 1-to-1 basis, we'd soon have no fighters left."

Adolph Galland of JG 26 gets his 16th victory.

The Admiralty bows to the inevitable and orders that future convoys be conducted at night. This is difficult since the ships can't make it all the way down the coast during darkness.

Spitfire Mk I KL-O from No 54 Squadron. On 25 July 1940, it was flown by 22-year-old acting F/L Basil H "Wonky" Way from RAF Hornchurch. It crashed into the Channel at 15:00 after Way had been credited with a BF 109 destroyed 10 miles east of Dover. Way's body later washed up on a Belgian beach.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command raids northwest Germany and Holland, including Hamburg and the Ems canal.

Battle of the Atlantic: German battlecruiser Gneisenau completes temporary repairs (torpedoed by HMS Clyde on 20 June) at Trondheim and heads south to Kiel for a permanent repair. She is escorted by a large task force lead by cruiser Nürnberg and destroyers Galster, Jacobi, Lody and Ihn.

Convoy SL 41 departs from Freetown.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Italian Regia Aeronautica attacks Alexandria and Haifa.

Convoy Hurry, the plan to ferry a dozen Hurricane fighters to Malta, is now projected to reach the vicinity of the island on 31 July. Submarines HMS Pandora and Proteus will bring in supplies need by the planes.

In Malta, it is a quiet day with no air raids. Governor Dobbie appoints Lt Col Vella of King’s Own Malta Regiment to the position of Administrative Command of all Maltese infantry and volunteers. This new position is designed to integrate Maltese peoples into the armed forces.

Sgt John B Shepherd leans on the 1932 Aero Minx (which appears to have one headlight blacked out) of P/O Geoffrey K Gout, both of No 234 Squadron RAF based at RAF St Eval. A keen motorist who raced at Brooklands before the war, the 24-year-old pilot crashed to his death on 25 July near Porthtowan in Cornwall during a night patrol. Records indicate that he was disorientated when returning to the blacked-out base and pitched in a field close to a farm near Maval.

German/Romanian Relations: Hitler meets with the Romanian Premier and Foreign Minister at Berchtesgaden.

German/Italian Relations: Hitler agrees to allow Italian planes to participate in the Battle of Britain, which does not really seem necessary at this point as the battle is going reasonably well.

German Government: German Economics Minister Walther Funk gives a long speech entitled "The Economic Reorganization of Europe." It revolves around the idea of a "Greater Europe" which he admits "does not yet actually exist." He discusses a European currency union (led by Germany) free from any gold standard and notes that the "raw material situation of Greater Germany has improved immensely during the war." The Reichsmark will be the dominant currency, with all other currencies tied to it by fixed exchange rates. In fact, Germany already is doing this with Vichy France on draconian exchange rate terms.

Many of Funk's ideas sound quite similar to the later European Economic Community. It is an optimistic speech that looks forward to a seemingly early end to the war, which is the prerequisite for any of his ideas actually happening. The underpinning of the entire idea, however, is, as William Shirer points out, that the "Germans will abandon the gold standard and substitute their worthless Reichsmark, making US gold reserve useless."

Blenheim Mk IF of No. 25 Squadron taxiing at Martlesham Heath, watched by air- and ground crews, 25 July 1940. The squadron was used for night fighter operations.

US Government: The government ratchets up the pressure on the Japanese by banning the export of oil and scrap metal without a license. The Americas and Great Britain are excluded from this ban. This measure removes a major source of Japanese oil imports, and there are very tempting oil fields just to the south.

Heavy cruisers USS Wichita (CA 45, Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and USS Quincy (CA 39) depart Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Bahia, Brazil on their "Show the flag" mission.

British Government: The RAF announces that it has made over 1000 raids into occupied Europe since the start of the war.

Free French: Philippe de Hauteclocque aka Captain Leclerc joins the Free French in London.

Switzerland: While the Swiss are tilting toward Germany, they still fear an invasion. Commander-in-chief General Henri Guisan delivers an impassioned address to the Swiss Officer Corps on the Rütli (Ruetti Meadow), a field of great military tradition. He exhorts the officers to be prepared to resist a German invasion and to fight to the last man in an Alpine redoubt sealed off by dynamiting mountain passes.

Luxembourg: The Royal Family arrives at the Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland aboard the USS Trenton (CL 11).

P/O Brendan EF "Paddy" Finucane took off in Spitfire Mk I YT-W with B Flight under F/L William H "Bill" Franklin for his first scramble on the morning of 25 July 1940, the day after No 65 Squadron RAF had moved to the satellite airfield at RAF Rochford. During the patrol, the aircraft developed a glycol leak, filling the cockpit with vapor from the cooling liquid condensing on the engine. After the R/T went dead, the 19-year-old Irishman made a wheels-up landing back at base.

