Isolated raids on Britain. Heavy reconnaissance activity.
Night: Widespread harassing raids. Minelaying.
Weather: Mainly cloudy. Occasional showers in the east.
Enemy Action by Day
Monday, 19 August 1940, brought overcast skies and scattered showers across eastern Britain. On the surface, it appeared to be a quieter day in the Battle of Britain, marked by isolated raids and reconnaissance flights. Yet behind the scenes, it represented a pivotal shift in Luftwaffe strategy. At Karinhall, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring convened a critical conference with his air fleet commanders, frustrated by the Luftwaffe’s failure to gain air superiority over Britain.
Göring’s Strategic Directives
Göring’s response to the Luftwaffe’s mounting difficulties was a sweeping reassessment of operations. The Ju 87 dive-bombers of VIII. Fliegerkorps—having sustained unsustainable losses—were withdrawn from frontline duties, save for two Staffeln retained for occasional precision attacks. Their role in the coming invasion, Operation Seelöwe, was to be deferred until the RAF had been neutralised.
More controversially, Göring ordered that Bf 109 fighters escort Bf 110 units in close formation—effectively treating one type of fighter as a bomber. This directive drew scorn from front-line Bf 109 pilots, who resented the restrictions on their tactical freedom. To mock the policy, some painted their aircraft with the emblem of the German railway service, a satirical jab at being reduced to “train conductors” for the bomber streams.
Göring also mandated that bomber and fighter crews should meet and build camaraderie, and that escort pairings remain consistent. This, too, was met with scepticism from the ranks. More tangible was a command reshuffle: senior Jagdgeschwader leaders were replaced by younger, more aggressive officers. Major Hanns Trübenbach was appointed Kommodore of JG 52, replacing Major Merhart von Bernegg. Meanwhile, Bf 109 Gruppen from Luftflotte 3 were moved to the Pas-de-Calais, where their shorter transit time allowed longer patrols over southern England.
Morning Reconnaissance and Light Activity
The morning hours saw minimal Luftwaffe action. Isolated reconnaissance flights were tracked over southern England, the East Coast, and the Thames Estuary. These were typically single aircraft operating at high altitude, scouting for future targets or monitoring RAF activity. No significant attacks occurred before midday.
Afternoon Raids: Scattered Bombings and Isolated Clashes
Although the Luftwaffe launched no large-scale formations, the afternoon brought a series of scattered attacks across southern and eastern England.
Around 13:45 hours, a Ju 88 was intercepted and destroyed near Taunton. Shortly afterwards, another Ju 88 was brought down near Southampton, and a third was lost over the Isle of Wight at 17:15 hours. These aircraft had been attempting to reach targets deep into England but were intercepted before striking with effect.
The most destructive raid of the day occurred at Llanreath, near Pembroke Docks, at 15:15 hours. Two Ju 88s of KG 51 attacked the oil storage tanks. Two tanks were hit directly, igniting a fire that engulfed eight tanks and burned for days. Of fifteen tanks, ten were destroyed, causing a major fuel loss. Elsewhere in South Wales, targets at Swindon, Wroughton, Oxford, and Burley were also attacked, with varying degrees of damage reported.
Further attacks struck Harwell, where three Wellingtons were destroyed in a steep dive-bombing run by a Ju 88; Worthy Down, where three 500 lb bombs damaged a hangar and nearby facilities; and Shrivenham, where bombs fell harmlessly outside the aerodrome boundary. Coltishall was bombed at 14:56 hours, slightly damaging an unfinished hangar and causing civilian injuries.
At Honington, two separate attacks caused considerable disruption. The first, at 16:15, used high-explosive and incendiary bombs, killing four and wounding several more. A second raid at 18:25 destroyed a barracks block, two Wellingtons, and one Magister.
A single enemy aircraft dropped 23 high-explosive bombs on a residential area in Chelmsford, killing two civilians and injuring five. At Chatham, a direct hit on a dockyard building caused further damage, while Dover’s Guston Barracks sustained bomb damage and several casualties.
Despite the scattered nature of the raids, RAF squadrons were active throughout the afternoon. At 14:30 hours, No. 602 Squadron engaged Ju 88s off the Sussex coast, bringing down one bomber near Bognor. One Spitfire was lost in the exchange, its pilot bailing out near Arundel with burn injuries.
Three cannon-armed Spitfires from No. 19 Squadron intercepted a Dornier Do 17Z of 7./KG 2 off the Essex coast and successfully shot it down. Another Bf 110 was destroyed over the sea near Great Yarmouth at 18:09 hours. The day also saw low-level strafing attacks on airfields such as Manston, Hawkinge, and Lympne, though none suffered serious damage.
RAF personnel losses for the day included five killed and forty injured, with a further twenty-three civilian fatalities and seventy-four wounded across the country.
Enemy Action by Night
Nightfall brought renewed activity. While no mass raids occurred, dozens of single aircraft penetrated British airspace. By midnight, roughly sixty separate raids had been plotted. Most enemy aircraft dropped bombs at random or laid mines along the coast from the Thames Estuary to Northumberland.
Several raids reached further inland. Bombs were dropped in Derby, Middle Wallop, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Hull, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Notably, anti-aircraft batteries near the Humber claimed to have destroyed an enemy aircraft at 23:15 hours.
In the most technologically significant operation of the day, KGr 100—the only Luftwaffe unit equipped with the advanced X-Verfahren radio navigation system—conducted a night precision attack against the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton.
Twenty-three Heinkel He 111s departed from Vannes, Brittany, flying a beam-guided route from a transmitter near Cherbourg. Between 23:19 and 02:50 hours, they dropped over 16 tonnes of high-explosive and 576 incendiary bombs. The attack damaged Factory No. 4 and Test Bed No. 11, injuring four workers. It was the Luftwaffe’s first operational use of X-Verfahren under Luftflotte 3, setting a precedent for future night bombing raids.
Following Göring’s 1A Staff Orders encouraging night attacks on industrial targets, between twelve and fifteen He 111s bombed Liverpool for the first time. Most bombs fell on the Merseyside docks; others were scattered across the Midlands. Damage was limited, and one He 111 was shot down over County Durham on the return leg.
German Losses:
Airmen: 23 | Aircraft: 11
British Losses:
Airmen: 4 | Aircraft: 5
Blenheim L9497, No. 248 Squadron
Sgt J.H. Round missing.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Round.htm
Sgt W.H. Want missing.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Want.htm
Sgt M.P. Digby-Worsley missing.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Digby-Worsley.htm
Failed to return from reconnaissance mission over Southern Norway.
Spitfire N3182, No. 66 Squadron
P/O J.A.P. Studd killed. Hit by gunfire from He 111. Pilot baled out, rescued. Did not regain consciousness.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Studd.htm
Photo Descriptions
- Two Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers return from an attack against the British south coast on 19 August 1940.
- Workmen carry part of the bullet-riddled fuselage of a Dornier Do 17, alongside the wreckage of other crashed German aircraft at a scrapyard in Britain, August 1940. © IWM (HU 104718)
- Blenheim Mark IV, ‘WR-B’, of No. 248 Squadron RAF based at North Coates, Lincolnshire, in flight over the North Sea, 1940. The aircraft is fitted with a Light Series Carrier under the fuselage. Note also the gas warning panel, which has been applied to the top of the fuselage in front of the tail fin. © IWM (MH 140)