Saturday, July 17, 2010

Day 322 July 18, 1940

Battle of Britain Day 9. Weather improves and Germans attack the Channel ports. 15 Spitfires of 152 and 610 Squadron engage 30 Messerschmitts off Beachey Head on the South coast of England (1 Spitfire lost). Germans bomb Montrose Aerodrome, on the East coast of Scotland (2 killed, 3 wounded). Further South, Germans bombers sink the East Goodwin Light Vessel. At 7 PM, 18 Blenheim bombers escorted by 24 fighters bomb German barges, assembling for the invasion of Britain, at dock in Boulogne, France.

French bomb Gibraltar in retaliation for attacks on French warships in Operation Catapault. French pilots drop most of their bombs in the sea, apparently having no animosity towards the British.

British cruiser HMS Cumberland leaves Simonstown, near Cape Town, South Africa looking for German armed merchant cruiser Thor, 2000 miles away off the coast of Brazil.

At 2 AM, U-99 sinks British steamer Woodbury (5500 tons of canned meat & wheat, 2500 tons of general cargo) 150 miles Southwest of Ireland. All 35 crew reach Ireland in lifeboats on 19 July. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/431.html

At 4.41 PM, U-58 sinks Norwegian steamer Gyda (1980 tons of salt) 30 miles Northwest of Ireland (11 crew lost. 9 survivors will be picked up next day by Belgian passenger ship Ville d´Arlon and landed at New York on 26 July.

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