July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020

Wednesday 24 July 1940

Supermarine Spitfire Mark Is of No. 610 Squadron based at Biggin Hill, flying in 'Vic' formation. 24 July 1940. [© IWM (CH 740)].

Battle of Britain: The Luftwaffe attacks against shipping in the English Channel ramp up on 24 July 1940, with a number of successes. It also makes several minor raids onshore. The day is a real slugfest, with both sides taking heavy losses, and when you take into account the British shipping losses, it was not a bad day for the overall German strategy.
The day's highlight is a succession of massive air battles off of Margate which collectively is called the Battle of the Thames Estuary. The melee begins at 07:55. It is an attack by Dornier Do 17s on a British convoy in the Thames estuary. RAF Nos. 54 and 64 Squadrons send their Spitfires up. The RAF loses three Spitfires to no losses by the attacking bombers.

Another attack on the same convoys (there are two convoys in the same area) has quite a different result. It begins at 11:00, again by Dornier Do 17 bombers escorted by JG26 and JG 52. Some Dorner Do 215s also showed up. RAF No. 54 Squadron goes up again. This is a massive formation including some 40 Bf 109s, so the RAF also scrambles RAF Nos. 64  and 610 Squadrons - all Spitfires.

This time, the RAF gets the better of the Germans. The Dorniers are under intense pressure, fleeing every which way out to sea and over Margate at the rooftop level. There are intricate dogfights marked by fighter contrails.

JG 26, one of the elite Luftwaffe squadrons, has a very bad day. Most of it has just returned to the French coast from Germany, and it appears to be a bit rusty. JG 26 loses three pilots, including the Gruppenkommandeur of II Gruppe, Hauptmann Erich Noack.

The British claim 16 fighter victories, but actual Luftwaffe losses are much lower. The Germans lose four III,/JG52 fighters, three JG26 fighters, and one from III,/JG27.

Karl Ebbinghausen, a top ace, is promoted to replace Noack. Hauptmann Adolph Galland of III,/JG26, who gets a victory, remembered this day as the final evidence that "the RAF would prove to be a formidable opponent." The attrition strategy is wearing on the Germans, too.

In the evening, the Luftwaffe sends another small attack against the Channel convoys at 17:27. Once again, the bombers - Dornier Do 215s - acquit themselves well, shooting down two Spitfires for the loss of one of their own number.

Aside from the air battles, it is a good day for the German bombers. The Luftwaffe sinks 356-ton minesweeping trawler HMS Fleming in the Thames estuary. There are three survivors, and 19 crew perish.

The Luftwaffe sinks Royal Navy trawlers HMS Kingston Galena (350 tons) and Rodino (230 tons) off of Dover. There are 16 deaths on the former and 4 on the latter.

British freighter Alert is bombed and damaged by the Luftwaffe near South Goodwin Light Vessel.

On land, there are scattered bombing raids on Walton-on-Thames, aircraft factories at Weybridge, and the Brooklands airfield. The last is an odd attack, as the solo Junkers Ju 88 bomber pretends to be an innocent visitor, circling the airfield seemingly in a holding pattern preparatory to landing. It allows several RAF planes to land, then comes in for a landing itself with wheels down - only to drop a dozen bombs and scoot off.

After dark, there are minor Luftwaffe bomber attacks on Glasgow and New Brighton, with the Luftwaffe perhaps losing a bomber during the latter action.

P/O Alan F "Shag" Eckford, 21 years old, is posted today from No 242 Squadron RAF to No 32 Squadron RAF at RAF Biggin Hill. He flies three missions during the day, 24 July 1940. Here, he does what real fighter pilots do between missions.

European Air Operations: RAF Bomber Command sends in another attack against the incomplete Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven. 14 Whitley bombers cause no damage to the ship. There are other raids on the usual nearby targets such as Emden and Hamburg.

Battle of the Atlantic: Finnish freighter Trio (1451 tons) hits a mine near Borkum and sinks. Everybody survives.

Convoy FN 231 departs Southend, Convoy MT 119 departs Methil, Convoy FS 231 departs from the Tyne.

German raider Widder takes on supplies from aptly named freighter Rekum.

The Kriegsmarine continues its minelaying operations in the North Sea which the Admiralty on 23 July thought was an invasion force.

