The Chronology: Page-46
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Dawn: As the first light of
day takes over from the dark of the early morning, members of the Civil
Defence, the fire services and many civilians count the cost the nights
bombing. About 2200 hrs the previous night, German bombers attacked a number
of installations in Northumberland and County Durham causing considerable
damage. But it was again on London that the bombing was most severe. Just
before midnight, heavy bombing occurred along the Thames and as the night
wore on this was extended closer to the city centre. By daylight, the extent
of the damage was clearly seen. The once high class shopping areas of Regent
Street, Bond Street and along Piccadilly, was a scene of devastation. Many
shop fronts had been blown in, many of the once beautiful facades that
had formed a part of London's history for many years now lay in a crumpled
mass of bricks and mortar in the streets.
WEATHER:
Heavy cloud was expected to continue throughout the day and rain periods, heavy at times was expected over most of Britain. The Channel areas could expect a very low cloud base with early morning fog and mist patches in coastal districts. OPERATIONS:
Waking up to a rather dismal and
damp morning, it was obvious to many of the British pilots that it was
certainly not going to be a day that one should be up there in that dull
grey murk and they hoped that the Luftwaffe would see it in the same way.
They were not going to be disappointed. Radar stations along the Channel
coast were idle, the CRT screens blank.
0950hrs:
Ironically, it was not on the south coast that the first attacks of the
day occurred. A small formation made a surprise attack on Liverpool. No
serious damage was done as most of the enemy aircraft were flying in singly
or in pairs. Later in the morning, a number of Ju88s were detected heading
towards London. These were met by 249 Squadron North Weald (Hurricanes)
and 302 Squadron Duxford (Hurricanes) over north Kent. The Ju88s were scattered
and were turned back with one of the bombers being shot down by F/O J. Kowalski
of 302 Squadron at 1130hrs and it crashed near Bury St Edmunds. Another
was to sustain engine damage and crash landed near Cambridge.
1050hrs: During the rest of the day, the Luftwaffe make a number of reconnaissance flights over the Channel and off the English east coast over the North Sea. Other aircraft are assumed to mine laying duties and Fighter Command decides to leave them alone as they are posing no threat. One of the aircraft, a Ju88 was spotted crossing the coast near Harwich at 1045hrs and was soon intercepted by British fighters and it crashed on the coast near Orfordness. 1600hrs: Everything is rather quiet up until now when radar picks up small blips off the coast near Swanage.
Across
the Channel, the Germans were busy during the day cleaning up the Channel
ports from Calais to Antwerp after Wellington's, Hampdens and Whitleys
unleashed another successful night attack on the barges during the night
of the 18th/19th September. It was the biggest operation yet by Bomber
Command on the barge installations when 194 bombers were involved. Of these,
187 crews reported that their mission was successful. Of this number, only
one Hampden was lost while another was lost on a separate mine laying mission.
[1]
With the events of September 15th still fresh when the Luftwaffe suffered tremendous losses, and the weather that was by now deteriorating and the prospect that no further improvement could be seen in the foreseeable future, Hitler formally announces that 'under the present circumstances it is not possible to contemplate any invasion plans against England.' The invasion was now postponed indefinitely and there would be no further discussion on the matter until the spring when the weather conditions would more suited to any implementation of an invasion. Of course, this is not known in England although as to whether any message was intercepted by British Intelligence or Fighter Command has never been mentioned or recorded. Plans were put into place where the majority of German troops, that had been placed in readiness for an invasion of Britain, were now given fresh orders and were posted to alternative fronts. Most of them were to go towards the east in preparation for "Operation Barbarosa" that was to take place the following year, some had been sent to Crete while the remaining troops dismantled all the barges at the various ports along the Channel coast. But although all plans now had been postponed, that was not say that hostilities against Britain were to cease. Air attacks were to continue, especially at night. The regular daylight sortie was still to occur which kept Fighter Command busy, but the continuous bombing of British cities and towns was to achieve nothing, except that Hitler hoped that it would demoralize the people. But in actual effect it had the opposite. The Luftwaffe bombed Britain, the stronger the people became. They were true to their word, ".....they can bomb us as much as they like, they can come over night after night but the will never, never break our spirit." Inclement weather conditions in the evening, curtailed many German operations although scattered attacks did occur. Mine laying continued along the coastline, Northumberland and County Durham were bombed although no serious damage was reported. Liverpool prepared for night raids and many sirens sounded, but it appears that enemy aircraft kept well out into the Irish Sea as no attack was made on the city. A formation of German bombers was detected off the Welsh coast at 1950hrs and appeared to be heading for the port of Liverpool, but they were lost and there was no record of them reaching Liverpool. The London area came under warning signals at 1955hrs and a number of separate raids on the capital commenced at 2100hrs, and damage was done at Heston aerodrome in Middlesex when bombs destroyed a hangar and a number of buildings. Thirteen aircraft were damaged, some seriously. These included Spitfires of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, a Wellington bomber that was 'just visiting' and the famous Lockheed 12A that was used by the famous war photographer Sidney Cotton. In London, a bomb exploded at the entrance to a large air raid shelter in the borough of Tottenham and estimates put the casualty count at about 70. Bombs fell at Edmonton, Golders Green and Willesden, but damage was not serious. By 2100hrs, much of the heavy cloud cover either thinned out or cleared, especially in the North Wales and north west coast of England and a number of enemy aircraft were spotted. Most came under AA gunfire, but there were no reports of any of the bombers being brought down. The weather seriously hampered Bomber Commands operations. Only a handful of Blenheims left for a raid on Dunkirk Harbour bombing German shipping and buildings. In general,
it was a day of spasmodic and scattered raids, quite often only consisting
of a single German bomber. The weather conditions must have contributed
to the fact that no major operation was conducted by the Luftwaffe. Compared
to the heavy activity of previous days, Fighter Command took the advantage
of moving some of those squadrons that had been under intense pressure
over the last few weeks to quieter pastures.
CASUALTIES:
It was just the second time during the battle that Fighter Command did not suffer any casualties. True that Britain
did not have any with the exception that one aircraft of 257 Squadron Debden
suffered engine failure while on convoy patrol but landed safely. But the
Luftwaffe did sustain a number of casualties.
Excluding about
six Luftwaffe bombers that crashed on landing on internal flights or crashed
on take off, there were a number of them that crashed after being involved
in operations against the RAF. One Ju88 of 4(F)/121 had to make a forced
landing at Oakington aerodrome due to engine failure while on a photo-reconnaissance
flight and was involved with British fighters and its crew captured. Another
Ju88 of 5(F)/122 was involved in a British fighter attack and had to return
to base carrying one dead and one seriously injured crewmember. A Do17
of 7/KG2 was attacked by Spitfires over southern England and although it
managed to return to France it crashed. Another Do17 of 2/KG3 was believed
to have suffered damage from AA gunfire and crashed on landing causing
minor damage to the aircraft. A Ju88 was shot down by fighters over London
with all the crew either killed or missing. A He111 of 4/KG4 was pursued
by Hurricanes over the Thames Estuary and was last seen heading out towards
the North Sea and is presumed to have crashed into the sea. The crew of
a He111 were captured after their aircraft was brought down by AA gunfire
near Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire. All these claims have been checked
ands many of them are also recorded in Winston Ramsey's Battle of Britain
- Then and Now Vol 5
[1] Middlebrook &
Everitt Bomber Command War Diaries Midland 1996 p84
The Battle of Britain - 1940
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2007
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