London and Merseyside bombed. Night: Heavy damage to London. Weather: Bright and squally. Main Activity: At 9 a.m. the first blips appeared on Fighter Command radar screens. They showed a heavy build-up over-Calais. The raiders, mainly fighters, penetrated between North Foreland and Folkestone at 20,000 feet. They were split up over Maidstone and the Estuary […]
1940
19
Sep
Thursday 19 September 1940
Reduced activity, attacks mainly over Thames Estuary and East London. Night: Raids on London and Merseyside. Weather: Showery. Main Activity: Piccadilly, Regent Street, Bond Street, North Audley Street, Park Lane and many less famous thoroughfares in the centre of London were blocked after the night’s raids. Big cranes surrounded Marble Arch and men of the […]
20
Sep
Friday 20 September 1940
One major fighter sweep towards London, otherwise reconnaissance only. Night: Raids concentrated on London. Weather: Fair with bright periods, showery. Main Activity: There were few early-morning raids but at 10.30 a.m. the Luftwaffe started massing at Calais. Then twenty planes crossed the coast at Dungeness at 13,000 feet, thirty overflew Dover, at 12,000 feet, and […]
21
Sep
Saturday 21 September 1940
Some fighter sweeps in east Kent. Night: London and Merseyside attacked. Weather: Mainly fine. Main Activity: London, cloaked in haze, enjoyed a relatively quiet day, as did the rest of the country except for isolated attacks and extensive reconnaissance in coastal areas. Among the lone raiders was a Ju 88 which bombed the Hawker works […]
22
Sep
Sunday 22 September 1940
Reduced activity. Night: London attacked. Weather: Dull with fog in morning. Cloudy in afternoon, fair to fine late. Some rain. Main Activity: Twelve single raiders flying high over London and the noise of No. 234 Squadron’s Browning guns shooting down a lone Ju 88 scarcely disturbed this Sunday’s congregations. Even the sound of Merlin engines […]
23
Sep
Monday 23 September 1940
Fighter sweeps towards London. Night: Attacks on London and Merseyside. Weather: Fine. Main Activity: At 9 a.m. a build-up of nearly 200 planes was detected over Calais. Chiefly Bf 109s, they came over in four large and two small waves fanned out beyond Dover. Twenty-four squadrons were up to cut them off and ten intercepted. […]
24
Sep
Tuesday 24 September 1940
Tilbury and Southampton raided. Night: Continued bombing of London and Merseyside. Weather: Early morning fog in northern France. Channel cloudy with haze in the Straits and Thames Estuary. Main Activity: British service chiefs, unaware that Seelöwe had been postponed on September 17th, continued to await the invasion. Equinoctial gales which had swept the Channel earlier […]
25
Sep
Wednesday 25 September 1940
Bristol and Plymouth bombed. Night: London, North Wales and Lancashire attacked. Weather: Fair to fine in most areas. Cool. Main Activity: Apart from the usual reconnaissance flights and the detection of intense activity over France at 8.20 a.m., the morning was quiet. At 11.20 a large raid crossed the coast. Fighter-bombers made diversionary attacks on […]
26
Sep
Thursday 26 September 1940
Supermarine factory at Southampton attacked and wrecked. Night: Raids on London and Merseyside. Weather: Mainly fair to cloudy. Main Activity: It was obvious to the Germans as they studied reconnaissance photographs of Southampton that Supermarine’s Woolston factory remained intact. In the afternoon seventy-six planes – He 111s, Ju 88s and Bf 109s – assembled over […]
27
Sep
Friday 27 September 1940
Heavy attacks on London and Bristol. Night: Further raids on London, Merseyside and the Midlands. Weather: Fair in the extreme south and south-west. Cloudy in the Channel with light rain over southern England. Main Activity: The first sign of German activity appeared on the operations table at No. 11 Group as the 8 a.m. watch […]