U-139 is commissioned.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Liner Celio (3864 tons) hits a mine and sinks about 10 miles off the eastern Libyan coast. The mine had been laid by the British submarine HMS Rorqual on 21 July.

The situation on Malta is growing critical, so the Admiralty sets in motion a convoy to reinforce the dwindling fighter defenses on the island. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Argus sets off from Portland carrying a dozen Hurricane fighters, accompanied by destroyers Gallant and Greyhound, bound for Gibraltar. There, the plan is for them to rendezvous with other ships to form Convoy Hurry bound for Malta. They will bring only the most urgently needed supplies, as they face air attacks from Vichy France and Italy, as well as Italian submarine and surface vessel attacks.

Separately, supply ships set out to make the long trip around Africa to Suez. Aside from the very few and highly risky missions "up the gut" through the Pillars of Hercules, all supplies sent to Malta take the long route, which takes weeks.

On the island itself, there are some minor attacks on Grand Harbour which cause no damage because, as is often the case, the Italian pilots simply drop their bombs in the sea and then scramble for home.

Elsewhere, the RAF bombs Bardia and Macaca, causing damage to infrastructure.

War Crimes: The Meknés: While improper things happen in the fog of war by accident, sometimes an action crosses the line due to the circumstances. It is always a judgment call what is a "crime," but I put things (such as the British regularly shooting down clearly marked German rescue and recovery planes) in this category when circumstances appear to cross that line. Invariably, the offending government finds some flimsy excuse to justify the clearly illegal action. In the British case, it is that the German planes actually are serving as scouts for later Luftwaffe attacks. Here, the excuse appears even flimsier, but that, again, is a judgment call, and all too often nobody with the ability to do anything is empowered to make that call.

French liner Meknés (6127 tons) is repatriating French sailors captured during Operation Catapult on 3 July to Marseilles when Kriegsmarine S-Boot (fast torpedo boat) S.27 sinks it off Dieppe. Of the 1277 Frenchmen on board, 383 perish (sources vary), while 33 of the 104 crew also perish. There would be more deaths, but destroyers HMS Viscount, Wolverine Sabre and Shikari are nearby and quickly rescue whoever they can. The Meknes is flying the French flag and was sailing with lights on at 22:30, so the attack is either mistaken or misguided. The British lodge a diplomatic protest, and the excuse ultimately given is that the British should have notified the Germans of the ship's departure.

The true explanation is simply that the German commander, an Oberleutnant Klug, is being overly aggressive. The ship, operating in peacetime conditions, sticks out like a sore thumb, with every other ship operating in darkness. As a surface ship, the S-boot crew must have a good look at the liner, and the night is clear, so there are few valid excuses.

It is highly unlikely that the very traditional and often quite reasonable higher officers of the Kriegsmarine want incidents like this to happen (your opinion may vary). This incident illustrates that the war is being fought by individuals with power to destroy and cause problems on their own initiative, not by governments that always have absolute control over what their people do (and, to be fair, individuals on both sides sometimes act in a humane fashion that their governments disapprove of, see the later Laconia incident for example). A steady succession of incidents like this - and failure by the governments of both sides to take true responsibility - is what turns the war toward an ever-more barbarous course. The French have no way to retaliate against the Reich... yet.

This incident is well-remembered in France, not so much in the English-speaking countries. An association to remember the incident was formed in 2009 and commemorative ceremonies take place in France every 24th of July.

Actress Dolores Del Rio and Orson Welles go fishing off Catalina Island and have a huge catch of barracuda and yellowtail. July 24, 1940

Palestine: The Italians bomb Haifa again. The objective is British oil refineries. Four civilians perish because the bombers miss their target and hit houses instead.

Kenya: South Africa increases its war presence by shipping the 1st Infantry Brigade to Mombasa.

Romanian Government: Romania nationalizes Royal Dutch/Shell Oil Company) subsidiary Astra-Romana Oil Company on the flimsy excuse that it has not been transparent about its production.

British Government:  Member of Parliament Will Thorpe raises perhaps the most novel approach for ending the war ever proposed. During the Minister's Question Time, Thorpe remarks that the war would end quickly once "Hitler married a sensible woman." Eva Braun may be thinking the same thing, and, in point of fact...

Winston Churchill finally lifts the media ban on the sinking of the Lancastria of 17 June 1940. In that action, some 1,738 people were killed (sources vary) during the evacuation from France, one of the greatest naval disasters in Royal Navy history. Until now, there only have been rumors, fed by the increasingly obvious absence of the victims. Now, there is a certainty, and many sad relatives who at least now have closure.


July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020