Single-aircraft raids on airfields during the afternoon.
Night: Main attacks against London. Some lesser raids on Merseyside and South Wales.
Weather: Generally cloudy, some rain.
Enemy Action by Day
Tuesday, 10 September, was marked by generally poor weather across southern England and the Channel, with widespread cloud and intermittent rain hampering large-scale air operations. The Luftwaffe, faced with deteriorating conditions, relied on low-level attacks by single aircraft and experienced crews undertaking so-called “Piratenangriffe” (pirate raids). These were surprise daylight strikes targeting RAF airfields and industrial installations. Fighter Command, meanwhile, used the day to regroup. Airfields damaged earlier in the month had made considerable progress in recovery, and aircraft replenishment had improved. Though the lull gave crews some respite, intermittent probing attacks persisted throughout the afternoon and into the night.
Morning Reconnaissance and Minor Attacks
Enemy activity began with reconnaissance flights at first light. A solitary aircraft flew over the Humber and RAF Digby before turning east over Great Yarmouth. Two further aircraft scouted convoys off Norfolk and Lincolnshire; one crossed the coast near Mablethorpe. Another, identified as a Ju 88, followed the Norfolk coastline from Yarmouth to Harwich, while a separate aircraft attacked targets near Yarmouth itself. Due to the thick cloud cover, RAF fighters were unable to make effective interceptions during these early incursions.
Shortly before midday, a lone Dornier Do 17 approached from Hastings, penetrated deep into central London, and exited over Clacton. No damage was reported, and interception efforts were unsuccessful.
Isolated Raids Over the South East
At 16:05 hours, Tangmere airfield reported a low-level strafing attack. An enemy aircraft, either a Bf 110 or Do 17, made a single pass along the tarmac, firing machine-gun bursts before disappearing into cloud. Simultaneously, another isolated raid attacked RAF West Malling. Bombs dropped at 17:32 hours caused minor structural damage and started a small fire. One RAF personnel was wounded.
Nearby Portsmouth and the Poling radar site also came under attack by individual bombers around the same time. A Do 17 dropped bombs that damaged the Southern Railway electricity substation at Newhaven. Bombs also fell on the outskirts of Hastings. The Luftwaffe’s fast twin-engine aircraft, particularly from Erprobungsgruppe 210 and ZG 26, continued to harass targets inland under cover of cloud.
Between 17:00 and 18:00 hours, British radar detected multiple small raids originating from Cherbourg. These appeared to target RAF facilities at Tangmere and Poling, as well as shipping near Portsmouth. While most of these sorties failed to reach inland targets, two aircraft penetrated deeper, triggering RAF responses.
Interceptions and Isolated Engagements
Around 18:00 hours, a German formation was detected crossing the coast near Dungeness and proceeding toward Biggin Hill. British fighters intercepted the bombers before they reached their target. One Dornier of 9./KG 76 was shot down, and the remaining aircraft aborted the mission. Spitfires of No. 72 Squadron had been scrambled earlier in the afternoon and shot down a Do 215, though one Spitfire sustained damage and made a forced landing at Etchingham.
Spitfires of No. 602 Squadron, based at Westhampnett, suffered the loss of three aircraft shortly after 20:00 hours, as pilots unfamiliar with night landing procedures attempted to return to Tangmere under deteriorating visibility.
Enemy Action by Night
After dusk, Luftwaffe activity escalated. At approximately 20:00 hours, a wave of twelve enemy aircraft approached from Cherbourg, crossing the coast at St Catherine’s Point and Selsey. Some of these penetrated inland as far as London. A second wave of six aircraft followed a route from the Somme across Kent and Sussex. By 21:00 hours, activity increased further, with roughly 80 enemy aircraft crossing the southern coast between Selsey and Dungeness. A third wave emerged from the Dutch islands via the Thames Estuary and moved inland toward the capital.
The peak of the night attacks came between 01:00 and 04:30 hours. German bombers operating from Luftflotte 3 struck the capital with over 150 aircraft. Major fires were started at St Katherine’s Dock, Golden Lane, Aldgate Avenue, and Cable Street. The East End Maternity Hospital at Shadwell was hit and set ablaze. Two warehouses at London Docks were destroyed, and hydraulic mains burst at Millwall. A significant blaze engulfed Durrell’s Timber Yard in Mile End Road. Fires also erupted in Paddington, St Marylebone, and along Bayswater Road. Over 1,000 incendiaries were dropped on Brentwood alone, causing serious damage to a convent and a Woolworth’s store. The cumulative effect was devastating.
Elsewhere, the Luftwaffe launched raids on Cardiff, Merseyside, and South Wales. A raid reached Liverpool via the Irish Sea, damaging a blast furnace at the Lancashire Steel Corporation’s works. Another aircraft flew inland from Whitby as far as Kendal, exiting over Hartlepool. Bombs fell in the New Forest north of Ringwood, where large fires were reported. Additional minelaying activity was suspected off Harwich, in the Thames Estuary, the Mersey, and south of the Isle of Man.
At 22:20 hours, three He 111s of II./KG 27 raided Bristol, continuing the pressure on western industrial targets.
RAF Response
Bomber Command continued its own offensive. Seventeen Whitleys targeted the Potsdamer railway station in Berlin, inflicting substantial damage before moving on to strike Bremen’s dockyards. Meanwhile, Blenheims from Bomber Command attacked the airfield at Eindhoven, destroying or disabling multiple He 111s on the ground.
Italian Involvement Begins
In a significant development, the Regia Aeronautica formally established the Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) for operations against Britain. Under the command of Generale Rino Corso-Fougier, the CAI was headquartered in Belgium. Though the force included over 200 aircraft, Italian fighters lacked radios, navigational instrumentation, and training in night or poor-weather operations. Their zone of operations stretched between the Thames and Harwich, but they would play only a minor role in the campaign.
German Losses:
Airmen: 11 | Aircraft: 13
British Losses:
Airmen: 0 | Aircraft: 0
Photo Descriptions
- Air raid damage, including the twisted remains of a double-decker city bus, in the City of London on 10 September 10 1940.
- Czech and British pilots of No. 310 Squadron confer at Duxford, September 1940. Pictured are Vaclav Bergman, Bohumir Furst, Rudolf Zima, Emil Fechtner, Stanislav Zimprich, Jan Kaucky, Karel Seda, Jaroslav Maly, Vilem Goth, Josef Vopalecky, Svatopluk Janouch, Raimund Puda, Gordon Sinclair, John Boulton and Jerrard Jeffries. © IWM (CH 1291)