Single raids in the south and reconnaissance flights.
Night: Main attacks in South Wales.
Weather: Showers with bright intervals. Cloudy in Straits, Channel and Thames Estuary.
Enemy Action by Day
German air activity remained limited throughout the day, largely curtailed by poor weather and low cloud cover. Early operations were confined to reconnaissance missions, with Luftwaffe patrol aircraft spotted off the East Coast and near Scotland. One meteorological He 111 was intercepted and destroyed near Sumburgh by RAF fighters.
Several reconnaissance flights probed the coastal defenses, particularly near Walton, Harwich, and the North Foreland. One such aircraft, crossing inland near Clacton, was successfully brought down by anti-aircraft fire near Duxford, and its five-man crew was taken prisoner.
Later in the day, isolated raids developed along the South Coast. Nine enemy aircraft — some conducting weather reconnaissance — approached between Selsey Bill and Lyme but turned away without engaging. Eventually, eleven single aircraft penetrated inland, targeting scattered sites in Devon and Hampshire. Damage was minor, though one Ju 88 was destroyed by RAF fighters near Weymouth.
One notable inland raid reached the Rugby and Warwick areas, where targets were bombed and strafed. However, the persistent cloud base made interception difficult, and most raiders escaped without confrontation. Sgt H.J. Merchant of No. 1 Squadron was forced to crash-land his Hurricane near Withyham, Kent after running out of fuel. He survived the landing unhurt.
Enemy Action by Night
German air operations expanded after dusk, although not at the intensity seen the night before. The heaviest raids focused on South Wales and the Bristol region. Cardiff endured multiple bombing runs. Filton airfield, a key production site for the Bristol Aeroplane Company, was struck once more, with up to sixteen tons of high explosive causing structural damage but failing to halt operations.
Bristol’s docks were hit in coordinated attacks by all three Gruppen of KG 27. Around 2300 hours, twelve He 111s from III./KG 27 bombed the area, followed by eleven more from I./KG 27 striking Avonmouth shortly afterward. After midnight, II./KG 27 completed the sequence with another wave over the docks.
Further bombing raids extended north along the east coast to Middlesbrough, Harrogate, and York. Kent also came under attack, and bombs were reported on Aberdeen. Near the Firth of Forth, Adrian Hope Boyd of No. 145 Squadron shot down a He 111 ten miles from Edinburgh.
A renewed attack on Manston occurred at 01:25, during which thirty bombs were dropped on the aerodrome. At the same time, three Ju 88s attacked Thorney Island. Meanwhile, No. 307 Squadron (Polish) was officially formed as a night-fighter unit.
Elsewhere, convoy OA 203 in the Moray Firth came under torpedo attack by He 115s from Stavanger. Two ships, the Llanishen (5,035 GRT) and the Makalla (6,680 GRT), were sunk. Minelaying was suspected off Portsmouth, between the Lizard and Land’s End, and in the Bristol Channel and Carmarthen Bay.
Anti-aircraft defenses engaged raiders over Birmingham, where five incursions were recorded during the night.
German Losses:
Airmen: 20 | Aircraft: 8
British Losses:
Airmen: 0 | Aircraft: 1
Photo Description
- Boulton Paul Defiant Mark Is (L7006 ‘PS-X’ nearest) of No. 264 Squadron RAF, being prepared for take off by groundcrew at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, August 1940. © IWM (CH 880)